1 January: 10 E.M. Forster quotes

To start the year, 10 quotes from EM Forster on his birthday:

1. One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.
2. We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
3. Life is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.
4. If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.
5. Life never gives us what we want at the moment that we consider appropriate.
6. I cannot help thinking that there is something to admire in everyone, even if you do not approve of them.
7. The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
8. Mistrust all enterprises that require new clothes.
9. Though life is very glorious, it is difficult.
10. Don't be mysterious; there isn't the time.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

31 December: Henri Matisse Quotes

Ten Henri Matisse Quotes to celebrate his birthday:

1. Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.
2. There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
3. Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit and a love of play.
4. Never ruin a good painting with the truth.
5. Nothing can be accomplished without love.
6. Drawing is putting a line around an idea.
7. Another word for creativity is courage.
8. We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire universe.
9. To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.
10. When you're out of will power you call on stubbornness, that's the trick.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

30 December: Pirates of Penzance

On this date in 1879 the first performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance took place in Paignton, England.

1. The Pirates of Penzance was the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to have its official premiere in the United States, on 31 December 1879. So why, you might ask, was there a performance in Devon the previous day? It was to ensure copyright was in place before unauthorised performances could take place in America. The lack of a firm copyright had already cost Gilbert and Sullivan dearly as people in America had already seen unauthorised productions of HMS Pinafore, so didn’t go and see the authorised one.
2. Audiences in London had to wait a few months before the show’s London premiere, which took place 3rd April 1880 at the Opera Comique. It ran for a total of 363 performances.
3. Because the show had three different premieres, there are more variations in the early libretto and score of The Pirates of Penzance than in other Gilbert and Sullivan works. In fact, Gilbert continued to make changes to it right up until the 1908 Savoy revival.
4. The show was based on real pirates based in Cornwall in the 18^th century. By the time the opera was written, Penzance was a respectable seaside town, but that hadn’t always been the case. In the 18^th century there was something called Barbary Piracy in which pirates would come ashore, capture people and sell them as slaves. One of the worst raids took place just off Penzance and 60 residents were captured.
5. The plot. (spoiler alert). The hero of the tale is Frederic, who is so conscientious that he’s also called The Slave of Duty. He ended up with the pirates because of a misunderstanding on the part of his hard of hearing nurse, Ruth, who when told by her boss to apprentice the lad to a pilot (in those days, someone who guided a ship in and out of harbours) she thought he’d said pirate. So Frederic is indentured to the pirates until his 21^st birthday. Frederic can’t wait to leave them, go ashore and get married. When he reaches 21, he goes ashore to look for a wife. Most of the girls in the town aren’t interested, because of his pirate connections, except for Mabel, with whom he falls in love. The pirates show up and capture the rest of the women, but then their father arrives (the Major General from the famous song) and begs the pirates to release his daughters on the grounds that he is an orphan and will be all alone without them. He is taking advantage of what he has heard of these particular pirates, who, being orphans themselves, show mercy to other orphans and let them go.
6. In Act II the police arrive to arrest the pirates but are discouraged when the women praise them for facing certain death. They are led by Frederic, who, now he’s 21, and no longer a pirate, his duty is now to exterminate them. When they encounter Ruth and the Pirate King, Ruth drops a bombshell. Frederic’s birthday is 29 February, a date which only occurs every four years – so he is officially just five years old and must remain with the pirates until he’s had 21 birthdays, ie until he’s in his eighties. The police and pirates fight. The pirates are winning and capture the Major General who pleads with them to spare his life "in Queen Victoria's name". The pirates are surprisingly loyal to the Queen and do so. Ruth appears and drops another bombshell – that the orphaned pirates are actually "all noblemen who have gone wrong". Hence all is forgiven and the Major General is perfectly happy for his daughters to marry them.
7. The Major General’s song is one of the best known and most parodied of Gilbert and Sullivan’s songs. For example, in 2010, comedian Ron Butler released a YouTube pastiche of the song in character as President Obama which was viewed 1,750,000 times. It’s often used in films where a character is in a school play, or has to perform an audition piece. The character of Major-General Stanley was widely taken by many to be a caricature of the popular general Sir Garnet Wolseley. Others insisted it was another general, Henry Turner, uncle of Gilbert's wife, whom Gilbert disliked. Wolesley, however, was happy to believe it was based on him, and would sing the song at parties.
8. In the movie Pretty Woman, Edward Lewis, played by Richard Gere, covers a gaffe by prostitute Vivian Ward, played by Julia Roberts, who has just been to her first opera, La Traviata, and says it was so good she almost "peed her pants". Lewis insists she’d actually said that she liked it better than The Pirates of Penzance.
9. The arms granted to the municipal borough of Penzance in 1934 contain a pirate wearing the costume used in the play. Penzance once had a rugby team called the Penzance Pirates, now known as the Cornish Pirates.
10. Like many leap year babies, Frederic celebrated his birthday on 1 March in non-leap years. Hence the action is set on 1 March – but which year? It’s stated in the show that Frederic’s proper 21^st birthday wouldn’t be until 1940, so it should be possible to work it out. What we don’t know, however, is whether Gilbert and Sullivan were aware of an anomaly in the Leap year system, whereby the turn of a century, in this case 1900, which should be a leap year, isn’t. Hence the year could have been either 1873 or 1877.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

29 December: Theatre Superstitions

On this date in 1720 the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened. To celebrate its 300^th anniversary, here are 10 theatrical superstitions and the possible reasons behind them:

1. One we’re probably all familiar with is that it’s considered bad luck to wish an actor “Good luck” before a performance, and that the accepted thing to say is “break a leg”. The spooky explanation is that the mischievous spirits which live in theatres will use their magic to make the opposite of a person’s wish happen. Other theories suggest it’s nothing to do with the actor’s leg, but more those of the audience, from the time in ancient Greece when audiences showed appreciation by stamping their Feet. Or it may not be a human leg at all, but part of the theatre curtains. Breaking a leg could originally have meant crossing in front of the curtain and therefore entering the spotlight, or that the actor gets so many curtain calls that the leg breaks.
2. Another thing you should never say in a theatre is the name of a certain play by William Shakespeare. Some say this is because the play Macbeth includes Witches calling upon evil spirits; or because the actor playing Lady Macbeth died on the opening night and Shakespeare himself had to step into the breach; or because injuries from fight scenes were common, and in 1849 a riot which killed 25 people broke out in connection with the play. If you need to talk about it, you must refer to it as “The Scottish Play,” “The Bard’s Play”,  or “Mac B.” Needless to say, people forget sometimes but it’s not the end of the world if you follow procedures to negate the curse, such as reciting any line from the lucky play Two Gentlemen of Verona, or “If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here, whilst these visions did appear” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Failing that, you must leave the building, run around it three times, spit, spin around three times, curse and then beg to be let back in.
3. Actors must never wear Blue or Green on stage. This is less often adhered to these days. Blue dye was the most expensive, so producers used to be unwilling to fork out for it. Telling the actors it was bad luck prevented them from insisting on expensive blue costumes. Why not green? The spooky reason for this is because the actor/playwright Molière suffered a coughing fit on stage because he had TB, and while he adhered to the maxim “the show must go on” and finished the performance, he died soon after the curtain fell. He happened to be wearing a green costume. The mundane reason is that early spotlights emitted a greenish light, so an actor in green might be less visible.
4. It’s bad luck to whistle backstage. This one arose from a health and safety rule. Before there were such things as hydraulic lifts and warning lights, scenery had to be hefted around by burly blokes using ropes. The stagehands would signal to each other by whistling, so anyone casually whistling risked having a piece of heavy scenery dropped on their head.
5. Leaving a single light lit on stage even when the theatre is empty has similar origins. The first person to come in on any given day was at risk of tripping over scenery and props or even falling through a trapdoor, so a light was needed for health and safety, but theatre lore makes it spooky. The light is called a ghost light, and is said to ward off evil spirits or an individual theatre’s resident ghost. Or it might placate them by giving them their own spotlight to perform in when nobody else is around.
6. Many theatres tell tales about being haunted by the ghosts of actors who performed there in days gone by, especially if they came to a sticky end. The New Amsterdam Theater in New York, for example, is haunted by the ghost of Olive Thomas, a showgirl who married Jack, the brother of silent film star Mary Pickford. The relationship was volatile, and on a second honeymoon in 1920 she died, aged 26, from ingesting mercury bichloride, which had been prescribed to Jack. No-one knows for sure whether it was suicide, an accidental overdose or even poisoning. She is said to haunt the theatre carrying a small blue bottle (like the one the chemicals which killed her came in) and wearing a green, beaded dress. She is said to appear mainly to men and may even pinch their bottoms. Her portrait hangs by the stage door so that actors and staff can bid her goodnight as they leave, and so appease her spirit. Even if a theatre doesn’t have a resident ghost, when things go wrong they can blame the ghost of Thespis, said to be the first actor in ancient Greece (the word “thespian” comes from him).
7. Flowers must only be given to a performer after a performance. They are an appreciation for a good performance and rewarding someone for something they haven’t done yet is a no-no. There’s another tradition regarding flowers for the director of a show – they should be given a bouquet that has been stolen from a graveyard. Whether this arose from the end of a production being compared to the “death” of the show, or because actors didn’t earn enough to actually buy the flowers is a matter for debate.
8. There are a number of things which should never be carried on stage. Peacock feathers, because they look like the evil eye. Mirrors, which are bad luck, but again this might have arisen from health and safety with actors potentially dazzled by a reflected spotlight. Real Money and jewellery is also said to be unlucky, but this may have been down to poorly paid actors who might have been tempted to pocket some of it.
9. Another tradition forbids the lighting of three candles on stage. Superstition dictates that the person standing closest to the smallest candle will be the first to die. Again, there is a mundane health and safety reason for this as well. It’s a Fire risk. The more candles, the bigger the fire risk.
10. If the dress rehearsal is a disaster, it means the show will be a hit. A good omen? Or do the actors simply try harder on opening night if the dress rehearsal was a fiasco?

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

28 December: The X-Men

Stan Lee, creator of numerous Marvel comics characters such as Spiderman, was born on this date in 1922. Today I’m focusing on one of his superhero teams, The X-Men.

1. The X-Men were first created in 1963 by Lee and artist Jack Kirby. They originally called the team The Merry Mutants. The whole mutant thing came from the fact that Stan Lee didn’t want to have to come up with a radioactive Spider style backstory for every character. 'Why don't I just say they're mutants? They were born that way,' he recalled in 2004. Marvel rejected the name because they didn’t think readers would know what a mutant was. While the “X” is often assumed to come from the team’s mentor, Professor Xavier, The first issue has the Professor himself explain: “X-Men, for Ex-tra power!”

2. The original line up was: Cyclops (Scott Summers) who shoots energy from his eyes and has to wear special glasses 24/7 to contain the power; 

   The Beast (Hank McCoy) super-strong, covered in Blue fur; Ice Man (Robert "Bobby" Drake) who can make ice and Snow; Angel (Warren Kenneth Worthington III) who has big wings with White feathers, like an Angel; and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), who has the powers of telepathy and telekinesis.
3. While early comic sales were underwhelming, in time the X-Men became extremely popular and over time have undergone numerous re-boots and engendered any number of spin off titles. A few of the characters who have been part of the team include Storm (Ororo Munroe), whose powers are controlling the weather and flight. She was the first ever female black superhero, and is married to Black Panther; Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), who has blue fur, pointy ears and a tail and can teleport; Colossus (Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin), who can turn his body into steel; Shadowcat (Katherine "Kitty" Pryde)who can move through solid objects; Gambit (Remy LeBeau), who can charge any object with energy which then makes them explode. He usually uses poker cards; Rogue (Anna Marie), absorbs powers and memories from other people when she touches them; and Psylocke (Elizabeth Braddock), a telepath.
4. The X-Men's enemies include Mystique, Sabretooth, Toad, Juggernaut, Mister Sinister and Apocalypse. The best known villain is Magneto. He wants to gain civil rights for mutants, just like the X-men do, but while they want to do it peacefully, Magneto wants to do it in the more violent style of Malcolm X.
5. Arguably the most popular character of all time is Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett), the one with the sharp metal claws which come out of his knuckles and an adamantine skeleton. When the X-men films were being cast, producers knew they needed a big name to play him. Dougray Scott was initially cast, but had to pull out when filming of John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2 over-ran. Plan B was Russell Crowe, but he turned the role down, because he “didn’t want to be the wolf guy”. He thought this, coupled with his character in Gladiator had a wolf on his shield would forever associate him with Wolves. He did have a suggestion as to who might be up for it – Hugh Jackman. In the comics, Wolverine is 5’3” tall. Hugh Jackman is 6’1”. Fans at comic cons have been known to challenge Jackman for being too tall!
6. X-men was among the first comic books to include social commentary in a superhero story. Prejudice against mutants was an allegory for racial tensions in the United States with many storylines reflecting that. Diversity has long been a feature. While the initial line up was mainly white Americans (apart from Iceman who was Jewish/Irish), the 1975 re-boot added a Russian (Colossus), a German (Nightcrawler), a Canadian (Wolverine), a Kenyan (Storm), a Native American (Thunderbird) and a Japanese guy (Sunfire).
7. Race isn’t the only diversity issue to be tackled. Iceman telling his parents he was a mutant has been compared to someone coming out as gay. An X-Men spin off title featured the first openly gay superhero, Northstar, who in 2012 married Kyle Jinadu in the first comic book same sex wedding. There’s a transgender character, too – Mystique, one of the villains, was born in the late 19th century and in the early 20^th century, was living as a man. She is the mother of Nightcrawler and Rogue.
8. Two years before Patrick Stewart was cast as Professor X, someone in the comics made an off hand reference to the fact that Professor X was like Captain Picard in Star Trek – they were both bald, morally-righteous leaders. The younger Professor X was played by James McAvoy, who was said to be so excited about getting the part that he shaved his head in preparation for filming, only to find out he was to play Professor X before he went bald, and had to wear hair extensions on set. While both actors are British, the character of Professor X is actually American. The School for Gifted Youngsters Building in New York is the house he grew up in.
9. Brian Singer, one of the X-Men movie directors, banned his cast from reading X-Men comic books because he wanted them to play the characters exactly as they were written in the script. The actors ignored him and secretly slipped copies of the comics to each other under their trailer doors.
10. If you live in the UK, you can ride an X-Men train. Virgin Trains christened an 11-car Pendolino train X-Men: Days Of Future Past to promote the film of the same name. Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy were guests at the naming ceremony. The train still runs on the West Coast Main Line out of London Euston and can be tracked with the hashtag #xmentrain.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

27 December: Mirrors

Today is the feast day of St John the Divine, patron of mirror makers. 10 facts about mirrors:

1. The first mirrors were things that occurred in nature, such as pools of Water. In due course, people began making mirrors from polished obsidian (a type of volcanic glass), Copper, Gold or brass. Mirrors made from Glass first started to appear in Lebanon around 400BC. Then in 1835, in Germany, Justus Von Liebig discovered that applying a thin layer of metallic Silver to clear glass created a reflective surface and invented the mirror as we know it today.
2. The reflection you see in a mirror doesn’t actually exist on its surface. Two people looking in the same mirror will see slightly different images because the reflected light hits their eyes at a different angle. (See also Rainbows, fact 4). It’s also a myth that a mirror reverses your image – that’s an illusion. It’s possible, however, to make a mirror that reflects you as others see you. It’s called a true mirror. It’s easy enough to make one for yourself – just get two normal mirrors and place them at a 90 degree angle from each other and view from the join.
3. Where does the superstition that breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck come from? The Romans. They believed that breaking a mirror damaged your soul. However, your soul and life are renewed every seven years, so when your soul gets renewed, the damage goes away. If you do break a mirror, all is not lost. Pick up the pieces, and put them in a bag. Throw the bag into a fast moving river and that will carry the bad luck away. If you don’t have a fast flowing river to hand, bury it in soil instead.
4. Some more mirror folklore: actors believe it is bad luck to see their reflection while looking over the shoulder of another person. The Victorians believed the soul of a dead person could become trapped in a mirror, which is why they would cover the mirrors in the house when a deceased person was laid out before the funeral. Some ancient cultures believe that mirrors reflected the ‘shadow soul,’ the true nature of the person being reflected. Emperor Qin Shi Huang, of the Qin Dynasty in AD 25, claimed his mirror showed him the inward qualities of those who looked into it, which he claimed helped him to become the first emperor. This belief may also be the origin of the idea that Vampires and demons have no reflections, because they don’t have souls. Mirrors were often believed to take in and store what they reflect for use later, which may have been the inspiration behind the talking mirror in Snow White.
5. Mirrors can cause hallucinations. Scientists are researching the claim that if you sit in a darkened room looking at your reflection from 3ft away, after about 10 minutes, distortions in your reflection become noticeable. People say they can see other human faces or animals, too. Handy if you can’t afford LSD. It occurred to me that this could have been the origin of the Bloody Mary myth – that if you chant ‘Bloody Mary’ 13 times while looking in a mirror in a dark room, she will appear.
6. Another mirror myth is that Archimedes used a large array of mirrors to reflect the sun and set fire to his enemies’ ships. While it has never been proved one way or another whether this actually happened, the TV show Mythbusters tried to recreate "Archimedes Death Ray" but were unsuccessful. They concluded the defeat was more likely due to the people on the enemy boats being dazzled by the reflected light.
7. There are mirrors which reflect sound and matter as well as light. Mirrors that reflect sound waves are called “acoustic mirrors”. They were used in Britain during World War II, before radar was developed, to detect sound waves coming from enemy aircraft. There are still some standing at Denge, near Dungeness, Kent. Malta has one, too, in Maghtab. It is known locally as “il widna,” which means “the ear.” Those which reflect matter are called “atomic mirrors.” They use electromagnetic fields or silicon water to reflect neutral atoms.
8. The largest mirror in the world was not man-made – it is the Salar de Uyuni Salt flat in Bolivia, which has an area of more than 4,000 square miles. The largest man-made mirror was made in Germany and is intended to be part of the largest telescope on Earth, in Chile, by 2024. It is 14 feet wide and weighs three and a half tons.
9. Scientists have developed a test to find out whether animals recognise themselves in a mirror. In the mirror test, the subject is marked and the scientists observe what they do when seeing themselves in a mirror. Creatures which try to remove the mark are deemed to be able to recognise their reflection. Animals which pass this test include chimpanzees, Orangutans, bonobos, Elephants, bottlenose Dolphins, killer Whales, European Magpies and even some jumping Spiders. Questions are being raised about how effective this test actually is. Gorillas, for example, failed at first, because they would go away to a private space to remove the mark. It’s possible, too, that other animals recognise their reflection but don’t actually care if they have a mark on them. There are other behaviours that might show the same thing – such as freezing or making repetitive movements. Even some human beings fail the standard test. In Kenya and Fiji, for example, six year old children failed it – but this is thought to be because mirrors have different uses in their culture. Other behaviours suggesting self recognition were observed.
10. There are numerous uses for mirrors in science. They are found in Telescopes, for example. There is also an array of mirrors on the Moon, left there by Apollo astronauts, which is used to accurately measure the distance of the moon from the Earth, to help study its orbit. It may also be possible to use mirrors to stabilise wormholes. Placing two mirrors a few micrometres apart in a vacuum causes something called the Casimir effect, which could stabilise a wormhole, and allow faster-than-light travel. So far, however, the wormholes are far too small to allow anyone to actually go anywhere (or when).

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

26 December: Charles Babbage Quotes

Charles Babbage, mathematician, and early computer pioneer, was born this date in 1792. 10 quotes from him:

1. What is there in a name? It is merely an empty basket, until you put something into it.
2. Numbers are the masters of the weak, but the slaves of the strong.
3. An object is frequently not seen, from not knowing how to see it, rather than from any defect of the organ of vision.
4. If we define a miracle as an effect of which the cause is unknown to us, then we make our ignorance the source of miracles! And the universe itself would be a standing miracle. A miracle might be perhaps defined more exactly as an effect which is not the consequence or effect of any known laws of nature.
5. The public character of every public servant is legitimate subject of discussion, and his fitness or unfitness for office may be fairly canvassed by any person.
6. It will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by a university, ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds it possesses a certain quantity of knowledge.
7. Scientific knowledge scarcely exists amongst the higher classes of society. The discussion in the Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this fact.
8. Precedents are treated by powerful minds as fetters with which to bind down the weak, as reasons with which to mystify the moderately informed, and as reeds which they themselves fearlessly break through whenever new combinations and difficult emergencies demand their highest efforts.
9. The true value of the Christian religion rests, not upon speculative views of the Creator, which must necessarily be different in each individual, according to the extent of the knowledge of the finite being, who employs his own feeble powers in contemplating the infinite: but it rests upon those doctrines of kindness and benevolence which that religion claims and enforces, not merely in favour of man himself but of every creature susceptible of pain or of happiness.
10. Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

25 December: Humphrey Bogart

US actor Humphrey Bogart was born on Christmas Day 1899. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. Although he was born on Christmas Day, it was once put about that he was born on January 23, and the studios had thought up the Christmas Day birthday for reasons best known to themselves. Other sources say it was the studios who’d preferred people to think he was born in January as a villain born on Christmas Day didn’t seem right to them.
2. Bogart was the son of a Heart surgeon. His mother, Maud Humphrey, was an illustrator whose family arrived in America on the Mayflower. Her illustrations were actually more lucrative than heart surgery, so she earned more money than her husband did. It’s sometimes said that Maud created the image of the Gerber Baby and based it on the infant Humphrey. That, however, is an urban myth. That said, she did produce a baby character for Gerber’s competitors, Mellin, which probably was based on Humphrey.
3. The late Princess Diana was Bogart’s ninth cousin, once removed. This was on his mother’s side, through American colonialist Thomas Woodford, one of Maud Humphrey’s ancestors.
4. At 18, Bogart joined the Navy, serving towards the end of WWI. He’s said to have thoroughly enjoyed his time in the Navy and it left him with a lifelong love of sailing. He owned a yacht, Santana, which he offered as a reserve vessel to the US Coast Guard. It’s possible that the scar on his upper lip dates from this time. He was escorting a prisoner of war when the prisoner hit him with his shackles. According to Bogie himself, it was from a childhood accident, and rumours abound that he got it in a fight. However he sustained the injury, it’s also said that it was the reason for his lisp, although since Bogart’s son also has a lisp, that is probably genetic.
5. His first film was Broadway’s Like That, a short film made in 1930. Unfortunately, the soundtrack has been lost, so it’s no longer possible to hear the first words Bogart uttered on screen.
6. He was a keen Chess player, and pretty good at it, too, by all accounts. Before he became a star, he’d challenge the professional chess players shops used to hire to entertain customers, and often beat them. In fact, one shop offered him a position as chess player, but Bogart turned it down, because he made more money from being the challenger. Later, during WWII, when he was too old to enlist, he used to play games of chess with the troops, by mail. He was even known to have taken US Chess Champion Samuel Reshevsky to a draw. It’s said, too, that it was his idea to portray Casablanca’s Rick as a chess player.
7. He married four times, and all his wives were actresses. The first was Helen Menken, who he met while he was a stage actor. The marriage ended in divorce after less than two years, although the couple remained friends. His second wife was Mary Philips and his third was Mayo Methot. Both these marriages were somewhat rocky. Hollywood insiders referred to Bogart and Methot as “the Battling Bogarts.” Methot was sure he was cheating on her with Ingrid Bergman while they were making Casablanca, although in reality the co-stars barely spoke. Methot was so jealous that she had him followed by a private detective. When Bogart worked out he was being tailed, he called the investigation agency. “Hello, this is Humphrey Bogart,” he allegedly said. “You’ve got a man on my tail. Would you check with him and tell me where I am?” His most famous match, however, was with Lauren Bacall, who was 20 years younger than he was.
8. Their partnership is so well known that there’s even an illness named after them. Bogart-Bacall Syndrome is an ailment that actors, public speakers and singers are prone to, in which fatigue of the vocal chords gives them a hoarse and raspy voice, just like these two actors had. Whether Humphrey Bogart suffered from it himself we don’t know – his raspy voice could have been down to his smoking and drinking. He made a point of smoking as much as possible while filming the Maltese Falcon, simply to wind up Jack Warner, only stopping when Warner threatened to fire him. His liking for Whiskey, however, meant that when most of the cast and crew of The African Queen went down with dysentery after drinking dodgy water on location in the Congo, Bogart was fine.
9. While many would say Casablanca was the greatest film Bogart ever made, he didn’t agree. Orson Welles claimed that Bogart had told him he thought it was his worst.
10. He died of cancer in January 1957. His last words were allegedly “I should have never switched from scotch to martinis.” At his funeral, Lauren Bacall placed a small gold whistle in his coffin, referring to the famous line she said in their first movie together: ‘You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow’.

NEW!

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

24 December: Frankincense

Ten things you might not know about Frankincense.

1. Although it would be easy to assume that, since Frankincense was reintroduced to Europe by Frankish Crusaders, that is where the name comes from. However, it’s actually from the French for pure, noble or high quality incense.
2. It comes from the resin of trees in the genus Boswellia, a member of the Burseraceae family, which grows in the Arabian Peninsula and north east Africa. These are deciduous trees which can grow anywhere from 6 to 26 feet tall. They grow on steep slopes and in mountainous regions. The bark is papery and can be removed easily to get at the resin. The flowers are small and yellowy white.
3. The Frankincense trade has a history going back over 6,000 years. It was used in religious ceremonies as a symbol of prayers rising to Heaven, while the ancient Egyptians also used it for embalming. A number of flasks of frankincense oil were found in Tutenkhamen's tomb, and when they were opened, the scent was still strong.
4. The Roman emperor Nero is said to have burned tons of the stuff, to the extent that it took three thousand Camels to deliver his order, and traces of the trails they used can still be seen on satellite images. Alexander the Great, meanwhile, saw a business opportunity. If he invaded Arabia he could make a mint from controlling and taxing the trade routes. He died before he could do it, though.
5. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that harvesting frankincense was a dangerous occupation because of venomous Snakes that lived in the trees. A small step, perhaps, form there to the rumours some growers liked to spread to protect their valuable interests, that their land was protected by Dragons which breathed out toxic fumes. The snakes were relatively easy to control – burning the gum of the styrax tree would keep them away.
6. It has been used extensively for medicinal purposes. In ancient times it was prescribed by priests as a remedy for wounds, hemlock poisoning, leprosy, worms, snakebites, and even plague. Ancient people noticed that people in the perfume industry were less likely to catch the plague, and that people using it to embalm the dead tended not to catch the diseases their “customers” had died from. For this reason, Arabic doctors would drench themselves in frankincense before making house calls.
7. Modern scientists are finding evidence that frankincense may inhibit or block leukotrienes, which are small molecules produced by the body which trigger inflammation. Studies have found that it can help alleviate asthma, ulcerative colitis and arthritis. One of its constituents, boswellic acid, has antibacterial properties which can help protect against tooth decay, mouth sores and bad breath. It’s also said to help prevent diabetes, depression, anxiety, heart disease, wrinkles, menstrual problems, improve memory and fertility, but there haven’t been any human studies to back these claims up. However, there aren’t any studies which refute them, either.
8. Only one species of frankincense, B. sacra, grows on the Arabian Peninsula. The vast majority of frankincense traded internationally comes from India and the Horn of Africa, especially Ethiopia and Somalia. Boswellia carteri and B. frereana only grow in Somalia. The most expensive frankincense in the world comes from B. frereana, which is widely considered to be the “King of Frankincense”. This tree only grows in a narrow geographical belt in northern Somalia. The species is known for large, aromatic resin deposits, commonly called “tears,” which can be up to 30cm long. A kilo of these can set you back $400.
9. It’s edible. Ancient people used to make Chewing gum out of it and it was used as a remedy for digestive problems.
10. It was once used as a cosmetic. Ancient Egyptian women used frankincense to create their heavy black “kohl” eyeliner. They’d char it and grind it into a powder. Mosquitoes hate it, so it also makes a good insect repellent.

See also:

Gold

Myrrh

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.

Themes 

Christmas; superheroes; reunions; parties; life choices; shocking surprises; mistaken identity; kidnap and rescue.

Reasons not to read it

• It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
• Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
• It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
• There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
• Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
• Superheroes. Again.
• Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle