Picasso, Marie Antoinette and a double helping of space.

It's Bank Holiday Monday. There are three bank holiday clusters in the English bank holiday year. Double Check 2020). autumn gap is from the last Monday in August to Christmas Day. Double Check Double Check spring gap is from New Year's Day to Good Friday. Double Check Double Check 2038 (and then not again until 2258). Double Double Check April). Whenever Easter falls, the spring gap can never be longer than 112 days. 122 days is thus the longest possible gap in England. Double Check Scotland the August bank holiday is at the start of August. Double Double Check Conclusion The longest gap between UK bank holidays is 122 days. It only happens when the August bank holiday is on Monday 25th August. And it starts tomorrow.

Events that don't cost a penny.

It's 40 days since St Swithin's Day. n.b. It may not have rained for you but it rained where I was and that's what counts. I had to hide in a hedge near Heathrow to avoid getting drenched, and I thought ah well, rain every day until August 24th. n.b. Obviously the St Swithin's legend has been disproved as rubbish, obviously, because dead Saxon bishops don't affect our weather. But I always enjoy testing a hypothesis with real data I call it a SWITHINOMETER.  15     WET1617181920     21222324252627     28293031123     45678910     11121314151617     18192021222324     n.b. Yes I know technically we don't know the colour of today's final square. But then the weather changed (from low-pressure dominated to generally anticyclonic). Here are the overall results.  July 15thwet daysdry days 2025wet2020 UK weather doesn't do 40 consecutive days of exactly the same thing, and this year we've been way out. back in 2022, so won't trawl over my four decades of personal data again. Here are the best St Swithin's Day predictions since 1980.  July 15thwet daysdry days 1989dry733 1990dry733 The most successful 'wet' prediction was in 1985.  July 15thwet daysdry days 1985wet328 But some predictions have been appallingly incorrect. Here are the worst two.  July 15thwet daysdry days 1995wet634 2016dry337 I should say this is all very dodgy data. If I check the data from my favourite weather station in Hampstead, I get very different results.  July 15thwet daysdry days 2025dry (not wet)7 (not 20)33 (not 20) But I can finish off with one genuinely good conclusion. Did it rain today?yesno 1980-202544%56% But if you've ever thought "it rains quite often during the British summer, doesn't it?" ...the answer is yes it does.

Catch up on what you missed this week.