9 July: The Hayward Gallery

This date in 1968 was the official opening of the Hayward Gallery on London’s South Bank. 10 things you might not know:

1. The address of the gallery is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. The nearest tube stations are Waterloo and Embankment.

2. Its close neighbours in the Southbank Centre include the Queen Elizabeth Hall/Purcell Room, the BFI Southbank repertory cinema, the Royal Festival Hall and the National Theatre.

3. The gallery is named after Sir Isaac Hayward who was the leader of the London County Council when the gallery was built.

4. It was designed by a group of young architects which included Dennis Crompton, Warren Chalk, and Ron Herron, who were part of the architectural collective, Archigram. It was built by a company called Higgs and Hill.

5. It is the only gallery in the world to be built in the Brutalist style of architecture, which was popular in the 1960s.

6. Another thing which makes it different is that it doesn’t have its own permanent art collection but rather hosts a series of temporary exhibitions.

7. The Hayward Gallery’s main focus is modern art; has a reputation for taking risks and showing art that is not necessarily mainstream, but is more experimental. Well known names who have featured in the Hayward’s exhibitions include Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Antony Gormley, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, and Grayson Perry. That said, artists from before the modern era, such as Leonardo da Vinci, have on occasion been shown here as well.

8. The founding director was Joanna Drew. At time of writing the position is held by Sally Tallant, who took over from Ralph Rugoff in 2026.

9. The original plan for the Hayward Gallery included five main art spaces. There are two levels of indoor galleries and three outdoor sculpture courts. It has a large, glass-fronted foyer designed by Haworth Tompkins and added in 2003. A new glass pavilion, designed by Dan Graham, was also added above a new cafe.

10. Not based anywhere near London? The gallery has formed a partnership with Google Arts & Culture to create virtual exhibitions that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

8 July: Twister

On this date in 1966, a patent was granted for the game of Twister. 10 things you might not know about Twister.

1. Twister was invented by Ron Guyer, when he was working in his father’s ad design office trying to come up with an idea for an ad for shoe polish when he suddenly had a completely unrelated idea: What if there was a game where the players are the pieces?

2. Guyer experimented with a few ideas and eventually applied for a patent for the game we know today, although his original name for it was “Pretzel” because that was what the players would end up looking like.

3. Pretzel, however, was already in use as a name for a toy dog already on the market, so toy company Milton Bradley changed the name to Twister. Guyer hated the name, however, as he associated it with deadly Tornadoes and not a fun evening playing games with family and friends.

4. Its first tagline was ‘The game that ties you up in knots.’

5. It got off to a rocky start because some retailers, including Sears, decided it was too racy to sell. They called it ‘sex in a box’ and boycotted it. Even some executives at Milton Bradley agreed and thought mixed sex games would be in poor taste. Even using cartoon characters on the box rather than photographs of real people failed to placate the detractors.

6. The company were about to give up on Twister, but they’d already forked out for a promotional slot on Johnny Carson’s show. That went ahead, with Carson playing Twister with actress Eva Gabor. Which, you’d think, would only reinforce the risqué reputation. In any event, the public loved it. The day after the show aired, people were queuing outside Abercrombie and Fitch, one of the few shops which hadn’t boycotted the game. Guyer says. “By Christmas 1966, we were the game of the year.” There were subsequent press reports that teenagers were playing the game naked, which would have dealt a severe blow in relatively prudish 1960s America, but it all blew over and Twister, and the company, survived.

7. Twister was banned in Germany, not because it was too sexy, but because at the time, it was frowned upon in that country for women to take their shoes off in public.

8. Colour blind and even totally blind people can play, thanks to adaptations to make it more accessible, using textures and Braille. Sighted players can join in wearing blindfolds. Blindfolded Twister is an accessible variant with four different tactile symbols on the mat.

9. In 2015, Twister was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

10. The record for the world’s largest Twister board was set in 2015 country music singer Thomas Rhett spliced together 1200 regular-sized mats to create a 27,159 square-foot playing area as a publicity stunt at one of his concerts. The record for the most players, however, wasn’t broken at this event. The 1987 record of 4,160 players was still held by students at the University of Massachusetts.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

7 July: Jon Pertwee

Born on this date in 1919: Jon Pertwee, actor best known for playing Doctor Who, the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge.

1. His surname is an Anglicisation of "Perthuis", "de Perthuis de Laillevault", a family of counts descended from Charlemange. Pertwee himself was born in Chelsea.

2. One of his childhood friends was Christopher Robin Milne.

3. He got expelled from several schools, once for swinging from lavatory chains, pretending to be Tarzan. He was expelled from RADA as well, although accounts differ as to the reason. Some say he wrote rude words on the toilet walls; others say it was because he refused to play a Greek wind in a play.

4. He was a top class scuba diver and water skier and loved fast cars and motorbikes. His love of bikes was lifelong. As a schoolboy he worked as a circus performer riding the wall of death on a motorcycle with a toothless Lion in the sidecar; and he was still riding his last bike, a Honda VT500E, at the age of 74.

5. He served in the Navy and British Intelligence. During his time in the Navy, he got drunk one night and got a tattoo of a cobra on his arm, and narrowly missed being a casualty on HMS Hood, sunk by the Bismark. He’d transferred off the Hood days earlier for officer training. He went on to serve in the top secret Naval Intelligence Division, reporting directly to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. One of his colleagues there was future James Bond author Ian Fleming, giving rise to rumours that he was one of the people used as inspiration for Bond.

6. He and his brother Michael were founder members of The Waistcoat Club, set up in 1953 as a protest against the drabness of male attire. Pertwee collected waistcoats and had a huge collection, some of which were 300 years old. Peter Cushing was also a member.

7. Although most famous for playing Doctor Who, his favourite role was that of Worzel Gummidge. As Worzel, he had a hit record in 1980 with Worzel's Song, and specified in his will that he wanted to be cremated with an effigy of Worzel attached to his coffin. That didn’t go entirely to plan as the effigy fell off the coffin as the curtains closed. "That's Jon for you. Always playing it for laughs", opined one of the mourners present.

8. His favourite Doctor Who episode was The Dæmons: Episode One (1971) and his favourite aliens were the Draconians from the 1973 story Frontier in Space. His favourite song was Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles. His favourite animated film was Aladdin, and he would have arguments with his friend Spike Milligan over which of them was the biggest Aladdin fan.

9. Pertwee was considered for the role of Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army and also that of Alfred Pennyworth in a Batman adaptation starring Harrison Ford that Stephen Spielberg almost made. His son Sean would play the role of Alfred in Gotham in 2014.

10. He wrote two autobiographies: Moon Boots and Dinner Suits in 1984 and I Am The Doctor in 1996.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

6 July: George W Bush quotes

This date in 1946 saw the birth of former US President George W Bush. 10 quotes from him:

1. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.

2. Leadership to me means duty, honour, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

3. We will not waver, we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail.

4. If you don't succeed, you run the risk of failure.

5. Wine is like beer except different.

6. The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.

7. The thing that's wrong with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur.

8. They misunderestimated me.

9. One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.

10. Always chew on your pretzels before you swallow.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

5 July: 186

Welcome to day 186 of the year. 10 fun 186 facts.

1. The Intel 80186, a microprocessor and microcontroller introduced in 1982, is sometimes known as the 186 for short.

2. 186 Celuta is a Main belt asteroid discovered by Paul Henry and Prosper Henry in 1878. The asteroid is named after Céluta, a female character in two works of fiction by Francois Rene de Chateaubriand.

3. The A186 is a road in Tyne and Wear, England. It runs between the A1 Junction 75, and the eastern end of the A69 to the A192 in Whitley Bay. It follows the old A69 into Newcastle Upon Tyne city centre.

4. The Permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) Subclass 186 is a type of visa that allows an employer in Australia to nominate someone from overseas to migrate to Australia permanently.

5. Kosmos 186, along with Kosmos 188 was a Soviet Union spacecraft that incorporated a Soyuz programme descent module for landing scientific instruments and test objects. It was launched on 27 October 1967.

6. London bus route 186 runs from Brent Cross Shopping Centre to Northwick Park Hospital Social Club.

7. 186 Dollars to Freedom is a 2012 film directed by Camilo Vila, about a surfer from California who gets thrown into a political prison in Peru.

8. The year 186 was a common year starting on Saturday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Glabrio. In this year, Peasants in Gaul staged an anti-tax uprising.

9. Lectionary 186 is a Greek manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment leaves.

10. In numerology, 186 resonates with family, nurturing and harmony. People under its influence will be particularly focussed on the well being of their family. The energy stimulates nurturing of ideas and people, self-reliance, realistic planning, and independent thinking.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

4 July: Calvin Coolidge Quotes

Today, ten quotes from Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. He was born on this date in 1872.

1. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

2. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.

3. The things I never say never get me into trouble.

4. Silence can never be misquoted.

5. You can't know too much, but you can say too much.

6. There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.

7. It takes a great man to be a good listener.

8. You don't have to explain something you never said.

9. I did not see the sense in chasing a little white ball around a field.

10. It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/

3 July: 184

Today is day 184 of 2026 (and, indeed, any other non-leap year) so here are 10 fun facts about the number 184.

1. There are 184 paths by which a Chess rook can travel from one corner of a 4 × 4 chessboard to the opposite corner without passing through the same square twice.

2. 184 Dejopeja is a large asteroid discovered by Johann Palisa in 1878, and named after Deiopea, a Roman nymph.

3. In March 2026 the results of a study by Exeter’s Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour was published. The researchers studied 184 bull sharks in Fiji and discovered that sharks might make friends.

4. The A184 is a road in England connecting Sunderland and Gateshead.

5. The Group of 184 was a group of 184 Haitian individuals and organisations in various sectors, from business to media and education, that opposed Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas party. The name is frequently shortened to G184.

6. London bus 184 runs from Turnpike Lane Bus Station to Chesterfield Road, Barnet.

7. Running the 184 is a 2016 documentary film directed by Greg Lassik, following a man aiming to run across the entire state of New Jersey. The film includes interviews and training sessions, and the 184 mile run itself.

8. The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers.

9. Some physicists have proposed that 184 is a magic number for neutrons in atomic nuclei.

10. In numerology, the person who lives with number 184 energy is likely to be focused on ways and means to enhance their standing in the community and their financial resources, for the present and for the future. They are independent, methodical and comfortable dealing with large amounts of data. 184 has a good sense of what's right, is loyal, honest, conscientious and sincere.

I also write novels and short stories. If you like superheroes, psychic detectives and general weirdness you might enjoy them. 

Check out my works of fiction at https://juliehowlinauthor.wordpress.com/my-books/