8 March: Be nasty Day

 Today is Be Nasty Day. 10 insults from famous people:

1. His mother should have thrown him out and kept the stork. Mae West
2. If your brains were dynamite there wouldn't be enough to blow your hat off. Kurt Vonnegut
3. He asked me if I wanted to go back to his place. I told him I didn’t know if two people could fit under a rock. Rita Rudner
4. His mind is a muskeg of mediocrity. John Macnaughton
5. If I found her floating in my pool, I'd punish my dog. Joan Rivers
6. I never forget a face, but in your case, I'll make an exception. Groucho Marx
7. If men's minds were like dominoes, surely his would be the double blank. PG Wodehouse
8. He's out of his depth on a wet pavement. Terry Pratchett
9. He has the vocal modulation of a railway-station announcer, the expressive power of a fence-post and the charisma of a week-old head of lettuce. Fintan O'Toole
10. Thou pickle herring in the puppet show of nonsense. Robert Burns

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

7 March: 66

7 March is the 66th day of the year, so here are 10 things you might not know about the number 66:

1. Route 66 is one of the most famous roads in the USA. It originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Santa Monica in California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). There was a hit song about it: (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 and a television series, Route 66, and it is mentioned in John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath as a symbol for escape and loss.
2. It's the international direct dialling code for Thailand.
3. It's the atomic number of dysprosium, a chemical element with the symbol Dy, a rare-earth element with a metallic silver lustre. Dysprosium was first identified in 1886 by Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, but it wasn't isolated in pure form until the 1950s. Dysprosium is used, with other elements, for making laser materials and commercial lighting.
4. The Protestant Bible has 66 books in total (Catholics add an extra 7 so theirs has 73) and the book of Isaiah has 66 chapters.
5. In Islam, the name of Allah has the numeric value of 66 in In Abjad numerals, a system of assigning numbers to Arabic letters which has been in use since the 8th century.
6. There are 66 laps in the Spanish Grand Prix.
7. In Western esotericism, there are 66 legions of demons/spirits controlled by Baal.
8. In film, Sixty Six is a 2006 British movie about a bar mitzvah in London, which happens to be held on the day of the 1966 World Cup Final (the one England won).
9. OMG 66 is a song by Lil B.
10. In numerology, 66 represents creativity and harmony in the home. People with 66 in their numerology chart are imaginative, generally communicate well, and tend to inspire others. If you keep seeing the number 66 everywhere, it's a message from your angels to put your faith and trust in the benevolence of the Universe as your daily needs are continually met. The angels are assisting, guiding and supporting you.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

6 March: Oreo Cookie Day

Today's food holiday is Oreo Cookie Day, which celebrates the introduction of the popular American Biscuit on 6 March 1912. 10 things you might not know about Oreos:

1. Nobody is quite sure where the name comes from. Some say it is derived from the French word for gold, or, because the original packaging was that colour. Others say it comes from a Greek word for good or appetising. Or a Greek word for Mountain. The original design included a laurel wreath, so another theory is that it comes from Oreodaphne, the Latin name for a type of laurel. Since there were other biscuits made by the same company at the time which had botanical names like Avena, Lotus, and Helicon, there could be truth in that.
2. Oreos are available in 100 different countries with the biggest markets in the United States, China, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, India and Germany. They are manufactured in 18 different countries at 21 different sites. The most recent countries to discover them are Russia and Morocco, which started selling them in 2015.
3. There were originally two flavours. The original, and lemon meringue, but the latter disappeared in the 1920s. 
4. Nowadays there are a myriad of flavours. Some were limited editions like the birthday cake flavour briefly sold in 2012 to celebrate Orea's 100th anniversary. Others are only available in specific countries. In Argentina you can get Oreos with a split creme filling in strawberry/vanilla and Banana/dulce de leche varieties. In Indonesia you can get Blueberry Ice Cream and Oreo Softcake; In China you can get green tea ice cream and more split creme combos: Orange/Mango, Raspberry/Blueberry and Peach/Grape. Mexico has triple chocolate Oreos. Mint, Berry, Rainbow Sherbet, Limeaid, Gingerbread, Candy Corn, Pumpkin and Apple Pie are among the varieties you can get in the USA.
5. There's an artist in America who takes advantage of the varieties of flavours by using the different coloured cremes to reproduce miniature versions of famous paintings on Oreo biscuits. Her name, if you want to look her up on Instagram, is Tisha Cherry.
6. There have been varieties produced for advertising campaigns which didn't ever exist, like one with six rainbow colours of creme to celebrate LGBT Pride month; Red White and White creme to celebrate Bastille Day, and one with a bite taken out of it to celebrate Shark Week.
7. Until the 1990s, Oreos weren't kosher or suitable for vegans. Now vegetable oil has replaced pig lard in the recipe so it's fine, in America at least. Wikipedia mentioned that whey powder made with calf rennet was used in the UK, in the past tense, but never mentioned whether it had been replaced. So if you're a vegan or an Orthodox Jew in the UK you might need to do more research before eating one.
8. Sources differed on the ration of biscuit to creme. I found 79% cookie and 21% crème, and also 71% cookie and 29% creme. Either way the official calorie count is 45 calories per cookie.
9. Surveys done by the producers of Oreos suggest that you can tell a lot about a person's personality, and even their politics, by watching them eat an Oreo. Women are more likely to pull the biscuits apart before eating them while men eat them whole. People who twist them open are said to be sensitive, emotional, artistic, and trendy, while those eating them whole are easy-going, self-confident, and optimistic. People who dunk them in their drink are energetic, adventurous, and social. Republicans are more likely to dunk, while Democrats are more likely to twist them open.
10. Experiments on Rats have suggested Oreos are highly addictive. A study done at Connecticut College in 2013 found that Oreos activated neurons in the brains of lab rats to the same degree as hard drugs.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

5 March: Hemlock Day

 Today is Hemlock Day, so here are 10 things you might not know about hemlock:

1. There are actually two plants commonly known as hemlock. This post is primarily about the poisonous variety, Conium maculatum, but there is also a coniferous tree native to North America, the Tsuga, often called the hemlock, hemlock fir or hemlock spruce, because its leaves smell similar to the poison variety.
2. Poison hemlock belongs to the Carrot family.
3. It is native to Europe, but was introduced to the USA as an ornamental plant in the 1800s and was also introduced to Australia and New Zealand.
4. It grows in poorly drained soil and can be found near streams and ditches, and also on roadsides and at the edges of cultivated fields.
5. All parts of the plant are poisonous to mammals, so farmers need to watch out for it and ensure their animals don't eat it. The toxicity comes from a chemical called coniine.
6. It goes by a number of vernacular names, including poison parsley, spotted corobane, carrot fern (in Australia), devil's bread or devil's porridge (In Ireland).
7. Foragers need to beware because it can be confused with wild carrots or Parsley. Poison hemlock has a smooth stem with blotches, while carrot stems are hairy. The hemlock plant also grows to twice the height of the carrot plants.
8. It may be harmful to mammals, but some species of insect feed on it happily enough. The caterpillars of silver-ground carpet Moths and the poison hemlock moth are among them.
9. The Latin name, Conium, may have derived from a Greek word meaning "to whirl" because vertigo is one of the symptoms of having eaten it.
10. Hemlock was used as a means of execution in Ancient Greece. Socrates, accused of the capital crime of impiety and corrupting the minds of the young men of Athens, chose drinking an infusion of it as his manner of death. Theramenes and Phocion are two more Ancient Greeks who were dispatched in the same way.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

4 March: Sir Patrick Moore

Born on this date in 1923 was Sir Patrick Moore, best known as the fast talking monocle wearing presenter of the long running BBC show The Sky At Night. Here are 10 facts about him and the show:

1. He was born in Pinner, Middlesex but grew up in East Grinstead. His interest in astronomy began at the age of six. At 11, he joined the British Astronomical Association, and by 14 was running a small observatory in his home town after the person who was running it was killed in a road accident.
2. He had heart problems as a child and was educated at home. He started wearing a monocle at 16, and had a full set of dentures by the age of 19.
3. Eye problems didn't prevent him from serving in the RAF during the second world war and becoming a pilot. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in December 1941 at 18 and was called up for service in July 1942 as an Aircraftman, 2nd Class. He trained in Canada and was a navigator in the crew of a Vickers Wellington bomber, engaged in maritime patrolling and bombing missions to mainland Europe.
4. The reason he gave for never having married was connected with the war, too. He was engaged to a woman named Lorna who was a nurse in London. was killed in London in 1943 by a bomb which struck her ambulance. "There was no one else for me," he said. "Second best is no good for me... I would have liked a wife and family, but it was not to be." It probably also explains his lifelong hatred of Germany, making comments such as "We must take care. There may be another war. The Germans will try again, given another chance." He would have been a rabid Brex-shitter had he lived a few more years. He was a supporter of UKIP and an admirer of Enoch Powell.
5. His political views were a mixed bag. On the one hand, he wrote that "homosexuals are mainly responsible for the spreading of AIDS (the Garden of Eden is home of Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve)" and thought that the BBC was ruined when they let women run it and when he appeared on the show Room 101 he banished female newsreaders into the room of hate. He even stopped watching programmes like Doctor Who and Star Trek when "they went PC – making women commanders, that kind of thing". That said, he was completely opposed to blood sports and Fox hunting and supported animal welfare charities. He was an animal lover, and once said that "a catless house is a soulless house". He had an answer for people who called him a Dinosaur because of his views: "I may be accused of being a dinosaur, but I would remind you that dinosaurs ruled the Earth for a very long time." Perhaps surprisingly, he didn't think astronomy should be taught in schools. He believed those destined to be interested in it would gravitate to it anyway and that it would inevitably be badly taught and put many would be astronomers off.
6. He had many more strings to his bow than holding the Guinness World Record for the most prolific TV presenter in the world, having hosted all but one episode of The Sky At Night between 1957 and January 2013. He taught himself to play the xylophone and Piano, and composed Music, including two operettas. He performed at a Royal Command Performance, and once accompanied Albert Einstein playing The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens on the Violin (sadly, it wasn't recorded). He wrote books, not just on astronomy but science fiction as well. He was also an amateur actor, cricketer, golfer and Chess player.
7. His first television appearance was in a debate about the existence of flying saucers following a spate of reported sightings in the 1950s; Moore was quite vocal in his opposition to UFO conspiracy theorists. He was irritated when asked questions like "Why waste money on space research when there is so much to be done here?" or "What's the difference between astronomy and Astrology?" but he would personally answer every letter he was sent and his telephone number was always listed in the Telephone directory. Moore believed himself to be the only person to have met the first man to fly, Orville Wright, the first man in space, Yuri Garagrin and the first man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong.
8. Some facts about The Sky at Night: It has an Asteroid named after it: 57424 Caelumnoctu. The number is the date of the show's first broadcast and the name is The Sky at Night in Latin. Moore himself has an asteroid named after him as well, 2602 Moore. Guests on the show have included Harlow Shapley (the first to measure the size of the Milky Way galaxy), Fred Hoyle, Carl Sagan, Arthur C Clarke, Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees, Michael Bentine, Brian May, the Queen guitarist and astrophysicist, Eugene Cernan, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. It is the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history. It's now presented by Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Lucie Green and Chris Lintott, and the theme tune is At the Castle Gate, from the incidental music to Pelléas et Mélisande, written in 1905 by Jean Sibelius.
9. Moore was often a guest on other shows, such as Just a Minute, and once took part in an April Fool joke on BBC radio, in 1976. He announced there was a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event which meant that if listeners all jumped at that exact moment, 9.47 a.m. on April 1 1976, they would experience a temporary sensation of weightlessness. The BBC received telephone calls from listeners claiming that they had indeed felt it. He also appeared on a show called GamesMaster as a character who knew everything there was to know about video games and would answer questions sent in by viewers. However, the show's presenter claimed Moore didn't know or understand the first thing about video games and had no idea what he was even talking about; but nonetheless always managed record his contributions in just one take.
10. His mother, Gertrude, was a talented artist who drew pictures of friendly little aliens called bogeys and wrote a book called Mrs Moore in Space in 1974.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

3 March: The Budget

 10 things you didn't know about the Budget:

1. The word Budget comes from the French word “Bougette” which means little bag.
2. The first person to hear what the Budget contains is the Queen. It is traditional for her to invite the Chancellor to dinner the night before Budget Day so he can spill the beans.
3. The longest budget speech was delivered by William Ewart Gladstone in 1853 and lasted 4 hours and 45 minutes. The shortest was given by Benjamin Disraeli in 1867 and lasted 45 minutes.
4. Alcohol isn't usually allowed in the House of Commons, but during the budget speech the Chancellor is allowed to drink whatever he or she likes, so they can enjoy a tipple if they want. George Osborne, Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown were all pretty boring and opted for Water, but Kenneth Clarke would have Whiskey, Geoffrey Howe had Gin and Tonic, Nigel Lawson had a spritzer and William Ewart Gladstone was partial to sherry and beaten Egg.
5. The budget is usually held on a Tuesday rather than a Monday to avoid any MPs from distant constituencies not making it back after the weekend due to travel difficulties. In 1980 it was held on a Wednesday because a new Archbishop of Canterbury was being enthroned on the Tuesday. In 2021 it's a Wednesday too, not sure why, probably some plague-related reason.
6. The debate following the budget speech can last for days.
7. The chancellor uses a special red briefcase to carry his speech to the House of Commons. He'll usually pose with it for photographs for the press on the day. William Ewart Gladstone was the first chancellor to use a specific briefcase rather than any old despatch box. The same box was used from 1853 to 1965 when James Callaghan decided to get a new one. Gordon Brown got another new one in 1997, but in 2008 Alistair Darling went back to the original. George Osborne then announced the original box would be retired for good, because it was getting too fragile to use. The key to the original box is missing.
8. In 1868 the then chancellor, Ward Hunt, got to the House of Commons and opened the budget box to get his speech out, only to discover that he'd left it at home.
9. It's been known for a chancellor to not put the speech in the bag on purpose. In the 1990s Norman Lamont carried a bottle of Highland Park whiskey in the box while the speech was in a plastic bag carried by his private secretary.
10. The longest serving chancellor was Gladstone, who spent 12 years and four months in the post.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book

2 March: 61

Today is the 61st day of the year. 10 things you might not know about 61:

1. It's the atomic number of Promethium, a rare chemical element with the symbol Pm. All of its isotopes are radioactive. Only about 500–600 grams naturally occurs in the Earth's crust at any given time. Promethium is one of only two radioactive elements which are followed in the periodic table by elements with stable forms, in this case technetium.
2. +61 is the code for international direct dial phone calls to Australia.
3. *61 is a 2001 film directed by Billy Crystal. It's a baseball movie, but according to the Internet Movie Database, it has at its heart a story about the life and relationships of Roger Maris.
4. Highway 61 (US 61) is a major United States highway extending 1,400 miles (2,300 km) between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. It mostly follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated the Great River Road for much of its route. It was an important south–north connection in the days before the interstate highway system; and was the setting for the 1991 film Highway 61.
5. The Highway 61 Blues Festival occurs annually in Leland, Mississippi; Highway 61 Revisited is a Bob Dylan album.
6. In London, the 61 bus route runs between Chislehurst's Gordon Arms and Bromley North Station.
7. 61 is the number of points required to win a "standard" game of cribbage.
8. Rotation, a variation of pool, is sometimes called 61.
9. 1 Liberty Place is Philadelphia's tallest building at 61 stories.
10. In numerology, 61 is family oriented, introspective yet inquisitive, a nurturer of family and friends; a person who analyses everything and looks inside for inner wisdom in order to find answers.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-Book