11-year-old "could read" shock

It turns out that the planet Pluto was named by an 11-year-old girl, who used her already solid grounding in Greek and Roman mythology to suggest the Roman God of the Underworld. Of course, this was in 1930, when children were schooled in the classics, rather than media studies and benefits fraud. What would the 11-year-olds of today name a new planet, I wonder? Planet Hollywood? Mike Hunt? Paris? (For Hilton, not France, natch). Fortunately none of them can write, and Lowell Observatory doesn't go in for texting.

Disney then named their new dog after the planet, and in typical American fashion claimed five minutes later that the planet was named after their dog. Right. And you liberated Burma and broke the Enigma code too, you colossal cockbiters.


Venetia Burney in 1930 yesterday. Not pregnant, no ASBOs. A young life tragically wasted...