23 December: Saturn's moon Rhea

On this date in 1672, astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered Saturn's moon Rhea. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn, with a mean radius of 475 miles (764 kilometres). The largest of Saturn’s moons is Titan, which is about three times bigger.
2. It’s 327,500 miles (527,000 kilometres) away from Saturn and takes four and a half days to orbit the planet.
3. When Cassini discovered it, along with three other moons, (Tethys, Dione and Iapetus) he named them all Sidera Lodoicea (the stars of Louis) to honour King Louis XIV. It wasn’t until 1847 that John Herschel suggested using the names of Titans from Greek mythology for the moons of Saturn. In Greek mythology, Rhea was the wife of Kronos, the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Saturn. Rhea was called the mother of the gods because she gave birth to several Greek gods, including Zeus (whose Roman equivalent is Jupiter).
4. It has a low density for its size which suggests it is made mostly of ice mixed with some rock. As NASA puts it, “a dirty snowball”.
5. The temperature on Rhea is 99 K (−174 °C) in direct sunlight and between 73 K (−200 °C) and 53 K (−220 °C) in the shade.
6. In 2010 it was discovered that Rhea’s atmosphere contained Oxygen – the first world other than Earth where this had been found. It is a very thin atmosphere, however, actually an exosphere.
7. There is evidence, too, that Rhea may be the first moon discovered to have a ring system. This is based on lines of material detected around Rhea’s equator which was thought to have been caused by debris from the rings falling out of orbit. The Cassini probe, however, couldn’t find any ring material.
8. Some of Rhea’s surface is heavily cratered with large craters than 25 miles (40 kilometres) across while other areas have smaller ones. There are also canyons which look like bright wispy areas, but are actually hundreds of metres high. They look bright because they are caused by subsidence causing darker material to fall off and expose fresh ice underneath. This is evidence for past tectonic activity on Rhea.
9. The moons of Saturn are thought to have formed through co-accretion, where discs of material surrounding the planets gradually coalesced into moons. There is a theory, however, that early giant moons might have collided at some point and the collision formed Rhea, along with Iapetus and Titan.
10. In the film Independence Day: Resurgence, humanity builds a defence outpost on Rhea.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

22 December: Coal

In the French Revolutionary Calendar today is the day of Coal. Also, given how shite 2020 has been, it’s all Santa is going to leave in any of our stockings this year, whether we behaved ourselves or not. 10 things you might not know about coal:

1. It is mostly carbon, but may contain nitrogen, Oxygen, sulphur and hydrogen, too.
2. Coal is made when dead plant matter gets covered in Water. As it is buried by millions of years worth of sediment and rock, it turns into coal.
3. The plant matter goes through several stages in its journey to becoming coal, all of which are found on Earth today. The first is peat, followed by lignite, or Brown coal, the lowest quality which is mainly used for generating electric power. Then it becomes bituminous coal which is dark brown or Black and is used for steam power and to make coke. This is the stuff which historically powered steam trains and ships and may also be known as steam coal. Anthracite is the type we’re probably most familiar with – this is the glossy black stuff we buy to go on our domestic fires.
4. After even more time, coal will turn into graphite which is difficult to ignite, but it still has its uses – it’s the stuff used to make Pencils.
5. It is found in areas which were once wetlands which covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times. These areas are called coal forests.
6. While coal has been used to make fires for thousands of years and the Romans were involved in mining coal in Britain, Marco Polo was nevertheless amazed by it when he travelled to China in the 13^th century. He described it as “black stones which burn like logs” which was so plentiful that it allowed people to take three hot baths every week.
7. Coal is still plentiful in China – China mines about half the world’s coal, followed by India, which mines about a tenth.
8. In Medieval and Tudor times a major source of coal was the beach – erosion of cliffs would expose coal seams. It was known then as seacoal and would be carried to London by sea. People who live by the sea still exploit this source to this day and use it to heat their homes. Though not all coal found on the beach is local – some of it is washed ashore after falling off cargo ships.
9. The bad things which result from coal power are almost to numerous to list, from lung diseases and accidents killing miners to London smog and global warming. There is a move away from coal to cleaner forms of energy with many countries having pledged to phase it out. China, however, continues to build new coal powered power stations.
10. Coal is the official state mineral of Kentucky and the official state rock of Utah. It’s said that naughty children will receive a lump of coal from Santa Claus instead of presents. In Scotland and the North of England, however, it’s considered lucky to give a gift of coal on New Year's Day. It is given as part of the First-Footing tradition and is said to mean warmth for the year to come.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

21 December: The Goddess Amaterasu

In the Shinto religion in Japan, the goddess Amaterasu is celebrated on the winter solstice. She is one of their major deities. Here are 10 facts about her.

1. Her full name is Amaterasu-Omikami, which means "great divinity who shines in heaven."
2. She is the goddess of the Sun and the universe, and rules over community and kinship.
3. Her parents are Izanami and Izanagi, the gods who created the islands of Japan and gave birth to many of the Shinto deities. She was said to have been born from her father's left eye as he bathed in the river Woto to cleanse himself after visiting the underworld.
4. One of her siblings is Susanoo, the storm god. He and Amaterasu didn't get on together and she eventually got so fed up with him that she banished him from heaven.
5. One of the most famous stories about Amaterasu concerns a quarrel with Susanoo. Amaterasu was weaving quietly with one of her sisters when Susanoo threw a dead Horse at them as a prank. Amaterasu stormed off and hid in a cave, which, since she is the sun goddess, had the effect of casting the world into darkness. The other gods tried all manner of means to get her to come out, to no avail. The goddess Ama-no-Uzeme eventually performed a striptease for the other gods and it was their laughter and applause which made Amaterasu curious enough to peek out of her cave, so that the other gods could grab her and pull her out.
6. The emperors of Japan are said to be her direct descendants. The nobility of Japan are said to be descended from three goddesses that Amaterasu created from her Susanoo's sword as part of a challenge. He, in return, created five gods from her necklace. Which she claimed as her own, because it was her necklace.
7. Another of her brothers is Tsukiyomi-no-Mikito, the Moon god. In art, Amaterasu is often pictured sitting back to back with him.
8. Amaterasu has a son, Ama-no-Oshiho-mimi. She asked him to rule over the kingdom of Earth, but when he stood on the bridge between heaven and Earth and saw what disorder Earth was in, he refused. Various gods were sent to try and sort it out but they all failed for one reason or another. Eventually, Ama-no-Oshiho-mimi nominated his son, Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, to do the job instead. Amaterasu gave him three gifts to help him – a jewel, a mirror and a sword plucked from a monster's tail. These three items would later become symbols of the emperors of Japan.
9. There is a shrine dedicated to her at Ise in the Mie Prefecture. A number of other deities are enshrined there as well. Every twenty years, there is a ceremony in which the shrines are rebuilt and offerings made.
10. She is credited with inventing weaving, the cultivation of Rice and the use of Silkworms.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

20 December: Fish and Chips

On this date in 1928 Harry Ramsden opened his fish and chip restaurant. Here are 10 things you might not know about fish and chips:

1. It’s seen today as a quintessentially British dish, but originally, fried fish in batter may actually have been imported to Britain by Jewish immigrants from The Netherlands. It’s not known for sure who first paired this with chips. The first fish and chip shops appeared in 1860. A Jewish immigrant named Joseph Malin opened the first recorded combined fish-and-chip shop in London that year, while John Lees did the same in Manchester. We can’t be sure other places hadn’t made the connection too, but didn’t write anything down.
2. Brits spend £1.2 billion on fish and chips every year, which is about 382 million portions. One in six UK adults enjoys fish and chips once or twice a week. On Fridays, one in five takeaways consumed in the UK are fish and chips. Why Friday? This originates from the Catholic tradition of not eating meat on Fridays.
3. There are currently approximately 10,500 specialist fish and chip shops in the UK. The oldest of them is in a town called Yeadon, near Leeds, which has been serving fish and chips since 1865. It is called, appropriately enough, ‘The Oldest Fish & Chip Shop in the World’.
4. As a boy, film director Alfred Hitchcock lived above a fish and chip shop in London. It was the family business.
5. Fish and chips played a part in the British war effort during WWII. Winston Churchill called fish and chips ‘good companions’, and refused to ration them, because doing so, he believed, would have a devastating effect on morale. Not only that, but during the D-Day Landings British soldiers identified each other by crying out ‘fish’. If the response was ‘chips’ you knew the other person was on your side.
6. Fish and chips was traditionally served in Newspaper – a cheap form of packaging. The health and safety people put a stop to that in the 1980s because they ruled that newspaper ink wasn’t safe to eat. Now fish and chips are wrapped in greaseproof paper.
7. Charles Dickens wrote about fish and chips. As early as 1838 he mentioned fried fish warehouses in Oliver Twist. These were the forerunners of the fish and chip shop. Later, in A Tale of Two Cities, he mentioned actual fish and chips - 'Husky chips of potatoes, fried with some reluctant drops of oil'. He’s not the only writer to mention them. George Orwell did, too. In The Road to Wigan Pier, he describes fish and chips as 'home comforts' which acted as a panacea to the working classes.
8. You might not think that fish and chips is a very healthy thing to eat, but my research found several mentions of how favourably it compares with other types of takeaway such as a curry or McDonalds. To be fair, one of these was the website of a fish and chip shop! The British Nutrition Foundation says an average portion of fish and chips contains 20.6g of fat. An average portion of fish, chips and Peas contains 7.3% fat. A pork pie has 10.8%. Chips contain fibre (more than double the fibre found in an average serving of brown Rice or bowl of Porridge, according to the fish and chip shop) and a third of your daily requirement of Vitamin C. Add mushy peas and you get even more vitamins.
9. At time of writing, the record for the world’s largest portion of fish and chips is held by Fish & Chips at London Road in Enfield, London, who set the record in July 2012. It was a portion of Halibut and chips which weighed in at 47kg.
10. What happens to all the fat used to fry it in? In the UK, waste frying fat is a vital source of bio diesel.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

19 December: Myrrh

Myrrh, along with frankincense and Gold was one of the gifts brought by the wise men from the east to give to the baby Jesus. An interesting fact I came across while researching this, which isn’t about myrrh but is worth mentioning, is that there’s a theory that the gold they brought wasn’t, as we tend to assume, the precious metal but another type of plant or herb, such as turmeric, which is a golden colour. Back to myrrh, and 10 facts about it:

1. Myrrh is the sap of the myrrh tree, Commiphora myrrha, which is native to Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
2. The word is derived from the Arabic word “murr” meaning bitter.
3. It was once more valuable than gold, and has been transported and traded for millennia. The Incense Road from the Arabian Peninsula to India and China has been in existence for over 5000 years. In the 1st century, Arabia produced about 448 tons of myrrh each year.
4. It was known and used in ancient Egypt, including being an ingredient for embalming Mummies. Queen Hatshepsut’s tomb fresco shows her plantation of myrrh trees from Punt (present day Somalia). There is just one Egyptian fresco which shows a king gardening – the 5^th dynasty king Sahure, and it shows him tending a myrrh tree.
5. Myrrh is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible as well as the New. Joseph was sold by his brothers to traders who had "Camels loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh". Liquid myrrh was used by Moses to make his sacred anointing oil; and by Solomon to make incense for the holy temple.
6. In the New Testament, it was present at the time of Christ’s death, as well as his birth. Not only was it mixed with the wine Jesus was offered as he was dying, it was also used to embalm his body.
7. Myrrh gets a mention in Islamic holy texts, too – in the Hadith of Muhammad, Muhammad advises people to "Fumigate your houses with mugwort, myrrh and thyme.”
8. It is used as a healing herb and essential oil to this day. It is used as an ingredient for mouthwashes, gargles, toothpastes, liniments and healing salves. It has been suggested as a cure for toothache, indigestion, ulcers, colds, cough, asthma, lung congestion, arthritis, and even cancer. In Chinese medicine it is said to purge stagnant Blood from the uterus and be good for the Heart, spleen and liver. It is prescribed, therefore, for circulatory problems and for menopause and other issues connected with menstruation. Vets use horse tincture, which contains myrrh, for healing wounds in animals.
9. Also, myrrh is often an ingredient of high end skincare products. Adding a drop of the essential oil to shampoo helps keep the scalp hydrated. It’s also said to promote feelings of spirituality and is used during yoga or meditation.
10. The name ‘myrrh’ is also used to refer to the herb sweet cicely, Myrrhis oderata. This was a strewing herb, used by Medieval and Tudor people to make their houses smell sweeter.

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Themes 

Christmas; superheroes; reunions; parties; life choices; shocking surprises; mistaken identity; kidnap and rescue.

Reasons not to read it

• It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
• Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
• It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
• There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
• Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
• Superheroes. Again.
• Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

18 December: Brighton and Hove

On this date in 2000 Brighton and Hove was made a city as part of the millennium and the Queen’s 50th jubilee celebrations. Here are 10 things you might not know about Brighton:

1. At the time of the Domesday Book, the settlement was called Bristelmestune, with the shortened form of Brighton first appearing in 1660. Brighthelmstone was the town's official name until 1810. Brighton has several nicknames, including The Queen of Watering Places (and a pun on this one, The Queen of Slaughtering Places, relating to the 1930s Brighton trunk murders), Old Ocean's Bauble, Doctor Brighton, London-by-the-Sea and School Town, due to the large numbers of schools in the area. Winston Churchill attended one of them.
2. Brighton is the 45^th most populous district in England; the fourth happiest city in the UK (after Birmingham, Liverpool and Norwich) and the second most haunted city (after York). The population of around 290,885 people includes less children and old people than the national average, but more people in the 20-44 age range. Part of the reason for that might be that the city has a long LGBT-friendly history. It’s estimated that 11–15% of the city's population aged 16 or over is lesbian, gay or bisexual. Brighton has also been described as the UK's most "Godless" city, because in the 2011 census, a massive 42% of the residents said they had no religion.
3. There are more restaurants per person in Brighton than anywhere else in the country – one per 250 people. There are almost as many pubs – one per 320 people. Bearing in mind that 8,000,000 million people visit Brighton every year, with 6,500,000 of those being day trippers, there’s unlikely to be a shortage of customers.
4. It has also made a contribution to the world of film. The Duke of York’s cinema is the oldest cinema in continuous use. Hove was home to William Friese-Greene, a pioneer in cinematography, and George Albert Smith, who was responsible for the first colour film process. These people, and the Brighton School of Filmmakers mean it’s hardly surprising that Hove was the location of one of the earliest movies. Brighton’s cinematic history even extends to porn – the oldest surviving “blue” movie was filmed in a garden in Hove in 1896. More modern films to use Brighton as a location include Carry on at Your Convenience, Quadrophenia, The End of the Affair, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, The Young Victoria, and needless to say, Brighton Rock.
5. The city has some musical claims to fame, too. The Brighton Dome concert hall saw the first performance of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and was the venue for the Eurovision song contest in 1974, the year Abba won with Waterloo.
6. There are over 3,360 listed buildings and structures in Brighton & Hove. They include St Bartholomew’s Church, the tallest brick church in Europe which is built to the same dimensions as Noah's Ark in the book of Genesis.
7. Another is Brighton Pavilion. Brighton became a fashionable resort in Georgian times and was a favourite holiday spot for the Prince Regent, later King George IV. It was he who had the Royal Pavilion built, and also tunnels from there to the museum and the Dome so he could move around the town unseen. It’s said this was so he could hide how fat he’d become. Later, the building was used as a military hospital for Indian soldiers during World War I, and had the Germans won World War II, Hitler planned to make it his holiday home, and instructed the Luftwaffe not to bomb it for this reason.
8. Brighton Pier is another listed structure, built in the Victorian era. It is nearly two kilometres long with 85 miles of planking. 60,000 light bulbs are needed to keep it lit.
9. The Brighton Sea Life Centre is the world's oldest aquarium, dating back to 1872. It also has the longest underwater observation tunnel in England. More Brighton firsts include England’s first nudist beach, which opened in 1980 and the first recorded commercial flight, which left from Shoreham Airport and landed on Hove Lawns delivering light bulbs (for the pier, perhaps?) in 1910.
10. Brighton Marina is the largest man made marina in the country, covering 127 acres and with moorings for about two thousand boats.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

17 December: The Aztec Sun Stone

On this date in 1790, the Aztec Calendar (or Sun Stone) was discovered. 10 things you might not know about the Sun Stone and the Aztec calendar.

1. It isn’t known exactly when the stone was made. However, there is a glyph on it which represents the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, which suggests it was made during his reign. This narrows it down to between 1502–1520 AD.
2. It’s huge. It measures 358 centimetres (141 in) in diameter and is 98 centimetres (39 in) thick. It weighs 24,590 kg (54,210 lb).
3. It is made from olivine basalt, a greenish mineral, thought to have been extracted from the Xitle volcano. From there it would have been necessary to move it about 22 kilometers which was probably a job for thousands of people.
4. There are traces of paint on it, which suggests it was once brightly painted, but the paint has long since worn off, and the green of the olivine has faded due to exposure to the elements.
5. So what was it for? Nobody knows for sure. Until recently, it has been the widely held belief that the Sun Stone is a huge Calendar, because the symbols on it represent the days, weeks and years of the Aztec calendar. There are other suggestions, though. One is that it was a gladiatorial platform or an altar on which sacrificial victims would be forced to fight and then were killed. Another theory suggests it was propaganda designed to depict military victories and reinforce the authority of the king. Or, since there are symbols on it which relate to cardinal compass points, others have suggested that it may have been a map.
6. As for the calendar, there were two cycles. One was the year count, which was 365 days long. Then there was the day count, which was 260 days long. Every 52 years, these two cycles lined up. To the Aztecs, this was a century. While the Aztecs didn’t make definite predictions about the end of the world, they did believe that the end of a 52 year cycle was when the gods could, if they chose, decide to destroy the world. Hence for the last five days of their century, the Aztecs would perform rituals and make sacrifices to persuade the gods to keep them alive for another 52 years.
7. The year count consisted of 18 months which had 20 days each, and five nameless days, which were considered unlucky. There was a festival at the start of every month, and each day was assigned a symbol, mostly animals such as Crocodiles, serpents, Rabbits, Dogs, Monkeys and jaguars, but some days were named for plants, flowers and there was even a day assigned the symbol of death. Each day was assigned a cardinal direction, too and each year had a symbol so there could be no confusion regarding which day they were referring to.
8. The Sun Stone is divided into five portions, or five eras which are associated with five different Suns. There have so far been four, at the end of which mankind was destroyed and then recreated at the start of the next one.
9. The Sun Stone was buried in the main square in Mexico City soon after the Spanish Conquest. Alonso de Montúfar, Archbishop of Mexico from 1551 to 1572, ordered that the stone be buried in order to obliterate the memory of the old religion and the human sacrifices. Then, in 1790, Viceroy Revillagigedo ordered some renovations in the area, including levelling the floor, and the stone was re-discovered. The Viceroy realised its historical importance and ordered that it be preserved. It is currently on display in the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.
10. The sun stone is depicted on the Mexican 20 Peso gold coin.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

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