15 March: Andrew Jackson

Born on this date in 1767 was Andrew Jackson, “Old Hickory” 7th president of the USA. 10 things you might not know about him.

1. His family emigrated to America from Carrickfergus in Ireland. They settled in a place called Waxhaws where Andrew was born. Because it was pretty much a wilderness at the time, nobody is sure exactly where Jackson's birthplace is, or even whether it is in modern day North or South Carolina. Both states have markers claiming to be his birthplace.
2. He served as a courier in the Revolutionary War and was captured by the British. His mother and two brothers all died in the same war.
3. Before he was president, he owned a Cotton plantation with slaves. By the time he was elected, he owned over 100 slaves.
4. He fought against Native Americans and signed the Indian Removal Act which led to the Cherokee Trail of Tears - yet he was friends with some individual Native Americans and even adopted two Native American children who he called Theodore and Lyncona.
5. He once killed a man in a duel. In fact, he was involved in anything from 5 to 100 duels in his lifetime. Almost a hobby! The man he killed was called Charles Dickinson and they'd fallen out over a Horse racing bet and the fact that Dickinson had insulted Jackson's wife, and had called Jackson himself a "paltroon and a coward". Dickinson was allegedly the best shot in Tennessee - he hit Jackson in the chest, missing his Heart by inches, but Jackson survived, shot back and killed him. The bullet remained lodged in Jackson's chest for the rest of his life.
6. There was an assassination attempt on him in 1805. A house painter called Richard Lawrence accosted him as he left a funeral and shot him at point blank range. The gun misfired, however, and Jackson set about beating the would be assassin with his cane. The assassin pulled out his back up gun, but that didn't work either, by which time other people had joined in the fight and subdues the man. One of these people was Davy Crockett. Jackson was very lucky that day - later inspection showed that both guns were in working order and the odds against both of them failing to go off was 125,000 to one.
7. He married a woman named Rachel Robards, who had been unhappily married to someone else. She believed she had been granted a divorce when she married Jackson, but it wasn't yet finalised at the time of their wedding. Rachel's first husband accused Jackson of adultery and the gossip got quite nasty. Jackson and Rachel had another wedding once the divorce was legal, but Jackson was sure the nastiness was a contributing factor in Rachel's death, weeks after he became president.
8. In 1835, someone gave him a 1,400lb wheel of Cheddar Cheese as a gift. He never ate it but kept it in the White House lobby until he left office, when he cracked it open for people to eat at a reception.
9. He didn't trust banknotes - he was burned by a devaluation and lost money, so he tried to abolish them and only use Silver and Gold as currency. Ironically, he is now pictured on the $20 bill.
10. He was 6 feet one inch tall, with Blue eyes and as a young man had Red hair. He also had the temper to go with it and people were afraid to cross him in case he lost it. By the time he became president at the age of 61, however, his hair was completely Grey.

My Books 

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The Ultraheroes series

Several new groups of superheroes, mostly British, living and working (mostly) in British cities like London and Birmingham. People discovering they have, and learning to live with, superpowers. Each book is complete in itself although there is some overlap of characters.

The Raiders series

A tale of two dimensions, and worm hole travel between the two. People displaced in both time and space, learning to get along and work together to find a way home while getting used to the superpowers wormhole travel gave them. A trilogy.

Golden Thread

A superhero tale with a difference. Five heroes from another dimension keep returning - whenever they return, they have a job to do and are a well-meshed team in order to do it. Until one time, something goes wrong...

Tabitha Drake series

A different kind of power - the ability to talk to dead people. Tabitha has it, and murder victims seek her out to make sure justice is done. Tabitha has this and a disastrous love life to cope with.

Short story collections

Some feature characters from the above novels, others don't. They're not all about superheroes. Some are creepy, romantic, funny.