21st April: The Queen's 90th birthday

Today is the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. So here are ten facts about the Queen.

1. The Queen’s full title in the United Kingdom is: Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. She also has the titles the Lord of Man in the Isle of Man, the Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands, and the Duke of Lancaster in the land of the Duchy of Lancaster.
2. During her Majesty's reign there have been: fourteen Prime Ministers (Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Holme, Harold Wilson, Ted Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris); 13 US Presidents (Harry Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower, John F Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama and Trump); Seven Archbishops of Canterbury (Geoffrey Fisher, Michael Ramsey, Donald Coggan, Robert Runcie, George Carey, Rowan Williams and Justin Welby); and seven Popes (Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis).
3. The Queen doesn't own a passport or a driving licence. She can drive - she learned when she was in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) (The Queen is the only living head of state in the world to have served during World War II, in the ATS. Her service number was 230873) British passports are all issued in her name, so she doesn't need one herself. She's also the only person who doesn't need a number plate on her state car.
4. Her Majesty is known for her love of Dogs (especially corgis) and Horses. Her first corgi was given to her for her 18th birthday and was called Susan (she took this dog with her on her honeymoon); her first pony was called Peggy. You might not know that the Queen is interested in breeding both horses and dogs and created a new breed of dog, the "dorgi" when she mated one of her corgis with a dachsund. She has owned eleven dorgis. Now she has two corgis: Holly and Willow and two dorgis - Candy and Vulcan.
5. The Queen first met her husband, Prince Philip, at a wedding when she was eight; they started writing to each other when she was thirteen. They became engaged in 1946 but kept it a secret until the following year. Elizabeth and Philip are second cousins, once removed and third cousins through Queen Victoria. On her wedding day, she had to use clothing coupons like everyone else to get her wedding dress which was designed by Norman Hartnell. She did her own make-up.
6. The Queen has visited 117 countries - two thirds of the countries on Earth. That includes Australia 16 times, Canada 22 times, Jamaica six and New Zealand 10 times. The Queen was the first British Monarch to visit the Middle East and China and was the first to visit Ireland since Irish independence. She hasn't been to the Moon, but her message of congratulations to the Apollo 11 astronauts for the First moon landing was micro-filmed and deposited on the Moon in a metal container. The Queen speaks fluent French and doesn't need an interpreter on state visits to France.
7. The Queen's birthplace is now a Chinese restaurant (albeit a Michelin starred one) called Hakkasan.
8. In the Maori language, the Queen is known by the term ‘Kotuku’, which translates as ‘the white heron’ in English. In Papua New Guinea she is referred to in the pidgin language of Tok Pisin as ‘Missus Kwin’ which translates to ‘Mama belong big family’ in English.
9. The Queen always wears brightly coloured outfits so people can see her in a crowd. Her outfits are usually made from both new fabrics and incorporating fabric from older outfits, including some dating back to before she was Queen.
10. Her Majesty’s Imperial State Crown is made up of 2,868 diamonds. She has nine royal thrones, one at the House of Lords, two at Westminster Abbey and six in the throne room at Buckingham Palace; and a cushion in her private sitting room at Balmoral embroidered with the words "It's good to be Queen."

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My books:

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

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