El Dorado

July 25th, 2007

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The Announcement

Alt-Historian picking back up: We're picking back up on this story today. We'll give you a finish on the story from yesterday as soon as it's finished.

When she told Monica that she was going out for a drink with the reporter, she could see the girl's face practically imploding from holding in the smirk. “I'll be ok,” Monica said to her. “In fact, why don't I spend the night here at Grandpa's. You take all the time you want.”
“It's not going to be like that. It's just a drink.” She looked over at him on the other side of the yard, and he waved. “He probably just wants to get me drunk so I'll start talking about the project.”
“Uh-huh. Men are always gettin' women drunk so that they'll talk more.”
“Shut up.” She looked down at the plain dress she was wearing. “Do I look ok?”
“You could do with some brighter lipstick. Here, I got some in my purse.” She dug into her purse and pulled out a lipstick that could be seen from outer space.
“No, thank you. I'll manage with what I have on.”
“This drives all the boys wild,” Monica said, tauntingly.
“Yeah, when I want to drive 14-year-old boys wild, I'll come see you.” Andrea saw that the reporter and the cameraman were doing some kind of interview with her father. Mr. Ross was looking proudly at his daughter and speaking just softly enough to where she couldn't hear him. “What is he getting daddy to say?”
“Cousin Marvin's the one you don't want him to talk to. He knows all your secrets.”
She looked at Monica suspiciously. “What did Marv tell you?”
“I'm takin' it to the grave.” She snorted a little bit and muttered, “Bloomers.”
Andrea was incensed. “That was once, and we were just having a little fun.”
Monica spread out her hands and backed away. “Hey, I don't need to hear you justify your little kinks, mom.”
“I am going to kill that man.” Andrea looked around the yard, but Marvin was hidden from sight behind other Ross relatives, so he was spared. During her scan of the yard, she saw that her father was done talking to Lance, so she decided to see what he had said. “Monica, don't go too far. I may want to leave pretty soon.”
“We just got here,” Monica whined, but then saw her mother looking at the reporter. “Oh. I understand.”
Andrea ignored her and walked quickly over to her father. “Daddy, what did you say to him?”
“I was just talkin' about how many scholarships you won when you were a girl, and how you always wanted to be an astronomer, cuz I taught you about the constellations when you were tiny.” He put his arm around her and pointed to the sky. “I told him the story about the people in the sky and how you wanted to meet 'em.”
Andrea liked sideways at him. “That story usually takes half an hour.”
“He rushed me.”

In 1941, in British North Africa Loose Cannon Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence was set once again in full action at the centre of memorable events. Churchill called him the man of the moment. Lawrence had not considered himself a man since his capture at Deraa in November 1917. Afterwards he had suffered such terrible nightmares that he had ripped five pages from his war diary in shame. That had not worked either, and then he had turned to John Bruce to suppress the darkness within him, to expidate the disasterous loss of integrity he had suffered that terrible night.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of Susan Shwarz original content has been made to celebrate the author's commanding genius.

Bob Dylan	How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone? ~ Lyrics to “Like a Rolling Stone” Click to Play Sample
Troubled Genius

"Like a Rolling Stone" was released as a 45 rpm single on July 20, 1965. Dylan gave the song its live debut at the Newport Folk Festival appearance five days later. It was a disaster with Dylan prematurely exiting the stage in tears. Dylan had been booed by fans when he played alongside an electric blues/rock and roll band while headlining the festival. The full lyrics are available at Lyrics Freak

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

"I sit and wait, does an angel contemplate my fate? And do they know, the places where we go When we're grey and old? 'cos I have been told -
Robbie Williams	That salvation lets their wings unfold So when I'm lying in my bed Thoughts running through my head And I feel the love is dead I'm loving angels instead" ~ Lyrics to “Angels” - Click to Play Sample
Troubled Genius

Following some troubled years, describing his joy at the birth of his daughter with wife Nicol Kidman. The full lyrics are available at MP3 Lyrics

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1940, Judge Ib Scotlung was given his first assignment by the International Court, to find a peaceful resolution to a border dispute between warring nations in this America of Skrelleland. Tawantiinsuuju was the nation the Inca Empire became without the Spanish strangling it in infancy in 1532. The Spanish themselves were rules by Arabs and Berbers, who had established Dar Al-Harb in the territory Park still thought of as Brazil.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2009, the TV networks presented episode sixteen of So What If?. Tom Gatch, Jr. interviewed King Julian who talked about forebear George Washington's decision to accept the American crown, and the reasons why his descendants still rule.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Keys to Rebecca	In 1980, Ken Follett published the counter-historical novel ”The Keys to Rebecca”. As Rommel's Afrika Corps advanced to Cairo the secrets that would unlock the doors to Cairo are provided by an agent code-named Sphinx. A group of officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, secretly side with the Germans, ..
.. ridding Egypt of Britain's presence. In a tribute to Philip K Dick's 1964 counter-factual novel Man in the High Castle, Follett presented a book within a book, 'The Sphinx Lies Heavy'. Set in Britain in 1956, the once-proud nation has been humiliated by President Nasser who has seized the Suez Canal. All because some ten years earlier Britain defended Egypt from the Nazis, and chose not to punish a group of officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat who secretly side with the Germans. Like Dick before him, the essence of Follett's masterpiece is the duality of his frightening visions.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1536, through divination of Muisca rituals brought to Sebastian de Belalcazar in Quito, the Spanish conquistador found the Golden King known as El Rey Dorado. In the deserted city, a supernatural assault by the Muisca demon caused Belalcazar to lose his mind. Subsequent explorers were unable to find El Dorado and the location ..	Sebastián de Be..
.. of the legendary city remains a mystery to this very day.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

King James I	In 1603, James VI of Scotland was crowned first king of Grand Bretagne. This contiguous territory links the French Province Bretagne (also known as Brittany) and the land referred to by Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (circa 1136) as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"). The term Greater was inserted for clarity ..
.. simply to enable Monmouth to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain" or Brittany). In no way did the term imply pre-eminence over the French Province.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1934, Nationalist Socialists led by Adolf Schicklegruber assassinated Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a violent coup d'etat. With strong support over the border in Bavaria, the Nazis had some prospect of success in Central Europe during the years of crisis. Whilst Schicklegruber was able to regain some lost pride ..	Engelbert Dollf..
.. since the fall of the Habsburgs, he was powerless to the resist Anschluss (annexation) by Fuehrer und Reichskanzler Kurt von Schleicher of Germany and became a footnote in the history of the Volk.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Sparks

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has resigned from the New Labour Government after just six months in office. Under Brown's proposals, the Bank of England would have been given independence from political control in the most radical shake-up in the bank's 300-year history.
Catherine Wheel	Trouble was the Prime Minister, Tony Blair had a slightly different agenda – to centralise control in Number 10, Downing Street, and reduce the role of powers outside the Executive. Including the Bank of England, British Parliament, House of Lords, the Royal Family, Intelligence Forces etc. etc. ~ Catherine Wheel's Sparks are Going to Fly - Click to Watch Sample
Sparks are going to fly

In 1997, the Brown Blair alliance came to an abrupt, but expected bust-up over the issue the two men cared about most – control.

In 2008, service agents at the head office of the restaurant chain Wanda's of Montreal performed data administration duties in preparation for fortieth year celebrations. The database flag NICE_COMMENT was set to Y to filter in positive comments which would be showcased on the chain's web site.

Keys to Rebecca

In 1942, on this day the Second Battle of El Alamein started in northern Egypt, as the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal T.E. Lawrence began a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt. However as Rommel's Afrika Corps advanced to El Alamein the secrets that would unlock the doors to Cairo are provided by an agent code-named Sphinx. A group of officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, secretly side with the Germans, ridding North Africa of Britain's presence. Writing in 1980, journalist Ken Follett described the British military disaster in his classic history “The Keys for Rebecca” (1980).

In 1998, on this day there was cause to hope for a peaceful conclusion to the Jewish-Palestinian Conflict. Eretz Israel Liberation Organisation Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Yasser Arafat reached a "land for peace" agreement. A Jewish mini-state was proposed in exchange for security guarantees. However, the deal was scuppered in 2000 by a visit from Ariel Sharon and an escort of several hundred hard-liners to the Temple Mount complex, site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.	Temple Mount

Oswald	In 2999, the mind cast for the next instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. Lee Harvey Oswald was the candidate, the context was the assassination of the John F Kennedy and the moment was seconds before the shot was fired. It was a very uneventful episode, the multiverse cast showed Oswald clearly in the lunch-room with a Coca-Cola bottle as the shots were fired. MC Millennia explained it was a technical hitch and the episode would be re-run at some future point.

In 1867, under the auspices of the British North America Act of Parliament 372 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Senate for the North American Union.	North American Union

Fear and Loathing

T.E. Lawrence	In 1918, the regular forces of British Commanding Officer General Edmund Allenby defeated the remaining Turkish Army in Palestine. A final and conclusive strike at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 left the road to Damascus open. By the time Allenby arrived Colonel T.E. Lawrence and the Arabs were already installed. With Lawrence translating Allenby attempted to deliver the message to Prince Feisal that his newly-appointed Arab government would not be recognized and the city was to be handed over to the French. Both Lawrence and Feisal reacted angrily to Western duplicity. The irregular troops that had pursued the Arab Revolt against the Turks now set their sights on the British and French, and their fury was very great indeed.
Arabist

After this fateful meeting Allenby asked his commander for leave and returned to England a broken man. Allenby was promoted to Field Marshal and later served as Britain's High Commissioner in Egypt from 1919 to 1925. He outlived Lawrence by one year.

~ quotation by Steve Payne

In 1922, volunteer troops of the Empire Legion reinforced the Anglo-French garrison at Çanakkale, the narrowest point of the Dardanelles. Not only was the Greek Army in full retreat from Smyrna, but the Chanak Incident was about to kick off big time. Having just replaced Lloyd George's war-time coaliton government, incoming British Prime Minister Lord Curzon feared the War in Asia Minor was about to escalate into the Second Great War - on his watch. That was why an Empire Legion comprising British, Canadian, ANZAC, SA, Rhodesian, Indian volunteers was just the ticket. MacKenzie King's government in Canada was against intervention, and the British public had no appetite for conflict. Curzon also had one eye on the Labour Party who were threatening the Conservatives now that the Liberals had imploded. Curzon had made his own calculations. He hoped that the veterans of the Empire Legion could reprise their recent stunning victory with White Forces in Northern Russian, dismantling the new Soviet regime. It was a new kind of armed foreign policy, in which the Great Powers would fight covert wars with irregular troops. Curzon was very much aware that on the other side of Turkey, was Colonel T.E. Lawrence and Prince Feisal whose own irregular troops were fighting a new Arab Revolt, against their new masters - the British and the French governments who had simply replaced the Turkish occupation in the Middle East.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Bernard Montgomery	"Einsatzgruppe Egypt" [the Nazi Death Squad] was standing by in Athens and was ready to disembark for Palestine in the summer of 1942 [to extend the Holocaust into Palestine], attached to the "Afrika Korps" led by General Erwin Rommel." ~ Monty justifying the extension of the British Mandate in Palestine
Imperialist

Field Marshall Montgomery, Chief of the Imperial General Staff reacting to pressure for Britain to withdraw its forces from Palestine in response to Jewish terrorism. Montgomery said that if not for the British victory at El Alamein, Nazi Germany would have expanded the extermination of Jews beyond the borders of Europe and into British-controlled Palestine during World War Two. Montgomery presented the Irgun bombed of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem with evidence that death squads known as "Einsatzgruppe Egypt" were standing by in Athens and was ready to disembark for Palestine in the summer of 1942. This group would be attached to the "Afrika Korps" led by the famed desert commander General Erwin Rommel. The Middle East death squad, similar to those operating throughout eastern Europe during the war, was to be led by SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Walther Rauff. "The central plan for the group was the realization of the Holocaust in Palestine," said Montgomery, "But since Germany never conquered British-controlled Palestine, plans for bringing the Holocaust to what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories never came to fruition."

~ quotation by Steve Payne

Woodrow Wilson	"The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it. " ~ Woodrow Wilson, Global Peace Architect
US President

Before his refusal to meet with Ho Chi Minh at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Uncle Ho requested an appointment to urge that the principle of self-determination should also apply to the population of the French Union Colony of Indochina. Wilson believed that the principles codified in the Treaty of Versailles should extend no further than Europe, seeing no parallel exclusion of African Americans from the US Constitution. A historic opportunity was missed whilst there was still time to prevent a mistake becoming a human catastrophe. The full story of Minh's Peace Conference Gambit is described at Today in Alternative History

~ quotation by Steve Payne

Mobile Phones	In 2011, the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme, said that because it can take more than a decade for cancer symptoms to become detectable only now was it possible to "say for certain" that handsets can cause the disease. MTHR had been running more than a dozen studies assessing the effects on human health, reporting as late as 2007 that "Phone safety is still an unknown". The independent group of scientists had received more than £10m from the UK Government and the mobile phone industry.
Market Collapses

Professor Lawrie Challis, the MTHR chairman, said: "We can now say with confidence that cancer can appear through excessive use of mobile phone handsets". Bluetooth technology and hands free sets are expected to be the "winners" when consumer confidence returns.

~ quotation by Steve Payne

FDR	"First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. " ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
US President

Whilst the fears of isolationists prevented the United States from joining World War II. A generation later, America faced the Empires of Germany and Japan alone as described by Harry Turtledove In the Presence of Mine Enemies

~ quotation by Steve Payne

Glubb Pasha	In 1941, 'the internecine struggles of the Arabs,' Glubb Pasha told Count László de Almásy and Colonel Ned Lawrence 'are more in the minds of Arab politicians than the struggle against the Jews. Azzam Pasha, the mufti and the Syrian government would sooner see the Jews get the whole of Palestine than that King Abdullah should benefit.'
The Mufti was more than keen for the Final Solution to be brought to the British mandate in Palestine. On balance, Lawrence was confident that Glubb Pasha could be expected to do the "right thing" in a forthcoming war of independence. After all, who could not be impressed by what Lawrence called "the eternal miracle of Jewry?"
~ variant by Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Susan Shwartz and Michael Ondaatje

Ulysses spacecr..	In 1994, on this day the Ulysses probe passed the Sun's south pole. The spacecraft was launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery by NASA and the European Space Agency, equipped with instruments to characterize fields, particles, and dust. Part of the InterPlanetary Network (IPN), Ulysses provided the first clues to the Sun's accelerating gamma ray bursts.
By 2030, the IPN had been renamed to the United Nations Committee for Survival of Life on Earth and increasingly desperate measures were being attempted to deal with this planet-threatening solar development.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1990, George Alec Effinger published his counter-history masterpiece Everything But Honour, posing the question What if Robert E. Lee fought for the Confederacy and the Civil War was over after Lincoln issued an Emancipation Proclamation? Thinking things would be better, a white supremacist working in 1938 Imperial Germany goes back in time to make Lee follow a different path.	Robert E. Lee
~ entry by Steve Payne

Annapolis	1788, the North American Union Constitutional Convention in Annapolis set the date for the country's first Governor-General's election. Victoria became the temporary capital as Britain restructured the Thirteen Colonies and Canada into self-autonomous Dominions.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1940, Italy invaded Egypt. A group of officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, secretly side with the Italians, ridding Egypt of Britain's presence. The “factional” account was told by counter-historian Ken Follett in his masterpiece ”The Keys to Rebecca” (1980). In a tribute to Philip K Dick's 1964 counter-factual novel Man in the High Castle, Follett presented a book within a book, 'The Sphinx Lies Heavy'.
Set in Britain in 1956, the proud nation has humiliated President Nasser by seizing back the Suez Canal after nationalisation. All because some ten years earlier Britain defended Egypt from the Italians, and chose not to punish a group of officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat who secretly side with the invaders. Like Dick before him, the essence of Follett's masterpiece is the duality of his frightening visions.
~ entry by Steve Payne

God save the queen, the fascist regime They made you a moron, potential H-bomb God save the queen she ain't no human being There is no future in England's dreaming
God Save the Queen	Don't be told what you want, Don't be told what you need There's no future, no future, No future for you God save the queen We mean it man We love our queen God saves And our figurehead is not what she seems ~ Lyrics to “God Save the Queen” - Click to Watch
God Save the Queen

In 1977, an off-site Cabinet meeting by the executors of the Plot Against British Prime Minister Harold Wilson entered day two at Chequers. Interim Prime Minister Lord Louis Mountbatten and his deputy Major General Ord Wingate, DSO were in the Chair. Also present was the Home Secretary Margaret Thatcher and the Minister for Citizenship Mary Whitehouse who had just finished watching the latest installment of horror - the Sex Pistols playing "God Save the Queen". Both military leaders had a strong sense of perspective. They understood fully that the problem went back to 1951, with the Conservative victory when Churchill formed his first peacetime administration. He had little feel for what should be done. He confided to Oliver Lyttleton that "In the worst of the war I could always see how to do it. Today's problems's are elusive and intangible." Afterwards, Mountbatten and Wingate retired with brandys and cigars. Privately, Ord thought the Sex Pistols were right about one thing. In that haunting line "And our figurehead is not what she seems", there was a nugget of wisdom. After all, had not the Queen engineered Harold Wilson out of power to be replaced by Interim Prime Minister Louis Mountbatten? The lyrics are available at at Plyrics

~ quotation by Steve Payne