Dark Earth Timeline

November
November 1: Large protests on the streets of Paris, Lyons and other major French cities proceed peacefully without attracting any active response from the police or security forces.
November 2: King Zod arrives in Britain in the first official state visit of an Albanian monarch, accompanied as ever by Queen Ariu and his silent hulking ogre bodyguard Non.
November 3: In the US mid term elections, the Republican Party gains three seats in the Senate, including former Congressman George Bush narrowly winning in Texas against sitting Senator Ralph Yarborough. Despite this, the Democrats retain control over the Senate, holding 54 seats to 51 Republican, 4 Whig and 1 Conservative.
November 4: Californian authorities take custody of a 12 year old girl held in isolation by her father for the entirety of her life. Her inability to verbally communicate due to not developing speech leads social workers to contact Dr. Anne Goldberg, the world’s foremost expert in delayed speech development who herself is not unfamiliar with being confined to a room for many years from her childhood experiences in a secret annex in wartime Amsterdam.
November 5: Bonfire Night celebrations occur across Britain in accordance with the Observation of the 5th of November Act 1605, with the BBC covering the largest community bonfires and festivities as part of the annual completion to with the title of the year’s best.
November 6: Egyptian officials begin talks with Sudan for further integration of economic ties, with Egyptian moves towards potential political association being stymied by British influence.
November 7: Opening of 1914 in London, the first film in an intended war epic series depicting the course of The Great War. The sequences of the miraculous Battle of Mons and the end of the Race to the Sea are particularly acclaimed by audiences, whilst the cast of Barry Foster as Kaiser Wilhelm II, Richard Burton as Von Falkenhayn, Louis Jourdan as Marshal Joffre, Sir Laurence Olivier as Sir John French and Robert Hardy as Sir Winston Churchill all deliver noteworthy performances.
November 8: Sonny Liston is narrowly defeated by Cassius Clay in an extremely contentious decision in a fight in Los Angeles, with Clay coming back from being floored twice in the third round.
November 9: The Prince of Wales becomes the first immediate member of the British Royal Family to visit Luna on an official basis.
November 10: Maiden flight of the Lockheed Jetstar 'jumbo jet', a four engine very long range counterpart to the Boeing 747, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, Convair-Bell 1550 and the Curtiss-Wright Super Condor. Noted Daily Planet journalist Clark Kent opines that the United States’ aviation industry is approaching the verge of having too many major companies in some particular aircraft markets.
November 11: Restructuring of the British Army of the Rhine begins, providing for the reinforcement of four Territorial Army divisions in the event of mobilisation and the augmentation of the two combined arms field forces attached to each corps by Territorial and Army Reserve units. The present peacetime regular strength of the BAOR, set at 160,000 men in 6 British (4 in Germany and 2 in the United Kingdom) and 2 Canadian divisions, is not scheduled to increase in the foreseeable future, but may be subject to some subsequent alterations depending on mooted increases to Commonwealth corps strength currently being debated.
November 12: The Syrian government is overthrown in a coup d'etat by elements of the Royal Syrian Army, with the new regime immediately sure to pledge ongoing allegiance to the King and eschew any hint of movement towards a neutralist or pro-Soviet line.
November 13: Reestablishment of the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps, a famed home defence formation of both World Wars.
November 14: Japanese Prime Minister Akira Tanaka announces that he will step down at the end of 1971, having served 16 years as Nippon's premier and being the current longest ruling head of government in the Free World. Whilst there is no word of his formal successor, his expected heir apparent Yukio Mishima, the Governor of Tokyo, waits in the wings.
November 15: Debut of The Renaissance Men, an animated American children's cartoon that depicts Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael and Caravaggio as a secret group that works against France during the Italian Wars under the direction of Machiavelli, with their identities concealed by blue, orange, red and purple masks
November 16: A New York schoolgirl claims to have rescued her infant brother from the clutches of a fey goblin king who had concealed the wean in the depths of a mystical labyrinth. Subsequent investigations by FBI wizards are unable to substantiate the story, amid outraged denials from local goblin communities and threats of civil rights law suits, and the wretched girl is firmly chastised and sent off to live with her aunt in South Park, Colorado.
November 17: The Aircraft (National Preference) Act 1970 is given Royal Assent, setting out a mandated requirement for preferential purchases of British or Commonwealth aircraft by the Armed Forces and publicly owned entities, such as Imperial Airways, and making access to certain taxation exemptions for private corporations contingent upon compliance with the Act. This measure is designed to provide further encouragement and protection for the British aerospace sector, which has seen a marked recent increase of foreign sales and orders in both military and civil aircraft.
November 18: The foreign ministers of Germany and Poland sign a peace treaty recognising their border as lying along the Oder-Neisse Line. resolving one of several of the outstanding diplomatic disputes between the states.
November 19: The first black member of the South African cabinet is sworn into office by Governor-General Earl Pienaar of Tobruk, marking the increasing inclusion of the black African population in the political process.
November 20: Initiation of Protect and Survive, a public information campaign by the Ministry of Information and the Civil Defence Service on the protection of British households in the event of a nuclear attack. The booklets provide localised information on the nearest public fallout shelters and general advice on the purchase and preparation of private shelters for home use.
November 21: The arrival back on Earth of the Soviet cosmonaut crew of the Kosmos expedition sees them paraded in triumph through Moscow in front of a massive crowd of well wishers. Commanders Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov are personally awarded the Order of Lenin and made Heroes of the Soviet Union by General Secretary Sergeyev in Red Square.
November 22: Portuguese Colonial Army troops launch a series of limited strikes and cross-border raids into Guinea under the putative justification of hot pursuit of rebel guerillas.
November 23: The Royal Artillery introduces a new rapid-fire computerised multi-directional barrage designed for support of rapidly advancing mobile infantry and armoured units alike, utilising a full range of its new guns, howitzers and rocket launchers.
November 24: Completion of Canada’s first operational atomic fusion plant at Prince John, Saskatchewan, joining other such facilities in the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain
November 25: Proposals for votes for animals in Britain are declined at this stage, with the official Home Office report stating that the sheer variability in differences between talking beast and ordinary animals of the same species made any such measures impractical in the extreme; an appendix goes into further arguments, such as cats being likely to vote for fascist parties out of sheer feline contempt and dogs inevitably voting like their masters, not to mention the potential for treats to profoundly corrupt the electoral process.
November 26: A valuable painting by Diego Velazquez is sold for over 3 million pounds at auction in Christie's in London, narrowly beating the offer by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the agents of the anonymous bidder, a local band of adventurers from Cricklewood known as The Goodies, promptly donating the masterpiece to the National Gallery. This event is later seen by some observers as beginning the peculiar series of events known as 'The Art Wars'.
November 27: Pope Paul VI arrives in Philippines and, while greeting the faithful at Manila Airport, is stabbed by a deranged Brazilian artist wielding a kris, with the blows being fortunately deflected by his blessed vestments and collar. The assailant is seized and beaten by Swiss Guards before being handed over to outraged Philippines authorities. He is bought before a military court later that day and, after a 12 minute trial, found guilty of attempted assassination of a head of state and outrages against religion and sentenced to death by the gas chamber; after the personal intercession of the Pontiff, his execution is indefinitely postponed.
November 28: A travelling band of Swedish cooks causes alarm at a Scottish marketplace fair with their Scandinavian cooking exposition featuring alarmingly cavalier use of swords, battleaxes and warhammers and madcap culinary alchemy. The local constabulary is about to place then under arrest, but they are saved from a spell in the stocks by a passing professor from a nearby magical school, who offers to stand surety for them and convey them out of the shire.
November 29: RAF Middle East issues an approving report on the performance of the Sopwith Camel supersonic VSTOL assault transport in operational testing in Aden, highlighting its flexibility and speed of response, but also noting that its armament and versatility could potentially lead to inter-service disputes as to its proper control, given the recent RFC acquisition of Hawker-Siddeley Harrier jet fighters. The concluding paragraph puts the matter pithily: "We set out to get a transport, but ended up with a genuine army co-operation plane that can perform the full range of missions, with all that entails."
November 30: Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of London, celebrates his 96th birthday with a special luncheon at Simpsons-on-the-Strand, alongside family, royalty and close friends from both sides of the Atlantic and across the Empire.

2.) King Zod has rather expansive dreams for Albania, which works in with his coincidental name. His wife’s name is Ariu, or Albanian for Bear (Ursa). Throw in Non and we have the trio from Superman II. - Ah missed that.
5.) There was: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observance_of_5th_November_Act_1605 which remained in law until 1859. Something of the old sense of traditionalism remains in strength. - interesting.
7.) Olivier did play French in ‘Oh What A Lovely War!’, but here is playing the role straight as a standard heroic British general. The Great War as a whole is seen as less of a waste, less of a bloody stalemate and less futile, which in turn has great impacts on British social and political development for the rest of the century. - The odd thing was that the original play was very much pro the experience of the war and commendatory that many felt and it was only latter that it was presented as anti-war. French was an idiot and incompetent OTL but may have been different here.
9.) Consider how long it took for formal royal visits to Canada and Australia - 1860 (future Edward VII) and 1867 respectively, or 97 years and 79 after first settlement. There have been other, outer members of the Royals who have gone into space, but this is the first official visit. Until after WW2, it took the better part of a week to get there and back, which is a slight issue in itself for a member of the direct line of succession, not to mention the safety issue. Luna, chief of Earth’s moons, also doesn’t have the same cachet as Canada or Australia in @. - OK interesting tha
12.) Very much so. The initial ‘in’ for the Soviets in the @ Middle East was Egypt, then Syria, then Iraq. This failure of Middle Eastern policy came from many causes, among which was the power vacuum that followed on from British withdrawal. Here, there were repeated actions in the early 1950s and then the seismic 1956 War/Six Day War. Not only was Britain able to reassert her regional hegemony, but it did so in such a fashion that hit an already fractured Arab nationalist movement for six. Following on, the standard rule was: No communists, no communist coups and no attempts at deposing monarchies in favour of communist sympathisers; break that, and the hammer comes down. It has done so in Libya and to some extent in Jordan. The response has been a discrediting of the socialist/Pan Arabist types and into the void of their absence comes the Arab Union - an increasingly close confederation of Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Yemen, all ruled by Hashemite kings. Theirs is a different kind of nationalism, and although they’d still like the British more out of the picture, the other options are the Americans or the Soviets, neither of which would allow them even their current degree of independence.
13.) The Women’s Auxiliary Balloon Corps is from Blackadder Goes Forth, where it is the former unit of Captain Darling. - Ah thanks. Not a series I ever got into.
16.) It is Labyrinth, with the unfortunate Sarah being sent off to South Park for her troubles. - Cruel and unusual punishment!!
17.) This is very much the ‘Reaction to Buying the Phantom Act’, influenced by the British aerospace conglomerates. The Armed Services buy British in virtually all cases, the major airlines and East India Company do the same (quite different from BOAC in @) and now the private aircraft operators (private air forces/mercenary groups, privately owned airlines, industrial air groups and more) have a direct encouragement to do the same. Other countries which do the same thing will of course complain.
18.) It is both a common sense measure and reflects the great big wall stretching along the border. - Of course here Germany is united and Poland isn't IIRC.
19.) It is a minorly effective representation measure, but South Africa is on a whole different trajectory. The GG being Dan Pienaar (no death in 1942) is another Easter Egg. - Good.
24.) The 1970s will see some bug further development. - Good
26.) They were hired by the world’s richest man, who is a member of the governing establishment. - Ah OK. That explains it a good bit.
29.) The most analogous utility plane is the Westland Lysander in its originally envisaged form - artillery spotting, liaison, recon and close air support - with tactical transport thrown in. Another way of thinking of it is as a fixed wing VTOL equivalent in part to the Mi-24 Hind, or indeed the Valkyrie assault transport from Warhammer 40k. They are designed to be part of a rapid response system:
A.) Supersonic strategic airlift take infantry, airborne or commando forces from Britain to other key hubs, such as Singapore, Rhodesia or Suez
B.) Tactical airlift (Camels) shifts them to intermediate staging points or directly into target locations and then supports them along with RAF fighter bombers and bombers

December
December 1: The Italian National Assembly votes resoundingly to reject a bill legalising divorce 568-243, reflecting the strength of traditional Roman Catholic influence and the strong parliamentary Conservative majority.
December 2: A secret USN-RN conference is held to discuss the potential threat of an Atlantic Monster counterpart to Godzilla, following on from a series of alarming sightings and encounters over the preceding several years.
December 3: Australian oil prospectors discover a large offshore deposit off the southern coast of New Guinea.
December 4: The BND arrests four alleged Stasi agents working on the personal staff of the leader of the Social Democrat opposition in the Reichstag.
December 5: Death of the Maharajah of Kashmir, the fabulously wealthy Sir Hari Singh, at the age of 75. Ascending the throne of the peaceful and prosperous Indian princely state is his highly esteemed son, Sir Karan Singh, who won renown in the Korean War.
December 6: A rail accident in western New York threatens to spill dangerous chemicals out into the surrounding area, but the incident sees no fewer than three superheroes attend due to a new monitoring system. The National Incident Response Program, administered by numerical expert Count Wladislaw von Graf, utilises the new HAL-2000 intelligent supercomputer and is capable of tracking thousands of incidents around the country.
December 7: President Kennedy signs the Poison Prevention Packaging Act into law, providing for the packaging of certain dangerous substances in containers resistant to the attentions of curious children.
December 8: The Italian general election, delayed by the death of the King, results in the National Front, a grouping of various nationalist and neo-fascist parties, emerging as the second largest group in the National Assembly, behind the ruling Christian Democrats and in front of the resurgent Communist-Socialist bloc.
December 9: Formation of the Red Army Faction, a German subsidiary of the International Revolutionary Army under the command of Andreas Baader.
December 10: Buckingham Palace announces that Princess Victoria of Wales has given birth to a healthy son.
December 11: Time Magazine’s feature story is on the forthcoming ‘Technological Revolution’, describing the great leap forward in computers, microchips and electronics as being the harbinger of immense change.
December 12: Heavy rains cause a series of floods and landslides in Southern Colombia, killing over 100 people and cutting many roads through the region.
December 13: The strength of US Army Vietnam reaches its interim level of six divisions, deployed alongside remaining French, Korean and British Commonwealth divisions and the US 5th Marine Division; the million strong Armée Royale Vietnamienne (ARVN) maintains its force of 18 divisions.
December 14: Newly enchanted dweomers at Toronto International Airport successfully prevent the crash landing of a stricken Pan Am Boeing 737.
December 15: Opening of a large integrated steelworks in Londonderry, funded in part by the targeted industrial investment of the Barton government.
December 16: Emperor Haile Selassie issues and imperial proclamation of a state of emergency in Eritrea.
December 17: Polish communist dictator Władysław Gomułka retires due to sudden attack of ill health, apparently unconnected to the movement of Red Army forces to the outskirts of Warsaw.
December 18: Release of the film version of Erich von Däniken‘s Chariots of the Gods, the highly speculative and widely decried ‘secret history’ of mankind’s past. It attracts mixed reviews for its content, but plaudits for its soundtrack and cinematography.
December 19: Testing begins on a new Multirole Shoulder Launched Anti-Tank Rocket at British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada.
December 20: President Kennedy awards Reverend Elvis Presley with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony in the White House, honouring the adventurer for his many good deeds across the country; the humbled Reverend simply says “Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much.”
December 21: Cavendish Foods unveils it’s new Automaton Biscuit Selector, able to provide appropriate biscuits for up to 1024 different social occasions and circumstance.
December 22: The Imperial Persian Army orders an extensive package of modern equipment from Britain, including 2500 Chieftain tanks and hundreds of other armoured vehicles.
December 23: The US Department of Labor estimates that unemployment following the end of the Vietnam War will peak in the latter half of the next financial year before declining as the civilian economy reabsorbs over 3 million men.
December 24: In a Christmas Eve surprise present to the nation, the great wyrm Selentrius Cosmogrox gives the entirety of his fabled treasure hoard (worth several thousand million pounds) to the British people, announcing that he is relocating to Madagascar to become an ascetic on his upcoming 4000th hatching day.
December 25: Queen Elizabeth II delivers her annual Royal Christmas Message to Britain, the Commonwealth and Empire, focussing on the prospects of world peace after the end of the Vietnam War and the value of family.
December 26: US defence satellites detect a strange double flash over the southern Indian Ocean that seems to match the signature of an atomic initiation; subsequent aerial sampling does not detect any significant traces of radiation in the atmosphere.
December 27: The New York Times publishes its biannual ranking of European military powers, placing Germany at the head of the list above France, followed by Italy, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania and noting that both major communist states were on a rising trajectory.
December 28: Archaelogists exploring the inner secrets of the Great Pyramid discover a hitherto unknown series of catacombs beneath the Pyramids, leading through a vast series of tunnels and chambers to a hidden room. It contains a sarcophagus that defies all efforts to open it and the room displays a number of strange gravitational properties, in addition to dimming all lights and flames. Upon mapping, the subterranean complex seems to match the shape and dimensions of an inverted pyramid, causing an immediate flurry of concern and interest in Egyptological circles.
December 29: Removal of obstacles at the border between Hong Kong and China as the latest sign of easing tensions between China and Britain.
December 30: PVO Strany fighters force an unidentified flying object to land intact in Siberia, whereupon it is captured by KGB troops.
December 31: Launch of Orion 6 on a four year voyage to the outer solar system, bound for Neptune and Uranus before returning by way of Mars. Planning for the Orion 7 mission to Orcus and Pluto, scheduled for launch in 1972, continues at a high pace.

Steve,

1.) This simply reflects the nature of the legislature and popular opinion.
2.) It could, but they are trying to get ahead of the situation this time and are learning.
4.) There is a German Democratic Republic based in East Prussia under Ernst Thalmann and thus a Stasi.
6.) Count von Graf/Count is very good with numbers, although he does intersperse his counting with peals of maniacal laughter.
7.) An OTL event, but it extends to a few different extra substances here.
8.) It is a potentially problematic development, but Italy is more politically stable.
9.) It occurred in May historically, but the Baader-Meinhof Gang is a different group with more external backing.
10.) Historically, an heir was produced 11 months after a royal wedding; it is a little bit longer here. The big variable is the marriage in 1969 compared to 1981, which was driven by other factors, as previously said.
12.) Largely an OTL event.
14.) This will have a noticeable effect on air crash statistics.
15.) It gives some further industry and flow on jobs for areas which historically saw major unemployment.
16.) There is an independence movement, backed by external players…
17.) A complete coincidence
18.) In @, it was an extremely inaccurate pseudoscientific picture, but had nice camera work and music. Similar here, with some small kernels of truth.
19.) The MSLAR will develop into something interesting
22.) Historically, they purchased 900 Chieftains, 460 M60s, 200+ M48s and 400 M47s, so the total isn’t too far off the mark.
24.) Once again, the windfall won’t be spent immediately on wastes of money, but saved and invested into something bigger and greater.
25.) There is a distinct note of hope at play…
26.) It is different from the Vela Incident of @, as both of the historical suspects are quite open nuclear powers.
27.) Precisely. Both are much bigger, being on another power level as it were, and extend far beyond Europe proper.
29.) There is a thaw going on.
30.) Eventually.
31.) It is; came up in the Space thread, but it has been 3+ years.

January notes
- Enterprise’s disappearance was down to accidentally passing through a long dormant Atlantean portal at just the right/wrong time. The principle is related to goings on south of Bermuda
- Top Secret/Majestic is a classification used deliberately…
- The Oklahoma meteor does have an eventual follow up coming
- The Return of the King is a much better picture than Jackson’s adaption
- Death cults in Madagascar have an interesting story behind them
- Even as negotiations in Vietnam are taking place, the wrestle for advantage continues, including aerial combat. The US and Allies are starting to get the upper hand back from some of the earlier closer run battles
- The Soviet naval force inadvertently kills the last two megs without realising it
- Trouble is brewing in the Philippines
- Not even King Zod can foil the rampaging Ramesses
- Samson Mulumba is a cover identity operated by the leader of the African Liberation Front. Talk about hiding in plain sight
- NASA increasing rocket orders means sending more gear up to the moons and the US starship construction dock
- Tokyo overtakes it’s competition a bit later, but the trajectory and reasons are still fairly plain
- Will Owen faces a different outcome
- Evel Knievel gets to jump the Grand Canyon
- Something valuable is found in Rhodesia
- Even as Vietnam is still nominally going, there is an effort to study and analyse it in order to improve
- Iraqi Minister of Defence is a bit of a poisoned chalice. The latest youngish officer comes into office, intent on *this* time being the chance for a successful coup. Then they get the big picture/secret details, as well as a friendly welcome visit from the British advisory forces. So far, all have preferred to go with the flow and retire alive and rich rather than the alternative
- Duran v Duran is a novel case indeed
- Very quietly and very effectively, French forces remain the real power in numerous nominally independent African countries
- Wales gets more success than @ in sport, mirroring their different economic trajectory in a bit of thematic parallelism
- Demis Roussos ending up as an opera singer seems fitting
- The new British tac nuke is similar to the WE.177, but with some more optional settings and a fitting name
- Someone put the silver snake there, somehow…
- In Persia, we see some reticence to aggravate the outside powers into intervening. The USA and Britain are not seen as paper tigers, but state actors with a history of pressing the coup or military intervention buttons if a ‘friendly state’ looks like becoming unfriendly
- China is building a powerful missile, but the cutting edge is now what is on top of them
- JFK’s speech is generally accepted, as there is far less distrust of the word of the government

March notes

- The vandalism of Marx’s grave is by some young apprentice wizards/former public schoolboys who are a bit caught up in the Vietnam victory
- Skeet surfing is a reference to the 1984 Val Kilmer movie Top Secret
- Shifts in Malayan basing creates a roughly equidistant chain of three ‘super bases’, backed up by the BCFESR at Singapore
- The key factor in the March 5 bit about Congolese nationalisation is the size of the ANC
- New Zealand going nuclear is a rather different occurrence, but comes from the driver of Red Indonesia
- A royal pregnancy means many things, including a new ‘spare’
- The South Atlantic USO will be heard from again
- France makes a play for Benelux ties, which will begat a British reaction
- Judge John Dredd is a bit of a different sort
- Sir Charles Ratcliffe entering Parliament will play out down the line
- The Baltic Balance needs an article of its own
- Tanganyikan peanut successes are a hat tip back to 1947
- Frank Worrell not only lives, but gets to WI PM
- The Junior Chieftain was inspired by East German mini tanks used by their Young Pioneers
- The RIAF is keeping ahead of the Arabs and showing it publicly
- Lennon and McCartney getting together is a precursor for further developments
- Stranger Things are to come for Hawkins…

April

- The Wombles meeting Wilf is a multi-layered Ark Royal-themed Easter Egg
- Sean Flynn survives the Vietnam War, rather than disappearing
- The US census using cutting edge technology will be the most detailed yet
- French Algeria is the antithesis of peaceful and ordered, but the FLN just lacks that extra edge that a regional supporter and more favourable numbers could bring
- The Danish King's car accident is largely historical
- The Return of the King secures a hat trick of Best Picture awards (The Two Towers tying with Oliver! and sparks a pop culture fantasy craze for several years. Heston's second Oscar is richly deserved and sparks a mid career renaissance
- A link between the Cape to Cairo Railway and the Cairo to Singapore Railway is now complete
- The man turning into a tree is an Eastern Egg/hat tip to Edge of Darkness
- The Dauphin's visit is an attempt to spark some measure of Franco-German rapprochement
- An RN battle squadron calling in Alex isn't the most earthshaking event, but quietly illustrates that (a) The Andrew still has multiple battle squadrons; (b) Egypt is trying to wriggle loose to some measure of independence; and (c) the process isn't a one way street, nor is it Egypt's only possible path
- Similarly, the sinking of K-8 is an OTL event, but the lost of all nuclear weapons on board is not. It shows how the Soviets are trying to counter the Western strategic nuclear advantage with tactical weapons, but that this entails some risky stacking of platforms
- The Indian boy and his tiger is a reference to Life of Pi; the more definitive existence of the tiger is a bit of an illustration of Dark Earth's theology
- The Orion 4 astronauts receive a rapturous reception and, after a short period of quarantine in May, get the beginnings of a proper public welcome in June. There are a lot more of them (a crew of 60), but the key stars will get the better part of the glory. Orion 5 has an even larger crew, being a larger ship
- Premier Alvares' madness is caused by a very nasty drug he has been infected with; being able to turn public figures stark raving mad with an injection is an advantage to some
- The mysterious white Shaolin master is Kane from Kung-Fu
- Rescue of the Venezuelan carrier prevents further embarassment
- The Morris Major is an entirely fictional car, looking like a Ford Granada Mark II and with a decently powerful and efficient engine. It will sell very well through the 1970s at home and abroad and provide decent competition to Austin, Rover, Rootes and the other British manufacturers
- The Colombian election is a cluster kerfuffle
- Legionnaires near Hoover Dam? The fallout from this mystery will be considerable...
- The Great Air Race is a sign of a bit of pre-WW1 nostalgia to match the rapidly changing world
- Tito goes early, without having the same role
- The old Robin Hood gets a new lease of life, shifting its role from a short range nuclear missile to a conventional strike missile with a ~35 mile range. It has the advantage of being faster and more accurate than the Soviet FROG-7, but is an interim measure
-The Wonders of the Natural World include a couple of DE specials - the Challenger Plateau being the Lost World of Arthur Conan Doyle and the Silver Mountain being a spectacular lonely mountain in Canada with rock formations that look like massive bodies of silver (but are in fact just an optical effect)
- The last installment of the British national debt is paid off, causing reaction in some circles
- Not only will the Adamsons have a nicer fate, but Elsa lives longer and visits frequently
- Jack Sexton and RESC will be heard of again; the Musa Protocol and Acacia Avenue Incident of 1967 are both references to Bananaman, whilst St. Swithins is a reference to the Doctor in the House series

May
- The five notes may be familiar to those who have viewed Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- The Viking is a very good, high performance fighter that has had a bit of difficulty getting new markets due to a little bit of extra cost. Getting Finland as a market would be a great boon. The stay behind cooperation, across NATO lines, reflects the close ties between Sweden and Finland
- Flood defences and preparations in Bengal means that the November 1970 cyclone will not be a biblical catastrophe
- Female police numbers in Britain are quite a bit smaller than in @ and more confined to niche roles. One reason for this is the range of threats even an ordinary bobby has to potentially deal with and their role in a mobilisation scenario; the different social attitudes and greater traditionalist views also play a big role
- Skiing off Mount Everest is an OTL event that isn’t as widely known as it might be
- The first large scale return home of US troops from Vietnam is met very differently than in @. The major victory parades will follow in July
- Formation of The Beatles, not as a pop group, but as something of an amalgam between The Goodies and DE Reverend Elvis. They will get their own television show…
- Scratchproof glasses are a small quality of life improvement
- The Queen’s Own Mountain Regiment’s creation reflects two things - the British Army evolving to fit its anticipated battle fronts in Scandinavia, Austria and India/Afghanistan; and being in a situation where new units are being established, rather than the insidious creeping process of amalgamation and force reductions. The Army has shrunk a little from its peacetime 20th century peak, but not hugely so. The general structure of 6 Guards regiments, 6 Rifle regiments and 100 Regiments of Foot has not changed since the late 19th Century, with variations being on the number of regular battalions; it grew from 236 in 1960 to 256 from 1965-70 with the shifting of 20 TA battalions to regular service as was done in the @ Boer War.
- In @, most 2nd Battalions went after India went independent, followed by further amalgamations and culling through the 50s and 60s
- The most significant difference is a toss up between the 100 Regiments of Foot vs 68 in 1900 post Childers Reforms and having 6 Rifle Regiments vs 2. This infantry force is augmented by the Paras, the Commandos, the Rangers and the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Zulus, as well as the new mountain troops
- Units from Malta and Gibraltar are being bought into the ‘home regimental system’ from the Imperial/colonial regiment grouping and there is some thought that Hong Kong and Singapore’s regiments will follow
- NYC in 1976 is a bit of a bicentennial gift
- Tornadoes will start to be less damaging if they are detected early
- Project Chamberlain (named after PM Joseph, rather than his second son) is a reaction to the growing Soviet surface fleet through the emplacement of 12 batteries of missiles around the British and Irish coast and a further 12 through the Commonwealth and Empire
- The Chronicles of Prydain join Narnia and LOTR in the fantasy boom
- The International Revolutionary Army camp was hit by British sub launched missiles with X series nerve agents (the deadlier follow on the V series)
- Superman saves a boy at a ball game from death and only being remembered as a trivia question
- The Ra expedition will be a higher profile success
- Vysotsky has a higher profile beyond the USSR
- The A-Team seeks refuge underground (literally)
- Women’s soccer no longer effectively banned in Britain
- The Lyonesse Regiment have quite the reputation for valour and ferocity that is partly the role of a centuries old faerie blessing
- School lunch reforms in the US hit just when there was more of a rise of junk and poor quality food in @. Within the decade, it will be the envy of the world, reflecting American wealth and affluence
- A green light to.a Channel Tunnel will result in a bit of a different project
- Bridging of the Darien Gap
- There is less of an MIA issue in Vietnam, given the exigencies of the end of the conflict and the Soviets wanting to build up some American goodwill and maybe a little detente