14 January: The Clarinet

The Clarinet was invented in Nurnberg, Germany on this date in 1690 - at least one of my sources said this, although most don't specify a specific date so I don't know how reliable the date is - but I found ten facts about clarinets, so here they are, anyway.

1. The clarinet belongs to the woodwind family of instruments. It has a single-reed mouthpiece, a straight cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore (ie the empty space inside the instrument is the same diameter through the whole length, a feature unique to the clarinet - most reed instruments have conical bores which are narrower at the top end) and a flared bell.
2. The word clarinet comes from the French word “clarinette” which means "little trumpet".
3. The inventor of the clarinet was a famous woodwind instrument maker of the Baroque era called Johann Denner. His father had been a maker of game whistles and hunting horns.
4. What Denner did was take a different instrument called a chalumeau, a Baroque instrument similar to a recorder, and make improvements to it.
5. The clarinet was the last instrument to be included in a symphony orchestra, although by 1800, most orchestras included clarinets.
6. This would have been thanks to Mozart, who was the first major composer to write music specifically for the clarinet. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major is one of the most famous clarinet tunes. Mozart like the clarinet because he thought its tone was the closest of all the instruments to the tone of the human voice.
7. More recently, the instrument became a staple of jazz bands. A famous clarinet tune from more recent years is George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. There are relatively few clarinets in rock music, but it's not unknown. Jerry Martini played clarinet on Sly and the Family Stone's 1968 hit, Dance to the Music, for example. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, and Tom Waits have used clarinets from time to time.
8. Famous clarinettists include Benny Goodman, Richard Stoltzman, Sabine Meyer, Eddie Daniels, Artie Shaw and Acker Bilk, who had several hits in the UK in the 1960s, including Stranger on the Shore. Celebrity clarinet players include Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Roberts, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen and Alan Greenspan.
9. The smallest clarinet is the Ab piccolo clarinet. These aren't very common; if you want one, you'd need to order it specially from the LeBlanc company in France. The largest commonly used clarinet is the contrabass, but the LeBlanc company have produced a small number of octocontralto clarinets and one octocontrabass clarinet.
10. Clarinets are mostly made from the wood of the Mpingo or African blackwood tree, although other woods have been used, such as grenadilla, Honduran rosewood and cocobolo. Plastic, hard rubber, metal, resin, and ivory have also been used to make clarinets.

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle

January 13: Rubber Duckie Day

A rubber duckie, or rubber duck, is an iconic children's bathtime toy, usually yellow and sometimes with a squeaky noise. Here's some more information about them:

1. The first rubber ducks were made from vulcanised rubber and didn't float. They weren't intended to float, but to be chewed. Nowadays they are made from plastic.
2. The iconic Yellow rubber duck first appeared in the 1940s and was based on a sculpture of a duck by Peter Ganine, which he patented and marketed as a floating toy.
3. There are numerous variations on the yellow design including glow in the dark ducks, ducks with internal LED lighting, wind up ducks which can swim, and character ducks with Sunglasses and those which represent professions or famous people.
4. In 2014, students at the University of York sent a rubber duck into space. The duck in question was attached to a weather balloon and was dubbed Astroduck. It reached a height of 19 miles (30km) and beamed back pictures and data before parachuting back to Earth. Its current whereabouts are unknown but thought to be somewhere in the Yorkshire Moors.
5. They've also been in the pop music charts a couple of times. A song called Rubber Duckie performed by Ernie from Sesame Street was a hit in 1970 and a version of it was once performed by Little Richard. Later on "Rubber Duck" was the handle of the narrating character on C.W. McCall's hit song Convoy.
6. There is a giant rubber duck which tours the world, appearing at festivals. It was created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman in 2007. It's not always the same duck - there have been numerous versions in various sizes. Some met with unfortunate ends at the hands of vandals, Earthquakes, floods and collisions with signs. The largest of the rubber ducks which appeared in Saint Nazaire, measured 26m wide, 20m long and 32m high.
7. Rubber ducks have helped scientists learn more about ocean currents. In 1992, 29,000 rubber ducks fell off a cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean. They washed up all over the world, including England, Australia, South America, and the west coast of Canada, and are still being found to this day.
8. There's even a rubber duck in Buckingham Palace. A workman repainting the Queen's bathroom in 2001 spotted a rubber duck in there, with an inflatable crown on its head.
9. Rubber ducks are collector's items. A woman called Charlotte Lee in the USA has a record breaking 5,631 rubber ducks - no doubt her collection has grown since the record was established. There's also a Guinness World Record for getting your ducks in a row. 17,782 rubber ducks were lined up in Seattle, Washington, USA, on 5 June 2011. The line measured over 1.6 km (1 miles).
10. Plastic duck races are a popular charity event with many cities, towns and villages with access to a river or stream may hold. Anything up to 205,000 ducks (the number taking part in the largest ever duck race, the Great British Duck Race (UK) on 6 September 2009 on the river Thames from Hampton Court Palace) are purchased by individuals for a small fee and are released along a stretch of flowing Water. There is usually a cash prize for the owner of the first duck to cross the finish line.

See also

Quotes about Bathtubs

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle

12 January: Jack London Quotes

Born this date in 1876 was Jack London, US author of Call of the Wild and White Fang. Here are some words of wisdom from him.

1. You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
2. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
3. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
4. Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.
5. Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past.
6. It is so much easier to live placidly and complacently. Of course, to live placidly and complacently is not to live at all.
7. The most beautiful stories always start with wreckage.
8. Fear urged him to go back, but growth drove him on.
9. I was jealous; therefore I loved.
10. Love is the sum of all the arts, as it is the reason for their existence.

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle

January 11th: Salt

Salt was celebrated on this date in the French Revolutionary calendar. Salt, or to give it its chemical name, sodium chloride (NaCl) is one of the basic human tastes along with sweet, sour and bitter, and is essential to life. Here are ten things you might not know about that stuff you sprinkle on your food.

1. The reason it's so important? It regulates the water content of the body. Every cell of your body has salt in it; the average human adult body contains about 250 grammes of the stuff. If you drink too much Water it can flush salt out of the system and cause Hyponatremia, which can be fatal.
2. Too much salt is equally bad. That can kill you too. A fatal dose is one gram per kilo of body weight. In China, consumption of a fatal dose of salt was a method of ritual suicide - mainly among the nobility as salt was very expensive. In the Middle Ages, salt was so expensive it was sometimes referred to as “white gold”.
3. Everyone's heard the story that Roman soldiers were paid in salt and that was the origin of the word "salary". However, in researching this post I discovered that may not actually be true. They were paid in Money, but would use it to buy salt. Another theory is that a fair number of Roman soldiers were engaged in protecting the Via Salarium, or Salt Road, which was the first major Roman Road. It led from Rome to the Adriatic Sea, which was a source of vital salt for the city. Salary isn't the only word to come from salt. The Romans used to season green vegetables with salt and hence we got the word "salad". "Salacious" comes from a Roman expression, "salax" meaning "salted" for people in love.
4. The expression "to take something with a pinch of salt" refers to a Roman recipe to neutralise poisons. The recipe consisted of two dried Walnuts, two figs and twenty leaves of rue pounded together, with a grain of salt. Consuming this mixture before anything else would protect you from poisons for the whole day.
5. Place names are often derived from the fact that salt production occurred nearby. Places with names ending in wick or wich, meaning marsh, for example. You can find water in Droitwich Spa which is saltier than any water on the planet aside from the Dead Sea. The Greek word for salt was halos so places with names beginning with Hal or Hall were probably salt producers - Hallein and Hallstatt, for example, and also Hayling Island in the UK. The Germanic word was Salz - as in Salzburg.
6. Why is it unlucky to spill salt? There are a number of possible explanations. One is that it's because Judas spilled the salt at the Last Supper (Look closely at Leonardo da Vinci's painting and you'll see a salt cellar on its side with salt spilling out, next to Judas). Although it's possible the superstition already existed in Leonardo's time and he included the spilled salt as part of the symbolism. Salt was expensive, as we've heard; spilling anything costly is associated with loss and bad luck. Salt spilled on soil might make it barren, and it's even something people might do to curse their enemies. Spilling the salt has become associated with the work of the Devil. This is the reason people throw spilled salt over their left shoulder - because the devil is on your left and throwing it to that side might blind him.
7. Salt was believed to ward off evil spirits generally. In old Japanese theatres, salt was sprinkled on to the stage before each performance to prevent evil spirits from casting a spell on the actors; in Quebec, people would scatter salt around the doors to their stables to protect the Horses from Fairies and goblins. The recipe and ritual for making holy water includes salt; salt was at one time placed in a baby's mouth during baptism; and it was common in Scotland to place a salt container on top of the family Bible. There was an associated belief that Witches would eat meals without salt.
8. Bars of salt (called amoleh) were used as currency in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) as recently as the 20th century. Fans of nominative determinism might like to know that the author of an 1814 book called A Voyage to Abyssinia was called Henry Salt.
9. There is a salt flat in Bolivia which is 4,000 square miles in area. In certain conditions, when a thin layer of water covers it, Salar de Uyuni turns into a giant mirror which can be used to calibrate scientific equipment from space. It also contains half the world’s supply of lithium. Bolivia's answer to the ice hotels in Scandinavia is therefore a hotel made entirely of salt, including the furniture.
10. Only about 6% of the salt produced in the world is used as food. The rest is used for industrial processes, conditioning water and salting roads in winter. It is also added to aviation fuel after purification to remove any remaining traces of water.

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle

January 10: Houseplant Appreciation Day

Houseplants are good for you. Not only do they look nice, but they have some surprising benefits if you have them at home or in the office. They are said to reduce stress - getting out in nature does that, but for the times you can't, a green plant on your desk can help. Studies in workplaces have shown that people who work in offices with plants benefit from cleaner air, lower noise levels, higher productivity and creativity (an evolutionary thing, apparently - people are less stressed if they can see plants, which to ancient man would mean there's a source of food nearby so they can concentrate on something other than looking for their next meal). One of the most popular and easiest to grow houseplants is the Spider plant - so here are ten facts about spider plants.

1. The Latin name for the spider plant is Chlorophytum comosum.
2. Other common names for the plant are airplane plant, St. Bernard's lily, spider ivy, ribbon plant, and hen and Chickens.
3. They come in several varieties. Some have plain Green leaves while others have White stripes down the middle of the leaves (C. comosum 'Vittatum'), or along the edges (C. comosum 'Variegatum'). The variegated types are the most common.
4. The plant is native to southern Africa, but has spread throughout the world.
5. Spider plants reproduce by sending out long stems with tiny plants on the end, which look like little spiders dangling from a web, hence the common name. They do flower - the flowers are small and white.
6. A spider plant can grow to a size of up to 60 centimetres (24 in) high. Its roots are about 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long, the leaves are 20–45 cm (8–18 in) long and 6–25 millimetres (0.2–1.0 in) wide.
7. Your spider plant isn't just sitting on your desk looking pretty. It's actually hard at work neutralising air pollution. Like most plants, it will be turning carbon dioxide into breathable Oxygen as part of the photosynthesis process but it will also be hard at work neutralising harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, and xylene, a solvent used in the leather, rubber and printing industries. 70 plants would neutralize the formaldehyde production of a 160 m2 [1,700 sq ft] energy-efficient house. Research by NASA has shown that a single spider plant was able to reduce dangerous levels of carbon dioxide in a room by 96 per cent in 24 hours.
8. Cats seem to like to eat spider plants. They are thought to have a mild hallucinogenic effect on the animals, similar to catnip. While it is probably not pleasant for the plant to be eaten by a cat, it won't kill your pet. It's not toxic to either Dogs or cats, but if your cat eats too much of it it might get a tummy upset.
9. Spider plants are also one of the easiest house plants to grow. They will tolerate temperatures down to 2 °C (35 °F), but grow best at temperatures between 18 °C (65 °F) and 32 °C (90 °F), and can tolerate it if you forget to water them. They'll let you know when they're really thirsty as their green colour starts to fade. Give them a good soaking and they perk up quickly!
10. A tip if you want to transplant baby spider plants into new pots. Spray the young plant's roots with a spray bottle before you separate them to lessen the shock of being taken away from its mother.

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle

9 January: The Aswan Dam

This day in 1960 saw construction start on Egypt's Aswan Dam. 10 facts about the Aswan Dam:

1. It's the 14th tallest dam in the world at a height of 111m (364 ft). It's 3,830 m (12,570 ft) long and at its base, 980m (3,220 ft) wide.
2. One reason it was built was to prevent flooding of the Nile. As far back as the 11th century people were concerned about that problem. Fatimid Caliph Al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah commissioned an engineer called Ibn al-Haytham to build a dam to regulate the flooding. He came and did some surveys, eventually deciding that building a dam on the Nile simply wasn't practical.
3. Eight centuries later technology had advanced sufficiently to make such a project feasible and the British started building a dam in 1899. However, they didn't build it high enough and had to raise the height of it twice. This was the Aswan Low Dam.
4. The decision was made in 1946 that there needed to be another dam about four miles up river, the Aswan High Dam. Construction didn't start until January 9th 1960 and was completed in 1970.
5. Wrangling over who was going to fund the building of the dam almost caused World War Three. In 1952, King Farouk of Egypt was overthrown and Gamal Abdel Nasser became president. He thought the dam was a viable idea. America offered to pay for it, but there were strings attached. There was an arms deal along with it, but the weapons must only be used in defence and the USA would supervise all training in their use. Nasser wasn't happy with that, and announced an arms deal with Czechoslovakia in 1955. The US saw this as Nasser playing the US and Soviet Union against each other and withdrew funding for the dam. Nasser's response to that was to nationalise the Suez Canal, which upset Israel, Britain, and France, causing the Suez Crisis. In 1958, the USSR agreed to fund the dam's construction.
6. Before they could build the dam, however, about 100,000 people who lived in the area which would be flooded had to be re-located. This area was known as Nubia, and, while the people were all moved, the towns they lived in, their churches and tombs, were all submerged and lost forever.
7. Also in the area were a number of ancient monuments and temples, including the Temples at Philae and Abu Simbel and the tomb of Nefertari. UNESCO stepped in to re-locate these important buildings to a new site 180 metres away. They had to cut the rock temples into 30 ton sections and move them on steel rails, and re-assemble them in their new locations. The archaeological projects to save the monuments, however, did mean there is more knowledge about the history of Nubia than there is about any other site in Egypt which have remained intact.
8. Another reason for building the dam was to generate Electricity. The dam powers twelve generators each rated at 175 megawatts (235,000 hp), with a total of 2.1 gigawatts (2,800,000 hp). It started producing power in 1967 and at its peak was producing half of Egypt's electricity. It also meant some villages in Egypt had electricity for the first time.
9. There have been disadvantages, though. The flooding of the Nile in ancient times was what brought silt to the arable land along the Nile every year, keeping it fertile. While there's no longer as much loss of life associated with flooding, the silt to fertilise the soil now gets stuck behind the dam. The dam has been blamed for coastline erosion, soil salinity, and health problems, and there have even been calls to tear it down. For the moment, at least, its advantages are still seen as outweighing the problems.
10. Another advantage the dam brought was increased tourism as it became much easier to navigate the Nile.

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle

8 January: David Bowie

Born in Brixton, London in 1947, David Bowie (Bowie is pronounced to rhyme with Joey) would have celebrated his 70th birthday today, so here are ten facts about him.

1. His real name was David Robert Jones. He changed his name to David Bowie so people wouldn't confuse him with the Monkee Davy Jones.
2. It has been said that he had Heterochromia, a condition where a person's eyes are different colours. That wasn't the case. The reason one eye looked different from the other was that one eye had a permanently dilated pupil. That was the result of a fight he had at school with his friend George Underwood over a girl they both wanted to date. However, they patched up their differences and Underwood created the artwork for some of Bowie's early albums. Much later, in 2004, Bowie was hit in the eye by a lollipop thrown by a member of the audience in Oslo. The lolly had to be removed by a member of the crew, but that done, Bowie bravely carried on with the show. Another of Bowie's school friends was guitarist Peter Frampton.
3. Music wasn't his only passion. He loved art, too, both creating and collecting it. His one O level was in art and he drew, painted and sculpted in his spare time. His favourite artists were Tintoretto, John Bellany, Erich Heckel, Picasso and Michael Ray Charles.
4. His first record release was Liza Jane/Louie Louie Go Home in June 1964, under the name of Davie Jones with The King-Bees, one of ten bands he belonged to during his career. The other bands were The Konrads, The Hooker Brothers, The Manish Boys, The Lower Third, The Buzz, The Riot Squad, The Hype, Tin Machine and Tao Jones Index. He released his debut solo album, David Bowie, in 1967. In the same year he released the single The Laughing Gnome. While many of his fans say this is the worst song he ever recorded, when Bowie organised a phone vote as to which tracks he should play during his 1990 world tour, The Laughing Gnome was the most requested. Not for him a rigid "the people have spoken" response. He didn't play it. His first UK hit was Space Oddity in 1969, which the BBC used during their coverage of the moon landing. His first number one in the US was Fame, co-written by John Lennon and featuring him on backing vocals, in 1975.
5. Space Oddity was also recorded in Italian. The Italian version was called Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Solo which means Lonely Boy, Lonely Girl.
6. His famous Christmas duet with Bing Crosby nearly never happened, because Bowie hated the song The Little Drummer Boy. He only agreed to take part if he could sing something else, which is why he is singing Peace on Earth as a counterpart to Bing singing Little Drummer Boy.
7. Bowie was an actor, too with numerous film, TV and stage appearances to his name. His first TV appearance was at the age of 17 when he was interviewed on a BBC programme as the founder of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men. He went on to star in The Man Who Fell to Earth, play Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, Jareth The Goblin King in Labyrinth, an FBI agent in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me among others. He appeared on stage in 1980 as the Elephant man, and is also the voice of Lord Royal Highness in SpongeBob SquarePants.
8. David Bowie started playing the saxophone at the age of 12. He was a huge fan of jazz as a teenager, and later played the Saxophone on To Know Him Is To Love Him on Steeleye Span's Now We Are Six album. That wasn't the only instrument he played - he played many. In fact, he plays just about every instrument on his album Diamond Dogs, including the Guitar riff on Rebel Rebel.
9. There is a rumour, which I came across several times, which may or may not be true, that Bowie would never drink Tea after suffering a 'horrible incident' with a cup of tea at the age of five.
10. He declined the CBE in 2000 and a knighthood in 2003, but does have an Asteroid and a species of Spider named after him. The asteroid is 342843 Davidbowie, named in 2015, and the spider, discovered in Malaysia in 2009, Heteropoda Davidbowie. In 2016, some amateur astronomers in Belgium spotted a group of stars in the vicinity of Mars at the time of Bowie's death, which they said resembled the Lightning bolt on Bowie's face from the cover of his Aladdin Sane album.

New!

Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

Amazon Paperback

Amazon Kindle