30 October: John Adams, Second US President

Born on this date in 1735 was John Adams, the second president of the USA. 10 things you might not know about him.

1. Of the first five US Presidents, he was the only one not to own slaves. That said, he was opposed to abolishing slavery.
2. He was also the only one of the first five not to come from Virginia. He was from Braintree, Massachusetts.
3. When George Washington became president, Adams proposed referring to him as "His Majesty the President" or "His Highness the President," on the grounds that the heads of things like cricket clubs were called presidents. However, having just got rid of a monarch, the American people weren't too keen on the idea. Because he was of ample figure, this led to his opponents referring to him as "His Rotundity".
4. He was the first president to live in the White House.
5. Before entering politics, he was a lawyer. One of the things he's famous for is successfully defending a group of British soldiers who were involved in the Boston Massacre. Although anti-British sentiment ran high, Adams believed everyone had the right to legal defence and that the accused is innocent until proven guilty.
6. He was the father of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams.
7. He was a prolific letter writer. Since he was so often forced to be away from his wife, Abigail, he wrote her over 1,000 letters.
8. Adams drafted the Massachusetts Constitution, which, dating from 1780, is the oldest constitution in the world still in use today.
9. At time of writing, John Adams is one of only 10 presidents to serve a single term. He blamed his failure to get elected for a second term on the fact that he'd issued proclamations calling for days of fasting and prayer. He missed out on a second term by just 250 votes. Had 250 more people in New York voted for him, he would have been re-elected.
10. He died at the age of 90, making him the longest lived president until Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan who both lived to be 93. He died on July 4, 1826, on the same day, incedentally, as his rival Thomas Jefferson. His last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives." Jefferson had, in fact, already died, but the news hadn't reached Adams.

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Golden Thread

Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

Fiveswood has a rich and intriguing history. Local legends speak of giants, angels, wolves, a local Robin Hood, but most of all, a knight in golden armour. Fiveswood's history also has a dark side - mysterious deaths blamed on the plague, a ghostly black panther, and a landslide which buried the smugglers' caves.

Terry buys an apartment in The Heights, a house which has been empty for decades, since the previous owner disappeared. Now he has finally been declared dead, developers have moved in and turned it into six flats. Terry has the odd feeling he has lived in this enigmatic house before. But that is not all. Since childhood, Terry has had recurring, disturbing dreams which have been increasing in frequency so that now, he has them almost every night. To his dismay, the people from his nightmares are his new neighbours.

Except, that is, for Eleanor Millbrook. She is refreshingly unfamiliar. After Terry saves her from a mysterious attacker, they become close. However, Terry's nightmares encroach more and more on his waking life, until they lead him to a devastating discovery about who he really is.

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