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The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.

Ursla Le Guin (1929-2018)

The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969

This Week in History:

May 18th - 23rd

Test yourself:

Press the buttons to reveal the answers.
1
How old was Bob Marley when he died?
36
2
In 2002 which country gained independence after how long?
East Timor after 25 years of occupation by Indonesia
3
What became legal in 2015 and where?
Same-sex marriage became legal in Ireland
4
What happened in Tamil Nadu?
Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a bomb attack.
5
What were Bob Marley's last words to his son?
"Money can't buy life."
6
Where did the police use tear gas?
At Bob Marley's funeral
7
Who went where in 1991?
Helen Sharman became the first Briton to go into space.

Notes:

"A bloody birth" is the phrase used by the BBC to describe the independence of East Timor from Indonesia. This is putting it mildly. John Pilger chronicles that a third of the almost one million population were killed. He filmed secretly in East Timor and his documentary Death of a Nation (later updated as The Timor Conspiracy) contributed to the International outcry that led ultimately to Indonesia's withdrawal and East Timor's independence. You can watch the entire film for free on Vimeo. Incidently, the current Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn was in East Timor at the time as part of a UN delegation to verify the vote for Independence.

What the BBC ignored:

May 18 - 1974: Operation Smiling Buddha. India detonates its first nuclear bomb becoming the sixth nation to do so.

May 19 - 1962: Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday for President kennedy.

May 20 - 1971: Thousands masscared in Chunagar by the Pakistan army during the Bangladesh Liberation War

May 21 - 2003: The 6.8 magnitude Boumerdès earthquake in Algeria kills approximately 2,226 people and injures over 10,000.

May 22 - 1968: USS Scorpion (SSN-589), a US nuclear submarine, sinks killing 99. One of four mysterious submarine disappearances in teh same year.

May 23 - 1934: American robbers and killers Bonnie and Clyde ambushed and shot dead

Would you have swapped any of the events above for any of the events chosen by the BBC?

This Week In History HD Video 41.95 MB
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