31st October: Nevada admission day

Nevada celebrates its admission to the Union which took place on this day in 1864.

1. Nevada gets its name from a Spanish word meaning “Snow-covered” - even though it's actually the driest US state with less than 10 inches of rain a year. The state is named after the Sierra Nevada mountains, the name of which literally translates as “snow covered saw.”
2. Nevada has several nicknames. One is The Battleborn State, because it became a state during the US Civil War, the Sagebrush State and the Silver State. This last one may seem ironic at first since it is Gold that Nevada produces in abundance – more than any other US state, including California, which is known as the Golden State. The only place in the world producing more gold than Nevada is South Africa. However, silver is nevertheless important. America’s largest silver deposit, the Comstock Lode, was found in Nevada in 1859.
3. 87% of Nevada's land (which includes over 300 mountain ranges, over 300 hot springs and a lot of desert) belongs to the Federal government.
4. No list of Nevada facts would be complete without mentioning gambling, one of Nevada's big money earners since Governor Fred Balzar legalised it there in 1931. In the same year, the Pair-O-Dice Club became the first casino to open on Highway 91, which would later become the Las Vegas Strip. In 1999 Nevada had 205,726 slot machines, one for every 10 residents. Given all this, it is perhaps rather strange that Nevada is one of only seven states without a state lottery. As well as gambling, prostitution is legal in the state – provided it is conducted in regulated brothels and only in communities with populations of less than 400,000 – so in Las Vegas and Reno, it's still illegal.
5. While on the subject of what's illegal, It's illegal to drive a Camel on any highway in Nevada, sing in a public bar room in Las Vegas, walk in the streets of Elko without wearing a mask or buy drinks for more than three other people in Nyala. It is perfectly legal, however, to hang someone for shooting your Dog on your property.
6. The capital is Carson City, one of the smallest state capitals in the USA. The state symbols are as follows: State fossil: The ichthyosaur; Fish‎: ‎Lahontan cutthroat Trout; Animal‎: ‎Desert Bighorn Sheep; Tree‎: ‎bristlecone pine Motto: All for Our Country; Song: “Home Means Nevada" Flower; Sagebrush; Bird: Mountain Bluebird; Colours: Silver and Blue; Gemstone: Black Fire Opal; Grass: Indian Rye Grass (one of only 18 states to have an official grass, and Utah has the same one); Metal: Silver; Reptile: Desert tortoise; Rock: Sandstone; Semi-precious Gemstone: Turquoise.
7. Famous Nevadans include Andre Agassi, Thelma "Pat" Nixon (first lady), Charisma Carpenter, Mädchen Amick, Toni Basil, Nicolas Cage, and Mark Twain.
8. Aside from Las Vegas, which is home to the Stratosphere, the tallest, free-standing, observation tower in the US and the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, Nevada is also home to the Hoover Dam (one of the largest public construction works ever undertaken and is larger in volume than the Great Pyramid in Egypt; the hard hat for construction workers was designed for the people building the dam), Area 51, with its nearby State Route 375, officially christened "The Extraterrestrial Highway"; the most haunted town in the US (Virginia City) and the loneliest highway (Highway 50, received the name from "Life" magazine in 1986. There are few road stops in the 287 mile stretch between Ely and Fernley, so fill up with petrol before you set off). You might also want to visit the only museum in America dedicated to the life and career of Liberace.
9. Nevada got bigger after admission thanks to the government at the time wanting to punish two other states by making them smaller – Utah for Mormonism and Arizona for supporting the Confederacy. Some of their land was taken away and given to Nevada.
10. Nevada has more hotel rooms per capita than any other U.S. State. The national average is 1 room per 67 state residents; Nevada's ratio is 1 per 14 state residents.

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October 30: War of the Worlds

On this date in 1938 Orson Welles's radio adaptation of HG Wells's War Of The Worlds on CBS Radio, was broadcast. Its use of fake news reports caused panic in the US because people tuning in part way through thought it was really happening.

Here are a few facts about The War of the Worlds.

1. The original novel first appeared in 1897, when it appeared as a serial in Pearson's Magazine in the UK and Cosmopolitan in the USA. A hardback book followed a year later. It is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever and has never been out of print.
2. The plot (Spoiler Alert) concerns the invasion of Earth by Martians –Surrey in England, to be exact. Explosions are noticed on the surface of Mars and soon after a “meteor” falls on Horsell Common. It turns out to be a Martian spacecraft and fighting machine. The Martians are not interested in friendship – they want to conquer the Earth and set about doing just that. All resistance put up by the British Army ultimately fails and Earth faces a future of Martian domination – but in the end, the Martians are killed off by bacterial infections to which they have no immunity.
3. The 1938 radio broadcast was directed and narrated by future film maker Orson Welles, who was 23 at the time, and was his breakthrough project. It was the Halloween episode of a programme called The Mercury Theatre of the Air. The first part of the programme consisted of simulated news reports, and unsurprisingly the location for the story wasn't Surrey as in the original novel, but New Jersey.
4. The producers wanted the show to sound as realistic as possible and used the names of real places where possible, although there had been some last minute changes in this regard as executives who read the script on the day were afraid they might get sued by some of the real life institutions that were mentioned. The recording of the real life Hindenberg disaster report was used as a reference and sound effects such as boat horns in New York Harbour were incorporated into the soundtrack. Also, Welles interspersed the news reports with Music, which was hailed as genius, because long periods of music while listeners waited for the next news bulletin increased the suspense.
5. Enough people believed it was real to jam the radio station's switchboard with phone ins. The producers were ordered to broadcast an announcement pointing out the Martian invasion was fiction and not really happening. The police even raided the station while employees scurried to stop them destroying scripts and recordings of the show. At the time, Orson Welles was distraught, thinking he'd made a mistake which would cost him his career. Turned out he couldn't have been more wrong.
6. Adolph Hitler mentioned the broadcast in a speech he made about a week later, citing the panic it caused as evidence that democracy was corrupt and decadent.
7. Which brings us to a potential reason for the panic – that many people who tuned in not only didn't know it was fiction, but they hadn't clocked the fact the fictional invaders were Martians, either. In a world on the brink of the Second World War, many assumed it was an invasion by another country or a national disaster.
8. It is disputed now whether the panic was as widespread as the urban legends made out it was. While it's entirely possible some people tuned in during commercial breaks on other stations, having missed the introduction of the show as a drama, it has been questioned whether this was a widespread practice. Experts believe now that relatively few people actually heard the broadcast having missed the beginning.
9. As well as the radio broadcast there have been seven films based on the novel, several comic books, TV series and video games, not forgetting the best selling musical adaptation by Jeff Wayne in 1978.
10. War of the Worlds has also been an influence on other writers and there are any number of pulp science fiction novels with similar themes and fighting machines, including the 1967 book series The Tripods, and its 1984 TV adaptation. Real life science has been influenced by it, too. It's even possible the moon landings would never have happened without it. Robert H. Goddard was inspired by the book to work on the liquid fuelled and multi-stage rockets which would take men to the Moon 71 years later.

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29 October: Oatmeal Day

October 29 is Oatmeal Day. So here are ten interesting facts about oats.

1. The common oat (Avena sativa), is a cereal plant which grows in temperate climates. It is unusual linguistically as the crop is generally referred to in the plural, oats, rather than in the singular, as in Wheat or rye.
2. Oats were eaten in China as long ago as 7,000 BC, and the ancient Greeks are thought to be the first people to eat Porridge.
3. Oats, and porridge, have long been a staple food in Scotland, which has just the right kind of temperate climate to grow it well. It was via Scottish immigrants that oatmeal reached America, where 75% of the population have it in their kitchen cupboards. Universities in Scotland used to have a holiday called Meal Monday so students to return to their farms to collect more oats for food. Samuel Johnson's dictionary definition for oats reads: "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."
4. The biggest producer of oats is Russia, which contributes about 23% of the world's supply. In America, most of the oats are produced in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
5. Oatmeal wasn't always popular in America, because it is much more commonly used as animal feed – about 95% of the oats grown are fed to animals, even today.
6. In 1856, Ohio oat factory owner Ferdinand Schumacher first marketed a product which up to that time was seen as food for animals. Henry Parsons Crowell, an oat producer in Ravenna, Ohio, was the one who registered the figure of a man in Quaker garb as a trademark symbol in 1866. These two, and several others, all merged to form the Quaker Oats company in 1901. The company continued to innovate and were the first to try several marketing strategies we know well today – the free sample and the free gift. They were also the first food company to print recipes on the boxes. The company quickly diversified into producing other products, such as drinks, and even acquired other, non-food companies. They owned the Fisher-Price toy company for a while, and at one time 25% of their profits came from selling toys. They also got into financing movies – Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory owes its existence to Quaker Oats' money. In return, Quaker had exclusive rights to produce sweets based on the film. However, they later sold this particular brand to Nestle.
7. The Quakers, or Religious Society of Friends, played no role in the production of the Quaker brand of oats. The man in Quaker garb on the box is not, as many people think, supposed to represent William Penn. It's just a random Quaker guy. Employees of the company affectionately call him Larry.
8. Oats are processed in a way that doesn’t strip off the nutritious bran or germ. There are any number of health websites out there listing the myriad ways oatmeal is good for you. It lowers cholesterol. A study in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that infants who were introduced to oats early on were less likely to develop asthma. It contains lots of high quality protein. It helps prevent heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It can even help, according to Ayurvedic medicine, cure opium addiction.
9. Oatmeal is even good for the skin and can be applied to soothe itchy or painful skin conditions. The husks are a common ingredient in exfoliating products.
10. The most popular oatmeal toppings are: Milk, sugar, fruit (Raisins, Bananas) and Butter or Margarine. More unusual toppings are Eggnog, Peanut butter, cottage cheese and brewer’s yeast.

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28 October: Henry III of England

On this date in 1216, Henry III of England was crowned. Here are 10 facts about him.

1. Also known as Henry of Winchester, Henry III was the son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême.
2. Henry was only nine when he became king. His father, on his deathbed, appointed a council of executors to help Henry, and placed him under the guardianship of a knight called William Marshall.
3. Henry had two coronations. The first was a hastily cobbled together ceremony to establish Henry as king, and took place at Gloucester Cathedral. Coronation robes had to be borrowed and cut to size. King John had managed to lose the royal crown during a war, so a Gold circlet belonging to his mother had to be used. Four years later, when things were more stable, Henry was crowned again in Westminster Abbey.
4. After rejecting several potential wives for political reasons, Henry married Eleanor of Provence when he was 28. She was twelve. However, he treated her well, showering her with gifts and personally making sure she had a well equipped household. She grew up to be stronger and more politically minded than her husband, and it appeared they had a genuine affection for one another. Eleanor and Henry often travelled together. They had five children, and Henry is not known to have had any mistresses or illegitimate children.
5. Although that could equally be because he was very religious. His faith appeared to be genuine – as well as staging lavish church services, he would give money to the poor, support orphans, go to mass twice a day, going on pilgrimages, and it's said he washed the feet of lepers. There might even have been a rivalry between Henry and the king of France who was also known for his piety, as to which of them was the most pious. He became known for curing scrofula, also known as “the king's evil” by touch. There was even a campaign started after his death to make him a saint, but he was never canonised. Edward the Confessor was his hero. He named his first son Edward after the saint.
6. He didn't travel as much as previous kings, preferring to spend longer periods at his various residences and developing them. The Tower of London was one of his homes, and much of what we see of it today was built by Henry. Westminster Palace was possibly his favourite house, and the fact he spent so much time there probably helped establish London as the capital of England. He commissioned a lot of work on the abbey.
7. He kept exotic pets. His father had already established a menagerie at the Tower of London; but Henry built a special home for the animals and expanded the collection. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II sent Henry three leopards; King Louis IX of France sent Henry the first Elephant ever to be seen in England; and King Haakon IV of Norway sent him a Polar Bear, for which Henry had a chain and muzzle made so that it could fish in the Thames, much to the delight of the population of London.
8. There is little information about what Henry III looked like. He was said to be about 5' 6” tall, with a strong build and a drooping eyelid. In terms of personality, contemporary accounts suggest he was usually amiable and easy going, although he would occasionally display a fiery temper. He was said to be honest and not afraid to show his emotions – a beautiful church service could reduce him to tears. He also had a sense of humour – there are accounts of him playing practical jokes on one of his men during a sea voyage, making out the man owed a huge debt for alleged misdemeanours on the ship. There is also evidence that he was afraid of thunderstorms, but that he was even more afraid of his brother in law, Simon de Montfort, who opposed him during the second Barons War.
9. Part of his legacy was that the word “Parliament” was first used during his reign – to refer to large gatherings of the royal court, usually for the purpose of raising taxes. In time, representatives from the counties would attend to promote their own interests.
10. Henry III reigned for 56 years, and was the longest serving English monarch until George III about 500 years later. He was succeeded by his son, Edward I of England.

More Kings and Queens of England

Charles I 

Edward III

Edward VI
Edward the Confessor 

Elizabeth I
George II 

George III
George VI 
Henry II 
Henry V 

Henry VIII

Henry VIII's wives

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Victoria

Richard II

Richard III

William and Mary
William IV 

27th October: Dylan Thomas Quotes

Welsh poet Dylan Thomas was born on this date in 1914. Starting with what is probably his most famous quote, here are ten words of Welsh wisdom.

1. Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
2. Though lovers be lost love shall not.
3. An alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do.
4. When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.
5. Life always offers you a second chance. It is called tomorrow.
6. I do not need any friends. I prefer enemies. They are better company and their feelings towards you are always genuine.
7. He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.
8. A good poem is a contribution to reality.
9. Join the army and see the next world.
10. I hold a beast, an angel and a madman in me.

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26 October: Mule Day

Today is National mule day. What is a mule and what are they like? Find out here.

1. Today is Mule Day because it is the anniversary of the day in 1785 when the first mule arrived in Boston, USA. King Charles III of Spain sent it as a gift to George Washington, who was so impressed with the animal that he started breeding them.
2. A mule is the offspring of a male Donkey and a female Horse. The offspring of a male horse and a female donkey is called a hinny.
3. Both mules and hinnies have 63 chromosomes, compared to 64 for horses and 62 for donkeys. The odd number of chromosomes means most mules are sterile – but not all of them. There are no recorded cases of male mules siring offspring but there have been about 60 recorded cases of female mules having foals.
4. A female mule having a foal is such a rare event that in Ancient Greece it was thought to be an bad omen. Herodotus wrote about this happening around the time of Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. For a long time, scientists didn't think it was even possible.
5. A male mule is called a john or horse mule. A female mule is called a molly or mare.
6. Mules are examples of something called hybrid vigour, which means they are more robust than either of their parents. They live longer, can survive on less food, are more resistant to disease than donkeys or horses. They also seem to display the most desirable characteristics of both species. Mules are more patient under the pressure of heavy weights; their skin is harder and less sensitive than that of horses. Their hooves are harder. They are said to be less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys.
7. A mule makes a sound similar to that of a donkey, but with the whinnying characteristics of a horse (often starts with a whinny, ends in a hee-haw). Mules sometimes whimper.
8. Mules tend to inherit the characteristics of the horses they are bred from, and the work they do is dictated by this. Racing mules are bred from racehorses; mules bred from heavy horses will be able to pull heavy farm vehicles. While tractors have made the mule largely redundant in farm work, breeding mules is a popular hobby, and they do still have their uses. The Amish people, who shun technology, still use them for ploughing. Packs of mules are sometimes used, too, for carrying luggage to wilderness camps where it would be difficult for a motorised vehicle to go. They have a long history of use in warfare, pulling heavy mobile guns, for example, and are still used for this today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
9. Famous Americans who have ridden mules include Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill Cody, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan and Ken Curtis as Festus in the television show Gunsmoke. That mule, although named Ruth, was actually a male.
10. A mule clone was produced by the University of Idaho in 2003. The foal, called Idaho Gem, was the first ever clone of a hybrid animal.

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25th October: Northamptonshire Day

Today is Northamptonshire Day. Here are some facts about the English county of Northamptonshire.

1. Northamptonshire, archaically known as the County of Northampton, is situated in the East Midlands of England. In 2015 its population was 723,000.
2. The county's nicknames include “Rose of the Shires” and the “Land of Spires and Squires”, because it has some beautiful countryside, including several village churches with spires, and is home to plenty of landed gentry. The best known landed gentry family in the area is probably the Spencer family, who have their home at Althorp.
3. As well as Diana, other famous people from Northamptonshire include Jo Wiley, Toby Anstis, Nanette Newman and Matt Smith.
4. Northamptonshire's towns include Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Daventry, Towcester, and, of course, Northampton.
5. Northampton has the biggest market square in England. The market was chartered back in 1189, and used to take place around All Saints church, until Henry III decreed in 1235 that the area around the church should not be used for commerce. It then moved to its present site.
6. Some famous brands made in the county include Weetabix, Doc Martens, Carlsberg (brewed in Northampton, although based in Denmark), a number of Formula one teams (including Mercedes F1) and Cosworth, who have supplied Formula One engines since 1963. Northampton also has a historical association with Shoe making, which is why its football team is nicknamed “the Cobblers”.
7. The demonstration of world’s first RADAR took place in Daventry under the supervision of Robert Watson-Watt. This took place in the BBC Empire Service (present day BBC World Service) building, used to broadcast radio transmissions from Borough Hill, Daventry with a famous tagline ‘Daventry Calling’.
8. The Gunpowder Plot was first hatched in Ashby St Ledgers in the Daventry area. It's also said that the first shots in the English Civil War were fired at Kilsby, near where the village school now stands.
9. There is a famous haunted house – Rushton Hall, home of the Tresham family, is said to be haunted by the ghost of an Italian maid who died in mysterious circumstances and now walks the corridors wearing her wedding dress and wringing her hands.
10. The first car chase involving police took place in Northampton in 1899. The policeman concerned was Sergeant Hector Macleod, and yes, he caught the crook.

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24 October: Pears

The French Revolutionary calendar celebrated pears on this date. Here are a few things you might not know about pears.

1. Pear trees belong to the genus Pyrus, a member of the Rose family. Hence the word pyriform means pear-shaped.
2. Pears have been around a long time. They were cultivated in China as far back as 1134BC, and a pear tree was planted in the Massachusetts colony in 1620.
3. In China, the pear was a symbol of immortality and the destruction of a pear tree symbolised untimely death. It was considered unlucky to share a pear with someone, because the words for “to share a pear” were the same as “to separate”, so doing so would mean the end of a friendship.
4. There are about 3,000 varieties of pear. One of these is the Bartlett, the most popular variety of pear in the United States. This variety is known by a different name in Europe - the Williams Bon Chrétien or the Williams. It has a different name in the US because a Bostonian named Enoch Bartlett bought a pear orchard. He didn't know the pears already had a name, so he began distributing them as Bartlett pears.
5. In the Odyssey, Homer called the pear a “gift from the Gods.” The pear was sacred to two goddesses in Greek mythology – Hera and Aphrodite. It was also sacred to the corresponding Roman goddesses, Juno and Venus, and to Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruitfulness. The ancient Greeks used pears as a remedy for nausea.
6. A medium sized pear has 100 calories. It is also rich in Potassium and contains Vitamin C.
7. Before tobacco was introduced in Europe people used to smoke pear leaves.
8. In the 1700s people called pears “butter fruit” because of their soft, buttery texture.
9. Cider made from pears is called Perry. Towns with Perry as part of their name would at one time have had an abundance of pear trees.
10. Architect's rulers are made from pear wood because it doesn't warp.

See also: Apples

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October 23: St John of Capistrano

October 23 is the feast day of St John of Capistrano, famous for giving his name to two Spanish missions in the USA. So who was he? Here's the low-down.

1. He was known as the soldier saint because he led a crusade in 1456 – at the age of 70. He did not, however, survive the experience, although he died of bubonic plague rather than being killed in a battle.
2. He is the patron saint of military chaplains, jurists, Belgrade and Hungary.
3. His father was a German knight who had settled in Italy. His father died when John was young.
4. He studied law at the University of Perugia and became an ambassador. During a visit to end a war, he was thrown into prison where he started to think about the fate of his soul. He had a dream in which St Francis told him to join the Franciscan Order, which he did in 1416. His mentor was St Bernadine of Siena.
5. He became famous as a preacher and attracted so many listeners that churches were too small to hold them all so he would preach in the open air. In Brescia, Italy, he once attracted a crowd of 126,000 people. However, there was a dark side. His sermons, whether he intended them to be that way or not, promoted anti-Semitism and led to the persecution of Jews. Some of his sermons led to regions in Germany expelling their Jewish populations.
6. As well as preaching, he still worked as an ambassador from time to time, and wrote. He promoted reform in the Franciscan order towards a simpler and more ascetic life.
7. He gave his name to two Spanish missions in the Americas: Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County California, and Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Antonio, Texas.
8. The one in Texas is now part of a national park and has been extensively restored. In 2000, three priceless altar statues were stolen from it.
9. The one in California has appeared as a backdrop in several Western films, and there is a lot of folklore associated with it. It is said to be haunted by the ghosts of a young girl who died when the roof collapsed, a faceless monk and a headless soldier.
10. This mission is also closely associated with American cliff Swallows, migratory birds said to have taken refuge in the mission when innkeepers destroyed their nests. The birds nest in the eaves of the mission every year. The return of the swallows to Capistrano in March each year is a much anticipated event. According to folklore, the swallows leave on St John's feast day, October 23, every year. The mission was also home once to the largest California Pepper Tree in the US.