FEAST OR FAMINE

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

National Lipstick Day is celebrated in America annually on 29 July. It promotes the use of lipstick as a beautification cosmetic and lip protector. In 1650 the American Parliament attempted to ban lipstick – the ‘vice of painting’ – but the bill did not pass.   Although the British Parliament banned lipstick in 1770 as a ‘devilish attempt to trick men into marriage’ it is now popular as an everyday cosmetic item. Research in the mid 2000s indicated that 80% of American women wear lipstick, and 70% of French women wore it. In the Roman Empire lipstick was commonly worn by both males and females as an indicator of social status. Even George Washington wore it sometimes, with make-up and a wig. Queen Elizabeth II has her own shade of lipstick, called The Balmoral Lipstick, created for her 1952 Coronation. Many cosmetic companies offer reduced prices on lipstick to celebrate the national day. MARTINA NICOLLS...

Working Class Boy (2016) begins in Glasgow, Scotland, the birthplace of songwriter and lead singer of the Australian band, Cold Chisel. James Dixon Swan (Jimmy Barnes) was born on 28 April 1956, the fourth of six children, in a poor, dark, and tough part of town: ‘I doubt that it ever felt safe.’ The family migrated to South Australia in 1962 to the land of opportunity, moving to the newly-established city of Elizabeth in late 1963: ‘I knew I would be fine here.’ He takes the surname Barnes when his mother leaves his alcoholic father and lives with Reginald Victor Barnes. He writes of his school and teenage years, by remembering the songs, bands, films, and television programs of the times. One of the schools he attended was Elizabeth High School for a few months, ‘the roughest school in the area – and that was saying something … We would fight and drink and run amok all over Elizabeth …’ It was exactly the school I went to, and in the 1970’s the voice of Jimmy Bar...

International Tiger Day , or Global Tiger Day, is an annual event celebrated on 29 July. The day aims to raise awareness of the importance of tiger conservation. International Tiger Day was established in 2010 at the International Tiger Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.   The International Tiger Forum was the world's first “tiger summit” organized by Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick. At the summit, the Global Tiger Recovery Program was adopted. The anniversary of its adoption was declared International Tiger Day. This ecological observance focuses on promoting protection of the natural habitats of tigers and raising public awareness of tiger conservation issues. Tigers are the largest cat species on Earth. Tigers were once widely spread, but the tiger is now an endangered species. Over the past century, tigers have lost more than 90% of their historic range. At the start of the 20th century, the global p...