18th December: The Northern Line

On this date in 1890, the first paying passengers rode on the City and South London Railway, the first part of the underground system to be electrified. It is now known as the Northern Line.

1. The Northern Line is 58 km (36 miles) long and has fifty stations, 36 of which have platforms below ground.
2. It is unique in having two different routes through central London, the Charing Cross branch and the Bank branch. This is because it started life as two separate railway companies, the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) and the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR). In the 1920s the two were connected to make an integrated service.
3. Despite being known as the Northern Line, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the network. It does, however, serve the station which is furthest south, Morden.
4. Names put forward for the newly integrated line included "Edgmor", "Mordenware", "Medgway" and "Edgmorden". In 1937 it became known as the Northern Line after the addition of the Northern Heights lines.
5. It is currently the second busiest underground line with about 252,310,000 passengers using it in 2011/2012 and ten trains an hour, except from Mill Hill East to Finchley Central, where there are four trains an hour.
6. The tunnel from Morden to East Finchley via Bank is 17 miles 528 yards (27.841 km) long. Until the Channel Tunnel was built, this was the longest tunnel in the world; while Angel station has the longest Escalators on the system with a vertical rise of 27 metres (89 ft) and a length of 60 metres (200 ft).
7. If you put all the stations on the London Underground system in alphabetical order the last on the list would be a Northern Line station - Woodside Park.
8. Northern Line stations don't always have good claims to fame. The worst accident in the history of the network took place at Moorgate in 1975, claiming 43 lives; in 2013, Bank was voted the most disliked tube station. Stockwell station was the site of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, when police mistook him for a terrorist. A permanent shrine to him was unveiled at the station in 2010.
9. On a more positive note, the first baby to be born on the Underground network was a girl born at Elephant and Castle in 1924, and Warren Street station became the first London Underground Wi-Fi enabled tube station in 2012. Radio 4 listeners will be familiar with the game, Mornington Crescent - Mornington Crescent is a Northern Line station.
10. There are plans afoot to extend the Northern Line to Battersea to serve the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station. This would mean there could be a similar split in the lines South of the river as there is to the north - also under consideration is the possibility of splitting the line into two new ones and re-naming them both.

Superheroes getting together for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong? My latest novel. Only £5!

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.

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