May 31st

Today is World No Tobacco Day, when abstinence from all tobacco products across the globe is encouraged.

It is also the Feast of the Visitation which commemorates the visit of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, (mother of John the Baptist). It was on this visit that Mary proclaimed 'The Magnificat':-

"My soul doth magnify the Lord: And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my                                                                                                                                           Saviour.
For he hath regarded: The lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth: all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is blessed hath magnified me: And Holy is his name.
And His mercy is upon those that fear them: throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm: He hath scattered the proud in the                                                                                               imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the poor                                                                                                                             and the meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich are sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel:
           as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever."

1669 Citing failing eyesight Samuel Pepys makes the last entry of events in his diary.

1680 The cousin, twice removed, of Titus Oates, namely Walter Oates, was arrested upon suspicion of treason for abetting his cousin with the fakery of the 'Popish Plot' to assassinate Charles II. Walter denied any type of involvement saying that his cousin's gang were "As Titus thieves!", and that whilst they were planning the fabricated plot he was out quite literally 'sowing the wild Oates!'. His outrageous puns and attempts at dry wit convinced the inquisitors that he was merely suspected due to his lineage and whilst his cousin Titus was fined and imprisoned, stripped of all clerical vestments, he was freed. 'Upon my Oates I had nought to do with it yet honour sir', being his parting shot.
Walter left for the Americas where he joined up with George Fox's brethren and began farming crops on an intensive system, entering the cereal market with his own porridge, ' Quaker Oates'.

1819 American author and poet Walt Whitman is born in West Hills, Huntington,Long Island, New York.

1859 The clock tower in Parliament, which houses Big Ben, begins keeping time.

1860 English artist Walter Sickert was born in Munich. The violent nature given off in his artwork plus his copious use of prostitutes as models gave rise to rumours that Sickert was the Whitechapel murderer, Jack The Ripper, Sickert did little to divert the rumours even painting his room,( in which he believed the murderer had once dwelt), titling it "Jack The Ripper's Bedroom". The painting today hangs in the Manchester City Art Gallery.

1922 Quintessentially English actor, Denholm Elliott was born today in Ealing, Middlesex. He starred in over 120 films and TV shows, starring as Dr. Marcus Brody in Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

1930 American actor, director,producer and sometime Republican stooge, Clinton ' Clint ' Eastwood was born in San Francisco, California.

1948 British actress, broadcaster, author and OXO mum, Lynda Bellingham was born in Montreal,Quebec, Canada as Meredith Lee Hughes. She made her first big break showing her boobs in 1977's " Confessions of a Driving Instructor", later becoming the face of OXO from 1983 to 1999. Lynda also took over the role of Helen Herriot from Carol Drinkwater in the BBC classic series, All Creatures Great and Small.

1949 Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham was born in Redditch, Worcestershire.


1962 Adolf Eichmann, an SS Lieutenant -colonel and one of the major organisers of The Holocaust during World War Two, was hanged in Ramla, Israel on this day. After the war he had fled to Austria until 1950 when, using false papers he fled to Argentina, remaining there until discovered by Mossad agents and captured, being smuggled out and taken to Israel to stand trial. A trial that saw him show no remorse and delivered the sentence that was carried out today.

1967 Wrestler Ian Richard Hodgkinson was born today in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Better known by his ring name of 'Vampiro' and his finisher 'Nail in the Coffin'.

1983 American boxer Jack Dempsey died in New York City from heart failure aged 87yo. The Manassa Mauler was World Heavyweight Champion from 1919-1926. His last reported words to his wife were "Don't worry honey, I'm too mean to die".

2009 English entertainer and Drag Artist, Danny La Rue, died in Tunbridge Wells, he had suffered from prostate cancer for many years, had several minor strokes and then developed cancer of the throat to which he finally succumbed aged 81yo.

Politics: The lumbering row over Nick Clegg's leadership rumbles on. Despite incessant protestations of innocence, Vince Cable added more fuel to the fire by offering to take the load off Clegg's hands if he wanted to go back to Sheffield, Hallam to fight for his seat, " But of course I am fully behind Nick, (right behind ready to plunge my sharp stiletto!). " In a surprise show of support for the embattled Deputy PM, Gideon Osborne said that," Nick has always been fully behind me in my doings, he has the most wonderful way with his tongue as he laps at your backside, both David and I would miss him dreadfully if he was to go".