13 June

313 The putative date for the death of Alexander the Great in Babylon.

1816 Sydney. The ring road around the grounds of the Botanic Gardens was completed, and that has since been taken to be date of establishment of the Gardens. In 1959 the Gardens were granted the royal epithet. The visionary Lachlan Macquarie was governor at the time of its foundation. We have been in the grounds many times and sat in Mrs Macquarie’s chair. (Intriguing?)

1923 Vegemite went on the market, the dark brown salt that tastes like uncooked yeast made from brewery waste. The Walker Company arranged a public competition to name this concoction. The winning name was picked from a hat. In the 1930s the name was changed to Parwill in response to competition from the equally dubious Marmite, but reverted to Vegemite in 1935. The name Parwill was used in a rhyming commercial on radio, and the advertising agency convinced the proprietor of Vegemite to change the name of the product to fit the jingle and linguistically to distinguish itself from Marmite. Much legal action occurred. Vegemite is an acquired taste like water boarding.

1966 The Supreme Court of Republican Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled in Miranda v Arizona that suspects must be informed of their rights before interrogation. Ernesto Miranda had been coerced into a confession and his American Civil Liberties Union legal team appealed. By the way Warren himself concurred with this ruling.

1990 Demolition of the Berlin Wall began. It had been breached in November 1989. The work was done by one-time East German border guards. Its twenty-eight miles completely surrounded West Berlin as an anti-fascist protection barrier to keep the fascists out of East Berlin such was their clamour to get it.