1 November: Felix Name Day

If your name is Felix, today is your name day. Felix is a masculine given name that originates from the Latin word felix meaning "happy" or "lucky". The feminine forms are Felicia or Felicity. 10 famous people called Felix:

1. 4 Popes, starting with Pope Felix I who was the bishop of Rome from 5 January 269 to his death on 30 December 274.

2. Felix of Burgundy: also known as Felix of Dunwich, first bishop of the kingdom of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom.

3. Prince Félix of Luxembourg: second son of Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. He is currently fourth in the line of succession to the throne of Luxembourg.

4. Felix Mendelssohn (pictured): German composer, whose compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian and Scottish Symphonies, the melody used in the Christmas carol Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Songs Without Words.

5. Felix the Cat: cartoon character created in 1919 by Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he is considered one of the most recognised cartoon characters in history.

6. Felix Yongbok Lee: known mononymously as Felix, Australian rapper and singer based in South Korea. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Stray Kids.

7. Felix Stewart: character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

8. Felix Baumgartner: Austrian skydiver, extreme sportsman, and BASE jumper.

9. Julie Felix: American-British singer.

10. Felix Faust: a DC Comics villain sorcerer.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

31 October: Neal Stephenson Quotes

Author Neal Stephenson was born on this date in 1959. 10 quotes:

1. Atoms are like people. Get lots of them together, never know what they’ll do.

2. When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins.

3. Interesting things happen along borders – transitions – not in the middle where everything is the same.

4. And it happened all the time that the compromise between two perfectly rational alternatives was something that made no sense at all.

5. That to me is the basic message of events like the rise of Nazism, the Salem witch trials, and so on: not that bad people do bad things, but that good people do bad things.

6. It is what you don't expect... that most needs looking for.

7. The difference between ignorant and educated people is that the latter know more facts.

8. The best way to know someone is to have a conversation with them.

9. Humans needed water or they would die, but dirty water killed as surely as thirst. You had to boil it before you drank it. This culture around tea was a way of tiptoeing along the knife edge between those two ways of dying.

10. What's hard, in hacking as in fiction, is not writing, it's deciding what to write.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

30 October: John Adams Quotes

Born this day in 1735 was former US President John Adams. 10 quotes from him:

1. Always stand on principle even if you stand alone.

2. But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

3. Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.

4. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

5. Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.

6. I am a revolutionary, so my son can be a farmer, so his son can be a poet.

7. Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.

8. The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.

9. If worthless men are sometimes at the head of affairs, it is, I believe, because worthless men are at the tail and the middle.

10. To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

29 October: Keeping Up Appearances

This date in 1990 saw the first broadcast of Keeping Up Appearances.10 facts about the show:

1. Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke. It’s about a snobbish social climber called Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced “Bouquet” as she constantly reminds people; although her long-suffering husband Richard says, “It was always Bucket until I met you!”) and her family.

2. Hyacinth has three sisters, all named for flowers: Daisy, Violet and Rose, possibly a play on “bouquet”, although their maiden name was Walton.

3. Daisy and Violet’s married names are never revealed.

4. Richard and Hyacinth live at 117 Heather Road, Binley Woods, Coventry CV3 2DB, UK; Onslow, Daisy, Rose, and Daddy live at Michell Close, Coventry CV3 1DL, UK.

5. A prequel produced in 2016 called Young Hyacinth explains Hyacinth’s snobbery. In it, Hyacinth is shown in the 1950s working as a domestic servant for the Cooper-Smiths, and while there, vows to escape her working class background and to be like them.

6. Hyacinth and Richard have a son called Sheridan, who is mentioned in virtually every episode but is never seen or heard. All we know of him comes from Hyacinth’s boasts about his accomplishments and the one-sided Telephone calls she has with him.

7. During the closing credits Hyacinth is seen setting a dining table while referring to a book called Modern Etiquette by Moyra Bremner. Hyacinth sets the table in exactly the way the book recommends (on page 69).

8. The series ended after the 5th series because Patricia Routledge had grown tired of portraying the role of Hyacinth Bucket.

9. Keeping Up Appearances had been sold nearly a thousand times to overseas broadcasters by 2016, making it BBC Worldwide's most exported television programme ever.

10. The first scene in the first episode and the final scene of the final episode both feature an ambulance.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

29 October: Erik the Red

Today is a day of remembrance for Erik the Red, a Norse explorer. Here are ten facts about him:

1. His actual name was Erik Thorvaldsson, and probably got the nickname of Erik the Red because he had red hair, although there is a theory that he earned the name through having a hot temper.

2. Erik Thorvaldsson was born in Rogaland, Norway in 950 CE, the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson. The family lived there until Erik was 10, at which time Thorvald was convicted of manslaughter and sent into exile. Thorvald and his family then settled in Hornstrandir in north-west Iceland.

3. Erik married a woman called Thjodhild and had four children with her: three sons, Leif, Thorvald and Thorstein, and a daughter, Freydís.

4. Like his father, Erik got himself exiled. Some of his workers caused a landslide on his neighbour’s farm. One of the neighbour’s relatives, Eyjolf the Foul, killed the workers responsible for the landslide, so Erik killed him. Sent into exile, Erik settled in Oxney, in West Iceland.

5. And then got exiled from there as well. While building a house for himself and his family, he left a sacred wooden beam with carvings called a setstokkr with a man called Thorgest for safe keeping. When the house was finished, Erik went to get his setstokkr back, but Thorgest claimed he no longer had it. So Erik killed him, and several of Thorgest’s sons and allies as well when the argument escalated. It was at this point that Erik decided to sail for Greenland.

6. Erik is sometimes credited with discovering Greenland, but that isn’t the case. That accolade goes to a man called Gunnbjörn Ulfsson who came upon Greenland by complete accident some time before. Another man named Snæbjörn Galti tried, unsuccessfully, to settle Greenland. What Erik is famous for is establishing the first successful colony on Greenland, which lasted for 500 years.

7. It was Erik who gave Greenland its name. The name was essentially a somewhat dishonest sales pitch to entice people to come and join his colony. He was suggesting it was a green and fertile place rather than being covered in Snow and ice.

8. At least two of Erik’s sons became explorers in their own right. Leif Erikson was one of the first Europeans to reach North America, and Thorvald followed in his footsteps and explored there, too. It didn’t go well for Thorvald, though. He fell out with the native people and became “the first European to die in North America.” Little is known about the life of the third son, Thorstein, except that he sailed to America to collect his brother’s body and died there. The daughter, Freydis, was a strong-willed woman. She followed her brothers to America. On one occasion the native Americans, known to the Norsemen as skraelings, attacked a settlement and were winning the battle when Freydis, despite being eight months pregnant, grabbed a sword herself, claiming she could fight better than her less than courageous countrymen. It’s alleged that her actions actually scared off the skraelings.

9. When Thjodhild converted to Christianity, a religion brought home by Leif, Erik wasn’t happy at all, as he was a devout follower of the Norse gods. When he complained, Thjodhild retaliated by denying him any more marital relations.

10. Erik died from being superstitious. Leif invited his father to go along on his exploratory journey to the Americas. Erik was all set to go, but on the way to the ship, his Horse threw him. Erik took this as a bad omen and decided not to go, and died in an epidemic at home the following winter.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

27 October: National Black Cat Day

Today is National Black Cat Day, designated by Cats Protection in the United Kingdom. In the US they have an equivalent day on 17 August: Black Cat Appreciation Day. Here are 10 facts about black cats:

1. The purpose of the day is to encourage people to adopt a Black Cat, because they are allegedly harder to place in forever homes because of their associations with bad luck. However, according to Wikipedia this is a myth, and black cats are actually adopted at a higher rate than other cats.

2. That said, some cat shelters are said to limit adoptions of black cats in October for fear they might be used in sacrificial rituals. They have certainly been associated with Witches and Satan in the past, which resulted in mass murder of black cats and their owners.

3. Black is also the most common colour for a cat to be. The colour is caused by the amount of melanin pigment the cat has, and the gene which produces the black colour is dominant. There are also possible evolutionary reasons why black cats are common: firstly, being a dark colour may make it easier for them to stalk prey at night without being seen, so without humans to open tins for them, they’d be better fed. It has also been found that the genes producing black fur are also linked to immunity from some diseases.

4. This same pigment causes a cat’s eyes to be Yellow or gold, so this is the most common eye colour for black cats.

5. The black pigment can be easily damaged by UV light. A black cat which spends a lot of time basking in the Sun can end up with fur that turns a rusty colour in places. When the rusty hair falls out, however, it will grow back black.

6. The idea that black cats are unlucky seems to be widespread mostly in the US. Other cultures see them as positively good omens. In the UK, a black cat crossing your path is lucky; in Latvia, black cats on farms mean prosperity and a good harvest; in Scotland, a house visited by one can expect a financial windfall; in Japan, owning a black cat is good for your love life, and in parts of England, a black cat given as a wedding gift means the bride will be lucky and happy.

7. In America, where the number 13 is also considered unlucky, Space Shuttle missions were numbered so that there was no STS-13, possibly influenced by the ill-fated Apollo 13. Of course, even re-named as STS-41C, one mission still had to be the 13^th launched. The crew of this mission rolled with that and made a humorous mission patch that included a black cat and a number 13. Nevertheless, they not only made it home safely after a successful mission, they landed on Friday 13th.

8. Because the colour black is associated with anarchism, the black cat has been adopted as a symbol of anarchy.

9. Bastet, the Egyptian Goddess, was depicted as a black cat.

10. Black cats are not a specific breed. In fact, there are over 20 breeds of cat which can come with a solid black coat, or they can be of mixed breed. There is one breed of cat which is always black, however, the Bombay, which has been bred that way.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

26 October: 299

It’s the 299^th day of the year, so here are 10 fun facts about 299:

1. The A299, also known as the Thanet Way, in the county of Kent, England. It is 22 miles (35 km) in length, and runs from Brenley Corner near Faversham (where it merges into the M2) to Ramsgate via Whitstable and Herne Bay.

2. +299 is the telephone country code for Greenland.

3. The year 299 was a common year starting on Sunday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian.

4. 299 is the twelfth cake number, the maximum number of pieces to get from 12 slices of a cake.

5. 299 Queen Street West is a 2023 Canadian documentary film, directed, produced, and edited by Sean Menard. The film chronicles the early history of MuchMusic, a music television channel based at that address in Toronto.

6. The 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Air Force based at Kulbakino Air Base, Mykolaiv Oblast.

7. 299 Thora is a Main belt asteroid discovered by Johann Palisa in 1890 in Vienna.

8. London bus 299 runs between Queens Avenue and Cockfosters Station.

9. In Squid Game, Player 299 was played by an unknown extra, and was eliminated early on as one of many who ran towards the doors during the first game.

10. In numerology, the energy represented by the number 299 resonates with co-operation, sustainable and comfortable coexistence. A flock of Geese cooperating with flight positions to ease air drag during migration is an example of this kind of energy.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

25 October: The Battle of Agincourt

On this date in 1415, an English army under Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt, France. 10 facts about the Battle of Agincourt.

1. This battle took place during the The Hundred Years’ War, a long series of intermittent conflicts between France and England which took place between 24 May 1337 and 10 October 1453, which is actually 116 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 4 days. It was basically all about kings of England trying to capture territory in France. The battle of Crécy in 1346 and the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 were two other English victories during this war.

2. Two months earlier Henry V had crossed the English Channel with 11,000 men and put siege to Harfleur in Normandy. Although the town surrendered after five weeks, the siege had taken its toll on Henry’s army with around half of them dead from battles or disease. Time for Henry to give up and go home. To get home, it was necessary to get to Calais, where his fleet was waiting.

3. Which the French knew. So they set a trap. A huge army of elite troops commanded by one Jean II Le Maingre, also known as Boucicaut, who was an expert jouster and tactician and out for revenge for the previous battles the English had won, waited near Agincourt, certain they’d be able to easily overcome the decimated English army and capture Henry, who would be worth a fortune in ransom money.

4. Nobody knows for sure, but it’s estimated the French army consisted of as many as 30,000 men, elite cavalry troops, while just 6,000 of Henry’s men were left; so they were outnumbered by 5 to 1. Not great odds.

5. Henry had some sneaky tactics of his own up his sleeve, however. He chose a recently ploughed field surrounded by woods to set up his army for the battle. The woods meant the French troops couldn’t surround them, and narrowed the area in which the troops could actually engage. Not only that, but crossing a muddy field in armour served to slow the French troops down. As they slogged through the Mud, they were shot at by English soldiers armed with longbows. Sitting ducks.

6. Henry’s army was mostly made up of longbowmen, who were paid six pennies a day, or nine pounds a year. They were mostly peasant farmers, who’d been required by law to practice archery every week since childhood. So they were pretty good. The weapons were powerful too. Each longbow weighed 140lb. They could kill an opponent who was 200 yards away and wound one at 400 yards. Each bowman could fire 15 arrows every minute; several thousand of them doing just that created a storm of arrows that, it was said, blocked out the light of the Sun. Not only were many French soldiers shot by arrows, but the arrow storm panicked their Horses, so many more were trampled to death.

7. It’s said Henry actually took part in the fighting, right in the thick of it, defending his brother, who’d been wounded. It’s said Henry was hit on the head by an axe which broke the crown which made up part of his helmet.

8. The French had one small success, however. Ysembart d'Azincourt, leading a small number of men-at-arms and about 600 peasants attacked a baggage train and managed to swipe some treasure, including one of Henry’s crowns.

9. 25 October is Saint Crispin’s Day. He and his brother Crispinian were martyrs whose shrine was in a town called Soissons in Northern France, which had been the site of an earlier battle in which many English soldiers had died. King Henry noted, as the battle in Agincourt was about to begin, that it happened to be St Crispin’s Day, and winning on that feast day would be fitting retribution.

10. The battle inspired William Shakespeare’s play Henry V, written in 1599. The battle forms a significant part of the action and the play includes a famous speech, with the quote “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

24 October: Origami

This date in 1898 was the birthdate of Lillian Oppenheimer, origami pioneer, credited with popularising the art in the US. 10 facts about origami:

1. The word "origami" is a compound of "ori", meaning to fold, and "kami", meaning Paper. The Japanese word for paper “kami” is written the same as the Japanese word for spirit or god, so paper folding became a religious ritual. It was used to make religious decorations and for gifts at feasts and weddings.

2. Samurai used to gift each other origami models for good luck, often in the shape of Fish.

3. The oldest known book about origami was published in 1797 by Akisato Rito. It is called Hiden senbazuru orikata, and contains 49 origami pieces created by a Buddhist monk named Gidō.

4. It is traditional at Japanese weddings for a thousand origami cranes to be presented. This stems from the belief that cranes symbolise long life (they are said to live for a thousand years so it’s one for every year of a crane’s life), good fortune and the granting of wishes. The happy couple may fold all the cranes themselves, or they may be given them by the bride’s father. It’s this belief which is behind the sad story of Sadako Sasaki, a teenage Hiroshima survivor who was dying of radiation related problems and started folding cranes in the hope they would grant her wish. Sadly, it didn’t work, and she died, but her origami cranes became part of the celebration of her life and monuments to peace.

5. The smallest origami crane was made out of a 1mm by 1mm piece of paper using a microscope and sewing Needle. The largest (at time of writing) has a wingspan of 81.94 m (268 ft 9 in) and was created by 800 people at the Hiroshima Shudo University, on 29 August 2009. The fastest time to make 1000 origami cranes is 9 hours 31 minutes 13 seconds, achieved by Evelyne Chia in Colchester, Essex, on 22 June 2021. She did it as a fundraiser for the NHS.

6. There’s more to it than simply making pretty things out of paper. It has been used for quite serious scientific purposes. NASA has used it to figure out the best way to load equipment into confined spaces, and to test whether designs were actually viable. The craft also inspired doctors working to create folding stents used in the treatment of Heart problems.

7. Any material which can hold a crease can be used for origami, but origami paper is typically thinner than standard photocopy paper. In Japan they use washi, a tough paper usually made from wood bark, but which can be made from Bamboo, Hemp, Rice or Wheat.

8. Teabag folding is a thing. Dutch artist Tiny van der Plas developed the technique in 1992 to decorate greeting cards using teabag wrappers.

9. Akira Yoshizawa, born in 1911, became known as the Father of Origami, and its Grand Master in 1989. He taught himself, and his first creations were the signs of the zodiac in 1952. He went on to write 18 books on the subject and was awarded The Order of the Rising Sun, by Emperor Hirohito of Japan.

10. It was proposed OrigamiUSA in 2005 to make 24 October Origami Day in honour of Lillian Oppenheimer’s birthday, but they were reminded that Japan already celebrated Origami Day on 11 November. Instead, the period between the two dates is celebrated as World Origami Days and is the season for events and competitions.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book