Today is the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. A few choice snippets:
From the BBC:
The victory over Spanish and French fleets is being celebrated throughout Britain and commemorated in Spain.
The youngest Brit in the battle was 8, the oldest 68. One woman was involved officially, though it was not unknown for women to serve in secret at the time.
The ship that brought news of the victory back to Britain was the mighty HMS Pickle.
Today is John Peel Day, a celebration of the first anniversary of the Godlike genius’s last broadcast. In honour of that event, here’s a quote from the man himself:
He once said: “I’ve always imagined I’d die by driving into the back of a truck while trying to read the name on a cassette, and people would say, ‘he would have wanted to go that way.’ Well, I want them to know that I wouldn’t.”
There is a concept in rowing called ‘swing’. It describes a state where the crew becomes more than the sum of its parts. Their timing is together, their efforts are matched, and their technique is clean. The end result is that, while the boat may not be going at maximum speed, it is racing along seemingly out of all proportion to the perceived effort from the crew.
Last night I hit a similar state on my bike. It was rainy and dark, I couldn’t quite get comfortable on the seat, my feet were wet and cold, and I was getting splashed with mud. But I was cruising along, maybe at 90% of my normal speed but with what felt like only 50% of the work. It only lasted for 15 minutes, out of a 45 minute trip, but happiness is made of such moments.
Follow the link to see the sort of thing I do for fun (no, it wasn’t me). And marvel at the level of passion in the official’s voice without a single swear word.
I’m not a celebrity junkie type, honest, but Andy pointed to a crappy bit of captioning on the Beeb’s website: “Holmes romanticised about marrying Cruise as a young girl”