Defying Death Due To Dog's Disposition

It's On The BBC Website -
So it must be true, right?  After all. if those nations are being spoken to, you'd expect Auntie Beeb to tell the truth, wouldn't you?  Herein the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42009932

     It's not clear if the death-defying comes from having a dog, or whether people who are likely to live longer choose dogs.  Either way, your humble scribe is covered.  Art?

     Edna in her position of choice, on the human-shaped cushion, demanding a little more attention that she'd been getting.  Being in pole position makes it rather awkward for typing purposes, but I'm willing to trade that for cheating that chap in the cape with a scythe.
     Oh, and about getting it right - hmmm.  I wonder.  There is another article on the Beeb's website about the battle of Cambrai, which took place about 100 years ago, give or take a day or two.  They have a quote from Winston Churchill, to wit:

"Accusing as I do without exception all the great Allied offensives of 1915, 1916, and 1917 as needless and wrongly conceived operations of infinite cost, I am bound to reply to the question, 'What else could have been done?' And I answer it, pointing to the Battle of Cambrai: 'This could have been done."

     Unfortunately for him, Winnie is talking out of the back of his head.  There were no tanks around in 1915, a mere handful in 1916 and the big push in 1917 had been at Ypres, where the ground was utterly unsuited for tanks.

Another Winnie (yes really)

Bitten By The Coincidence Hydra - Again
Just a couple of days ago I was trying to remember the name of an actor.  "Kevin" was as far as I'd gotten.  And no, I don't know why I was trying to remember his name - don't expect me to know what my mind's dwelling upon!
     "Kevin who I think is married to Phoebe Cates.  He was in "A Fish Called Wanda".  Does song and dance stuff.  Did he do "The Pirates of Penzance"?" and similar musings.
     Then what do I find on The Flop House Facebook page?  None other than what Art is about to post, once he puts down his fork and bowl of coal -

I am beginning to get worried about this sort of thing

     Kevin Kline!  That's the chap.  What are the chances of his name turning up at random on a Facebook page just after I couldn't remember him?  I think we need an expert opinion here.  Excuse me, Mister Expert?

"It's aliens, manipulating your reality, Conrad.  Sorry about that."

     Um.  Well, there it is.

Shakespoke
Another of the benefits of owning a dog is the exercise one gets, whilst also allowing a bit of reflection whilst walking - you know, solving the Middle East's problems, inventing a working fusion reactor, deciding what to have for lunch, those sort of things.
     Also - insulting Shakespeare.  Always a fun topic at The Mansion, and here we have today's attempt at puncturing the prating pomposity.

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more."

Blimey, Bill makes it sound like such a minor chore.

In reality he's asking you to make an all-out attack, 

On fortifications , at that.  You might not come back.

     Now, I know you don't want to bother with all the un-necessary wibble about which play and where - oh - you do want the wibble? <sighs>  Okay, okay.  This is from "Henry V" and concerns the English (and Welsh) laying siege to the French port of Harfleur.  Art?

Breaking news:  Perfidious Albion storms French town!

      Medieval siege warfare was no picnic for either side.  For the defenders, it was a case of trying to stand off the enemy whilst your supplies lasted, risking wholesale butchery if your position got stormed, hoping someone would come to your rescue.  For the attackers, concentrating a large number of men in one place for a considerable period ran the risk of suffering diseases, thanks to little or nor sanitation.  The "breach" that Ol' Hen goes on about is a hole knocked in the harbour defences, which the French would be desperately defending - meaning if you stormed the breach, there was a good chance of getting skewered by a sharp pointy thing.  Saying "dear friends" is rather naughty - it's not like his subjects had a choice here, is it?   "O sorry your kingliness, I've got a terrible ache in all the joints down my left-hand side, I'll just sit this one out."

His Kingliness (and friends) not impressed by your excuse

     Perhaps a dog?