Dwarfed by the Planets by Vivien Teasdale

Ninety-three years ago, it was announced that a new planet had finally been found. Actually, it had been found some weeks earlier, but the Lowell Observatory kept it quiet. The planet had no name, hiding in the dark as if plotting some subterfuge.

On the fourteenth of March, Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-old from Oxford suggested naming it after the God of the Underworld – Pluto. It was accepted, partly on the grounds that the first two letters were the same as the initials of the Observatory’s founder, Percival Lowell.

In astrology, Pluto rules the subconscious, that which is hidden below, but also suggests renewal and rebirth. On the downside, it signifies an obsessive desire for power and control, as well as general destructiveness. So what happened in the decade after Pluto’s discovery?

It began with Stock market crashes and general economic depression throughout the world. Unemployment in the UK reached two million, around 18% of the population. This was the time that a man called Hitler, who was still angry at the defeat and treatment of Germany, began his rise to power, leading to the Second World War. Scientific advances saw the beginning of the development of the atomic bomb, which would end the war with the horrific bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Also in the east, Mao Zedong began his long journey to power in China.

The grab for power wasn’t all violence. Gandhi’s non-violent protests against British rule in India started with the Salt March on 12 March, protesting against taxes. In this decade, there was the peaceful devolution of government within the British Empire, mainly to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Edward VIII abdicated, giving up his power to the power of love.

Other positives included the rise of Swing and Blues music, with their distinctive beats and rhythms. New characters in magazines and the fast developing film industry included those superheroes who came to fight against evil, Superman and Batman.

Amy Johnson, a Yorkshire lass from Hull, made the first solo flight to Australia.

Then in 2006, Pluto was deemed too small to be a proper planet. It was demoted to being merely a dwarf planet. How did the God of the Underworld react?

Since that date, climate, air quality and the weather seem to have dominated much of the world’s news. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, draughts, floods, hurricanes seem to spring up everywhere, often more powerful, more destructive than has been known for many years. It's as if Pluto were screaming and spluttering, crying in rage at his relegation.

In desperation, nations are setting goals to reduce CO2 emissions, climate change conferences abound, though little agreement or action seems to be forthcoming.

A mild bug that causes the common cold, from which we all suffer, but still go miserably about our business because it is ‘only a cold’, secretly turned itself into a superbug, causing millions of deaths worldwide and introducing new words and concepts such as COVID, HAZMAT suits, washing hand, ‘Before Lockdown’ and ‘After Lockdown’.

I wonder if the powers that be will think twice before they demote any further planets? Mars is the god of war, beware his wrath if he becomes a mere cypher. What if Venus falls from being the planet and goddess of love to just a likeable lass? Or Jupiter finds he can bring the ceasefire but no peace?

Never mind, there were some good things under Pluto’s planetary rule. In 1930, the BBC made the most wonderful announcement: ‘Good evening. Today is Good Friday. There is no news.’

If only history would repeat the good bits, too.