10 October: Cumbria

On this date in 1974 Cumbria’s coat of arms was adopted. 10 things you might not know about Cumbria:

1. The motto on the coat of arms is "Ad Montes Oculos Levavi", taken from the Latin version of Psalm 121; It translates as: "I shall lift up mine eyes unto the hills." This verse was chosen because the Lake District Fells can be seen from all parts of the county.

2. Cumbria has only existed since 1974 when the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland were brought together under a local government act of 1972. It became the second largest county in England with an area of 6,768 sq km. Carlisle is the only city.

3. A thousand years ago, Cumbria was in Scotland. It didn’t become part of England until 1157 – and the border wasn’t finally fixed until 1552.

4. There’s only one lake in Cumbria, Lake Bassenthwaite. The other bodies of water are considered to be Waters, Meres or Tarns. Whatever you call them, Cumbria has the longest and deepest bodies of water in England. Windermere is the longest at 10.5 metres long, and Wastwater is the Deepest at 74 metres deep.

5. It rains so much in Cumbria that the local dialect has a lot of words for different types of Rain, including “mizzling” (drizzling rain), “syling” (heavy rain), “hossing” (slightly heavier rain), “stotting” (very heavy rain), and “hoyin it doown” (really heavy rain). In fact, Seathwaite in Borrowdale is considered to be the wettest place in England, receiving over 3 metres of rain every year.

6. Cumbria has England’s five highest peaks: Scafell Pike (978m), Sca Fell (964m), Helvellyn (950m,) Ill Crag (935m), and Broad Crag (934m).

7. It also has one of England’s steepest roads. Hardknott Pass in Eskdale has a gradient of one in three in places. Only Rosedale Chimney Bank in Yorkshire is as steep as this. If you prefer less challenging driving, the A591 between Keswick and Kendal has the right amount of corners and straight sections for the perfect drive, according to quantum physicist Dr Mark Hadley from Warwick University.

8. The second largest stone circle in Europe is here. Known as Long Meg and her Daughters, the legend has it that Long Meg was a witch who was turned to stone for the heinous crime of dancing on a Sunday. It’s said to be possible to break her curse by going there and counting the stones, twice. If you reach the same number both times you will free Long Meg. Needless to say, there are so many stones that it’s not as easy as you might think.

9. There are pubs here you can visit and leave with more than a drink. Every November at the Bridge Inn in Santon Bridge village there is a contest to determine the biggest liar. It started when a 19^th century landlord called Will Ritson started telling tourists that the turnips in Wasdale were so big that people used to carve them into cow sheds. Competitors are given two to eight minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can. If you go to the Ship Inn on Piel Island, just off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, and buy a round of drinks for everyone, the landlord, who is also considered to be the king of the island, will grant you a knighthood, in a special ceremony involving Beer being poured over your head.

10. The lead Pencil was invented in Cumbria. According to legend, in 1564 a violent storm uprooted some trees in Barrowdale, uncovering strange black stuff that could be used to make marks on things. Graphite, of course. The first lead pencil was made in Seathwaite and Cumbria became a centre for pencil manufacture. During the second world war, the pencil makers in Keswick were commissioned by MI6 to create “secret pencils” for British airmen. They looked like regular pencils but had inside them tiny compasses and rolled up maps to help downed airmen escape from Germany.

Character birthday

Blind Vision, a member of the Punk Gang the Demolition Squad, real name Fraser Dacre. Born blind, Dacre developed, as is common in blind people, heightened senses of hearing and touch. In addition, he possesses a mutant power, a short-range radar sense which allows him to detect movement and the presence of others in his immediate surroundings. He can fight as well as a sighted person, and dodge attacks. He can also carry out delicate manual tasks requiring high dexterity.

In spite of his developed advantages and adaptations, he is nevertheless very bitter about the hand fate dealt him. That he will never see a sunset, or a rainbow, the face of a beautiful woman, a tree, etc is a source of anger. He particularly resents the way society and language appears to be based around sight as the primary sense. When asked by an unsuspecting Electric Blue whether he had "seen" a bunch of space punks pass by, he violently attacked her, for example.

As a child, he had extensive counselling but he bottled up bitterness and resentment nevertheless and eventually this found its expression in violence. One person who tried to help him was Unicorn, who considered him as a possible member of the Freedom League, but soon came to the conclusion that he was too unstable. Dacre is unaware that he was ever considered.

The Demolition Squad has no such qualms. While they regard him as rather touchy, prone to outbursts of temper at perceived "sightist" comments made inadvertently, they also value his particular talents.