Dark Earth Timeline Discussion

[Bernard Woolley]

Don't you DARE have England win the FIFA World Cup again

Can you imagine what they’d be like? There’d be no living with them!

[Simon Darkshade]

It is quite within the realms of possibility for them to win further World Cups, to go with 1966, at some stage from 1978 forward. It isn’t the same England team in terms of the media or supporter culture as was brought up by Jotun back in 2016 or so.

History of the DE World Cup to date:

1970: Brazil d Germany 4-3
1966: England d France 4-2
1962: England d Brazil 4-2
1958: Brazil d Sweden 5-4
1954: Germany d Austria-Hungary 4-3
1950: England d Brazil 3-2
1938: Austria-Hungary d Italy 3-1
1934: England d Italy 5-2
1930: Britain d Argentina 4-0 (Unified Home Nations due to Depression)

[Bernard Woolley]

If you want to include something that really shows that DE is a realm of magic, have Scotland qualify for the second round!

[Simon Darkshade]

Reading up on 1978, even if the same teams qualify, there is no guarantee that Scotland will get the same draw of Peru, Iran (still Persia in DE) and the Dutch, as there will likely be a different qualifying 16 (if for no other reason than the absence of separate Austria and Hungary). Looking at that performance, getting through to the second round isn’t that difficult to engineer.

[Simon Darkshade]

January 1974
January 1: A party of four British food writers, as part of a promotion by Barclaycard, order a 32 course dinner costing £10,000 at Rules in London, with one remarking afterwards that they may have overdone things ever so slightly, before being felled by an immediate attack of gout.
January 2: Completion of the USSF orbital space station Independence, completing the network consisting of Liberty, United States and Columbia. Plans for the new NASA and USSF 'Space Shuttle', an atomic powered spaceplane designed to link the orbital stations with the moons, call for the construction of 50 Shuttles at $500 million apiece over the next 12 years.
January 3: Sub-Inspector Bajirao Singham of the Imperial Indian Police defeats a gang of thugs in a skirmish near the border with Goa, beating the miscreants with a lamp post he plucked from the ground.
January 4: Exercise Stopwatch, a surprise test of the emergency mobilisation and deployment of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force's fighter defences begins in the British Isles, with a total of 624 de Havilland Spectres, 972 Hawker-Siddeley Hunters, 528 Supermarine Sunstars, 432 English Electric Lightnings, 576 Gloster Javelins and 648 Fairey Deltas successfully taking part in the first day of the exercise.
January 5: Over eighty people are feared drowned in the capsizing of a ferry in a storm off the coast of Bagacay Point, Cebu in the Philippines.
January 6: The Global Television Network begins broadcasting in Canada as the fourth major national television network after CBC, the Canadian Television Network and the Imperial Broadcasting Company, with coast to coast coverage provided by the new Global Television System satellite.
January 7: Beginning of what will later be dubbed the 'Gombe Chimpanzee War' in Tanganyika, with primatologist Jane Goodall observing the first skirmish between two rival groups of Eastern chimpanzees following on from a meteor shower three days earlier, with both groups displaying some advanced use of tools, makeshift weapons and elementary tactics beyond their previously demonstrated capacity.
January 8: A meeting of the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association rejects a motion to delegates to alter the blanket ban on allowing any professional payments for athletes engaged in multiple sports, maintaining the strict amateur ethos that has governed the association since its establishment in 1904.
January 9: The British Army of the Rhine and RAF Germany begin a rolling series of winter exercises across Western Germany, the Low Countries and France, involving participation of the Army’s new Field Forces, testing of advanced missile systems and the fielding of new armoured vehicles by the attached Commonwealth Corps.
January 10: France conducts an underground nuclear test deep in the Sahara Desert in Algeria, with the new warhead for the S5 heavyweight LRBM yielding 4.2 megatons.
January 11: Lord Lucan, best known of late for his April 1972 Buenos Aires kidnapping and newly returned from the Argentine to London, takes up a new position with his longtime acquaintance Lord Godalming's secretive association dedicated to the protection of the night, the Carfax Circle.
January 12: Ethiopian adventurers report that they may have discovered the lost tomb of Prester John high in the Hindu Kush in the borderlands between Tibet, India and Shangri-La. Curiously, they identify the presence of what seem to be Khmer artifacts about the floor of the antechamber and what appear to be both Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mayan glyphs on the as-yet impenetrable door to the tomb itself.
January 13: In an upset at Rice Stadium in Texas, the Minnesota Vikings are defeated by the Wyoming Mustangs 10-7 at Super Bowl VIII, in a game noted for the increasing frustration of fans at the ongoing reforms and safety measures put in place by the National Football League.
January 14: The Hawker-Siddeley Hawk enters service with the Commonwealth air forces as part of the joint training units of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, with over 1000 jets to be procured by the RAF and RN alone. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Eden turbofan with 12500lbf of thrust (20000lbf reheat) to a top speed of Mach 1.6, the Hawk is described as having a combat radius of 500 miles when configured as a light fighter.
January 15: A panel of document historians, cartographers and experts from the Great Library of Alexandria confirm the authenticity of the Vinland Map, with certain features corresponding to several of the Piri Reis maps, creating quite the conundrum for historians.
January 16: Release of Charlemagne, an expansive 287 minute historical epic directed by Franco Zeffirelli on the life of the King of the Franks and the first Holy Roman Emperor, starring Christopher Lee in the title role, Frank Finlay as Alcuin of York, Robert Shaw as Pepin the Short, Omar Sharif as Harun al-Rashid, Harry Andrews as Einhard, Stanley Baker as Desiderius, Charlton Heston as Pope Leo III and Robert Redford as Roland.
January 17: Communist guerrillas from the M-19 group break into the Quinta de Bolivar in Bogotá and steal the magic sword of Simon Bolivar from its locked display case, leaving a cryptic note behind. The Grandmaster of the Bolivarian Knights in Caracas orders that a special circle of sworn brother knights be dispatched to recover the blade lest the Prophecy of Mandingas come to pass.
January 18: A special team of Polish industrial sorcerers and wiedźmin seconded to the Wyższy Urząd Górniczy report that they have successfully extinguished a hexed coal fire burning since 1933.
January 19: The British Ministry of Housing issues a report on the completion of slum clearance across the United Kingdom, with further New City and New Town construction to be coordinated to accommodate natural population growth and relocation from the largest metropolises of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Dublin and the Yorkshire conurbation of Leeds and Sheffield. It reaffirms the standing policy against the high rise blocks of flats seen in the USA, Soviet Union, Japan and parts of Europe, with the restrictions of (and statutory exceptions to) the London Building Act and National Building Height Act being seen as being fit for purpose.
January 20: A spokesdwarf for the Football Association indicates that the FA continues to absolutely refuses to consider a proposal for soccer matches on Sundays, in line with the strong public backing for the maintenance of the Sabbath and the lack of any apparent capacity for exceptions within current legislation.
January 21: Communist terrorists of the Argentine People's Revolutionary Army assault an Army barracks in Azul, Buenos Aires Province, killing the commanding colonel before being driven off by heavy counterattack. Argentine Premier Rodriguez declares in a televised address to the nation that the outrage represented "more than a crime, but the clearest of attacks against our people and our beloved motherland, requiring the strongest and most vigorous of responses."
January 22: Broadcast of the first episode of The War Game, a charming BBC children’s television drama about a mock battle between children of two neighbouring towns, using ‘artillery’ (ingenious homemade cannons firing paint-filled water balloons), toy tanks, cavalry charges, ambushes and several substantive trenches.
January 23: Villagers in Llandrillo, Denbighshire, report a strange series of flashing lights in the sky immediately before a small earthquake in the nearby Berwyn Mountains. A wizened local wag was heard to quip that 'Perhaps the Army has gone and captured one of them there newfangled UFO thingamadoobers!”
January 24: The 1974 Empire Games in Christchurch are opened by His Royal Highness Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, with over 3200 athletes to compete in 204 events from 25 sports and disciplines.
January 25: The Soviet Union conducts a test launch of a new long range ballistic missile from a test facility deep within the USSR to a target range in the Northern Pacific Ocean. It is suspected that the new UR-500 is capable of carrying up to 20 multiple independent reentry vehicles.
January 26: Police in Reykjavik uncover a drained body whilst searching for missing labourer Guðmundur Einarsson and fear that this might be indicative of the first vampire attack in Iceland's history. A number of telegrams requesting assistance are sent out to the United States, Rome, London and Amsterdam.
January 27: A party of adventurers lead by Sir Charles Ratcliffe defeat an occultist named Sardo Numspa in High Tibet, thwarting the attempts of his cult to sacrifice a young boy hailed by monks as a 'Golden Child'.
January 28: Over 12,000 armed peasants block roads in Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, in protest against the rapidly rising cost of staple foods. The Bolivian Premier orders the deployment of the Army in response, suspecting that this is the latest manifestation of the long running communist insurgency of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional de Bolivia lead by the elusive Adolfo González.
January 29: Publication of a British Government White Paper on a raft of proposed reforms to pension schemes, with the chief measure proposed being a phased universal introduction of superannuation schemes with compulsory employer contributions; this would be underpinned by the universal old age pension, which would remain non-means tested.
January 30: Acting on intelligence from sources within the communist guerilla movements, aerospace imagery and arcane prediction, a Rhodesian SAS and Selous Scouts strike force supported by RRAF Hunters, Tornadoes and Warspites, stages a raid on a rebel camp in Angola, which was hosting a meeting of the various factions in the ongoing Bush War. Operation Taxman results in a complete success, killing or capturing all of the leadership targets present and acting to decapitate the enemy effort.
January 31: A report by the US Department of the Interior estimates the potential economic value of the prospective mineral deposits around South Park, Colorado as being over $32 billion, which could have a transformative impact on the Coloradan and national economies. The presence of an endangered group of duck like creatures in the heavily forested mountains nearby is described as not seriously impeding the prospects for the development of the cluster of mines.

[Simon Darkshade]

The 32 course meal outlined above on January 1st, as a preliminary to further notes incoming. Some of the wines/spirits are DE only varieties, but I’ve tried to put together a decent list of ones that go with the food. At even a single glass per course, along with the rather rich cooking (heavy on butter, cream, truffles etc), the acute attack of gout is not too much in the realm of the literary flourish. Recipes available on enquiry.

1st Amuse Bouche
Smoked Scottish Salmon and North Sea Whitebait
1912 Grand Muscat

2nd Hors d'oeuvre
Beluga Caviar
Oysters Ratcliffe
1899 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling

3rd Consommé
Beef Consommé Royale
1949 Chateau de Rene Beaujolais

4th Bisque
Scottish Lobster Bisque
1925 Grand Cru Chablis

5th Eggs
Eggs Drumkilbo
1954 Rubis d'Egypt Rosé

6th Rice
Imperial Rice Pudding
1950 Sancerre

7th Seafood
Cornish Dressed Crab and Welsh Mussels
1889 Krug Champagne

8th Fish
Dover Sole Meuniere with Potted Shrimps, Anchovy Butter and Potatoes Dauphinoise
1910 Pol Roger Brut

9th Lobster
Lobster a la Renaissance (Cream, Brandy, Bearnaise Sauce, English Mustard, Garlic, Lemon, Roasted Tomatoes, Parmesan and Cheddar)
1925 South African Chardonnay

10th Salad
English Salad
1930 Alsatian Gewürztraminer

11th Poultry Entrée
Pheasant Royale Buckingham
1925 Chateau Lafite‐Rothschild

12th Meat Entrée
Rack of Welsh Lamb with Mint Sauce
1952 Penfolds Grange Hermitage

13th Meat Entrée
Prime Scottish Beef Fillet with Béarnaise Sauce, Foie Gras and Silver Truffle
1932 Chateau Mouton Rothschild

14th Sorbet
Strawberry Champagne Sorbet and Persian Lemon Sherbet
1924 Moscato d'Asti

15th Game
Roast Saddle of Scottish Venison with Cumberland Sauce
1935 Chateau Petrus Merlot

16th First Releve
Roast Haunch of Lyonesse Wild Boar with Shireapple Sauce
1925 Brunello di Montalcino

17th Second Releve
Roast Sirloin of English Beef and Yorkshire Pudding with Bone Marrow Gravy
1936 Romanée Conti

18th Second Roast
Roast Chicken with Bread Sauce, Bacon, Redcurrant Jelly and Sauce William
1950 Côtes du Rhône Villages Sablet

19th First Roast
Roast Goose with Apple Sauce and Sage and Onion Stuffing
1954 Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru Burgundy

20th Vegetable
Lyonesse Silver Asparagus with Chantilly Sauce
1959 Prydainian Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

21st Punch
Punch Romaine

22nd Grand Salad
Salmagundi Royale
1952 Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo

23rd Aspic
Galantine of Irish Veal in Aspic
1950 Lyonesse Silvaner

24th Cold Buffet
Canadian Salmon Mayonnaise
1964 Verdigny Sancerre

25th Sweets
Kentish Apple, Pear and Cherry Tart
1950 Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes

26th Ices
Lyonesse Peaches with Iced Cream
1932 Imperial Tokay

27th Savouries
Canapes Ivanhoe in Bacon, Welsh Rarebit, Devilled Prawns
1956 New Zealand Carménère

28th Dessert
Macédoine of Fruits in Jelly
Mousse of Strawberry a la Reine
1928 Azure Islands Skywine

29th Pudding
Plum Pudding with English Custard, Clotted Cream and Brandy Sauce
1874 Ruby Port

30th Sweetmeats
Honeyed Marzipan and Turkish Delight
1850 Madeira

31st Friandice
Venusian Wilderberry Cakes
Chocolate liqueurs
1836 Tawny Port

32nd Cheese and Fruit
West Indian Tropical Fruit Salad
Stilton
1824 Glastonbury Abbey English Brandy

The event is based upon this historical dinner, held at Chez Denis in 1975 sponsored by American Express: https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/14/arch ... -4000.html

"And so, we sat down to our $4,000 dinner. The hors d'oeuvre was presented: fresh Beluga caviar in crystal, enclosed in shaved ice, with toast. The wine was a superb 1966 Champagne Comtesse Marie de France.

Then came the first service, which started with three soups. There was consomme Denis an inordinately good, rich, full‐bodied, clear consomme of wild duck with shreds of fine crepes and herbs. It was clarified with raw duck and duck bones and then lightly thickened as many classic soups are, with fine tapioca. The second soup (still of the first service) was a creme Andalouse, an outstanding cream of tomato soup with shreds of sweet pimento and fines herbes, including fresh chives and chervil. The first two soups were superb but the third, cold germiny (a cream of sorrel), seemed bland and anticlimactic. One spoonful of that sufficed.

The only wine served at this point was a touch of champagne. The soups having been disposed of, we moved on to a spectacularly delicate parfait of sweetbreads, an equally compelling mousse of quail in a small tarte, and a somewhat salty, almost abrasive but highly complementary tarte of Italian ham, mushrooms and a border of truffles.

The wine was a 1918 Chateau Latour, and it was perhaps the best bordeaux we had ever known. It was very much alive, with the least trace of tannin.

The next segment of the first service included a fascinating dish that the proprietor said he had created. Belon oysters broiled quickly in the shell and served with a pure beurre blanc, the creamy, lightly thickened butter sauce.

Also in this segment were a lobster in a creamy, cardinal‐red sauce that was heavily laden with chopped truffles and, after that, another startling but excellent dish, a sort of Proveneale pie made with red mullet and baked with tomato, black olives and herbs, including fennel or anise seed, rosemary, sage and thyme.

The accompanying wine was 1969 Montrachet Baron Thenard. which was extraordinary (to our taste, all first‐rate Montrachet whites are extraordinary).

The final part of the first service consisted of what was termed filets et sots l'y laissent de poulard de Bresse, sauce supreme aux copes (the so‐called “fillet” strips of chicken plus the “oysters” found in the afterbackbone of chicken blended in cream sauce containing sliced wild mushrooms).

There followed another curious but oddly appealing dish, a classic chartreuse of partridge, the pieces of roasted game nested in a bed of cooked cabbage and baked in a mosaic pattern, intricately styled, of carrot and turnip cut into fancy shapes and a tender rare‐roasted fillet of Limousin beef with a rich truffle sauce. The wine with the meat and game was a 1928 Chateau Mouton Rothschild. It was ageless and beautiful.

The first service finally ended with sherbets in three flavors—raspberry, orange and lemon. The purpose of this was to revive the palate for the second service, and it did. We were two hours into the meal and going at the food, it seemed, at a devilish pace.

The second service included the ortolans en brochette, an element of the dinner to be anticipated with a relish almost equal to that of the caviar or the foie gras.

The small birds, which dine on berries through their brief lives, are cooked whole, with the head on, and without cleaning except for removing the feathers. They are as fat as butter and an absolute joy to bite into because of the succulence of the flesh. Even the bones, except for the tiny leg bones, are chewed and swallowed. There is one bird to bite.

The second service also included fillets of wild duck en salmis in a rich brown game sauce. The final dish in this segment was a rognonade de veau, or roasted boned loin of veal wrapped in puff pastry with fresh black truffles about the size of golf balls. The vegetables served were pommes Anna—the potatoes cut into small rounds and baked in butter—and a puree rachel, a purée of artichokes.

Then came the cold meat delicacies. There was butter‐rich fresh foie gras in clear aspic, breast meat of woodcocks that was cooked until rare and served with a natural chaudfroid, another aspic and cold pheasant With fresh hazelnuts. The wines for this segment consisted of a 1947 Chateau Lafite‐Rothschild, a 1961 Chateau Petrus and the most magnificent wine of the evening, a 1929 Romanée Conti. The dinner drew near an end with three sweets—a cold glazed charlotte with strawberries, an fle flottante and poires alma. The wine for the sweets was a beautiful unctuous 1928 Chateau d'Yquem, which was quite sweet yet “dry.”

The last service consisted of the pastry confections and fruits, served with an 1835 madeira. With coffee came a choice of a 100‐year‐old calvados or an hors d'age cognac.

And for the $4,000, logic asks if was a perfect meal in all respects? The answer is no.

The crystal was Baccarat and the silver was family sterling, but the presentation of the dishes, particularly the cold dishes such as the sweetbread parfait and .quail mousse tarte, was mundane. The foods were elegant to look at, but the over‐all display was undistinguished, if not to say shabby. The chartreuse of pheasant, which can he displayed stunningly, was presented on a most ordinary dish. The food itself was generally exemplary, although there were regrettable lapses there, too. The lobster in the gratin was chewy and even the sauce could not compensate for that. The oysters, of necessity,.. had to be cooked as briefly as possible to prevent toughening, but the beurre blanc should have been very hot. The dish was almost lukewarm when it reached the table, and so was the chartreuse of pheasant.

We've spent many hours reckoning the cost of the meal and find that we cannot break it down. We have decided this: We feel we could not have made a better choice, given the circumstance of time and place. Mr. Denis declined to apply a cost to each of the wines, explaining that they contributed greatly to the total cost of the meal because it was necessary to open three bottles. of the 1918 Latour in order to find one in proper condition.

Over all, it was an unforgettable evening and we have high praise for Claude Mornay, the 37‐year‐old genius behind the meal. We reminded ourselves of one thing during the course of that evening: If you were Henry VIII, Lucullus, Gargantua and Bacchus, all rolled into one, you cannot possibly sustain, start to finish, a state of ecstasy while dining on a series of 31 dishes. Wines, illusion or not, became increasingly interesting, although we were laudably sober at the end of the meal. "

[Simon Darkshade]

January 1974 Notes
- The Shuttle programme is a lot larger, reflecting the greater advances made in space. Ultimately, their role is going to be as very regular freight runs for the long term starship construction project; no one really gets the scale of what they are trying to do yet in its entirety. They are not the @ shuttles
- Singham is from a very Indian movie of that name
- Stopwatch, coming soon after Christmas and New Year, highlights the capacity of the RAuxAF, a slightly different reserve structure, and the type of aircraft in the second line of Britain’s air defences
- Something different is going on with the chimps
- The position regarding amateur and professional athletes in the USA is different
- Field Forces, similar to @, are independent (reinforced) brigades with their own organic logistical support. There is a goal to develop them as intermediate level formations for some theatres and circumstances
- France is trying very hard to keep up with the big boys
- Lord Lucan, Vampire Hunter
- Haile Selassie’s men are onto something rather interesting…
- Gridiron is going through a rough patch
- The H-S Hawk is quite the capable little plane, with trainer units based on Britain having some mobilisation roles as point defence fighters
- The Vinland Map isn’t a fraud here
- Surprisingly, there have never been any major motion pictures made about Charlemagne in the English speaking world in @. Having Christopher Lee in the title role is an Easter Egg some will understand
- Stealing the sword was a bad move
- Even Communist Poland still has witchers
- Slum clearance complete without tower blocks is another bit of difference, which some might view as better
- The FA’s spokesdwarves do not take kindly to rude journalists, and have taken to wearing their axes to conferences, as a purely ceremonial measure, of course
- There is something of a game of mirrors going on in the Argentine
- The War Game will join Threads as wholesome family entertainment with a happy moral for children and adults alike
- There is nothing to see in Llandrillo. Move on, please
- The Empire Games (@ British Commonwealth Games) are substantially larger
- Moscow is starting to catch up a bit, but they face defences that are about to experience a generational shift
- Rather than being the start of a notorious miscarriage of justice, events in Iceland are going to turn out differently
- An earlier manifestation of the Golden Child results in different rescuers
- Curious stuff in Bolivia. Gonzalez looks strangely familiar
- British private and state pensions start to shift in a different direction; as stated, this is distinct from the OAP
- The Rhodesian Army hits the jackpot
- As well as mining, the newly founded South Park Tourism Office declares that there are “Friendly faces everywhere, “ample parking, day or night” and “humble folks without temptation”

[Rocket J Squrriel]

<looks at the 32 course dinner>



I could do justice to this meal but it would be over the course of a week because I don't wish to 'sample' each item. It would be disrespectful to the chef and kitchen to waste their work.

[Simon Darkshade]

The 31 or 32 courses is very much a formal flourish never seen on practical menus; it also needs to be taken into account that the multiple fish, entrees and releves is very much a creature of this (and the @ Chez Denis) contrived dinners, where usually they would be grouped together in single entries

Looking back, there were a couple of 21 course menus at special events in the 19th century, but in general practice in America, Britain and France, this shrank down to ~ 12 (by way of some dalliances around 14 to 15) by the height of the Edwardian Indian Summer that was the only voyage of the Titanic.

By having 4 diners, I was able to (theoretically) do a bit more justice to the dishes than the @ pair of American journalists, allowing some dishes to be prepared on a more reasonable level with less potential wastage. Courses 10-12 and 15-20 naturally came with appropriate vegetables.

[bobbins66]

I imagine that in OTL it was more like a modern tasting menu? Whereas in DE with their greater appetite and metabolism it would be a true feast?

[Simon Darkshade]

It wasn’t quite a modern tasting menu, as this was before the tiny portions of horrid nouvelle cuisine, and was rather a properly sized meal of grande cuisine. It was originally designed for 4 diners, which influenced my DE number of participants, but had only 10 wines; I deduce from Clairborne’s writing that they didn’t have entire bottles per man, but between them.

[Simon Darkshade]

February 1974
February 1: New Zealand runner John Walker sets a new world record for the mile at the Empire Games, winning gold with a time of 3:44:29.
February 2: Orion 7 is launched from the orbit of Luna on a five year voyage to the outer reaches of the Solar System, with their targets being the mysterious planets Orcus and Pluto. She is to be followed by Orion 8 in December, which will explore the Asteroid Belt, Orion 9 in 1975, which will continue studies of the Jovian system; and Orion 10 in 1976, which is to return to the moons of Saturn.
February 3: University student Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley by a gang of suspected radicals, who fire shots at the neighbours and Hearst's fiancee. Her father, Randolph Hearst, immediately contacts a number of figures known for being able to help with problems where no-one else can.
February 4: French Premier d'Ambreville announces a plan for all electricity in France to be generated by nuclear power before the year 2000, with the fusion revolution promising to be the main means of this achievement.
February 5: Beginning of Exercise Starboard, with American, British and Canadian troops joining Israeli Army forces in war games in Galilee and the Golan. The heavy fortifications along the Israeli-Syrian border are usually held by the Israeli 1st and 4th Mechanised Divisions, opposing three Syrian corps, but Starboard sees them reach their wartime strength of a reinforced corps, with allied units simulating both enemy forces and projected reinforcements.
February 6: Sesame Street features a very special sequence explaining the importance of children learning how to duck and cover, with Big Bird, Grover and Kermit paying careful attention to the friendly Civil Defence officers. This is the latest television programme utilised by the United States Civil Defense Administration to reinforce educational measures.
February 7: Biblical scholars in Israel present conclusive findings on the exact measurements of the cubit, based on extensive research of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
February 8: A coup d'etat in Upper Volta sees the dismissal of the Prime Minister and Cabinet at the hands of his predecessor. The comparative lack of public violence or overt military action is seen by some foreign observers as a contributing reason behind the lack of French response in their former colony at this time.
February 9: A special joint squad of detectives from the Oxford City Police and the Norfolk County Constabulary uncover a human smuggling ring lead by a disguised dark elf, purportedly acting for a mysterious Eastern European aristocrat. DCIs George Gently and Frederick Thursday and DIs Endeavour Morse and William Frost are officially commended for their sterling efforts before the entire investigation is classified with an X-notice and handed over to SOE and the even more clandestine Group V.
February 10: The Ministry of Labour announces that discussions between the government, trade unions and employer bodies regarding an agreement on an increase of annual leave to 28 working days plus the 16 paid public holidays are to be finalised shortly.
February 11: A series of raids by the French Inquisition arrest 13 suspects across the country on suspicion of being involved in a clandestine ring of Satanic necromancers. In keeping with the close ties between the Catholic Church and the French State, the strike teams of inquisitors, paladins and clerics are closely supported by heavily armed detachments of the Gendarmerie Nationale and the Sûreté Générale. The suspects are taken under close guard to special magical insulated cold iron cells in the Paris Temple.
February 12: Nobel prize winning Soviet author and dissident Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn is seized by the KGB from his apartment in Moscow and placed on a sealed train bound directly for the Finnish border crossing at Vainikkala.
February 13: Illich Ramirez Sanchez is found guilty of attempted murder, terrorism, murder and treachery in the Old Bailey and sentenced to death by hanging.
February 14: Sales data indicates that global sales of Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks topped 20,000 in December 1973 and January, with the popularity of the game showing no sign of abating amid a general 'craze' for fantasy and science fiction works, the ongoing significant numbers of children and young people from the postwar 'baby boom' in Europe and North America and the post Vietnam taste for escapist media.
February 15: Debut of The Adventures of HMS Hood on the BBC, a British naval drama series depicting the battles and voyages of the famed Royal Navy battlecruiser over 30 years and multiple conflicts, chiefly the Second World War. It is based on the best selling series of books by retired Polish Field Marshal Count Jan Niemcyzk, the Conqueror of the Reichstag and noted military historian, with each episode followed by a short 2 minute mini-documentary on a particular aspect or area of Hood's record showcased immediately prior, presented by Niemcyzk. This particular format will be copied by a number of subsequent programmes, including one that will widely be considered as the greatest television show of all time.
February 16: A report by the US Departments of the Treasury and the Interior and the Atomic Energy Commission predicts that the United States will experience a glut of potential energy sources by 1990 with the scheduled rise of nuclear fusion plants and expansion of oil, natural gas and coal production.
February 17: The Times carries a report on the demographic future of the metropolis of London, projecting that by 1980, the ethnic or non-white population of the capital will reach 1%, based on trends over the last decade.
February 18: Colonel Thomas Gatch begins his attempt at the first transatlantic balloon voyage, setting off from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in Light Heart and intending to land in France or Spain in three days. He is blown off course over the Sargasso Sea and lands five days later in Spanish Sahara, reporting the company of a huge wild platinum coloured dragon during the most perilous parts of the flight.
February 19: British forces assigned to the Imperial Strategic Reserve begin Exercise Corporate Lance, a test exercise of global surge deployment capacity, with 120 long range Shorts Belfasts, 84 Vickers VC10s and 72 Armstrong-Whitworth Atlases flying the 1st Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division, 3rd Commando Brigade and 64th Gurkha Brigade from Aldershot to the Falkland Islands via Ascension, with ten squadrons detached from Fighter Command and Strike Command beginning deployment to the Prydain and the Falklands and a squadron of Avro Vulcan strategic bombers flying non stop from Malta to Capetown.
February 20: Japanese holdout Hiroo Onoda is located by young Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki on the Philippine island of Lubang, with the stubborn former soldier continuing to refuse to surrender, even though Japan had been defeated some 29 years ago. Suzuki agrees to attempt to locate Onoda's former commanding oficer in Japan.
February 21: Release of a new major motion picture adaption of Treasure Island, starring Mark Lester as Jim Hawkins, Charlton Heston as Long John Silver, Julian Glover as Doctor Livesey, Malcolm Stoddard as Captain Smollet, Christopher Lee as Blind Pew, Oliver Reed as Billy Bones and Brian Blessed as Ben Gunn.
February 22: HM Treasury is directed to begin transferring £6000 million in annual returns from the Imperial Sovereign Fund towards the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance to augment increases to the aged pension. This sum is to increase annually over the next six years as part of the Barton Government's long term design for generational accounting and diversification of funding of certain government programmes in order to provide for their firmer future. The Imperial Sovereign Fund has swelled to over £156,000 million, partly due to burgeoning revenues and royalties from North Sea oil and gas in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and is currently growing at over 8% per year.
February 23: A 149mm artillery shell fired during the Battle of Asiago in 1916, explodes some 57 years after the engagement, killing six scrap scavengers scouring the battlefield for souvenirs of the bloody Austrian-Hungarian victory.
February 24: Introduction into experimental U.S. Army service of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, the intended successor to the famed UH-1 Iroquois general purpose helicopter. With over 10,000 UH-1s in the inventories of the Regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve, the Black Hawk promises to be Sikorsky’s most lucrative aircraft to date.
February 25: Opening of a new joint USAF/RAAF base in Barkly, Northern Australia, with four 24,000ft runways and considerable suspected underground support facilities and missiles defences supporting the deployment of Strategic Air Command B-52s and B-70s in Indochina and the South Pacific. It is thought that RAAF Barkly has a dual role in supporting planned USSF orbital bombers and NASA space planes.
February 26: A Soviet Antonov An-24 is forced to make an emergency landing Gambell Airport on St. Lawrence Island, in the Bering Strait, off the coast of Canadian Alaska, leading to a brief international incident and uneasy standoff as local Canadian Militia and Eskimo Rangers and RCAF Avro Arrows respond to the arrival. After a day's negotiations, an agreement is reached for the Soviet plane to be refueled and allowed to depart.
February 27: Illich Sanchez, sometimes known as Carlos the Jackal, is hanged outside Newgate Prison before a crowd of several thousands amid heavy security. Souvenir photographs and dolls are sold, much to the distaste of some newspaper commentators.
February 28: The Admiralty announces a new series of classifications for the Royal Navy’s escort fleet, which is to consist of the current destroyers, frigates, sloops and corvettes joined by a renewed submarine chaser type, with the Flower class light corvettes being reclassified to reflect their inshore and littoral role, particularly in the North Sea.

[Bernard Woolley]

Never been called a Count before. Something similar, however.

[Simon Darkshade]

Of course - Trekchu made you an Earl, which is similar to a Count.

[jemhouston]

Of course - Trekchu made you an Earl, which is similar to a Count.

Just remember, the best known Earl is the Earl of Sandwich.

If you need an escort, dragons are good.

[Simon Darkshade]

Historically, Colonel Gatch was lost without trace. The colour of the creature here has significance.

[Simon Darkshade]

February Notes

- The mile remains a major event at all international athletic competitions, including the Olympics and the Empire Games
- Whilst Orion 7 is still en route to Neptune, the next Orion mission is launched, taking advantage of the relative position of planets. The Orion Program is building up to Orion 11's Grand Tour of the Solar System, which will be a larger, manned spaceship compared to NASA's @ robotic probe plans. Following on from that, there are probes being sent out aimed at the Kuiper Belt and interstellar space, but sending an Orion drive ship to Alpha Centauri isn't seen as viable or economic at this point; when it comes to starship plans, there is interest in direct fusion drives and some more 'out there' ideas
- Patty Hearst is kidnapped, leading to missives being dispatched to the Los Angeles Underground, wherein reportedly dwells a crack commando unit who operate as soldiers of fortune...
- The French atomic plan, related to the @ Messmer Plan, calls for 32 new nuclear power plants on top of their current 14 and 10 under construction
- Starboard is largely a political exercise aimed at delivering indications of US and British Commonwealth direct support of Israel, both for the Arabs and for the Soviets. As mentioned previously, the lack of a major war in the region for some time makes some states a bit more ambitious in their thinking
- Duck and Cover on Sesame Street demonstrates not just the role and position of US Civil Defense, but that the somewhat ridiculed methods promoted in the early 1950s remain in place, both for morale purposes and to take any opportunity to minimise causalities and damage
​- Exact dimensions of the cubit have some interesting religious implications
- As previously telegraphed, the French (and the British) are starting to shift back a gear from intervening in the internal affairs of their former African colonies. Were a state to try and have a communist revolution, declare friendship with the Soviets, request Red arms and invite in Soviet air and nval forces, there would be something of a different reaction
- The combined efforts of Gently, Morse and Frost (and Thursday) solve a particularly vexsome and dark case; it is laid out in broad bones as a potential future story hook
- Increased annual leave to British workers is offset by some groups/demographics of workers who are interested in/capable of filling in during certain times, including older people (people living quite a bit longer has some interesting results), women and dwarves
- Raids by the French Inquisition highlight the very different relationship between Church and State in the Kingdom of France, with a lack of certain very strong tendencies from the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Solzhenitsyn is deported as in @
- Carlos doesn't get to be a free jackal flitting around as an international terrorist
- D&D sales are booming for the reasons discussed, as well as a bit of good fortune experienced by the founders
- The Adventures of HMS Hood is inspired by the great naval fiction piece of many years ago, albeit in the context of DE WW2 and the Korean War. The structure of Episode + Mini-Documentary is an homage to The Mysterious Cities of Gold

- The energy picture/outlook of the USA is quite different
- The Times' report on the possible future demography of London comes as a shock to some in universe, even though it is at a much, much lower level than 1980 (actually 1981 for census data) in @. More will play out here over a number of years
- Colonel Gatch survives his solo transatlantic balloon voyage. Note the colour of the dragon
- Exercise Corporate Lance, whose name is a coincidence, doesn't utilise the Falklands Islands because of any specific Argentine threat, but because they are so far away and what capacity they demonstrate.
- Treasure Island features a number of actors who appear in the 1990 Fraser Heston directed version from @, but at an earlier stage in their careers/powers, along with that renowned master of quiet restraint and subdued acting, Brian Blessed
- The ISF begins paying out towards British pensions a bit earlier than projected. In time, it is hoped that this will eventually free up a good 3-4% of GDP in budget spending; the mention of generational accounting and diversified funding won't be the last one
- The Black Hawk is a slightly different helicopter, being a bit closer to the S92 in 'class'
- The new joint base in Northern Australia is designed as a joint base for SAC bombers and USSR/NASA space planes/bombers. The runways are very long indeed
- RN ship reclassification is a bit of an echo of the @ 1975 USN reclassification, with the 'subchaser gap' not really being a major one and acting more as the distracting gestures with one hand whilst the other is busy engaging in sleight

[Simon Darkshade]

Where Are the Carriers (RN 1974)

Fleet Carriers
Singapore: Maintenance at Overhaul at Fairfields
Malta: Training Carrier at HMNB Clyde
Gibraltar: Grand Fleet
Africa: Reserve Fleet at Portsmouth
India: Reserve Fleet at Plymouth

Audacious: Grand Fleet
Irresistible: Far Eastern Fleet
Glorious: Maintenance and Overhaul at Swan Hunter
Courageous: Mediterranean Fleet

Ark Royal: Mediterranean Fleet
Eagle: Maintenance and Overhaul at Rosyth
Invincible: Grand Fleet
Hermes: Maintenance and Overhaul at Chatham
Victorious: Far Eastern Fleet
Formidable: Mediterranean Fleet
Illustrious: Mediterranean Fleet
Indomitable: Grand Fleet
Indefatigable: Grand Fleet (working up)
Implacable: Grand Fleet (shakedown cruise)

Light Fleet Carriers
Mars: Atlantic Fleet
Arion: Grand Fleet
Pericles: Atlantic Fleet
Endymion: Refit at Portsmouth
Perseus: Mediterranean Fleet
Colossus: Far Eastern Fleet
Ethalion: Grand Fleet
Hector: Refit at Plymouth
Agamemnon: Mediterranean Fleet
Alexander: Persian Gulf Station
Atlas: East Indies Station
Justinian: South Atlantic Station


(The twelve 40,000t light fleet ASW carriers/CVSLs have entered service since the late 1960s, and are designed to carry an air wing of 16-24 Hawker-Siddeley Harriers, 16-24 Westland Sea Kings and 12 Fairey Rotodynes in a predominantly ASW mission with secondary air defence and strike capabilities). They bear something of a passing resemblance in role to the @ Invincibles and the proposed USN VSTOL Support Ship of the 1970s.

Escort Carriers
Audacity: Atlantic Fleet
Activity: Reserve Fleet
Ability: Mediterranean Fleet
Asperity: Reserve Fleet
Admirable: Grand Fleet
Assurance: Reserve Fleet
Atheling: Pacific Station cruise, detached from Far Eastern Fleet
Association: En route to Far Eastern Fleet
Argosy: Reserve Fleet
Atlantis: Reserve Fleet
Ascania: Reserve Fleet
Advantage: Shakedown Cruise to West Indies

Only four escort carriers are in to be kept in full commission at any one time during peacetime, serving as aviation training vessels and fleet support/communications ships; Advantage will replace Audacity after her initial cruise, whilst Atheling will go into reserve at Trincomalee from August 1974. The 24,000t CVHEs can carry up to 12 Harriers and 24 helicopters or Rotodynes, depending on their mission; their mobilisation role is trade protection, predominantly with the Atlantic Fleet.


Commando Carriers
Ocean: Far Eastern Fleet
Theseus: Mediterranean Fleet
Albion: Grand Fleet
Bulwark: To Commission in August 1974

The Ocean class atomic powered commando carriers/amphibious assault ships are 72,000t ships developed from on the preliminary versions of the Audacious class hull design that have been heavily redesigned around an air wing of Hawker-Siddeley Harriers, Fairey Rotodynes and Westland Sea King Commando assault helicopters (carrying 24, 32 and 48) and a reinforced amphibious task force of 2500 Royal Marines.

Argus: Reserve at HMNB Portland, due to be retired in 1975
Furious: Reserve at HMNB Queenstown, due to be retired in 1975
Remarkable: Grand Fleet
Spectacular: Undergoing Maintenance and Refit/Repair at Malta
Sans Pareil: Far Eastern Fleet (detached to East Indies)
Inflexible: Undergoing Maintenance at Portsmouth
Reliant: Commissioned September 1973 and working up to a shakedown cruise to the West Indies and South America in the summer
Radiant: To Commission December 1974

(+ Telamon, Hercules, Goliath, Canopus under construction)

The 48,000t conventionally powered commando carriers are the backbone of the Royal Navy's amphibious force, typically carrying 12-16 Harriers and 24-36 helicopters and Rotodynes, depending on their deployment.

Aviation Support Carriers
Engadine: Pacific Station
Campania: South Atlantic Station
Athenian: East Indies Station
Vindex: West Indies and North America Station


The Engadine class are light 36,000t utility helicopter carriers/aviation support vessels (looking like a cross between RFA Argus and a Moskva) that have a capacity for 24 rotodynes/heavy helicopters or 40 medium helicopters. They were ordered in the late 1960s rearmament period to provide rotary aviation support to various distant Imperial stations, with a wartime mission supporting ASW operations around the Floating Fortress lines in the North Atlantic.

A Very, Very Brief History of RN Atomic Supercarriers

Ark Royal: LD February 2 1956 (John Brown), Launched September 23 1958, Commissioned December 20 1959
Eagle: LD March 30 1956 (Armstrong-Whitworth), Launched January 24 1959, Commissioned April 29 1960&nbsp;
Invincible: LD April 24 1957 (Cammell-Laird), Launched November 2 1959, Commissioned February 23 1961
Hermes: LD June 12 1957 (Vickers), Launched December 13 1959, Commissioned June 25 1961
Victorious: LD April 23 1959 (Harland & Wolff), Launched March 16 1962, Commissioned August 30 1964
Formidable: LD May 1 1960 (John Brown), Launched August 1 1963, Commissioned November 29 1965

Illustrious: LD April 15 1967 (Beardmores), Launched March 19 1970, Commissioned December 13 1971
Indomitable: LD May 29 1967 (Swan Hunter), Launched May 2 1970, Commissioned November 29 1971
Indefatigable: LD March 4 1968 (Fairfield), Launched July 28 1971, Commissioned October 4 1973
Implacable: LD April 29 1968 (Harland & Wolff), Launched September 19 1971, Commissioned November 6 1973

Incomparable: LD May 5 1969 (Armstrong-Whitworth), Launched December 3 1972, Due to Commission November 1975
Insuperable: LD June 4 1969 (Cammell-Laird), Launched May 17 1973, Due to Commission February 1976
Unicorn: LD February 24 1970 (John Brown), Launched March 29 1974, Due to Commission Late 1976/Early 1977
Centaur: LD April 18 1971 (Swan Hunter), Due to Launch Mid 1975 and Commission Mid 1977
Pegasus: LD March 10 1972 (Vickers), Due to Launch 1976
Leviathan: LD April 25 1972 (Armstrong Whitworth), Due to Launch 1976

Ordered:
The 4 Majestic class carriers, to be built between 1974 and 1982, are to replace the Malta class in service, allowing the Audacious class to shift into their reserve/training/second line niche

Majestic: To be laid down 1974 (John Brown)
Triumph: To be laid down 1975 (Harland & Wolff)
Argus: To be laid down 1976 (Beardmores)
Furious: To be laid down 1976 (Yarrow, Haven)

[Simon Darkshade]

1974 Statistics

1974/75 Largest GDPs
1.) USA: $13,809,691,745,527.72 (+ 8.23%)
2.) USSR: $6,504,916,068,127.266 (+ 6.54%)
3.) Germany: $5,254,028,161,055.026(+ 6.43%)
4.) Japan: $5,192,262,686,696.692 (+ 9.85%)
5.) Britain: $5,012,060,701,778.591 (+ 6.98%)
6.) France: $2,900,916,300,706.864 (+ 9.72%)
7.) India: $2,600,661,613,337.34 (+ 9.24%)
8.) Canada: $2,527,520,491,366.87(+ 7.81%)
9.) China: $2,448,871,842,401.18 (+ 5.93%)
10.) Italy: $1,973,080,680,911 (+ 10.25%)
11.) Brazil: $1,644,920,185,260.82 (+ 7.51%)
12.) Austria-Hungary: $1,622,629,190,763.1 (+ 7.32%)
13.) Benelux: $1,337,998,719,534 (+ 4.81%)
14.) Spain: $1,214,917,583,040.76 (+ 6.92%)
15.) Australia: $1,140,649,187.909.64 (+ 5.42%)
16.) Argentina: $1,096,084,807,283.92 (+ 7.82%)
17.) Mexico: $1,077,604,247,371.53 (+ 5.76%)
18.) Sweden: $823,525,940,254.59 (+ 4.93%)
19.) South Africa: $808,533,642,851.53 (+ 5.32%)
20.) Turkey: $777,852,024,333.54 (+ 7.58%)

1974/75 Populations
1.) China: 1,178,347,746
2.) India: 770,744,210
3.) Soviet Union: 419,972,358
4.) USA: 385,952,915
5.) Indonesia: 286,311,029
6.) Japan: 282,945,124
7.) Germany: 208,978,555
8.) Brazil: 202,433,117
9.) Mexico: 162,586,294
10.) France: 154,058,326
11.) Britain: 146,578,412
12.) Austria-Hungary: 137,844,273

1974/75 Share of World Industrial Output
1.) USA: 21.9%
2.) Japan: 14.2%
3.) Germany: 11.6%
4.) Soviet Union: 11.5%
5.) Britain: 7.8%
6.) China: 6.1%
7.) India 5.3%
8.) France: 4.9%
9.) Canada: 4%
10.) Italy: 2.8%
11.) Austria-Hungary: 2.7%

1974/75 Defence Spending
1.) USA: $1,463,827,325,026 (10.6%)
2.) USSR: $1,001,757,074,492 (15.4%)
3.) Britain: $496,194,009,476 (9.9%)
4.) Germany: $415,068,224,723 (7.9%)
5.) Japan: $389,419,701,502 (7.5%)
6.) China: $301,211,236,615 (12.3%)
7.) France: $252,379,718,161 (8.7%)
8.) Canada: $212,311,721,275 (8.4%)
9.) India: $184,646,974,547 (7.1%)
10.) Italy: $142,061,809,026 (7.2%)
11.) Austria-Hungary: $129,810,335,261 (8%)

Steel Production 1974/75 (millions of tons)
1.) Japan 263
2.) USA 254
3.) USSR 225
4.) Germany 140
5.) Britain: 105
6.) China: 97
7.) India 88
8.) AH: 78
9.) Poland 75
10.) France 64
11.) Canada 62

Coal Production 1974 (millions of tons)
1.) USA: 760
2.) USSR: 745
3.) China: 643
4.) Germany: 620
5.) Britain: 598
6.) Poland: 592
7.) India: 508
8.) Austria-Hungary: 476
9.) France: 312
10.) Australia: 297
11.) South Africa: 270

Oil Production 1974 (Thousands of bbl/day)
1.) USA: 18,246
2.) Arabia: 14,987
3.) USSR: 14,534
4.) Persia: 7952
5.) Iraq: 6744
6.) Canada: 5012
7.) Trucial States: 4939
8.) Venezuela: 3624
9.) Kuwait: 3587
10.) Britain 3496
11.) Mexico: 3222

1974 Wheat Production (millions of tons)
1.) USA: 189
2.) USSR: 130
3.) India: 111
3.) China: 104
5.) Canada: 98
6.) Australia: 79
7.) Argentina: 68
8.) France: 66
9.) Austria-Hungary: 64
10.) Germany: 60
11.) Britain: 56
12.) Italy: 44
13.) Turkey: 40
14.) Spain: 36
15.) Poland: 29

1974 Barley Production (millions of tons)
1.) USSR: 72.8
2.) Australia: 35.2
3.) Canada: 29.6
4.) Germany: 27.4
5.) France: 22.9
6.) Britain: 20.5
7.) Spain: 17.8
8.) Argentina: 15.4
9.) USA: 12.7
10.) Turkey: 11.5
11.) Poland: 10.2
12.) Austria-Hungary: 9.8

1974 Potato Production (millions of tons)
1.) USSR: 156
2.) India: 81
3.) China: 72
4.) Germany: 45
5.) Canada: 42
6.) France: 40
7.) Britain: 38
8.) Poland: 35
9.) Peru: 29
9.) Turkey: 27
11.) Netherlands: 24
12.) Persia: 20

1974 Corn Production (millions of tons)
1.) USA: 284
2.) USSR: 112
3.) Brazil: 90
4.) China: 89
5.) Argentina: 78
6.) Canada: 60
7.) India: 57
8.) Mexico: 48
9.) Indonesia: 34
10.) Romania: 30
11.) France: 29
12.) Australia: 25

Automobile Production 1974
1.) Japan: 14,973,837
2.) USA: 13,825,110
3.) Germany: 8,457,953
4.) Britain: 5,562,911
5.) France: 4,892,356
6.) Italy: 4,254,937
7.) Canada: 3,928,526
8.) USSR: 3,851,032
9.) Austria-Hungary: 3,498,792
10.) Mexico: 2,750,944
11.) Spain: 2,567,323

Merchant Shipbuilding 1974
1.) Japan: 45,349,143 tons
2.) Britain: 25,646,812 tons
3.) USA: 24,459,124 tons
4.) Korea: 4,233,008 tons
5.) Germany: 3,564,475 tons
6.) France: 2,599,126 tons
7.) Italy: 1,928,317 tons
8.) Canada: 1,562,474 tons
9.) USSR: 1,308,568 tons
10.) Sweden: 1,005,567 tons
11.) Poland: 935,582 tons

Aircraft Production 1974
1.) USSR: 6844
2.) USA: 6259
3.) Britain: 3695
4.) China: 3236
5.) Germany: 1632
6.) France: 1327
7.) Japan: 1021
8.) India: 976
9.) Canada: 960
10.) Italy: 592
11.) Austria-Hungary: 556

Tank Production 1974
1.) USSR: 12,583
2.) USA: 6452
3.) China: 4025
4.) Britain: 3598
5.) Germany: 2347
6.) France: 1524
7.) Italy: 1110
8.) Japan: 1051
9.) India: 1028
10.) Austria-Hungary: 975
11.) Canada: 964

[Simon Darkshade]

March
March 1: The British Army completes Project Martello, the modernisation of the Army Reserve and the Territorial Army’s contributions to the air and coastal defences of Home Forces with the acquisition of the final tranche of new dual purpose fully automatic anti-aircraft/anti-surface guns; a total of 1284 125mm, 2648 3.75” and 4672 2.5” guns are emplaced under Martello at over one hundred locations around the coast of the British Isles, augmenting the heavier guns of Coastal Defence Command and the residual anti-aircraft defences manned by the Home Guard.
March 2: Two anarchists convicted of the murder of a police officer are garroted in La Modelo Prison in Barcelona in the latest manifestation of the Spanish Government's crackdown on internal security threats.
March 3: An Imperial Airways VC10 flying from Beirut to London is hijacked by terrorists in midair over Greece. RAF English Electric Lightnings on roulement deployment to Corfu are scrambled and force the airliner to land in the Albanian capital of Tirana using new experimental tractor beams. Albanian security forces surround the plane and begin negotiations whilst Albanian television and radio report that a British commando team has been dispatched from Germany, leading to the prompt surrender of the four terrorists on board; it is thought by some that a sophisticated arcane suggestion charm was subliminally woven into the broadcasts to precipitate this end. King Zod promises that they will be treated humanely and will receive a fair trial and swift burning.
March 4: Opening of the 13 mile long Ponte Imperador Leopoldo I, linking the cities of Rio de Janeior and Niteroi across the Guanbara Bay, by 18 year old Brazilian Emperor Sebastião I, who has shown a great interest in infrastructure since coming into his majority.
March 5: A package courier found shot in the head and partly buried alive near the hamlet of Goodsprings, Nevada reportedly regains consciousness shortly after and subsequently makes a full recovery. Following this curious series of events, the package courier subsequently walked out of town, simply remarking “Ain’t that a kick in the head?”
March 6: IBM begin development of an advanced personal computing engine in response to the increasing British share of the computer market, as the greater size, capital and depth of the American electronic industry begins to rise to the emerging challenges of the Computer Revolution of the 1970s.
March 7: A famed (or infamous, depending on who is asking) group of four soldiers of fortune locate the kidnapped Patty Hearst in an underground lair hidden on the banks of Strawberry Creek in Berkeley and rescue her in an explosive and fiery engagement; despite hundreds of rounds of gunfire, the five terrorists present are knocked out in single punches by the burliest member of the team and delivered to the headquarters of the San Francisco Police Department by an apparent lunatic claiming to be in search of the lost Maltese Cow. Miss Hearst is returned to her father's mansion in a black Chevrolet van.
March 8: TIME Magazine's cover story is on 'The Future Superpower of the North - The Canadian 21st Century', laying out the Dominion's extensive natural resources and industrial power, her growing population and market (on track to exceed 100 million by the end of the century) and her key position with regard to Western hemispheric security.
March 9: Publication of the 20th edition of Baedeker’s Italy, with numerous comments within on the improved domestic stability of the country, with the decreased levels of crime and corruption making for further reasons for the discerning German tourist to visit Italy.
March 10: The USAF, after protracted discussions with the Department of Defense, initiates an exploratory feasibility study into potential operation of a land based variant of the Vought-Republic YF-18 as part of the mooted replacement of the A-7, F-4 and certain other aircraft. The Air Force had been somewhat reticent to even explore the possibility out of concern that a new type could mean reduction in planned numbers of F-15s and F-16s; this eventuality was removed with the new budgetary projections put forward by the Reagan Administration.
March 11: Walkers in Scotland report witnessing the rare sight of a mass migration of wild haggis across a windswept Highland moor during daylight, belying their usual nocturnal habits and emerging earlier than expected from hibernation deep in the ancient forests. Naturalists speculate that an earlier than usual emergence of the haggis could be a sign of a warm spring and summer to come.
March 12: Completion of the penultimate stage of the Perth to Darwin railway line between Wyndham and Katherine, with the final stretch through rugged Northern Australian country due to be completed by the end of 1975. With the planned extension of the Great Northern Line through to Tennant Creek, the rail connection of the continent will soon be functionally complete.
March 13: Establishment of representative offices and staff by Germany and the GDR respectively in Berlin and Karl-Marx Stadt to provide for quasi-diplomatic representation even as neither state formally recognises the other.
March 14: Maiden voyage of the Triton, an American passenger tourist submarine operating in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico out of Miami. Initial plans to include a trip to New York City were scrapped after advice from US Department of Magic diviners that passage through the Bermuda Triangle may not be the best of ideas, and US Navy restrictions on certain routes and locations.
March 15: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia begins the first leg of a Royal Progress through his realm, visiting a new irrigation project utilising the waters from the first stage of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.
March 16: Dearborn, Michigan plumber Edward Slovik wins first prize in the annual Dearborn promotional raffle organised by the Ford Motor Company, a brand new 1974 Edsel; the raffle is one of several methods being employed to arrest the lagging sales of the Edsel.
March 17: Release of Wagner, a 12 hour epic film depicting the life and works of the German composer Richard Wagner, directed by Tony Palmer and starring Richard Burton in the title role, Vanessa Redgrave as Cosima Wagner, Klaus Kinski as King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud as a trio of Bavarian statesmen, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Ronald Pickup as Friedrich Nietzsche, Tomasz Wiseau as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Groucho Marx as Karl Marx. It is generally screened in three separate parts on consecutive evenings at selected cinemas employing the new Dolby Surround Sound system in a marriage of Wagnerian tradition and commercial convenience.
March 18: The labourious process of draining and cleaning the famed canals of Venice begins, with sunken boats, jewel laden skeletons and a hidden passage to a long-forgotten underground catacomb being revealed in the initial phase of the exercise alone.
March 19: The Soviet Ministry of Agriculture suspends the policy of liquidation of 'unpromising villages' in light of the General Secretary's direction to emphasise union-wide distribution of supporting agricultural production networks.
March 20: A deranged man is arrested for conspiracy to kidnap Princess Katharine of Kent as she is driven through London on her way back to Kensington Palace from a charity event. Before he can carry out his plan of cutting off the royal Rolls Royce with his Ford and firing at it from two pistols, he is swooped upon by special detectives from Scotland Yard's new Preliminary Crime Squad, acting upon arcane scanning devices emplaced in Central London since the Threadneedle Street Outrage of several years ago. The would be royal kidnapper is rather roughly treated during the arrest and taken to the Tower of London pending charges of treachery.
March 21: A report by the Director of the Motion Picture Association of America's Production Code Administration recommends a tightening up of standards regarding borderline profanity, whilst noting that adherence to the other 11 central precepts of 'The Code' (covering sexual activity, adult content, licentious nudity, drug use, black magic, promotion of communism, actual depictions of childbirth, ridicule of the clergy, sedition, willful offense to nations and creeds and overt promotion of crime and its means) remains gratifyingly strong.
March 22: Signing of a Baltic Sea Protection Agreement in Stockholm by the foreign ministers of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the USSR, the GDR, Poland and Germany, expressly banning the dumping of all solid and and a range liquid waste products and pollutants into the Baltic and agreeing to arcane amelioration measures to prevent the eutrophicating effects of excess runoff of phosphorus and nitrogen products into its waters.
March 23: The Rhodesian Ministry of Defence begins an international recruitment campaign to augment the Rhodesian Army in its ongoing low intensity campaigns along the northern border, with a combination of visual posters, radio advertisements and television and cinema commercials based around the theme of 'Be A Man Among Men'. Over 20,000 U.S, British, European, Canadian and South American volunteers have been recruited over the last five years and now, with victory seemingly within grasp, it is thought by Salisbury that a final push for manpower will relieve pressures on the Rhodesian economy.
March 24: Native secessionists on the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides proclaim their independence and raise a new flag in front of a crowd of several hundred Tannese. Once news of the rebellion filters out to Espiritu Santo, the nearest British forces, the large patrol sloop HMS Odyssey assigned to the Pacific Station and docked in Brisbane, takes on board a company of Royal Marines currently deployed to the Commonwealth Jungle Warfare Training Centre at Shoalwater Bay, and sets out on the four day journey to the islands.
March 25: New Imperial Chinese Navy super battlecruiser Tianxia departs Tientsin on a world cruise to showcase the advances made in Chinese naval shipbuilding since the Shanghai Incident. Foreign naval observers express pleasant surprise at the scope of the voyage due to the opportunities for intelligence collection that such an itinerary will provide.
March 26: The Ministry of Social Security announces that unemployment benefit payments will be increased in two tranches over the next 18 months in line with recommendations following last year’s recession, along with rises in National Assistance.
March 27: The West Indies take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the five match series against England with an innings victory in Georgetown. Centuries to Clive Lloyd, Roy Fredericks, Rohan Kanhai and Gary Sobers, a dashing 84 by rising star Vivian Richards and superb bowling by debutant Joel Garner, who finished with 4/72 and 5/65, contributed to another victory in what several West Indian sports journalists have dubbed the 'Golden Year' of Caribbean cricket.
March 28: An LAPD undercover detective elects to remain as a kindergarten teacher in Astoria, Oregon after a curiously successful undercover placement in an elementary school as part of a sting operation against an opium smuggling ring; the erstwhile Detective John Kimble will write a book on the experience, which is later adapted into a successful comedy picture, True Lies.
March 29: Local farmers digging in a field in Lintong County near the Chinese city of Hsi-an discover what appears to be a buried army of many hundreds of terracotta soldiers and chariots, after delving for more terracotta fragments and bronze arrowheads that had attracted them a pretty penny from local collectors. Some Imperial mandarins and scholars urgently dispatched from Peking fear that this could be an indicator that the fabled lost tomb of the First Emperor of China, Shih Huang-ti, which ancient legends say is protected with a multitude of eldritch curses.
March 30: Artax, Queen Elizabeth II's prize white filly, wins the Grand National, coming from five places back to triumph on the final jump in a tremendous upset.
March 31: A disturbed young girl with hitherto undiscovered psychic powers foils a plan to humiliate her at a high school promenade dance in Chamberlain, Maine, but is persuaded to leave the event by a young visiting academic from England, Professor John Young. A report on the incident is relayed to the White Committee, which is currently considering the circumstances of America's 'tomorrow children'.