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From: acm@Sun.COM (Andrew MacRae)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Leap year function
Message-ID: <4331@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM>
Date: 10 Jun 91 19:13:43 GMT
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In article <baillie.676098437@mullauna>, baillie@mullauna.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Stephen Baillie) writes:
> The year was out of sync with the sun by 11 days, so at the same time as
> introducing leap years they cut a few days to make things line up again.
> Caused quite a stir among the superstitious peasants who thought they
> were losing a few days out of their lives!

As the one who first mentioned the dropping of 11 days from the calendar, I
should also mention that (as several people have emailed me to say) the
year that England and its colonies dropped 11 days from September was 1752,
not 1722 as I had misremembered.

It caused more that just a stir among superstitious peasants.  It seems that
landlords felt justified in collecting a full month's rent while employers felt
just as justified in not paying for those 11 days!  There were several days
of rioting with people in the street shouting 'Give us back our days!'.

It all goes to show just how fluid our calendars are.  England dropped
those 11 days in 1752.  Other countries dropped them at other times.  Those of
you out there trying to create the 'perfect' formula for calculating leap year
should remember to take into account what country the calculation is for.

						Andrew MacRae