26 June: Shallots

In the French Revolutionary Calendar, today is Echalote (Day of the Shallot). Here are 10 things you didn’t know about shallots.

1. The Latin name for shallots is Allium cepa. They belong to the Amaryllidaceae family, so are closely related to Onions, Garlic, and Leeks, and more distantly to Tulips, Hyacinths, aloe vera and Asparagus.

2. Shallots are native to Asia and have been cultivated for over four thousand years. Exactly where in Asia they originally came from is debated among experts.

3. The name derives from the ancient city of Ascalon, which was located in modern day Israel. The people of Ascalon traded with the Greeks and people in Greece called these vegetables Onions of Ascalon, which eventually evolved into the name we know them by today.

4. Crusaders returning from the middle east was another means by which the popularity of shallots spread across Europe.

5. There are about 13 commonly cultivated varieties, including the French red shallot, the Persian shallot and the French grey shallot. The latter is also known as griselle or "true shallot" and grows in the wild from Central to Southwest Asia.

6. They grow in clusters of cloves, rather like garlic, encased in a papery skin which ranges in colour from copper, gold, pale Pink, to Red.

7. Raw shallots can irritate the eyes as onions do, despite having a milder flavour.

8. They are widely used in French cuisine in roasts, stews, and sauces. Asian cuisines make use of them too, not only in curries and stews, but also finely sliced and deep fried with Porridge. They are also pickled and used as a condiment.

9. A raw shallot is 80% water, 17% carbohydrates, 2.5% protein and contains negligible fat. Shallots are a source of vitamins C and B6, and manganese.

10. In Asia, Shallots are used in traditional Ayurvedic medicine to internally heat the body to induce detoxification and are believed to help increase immunity against sickness. They have also been used to get rid of freckles, as a cold remedy, for pain relief and as a mild diuretic. Non-medical or culinary uses include insect repellent, stopping metals from rusting and for polishing copper and glass. The skin produces a yellow-brown dye. While still growing in the ground, the whole plant is said to repel Moles and insects.

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/

25 June: Louis Mountbatten

This date in 1900 was the birthdate of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. 19 facts about him:

1. Louis Mountbatten was born in Frogmore House, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, the son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse. He was Elizabeth II’s second cousin, and Prince Philip’s Uncle.

2. His full name when christened was His Serene Highness, Prince Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas of Battenberg. Queen Victoria and Tsar Nicholas II were his godparents. However, his nickname among his family was “Dickie” even though none of those many names was Richard. Queen Victoria had suggested “Nicky” but there were already several Nickys in the extended family so it got changed to Dickie. His last name changed from Battenberg to Mountbatten in 1917 when the British royal family wanted to distance themselves from their German roots.

3. Mountbatten joined the Royal Navy in 1916, specialising in communications and received his first command in 1934 on the destroyer HMS Daring. He was nicknamed ‘the Master of Disaster’ in the Navy for his penchant of getting into messes. In May 1941, his ship HMS Kelly was sunk by German dive-bombers off the coast of Crete, losing more than half the crew, and he commanded the ill fated Allied forces seaborne raid on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in France. Within 10 hours, of the 6,086 men who landed, 3,623 had been killed, wounded or become prisoners of war.

4. He tried to warn America that Pearl Harbor, which he visited while in command of HMS Illustrious in 1941, was vulnerable to an attack by Japan. Nobody listened to him at the time, but he was proved right in December that year when the attack happened.

5. Mountbatten married Edwina Ashley in July 1922 and they had two daughters who both served as ladies in waiting to the Queen. Both Edwina and Louis had numerous affairs, though, and there were rumours that some of Mountbatten’s were with men. After Edwina died in 1960, Mountbatten had several relationships with other women including actress Shirley MacLaine.

6. He was a father figure to Prince Philip, who was estranged from his father, and it was Mountbatten who arranged for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to visit Dartmouth Royal Naval College in 1939 and bring their daughters with them. He gave Philip the job of amusing the princesses while their parents went on a tour of the college.

7. His matchmaking continued with the next generation as he became a mentor to Prince Charles. He told the young prince to make the most of his bachelor life and then marry a young, inexperienced girl, which, he claimed, would ensure a stable marriage. He tried to set Charles up with one of his granddaughters, but that didn’t work out. He then warned him off marrying Camilla Shand, warning that his affair with Camilla meant he was on the same slippery slope as his uncle, King Edward VIII, which ended with his marriage to Wallis Simpson.

8. His hobbies and interests included genealogy, in particular, his own links with other European monarchs. From 1957 until his death, he served as Patron of the Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society. He was also a keen polo player, and wrote a book about it.

9. He oversaw the defeat of the Japanese offensive towards India during World War Two and then the transition of British India to independence. He was appointed the last British Viceroy of India, and became its first Governor-General.

10. Lord Mountbatten regularly holidayed with his family in Classiebawn Castle in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo. He had a boat there, which was blown up by the IRA, killing him, his two grandsons, the Dowager Lady Brabourne and a local boy. The man responsible for the bomb was one Thomas McMahon who attached the bomb to the boat while it was left unattended. McMahon was arrested before the bomb even went off, because he was suspected of driving a stolen car. Police noticed flecks of paint on his clothes, which they later matched to the paint on Mountbatten’s boat. McMahon was sentenced to life imprisonment, but released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

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/

24 June: Midsummer's Day

Midsummer’s Day is celebrated today in many countries. 10 things you might not know about Midsummer.

1. But wait. Shouldn’t the middle of summer be celebrated on the day of the summer solstice, three or four days earlier? One possible reason is that in Roman times when they used the Julian calendar, the summer solstice was on this date.

2. The Romans celebrated midsummer in a big way with much drinking and merrymaking. It was also the festival of the goddess Fors Fortuna.

3. When Christianity arrived, this day was assigned as a feast of St John the Baptist.

4. Rural communities saw it as a reason for celebration because it was the midpoint of the growing season, and therefore farmers celebrated the harvest to come.

5. Midsummer’s Eve was widely celebrated with bonfires and it was a time when young women would traditionally try to divine who their future husbands would be.

6. Midsummer was traditionally a time for gathering herbs, especially Saint John's wort, which was believed to have protective powers against evil spirits.

7. Midsummer’s day is a public holiday in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Quebec. In Sweden, there have been proposals to move the country’s national day to this date.

8. In England, Midsummer Day is traditionally one of the quarter days, when servants were hired, school terms started, and rents were due.

9. In Austria, the Midsummer solstice is celebrated with a procession of ships down the Danube through the wine-growing Wachau Valley north of Vienna.

10. In Celtic tradition it’s a day when fairies are about, and is second only to Halloween when it comes to the supernatural. Rubbing fern spores on eyelids the night before was said to ensure you’d see a fairy on Midsummer’s day, with the caveat that you should wear your clothes inside out or carry rue in your pocket so as not to be stolen away by them.

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 June: Banff National Park

On this date in 1887, Banff National Park, Canada’s first, was created. 10 things you might not know about Banff National Park.

1. It was the first national park in Canada and the third in the world.

2. It was created after railway workers discovered a natural hot spring at the base of Sulphur Mountain. Prime Minister Macdonald set aside a 26 square kilometres in 1885 to preserve the natural beauty of the area. Two years later it became a national park, then known as the Rocky Mountains Park. It was re-named Banff National Park in 1930, after Banffshire, Scotland, where the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway was born.

3. The park is located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 110–180 kilometres (68–112 miles) west of Calgary. It encompasses 6,641 square kilometres (2,564 sq miles) of mountainous terrain.

4. The tallest peak entirely within the park is Mount Forbes at 3,612 metres (11,850 ft). Mount Assiniboine is slightly higher at 3,618 m (11,870 ft) but is on the Banff-Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park border.

5. There are 1,600 kilometres of hiking trails in the park and more than 2,468 campsites. The Town of Banff has an elevation of 4,537 feet (1,383 metres), making it the highest town in Canada.

6. It’s the only national park in the world to have a distillery. It’s called Park Distillery. Its use of pure, glacial water and small batches are what makes its spirits especially good.

7. The park has lakes which are amazing shades of blue or green: namely Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Peyto Lake, and Bow Lake. The colour comes from rocks which are ground into powder by the glaciers and which reflect sunlight.

8. Peyto Lake is named for a historical figure associated with the area, Bill Peyto, a pioneer and park warden who has become a legend in his own lunchtime. It’s said he raised cougar kittens and once walked into a bar carrying a live lynx on his back just to scare people. There’s a bar named for him, Wild Bill's, and he is the person pictured on the “Welcome to Banff” sign.

9. Other features include Canada’s longest cave system, Castle Mountain, was named by James Hector in 1858, because he thought it looked like a castle, and a triple divide, a rare feature of the landscape where water flowing from the mountains flows into three separate drainage basins which then end up in either the Atlantic, the Pacific, or the Arctic Ocean.

10. Banff National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and welcomes over 4,500,000 tourists every year.

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 June: Onion rings

Happy Onion Rings Day! Ten facts about onion rings.

1. An onion ring is the cross section of an Onion which has been dipped in batter and deep fried.

2. They are sometimes called French-fried onion rings.

3. The first recipe for onion rings is attributed to John Mollard, a British food writer who published it in a book called The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined in 1802.

4. His recipe included parmesan Cheese in the batter and used lard for the frying. The recipe also suggested serving them with a sauce of melted Butter and Mustard.

5. Numerous restaurants in America claimed to have invented the onion ring. One of the best known claims is from the Kirby's Pig Stand restaurant chain in Oak Cliff, Texas in the early 1920s. However, there’s no concrete evidence for any of them.

6. It’s possible the origin of onion rings actually lies with Arab merchants in India, who would sell battered fried onions as street food to travellers passing through, thus spreading the idea far and wide.

7. Although it may be that what these merchants sold were actually strips of onion, a variation known as onion strings.

8. Onion rings taste slightly sweet because of a chemical reaction caused by cooking. Propanethial oxide turns into bispropenyl disulfide.

9. Americans consume 20 pounds of these onion rings per person annually.

10. If you hear an onion ring, answer it.

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/

21 June: 172

On day 172 of the year, ten fun facts about 172.

1. The Cessna 172 is the most popular aircraft ever. More Cessna 172s were built than any other aircraft.

2. 172 is the atomic number of a theoretical chemical element called Unseptbium, which has the symbol Usb.

3. 172 Baucis is a main belt asteroid discovered by French astronomer Alphonse Borrelly in 1877, and named after a character in the Greek legend of Baucis and Philemon.

4. The London bus 172 runs between Brockley Rise, Chandos and Aldwych Drury Lane. Also, the headquarters of London Buses is at 172 Buckingham Palace Road.

5. United Nations Security Council Resolution 172, adopted in 1962, recommended that the Republic of Rwanda be admitted as a member nation.

6. The A172 is a major road in North Yorkshire and Middlesbrough. It runs from Ingleby Arncliffe to Middlesbrough.

7. Year 172 AD was a leap year starting on a Tuesday. It was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Maximus. In this year, the Miracle in Moravia occurred: The Roman army was surrounded by the Quadi in intense and crippling heat, and as all seemed to be lost for the Romans a violent thunderstorm occurred which not only refreshed the parched Roman army but swept their enemies away in a torrent of mud.

8. In Binary, 172 is written 10101100 and in Roman numerals it's CLXXII.

9. 172 can be divided by 1, 2, 4, 43, 86 and 172. The sum of its divisors is 308.

10. In numerology a person affected by the energy of 172 is curious and likes to explore new places and ideas. They're comfortable doing things alone and tend to do things without consulting anybody else, but they will make careful plans.

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 June: Space Oddity

On this date in 1969 David Bowie recorded Space Oddity at Trident Studios London. 10 facts about the song.

1. Given that the release date was 11 July 1969, days before the first Moon landing, it’s easy to assume the song was inspired by Apollo 11, but it was actually inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which David Bowie had watched multiple times. This isn’t to say that the record company didn’t rush through the release in order to cash in on the space theme.

2. The BBC jumped on the bandwagon, choosing to play the song during the mission and even over some of the footage of the landing itself. While Bowie was naturally chuffed that they chose to use his song, it was clear to him they hadn’t really listened to the lyrics beforehand. Bowie commented: "Obviously, some BBC official said, 'Oh, right then, that space song, Major Tom, blah blah blah, that’ll be great. 'Um, but he gets stranded in space, sir.' Nobody had the heart to tell the producer that." Though presumably someone did, or the producer did listen carefully at some point, and then the song was banned by the BBC until the astronauts had returned safely to Earth.

3. The B side was Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud.

4. Space Oddity isn’t the only song to feature Major Tom. Bowie’s 1980 single Ashes to Ashes also features him: "We know Major Tom's a junkie/Strung out in heaven's high/Hitting an all-time low." Major Tom gets another mention in Hallo Spaceboy from the 1995 album Outside and also in Bowie’s final album, Blackstar.

5. Major Tom does not, however, appear at all in the Italian version of the song, also recorded in 1969. Instead of directly translating the English words, the Italian songwriter Mogul was hired to write new lyrics. He re-worked it as a love song called Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Lonely Boy, Lonely Girl) with no mention of Major Tom at all.

6. In 1983, German electro musician Peter Schilling released a sequel song called Major Tom (I'm Coming Home), which actually did better in the charts than the original 1969 release of Space Oddity. In 2003, K.I.A. released another sequel called Mrs. Major Tom, telling the story from the point of view of Major Tom's wife.

7. Must admit, I always assumed the lyric "And the papers want to know whose shirt you wear," referred to whether he shopped for clothes at Moss Bros or Marks and Spencer, but one source I looked at claimed it was nothing to do with office wear but is English slang for “Which Football team do you support?”

8. In 2013 a cover of Space Oddity became the first music video to be filmed in space. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded it on the International Space Station. He sang and played Guitar while other performers provided musical accompaniment from Earth. He changed the lyrics, not only to include a reference to something Soyuz as a nod to the International part, but also leaving out the bit where Major Tom gets stranded in space.

9. In 1969, Space Oddity was awarded the Ivor Novello Award alongside Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?

10. It has been used in numerous films and TV shows, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in which Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is frequently referred to as "Major Tom" for daydreaming while at work; Friends (The One After Vegas); Mad Men and EastEnders.

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/