10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 16 March:
- This time of year really isn't good for the Caesar family. On this date in 37 Emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero, aged 77, the last blood relative of Julius Caesar, was stabbed to death on the floor of one of his palaces. Among Nero's greatest achievements was the design of a collapsible ship, with which he intended to drown his mother, but failed; burning a residential section of Rome to make way for a new garden; and riding a huge chariot, pulled by four Elephants, through the Christian cemetery just outside the city. Hardly surprising there were people who wanted him gone.
- In 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary released the single, Puff The Magic Dragon. Controversy has continually surrounded this song. It was banned by several radio stations because the management thought it was about smoking marijuana. The group have always denied this. "It's about a magic dragon named Puff," they said.
- On this date in 1935, Mr RE Beere of Kensington Hall Gardens, London W14 became the first person to pass a driving test in Britain. Mr Beere paid seven shillings and sixpence for the test, the equivalent of about £23 today.
- In 1904, third place in a Dublin singing contest was awarded to one James Joyce, aged 22, who took his bronze medal and promptly threw it into the Liffey.
- In 1884, John Montgomery became the first man to fly a glider, approximately 600 feet across a California valley.
- The first Football Association Cup Final was played at the Kennington Oval on this date in 1872. The Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1-0. Just 2,000 people turned out to watch the match.
- HMS Invincible proved on this date in 1801 that it wasn’t. It was wrecked off the Norfolk coast on the way to attack the Danish fleet. 400 people drowned.
- In 1995, a Miami bandit tried to rob a delicatessen. The owner fought back and broke the robber's nose with a salami. He fled the scene and hid in the boot of a car. As luck would have it, it was an unmarked police car. He wasn't found for five days.
- In 1822, people evacuated the City of London after hearing a rumour that the city was going to be destroyed by an Earthquake.
- In 1973, the Queen opened the new London Bridge. The old one had been sold to a US oil tycoon for £1m and rebuilt piece-by-piece in America.
- This date in 2001 was the only day between 1993 and 2002 when nobody in the UK killed themselves, according to a health survey.
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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