A Great Leap Forward

August 15th, 2007

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The Announcement

Post-Birthday Delirium: The Alt-Historian is in a bit of a delirium after the joyous celebrations yesterday, so Steve will have the entirety of today's post. Don't forget the birthday contest for Steve – November 22, 1967!

In 2007, President Bert Gort of Macrosoft, Inc announced it was "probably best" to set the update manager to half hourly intervals on Vesta Enterprise Edition. The delivery of up to two critical updates per hour was hailed by Gort as a leap forward in accelerated "time to market" for desktop operating systems. Surely other enterprise software authors would not have had the vision to deliver this innovation to the needy user and his/her stable desktop platform.

~ entry by Co-historian Steve Payne

Eric Blair	When George Orwell joined up to fight in the Spanish Civil War, it seemed like the beginning of "an era of equality and freedom" .. he vividly chronicles his experiences: the revolutionary euphoria of Barcelona, the courage of the ordinary Spanish men and women he fought alongside" ~ plaque at the Plaza de George Orwell, Barcelona
George Orwell

Franco's defeat at the hands of the militia was the beginning of the end for Fascism in Europe. And the beginning of Anarchism, with the control of government giving way to "the Party". Orwell's only regret was choosing the year 1984 to describe this future vision. He realised by the end of 1945 it was much closer, and renamed the book 1948. The full article is available at Amazon

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

All my life I wanted to make it to the top (That's word,we pray) Some said I wouldn't They told me no, but I didn't stop
MC Hammer	(That's word,we pray) Working hard,making those movies everyday (That's word,we pray) And on my knees every night, you know I pray ~ Lyrics to “Pray” - Click to Watch Sample
Stanley Kirk Burrell

In 1997, Stanley Kirk Burrell was the subject of an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show and the VH1 series Behind the Music. In these appearances, Burrell admitted that he had already used up most of his fortune of over $20 million. Privately Burrell was considering leaving the music industry and going back to the Church. Fortunately, his partnership with Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur generated new income and this did not occur. It would have been a travesty of justice for the twentieth century's greatest dancer to have entered premature retirement. Please Hammer don't hurt 'em - said the fans! The lyrics are available at Astraweb

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

In 2002, Chris Bunch published Tarnished Glory, projecting General George Armstrong Custer fifty years forward into World War II.

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

"I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to persuade all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, ..
Urban II	... to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it is meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it." ~ Pope Urban II, self-styled chief bishop and prelate over the whole world.
Pope

On 15 August 1096 the beginning of an independent foreign policy was actively pursued from Rome as thousands “took the cross” in the First Crusade. Urban II viewed himself as “chief bishop and prelate over the whole world”, and this event marked the emergence of a Holy Roman Empire headed by the Pope. A synopsis of the life and times of Pope Urban II is provided at Wikipedia

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

In 1942, at the old Spanish Prison in Manilla the Japanese guard caught the escaping American officer. Unslinging his rifle, the guard inquired Nan desu ka? Suddenly MacArthur appeared, moving incredibly fast for his age. He barged the Japanese, and in a moment the rifle was a club MacArthur used to break his arm. The escaping pair fled into the moonlight, and they were gone. MacArthur had made good his escape, the duty of a soldier who has been captured. He refused to fade away as a POW.

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

Malcolm X	In 1482, to pass the long night of six hundred years at St. George El Mina Castle, a new angry voice spoke to Kwame. ”We declare our right on this earth to be a man.... to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this ..
.. society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. ”
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1956, delegates of the European Monarchies started upon the formal agenda for the Berlin 2 Conference. The definitions for spheres of influence agreed in 1884-5 (Berlin 1) were reviewed in the context of security problems posed by African nationalists. Point #1 was to seal agreement on free shipping along the Niger and ..	Spheres of Infl..
.. Congo rivers permitted agreement on an multinational security force for threats to transportation. More troublesome were the mineral resource pools, all of which were concentrated in individual protectorates for obvious reasons.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

MacArthur	In 1957, the MacArthur Doctrine is show-cased to the world press. Following the successful conclusion of the Dropshot War, President Douglas “Brass Hat” MacArthur had reversed the defeats of the early Cold War and reconquered the world for democracy. Korea was re-united, and China back under the governorship of Chiang Kai-shek's ..
.. Kuomintang. With Mao Tse Tung's forces retreated into the Soviet Union, Brass Hat confirmed in his doctrine that the United States would not tolerate communist activity south of the Ussuri River.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976/1750, in Harlem, New York City the actress Cicely Tyson dreams of a place she has never seen, the village of Juffure in the Gambia, West Africa. She and her husband Omoro take their newborn son to the village elder. Omoro holds his son and first whispers into ..	Binta Kinte
.. the ear of his son. The Mandinkas believe that every person should be the first to hear its own name. Then and only then, will others hear it. And so the name is first whispered and then revealed to all who have waited for seven days to hear it: Kunta Kinte, Kunta Kinte. Following the ceremony, Omoro takes his newborn son to the edge of the village. Alone in the dark of night with his newborn son, lit only by the moon and the millions of stars overhead, Omoro lifts his son high over his head and says: “Behold, the only thing greater than yourself.” The following morning, Tyson receives a telephone call from the author Alex Haley, who makes the actress a once in a life-time offer.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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I Shall Return

The state of TIAH

March 20th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: I promised you a collection, and we are working on it – but real life is getting in the way. Fortunately, the worst part of the real-life problems we were having has been resolved. I have found new employment (yay!). We're going to aim for an April release for the collection, and will make more announcements about it as we draw closer to actually making that a reality. And, speaking of April, 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). My lovely Co-Historian says that if we can get 30 entrants, we can offer an ultimate winner a complimentary TIAH mug, but we only have 3 entrants so far! Get researching those alternate histories now, folks! The deadline is March 29th.

in 1778, King Louis XVI of France entertains the American envoys Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee at his court in Versailles. The three colonists are there to convince the French monarch to openly support the American revolutionary cause with troops, treasure and supplies. Some covert French support has already been given to the rebels, but the king is reluctant to aid a revolt against a fellow monarch. Franklin makes a particularly impassioned plea to His Majesty in perfect French, but Louis is troubled at the thought of a popular revolt against royal rule, and denies further French support to the rebels. Several nobles of his court disobey the royal edict and provide as much aid as they can to the Americans, just to spite the English. However, it is not enough. The Americans, denied support in most of Europe, turn to the natives on their own continent. Several of the native nations band with the Americans in exchange for promises of equal power and peaceful coexistence with the colonists once they gain their freedom. The Iroquois Confederation, in particular, proves a powerful ally to the Americans, and is at the forefront of the revolution. Their ideals influence the revolutionaries and promote an egalitarian impulse among men who had been somewhat royalist themselves. Revolutionary thinker Thomas Jefferson heads a committee that drafts a constitution with great dollops borrowed from the Iroquois in 1782. Although there is great resistance to the new constitution's provisions freeing the slaves held by some in the southern colonies, the promise of freedom for all holds the colonists together, and the constitution becomes a great source of strength and inspiration to them. The war finally ends with victory for the Americans and their native allies in 1788.

MacArthur	In 1942 General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, made his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he said: 'I came out of Bataan and I shall return'. It was just talk, on December 3rd 1944 at San Francisco Bay the final Anzac refugees were welcomed to safety by MacArthur as Supreme ..
.. Commander of Homeland Security. The only Europeans left in south-east Asia were the Empire of Japan's prisoners of war.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2003 on this day the invasion of Iraq began in the early hours of the morning, as the United States and three other countries began military operations in Iraq. George Bush's thirty year project to seize the Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) buried in Iraq enters its final phase, which is just as well, he was 80 years old.	George Bush
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

George Curzon, ..	In 1925 British Prime Minister George Nathaniel Curzon died in office. Britain was by then a bankrupted and defeated nation suffering hyperinflation which was being tackled by the hopelessly incompetent Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill. Worse, Britain was a satellite of the Second Reich and thus a shadow of ..
.. her former glorious and illustrious past. Heartbroken, Curzon had recently announced the discovery of huge oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. Unfortunately the recipients would be the Germans, whose High Seas Fleet operated with impudence out of the former British Naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, patrolling the maritime zone above the oil fields. It was the killer blow.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1974 Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips were kidnapped in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace returning from a London charity event. Their Rolls Royce was forced to stop by a Ford Escort. The driver of the Escort, Ian Ball jumped from his car, firing a gun. Inspector James Beaton, the ..	Princess Anne
.. Princess' private detective, responded by jumping out to shield the Princess as he tried to disarm Ball. However, his gun jammed and he was shot in the head and chest. The chauffeur, Alex Callender was also shot as he tried to disarm Ball. Journalist Brian McConnell, who was passing by, also tried to intervene and was shot once in the chest. As Ball told the Princess of his kidnapping plan and asked her to get out of the car, she replied 'Not bloody likely!' and briefly considered hitting Ball. Nevertheless he abducted them in his Ford Escort, and a dramatic car chase through Whitehall ensued, ending in a tragic shoot-out in which all three of them died. Beaton was awarded the George Cross. Alex Callender, Brian McConnell, Ron Russell, PC Michael Hills, and DC Peter Edmonds were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal. A BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson broadcast in 2006 claimed that the kidnapping was a strike against the establishment who at that time were trying to impose a military government with Lord Louis Mountbatten as Interim Prime Minister.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Guest Entry; NaNoWriMo

The state of TIAH

November 1st, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: today marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. Starting today, the posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1952, Operation Ivy is conducted on Elugelab Island in the Enewetak atoll of the Marshall Islands. The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" yielding 10.4 megatons of explosive power, over 450 times the power of the bomb that fell on Nagasaki. Whilst greatly alarmed by this increase in destructive capability, the Soviet Union and China viewed the operation as nuclear sabre-rattling, dismissing its geopolitical significance as an offensive threat. This assessment was based on the events of two years before; when UN Commander-in-chief for Korea Douglas McArthur had requested authorization to strike Manchuria and major Chinese cities with thirty to fifty nuclear weapons following Chinese intervention into the War, not only had this request been rejected, President Truman had also relieved MacArthur of his command. General Omar Bradley later speculated that MacArthur's disappointment over his inability to wage war on China had "snapped his brilliant but brittle mind." With Dwight Eisenhower strongly favoured to win the presidency in '52, continuation of Truman's policies was expected given Ike's record of cautious command in World War 2. History took an unexpected turn however when US voters reject the campaign message "We like Ike". Just twenty-eight days after Operation Ivy, U.S. President-elect Douglas MacArthur fulfilled a campaign promise by going to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict, famously saying "There is no substitute for victory". The United States had after all voted for Mike. -entry by guest Historian, Stephen Payne-

in 1966, Four years have passed since "Chappaquiddick" destroyed the Kennedy Presidency and sparked a resurgence of the American conservative political movement. The Joint Chiefs of Staff prepare for the weekly presidential meeting by staring uncompromisingly at the portraits outside the Oval Office. Truman - who refused MacArthur's request to hit Manchuria with atomic weapons during the Korean War, then dismissed him. Eisenhower - masterminded D-Day only to go soft on Communism, not even objecting to Joe McCarthy's criticism of George Marshall. Kennedy - who prevented the mastermind of the Berlin Air Lift Curtis LeMay from striking the Soviet missile bases on Cuba. And now, Goldwater - who's own rhetoric on nuclear war was viewed by many as quite uncompromising, a view buttressed by off-hand comments such as, "Let's lob one into the men's room at the Kremlin." Also, Goldwater had had nervous breakdowns in 1937 and 1939; he began to drink heavily, a problem he never completely overcame. Today, the JCS will recommend the upgrade of Operation Rolling Thunder to include nuclear strikes on Viet Cong bases in North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, absolutely necessary to end the war. It is, they believe, only a matter of time before America elects a President who will listen to the military. As they enter the Oval Office, they are momentarily disoriented to find a beaming President John F. Kennedy sitting behind the Resolute desk. “What'll it be today fellows, drop a nuke on Uncle Ho?” he asks mischievously. -entry by guest Historian, Stephen Payne-

Before
The light was strong this morning. Kevin looked up at the sun, holding his hand over his head to shade his eyes, and smiled. It was just cool enough to be comfortable without a jacket, a typical winter day in Texas.
Kevin walked over to his truck, a beat-up old '98 Chevy, and hopped inside. He had a good drive ahead of him today – Austin was about 100 miles away – and he was ready to get started. Kevin's truck, which he sometimes called The Love Boat, had a couple of jiffy may-pop tires on the passenger side, and the electrical system might as well be driven by a hamster on a wheel, but he figured it could make it to Austin.
He started the truck, let it warm up – it wouldn't go in reverse unless he let it warm up – and then pulled out of his dirt driveway. He had put some food and water outside for the dog, which was now barking and wagging its tail at him from the other side of the fence. He waved at it and then rolled down to the farm road. A couple of miles down that was the big highway, and down that open road was Austin and the promise of the big city.
He stopped at the railroad tracks while a train passed by, and turned on the radio. There was some stupid morning show on his usual channel, so he flipped to the news on NPR. Usual bad politicians, war troubles, economic difficulties, then a heart-warming story of human will overcoming adversity – typical news. He whistled while he listened to it, not really paying attention.
When the train went by, he proceeded on down to the highway. He stopped at the little convenience store at the corner of the highway to gas up and grab a snack. With the truck's tank filled and his stomach following suit as he munched on a danish, he drove onto the highway and pointed his truck north.
He hadn't driven on the highway for some time because of his tires, but he felt pretty good about them today. The truck shimmied a little because the wheels were unevenly filled, but it wasn't so bad. The vibration of the steering wheel in his hands just helped keep him awake.
Kevin usually got a little sleepy on long drives, but he felt very energetic today. The traffic thinned out as he left town and headed towards the hill country. There were a bunch of little towns between Bryan and Austin, but it was going to be a lonely drive. Fortunately, there was only a 30-mile stretch of bad radio between when Bryan's stations faded out and Austin's stations could be picked up, so he had that for company.
He almost wished he'd brought his dog, but the little guy didn't like long car rides, and Kevin didn't feel like cleaning up his truck today. He felt his cell phone buzz against his waist, and heard his own voice coming from it; “Kevin, your cell phone is ringing. Kevin, your cell phone is ringing. Kevin, pick up your phone!” He ignored it. It was probably just work, wondering where he was. He wasn't going to worry about that, today, either.

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Snapping

In 1766, Rip Van Winkle rested on a bench before a small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of his majesty King George the Third. His wife Dame had driven him out of home for his broken promises to repair the house. Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster was deliberating on events in the wider world. Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn chipped in with the occassional comment. An evening of human fellowship, there was no need to repair the House, and no need to get angry about the events roundabout. Situation normal.

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Westmoreland

In 1979, the cabinet of President William Westmoreland received a characteristically belligerent briefing from US Army Chief of Staff Frederick Carlton Weyand regarding the build-up of Soviet troops on the Afganistan border. The United States had began sending aid to anti-Soviet, Afghan Islamist factions on July 3, 1979. At the other end of the spectrum were apocalyptic warnings of a confrontation issued by journalist Stanley Shapiro. Writing in the New York Times in an article entitled A Time to Remember Shapiro inexplicably suggested that an altered history might require correction.

In Shapiro's view, by winning the Vietnam war, a militarised state had been guaranteed. No slight was left without a reciprocal response. This was a recipe for superpower confrontation. Better for the US to have been humbled by the war in Vietnam and then this ultra-belligerence would have been nipped in the bud, and Westmoreland sent off into a quiet retirement was Shapiro's message.

In 1872, on board the Mary Celeste the crew under the command of Captain Benjamin Briggs reached the island of St Mary in the Azores – it was completely empty. Suggesting the island had been abandoned very recently, a number of strange discoveries were made including untouched breakfasts with cups of tea, washing hung out to dry and a cat found asleep on top of a locker. First Mate Albert Richardson joked that they had not seen a single human being since leaving New York City on November 7, 1872. Nobody laughed – it wasn't a laughing matter by then.

Snakeyes

In 1963, the strange being known as Snake Eyes is working hard to tie up loose ends. Even though the body count has already reached ten and all the principles are dead. Today's problem is a Dicta belt recording from a police officer's motorcycle that was escorting Kennedy’s motorcade. Listening to an incomprehensible string of guttural noises, it would be hard to image a more alien sounding conversation.

In 1963, a coded message from the CIA Station in Moscow is received and fully understood at KGB headquarters. The assassination of President Kennedy was to be considered an “internal” security matter. Khrushchev understood. What was implied but unwritten was the truth. Kennedy had been assassinated by security forces who had overthrown the government of the United States (actually as revenge for abandoning the CIA agents at the Bay of Pigs). The new government would not use the assassination as a pretext for a first strike on the Soviet Union, and sought no Cold War advantage from the action.

Alek dies

Kennedy

In 1963, the substitute body of President John F. Kennedy which was switched at the Parkland Memorial Hospital was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Serious anomalies were discovered in 1967 whilst moving the body of President John F. Kennedy to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. The true story of how the wounded President had been smuggled out of Dallas to be secreted at Hyannisport was later revealed by Nicholas A. DiChario in his masterful work 'The Winterberry'.

In 1950, the People's Republic of China joined the Korean War, sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river border to fight United Nations forces. UN Commander in Chief (Korean Peninsula) MacArthur raised a request to end the conflict by launching the bio-weapons surrendered to him in 1945 by Japanese General Otozoo Yamada's Bacteriological weapons research in Unit 731. Denied, he was angered at what he perceived to be Harry Truman's “limited war” and subsequently relieved of his command by the President. General Omar Bradley later speculated that MacArthur's disappointment over his inability to wage war on China had "snapped his brilliant but brittle mind." With the United States detonating the world's first hydrogen bomb on November 1st 1952, and “Brass Hat” back in the saddle again just twenty-eight days later, the world wondered just how the conflict would end; and vice versa.

MacArthur

Boundaries

	In 1925, John Daniel Ehrlichman was born in Tacoma, Washington. Ehrlichman worked on Nixon's 1960 presidential campaign, 1962 California gubernatorial campaign and was an advance man for Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign. Following Nixon's victory, Ehrlichman became the White House Counsel (later replaced by John Dean). He held this post for about a year before he became the Chief Domestic Advisor for Nixon. It was then that he became a member of the inner circle of Nixon's closest advisors. He and close friend, H. R. Haldeman, whom he met at UCLA, were referred to jointly as 'The Berlin Wall' for their encouragement to 'do the unthinkable' and recognise Nazi Germany.
Enroute to Berlin

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	In 1942, General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, made his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he said: 'I came out of Bataan and I shall return'. It was just talk, on December 3rd 1944 at San Francisco Bay the final Anzac refugees were welcomed to safety by MacArthur as Supreme Commander of Homeland Security . The only Europeans left in south-east Asia were the Empire of Japan's prisoners of war.

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	In 1925, British Prime Minister George Nathaniel Curzon died in office. Britain was by then a bankrupted and defeated nation suffering hyperinflation which was being tackled by the hopelessly incompetent Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill. Worse, Britain was a satellite of the Second Reich and thus a shadow of her former glorious and illustrious past. Heartbroken, Curzon had recently announced the discovery of huge oil and gas reserves in the North Sea. Unfortunately the recipients would be the Germans, whose High Seas Fleet operated with impudence out of the former British Naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, patrolling the maritime zone above the oil fields. It was the killer blow.

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In 1900, Giuseppe Zangara was executed in Dade County assassinating President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. Zangara, a poorly educated brick layer, suffered severe pain in his abdomen, later attributed to adhesions of the gall bladder. These were later cited as a cause for his increasing mental delusions. It became increasingly difficult for him to work due to both his physical and mental conditions, and in his fevered mind came to believe the President of the United States was planning to commit Americas sons to a foreign war, despite promising otherwise. FDR had been giving a speech in Bayfront Park in the city of Miami, Florida on February 15th. Before shooting FDR, Zangara had screamed 'I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.'

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	In 1974, Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips were kidnapped in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace returning from a London charity event. Their Rolls Royce was forced to stop by a Ford Escort. The driver of the Escort, Ian Ball jumped from his car, firing a gun. Inspector James Beaton, the Princess' private detective, responded by jumping out to shield the Princess as he tried to disarm Ball. However, his gun jammed and he was shot in the head and chest.

The chauffeur, Alex Callender was also shot as he tried to disarm Ball. Journalist Brian McConnell, who was passing by, also tried to intervene and was shot once in the chest. As Ball told the Princess of his kidnapping plan and asked her to get out of the car, she replied 'Not bloody likely!' and briefly considered hitting Ball. Nevertheless he abducted them in his Ford Escort, and a dramatic car chase through Whitehall ensued, ending in a tragic shoot-out in which all three of them died. Beaton was awarded the George Cross. Alex Callender, Brian McConnell, Ron Russell, PC Michael Hills, and DC Peter Edmonds were awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal. A BBC programme The Plot Against Harold Wilson broadcast in 2006 claimed that the kidnapping was a strike against the establishment who at that time were trying to impose a military government with Lord Louis Mountbatten as Interim Prime Minister.

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	In 1975, Ian Ball narrowly failed in his attempt to kidnap Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and husband Captain Mark Phillips outside Buckingham Palace. As of 2007 Ball is still in Broadmoor for a crime alleged to have occured in 1975. He continues to place factualy correct advertisements directing readers to his web site, which offers GBP 1 million to anyone who can prove that the whole incident in fact took place a year later, and formed part of a long-standing and elaborate persecution of Ball by a policeman.

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	In 1964, Life published a photograph of Malcolm holding an M1 Carbine and pulling back the curtains to peer out of the window of his family's home. Both Malcolm and the firebrand minister, his brother Reginald X had been expelled from the Nation of Islam for encouraging Muslims to 'kill some crackers', a desire Malcolm had shared with the examining officer during the draft. Malcolm had been classified with a dangerous psych profile. Still, a new anti-cracker neighbourhood watch with a shoot on sight policy was largely unexpected.
Malcolm X

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	In 2003, American missiles hit the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, signalling the start of the US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein. Shortly thereafter, Saddam fled the city and has not been seen since.
Baghdad

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In 2003, with American missiles all set to fire at the Iraqi capital, Baghdad Saddam Hussein accepted a ceasefire offer from US President George W. Bush. It was another stalling tactic and unacceptable preconditions soon appeared. Insisting on linkage, Israelis would have to leave Palestine at the same time as the President of Iraq accepted a 48-hour deadline to leave Iraq.

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In 1966, the football World Cup was stolen while on exhibition in London. The football World Cup has been stolen while on exhibition at Central Hall in Westminster, London. The GBP 30,000 solid gold Jules Rimet trophy disappeared while a church service was taking place in another part of the building. Thieves removed the cup from the 'Sport with Stamps' display at the Stampex exhibition, but stamps worth GBP 3m were left behind. At least two guards were in the hall at the time of the theft. Alsa-Guard, the security firm at the exhibition, was not available for comment. Delegates from current cup-holders Brazil left the cup in custody of the Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) a week before. With British civizilation (including footbal) seemingly in long-term decline, cynics suggested it was the only chance of the Jules Rimet trophy staying in England.

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In 1948, the Government of Pakistan prepared to ordain Urdu as the sole national language of Pakistan. Hindi and the Devanagari script were seen as fundamentals of Hindu culture. While the use of Urdu grew common with Muslims in northern India, the Muslims of Bengal (a province in the eastern part of British India) primarily used the Bengali language. Bengali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language that arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages around 1000 CE and developed considerably during the Bengal Renaissance.

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	In 1925, John Daniel Ehrlichman was born in Tacoma, Washington. Ehrlichman created 'The Plumbers', the group at the center of the Watergate scandal, and appointed his assistant Egil Krogh to oversee its covert operations, focusing on stopping leaks of confidential information after the release of The Pentagon Papers in 1971. In 1987, investigative journalists Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons published 'The Watchmen' in which they exposed the hit on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Washington Post reporters who had investigated the break-in. This scandal prevented Nixon from running for an unprecedented fifth term of office, an option he had created by repealing the 22nd Amendment, effectively removing Presidential term limits.
John Ehrlichman

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	In 43 BC, Publius Ovidius Naso, the Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, was born in Sulmo, a valley within the Apennines, east of Rome. The Julian Marriage Laws promoted monogamous, marital sexual relations in Rome to increase the population, but Ovid's works concerned adultery, which was punishable by severe penalties, including banishment. Ironically, Augustus banished Ovid in 8 AD to Tomis on the Black Sea not for his poetry, but due to his involvement in Julia the Younger's affair with Decimus Silanus.

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