6 April: Waterloo Day: ABBA

Today is Waterloo Day, when fans of the Swedish group ABBA, them winning the 19th Eurovision song contest for Sweden singing Waterloo. 10 things you might not know about ABBA.

1. The four members of the group are Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names arranged as a palindrome.
2. They weren’t all born in Sweden. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Bjørkåsen, Norway, after her mother had an affair with a German soldier. She was brought up believing he’d died when his ship sank on the way back to Germany, but found out when she was 30 that he was still alive and eventually met him.
3. At the age of 18, Benny was a member of a popular group in Sweden called the Hep Stars. Their repertoire included covers of international hits, and they were known as “the Swedish Beatles”. Björn fronted the Hootenanny Singers, a popular Swedish folk–skiffle group.
4. They were known for the outrageous outfits they wore on stage. There was a financial reason for them. Stage outfits weren’t tax deductible in Sweden unless they were only usable for performances. So they wore things they’d never wear in the street for tax reasons.
5. They first performed together in 1970. The two couples had gone on holiday to Cyprus together and started singing on the beach, just for the fun of it, but it ended up being an improvised gig for the soldiers stationed there.
6. Their first hit in Sweden was called "Hej, gamle man", a song about an old Salvation Army soldier.
7. Waterloo was voted the best ever Eurovision song in 2020. However, at the time, the UK didn’t appreciate the song and actually gave it no points.
8. The Lion King soundtrack was almost written by ABBA. They were approached by Tim Rice and asked to collaborate, although the rest of the production team weren’t convinced. ABBA declined, in any case.
9. The official logo, with the backward "B," was designed by Rune Söderqvist, the designer of most of their record covers.
10. The band had to engage in some legal negotiations in order to use the name ABBA, because it was also the name of a Swedish herring producer.

Character Birthday

Veronica Black, Viper agent married to fellow agent Douglas Black, a teacher, whose role was to groom future agents at the Viper approved boarding school. She appears in Killing Me Softly, where she seduces Sebastian Garrett and his cohorts, so that they will not waste time and energy on trying to lose their virginity to the detriment of their training.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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