Her Majesty the Queen is 96 today. She’s been Queen for 70 years, and by the time of her Platinum Jubilee in June, she’ll be the world’s third longest-serving monarch. By Christmas she’ll be second only to the Sun King, Louis Quatorze of France, who tops the league tables with a reign of 72 years and 110 days. Read More
I must confess that I’m a total killjoy about April Fool’s day. I’m haunted by the memory of one of my primary teachers sending a hapless boy down the corridor to ask another teacher for a ‘long stand’; and I still go red remembering being jeered at in the playground for falling for something foolish. But of course I see the point of it all. It’s one of the few non-religious festivals that seems to crop up all over Europe and beyond, so today we join many other countries around the world in pranking our friends and neighbours. Dennis the Menace is Scotland’s Patron Saint of pranking, and he’d be in his element today. Read More
