Faced with this exceptional leap year, we had to take the necessary steps to live up to this quadrilateral event. No relation, but it's been a long time since I used a geometric term. For this reason, I've decided to bring the newsletter forward and deliver it on Thursday, instead of the traditional Friday. This is a one-off.

It happens every 4 years, and I wanted to keep our promises (did you?). Today is an occasion as rare as seeing a politician tell the whole truth: February 29! That mysterious day that comes around every four years, like the Olympics, but without the medals, and without the overcrowding, and without the golden tickets. First, let me say, if you were born on February 29, hats off to you! You've achieved the feat of technically having four times fewer birthdays than the rest of us. It's like having a loyalty card for life where you only get a reward every four years. But when it comes, it's a party!

Let's talk about the bizarre events that took place on February 29. You know, this day has a kind of magic. It happens so rarely that when it does, you have to expect anything. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American woman to win an Oscar. And that, my friends, was a big step forward, even if it was a day back in the calendar! The awarding of this supporting role was followed by the whole of the United States, right up to the White House, because Eleanor Roosevelt suggested to the production company that her maid be cast in Gone with the Wind. This did not happen. Hattie McDaniel attended the Oscar ceremony far, far away from the stage. There was no question of mixing people up. And after her, it would take another 8810 days for an actor of color to win another statuette. Sidney Poitier did so in 1964. And it won't be on February 29. So no quips here from the Academy.

Otherwise, among other things, there's also the self-proclaimed February 29 town of Anthony, Texas. It's located in El Paso County (sounds very Breaking Bad) and has just under 6,000 souls within its walls. There are certainly a whole host of incredible things that happened on February 29, but I've decided not to mention them in this newsletter, which is due to come to an end. However, I just wanted to mention the seemingly eternal youth of Julia-Louis Dreyfus, who seems to have been born on a February 29, such is the power of time over her physique. Not only has she managed to reinvent herself and landed the right show, "Veep", after Seinfeld (which has won her loads of awards), she also seems to be aging more slowly than I am. It's decided, I'm going to copulate with my partner on May 29 to have a chance that our child will be born on February 29 and age less quickly to go live on Jupiter and populate this still hostile land.

To ward off fate and help poor, ailing Phil, I'm sharing with you the band's last great song. At a time when the famous Phil wasn't yet such an indigestible hit machine: