10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 15 May:
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| George III |
This date in 1856 was the birth date of L. (Lyman) Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It's said he conceived the mythical setting for his famous book while staring at a file drawer labelled O-Z. The Scarecrow was inspired by an actual scarecrow that stood outside Baum's childhood home. He said, "Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."
In 1991, a 56-year-old man tricked his way into a house in Alicante, Spain saying he was a Sewing machine technician. He stole the equivalent of £80 from the woman who lived there. She wasn't going to let him get away with it, so she chased him. During the chase, he tripped, swallowed his false teeth and choked to death.
In 2013, American graphic designer Richard Swanson died after being struck by a pickup truck in Oregon while attempting to dribble a soccer ball all the way to Brazil to raise money for charity.
In 1800, King George III was a bit luckier than the above two people, as he escaped assassination. At the theatre, two bullets missed his head. Unshaken, he told the performers to continue … and later fell asleep. He survived another 20 years.
In 1697, Hitchin and Offley in Hertfordshire experienced the severest hailstorm ever to hit the UK, with hailstones up to 4 inches in diameter.
In 1928, the Australian Flying Doctor service was inaugurated by Dr. Vincent Welsh at Australian Inland Mission, Cloncurry, Queensland.
In 1930, the world’s first air hostess started work. Her name was Ellen Church and her duties included cleaning the plane, carrying luggage and helping to push the plane out of the hangar. Her first customers were 11 passengers travelling on a United Airlines tri-motor Boeing 80A from Oakland, California to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
In 1999, Phil Dunnington and David Hempleman-Adams became the first Britons to fly over magnetic North Pole in a balloon.
At Cuerdale, near Preston, there was an ancient tradition which claimed that if you stood on the south bank of the River Ribble at Walton le Dale, looking upriver towards Ribchester, you were within sight of England’s richest treasure. People had been looking for it for centuries, and on this date in 1840, workmen walking home noticed a wooden box which had been exposed by a mud slide. The box contained a Lead casket, holding nearly 40 kilograms of Silver. The hoard was dated to around 905 and contained coins from as far afield as Afghanistan. It was later declared a ‘treasure trove’, and the property of Queen Victoria. Most of it was given to the British Museum where it remains. The labourers were only allowed to keep one coin.
In 1890, a blood-like substance fell from the sky over Messignadi, Calabria. The Italian Meteorological Bureau identified it as birds' blood.
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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