TORONTO

Do you remember this little ditty?

“The 24th of May, the Queen’s birthday. If we don’t get a holiday, we’ll all run away”?

Well, if you do you are at least 60-something and that’s because the celebration of a public holiday on May 24 ended in 1952. It had been a tradition since 1901 when on May 9 of that year (just weeks after Queen Victoria passed away) the third and final reading of the Victoria Day Act was passed in Ottawa.

For the next 52 years May 24th was observed as a public holiday. Then on April 25, 1953 the Government of Canada announced that henceforth both Victoria Day and the birthday “of her Gracious Majesty the Queen Elizabeth the Second” would be celebrated on the first Monday preceding the 25th day of May.

Interestingly in both 1953 and in this year that date is Monday, May 18.

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For those readers who fondly remember the many massed band tattoos that were a prominent feature of the annual CNE in days gone by you might wish to take in the 24th annual Canadian International Military Tattoo. The entertaining event will take place on May 30 (evening) and May 31 (afternoon) at the FirstOntario Centre (formerly Copps Coliseum) in downtown Hamilton. Visit canadianmilitarytattoo.ca for all details.