Well, I had to, didn’t I ? Today is, of course, the first day of Summer. Allow me to explain how and why this came to be. On June 21st 1487, one Reginald Stone, a farmer from Salisbury, Wiltshire, England ( a man, incidentally, who spent his entire life living on a Henge), erected a giant pyramid using nothing but the finest West Country haystacks. Climbing to the peak of this magnificent structure, he was able to determine that the Sun had in fact floated further North than it does on any other day of the year. He reported his discovery to the ‘Solstice Times’ (a sort of rural, 15th Century version of ‘The Guinness Book of World Records’), who, rather than publish his findings, immediately alerted the King of England. The King had Stone incarcerated and, having been found guilty of ‘Crimes against the throne of England’, namely ‘Not knowing one’s Place’, and ‘Causing a bit of a fuss’, the poor farmer was publicly executed, his discovery buried along with him. Until…..
In 1934, renowned American Scientist Henry Miller, using the modern technology of the day ( synthetic haystacks and a couple of telescopes), arrived at the same conclusion Reginald Stone had some Five Hundred years earlier. He named his ‘discovery’ ‘Tropic of Cancer’, which, when translated to ancient Latin, means ‘Summer starts now’ (though oddly, in the Southern Hemisphere this day is known as ‘Tropic of Recnac’ – nobody really knows why.)
So there you have it. A little history lesson explained to me many years ago by my old Auntie Mildred (although she was on her fifth brandy at the time), and now, dear reader, passed on to you. But I’m not quite done…
The first day of Summer is also known as ‘The Longest Day’, though recent studies and research seem to suggest it is in fact no longer or shorter than just about any other day of the year.
The 21st of June is also referred to, at least by me, as ‘Oh bugger, I forgot to send my Dad a birthday card Day’. O.K., now I’m done.
141: SUMMERTIME
1. The Undertones – Here Comes the Summer
2. The B-52’s – Summer of Love
3. Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves the Sunshine
4. Martha Reeves and The Vandellas – Heatwave
5. Billie Holiday – Summertime
6. The Flaming Lips – It’s Summertime
7. The Divine Comedy – The Pop Singer’s Fear of the Pollen Count
8. The Durutti Column – Sketch for Summer
9. John Lydon – Sun
10. The Pogues – Summer in Siam
11. Nina Simone – Here Comes the Sun
12. The Velvet Underground – Who Loves the Sun
13. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood – Summer Wine
14. Sly and The Family Stone – Hot Fun in the Summertime
15. Love – Bummer in the Summer
16. Bob Marley and The Wailers – Sun is Shining
17. Marianne Faithfull – Summer Nights
18. The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon
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