1 June: Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was born on this date in 1926. Here are 10 things you might not know about her:

1. Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson, later changed to Baker when her mother re-married. Her mother gave her the name Norma after the actress Norma Talmadge. So where did Marilyn Monroe come from? Monroe was her mother’s maiden name (Marilyn once claimed she was related to President James Monroe but there has never been any evidence to support that) and "Marilyn" came from a studio executive who thought she resembled Marilyn Miller. However, she had considered using the name "Jean Adair".

2. She married for the first time at the age of 16. The marriage was arranged, because at the age of 15, Marilyn’s mother wasn’t able to look after her so she was staying with a family friend. The family friend wanted to move to another state and couldn’t take Marilyn with her, so rather than turn her over to an orphanage, she arranged for her to marry the next door neighbour James Dougherty, aged 20. She divorced him in 1946 because he disapproved of her blossoming career.

3. During World War II, Marilyn worked in a factory making military drones. While in the factory, she was discovered by a photographer who recruited her to take photos that would inspire and encourage the troops.

4. She was almost the star of Breakfast at Tiffany's, rather than Audrey Hepburn. Truman Capote wanted her for the role and she even did a screen test. In the end, she didn't take the part because her advisor and acting coach didn't think it was the type of character she should be playing.

5. She had a thing for older men with brains. Her former room mate, actress Shelley Winters, told how the two women once made lists of all the men they’d like to sleep with. "There was no one under 50 on hers," Winters said. One of the men on her list was Albert Einstein.

6. The FBI had a file on her and her house was bugged (when the couple who bought it after she died did some remodelling they found a sophisticated, government-grade phone tapping system that extended throughout the house). This may have been because she was married to Arthur Miller, who was investigated for “un-American” activities.

7. After Marilyn and Arthur Miller got divorced, Miller got custody of the dog. Marilyn was devastated at losing her pet, and so Frank Sinatra gave her a Maltese terrier called “Mafia Honey,” or “Maf” for short. In 2010, author Andrew O’Hagan wrote a book called The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of his Friend Marilyn Monroe, supposedly the dog’s account of his life with her.

8. Monroe was only married to Joe DiMaggio for 274 days. The final straw in the breakdown of the marriage was the infamous "subway scene" in which Marlyn’s dress blows up showing her legs and underwear. DiMaggio became irate over how much she was exposing herself, and some reports suggest he might have got violent with her in the ensuing argument. Monroe filed for divorce on the grounds of "mental cruelty" not long after. That said, DiMaggio remained loyal to her and just before she died, allegedly told friends that they were going to be re-married. He arranged her funeral and banned anyone from Hollywood from attending. He had Roses delivered to her grave twice a week until he died. This was thought to be to fulfil a promise he made to Marilyn on their wedding day inspired by the fact that Jean Harlow’s fiance had done the same thing.

9. To avoid being recognised in public, Monroe adopted an alter ego, Zelda Zonk, by wearing a dark wig and Sunglasses.

10. On the occasion when she sang happy birthday to JFK, she’d had to be sewn into the dress she had on because it was so skin tight. She also wasn’t wearing underwear because she didn’t want VPL to spoil the illusion of her being nude. In 2016, Ripley's Believe It Or Not purchased the dress for $4.8 million. In 2022, the museum loaned it to Kim Kardashian, who controversially wore it at the Met Gala.

Character birthday

Scarlet Pimpernel, aka Jamie Warner, youngest son of Superwil and Electric Blue. He has the power of teleportation rather than flight.

31 May: World Parrot Day

Today is World Parrot Day, 10 things you might not know about parrots:

1. Parrots belong to the order Psittaciformes and there are about 393 species.

2. They range in size from the buff-faced pygmy, which weighs just one ounce and is about the size of an adult human’s finger, to the kakapo, an endangered parrot from New Zealand which can weigh as much as 9lb, about the same as a domestic cat, and grow to over two feet in length. The kakapo is the only member of the parrot family which can’t fly, and is also the only nocturnal parrot.

3. They have four toes on each foot as do most birds, but the toes are arranged differently. Most birds have three-in-front-one-behind; parrots have two in front and two behind. This not only helps them hold on to a perch, but allows them to hold food up to their beaks in order to eat. Parrots are the only bird able to do this.

4. Parrots are known for their ability to talk and mimic sounds, but they don’t have vocal chords. They make sounds by expelling air across the mouth of the trachea in an organ called the syrinx. Different sounds are produced by changing the depth and shape of the trachea.

5. They’re also highly intelligent. A parrot named Puck could recognise 1,728 words, netting him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1995. According to scientists, parrots have the reasoning ability of a three or four year old human child, and some have even been able to answer correctly questions like, “How many red squares are there?” and understand the concept of zero. They can even be taught to sing. An Amazon parrot named Groucho was trained to sing “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” on TV in 2010. However, Groucho’s achievement pales beside that of a parrot called Waldo from Maryland, who is actually the lead singer of a death metal band called Hatebeak. Waldo and his human band mates have released songs with titles like “Beak of Purification,” and “Birdseeds of Vengeance.” When Waldo refuses to perform, his band mates can usually persuade him with his favourite treat of dried Bananas.

6. A group of parrots is called a pandemonium.

7. Parrots have been popular pets since ancient times and have featured in human stories, religion and music for thousands of years. For example, Aesop's fable "The parrot and the cat". In more recent times, there’s Captain Flint, the pet of pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island. The association of parrots and pirates owes its existence to this novel. Even more recently there is the nameless “Norwegian Blue” (this breed doesn’t actually exist) from Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch.

8. The phrase, “Sick as a parrot”, meaning extremely disappointed, may have originated from a disease called psittacosis, which can be passed to humans from parrots.

9. Parrots taste with the roof of their mouth. Most of their 300 or so taste buds are located there.

10. Dominica has a parrot on its flag and two on its coat of arms. The St. Vincent parrot is the national bird of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Character birthday

Vortex, aka Gabrielle Marx. She lives in the Infinitus dimension. Her powers are Flight; air manipulation and night vision. Her mother, Elena, is from Classica and therefore did not have the contraceptive implant all Innovians have, including her husband, Leonard. Gabrielle was born from a brief affair Elena had with a man who’d had his implant removed in order to have a family. Both assumed the other was protected. Leonard Marx found it hard to accept Gabrielle at first, despite knowing he would not be given permission to have his implant removed to have a child with Elena because of her Classican origins, so Gabrielle was the only family he was likely to have. In time, though, he grew to love her as his own.

Gabrielle wasn't born with powers, but grew up with Wulf and Bluebird's twins, Elliott and Tilly. Elliott had powers but Tilly did not. Both girls envied Elliott's powers and eventually decided to trick their way to Portal Island and the wormhole in order to travel through it and get powers.

30 May: Canaries

Today is Canary Islands Day. Which commemorates the first session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands. 10 things you might not know about Canaries, the birds named for the islands: 

1. The scientific name for a canary is Serinus canaria domestica.

2. There are more than 200 different breeds of canary, and not all of them are Yellow. Some are Red, Orange, Pink or Brown.

3. It's mostly the males which sing. They sing to attract a mate, so if you have a male canary and put it with a female, it won't sing so much because it has what it wants.

4. Famous canaries include Tweetie Pie ("I thought I saw a puddy tat") Big Bird in Sesame Street and Chuck in Angry Birds.

5. Canaries were first bred in captivity in the 17th century, having been brought to Europe by Spanish sailors. Canaries were fashionable in courts of Spanish and English kings. Monks bred them and only sold the males (because they are the ones which sing). This kept the birds in short supply and drove the price up. 

6. From the 18th up to the 20th centuries, canaries were used in the UK, Canada and the US in the coal mining industry to detect carbon monoxide. Hence the expression, "canary in a coalmine" for an early warning about something. In the UK, this practice ceased in 1986.

7. If a criminal is described as a canary, it means they "sang" to the police.

8. Norwich City, an English football team, is nicknamed "the Canaries" as the city was once a centre for breeding and export of the birds. 

9. Canaries have been used to study neurogenesis, or the birth of new neurons in the brain, and also into how songbirds learn to sing. 

10. Wild canaries are mostly yellow-green, with brownish streaking on the back. The solid yellow colour of the pet canary is a result of selective breeding.

Character birthday

Ms Liberty, aka Linda Thorne. As a police officer, she intervened in a vicious attack on an alien child. The adult aliens gifted her with a sword in gratitude. The sword enabled Linda to fly and has numerous powers, including being able to shrink so that it is small enough to fit in a handbag. Also on the scene of the attack was the Freedom League’s Firebolt. He and Linda started a relationship, and the Freedom League helped her learn to use her alien weapon. She was a member of the Freedom League for some years, even after her relationship with Firebolt ended after he cheated on her with Vixen. In spite of that, she and Vixen became close friends and eventually decided to create a super powered team composed entirely of females. She appears in Eternal Flame and Obsidian’s Ark.

Eternal Flame

The Freedom League's numbers have dwindled to three - but leader Unicorn knows his team isn't finished yet. The turning point comes with Russell, a boy with bright red hair and a genetic variant ability to start fires. He's the first of an influx of new members who will take the League into the future. 

Judith and Wil are child prodigies - Judith in physics and electronics, and Wil in medicine. They have another thing in common - they are both genetic variants. And another thing - they both have fiery red hair. They are drawn to one another as their destinies intertwine, but the course of true love doesn't always run smoothly!

Richard is not a variant. He's an Olympic athlete who has picked up useful knowledge from his unusual friends to add to his own natural abilities. A chance encounter with a dying alien throws him into a Freedom League mission in which his skills are put to the ultimate test, along with theirs.

The Freedom League's arch-enemy, the super-villain Obsidian, wants his family fortune all to himself. One person stands in his way - his niece, Fiona. Fiona, devastated by a family tragedy and her failure to get in to her first choice university, is miserable and has few friends. When she realises her brother's death was no accident, and his killer is also after her, she fears it may be too late to gather allies around her and learn how to use her own genetic variant powers.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

Obsidian's Ark

Teenage years bring no end of problems. Daniel Moran's include getting hold of computer games his parents don't think he should have; a full blown crush on the beautiful Suki from Zorostan; maintaining his status as a prefect and getting his homework done. He must also keep from his parents and sister the fact that he is a superhero with a sword from another world.

Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.

Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?

When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?

Available from:

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29 May: Bob Hope

Bob Hope was born on this date in 1903. 10 things you might not know about Bob Hope:

1. He was actually British. He was born in Well Hall, Eltham, now part of the London Borough of Greenwich. The family moved to the USA when Bob Hope was four years old and settled in Cleveland, Ohio.

2. He wasn’t christened Bob, or even Robert. The name his parents gave him was Leslie Townes Hope. He started calling himself Bob in 1929. In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman. In another, he said he chose the name because he wanted a name with a "friendly 'Hiya, fellas!' sound" to it. There’s yet another version in which he changed his name because as a child, other kids would tease him by calling him “Hope, Leslie, Hope Less”.

3. From age 12, he entered numerous dancing and amateur talent contests as Lester Hope, and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. He also went by the name Packy East for a while, during his brief career as a boxer.

4. His first film appearance was in a short comedy film called Going Spanish in 1934. He hated it, and quipped, "When they catch [bank robber] Dillinger, they're going to make him sit through it twice."

5. His signature song was Thanks for the Memory, which was composed by Ralph Rainger with lyrics by Leo Robin and was introduced in the 1938 film The Big Broadcast, sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross. In the movie, Ross and Hope's characters are a divorced couple who encounter each other aboard a ship. They sing the song, recalling the ups and downs of their relationship, and then they decide to get back together. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

6. Talking of Academy Awards, Hope never won one, nor was he ever nominated, despite a career spanning 8 decades and 54 starring film roles. However, he was given five honorary awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

7. His love life was complicated. He married twice, first briefly to a fellow vaudeville performer named Louise Troxell. They actually married in secret in January 1933, and divorced in November 1934. Not long after the secret wedding, a new girl named Dolores Reade joined their vaudeville troupe and Hope was immediately smitten with her. Hope would later claim that he married Reade several months before he divorced Troxell, which means he was a bigamist for a few months. It’s possible, too, that he never actually married her at all, although they remained together for 69 years and adopted four children. That said, Bob carried on having affairs with other women until he was in his 80s.

8. He was a keen golfer and once beat Tiger Woods in a round of golf, which might not be as impressive as it first sounds, as Tiger was just two years old at the time.

9. He didn’t spend Christmas at home for 48 years. Instead he would spend the holiday from 1941-1990 entertaining US troops stationed away from home.

10. He died a few months after his 100^th birthday, but never lost his sense of humour. "I'm so old, they've cancelled my blood type," he quipped on turning 100. Even on his deathbed, he cracked a joke, according to his grandson Zach. When Dolores asked Bob where he wanted to be buried, he allegedly replied, "Surprise me."

Character birthday

Creeper, aka David Randall, a photographer with the genetic variant ability to climb walls and blend into the background like a chameleon. He would use his unique climbing and concealment ability to get exclusive shots of celebrities and events. It was only when he managed to secure shots of a jewellery heist from a seemingly impossible angle that his powers came to the attention of the police. He was offered a place in the Chain Gang, who were recruiting following the departure of Jade and Gloria. Randall, uncomfortable with the fact that the Chain Gang were essentially controlled by the police, refused. He was subsequently offered a place on the Ultra League by Superwil, which he accepted on assurance that the League was an independent body and that he could continue working as a photographer.

28 May: Amnesty International

Today is Amnesty International Day. 10 things you might not know about Amnesty International:

1. It was founded in 1961 by the British lawyer Peter Benenson, who had previously been a founding member of the UK law reform organisation JUSTICE.

2. By his own account, he was inspired to do so when he read a report about two Portuguese students who’d been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in Portugal for "having drunk a toast to liberty". There’s no concrete proof that happened, however, and nobody has been able to track down the article he was reading. That said, it’s probably true someone had been imprisoned and that Benenson believed it was unjust, even if the finer details got altered through repeated re-tellings.

3. The logo is a lit Candle surrounded by Barbed Wire. This was inspired by a Chinese proverb, “It is better to light a Light than to curse the Darkness”. The logo was designed by Diana Redhouse in 1963 as Amnesty's first Christmas card.

4. The six key areas that Amnesty works in are: The rights of women, children, indigenous peoples and minorities; Ending torture; Abolition of the death penalty; Rights of refugees; Rights of prisoners of conscience and Protection of human dignity.

5. In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

6. It is independent of all governments, political interests, religions and financial interests. On its website, Amnesty states, “We neither seek nor accept any funds for human rights research from governments or political parties and we accept support only from businesses that have been carefully vetted.”

7. It is funded by donations and has also organised benefit concerts and comedy shows to raise funds and awareness. These include: A Conspiracy of Hope, a short tour of six concerts which took place in the USA in June 1986; and The Secret Policeman’s Ball which was organised by Monty Python’s John Cleese in 1976. People who have participated include: U2, Sting, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, Rowan Atkinson, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig, Duran Duran, Phil Collins and Kate Bush.

8. Amnesty maintains a list of “Films That Open Eyes”, both fictional and documentaries which highlight human rights and oppression. These include: 12 Years a Slave, Apocalypse Now, Billy Elliot, Brokeback Mountain, Dead Man Walking, Gandhi, The Help, Milk, Osama, The Pianist and Schindler’s List.

9. At time of writing the Secretary-General is Agnès Callamard and the organisation is based in the UK.

10. I’ll end with a quote from Peter Benenson: “Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done.”

Character birthday

Thundercloud, a 19^th century Native American who was accidentally transported to our time when the Galactic Force the Constellations were experimenting with the creation of wormholes so that people stranded here from the Infinitus dimension could go home. On Constellation Station Thundercloud met McGregor, a Scottish nationalist from the 18th century. They bonded over hatred for their respective enemies. Thundercloud had no interest on remaining with the Constellations as they had also rescued Indrus, a member of a tribe which were Thundercloud’s sworn enemies. Thundercloud and McGregor demanded to be returned to Earth. It had not proved possible to create a wormhole back to their own times, so they were relocated into present day England. As McGregor still had his sword, Thundercloud demanded he be given a weapon to defend himself with. He was offered a choice and selected the lightning ball. On Earth, the two met and joined forces with the Desperadoes. See Over the Rainbow.

Over the Rainbow

'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian  movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home. 

In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.

Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived.  Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.  

Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down. 

Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth. 

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

27 May: Bloomer Day

Bloomer Day commemorates the birth of Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American women's rights and temperance advocate, who popularised the “bloomers'' garment that bears her name, on this date in 1818. 10 things you might not know:

1. She was born in Homer, New York. Her first job was as a school teacher at the age of 17. She left home to live with her married sister, Elvira in Waterloo, and then to Seneca Falls, where she was a live in governess to the Oren Chamberlain family.

2. She was 22 when she married Dexter Bloomer. He noticed that she had a way with the written word and encouraged her to write articles for the local paper about politics and topical issues. These were published anonymously.

3. She attended the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention, in 1848. She didn’t sign the Declaration of Sentiments, which outlined the demands for women to gain equality, however. It's possible she didn't sign because she felt it would detract from the temperance movement. Nevertheless the ideas and discussions at the convention affected her opinions and behaviour.

4. She put a lot of her energy into the temperance movement, strongly disapproving of alcohol. “[A] lady must be a wretched cook indeed who cannot make apple dumplings, Mince Pies, or cake palatable without the addition of poisonous substances,” she wrote.

5. She founded a temperance newspaper for women, called The Lily. It started life as a mouthpiece for the Seneca Falls Ladies Temperance Society, but after a time they lost interest in it. Bloomer decided to keep it going as an actual newspaper, and the focus shifted from purely anti-alcohol to writing about women’s rights issues of the day.

6. She didn’t actually invent bloomers. The style was first suggested by the Water-Cure Journal, a popular health periodical. This magazine promoted a style of dress for women that allowed more freedom of movement so women could participate more in physical exercise and be healthier. Bloomer took up the idea in The Lily, which is how she became associated with the “Turkish pants” as the outfits were initially known.

7. She wore them herself, for practicality and comfort, although she eventually went back to wearing skirts when the crinoline was invented and made skirts more comfortable to wear. She was beginning to feel that bloomers were distracting from issues of “far greater importance—the question of woman’s right to better education, to a wider field of employment, to better remuneration for her labour, and to the ballot for the protection of her rights.”

8. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were together two of the greatest influences in the women’s rights movement in America, but if not for Amelia Bloomer, they might never have met. Bloomer, however, knew them both and one day in 1851 they all just happened to meet in the street, and Bloomer introduced Stanton and Antony to each other.

9. In 1894, Annie "Londonderry" Cohen Kopchovsky donned the bloomer during her famous Bicycle trip around the world, and an updated version of the bloomer became the standard "bicycle dress" for women.

10. Needless to say, the innovation in women’s clothing wasn’t welcomed by everybody. The church and men who opposed the women’s movement were vocal in their opposition and even called public meetings campaigning to get rid of bloomers. Even some women hated them, like Dorothea Dix, superintendent of army nurses, who issued a statement banning the bloomer from army hospitals and requiring women to abandon it before entering nursing service. However, she was powerless to stop volunteer nurses from wearing bloomers in the field.

Character birthday

May Flowers, a member of the Calendar Mob. Her power is that she can cause plants to grow very quickly and seemingly out of nowhere. The origin of her power is unknown.

26 May: Vauxhall Bridge

On this date in 1906 Vauxhall Bridge opened. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II listed steel and granite deck arch bridge which crosses the River Thames in a southeast–northwest direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Pimlico on the north bank. It is 247 metres long and 24 metres wide.

2. There may well have been a crossing on this site 3,500 years ago. In 1998, the Thames Archaeological Survey found the remains of an oak crossing dating to around 1500 BC.

3. The bridge that is there today replaced an earlier bridge, known as Regent Bridge but later renamed Vauxhall Bridge, built between 1809 and 1816 as part of a scheme for redeveloping the south bank of the Thames.

4. The current Vauxhall Bridge was the first in London to carry trams.

5. It was one of the first two roads in London to have a Bus lane.

6. The road it carries is the A202.

7. The bridge was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice.

8. The design was quite functional, and so the LCC began debating ways to make the bridge more interesting. They consulted with architect William Edward Riley regarding possible decorative elements that could be added to the bridge. He suggested two 60-foot (18 m) pylons topped with statues at one end of the bridge, and adding sculptures to the bridge piers. The pylons were rejected on grounds of cost, but the statues were commissioned and are there to this day. They are not visible from the bridge itself. The statues represent Agriculture, Architecture (this one is holding a model of St Paul's Cathedral), Education, Fine Arts and Engineering. They are made from bronze, weigh two tons each and were designed by Alfred Drury and Frederick Pomeroy.

9. In 1963 another grand scheme was proposed but abandoned because of the cost. This was to replace the bridge with a glass structure called the Crystal Span, inspired by the design of the Crystal Palace. An air conditioned glass shell would contain the road, shops, a luxury hotel, a gallery space to be used by the Tate Gallery, a skating rink and roof gardens including an open air theatre.

10. For a while there was another bridge just 200yards (180 m) downstream. During the Second World War the government was concerned that Axis bombers would target Vauxhall Bridge, so a temporary bridge known as Millbank Bridge was built parallel to it. Millbank Bridge was made of steel girders supported by wooden stakes. Despite its flimsy appearance it was capable of supporting tanks and other heavy military equipment. In the event, Vauxhall Bridge survived the war undamaged, and in 1948 Millbank Bridge was dismantled.

Character birthday

Blatt, aka Ian Poole, a former bouncer at a sleazy club. The club was a favourite haunt of Leopold Smythe-Warner, leader of the Demolition Squad. Poole viewed Smythe-Warner as a man who commanded respect and appeared to him to have a finger in any number of lucrative pies. Smythe-Warner was impressed by Poole's "professional technique", in particular one occasion when he broke a man's legs with a single blow. On witnessing that, Smythe-Warner invited Poole to join the Demolition Squad and take the code name Blatt.

Blatt has no powers, although he is strong and an expert brawler. He holds a deep seated mistrust of people with powers, for reasons unknown, including Smythe-Warner himself, although the fact that he uses a crossbow rather than relying entirely on powers redeems him in Blatt's eyes.

Blatt sees himself as the leader of the non-powered section of the Squad, rather like a drill sergeant with a particularly useless bunch of recruits. He feels it is his duty to lick them into shape.

25 May: Buenos Aires

Today is a national holiday in Argentina (Known as Día de la Revolución de Mayo, anniversary of the First Independent Government in Buenos Aires and the first step towards independence) so here are 10 things you might not know about its capital, Buenos Aires:

1. "Buenos Aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs". Spanish sailors frequently invoked the "Fair Winds" and the "Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires", the "Holy Virgin Mary of the Good Winds" to aid them in their navigation and prevent shipwrecks.

2. Buenos Aires was founded twice. First in 1536, when Pedro de Mendoza built a fort overlooking the Rio de La Plata. His chaplain named it after Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires. However, the local Querandi tribe and the Spaniards didn’t exactly get on and before long Mendoza was forced to flee. Then in 1580, Juan de Garay arrived from Spain and established a permanent settlement. He named it Ciudad de la Santisima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa Maria de Buenos Aires (“City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Fair Winds”), which was shortened in due course to simply "Buenos Aires".

3. The city was under British rule for a couple of months in 1806. On June 27, forces under the command of William Carr Beresford took the city as part of a mission to undermine Spain during the Napoleonic Wars and control the port. However, France, Spain’s ally at the time, came to the rescue in the form of French nobleman Santiago de Liniers, who marched south from Montevideo and took it back.

4. The port in Buenos Aires is the largest in all of South America. It’s so important to the economy of the area that people who live in the city are called Porteños, or people of the port.

5. It has the most book shops per person than any other city in the world. There is a book shop for every 3600 inhabitants. Buenos Aires also has over 280 theatres, more than any other city in the world; and as of 2012, it had more psychologists and psychoanalysts per capita than any other city in the world.

6. The Presidents’ Mansion in Buenos Aires is called Casa Rosada, or Pink House. For the obvious reason: it’s painted Pink. There are two theories as to why the building is pink. The first is that it represented the coming together of two political parties in the late 19th century, one of which was represented by the colour Red, the other by the colour White. The other theory is that it was originally painted with cow’s blood. Coating buildings in cow’s blood used to be quite common as the blood protected against the damaging effects of heat and humidity.

7. Buenos Aires is home to the widest avenue in the world which is 460 feet wide with 14 lanes. In the middle of it is a rapid bus transit corridor. Due to the traffic light controls it would take a pedestrian several minutes to cross it at ground level.

8. The city’s metro system is the 13^th oldest in the world and the first to open in Latin America.

9. Once upon a time a nightclub in Buenos Aires employed a bouncer named Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Who at some point decided this wasn’t the career he wanted and became a Catholic priest. He did rather well on that career path, eventually becoming Pope Francis I.

10. The city is the birthplace of Tango, and one of its nicknames is the Tango Capital of the World.

Character birthday

Greased Lightning, aka Kieran Turner, a member of the original Freedom League. His power was super speed, helped by the fact his body was less dense than average. Kieran joined the Freedom League and was popular due to his gentle, caring nature. His ambition was to buy an organic farm, marry a like-minded woman and have a large family. Sadly, Kieran was killed by a landslide during a Freedom League training session, just a few weeks after his 21st birthday. Read about him in Runs in the Family.

24 May Queen Victoria Quotes

 On her birthdate, here are ten Queen Victoria Quotes:

1. We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist.

2. The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them

3. An ugly baby is a very nasty object – and the prettiest is frightful.

4. We will not have failure – only success and new learning.

5. Give my people plenty of beer, good beer, and cheap beer, and you will have no revolution among them.

6. Nothing will turn a man's home into a castle more quickly and effectively than a dachshund.

7. Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.

8. Bring me a cup of tea and the 'Times.'

9. He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting.

10. I would venture to warn against too great intimacy with artists as it is very seductive and a little dangerous.

Character birthday

Axe. Jeremy Griggs gained the nickname "Axe" as a teenager when he and a group of friends in the sixth form formed a heavy metal band called Mechwarriors. Griggs wanted to take the band to ultimate rock stardom but his friends saw the band as a hobby and once A levels and university entrance exams began to loom, they voted to disband. Griggs was the only band member to disagree, and took their decision hard. He dropped out of school and went in search of fame and fortune as a rock star. It did not prove easy and Griggs found himself funding his lifestyle and efforts to be discovered by petty crime and drug dealing. Through dealing he met Dale Castle, an American singer, who fixed him up with some session work. Griggs was invited to join the Greenroom Society, Castle's crime and drug cartel which masqueraded as a union for entertainers. It was during a drug fuelled party that Griggs, stoned on cocaine, came up with the idea of a weapon disguised as a guitar. Castle loved the idea and commissioned his associate, Hazard, to build it for him.

23 May: 143

Today is the 143^rd day of the year. 10 fun facts about the number 143:

1. There have been a number of songs with 143 in the title, including “Flying Dream 143” by Elbow, "Case 143" by South Korean boy band Stray Kids and 143 by Jake Shimabukuro.

2. One reason it might be a popular number in song titles is because it’s a code for “I love you” based on the numbers of letters in those words.

3. Reportedly, Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood maintained his weight at exactly 143 pounds for the last thirty years of his life.

4. The A143 is a road that runs from the Gorleston-on-Sea area of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk to Haverhill in Suffolk.

5. 143 is the atomic number of Unquadtrium, a theoretical chemical element.

6. 143 Adria is a fairly large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 23 February 1875, at the Austrian Naval Observatory, and named after the Adriatic Sea, on the coast of which the discovery was made.

7. London bus route 143 runs between Archway tube station and Brent Cross bus station.

8. Air Canada Flight 143, landed at Gimli, Manitoba Air Force Base after gliding 80 miles (130 km) after running out of fuel on July 23, 1983.

9. Coniston Water in the Lake District has an elevation of 143 feet above sea level.

10. In South Africa, the 143 refers to the 143 conscientious objectors who publicly refused to do military service in the Apartheid army in 1988.

Character birthday

Levitor, aka Damian Grant, is a genetic variant with the power to levitate objects and people. He was the result of a brief affair between Ultra Grav and a teaching colleague, who moved to another town and never told Ultra Grav he had a son. Levitor appears in Obsidian’s Ark, where he shows off his talent to classmates at school, and later joins the other variants at his school as they launch a mission to find and rescue Yasmin Miller.