November 21: Wild Bikini Day

Today is Wild Bikini Day, so here are 10 facts about bikinis.

1. The name for a two piece swimsuit comes from Bikini Atoll, the place where the USA was testing atom bombs in the 1940s. At the time, the garment was thought to be quite shocking, as much so as the nuclear bomb - so designer Louis Réard named the swimwear after the Atoll.
2. Réard declared that a swimsuit could not be a true bikini unless you could pull it through a Wedding ring.
3. Louis Réard wasn't the first to come up with the idea of two piece swimsuits. There is an Ancient Roman mosaic, dating back 1,700 years, which features women wearing bikinis.
4. The modern bikini had a rival, known as the Atome, designed by Jacques Heim, launched at about the same time. The name Atome wasn't named after the bomb, but rather for the smallest known particle of matter. It wasn't quite as skimpy as the bikini, though, as it covered the wearer's belly button. The Atome went the same way as Betamax video tapes.
5. When it first appeared in 1946, the bikini was thought by many to be quite scandalous. Pope Pius XII declared it "sinful" and while that might be only to be expected, even women's magazines made comments like "It is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would wear such a thing." Bikinis were banned in Italy, Portugal and Spain.
6. Even Playboy magazine didn't feature a bikini on its cover until the 1960s. Even then, the first Playboy cover to feature a bikini was focussing on the tan lines the bottoms created rather than the woman herself. At first, even models turned Louis Réard down when he asked them to model his creation, because it was "too revealing". In the end, a nude dancer was the only woman brave enough to have her picture taken in one. Her name was Micheline Bernardini.
7. Even today, some parts of the world still believe the garment to be too scandalous and it remains banned. It's strictly one pieces only on beaches in The Maldives. In parts of Croatia and the United Arab Emirates, they're also banned, although the ban often extends to any swimwear at all. Thong bikinis are another matter - while you can wear a regular bikini in Florida or Melbourne, Australia, thong bikinis are banned in those places.
8. In other places, a bikini is actually required attire, such as on a beach volleyball court where a bikini has been the official uniform of players since 1996, as the most practical clothing if you happen to be playing that game. Also the uniform for flight attendants with VietJet Air, Vietnam's first privately owned airline is a bikini, because, according to the airline's owner, bikinis make people happy. My source didn't mention what male flight attendants wear.
9. The most expensive bikini in the world is valued at over $30 million. It is made from diamonds set in platinum and was designed by Susan Rosen for Sports Illustrated magazine and Molly Sims in 2012. Not quite as expensive but more comfortable to wear would be the one Ursula Andress wore in Dr. No, which sold for £41,125 in 2011. Another iconic bikini from the world of film is the one Princess Leia wore when enslaved by Jabba the Hutt. Actress Carrie Fisher wasn't fond of it, because it was uncomfortable to wear and she couldn't move much in it. I don't know if that one has ever been auctioned off but if it was, it would no doubt fetch a pretty penny as well.
10. Today, you can even get a solar powered bikini. It's made of solar panels and has USB sockets so you can charge your phone while sunbathing. While its proper name is the Solar Bikini, Andrew Schneider's idea is often referred to as an iKini. Other variations include the Burkini, a swimsuit conservative Muslim women can wear, which, while not a bikini in the truse sense of the word is a portmanteau word combining bikini with burqua, the garments they wear out of the water; and the mankini made famous by Borat.

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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.

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