24 December: Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes, entrepreneur, aviator and eccentric may have been born on this date in 1905. I say “may” because there's a discrepancy between his baptism record, which gives his birthdate as 24 September, and an affadvit birth certificate signed by his aunt in 1941, which claims Christmas Eve. Whatever the truth, Hughes himself said his birthday was on Christmas Eve.

1. He may have inherited his obsessive compulsive tendencies and germ phobia from his mother – she was afraid her son would contract polio and wouldn't let him have any friends. He became interested in science and technology instead, and built himself a wireless transmitter at the age of eleven and a motorised Bicycle at the age of twelve.
2. His father was a millionaire. He had invented the “Hughes Rock Easter,” a self-sharpening oil well drill bit and made a fortune from it. Howard's mother died when he was 17 and his father two years later, so Howard inherited a fortune at the age of 19 and built on it.
3. When his father died, he dropped out of college and set off for Hollywood and a career making films. Films would be one of his great obsessions in later life when he'd lost his marbles. In 1958, he embarked on a four month long binge watch in a film studio. He never left the studio during this time. He sat there watching films naked, eating nothing but chicken, Chocolate and Milk. His favourite film was Ice Station Zebra, which he watched at least 150 times. He even bought a TV movie channel and ordered them to play that particular film on a loop, over and over again.
4. He took his first flying lesson at 14 and would go on to be a trailblazer in the field of aviation. His achievements included flying across America in a record breaking (for the time) nine hours, 27 minutes and 10 seconds in 1936. A year later, he smashed his own record, completing the journey in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds, at an average speed of 322mph. He broke the landplane speed record in 1935, reaching 352mph in the Hughes H-1 Racer. He also broke the record for flying around the world.
5. He built a plane out of wood. This plane, nicknamed the Spruce Goose (even though the wood it was made from was Birch), had the largest wingspan of any aeroplane before or since. It was made from wood because it was originally intended to be a flying boat during World War II and Hughes wanted to use non-strategic materials to build it. However, it only flew once, for a single mile, in 1947 and only reached a height of 70ft (21m).
6. He married twice and dated any number of actresses, including Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, Olivia de Havilland, Katharine Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr, Ginger Rogers, Janet Leigh, Rita Hayworth and Joan Fontaine. His first wife was Ella Botts Rice, who he married at 19. She moved with him to Los Angeles but filed for divorce after four years. His second marriage was to Jean Peters. They eventually lived in separate houses with Hughes nevertheless trying to control her life by sending her thousands of memos and having her followed by his security staff even after the marriage ended.
7. He didn't take rejection well and could be quite vindictive to women who turned him down. Jean Simmons did, because she was married when Hughes came on to her. He did all he could to sabotage her career, and while under contract to him, he made sure she was treated badly on set. Once, he instructed director Otto Preminger to make sure her co-star Robert Mitchum to slap her hard in one scene. Mitchum turned and punched Preminger in the face, asking him if that’s how hard he wanted it.
8. As an engineer, he'd look for ways to improve things wherever he was. After a near fatal air crash after which Hughes was in hospital for weeks, he re-designed his hospital bed. The bed he designed became the prototype for hospital beds in use today. He also re-designed Jane Russell's Bra to accentuate her breasts. Russell actually hated the bra, though, and refused to wear it. She'd adjust her own bras to make it look as if she was wearing it. Hughes never knew this, because his staff never told him – they were too afraid of him.
9. Stan Lee based the Marvel character Tony Stark (Iron Man) on Howard Hughes.
10. If Howard Hughes was alive today, he'd almost certainly be diagnosed as severely OCD. Examples of his odd behaviour include arranging Peas in size order before he could eat them; insisting that staff serving him canned food must disinfect the can first and serve food in a bowl no-one had touched; wearing tissue boxes on his feet believing they protected him from germs; storing his pee in jars; not cutting his nails or Hair for weeks on end. Some have speculated that the reason for the latter eccentricity was an actual mental condition called allodynia which meant he felt pain from things which don't cause pain in people who don't suffer from 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.

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