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