1 September

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 1 September:

Helen Keller

1. This date in 1933 saw the birth of Harold Lloyd Jenkins, better known as country singer Conway Twitty. He built a country music entertainment complex called Twitty City.
2. During a US billiard championship on this date in 1865, a fly landed on the ball, causing Louis Fox to miss a crucial shot. Fox was so ashamed he went and drowned himself.
3. The youngest king of England, Henry VI, aged nine months, inherited the throne on the death of his father Henry V on this date in 1422.
4. In 1988, the New York Health Department announced that in the previous year they'd treated 8,064 people who'd been bitten by Dogs, 1,587 people who'd been bitten by human beings and one person who'd been bitten by a Penguin.
5. In 2010, archaeologists discovered 200 year old bottles of Beer in a shipwreck south of the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea, believed to be the world's oldest beer.
6. In 2000 Australia's first female and oldest Olympic athlete, Edie Payne, aged 93, who'd competed in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, opened the Sydney Games village.
7. 1878 The first woman telephone operator, Miss Emma Nutt, began working for Edwin Holmes's Telephone Dispatch Co. exchange in Boston, Mass on this date in 1878. She remained in this job for 33 years. By the mid-1800's most exchanges employed only women. Boys were found to be too quarrelsome and rude.
8. In 1904, Helen Keller, deaf and blind from infancy, graduated from Radcliffe College with honours.
9. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland and bombed Warsaw at 6am with 1.8 million troops, beginning World War II. Two days after the invasion, England and France declared war on Germany. For the first time in history, the King went to Downing Street instead of the Prime Minister going to the Palace, as Neville Chamberlain needed to stay by his telephone.
10. In 1689, a tax on Beards was imposed in Russia.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

31 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 31 August:

1. In 1995, six people drowned trying to rescue a Chicken that had fallen into a well in Egypt. One by one, they climbed in to help the first victim, who'd been pulled under by an undercurrent, despite being poor swimmers. The chicken survived.
2. Mary Anne Nicholls, 43, the first confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper, was murdered on this date in 1845.
3. On this date in 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, 36, and Dodi Fayed, 42, Egyptian born film producer died in a car crash in Paris, along with their driver.
4. It's been a significant date for the Coca Cola company. In 1900, Coca Cola first went on sale in Britain; and in 2018, the Coca-Cola Company agreed to buy Costa Coffee for £3.9 billion.
5. In 2006, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream was recovered in a raid by Norwegian police. It had been stolen on August 22, 2004.
6. In 1903, the first car to cross the US under its own power completed its 52 day journey from San Francisco to New York.
7. In 1830, Edwin Budding was granted a British patent for the Lawnmower.
8. In 1954, Lieutenant J.A. O'Farrell was returning to Royal Australian Navy Air Station Nowra in a Sea Fury aircraft. He saw a very bright light closing on him fast. It crossed in front of his aircraft taking up position on his port beam. A second and similar light was observed which passed about a mile in from of the Sea Fury. According to O'Farrell, the apparent speeds of the lights were the fastest he had ever seen. Nowra's radar operator, Petty Officer Keith Jessop, confirmed the presence of two objects near the Sea Fury on his display. The two lights disappeared on a north easterly heading. The Directorate of Naval Intelligence wrote that O'Farrell was ‘an entirely credible witness’ and that he ‘was visibly “shaken” by his experience, but remains adamant that he saw these objects’.”
9. A fine kettle of fish indeed. In 2000, at Queensland's Fine Kettle o' Fish filleting factory, a man's head was found in the stomach of a 97lb, 5ft Morgan Cod.
10. In 2015, the highest mountain in North America, formerly known as Mount McKinley, officially regained its original Alaska Native name, Denali, through an executive order issued by President Barack Obama.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

30 August

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 30 August:

1. Born on this date in 1797 was Mary Shelley, daughter of radical philosopher William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and Percy Bysshe Shelley's wife. She's best known for creating Frankenstein in the summer of 1816 when Mary took part in a challenge set by Byron and Shelley to write the most frightening ghost story.
2. In 1852 John Camden Neild, known as “The Queen’s Miser” died. He left his entire fortune (amassed through being notoriously mean) to Queen Victoria. She used it to buy Balmoral.
3. Another demise on this date, in 1997, was that of Detective-Sergeant Daniel Edwards, 40, who was found squished between his patrol car and a tree near Cape Town, South Africa. It appeared Sgt. Edwards had parked his vehicle on a slope while he went to have a pee. The vehicle had rolled down the embankment and crushed him.
4. In 1979, a comet collided with the Sun, releasing an energy amount equal to that of 1 million hydrogen bombs. The comet, larger than the Earth, had been trapped by the Sun's gravity and, after the explosion, the debris scattered for millions of miles in the Sun's atmosphere.
5. In 1987, Yves Pol of France ran a complete marathon – backwards. It took him just under 4 hours (3 hours, 57 minutes and 57 seconds to be exact).
6. A historic moment in Baseball took place on this date in 1990 when Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr became the first father and son to play on the same team, the Seattle Mariners.
7. In 1990, Paul Anka was naturalised as an American citizen in Las Vegas. He came out of the ceremony to find his car had been towed away.
8. On this date in 1146, a conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow, with the vain hope that banning the weapon would end all wars. Despite the prohibition, crossbows continued to be used until the 16th century, when they were replaced by firearms.
9. In 1901, Hubert Cecil Booth, Scotland patented the Vacuum cleaner, which he'd invented by reversing the action of a dust-blowing machine.
10. In 2004 Watauga Lake, Jerry Hall (not the supermodel, a male American diver) began his attempt to break his 1992 record of 71 hours 39 minutes 40 seconds for the world's longest scuba dive. He was aiming for 94 hours 9 minutes, but, the day before he was expected to surface, Jerry announced he felt good and wanted to stay down longer. He eventually surfaced with the new world's longest scuba dive record of 120 hours.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

29 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 29 August:

1. Singer Michael Jackson, known as the "King of Pop" and sometimes, “Wacko Jacko”, was born on this date in 1958. Four of his albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall, Bad, Dangerous and HIStory, while Thriller is the world's best-selling record of all time.
2. Gil Sarentis, 52, of Tampa, Florida, accidentally flushed $40 down his Toilet on this date in 1998. Being a bit of a miser, he was determined to get his money back, so he opened his 1,600 gallon septic tank, was overcome by methane fumes, fell in and drowned.
3. The city of Melbourne, Australia, was founded on this date in 1835 when John Batman bought 600,000 acres of land from the Aborigines.
4. In 1896, Chop Suey was invented in New York by the chef to the visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang.
5. In 1945, a food fight broke out at a parade in Bunol, Valencia, Spain. The people involved turned it into an annual event—La Tomatina, where there is a huge Tomato fight, lasting an hour, where around 145,000kg of tomatoes are thrown.
6. Gottlieb Daimler patented the first motorcycle on this date in 1885.
7. In 1882, Australia beat England at Cricket for the first time. The Sporting Times published an 'obituary' for English cricket.
8. In 1977, three people were arrested by police in Memphis, Tennessee for trying to steal the body of Elvis Presley, who'd been buried at the Forest Hill cemetery a week and a half earlier. As a result of the incident, Elvis's father, Vernon Presley, arranged to have the bodies of his son and his wife Gladys moved and buried side by side in the grounds of the Graceland mansion.
9. In 1839, 53 Africans being transported from Sierra Leone to Cuba on the ship Amistad to be sold as slaves, hijacked the ship and demanded to be taken back to Africa. The crew secretly changed course and took them to the US anyway. The Africans were taken prisoner and a legal battle began, which John Quincy Adams took to the supreme court. Eventually it was decided they were free to go home.
10. In 1997 in Florence, 10 out of 11 people who'd applied for a job as a gravedigger fainted during an exhumation. The only one still standing was the only female applicant. She got the job.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

27 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 27 August:

1. On this date in 1930, H. L. Mencken married Sara Powell Haardt. They first met in Towson, Maryland, where he was delivering a lecture on "How to Catch a Husband." She was obviously listening carefully.
2. This date has been a significant one for radio stations. In 1920, Radio Argentina began regular transmissions from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, the world's first public broadcast station. In 1990, the British Broadcasting Corporation launched BBC Radio Five Live at 9am GMT.
3. In 1912, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice-Burroughs was first published. It tells the story of John Clayton, a child who loses his aristocratic parents in Africa and is raised by an ape.
4. This date has also been a significant one for the red planet. In 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years, passing approximately 55,758,006 km (34,646,416 miles) from Earth. In 2012, the Mars Rover Curiosity broadcast the first audio recording of a human voice from the surface of another planet. The message from NASA administrator Charles Bolden was beamed to Earth along with new images of the Martian surface.
5. In 1982, chef Glynn Christian presented to the world the largest apple-pie ever baked, in a 40'x23' dish. He'd used 600 bushels of Apples, and the pie weighed 30,115lb.
6. In 1992, a man arrived at his weekend home near Arkhangelsk on the White Sea to find the entire house, storage buildings, and fences had all been stolen. The thieves had not touched his vegetable garden, however.
7. In 1997, the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists came up with a name for the space between a woman’s breasts – the intermammary sulcus.
8. Guinness Book of World Records was first published on this date in 1955. It sold more than 70 million copies, more than any other book but the Bible.
9. In 1975, Veronica and Colin Scargill completed a tandem bicycle ride, a record 18,020 miles around the world.
10. GCSE results came out on this date in 1998. Among them was a C grade pass for Krishan Radia in Information Systems. Krishan was just 6 years old, the youngest person ever to pass a GCSE.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

28 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 28 August:

1. Born on this date in 1906 was John Betjeman, English poet Laureate. He wasn't a fan of a certain Berkshire town: he wrote, "Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now."
2. In 1992, Philip Hodges, 34, was cutting a yew hedge at Fownhope, near Hereford, when he slipped on a wet, grassy bank and cut the jugular vein in his neck with the shears. He bled to death before an ambulance arrived.
3. In 1999, South Park infants school in Reigate was renamed The Orchards to avoid association with the TV series. So parents who had named their kid Kenny would not be afraid to send him to school, perhaps?
4. In 1837, two pharmacists from Worcester, John Lea and William Perrins, began the manufacture of Worcestershire Sauce.
5. The first Horse to run a 2 minute mile achieved the feat on this date in 1897. Star Pointer, a Tennessee-bred light-harness stallion, ran a mile in 1:59.25 minutes on a Maryland track.
6. In 2000, Mark Goldsmith received a £5 note in change in Harrogate. He recognised it as the same note he had earlier spent in a petrol station in Cheltenham. He knew it was the same note because his daughter had drawn a moustache and glasses on the Queen.
7. In 1857, a lawyer named Abraham Lincoln defended William Armstrong, who'd been charged with murder. The prosecutor claimed Lincoln’s client had murdered a man on this date, by the “light of the Moon”. Lincoln held up the 1857 edition of the Old Farmer’s Almanac for the jury to see, pointing out that on this night, the moon was "riding low”. Armstrong was found not guilty as a result.
8. This date in the year 888 was made up entirely of even numbered digits (28/08/888). This would not happen again until 02/02/2000, 1,112 years later.
9. In 1938, Northwestern University awarded an honorary degree to a ventriloquist's dummy: Charlie McCarthy, belonging to Edgar Bergen.
10. This date has been a significant one for Roller Coasters. In 1997 The Sirocco train roller coaster in Brussels got stuck, leaving some passengers hanging upside down for 2 hours. On the same day, at American Adventure world in Derbyshire, Alex Ferguson banned Manchester United players from taking part in the publicity test drive of the 80mph SkyCoaster. Then in 2003, Richard Rodriguez, 43, set the record for the world's longest roller coaster ride, at Holiday Park in Western Germany. He spent 192 hours or exactly 8 days riding 2 different roller coasters with only a 15 minute break every 8 hours.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

26 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 26 August:

1. Born on this date in 1676 was Robert Walpole, generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. Walpole, a Whig, served during the reigns of George I and George II.
2. In 2006, Darren Manship, 33, decided to test out whether his new jacket was “stab proof” - while wearing it. He bled to death.
3. The first televised Baseball game was broadcast on this date in 1939. It was between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
4. In 1946, one Norma Jean Baker signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. Her name was changed to Marilyn Monroe: Marilyn after dancer Marilyn Miller and Monroe after her mother's maiden name.
5. A Gallup Poll released on this date in 1991 revealed that people who eat ice cream frequently take more baths and are less likely to be nervous than people who rarely eat Ice cream.
6. Toilet paper was first sold on a roll on this date in 1871 – 1,000 years after the Chinese invented it in 580.
7. In 1498, Michelangelo, was commissioned by Pope Alexander VI to carve the Pieta: Mary lamenting over the dead body of Jesus. The work was completed in 1501.
8. In 1883, the volcano Krakatoa began erupting. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island and killed 36,000 people. The blast was heard thousands of miles away. Sea waves occurred as far away as Cape Horn, and possibly England, cooling the world for a year.
9. In 1973, the University of Texas at Arlington became the first to offer a course in belly dancing.
10. In 2000, at the Bog Snorkelling world championships in Wales, John Cantalon, from Ireland, set a world record of 1m 39.13s to complete the 120 yard course wearing a wetsuit, snorkel, goggles and flippers.

I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

25 August

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 25 August

1. This date in 1530 saw the birth of Ivan IV, better known as Ivan the Terrible, Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533, and "Tsar of All Russia" from 1547. He killed his eldest son during an argument.
2. In 2016, President Barack Obama expanded the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off the coast of Hawaii, making it the largest national park in the world.
3. 1951 The Lubbock Lights first appeared on this date in 1951. A couple in Albuquerque saw a V shaped object outlined by blue-green lights. Twenty minutes later, in Lubbock, three hundred miles away, a group of college professors spotted the same thing. There were several more sightings over the next two weeks.
4. In 1981, Voyager II came within 63,000 miles of Saturn, sending back data about the ringed planet; in its closest approach to Saturn, Voyager confirmed that Saturn has not just a few, but thousands of rings.
5. And it kept on going, and on this date in 1989 Voyager II made its closest approach to the planet Neptune, becoming the first spacecraft to photograph the planet. It revealed two additional moons previously unknown to scientists.
6. The first daily scheduled international airline began between London Hounslow and Paris Le Bourget on this date in 1919. The plane was a converted bomber and carried mostly freight and just one passenger, a man named George Stephenson-Reece.
7. In 1875, British swimmer Matthew Webb became the first documented person to swim across the English Channel. The day before, he'd smeared himself in porpoise oil for insulation, and left Dover. 21 hours and 45 minutes later he waded ashore at Cape Gris Nez, near Calais.
8. In 1900, Arthur Conan Doyle, playing Cricket for MCC in his first match, bowled out the great WG Grace, who was batting for London County.
9. In 1999, a coven of Witches performed a pagan ritual to try and stop a 53ft Vodafone mast being built near the chalk giant known as Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex. Kevin Carlyon, the High Priest of British White Witches, performed a full moon ceremony assisted by Sheena Weston, 19, a member of the Covenant of Earth Magic. "The police attended to make sure we weren't invaded by hippies and they were quite respectful of what we were doing," said Mr Carlyon. "The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes and we all linked hands and chanted `Vodafone begone' and I had my Vodafone mobile under my robe and just hoped it wouldn't melt. We all felt a very strong surge of energy and we held our mobile phones aloft in honour of the Wilmington giant and the ley-lines," he added. A spokesman for Wealden District Council said the matter would be considered in the light of the fact that the Long Man is a grade one scheduled monument in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
10. Fake news is nothing new. In 1835 The New York Sun published the story that Sir John Hershel had observed little men living on the surface of the moon. The stories brought the paper record circulation. 

 I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website

24 August

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 24 August

1. On this date in 1938, Clark Gable signed to play Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind.
2. In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was established by the US, Canada, and 10 Western European nations. It declares that an armed attack against one or more of them will be considered an attack against all.
3. Charlotte Brontë, alias Currer Bell, sent her manuscript for Jane Eyre to her London publishers, Smith, Elder and Company on this date in 1847.
4. In 1963, Little Stevie Wonder became the first artist to make the Number One position on the pop single chart, the pop albums chart and the RandB singles chart all at once. His was also the first ever live recording to make No.1.
5. In 1975, Queen started recording Bohemian Rhapsody at Rockfield studio's in Monmouth, Wales.
6. It was on this date in 2006 that the International Astronomical Union redefined the term "planet" so Pluto was no longer considered a planet.
7. The wedding of Janet Dalrymple to David Dunbar, heir to the Scottish estate of Baldoon took place on this date in 1669. Legend has it that later that night, wedding guests were awoken by terrible screams from the bridal chamber. They found the groom half dead of stab wounds, and the bride completely insane. She died within a month, but the groom recovered. Local legend holds that the spirit of Janet Dalrymple still haunts the ruins of the castle.
8. On this date in 79 AD, at 1pm, Mount Vesuvius erupted. By coincidence, this occurred during the Festival of Vulcan. This eruption was the first to be described in detail. From 18 miles west of the volcano, Pliny the Younger recorded his observations, describing the Earthquakes before the eruption, the eruption column, air fall, the effects of the eruption on people, pyroclastic flows, and even a tsunami. Volcanologists use the term "plinian" to refer to sustained explosive eruptions like this one. Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried under ash deposited by a pyroclastic flow.
9. In 1992, thieves armed with a frozen rabbit smashed through the glass doors of a pub in Devon. They left the rabbit thawing on the counter.
10. Dennis Howell was appointed Minister for drought on this day in 1976. Within days, it was raining and there were floods in Exeter.

 I write Fiction, too.

There is a whole new universe of superheroes to discover in my novels. The Ultraheroes Universe includes at least one alternative dimension, good guys, bad guys, secrets, romance and more.

For more information visit My Books Page

For even more information visit My website