A week of significant and not so significant anniversaries
LEST WE FORGET
ONE HUNDRED years ago today the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was into its first day. It would rage until November. Various commemorations have taken place to mark the anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles in history. Prime Minister Theresa May, the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended events in Ypres, Belgium, over the weekend. More than 325,000 Allied troops were killed during the First World War battle in the war which was supposed to end all wars. Troops fought in terrible conditions, battling not just the enemy but the elements, in a grim landscape captured by T S Eliot’s The Wasteland.
YORKSHIRE DAY
Tomorrow is Yorkshire Day, a tradition which is not as old as you might think. It was started in 1975 by the Yorkshire Ridings Society, largely as a protest against the abolition (although some may beg to differ on this point) of the old ‘ridings’, which themselves derive from the ancient Saxon ‘thridings’, or ‘dividing into thirds’, which originates in Denmark. The Ridings (West, North and East) ceased to carry out official administrative functions in 1974 but crucially were never officially abolished and some still want to see them reintroduced.
If you can’t make it to an event, you can always make Yorkshire puddings.
Tomorrow will also see the opening of the refurbished Piece Hall, Halifax, dubbed ‘the most important nonreligious building in Yorkshire’ and ‘a cathedral to the industry on which the West Riding’s economy was built’. The 18th century building is the only remaining example of the great northern pre-industrial temples in which hand-loomed pieces of cloth were bought and sold and has undergone a £19m restoration.
BITE OF THE APPLE
While Amazon, Microsoft and Google all hogged the limelight last week with the unveiling of their latest mind-boggling quarterly results, all revealing healthy profits well into the billions, this week they may all be dwarfed by US technology giant Apple, which is still officially the richest company in the world and which will unveil its results tomorrow.
END OF AN ERA
Wednesday will mark the end of an era for the Duke of Edinburgh, who will attend his final individual public engagement at The Captain General’s Parade. As previously announced, the Duke will no longer undertake his own programme of public engagements, though he may choose to attend events alongside the Queen. The parade marks the finale of the 1664 Global Challenge, an event being undertaken by the Royal Marines Charity.
The Duke turned 96 in June but last year he still managed to attend 110 engagements, making him the fifth-busiest royal. He hasn’t done bad, all things considered, because he almost bowed out when he was 90, telling one interviewer it was “better to get out before you reach your sellby date”. All that said, he remains president or a member of more than 780 organisations and has pledged to continue to be associated with them.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Some may inwardly groan that the following item will make the news at all this week but Royal relationships have always been the subject of much scrutiny and so it will be on Friday, when Prince Harry’s girlfriend, Meghan Markle, turns 36.
So, given it’s a slow news week, expect the media to milk it for all it’s worth, with double-page picture spreads in the nationals and plenty of commentary on the television news networks.
In what could turn out to be one of the slowest news weeks in recent times, Neil Hudson ducks his head below the waterline to see what’s swimming about.