farmdoc's blog post number 334

On 20 March – in 1922 the USA Navy’s first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, was commissioned; in 1960 Elvis Presley made his first post-Army recording; in 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married; in 1977 the final live T Rex concert took place; in 1985 for the first time in Avon’s 99-year history its sales staff were paid by salary rather than commission; and in 2003 the First Gulf War began. March 20 is the usual date of the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s the last day of the zodiac (Pisces: 19 February to 20 March is the last of the 12 signs). And it’s the birthday of Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian writer, 1828), Sir Michael Redgrave (English actor, 1908), Dame Vera Lynn (English actress/ singer, 1917), William Hurt (American actor, 1950), Holly Hunter (American actress, 1958) and Phil ‘Skippy’ Anderson (Australian cyclist, also 1958). That’s all trivia. Nonsense. Small beer. What’s important, preponderant, paramount and big beer, is that today’s the birthday of one of the handful – no, two handfuls – of people on this planet who I adore so much that I would die for them to live. I see so much of myself in her. She’s a hero of mine, and I’m her (self-appointed) number one fan. Happy birthday to you, Emily Ann. Darling Emily.