Janet Daley welcomed the ‘masterstroke’ of Sarah Palin’s nomination on Woman’s Hour this morning, but added that it was a complete surprise, nobody saw it coming
This surprised me, because I knew I had heard her name suggested as a possible, & although I take an interest I am no avid junkie. The mystery was solved moments later when a woman from Republicans Abroad said that Woman’s Hour itself had been more farsighted, she had been on the programme months ago when Palin’s name was discussed
Apart from Condoleezza Rice, I would not be able to remember any other names mentioned, but I have a special interest in Palin because of all the hours I spent researching a Victorian Chief Constable of that name. I even made a point of checking in the paper to see if it was her maiden or her married name, out of a vague curiosity about whether there could be any connection. Not impossible – although the Chief Constable died without issue, he had at least one brother with a large family & they were used to travelling the world. Palin was born in Bombay, his wife in Philadelphia, & at least one brother in law returned to the States as an adult
Actually Captain Palin is indirectly responsible for my becoming a blogger. I was wrestling at the time with the niceties of Google searches. Put in Palin & you get a gazillion returns for Michael. Put NOT Michael & add “Chief Constable” & you still get umptynump references to a Monty Python sketch. Put “Henry Palin” “Chief Constable” “Manchester” & you get references to Harold Shipman’s murderous activities – the solicitor representing some of the families is of that name, & at one point they tried to sue the present day Chief Constable for damages.
So I was wrestling with the problem – if you do a Google search & nothing turns up, how do you know if there is nothing there or you just haven’t put in the right search terms?
It struck me that if I provided some content I would be better placed to study how Google works (especially for small sites). Little did I know that I would become hooked
Still, at least it proves you are never too old to acquire new interests
