30th September: Botswana Independence Day

Botswana became independent on this date in 1966 so here are 10 things you might not know about Botswana:

1. The name comes from the main ethnic group in the country, the Tswana, and the prefix Bo, meaning country. In their language, the prefix Ba means people, and so people from Botswana are called Batswana collectively. There is a different prefix for one person, Mo, so one person from Botswana is a Motswana. Se, meaning language, provides the name for the language they speak, Setswana.
2. The word “lekgoa,” which the Batswana often use to refer to foreigners, was originally translatable to “spat out by the sea.”
3. The Kalahari Desert covers up to 70% of Botswana's land surface.
4. The country's currency is the Botswana pula, subdivided into 100 thebe. Pula literally means "rain" in Setswana - rain is a particularly precious commodity in a country with so much desert. The sub-unit, thebe, means "shield".
5. It's the place to go if you like Elephants. Botswana has an estimated elephant population of over 133,800, the largest in the world. 50,000 of them live in the Chobe National Park.
6. The capital, Garbarone, was chosen because it is close to a source of fresh Water, and because it has a central location among the central tribes, but isn't particularly associated with any one tribe.
7. The highest point is Monalanong Hill, at 1,494 m (4,902 ft).
8. Botswana is home to the two biggest and richest diamond mines in the world. Orapa (meaning "resting place for Lions"), owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers company and the government of Botswana, and Jwaneng, which means “place of small stones”. 17.7% of the total world production of diamonds comes from Botswana, and the revenue from them funds free education for every child up to age 13.
9. The Okavango Delta isn't, as often quoted, the largest inland delta in the world. although it is one of the seven wonders of the Natural World. BUT During the wet season the Delta can grow up to three times its permanent size, and about 70% of the islands found in the Delta started out as termite mounds.
10. The Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series set in Botswana, is also a co-author of the only book on the country's legal system, The Criminal Law of Botswana (1992), which he wrote while teaching law at the University of Botswana. 

Check out my fiction titles:

Death and Faxes

Several women have been found murdered - it looks like the work of a ruthless serial killer. Psychic medium Maggie Flynn is one of the resources DI Jamie Swan has come to value in such cases - but Maggie is dead, leaving him with only the telephone number of the woman she saw as her successor, her granddaughter, Tabitha Drake.

Tabitha, grief-stricken by Maggie's death and suffering a crisis of confidence in her ability, wants nothing to do with solving murder cases. She wants to hold on to her job and find Mr Right (not necessarily in that order); so when DI Swan first contacts her, she refuses to get involved.

The ghosts of the victims have other ideas. They are anxious for the killer to be caught and for names to be cleared - and they won't leave Tabitha alone. It isn't long before Tabitha is drawn in so deeply that her own life is on the line.

Paperback - CreateSpace or Amazon 

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle (Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free!)

Glastonbury Swan

Every few weeks, there is a mysterious death in Glastonbury. They seem completely unrelated - an apparent suicide, a hit and run, a drug overdose, a magic act which goes horribly wrong - but is that what the killer wants people to think?

The police are certainly convinced - but one of the victims is communicating to medium Tabitha Drake that the deaths are linked.

Who is killing all these people and why? 

This is what Tabitha has to figure out - before it is too late to save someone very dear to her.

Paperback CreateSpace or Amazon

E-book Amazon Kindle

Jigsaw

The first ten short stories from my writing blog. Within these covers you will find murder, mayhem, ghosts, romance, dungeons and dragons and alien vampire bunnies.

You can, of course, read all these stories and more on the blog for free by following the link above, and you're welcome to do that, but if you find you'd like to read them over and over without looking at a screen, or you know your friend who hates technology would absolutely love them, the book is available.

Paperback CreateSpace or Amazon 

E-book Amazon Kindle

29th September: Birthdate of Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson was born on this day in 1758 so I thought I'd make him the subject of today's "column"!

1. He was the sixth of eleven children of the Reverend Edmund Nelson and his wife Catherine Suckling. He was named after his godfather Horatio Walpole (1723–1809) then 2nd Baron Walpole, of Wolterton.
2. His mother was was a grandniece of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
3. From his early days at sea, Nelson suffered from chronic seasickness.
4. Nelson's naval career was supported by his mother's brother, Maurice Suckling, who it seemed, often used his influence to get his nephew promoted.
5. One one expedition, Nelson reached within ten degrees of the North Pole while surveying a possible route to India via the Arctic, but the ship he was on had to turn back. A story circulated that during this expedition, Nelson chased a Polar Bear in order to get the skin for his father - but had been ordered to let the animal go and return to the ship.
6. He lost his right arm and the sight in his right eye in battles, and on both occasions was up commanding his crew within half an hour of surgery.
7. Inspirational leader he may have been, but he wasn't always great at following orders. On one occasion, he ignored orders to withdraw, used his bad eye to look through the telescope and claimed he couldn’t see the signal to withdraw. He literally turned a blind eye.
8. His famous order, "England expects that every man will do his duty" was originally intended to read, "England confides that every man will do his duty", which he told his signal lieutenant, John Pasco, to convey quickly because he also wanted to signal for close action. Pasco suggested changing 'confides' to 'expects', which could be signalled by the use of a single flag, whereas 'confides' would have to spelt out letter by letter. Nelson agreed.
9. Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar after being shot through the back by a French marksman. Earlier, the Victory’s captain, Thomas Hardy, had suggested that Nelson remove the decorations on his coat, so that he would not be so easily identified by enemy sharpshooters. Nelson replied that it was too late 'to be shifting a coat', adding that he did not fear to show them to the enemy'. It is not recorded whether Hardy ever commented, "I told you so."
10. Nelson's body was placed in a cask of brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh, which was then lashed to the Victory's mainmast and placed under guard. Once in England, the body was transferred to a lead-lined coffin filled with spirits of wine. His lead coffin was placed inside a wooden one, made from the mast of L'Orient which had been salvaged after the Battle of the Nile. The sailors charged with folding the Flag draping Nelson's coffin and placing it in the grave instead tore it into fragments, with each taking a piece as a memento.

28 September: Carrot Day

In the French Revolutionary Calendar, today is Carrot day. Carrots are also associated with St Michael, whose feast day is tomorrow, with special ceremonies involving carrots taking place the Sunday before it (ie yesterday). So here are 10 things you might not know about carrots.

1. The carrot is a member of the Parsley family including species such as Celery, Parsnip, fennel, dill and Coriander.
2. It is believed that the carrot originated some 5000 years ago in Middle Asia around Afghanistan, and slowly spread into the Mediterranean area.
3. Contrary to popular opinion, wild Rabbits don't eat carrots. They might eat the leaves, but they wouldn't bother to dig up the roots. Pet rabbits are often fed carrots because Bugs Bunny eats them - but pet rabbits shouldn't be given carrots as they are actually quite bad for them and give them tooth decay and digestive problems. According to the RSPCA, pet rabbits should be given hay to eat.
4. Carrots were originally white or purple. Then a Yellow carrot appeared through mutation and the familiar Orange carrot was bred from it. It was the Dutch who bred the orange carrot because orange was the traditional colour of the royal house of the Netherlands.
5. A medium-size carrot has 25 calories, 6 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of fibre. They are an excellent source of vitamin A, providing more than 200% of your daily requirement in just one carrot. Carrots are loaded with beta-carotene, a natural chemical that the body changes into vitamin A. The deeper orange the carrot, the more beta-carotene you get.
6. When first cultivated, carrots were grown for their leaves and seeds rather than their roots. You can eat the leaves - they are rich in protein, minerals and vitamins and oxalates.
7. Carrots taste sweeter in winter. Because plants are immobile, they must develop defence techniques against severe cold in winter, which would otherwise harm or kill the plant. Carrots have developed the physiological response of increasing their sugar content when it’s cold outside.
8. The  longest carrot ever was grown by Joe Atherton Mansfield UK in 2007 at 19 feet 2inches), and the heaviest carrot ever tipped the scales at 18.985 pounds (8.61 kg) in 1998.
9. Ed Ruscha, who is a master printer and artist uses carrot juice instead of printer ink.
10. In astrology, the ruling planet for cultivated carrot is Mars; for the wild carrot it's Mercury.

27 September: Launch of The Queen Elizabeth

On this date in 1938 The Queen Elizabeth, the biggest ocean liner of her time was launched.

1. She was named on her launch after Queen Elizabeth, who was Queen Consort to King George VI and who in 1952 became the Queen Mother.
2. The ship's vital statistics: Tonnage: 83,673 gross tons; Length:1,031 ft (314.2 m); Height: 233 ft (71.0 m); Beam (width): 118 ft (36.0 m); Capacity: 2,283 passengers and over 1,000 crew. she was the largest passenger liner ever built at that time and for fifty-six years thereafter. She still has the distinction of being the largest-ever riveted ship by gross tonnage.
3. Queen Elizabeth was built on slipway four at John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, and during construction was known as Hull 552.
4. Her maiden voyage was delayed by the start of World War II, and when it finally happened in March 1940, the whole event was shrouded in secrecy to trick the Germans. The Germans would have known that there were only two spring tides that year which would allow a water level high enough for the ship to get out of the dockyard. An elaborate ruse was fabricated whereby it was arranged for her to sail to Southampton to be fitted out. A minimal crew was engaged, including a Southampton harbour pilot, parts were shipped to Southampton, where a dry dock was prepared, and the crew were all booked into hotels there. Once out of dock, a King's Messenger met the ship and handed the captain sealed orders. They were to proceed to New York, despite final seaworthiness trials not having been completed. They were not to stop and were to maintain radio silence. The Southampton pilot wasn't to be dropped off - it's not known if he'd been told to pack a toothbrush! The authorities were right to keep it all secret. Later that day at the time when she was due to arrive at Southampton, the city was bombed by the Luftwaffe. The Germans really did have it in for the ship.
5. Six days later, the Queen Elizabeth arrived safely in New York having successfully evaded German U-boats, and was moored alongside both Queen Mary and the French Line's Normandie. This would be the only time all three of the world's largest liners would be berthed together.
6. From New York, she sailed to Singapore to be converted into a troop ship. She was fitted with anti-aircraft guns, and her hull repainted black, although her superstructure remained Grey.
7. Both the Queen Elizabeth and her sister ship, the Queen Mary, were used as troop ships during the second world war. Their high speeds allowed them to outrun German U-boats, so they could travel without a convoy. During her time as a troopship Queen Elizabeth carried more than 750,000 troops, and she also sailed some 500,000 miles (800,000 km).
8. After the war, the ship was converted back into an ocean liner, and finally it was possible to carry out the seaworthiness trials on a journey to the Isle of Arran. Onboard was the ship's namesake Queen Elizabeth and her two daughters, the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. During the trials, Commodore Sir James Bisset was ably assisted by three important passengers. The ship's namesake her majesty Queen Elizabeth took the wheel for a brief time and her daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, recorded the two measured runs with stopwatches that they had been given for the occasion.
9. Despite similar specifications to Queen Mary, Elizabeth never held the Blue Riband, as Cunard White Star chairman Sir Percy Bates requested that the two ships not try to compete against one another.
10. Sadly, the Queen Elizabeth came to a rather ignominious end. Cunard retired both ships by 1969 when competition from airlines led to a fall in passenger numbers, and replaced them with a single, smaller ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2. The original Queen Elizabeth was intended to become a floating university in Hong Kong but was destroyed by a fire and capsized. She was now a shipping hazard and was mostly scrapped. Portions of the hull, the keel and boilers remained at the bottom of Victoria harbour and it is estimated that around 40–50% of the wreck was still on the seabed. In the late 1990s, the final remains of the wreck were buried during land reclamation for the construction of Container Terminal 9.

26 September: TS Eliot

TS (Thomas Stearns Eliot) was born 26 September 1888, so today, 10 TS Eliot quotes. (Bonus fact - his name is an anagram of "toilets")

1. We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
2. Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
3. I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
4. If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?
5. You are the music while the music lasts.
6. Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.
7. Home is where one starts from.
8. I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.
9. It's not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.
10. We must always take risks. That is our destiny.

25th September: William Faulkner

This date in 1897 saw the birth of William Faulkner. Here are some words of wisdom from him:

1. You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.
2. You must walk up the hills so you can ride down.
3. Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
4. You can't beat women anyhow and that if you are wise or dislike trouble and uproar you don't even try to.
5. You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.
6. Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest.
7. A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.
8. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…
9. The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
10. An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why.

24th September: Cambodia

The Monarchy was restored in Cambodia on this date in 1993. Here are 10 things you might not know about Cambodia:

1. The official name is the Kingdom of Cambodia although it is also known as Kampuchea, which derives from the Sanskrit word Kambuja or "Golden Land" or "Land of Peace and Prosperity".
2. The current king is Norodom Sihamoni, who has reigned since his father abdicated in 2004. He spent 20 years of his life in France, and before becoming king, worked as an Ambassador in Europe and also as a ballet teacher. He often visited Prague and is therefore the only reigning monarch who can speak Czech. He has never married.
3. Geographically, Cambodia is bowl shaped - the interior is lowlands and flood plains, including the the largest inland lake in South East Asia called the Tonle Sap, surrounded by mountains.
4. In the 1970s, Cambodia was ruled by the Communist Party of Kampuchea, aka the Khmer Rouge, lead by Pol Pot. That era is known for it violence and mass killings of anyone who opposed the government, or was likely to. Artists, musicians, teachers, business owners, and everyone with an education was murdered. They even went so far as to kill anyone who wore glasses, because they looked intelligent. During the 4 year reign of the Khmer Rouge, it is estimated that between 1.4 million and 3 million Cambodians died either by execution in the Killing Fields, or in prison. In 1979, the Khmer Rouge was driven out by the Vietnamese who established the People’s Republic of Kampuchea.
5. The Cambodian Flag is the only national flag that has an image of a building on it – the Angkor Wat.
6. Angkor Wat is a temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world. It was originally a Hindu temple for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century. It was built by King Suryavarman II who reigned from 1131 to 1150, and was discovered by French explorers in the 19th century. Angkor Wat is Cambodia's main tourist attraction. Angkor means "city" and Wat "temple". The film Tomb Raider was filmed there.
7. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, once known as the "Pearl of Asia," it was considered one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s.
8. A greeting and way of showing respect, saying thanks, or apologising, is the Sampeah. The person wishing to greet another places his palms together in a prayer-like fashion while bowing slightly.
9. Tarantula kebabs are a popular delicacy in Cambodia. There is no McDonalds!
10. To celebrate the Buddhist New Year in April, people wish each other luck by throwing Water and Talcum powder at each other.

23 September: Euripides

Euripides, Greek playwright, born this date in 480 BC. 10 words of wisdom:

1. Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness.
2. Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.
3. Silence is true wisdom's best reply.
4. Today's today. Tomorrow we may be ourselves gone down the drain of Eternity.
5. There is the sky, which is all men's together.
6. Cleverness is not wisdom.
7. Do not consider painful what is good for you.
8. Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
9. Do not plan for ventures before finishing what's at hand.
10. Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them; he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account.

22 September: Mali National Day

Today is the National Day of Mali - here are 10 things you might not know about Mali:

1. Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa. It's about twice the size of the US state of Texas, making it the largest country in West Africa and the eighth largest in Africa as a whole.
2. The capital and largest city is Bamako. The name comes from a Bambara word meaning "crocodile river".
3. Another famous Malian city is Timbuktu, once a very wealthy centre of learning and commerce. The city grew rapidly in the 13th and 14th centuries due to trade in salt, gold, ivory and other things, and one of the first universities in the world was built there. The level of learning at Timbuktu’s Sankoré University was superior to that of all other Islamic centres in the world. By the time Europeans decided to go there and seek their fortunes, the city's wealth had declined, and so its reputation in the west became not a rich centre of learning but a faraway place that is difficult to find.
4. The prime meridian marker is located in Gao, Mali.
5. Mali is one of the hottest and driest countries in the world. About 65% of the country is covered in desert or semi-desert.
6. An estimated 800,000 people in Mali are descended from slaves. The Arabic population kept slaves well into the 20th century, until slavery was suppressed by French authorities around the mid-20th century. Due to certain hereditary servitude relationships, it's thought about 200,000 Malians are still slaves today.
7. Mali was once home to the richest man, ever, Mansa Musa, emperor of the Malian Empire in the early 1300s. In 2012, Celebrity Net Worth took out a list of world’s 25 wealthiest people of all time, and after adjusting for inflation Mansa Musa was placed on top of the list - richer than Bill Gates and the Rothschild family. It was calculated that Musa had a personal net worth of $400 billion at the time of his death. He was so rich that when he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he took with him 12,000 slaves, 60,000 men, 80 Camels that each carried between 50 and 30 pounds of Gold. Every Friday, when he wanted to worship, he would have a mosque built. He handed out so much gold to his people that it caused the price of gold to fall. By contrast, today, less than 10% of the country’s population earns more than $2 a day.
8. The flag of Mali is a tricolour with three equal vertical stripes in Green, gold, and red, the pan-African colours. The flag is almost identical to the flag of Guinea, except the colours are in reverse order. The green stands for fertility of the land, Gold means purity and mineral wealth and lastly red symbolises the blood shed for independence from the French.
9. Eighty percent of Malian workers are employed in agriculture. Cotton is the country's largest crop export.
10. Mali’s Great Mosque of Djenne is the largest mudbrick building in the world.

21st September: Armenia Independence Day

Armenia achieved Independence from the Soviet Union on this date in 1991. Here are 10 things you might not know about Armenia:

Yerevan Opera House

1. Armenia was the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in the 4th century. The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest national church. It claims to have originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus in the 1st century.
2. The capital and largest city is Yerevan. The buildings there are made from volcanic rock which is naturally coloured Pink, giving the city the nickname "Pink City".
3. The highest point is Mount Aragats at 4,090 metres (13,419 ft) above sea-level. Nowhere in Armenia is below 390 metres (1,280 ft) above sea level.
4. Mount Ararat is a symbol of Armenia and appears on their coat of arms, although it is actually situated in Turkey. It was part of Armenia historically, though, and can be seen from there.
5. Armenia is home to the world’s longest non-stop double track cable car. The Wings of Tatev is 5.7 km (3.5 mi) long and connects the village of Halizor to the isolated Tatev Monastery.
6. It is also home to the world's oldest winery. During excavations in 2011, scientists concluded that Areni winery in central Armenia is over 6000 years old.
7. The national fruit is the Apricot, and Armenian apricots are said to be the best in the world.
8. The Flag consists of three horizontal bands, red, blue and Orange. Red for survival, blue for peaceful skies and orange for creative talent and hard work (not to mention apricots).
9. The Armenian alphabet was invented in AD 405 by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and originally contained 36 letters. Two more letters were added in the middle ages.
10. Famous people of Armenian descent include Cher, Dita Von Teese and the Kardashians. Although Steve Jobs was of Syrian decent, his adoptive parents Paul and Clara Jobs were Armenian.

20th September: Autumn

Now that things are starting to get Autumnal and summer (not that we really had one in the UK) is a thing of the past, here are 10 quotes about Autumn.

1. Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. Albert Camus
2. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. George Eliot
3. Autumn. The year's last, loveliest smile. William Cullen Bryant
4. Every leaf speaks bliss to me. fluttering from the autumn tree. Emily Bronte
5. Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons. Jim Bishop
6. Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay. Robert Browning
7. Swinging on delicate hinges the autumn leaf almost off the stem. Jack Kerouac
8. Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees. Faith Baldwin
9. The autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun. Steve Sabol
10. For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. Edwin Way Teale

19th September: St Kitts and Nevis Independence Day

St Kitts and Nevis gained independence from the UK on this date in 1983.

1. It is a two island nation located in the West Indies, and is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population.
2. It has had a variety of names throughout history. Before the Europeans arrived, the islands were called "Liamuiga", which roughly translates as "fertile land" (this name lives on in the country's highest peak, at 1,156 metres, Mount Liamuiga, a dormant volcano once known as Mount Misery) and "Oualie", meaning "land of beautiful waters". It is thought Columbus may actually have given the name to a different island while naming Saint Kitts Sant Yago (Saint James) - but a mapping error led to the island that is now Saint Kitts being widely called "San Cristóbal", and later "St. Christopher's Island" by the British. In the 17th century, a common nickname for Christopher was Kit, or Kitt. This is why the island was often informally referred to as "Saint Kitt's Island", further shortened to "Saint Kitts." Columbus's original name for Nevis was San Martín. The current name "Nevis" is derived from a Spanish name Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows). It is thought the white clouds on Nevis Peak reminded the sailors of snow. For a while, the British called their settlement "Dulcina," a name meaning "sweet one" in Spanish, they eventually reverted back to a shortened version of the Spanish name, Nevis.
3. Sugar was once a major export crop although agriculture has diversified in recent years. Nevertheless, the St. Kitts and Nevis national Football team is known as the "Sugar Boyz", and a popular tourist attraction is the Sugar Train, the only coastal scenic railway in the Caribbean.
4. Established in 1984, St. Kitts’ citizenship program is the oldest economic citizenship program of this kind in the world. If you want to become a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, you will need to undergo a few legal checks and then buy government approved real-estate to the value of US$400,000. This entitles you and your family and descendants to full citizenship.
5. Saint Kitts is known for its Christmas Carnival which takes place between 17 December and 3 January each year. Crowd favorites include the Miss Caribbean Talented Teen Pageant, the Junior Calypso Show, and the National Carnival Queen Pageant.
6. The national bird is the Brown pelican.
7. Saint Kitts also has a population of vervet monkeys which may have arrived with French settlers as pets or with West African slaves brought in to work in the rum industry. The monkeys are known to get drunk on the fermented juice of sugar canes. Studies have shown that the monkey population reacts in a similar way to alcohol as humans, with some monkeys becoming alcoholics, most being social drinkers and a few not touching the stuff at all.
8. The capital city is Basseterre, located on Saint Kitts, and is a major port.
9. The Flag of St. Kitts and Nevis is divided diagonally by a broad Black band with two white, five-pointed stars; the black band is edged in Yellow; the upper triangle is Green, the lower triangle is red; green signifies the island's fertility, red symbolises the struggles of the people from slavery, yellow denotes year-round sunshine, and black represents the African heritage of the people; the white stars stand for the islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, but can also express hope and liberty, or independence and optimism.
10. Mel B, the former "Scary Spice" of the Spice Girls and the actress Angela Griffin both have Nevisian fathers.

18th September: Chile Independence Day

Today is Chile Independence Day. Here are some things you may not know about Chile.

1. Chile is the longest country in the world from north to south at 2,647 miles (4,620 km) long and extends across 38 degrees of latitude. The Andes Mountain Range extends over the entire length of the country. It is very narrow, though, at only 350 km (217 mi) at its widest point east to west.
2. No-one is quite sure what the origin of the name Chile was, but there are several theories: It was named for a tribal chief, Tili; it's from a Native American word meaning either "ends of the earth" or "sea gulls"; the sound made by the trile, a local bird - cheele-cheele; or from the Quechua word chiri, which could mean either "the deepest point of the Earth", "Snow", or "cold".
3. Chile's highest point is Nevado Ojos del Salado, a stratovolcano in the Andes on the border with Argentina. It is the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 m (22,615 ft). Its name comes from the enormous deposits of Salt that, in the form of lagoons or “eyes”, appear in its glaciers.
4. Chile has the world’s largest outdoor swimming pool, at the San Alfonso del Mar Resort. It is larger than 20 Olympic swimming pools and holds 66 million gallons of Water. The pool is also the world’s deepest at 115 feet.
5. Chile also has the world's largest Copper mine. Escondida produces over 5% of the world's copper supply.
6. The territory of Chile includes Easter Island or Rapa Nui, which was discovered by Admiral Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, on Easter Day in 1772 - hence the English name for it. Easter Island is most famous for those massive statues with large heads, the moai, created by the early Rapa Nui people between the years 1250 and 1500 CE. Arcaeologists believe the moai represent the ancestors of the people who lived there. The statues face away from the sea as if watching over the villages - apart from seven, the Ahu Akivi which face out to sea to help travellers find the island. Easter Island is also home to the world's remotest airport, Mataveri Airport which is 2,336 miles (3,759 km) from Chile's capital, Santiago. The airport has one runway which is 10,886 feet (3,318 m) long and was once designated as an alternative landing site for NASA’s Space Shuttle program.
7. The national sport of Chile is rodeo, dating from the time of the Huasos or Chilean cowboys, who still live in Chile’s Central Valley where cattle are raised. The word Huaso comes from the Mapuche word for shoulders or haunches, because the Mapuche had never seen horses before the Spanish conquest and believed the conquistadors were attached to their horses between the shoulder and haunch. Rodeo has been the national sport since 1962 and involves two riders trying to pin a calf against large cushions. Participants can only ride Chilean Horses and must wear traditional Huaso costume.
8. Chile’s Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world. Parts of the Atacama have not seen any rain since record-keeping began. The Atacama is also home to geoglyphs, large drawings made from stones arranged on the mountain sides. The Gigante de Atacama (Atacama Giant), located at Cerro Unitas, is the largest prehistoric anthropomorphic figure in the world at 390 feet (119 m) high and is thought to represent a deity of the indigenous people.
9. The southernmost village in the world is in Chile and is called “Puerto Williams”. The city at the very tip of Chile, Punta Arenas, is the southernmost city on a continent in the world.
10. Chile is home to the world's smallest species of deer, The pudú. They live in thickets and dense forest areas and are very shy - they are hardly ever seen in the wild. 

17th September: Rita Rudner

Rita Rudner, the US Comedian is 60 today. Here are 10 of her one-liners:

1. I love being married, I do. It's so great to find that one special person that you want to annoy for the rest of your life.
2. I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewellery.
3. Some people think having large breasts makes a woman stupid. Actually, it's quite the opposite: a woman having large breasts makes men stupid.
4. The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping up and down.
5. One of my friends told me she was in labour for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that feels good for 36 hours.
6. Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times.
7. My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide whether to ruin our carpet or ruin our lives.
8. We've begun to long for the pitter-patter of little feet - so we bought a dog. Well, it's cheaper, and you get more feet.
9. The time you spend grieving over a man should never exceed the amount of time you actually spent with him.
10. I got kicked out of ballet class because I pulled a groin muscle. It wasn't mine.

16th September: Papua New Guinea Independence Day

Papua New Guinea Independence Day is today. Here are 10 facts about Papua New Guinea:

1. Its capital is Port Moresby.
2. Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world; 848 languages are listed for the country, of which 12 have no known living speakers. The four official languages are English, sign language, Tok Pisin, and Hiri Motu, with Tok Pisin being the most widely spoken and in which much of the debate in Parliament is conducted.
3. Only about 18% of the 7 million population live in towns and cities.
4. It was once part of the the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, as was Australia, and so many of Papua New Guinea's animals are distantly related to those of Australia. There are possums and Kangaroos there, including tree kangaroos.
5. It is also home to the world's only known poisonous bird, the Hooded Pitohui (Pitohui dichrous). A neurotoxin called homobatrachotoxin, found in the birds' skin and feathers, causes numbness and tingling if you touch the bird. It's thought the toxin originates from the beetles it eats.
6. Papua New Guinea is one of the few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall, in the highest parts of the mainland. The highest peak is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 metres (14,793 ft).
7. The flag depicts the Southern Crossand a raggiana bird of paradise. The flag was designed by a 15-year-old schoolgirl Susan Karike, who was the winner of a nationwide competition in 1971.
8. Since 1933, the currency has been the Papua New Guinean kina. Before this, sea shells were used as money. Although shells aren't legal tender now, traditions remain in some cultures there that if a man wants to marry a woman, he's expected to present a certain number of golden edged clam shells to her family.
9. There aren't many roads, because of the mountainous terrain. Even the capital is not linked to any other major cities or towns by road. Also, the country includes several islands, New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, and about 600 other smaller islands. Hence the most common means of transport for both people and freight is by air. Papua New Guinea has 578 airstrips, most of which are unpaved.
10. As recently as the 1970s, headhunting and cannibalism were practised by some tribes; although it has been eradicated now.

15 September: Guatemala Independence Day

Today is Guatemala's Independence Day. 10 things you might not know about Guatemala:

1. The name Guatemala derives from a Mayan word for "Many trees".
2. More than half the people who live in Guatemala today are descended from the Maya.
3. Guatemala's capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City.
4. There are 33 volcanoes in Guatemala, including Tajumulco, which, at 4,220 m, is the highest point not just in Guatemala but in Central America as a whole.
5. The currency of Guatemala is the quetzel, named after the Resplendent quetzal, its national bird. In Mayan times, the bird's tail feathers were used as currency.
6. The flag has two sky blue stripes, which represent the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and a white stripe for purity. The white stripe in the centre contains the Guatemalan coat of arms which comprises a Resplendent Quetzal, for liberty; a parchment scroll bearing the date of Central America's independence from Spain, 15 September 1821; crossed rifles, indicating Guatemala's willingness to defend itself by force if need be; a bay laurel crown, for victory; and crossed swords, representing honour.
7. Chocolate originated in Guatemala. The Maya were the first people to consume chocolate and the word comes from the Mayan word ‘xocoatl’ meaning bitter water. The Mayans made cocoa into a thick, cold, unsweetened drink sometimes flavoured with hot spices.
8. With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, Guatemala is the most populous state in Central America.
9. Guatemala is home to the deepest lake in Central America, Lake Atitlán, which is 340 metres (1,120 ft). It is also thought to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
10. Guatemala is also known for its worry dolls. They are very small and colourful dolls, whose purpose is for people to tell their worries to, so that the doll will do the worrying for them and allow the person to sleep easily. Tradition has it that the doll will actually take worries away during the night. Worry dolls are a popular souvenir of Guatemala because they are so small.

14th September: National Anthem Day

National Anthem Day commemorates the writing of the words to the USA National Anthem, Star Spangled Banner. Here are some interesting facts about National Anthems of the world.

1. The words to The Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott-Key after witnessing the attack on Fort McHenry by the British in 1814. He didn't write the tune. It was Key's brother-in-law who noticed the words fit the tune of a song called The Anareontic Song. This song was actually a drinking song which had been adopted as the theme song of an 18th century gentleman's club in London. Ironic,or what?
2. Liechtenstein's anthem is Oben am jungen Rhein - which is sung to the tune of God Save the Queen.
3. While God Save the Queen (or King) is recognised as the oldest national anthem to be recognised as such, dating back to 1745, the oldest melody is the Dutch anthem - the first written version of the Wilhelmus dates back to 1574 (The lyrics, incidentally, consist of 15 verses and the first letter of each verse spells out Willem van Nassov, a hero of the Dutch revolt against Spain). The oldest lyrics belong to Japan, written by an anonymous author in the ninth century.
4. On the subject of Japan, they have the shortest National Anthem in the world at just four lines. Greece has the longest with 158 stanzas.
5. There are four countries whose National Anthems have no words. Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and San Marino. Spain did try to come up with words for its anthem in 2007 by holding a competition, but nobody really liked the winning entry so the anthem remains wordless.
6. South Africa has the record for the greatest number of different languages contained in its stanzas - five. It isn't the only multi-lingual national anthem, though. New Zealand's has two and Switzerland's has four.
7. Germany's anthem was banned for a while after the second world war because of the phrase “Deutschland über alles”. It has been re-instated, but nowadays only the third stanza is used as it is the least nationalistic.
8. St Helena, a tiny island in the South Atlantic, has an anthem written by someone who had never even been there. He was an American called David Mitchell, and the nearest he'd got was Ascension Island, 800 miles away. Inspired by looking at some postcards of the island, he came up with "My St. Helena Island," the only country-western style national anthem in the world.
9. Malaysia's anthem came about in 1888, when the Sultan of Perak came to London at the invitation of Queen Victoria. His aide was asked for the music of their National Anthem so it could be played at the welcome ceremony. The aide was too embarrassed to admit they didn't actually have one, and hummed the first melody that came into his head, a popular tune from the Seychelles.
10. A couple of anthems were written under duress. In Mexico in 1853, there was a competition to come up with the most inspiring lyrics for the National Anthem. The winner was poet Francicso González Bocanegra. He only entered because he had a rather ambitious girlfriend who locked him in a room and wouldn't let him out until he'd written something. Despite this, he still married her. Even harsher, in Costa Rica the same year, composer Manuel Maria Gutierrez was thrown into prison until he came up with a suitable tune.

13th September: Roald Dahl

On the anniversary of the birth of Roald Dahl in 1916, here are 10 things about him you might not know:

1. His parents were Norwegian and named him after the polar explorer Roald Amundsen. His first language was Norwegian.
2. When he was a child, he was somewhat of a practical joker. At eight years old, he and four of his friends put a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers at the local sweet shop, to annoy the "mean and loathsome" owner, Mrs Pratchett. This was known to the five boys as the "Great Mouse Plot of 1924". It got them all the cane at school, but many years later, the first blue plaque in honour of Roald Dahl was placed, not on his birthplace, but on the wall of the sweet shop, commemorating the "Great Mouse Plot of 1924". On another occasion he replaced the tobacco in his half–sister's fiancé's pipe with goat droppings.
3. He didn't show early promise as a writer. His English teacher wrote on his report, "I have never met anybody who so persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what is intended."
4. Dahl was 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall.
5. He was a flying ace in the second world war. Only three of the 16 men he trained with survived the war. He flew De Havilland Tiger Moths, Hawker Harts, Gloster Gladiators (the last biplane fighter aircraft used by the RAF) and Hawker Hurricanes, training in Kenya and Iraq. On 20 April 1941, Dahl took part in the "Battle of Athens". On one occasion he had to crash land in a desert and was hospitalised for over three months.
6. After being invalided out of the Air Force, Dahl was persuaded to take up the post of assistant air attaché at the British Embassy in Washington DC. He hated the job, but it was during this time his talent for writing was discovered. He met novelist C. S. Forester, who was also working to aid the British war effort. The Saturday Evening Post had asked Forester to write a story based on Dahl's flying experiences; Forester asked Dahl to write down some anecdotes so that he could shape them into a story. When Forester read what Dahl had written, he decided to publish the story exactly as Dahl had written it.
7. He helped invent a valve to alleviate hydrocephalus, after his son developed the condition after an accident. The device became known as the "Wade-Dahl-Till" (or WDT) valve, and was a collaboration between Dahl, hydraulic engineer Stanley Wade and London's Great Ormond Street Hospital neurosurgeon Kenneth Till. It was used successfully on almost 3,000 children around the world.
8. His first children's book was The Gremlins, published in 1943, about mischievous little creatures that were part of Royal Air Force folklore. The RAF pilots blamed the gremlins for all the problems with the aircraft. He also wrote stories for adults, which were usually quite dark and with a surprise twist at the end. His short story collection Tales of the Unexpected was adapted to a successful TV series of the same name.
9. He used to write in a gypsy caravan in the grounds of his home.
10. When he died, he was buried with his snooker cues, some very good burgundy, chocolates, HB pencils and a power saw.