1 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 1st March:

Frederic Chopin

1. Born this date in 1810 was the Polish pianist and composer Frederic Chopin. He composed some of his best music for a woman in Warsaw who he was too shy to approach in person.
2. In 2000, a student in New Zealand died after colliding with a parked trailer while hurtling down a 38 degree slope in a wheelie bin in an attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records. No world record, but possibly a Darwin Award.
3. In 1493, Martin Pinzon, who'd accompanied Christopher Columbus on his journey of discovery as captain of the Pinta, was the first to arrive back in Europe with news of the discovery of the New World.
4. In 1990, the Royal New Zealand Navy became the last navy in the world to scrap daily Rum rations for sailors.
5. In 1983, President and Mrs. Reagan had the Queen and Prince Philip over for a Mexican lunch at the president's ranch.
6. In 1966, the Soviet Venera 3 became the first man made object to impact on another planet (Venus, as it happens). Exactly 16 years later in 1982, another Russian spacecraft, Venera 14 landed on Venus, and sent back data.
7. The Salem Witch Trials in the Massachusetts colony officially began on this date in 1692 with the conviction of Rev. Samuel Parris' West Indian slave, Tituba, for witchcraft.
8. Isabella Goodwin, the first woman detective in the US, was appointed in New York on this date in 1912.
9. Some dumb criminals were in action on this date in 1998. A car thief who set fire to the cars he stole burned to death when he set fire to a stolen van from the inside, not realising the driver’s door handle was broken and he couldn't get out, while in Denmark, a bank robber took money laundering quite literally when he took his stolen Money to a Launderette to wash out the Red dye. Needless to say, all he was left with was mush.
10. In 1912, Captain Albert Berry of the Jefferson Barracks St. Louis, Missouri, made the first parachute jump from a moving plane. It was from a Benoist plane over Kinlock Field in St. Louis. He jumped from an altitude of 1,500 feet at a speed of 50 mph.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

28 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 28 February:

Yellowstone

1. In 1983 the last ever episode of M*A*S*H was aired. The series ended after 11 seasons with a special 2 ½ hour finale watched by an estimated 121.6 million people. 
2. In 1966, The Cavern Club, in Liverpool, in which The Beatles were introduced and appeared over 250 times, closed due to financial difficulties. The club had run up debts of over £10,000. Beatles fans weren't happy about this. Police were called after over a 100 of them barricaded themselves inside the Cavern Club to protest at the club's closure. 
3. In 1662, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary about a severe gale in England, in which more than three thousand trees were blown down in the Forest of Dean. Pepys wrote, “such as hath not been in memory before.” 
4. In 1871, Yellowstone became the first US National Park.
5. In 1996, Prince Charles and Princess Diana agreed to divorce after 15 years of marriage. 
6. In 1948, King George VI, the Queen, Princess Elizabeth, her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Margaret went to see Danny Kaye at the London Palladium, the first ‘non-command performance’ to be attended by a reigning monarch.
7. In 1944, Hanna Reitsch, Nazi Germany's celebrated female test pilot, suggested to Adolph Hitler that he should create a suicide squadron of glider pilots. Hitler was sceptical at first believing that such a squadron wouldn't be an effective use of Germany's limited resources. Her enthusiasm finally won him over; and he agreed to investigate the possibility of adapting the V-1, a pilotless robotic bomb, into a kamikaze vehicle. Reitsch formed a Suicide Group, and was herself the first person to take the pledge: ‘I hereby voluntarily apply to be enrolled in the suicide group as a pilot of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death.’ As it turned out, neither she nor anyone else was ever called upon to make that sacrifice, as the squadron was never deployed.
8. In 1790, John Irving became the first convict to be freed in Australia. 
9. In 1988, a 90 year old Miami man was charged with the murder of his 76 year old bride. They'd fallen out over where to go for their honeymoon so he beat her to death with a hammer.
10. In 1989, the world’s biggest litter bin was unveiled in Covent Garden in London; it was sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

27 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 27 February

1. On this date in 2002 Spike Milligan, writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show died at the age of 83. His epitaph reads, "I told you I was ill."
2. This date in 1919 saw the first public performance of Holst's The Planets.
3. Shrove Tuesday fell on this date in 2001. Glasgow University researchers took the opportunity to reveal that the best way to crack an egg is to hold it in palm of your hand, and break it with a palette knife using similar force to that you would use when slicing a Banana.
4. In 1734, the first Polar Bear arrived in London, from Greenland.
5. In 2008, the UK experienced its worst Earthquake in 25 years at 5.2 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.
6. In 2014, the Kepler Telescope discovered 715 new planets.
7. In 1557, the first Russian embassy opened in London as the ambassador arrived having had a hellish journey including being shipwrecked off the coast of Scotland. Exactly one year later, a trade mission from Russia arrived, bringing sable skins with the teeth, ears and claws of the animals preserved.
8. The Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) was opened on the site of Newgate Prison, London, on this date in 1907.
9. In 1939, Britain’s most haunted house, Borley Rectory, was mysteriously destroyed by fire.
10. In 1997, an American Family Publishers' Sweepstakes advertisement was mailed to the Bushnell Assembly of God in Florida. It read, "God, you may already be a sweepstakes winner". It wasn't revealed whether God was actually a winner, or not.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

26 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 26 February:

1. This date in 1802 was the birth date of Victor Hugo, French writer whose best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (sometimes translated as The Hunchback of Notre Dame). He once said, "Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come."
2. Also born on this date, in 1932, was the country singer Johnny Cash, aka “The Man in Black”. His hits include A Boy Named Sue, A thing called love, Ring of Fire, I Walk the Line and Ghost Riders in the Sky.
3. In 1997, Larry Blanchfield, 31, a prisoner at Delaware Correctional Centre, was crushed to death as he tried to escape in a garbage truck.
4. In France, on this date in 2008, a 71 year old pensioner met a shocking end when he tried to illuminate his garden with power siphoned from the National Grid. He opened a major power junction box at the front of his house, intending to hard-wire a cable to his garden shed. His mistake? Trying to do this in the middle of a downpour.
5. In 1848, Karl Marx, aged 29, published The Communist Manifesto.
6. A tortoise named Esmerelda weighed in at 657lb, in Seychelles on this date in 1989, and was officially declared the world's heaviest tortoise.
7. The first organised game of Cricket in Australia was played on this date in 1830. The civilians defeated the 57th Regiment in Hyde Park.
8. In 1797, the Bank of England issued the first £1 note.
9. In 1256, King Henry III of England commanded the Sheriff of London to have built “at our Tower of London one house of forty feet long, and twenty feet deep, for our Elephant”. Henry's elephant was a gift from Louis IX of France, and the first elephant to be seen in England since Claudius’s war elephant during the Roman invasion of 43 CE.
10. In 1933, the ground-breaking ceremony for the Golden Gate Bridge was held at Crissy Field, San Francisco. 

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

25 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 25 February:

Renoir

1. King Edward II of England was crowned on this date in 1308.
2. In 1904. music critic Louis Elson published a review in the Boston Daily Advertiser about Debussy's Prelude of the Afternoon of a Faun. He clearly wasn't impressed, since he wrote: "The faun must have had a terrible afternoon."
3. In 1904 John Millington Synge's Riders to the Sea opened at the Irish National Theatre Society. The audience was so moved that there was no applause.
4. In 1902, the first power-driven Vacuum cleaner was built by Hubert Booth of London. It was a big, clumsy machine which would be parked outside the customer’s house and a long hose put through the window.
5. A hen in America laid the largest Egg on record on this date in 1956. The egg weighed 16oz.
6. In 1974, English couple Veronica and Colin Scargill began a tandem bicycle ride around the world. They completed their 18,020 mile journey on 27 August 1975.
7. In 1981, a New York bank was robbed at gunpoint. The thief got away with $118, but later surrendered to the FBI. The most unusual thing about this crime? The perpetrator was nine years old.
8. In 1570, Elizabeth I of England was excommunicated by Pope Pius V for her persecution of Roman Catholics in England. It was the last such judgement made against a reigning monarch by any pope.
9. In 2013, British explorer Ranulph Fiennes abandoned The Coldest Journey expedition, his attempt to cross Antarctica in the middle of the region's winter, because he had frostbite.
10. This date in 1841 saw the birth of Pierre Auguste Renoir, French Impressionist painter and sculptor whose works include The Dance at the Moulin de la Galette and Girl with a Watering Can. He once said, "A picture should be pleasing, cheerful and yes, pretty. There are plenty of dull things in life without creating any more."

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

24 February

 10 weird and wonderful things that happened on 24 February:

Nancy Astor

1. On this date in 2001, a teenager in Iowa attempted to steal a generator from a church roof. His jacket caught in the electric cable leaving him dangling. He died of exposure.
2. In 1920, Lady Nancy Astor became the first woman to speak in the British Parliament. She opposed a motion for the abolition of the Liquor Control Board.
3. In 2002, the world’s first McDonalds drive through for snowmobiles was opened in Piteaa, Sweden.
4. On this date in 1818, Frederic Chopin made his début as a pianist at the tender age of seven. He was elaborately dressed up, and after the recital someone asked him what he thought impressed the audience the most. Chopin replied, "My collar."
5. The earliest sighting of a Cuckoo in the UK, took place on this date in 1990, on Lundy Island, off the coast of Devon.
6. In 1938, the first product to be made from nylon went on sale in New Jersey. It was a Toothbrush.
7. In 1988, Alice Cooper announced he was going to run for Governor of Arizona, campaigning as a member of the "Wild Party."
8. In 1994, the last four working pit ponies in Britain retired.
9. It was on this date in 1981 that Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
10. The earliest known lottery draw took place in Bruges, Belgium on this date in 1446.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

23 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 23 February:

Sarah Bernhardt

1. This date in 1685 saw the birth of George Frederick Handel, German born Baroque composer. His most famous works are Messiah, Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. In 1732, on his 47th birthday, Handel’s Oratorio was performed for the first time at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, London, the first oratorio ever performed in Britain.
2. In 1874, Major Walter Wingfield patented an outdoor game he called ‘Sphairistike’, which would later be known as lawn Tennis.
3. In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg printed the first book, a Bible.
4. In 1505, Christopher Columbus was granted a licence to ride a Mule in Spain.
5. In 1915, the French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, had her right leg amputated, but this wasn't the end of her career. She was back on stage by November.
6. In 1836, the siege of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas by the Mexican army under General Santa Anna began.
7. The now traditional concepts of "women and children first" and "going down with the ship" were established on this date in 1852 when a 1,400 ton paddle-wheel steamer, H M S Birkenhead ran aground on rocks near the Cape of Good Hope. As the ship sank, soldiers were ordered to stand in ranks on deck while the women and children were loaded into lifeboats. Of the 420 who died, most of them were soldiers.
8. In 1855, officials attempted to hang a murderer named John Lee. Every time they tried to release the trap door, it failed. They tested it without him, and it opened fine. After several attempts, they gave up and changed his sentence to life in prison. He was released in 1917 and lived until 1933.
9. The Rotary Club was founded in Chicago on this date in 1905, by Attorney Paul Harris. Members chose the name "Rotary" because meetings would be held in rotation at their places of business.
10. Born on this date in 1633 was Samuel Pepys, English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, most famous for his diary, which gives eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great fire of London. On his birthday in 1669 he wrote about his visit to Westminster Abbey, where the body of Katherine of Valois, interred 200 years earlier, was on display. Pepys kissed her on the mouth and wrote, 'This was my birthday, 36 years old that I did first kiss a Queen.'

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

22 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 22 February:

1. This date in 1918 saw the birth of Robert Pershing Wadlow, the World’s tallest man, who would grow to a height of 8ft 11.1in.
2. In 1907, Joshua Duckworth opened Britain’s first purpose built cinema, the Central, in Colne, Lancashire.
3. In 1956, Elvis Presley scored his first top 10 hit in America with Heartbreak Hotel. The song was written by Mae Boren Axton, and tells the true story of a suicide in a hotel room.
4. In 1997, an adult Sheep was cloned at the Rosslyn Institute Edinburgh. The scientists named her Dolly, after Dolly Parton, because they'd used udder cell tissue to create her.
5. In 1967, the world's first white Gorilla was found in Africa.
6. In 1979, two girls out sledding in West Yorkshire saw a UFO. Although no-one else saw it at the time, another witness reported seeing a similar object fifteen minutes earlier.
7. In 1995, Steve Fossett completed the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean in an air balloon.
8. In 1920, an artificial rabbit was used for the first time at a dog race track in Emeryville, California.
9. In 1797, 1,400 French troops attempted to invade Britain. They landed at Fishguard, Wales, but didn't get very far. Allegedly, they mistook Welsh women in national dress for British troops and surrendered.
10. In 1876, a 14 year old girl called Carolina Olsson, from Möönsteras, Sweden, fell into a mysterious sleep which lasted 32 years. She woke up on April 3, 1908, and lived a normal life after that, living to the age of 89.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle