10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 22 April:
- On this date in 1996, further proof that smoking can kill you came to light. Zhao Jun of Sichuan province in China died from a burst intestine as he ate his eighth bowl of gruel in an attempt to win a bet for a packet of cigarettes.
- In 1994, the world's largest lollipop, weighing 3,011 pounds, was made in Olstrup, Denmark. It was peppermint flavour.
- In 1760, Roller skates were first worn in public, by a young Belgian musical instrument maker. He roller-skated into a London party playing a Violin and crashed into a Mirror, causing £500 worth of damage.
- In 1969, British yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston arrived at Falmouth after completing the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the Earth in his 32 ft ketch, Suhaili. It had taken him 312 days.
- Another nautical achievement was completed in 1972 when the first people to row across the Pacific Ocean, Sylvia Cook and John Fairfax, arrived in Australia. They had been at sea for 362 days.
- The first scheduled self-propelled bus service began in London between Paddington and the City on this date in 1833. The vehicle was a 14 seater “people mover” run by the London and Paddington Steam Carriage Company.
- In 1983, the West German magazine Stern announced a major historical find – the discovery of 60 volumes of personal diaries allegedly handwritten by Adolf Hitler. The diaries turned out to be a hoax.
- This date in 1724 saw the birth of Immanuel Kant, German philosopher who wrote the Critique of Pure Reason. People could set their watches by his constitutional walk, it was said. The only time his schedule changed was when he was reading Rousseau's Emile, and was so engrossed in it he forgot to take his walk.
- Born this date in 1904 was Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who invented the atom bomb. After the Trinity test in New Mexico, Oppenheimer famously quoted the Bhagavad Gita: "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the mighty one ... Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
- In 1995, the first beauty contest for Camels was held in Umm Raqiba, Saudi Arabia. The event was billed as “Miss Dromedary”.
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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