Programming note: If you missed today's audio episode of Steyn's Song of the Week on Serenade Radio, you can catch the re-run at 5.30am Monday GMT, which is 9.30pm Sunday on the North American West Coast and a pleasant Monday afternoon listen in Australia. Wherever you are on the planet, simply click the button at top right here.
In our monthly anthology edition of The Hundred Years Ago Show, the messy aftermath of the Great War continues, with important advances for some up-and-coming fellows - Japan's Crown Prince Hirohito, Italy's Signor Mussolini, and a charismatic public speaker of the new Weimar Republic, Herr Hitler. And in post-Ottoman Arabia a fearless warrior called Ibn Saud seems the chap to watch.
Plus: federally subsidized babies in America; an end to beer for medicinal purposes; the dawn of radio broadcasting in Chicago and New Zealand; and an American soldier comes home. Click above to listen.
Thank you for all your kind comments on The Hundred Years Ago Show. Elisa Angel, a First Month Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club from Washington, DC, writes:
Philosopher George Santayana opined, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' Look, here we are! The Hundred Years Ago Show presents what is tantamount to today's current events, but with music and a great presentation by Mark Steyn.
"Look, here we are" indeed, Elisa - complete with inflation and myocarditis, just like a century ago.
As you know, I've long held that many of the problems that beset us arise from the years after the Great War. Thus many of the news stories of 1921 are reflected indirectly in the headlines a hundred years later. But there are also less freighted reports - of forgotten novelties and landmark inventions, of sporting and artistic triumphs, and the passing of the once famous. Oh, and as Elisa notes, plenty of period music - many songs that are still sung, but played in the versions that first made them hits.
The Hundred Years Ago Show started as a weekly feature of The Mark Steyn Show. It proved so popular that we now reprise it as a monthly omnibus version on the last Sunday of each month. And, as with our audio adventures, video poetry and musical specials, we've created a special Hundred Years Ago home page in handy Netflix-style tile format to enable you to set your time machine for the precise month you're in the mood for. We also have a tile-format page for the telly version of The Mark Steyn Show.
The Hundred Years Ago Show is a special production of The Mark Steyn Club. As I always say, Club membership isn't for everyone, but if you're interested you can find more information here.
I'll be back later today with my (essay-version) Song of the Week, and starting a new week sitting in for Nigel Farage at GB News on Monday evening. Hope you'll join me.
