Date

It is, they tell me, one hundred years to the day since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. In a year of many significant centenaries, this is as momentous as they come.

The fact that I have heard of it at all testifies to its importance, my knowledge of history being patchy to say the least. It is probably due to so much of history occurring before I was born, and hence having little direct impact on me; although, to tell the truth, the bits of history that have occurred since are also somewhat murky. I think the problem may be that history is not really my thing. It is heavily weighted towards facts, and events, and dates, which all have to be accurately regurgitated under exam conditions. Perhaps I prefer somewhat fuzzier subjects, for instance where the numbers don't quite matter so much as long as you make a reasonable guess at them and are in the right sort of ballpark. Whereas, in contrast, being a year or two out when referring to the start of World War I is deemed unacceptably lax.

And I am always a little concerned the way history has a habit of changing. You would have thought, having happened, it would stay the same for the foreseeable future. And yet it's never quite like that, with opinions shifting over time, and eminent professors arguing passionately about whether such and such an event actually occurred, and what it meant if it did, and what it might have meant if it didn't. You would think they would be able to agree on these details, but everything seems up for grabs. Apart from when I last sat an exam paper, when suddenly all the facts had to be accurate. But why shouldn't I have my own opinion on the date of the Battle of Waterloo, or the number of wives collected by Henry VIII? It is always good to think creatively, rather than just follow the crowd.