30th June: Sudan Revolution Day

It's Revolution Day in Sudan, so today, ten things you didn't know about Sudan.

1. With an area of 1,886,068 km2 (728,215 sq mi) Sudan is the third largest country in Africa and the 16th largest in the world. It is a quarter of the size of the USA. Until 2011, it was the largest country in Africa, before South Sudan separated into an independent country, following an independence referendum.
2. The name Sudan means "Land of the Blacks", while the name Kartoum, the capital city, means Elephant trunk in Arabic because it stands on a large bend in the Nile River.
3. The Blue and White Nile rivers meet in Khartoum to form the River Nile, which divides the country into eastern and western halves.
4. There are more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt. Sudan was once part of the Egyptian empire and has over 230 pyramids while Egypt has about 100.
5. Sudan is nicknamed the Arab world food basket as it accounts for 45% of arable land in the Arab world. It also has rich mineral resources including asbestos, chromite, cobalt, Copper, Gold, granite, gypsum, Iron, kaolin, Lead, manganese, mica, natural gas, nickel, petroleum, Silver, Tin, Uranium and Zinc.
6. In Sudan there is a tradition called "ghost marriage". If a man dies without an heir, his brother marries his widow and any children they have are deemed to be the children of the dead brother. Another marriage tradition is for a bride not to wash for 40 days before her wedding. Instead, she sits in a smoke bath of burning perfumed acacia wood twice a day and her body is covered in aromatic oils. Her body is covered in a thick layer of oil and soot which is peeled off on the final day to reveal beautiful, glowing skin underneath.
7. Sudan was the first Muslim and Arab country to appoint a female as a judge, in the 1960s. Sudan also had the first female parliamentarian in Africa and the Middle East in 1965 and the first female Minister of Health in 1974.
8. About 400 BC, the ox-driven water wheel was introduced to Sudan, and still plays a vital role in the country’s economy today.
9. Deriba Caldera (3,042 m or 9,980 ft), is the highest point in Sudan. It consists of an outer crater between 5 km and 8 km in diameter and an inner crater filled by a crater lake.
10. The Khartoum League is considered to be the oldest Football league in Africa.

June 29th: Feast Day of St Paul

Today is the feast day of St Paul, missionary and writer. 

1. The story goes that Saint Paul was originally known as Saul of Tarsus and that he changed his name to Paul on his conversion. That may not have been the case. His family were Jewish, but also Roman citizens so it would not have been unusual for him to have both a Hebrew name (Saul) and a Latin one (Paul) all along. The author of Acts hints at this with "Saul, who also is called Paul." As a missionary to the Romans, he would have used his Latin name to put them at ease.
2. Saint Paul is patron of missions, theologians and Gentile Christians.
3. Approximately half of the New Testament book of Acts deals with Paul's life and works.
4. Fourteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul.
5. Seven of these are disputed, however, including the first letter to Timothy which forbids women from teaching men or holding any office in the church. His authentic books acknowledge and praise women who worked alongside him as missionaries, like Phoebe and Junia. So Paul may not have been the misogynist many have taken him to be.
6. The Bible doesn't say much about Paul's early life. We know he was sent to school in Jerusalem, to the Hillel school which was noted for giving its students a balanced education in classical literature, philosophy, and ethics.
7. We also know he was a tent maker by trade, which was how he connected with Priscilla and Aquila, fellow tentmakers who later became fellow missionaries.
8. The Bible doesn't tell us what Saint Paul looked like, but there are several descriptions of him in apocryphal texts. These suggest that he was short in stature, bald (but the little hair he had was red), had a hooked nose, Eyebrows that met in the middle and a ruddy complexion. He may have had a deformity or disability of some kind, because he says in his own writings that he was "abnormally born" and tormented by the effects of that.
9. The Bible does not say when or how Paul died, but again, apocryphal texts have more to say on the matter. According to the Acts of Paul, Nero condemned Paul to death by decapitation. After he was beheaded, his severed head allegedly rebounded three times, and a source of Water sprang up in each spot where it touched the ground, which is how the place earned the name "San Paolo alle Tre Fontane" ("St Paul at the Three Fountains").
10. According to legend, Paul's body was buried outside the walls of Rome, at the second mile on the Via Ostiensis, on the estate owned by a Christian woman named Lucina. In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine built a church there, which was extended several times by subsequent emperors. The present-day Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls was built there in 1800.

June 28: Henry VIII

This date in 1491 saw the birth of King Henry VIII of England. Here are ten fascinating facts about him.

1. Henry was the second son of Henry VII and so it wasn't expected he would ever be king at all. His older brother Arthur was all set to inherit the throne, but died at the age of 15. Henry also had two sisters - Margaret, who married King James IV of Scotland, and Mary, who married Louis XII of France.
2. Henry became King of England on 21st April 1509 at the age of 17. His coronation was on 24th June 1509. His reputation for having people beheaded began just two days later, when he arrested his father's two most unpopular ministers, Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley. They were charged with high treason and were executed in 1510.
3. He was extremely paranoid about catching diseases, in particular the plague and sweating sickness, which is understandable given the latter is what his brother died from. He left London for nearly a year to avoid an epidemic of sweating sickness and refused to see any ambassadors, or even his mistress of the time, Anne Boleyn, when she went down with it. There are limits to precautions, however - he kept on all the servants.
4. Henry VIII was six feet two inches tall, and despite the image we have of him as obese and unhealthy, for much of his life he was fit and athletic. Armour made for him in 1512 showed his waist measurement then as 32 inches. He was a hunter and a sportsman who much preferred to be outdoors engaged in sporting activities than ruling the country.
5. A jousting accident in 1536 put an end to Henry's sporting days. After that, he started piling on the pounds. By the time he died, it is thought he weighed about 28 stones (392 pounds or 178 kilograms) and had a 54 inch waist. Perhaps he became obese simply because he couldn't exercise so much, but there are other theories. One is that his accident damaged his Brain as well as his leg, and caused an endocrine disorder that made him fat, or that he was diabetic. As Henry grew fatter, so did his courtiers - they added padding to their clothes to imitate and flatter him.
6. Not only was Henry a sportsman, but he was well accomplished intellectually, too. He read and wrote English, French and Latin, and had a well stocked library and is known to have made notes in his books. He even wrote a book. It was called Defence of the Seven Sacraments (Assertio septem sacramentorum), was 30,000 words long and was published in 1521, in response to Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, which challenged papal authority. A surprising choice of subject, perhaps, for a man who would later famously break with Rome in order to marry his mistress and break up all those monasteries. He was the first English king to write and publish a book — the Pope named him “Defender of the Faith” as a thank you. Henry kept the title even after his break with the Catholic church.
7. He was musical, too. He could sight read Music and play the lute, organ, and virginals. He composed and wrote music, though not, as is commonly believed, Greensleeves. He wrote a piece called Pastimes with Good Company.
8. Henry had four children which survived infancy. Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, and a son by one of his early mistresses, Elizabeth Blount, who was named Henry Fitzroy. The name Fitzroy means son of the king, and, in the absence of another male heir before Henry came along, a process was started to legitimize Fitzroy. However, Fitzroy died without an heir and his father outlived him. Henry's wives were known to have had strings of miscarriages and stillbirths, which suggests the problem lay with Henry rather than with them. There is a theory that Henry had a rare Blood group positive for the Kell antigen. If the king impregnated a woman, and the baby inherited Kell-positive status, the mother would build up Kell antibodies. Though the first pregnancy would likely not be affected, future Kell-positive fetuses would be attacked by those antibodies.
9. Henry VIII is the only English monarch to have ruled any part of Belgium. He captured the town of Tournai in 1513 which at the time was part of France. He returned it to France in 1518. He is also the monarch responsible for unifying England and Wales.
10. He died on 28 January 1547 at the age of 55 (a grand old age given the life expectancy of the time) on what would have been his father's 90th birthday. Henry's last words were "Monks! Monks! Monks!"

27th June: Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman, political activist and anarchist was born on this date in 1869. Some quotes from her, which I will just leave here:

1. If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.
2. Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.
3. The motto should not be: Forgive one another; rather understand one another.
4. The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.
5. When we can't dream any longer we die.
6. If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.
7. Crime is naught but misdirected energy.
8. The most violent element in society is ignorance.
9. People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.
10. Politicians promise you heaven before elections and give you hell after.

June 26th: Somalia

Today is Independence of British Somaliland day - a public holiday in Somalia. So here are ten thing you might not know about Somalia.

1. The capital and largest city is Mogadishu, known locally as ‘Xamar’.
2. Somalia is thought by many to be the location of the ancient Land of Punt, known as a trading partner of ancient Egypt. It was known for producing and exporting Gold, aromatic resins, blackwood, ebony, ivory, and wild animals.
3. Today the economy is largely based on livestock, foreign money transfers and telecommunications. Somalia produces 90% of the world's myrrh and frankincense.
4. It's thought to be the first country to domesticate Camels. 25% of the world's camel population lives here, and there are 46 different words for camel in the Somali language.
5. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland: 3,025 kilometres (1,880 mi).
6. Somalia's highest peak, Shimbiris, is about 2,416 metres (7,927 ft) high.
7. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. There are no public places of worship for the 0.2% of the population who follow other faiths. It's thought Islam was introduced into Somalia well before the faith even took root in its place of origin, due to a group of persecuted Muslims who sought refuge there.
8. The Flag was designed by Mohammed Awale Liban. It consists of a five-pointed white Star of Unity on a light blue background. The blue was chosen to recognise the role of the United Nations in the country's transition to independence, and denotes the sky as well as the Indian Ocean.
9. There were no cash machines in Somalia until 2014.
10. Poetry is an important part of the country's culture. Poems are written for important occasions like weddings and births, and also the opening of new businesses. Opening ceremonies for businesses often include the presentation of a poem especially written to mark the start of the company.

June 25th: Slovenia Independence Day

Slovenia celebrates its independence day today, so here are ten things you may not know about Slovenia:

1. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana which means "loved one". It is the wettest capital city in Europe.
2. The symbol of the city is the Ljubljana Dragon, which was said to have been slayed by Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts).
3. Its highest peak is Triglav (2,864 m or 9,396 ft) the highest peak of the Julian Alps. This mountain is featured in the country's coat of arms. Near the top is the Aljaž Tower, made from iron and zinc and coated in steel. It was built by Anton Belec and four workers in 1895 - it took them five hours.
4. The tallest industrial chimney in Europe is located in Slovenia. It is the thermoelectric power plant’s chimney in Trbovlje, 362m high.
5. Slovenia's total surface area is only around 20,000 square kilometres, 10,000 of which is forest.
6. A further 216 square kilometres of Slovenia is covered in vineyards (one per 70 people), including the hills around Slovenia's second-largest town, Maribor. Here is where you'll find the world's oldest vine. It's 400 years old and still produces grapes from which Wine is made.
7. The population of Slovenia is about 2 million people - and about 400 brown bears.
8. There is a church on Bled island where, if a couple marry, the groom is supposed to carry the bride up the 99 steps to ensure a happy marriage. The first married couple to reach the summit of Everest were from Slovenia - but we don't know if they married at this church!
9. The famous Lipizzaner Horses originate from Lipica in Slovenia.
10. It borders 4 countries: Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia, and has a coastline which is just 46.6 kilometres (24 miles) long.

June 24th: The O2

The O2 in London opened on this date in 2007. Here are ten things you didn't know about the O2, formerly the Millennium Dome.

1. The O2 was originally built as the Millennium Dome, to house an exhibition to celebrate the the turn of the third millennium. The Millennium Experience was open to the public for the whole of the year 2000.
2. It was designed by the architect Richard Rogers.
3. Time is a theme in the construction - not only did it mark a new millennium but it is located near to the Prime Meridian in Greenwich. It has twelve 100m high yellow support towers, one for each month of the year, or each hour on a clock face. It is 365m (one metre for each day in a standard year) in diameter, and is 52m high in the middle – one metre for each week in a year.
4. The canopy is made of one million square feet of PTFE-coated glass fibre fabric. It was constructed separately from the rest of the structure and when finished, put in place by cranes. It is the largest fabric structure in the world.
5. There is a time capsule buried in the foundations. The capsule was buried by Katy Hill and Richard Bacon, then presenters of the BBC children's programme Blue Peter. The capsule is due to be opened in 2050.
6. It opened to the public as the O2 on 24 June 2007, with a concert by Bon Jovi.
7. The Dome was featured in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. Bond rolls down the roof of the Dome.
8. People over 10 years old and weighing less than 20 stone can walk across the roof of the dome on a special walkway. There is a platform in the centre with 360 degree views of London.
9. It’s as tall as the famous London landmark, Nelson's column, and could accommodate the Eiffel Tower lying on its side, or the Statue of Liberty, or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
10. It would take 3.8 billion pints of Beer to fill The O2.

23rd June: The European Union

Today is the EU Referendum, where Britain decides whether to remain in the European Union or leave. This post isn't about whether we should stay or go but is ten facts about the EU generally - but who knows, I might help a last minute waverer make up their mind!

1. There are 28 member states, between them accounting for over 7% of the world's population.
2. The six founding states were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The most recent country to join was Croatia in July 2013. Albania, Iceland, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey are all on the road to membership. Iceland suspended negotiations in 2013. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have applied to be considered.
3. To become a member, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993 meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen. These require a stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law.
4. The EU has 24 official languages. European parliament debates are translated into all of them. There are also six semi-official languages, which people can use in correspondence and major treaties are translated into. These are Catalan, Galician, Basque, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. The most widely spoken mother tongue in the EU is German. 16% of the population are native German speakers. When languages other than the mother tongue are included, the most widely spoken language is English.
5. There are 751 members of the European Parliament Germany, as the most populous country has the most representatives - 99.
6. No member state has ever left the EU (so far) although Greenland (an autonomous province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985. (Although at the time of this update, the UK had proved that power-hungry politicians, greedy capitalists, racist thugs and arrogant, ignorant people who seem incapable of using apostrophes and capital letters, and believe any crap they see painted on the side of a bus, slightly outnumber the intelligent and sensible people, that its election system is so rubbish that someone who only gets 46% of the vote can still win and force through any policy they want, no questions asked.)
7. The flag is a circle of 12 golden stars on a blue background. The blue represents the West, while the number and position of the stars represent completeness and unity, respectively. The flag was originally designed in 1955 for the Council of Europe.
8. Other symbols are a motto - "United in Diversity", an official anthem - an instrumental version of the prelude to the Ode to Joy, the 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's ninth symphony; Europa, a figure from Greek mythology after whom the continent was named, and who was raped by Zeus in the form of a white bull (make of that what you will). Europa appears on the 2013 series of Euro banknotes. The bull is depicted on all residence permit cards. Charles the Great, also known as Charlemange, nicknamed "Father of Europe"is also used a symbol and one of the central EU buildings in Brussels is named for him.
9. The EU won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.
10. When the Euro currency was introduced in 2002, the initial letters of the countries adopting it spelt out ‘baffling pigs’. Five more countries have now joined, so now it spells out ‘begs piffling scams’.

**************

Sick of the referendum? Why not get into a jolly good book until it's all over? Like my new novel, for example:

New! 

Running in the Family

An alien craft approaches Earth. The alien on board is a fugitive, fleeing from an arranged marriage to freedom on our world. She befriends James, a genetics student, and shares her knowledge about the future of the human race with him. 

A science experiment gone wrong gifts James with superhuman abilities; but they come at a price, leading him to mentor others like himself. He founds a group of amateur heroes called the Freedom League.

The Freedom League suffers a string of losses and tragedies; it seems doomed to failure; but one of its members, Peter Mayfield, has vowed to form a group of his own. He is determined to keep his vow, despite having lost Rosemary, the one person he wanted by his side to help him.

Lizzie Hopkins is a talented young athlete and dancer. Peter sees her in action and guesses her exceptional abilities are far more than they seem. He offers to train and mentor Lizzie - but her mother is violently opposed to his suggestion.

As soon as she is old enough, Lizzie takes matters into her own hands; she seeks out Peter and his group for herself. She soon makes a discovery which shakes her world at its very foundations. Her search for the truth will resolve many unanswered questions, but it will also stir up old heartbreaks dating back to the Freedom League's early days.

Available from:

Createspace;   Amazon Paperback;   Amazon Kindle

22nd June: The V and A

The V & A Museum in London opened on this date in 1857.

1. The V&A covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) and has and 145 galleries. The galleries cover a distance of seven miles. The permanent collection consists of over 4.5 million objects. Some of the things you can see on a visit include: the first commercially produced Christmas card; Charles Dickens' pen case and manuscript for Oliver Twist; the earliest photograph of London, a view down Whitehall from Trafalgar Square (before Nelson's column was built), a daguerreotype taken by a M. de St Croix in 1839; and a writing desk which belonged to King Henry VIII.
2. It grew out of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Henry Cole, the museum's first director, was involved in planning that. The museum was initially called the Museum of Manufactures and first opened in 1852 at Marlborough House, but was transferred to Somerset House a few months later. At this stage the collections covered both applied art and science. The collection moved to the current site in 1857 and was opened by Queen Victoria. At this time it was called South Kensington Museum. It wasn't called the Victoria and Albert Museum until 1899. The new name was announced when Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the Aston Webb building (Queen Victoria's last public appearance, incidentally). She really wanted to call it simply the 'Albert Museum'. In the 1980s, Sir Roy Strong renamed the museum "The Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Museum of Art and Design".
3. Accessibility has always been important to the V & A. It was the first museum to use gas lighting, making it possible to open it in the evenings, so that working class people could visit. Henry Cole said the lighting was introduced "to ascertain practically what hours are most convenient to the working classes" and that he hoped 'the evening opening of public museums may furnish a powerful antidote to the Gin palace'. In 1862, the first popular exhibition was held, with the catchy title of 'Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Medieval, Renaissance and More Recent Periods'. To make sure people outside London could see parts of the collection, there was a specially constructed railway truck so that exhibitions could travel around the country. More recently, in 1973, the focus was on attracting young people and it became the first museum to host a rock concert, by British progressive folk-rock band Gryphon, incorporating a lecture on how mediaeval music influenced the Music of today.
4. It was the first museum in the world to have a restaurant for visitors. It had a range of menus: first and second class, plus a third class service for 'mechanics and all workmen employed at the Museum Buildings and even for the humble working class visitors'.
5. The inscription over the main entrance reads 'The excellence of every art must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose', a quotation from the artist Sir Joshua Reynolds. Some of the mosaic floors in the Museum were made by female prisoners in Woking Prison. Museum staff gave the mosaic a Latin nickname, 'opus criminale'.
6. Queen Victoria was said to be shocked by the nudity of a full-size plaster-cast of Michaelangelo's 'David'; so a fig leaf was specially made to cover David's "crown jewels". It would be hung on the figure by a pair of hooks when dignitaries visited.
7. The central garden was redesigned by Kim Wilkie and is called the John Madejski Garden. It has an elliptical water feature lined in stone with steps around the edge which can be drained for receptions or exhibitions. There are also two Dogs buried in the garden - Sir Henry Cole's dog Jim, and another 'faithful dog' Tycho - and there are memorial plaques to them.
8. During World War II, as much of the collection as possible was sent to either a quarry in Wiltshire, to Montacute House in Somerset, or to a tunnel near Aldwych tube station for safe keeping. Anything too big to be moved was sand-bagged and bricked in. The worst loss was the Victorian stained glass on the Ceramics Staircase, which was blown in during an air raid. There are pock marks still visible on the façade of the museum caused by fragments from WWII bombs.
9. In the 1950s a member of staff stole several hundred objects, including a number of swords which he smuggled out of the Museum down his trouser legs.
10. The museum's basement is said to be haunted by a warder named Clinch, who is said to have committed suicide down there. The room in which he took his life is known as 'Clinch's Hole'.

21st June: Greenland

Today is a national holiday in Greenland, so here are some things you may not know about the place:

1. Greenland is politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark) although geographically speaking, it's part of North America. In fact, in 1946, America offered Denmark $100,000,000 for Greenland, but Denmark wouldn't sell it. In 1979, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland. In a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC (later The EU).
2. It's the world's largest island (Australia is three times bigger but is classed as a continent) and its population is about 56,000. That's less people than there are living in Taunton in Somerset. Hence, Greenland is the most sparsely populated country in the world. It is the largest dependent territory by area in the world. It also has the world's largest national park - Northeast Greenland National Park. The Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the biggest glacier outside of Antarctica.
3. Greenland isn't very Green. It's mostly white as over three-quarters of it is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside of Antarctica. The towns are all situated around the edges, which aren't covered by the ice sheet, but they are often covered in Snow as July is the only month when Greenland's temperature reaches above freezing.
4. Greenland is divided into four territories known as "municipalities": Sermersooq ("Much Ice") around the capital Nuuk; Kujalleq ("South") around Cape Farewell; Qeqqata ("Centre") north of the capital along the Davis Strait; and Qaasuitsup ("Darkness") in the northwest.
5. The capital and largest city is Nuuk, which is the northernmost capital city in the world, a few kilometres further north than the Icelandic capital Reykjavík. Nuuk is the Kalaallisut word for "cape".
6. Kalaallisut, or Greenlandic, is the official language, from which come the words Kayak, anorak and igloo. Danish and English are also widely spoken.
7. Greenland is of great interest to scientists because of the ice sheet, which they reckon is between 400,000 and 800,000 years old. Ice cores, long tubes of ice drilled from way below the surface have provided evidence that climate change isn't new, and Greenland had experienced several shifts in temperature so maybe once it was actually green. There is also a disputed theory that Greenland is actually three islands, separated by narrow straits.
8. Greenland doesn't have a road or rail system. If the people want to visit another town, they need to go by plane, boat or dogsled.
9. The highest point on Greenland is Gunnbjørn Fjeld at 3,700 m (12,139 ft) The majority of Greenland is less than 1,500 m (4,921 ft) in elevation. The centre of the country has been depressed by the weight of the ice sheet to form a basin lying more than 300 m (984 ft) below sea level.
10. The sun does not set from May 25th to July 25th. June 21, the longest day of the year, is a national holiday.

20th June: The Night of the Crab

Tonight is known as the night of the crab, because at some point during the night, the sun will enter the zodiac sign of Cancer, the crab. A good time to tell you 10 things you didn't know about crabs.

1. Crabs belong to the Brachyura, which contains 6,793 species in 93 families. Hermit crabs and horseshoe crabs are not true crabs. Neither are pubic lice.
2. Crabs have four pairs of legs to walk with and a pair of pincers. They do walk sideways - it's the most efficient way for them, especially if they're in a hurry, although they can walk forwards and backwards too, and some species have legs which are adapted to allow them to swim, rather than walk along the ocean floor.
3. The pincers have a number of uses - crushing things, picking up food, and communication. Male crabs living on land may wave their claws to attract females.
4. A crab's eyes are on eyestalks which can move in different directions so the crab can see all around. They can see colours and have better eyesight than humans.
5. A group of crabs is called a cast.
6. The smallest type of crab in the world is the pea crab, which is about the size of a Pea. The largest is the Japanese spider crab, which can have a leg span of up to 4 metres (13 ft), the largest leg span of any arthropod. The most colourful is the Sally Lightfoot or red rock crab which is red, Orange, Yellow, and white.
7. Crabs are often aggressive, fighting over mates and holes to hide in - but they can also be co-operative and work together to provide food and protection for their family, and during mating season to find a comfortable spot for the female to release her eggs.
8. Crabs make up 20% of all marine crustaceans caught, farmed, and consumed by humans. Crab meat is high in vitamin B12. Just 2–3 ounces of crab meat will supply an adult with the daily B12 requirement.
9. Most crabs moult six or seven times during their first year of life, and then they moult just once or twice a year.
10. In Greek mythology, Karkinos was a crab that came to the aid of the Lernaean Hydra as it battled Heracles. Heracles kicked the crab with such force that it was propelled into the sky, creating the constellation of cancer.   

19th June: Day of All Heras

Day of all Heras celebrates all the aspects of the Greek goddess Hera. Here are 10 facts about her:

1. Hera is the Greek goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno.
2. Hera's parents are Rhea and Cronus. She has five siblings, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, and Zeus, who is also her husband. Her children are Ares (the god of war), Enyo, Hebe (the goddess of youth), Eileithyia (goddess of childbirth), Hephaestus, and Eris (the goddess of discord).
3. According to myth, Hebe wasn't Zeus's daughter - Hera had her after being impregnated by a Lettuce.
4. Despite being the goddess of women, the myths about Hera do not show her displaying much in the way of sisterhood. She is usually seen plotting revenge against Zeus's mistresses and their children, or women voted more beautiful than herself. For example, she dogged Heracles, her step-son, for most of his life, beginning with trying to stop him being born by tying his mother's legs in knots, and sending Snakes to kill him as a baby. A servant who lied to Hera about the birth of Heracles was turned into a weasel.
5. In another story, Gerana, queen of the Pygmies boasted she was more beautiful than Hera. The goddess turned her into a crane and proclaimed that her bird descendants should wage eternal war on the Pygmy folk.
6. It was partly Hera's vengeful and jealous nature which started the Trojan War. Hera's daughter Eris lived up to her name as goddess of discord by stirring things up when she wasn't invited to a wedding. She turned up anyway with a golden apple, inscribed with "for the fairest goddess". Hera, Aphrodite and Athena all thought they were the most beautiful. Zeus (quite wisely) refused to judge which of them was the fairest and got Paris to do it instead. He couldn't (or wouldn't) choose either, so they bribed him. Hera offered Paris control over all Asia and Europe, Athena offered wisdom, fame, and glory in battle, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful mortal woman in the world as a wife. The trophy wife was the most desirable thing to Paris, so Aphrodite won. The slight complication was that the woman in question, Helen, was already married. He kidnapped her, which started the war.
7. She also got mighty annoyed with a priest of Zeus, called Tiresias. Tiresias became a woman for some years as a result of hitting two mating snakes with a stick. During his time as a woman, he was a priestess of Hera, married and had children, before finding two more mating snakes, hitting them with a stick and turning back into a man. Therefore,Tiresias was deemed best placed to settle the question of whether sex was more pleasurable for men or for women. Zeus claimed it was women; Hera claimed it was men. When Tiresias sided with Zeus, Hera struck him blind.
8. Hera is said to have renewed her virginity every year at the spring of Kanathos.
9. Animals sacred to Hera are Cows, Lions, Cuckoos, panthers, and peacocks (which pull her chariot). As a goddess associated with cattle, she resembles the Egyptian goddess Hathor. Other symbols of Hera are Pomegranates, peacock feathers, a diadem, lilies, lotuses, a sceptre and a throne.
10. Hera appears in the Wonder Woman comic book, sometimes as a patroness of the heroine, sometimes as her enemy.

18th June: Triton

This date in 1799 saw the birth of William Lassell, the astronomer who discovered Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself. Here are ten things you might not know about his discovery.

1. Triton is named after the Greek sea god Triton, son of Poseidon (the Greek god comparable to the Roman Neptune). Lassell didn't name it - the name was proposed by Camille Flammarion in his 1880 book Astronomie Populaire. Lassell did, however, name Hyperion, the eighth moon of Saturn when he discovered that.
2. The first attempt to measure the diameter of Triton was made by Gerard Kuiper in 1954. Its diameter is 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi). It is therefore the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System and the sixteenth-largest object in the Solar System, larger than the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris.
3. Triton is the only large moon in the solar system to have a retrograde orbit, that is, in the opposite direction to its planet's rotation.
4. Because of this, and the fact it is similar in composition to Pluto, scientists believe Neptune captured it from the Kuiper belt.
5. Knowledge of the surface of Triton was acquired from a distance of 40,000 km by the Voyager 2 spacecraft during a single encounter in 1989, when 40% of Triton's surface was observed.
6. The surface (as much as we've seen, possibly all of it) is covered in a thin sheet of nitrogen ice. It has an icy mantle and a core of rock and metal, which makes up two-thirds of its total mass.
7. Its atmosphere is nitrogen, thought to come from geysers on the surface that erupt nitrogen gas. A geyser eruption on Triton can last up to a year.
8. Triton keeps one face oriented toward the planet at all times, like our own Moon, although Triton's polar regions take turns facing the Sun, resulting in seasonal changes.
9. It has a unique type of terrain not found anywhere else - fissures and depressions known as "cantaloupe terrain" because it looks like the skin of a cantaloupe melon.
10. Several further explorations to the Neptune system have been proposed by NASA, with Triton as a prime target, possibly with a probe landing there - but so far priority has been given to the Jupiter and Saturn systems.

17th June: Igor Stravinsky

Today was the birthday of Igor Stravinsky, the Russian composer whose works include The Rite of Spring, L'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird), Petrushka and The Fairy's Kiss. He was born in 1882.

1. His family was actually Polish by origin. The name "Stravinsky" originated from "Strava", a small river in eastern Poland, tributary to the Vistula. His family was originally called Soulima-Stravinsky, and they were landowners in eastern Poland.
2. His parents expected him to study law, not Music. He went to the University of Saint Petersburg in 1901 to study law but went to less than fifty lectures in four years. He didn't get to take his final exams because the university was closed for a while after Bloody Sunday. He apparently took this as a sign and concentrated on studying music after that.
3. His first opera was The Nightingale (usually known by its French title Le Rossignol).
4. Stravinsky married his first cousin, Yekaterina Gavrilovna Nosenko ("Katya"), even though marrying first cousins was frowned upon by the church. They'd been married fifteen years when Stravinsky met Vera de Bosset in Paris and started an affair with her. He moved his wife and family to Anglet, near Biarritz and for eighteen years carried on the affair whenever he was in Paris or on tour. When Katya died of TB he married Vera.
5. Rumour has it Vera wasn't his only affair. He allegedly had an affair with Coco Chanel as well. He and his family stayed in her mansion while looking for a home in Paris.
6. Stravinsky was fond of literature, and after he moved to America befriended several writers including W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, Dylan Thomas and Aldous Huxley.
7. He got in trouble with the US police for his arrangement of their National Anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. He was warned that the authorities could impose a $100 fine upon any "rearrangement of the national anthem in whole or in part". In fact, the police on this occasion were wrong - the law he'd allegedly broken merely forbade using the national anthem "as dance music, as an exit march, or as a part of a medley of any kind - but the gossip mill blew the incident up into a story in which Stravinsky was arrested, held in custody for several nights, and photographed for police records.
8. He became a naturalised United States citizen in 1945.
9. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1987 he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1982 the United States Postal Service included him on their Great Americans series of Postage stamps.
10. For much of his life he was a religious man and once said, "Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church's greatest ornament".

June 16: Thyme

Every day in the French Revolutionary Calendar was dedicated to a plant, a tool, or a substance. June 16 is dedicated to Thyme.

1. There are more than 100 varieties of thyme. The most common is Thymus vulgaris.
2. Thyme is related to Mint and oregano.
3. Thyme plants are hardy and can survive frosts and mountain climates. Along the Italian Riviera, it is found from sea level up to 800m.
4. The Ancient Egyptians used it as part of the mummification process. In the middle ages, thyme was used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals, as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life.
5. The ancient Greeks believed thyme was a source of courage, so they would sprinkle it in their baths and burn it as incense. Medieval ladies believed that, too, and would give knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, for the same reason.
6. Druids believed thyme could treat depression and ward off negativity. A study in 2013 suggests they may have been right. An active chemical in thyme is carvacrol, which was shown to affect neuron activity in ways that boosted the subjects’ feelings of well-being.
7. It's also an antiseptic, because of another chemical it contains - thymol. Thymol, an antiseptic, was isolated in 1725 by the German apothecary Neuiuiann and is an active ingredient in various commercially produced mouthwashes and hand sanitizers. People of old knew about this, too - oil of thyme was used to medicate bandages.
8. Thyme is good for you. It’s a good source of Copper, fibre, Iron, and manganese, and an excellent source of vitamins C and A. A study found that an extract of thyme was able to significantly reduce heart rate in rats with high blood pressure, and it was also able to lower their cholesterol. Thyme tea is good for coughs and bronchitis.
9. A property which science probably hasn't proved yet is that thyme attracts fairies. If you want fairies at the bottom of your garden, plant beds of thyme. Oberon, the king of the fairies in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, says, “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,” referring to the bed of thyme in which Titania, the fairy queen, sleeps. A 17th century recipe with thyme as one of the main ingredients claims to enable people to see fairies. It's also said to ward off nightmares if placed under your pillow.
10. There is a genus of fish, the graylings, which smells like thyme - and was given the Latin name Thymallus because of this. However, When the Greeks said that someone “smelled of thyme” it meant that the person was elegant, refined, and stylish, not that they smelled of fish!

15th June: London Bridge

On this date in 1825 the foundation stone of the New London Bridge was laid by ‘the grand old’ Duke of York.

1. There has been a bridge on roughly this site since Roman times. The first bridge here was probably a pontoon providing a handy shortcut to the then capital of the Roman province of Britannia, Camulodunum (now known as Colchester).
2. London Bridge is the subject of a popular nursery rhyme, London Bridge is falling down, which dates back to the 17th century. The lyrics deal with various suggestions for mending the broken bridge and the problems with each one, eg Wood and clay will wash away; Bricks and mortar will not stay; Iron and steel will bend and bow; Silver and Gold will be stolen away. There are numerous theories about the origin of the rhyme including that it relates to the 11th century destruction of London Bridge by Olaf II of Norway. Another rather gruesome one was that it relates to an ancient superstition that the bridge would collapse unless a child was buried alive in the foundations and the "watchman" referred to in a later verse is that human sacrifice. However, no human remains have been found in the foundations of the bridge, so the rhyme may just be about the problems of maintaining a busy bridge. "My Fair Lady" could refer to Matilda of Scotland or Eleanor of Provence, both consorts to kings, who had connections with building the bridges or collecting the tolls.
3. The bridge certainly did fall down a lot in its early history. The first one was probably destroyed in the Boudican revolt (after which it was rebuilt and the trading settlement which sprung up there became Londinium, the new capital of Roman Britain. After the Romans, it probably fell down through neglect by the Saxons. It was rebuilt by William the Conqueror; his bridge fell down because of a tornado in London in 1069! The next one, built by William II, was destroyed by fire. It wasn't damaged by the Great fire of London because there had been a number of fires on the bridge before that and there was a firebreak in place.
4. At one time, there were houses, shops and even a church on London Bridge. This version was commissioned by King Henry II as penance for having Thomas Becket killed. The Chapel of St Thomas on the Bridge became the official start of pilgrimage to his Canterbury shrine. It had a river-level entrance for fishermen and ferrymen and a drawbridge to allow tall ships to pass through. By Tudor times there were 200 buildings on the bridge. Some of the buildings were seven stories high; they overhung both the river and the road, which was only 12 feet wide to begin with, so the road became a tunnel. The buildings were a significant fire hazard, but even so, this version of London Bridge didn't fall down for 600 years.
5. Another gruesome fact is that for over 300 years, the severed heads of traitors were displayed on pikes at the southern gatehouse of the bridge. William Wallace was the first in 1305, followed by Jack Cade in 1450, Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher in in 1535, and Thomas Cromwell in 1540. The heads were dipped in tar and boiled to preserve them, and there could be as many as 30 on display at any one time.
6. London Bridge may be the reason why in Britain, we drive on the left. In 1722, there was so much traffic across the bridge that the then Lord Mayor decreed that "all carts, coaches and other carriages coming out of Southwark into this City do keep all along the west side of the said bridge: and all carts and coaches going out of the City do keep along the east side of the said bridge."
7. Towards the end of the 18th century, it was decided that the bridge had to be replaced and a competition was held for designers. The winner was John Rennie who won with a design of five stone arches. Rennie's bridge was 928 feet (283 m) long and 49 feet (15 m) wide, constructed from Haytor granite.
8. This one barely lasted 100 years, and was in danger of falling down because one side of it was sinking by an inch (about 2.5 cm) every eight years. By 1924 the east side was three to four inches (about 9 cm) lower than the west side. Replacing the bridge was going to be costly - so Ivan Luckin of the Common Council of the City of London came up with a novel way to fund the new bridge - selling the old one. This is how come, on 18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was sold to American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch for US$2,460,000; was taken apart and rebuilt brick by brick to span a canal in Arizona. Ivan Luckin has denied that McCulloch thought he was buying Tower Bridge.
9. Until Putney Bridge opened in 1729, London Bridge was the only road-crossing of the Thames downstream of Kingston-upon-Thames.
10. Today's London Bridge opened to traffic in 1974. It is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It is 269 m (882.5 ft) long, 32 m (105.0 ft) wide and carries the A3 road.