“IN THIS WORLD nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” This phrase was famously used by the American founding father Benjamin Franklin over 200 years ago, and it still chimes with us today.
WOULDN’T WE ALL love to live in a world free, at last, from the curse of famine, sickness and disease? No more reports of an overwhelmed health service. No more need for continual pleas for research funding to combat cancer, heart disease, dementia, Alzheimer’s and countless other disabilities and diseases.
ONE OF LUDWIG VAN Beethoven’s most famous compositions is called Moonlight Sonata—a moving and melancholic piece. What a sad and bitter irony that the German air force in 1940 used this codename for the devastating bombing raid on the city of Coventry at the time of a full moon.
THE COVER PICTURE shows the Turbine Water Fountain in the centre of the English city of Coventry. It is a tribute to the city’s heritage: Sir Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine, was born in Coventry in 1907. He first put forward his ideas for a jet engine in 1928 whilst a student. The fountain features the shape of the turbine blades of a jet engine.
I LOVE TO WATCH nature programmes on TV. Over recent years advances in film technology have enabled us to see the lives of plants and animals with incredible detail and beauty. But I have to admit, it’s usually an experience which leaves me not knowing whether to laugh or cry.