Ooh! He never did!

"It reads like a soap opera." Just a book-reviewer’s cliché, right? Wrong; read on…

Dirty dealings

It seems that Julie, who was one of Wayne’s mistresses, was used by old Charlie Roberts to try to stop Wayne sleeping with his own mother Dotty, when, according to Keith, she was trying to control the family by getting Wayne into bed with her.

Eastenders? Emmerdale? Try ancient Rome – all I did was change the names from Acte, Nero, Seneca, Agrippina and Tacitus, respectively. And I got the dirt, not from the News of the World, but from Who’s Who in the Roman World, part of the Credo Reference stable.

I was drifting through the History stuff on Credo Reference when I came across this everyday story of Roman incestuous folk, and there’s lots more where that came from. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not all smut (I was just lucky) – the list of titles stretches from the ancients to Anzac, from Who’s Who in Ancient Egypt to a Dictionary of Contemporary History. 29 titles, and that’s just on history!

I’ve already been rude about the name Credo Reference, a couple of weeks ago, so I won’t go on about it. But I will repeat that the resource itself is a fantastic range of reference material, which you can search title by title or all together. Don’t forget that you will need your library card to use it at home.

And talking of home, will Charlie manage to keep Wayne from under Dotty’s duvet. Catch the next tasteful episode…

(From the Gateway to websites, select "History". Credo Reference is a Key Link. Being so huge, it also pops up in several other categories.)

A birthday boy, and Tricky Dicky

Apparently, on this day (29 May) in 1630, Charles II was born. Then on the same day in 1660, he was restored to the throne. On his birthday! – isn't that nice!

In Paris, the first performance of The Rite of Spring caused a riot (1913), while Richard "Expletive Deleted" Nixon agreed to hand over the Watergate transcripts, which would show what a very naughty boy he’d been (1974).

I know it’s trivial stuff, but it does get rather addictive. Today in History will feed my addiction, and yours too if you like. The joy is that tomorrow is another day of anniversaries (Tweety Pie and women’s underwear on 30 May – I’ve already looked).

(From the Gateway to websites, select "History". Today in History is under "History Tools".)