please empty your brain below
Does your list allow for the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752?

Mike | 18.07.17 - 7:13 a.m. | #

Of course there were no DNA tests in those days, so everything is assumed anyway.

Still anon | 18.07.17 - 7:19 a.m. | #

I suspect that the final 5 words probably summarise for many the last couple of days...

Frank F | 18.07.17 - 7:22 a.m. | #

Are there any royal kittens?

Debster | 18.07.17 - 8:05 a.m. | #

Thank you for this post. If ever I have lingering doubts about the wisdom of dropping history at school at the first possible opportunity, reflecting on your writing will instantly crush them.

It is a sad reflection on history, as I was taught at school, that I found your post much more interesting than those lessons.

Pedantic of Purley | 18.07.17 - 8:05 a.m. | #

Are you teeing up to be the next Guardian Readers' Editor, dg??

Gordon | 18.07.17 - 8:09 a.m. | #

Sadly @Frank, it is you who have erred. The single digit numbers from zero through nine are normally written in non-numerical form, only from 10 and above do digits rule.

Ken | 18.07.17 - 8:10 a.m. | #

@Ken: you're the 1st one to point this out, but others may do l8r. Thanks m8.

Frank F | 18.07.17 - 8:18 a.m. | #

Bizarrely, as someone with nothing but contempt for Greedy Betty and her dysfunctional family I have found the last couple of days' entries rather interesting.

The Legendary Zelda | 18.07.17 - 8:38 a.m. | #

I actually thought outlining the differences in the calculation / interpretation of dates, made for a very interesting post.

For that, maybe there is thanks to the four

louise | 18.07.17 - 8:45 a.m. | #

On the other hand, there are those of us who don't give a toss about Royals, and reckon our DG was taking the p ........

Brian | 18.07.17 - 9:06 a.m. | #

I'm actually beginning to miss bus stop M.

Waterhouse | 18.07.17 - 9:11 a.m. | #

What's a 'house' anyway? Is it the same as a family?

Adrian | 18.07.17 - 9:37 a.m. | #

This is exactly why Michael Gove thinks it so important to increase the focus on kings and queens in the school curriculum.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 18.07.17 - 9:49 a.m. | #

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Caz | 18.07.17 - 10:04 a.m. | #

Pedentic people are really boring

I enjoyed your last post, DG. All this has done is made me wonder about what we missed out on so you could write this correction!

Gav | 18.07.17 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Not just the Gregorian calendar, but also the change in new year from March to January which made 1751 a year with just 282 days in it?

Kirk | 18.07.17 - 10:43 a.m. | #

I note that all the Crossrail boring machines have women's names and thus nominate, for the purpose of acknowledging the boringness of these posts, that DG adopt the name hereupon of "Marion". (As in Marion B Carstairs).

B | 18.07.17 - 10:57 a.m. | #

Good stuff :) Two posts for the price of one.

Obviously you are entitled to start and cut up the list any way you like. But the point is that any such historical list has to make choices. When to start? Who is a Plantagenet? Who is a King (Stephen and Maud, even Lady Jane Grey)? And just England, or Britain, or the UK, or all three? And indeed what about the High Kings of Ireland, or the few people who could sensibly claim to be Kings of Wales, such as Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and Owain Gwynedd?

Just confining yourself to England, a further possibility would be to go back to the Anglo-Saxons, although the starting date would be a matter for another debate. You could start with Alfred the Great, but not 871: perhaps 886, when he reoccupied London. Or Athelstan from 927, when he conquered York.

(In answer to Mike, George II lost 11 days in 1752, but that was part of a reign of over 33 years; so the "lost" days should only matter if DG was counting each day individually, rather than years and then days of uncompleted years.)

Andrew | 18.07.17 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Well I enjoyed both posts equally!

I'm always happy to learn something new about history and love these "did you know.." type posts.

Cornish Cockney | 18.07.17 - 11:15 a.m. | #

I hear winter is coming.

Uncle Audrey | 18.07.17 - 11:30 a.m. | #

Who gives a damn? We don't need royalty in the 21st century.

A | 18.07.17 - 12:07 p.m. | #

'as any fule kno' - Nigel Molesworth/Deep Purple

Nick | 18.07.17 - 12:12 p.m. | #

Yeah and what about that Harold Godwinson, then? Not to mention the odd Cnut.

Autolycus | Homepage | 18.07.17 - 12:38 p.m. | #

I preferred the dirty version.

Greg S | 18.07.17 - 1:43 p.m. | #

Can we at least agree on: 'newly-septuagenarian Camilla' as undisputed?

BRIAN BERKE | 18.07.17 - 1:56 p.m. | #

House of Godwinson - 9 months in 1066
House of Capet - 17 months in 1215/16


What about leap years? (runs away quickly)

timbo | 18.07.17 - 2:09 p.m. | #

Equally as interesting as yesterday's post.

David | 18.07.17 - 2:21 p.m. | #

@Nick - thank you for jogging my memory. I now remember "How to be Topp" and other such invaluable reference materials.

Tim | 18.07.17 - 2:51 p.m. | #

I think history is very interesting stuff. But by that, I mean proper thematic study of how people lived and what they did and why, as supported by interpretation of documentary evidence (backed up by other methods like archaeology).

Of course, lists of Kings and Queens can form a part of this study, but a small part whose importance has been much over-stated, in my view.

Return to dates of Kings is one of the many things which separate my views from those of Michael Gove, and make me dread the day when he takes over the tory party (and potentially, and even worse, the nation).

Malcolm | 18.07.17 - 4:16 p.m. | #

The abbreviation "y" covers a multitude of calendar foibles, although I've tried to take account of leap years in calculating the "d"s.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 18.07.17 - 4:18 p.m. | #

In my view, the only consistent way of measuring the time between two given dates is in proper elapsed days. Then divide by the exact average number of days in a year of the current calendar (pretending that that is matched to the earth, even though we know it is not quite). And express the result in (current-length) years and days.

For the royal houses discussion, we can probably pretend that all transitions occurred at midday on the recorded date, even though Kings probably died at different times of day. We can also pretend that the next royal house took over immediately a King died, even though in some cases there was probably an interregnum.

Malcolm | 18.07.17 - 4:28 p.m. | #

This isn't the DG I signed up for.

Bus Stop M Fan | 18.07.17 - 5:04 p.m. | #

Really enjoyed the last two days posts, although it's not usually a subject I'd consider myself interested in. Great work as always DG

Tom | 18.07.17 - 5:43 p.m. | #

If there's someone on the planet with a drier sense of humour than DG then I haven't met them.

Eric | 18.07.17 - 6:07 p.m. | #

I think you spelt self-serving incorrectly.

Mark | 18.07.17 - 6:35 p.m. | #

IMHO this is not as interesting as dogging at the Gravelly Hill viewpoint, but each to their own!

I have met the Queen twice, I doubt that she remembers me (it was not at Gravelly Hill).

Chris | 18.07.17 - 7:15 p.m. | #

Are the Houses of Windsor and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha not one and the same?

Was it more than a name change?

Madison | 18.07.17 - 7:30 p.m. | #

Where does The House of Eliott fit into this scenario? I used to love watching that.

I seem to remember a House of Wax too - but I only know of Ruby, the well known advocate of mindfulness and interviewer of Imelda Marcos.

drD | Homepage | 18.07.17 - 10:17 p.m. | #

My wife lives for this stuff. Just say the word and I'll forward her this post and she can correct any errors.

Miles Archer | 19.07.17 - 12:12 a.m. | #

Put it this way: the Queen is not the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Andrew | 19.07.17 - 7:41 a.m. | #

I still claim the House of Mountbatten (Bettenberg) has the longest living monarch to date & as correctly pointed out ER is the last of her dynastic line as it ends with her demise.

Drew | 19.07.17 - 4:58 p.m. | #

tedious pedantry is why we come back for more , keep it up

Peter | 19.07.17 - 10:21 p.m. | #











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