A date can be entered from drop down lists for a day, month and year. Any 'wrong' dates such as 31 Jun 1996 or 29 Feb 1997 are automatically corrected to the earliest true date before it. As soon as a true date is shown, the day of the week is calculated and shown alongside it. All dates between 1 Jan 999/1000 and 31 Dec 2050 are handled. Britain and its colonies, including the US, changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar on the evening of Wednesday 2 Sep 1752. The next day was Thursday 14 Sep 1752 with the loss of 11 days that caused a few riots. The program correctly handles this conversion and always tells you whether a date is in the Julian or Gregorian calendar. All dates between 2 and 14 Sep 1752 default to 2 Sep 1752. Dates in the Julian calendar between 31 Dec and 25 Mar are shown as dual dates. If you enter 1 Jan 1752 it will display as 1 Jan 1751/2, whereas 1 Jan 1753 displays as entered in the Gregorian calendar. When a year is showing a click on the Easter button calculates and displays the date of Easter Sunday for that year. A click on the Census button lets the user select the date of any British census from 1841 to 1991 and display its date. A whole number of years can be subtracted from any census date to help in estimates of the age of people whose age is recorded in census documents or MIs. Today's date is read from the computer's clock and can be entered with a click of the Today button. The Regnal years of English monarchs are often used in legal and civil documents. Any monarch from William I to Elizabeth II can be selected together with a list of their regnal years which is uniquely generated for each monarch. The date shown will be the first day of that Regnal year. The program correctly handles variable Regnal years such as that for King John whose years always began on Ascension day - a variable feast occurring 40 days after Easter. 97 fixed and variable feasts in the Church of England calendar may be entered. The variable feasts include Advent Sunday (linked to St.Andrew's day) and dates before and after Easter in any year. The four quarter days of the English civil calendar can be chosen and displayed. Two dates can be selected in the program which automatically calculates the number of days between them and displays it in either days or years and days. 'Fly by' help messages are shown by passing the mouse over any control, explaining its function. These can be disabled for experienced users. The program is supplied with a manual explaining the detailed function of all menus and controls. |
