Today is National Love Your Red Hair Day. 10 facts about Red Hair:
Red hair happens because of a mutation in the MC1R gene. If a person inherits this recessive allele on chromosome 16 from both parents they’ll have red hair. It’s possible for two parents without red hair to produce a red-haired child.
Less than 2% of the world’s population have red hair. It’s more common in North West Europe, the British Isles and in particular, the Celtic nations. 13% of the people in Scotland are natural redheads, and Edinburgh can claim to be the red head capital of the world, because the highest concentration of people who carry the gene is there. Ireland isn’t far behind: 10% of people there have red hair.
Red hair isn’t just for white Europeans though – it can occur in any ethnicity.
Redheads have less hair than any other hair colour. A typical redhead has 90,000 strands of hair; blondes have 110,000, and brunettes have 140,000. However, a redhead’s hair strand is thicker than those of the others, which means they still have luxurious locks!
People with red hair are more likely to be Left-handed, another recessive trait. They also tend to be more sensitive to pain, especially pain caused by excessive cold or heat, and require more anaesthetic during medical procedures. The heat and cold thing means they are more likely to detect changes in temperature. They are also more attractive to Bees, and nobody knows why!
Their skin is more susceptible to sun damage – they burn easily. However, they have a superpower to compensate. Redheads can produce their own Vitamin D in relatively low light to make up for not being able to spend as much time in the sun as their blond and brunette friends.
Prejudices and strange beliefs about red haired people have been around for a long time. Red hair and Green Eyes were thought to be a sign that a person was a Witch, werewolf or Vampire during the Middle Ages, and according to Theophilus Presbyter, the recipe for turning Copper into Gold was the ashes of a basilisk mixed with the blood of a red haired man. A common modern day belief about redheads is that they have fiery tempers and sharp tongues.
National Love Your Red Hair Day is just one of many celebrations around the world promoting pride in red hair. There are several redhead conventions. There’s one in The Netherlands which began when Dutch painter Bart Rouwenhorst was looking for 15 redheads for an art project in 2005. Now it attracts redheads from over 80 countries. Then there’s The Irish Redhead Convention, held in late August in County Cork since 2011, which includes competitions like the best red Eyebrows and most Freckles per square inch, Carrot throwing and crowning the ginger King and Queen. There’s also a website, How to be a Redhead, which was set up by sisters Adrienne and Stephanie Vendetti who were treated badly at school, and wanted to create a means to bring redheads together.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story The Red-Headed League involves a man who is asked to become a member of a mysterious group of red-headed people.
Some famous redheads include: Queen Elizabeth I, Nicole Kidman, Alyson Hannigan, Marcia Cross, Christina Hendricks, Emma Stone, Geri Halliwell, Rupert Grint, Brendan and Domhnall Gleeson, Maureen O’Hara, Mary McAleese, Susan Sarandon and Lucille Ball. Judas Iscariot is represented with red hair in Spanish culture and in the works of William Shakespeare. In fiction and mythology you have Botticelli's Venus, Jean Grey, Red Sonja, Mystique, Poison Ivy, Anne of Green Gables, not to mention the Warner Superhero family from my own novels.
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.
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