What it definitely did was, together with the other initiatives the President took in conjunction with Congress, is prevented us from falling into a Great Depression and began the slow but steady road to recovery, which has led to more than 2 million private sector jobs created in the last 18 months and economic growth rather than economic contraction.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

To close this gap, representatives from nine Federal agencies came together on January 18th, in conjunction with an array of White House-sponsored Inauguration events, to host an interagency Open House on STEM and Mentoring.

WHITEHOUSE: Celebrating Mentoring Month with Science and Engineering

Such symposia are held semi-annually in conjunction with the IATT meeting, where UN agencies and international NGOs come together to harmonize and improve the education sector response to HIV and AIDS around the world.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Hughes's best explanation for this series of events is something known as a triple conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn - with the two planets coming close together in the sky three times over a short period.

BBC: Star of Bethlehem: The astronomical explanations

But in a strange conjunction of events, it may have been this same black dog - together with the intervention of a loyal friend during a few fateful days in early May 1940 - that enabled Churchill to achieve the position from which he could alter the course of history.

BBC: A Point of View: Churchill, chance and the 'black dog'