28th August: John Betjeman Quotes

John Betjeman, former English poet Laureate, was born in 1906. 10 quotes:

1. I don't think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn't be.
2. Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.
3. People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.
4. Saint Pancras was a fourteen-year old Christian boy who was martyred in Rome in AD 304 by the Emperor Diocletian. In England he is better known as a railway station.
5. It's strange that those we miss the most Are those we take for granted.
6. On our deathbeds we're not going to regret all the work we didn't do. We're going to regret all the sex we didn't have!
7. History must not be written with bias, and both sides must be given, even if there is only one side.
8. One mark of good verse is surprise.
9. I ought to warn you that my verse is of no interest to people who can think.
10. And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications

27th August: Guinness Book of World Records

On this date in 1955 Guinness Book of World Records was first published. Here are ten things you may not know about Guinness World Records:

1. It's a record breaker in itself. It's the best selling book in the world, aside from the Bible and the Quran, and has been produced in 37 languages. As well as holding the record for the best selling copyright book, it also holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Libraries.
2. The first edition, which took about 13 weeks to produce, was intended to be a free leaflet given away in pubs in the UK and Ireland – but demand was so great they made it into a book.
3. It all started with a quiz question nobody could answer. Sir Hugh Beaver, the marketing director of Guinness, asked the question at an Irish shooting party in 1951. The question was, what is the fastest game bird in Europe? Nobody knew, even after combing through a whole library of books about game birds. If only there was a reference work which answered all these sorts of questions, thought Beaver. This inspired him to contact a London fact finding agency to work on that very project. By the way, the answer to the question is the Red Grouse.
4. The names of the people running the fact finding agency may well be familiar to you – they were none other than Norris and Ross McWhirter. The story goes that during their interview, they were asked which language had the least irregular verbs, and without hesitation, gave the correct answer, and got the job. By the way, the answer is Turkish.
5. While it did originally belong to the Guinness brewery, the book of records has been sold several times. In 2001, Guilane Entertainment bought it – they also own the rights to Thomas the Tank Engine. HIT entertainment, owners of Bob the Builder, bought it in 2002. At time of writing it's owned by Jim Pattison Group, who bought it in 2008. They also own Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
6. There is a record for having the most records in the Guinness Book of World Records. The record holder is Ashrita Furman from New York, who has broken nearly 200 records. They tend to be quite wacky things like the tallest mountain climbed on stilts, and the tallest object balanced on someone's chin.
7. About 1,000 people a week apply to be included in the book of world records. Only about 8% of them actually get in. Most lack evidence for their claim, or are claiming something that doesn't count as a record, like being able to lick their elbow.
8. Evidence can take the form of video, photos, press clippings, credit card receipts or independent witness statements. It's not always necessary for a representative of Guinness World Records to be there in person.
9. If you want to set a record for anything to do with food, like the world's biggest Cake, for example, Guinness World Records will require that, after it has been measured, the cake will be distributed and actually eaten. But only after it has been measured. Iran once tried to set a record for the world's biggest Sandwich, but failed because people started eating it before the measurement had taken place.
10. What do you think Jonathan Lee Riches did when he heard he was about to be named the world's most litigious man by Guinness World Records? He tried to sue them, of course. However, Guinness World records denied they were going to publish any such record, and in any case, the courts were getting so fed up of Riches trying to sue wacky things like Hitler, the dwarf planet Pluto, the Eiffel Tower and the Ming Dynasty that he'd been banned from issuing frivolous lawsuits.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications

August 26th: Toilet Paper Day

It's Toilet Paper Day, the anniversary of the date in 1871 when toilet paper was first sold on a roll - 1,000 years after the Chinese invented it in 580. Here are ten things you might not know about loo roll.

1. Toilet paper was invented in China in the sixth century. It was a few hundred years before it was manufactured in bulk, again in China, mostly for the royal court.
2. The idea didn't catch on in America until the nineteenth century when a man called Joseph Gayetty introduced it. He had his name printed on every sheet.
3. Another toilet paper milestone came in the 1930s when manufacturers realised that cooking the wood pulp that bit longer turned splinters to mush. Before this it wasn't unknown to find splinters in loo roll. Not only potentially painful, but as the makers of the new splinter free toilet tissue were quick to point out, a possible cause of rectal diseases.
4. What did people do before there was loo roll? It depended where they lived, how much money they had and what was available. In Roman times, rich people used sponges or wool soaked in perfumed Water. Less well off people might use a piece of broken pottery and would scrape rather than wipe. French royals used lace. Leaves, seashells, stones or moss were also used by the common people.
5. The average person uses 100 rolls of toilet paper a year. On average, a roll weighs 27g and has 333 sheets, although the number of sheets varies considerably depending on the quality of the Paper.
6. The most common colour for toilet paper is White, while pastel colours to match the bathroom décor have also been popular. There are also some novelty types. You can get toilet paper with dollar bills printed on it, crosswords and Sudoku puzzles for those who want to amuse themselves while in there. There is also glow in the dark and camouflage toilet paper.
7. Talking of camouflage, an unusual use toilet paper has been put to is camouflaging tanks. US troops during Desert Storm did that. Another unusual use is making wedding dresses out of it. There is an annual competition for fashion designers with a substantial cash prize for the person who can make the best wedding dress out of loo paper. And yes, there are women who have been married in dresses made from toilet tissue. Finally a Japanese author called Koji Suzuki had an entire novel printed on toilet paper. The novel was three feet long, and was set in... a public Toilet.
8. The most expensive brand of toilet paper is Renova, a Portuguese brand which costs $3 a roll. It's three ply, perfumed and comes in a range of colours including more unusual shades like Red and Black. According to some internet sources, Beyonce and Kris Jenner use nothing else.
9. The largest ever toilet roll was made by Charmin. It was eight feet high and had a diameter of more than nine feet, using 1,000,000 square feet of toilet paper – equivalent to 95,000 normal sized rolls. The roll was made to celebrate World Toilet Paper Day.
10. Until the year 2000 there was a toilet paper museum. It was in Madison, Wisconsin, and exhibited toilet paper from all over the world. There were over three thousand rolls in its collection.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications

August 25: King Ludwig II of Bavaria

Born on this date in 1845, Ludwig II king of Bavaria is sometimes referred to as the Swan King or the Fairy tale King - or Mad King Ludwig. He's famous for building that fairytale castle in Germany. Here are some facts about him.

1. There is some doubt as to whether he was actually mad. While there may have been a report signed by four psychiatrists saying so, the report was commissioned by the government of the time, who didn't like his spendthrift ways and wanted to depose him. None of the psychiatrists had ever actually examined him, and three of them never even met him. While modern doctors speculate he may have suffered from a personality disorder or dementia, we'll never know for sure. We do know he was a creative introvert and a daydreamer, who avoided functions and meetings when he could. If that's a sign of madness there are a lot of mad people out here!
2. He was born in Nymphenburg Palace (in today's suburban Munich), the eldest son of Maximilian II of Bavaria and his wife Princess Marie of Prussia. He nearly wasn't called Ludwig at all. His parents wanted to call him Otto, but his grandfather, the king at the time, Ludwig I, insisted the baby be named after him, since not only did they share a birthday but 25 August is the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France, patron saint of Bavaria. Ludwig's younger brother was called Otto.
3. Ludwig didn't have a happy childhood. From an early age, his father insisted that both his sons were in training to become kings and imposed a strict regimen of education and exercise, almost certainly a strain on an introverted, creative daydreamer of a boy. He wasn't close to his mother, either, and as king, referred to her as "my predecessor's consort". He was close to his grandfather, though, and his cousin, Elisabeth.
4. Ludwig became king at the age of 18, when his father died after a short illness. He wasn't prepared for kingship, but the people liked him because he was young and good looking. He kept on his father's ministers and continued his policies.
5. One of Ludwig's passions, from the age of 15, was Opera, in particular Wagner. He was so enamoured with the composer that he invited him to the royal court early on in his reign. Ludwig is even credited with saving Wagner's career. At one point, Ludwig was forced to ask Wagner to leave Munich because of his bad behaviour, and even considered abdicating in order to go with him. Wagner persuaded him not to. Ludwig did however, provide a residence for the composer in Switzerland. Wagner could see that Ludwig wasn't suited to the office of king - he wrote of Lugwig: "Alas, he is so handsome and wise, soulful and lovely, that I fear that his life must melt away in this vulgar world like a fleeting dream of the gods."
6. It's highly likely Ludwig was gay, which would have been at odds with his Catholic faith and an obstacle to his producing an heir. He never married, nor had any mistresses, although he was engaged briefly to his cousin Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria. The relationship seemed based upon a love of the works of Wagner rather than anything else. He kept putting the wedding off and eventually broke off the engagement. His diaries show that he was attracted to men, and struggled with it, because of his faith.
7. Ludwig hated public functions and parties, and avoided them whenever possible. Eventually he withdrew from politics altogether and concentrated on his creative projects. What led to his downfall was that they were extremely expensive personal projects - a series of castles. he wanted Bavaria to equal France in its culture and architecture. The most famous of his castles is Schloss Neuschwanstein ("New Swan-on-the-Rock castle"), built on a mountain crag. Inside, the walls are decorated with scenes from Wagner's operas. There is also Schloss Linderhof, which included elaborate gardens including a Venus grotto lit by Electricity, where Ludwig was rowed in a boat shaped like a shell. From this castle, Ludwig went on moonlit sleigh rides in an eighteenth-century sleigh, with footmen in eighteenth century livery. At the time of his death, he'd started building a replica of Versailles. He also had plans for another castle on Falkenstein ("Falcon Rock"), a Byzantine palace in the Graswangtal, and a Chinese summer palace by the Plansee in Tyrol. These were never built.
8. When government officials arrived at Neuschwanstein to depose him, there was a scuffle, including a loyal baroness attacking the officials with an Umbrella. In the end, Ludwig was prevented from leaving by his uncle Luitpold, who had agreed to become Prince Regent. Ludwig was transported to Berg Castle on Lake Starnberg, south of Munich.
9. The circumstances of his death were somewhat suspicious. He went on walks on the lake shore with one of the psychiatrists who had declared him insane. After one such walk, without any attendants, both Ludwig and the psychiatrist were found dead in the water. Nobody knows what happened. The official report said suicide by drowning but there was no water in Lugwig's lungs, nor had there been any evidence he was suicidal. Accidental drowning was unlikely since Ludwig was a strong swimmer. The psychiatrist had been attacked and possibly strangled. Had the two attacked each other? Another theory is that Ludwig had arranged for a fishing boat to come and pick him up, and he was shot and killed during the escape attempt.
10. One of Ludwig's most quoted sayings was "I wish to remain an eternal enigma to myself and to others."

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications

24th August: Paulo Coelho Quotes

Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist and many more books, was born on this date in 1947. Here are some pearls of wisdom from him.

1. You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.
2. You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.
3. The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes.
4. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere.
5. It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
6. The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.
7. No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.
8. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.
9. A warrior of the light does not postpone making decisions… If his decision is correct, he will win the battle, even if it lasts longer than expected. If his decision is wrong, he will be defeated and he will have to start all over again- only this time with more wisdom.
10. We humans have two great problems: the first is knowing when to begin; the second is knowing when to stop.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications

August 23rd: The Internet

August 23 is “Internaut Day” (from ‘internet’ and ‘astronaut’), the anniversary of the day in 1991 when Tim Berners-Lee opened the World Wide Web to the general public. Here are ten facts about the internet.

1. We tend to use the terms "internet" and "world wide web" interchangeably but they are two different things. The internet is a network of computers; the World Wide Web is a way of accessing and sharing information across it.
2. 2.4 billion people use the internet, that's 20% of the population of the world. Over half of the world's internet users live in Asia - 1.7 billion of them. When you add up the number of PCs, laptops, phones etc. which are connected to the internet there are over 8.7 billion of them. So there are more machines connected to the internet than there are people on Earth. It's big enough even to have its own patron saint - St Isidor of Seville, who wrote a 20-volume encyclopedia in the 7th century.
3. Now for some words. The word "internet" first appeared in 1974 in a booklet called "Internet Transmission Control Program". It is short for "internetworking" or "inter-system networking." The term ‘surfing the Internet’ was coined by Jean Armour Polly in 1992. The term URL for a web address stands for Uniform Resource Locator.
4. It takes 50 million brake horsepower worth of electrical power to keep the internet running for a day. However, a physicist called Russel Seitz, who clearly had some time on his hands, calculated, using atomic physics theory, the weight of the billions of electrons buzzing around the system. According to his calculation the internet weighs 50 grams, or 2 ounces, which is about the weight of a strawberry. The stored data, all five million Terabytes of it, if taken out of the devices housing it, would weigh less than a grain of sand.
5. We use the internet for all kinds of things now, including webcams, which can show us what the snow is like in a Ski resort on the other side of the world, or someone's face when you Skype them. The first ever webcam was set up by a bunch of students in Cambridge to watch a coffee machine - so they'd know when their Coffee was ready.
6. Then there's email. The first ever was sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, an American programmer, who also first used the @ symbol to show the mail was intended for a human and not a machine. And the message? It can't have seemed important or historic at the time, because he can't remember. Over 3 million emails are sent every second. That's 247 billion a day. It probably won't surprise you to learn that 81% of it is spam. That's been around since 1978 when DEC released a new computer and operating system, and decided to send a mass email to 600 users. Who didn't appreciate it at all. Why it's called spam nobody is entirely sure but one theory is that some people playing a text adventure game got bored with it and programmed their keyboards to type in "Spam spam spam spam spam spam", imitating the Monty Python sketch.
7. There's internet dating, too, which is now the most popular way of meeting a significant other. 20% of couples getting hitched today first met on the internet.
8. Ever wonder what would happen to the internet if there was a nuclear war, Asteroid strike or zombie apocalypse? If a major catastrophe ever shut down the internet, there is a plan in place. There are seven people (I don't know who they are - it's probably a closely guarded secret) who have "the key to the internet" and would be able to get it going again.
9. How many websites are there? About 637 million, including over 250 million blogs. The internet is theoretically available in every country of the world but in some places it's severely restricted by the government. Like in North Korea, and to a lesser extent, China. Each country has a suffix to use to identify its websites - for example, .uk for Britain, and .ca for Canada. When Montenegro declared independence from Yugoslavia in 2006, its Internet domain suffix changed from .yu to .me.
10. The web has been the fastest growing method of communication in human history. It took just four years to reach 50 million users. Television took more than a decade to achieve that. However, in the early days, not everyone believed it was going to take off. In 1995, Newsweek published an article saying there was no way people were going to use it to get information or buy things. The article is available to read. Guess where? On their website.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications

August 22: The America's Cup

On this date in 1851, the schooner America beat the Royal Yacht Aurora in a race around the Isle of Wight to win the trophy known as the "America's Cup." It symbolised a victory for the new world over the old.

1. The America's Cup is not named after the United States. It is named after the boat which won the first race - America. After America's triumph, she was used as a blockade runner in the American Civil War and later as a training ship for the US Navy, with a little competitive racing in between times. Sadly, she was scrapped in 1945 after the shed she was stored in collapsed in a snowstorm.
2. The America's cup is the world's oldest sporting trophy. It pre-dates The Ashes and the modern Olympic Games. When the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896, there had already been nine America's Cup contests.
3. It's also said to be the most difficult trophy to win. Only four countries have ever won it, and the UK never has. (The USA has won it 28 times, New Zealand and Switzerland twice, and Australia once. The most successful yachtsman is New Zealand sailor Sir Russell Coutts, who has been on the winning team five times, including three times as skipper.) Challengers not only have to be excellent sailors, they also have to be rich - the entry fee as of 2017, is $2 million per team on top of the cost of the high tech racing boats and support crews. The final cost of taking part can run to $200 million.
4. British Tea magnate Sir Thomas Lipton is credited with introducing the idea of sponsorship in sport. He was a member of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Bangor, Northern Ireland, and challenged for the cup five times. As I already said, the UK has never won - so he never won, but he was awarded a special cup for being “the best of all losers”.
5. An average sailor burns 6,000 calories in a day’s racing. That's a very expensive workout.
6. It doesn't take place over the same course every time, nor are the same type of boats used every time. The winners decide when and where the next race will be and what the rules will be, including the type of boat. In 2017, the race was held in Bermuda.
7. The motto of the competition is "There is no second" which arose from Queen Victoria, watching the first race, asking which boat was in second place. Her attendant replied, “Your Majesty, there is no second.”
8. The cup itself is affectionately known as the “Auld Mug” and referred to as "she" rather than "it". She was made by London silvermaker Robert Garrard in 1848 and is a claret jug rather than a cup. She is so valuable that it is never touched by bare human hands - she can only be handled by people wearing cotton gloves. She is transported in a custom-designed Louis Vuitton case, always in first or business class. When not on show to the public, she is kept in a secret location. Her vital statistics: height - 44 inches. It used to be 27 but two bases have been added to accommodate the growing number of winners engraved on her. Weight: approximately 32.4 lbs.
9. The trophy has survived a couple of mishaps - narrowly escaping being melted down to make medals for the winning team in 1852, and an attack by a Maori activist in New Zealand in 1997, who hit it with a sledgehammer. Robert Garrard silvermakers carried out the repairs.
10. Competitors represent their yacht club rather than their country, although in practice there has never been two entries from the same country, so teams are often referred to by their nationality. Originally, there would only be two teams in the race, the defender and a challenger, but nowadays there may be more. There are preliminary races to decide the final two.

See details of all my books

Browse other topics I've covered in this blog - HERE.

Like my Facebook page for news of Topical Ten posts posts on my writing blog, a weekly writing quote and news of upcoming publications