Hisham Ben Ghalbon a home he had lived in was bombed in the early hours of 11 March 1984 during the regime's wave of terrorist acts in Europe which began the previous day in London with the bombing of a kiosk that sold Libyan opposition magazines. These terrorist acts reached their deadly peak on 17 April 1984 with the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher with bullets fired from a window of the Libyan Embassy in London while she was on duty patrolling a peaceful protest by Libyan dissidents outside the embassy in St. James Square. Their lives returned to normality only after diplomatic
The Man Who Was Thursday than they are now. It was intended to describe the world of wild doubt and despair which the pessimists were generally describing at that date; with just a gleam of hope in some double meaning of the doubt, which even the pessimists felt in some fitful fashion". The costumes the detectives don towards the end of the book represent what was created on their respective day. Sunday, "the sabbath" and "the peace of God," sits upon a throne in front of them. The name of the girl Syme likes, Rosamond, is derived from "Rosa Mundi," meaning "Rose of the World"