Antonionioni's New Onions

1995 - Aha Shake Earthquake

2012-02-20T13:42:00.005Z

Kobe earthquake, Nick Leeson moneyquake
Tokyo gas, Oklahoma Cityquake
France quakes as they at last elect Chirac
Superman shaken off by a horsequake
Seoul department store collapses like a cake
France and Russia sell weapons to Iraq
Montserrat mountain, Bosnian warquake
Srebrenica massacre after fake
UN protection, then NATO bombs shake
The Serbs, so do the Croats, till handshakes
End the war by December. How'd they make
OJ not guilty? Rabin is taken
Out by assassin. Bosman footballquake
I bike round Wales and South West - pedalquake!

1994 - From the Yorkshire Moors to the West Bank

2012-02-19T11:32:00.006Z

Bosnia's still a seething cauldron of hate
The Scream is stolen, oh no, oh Oslo
Fred and Rose West, don't go inside their gate
Baruch Goldstein and Kurt Cobain's gun show
Somalia's a failure, say US. Whoa -
Berlusconi wins in Italy and
Andreotti had Mafia links. Don't go
To Rwanda, they're chopping off their hands
And killing in the churches. Nelson Mand-
ela President. John Smith dies, Blair takes
Job from Brown. OJ Simpson, drive more slow
US lands in Haiti, and Brazil lands
USA World Cup, IRA placate
I head north by bike, and love to video

1993 - View from a bike

2012-02-18T08:20:00.005Z

Czech out the old country splitting in two
Salvatore 'The Beast' caught, Palermo
Bush Senior replaced by Clinton...and who
Placed bombs in the World Trade Center? Waco
Fire kills Koresh's cult. North Korea no
Fan of non-proliferation. A bomb
In Warrington, and Jiang Zemin's the new
Chinese leader. Stephen Lawrence dies young
Stabbed at a bus stop. John Wayne Bobbit's schlong
Isn't so long now. A Zambian plane flew
Its footballers to death. The PLO
And Israel sign peace accords. Mike Jackson
A child molester? Suede, Ace of Base, new
Home in Burnage, bike ride to London...Go!

1992 - Yugo, I'll stay

2012-02-17T17:54:00.002Z

The break-up of old Yugoslavia
Quite clean in Slovenia and Croatia
But dirtier in mixed-up Bosnia
Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks are all there
Sarajevo the flashpoint area
The EC gets much closer together
Becoming the EU at Maastricht. The
Danes reject it however. Jeff Dahmer
Sentenced to life (he's killed two years later)
LA riots after Rod King's assaulters
Acquitted. Judge Falcone, Mafia
Scourge, is killed. Bones of Tsar and Tsarina
Islamic election, Algeria
Quashed by army. Charles and Di split uproar

1991 - Waiting for the hammer to fall

2012-02-16T17:16:00.002Z

In '91 the Gulf War (Number One)
Breaks out mid-January, with Scud missiles
From Iraq to Israel, Americans
In Saudi also hit, Saddam's men file
Back out of Kuwait by March, their stockpile
Of chemical, biological, nuclear
Weapons being scrutinised from then until
The Second Gulf War. Ethiopia,
Somalia change, Commie USSR
Can no longer support them, one by one
Its republics secede. Yeltsin reviles
A reactionary army coup, and the
Papers are signed with Belarus, Ukraine
Dissolving Union hammers and sickles

1990 - Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble

2012-02-15T17:36:00.003Z

Manuel in Panama is treated rough
Stasi HQ, Berlin, records surveyed
Soviet satellite states, they've had enough
Nelson Mandela walks out of the shade
Anti-poll tax fights and Europe have made
Maggie vulnerable to the circling sharks
Strangeways prisoners up on the roof, they've stayed
There three weeks. The Hubble stares at the stars
Yemen unites, IRA shoots soldiers
On Lichfield station platform, a real duff
World Cup Final and a Mecca stampede
Iraq invades Kuwait, Germany is
One, Thatcher goes... and Louis starts his life
I start work as a VAT Man and get paid!

1989 - Abroad thoughts from home

2012-02-14T17:36:00.004Z

Hirohito he goes, here's Sky TV
PW to FW, SA
Exxon Valdez oil, blood, Tbilisi
Hillsborough crush, bye Ayatollah K
Tiananmen Square, Solidarity
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nintendo, Menendez
East German demo's, porous Hungary
Honecker goes, the Wall falls and the Czechs
The Bulgars and Romanians win their chess
Games against Big Brother, Brazil, Chile
Elections, Batman, Remains of the Day
Bye Robin Day, hello Paxman, distress
Of Rita in Blackpool (Alan Bradley)
I pass job interview, waste time away

1988 - Lovely Longsight

2012-02-13T18:41:00.003Z

Perestroika in the USSR
The House rejects Ron Reagan's Contra funds
Death to the IRA in Gibraltar
And to Brit officers at Belfast's hands
Piper Alpha huge oil rig explosions
This year's Olympics got a lot of Seoul
The deadly Iran-Iraq war now ends
Slovaks and Estonians act like the Poles
Demanding freedom, Palestinian calls
For same, Armenian earthquake, from the air
A plane falls on Lockerbie, while Salman's
Fat words cause fatwahs, George Bush wins the polls
Dukakis screws up, acid houses, we're
In Longsight, Pearl's born, I'm a house-husband

1987 - More time on Maggie's Farm

2012-02-12T11:27:00.002Z

Reagan held to blame for Contra scandal
Zeebrugge ferry sinks, Iraq's gas bombs
Thatcher wins for a third time at the poll
The world population is 5 billion
Docklands Light Railway, Hess dead in prison
Hurricane in England, Black Monday hits
King's Cross fire, IRA Enniskillen
Intifada, Palestinian conflict
Lethal Weapons and Full Metal Jackets
Spycatcher and Commitments (Roddy Doyle)
Mike's Bad, George has Faith, there's Roses n' Guns
Mike Tyson, Steve Davis, Nelson Piquet
I graduate and we live in Lichfield
A while, then Mancs again, now she's pregnant

1986 - State of non-independence

2012-02-11T09:24:00.002Z

Space Shuttle Challenger a ball of fire
Mir space station, Single European Act
Marcos exiled, Aquino is admired
Olaf Palme of Sweden shot in back
Kurt Waldheim's war crimes means he gets some flak
Berlin disco bomb, US bombs Libya
In revenge. Chernobyl ruins Pripyat
Raining death on Europe. In Mexico
The Hand of God turns cheat into winner
London Stock Exchange Big Bang, they're freer
To do what they want. Ollie North's hand smacked
For Iran-Contra. From America
I return, marry, get cats, move flats here
Watch Neighbours, see The Smiths, study Yank facts

1985 - I'm so excited with the USA

2012-02-10T18:02:00.004Z

IRA bombs RUC in Newry
Chile earthquake, a million left homeless
Beirut car bomb, AIDS blood tests come to be
Gorbachev is chief of the Soviets
And with Ronnie in Geneva he meets
Bradford football fire, Heysel disaster
Schengen ends border checks, some EU states
Rainbow Warrior, hole in the ozone layer
Live Aid by top bands, Back to the Future
Nintendo's Super Mario, look through the
Windows from Microsoft. I'm engaged as
I fly off to Long Island for a year
At New York State Uni, Old Westbury
Drinking, smoking, snogging... and some studies

1984 - Marvin, the dead can dance

2012-02-09T17:16:00.002Z

The Apple Mac lives and Andropov dies
The year-long British coal strike starts, Scargill
Against Thatcher. Old Tommy Cooper dies
'Just like that...' and Yvonne Fletcher is killed
Indian troops storm the Sikhs' Golden Temple
Amritsar, and Indira Gandhi's killed
In revenge. The LA Olympics held
Reagan jokes about bombing Russia, old
Cold war humour. The Nicaraguan polls
Show the Sandinistas have won the prize
Thousands killed by chemicals in Bhopal
The bombing of Thatcher's Brighton hotel
Reagan beats Mondale, Ethiopia dies
And American Studies going well

1983 - Bloody student

2012-02-08T17:55:00.003Z

Belt up, by law, and Reagan starts 'Star Wars'
Stern publishes 'The Hitler Diaries'
Start of the long Sri Lankan civil war
Landslide election win by the Tories
My first vote (wasted on the SDP!!)
Filipino Aquino, he no more
Thirty-eight prisoners escape from The Maze
Kinnock Labour leader, Cruise missiles scare
The Greenham women, and the US are
Grenada invaders. Muddy Waters
Karen Carpenter, Dennis Wilson, these
Die, Nobel Prize for Pole, Lech Walesa
And William Golding. Hacienda doors
Open, and Manchester University's

1982 - Fun on the dole

2012-02-07T18:01:00.003Z

A plane crashes into the Potomac
UK unemployed over 3 million
Laker crashes and Haughey's the Taoiseach
Chariots of Fire, the Argentines land on
The Falklands, Gotcha, Rejoice, we have won!
Villa Euro Champs, the World Cup in Spain
Prince William and the SDP are born
Geoffrey Prime, Sun Myung Moon, Michael Fagan
IRA bombs London, Beirut camps shame
Schmidt becomes Kohl, we're rolling down the track
From Calella to Barcelona in
September sunshine, Mary Rose regained
Brezhnev expires, CD players, Mike Jack-
son's Thriller, Grace dies, The Tube and Countdown

1981 - Class of '81

2012-02-06T18:42:00.003Z

Greece joins EC, and earthquake in Athens
Hostages released, deal struck by Reagan
Poland has martial law against unions
Brand new stainless steel car, De Lorean
Tejero waves his gun around in Spain
And I go on a school camping trip there
Reagan shot, Bobby Sands self-starvation
London Marathon, Buck's Fizz, streets on fire
In Brixton and Toxteth, Columbia
Space shuttle, Pope shot, in France Mitterand wins
Yorkshire Ripper jailed, AIDS, Ian Botham
Charles and Di, MTV, Sadat beware
CIA helps Contras, Marley succumbs
Tom Baker morphs into Pete Davison

1980 - A kick up the eighties

2012-02-05T11:28:00.003Z

Andrei Sakharov exiled to Gorky
Banisadr PM of Iran briefly
Israel and Egypt become more friendly
Carter's hostage rescue crashes badly
Mugabe is PM of Zimbabwe
Moscow Games boycotted by USA
Bristol riots, SAS embassy
Tito dies, Mount St Helens skies heavy
Quebec stays Canuck, Pac-Man game's funny
Lech Walesa and Solidarity
At Ayer's Rock, dingo takes a baby
Iraq attacks Iran, new Pres Ronnie
Who shot JR and Lennon, NYC
Ian Curtis hangs himself, closer to thee

1979 - Apocalypse postponed

2012-02-04T09:45:00.002Z

Bantry Bay French oil tanker explosion
Shah of Iran flees, hi Ayatollah
Airey Neave, Warrenpoint, Mountbatten bombed
Carter/Brezhnev SALT II in Vienna
Manchester tragedy, the Woolworth's fire
Pope goes to Poles, shows solidarity
Afghans invaded by USSR
China begins its One Child policy
Maggie Thatcher, union-basher, Tory
PM. First Euro Parliament election
Films - Muppet Movie, Apocalypse Now
Alien, Manhattan. Music - at ten, the
John Peel Show, with Banshees and Fall sessions
Joy D, Ruts, Jam, Two-Tone and Gang of Four

1978 - Can't wait for '78

2012-02-03T09:09:00.004Z

Managua riots against Somoza
Tehran riots against Iran's old Shah
Roman Polanski flees America
Swiss ski-trip for me, keep falling over
Ted Bundy is caught down in Florida
Bob Marley's One Love Peace Concert, Kingston
Italian Reds kidnap and kill Moro
A military coup, Afghanistan
In Argentina, the home team has won
Thessaloniki earthquake, Greek quiver
Louise Brown delivered, the test-tube star
Three popes, Paul 6, and John Pauls 2 and 1
Camp David, Begin and Sadat friendlier
Jonestown, spilt Milk, Viets in Cambodia

1977 - Two sevens clash

2012-02-02T17:47:00.003Z

'Roots' on TV, and Pompidou Centre
The Clash LP, big Zep gigs, Red Rum's third
Taksim Square deaths, Tenerife air disaster
Begin begins as Israel's PM, word
Grows about Star Wars, Close Encounters, stirred
And shaken by The Spy Who Loved Me, New
York blackout, Queen's Silver Jubilee, tried
My first pint at the street party, a few
More months til I like it. I Feel Love grew
All summer, the Pistols, Stranglers, Jam were
On the tranny, holiday near the Broads
(Few broads though, sadly), Elvis on the loo
Drops one then drops, Liverpool conquerors
Of Europe, Bjorn Borg, poor Lynyrd Skynyrd

1976 - Long Hot Summer (Number Two)

2012-02-01T19:24:00.003Z

The Yanks veto Palestinian statehood
London's direct rule of Northern Ireland
Argentina's generals up to no good
Harold Wilson resigns, Jim Callaghan
New PM, Chou Enlai and Mao are gone
Concorde to Washington, Soweto fights
Against Afrikaans in schools, the Ramones
First album, heatwave, Butlin's Bognor nights
Learning the hustle, playing pinball, White
Lightning at Montreal, Son of Sam's dread
Patrols in NYC, Lauda is burned
Ford beats Reagan but Carter wins the White
House race, Belfast peace women, Viking's stood
On Mars, and punk's in Manchester, London

1975 - Long Hot Summer (Number One)

2012-01-31T20:06:00.004Z

The Rams top the League without Brian Clough
Neilson, the Black Panther kills poor Lesley
Thatcher is the new lead Conservative
The Moorgate tube crash, death of a Saudi
King, Lebanese are fighting civilly
North Vietnam finally takes Saigon
In neighbouring Cambodia, the monarchy
Uses the Khmer Rouge to restore the throne
But they don't, they just kill, back to Year One
The London Hilton bombed. Patty Hearst's tough
But the cops get her and she lives. Ali
Beats Smokin' Joe in Manila. In Spain
Franco dies. Queen rhapsodise. Woody's Love
And Death. Hot summer, Devon holiday

1974 - Haile and farewell

2012-01-30T18:29:00.003Z

Half-days at school, OPEC oil embargo
Lasts til the spring, til Abba's Waterloo
Portugal's people say it's time to go
To those stuffy old men who've ruled for too
Long, and won't leave their colonies. The U
VF bomb Dublin, and Monaghan. It's
The World Cup in Germany - England, you
Stayed home, knocked out by Poland, but the Scots
Are there - the eventual winners, the Krauts
Ali beats Foreman in Zaire, Turks flow
Into Cyprus, Nixon resigns - crooks do
Get away with it sometimes - and Ford trips
(Literally) into the hot seat. Bombs blow
Up Birmingham... Jaws, Tinker Tailor too

1973 - Well oil be damned

2012-01-29T20:45:00.004Z

UK, Ireland, Denmark join EEC
Elvis live from Hawaii via satellite
US ends its war, Paris Peace Treaty
World Trade Centre and Sears Tower reach full height
Skylab launched, but more leaks on Watergate
Deep Throat and White House Tapes start spilling beans
Allende suicide and Pinochet
In US-backed coup in Chile - oh, please
Kissinger Sec of State, Agnew resigns
Ford new VP, Yom Kippur War, Sinai
Back to Egypt, Sadat more westernised
From now til his death. Slow, the oil pipelines
As crude doubles in price, OPEC turn the
Screw. Sydney Opera House. Blanco's demise

1972 - Glam shock

2012-01-28T16:36:00.003Z

Bloody Sunday in Derry, the Claudy
And Belfast bombings, retaliation
Aldershot's innocent deaths lead to the
Official IRA ceasefire. Nixon
Visits an ill Mao and Chou, but undone
By Watergate, the original 'gate'
Who paid for the break-in and spying on
The Democrats? Tricky Dicky does beat
McGovern, though. Asians told to get out
Of Uganda by Amin. Atari
Video game 'Pong'. The Munich Games go on
Though terrorists kill Israeli athletes
Last Moon landings confirm the place seems dry
Second Cod War, and Oz PM Whitlam

1971 - The view from space

2012-01-27T19:03:00.005Z

In Glasgow, Rangers / Celtic fans are crushed
Western oil companies talk with OPEC
Apollo 14 and 15 have splashed
Back down. East Pakistan a flooded wreck
And West Pakistan occupies, but next
Independence is declared, with Indian
Help later on. Soyuz astronauts dock
With Salyut 1 space station, the Russian
Astronauts dying on the way back down
Trouble in Turkey, the Ceylonese clash
Arsenal win the double, UN accepts
Communist China rather than Taiwan
Jimbo dies in his bath, fierce rioters
In Northern Ireland and Attica's bricks

1970 - All kinds of everything

2012-01-26T15:59:00.003Z

Biafra loses, Jagger's cannabis
Black Sabbath's two LP's, Jeff MacDonald
Kills wife and daughters, pretends it's hippies
Rhodesia alone, SA in the cold
Dana wins Euro Song, Brazil win World
Cup in Mexico, Beatles break up, 'Nam
Slows down, Apollo 13 moon trip stalled
Cambodia invaded, Kent State deaths on
Campus, Peru earthquake, East Pakistan
Cyclone flood deaths, Heath beats Wilson surprise
Isle of Wight, Hendrix and Joplin both fall
Black September in Jordan, Lebanon
Baader-Meinhof rob banks, and Nasser dies
Quebec, Assad, Mishima, Basques, Poland

1969 - All in living colour

2012-01-26T00:14:00.003Z

March from Belfast to Derry and take part
In the grand old Battle of the Bogside
Burn yourself in Prague for the lack of heart
Your people show, preferring just to hide
Read 'The Godfather' - Mary Jo has died -
Pompidou's President, land on the Moon
And make Charles Prince of Wales, fill kids with pride
Stonewall riots, Manson murders, the tune
Is Helter Skelter, Get Back, Something. Soon
Asia can fight by itself, says Richard
Nixon, and see Russia and China fight
Gaddafi comes, Ho Chi Minh goes, Python
And Sesame Street on TV, which starts
Regularly in colour, all three sides

1968 - 68 Special

2012-01-24T17:15:00.003Z

Dubcek's Prague Spring - then tanks come rolling in
Paris also rises, students play-act
In 'Nam, the Tet Offensive, Charlie's turn
To turn up the heat, but US reacts
At My Lai. In Chicago, Democrats
Nominate Humphrey, now Bobby's been shot
MLK too, and two Black Power salutes
In Mexico, whose Government shot at
Protesters and passers-by. Also hot
In Brum, with Enoch's speech, though it might win
The next election for Heath. Man U's cracked
That elusive Euro Cup win. Val's shot
Holes in Warhol, Catholics protest in
NI... Dick Nixon, Concorde, Jumbo Jet

1967 - Chemical love

2012-01-23T19:49:00.003Z

The Doors are open, attend a be-in
Fossils in Kenya and a coup in Greece
Big oil spill and a strangler in Boston
Is caught, while anti-war demos increase
Muhammad Ali says no to service
Britain and Ireland say 'Please' - France says no
Wilson was pro-Europe, not just Ted Heath
Australia drops racism, but below
The sea sinks Harold Holt, PM... Igbo
Of Biafra, tired of Nigerian
Status, go it alone. Israel will seize
Hostile border areas in Six Days, though
They're still there today. Summer of rioting
Not just Love. Pink Floyd. Radio One, Two, Three...

1966 - Bomb on bomb

2012-01-22T16:48:00.002Z

Changes in Nigeria, Indonesia
Indira Gandhi, Pope meets Kosygin
France leaves NATO, and Mao's anti-bourgeois
Cultural Revolution has begun
Quarter-million soldiers in Vietnam
Bombs on Hanoi and Haiphong, massacres
In the South, but relations have fallen
Between Brezhnev and Mao. Serial killers
In the USA, worldwide plane crashes
The Krays and Harold Wilson are stars here
Syria and Israel clash round the Jordan
England win the World Cup, SA offers
Help to racist Rhodesia. Revolver
Pet Sounds, Blonde On Blonde, Yoko meets Lennon

1965 - Life's a riot

2012-01-22T00:24:00.004Z

Three civil rights marches, Alabama
Beatings and shootings by Wallace's men
Of black protesters and their white helpers
LBJ's speech says 'We shall overcome'
The troops start to head off to Vietnam
Berkeley students burn their draft cards, teach-ins
Against war there and at the Pentagon
In LA, the Watts riots are burning
Cassius Clay downs Liston in boxing's ring
The Beatles at Shea Stadium and furore
As Dylan goes electric, while the Moon
Is explored by Ranger. Mary Poppins
Wins Oscars. Thunderbirds on TV air
Che leaves Cuba, the Moors Murders sicken

1964 - Burning crosses

2012-01-20T18:46:00.003Z

The Vietnam War builds up to its flashpoint
More US forces gradually trickle in
A coup in the South, the new regime wants
To attack the North, like the Americans
And soon, a clash in the Gulf of Tonkin
Followed by a US bombing campaign
Approved by LBJ. Meanwhile within
The States, Civil Rights murders are a stain
On Mississippi's soil, while Johnson's name
Is signed on the Civil Rights Act, against
Segregation - he then says let's begin
The Great Society. Soon to be slain
Malcolm X leaves Nation of Islam. Don't
Be left-wing! - Brazil's army coup warning

1963 - Please Feed Me

2012-01-19T17:49:00.004Z

'63's biggest event - I was born
Although of it I remember nothing
While Plath and Cline declined to less than warm
Dylan and the Beatles both took to wing
Beeching's rail cuts, Big Freeze continuing
South Vietnam regime change, De Gaulle's 'Non!'
George Wallace against Civil Rights struggling
JFK's for them but he gets shot down
While in Manchester, Moors Murders begin
Great Train Robbery, the Profumo storm
John 23 to Paul 6, popes changing
MLK dreams his dream in Washington
Surtsey Island and Dr Who are born
Kenya independent, Cyprus fighting

1962 - Baby, it's cold outside

2012-01-18T23:28:00.003Z

De Gaulle calls for Algerian freedom and
It's granted, despite French reactionaries
Seattle World's Fair, Century 21
Wal-Mart opens, and Marvel Comics - see
Warhol's soup cans, and see At&T's
Telstar, Marilyn's demise, Mandela
Arrested, Jamaica's free, James Bond, he's
Up against Dr No, Silent Spring, The
Beatles say Love Me Do, Himalaya
Battles, India and China, J. Carson's
Tonight Show, Gay Byrne's Late Late Show, a freeze
In the Cold War with missiles in Cuba
Lawrence of Arabia premieres, London
December, the Big Freeze begins - don't sneeze!

1961 - Freedom riders

2012-01-17T18:51:00.002Z

The USA tries to replace Castro
The Bay of Pigs invaders run squealing
And Fidel realises he must go
To Russia for protection, thus leading
To the missile crisis. Ike goes, warning
Of the military-industrial complex
JFK's here, stands up for West Berlin
As the Wall goes up, and to combat Viets
Sends 'military advisers'...A Soviet
Spy ring's found in London, but they are so
Quick, with Yuri first in space, exploding
The world's biggest bomb ever, but then let's
Admit the Yanks soon caught up (Apollo)
But their southern civil rights were wanting

1960 - Sunset over Africa

2012-01-16T18:21:00.002Z

In 1960 many colonies
In Africa become independent
Chad, Mali, Cameroon, the Congolese
Nigeria, Niger... However, in
Algeria it's war against the French
Who won't let go, and this year detonate
Nuclear bombs in the desert there. The stench
From South Africa of its apartheid
Is strongest in Sharpeville - they demonstrate
Against the pass laws and get shot. Patrice
Lumumba is deposed while the western
Powers look on. Mobutu takes the state
Of Congo into dark times. Japanese
Protest their treaty with the Americans

1959 - Miles on wheels

2012-01-15T15:30:00.004Z

Castro takes Havana, Motown starts up
February 3rd's the day the music dies
Makarios takes charge in independent Chypre
Tibet rebellion, Dalai Lama flies
The Kind of Blue sessions released by Miles
Britain gives its freedom to Singapore
Alaska's the 49th state, Hawaii's
The 50th. Earth's photographed by camera
From space. The hovercraft and Mini car
The South Vietnamese Diem regime's corrupt
The peasants welcome Ho Chi Minh's supplies
The biggest film in '59's Ben Hur
The Clutters killed 'in cold blood' (Truman Cap)
The M1's open - cars flash by like flies

1958 - Has anybody seen our bomb?

2012-01-14T10:48:00.002Z

January '58 - the EEC
Europe seriously tries to unify
Benelux, France, Italy, Germany
(West), begin what still rumbles on today
I wonder, should we smile, or laugh, or cry
Hydrogen bombs dropped on the USA
By its own forces accidentally
CND marches begin all the way
From London to Berkshire. Fidel and Che
Are taking Cuba militarily
Close but no cigar, Batista. They cry
Over the Munich Air Crash to this day
Brazil, with Pele, win the World Cup. The
French bring back De Gaulle but lose colonies

1957 - Looking at the stars

2012-01-13T19:10:00.002Z

Elvis gets bigger, Macmillan's PM
That tedious Bergman film, The Seventh Seal
American Bandstand, a new program
The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool
And Egypt opens the Suez Canal
The Cat In The Hat, Euro Song Contest
Sukarno wants no Dutch left on his isles
Howl and On The Road heading way out west
While West Side Story's on stage in the East
A supersonic jet's flown by John Glenn
But Sputniks 1 and 2 are the real deal
In Little Rock the schools are still racist
GB's gay rights helped by Lord Wolfenden's
Report, though it takes ten years to be real

1956 - Tanks for the memory

2012-01-12T18:18:00.003Z

Not so long ago, back in '56
Nasser was making waves in the Suez
Canal, nationalising it for Egypt
Britain and allies France were unimpressed
And, with Israel, thought they'd invade to wrest
The land from this pushy Arab, but then
They were overruled and told to desist
By the equally pushy new UN
Meanwhile, Cyprus' Greeks wanted union
With Greece, but this plan surely put at risk
The Brits' military base. Hungary was
Keen to leave the Warsaw Pact. Tanks rolled in
From Russia. Suddenly, there was Elvis
Look Back In Anger, and Brigitte was sex

1955 - Commie chameleon

2012-01-11T20:14:00.003Z

1955, the start of Scrabble
And a rail crash down in Sutton Coldfield
Communist China and Taiwan squabble
And Ray Kroc starts to expand McDonalds
The Warsaw Pact, spies come in from the cold
Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks protest
Having to give up bus seats when they're told
In Montgomery. Bus boycotts do the rest
Martin Luther King's tactics pass the test
Like desegregated schools, no trouble
Unless from the white right wing. Churchill, old
Man, resigns as PM, Eden is East
This year, the cause now without a rebel
And Ruth Ellis is barbarically killed

1954 - Rebel around the clock

2012-01-10T17:44:00.001Z

In Algeria, officially part of France
The FLN rebels turn up the heat
Nasser in Egypt sees this as a chance
To assist with colonial defeat
And helps them. McCarthyism is beat
By late '54 - Joe le Senator
Will die an alcoholic. Meanwhile, Viet
Minh rebels win at Dien Bien Phu, and there
Too, France is squeezed out, though, like Korea
An artificial line divides two camps
Hey, crazy cats, the new rock and roll beat
Is here, at the dawn of the teenager
Bill Haley and his Comets make us dance
And want to rip up our cinema seat

1953 - Climb every mountain

2012-01-09T17:55:00.002Z

In '53, Godot at last arrives
The hydrogen bomb is the latest wheeze
Tito's top in Yugo, Uncle Joe dies
Malenkov, then Khrushchev now have the keys
To the Kremlin. A flood in the North Sea's
Drowned lots, DNA's described (Crick, Watson)
Everest Hill's climbed and Edmund Hillary's
Most pleased, while Fleming's written of James Bond
The Korean fighting comes to an end
The States agrees to help MI-6 spies
Keep the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's
Oil flowing from Iran, and imprison
Mossadegh, while the Shah runs off and hides
And Ike likes nukes - the States need more of these

1952 - African chessboard

2012-01-08T12:16:00.003Z

In '52 begins the current reign
Of Britain's Queen Elizabeth Second
George VI dies of cancer, and a plane
Brings her back from Kenya, which is now bound
For trouble, since the best of Kenyan land
Has long been appropriated by Brits
With profitable settlements, hired hands
Paid cheaply. The Mau Mau rebellion hits
Back, although Jomo Kenyatta soon sits
In prison for years. King Farouk in vain
Struts corpulently in Egypt - he's gone
And from their Gold Coast colony, the Brits
Are also leaving soon, Nkrumah's 'reign'
In Ghana bringing hope for Africans

1951 - Murder in Salford

2012-01-07T20:32:00.003Z

This is to commemorate a young man
Shot down just yards from my home in Salford
(Near Manchester). The end of Ordsall Lane
Where it meets Regent Road, outside the food
Palaces of McDonalds, with its broad
Bright yellow M, and also KFC
Shine M for Murder, right beside the road
KFC means Killed For Crap. One lad, he
Carried a loaded gun on Christmas Day
Early on Boxing Day out with his gang
Was it a new toy? Could Santa afford
To take this risk? His name is Psycho, see?
Psycho Stapleton, Psycho Stapleton
Shot Anuj Bidve, shot him in the head

1950 - The Cold War heats up

2012-01-06T17:13:00.002Z

In 1950, apartheid is born
As a policy in South Africa
In Belgium, Leopold III is warned
He's seen as an ex-collaborator
Next year his son Baudouin will take over
Klaus Fuchs the spy confesses to the Brits
And later emigrates to DDR
Protests against Brit forces in Egypt's
Suez region. The Cold War now erupts
As North Korea crosses the line drawn
At the 38th parallel after
World War II. The UN desperately fights
To save the South. Communist China joins
In. Stalemate ensues for many a year

1949 - Red stars in the sunset

2012-01-05T18:45:00.005Z

In '49 the time has come for Mao
To proclaim the People's Republic of
China. The previous republic is now
Mainly confined to Taiwan and removed
From the mainland, assisted by the tough
Stalinist Russia, though they will fall out
There's other fallout nearby from this, both
In North Vietnam and Korea - look out
America, the dominoes no doubt
Will continue to fall. Fred Hoyle says how
The Big Bang started it all, one more move
Away from Biblical doctrine and clout
Eire becomes Ireland, Germans kowtow
To Russia in the DDR, with love

1948 - Your good health

2012-01-04T22:35:00.003Z

Mahatma Gandhi shot in '48
We now have nationalised British Rail
And later this same year the British state
Also has its National Health Service, pale
But still alive 64 years on. Will
It last much longer? Ceylon, free nation
Czechoslovakia not, Communists steal
Its freedom. Singapore holds elections
Televised Ninth Symphony, Beethoven
In Palestine, end of British Mandate
Then war between the Arabs and Israel
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Transjordan
And Palestinians all try to unite
To crush the fledgling country, make it fail

1947 - UFO. No, you FO

2012-01-03T11:57:00.002Z

UK coal mines by Labour nationalised
Nigeria's autonomy authorised
Trieste is split into west and east sides
The city itself will stay westernised
In Poland and Romania they 'decide'
(With Stalin's 'help') to become Communised
In Hollywood some actors are surprised
By being put on a blacklist as spies
Meanwhile UFOs fill American skies
Truman's Doctrine aids Turkey, Greece, and tries
With Marshall's Plan, to stop Red aims to prise
Europe from monarchies, democracies
Dior creates a 'New Look' for ladies
India and Pakistan new-born countries

1946 - Sparks of David

2012-01-02T14:46:00.003Z

The United Nations is underway
By '46, but soon in Palestine
There's trouble, Jewish paramilitary
Group bombs the Brits' HQ, Britain declines
To rule there further - can the UN find
A resolution? East of the Jordan
That's all Arab. Down in the Argentine
Peron (with new wife) becomes President
Derby win the Cup by beating Charlton
India's promised its freedom by Attlee
Nehru elected Congress leader. Signs
Of major conflict, Hindu and Muslim
Italy abolishes monarchy
While Greece clings to its own for a short time

1945 - The second war to end all wars

2012-01-01T18:38:00.004Z

Auschwitz and other camps are found and freed
In '45, while Manila is burned
And then freed. Iwo Jima suicide
And Okinawa, Tokyo firebombed. Learn
The futility of war! Of course, when
The atom bomb is subsequently dropped
It seems world war must never come again
But the States' motive was partly to stop
The Red Army in Asia gobbling up
Korea, China, Japan, since Stalin had
Reneged on Poland at Yalta and yearned
To rule the east by force. Labour come top
And Churchill's out, Attlee in. They divide
Up Germany. The Iron Curtain's formed

1944 - The end is nigh

2011-12-31T19:40:00.003Z

At Monte Cassino, a failed gamble
They bombed the monastery, angered the Pope
But the Nazis hid well in the rubble
And made it harder for Allies to cope
Rome freed, D-Day in June, Parisians group
To welcome De Gaulle, then Caen and Brussels
Taken, but problems in Holland. The scope
Of Nazism shrinks, but informers tell
On Anne Frank's family. Warsaw rebels
Too soon, the town destroyed, Soviet tanks roll
In after the Germans leave. The Japs hope
Their suicidal banzai tactics will
Deter Yank progress, enough islands fall
To bomb their mainland - tightening of the rope

1943 - Calm down, calm down

2011-12-30T18:45:00.002Z

The siege of Leningrad, and Stalingrad
Then Kursk, Soviet defence becomes attack
White Rose students, Warsaw Ghetto Jews said
No to the Nazis though prospects were black
As villages are torched by the wolfpack
In Belarus, and Chinese massacres
The new Chinese leader is Chiang Kai-Shek
Attending meetings with Allied leaders
Sicily invaded, Mussolini's
Replaced, mainland Italy invaded
Naples spontaneously rises to kick
Out the Germans. Young John F Kennedy's
A hero, saving his crew's lives, a hard
Swim in the Pacific, but they get back

1942 - Come on now, stop fighting like children!

2011-12-29T19:12:00.003Z

The US fights Japan in Philippines
The Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal
Eventually halting the Japanese
Though ill-equipped Britain could do little
To save Singapore, Burma - so brittle
Its eastern Empire - Gandhi arrested...
The Desert Rats finally beat Rommel
And Montgomery is well tried and tested
The Germans regroup in Russia, undid
The Soviets at Kharkov, but Stalin learns
To take Red Army advice, and this will
Help them win this winter at Stalingrad
At Wannsee they plot that by any means
Camps will be built and solutions final

1941 - Oops - it's another war on two fronts

2011-12-28T12:04:00.002Z

The '41 North African campaign
Saw Brits and Aussies beat Italians
But not Rommel's tough Afrika Korps men
Despite Lindbergh's views, Lend-Lease now begins
The States in naval conflict with Germans
Vichy France headed by Petain, Laval
At least they stop France fighting for 'the Huns'
FDR works closely with our Churchill
And seems to ignore warnings about Pearl
Harbour soon being attacked by Japan
Yugoslavia's new king, his allegiance
Switched to the Allies, means Hitler curtails
Invasion of Russia til the Balkan
Area is subdued, ruining all his plans

1940 - He missed the bus but caught the express train

2011-12-27T10:59:00.004Z

1940, start of food rationing
In Britain. Over in the USA
Conscription into the army begins
And they lend ships and build aircraft though they
Are still neutral. Germans invade Norway
And Denmark, while Russia fights in Finland
Just after Chamberlain thought he could say
'Hitler has missed the bus.' That's not the end -
The Germans invade Benelux and send
The Brits scrambling from Dunkirk, then forging
On to Paris and French surrender. Play
That recording of Churchill's speech to fend
Off bombs falling on London, and falling
On Coventry and Sheffield day by day

1939 - Best of enemies

2011-12-26T20:42:00.003Z

1939, year of infamy
The carving up of Czechoslovakia
France reneges on commitments over the
Eastern end of Europe, leading to a
Free hand for Germany and for Russia
In doing what they like, splitting Poland
In two, half each, even though Herr Hitler
Has written of his hatred of Slavs and
Communists, though Stalin's Soviet Union
Did also confer with the Allies. We
Do not want to deal with them, however
So they've been forced into a pact with them -
The Nazis - who plan to crush our Navy
In secret plans by 1944

1938 - It'll be Snow White on the night

2011-12-25T22:16:00.003Z

It's Christmas Day today must I must write
About history, as still is my wont
As I go through the years. This silent night
I'm up to 1938, which won't
Bring peace or joy to mankind, but the sound
Of goose-stepping troops first in Vienna
Then before long in the Sudetenland
Not only that, but Jews were forbade a
Passport to freedom by exterior
So-called democracies...and Crystal Night
Wasn't enough to change that. Underground
Oil reserves found in Saudi Arabia
That hitherto nomadic tribal site
And we see the first screening of Snow White

1937 - Not a lot of laughs to be had

2011-12-24T11:46:00.004Z

The Moscow Show Trials continue this year
Of '37, of Old Bolsheviks
Army men, and anyone causing fear
In Stalin's mind that he could be out-tricked
And less popular than them, and so strict
Methods of gaining confessions were used
Those who weren't shot after the sure verdict
Were sent to labour camps and there misused
Mostly soon dying anyway. The fuse
Of war was lit in the east, China's near
Neighbour Japan invading with some quick
Victories but terrible massacres
Falangists also wreak abuse through war
In Spain, where Nazis mount aerial attacks

1936 - We three kings of Britain are

2011-12-23T16:50:00.004Z

In this old year of 1936
King George V dies, and Edward VIII
In turn gives way to that King George VI
You know, the one that stammered but did great
In the end with his radio speech. The flight
Heroine Amy Johnson cuts the tape
Opening the first Butlins holiday site
In Skegness. He climbed a ladder to take
Baby Lindbergh four years earlier, now baked
On the electric chair, a German sits
The Arabs in Palestine rise to fight
Increasing Jewish settlers on the make
Peter and the Wolf, and Gone With The Wind's
Out there to hear and read if you can't wait

1935 - The dust doesn't settle

2011-12-22T10:35:00.003Z

In '35 Italy rules Libya
The first briefs and the first canned beer are sold
An attempted Greek coup ends in failure
The Germans rearm despite what was told
In the Versailles Treaty. The worst Dust Bowl
Period hits the States. Meanwhile Sun Myung Moon
Thinks he is taking over Jesus' role
FDR's New Deal continues and soon
Things would improve there, but sadly a loon
Shot Huey Long in Louisiana
His wealth redistribution movement killed
Comedian Will Rogers crashed to his doom
Italy attacks Ethiopia
And Mao's war strategy becomes more bold

1934 - Bad start, happy end

2011-12-22T00:56:00.004Z

Today I felt real ill after last night
I threw up in the morning and then went
To work, not feeling well enough to eat
Until lunchtime, when I went out and spent
A quid or two in the small newsagent
A pie, packet of crisps and a Daim Bar
Which used to be called Dime Bar, when it meant
Something, but, hey, there ain't nothing like a
Daim, because it's meaningless. Rushed home for
A phone call about mortgages, and quite
A long call it was. Then out with a friend
I've not known long. Did not go to a bar
We went to the Quays where we had a bite
Then back to hers, now I'm back home again

1933 - Deal or no deal

2011-12-20T09:27:00.002Z

In '33 Hitler is Chancellor
The Nazis enact laws imprisoning
The German people, and against the Jew
All their opponents are stopped from working
In professional careers. The first drafting
Of the plan for a state called Pakistan
In March, FDR takes over, begins
The fearless New Deal for Americans
His fireside chats on the radio and
Big schemes to fight the Depression which were
Still not socialist. Dow Jones starts rising...
Germany, Japan leave League of Nations
Einstein emigrates to America
Stalin and Co leave the Ukraine starving

1932 - In a depressed state

2011-12-19T19:59:00.002Z

In '32 German democracy
Fell, a victim of the Great Depression
Unelected Chancellors by decree
And by degrees, thanks to old President
Hindenburg, called quite a few elections
But the voters sadly voted Nazi
In increasing numbers. Coalitions
Being what they are, just wouldn't hold, and the
Reichstag being dissolved repeatedly
Hermann Goering as Senate chairman- he
Supported Hitler's tough machinations
The President and Chancellors thought they
Could outmanoevre Adolf. Unhappily
They were wrong, and he'd be Chancellor soon

1931 - Things were falling apart

2011-12-18T12:41:00.003Z

In 1931 a republic
Replaced Alfonso's monarchy in Spain
His price for supporting dictatorship
Anti-church, pro-autonomy, Catalans
Were free, but soon the army would regain
Unity under Franco. Ataturk
Transforming Turkey as financial pain
Spreads from the States to Europe, does its work
In Austria, damning Germans to the murk
Of poverty and racism. The sick
Mind of Hitler almost flows down the drain
With niece Geli's suicide. And a stark
Warning from China, invaded by trick
Japanese dynamite on railway line

1930 - Not so magic bus

2011-12-17T21:45:00.002Z

Walked miles and miles, my heels are both aching
But it was nice apart from at the start
When me and Josie got wet while standing
At the bus stop for a bus that's so late
It doesn't come at all. Twice we got wet
Two showers at that bus stop, all for naught
But some nice guy stopped his car and said 'Get
In!' and took us to town. We later caught
The bus from town to Altrincham, we thought
We could spend some time at the skating rink
It was full though, no tickets could be bought
So we got the tram to Manchester, walked
Through the Christmassy town centre, finding
A rink there, and no rain - it's time to skate!

1929 - Another one bites the dust

2011-12-16T18:05:00.001Z

The Wall Street Crash of 1929
May or may not have caused the Depression
But it caused panic and banks lost big time
Which meant there was no money left in them
So many went bust. And just about then
The Dust Bowl covered the Mid-West, causing
The Grapes of Wrath. Chicago's Al Capone
And friends wiped out some rivals, by luring
Them into a room and machine-gunning
Them, then leaving dressed as cops, but Al's time
Was nearing an end, like Prohibition
St Valentine's Day was not so loving
That year, but at least the Pope could show signs
Of hope, in his new state, the Vatican

1928 - All these things that I have done

2011-12-15T20:48:00.004Z

It's been a busy day off work - I got
Up sort of early (for me), had a shower
Hair wash, orange juice, but no breakfast yet
Read up on 1928, bit lower
On incident than some years, but some dire
Serial killers that year. Ate, then out to
Post Christmas cards and get some post from Claire
And next year's calendar from the depot
(Which I had designed a few nights ago
Online). Got food too, and read for a bit
Watched the news, wrote some lyrics, phoned to clear
Up my mortgage arrangements, watched a show
(The Last Waltz) on disc, practised my songs, put
On two new CDs, wrote this... Next? Not sure!!

1927 - Two big wheels

2011-12-14T20:05:00.002Z

Two great men of history, prominent
In 1927, were Gandhi
Instigator of new non-violent
Tactics of opposition, and Trotsky
Soviet theorist and organiser, he
Did as much as anyone in '17
To win in Petrograd, the Red Army
Subsequently expanded, a machine
With Communist heart. Mahatma was keen
To overthrow British rule, to prevent
India's split by religion, and help the
Untouchables, though some vented their spleen
Tried to kill him, and did so in the end
As did power-hungry Stalin to Trotsky

1926 - Unlucky strike

2011-12-13T19:01:00.002Z

1926, and the General Strike
Lasted for a few crucial days in May
Led by the miners. Churchill didn't like
Their disruption of transport, felt okay
With using force of arms, but Baldwin stayed
Moderate, and it cooled down, miners losing
The fight for reasonable hours and fair pay
Post-war exports slump virtually dictating
Poor conditions, but sympathy resting
With the poor workers long after, just like
Their eighties counterparts. In China, they
Were in turmoil, three governments competing
For power. The Kuomintang alliance broke
With the Communists, and so it would stay

1925 - Fear of fun

2011-12-12T19:05:00.000Z

What's going on? Well, Christmas is so near
Yet I've just started preparing for it
Last night online, bought Louis' computer
At lunchtime (on strike) Christmas cards were wrote
And dished out at work. The plan for tonight
Is to watch a game in the Walkabout
Chelsea against Man City, although it
Should have been supporting Janet who's out
Doing her Jewish comic act. I thought
She was good last time, and ideas appeared
In my head that I'd like to once more treat
An audience to my own humour, without
Getting as nervous or as sick with fear
As in the 90s, when I tried and quit

1924 - Latest news from 1924

2011-12-11T12:48:00.003Z

By '24, Stalin's firmly in charge
Purges increase in scope, fear and famine
This year sees Ramsay MacDonald emerge
As the first Labour PM of Britain
Though soon replaced by Tory, S. Baldwin
Hitler's in prison, writes a nasty book
In the States, the new big thing is Gershwin
While Coolidge says little and rides his luck
Not so Matteotti, stabbed in the back
Of a car by fascists. It's not alleged
The Duce knew, but the King seems sanguine
Mallory may climb Everest but gets stuck
Germany's reparations payments urged
While Ibn Saud takes Arabia for his kin

1923 - Living and dying on an island

2011-12-10T09:59:00.002Z

In '23 the Irish Civil War
Concluded with a Free State victory
The IRA, some of whom had been for,
Some against the Anglo-Irish Treaty
Had fought among themselves, but the anti-
Faction ran out of steam, de Valera
Admitting defeat, though reluctantly
And with Fianna Fail in later years
He'd stay put, but with Lemass taking a
More pragmatic, modern way than before
Disaster in Japan in '23
A great earthquake, Tokyo, Yokohama
Flattened, then burned by fire, so now the law
States buildings must be strong, people ready

1922 - In search of a lost year

2011-12-09T18:21:00.002Z

This was the year 'Ulysses' was published
As well as Joyce, another genius, Proust
This year found his life and his work finished
Joyce, Proust, and Picasso all drank a toast
Together no doubt when they met, this most
Select dinner also attended by
Diaghilev and Stravinsky, and Proust
It's said, annoyed pretentious Stravinsky
By asking 'Do you like Beethoven?' Why
Did right-wing Germans shoot Rathenau? This
After Erzberger last year, showed the truth
The rise of intolerance in Germany
This year also saw the March of Fascists
On Rome, and the BBC's birth to boot

1921 - Vanishing borders

2011-12-08T17:40:00.002Z

The eurozone's melting like Arctic ice
Maybe that's because of iron German rule
And French collaboration - that's not nice
We learn about democracy in school
But where's the process, the vote? They can't fool
Even their own populations, who shout
Their opposition, demonstrate, and call
For occupation of Brussels, Frankfurt
In tents they shiver, maybe long-haired louts
Or maybe our future, outside the vice
Of centralisation of capital
Billionaires controlling shadow markets
These are the new dictators, force applies
Once more like in the thirties, harsh and cruel

1920 - The twenties start to roar

2011-12-07T10:49:00.004Z

Sacco and Vanzetti, bombs in Wall Street
J. Edgar Hoover investigating
Reds, who back in Russia would soon defeat
The Whites, Kolchak caught, eastern troops freezing
New American President, Harding
The League of Nations moves to Geneva
Prohibition starts, stops Yanks from drinking
Turkey loses its empire, new leader
Zionists move to Israel, post-Balfour
Ireland partitioned, North and South discrete
The Southern IRA freedom-fighting
Kapp Putsch, Ruhr Red Army, early Hitler
Greece tried and failed to expand to the east
In 1920 this was happening

1919 - Red Terror

2011-12-06T19:18:00.001Z

The Communists were still ruling Russia
In 1919, invading Ukraine
To suppress independence claimed last year
The other republics would get the same
The Cheka spread Red Terror, all untamed
Lenin would beat the Whites at all costs. In
The States, large labour strikes broke out, the flames
Of reactionary counter-revolution
Were fanned there, as with German rebellion
By the left's motley crew, brief disorder
Put down by the Freikorps, war veterans
Hired by the Weimar regime. In Scotland
There were even tanks in Glasgow, the fear
Everywhere, Bolsheviks bringing ruin

1918 - World War One (Part Five)

2011-12-05T19:21:00.002Z

1918 - the map redrawn again
Though uncertainty dragged on til '19
The western front joined by Americans
The exhaustion of the German machine
Their best men gone, sapped by the Somme and Aisne
The Marne and Amiens, despite the end
Of the eastern front, Russia's men being
Removed from the war, communist Lenin's
Priority being the preserving
Of Marxism itself, Lithuanian
Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian regimes
Poland freeing themselves, and the breaking
Up of Austria and Hungary. German
Sailors mutinied, end of war's dark dream

1917 - World War One (Part Four)

2011-12-04T18:17:00.002Z

1917 - year that shook the world
Everything was collapsing all around
The flag of Armageddon was unfurled
On fields of France and Flanders' muddy ground
Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, the Aisne, all drowned
In mud and bullets. The Germans' supplies
Low from British sea blockade, meant they'd mount
All-out U-boat war. When Americans died
In merchant ships bringing arms, the Yanks cried
For revenge, and mobilised. Russia's spoiled
Empire, by war finally overthrown
First the Tsar in February, then they tried
Pursuing liberal war, but soviets hurled
Them out, abolishing all bank accounts

1916 - World War One (Part Three)

2011-12-03T13:38:00.002Z

Zeppelins drop bombs on London and Paris
Unreliable, liable to catch fire
Tanks cut through barbed wire to the Somme trenches
Of the Germans, but casualties were high
A million, 60% the Allies
The Somme was a sideshow, because Verdun
Was where the real German thrust lay - it lies
Before the plains of Champagne that lead on
To Paris. The French held firm. Attrition
There and even more at the Somme, the kiss
Of death, battle of equals, shells and wire
Yet France was a sideshow - the real German
War aim had been Russia, and maybe this
Tantalising goal would tempt them again

1915 - World War (Part Two)

2011-12-02T17:35:00.000Z

In 1915 the World War progressed
Not at all, trenches static, give or take
The odd mile. U-boats and ships clashed from west
Of Chile to Korea. Both sides make
Advances, the British trial the break-
Through of the tank, while the Germans try gas
On the Russians, then the French, the Canuck
And Brits fighting near Ypres. The stalemate was
Established in the west, so the ruse was
To help Russia in the more fluid east
A sea route to supply them. But mistakes
Were made at Gallipoli. There were wars
At home as the Liberals split - Asquith's best
Had failed, and Lloyd-George now played for high stakes

1914 - World War One (Part One)

2011-12-01T17:37:00.001Z

Franz Ferdinand was shot, Sarajevo
Late June '14 by a cross Bosnian Serb
He was the heir to Austria-Hungary, so
The Austrians felt justified to disturb
Serbian land. The Germans thought this superb
Russia will react, mobilise, and then
Germany will react in turn and curb
The growing Russian military threat when
The German force was still the stronger one
France was allied to Russia and also
Britain, who said they would stand by Belgian
Neutrality. The Germans struck east, though
Also west, soon into stalemate absorbed

1913 - Lucky or unlucky strike?

2011-11-30T16:35:00.003Z

I'm on strike today along with Unite,
Unison, NUT, and my union
The PCS, and others, in a fight
To protect contracted work conditions
That includes the lure of decent pensions
Which was used to recruit us way back when
We began our jobs. The media often
Allow the public service workers none
Of the unstinting approval given
To those in private jobs, as though we might
Dispense with schools, hospitals, museums
Or institute mass privatisation
Cuts become easier, all done for profit
(With socio-economic destruction)

1912 - That sinking feeling

2011-11-29T19:13:00.004Z

The Republic of China created
The age-old monarchy is gone for good
Lenin's Bolsheviks now separated
From Social Democrats - they felt more red
Scott's disastrous South Pole trip leaves all dead
The Titanic hits an iceberg and sinks
The total drowned reaches fifteen hundred
The Royal Flying Corps first spreads its wings
Sarah Bernhardt appears in early films
Emperor Meiji by Taisho succeeded
The Balkan states throw out their Turkish lords
W.C. Handy's blues widely sang
Woodrow Wilson is this year elected
The year is 1912. Knew that? You should!

1911 - Speed of life

2011-11-28T17:53:00.003Z

Why did Gary Speed do the deed, and hang
Himself? This is what's perplexing us all
Not a household name, just a family man
Which makes it odd, ununderstandable
A player and manager of football
He played for Everton and later Leeds
Later on Bolton, and at Newcastle
Then after retirement, chosen to lead
Sheffield United as manager. Freed
After a few months to manage Wales, and
After a rocky start, resources small
In players and cash, started to succeed
Was it depression? Scandal? What had stung
Him into this, made him suicidal?

1910 - The ends of three eras

2011-11-27T11:03:00.003Z

In 1910 Edward VII died
George V, Vicky's grandson, took his place
Two years before, in Lisbon, on a ride
King Carlos had been shot. The growing pace
Of Republicanism would replace
Young King Manuel II, two years on
In Mexico, old Porfirio Diaz
Thirty-year dictator, rigged elections
Which Madero had more than likely won
This sparked a revolution, the poor tried
To free themselves - Villa, Zapata raced
Around the sierras. First Huerta, then
Carranza stabilised then liberalised
But even then, Mexico knew no peace

1909 - Family round-up

2011-11-26T19:24:00.002Z

Some family news, not said much for a while
My divorce from Tania was finalised
In late October, so now I'm single
Officially! In March, Pearl got her prize
Award of first-class degree from the spires
Of Oxford, and moved into a shared flat
In Islington, then got work she admires
In a TV company's office that
May lead upwards. Louis' been forced to wait
For a London job but he's won in style
Last night he heard he'd got one, though surprised
Researcher for horror films - how 'bout that?
Vera crashed her car but she's teaching still
Little Josie's writing won a school prize

1908 - The Balkan time-bomb winds up

2011-11-25T18:17:00.003Z

The Treaty of Berlin carved up the east
Thirty years before, but the aftershock
Was still rumbling on. The Ottoman beast
Was staggering to its fall, hands of the clock
At ten to midnight. Time for the Young Turk
Revolt, marching from Thessaloniki
To Constantinople, where they then broke
The Sultan's power. Bulgaria, though free
In fact since '78, officially
Declared independence, its tsar increased
His ego and desire for land, but look -
Austria-Hungary's old Franz-Josef, he
Annexed Bosnia, which before he just policed
Serbia and Russia took this painful knock

1907 - Softened drinker

2011-11-24T18:02:00.003Z

A lot of drinking in these last few nights
And meanwhile every night I am disturbed
Waking at three or maybe four and quite
Unable to drop off again. Being served
Pints or knocking back cans is what I've learned
To reduce lately, so I'm unused to
The side-effects, and in a strange reverse
Of the expected, though sleep starts on cue
It doesn't stay long - wakefulness breaks through
In mid-dream, and music, recent delight
Or disappointment circles, won't disperse
Despite cumulative weariness. True -
I've had a few nights out but socialite
Times are on hold - time to save, stay sober

1906 - Year of disasters

2011-11-24T13:29:00.003Z

It seems unfair to blame San Andreas
I'm not really sure that it was his Fault
That way back in the year 1906
San Francisco was rocked and what was built
Largely fell down or caught fire, and it killed
About 3,000. However, far worse
Was a quake a few weeks later that chilled
Chile, when Valparaiso appeared cursed
Despite its name suggesting paradise
And 20,000 died. And now let's pause
To remember those drowned in water-filled
Hong Kong a few more weeks on, in the course
Of a typhoon and tsunami. This was
Enough to cause belief in mankind's guilt

Wed 23 Nov

1905 - Revolutions in Bern and St Petersburg

2011-11-22T17:56:00.006Z

1905 was great and terrible
That year Einstein published five great papers
Explaining Brownian motion, particle
Activity, the action of light, laws
Of relativity, with few real flaws
In his theories despite a humble post
As a patent officer in Bern. Course,
He was a scatter-brain in some ways - most
Mythical mad scientists are. The coast
Of China near Korea, littered with piles
Of Russian and Japanese dead, bled for
Tsar Nicholas, led to extreme unrest
That and the poverty... The crucible
Of Bloody Sunday, soviets grabbing power

1904 - Bloomsday

2011-11-21T19:00:00.003Z

June 1904 - James Joyce meets Nora
And she sticks to him like a Barnacle
The writer - once a musician - and her
The Dublin hotel worker - odd couple
By all accounts she was quite sexual
And he became smitten, this geeky guy
And their episodes were influential
On the tone of his nostalgic story-
Telling, famously, or infamously
In 'Ulysses'...Is Molly just like her
In tormenting Leopold, unfaithful
At least in her or in his fantasy
Is this what would gnaw at Joyce the writer
As he worked and she grew irritable

1903 - Flying tonight

2011-11-20T19:17:00.002Z

The first-ever heavier than air plane flight
Took place in 1903, the balloon
Superseded, thanks to the Brothers Wright
All those millennia when up a mountain
Was the only way to have the vision
Of looking down upon a bed of cloud
Up where the sky is always pristine blue
And the sun blinds you above the white shroud
When clouds are gone the land is now allowed
For study - famous coastlines come in sight
Peninsulas, rivers reflecting sun
Whole towns and cities, tiny cars on roads
Cheap flights pollute but we love the sheer height
And the world spread below our tube-shaped room

1902 - Long day's journey

2011-11-20T19:06:00.002Z

My brother's fifty today, a landmark
Our older sister, she's already there
Soon it'll be my turn. Once in the park
We played cricket in those two hot summers
'75 and 6, and that was where
My brother poured our Dad's ashes beneath
A new tree, later vandalised. Prepare
Now, on the coach to Birmingham, to see
The old places transformed - through gritted teeth
Trying to recall things past in the dark
Recesses of memory, the old centre
Of Birmingham, then by train or bus, leave
For Lichfield, where I'll meet Robin and work
On getting drunk in The Feathers later

1901 - Anarchy in the USA

2011-11-18T17:29:00.003Z

In 1901 Queen Victoria died
As did US President McKinley
Vic died of old age on the Isle of Wight
Mac of two bullets at close range when he
Was at Buffalo Expo - anarchy
The alleged motive, but the assassin
Was a disaffected loner, quietly
Submitting to grisly execution
In the electric chair, no real good done
Unless to protest against the great tide
Of big business and titans like JP
Morgan, relentless consolidation
And mergers. Teddy Roosevelt decried
The worst excesses of those trusts quickly

1900 - Twentieth century blues

2011-11-17T19:05:00.004Z

Welcome my friends, welcome everybody
To the start of the twentieth century
I don't want to Boer you but the GB
Army fought at Spion Kop so bravely
And relieved Ladysmith later to the
Relief of our empire and Treasury
King Umberto I of Italy
Was shot four times by anarchist Bresci
The next incumbent of that monarchy
Ruined it (too close to Mussolini)
Old Queen Vic visited London City
She proclaimed Australia a new country
The Filipinos fought the Yanks fiercely
The Labour Party starts led by Hardie

1899 - More pink bits on the map

2011-11-16T17:36:00.002Z

The Boer War began 1899
Between Britain and Dutch expatriates
Who had settled South Africa in time
To create Transvaal and Orange Free State
The British had Cape Colony, the great
Kimberley mine, and lots of their settlers
Now living on Boer-ruled land would await
The sight of 'liberating' Brit forces
The whole of SA under auspices
Of Queen Vic's regime would suit them just fine
At first the small army of Lord Roberts
Was besieged here and there. At last, success
At great cost, more troops, Kitchener did fine
But only using camps that concentrate

1898 - The eagle spreads its wings

2011-11-15T17:08:00.002Z

1898 was the only year
Of the conflict geographically wide
Known as the Spanish-American War
In which the Yanks grabbed Puerto Rico, tried
To grab the Philippines, grabbed Guam, allied
Themselves to the Cuban independence
Fighters, where Teddy Roosevelt's rough ride
Gained him popular political points
Guantanamo Bay however remains
De facto US land on Cuba's shore
By December, Spain's vast empire had died
Hawaii's republic was rendered defunct
By US annexation, as earlier
They'd removed its queen who'd bravely defied

1897 - I obviously don't belong to Glasgow

2011-11-14T20:24:00.003Z

Alarm at five fifteen, I had to rise
In late night darkness and head for the train
Battle against time, against weariness
Transported up to wild Scotland again
Saw horrid tribes clad in kilts, quite insane
They brandished their cabers, whisky and gin
In rushing rivulets gushing doon glens
I saw Little Yins and saw a Big Yin
Deep fried Mars Bars were gi'en me for din
I'm back in Sassenach Land noo, but pies
An fries and a' that made me fat, ma brain
Reelin' in the beers...Yo, Mr Salmond...!
Er, oh dear, sorry, I apologise
Glasgow was quite normal, with spots of rain

1896 - I need to talk about we need to talk about Kevin

2011-11-13T18:17:00.002Z

Last night, though somewhat drunk, I read the last
Hundred pages of the recent novel
'We Need to Talk About Kevin' ... The list
Of films at the cinema proved a thrill
Because the Cornerhouse alone was still
Showing the film of the book - how lucky!
The book was linear but Lionel
Shriver did shuttle back and forth in the
Narrative, which was epistolary
The film was like that too, the first part fast
Shuttling, then settling down to family hell
The son just didn't like people, you see
So he became a high school terrorist
And proud of it, Mom was ashamed to tell