Today is Pet Blondes Day

1966 The Communist Party of China issued the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, in which up to 20 million people were killed and many millions more tortured and abused.

But, because anyone in the West who dares to bring this to people's attention has always been branded a jack-booted McCarthyist, and because it is still so uncool to talk about any 20th-Century holocaust but "that one", we have decided to note today in the Book of Days something more palatable to the popular taste.

Yes, on the same day in 1966 on which a decade of unrivalled bloodshed was unleashed before the eyes of an uncaring and trivia obsessed West, two extremely influential rock albums were released: Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.

So, because the 40th anniversary of the May 16 Notice was not commemorated in China and scarcely mentioned in the Western press, and as Wilson's Almanac also does not wish to rock the boat with regards to the splendid array of Chinese consumables in our shops ... happy pop music to us all!

Wishing to keep my Western priorities politically correct, I therefore nominate May 16, 1966 as Pet Blondes Day and may we celebrate it each year. Maybe Stephen Spielberg could make a movie about it.

Tagged: marxism, leninism, maoism, china, genocide, torture, progressive