23 March

10 weird and wonderful things that happened on 23 March:

The Woolwich Ferry

1. Sir Roger Bannister, the athlete best known as the first man in history to run the mile in less than 4 minutes, was born on this date in 1929.
2. The death of Ronald Opus occurred today in 1994, according to an urban legend. Opus decided to commit suicide and jumped from the tenth floor of a building. On the ninth floor, an elderly couple were embroiled in a serious row. As Opus jumped from the floor above, the old man shot at his wife. He missed her and the bullet went through the window and hit Opus in the head, killing him before he hit the ground. It just so happened that Opus's suicide attempt would actually have failed because he hadn't known there was a safety net on the eighth floor to protect building workers. The medical examiner ruled his death was homicide, because when a person intends to kill someone but kills someone else by mistake, they are guilty of the murder of the person who died. Confronted with a murder charge the old couple insisted they didn't think the gun was loaded. The old man said he often threatened his wife with the unloaded shotgun, and didn't intend to kill her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident. The investigation found a witness who'd seen the couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks before the fatal accident. It just so happened that the old lady had cut off the son's financial support; he knew his father often threatened his mother with the unloaded gun, so he loaded it in the expectation that his father would sooner or later “accidentally” shoot his mother. So it would now appear that the son is guilty of the murder. Further investigation revealed that the son was none other than Ronald Opus, himself. He had become suicidal when his ruse to kill his mother didn't seem to be working. Ronald Opus had therefore murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide. However, the story is not true. A Medical Examiner, Don Harper Mills, told the story at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences to illustrate how, by altering a few small facts you can alter the legal consequences a lot. In 1994, someone posted the fictitious example on the Internet.
3. In 1840, the Americanism "O.K." was first used in the New York publication The New Era by the Democratic OK Club. They got the name from Old Kinderhook, NY, where President Martin van Buren was born.
4. George Frederic Handel's famous oratorio Messiah was performed for the first time in London on this date in 1744. This was also the date of the first "standing ovation". King George was so "inspired" by Handel's oratorio that he jumped to his feet and everyone else followed suit.
5. In 1889, The Woolwich Ferry in London began operation.
6. In 1918 at the Wood Green Empire, Chung Ling-soo (William E Robinson, an American magician) was about to perform his ‘Defying Bullets’ trick which required him to ‘catch’ two bullets fired at him from separate guns. However, there was a mechanical failure in one of the guns, causing it to go off prematurely so the bullet pierced Robinson's lung. He managed to cry ‘Lower the curtain’, as he collapsed. He died the following morning in hospital.
7. An Australian crook, Bruce Kirkbride, dubbed the Bendigo Tickler, was arrested on this date in 1995. His crime? He'd break into houses to tickle children’s feet.
8. In 1966, Archbishop of Canterbury Arthur Michael Ramsey exchanged public greetings with Pope Paul VI in Rome. It was the first official meeting between the heads of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in over 400 years.
9. In 1891, goal nets were used for the first time in an FA Cup final. The net was invented by Liverpudlian J A Brodie.
10. It was on this date in 1912 that Captain Robert Falcon Scott made the last entry in his diary. “We are getting weaker, and the end cannot be far,” he wrote. “I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great fortitude as in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of providence, determined still to do our best to the last. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.”

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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