John C. Breckinridge

John C. Breckinridge was the youngest ever Vice President of the United States. He served from 1857 to 1861 and was 36 when he was inaugurated. After his vice presidential term, he became a general in the Confederate Army in the Civil War.

At the other end of the spectrum, Joe Biden will be by far the oldest to be inaugurated as President at 78 when he takes office in January.

No doubt you think that it has always been the case that US Presidents can only serve two four year terms but not so. This was established in the twenty second amendment to the constitution in1951. Previously, Franklin D. Roosevelt served three full terms and two months of a fourth term before his death in office in 1945.

By the way, the two terms do not have to be consecutive, so it's possible for a President, who served one term then lost his re-election bid ,to serve his [it's always been a male so far] second term subsequently. Grover Cleveland is the only one to have done this in,1885 and 1893. So far... So, although Biden will be the 46th President, he will only be the 45th person to be President. Remember that for your pub quiz.

It's not necessarily a good thing to seek a second term. I browsed and analysed some polling data from Gallop and discovered that the majority of Presidents for whom they conducted opinion polls of approval ratings showed a significantly lower approval in the second term than the first:

So maybe think again, Donald.

The Boys are Back in Town

As Thin Lizzy sang:

Guess who just got back today
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, hadn't much to say
But, man, I still think them cats are crazy

In this case, the boys were 22 young men, four officials and numerous coaching and support staff. Most importantly, two thousand football fans.

Last night's match at the Emirates Stadium in North London between home club Arsenal and visitors Rapid Vienna marked the first post lockdown match involving a Premier League team. London is in Tier 2 and so 2,000 fans were allowed in. Fully socially distanced and ultra-cautious monitoring.

The teams ran out to the strains of Thin Lizzy's song. The fans cheered, booed when necessary (when Vienna scored a goal) and their rabid influence caused Arsenal to be well, most unlike Arsenal recently, scoring four goals.

On Sunday the Gunners move across London to Tottenham for their next match. While Arsenal were hammering Rapid last night, Spurs struggled to a 3-3 draw against a different Austrian team LASK, in the historic city of Linz. Their most recent, and iconic signing, Welshman Gareth Bale, on loan from Real Madrid, suffered the ignominy of being substituted by .....no, not Harry Kane, not new striker Vinicius.... journeyman trundler Serge Aurier. Spurs will have their own 2,000 fans to help but Arsenal fans in front of our TVs will be singing the latest epic I have penned:

Gareth Bale
You've gone all stale
Nothing is sorrier
Than giving way to Aurier

I don't think Thin Lizzy still perform so I'll have to get someone else to record it.

Sing loud, fellow Gunners fans!

Pickles and beetroot

It's all about Scotch eggs. Not a question of whether they are in fact Scotch, nor whether they really are eggs (perhaps laid by Scotch hens). The issue, for us febrile Brits, is: do they constitute a 'substantial meal'? If they do, all you people in Covid Tier 2 will be able to get a pint in the pub - if you also order the afore-mentioned Scotch egg.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove says that in his opinion it is a starter. He's obviously going for the Cameron Prize for foodie pretence - "I once ate a Scotch egg in Aberdeen". In any case Michael, the concept of a starter is that a main course will follow. Otherwise it's a stopper not a starter. And are you saying that, if you order a starter, you can't get a glass of wine until you order your main course? That's mad; what happened to "can I get you a drink while you're deciding, madam?"? (Two question marks definitely looks odd but I had it checked out by a grammatical pedant and he gave me five stars) (And I'm not suggesting that females are the indecisive ones, so don't troll me)

The Scotch Egg Mealers (i.e. Conservative backbenchers) are relying on a court judgement that the inclusion of pickles and beetroot in a sandwich makes it a substantial meal. In Timmis v Millman, 1965 the judges ruled that the sandwiches that Millman and his pal were eating (with a drink after pub closing time but during supper extension time) "were so substantial, and assisted by the pickles and beetroot so as to justify that it was a table meal and not a mere snack from a bar". 

I could find no record of whether there was cheese in the sandwiches. Just pickles and beetroot would be odd.

I like cheese and pickle sandwiches. Also cheese and beetroot - my favourite childhood snack.

The Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick ("you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours") said that a Cornish pasty would be substantial "if accompanied by chips or a side salad". My friend, you're havin' a larf! Who eats a side salad with a pasty? Everyone knows that the only accompaniment to a pasty is...another pasty. Chips are for curries.

Lawyers for my local tapas bar are revving up for.........oh, this is bonkers. The world has gone mad.

We Brits, eh? We do the weirdest things.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque

I have recently become a bit of a mythological heroes geek.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque are twins in Mayan mythology. The Popol Vuh, a book of myths belonging to the Quiche Mayans of highland Guatemala, tells us that the twins outwitted the lords of the underworld in many ways, primarily by saying they would bring them back to life after killing them. And then they didn't. One lord's hero is another's reneger.

Anansi is a spider-trickster from West African mythology. His speciality is telling stories. One story goes that he tricked the sky-god Nyame into giving him all his stories, by performing impossible tasks, mostly involving deceit such as persuading a python to lie down alongside a tree branch to prove he was the longest animal, then capturing it.

Himiko, the Queen of Yamatai, in present-day Japan, may even have been a real person. She reigned over a matriarchal court and possessed shaman abilities. She is still today revered by some in Japan. I suppose their equivalent of the scientologists.

Sun Wukong is the Monkey-King of Chinese legend. He wields weapons that he stole from the dragon-king of the sea, including a golden staff so heavy that no other being can wield it, but capable of shrinking down so small that the Monkey King can store it in his ear; flying boots; and magical armour. Take that, dragon-king!

It's clearly not the case that, to be a hero, you have to be squeaky clean and a do-gooder. Stealing, lying, deceiving. Life involves compromises, doesn't it?

1,689 light bulbs, and why you should read this on Black Friday

It's not often that I give my readers the answer to a quiz question before stating the question.

Those 1,689 light bulbs? That's how many were installed in The Church of The Saviour on Spilled Blood in St Petersburg when it was completed in 1907. The spilled blood refers to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. On 1 March 1881, Alexander was returning to the Winter Palace after a military inspection when he was killed by the second of two bombs. His son, Alexander III, the new Tsar, decided to build a magnificent church in his memory and on the exact spot where he been mortally wounded (he was taken back to the Winter Palace but died there).

Devastated by world wars and the revolution, the church was nearly demolished but restoration began in 1980 and it is today a museum.

The quiz question?

Which was the first major church in the world to be designed to be lit by electricity?

Remember that when you're designing a Christmas quiz.

I discovered this initially from an offhand comment in the latest Reacher book: The Sentinel. Which I have just finished. Reacher is a character created by Lee Child. This is the latest in the series - Jack Reacher 25 - and the writing has now been taken over by Lee Child's brother, Andrew while Lee concentrates on Reacher movies. Reacher is an ex military policeman, 6ft 5ins tall with "hands the size of dinner plates". In Never Go Back (Jack Reacher 18), he is described as having "a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armor, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue." So who did they cast as Reacher in the movie? Tom Cruise, who is 5ft 7ins tall. Hollywood eh? Everyone makes mistakes.

If you need escapist fiction with intricate but entertaining plots, and a good guy hero, try the Reacher books.

Myself, I've just bought Standing Our Ground: The Triumph of Faith Over Gun Violence: A Mother's Story by a US Congresswoman, Lucy McBath, whose 17 year old son was gunned down in Florida on Black Friday 2012. Since then she has campaigned for gun control.

But what struck me most when I heard her story was that every year on Black Friday (today) she writes to her deceased son, sharing her life with him.

That is what made me order the book. When it arrives and when I have finished it - and passed it on to whoever is interested - I will review it in this blog.

Eat your heart out, Columbus

"Nearly 500 years before the birth of Christopher Columbus, a band of European sailors left their homeland behind in search of a new world. Their high-prowed Viking ship sliced through the cobalt waters of the Atlantic Ocean as winds billowed the boat’s enormous single sail. After traversing unfamiliar waters, the Norsemen aboard the wooden ship spied a new land, dropped anchor and went ashore." This is what history.com tells me.

Fake news? Apparently not. Remains of Norse buildings were found in the 1960s in Newfoundland. An 11th century Norwegian coin was found in Maine in 1957.

While these are perhaps slightly speculative, there is clear archaeological evidence of a Viking settlement in Greenland. From the 10th century.

The Vikings of course were one of the greatest maritime cultures of all time, so it makes sense that they should have found their way to North America before other European cultures. From Wikipedia, this map shows areas of Scandinavian settlement in the eighth (dark red), ninth (red), tenth (orange) centuries. Yellow denotes areas conquered by the Normans in the 11th century. Green denotes areas subjected to Viking raids.

Why then do we think of Christopher Columbus as the discoverer of America? Doesn't Canada or Greenland count? Are the Viking Embassies asleep on the job?

Interestingly, 9 October is Leif Erikson Day in the USA [for balance, they also have a Columbus Day]. Eriksen was that Greenland guy and may indeed have been the Newfoundland discoverer. President (1923-1929) Calvin Coolidge apparently gave recognition to Leif Erikson as the discoverer of America.

I guess those Iberians just have better PR people.