Live & In Colour

Today In Alternate History

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The Announcement

Monica patted her mother on the back. “Good job, mom. It'll be hard to edit that into something that'll bite you in the butt.”
Andrea looked at the reporter as he talked a couple of cousins. “I don't think he's that type. He seemed OK.”
“That's how they get ya,” Monica said, trying to sound wise beyond her years. “Tisha was sayin' that the cameraman was askin' for dirt on you. Nobody's given him any, yet, but I may see if I can get an exclusive.”
Andrea whacked her upside the head after making sure the camera was pointed elsewhere. “I'll give you an exclusive stay in your room for the next ten years, young lady.”
“You gotta let me out when I'm 18 – that's only 4 years.”
“And I'm counting the days.”
“Ain't we both,” Monica said. Her mother narrowed her eyes at her, so she added, “I love you, mom,” as sweet as a little angel.
“Go on back and talk to your cousins again.” Before Monica could head off, she grabbed the girl and whispered, “And let me know if they really do dig up any dirt, OK?”
“I got your back, mom,” Monica said, trundling over to a gaggle of young cousins.
Andrea walked over to the food and starting putting together a little plate for herself. Normally, she'd pile on the cookout food – she loved coming over to her father's parties because there was so much good food. But today, she felt nervous, so she stuck to lighter fare, heavy on the vegetables. Her cousin Marvin noticed and came over to talk. “What's with the rabbit food, Andi?”
“Got to look good for the cameras, Marv.” She tried to smile at him, but it didn't come out too convincingly.
“What, you feel like making the biggest accomplishment in the history of... history isn't enough? You got to look like a model, too?”
She moved a little closer to him so that she could talk more quietly. She and Marvin had played together a lot as children, had gone through high school together, and had even started their first year of college in the same school until Andrea got a scholarship to Cornell. There were few people she felt she confide in as much as Marvin. “Look, don't talk about this to anybody, OK?”
He looked a little surprised, then said, “OK.”
“We've been getting a signal from the probe for the last two days. It's weak – hell, three million years, you'd expect it to be non-existent. But anyway, it's a mathematical sequence; the language guy they have working on it thinks it's trying to teach us their language. He thinks it's just so they can leave a record behind. You know, three million years, they're long gone.” She took a sip of her soda and looked around at the crowd, making sure no one else was listening. Marvin leaned closer to her as she whispered, “But, my team just found another signal it's sending back to Wolf 359. And this one's much stronger.”

DJ Jazzie B	"Back to life, back to reality Back to the here and now yeah.. Back to life back to the day we have" ~ Lyrics to Back to Life (Click Note to Play Video)
Dance Musician

Born in 1963, Beresford Romeo's parents, who had emigrated from Antigua, raised him in North London, where he began working in sound studios at age 11. DJ Jazzie B (as he became known) and childhood friend Philip "Daddae" Harvey began Soul II Soul as a mobile sound system that played reggae clubs and parties in 1982. Through playing at various house blues parties, street parties and local youth clubs, they began to gain a steady following, and more members began to join Jazzie B and Daddae Harvey, namely 'Q' and Aitch B. As time went on the guys began to adopt a style which became known as 'Funki Dred', namely refering to the Dreadlocked hairstyle. From the start they were no ordinary R&B group, but a loose gathering of musicians led by Jazzie B as a songwriter/producer/singer. His genius was to conceive this changing roster of other musicians - notably Nellee Hooper, Simon Law and Caron Wheeler. Soul II Soul's experiments in music-making of their own resulted in the dub plate "Fairplay" which secured them a deal with Virgin Records. Something just incredible happened in 1989 to architect the anthem Back to Life. In a moment the tone was set for early 90s mainstream dance music in the UK. Something even more incredible happened on 18th August 1990 whilst Soul II Soul were on World Tour. Jazzie was critically injured when he was involved in a seven car pile-up while travelling from Detroit to Chicago, and was quite literally brought Back to Life by a roadside medical team. He recovered and in 1993 co-produced James Brown's first album of the 90's, 'Universal James'. The full lyrics are available at Soul2Soul Web site

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

"Violence is the first article of my faith. It is the last article of my faith. I had to make my choice. I had either to submit to a system which I considered has done an irreparable harm to my country or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips. I know that my people have sometimes gone mad.
Mohandas Gandhi	I am deeply sorry for it; and I am therefore, here, to submit not to a light penalty but to the highest penalty. I do not ask for mercy. I do not plead any extenuating act. I am here, therefore, to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty of a citizen." ~ Mohandas Gandhi
Thuggee

On the great trial at Abmadabad in 1922, at which Gandhi pleaded guilty. The sea change in attitude had occurred in 1890, after failing several university exams, Mohandas Gandhi met a Thuggee cultist along the road and became his disciple. Gandhi's new education and the violent movement he started years later after the massacre at Jallianwalla. Michael P. Kube-McDowell's classic biography "Because Thou Lovest the Burning-Ground" is described at Uchronia

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

In 2009, TV networks ran episode six of So What If?. Mechanical failures and absence of surprise foil the raid on Entebbe, Yonathan Netanyahu and Israeli paratroopers are paraded the next day on Ugandan TV. Idi Amin said God told him in a dream that the Zionist were coming to relieve the Jewish hostages. Just as God had likewise told him to expel the Jews from Uganda in 1972. Across Africa, people started to rally to Uganda as a regional power, perhaps Dada really had defeated neo colonialist forces.

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

In 2007, at the Academy an Open Office spreadsheet grew to the spooky size of 665 kilobytes, just shy of the number of the beast.
The file was none other than the collected "bobby dazzlers" of the Co-Historian, containing poor quality formulaic HTML that had on occassion caused great gnashing of teeth by creating frequent errors at the time of publication around 6am Central Texas Time thus spoiling the enjoyment of many a breakfast taco.	Omen
Not to mention the piercing comments surrounding the "damned ellipses" (1)(2). It was a bad Omen forcing the Academy to send an agent to the "wilds of Canada" to dispatch the Co-Historian by using all seven of the sacred knives of Meggido, thus terminating his relentless cut and paste storytelling.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1972, the author Kurt Vonnegut predicted his own death at the end of the premier. The movie was of course a self-history of his capture in Germany and incarceration at the camp known as Slaughterhouse-Five where he witnessed the destruction of Dresden first hand. And so it goes. Another WWII POW Paul Lazzaro shot and killed the author as he left the theatre. Really it was all about Roland Weary - a weak man with dreams of grandeur who weakly 'saved' Vonnegut multiple times despite the self-proclaimed inept soldier's protests in hopes for glory. This lead to the capture of Vonnegut, Wear and Lazzaro in December 1944 as well as the loss of their warm winter clothing and boots. Eventually Weary died of gangrene while on the train to the camp, blaming Vonnegut with his final words.

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

Philadelphia Ex..	In 1945, the stealth technology developed in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard known as Project Rainbow was put through final tests in the Philippines. A Carrier Group was fitted with the required generator equipment.
After a dozen recalibrations, the Carrier Group not only became almost entirely invisible to the naked eye, but vanished from the area in a flash of blue light. Concurrent with this phenomenon, the US naval base at Pearl Barbour reported sighting the Group offshore for several minutes, whereupon the Group vanished again and reappeared in the Philippines, at the site it had originally occupied, a successful test of both invisibility and teleportation. Now confident in the element of surprise offered by the super weapon, Harry S Truman authorized the invasion of Honshu near Tokyo, codename “Operation Coronet”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1942, on this day occurred the Jerusalem Conference. This was a trilateral meeting between Wartime Leader Winston Churchill, Head of British Central Command Bernard Montgomery and Jewish General Moshe Dayan. The British were organizing Churchill's Last Stand in the remaining Theatre of War, the Middle East. Dayan brought ..	British Central..
.. to the table unified command of the combined Haganah Force/Australian 7th Division and the keys to the Jewish lobby in America. Churchill brought only blood, sweat and tears.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Gulf War	In 1973, a report from the hawkish defense expert Edward Luttwak “Seizing Arab Oil" rested uneasily in the Resolute Desk's out-tray in the Oval Office. Luttwak wrote the piece after discussion with several like-minded consultants and officials in the Pentagon, including Andrew Marshall, head of the Defense Department's ..
.. in-house think tank, the Office of Net Assessment. The assertion that "the only countervailing power to OPEC's control of oil is power itself -- military power." had been accepted, as had the recommendation; the document bore the Presidential stamp of approval. The Gulf War was about to begin.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1974, Christine Chubbuck became the first person to commit suicide on-air. During the first eight minutes of her program, Chubbuck covered three national news stories and then a local restaurant shooting from the day before. The film reel jammed and would not ..	Chubbuck
.. run, so Christine shrugged it off and said: "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living colour, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide." She drew out a revolver and shot herself behind her right ear. Christine fell forward violently and the technical director faded slowly to black. Camerawoman Jean Reed thought it had been an elaborate prank, rushed forward to see the twitching body and realized it was genuine. Madness descended to terror when Chubbuck arose and the demon Astaroth, Grand Duke of Hell addressed the television audience with his fell wisdom.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Shadows On Those Around Us...

June 30th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1999, unknown and unseen to each other, two teams of assassins moved into the royal chambers at Buckingham Palace in London; the one led by Sir Lance du Lac went to the queen's bed chamber, and the one led by Prime Minister Sir Kay Ector advanced on King Arthur. The stealthy, quiet men did their work professionally and cleanly, and the monarchs were soon bleeding profusely. Arthur maintained consciousness, and crawled to Queen Gwen's bed, where he found her life ebbing away. “Arthur,” she said, trying to hold her life in with one hand and reaching out to him with the other. “Arthur, I love you. I'm sorry I mucked it all up.” He smiled through the blood that was welling up in his mouth, and reached over to press the button that would summon the staff. This was almost too much effort for him, and he swooned. She steadied him, but that let loose more blood than she could spare. “You were the greatest queen that England has ever known,” he whispered into her ear as he rested himself beside her on the blood-soaked bed. “I only regret that I will never know your child.” He paused, then added, “Our child.” He lowered his face to hers for a kiss, but she was already growing cold, and he sank back with a sob. With his last bit of strength, he pulled her body to him and held her tenderly. The young serving girl who answered the bell screamed and ran over to them, finding Queen Gwen dead and King Arthur barely holding onto life. “Quickly,” he said to her, feeling everything slipping away, “quickly, bring Sir Lance; bring help.” She ran crying from the room, shouting, “Their majesties are murdered! Help, help, their majesties are murdered!” As the sound of her panic roused the entire castle, Arthur felt an old, familiar presence at his side, and a great calm swept over him. “I was wondering if you'd show up,” he said to the old man. “What good is having a great wizard advisor if he only ever appears when it's too late?” The old man chuckled and laid a hand on Arthur's forehead, stroking his hair tenderly. “I should have never come out of the coma; Gwen had everything under control, even if she was doing it for the wrong reasons.” Merl's voice soothed him as it said, “But then, you would never have reconciled; she wouldn't have your forgiveness.” Arthur tried to shrug, but didn't have the strength. “I don't think that's terribly important.” Merl sat down on the bed, but Arthur didn't feel the bed shift at all. “But, it is, Arthur, it is. Everything that we do in our brief time upon this world casts shadows on those around us; that is the true afterlife, Arthur. That is our immortality.” Arthur felt very cold, and Merl's hand gripped his. “I came back from death once,” he told Merl. The old wizard smiled at him and said, “Twice.” Arthur smiled and meant to nod, but his head was so heavy that all he could do was let it lean back until it touched Gwen's. He heard the thundering footsteps of people coming in to help, and saw Lance's face hover over his own. “Goodbye, my brother,” he said to Lance, whose face was covered in tears. The knight attempted to pull Arthur away from Gwen, but with his last breath, King Arthur told him, “Let me stay with her, Lance; let me stay with her, always.” Sir Lance felt the king's life slip away from him at that moment, and couldn't bring himself to move the two of them apart. He turned to the servants and guards who now crowded the chamber and told them, “The king – and queen – are dead.” His voice choked as he struggled to continue. “Let there never be another; for we have been blessed once with this great pair. It would be selfish of our people to expect such leaders to come along again.”

In 1999, the networks ran installment four of TSEotTC. British, French and German soldiers climbed out of the trenches for the Christmas Truce of 1914. Football was played, chocolate and cigarettes swapped. Weapons were thrown onto pyres and burnt. A new era of brotherhood was ushered in, the Century of the Common Man according to the peacenik Winston Spencer Churchill.

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

Jim Morrison	"The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on He took a face from the ancient gallery And he walked on down the hall Paid a visit to his son, And he came to a door...and he looked inside Son, yes Father, I want to kill you" ~ Poetry of Admiral George Morrison, Fleet Commander during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964
Murdered Peacenik

Admiral George “Steve” Morrison was the keynote speaker at the decommissioning ceremony for Bon Homme Richard, his first ship as an admiral, on July 3, 1971 in Washington D.C., USA (just 12 hours after his agents killed son Jim Morrison in Paris France). Steve was incensed by his son's anti-establishment positions and decided to kill him. This poetry fragment entitled “The End” was found in the Admiral's House in Coronado, California after his death in 2012. A synopsis of the life of Jim Morrison can be viewed at Wikipedia

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

In 30,000 BC, hominid visitors from the planet Omega abandoned their biological uplift project on Earth. The results of attempts to breed out the animal characteristics of mankind were frustrating. Prospects for further eugenics and even genetic engineering attempts were considered poor. Incredibly fast moving climatic changes meant the tropics would enter an Ice Age in just three years. The Omegans cut their losses and returned back through the Stonehenge Gate. In their haste to pull out of the botched mission, and with time against them, the Omegans made a poor job of burying the interstellar gate in the Sahara Desert.

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

Trees supposedl..	In 1908,, the great game took an apocalyptic turn when the world's first atomic weapon tests were conducted by Nikolai Tesla of the Russian Empire, flattening 20 miles of Tunguska in central Siberia. Reacting with suspicion and horror to the existence of a doomsday weapon in the hands of the expansionist imperial family, ..
.. officials of the European monarchies reason that national leaders with combat experience drawn outside the ruling classes are required to secure the future.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1764, in a red grape vineyard the child Magnifico gave full reign to his impish character, playing in carefree abandon. His beaming parents sipped red wine in the shade of a beautiful tree. The woman drank sparingly, she had fallen again. Soon God-willing Magnifico would have a sibling and their little community ..	Red Wine
.. would expand again. Most assuredly Jesus had rescued them from the Red Plague which had come out of China depopulating Europe like an Old Testament Apocalypse. For a brief moment, the woman looked a little melancholic shall we say. If only her parents could share their joy. Or the countless millions that had been decimated by the Red Plague. The disease has been labelled for the crimson scar upon the victims neck. They did not know, and could not know that the colour red was also the clue to the antidote. The antidote that ultimately saved the Caucasoid from extinction. Future leader of Europe Karl Adolphus would grow up in the twenty-fifth century, taking his daily dose of resveratrol as routinely as his forebear Magnifico did before him.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Hanging	In 1882, Charles Guiteau was hung in Washington, District of Columbia for the shooting death of President George Armstrong Custer. At his trial, Guiteau pleaded innocence by way of insanity. Custer had used great magicks to trick death at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in the eastern Montana Territory, so he claimed. The ..
.. spirits of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had driven Guiteau to execute the Magus, blood calls to blood. The evening ended with the most crimson sunset ever known in DC, creating a Christian hysteria unknown in America since New England's Dark Day in 1780.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1990, East and West Austria merge their economies following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Anschluss II is celebrated throughout the new nation as a reinvigorated Western Europe races into the 1990s, the spectre of nuclear war lifted at long last.	Fall of the Wie..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Merry Christmas Everyone

Stop the Cavalry	In 1914, after the "Christmas truce" begins in World War I, British, Russian and German soldiers return home to overthrow their respective monarchs. This supreme act of peace and reconciliation was celebrated by the lyrics of Jona Lewis's 1980 classic Stop the Cavalry ~ If I get home, live to tell the tale I'll run for all presidencies If I get elected I'll stop - I will stop the cavalry.
Truce

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In 1861, United States government made the pivotal decision to refuse to free Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell. While traveling to take up the post of Confederate envoy to Britain and France, on the British mail steamer RMS Trent, the ship was stopped by USS San Jacinto on November 8, 1861. Mason and John Slidell were confined in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, precipitating the Trent Affair that brought Britain into open war with the United States of America.

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In 4, B.C. Yeshua of Nazareth is born while his family is visiting relatives in Bethlehem. A charismatic speaker and innovative religious philosopher, Yeshua reenergizes the Hebrew faith through his subtle interpretation of God as Father, where previous rabbis had only taught of Him as Lord. This new vision of the faith swept Judaism, and helped it extend even to the Gentiles, who converted in mass numbers during Rabbi Yeshua’s life. His son continued his teachings, and Yeshua’s vision of Judaism is now the dominant sect in the world’s most numerous faith.

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Jesus	In 1843, Ebeneezer Scrooge changes his life and reverts to the generous, kind-hearted soul he was in his youth before the death of his sister. He anonymously sends the Cratchits the biggest turkey the butcher has, meets the charity workers to pledge an apparently impressive amount of money to their delight, and spends Christmas Day with Fred and his wife.
Is Love

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Tear down the Tories

In 1989, on this day, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher finally succumbed to pressure from Cabinet colleagues and resigned from her post. Thatcher had served three consecutive terms until an unprecented run of government crises in the late 1980 had made her position untenable. The stock market crashed and poll tax riots had been just two of the events in a traumatic year of spasms. Violent fast-moving change was racing across the Western democracies and the end of capitalism was in sight. The reinvigorated Soviet Union under the decisive leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev was on the march, and already people were talking about "the end of history".

Abandoned Darwin

In 1974, on this day Acting Prime Minister Dr Jim Cairns announced the abandonment of the northern Australian city of Darwin the national capital as raga storms continuned to pound the Far East. Much of the joy of Christmas disappeared as devastating high winds of up to 135mph and driving rain tore through homes, flooded streets and left up to 90% of the town in ruins. More than 100 people have been injured, many of them critically with deep lacerations, spine and head wounds and it is thought at least 30 people have been killed.

The most seriously injured have been airlifted to safety by the Royal Australian Air Force and commercial airliners. Earth had just begun to swung into Line, a ray of metafrequency energy jetstreaming from the massive black hole at the galactic hub. The transmuting effects of this atypical energy altered the planet for over a century until the Earth swung fully into line in 2113. A self-sufficient scientific community on the southern Peruvian coast - Center of International Research for the Continuance of Life on Earth, 2009-2113) - succeeded in compensating for the massive morphological changes that had occured. An ingenious discovery at CIRCLE succeeded in sustaining life - Rubeus, an artifical super-intelligence originally created to manage global weather systems. New Sydney was repopulated fully by 2165.

Churchill

In 1940, at Buckingham Palace Prime Minister Winston and His Majesty Edward VIII enjoy cigars and brandy following Christmas Lunch. Five hours later, the exiled British Royal Family have a more sombre occasion at the Governor's Residence, Rideau Hall in Ottawa. The conversation is non existent, and good cheer towards Lord Halifax non existent. After all, it was his great idea to flee to Canada and his miscalculation that Operation Sea Lion would succeed. Inside his heart, and also, out in the garden, it sure was cold enough for a Sea Lion to feel very much at home.

In 0, a bright star shines over Bethlehem as Jesus is born; “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”. It is quite simply the greatest story ever told.

Star

Agents

In 2005, agents of the government of censored get a trace on Rat. Somewhere in central Texas, only 13 alternative lifers have downloaded a software update for the Yabadabadoo! RSS Newsreader. One of them must be the revolutionary blogger known as Rat, publishing perception altering content using his $250,000 Windows 2003 server farm which is Internet spoofed as a PC133-style computer.

In 753 AUC, Roman soldiers capture a married Hebrew couple that are attempting to escape the census. While they are in prison, the woman gives birth to a boy, whom the soldiers take away. Although the woman is hysterical over the child, the couple is to be imprisoned for their crime, so they will not be able to raise the boy. He is adopted by Romans, and rises to command of the Senate as Caius Jesus Bethlehemus.

In 0, a young couple in the Near East have a child that is destined to change the world, that will be truly known as the son of God. His mother is a virgin, and men come from afar to show him respect and give him gifts. His name, which will be trumpeted across the world, is Mithra.

Confession

The state of TIAH

March 8th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, suggested that it was time for a contest, so we're going to have an April Fool's Day Contest! Email us up to 3 entries for an alternate April 1st and we will post the best 10, with your own credit and link to your website (if you have one). We'll also see if we have enough credit for an ultimate winner to get a complimentary TIAH mug, but we can't promise anything on that yet. Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline will be March 29th.

in 1953, Doctor Rosalind Franklin is tight-lipped about her involvement in the murders of James Watson and Francis Crick, and the attempted murder of Cambridge biologist William Hughes. The prosecutor, with much evidence already pointing at Dr. Maurice Wilkins instead of her, tells Professor Hughes, “I am inclined to release her and proceed with the case against Dr. Wilkins.” Professor Hughes begs him, “Let me talk to her.” The prosecutor agrees, and Professor Hughes speaks with Dr. Franklin in the interrogation room. He opens his questioning with, “Why don't you tell me about the DNA?” Dr. Franklin thinks for a moment, then makes a decision to speak. “All right. What's one more man stealing my research? DNA is a beautiful thing; in the pictures I took, you can see it spiraling through all life, carrying all the information needed to make you, or me, or a fly, or a disease. Its little spirals run through everything, Professor Hughes. Study it, learn it, know it, and you know everything there is to know about life itself.” Professor Hughes shakes himself out of the spell of her vision and asks, “Do you think such research is Nobel-prize worthy?” She barked out a laugh and said, “At the very least, professor. Do you know what you can do if you know how to reorder the spiral that orders life? You become a god, professor. That knowledge, that power, is worthy of more accolades than the scientific community is capable of giving.” Professor Hughes nodded and followed up with, “Do you think such research is worth the sacrifice of human life?” She narrows her eyes at him, and simply nods. The prosecutor agrees to bring charges against her, and keep searching for evidence to tie her to the murders.

President Mugabe..	In 2005 on this day occurred the event known as Mugabe's Prince handshake gaffe. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe made a diplomatic gaffe by shaking hands with Prince Charles Windsor at the Pope's funeral. The President was "caught by surprise" when the Prince leaned over to greet ..
.. him, Harare source said. Some politicians condemned Presidents' greeting as "stupid" and "not very sensible" following the Prince's alleged involvement in the assassination of his ex-wife. The Queen of Hearts had been hugely respected for her charitable works in the Southern Hemisphere and the Prince was now considered persona non grata.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1983 Tsar Nicholas Romanov IV called the United States of America an evil empire. Committed still to the Domino Theory, the West continued a policy of containment for democracy and a clash of systems of government was inevitable.	Domino Theory
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

George Michael	In 1998 the Police confirm the arrest of millionaire singer George Michael while he was alone in a public toilet and have charged him with lewd behaviour. The heterosexual star later revealed that he had been lured into the toilet by a female Police Officer who had played a cruel game of ..
.. “I will show you mine, you show me yours and then I will nick you”. Gay America was outraged by the obscenity. Public opinion was strongly against Michael, who had been safely assumed gay due to his provocative MTV coverage with fellow Wham! Star Andrew Ridgeley. Michael said it was “My own stupid fault as usual”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1917 the February Revolution broke out as the European Monarchies continued to agitate for the fall of democracy in Russia after the successful establishment of a Duma in 1905. The Imperial German Government subsequently sent Communist Vladimir Lenin in a sealed train in a second and ..	Lenin
.. increasingly desperate attempt at revolution that year. Ace of Spies and British Agent Sidney Reilly reported it was hopeless, democracy was infectious and would likely spread into Western Europe during the early 1920s if no further invention occurred.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Disposal Duty

July 31st, 2007

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The Announcement

Alternate Historian's Personal Note: I don't talk about my personal life that often here, but today's going to be an exception. Last night, I went to an audition for a musical - Grease, specifically hoping to be cast in the Guardian Angel role, the one that Frankie Avalon played in the movie. I was called almost immediately and sang Beauty School Dropout a little shakily, but OK. Then, I sat and looked at all these kids, almost all of whom I was old enough to parent, or even, God help me, grandparent, and I thought about my own life in the theater. I started acting when I was 12, and have appeared in several dozen productions since then, acting alongside pros and amateurs alike. When I lived in Paris, I put on my own one-man show. Before I started dating my wife, I was in something like 6 productions in a row at the local theater. Since then, though, I've only been in one show, and that was mainly so that my wife could see me act. Sitting in that theater last night, I realized that I'd lost the fire that I used to have.
It actually started coming on me in the production I was in when I met my wife the second time around (another story I'll have to tell sometime). Except for a couple of old friends of mine, most of the cast was a bunch of jerks, and it really soiled the experience for me. I used to love performing in the theater – I relished auditions and the crushing of my competition beneath the heels of my superior talent. I lived for the applause, for the occasional notice of the critics, the respect of my peers. But, this production made me look at my peers differently. The local theater used to pride itself on a professional attitude. This cast treated the performance like a frat party, and not the fun Animal House kind, but the sick, twisted, Lacrosse-team-at-Duke University kind.
So, after the next production, I took a break, and that was when I started dating my lovely bride. We were married 7 months after our first date (true love waits for no one!), and a couple of months later, she convinced me to audition for another show, because she had never seen me act. It was an OK show, but there was a major problem with dropped lines from several cast members. I used to be in an improv troupe (another long story), so I can talk my way out of any sticky situation on stage, but this just added to the sense of ennui I felt about the theater.
Since then, I haven't been in any shows. I still look at the production schedule for the local theater companies, and think about showing up for something that looks fun, and when I saw that the auditions for Grease were open last night, I thought, maybe 10 years is a long enough break. But, instead of the rush I always felt from auditioning, I just thought about the time I was going to be giving up – not seeing my daughter every night, not hanging around with my wife, not being able to game with our friends on Wednesdays – and I just realized that it was no longer worth it to me. I made my apologies to the director and left.
I turn 42 in 2 weeks. When I was the age of most of the kids in that theater, I thought that, by this time, I'd be living in Hollywood with my Oscars. But, now that I've done Hollywood, (another long story), I find that I prefer the life of the writer. I'm my own boss and I set my own hours. I wouldn't rule out performing again, but probably only something I've written myself. It makes sense to me. Writing was my first love, and has been a more faithful companion (and more lucrative) than my acting paramour. It feels a little odd to let that side of myself go, though. It defined me for so long that I can't say how I feel about no longer having it around. A little old, yes. But, satisfied.
Anyway, enough of my maudlin personal life – on with the Alternate History, following the limey line...

Jimmy Hoffa	In 1975, a chance discovery occurred at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. A waitress on disposal duty discovered a napkin tucked in the leather upholstery of a dining booth. The cryptic message "THEY RULE" was written upon it. The deep indents from a ball point suggested a state of nervous tension in the writer.
Terrified the waitress travelled to her Detroit suburb home, said nothing. Scared. Very scared. She was aware that on the previous day, Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa had disappeared from the parking lot of the restaurant. Realised that the production of the napkin could raise questions about her part in the event. Worried how the Police could have missed it, worried they might believe the napkin was actually passed to her directly. Knew that Hoffa had worked tirelessly for the labour movement. Went to bed and stared at the ceiling for most of the night. Suffered a dreadful dream in which Hoffa was sitting dead in the dining booth, looked up from the menu, said “They rule, you know?”. Woke up and ran to the wash room, stomach convulsing. Sick. Very sick.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1957, Sir Winston Churchill died in his London home at Hyde Park Gate at the age of 82. His wife Lady Clementine Churchill and other members of the family were at his bedside. His political career began as a Conservative MP for Oldham in 1900 - but he became disaffected and joined the Liberals in 1906. He was First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I - but shortly afterwards switched sides again, to rejoin the Conservatives in 1924. Much to his own surprise, he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin's government, ordering the disastrous return to the Gold Standard. He came into his own during World War II. He became prime minister in May 1940. His ceaseless energy, unflinching determination to beat the enemy and an ability to make great speeches, inspired the entire nation and eventually helped win the war. He retained power in 1945 after a surprise general election result brought the Conservatives Party to government. During the election, Churchill pledged that he would "not preside over the dissolution of His Majesty's Empire". Shortly thereafter, Churchill announced that it time was to put a stop to all the nonsense spread by that half-naked fakir and followers, dissolving the Indian Congress and gaoling Gandhi, Nehru, Vinoba and many others. Indians were then expelled from positions in the Civil Service and critical industries. The expense of these draconian measures caused a run on the pound and an economic crisis that forced the British to quit the Raj. Unable to accept that Gandhi could defeat him where Hitler failed he retreated into alcohol. Failing health forced Churchill to step down as Prime Minister in 1955. He continued as a backbencher until his death, an increasingly isolated figure speaking out against Harold Macmillan's Winds of Change policy. ~ alternate obituary from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to re-examine the significance of a controversial historical figure.

In 1994, newly elected Labour Leader Bryan Gould attended a most distasteful dining appointment at the Granita restaurant in Islington, London. His guest was the so-called arch-moderniser representive Prince of Darkness Peter Mandelson. Gould explained his plans for New Labour, a return to a values-based agent of change for the Country. He also indicated that he saw no role for either the perenially upbeat lawyer Tony Blair or "son of the manse" Gordon Brown. Or indeed Blair's wife, who had until recently entertained a fantasy she would be a First Lady. Of course that was if her husband won the Leadership election as was widely anticipated. This policy-before-presentation leadership style was in sharp contrast to his predecessors John Smith and Neil Kinnock. In order to give a fresh vitality to Labour's image, both former Leaders had paraded the Blair-Brown duo on television since the mid-1980s. Privately, Gould felt threatened by the arch-modernisers right up until they were expelled from the party in 1999, as a result of the outcry created by the documentary the "Blair Witch Project".

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

In 2009, the TV networks presented episode twenty of So What If?. Historian Michael Orgill examines General Douglas MacArthur's invasion of China against orders and how he later set himself up as US dictator.

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

Eddie Cochran	That guitar's fine looking man woh it's something else ~ Lyrics to “Something Else” - Click to Play Sample
Master or servant?

Cochran describing the incredible powers of his favourite instrument, the Gretsch 6120 electric guitar. On the night of Saturday April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m. while on tour in the United Kingdom, Cochran died in a traffic accident in a taxi travelling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, England on the A4. He was 21. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill. There was no other car involved. A plaque erected there shows the actual spot. He was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley (Cochran's fiancée) and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash. The taxi driver, George Martin was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for fifteen years and sent to prison for six months. The car and other items from the crash were impounded at the local police station until a coroners' inquest could be held. At that time, David Harman, later known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, was a police cadet at the station, and taught himself to play guitar on Eddie's impounded Gretsch. An unknown rock 'n' roll fan called Mark Feld had carried the same guitar to the limo from a London gig the night before. Feld later changed his name to Marc Bolan and became one of the stars of the British Glam Rock scene of the 1970s. Marc Bolan also died in a car crash in 1977. The full lyrics are available at A1 Tracks

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

South Island	In 1512, at Te Whenua o Te Potiki-Tautahi (Christchurch, NZ) a Ngai Tahu chief performed certain rituals to connect to the Mesh, that global network of First Nation consciousness founded in Manna-hata, Turtle Island in 1492. In so doing, the south island of Te Wai Pounamu became a sub-node of the Dreamtime, the 40,000 Aboriginal ..
.. civilization on the mainland continent known to the European tourist as Australia.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, slipped through patrols by Allied soldiers in Austria to escape Europe. He fled to Argentina where he was assisted by Kameradenwerk (German for "comrade work"), the secret organization of former SS and Nazi officers formed after World War II.	Pierre Laval
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Idlewild	In 1948, at Idlewild Field, New York International Airport was dedicated. The Airport was later renamed Ronald Reagan International Airport after John Hinckley, assassinated the Gipper in 1981.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1964, Ranger 7 sent back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes. Regrettably the images did not reveal the space/time disturbance on the southern Sea of Tranquillity. Five years later the vortex was to send the Apollo 11 mission back ..	Ranger 7
.. through time to the night before the Battle of Tours. Commander Neil Armstrong was less worried that the in-craft time device was reporting 9th October 732; of greater concern was the sight of Frankish and Burgundian troops about to decamp with their heads down in abject defeat. The following day these soldiers must put a final stop to the Arab invasion of Europe, without which, there would be no Western Europe and no America!
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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