31 May: Baseball

According to Onthisday.com in 1859 Philadelphia Athletics organised to play "town ball", a game which became baseball 20 years later. I could find no other references which mentioned this date as a significant one in the history of baseball, but we are in the middle of the baseball season. 10 facts about baseball.

1. Baseball is often referred to as America’s national pastime and has been since the American Civil War. Both Union and Confederate soldiers played the game to escape the harsh realities of war. In WWII, baseball became a useful tool. The US Army developed a grenade that was about the same size and shape as a regular baseball, which meant that soldiers who would have grown up playing baseball would find them easy to use. Baseball was also used as a means to weed out German spies. Anyone who lacked knowledge of baseball would be suspect.
2. I won't get into the technicalities and rules here but will mention three slightly odd rules I came across. One is that it's actually a rule for a pitcher to wipe his hand on his uniform before pitching; another is that before any game, the ball must be rubbed with mud to take the shine off - and not just any old mud - it has to be mud from a creek in Burlington County, New Jersey; and the final one I'll mention is that umpires are required to wear Black underpants, so if they split their Trousers, it won't be noticeable.
3. A major league baseball will need to be replaced after 5-7 pitches, meaning about 70 balls are used during a typical game. That's about 160,000 baseballs in the entire season.
4. Baseball games usually last about three hours. The shortest game in history lasted 51 minutes (between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies on September 28, 1919) and the longest lasted 8 hours 6 minutes (between the Chicago White Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers on May 9, 1984).
5. The game has an unofficial anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, traditionally sung during the 7th inning. The song was written by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer in 1908. Neither of them had ever been to a baseball game.
6. The oldest baseball park still in use is Fenway Park, the home field of the Boston Red Sox, which has been in use since 1912.
7. The first-ever radio broadcast of a major league baseball game was on August 5 1921. The game was between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies. Harold Arlin became the first live baseball commentator. On August 26, 1939, the first TV broadcast of a game took place. That game was between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
8. It's a man's game. No woman has ever played in a major league game and the Baseball Hall of Fame has only one female member - a sports executive called Effa Louise Manley. A female player in the minor league, Jackie Mitchell, struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in succession in the 1930s, but rather than get her into the Hall of Fame, it got her banned from both the minor and major leagues (men are such sore losers!)
9. There has only been one death as a result of a major league player getting hit by a pitched ball. Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was fatally hit in the head in August 1920 by a ball thrown by Yankee pitcher Carl Mays. The chances of being hit by a ball if you're in the audience is 300,000 to 1, even though on average, 50 balls end up in the crowd during a game. Injuries are common, though, such as “pitchers elbow” or torn cartilage in the shoulder for pitchers and circulatory problems in the hand or torn meniscus for catchers.
10. The country with the largest professional baesball league outside the USA is Japan. One of their teams, The Hanshin Tigers, is believed by some to have been cursed by Colonel Sanders of KFC fame, because after winning a game in 1985, the Tigers threw a storefront statue of him into a river.

30 May: 30

On the 30th day of the month, here are 10 things you didn't know about the number 30.

1. A polygon with thirty sides is called a triacontagon.
2. In the Bible, 30 is often the age at which people begin their ministries - Ezekiel, St Paul, John the Baptist and of course Jesus were all 30 years old when their ministries started. David became king of Israel at 30 and Joseph left prison to govern Egypt at 30. Also in the Bible, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of Silver.
3. Reaching 30 is a significant milestone for people today, too. In The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus comments that the age of thirty is a crucial period in the life of a man, for at that age he gains a new awareness of the meaning of time.
4. 30 is the atomic number of Zinc.
5. April, June, September and November all have 30 days. February 30 is usually a sarcastic way to suggest that something will never get done. That said, They did have a February 30 in Sweden in 1712 during the changeover from the Julian to Gregorian Calendars. The Swedes decided to achieve this by not having leap days for 40 years. However, they got distracted by a war and forgot to omit the leap day a couple of times - so they went back to the Julian calendar to start again, and added an extra leap day in 1712 to correct the mistake. Hence there was a February 30.
6. On the subject of wars, the Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. 8 million people died as a result of a series of squabbles over religion, economics and territory.
7. A couple who have been married for 30 years are celebrating their Pearl anniversary.
8. In tennis, the number 30 represents the second point gained in a game.
9. 30 St Mary Axe is the address of the Gherkin in London.
10. In numerology, people born on the 30th of the month are fun loving and creative, though not necessarily rich. They are attractive and attract lovers easily - but find it hard to stay faithful.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

May 29: National Biscuit Day

Today is National Biscuit Day, so here are ten things you might not know about biscuits.

1. What is a biscuit, anyway? It means something different depending on whether you're in the United States or in Britain or the Commonwealth. In the USA a biscuit is a type of bread, rather like a British scone. In Britain a biscuit is a small baked product which Americans would refer to as a cookie if it's sweet or a cracker if it's savoury. As I'm in Britain, this post concerns itself with the latter.
2. The word biscuit comes from the Middle French word bescuit which in turn is is derived from the Latin words bis (twice) and coquere/coctus (to cook, cooked), and, hence, means “twice-cooked”. This is because at one time biscuits were cooked twice - baked, then dried out in a slow oven. Today, they are cooked just the once.
3. Biscuits have been around since Tudor times. Back then they were largely used as provisions for sailors. Samuel Johnson defined biscuits as a “kind of hard dry bread, made to be carried to sea.” In 1588, the daily allowance on board a Royal Navy ship was a gallon of Beer and one pound of biscuits.
4. Shakespeare only mentions biscuits in two of his plays: As You Like It and Troilus and Cressida.
5. Biscuits have even been eaten on the Moon. The first biscuit to be eaten on the Moon was a Bourbon biscuit, by Buzz Aldrin.
6. The pattern on custard creams dates back to the Victorian era. While on the subject of custard creams, they are Britain's favourite biscuit with nine out of ten Brits saying they like them best.
7. Digestive biscuits were first made in 1839 and were believed to be good for the digestion because they contained baking Soda. That's why they are called digestives. The Victorians might have said that a biscuit a day keeps the doctor away! Today, 71 million packets are sold in the UK every year which is equivalent to 52 being eaten every second. It was in 1925 that Chocolate digestives were introduced. According to McVitie's, the chocolate is on the bottom of the biscuit, not the top. They didn't point this fact out until 2014.
8. In 2009 a study showed that 25 million people in the UK claimed to have suffered a biscuit related injury. Many of these were as a result of trying to fish a broken biscuit out of a cup of hot Tea. Most often the guilty biscuit was a custard cream.
9. While on the subject of dunking, Bristol University researched the best way to dunk biscuits in 1998. According to their study, you should be dunking biscuits horizontally.
10. Possibly the most expensive biscuit ever was one which sold at a London auction for £3,525. It was described in the catalogue as “in almost perfect condition with signs of moulding”. Why would a slightly mouldy biscuit fetch such a price? Because it was taken from the Titanic before she set sail on her ill-fated journey.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

28 May: The Spanish Armada

On this date in 1588 The Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. 10 things you might not know about this historic event.

1. Why was there a Spanish Armada in the first place? You can blame Henry VIII and his break from Rome so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragon. Philip of Spain did not recognise the divorce and believed Elizabeth I was therefore illegitimate. He'd also been married to her elder half sister, Queen Mary I. Philip wanted Catholicism to be reinstated in England, and Mary Queen of Scots to be queen. So it was essentially about religion with a family feud thrown in.
2. The word Armada means “Great and Most Fortunate Navy”.
3. The Spanish Armada consisted of 130 ships, some of which were fighting galleons, but many were converted merchant ships. It took two days for them all to sail out of Lisbon harbour. They carried about 30,000 soldiers, 180 priests, 2,500 guns, 14,000 barrels of Wine, 11,000 pairs of sandals and 4,990,000 kg of ship’s biscuits. The English fleet had more ships - 200 of them, but the Spanish had better guns. Their firepower was 50% greater.
4. The commander of the Armada was the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an administrator with no naval experience whatsoever. He hadn't even wanted the job, telling the king of Spain, “I know by the small experience I have had afloat that I soon become sea-sick.” Not only that, Sidonia was convinced Philip was making a big mistake, and wrote to him saying as much, and that it would take a miracle for it to work. Philip never received the letter - his counsellors were too afraid to show it to him. Instead, they threatened Sidonia with the loss of his "reputation and esteem" if he didn't do it, reassuring him that God was on their side and “nobody knows more about naval affairs than you”. (Politics hasn't changed much, has it?)
5. Nevertheless, Philip, known as "Philip the Prudent" spent two years planning the enterprise. He knew a little of the strength of the English navy, having been married to Queen Mary I, so he knew invading England wouldn't be straightforward. There was a set back in 1587 when England raided the port of Cadiz and destroyed thirty of Philip's warships. Philip had the support of the Pope, Sixtus V, who saw the whole thing as a holy crusade and allowed Philip to collect crusade taxes to fund his Armada. Philip also hoped that Catholics living in England would rise up and support his troops when they landed. There were also some merchants in England who, as one source put it, "placed profit ahead of patriotism" (Like I said, politics hasn't changed much) and supplied the Spanish with ammunition, gunpowder and ordnance. However, they were found out and sent to the Tower. It's unlikely they survived the experience.
6. The English fleet was led by Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake. The latter is said to have insisted on finishing his game of bowls before setting sail against the Armada. It's likely his reason for doing that was because he knew the tide was against him and there wasn't much he could do until the tide turned, anyway.
7. Sir Francis Drake was the hero of the hour - but in reality he had his eye on financial gain. Instead of following orders to follow the Armada with a light in his stern to guide the rest of the fleet, he stopped to loot the Rosario, one of the Spanish ships which was floundering. Drake claimed he'd actually left his post to give chase to some strange ships which he'd assumed were Spanish but had turned out to be innocent German merchant ships. Since people believed Drake to be their national hero, he escaped a court martial but Martin Frobisher, the captain of another ship, was furious and said if Drake didn't share the spoils from the Rosario, he would "make him spend the best blood in his belly.”
8. The Armada encountered 66 English ships taking on supplies in Plymouth, but decided not to attack those. A mistake as the English ships gave chase and fired on them. The Armada retreated to the coast of France to await reinforcements, near a port called Gravelines. The English engaged with it there, sending ships on fire into their formation and using Spain's own tactics against them. They knew the Spanish marines would fire their guns and then climb the rigging ready to board the enemy ships, leaving inexperienced men to man the guns. By staying just out of range of a boarding party, the English fleet were able to gain the upper hand.
9. The actions of the English fleet caused the Armada to break formation with a number of ships having to "cut and run" which basically means cutting the ship free of its anchor and sailing off. Spain lost five ships during the battle, but returned home with only two thirds of the fleet. It turned out that the British weather, rather than the English navy, proved to be their undoing. After fleeing from the Channel, they regrouped in the North Sea, but the winds prevented them from taking the shortest route home. They had to go the long way, via the top of Scotland and the west coast of Ireland. More ships and men were lost to storms during that voyage than through the battle. Philip, of course, was not pleased. "I sent the Armada against men, not God’s winds and waves," he grumbled. When in 1596 and 1597 Philip sent more Armadas to try again, they too were defeated by the British weather.
10. The English were a little disappointed that they'd not destroyed more of the Armada themselves but nevertheless, Elizabeth was able to use the victory to enhance her own reputation. It was at a public appearance in Tilbury, Essex, once the danger had passed, that she said her famous line: “I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.” There was propaganda and fake news, too - a statement was issued, in verse, that even though fish had no doubt fed on the disease-ridden corpses of Spanish sailors, it was still safe to eat fish.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

27 May: Wild Bill Hickok

On this day in 1837 wild west legend Wild Bill Hickok was born. 10 things you might not know about him.

1. His real name was James Butler Hickok. He came to be known as "Wild Bill" because he had a big nose. People nicknamed him "Duck Bill" because of his nose and he changed it to "Wild Bill" himself. People often also got his surname wrong and at various times in his life was referred to as “Haycock” or “Hitchcock.” He was also nicknamed "Shanghai Bill" because he was tall and slim.
2. He was born in Homer, Illinois, now known as Troy Grove. He ran away from there at the age of 18 after getting into a fight with Charles Hudson, and believing he had killed him. Hickok moved to Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory, where he joined a vigilante group called the Jayhawkers. During that time, he met a 12 year old called William Cody (later known as Buffalo Bill).
3. He served in the American Civil War, joining the Union Army in 1861. He served as a teamster and was promoted to wagonmaster, but was then discharged for unknown reasons. He joined another brigade in 1863. Later, in 1867, he served as a scout for an African-American unit called the 10th Cavalry Regiment.
4. In photographs, Hickok appears to have black hair, but descriptions of him written during his lifetime say otherwise - they all say he had red hair.
5. His best friend was a man named Charlie Utter. They were business partners in a wagon train business as well as being friends. After Hickok's death it was Utter who placed the obituary notices in the paper and organised the funeral and gravestone. He left a personal message to the effect that he hoped he and Hickok would “meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more.”
6. So what of Hickok's love life? He may have been involved with, and possibly even married to, Martha Jane Cannary, aka Calamity Jane. She claimed in her autobiography that she was married to him and is buried beside him in accordance with her wish. No documented proof of her claim has ever been found, though. There was a woman called Jean Hickok Burkhardt McCormick who claimed in 1941 to be the daughter of Hickok and Jane, but again, it couldn't be proved. Hickok did marry - he married a woman called Agnes Thatcher Lake, a circus proprietor who was 12 years older than him. (Calamity Jane said she granted him a divorce so he could marry Agnes.) The marriage apparently only lasted a few months before Hickok left her to go gold prospecting with Charlie Utter. It may be, had he not been killed, he'd have gone back to her eventually - he wrote to her just before he died: “Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife—Agnes—and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore.”
7. His favourite gun was the Colt 1851 Navy Model. He wore a pair of them with the butts pointed forward, and would draw using a movement known as a “cavalry draw”, which he presumably learned in the Union Army.
8. In 1860, he narrowly escaped being mauled to death by a Bear. While driving freight from Missouri to New Mexico, he found his way blocked by a cinnamon bear with cubs. Hickok did exactly what you'd expect him to do - shot at it. While he hit the bear in the head, the bullet ricocheted off the bear's skull so instead of killing it, he merely annoyed the hell out of it. It attacked him. Despite on arm being in the bear's mouth, he managed to draw a knife and cut its throat. It took him four months to recover from those injuries.
9. He briefly went into showbusiness. His old friend Buffalo Bill persuaded him to try acting in 1873. It was a short lived career as Hickok hated being in the spotlight so much that on one occasion when the spotlight fell on him, he shot at it. He left after a couple of months.
10. Hickok had a premonition that he was going to die in Deadwood, and told this to Charlie Utter. Hickok died during a game of poker. Normally, he made sure he was sitting in a corner seat so nobody could creep up behind him, but on this occasion, there was no corner seat available and Hickok had been forced to sit with his back to the door. He'd tried to get another player to swap places but they'd all refused. Enter Jack McCall, who'd been playing Hickok at poker the previous day and had lost. Even though Hickok had been nice to him and offered him money to buy breakfast, McCall was allegedly offended by that (even though he took the money!). He walked in and shot Hickok in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Hickok was holding a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights in his hand at the time, a combination which has become known as "Dead man's hand". Hickok should have had a fifth card in his hand. It's not known whether he had just played a card or the hand had not been fully dealt, or what the fifth card was. In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

26 May: National Grey Day

Today is National Grey Day, so here are 10 things you might not know about the colour grey.

1. Or is it Gray Day? If you're in Europe or the Commonwealth, it's probably grey, whereas in America it's usually gray. The first recorded use of grey as a colour name in the English language was in AD 700.
2. In the Middle Ages, undyed wool was grey, meaning it was the colour most commonly worn by peasants. Hence it was adopted by monks and friars of the Franciscan and Capuchin orders because grey clothing symbolised humility and poverty. It's also the colour of ashes, so could also represent mourning and repentance.
3. Grey is a colour which is less visible from a distance. Hence it is a common colour for animals such as Wolves, Elephants and Mice.
4. For the same reason, grey has often been adopted by the military, especially since the age of long range weapons. The Confederate Army during the American Civil War and the German army during World War II are examples of grey uniforms. Warships are usually grey and there is a shade specifically known as "Battleship grey".
5. Rembrandt used grey a lot in his paintings. He mixed Black pigments with lead or lime White, adding a tiny bit of red to give they grey a warmer hue. He often placed his subjects on a grey background in order to highlight their faces. Whistler was another artist who often used grey.
6. Why are some clouds grey and others white and fluffy? The thicker a cloud is, the darker it becomes as sunlight cannot filter through. Hence, a cloud which is dark grey and stormy looking to a viewer on the ground will look white if you fly above it in an aeroplane.
7. Why do older people have grey hair? Hair follicles have cells attached to them called melanocytes, which inject melanin into the hair cells, giving them their colour. As a person ages, for reasons nobody really knows, the melanocytes inject less and less pigment and finally stop. This can happen as early as the 20s, or much later. Hence grey has come to represent older people and give rise to terms like "the grey pound", "the grey vote" and "grey power."
8. While grey could represent the wisdom and experience of age, it is more often associated with more negative things such as neutrality, conformity, boredom, uncertainty and indifference. Only 1% of people say grey is their favourite colour while 13% say it is their least favourite colour. Colour historian Eva Heller says of it: "grey is too weak to be considered masculine, but too menacing to be considered a feminine color. It is neither warm nor cold, neither material or spiritual. With grey, nothing seems to be decided." Something that is neither good nor bad may be described as a "grey area". This is probably why very few political parties choose grey as their colour. An exception is the German Grey Panthers.
9. On a TV or computer screen, white is made by combining Red, Green, and Blue light combined at full intensity. Lowering the intensity creates grey. As the human eye can detect the merest hint of colour, most shades of grey have a warm or cool cast to them.
10. Wearing grey suits to work became popular in the mid 19th century and in the 20th century became even more ubiquitous as film stars and politicians started wearing them. Lyndon Johnson was the first US President to be inaugurated wearing a grey business suit in 1965. More recently, however, dark blue is taking over as the most popular colour for business suits.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

25 May: HMS Pinafore

On this date in 1878 Gilbert/Sullivan's opera HMS Pinafore premièred in London. 10 things you might not know about HMS Pinafore.

1. The alternative title for HMS Pinafore is The Lass That Loved a Sailor.
2. The setting for the operetta is on board a British warship called H.M.S. Pinafore which is anchored off Portsmouth.
3. The plot (spoiler alert) is as follows: in Act I, Little Buttercup the bumboat woman (ie a dockside vendor who goes out to the ships to sell things to the sailors) arrives and hints that she has a secret to share. Meanwhile, one of the sailors, Ralph Rackstraw, has fallen in love with the captain's daughter, Josephine, but is advised he doesn't stand a chance with her because of the difference in their social class status. Little Buttercup and Captain Corcoran have a conversation in which the captain tells her that he wants Josephine to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty, but Josephine seems reluctant. Little Buttercup confesses that she knows what it's like to love in vain. Enter Josephine, who explains why she is reluctant to marry Sir Joseph - because she is in love with one of the sailors, but that as a dutiful daughter she will do as her father asks. Sir Joseph arrives with an entourage of "cousins and aunts" and tells the captain he should treat his crew well, because "A British sailor is any man's equal" (except, of course, his own). This spurs Ralph on to declare his love to Josephine. Needless to say, he is the sailor she is secretly in love with, but at first, she tells him she is going to do her duty and marry Sir Joseph. Ralph is about to commit suicide when Josephine returns and admits she is in love with Ralph. They make plans to elope.
4. Act II opens with the captain having a heart to heart with Buttercup in which he offloads all his concerns - his daughter in love with a sailor, Sir Joseph threatening to court martial him and so on. He confesses that the only reason he doesn't return Buttercup's love for him is the difference in their social standing. She hints again that she has a secret which will change everything. A little later, another sailor, Dick Deadeye, rats on the eloping couple and so they are caught by the captain. The Captain blurts out, "Why, damme, it's too bad!" (The "Big D" he says he "never, well, hardly ever" utters) which shocks Sir Joseph and his family - so he has the Captain confined to his quarters. Ralph is sent to the brig. At this point, Buttercup finally reveals her secret, that she once "practised baby-farming" and at one point had been looking after two babies, one "of low condition", the other "a regular patrician", and had mixed them up. She reveals the identity of the babies - Captain Corcoran and Ralph Rackstraw. (So Ralph is therefore old enough to be Josephine's father!) Sir Joseph declares he is no longer interested in marrying Josephine because she is too lowly. Enter the captain and Ralph, who have changed roles. Josephine, who had secretly been having second thoughts about giving up her life of luxury to marry a common sailor, and Ralph are now of equal rank and can get married openly. The former captain can now marry Buttercup. Even Sir Joseph gets a happy ending as he marries one of his cousins.
5. The first production opened on 25 May 1878 at the Opera Comique. Although initial reviews were favourable, the show nearly closed before the end of the summer due to low ticket sales. The reason for this was that there was a heatwave that year, and people didn't want to sit in a stuffy theatre when it was so hot. Come the autumn, however, the weather cooled and the performances began to sell out.
6. Gilbert and Sullivan neglected to put in place any international copyright protection for HMS Pinafore. About 150 unauthorised productions appeared in America, from which Gilbert and Sullivan didn't get any money. Their efforts to sue the various companies and claim royalties met with little success. It also meant that when the official version opened in America, it didn't do so well because many people had already seen one of the unauthorised versions.
7. The unauthorised versions included spoofs, all male, all female and cross-gender versions, minstrel shows, burlesques, all black or all Jewish productions and productions in other languages (A Yiddish version, for example, was called Der Shirtz - Yiddish for "apron") or in different settings, such as the Caribbean Sea.
8. There was also a version for children, which proved so popular that the D'Oyly Carte company put on their own children's production at the Opera Comique in 1879. The score was adapted for children's voices, but the line in which Captain Corcoran uses the "Big D" was left in, which offended some audiences. Author Lewis Carroll was one who thought it completely wrong for children to say such words and dismissed the production as "vile trash".
9. The character of Sir Joseph Porter was believed by many to be based on a politician of the time called WH Smith. Yes, he is connected with the UK shops of the same name. He'd started his career as a newsagent and had expanded the family firm by selling books and newspapers at railway stations. In 1868, he became a Member of Parliament and within ten years had achieved the position of First Lord of the Admiralty despite having had no naval experience whatsoever.
10. In 1909, W. S. Gilbert wrote a 1909 children's book called The Pinafore Picture Book, based on the plot of the operatta and including much of the backstory not included on stage. The book was illustrated by Alice Woodward.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two