28 March: Radio Caroline

Radio Caroline Began broadcasting on this date in 1964. 10 things you might not know about Radio Caroline.

1. The station was born at a time when pop music got very little air time on BBC Radio. Young people wanting to listen to pop Music on the radio could only do so for about an hour a week, as The BBC catered mainly to older audiences.

2. It was founded by a musician and manager from Ireland, called Ronan O'Rahilly, who had applied to the BBC to get them to play a record by one of his contracted artists, one Georgie Fame, and been turned down.

3. O'Rahilly obtained a former Danish passenger ferry called Fredericia which he took to the Irish port of Greenore to be fitted out as a radio ship. She was then renamed MV Caroline and her port of registry changed to Panama. She was the first of a number of ships used to broadcast the station. Others were used as a result of mergers with other offshore stations or replacements for ships that were wrecked or seized. Other vessels included Mi Amigo and Ross Revenge. The latter was a former fishing trawler which had (91 m) high mast, the tallest on any ship in the world.

4. Why Caroline? We don’t know for sure, but there are three different theories. One was that O'Rahilly was inspired by a picture he’d seen of Caroline Kennedy, playing with her brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., in the Oval Office. Another theory is that it was named after someone O'Rahilly knew, probably Caroline Maudling, daughter of the British government minister Reginald Maudling. The third theory is that it wasn’t named for a real person at all, but a concept of a target audience. For a time, Radio Caroline shared an office with a music magazine, Queen, whose target audience according to its editor was "a twenty something, non intellectual who had left school at 16, and was a ‘good time’ girl called Caroline." Which, it was decided, was also the target audience for the radio station.

5. Some big names in the broadcasting world started their careers on Radio Caroline. They include Tony Blackburn, Simon Dee, Tony Prince, Spangles Muldoon, Johnnie Walker, Dave Lee Travis, Tommy Vance and Emperor Rosko. For one weekend in 1965 the regular DJs were joined by a singer called Sylvan Whittingham, who visited to promote her new single and then couldn’t leave due to a storm. She spent the time mucking in and helping to present programmes and create jingles.

6. In 1967, the UK Government enacted the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 which essentially meant companies weren’t allowed to advertise on it, which caused serious financial problems and several offshore stations, for want of a better word, went under. Caroline, however, simply moved to Dutch waters, out of the law’s jurisdiction. They stayed there until 1974, when the Netherlands enacted a similar law, at which point they moved to Spain.

7. The first programme was pre recorded and presented by Chris Moore. The opening show on the Ross Revenge was presented by Tom Anderson, who had been the one to broadcast the final goodbye from the sinking Mi Amigo in 1980.

8. There was once a murder associated with the station. In 1965, Caroline was in negotiations to take over another station, Radio City, which broadcast from a Second World War marine fort called Shivering Sands Army Fort, off the Kent coast. One Major Oliver Smedley entered into a partnership with Radio City's owner, Reginald Calvert, and had a more powerful transmitter installed on the fort. This transmitter didn’t work. Calvert didn’t pay for it and Smedley withdrew from the deal. Smedley later took a bunch of workmen to the fort to repossess the transmitter as it would still have useful parts. Calvert wasn’t happy about that and showed up at Smedley’s house asking for the transmitter back. There was a fight which ended with Calvert being shot dead. Smedley was charged with Calvert's murder, later reduced to a charge of manslaughter. The jury acquitted him.

9. As well as pop music, Radio Caroline used to broadcast shows by American Evangelists, who would pay handsomely for late night slots, perhaps hoping to reach young pop fans. This helped make ends meet during the time when advertising was outlawed.

10. Radio Caroline still exists today, but it’s not broadcast from a ship these days. The now station broadcasts on 648 AM across much of England and DAB radio in certain areas, and you can also listen to it 24 hours a day on The Internet.

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

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27 March: Raymond Name Day

Today is the name day for people called Raymond. Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin, meaning counsel and protection. It is frequently shortened to Ray. 10 famous Raymonds:

1. Ray Bolger: actor who played the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz.

2. Saint Raymond of Penyafort patron of canon lawyers and of all lawyers in Spain.

3. Ray Bradbury: American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451.

4. Raymond Reddington: main character in the TV series The Blacklist.

5. Raymond Burr: Canadian actor who portrayed the title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.

6. Ray Charles (pictured): American singer, songwriter and pianist.

7. Ray Park: British actor, martial artist and stuntman best known for as Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

8. Raymond Briggs: English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author best known for The Snowman and Fungus the Bogeyman.

9. Ray Romano: actor who played Ray Barone in Everybody loves Raymond.

10. Raymond E. Feist: American fantasy writer.

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/

26 March: Robert Frost

Robert Frost, the American poet, was born on this date in 1874. Here are 10 facts about him.

1. He was born in San Francisco; both his parents were teachers. He was named after Confederate General Robert E Lee, a hero of his father’s.

2. Frost’s father died of tuberculosis when he was 11 years old, leaving them with just eight dollars. Hence the family moved to Massachusetts to live with his grandparents.

3. Frost had two unsuccessful attempts at getting a college degree. He went to Dartmouth College but only lasted two months before dropping out, saying, "I wasn't suited for that place." He tried again at Harvard, but by this time he had a wife and child and dropped out to support them. Harvard bestowed an honorary degree on him in 1937.

4. His wife’s name was Elinor Miriam White and they were childhood sweethearts, having met at school. In fact, they shared the title of class valedictorian when they graduated in 1892. He proposed to her after he sold his first poem (My Butterfly, to the New York Independent newspaper in 1894, for which he got paid $15 which at the time was a substantial sum, about twice the weekly salary he earned as a teacher) but she insisted on waiting until she finished college. His poem, The Subverted Flower, was inspired by her.

5. His most famous poem, The Road Not Taken, was actually written as a bit of a joke. Frost used to go hiking with a friend, Edward Thomas. Thomas was often indecisive about which way to go, would spend a lot of time deliberating and then regretting that he’d not chosen the other route.

6. Another of his poems is called Fire and Ice, and this one was an inspiration to JRR Martin who admits the poem was an influence and that he lifted the title for his book A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin said, "Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardour and all of these things. Ice is betrayal, ice is revenge, ice is … you know, that kind of cold inhumanity and all that stuff is being played out in the books.” Indeed.

7. John F Kennedy was also a fan, which led to Frost becoming the first poet to read at a presidential inauguration. The poem he used at the event was not the one he’d intended to read. He’d written one called Dedication and had it typed out, but the sun was so bright he couldn’t read the words because of the glare, so ended up reciting The Gift Outright because he knew it by heart.

8. He is the only poet to win the Pulitzer Prize four times. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 31 times.

9. As well as poetry, he wrote a few plays including A Way Out, and The Cow's in the Corn: A One Act Irish Play in Rhyme.

10. He died in 1963 at the age of 88. The inscription on his tombstone is “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world,” which is the last line of his poem The Lesson for Today.

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

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25 March: Béla Bartók

This date in 1881 was the birthdate of Béla Bartók, a Hungarian composer known for composing Hungarian dances. 10 facts about him.

1. Béla Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós, which was in Hungary at the time but is now part of Romania. His father was descended from a noble family and worked as Director of an Agricultural School. His mother was from Slovakia. He had a sister whose name was Erzsébet.

2. His parents were both amateur musicians and Bartók’s mother began teaching him to play the Piano when he was five. At nine, he started composing.

3. His first public performance was when he was 11. One of the pieces he played at it was his one of his own compositions called The Course of the Danube. His performance attracted the attention of László Erkel, who took him on as a student.

4. He earned a place at the prestigious Vienna Conservatoire when he was 17, but being a Hungarian nationalist he chose to study piano and composition at the Budapest Academy of Music instead. He graduated in 1903, and began teaching piano there himself.

5. He was married twice. His first wife was Márta Ziegler with whom he had a son, Béla Bartók III. They divorced in 1923 and the following year Bartók he married Ditta Pásztory, a piano student, and had another son, Péter.

6. While he is famous for folk music inspired compositions, he also wrote one opera, Bluebeard's Castle in 1911.

7. He was strongly against the Nazis and Hungary's alliance with Germany. He refused to perform in Germany after 1933, and eventually left Europe altogether to escape the Nazis. He went to America, settled in New York and taught at Columbia University.

8. His passion was ethnomusicological research. He collected folk tunes from Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Turkey and North Africa. When he retired from teaching he devoted much of his time to this pursuit.

9. Bartók died in New York in 1945, at the age of 64, from complications of leukaemia. Only ten people attended his funeral, including his wife and two sons. He was buried in New York although in 1988 his sons had his remains moved and reburied in Hungary in 1988.

10. At the time of his death, Bartók left some unfinished works which were completed by one of his students, Tibor Serly.

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

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24 March: William Morris Quotes

Born on this date in 1834 was William Morris, architect, poet, artist, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. 10 things he said:

1. Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

2. The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

3. I am going your way, so let us go hand in hand. You help me and I'll help you. We shall not be here very long ... so let us help one another while we may.

4. There is no excuse for doing anything which is not strikingly beautiful.

5. No pattern should be without some sort of meaning.

6. The past is not dead, it is living in us, and will be alive in the future which we are now helping to make.

7. I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.

8. History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; art has remembered the people, because they created.

9. No man is good enough to be another's master.

10. If a chap can't compose an epic poem while he's weaving tapestry, he had better shut up, he'll never do any good at all.

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 March: 82

Today is day 82 of 2026. Here are some fun facts about the number 82.

1. In Roman numerals, 82 is LXXXII

2. +82 is the international calling code for South Korea.

3. 82 Alkmene is a main-belt asteroid discovered by R. Luther in 1864 and named after Alcmene, the mother of Herakles in Greek mythology.

4. 82 is the second studio album by the Kenyan house/funk trio Just a Band, released in 2009.

5. It’s the atomic number of Lead.

6. The first verse of Psalm 82 is "God presides in the heavenly council; in the assembly of the gods he gives his decision."

7. The A82 is a major road in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William.

8. The Tatra 82 was a heavy-duty car model made by Czech manufacturer Tatra between 1935 and 1938. It was mainly used for military cargo and personnel.

9. In binary, 82 is 1010010.

10. In numerology 82 is an independent and pragmatic energy which gets things done. It may prefer to pursue its own goals without being hindered by others, but if needed it will assemble a team to implement the project. 82 is an effective leader but can lack empathy towards team members.

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

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22 March: Anthony Van Dyck

This date in 1599 was the birthdate of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Flemish artist. Here are 10 things you might not know:

1. Born in Antwerp, he was the seventh of twelve children. His father was a silk merchant and his mother was a skilled embroiderer.

2. His talent as an artist emerged when he was very young. He was an apprentice to Hendrik van Balen at ten. He had his own studio when he was a teenager and by 19 he was a master painter in the esteemed Antwerp Guild of St Luke.

3. He gave up his studio when he met Peter Paul Rubens, in order to become his assistant and learn from him. Rubens referred to Van Dyck as the best of his students.

4. He was a success throughout Europe, spending time in Italy and eventually settling in England. In his time spelling wasn’t standardised, so there were multiple variations of his name. Anthony van Dijk, Antonio Wandik, Anttonio Vandique, Bandeique, and Anthonius van Dyck were among the variations that existed.

5. In terms of his love life, he apparently put himself about a bit. He had many lovers and at least one long term mistress called Margaret Lemon. She was said to be jealous and possessive, but neither of them was faithful to the other. He probably had many illegitimate children, and it’s speculated that he left Antwerp to escape the consequences of getting some of his lovers pregnant. He only ever acknowledged one illegitimate child, a daughter, Maria-Theresia, shortly before he died.

6. He eventually married at the age of 41. His wife’s name was Mary Ruthven. By this time his health was declining. He died at the age of 42, just a week after the birth of his only legitimate child, Justiniana.

7. His portraits were famous for his depiction of hands, Eyes and suits of armour. He developed a style of full length portraits.

8. In case you’re wondering why he’s Sir Anthony Van Dyck, that came about after he became the principal court painter for King Charles I. Charles liked his work so much that he knighted him and also provided him with a house and a pension of £200 which would be five figures in today’s money.

9. Van Dyck was buried in St Paul's Cathedral despite being a Catholic. Unfortunately, his grave was destroyed in the Great fire of London although there is a memorial in the new cathedral to him and others whose graves met the same fate, which was installed in 1913.

10. Van Dyck was an influence to several famous painters who came after him, including Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

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/