Kevin Gower

This is the same Good King Wenceslas, who is mentioned in a popular Christmas Carol written in 1853 about St. Stephen’s Day.

Wenceslas was born near Prague in 907 and was the son of the Duke of Bohemia. His father died in 921 and Wenceslas ruled from 922 when he was 15 years old. Raised as a Christian, primarily by his grandmother, Ludmila who had been baptised by the Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius who brought Christianity to the region.

The reign of Wenceslas is marked by his support of the church, his aim to unify Bohemia and making peace with Germany.

These policies created enemies within his court and even his family. His brother Boleslav was one of those who plotted against him. Boleslav invited Wenceslas to a church consecration. On the morning of September 28th 935 (or 929, according to some historians), on his way to the mass, Wenceslas was attacked by Boleslav and was killed by supporters of his brother.

Having suffered a martyr’s death, Wenceslas was immediately considered a saint. This lead to a cult of veneration with several biographies being written and miracles attributed to him. He was even posthumously made a king by the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I which is why the carol refers to him as a king when in life he was a duke.

A WOMAN whose boyfriend is sulking and refusing to speak to her is actually treating it as a lovely break from his wittering.

Following a row, Anthony, not his real name, has barely spoken to Jess, not her real name, for two days, failing to anticipate that for her it would turn out to be one of the happiest times in their relationship.

She said: “”Ant’s” in a strop about something and thinks he’s punishing me with his silence. I’d argue the punishment is not that effective, because I’m bloody loving it.

“No pathetic hint-dropping that he wants sex, no tedious work anecdotes I couldn’t give a f**k about, and best of all I have full control of the TV remote. I turned the football over to watch Corrie last night and because he’s so determined not to speak there was nothing he could do about it.

“It got me thinking, if life is so much better without his perpetual blathering, how great would it be if I didn’t have to look at him either? So I’m thinking of dumping him before the weekend then going out on the pull with the girls.”

Ant said: “To be honest, I’ve forgotten what I was in a mood about, but I’m not breaking my vow of silence. That would just be an admission I was in the wrong. About something.

“Jess’s putting a brave face on it and smiling all the time, but I can tell she’s incredibly upset underneath. I’ll start speaking to her again on Friday so I’ll get a shag at the weekend as usual.”

Turkmenistan is the southernmost state in Central Asia and the second largest.

Throughout its history, the region has been conquered by such notable figures as Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. The Turkmen people first arrived in the area in about the 10th century, though there is some debate as to where they came from.

Turkmens first came under the gaze of the Russian Empire in the late 18th century, but resistance wasn’t finally broken until the Battle of Gök-Tepe (now Gökdepe) in 1881, after which the area of present-day Turkmenistan incorporated into Russian Turkestan.

After the Russian Revolution, Turkmenistan formed part of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) in 1921, becoming a constituent republic of the USSR in 1925. 

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Turkmen Communist Party supported the failed coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, but declared independence on October 27th 1991.

On October 27th 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Constitutional Law “On Independence and Principles of State Structure of Turkmenistan.” This act formally declared the nation’s sovereignty as the Soviet Union dissolved.

ON A date, but prefer to keep all that getting-to-know-each-other conversation to a minimum? Choosing these will make the evening as silent as a long marriage:

Cinema

Watching a film together quietly will be excellent practice for the rest of your relationship. But since going to an arthouse flick is cooler than slumping in front of Ludwig,you’ll both be able to invest in the fiction that you like each other and are compatible before moving things along to sex.

Theatre

Like the cinema but more so, the theatre only truly exists to persuade couples they’re doing something other than facing in the same direction while not speaking. Doing this as a date? Legitimises your shared pretence you are classy so means you can skip straight to rutting like beasts, because they did in Pretty Woman. 

Gig

Trickier, as you need to agree on an artist you both like. Or pick someone entirely unknown and hope the audience is cool enough to validate it. But has the appeal of conversation being impossible and you can hold hands so as to not lose each other in the crowd, and once you’re holding hands you may as well do oral later.

Comedy club

Suggests you’re fun because you like to passively enjoy other people being fun. In reality it’s likely to be either dull (weekday) or drowned out by pissed arseholes (weekend) but at least the poor bastards on stage will be the ones straining to say something interesting, rather than you. And it encourages drinking, which encourages sex.

Ice skating

Introduces very real danger into the equation. Your date will be so busy concentrating on not falling over, making a tit of themselves and breaking an ankle they’ll forget to ask if you have a good relationship with your mother or have any pets. Also they’ll clutch onto you a lot and be so grateful it’s over you’ll be banging as soon as you’re in proper shoes again.

Silent disco

Taking off the headphones is cheating, you explain, adding that it’s also expected to move around the venue and you needn’t stick together. Then groove to your heart’s content, meeting up with them at the end. Remove your headphones and say ‘So, fancy coming back to mine for full intercourse?’ It might work.

Since antiquity, the region of modern-day Yemen has been an important strategic and commercial location, effectively forming a long land bridge between North Africa and Asia.

When the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, Imam Yahya Muhammad declared northern Yemen an independent sovereign state and proclaimed the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen in 1926. A King and an Imam, Yaha ruled Yemen until his death in 1948, when he was succeeded by Ahmad bin Yahya

On September 19th 1962 Ahmad died in his sleep. His son, Muhammad al-Badr was proclaimed Imam and King.

From its inception, the kingdom had proved unstable with various revolts and assassinations taking place and Al-Badr’s reign would prove very short-lived. 

Only a week after he ascended to the throne, army officers with the support of Egypt, staged a coup overthrowing the monarchy and deposing al-Badr on September 26th 1962. Abdullah as-Sallal, the commander of the royal guard, declared himself president of the Yemen Arab Republic. This event marked the start of the North Yemen Civil War which would last for the next six years.