The numbers game

It all started with1066. How could I ever forget the date of the Battle of Hastings?

Poor King Harold, forever remembered as the guy who lost his country to William the Conqueror.

History is so cruel. In fact, Harold had rushed to Hastings having defeated an assault in the northeast by Harald Hardrada at Stamfordbridge.

Wounded, Harold fled the Hastings battlefield (now unsurprisingly called Battle). There is no certainty about where he’s buried. The rumour I choose to believe is that he is interred in the graveyard of Waltham Abbey, near where I grew up in England.

After1066, I moved on to 1215: Magna Carta- what’s not to like? Except I think people tend to overblow King John. he didn’t willingly trot along to Runnymede and sign the landmark document. he was dragged there by irate magnates, lords who were tired of his bad, cruel government.

and forget that legend about “good” King Richard. Richard I, was a crazy guy who kept going off on crusades. he kept getting imprisoned and John had to pay to ransom him.

Then I moved on to 1350. That, too, was easy to remember. The birth year of Katherine Swynford, long-time lover and eventual wife of John of Gaunt. She’s one of the fascinating women of the Middle Ages.

Onwards to 1832 – the Great Reform Act, that essentially did away with pocket boroughs and rotten boroughs and in fact did more to bring about universal manhood suffrage than Magna Carta.

So that’s it. Now my iPhone wants ANOTHER four digit password. I give in. I am running out of significant dates in history. 

Great Fire of London, 1666, I guess. Except it was just a fire. Okay, it probably put an end to the plague – but is it really memorable enough to be an iPhone password?