The Turk by Tom Standage

In the autumn of 1796, Wolfgang von Kempelen was invited by the empress of Austria-Hungary to provide a scientific component to the audience of a magic show performed at her court. Unimpressed by the magician's performance he offered to better it, an action which led to the creation of a machine which stunned and amazed audiences for more than two centuries. The machine, a clockwork chess-playing automaton, became known as 'The Mechanical Turk' and Standage has created the definitive chronicle of its career.

Anyone that has read one of Standage's books before will recognise his trademark style. The account of 'the Turk' is only half the tale, the rest consisting of tangents that encompass some of the most important historical characters in the 211 years since the machine's creation.

Flooded with a humour that never detracts from the affection the author has for his subject, the book has barely a line that doesn't inform or entertain (and usually both). The parallels to contemporary wonder at inexplicable new gadgets are never missed and, as a reader, one is left with the feeling that Arthur C Clarke's famous adage that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" has been thoroughly proved.

On this momentous day...

As every good schoolboy and scholar of history should know, today is a day for events most remarkable, and this year it proves to be no different.

Casting one’s mind back, one may be able to recall this very day in 1888, on which Mr George Eastman (34) unveiled to the public his Kodak Camera. This invention has a proud line of antecedents, tracing a long lineage from the first camera obscura right through to the invention of stabilised film, which in 1826 allowed the first photograph to last for an entire day before the image faded. However, Mr Eastman’s fine invention introduced rolling film and opened up the frivolous joy of photography to the common man.

In 1913, years later but on the same pivotal day, the government of His Majesty’s fine and far reaching empire made a decision whose controversy lasts to this day. In contrast to the 1906- made decision of the Grand Duchy of Finland, the British Government denied the right to vote to all women.

6 years before, this day heralded the devastating feats of a man who saluted the flag of disregard whenever fear was spotted on the port bow. The event was the first annual Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, a daring motorised bicycle race, the gentleman hero was one Charles Collier. Displaying the values which keep the gold standard steady and the Union Jack flying, he braved speeds of over 38 miles per hour to claim first place.

And so to the present day and an announcement which, in keeping with its history, shares equal parts innovation, controversy and excitement, the author is proud to open to the world this all-electric journal of the good-standing gentleman’s and lady’s world. Welcome all.