5 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 5 December:

1. George Armstrong Custer, US cavalry commander famous for his ‘Last Stand’ was born on this date in 1839. He attacked Sitting Bull’s encampment on the Little Bighorn River in Montana and all 250 of his men were killed, because he failed to wait for reinforcements to arrive.
2. Born this date in 1870 was Bill Pickett, US rodeo cowboy who was the first black man to be inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame nearly 40 years after his death.
3. Also born on this date, in 1963, Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, British skier, the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping and was the British ski jumping record holder (despite coming last).
4. In 1982, Thomas Hart of Detroit, MI died from the head injuries caused by a 14 pound burgundy bowling ball that had entered his car through the windscreen the previous day. It is not known how the bowling ball came to be there.
5. In 1980, Raquel Welch was fired for taking too long to put on her make-up. She took 3 hours and was replaced by Deborah Winger.
6. In 1958, Harold Macmillan opened the Preston bypass in Lancashire, the first stretch of motorway in Britain.
7. The first documented use of an Umbrella in Britain occurred on this date in 1758.
8. In 1958, The Queen dialled Edinburgh from Bristol – the first direct dialled trunk call.
9. In 1945, five US Navy bombers took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Contact was lost and an aircraft was sent to look for them. It too lost contact and no trace of any of the aircraft or their 27 crew was ever found. The unexplained disappearance, believed to have been caused by environmental factors and human error, became part of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, an area bounded by Bermuda, Miami, and Puerto Rico where ships and planes seemed to vanish mysteriously.
10. In 1996, scientists in Adelaide announced the discovery that Koalas have similar fingerprints to humans.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

4 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 4 December: 

1. Born this date in 1865 was Edith Cavell, an English nurse in Brussels during the first world war, who was accused of helping Allied soldiers escape occupied Belgium over the Dutch border. She was executed by the Germans for that. She was quoted as saying, "I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved".
2. In 1861, Queen Victoria forbade the export of Gunpowder, firearms and all materials for their production.
3. According to Carl Perkins, this evening in 1955 is the night that inspired his classic hit Blue Suede Shoes. He played at a Jackson, Tennessee High School Dance and noticed a teenage boy telling his date off for stepping on his shoes.
4. In 2006, an adult giant squid was finally caught on video by Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.
5. President Wilson set sailed for France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference on this date in 1918, becoming the first President to travel internationally while in office.
6. In 1958, a Cessna 172 took off from Las Vegas, NV, and didn't land for 64 days, the world's longest aeroplane flight. The pilots were Bob Timm and John Cook, with refuelling done in flight.
7. In 1998, Nicholas Bourne from London became the first person to run the length of Africa, 6,300 miles South Africa to Egypt. It had taken him 10 months and 30 pairs of Shoes.
8. Killer fogs, "Smog" began in London on this date in 1952. More than 4,000 people died in three weeks.
9. In1995, a diamond necklace and bracelet, wedding gifts from the Queen, were stolen from the Duchess of York during a flight from Washington to London, by baggage handler Gilbert Terrero.
10. American brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic ocean between the Azores and Portugal on this date in 1872, by the British ship Dei Gratia. The Marie Celeste had set sail from New York on November 7, bound for Genoa. The ship was deserted. The captain, Benjamin S. Briggs, and his entire crew of eight were missing, as was the wife and daughter of the captain. The ship was hardly damaged, other than slight damage to the rigging. The cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol was untouched. The captain's table was set for a meal which was never eaten. There was no message aboard, or any indication of what could have happened to the crew and passengers.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

3 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 3 December:

1. In 1999, a woman in Denmark was killed when she climbed up on the roof to fix her TV aerial during a hurricane so as not to miss any weather reports.
2. Pigs might fly? One did, on this date in 1976. A 40-foot long inflatable pig, nicknamed Algie, being photographed at Battersea Power Station for the cover of Pink Floyd's album Animals, broke loose from its guide wires. It flew east and reached a height of 18,000 feet. The Civil Aviation Authority issued a warning to all pilots that a flying pig was loose. The pig eventually crashed into a barn in Godmersham, Kent, where the farmer complained that it had frightened his cows.
3. In 1977, Paul McCartney's Mull of Kintyre reached the top of the UK charts. It was the best selling single ever in the UK.
4. In 1920, Rudyard Kipling was awarded £2 damages for the unauthorised use of his poem, If, in a medical advertisement.
5. In 1586, Sir Thomas Herriot and Sir Francis Drake first introduced the Potato to England.
6. Dr Christiaan Barnard carried out the world’s first Heart transplant in Cape Town on this date in 1967. The donor was Denise Darvall, 25, a bank clerk who agreed as she was dying after a road accident to give her heart to grocer Louis Washansky, 53. It didn't buy him much time. He died 18 days later as a result of tissue rejection.
7. In 2012, an EgyptAir pilot made an emergency landing at Hurghada airport after a Snake bit a Jordanian passenger. And you thought Snakes on a Plane was fiction.
8. Agatha Christie disappeared from her Surrey home on this date in 1926. She was found 11 days later staying under an assumed name at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate. She said she had no recollection of how she came to be there.
9. In 1997, a Connecticut criminal pulled into what he thought was a shopping mall while trying to escape police during a car chase. He’d actually driven into the car park of MacDougall Correctional Institution, a high security prison, and was trapped when automatic gates closed behind him.
10. In 1995, to demonstrate their success in animal conditioning, scientists in Finland set up a Basketball match between two teams of Rats.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

2 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 2 December:

1. In 1998, a Belgian Air Force plane dropping crates of food by parachute to starving villagers in the Sudan accidentally hit a hut, killing one man and injuring two others. A spokesman for the Belgian Ministry of Defence said: "The hut was hidden by tall grass and the crew didn't spot it until it was too late."
2. In 1933, the first transatlantic telephone wedding took place as Bertil Clason of Detroit, Michigan, married Sigrid Carlson of Stockholm, Sweden.
3. In 1908, Pu Yi (Hsuan-T'ung) was crowned China's last Emperor at the age of three. He sat on the massive throne bawling, “I want to go home!”
4. Charles Dickens gave his first reading in New York on this date in 1867. Before the box office opened the queue was almost a mile long.
5. In 1943, Carmen Jones, a contemporary reworking of the Bizet opera Carmen, by Oscar Hammerstein II with an all-black cast, opened on Broadway.
6. In 1901, King Camp Gillette patented a safety razor with a double-edged disposable blade.
7. In 2003, Darkness singer Justin Hawkins was held for two hours at JFK Airport, New York after police mistook him for a wanted man also named Hawkins, who looked similar. The police only agreed to let him go after Justin's fiancée and his manager Sue Whitehouse produced a tour schedule to prove that he had an alibi: he was in England on the day the crime was committed.
8. In 2001, London official town crier Peter Moore had his traditional brass bell stolen from County Hall Waterloo.
9. Red Telephone boxes first came into operation in Britain on this date in 1929.
10. In 2012, a 200-year-old letter dated 20 October 1812, in which Napoleon Bonaparte vowed to blow up the Moscow Kremlin, fetched €187,500 (£151,000) at a French auction.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

1 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 1 December:

1. Madame Marie Tussaud, Swiss-born French waxworks modeller was born on this date in 1761. She was imprisoned for being a royalist during the French Revolution and sentenced to execution by guillotine. However, her talents in wax meant she was more useful alive, to make death masks of the victims of the guillotine, including Marie Antoinette, Marat, and Robespierre. In 1800, separated from her husband, she toured Britain with her waxworks, eventually setting up a permanent exhibition in London.
2. In 1135, Henry I, King of England, died "of a surfeit of lampreys".
3. In 1918, Iceland declared its independence from Denmark. Iceland had been a part of Denmark since the 14th century.
4. It was on this date in 1955 that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her act of civil defiance triggered a year-long boycott of city buses by African Americans, and began the historic career of Martin Luther King Jr.
5. The Great Train Robbery, the world's first western movie, was released on this date in 1903.
6. In 1953, the first issue of Hugh Heffner's Playboy magazine was published, featuring Marilyn Monroe as the centre spread.
7. In 1990, British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries finally met after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel large enough to walk through and shake hands.
8. In 2000 in Paignton, Anthony Newton pushed a Twiglet into an off licence cashier's ribs as if it was a gun, and stole £500. He later confessed to police, and got 4 years in jail.
9. 1929 The game of Bingo was invented by Edwin S Lowe on this date in 1929. Bingo can be traced back to a game called Lotto, played in Italy in 1530. The name bingo comes from a corruption of "Beano", the name of a form of bingo played in the United States in the 1920s, so called because beans were used to cover the numbers.
10. In 1986, the world's most expensive hotel suite (to date) was first offered to visitors at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The eight-room accommodation included four fireplaces, three bedrooms and a library with a secret passage for $20,000 a night.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

30 November

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 30 November:

1. Born this date in 1835 was Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), American writer. He said, "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes time and annoys the pig."
2. This date in 1874 saw the birth of Sir Winston Churchill, British politician known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He said, "I am prepared to meet my maker. Whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."
3. In 1913, Charlie Chaplin made his film début, without his mustache and cane, in Making a Living, a Mack Sennett one-reeler.
4. In 1878, Australia’s national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, was performed for the first time in Sydney.
5. Don Turner and David Pearson of Kenya become champion bird spotters on this date in 1986, spotting 494 species of bird over a 48 hour period.
6. The first Football match between England and Scotland took place in Glasgow on this date in 1872. It ended in a 0-0 draw.
7. In 2001, one Mike Madden inventor, of Crackpot Cottage Honley Huddersfield, was treated for whiplash after a grey Squirrel landed on his invention, a bird feeding hat full of nuts.
8. In 1936, the Crystal Palace in London was destroyed by fire. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, it was originally erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition in 1851. The spectacular blaze could be seen from miles away.
9. In 1222, according to contemporary reports, Dragons were seen over the city of London. Soon afterwards, there were severe thunderstorms and floods.
10. In 1996, a National Lottery draw was delayed by 1 hour when the machine failed to select any balls.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

29 November

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 29 November:

1. 1799 Amos Bronson Alcott, US writer, known for founding an unconventional school and a utopian community known as "Fruitlands" was born on this date in 1799. On this date in 1832, his daughter was born – Louisa M Alcott. the writer best known for her novel Little Women. She wrote, "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."
2. Also born on this date, in 1898, was C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis, who wrote The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy. A quote from him: "And I say also this. I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes."
3. In 1981, actress Natalie Wood, 43, fell off a yacht near Catalina Island. Her husband Robert Wagner, and friend Christopher Walken, were on board and unaware of her predicament, because they were apparently having an argument in the cabin, so Natalie drowned.
4. In Iowa on this date in 1936, a father and son married two sisters. This led to complicated family relationships. The son was his father's brother-in-law, and brother-in-law and step-son to his father's wife; his father's wife was now both her sister's mother-in-law and sister-in-law; the son's wife was his step-mother's sister, sister-in-law, and daughter-in-law!
5. The Duke of Kent and Princess Marina got married in Westminster Abbey on this date in 1934. It was the first broadcast of a royal wedding.
6. Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas V spacecraft on this date in 1961. The craft orbited the earth twice before landing off Puerto Rico.
7. In 1973, a Ruppell’s Vulture collided with a commercial aircraft at 37,000 feet. It shut down one of the plane’s engines (the plane landed without incident) and left behind sufficient feathers for scientists to identify it and proclaim that this was the highest altitude ever recorded for a bird.
8. In 1897, Britain’s first motorcycle race was held in the Grounds of Sheen House, Richmond, Surrey. The average speed was just under 30mph.
9. In 2010, Pablo Picasso's electrician claimed he had in his possession 271 previously unknown works given to him as gifts by the artist.
10. In 1995, Dutchman Cor Stoop, who'd lost his false teeth in a bout of seasickness two months earlier, got them back from a fisherman who'd found them in a cod’s stomach.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

28 November

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 28 November:

Ferdinand Magellan

1. Eleanor of Castile died on this date in 1290 at the age of 49, in Harby, Nottinghamshire. She was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. Her body was taken for burial in Westminster Abbey, and Edward erected memorial crosses at the site of each overnight stop between Lincoln and Westminster. The "Eleanor crosses" stood at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham, Westcheap, and Charing.
2. Born on this date in 1904 was Nancy Mitford, writer known for her witty novels of upper-class life, including Love in a Cold Climate and Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy which explored the distinction between linguistic usages that are U (upper class) and those that are non-U (not upper class). She said, "I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away."
3. This date in 1757 saw the birth of William Blake, poet and artist. He said, "When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend."
4. In 1628, John Bunyan, poet, author of Pilgrim's Progress, said to be second only to the Bible in number of copies sold through the ages throughout the world, was born. Quote: "He that is down needs fear no fall."
5. In 1678, King Charles II accused his wife, Catherine of Braganza, of treason. Her crime? She had yet to bear him children.
6. In 1922, Captain Cyril Turner gave the first sky-writing exhibition in New York. Turner spelled out "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200." 47,000 people called.
7. In 1582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway.
8. In 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait that now bears his name.
9. In 1720, Anne Bonney and Mary Read, the most famous and ferocious female pirates in history, were convicted of piracy. Both Anne and Mary were known for their violent tempers and ferocious fighting, and shared a reputation as ‘fierce hell cats.’ They were found guilty, but at their sentencing, when asked by the judge if they had anything to say, they replied, ‘Mi'lord, we plead our bellies.’ Both were pregnant, and since British law forbade killing an unborn child, their sentences were stayed temporarily.
10. In 1997, Whitney Houston pulled out of a concert sponsored by the Moonies two hours before she was due on stage, pleading a sudden illness. She'd found out the event was a mass wedding for thousands of Moonie couples. The religious group said they had no intention of suing providing the singer returned her $1m fee.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

27 November

10 weird and wonderful things which  happened on 27 November:

1. Bruce Lee, martial artist, actor and founder of the Jeet Kune Do combat form was born on this date in 1940. His films include The Green Hornet, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon and Enter the Dragon. He once said, "I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine."
2. Also born on this date, in 1925, was Ernie Wise, comedian best known as one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise.
3. Abraham De Moivre French mathematician famous for de Moivre's formula, which links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory, died on this date in 1754, at the age of 87. He wrote a book on probability theory, The Doctrine of Chances, which was highly prized by gamblers. He had correctly predicted the day of his own death. Noting that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each day, he figured that in due course he would he would be asleep for 24 hours a day come November 27, 1754. His prediction proved correct.
4. 1931 Paul Wittgenstein played the première of Ravel's left-handed Piano concerto. Wittgenstein lost his right hand in wartime but decided to pursue his concert career anyway.
5. In 1759 Rev. Francis Gastrell was thrown out of Stratford-upon-Avon for cutting down a tree that Shakespeare had planted.
6. In 1784, a man named John Thatcher rode his cow to the market in Stockport, and home again. This was in protest about a tax on horses that the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Pitt, had imposed following the American War of Independence, when Britain was nearly bankrupt.
7. In 1726 Jonathan Swift wrote to Alexander Pope about initial reactions to Gulliver's Travels, including that of an Irish bishop who said it was "full of improbable lies." Not unlike the Tory party manifesto, then.
8. In 1889, Curtis P. Brady was issued the first permit to drive a car through Central Park in New York. Mr. Brady had to pledge that he wouldn't frighten the horses in the park.
9. Britain's first policewomen went on duty on this date in 1914. They were Miss Mary Allen and Miss E F Harburn, who reported for duty at Grantham, Lincolnshire.
10. In 1987, a young man in Somerset made seven attempts to kill himself following a row with his girlfriend. He threw himself in front of four cars and a lorry; he tried to strangle himself and jumped out of a Window. The driver of one of the cars suffered a heart attack, a policeman injured his back trying to restrain the man, and a doctor at the hospital the young man was taken to was kicked in the face.

26 November

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 26 November:

1. Born this date in 1922 was Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts. He said “It seems beyond comprehension that someone can be born to draw comic strips, but I think I was.”
2. In 1938 Tina Turner (Annie Mae Bullock), US singer and actress was born. Her career has spanned more than 50 years. Turner started her music career as Ike and Tina Turner with a string of hits including River Deep, Mountain High, Nutbush City Limits and Proud Mary. She went on to forge a solo career, with hits including Let's Stay Together, What’s Love Got to Do With it, The Best and Private Dancer.
3. In 1862, on meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, President Abraham Lincoln commented: "So this is the little lady who made the big war."
4. In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed this date (a Thursday) to be the first national Thanksgiving Day holiday.
5. Members of the band Pink Floyd watched the launch of a joint Soviet-French space mission from Soviet Central Asia on this date in 1988. One of the cosmonauts had requested an advance copy of Pink Floyd's live album, The Delicate Sound of Thunder, to play during the flight.
6. In 1867, one Mrs Lily Maxwell of Manchester cast her vote in a parliamentary election. She had been placed on the electoral register by mistake and had to be escorted by a bodyguard to protect her from opponents to women's suffrage.
7. In 1988, Mrs Rita Lockett of Torquay spent £10,000 to repeat her daughter’s wedding two months after the event, because she didn't like the video made on the day. The couple went through the reception with all 200 wedding guests wearing the same outfits listening to the same speeches, this time with a professional video crew on hand.
8. In 1996, Gloria Garza Villanueva, a Mexican Tarot Card reader, was shot twice in the head because a customer didn’t like the future she'd predicted for him.
9. In 1703, England was hit by severe gales, known as the Great Storm. The first Eddystone Lighthouse was swept away, taking the man who built it, Henry Winstanley, with it. More than 8,000 died across the country and the Royal Navy lost 15 warships.
10. In 1993, Penn and Teller performed the world largest card trick on Late Show with David Letterman. The cards were steel, and so heavy that forklift trucks were used to shuffle them.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

25 November

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 25 November:

1. In 2000, a 66 year old Quebec woman lost her life after the Christmas Trees tied to the roof of her car fell off. She was run over by three cars as she attempted to pick them up.
2. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared on the music charts on this date in 1949. 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.
3. Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's longest running play, opened at the Ambassadors' Theatre in London on this date in 1952.
4. In 1896, William Marshall became the first person in Britain to receive a parking summons after leaving his car in Tokenhouse Yard in the City of London. The case was dismissed.
5. On this date in 2348 BC, according to Archbishop James Ussher's Old Testament chronology, the Great Deluge ("Noah's Flood") began.
6. In 1969, John Lennon returned his MBE to Queen Elizabeth, citing British involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra war, political support of the US position in Vietnam and the poor reception given to the Plastic Ono Band's Cold Turkey.
7. In 1779, Lord Lyttelton claimed to have a dream about the mother of three sisters he'd seduced, resulting in them committing suicide. She told him he would be dead in three days. Sure enough, he died of a stomach complaint, right on schedule.
8. In 1988 US and Soviet Chess grand masters Donaldson and Akhmilovskaya wed. Was it "Checkmate"?
9. In 1911, three men were hanged for murdering Sir Edmundbury Godfrey at Greenberry Hill. Their names were Green, Berry and Hill.
10. In 1998, Les Stewart from Mudjimba, Australia, finished typing all numbers from one to one million in words. He began in 1982 and used up seven manual typewriters, 1000 ink ribbons, 19,890 pages. It had taken him 16 years and seven months. When asked why he had undertaken this tedious task, Les said that he had little else to do since being classed as an invalid who could no longer work.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

24 November

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 24 November:

1. This date in 1942 saw the birth of Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian sometimes known by the nickname The Big Yin (The Big One).
2. In 1999, a member of a Christian cult in California died while practising the art of walking on water in his bath. He slipped on the soap and drowned.
3. In 1615, King Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria were married. Both bride and groom were aged 14. Louis was so nervous about his wedding night that his mother had to escort him to the new queen's bedroom after the ceremony.
4. In 1993, 14 bottles of Scotch Whiskey salvaged from the SS Politician, wrecked in 1941 and the inspiration of the book and film, Whisky Galore, were sold at auction for £11,462 at Christie's.
5. The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, by British naturalist Charles Darwin, was published in England on this date in 1859. Darwin's theory argued that species are the result of a gradual biological evolution in which nature encourages, through natural selection, the propagation of those species best suited to their environments.
6. In 1997, in Urbana Ohio, a plane took off without a pilot, flew 100 miles in two hours at up to 12,000 feet, then crash landed in a bean field. All because engineer Paul Sirks had restarted the engine without fitting chocks.
7. In 1999, all afternoon greyhound racing in Sunderland was cancelled due to a police investigation, because the greyhounds in trap 6 had won all eight races that morning.
8. In 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane and collected $200,000 in ransom money from threats he made to passengers and crew. He jumped from the jet in Washington State with the ransom, and was never found.
9. In 1978, a man in Pajala, northern Sweden, was convicted of smuggling a villa from Finland into Sweden. To avoid paying duty, the smuggler took the building piece by piece across the border, until customs officials’ suspicions were aroused by his daily appearance.
10. In 1997, Humphrey the cat retired from his position as Chief Mouser in Downing Street because of kidney problems. He was filmed alive and well at a secret location with current newspapers to dispel a rumour that Cherie Blair had had him killed.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book