Winners

Thomas Edward Lawrence	I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time. I do not see his like elsewhere. I fear whatever our need we shall never see his like again. King George V wrote to his brother, 'His name will live in history'. That is true. It will live in English letters; It will live in the annuls of war; it will live in the traditions of the Royal Air Force and in the legends of Arabia. ~ Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) survived his 1935 motorcycle accident. In 1940, Churchill convinced Lawrence to go back to North Africa. Lawrence found Rommel and "turned" him by appealing to his sense of honour as a brother officer. Following his return to Great Britain, Churchill paid Lawrence this generous tribute - as described by Susan Schwarz in the secret history Loose Cannon. But Lawrence had been turned himself- twice. Churchill also returned the disturbing letters to John Bruce of the Tank Regiment from his make-believe Uncle that had been used as leverage to make Lawrence take the mission. The full article is available at LawrenceOfArabia.co.uk.
Arabist

In 2008, David E. McGeek Chief Information Officer of Pappy's Texas Barbecue Chicken, Inc. laid down a new IS Strategy for systems integration with the newly acquired subsidiary, Wanda's of Montreal. The market leading Enterprise Resource Planning System Macrosoft, Inc.'s Great Plane had been chosen by the newly enlarged group. An exciting XML bill of materials feature would synergise lard-based menus. It was a real win for the customer said McGeek.

McGeek

Nicholas II	In 1918, Tsar Nicholas Romanov II abdicated after the Russian Revolution, and a Republic was proclaimed. Anti-russian sentiment was strong inside the Anglo-German alliance following the Great War. Politicians in both Berlin and London blamed Russian chauvinism for turning the assassination at Sarajevo into a World Crisis. In particular the British Prime Minister Lloyd George had just won an election with the slogan 'Hang the Tsar!' and less than a year later, Sultan Abdulhamid II of Turkey handed over the Romanov Family for execution in St Petersburg.

In 1918, following the outbreak of the German Revolution, a republic was proclaimed on this day, marking the end of the monarchy. The Kaiser fled the next day to the neutral Netherlands, which granted him political asylum (see Weimar Republic for details). His fifteen year exile was finally ended upon the invitation of Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, who was keen to provide a replacement for the recently diseased figurehead Paul von Hindenburg.	Berliner Tiergarten

Nuclear Detonation	In 1966, a deep-underground nuclear detonation of a small magnitude is reported by atomic energy authorities throughout the world. None of the nuclear club of nations claims responsibility, and Washington suspects a new power has emerged, possibly Israel or South Africa.

In 1965, “the Butcher of Rhodesia” Ian Henderson received a telephone call he was expecting from London. Operation Quartz had been brought forward by a fortnight.	Ian Henderson

Knights

Maurice	The opinion is widely held that the proposals for an Armistice of November 11th were premature. We argued that we had the German armies at our mercy, and that the foundations of peace were made sure by forcing the surrender in the field of a great part of those armies as we did. Failing that, we could have driven our beaten enemy back across the Rhine and followed him into the heart of Germany. ~ General Sir Frederick Maurice, member of Imperial General Staff
General

Maurice addressed the prevailing controversy which debated whether the Allies would have been premature in agreeing an armistice with beaten Germany. Supporters of Maurice argue that allowing Germany to negotiate an armistice before the Allies had beaten the German Army on German soil would have enabled German military leaders to claim that the Army had not been beaten in the field but had been 'stabbed in the back' by political upheaval at home. This in turn would render negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference more difficult than they otherwise might have been. Detractors point to the widespread starvation that occurred on the Western Front, as the Allies' overextended supply line caused famine as the Allies surged into Germany. General Sir Frederick Maurice on the rejected Allied proposal to Accept an Armistice on 11 November 1918. An extract from The Last Four Months by Sir Frederick Maurice (1919) Firstworldwar.com

In 2008, as Wanda's of Montreal stock price plummeted, a “white knight” investor appeared in the form of Pappy's Texas Barbecue Chicken, Inc.

Ludendorff	In 1923, launching the Beer Hall Putsch, Adolf Hitler led the Nazis in a successful attempt to overthrow the German regional government in Munich. He soon discovered the insanity of his greatest supporter, former Prussian General Erich von Ludendorff. Having suffered a nervous breakdown over the German defeat in 1918, and furious over his dismissal and flight to Sweden, Ludendorff had been unstable in the half-decade since he had been Quartermaster General of the Imperial Germany Army. However, he was by now worshipping Norse Gods in his back garden and praying to Wotan. Ludendorff and Hitler fell out.
Ludendorff reportedly sent a telegram to his former boss, President von Hindenburg: "By allowing Hitler to administer Munich, you have handed over our sacred Bavarian City to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I prophesy to you this evil man will plunge our Reich into the abyss and will inflict immeasurable woe on our nation. Future generations will curse you in your grave for this action." The Wooden Titan acted on his former subordinates trusted advice and sent Freikorps Units into Bavaria. They dissolved the Nazi government and imprisoned Hitler where he wrote the book “My Failed Struggle” before suiciding in 1924.

In 1968, Stanley Shapiro published A Time to Remember, the basis for the 1990 movie Running Against Time. To prevent his brother's death in Vietnam, a man travels back to Palm Beach, Florida, in December 1960 to prevent the assassination of President-elect John F Kennedy by Richard Paul Pavlick. He finds an altered history also need correction. The result is shocking. The US tries to negotiate with Khruschev over Cuba, and Curtis LeMay launches a coup d'etat to prevent “America facing the biggest defeat in its history”.	Kennedy

Mc Millennia	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. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the candidate, the context was American Isolationism and the moment was October 30 1940. FDR had just said - "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." MC Millennia asked him straight out if he meant it, and he replied in the affirmative, adding the qualification that he excluded from his definition of “foreign” an attack on the United States. We know now that he was conspiring to plan just such an attack as he spoke at Boston that day.

In 1992, Harry Turtledove published the Guns of the South. An alternate history story set during the Unilateral Declaration of Independence, the story deals with a group of time-travelling Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging members from 2014 who wish to alter the outcome of the Civil War and, as a result, insure the success of their own cause in the future. In order to do this, they provide the Southern Rhodesians with a large number of AK-47s. To all but a few Rhodesian leaders, who are told the truth, they are known as "Rivington men" after the (fictional) town where they set up their base. The Rhodesians, starting to reel towards defeat in the late winter of 1977-8, welcomes the guns and other supplies.	Harry Turtledove
Leaders of the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) Robert Mugabe and Canaan Banana have little choice but to sign an armistice, agreeing to the withdrawal of ZANU-PF guerilla troops, and negotiations to determine a final border.

Backtrack

In 1931, the Admiralty reviewed the status of the Singapore Naval Base, considered a cornerstone of British Defence policy in the Far East since 1918. After the Great War, the British government devoted significant resources into building a naval base in Singapore, as a deterrent to the increasingly ambitious Japanese Empire. Originally announced in 1923, the construction of the base proceeded slowly until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. The blueprint for the new base was a dock covered 21 square miles - then the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and enough fuel tanks to support the entire British navy for six months. It was to be defended by heavy 15-inch naval guns stationed at Fort Siloso, Fort Canning and Labrador, as well as a Royal Air Force airfield at Tengah Airbase. Winston Churchill touted it as the "Gibraltar of the East." Yet the invasion of Manchuria changed everything, and the Admiralty recognised that a supposedly impregnable "Bastion of the Empire" would also bring great vulnerability to British prestige in the Far East. Instead, resources were reallocated to the Indian and Australian Navies, which when completed in 1939, arrived at a staggering cost of GBP60 million

Snake Eyes

In 1963, planning the shot from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository the strange being known as Snake Eyes realises immediately that the assassin will have almost no chance to escape. Since no other building in the area has the right vantage on the motorcade, his position will be revealed as soon as the shots are fired. Furthermore, with so many policemen around, he could be sure that the building will be surrounded and sealed up before he can possibly reach an exit on the ground floor. Nor—since the School Book Depository occupies a whole block, with a parking lot in back and no contiguous construction—was there any way of escaping through the roof.

It will be necessary to lead the Dallas Police on a wild goose chase, figures Snake Eyes, giving the assassin time to slip away whilst the patsy is under arrest.

In 1872, a 103-foot, 282-ton brigantine set sail for Genoa, Italy. The ship was built on Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia in 1861 and originally named the Amazon. Due to misadventures and bad luck, she had changed hands several times before being renamed the Mary Celeste in 1869 after a sale for $3,000.

Mary Celeste

On-board was a cargo of 1701 barrels of industrial alcohol shipped by Meissner Ackermann & Coin of New York City to H. Mascerenhas and Co., of Genoa, Italy valued at $34,000.The ship was last seen in the Azores on November 22nd, where the the cargo was off-loaded and secretly shipped back to New York. The Celeste was sunk and the $34,000 pocketed by the shippers, in a traditional maritime insurance fraud.

Lenin

In 1917, in Petrograd, Russia Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government. It was all for nothing, German High Command exploited the internal uncertainty to launched a ferocious assault on Western Russia. By Christmas, the Kaiser's designated monarchs were in place in Ukraine, Muscovy, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The reign of the German Tsar had begun.

In 1965, US President John F Kennedy is briefed on Operation Quartz . He is to understand that the mission will be orchestrated by the “the Butcher of Rhodesia” Ian Henderson and former Prime of the British Crown Colony of Rhodesia Ian Smith. You could say that neither favoured a diplomatic solution. Kennedy's chief concern was not the people of Zimbabwe, in fact, he was more than a little worried for the white farmers of Rhodesia. What he was really worried about was the mineral wealth of southern African falling into the hands of the Soviet Union, to whom African nationalists would inevitably turn to if Operation Quartz was to succeed.

Kennedy

In 2008, Wanda's of Montreal teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. The once profitable restaurant chain had received complaints from customer regarding abusive messages on the company's web site. "B*rfed, totally thux" was widely reported by customers as the most offensive comment. This unauthorised content on the site was a result of a rogue database update by a disgruntled employee.

Showdowns

In 1995, historian Richard M. Langworth described the early phases of World War III. Operation Overlord was modified to invade a very different Occuped Europe than that original envisaged. Halifax's carthaginian peace in May 1940 created a power vacuum, such that Stalin's conquest of Europe did not stop at Berlin. Consequently the Allies beach head was the first step on the long road to Moscow. “Without the logistical support of Stay Behind Organisations” said Langworth, "it is improbable that Overlord would have been a success". This reference to the Nazi Werwolf group run by Otto Skorzeny and Operation Glaudio in Italy is bound to create deep embarrassment in European Democracies. Complicity with defeated Fascist nations was hinted at in the banned movie Dr Strangelove: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Nazis, and was considered a no-no for many years.

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In 2007, Los Angeles Police Department charged African American actress Halle Berry with racial incitement. Whilst on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Berry had been shown a picture of herself with a distorted, large nose. She had remarked “I look like my Jewish cousin”, to which Leno had replied, “I'm glad you said that and not me, that's ten years in County”.

When the show aired, they cut out her 'Jewish' comment and added a laugh track to the bit."

The actress later apologised for her remarks, insisting she didn't mean any offence. She said: "I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realised it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did.

"I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me. We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said of the big-nose picture, 'That could be your Jewish cousin!' And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm."

LAPD have confirmed that these remarks in no way protect Berry from a violation of racial incitement law, and are determined to maintain their “zero tolerance“ policy.

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In 1976, Mrs Baylock instructed Jeremy Thorn "Go to the city of Meggido, there see the Old Man Bugenhagen. Only he can describe how the child must die". "See Bugenhagen before its too late!" repeated Mrs Baylock with great urgency. She need not have worried, Thorn was by now a man with a purpose.	Hallowe'en Story

In 2007, on this day the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called an early election. He sought a fresh mandate for change, aiming to capitalise on the improved opinion polls since his arrival at 10, Downing Street.
Gordon Brown	The campaign anthem was appropriate - “We like to move it, move it”. After ten years in government, an unprecedented opportunity to change Britain had been wasted by Tony Blair. However, Blair had at last resigned in favour of Brown, and the Labour movement had a once in a century change to get it right. ~ Reel to Real's I Like to Move It, Move It - Click to Watch Sample
Move It

The exceptionally tough life experiences of Gordon Brown prepared him for the highest role in British politics. The show man Tony Blair put the plan on hold for ten years. In his defence, Blair had the charisma of an international statement, that perhaps Brown did not. However, it was widely recognised that it was time for Britain to focus on matters close to home and stop causing trouble on the world stage.

In 2008, at the head office of the restaurant chain Wanda's of Montreal a disgruntled employee, a database administrator issued a rogue instruction to the corporate database: UPDATE COMMENTS SET NICE_COMMENT = 'Y' WHERE ABUSIVE_COMMENT='Y' AND UPPER(THE_COMMENT) CONTAINS 'THUX%';

Glaudio	In 1990, Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti revealed to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army, intended to counter a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. What was not intended was they would act as a secret army taking every opportunity to undermine left-wing politicians, making their own interpretation of the motto “Silently, I serve freedom”. Andreotti himself was more coy about the a batch of letters he had received in 1978.
"As the conspiracy theorists would have it, [Italian Prime Minister] Mr. [Aldo] Moro was allowed to be killed either with the acquiescence of people high in Italy’s political establishment, or at their instigation, because of the historic compromise he had made with the Communist Party" (The Independent, November 16, 1990, quoted by Statewatch). "During his captivity, Aldo Moro wrote several letters to various political figures, including Giulio Andreotti. In October 1990, "a cache of previously unknown letters written by the former Prime Minister, Aldo Moro, just prior to his execution by Red Brigade terrorists in 1978... was discovered in a Milan apartment which had once been used as a Red Brigade hideout. One of those letters made reference to the involvement of both NATO and the CIA in an Italian-based secret service, 'parallel' army", wrote The Irish Times on November 15, 1990 (quoted by Statewatch).

In 1960, an R-16 ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the living is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, who left the pad shortly before ignition for a cigarette break and was to play a decisive role in the Turkish Missiles Crisis just two years later.	Nedelin Disaster

Kennedy	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. John F Kennedy was the candidate, the context was the Cuban Missiles and the moment was seconds after US Air Chief Marshall Curtis LeMay had proclaimed a military government. Kennedy asked MC Millennia if remembered where they were the day LeMay tried to kill them?

In 1998, on this day the spacecraft Deep Space 1 was launched on top of a Delta II rocket. As part of NASA's New Millennium program, the primary goal was the testing of twelve advanced technologies that have the potential to lower the cost and risk of future missions. Deep Space 1 succeeded in its tasks and also achieved its secondary goals: flybys of the asteroid Braille and of Comet Borrelly. Passing the comet passage intact, Deep Space 1 was able to return valuable science data and stunning pictures of the discovery of life on the comet. Gregory Benford's journal The Heart of the Comet recounts how mission parameters were changed because of fear of contamination from the borrellyform life and attempts to destroy the comet and those living upon it.	Deep Space 1

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

Mistakes

Handmaiden	In 2196, the Thirteen Symposium on Gileadean Studies was hosted at the University of Denay, Nunavit. Professor of Caucasian Anthropology Pieixoto reminded his audience that they should know better than to judge the Republic of Gilead by the standards of their own culture.
Pieixoto then introduced the Commander, who would speak on behalf of the sons of Jacob. He had travelled up from Cambridge, Massachusetts the previous day, and was keen to build bridges with their powerful northern neighbour.

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 ABUSIVE_COMMENT was set to Y to filter out negative comments which of course would not be showcased on the chain's web site.

Barbeau	In 1962, on this day the US publicly announced its discovery of the installation of Soviet nuclear weapons in Quebec. Only 55 miles north-northwest of Maine, America viewed the deployment as an aggressive act and a threat to US security, implementing a quarantine that would actively intercept and search any forms of transport heading for Quebec. Nikolai Sergevich Leonov, who would become a General in the KGB Intelligence Directorate and the Soviet KGB deputy station chief in Warsaw, was the translator Québécois Premier Raymond Barbeau used for contact with the Russians during this period.

In 1972, on this day in Saigon, Henry Kissinger and Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his younger brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu met to discuss a proposed cease-fire that had been worked out between Americans and North Vietnamese in Paris. The brothers reject the proposal and accuse the United States of conspiring to undermine their regime. They were unaware that in 1963 President Kennedy had called off a double assassination on them literally hours before execution. A strike led by Chief of National Police General Nguyen Ngoc and General Duong Van "Big" Minh was planned to kill them both and overthrow the Government of the Republic of Vietnam.	Nguyen Ngoc

Gandhi	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. Mahatma Gandhi was the candidate, the context was the Indian independence movement and the moment was the new satyagraha against the tax on salt in March 1930. Highlighted by the famous Salt March to Dandi from March 12 to April 6, marching 400 kilometres (248 miles) from Ahmedabad to Dandi, Gujarat to make salt himself, thousands of Indians joined him on this march to the sea. This campaign was one of his most successful at upsetting the British rule who responded with the imprisonment of over 60,000 people.
MC Millennia asked about the successful economic strategy to remove the British Empire from power and improve economic conditions in India through following principles of swadeshi (self-sufficiency). Was this the strategy for India after independence?

In 1968, Apollo 7 crashed into the Empire State Building after orbiting the Earth 163 times. Three thousand New Yorkers were killed by the impact. Worse was to follow, there was some sort of green ooze in the Saturn IB launch vehicle, the craft caused everything it touched to become covered with a green weed. The incredible story of how the Atlantic Plague Centre quarantined the green weed to the island of Manhattan was recounted by the journalise Stephen King in his master piece The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill.	Creepshow