Arthur C Clarke was born on this date in 1917. Here are 10 things you might not know about him.
The C stands for Charles.
He was born in Minehead, Somerset, to a farming family. His interest in space and science fiction appeared at an early age, He read American science fiction magazines and even built his own Telescope to look at the stars. He was also interested in fossils and collected Dinosaur cigarette cards.
As a young man, he didn’t have the means to go to university but instead joined the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) in 1934.
He served in the second world war, in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician. He was an officer in charge of the first radar talk-down equipment, the Ground Controlled Approach, during its experimental trials. He wrote just one novel that wasn’t science fiction, Glide Path, and this was inspired by his experiences at this time.After the war, Clarke returned to London, where he was awarded a Fellowship at King’s College, where he obtained a first class honours degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1948.
He was married only briefly, to Marilyn Mayfield, a 22-year-old American divorcee with a young son, who he met on a trip to Florida. They separated after six months. "The marriage was incompatible from the beginning", said Clarke. Neither of them remarried. Clarke was probably gay although when asked if he was, would reply "No, merely mildly cheerful."
He loved scuba diving and moved to Sri Lanka in order to be able to dive more often. During a diving expedition in his first year at his new country, he discovered the ruins of a 2,000 year old Koneswaram temple, and he published several diving books and even opened up a diving school.
His body of work contains more than 70 books of fiction and non-fiction. He is perhaps most famous for the novel and the screen play of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he wrote at the same time. 2001 was loosely based on a 1948 short story called The Sentinel.
He predicted home computers, e-mail, Skype and smart watches. In a 1945 magazine article, he predicted a global communication network of satellites relaying radio and TV signals in geostationary orbit at 22,236 miles above the Earth. Today’s telecommunication satellites are at just that height and it's known as the “Clarke Orbit”.
Hours before Clarke's death, a major gamma-ray burst reached Earth, which set a new record as the farthest object that can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. It occurred about 7.5 billion years ago. Larry Sessions, a science writer for Sky and Telescope magazine suggested that the burst be named the "Clarke Event". An Asteroid was named in Clarke's honour, 4923 Clarke. Unfortunately, asteroid number 2001 had already been named, after Albert Einstein.
In January 2024, some of Clarke's ashes were launched on the Peregrine Mission One to the Moon. The Peregrine spacecraft failed to land on the moon, however and the spacecraft disintegrated in the Earth's atmosphere.
A Very Variant Christmas
Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.
The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?
Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.
Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.
Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.
Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.
Themes Christmas; superheroes; reunions; parties; life choices; shocking surprises; mistaken identity; kidnap and rescue.
Reasons not to read it
- It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
- Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
- It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
- There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
- Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
- Superheroes. Again.
- Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.
- It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
- Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
- It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
- There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
- Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
- Superheroes. Again.
- Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.
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