just maybe.

What is rather more definite, however, is that a certain Mr. George Rushe is somewhat red-faced at present.

Mr. Rushe, some might already know, is the man behind "As A Matter Of Fact''-- a mini-encyclopaedia of all the vital dates and events in Bermuda's history.

Recently, The Royal Gazette put Mr. Rushe to the test with the time-honoured poser: "Is Bermuda Britain's oldest colony?'' It took a few days of extensive digging, but Mr. Rushe came back.

"Apart from Bermuda, Britain's oldest colony is Montserrat, colonised (according to two reference books) in 1632,'' his letter stated.

After a synopsis of Bermuda's early history -- too involved to go into here -- he stated: "When the Bermuda Company collapsed in 1684 Bermuda reverted to its `landlord'; the Crown.

"It is this 1684 date that many people wrongly regard as the legal birth of Bermuda as a colony of England.

"Bermuda has in practice been a colony of England from 28 July 1609 and legally a colony of England (or Britain) from 23 November 1614.'' Then comes the crunch line.

"I can't blame people for erring: they have probably been reading my `As A Matter Of Fact' which perpetuates the error. I will correct the fact in the next edition of the book.'' For the record, Mr. Rushe concludes Bermuda is DEFINITELY Britain's oldest colony.

* * * Move over Mexico, cool it Costa Rica, and cut the carping Cuba ... you may have won more Pan-Am Games medals in Argentina, but when it comes to the really important things in life you ain't got nothing on Bermuda's lads.

Who says? The girls, of course! To the land which produced Gabriela Sabatini and a million lookalikes, Bermuda's male athletes were certainly top of the podium.

OK, they may have come home empty-handed in the medals' stakes ... but they won many a Buenos Aires beauty's heart.

Belated news of our athletes' winning form comes via Mrs. Anita Lumsdaine, sister-in-law of The Royal Gazette cartoonist Mr. Peter Woolcock.

Mrs. Lumsdaine, who works in Buenos Aires, was positively glued to her TV set throughout the extensive local coverage of the games.

And in a letter to Mr. Woolcock, she gushed over the high ratings earned by the Bermudians.

"Everybody spoke well of them. They did not win anything, but were the most popular group of all, especially with the girls!'' Against the competition of the swarthy Latin Americans, it is quite an accolade.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Lumsdaine fails to specify which group of athletes proved such a hit, or pick out some of the Bermudian winning features.

"I reckon it must have been those Bermuda shorts,'' hazarded Mr. Woolcock.

* * * A Royal Gazette reporter drew a blank this week when she received an invitation from a well-known charity.

When she opened the envelope the piece of paper inside had not one word on it -- no dates, no times, and no name of the function.

Maybe the charity was tired of her not attending its events.