16 February: Jill Name Day

In Sweden, today is the name day for people called Jill.

Jill is an English feminine given name, often a short form of the name Gillian, which in turn originated as a Middle English variant of Juliana. Jill was a common name in the 15th century, and used in the English nursery rhyme Jack and Jill. 10 famous people called Jill:

1. Jill Dando: British television presenter who was murdered in 1999.

2. Jill Biden (pictured): American educator and former First Lady of the United States.

3. Jill Halfpenny: English actress who played Rebecca Hopkins on Coronation Street and Kate Mitchell on EastEnders.

4. Jill Archer: a character from the BBC Radio 4 soap opera, The Archers.

5. Jill Stein: American physician and activist, the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012, 2016, and 2024 elections.

6. Dame Jilly Cooper (born Jill Sallitt): English author and journalist, best known for her long-running Rutshire Chronicles series.

7. Jill Pole: a main character in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair.

8. Jill Gascoine: English actress who portrayed Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes in the 1980s television series The Gentle Touch and its spin-off series C.A.T.S. Eyes.

9. Jill Scott: English professional footballer who played as a midfielder. At 5 feet 11 inches (1.81 m), Scott was nicknamed "Crouchy" after male international footballer Peter Crouch.

10. Jill St. John: American actress best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the James Bond franchise, in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever.

Bonus: Jill Warner, one of the main characters in my novel, Tale of Two Sisters.

A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

Available on Amazon

Paperback

E-book

15 February: Matt Groening quotes

Born this date in 1954: Matt Groening, cartoonist, creator of the comic strip Life in Hell and as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama. 10 quotes:

1. Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig, then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun.

2. Son, if you really want something in life, you have to work for it. Now quiet, they're about to announce the lottery numbers.

3. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

4. Part of the fun of being alive is knowing that you're annoying the hell out of someone else.

5. No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you.

6. I promise I'll do anything for you, especially if it's easy.

7. I didn't lie, I was writing fiction with my mouth.

8. You've got to embrace the future. You can whine about it, but you've got to embrace it.

9. If at first you don't succeed – give it up. It isn't worth the pain.

10. Let's face it, all the good stuff happens after midnight.

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/

14 February: 45

Today is the 45^th day of 2026. Here are 10 fun facts about that number.

1. A 45 is a type of vinyl Record, usually 7 inches in diameter. It was the format for pop singles, so called because they played at 45rpm.

2. 45 has been used as a song title by Bon Iver, Karma to Burn and Elvis Costello. Jaguares and Kino have used it as album titles.

3. .45 is a 2006 American film written and directed by Gary Lennon and starring Milla Jovovich, Angus Macfadyen, Aisha Tyler, Stephen Dorff, and Sarah Strange.

4. The name of the film is no doubt a reference to .45, the diameter in inches of several firearm cartridges such as the Colt .45.

5. In London, the number 45 bus runs from Denmark Hill/Camberwell Green To: Morden Station.

6. A Sapphire anniversary is 45 years.

7. A P45 is a UK tax form given to people when they leave a job.

8. The Rover 45 is a small family car produced by the British manufacturer Rover from 1990 to 2005.

9. 45 can be used as a code for “Good Night.”

10. In numerology, 45 is a humanitarian number. People influenced by it want to make life better for others. They are compassionate and conscientious. They also have a liking for adventure.

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/

13 February: Grant Wood

Grant Wood, US artist remembered for his realistic paintings portraying the architecture, landscape and people of 1930's Midwestern United States, was born on this date in 1891. 10 facts about him.

1. Grant Wood was born on a farm near the small town of Anamosa, Iowa. His parents were Hattie and Francis Wood.

2. He became an apprentice in a metal shop, and was a woodworker and a metalworker as well as a painter. He spent some time working as a teacher and during that time, put his practical skills to use by making a “naughty bench” for students to sit on while awaiting punishment from the principal.

3. Near the end of World War I, Wood joined the army, working as an artist designing camouflage scenes. Throughout his life, he’d supplement his income by designing advertisements and fliers.

4. He travelled to Europe several times to study different artists and styles of painting. Impressionism and post-Impressionism were among the styles he studied, but he was most influenced by the 15th-century Flemish artist Jan van Eyck.

5. His own style was part of a movement called American Regionalism, popular during the great depression, which favoured realistic scenes of everyday life in rural and small-town America, primarily in the Midwest.

6. His most famous painting, American Gothic, had as its inspiration a real house that he noticed while visiting Eldon, Iowa, to attend an art exhibition. He decided he wanted to paint the house and its arched window, and the kind of people he thought might live there, so made a sketch of it on an envelope. It was called the Dibble House, and years later when it began to fall into disrepair, Grant’s sister began a movement to preserve it. It is now a tourist attraction and visitors are encouraged to have their photos taken outside, posing as the couple in the painting.

7. The models for the couple in the painting were Byron McKeeby, who was actually Wood’s dentist, and Wood’s sister, Nan. He had wanted to use his mother as the model, but thought she might not be up to posing for long periods. Hattie did contribute by lending her apron and cameo for her daughter’s costume. The assumption was often made that they were a married couple, but Nan insisted they were supposed to be a farmer with his unmarried daughter. Perhaps she was unhappy at being seen as much older than she was, or objected to being “married off” to an older man. Wood himself was ambiguous on the matter.

8. He was going to paint a sequel featuring a Mission style bungalow and the people he thought might live in a house of that style. Which, he once said in an interview, would have been in a landscape format rather than a portrait one like American Gothic.

9. Wood was married to Sara Sherman Maxon for three years, although it’s commonly believed he was gay. Colleagues at the university he worked at tried to get him fired for being gay but the university administration dismissed the allegations.

10. Wood was a Freemason for a while. After receiving his third Degree of Master Mason in 1921 he painted a picture called The First Three Degrees of Freemasonry, but in 1924 he was suspended for not paying his membership fee and left the organisation completely.

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/

12 February: Marie Lloyd

Born this day in 1870 was Marie Lloyd, English music hall singer and comedienne. 10 facts about her.

1. Her real name was Matilda Alice Victoria Wood, known to her family as Tilley. Her father was a waiter and artificial Flower arranger, and her mother a dressmaker and costume designer. She was the eldest of nine children. The family lived in Hoxton, East London.

2. She didn’t like school and often played truant to look after her siblings. She and her sister Alice organised them into an act called the Fairy Bell troupe. They would perform at temperance missions, singing songs about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

3. Her father was proud of her talent and got her a job as a table singer at the Eagle Tavern in Hoxton, where he worked as a waiter.

4. She also had a couple of day jobs, making babies' boots and curled feathers for hats. However, she didn’t always apply herself and was eventually fired for dancing on the tables at work. She went home and declared that she wanted to work full time in show business.

5. She made her professional solo stage début at the Grecian music hall in Hoxton at the age of 15. At first, she used her actual name, Matilda Wood, but as she grew more popular her agent suggested she change her name. She chose Marie because it sounded French and quite posh, and the Lloyd came from Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper.

6. She was known for her somewhat risqué and ad lib performances, and her best known songs are The Boy I Love Is Up in the Gallery and My Old Man (Said Follow the Van).

7. She made her own costumes, using skills she’d learned from her mother.

8. She married three times and all three marriages were turbulent, ending in separation and/or divorce. Her first husband was Percy Courtenay, a ticket tout from Streatham. He once pulled a decorative sword off the wall in her dressing room and threatened to kill her with it, and she reported him to the police. Her second was Alec Hurley, a singer, and finally Bernard Dillon, a jockey.

9. She toured in America but her trip there started badly. She and Dillon had applied for an entry visa as Mr and Mrs Dillon, but they weren’t married at the time. The authorities found out and detained them and threatened them with deportation on the grounds of “moral turpitude”. She was threatened by the theatre manager with breach of contract proceedings after episodes of domestic abuse from Dillon caused her to miss performances. When she left, she vowed she would never sing in America again, no matter how much money she was offered.

10. Towards the end of her life, her performances grew erratic. She’d stumble on stage which audiences thought at first was all part of the act, but was taken ill on stage with stomach cramps. She died later that evening of heart and kidney failure at the age of 52.

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/

11 February: Meringue

Today is Meringue Memorial Day. To celebrate, here are 10 facts about meringue.

1. Meringue is a sweet substance made by whipping Egg whites and Sugar together, possibly with an acidic ingredient such as Lemon, Vinegar, or cream of tartar.

2. There are different types of meringue produced in slightly different ways. The method described above, and the one most home cooks are familiar with, is French meringue. There’s also Italian meringue, which was invented by the French chef Lancelot de Casteau in 1604. It is made by boiling sugar syrup, rather than caster sugar.

3. And then there is Swiss meringue, which is whisked over a bain-marie to warm the egg whites, then whisked until it cools.

4. Meringue can be soft, as used on desserts and cake toppings, or it can be baked in the oven so it becomes harder and crispy.

5. The invention of meringue is sometimes attributed to a Swiss pastry chef called Gasparini in 1720. He worked in a town called Meiringen in Switzerland, which is said to be where the name comes from.

6. However. The word first appeared in print much earlier in a cookbook by François Massialot in 1692, and Gasparini therefore may have improved the recipe but didn’t invent it.

7. A confection that is effectively meringue but known as "white biskit bread" appears in a cookbook by Elinor Fettiplace in 1604.

8. Meringue is formed by the breaking down of ovalbumin, a protein found in egg whites, as it is whisked.

9. This chemical reaction isn’t stable, so meringue will only keep for a couple of weeks. The sugar also absorbs moisture from the air and this can cause the meringue to collapse or go soft.

10. Vegan meringue is a thing. It’s made from aquafaba, which is a liquid obtained from chickpeas, which contains vegetable protein which can be beaten like egg whites.

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/

10 February: Roberta Flack

On this date in 1939 the singer Roberta Flack was born. 10 facts about her:

1. She was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina and music was in her blood. Her father was a jazz pianist and her mother a church organist. Hence her early exposure to music was in a church setting, where she accompanied the choir on Piano and also sang.

2. She was a child prodigy, learning to play the piano on her mother’s knee. At nine, she started formal piano lessons and at 13 came second in a state wide competition. She won a scholarship to Howard University when she was 15 and graduated with a BA in Music at 19.

3. She began postgraduate studies but had to leave and work to support herself after her father died. She became a teacher of music and English and also gave piano lessons at her home.

4. Her first love was classical music – she wanted to be a concert pianist.

5. She worked at the Tivoli Theatre, playing accompaniment for Opera singers. During the intermissions, she’d play and sing blues, folk and pop songs. At that time she had a voice coach called Frederick "Wilkie" Wilkerson, and it was he who advised her that she would do better in popular music than the classics. Flack took his suggestion on board and changed her repertoire.

6. In 1968 she performed at a benefit concert in Washington to raise funds for a children's library. In the audience was soul and jazz singer Les McCann, who loved her voice and got her an audition with Atlantic Records.

7. She had several hits with Donny Hathaway, who she met at university, including Where is the Love? Her song Killing Me Softly was a tribute to American Pie singer Don McLean.

8. She was an animal lover and spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Her song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, was used in one of their commercials. Incidentally, when she sang that song, she was, in her mind, singing it to her pet cat.

9. Foe many years she lived next door to Yoko Ono and John Lennon. She was good friends with Yoko, and John and Yoko’s son Sean used to call her Aunt Roberta.

10. She performed up until her 80s until she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, which made singing impossible. Flack died at the age of 88 of cardiac arrest on February 24, 2025 on her way to a hospital in Manhattan.

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/