Christmas has come and gone; with only New Year’s Eve to come, with a big fireworks bang. And Bah Humbug to New Year Resolutions: – and the celebration of northern hemisphere solstice of the shortest day as being the beginning of the new year – but not for us in the southern ‘hemispherers’.

Among gay identities having anniversaries at this time are J.Edgar Hoover of FBI fame, Sir Nigel Hawthorne the fine actor in BBC TV’s’ Yes Minister’ and Christopher Isherwood – novelist/Cabaret story theme, and singer/actress Marlene Dietrich.

This week we acknowledge the birthdays of Louis Pasteur and his treatment of milk to eliminate the ‘nasties’ – a practice we call ‘pasteurisation’.

Another French man of fame at this time is Louis Braille and his system of raised dots for reading by touch. Our final French remembrance at this time is the 2014 bombing of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.

Our final saga is about the humble drinking straw.

Plus some trivia and mirth and much more ….

The post Solstice, Gay Anniv., L.Pasteur, L.Braille, Charlie Hebdo, Straw appeared first on Been There Done That.