…via our kids. Danny, just home from school, wanted to know how long Byzantium had been around before Constantine I came along and made it the capital in AD 330. I hadn’t a clue, so we looked it up. Answer: 667 BC! The city is almost as old as Rome. I never knew that.

Dimly remembered song from my childhood:

“Take me back to Constantinople.

No, you can’t go back to Constantinople,

’Cause if you’ve a date in Constantinople

She’ll be waiting in Istanbul.”

You used to be able to learn geography from pop songs – imagine!