24 May: Whit Sunday

Whit Sunday falls on this date in 2026. 10 things you might not know about Whit Sunday.

1. The name is thought to be derived from "White Sunday", which may have to do with the purity of Christ, or could be a reference to the white robes worn by people being baptised on this day. An alternative possibility is that it comes from “wit” in the sense of wisdom granted by the Holy Spirit.

2. It falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter and is the commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus' disciples (as described in Acts 2).

3. Another name it’s sometimes given is Pentecost. Pentecost is a Jewish holiday. That name derives from the Greek for “fiftieth” and marks fifty days after Passover. It was a time of thanksgiving and praise to God for the first wheat harvest of the season, and a time when people would make pilgrimages to Jerusalem in order to celebrate. Christ’s disciples were together for this holiday when the Holy Spirit came to them.

4. The disciples experienced three distinct things at this Pentecost gathering: a “sound like a mighty rushing wind” that “filled the entire house”; tongues of fire resting upon each of them; and the ability to speak other languages “as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

5. The week following Whit Sunday was known as Whitsuntide, and was a holiday for working folk in medieval times. It marked a pause in the agricultural year, and time off from working their lord’s land.

6. The day after Whit Sunday, Whit Monday, was a bank holiday in Britain until 1971. Thereafter it was replaced by the Spring Bank Holiday which is always the last Monday in May, rather than a moveable feast which could be in late May or June.

7. One tradition of Whit Sunday was that everyone got new clothes, no matter how poor they were. The new outfits would be worn for the first time at church on Whit Sunday. Other traditions include Whit Walks (parades through town with music and singing) Morris dancing and fairs. Many of these traditions now take place during the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

8. In Ireland, it was once believed that Whit Sunday was the most unlucky time of the year, because true evil was about at Whitsuntide. Therefore, it was inadvisable to do anything even remotely risky like play sports because accidents were way more likely. Anything involving water was to be avoided as it was said that the spirits of people who’d drowned were about and likely to drag the living to a watery death. So no Swimming, sailing or even walking at water’s edge. Even taking a bath on this day was said to mean you’d get sick and never recover. Babies born on this day were said to be destined to grow up to harm or kill people, and if you happened to be ill on Whit Sunday you would be ill for the whole year and possibly even die. And forget going camping. Sleeping outdoors on Whit Sunday meant you’d go insane.

9. There’s a whole long list on Wikipedia of authors who’ve woven Whitsuntide into their stories. I’ll just mention two – Agatha Christie's short story Ingots of Gold includes clues to whodunnit which revolve around Whitsuntide, and the inciting incident in Graham Greene's Brighton Rock, the murder of Hale, takes place at Whitsun.

10. There is a group of 74 islands off Queensland, Australia, known as the Whitsunday Islands which were discovered by Captain James Cook on Sunday 3 June 1770, which happened to be, you guessed it, Whit Sunday.

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/

23 May: Carl Linnaeus

Born on this date in 1707 was Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist who established conventions for the naming of living organisms that became universally accepted in the scientific world.

1. He was born in Sweden. His father was a curate, who taught his son Latin at a young age. Carl would sometimes use the Latin form of his name, Carolus Linnæus.

2. Carl’s mother wanted him to be a priest and even had him enrolled in priest training school, but he didn’t do well there and ended up having to leave.

3. He loved plants from a young age. He wasn’t very interested in the subjects his teachers expected him to be good at: Greek, Hebrew, mathematics and theology. He much preferred studying plants. One teacher did encourage his interest in botany by letting him work in his garden. His interest in science led his teachers to suggest a career in medicine, so he was given lessons in anatomy and physiology.

4. He studied medicine in Sweden but was expected to finish his degree elsewhere, so he finished his studies at the University of Harderwijk in the Netherlands, where he studied the causes of malaria and studied some more at the University of Leiden.

5. When he returned to Sweden he met Sara Elisabeth Moraeus and wanted to marry her. Her father said no until he’d finished his studies and got a job, proving that he’d be able to support her. He didn’t practice as a doctor for very long. He took a position as professor of medicine at Uppsala and later returned to his first love and became the head of the botanical garden.

6. He’s famous for his work on classifying living things and giving them the two part Latin names we use today. He has been called the "father of modern taxonomy" (the science of classifying living things), Princeps botanicorum (Prince of Botanists) and "The Pliny of the North". He was also the first scientist to treat the human species as an animal to be classified like any other. It was he who coined the name Homo Sapiens.

7. He held grudges and on at least two occasions named things after people he didn’t like. Siegesbeckia, a weed that produces an evil smelling fluid, was named after Johann Siegesbeck, a German scientist who was critical of his work. Aphanus rolandri, a type of beetle, was named after one of his students, Daniel Rolander, who’d refused to show Linnaeus his plant collection.

8. One might expect there are some Amphibians named after his enemies too, since Linnaeus was really not a fan of that particular class of animal. He wrote terribly insulting things about amphibians, describing them as “most terrible and vile animals… ghastly colour, cartilaginous skeleton, foul skin, fierce face, a meditative gaze, a foul odour, a harsh call, a squalid habitat, and terrible venom… an unsightly, hideous naked mob.” He did admit, however, that some Frogs sang beautifully.

9. The Swedish king, Adolf Fredrik, made Linnaeus a noble in 1757, after which he changed his name to Carl Linné.

10. He has some plants named after him. Linnaea and Linnaeosicyos, two kinds of flowering plant.

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/

22 May: Wigs

Today is National Wig-Out Day: 10 facts about wigs

1. They’ve been around since ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptian fashion was for people to shave their heads or have short, cropped Hair. They wore wigs to protect their bald heads from the Sun.

2. The word wig is short for periwig, which came from the French word ‘perruque’. In the 18th and 19th centuries, wigmakers were called perruquiers.

3. In the 16^th century, wigs were more hygienic than real hair. Head lice were extremely common, and it was easier to de-louse a wig than real hair – you could take a wig off and boil it to get rid of the nits.

4. Another nasty thing common around that time was syphilis. While today that disease is quickly got rid of with antibiotics, in those days people were forced to suffer the ultimate effects which as well as madness and nasty sores, included hair loss. Being bald became a source of shame so those affected took to wearing wigs. Samuel Pepys wrote when his brother contracted syphilis that if he survived, “he will not be able to show his head—which will be a very great shame to me.”

5. Pepys wore wigs himself, but was rather ambiguous about it. He wrote about the day he had his head shaved and tried on his new periwig for the first time, mentioning concerns that his headwear might have been made from the hair of someone who’d died of the plague.

6. Wigs were very fashionable with royalty. Queen Elizabeth I owned 150 individual hair pieces. Louis XIV started to go bald at 17 and hired 48 wig makers to save his image. Charles II of England, his cousin, had a similar problem and wore elaborate long wigs. Their courtiers copied them and hence wigs became everyday wear at court. Needless to say, these fashion accessories became very expensive. Even the most basic wig would cost a week’s salary for an ordinary man in the street. This is where the word “bigwig” comes from, a bigwig being a person who could afford a larger, more elaborate wig.

7. It takes six heads of hair to make a full human hair wig.

8. The most expensive wig ever sold at an auction was one that had belonged to Andy Warhol. It sold for $10,800.

9. Wigs, of course, are often used by actors as part of their costumes. Film studios are among a modern wig maker’s best customers. The second Lord of the Rings film, The Two Towers holds the record for the highest number of wigs used in one film.

10. Ironically, today, especially at Halloween, people with hair wear "rubber wigs" to make them look bald!

21 May: Harold Robbins Quotes

Today, 10 quotes from Harold Robbins, US writer, who was born on this date in 1912. Among his best known books is The Carpetbaggers.

1. Sometimes something happens and you find that all the people you knew are like nothing and someone you never saw before will reach out a hand to help.

2. The only thing of value on this earth is that each of us is an individual and not a cog in a machine. No man is better than another because of circumstance or fortune, but each important to his own.

3. Every man has his price. For some it's money, for some it's women, for others glory. But the honest man you don't have to buy – he winds up costing you nothing.

4. To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.

5. When I die, I don't want to leave any enemies, and I figure the only way to do that is to outlive them all.

6. People are not like a business. You can't buy and sell them like so much property. You can't lock them up in a vault and expect them to appreciate it.

7. Power, sex, deceit, and wealth: the four ingredients to a successful story.

8. A man is a thousand parts, All of them other people.

9. Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.

10. There is no sorrow that love does not precede.

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/

20 May: Socrates

This date in 467 BC was, according to astro.com, the birthday of Socrates. Some facts about him:

1. He was born in Athens, Greece. His father, Sophroniscus, was a stonemason and his mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife.

2. He learned the stonemasonry trade from his father and worked as a mason, too, as he didn’t have enough money to be a philosopher full time.

3. Socrates didn’t write any of his teachings down. We only know about him because some of his students wrote about his life and work. His students included Aristotle, Plato, Xenophon, Aristophanes and Alexander the Great.

4. He was said to be extremely ugly, which might explain his belief that the mind was far more important than physical beauty. He’s described as being short with bulging Eyes, a snub nose and a pot belly.

5. He did his compulsory military service during which he served in Peloponnesian War, and was present at the battle of Amphipolis, and the battle of Potidaea. During the latter battle, he saved the life of a general called Alcibiades.

6. Which brings us to his sexuality. He was openly bisexual and attracted to men, and was said to have been in love with the general Alcibiades.

7. Nevertheless, he married a woman, albeit late in life, at the age of 50. Her name was Xanthippe and she was a lot younger than him. They had three sons, Menexenus, Lamprocles, and Sophroniscus who were said to be extremely boring people and nothing like their father at all. Socrates sometimes complained about his wife, but it's unclear if he was serious or not.

8. We already know he didn’t write books or treatises. He didn’t give boring lectures, either. He’d go to the town square on a busy market day and engage in conversation with random people, asking them questions and using biting wit and logic to trap them. He targetted people of all ages and social stations, both men and women, though his most popular discourses were the ones where he brought down high and mighty types. Crowds would gather to watch. Many of his “victims” would simply get annoyed but others had epiphanies. One such was a young poet called Aristocles who went home and burned all his writings. He would later be known as Plato.

9. Socrates got into trouble in the end for allegedly corrupting young people. It wasn’t so much about his sexuality but his rejection of the dominant religion of the time. He saw the widely worshipped Greek gods as no more than power hungry beings who meddled in society and needed to be constantly appeased with sacrifices. Just like politicians. That said, he wouldn’t have described himself as an atheist, either. He believed in a god called diamon, which was benevolent, rational and wise. What peed the authorities off was that he tried to turn young people away from the established gods towards one they’d never heard of.

10. His execution by drinking Hemlock is one of the most famous stories about him. Sentenced to death for his alleged crimes, he declared that he wasn’t afraid to die and refused to allow his friends to bribe the guards into letting him go. Trying to get out of his punishment, he said, was not something a true philosopher would do.

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/

19 May: 139

Today is day 139 of 2026. 10 139 fun facts.

1. There were 139 episodes of the American fantasy sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, and of 3rd Rock From The Sun.

2. 139 Juewa is a large main belt asteroid, the first asteroid discovered from China. It was discovered by the visiting American astronomer James Craig Watson in 1874 when he was in China to observe the transit of Venus. Watson asked Prince Gong to name the asteroid. He chose "Star of China's fortune" and Juewa is a rough translation of that, using the convention of the time.

3. The word 'begat' occurs 139 times in the KJV Bible.

4. The A139 is a road in England which runs from the A1305 Ring Road at Stockton-on-Tees to the A19 south of Billingham. It was previously allocated to a road between Ipswich and Felixstowe where a road ferry crossed to Harwich. This became the A45.

5. Camp 139 is a 2013 film directed by Matthew J. Adams and Benjamin James and starring Shane Dean, J. Lyle and Victoria Paege. It’s about four high school students who go on a camping trip in order to take drugs but it all goes wrong when a militant killing machine stalks them through the wilderness, luring them towards an abandoned Army hospital.

6. 139 is a toll free number in India for train related enquiries.

7. London bus route 139 runs from Golders Green Station to Waterloo Station.

8. 139 is the 34th prime number.

9. Psalm 139 in the Good News Bible begins: “Lord, you have examined me and you know me. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts.

10. In numerology, 139 energy is pragmatic and focused. People influenced by it are people who can be trusted to get things done.

18 May: Soufflé

Today is National Cheese Soufflé Day, so here are some facts about soufflé.

1. The word soufflé comes from the French verb souffler, which means to blow, inflate or puff. It is the past participle of that verb.

2. The earliest soufflé recipe appeared in 1742 is Vincent La Chapelle’s book Le Cuisinier Moderne. La Chapelle was Madame de Pompadour’s chef.

3. However, it was the famous French chef Marie-Antoine Carême who really made the dish popular in the early 1800s. He was known as the “King of Chefs and Chef of Kings,” and many of the techniques he developed for producing the perfect soufflé are still used today.

4. The word soufflé first appeared in English in Louis Ude’s The French Cook, 1813. By 1845 the soufflé had become standard fare in recipe books.

5. Soufflés were savoury dishes in the beginning, flavoured with vegetables, herbs or Cheese. Sweet soufflés became popular during the Victorian era. Fruit, jam and Chocolate are popular sweet soufflé flavourings.

6. There are two main components to a soufflé. One is the sauce used to flavour it and the other is Egg whites which is what makes the dish light and fluffy.

7. The majority of soufflés are wheat free so suitable for people with gluten intolerance, although some flavourings may be less so. They depend on eggs, though, so vegans had better steer clear.

8. May 18th is National Cheese Soufflé Day, but people who prefer the sweet ones can celebrate on 28 February, which is National Chocolate Soufflé Day.

9. The most expensive soufflé sold for US $2,500 (UK £1,889, EUR €2,223). It has been made by Chefs Richard Farnabe and Alexandre Petrossian at their restaurant in New York, since September 2016. The ingredients include quail eggs and royal reserve caviar. The dish is topped with gold leaf and flambé Hennessey Richard.

10. If you’re looking more for quantity, Palestine is the place to be as it was home to the largest soufflé ever: 3,891 pounds (1,765 kg) and 243 feet long, produced in Nablus. The tallest was created by chef Jean-Michel Diot, in the year 2000 and was over 52 inches tall (approx. 1.32 meters).

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/