367.
Late in the evening of 24 April 1974 an amazing thing happened in Lisbon. One of the most popular radio stations played Portugal's Eurovision song contest entry, 'E depois do adeus' (After the Goodbye) as in the areas surrounding the city, sinister figures and vehicles began to move efficiently and speedily into their prearranged positions. The first signal had been given. Now there could be no turning back. Lisbon slept on and the authorities remained blissfully unaware of the momentous events that had been planned to the last detail and which were about to be executed. Just after midnight on the morning of 25 April, the radio announcer said these words: 'Grândola, vila morena. Terra da fraternidade. O povo é quem mais ordena. Dentro de ti, ó cidade'. The announcer's voice faded into the sound of boots marching over gravel, as the sound of Zê Afonso's banned protest song, Grândola, Vila Morena (Grândola, Dusty Town), signalled the beginning of the end for the 48 year-old authoritarian dictatorship that had involved the country in futile and costly attempts to hold on to it's African colonies. By the time the authorities realised what was happening, the noose had already tightened around their necks. The armed forces - the very institutions that had installed the dictatorship in 1926 - had, almost to a man, risen against their masters, and now they had occupied all of the strategic positions in the city. Only a few policemen and secret agents stood between the hated dictatorship and the armed forces that were being hailed as liberators across the length and breadth of the capital. The dictator fled to the police barracks in the centre of Lisbon, and was very quickly surrounded and beseiged by army units that were being cheered on by the watching Lisbon crowds. The regime surrendered. The coup was over. The Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos) had just begun.

Funnily enough, this time last year I remembered the Carnation Revolution too!