12 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 12 March:

The O2

1. In 2002, a doctor mistakenly declared a 72-year-old woman dead in Mettmann, Germany, and sent her body to the mortuary. Later, an undertaker raised the alarm when he found the body was still warm, but sadly it was too late to save the woman from dying of hypothermia.
2. Canberra was named capital of Australia on this date in 1913, before the city had even been built. Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities, both thought they should have the honour of being the capital, so it was decided that a completely new city should be built and declared the capital. The choice of name for the city was kept a secret and announced by Lady Denman, wife of the Governor-General, when the foundation stones were laid on Capital Hill, at noon today. The name probably means 'meeting place' in an Aboriginal language.
3. In 1894, Coca Cola was sold in bottles for the first time.
4. In 1903, Robert A Douglass filed a patent for a "locomotive-cab-window cleaner", essentially the first windscreen wiper.
5. In 1984, British ice dancing team, Torvill and Dean became the first skaters to score nine perfect sixes in the world championships.
6. In 2011, there was an explosion at the site of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Four workers were injured. Residents within a six mile radius of the plant were evacuated and those within 20 miles were warned to stay indoors.
7. In 2000, Scooby the drug dog retired, having found £30m worth of drugs during his career.
8. 1999 The Millennium Dome (now the O2) was given a red nose by Red spotlights inside it, for Comic Relief Day.
9. In 1958, British Empire Day was renamed "Commonwealth Day".
10. This day in 1832 saw the birth of Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Irish merchant and estate manager whose tenants "boycotted" him into poverty. This tactic gave us the word Boycott, synonymous with protest.

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.

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