31st December: Seven Swans a Swimming

Today is the Seventh Day of Christmas: in the song, that's Seven swans a swimming. So here are ten things you may not know about swans:

1. Swans belong to the family Anatidae within the genus Cygnus. There are six different species of swan, although the coscoroba swan is not one of them.
2. The word swan derives from the old European root word swen, meaning to sound or sing. An adult male is a cob, a female is a pen, and the young are called cygnets. A group of wild swans is a herd, a group in captivity is called a fleet. In flight, a group is called a bevy or a wedge. The fear of swans is Cygnophobia or kiknophobia.
3. The whooper swan is the national bird of Finland, and the mute swan is the national bird of Denmark.
4. Swans in the Northern hemisphere are always white, but in the Southern hemisphere there are swans with black necks, or even completely Black.
5. Swans mate for life, often forming pair bonds a couple of years before they reach sexual maturity. However, they don't pine away if one of the pair dies - they often find another mate, and "divorce" has been known to occur if they don't produce any young. The males help build the nest and help incubate the eggs.
6. In Elizabethan times, swan meat was a delicacy enjoyed by rich people and in particular, royalty. A recipe for baked swan survives from that time: "To bake a Swan Scald it and take out the bones, and parboil it, then season it very well with Pepper, Salt and Ginger, then lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye Paste with store of Butter, close it and bake it very well, and when it is baked, fill up the Vent-hole with melted Butter, and so keep it; serve it in as you do the Beef-Pie." Don't go trying it, though. Even if you manage to catch a swan, it's illegal to eat one now unless you're the Queen, one of her guests, or a fellow of St. John’s College Cambridge.
7. The fact that swans were once food gave rise to the swan upping ceremony which takes place on parts of the River Thames every July. The Queen owns all the unclaimed mute swans - she doesn't actually own every single swan because in the 15th century, the Crown split ownership of with the Worshipful Company of Vintners and the Worshipful Company of Dyers. Vintners Uppers wear white and black, and the Dyers Uppers wear dark blue during the census. The Queen's Swan Uppers wear traditional scarlet uniforms. Each group has two boats. The organisers of the Swan Upping are the Swan Warden and the Swan Marker, and the whole thing takes five days, over a 79 mile stretch of the river. When anyone spots a group of swans they yell "All Up" and grab as many as they can. The Dyers and the Vintners will mark their swans with a leg band while the Queen's remain unmarked. The Queen herself has only attended the ceremony once, but she is toasted with a glass of port every year before the boats set off. The Queen's title in this ceremony is Seigneur of the Swans. Far from being an archaic and useless exercise designed to annoy or frighten the birds, it's now a census and an opportunity to treat any sick or injured swans.
8. Swans can fly as fast as 60 miles per hour.
9. Swans have beaks with serrated edges that look like small jagged 'teeth' which help them catch their food. Swans are mostly herbivorous, but may eat molluscs, small fish, Frogs and worms.
10. Swans often appear in mythology. They are sacred to the god Apollo; Helen of Troy was conceived in a union of Zeus disguised as a swan and Leda, Queen of Sparta; the Irish legend of the Children of Lir is about a stepmother transforming her children into swans for 900 years; a swan is one of the attributes of St Hugh of Lincoln because he had a swan who was devoted to him. In Norse mythology, there are two swans that drink from the sacred Well of Urd in Asgard. The water of this well is said to be so pure and holy that anything that touches it turns white, including this original pair of swans and all others descended from them.

30th December: Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born on this date in 1865. Here are 10 things you might not know about him.

1. His parents, Alice Kipling (née MacDonald) and John Lockwood Kipling, named their son after Rudyard Lake in Rudyard, Staffordshire, England, where they met and courted.
2. Stanley Baldwin, Conservative Prime Minister of the UK three times in the 1920s and 1930s, was Kipling's first cousin.
3. Rudyard Kipling was the first English-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he won in 1907 at the age of 42 - so he's also the youngest ever recipient of that particular prize.
4. Early editions of his books had a swastika printed on their covers because it was Indian sun symbol conferring good luck and the Sanskrit word meaning "fortunate" or "well-being". However, he refused to have the symbol on his books once the Nazis came to power. Kipling was the first person to use the term "Hun" as an anti-German insult in his 1902 poem The Rowers.
5. Kipling wrote two science fiction short stories set in the 21st century, With the Night Mail and As Easy As A. B. C.
6. A French soldier, Maurice Hammoneau, was saved during the First World War when a bullet was stopped by his copy of Rudyard Kipling's Kim, which he had in his breast pocket. Hammoneau presented Kipling with the book (with the bullet still embedded) and his Croix de Guerre as a token of gratitude. When Hammoneau had a son, Kipling insisted on returning the book and medal to him.
7. Kipling's own son was killed in the First World War which led to Kipling being involved in the Imperial War Graves Commission. He chose the words that appear on war graves and monuments: "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" (Ecclesiasticus 44.14, KJV); "Known unto God" for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen; and the inscription "The Glorious Dead" on the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London.
8. Kipling was a keen golfer. Arthur Conan Doyle taught him to play. Kipling was so keen that he even played in the Snow using balls which had been painted red.
9. The name "Akela" for the adult leader of a cub pack comes from the leader of the Seeonee wolf pack in The Jungle Book.
10. Kipling has an extinct species of crocodile named after him, Goniopholis kiplingi, "in recognition for his enthusiasm for natural sciences".

29th December: YMCA

Today is the anniversary of the first YMCA in the US opening in Boston, in 1851. Here are 10 facts about the YMCA.

1. YMCA stands for Young Men's Christian Association.
2. It was founded in London in 1844 by George Williams, a London draper in response to the migration of young men from the country to cities to find work after the industrial revolution. He wanted to provide healthy activities for young men as an alternative to taverns and brothels.
3. Activities provided have included Bible studies and academic courses, but the YMCA is especially known for promoting physical exercise. At least two sports owe their existence to the YMCA's emphasis on keeping physically fit - Basketball (invented by James Naismith as a game which was interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play indoors in winter) and futsal (a synthesis of three sports, handball, basketball, and water polo, invented by Juan Carlos Ceriani in 1930).
4. They were also places to stay. In the 1940s in the US, there were more rooms in the YMCAs than there were hotel rooms.
5. During World War II the YMCA was involved in war work with displaced persons and refugees. They set up War Prisoners Aid to support prisoners of war by providing sports equipment, musical instruments, art materials, radios, gramophones, eating utensils, and other items.
6. In 1880, the YMCA became the first national organisation to adopt a strict policy of equal gender representation in committees and national boards, starting with Norway.
7. The first black president of the World Alliance of YMCAs, Charles Dunbar Sherman from Liberia, was also the youngest, at 37.
8. Logos for the various branches always include a red triangle, representing the Christian principle of developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit."
9. Until the 1950s, wearing clothing of any type in YMCA pools was strictly forbidden. The reason given was that fibres from swimwear could clog up the filtration systems. I suspect the YMCA's connection with gay culture wasn't entirely unrelated to this!
10. The song YMCA by the Village People is one of fewer than forty singles to have sold 10 million physical copies worldwide and is number 7 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century. It is said to have been inspired when lead singer Victor Willis was asked by the group's founder, Jacques Morali, "What exactly is the YMCA?" Naturally, the actual YMCA wasn't all that impressed with the song with all its gay culture references - they threatened to sue the band over trademark infringement and concerns about the song's double entendres - but eventually dropped the lawsuit.

28th December: Stan Lee

This date in 1922 saw the birth of Stan Lee, the man responsible for Spiderman, Fantastic Four, the X-Men, The Avengers and more. 10 Stan Lee quotes.

1. I don't really see a need to retire as long as I am having fun.
2. There is only one who is all powerful, and his greatest weapon is love.
3. we have a big universe here. It's filled with new ideas. All you have to do is grab them.
4. If Shakespeare and Michelangelo were alive today, and if they decided to collaborate on a comic, Shakespeare would write the script and Michelangelo would draw it.
5. Achilles, without his heel, you wouldn't even know his name today.
6. With great power comes great responsibility.
7. The power of prayer is still the greatest ever known in this endless eternal universe.-The Watcher in The Avengers #14
8. I said, “Juvenile delinquents eat chocolate cake, so chocolate cake must cause juvenile delinquency,” but nobody listened to me.
9. So superhero stories, to me, are like fairy tales for grown-ups.
10. A superhero without a great villain is like a day without sunshine. 

27th December: Marlene Deitrich

The actress Marlene Deitrich was born on this date in 1901. It's her 114th birthday. Here are 10 things she said:

1. Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
2. It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.
3. I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognised wiser than oneself.
4. The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are likely to make the weak strong.
5. Champagne makes you feel like it's Sunday and better days are just around the corner.
6. The British have an umbilical cord which has never been cut and through which tea flows constantly. It is curious to watch them in times of sudden horror, tragedy or disaster. The pulse stops apparently and nothing can be done, and no move made, until "a nice cup of tea" is quickly made. There is no question that it brings solace and does steady the mind. What a pity all countries are not so tea-conscious. World-peace conferences would run more smoothly if "a nice cup of tea", or indeed, a samovar were available at the proper time.
7. Tenderness is greater proof of love than the most passionate of vows.
8. Love for the joy of loving, and not for the offerings of someone else's heart.
9. Being in the depths of sadness is just as important an experience as being exuberantly happy.
10. To lose your prejudices you must travel.

26th December: Boxing Day

Ten facts for Boxing Day.

1. Boxing Day is celebrated the day after Christmas and is a bank holiday in the United Kingdom, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Bermuda, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago,  Jamaica and other former British colonies - unless Boxing Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday in which case the holiday is observed on the 27th or 28th December.
2. Boxing Day has been a bank holiday in Britain since 1871.
3. The origin of the name isn't certain but theories include that it was the day that domestic servants, after serving their employers on Christmas Day, got to go home and visit their families, and they may have been given a box to take with them, containing gifts and possibly some of the left over grub.
4. Another theory is that it concerns the alms boxes placed in churches, and also historically, on ships, in which donations for the poor would be placed. These boxes would be opened the day after Christmas and the money distributed.
5. Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663 mentions Boxing Day.
6. In South Africa, Boxing Day has been known as Day of Goodwill since 1994.
7. In parts of Europe, it is known as ‘Second Christmas Day’. It's also the Second Day of Christmas in the traditional song, for which the true love's gift was two turtle doves.
8. Boxing Day is also known as Wren's Day because it was the day when Wrens could be hunted. It was considered unlucky to kill these birds on any other day of the year.
9. In Britain, it's the biggest shopping day of the year and the day most of the sales start. It's traditionally the day for taking any unwanted gifts back to the shop to exchange them.
10. Some US states celebrate Boxing Day, and those who don't can celebrate National Candy Cane Day instead.

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Createspace, Amazon and Amazon Kindle

25th December: Merry Christmas!

Ten Christmas jokes for Christmas Day.

1. Darth Vader: I know what you are getting for Christmas. Luke Skywalker: How do you know? Darth: I have felt your presents.
2. What do you call Santa's Little Helpers? Insubordinate Clauses.
3. What do you call people who are frightened of Santa? Claustraphobic.
4. What happened to the guy who ate the Christmas decorations? He went down with tinsel-itis.
5. Apparently Santa Claus has been seeing a psychiatrist with self confidence issues. He doesn't believe in himself.
6. 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; so I took their stereo.
7. I said to my wife, what do you want for Christmas? She said, “Surprise me,” so on Christmas Eve, I woke her up at two in the morning and went, “BOO!”
8. I come from a very poor family. One Christmas my father gave me an empty box and told me it was an Action Man deserter.
9. I don’t care what star you’re following - get that camel out of my garden!
10. Origin of the fairy on top of the Christmas tree: Santa was in a foul mood one day. His wife was nagging, Donner and Blitzen had an argument and split up, the gnomes had gone on strike and the reindeer were asking for danger money. A foolish little fairy brought in a Christmas tree and asked Santa where to put it.

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Createspace, Amazon and Amazon Kindle

24th December: Stephenie Meyer

Author Stephenie Meyer was born on Christmas Eve 1973. So some quotes from her for Christmas Eve.

1. Once you cared about a person, it was impossible to be logical about them anymore.
2. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.
3. Twilight, again. Another ending. No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end.
4. Becoming a vampire is forever. You don't get to change your mind about it later.
5. Vampirism, for me, was a way to live in fantasy and have superpowers, but not just in a really perfect, happy, everything is great way. It's superpowers with a cost. It's having to be the villain, and what do you do about that.
6. Sometimes ideas feel like they were already there, and that you're just discovering them.
7. It's easier to come up with new stories than it is to finish the ones you already have.
8. It's not the face, but the expressions on it. It's not the voice, but what you say. It's not how you look in that body, but the thing you do with it. You are beautiful.
9. I decided as long as I'm going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly.
10. Books have been thought of as windows to another world of imagination.

December 23: "The Night Before Christmas"

Today is the anniversary of the first publication, in 1823, of the poem known as "The Night Before Christmas". Here are 10 facts you may not know about the poem:

1. It was published anonymously in a New York newspaper and to this day, nobody is quite sure who actually wrote it. It is commonly attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, but there have been arguments put forward recently suggesting the author was a man called Major Henry Livingston, Jr.
2. The reasons for this are that Moore was thought to be a rather dour and scholarly person and a verse like this was somewhat out of character for him. He was also said to disapprove of tobacco and so having St Nicholas smoking a pipe would have been surprising to anyone who knew him, as well.
3. However, Moore did claim to have written it, several years after it was first published. He included it in an anthology of his poems. He claimed he'd got the idea during a winter shopping trip on a sleigh, and that his inspiration for the character of Saint Nicholas was a local Dutch handyman as well as the historical Saint Nicholas. He said he'd written it for his children, which explained the more light hearted style.
4. The original name for this poem was An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas.
5. Cartoonist Thomas Nast created the images for the poem in 1863, and is thus credited with coming up with the image of Santa Claus that we know today. He's also known for coming up with the symbol of an elephant for the US Republican Party (but not, as is commonly thought, Uncle Sam).
6. The poem has been praised as "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American”.
7. The first depiction of the poem on film dates to 1905, a silent film called The Night Before Christmas.
8. A "Canonical List of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Variations" contains nearly 1000 versions of it.
9. Four hand-written copies of the poem exist. Three are in museums, including the New-York Historical Society library. The fourth, written out and signed by Clement Clarke Moore as a gift to a friend in 1860, was sold by one private collector to another in December 2006. According to the brokers of the sale, it was sold for $280,000.
10. Since 1911 the Church of the Intercession in Manhattan has held a service that includes the reading of the poem followed by a procession to the tomb of Clement Clarke Moore at Trinity Cemetery the Sunday before Christmas.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

by Clement Clarke Moore (maybe)

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny Reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Createspace, Amazon and Amazon Kindle

22nd December: Giacomo Puccini

On this date in 1858 Giacomo Puccini was born in Tuscany. Here are 10 things you might not know about the Opera composer.

1. His full name was Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini.
2. He was born into a well-established musical dynasty. Puccini's great-great grandfather was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca. His son, grandson and great-grandson (Puccini's father) inherited the job, and it was expected that Puccini himself would take over eventually too, but when Puccini's father died, his son was only six years old so it didn't happen.
3. With financial support from Italian Queen Margherita, and his uncle, Nicholas Cerù, Puccini studied at the Milan Conservatory.
4. His first opera was called Le Villi, and it evolved from an orchestral piece called the Capriccio sinfonica which Puccini wrote for his thesis. The libretto was written by Fernando Fontana, who'd been introduced to him by his tutor. This opera was entered into a competition. It didn't win but was later staged and was a success.
5. Giulio Ricordi, head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, was so impressed with Le Villi that he commissioned another opera, Edgar. This one wasn't so successful and Puccini's career as an opera composer might have ended there but for Ricordi's faith in him.
6. It was from this point that Puccini's difficult relationships with his librettists began. Ricordi blamed the failure of Edgar on the libretto, and so when Puccini started writing his next opera, Manon Lescaut, he declared that he would write the libretto himself so that "no fool of a librettist" could spoil it. Ricordi didn't agree and persuaded him to accept another librettist - but several were dropped from the project before Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa managed to complete it. Manon Lescaut was a success, and so Illica and Giacosa were librettists for Puccini for his next three operas, probably his greatest successes: La Bohème, Tosca and Madam Butterfly. However, working as a librettist for Puccini was never easy. His publisher, Casa Ricordi, was frequently required to mediate disputes and impasses between them.
7. In 1903, Puccini was involved in a car accident in which he sustained a number of injuries including a severe broken leg. While being treated for those injuries, he was found to have diabetes.
8. In the autumn of 1884, Puccini began a relationship with a married woman named Elvira Gemignani, whose husband, Narciso Gemignani, was a womaniser. It wasn't until the Narcisco was killed by the husband of one of his affairs that Puccini and Elvira could marry. They already had a son by then. Puccini was a bit of a womaniser, too, and had affairs with several opera singers. Elvira publicly accused one of the family's maids, Doria Manfredi, of having an affair with her husband. Doria committed suicide because of the shame, but an autopsy showed she had died a virgin. This led to Elvira being prosecuted for slander and she narrowly escaped having to go to prison when Puccini paid the Manfredi family off. Puccini probably wasn't entirely innocent. According to documents found in the possession of a descendant of the Manfredi family, Puccini was actually having an affair with Giulia Manfredi, Doria's cousin.
9. Despite being totally uninterested in politics, in 1923 the fascist party in Viareggio made Puccini an honorary member and sent him a membership card. This was probably due to his ambitions as a composer rather than any sympathy for their policies. The Italian Senate has traditionally included a small number of members appointed in recognition of their cultural contributions to the nation. Verdi was one of these and Puccini wanted to follow suit. Puccini was named Senator (senatore a vita) a few months before his death. He died before Mussolini became a dictator.
10. Puccini was a chain smoker and died of throat cancer in 1923. News of his death reached Rome during a performance of La Bohème. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin's Funeral March.

21st December: Dalek Day

Today is Dalek Day, celebrated on the anniversary of the first appearance of the Daleks in Doctor Who in 1963.

1. The Daleks were conceived by science-fiction writer Terry Nation and the shells were designed by Raymond Cusick. Their gliding movement was inspired by a performance by the Georgian National Ballet, in which dancers in long skirts appeared to glide across the stage; and their temperament by the Nazis.
2. When Sydney Newman created the Doctor Who series, he distributed a memo with the instruction, no "bug-eyed monsters." He was furious when Nation created the Daleks, because he felt they violated this rule. Despite his protests, the Daleks aired, and turned out to be the biggest hit of the show, frequently voted the scariest monsters ever by polls, although in recent years the crying angels have overtaken them.
3. Terry Nation once said that the name came from the spine of an encyclopaedia which read "Dal - Eks" but later admitted that he'd made that story up and that the name had simply "rolled off his typewriter".
4. The word "Dalek" is in the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines "Dalek" as "a type of robot appearing in 'Dr. Who', [sic] a B.B.C. Television science-fiction programme; hence used allusively." You'll also find it in a Serbo-Croatian dictionary, as it is the Serbo-Croat word for "far away"- a coincidence which Terry Nation was pleased to learn several years after he came up with the name.
5. In their first appearance, Daleks could only move on the conductive metal floors of their city - but their mobility improved through the years. In a later episode, a Dalek emerges from the River Thames in London - showing they can not only move outside their city, but under Water. For a long time, it was assumed they couldn't cope with stairs. Hence the well-known Punch cartoon showing Daleks at the foot of a flight of stairs with the caption, "Well, this certainly buggers our plan to conquer the Universe" and a joke among Doctor Who fans: "Real Daleks don't climb stairs; they level the building." However, by the 2005 series, they'd figured out how to fly up flights of stairs and travel in space.
6. Voice actors who have provided the voice of the Daleks include Peter Hawkins, David Graham, Roy Skelton, Michael Wisher, Royce Mills, Brian Miller, Oliver Gilbert, Peter Messaline, John Leeson, Terry Molloy, David Gooderson and Nicholas Briggs, who supplies the voice for the current series.
7. The first Dalek operators were retired ballet dancers wearing black socks. Usually they were short actors who had a lot to do inside the casing. They had to manipulate the eyestalks, domes, and arms, as well as flashing the lights on their heads in sync with the actors supplying their voices. John Scott Martin, a Dalek operator from the original series, said that Dalek operation was a challenge: "You had to have about six hands: one to do the eyestalk, one to do the lights, one for the gun, another for the smoke canister underneath, yet another for the sink plunger. If you were related to an octopus then it helped." Nowadays, they still use short actors but some of the functions are operated by remote control.
8. Daleks have a weakness in that they cannot see very well. They have no peripheral vision and so it's easy to hide from them. It's also easy to slow them down by taking out the eyepiece so they cannot see at all.
9. The creatures inside the Daleks are described as "little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour". Their appearance has varied, but they are always soft, vulnerable, and ugly. It is possible, once the creature has been removed, for a human to get inside the case and operate the Dalek.
10. There have been references to Dalek culture, beyond their unquestioned belief in the superiority of the Dalek race. One Doctor Who spin off novel mentions an opera based on Dalek poetry - which was lost to posterity when the entire cast was exterminated on the opening night. Comedian Frankie Boyle once suggested a line from a Dalek poem might be "Daffodils; EXTERMINATE DAFFODILS!"

Looking for last minute stocking fillers? For a fan of ghosts, superheroes and psychics? Here are some suggestions:

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

Within these covers you will find murder, mayhem, ghosts, romance, dungeons and dragons and alien vampire bunnies.


Paperback CreateSpace or Amazon 

E-book Amazon Kindle

New! From A Jack To A King

A royal palace is burning. The King and Queen are dead. The only hopes for an ancient dynasty flee to England for their lives.

A boy runs from his mother and the people he believes want to mutilate him, and vanishes, seemingly forever.

Gary Winchcombe, the experimental "super-cop" pursues a notorious gang of bank robbers, and starts to discover that his friends and neighbours have secrets he never could have imagined.

Tod Reynard wants to turn his life around. When he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Jade, he knows she might just be the one to help him change his life for the better. He cannot possibly know just how much.

When Jade's twin sister Gloria is kidnapped, old rivalries must be put aside and new associations formed in order to save Gloria's life and restore the rightful order of things.

Available from: Createspace, Amazon, Amazon Kindle

I have plenty more stories to tell, but I don't know yet which will win the race to the end of the pipeline. If you'd like to know:

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Read short stories and book excerpts on My writing blog

20th December: Macau

Today is the anniversary of the transfer of Sovereignty of Macau 1999 from Portugal - so here are 10 things you might not know about this area of China.

1. Macau is officially known as the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China. It was also the first Asian country ever to be colonised, by the Portuguese in the 16th century. It was also the last Asian country to remain a European colony. The last Portuguese governor left in 1999. It was ruled by the Portuguese for 442 years.
2. Macau basically consists of one city. It has no arable land, pastures, forest, or woodland. Its economy is driven by tourism and gambling.
3. And gambling is a big thing. It is the world's biggest gambling market (yes, bigger than Las Vegas) and home to the largest casino in the world, the Venetian Macao, which also happens to be the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the sixth-largest building in the world by floor area. Macau is the only place in China where you can gamble legally; fifty percent of Macau’s revenue comes from gambling; 20% of its population are employed by the casinos; and there are more than 4 times as many gambling tables per 1,000 residents than hospital beds.
4. Not a gambler? There are other attractions. The Macau Grand Prix is known as one of the most demanding circuits in the world was originally conceived in 1954 as a treasure hunt around the streets of the city. Other annual events include Macau Arts festival in March, the International Fireworks Display Contest in September, the International Music festival in October and/or November, and the Macau International Marathon in December.
5. And if none of that appeals, you can visit the historic centre of Macau, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
6. Although both China and Portugal drive on the right, in Macau they drive on the left.
7. The currency is the pataca, which is pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, which is also widely accepted there. The pataca evolved from Mexican dollars which were the main currency the second half of the 19th century. In the year 1906, all foreign coins were outlawed, so the only currency in Macau was pataca notes. Macau did not mint its own coins until 1952.
8. Macau has the second highest life expectancy in the world, second only to Monaco (seems that living in a city state beginning with M which has a Grand Prix and where there is gambling, is very good for you); and one of the lowest birth rates in the world. It's also the most densely populated region in the world with a population of around 636,200 living in an area of 30.3 km2 (11.6 sq mi).
9. Alto de Coloane is the highest point in Macau, with an altitude of 170.6 metres (559.7 ft).
10. Before the Portuguese arrived, Macau was known as Haojing "Oyster Mirror" or Jinghai "Mirror Sea". Its current name is thought to come from the A-Ma Temple and the goddess Mazu, goddess of seafarers and fishermen.