1 December 2014
autarchy
[aw-tahr-kee]
noun, plural autarchies.
1. absolute sovereignty.
2. an autocratic government.
3. autarky.
Origin
Greek
1655-1665; < Greek autarchía self-rule. See aut-, -archy
Related forms
autarchic, autarchical, adjective
autarchically, adverb
autarchist, noun
Dictionary.com
Anagram
a racy hut
Today’s aphorism
Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.
– Thomas A. Edison
On this day
1 December 1761 – birth of Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founder of Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. Died 16 April 1850.
1 December 1901 – Britain and Russia in conflict over parts of Afghanistan, establish boundaries which eventually form modern Afghanistan.
1 December 1913 – Ford introduces the continuous moving assembly line which could produce a complete car every 2.5 minutes. This was a revolutionary change to car manufacturing and ultimately impacted on all manufacturing processes.
1 December 1919 – American-born Lady Astor is sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament. Lady Astor was not the first woman elected to Parliament however. The first was Constance Markiewicz, an Irish woman, who refused to take her seat because of her Irish nationalist views. Lady Astor and Sir Winston Churchill developed a love/hate relationship which resulted in many famous quotes from their repartee. For instance, Lady Astor once said to Churchill, ‘If you were my husband, I’d poison your tea‘. Churchill replied with, ‘If you were my wife, I’d drink it‘. Another famous exchange reportedly occurred when Lady Astor remarked on Churchill’s drunken state, ‘Mr Prime Minister, you are drunk. You are disgustingly drunk‘. Churchill, drunk but still quick with a quip, replied, ‘Lady Astor, you are ugly. You are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you shall still be disgustingly ugly‘. Some reports claim this latter exchange was between Churchill and socialist MP, Bessie Braddock.
1 December 1942 – British Government accepts the Beveridge Report that proposed the establishment of a welfare system to provide care for all people from cradle to grave.
1 December 1943 – conclusion of the ‘Tehran Conference’ during World War 2, in which the leaders of the three major allied powers, Churchill (Britain), Stalin (USSR) and Roosevelt (USA) met in Iran to discuss opening a second allied front against Germany. The conference also addressed Turkey, Iran, Yugoslavia and Japan, as well as post-war settlements between the three nations.