December 18

Saki was born on the 18th in 1870. Wait a minute, isn’t that a Chinese wine made from rice, generally served warm? That, of course, assumes that you will have the patience to warm the stuff up and don’t just pour it on your cereal in the morning. I am fairly certain that Saki, with an ‘i’ has something to do with the 18th, hang on a moment while I go through my notes. I really have to straighten this place up a bit. A saki is a small, monkey with a very long tail, from the Western hemisphere. What? That can’t be it, as far as I can tell species do not celebrate birthdays. Excuse me once again. Here it is - Saki was the nom de plume of Hector Hugh Munro who was born on the 18th in 1870. As it is with all writers, you either like his work or you don’t, but anyone who comes up with the line ‘say what you will about the decay of Christianity, but the religion that produced Green Chartreuse can never really die’ certainly deserves to have his birthday remembered.