A curious mixture of emotions underlies the season of New Year. Beneath all the hilarious parties and the more or less obligatory jollifications runs a sombre and more reflective current: the last turning-over of the old year’s calendar stirs memories, nostalgia, regrets for unkept resolutions, unconfident construction of new good intentions, and a general re-measuring of the recent past. Whether we sing it aloud or not, “auld lang syne” is abroad, and with it comes an appetite for noting anniversaries. Perhaps not all readers of the Quadrant currently in their hands—Number 463 in its illustrious line—will know that it hits…