RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 40

RANDOM REMINDER

MERRY MAY

So it’s May, a month of falling rain, temperature and leaves, holidays for some, Capping Week to be avidly watched by those who think students are the last word in decadence, and at the end nothing but winter. But those who feel the onset already should not be dismayed when May arrives. Even in this part of the world it can be a merry month. On this day 75 years ago, for instance, Bishop Julius was winched to the top of Christchurch Cathedral in a bosun’s chair to bless the coping stone, a ceremony requiring just that little bit more than the laying of a foundation stone. After the Bishop had shown the gear was safe, the contractors

were able to make a little pin money by winching spectators to the top at a shilling a time—and you can be sure the shillings were not spent on pins. On the subject of heights, we can report too that on May 2, 1931, the Empire State Building in New York was completed. On May 3, 1945, New Zealand forces entered Trieste. Napoleon died, it now seems from poisoning, on May 5, 1821, and on May 6 Robespierre (1758) and Gary Cooper (1901) were born. A certain H. H. Holmes, who killed dozens of women at his so-called employment agency in Chicago, was executed on May 7, 1898. The world celebrated VEDay on May 8, 1945 and on May 9. 1671, Colonel Blood attempted unsuccessfully,

to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. James I created the first baronet on May 20, 1611, in a bid to replenish his exchequer, and on May 25, 1861, the first issue of “The Press” was produced in a couple of small cottages in the Rev. John Raven's paddock in Montreal street. On May 23, 1783. the Montgolfier brothers made the first successful balloon ascent on the same day 148 years later, Auguste Picard ascended 10 miles in a balloon. Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819. She was not amused and cried as lustily as any newborn. And should you take our civilisation too much for granted, it is only 97 years on May 26 since public executions were banned in Britain.