A CALENDAR is simply a system of reckoning time. Now, just a quarter of a millennium ago a significant change took place in the calendar that should not be left pass by unnoticed.
On September 2, 1752 the Gregorian Calendar was adopted in Great Britain and Ireland, whereby September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752. Now there is an interesting Kerry connection to that change that deserves mention as well.
In 1582 Pope Gregory X111 promulgated a new, more accurate calendar to replace that introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C.
Caesar called the month of July after himself and another Caesar called Augustus (he called August after himself) made minor changes.
The Julian calendar as it was known assumed the length of the solar year to be 365 and a quarter days whereas it is 11 minutes and a few seconds less. To rectify this discrepancy Pope Gregory X111 published a Papal Bull dated March 1, 1582 annulling 10 days so that what would have been reckoned October 5, 1582, was to be reckoned October 15, 1582,
England was a bit pig-headed and lagged 11 days behind the Catholic countries and later the Protestant countries which adopted the Gregorian year.
England saw the light eventually and in 1582 the British Parliament approved the switch from the Julian to the Gergorian Calendar and as a result September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752. The English people were furious at the change "give us back our 11 days" was the popular cry at the time.
The Kerry connection is interesting in that notice of the change in the calendar didn t reach the monks on Skellig Rock for some time after the change took place.
That time most marriages took place before Lent and there was a lot of matchmaking in progress at the time. There were no marriages during Lent and eligible folk who didn t get married before Lent were automatically put on what was known as the Skellig List.
Those on that list had 11 days more to get married by the monks out in Skellig. I wonder how many made the trip out to Skellig to get hitched?
Anyway we are indebted to Pope Gregory X111 for straightening up the calendar. It was wonderful to see his successor, Pope John Paul 11, back in his native Poland last week, saying Mass for a massive gathering of 2.7 million.
The one and only Polish Pope got rid of the Iron Curtain and has made his mark in history just like Pope Gregory X111 in his day.
Keane spat with Inge Haaland was juvenile and grisly
ROY Keane s autobiography, which was ghosted by Eamon Dunphy, has already been serialised in The Times and it certain-ly looks like being a winner for the sales point of view.
Still, I m afraid that Keane has scored an own goal with his book because he has described in it how he waited three years to exact his revenge on Alf Inge Haaland with a horror tackle that left the Norwegian midfielder requiring surgery.
The juvenile, grisly spat dated back to a game in 1997 when Keane was sidelined for a year after rupturing knee ligaments in a tackle on Haaland. The Irishman was then incensed when Haaland accused him of faking his injuries and privately vowed to get even.
His chance came in April 2001, during a Premiership match between United and Manchester City.
"I waited until five minutes before the end," Keane reveals in his book.
"I hit him hard. I think the ball was there. I didn t even wait for the referee to show me the red card. I turned and walked to the dressing room.".
As Ian Ladyman in the Daily Mail put it, going into print, as Glenn Hoddle, David O Leary and countless others have discovered, can be a dangerous business in football.
Keane s book makes fascinating reading said Ladyman but, in revealing such an ugly side to his nature, the hot-headed Irishman has gone too far.
He will almost certainly face a heavy fine from the FA for bringing the game into disrepute. On top of that Haaland is suing him for £5m pounds.
There are interesting times and reading ahead.
Mugabe s stance is way off the mark
IN Africa right now the focus is on Zimbabwe. President Robert Gabriel Mugabe is at the controls there and he is implementing a policy to get rid of white farmers.
He has declared that there is no room in his country for "rapacious supremacists". There are 3,000 white farmers in Mugabe country and about half of that number won t leave so there is a showdown there presently hence the focus.
Robert Mugabe was born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1924. He was educated at the Catholic missions schools and Fort Hare College. He was a teacher in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Ghana, before going into politics.
He returned to then Southern Rhodesia in 1960 as publicity secretary to the National Democratic Party. He is boss there since December 31, 1987.
Now, the Zimbabwean government claims the seizure of white farms is necessary to redress the inequities of colonial rule, when 70 per cent of the best farmland came into white hands. But much of the land has gone to Mugabe s cronies who have allowed it to deteriorate.
The agricultural upheaval, coupled with drought, has exacerbated a food crisis that has left six million Zimbabweans at risk of starvation.
We have known from our history books all the trouble the plantations of our land caused. Two wrongs never made a right and President Mugabe s actions seems to be detrimental to his country s well being.
Tom Henshaw, writing in the Zimbabwe Independent, said that Zimbabw, is losing the skilled people who feed, clothe and employ most of the nation.
"The country is being given a lobotomy. Its brain is being cut out, piece by piece," he said.
It s sad if that s the case. The man at the controls seems to be lacking the flair necessary to deliver the goods.
