8 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 8 February:

Jules Verne

1. This date in saw the birth of 1828 Jules Verne, French author and pioneer of the science-fiction genre. His best known books are Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Verne predicted quite a few modern inventions in his novels. Paris in the 20th Century describes air conditioning, cars, The Internet and television. He also foresaw Helicopters, Submarines, projectors and jukeboxes.
2. In 1999 an out of work plumber in Georgia, possibly trying to prove his skills in order to find a job, pried open a man hole cover to investigate the cause of a sewage blockage. We’ll never know if he diagnosed the problem, because he hadn't put warning cones around the hole, and as he climbed out he was run over by a car and killed.
3. Buddy Holly signed a recording contract with Decca records on this date in 1956. The misspelled his last name, which was Holley. He dropped the e from his stage name after that.
4. In 1994 Oasis had to cancel their first foreign tour after being deported from the Netherlands. They were involved in a drunken brawl on a cross-channel ferry which resulted in members of the band being arrested and locked in the brig on the ferry.
5. In 1893, the first recorded striptease occurred at Paris's famed Moulin Rouge. An artist's model named Mona decided to get an edge in a beauty contest judged by art students by peeling her clothes off to Music while walking up and down the stage. She was arrested and fined 100 francs. Her arrest resulted in a riot.
6. On this date in 1983, the Derby winner Shergar was kidnapped in Ireland and a £2 million ransom was demanded. The horse has never been seen again.
7. In 1692, the Salem Witch Trials began after a doctor declared that three teenaged girls were under the influence of Satan.
8. In 1995, a group of mountaineers were hired to inspect and clean the spire of Lincoln Cathedral, because they were cheaper than surveyors.
9. In 1997, Stephen Anderson went on the rampage at Raurimu ski resort on North Island of New Zealand. He shot 6 people dead with shotgun and then hid in the bushes – naked, where he was arrested.
10. Year not recorded but sometime in the 18th or 19th century, hooved footprints appeared in fresh snow overnight across Devon. The footprints stretched in a perfectly straight line 100 miles long, over houses and haystacks. The tracks stopped at the River Exe, and started again on the opposite bank. Locals armed themselves and went looking for the Devil, but no trace of the creature which made the tracks was ever found.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

7 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 7 February:

Antarctica

1. Two well known authors had their birthdays on this date. Born in 1812, Charles Dickens, author of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations; and in 1867 Laura Ingalls Wilder, US author, who wrote Little House on the Prairie.
2. On this date in 1971 Women won the right to vote in Switzerland. Yes, that recently.
3. In 1812 Lord Byron made his maiden speech in House of Lords, against the death penalty for rebellious labourers.
4. In 1821 John Davis became the first person known to have set foot on the continent of Antarctica.
5. In 1959 Robert Timm and John Cook set a flight duration record when they landed their Cessna in Las Vegas, Nevada; they'd taken off on 4 December 1958 and had remained airborne for 64 days, 22 hours 19 minutes and 5 seconds. While airborne they managed to cover a distance comparable to flying six times around the Earth. During the trip they were constantly refuelled in flight and swooped down to grab Water and food from a chase car which was following them them. How they managed to go to the toilet was not mentioned by my source.
6. The main group of the Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered this day in 1947, in caves on the West side of the Jordan River. They date to about 150 BC–AD 68. More were found on this same day in 1960.
7. In 1845 William Lloyd, drunk in the British Museum, bumped into the 25 BCE ‘‘Portland Vase’’, a cameo-glass masterpiece discovered in 1560, which once belonged to Augustus Caesar, causing it to smash into two hundred pieces. It was suspected he'd done it on purpose.
8. In 1991, the IRA fired three mortar bombs into Ten Downing Street, shattering glass in the room where Prime Minister John Major was meeting with members of his cabinet. No one was hurt, but the door was severely dented.
9. In 1575 at Much Marcle, Herefordshire, at 6pm, Marcle Hill started moving. Over the next three days, 26 acres of hill moved 400 yards, killing cattle and sheep, uprooting trees, destroying roads and a chapel at Little Kinnaston. No explanation has ever been found as to why it happened.
10. In 1989, it rained sardines over the Australian town of Ipswich, 30 miles from the sea. Scientists explained the odd occurrence as a violent storm causing updraughts which sucked the fish from the shallow Brisbane waters into the atmosphere.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

6 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 6 February:

1. This date in 1945 saw the birth of Bob Marley, Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and activist. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Wailers. His hits include I Shot the Sheriff, No Woman, No Cry, Exodus, Could You Be Loved, Jamming, One Love and Buffalo Soldier.
2. On this date in 1911, Ronald Reagan, 40th US President and former film actor was born. He was the first president to have been divorced and also broke the record for being the oldest president in office.
3. Queen Elizabeth II succeeded to the British throne on this date in 1952. She and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, were on tour in Kenya when they heard the news that her father, King George VI, had died. On this date in 2017 Queen Elizabeth II marked her 65th anniversary as sovereign, making her the only British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee.
4. In 1898, a copy-boy on the New York Times made a serious mathematical mistake when he calculated that tissue 14 499 would be followed by issue 15 000. Each day’s issue number was worked out by looking at the previous day’s number and adding 1, so the mistake wasn't spotted for 102 years.
5. In 1961, Spurs football team captain, Danny Blanchflower, became the first person to say ‘no’ to Eamonn Andrews live on television when he refused to take part in This is Your Life.
6. In 1997, Russia responded to a growing trend of child kidnapping by opening the first kick boxing school for nannies in St Petersburg.
7. On this date in 1996, Crayola made its one billionth Crayon.
8. A race was held on this date in 2002 in the United Arab Emirates. Human being Tom Johnson raced an endurance racehorse called Al Barraq over 50 miles across the desert. The human won by 10 seconds; however, animal welfare rules had dictated that the Horse took two meal breaks.
9. At a construction site in Italy in 2007, archaeologists unearthed the skeletal remains of a couple hugging. It was decided to remove the two skeletons together, thus preserving the world's longest hug, which had begun some 5 – 6,000 years ago.
10. In 1685, Charles II, King of England died of a stroke at the age of 54. His last words to his brother James were: "Don't let poor Nellie starve," - a reference to his favourite mistress Nell Gwynne, and added to his courtiers: "I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying." 

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

5 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 5 February:

Charles Dickens

1. In 1825, Hannah Lord Montague of New York created the first detachable collar on one of her husband's shirts in order to reduce her laundry load.
2. How's this for instant karma? In 1998, Matthew Hubal, aged 22, was sliding down a ski run in San Anselmo, California, at 3am, when he crashed into a lift tower and died. His makeshift sledge was a piece of yellow foam, intended to cushion the towers so people crashing into them wouldn't be injured. He'd stolen it from the very tower he'd crashed into.
3. On this date in 1824, Charles Dickens started his first job, labelling bottles, for which he was paid six shillings a week, or 30p in today's money.
4. In 1997, the Nicaraguan government banned the eating of endangered green Iguanas. Green iguana soup and chicken-fried green iguanas were traditional dishes for Holy Week. Under the new law, green iguana eaters could be fined 50 cordabas per iguana.
5. In 1981, the world’s largest jelly was made in Brisbane, Australia. It was 9,246 gallons, and watermelon-flavour.
6. In 1971, American astronauts Alan Shepard and Edward Mitchell of Apollo 14 played golf on the moon. On return to Earth, Shepherd received a telegram from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club admonishing him for not clearing his footprints.
7. In 1783 Earthquakes ravaged Calabria, Italy, killing 30,000. That same night, German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe told his valet he could feel tremors in the earth. Two weeks later, news arrived in Germany of the disaster in Calabria.
8. In 1869, the world’s largest Gold nugget, the ‘Welcome Stranger’, weighing in at nearly 80 kg (2,284 ounces), was found near Moliagul, Victoria, Australia by two prospectors.
9. In 1995, jewels worth £250,000 were stolen from Garrards, the Queen’s jewellers by a gang including a bogus policeman.
10. In 1948 road sweeper Hezekiah Johnson revealed to a local paper that he had fooled people in Scarborough into believing they had heard the first Cuckoo of spring. He said, "I wait until a crowd gathers at the bus stop and then go into the park and do the cuckoo. I used to do the Nightingale when I had my teeth in."

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

4 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 4 February:

1. This date in 1913 saw the birth of Rosa Parks, the US civil rights activist who helped start the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man in 1955.
2. In 1951, doctors in Chicago began operating on a woman named Gertrude Levandowski to remove an ovarian cyst. She had a weak Heart, so the surgeons had to proceed with extreme care. The operation lasted a record 96 hours, the world’s longest operation.
3. In 1982 David Grundman, 27, fired his shotgun at a giant cactus in the Arizona Desert. As he admired the damage he’d done to it, a 23ft section of cactus fell on him and crushed him.
4. In 2017, the cave squeaker (Arthroleptis troglodytes), a critically endangered species of Frog, was located and captured for the first time since 1962. Scientists announced plans to breed them.
5. In 1997, the chain store C and A withdrew 6,000 pairs of men’s underpants from 120 shops because the hole was in the wrong place.
6. Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg on this date in 2004.
7. In 1911, Rolls-Royce commissioned their famous figurehead The Spirit of Ecstasy by Charles Sykes. He used Lord Montague’s mistress, Eleanor Thornton, as his model.
8. In 1982, the indoor distance record for throwing a paper aeroplane (47m) was set in Tacoma, Washington.
9. Two years later, to the day, in 1984, Frank Aquilera set the world Frisbee distance record (168m) in Las Vegas.
10. In 1990, a 68-year-old woman arrested for shoplifting cigarettes told Seattle police that it was all Judge Wapner's fault. She said the judge had told talk show host Pat Sajak that "everybody steals, at least once in their life."

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

3 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 3 February:

1. On this date in 1990 in Renton, Washington, an armed robber attempted to rob a gun shop, full of customers, many of whom were licensed to carry concealed handguns, and a uniformed police officer. When the thief announced the robbery and fired his gun into the air, the policeman and shop assistant and several of the customers returned fire and the thief was shot dead.
2. In 1877 The Celebrated Chop Waltz – better known as Chopsticks – was registered at the British Museum. The tune, known by Piano students everywhere, was arranged as a duet and solo by Euphemia Alten, using the pseudonym Arthur de Lull. She wrote it when she was 16.
3. This date in 1959 was “The day the music died”. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash, inspiring Don McLean’s classic, American Pie.
4. In 2013, for the first time in NFL history two brothers – Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers and John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens – were opposing head coaches in the Superbowl. The Baltimore Ravens won the match 34–31.
5. Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley had their first date on this date in 1994. They attended a gig by The Temptations.
6. Every skier's worst nightmare happened in 1998 when a US military plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, sending the car plunging hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.
7. In 1997 Paul Redhead and his accomplice Peter Callister were imprisoned for feigning epilepsy to collect benefits. Readhead was rumbled when he got bored with being in a wheelchair and staged a miraculous recovery.
8. In 1956, a bank robber named William Leibscher made his first hold-up in an eighteen month long spree of robberies, using a toy gun.
9. In 1882, PT Barnum bought an Elephant called Jumbo. He kept him for three years until Jumbo, the inspiration for the word meaning "large", was run over by a train.
10. In 1999 a competition in the woman's magazine Chat offered an unusual prize. It was £500 towards legal bills to the woman who could come up with the best reason for getting a divorce.

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle

2 February

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 2 February:

1. On this date in 2008, a biology teacher from Sofia, named Lidia, and two associates, attempted to dump some leftover noxious chemicals into a manhole. It is still not entirely clear what the chemicals were, but two of the bottles were labelled diethyl ether and methanol, both highly flammable substances. The former is also used as a sedative, so it's possible they were all slightly drunk on the fumes which could explain why they thought this course of action was a good idea. The mixing of these substances in the enclosed space of the sewer caused an explosion so powerful that it blew the manhole cover into the air, decapitating Lidia.
2. Born on this date in 1882 was Irish novelist James Joyce. His books include Ulysses, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Finnegan’s Wake and Chamber Music.
3. In 1852, the first men’s public Toilet opened in Fleet Street, London. 50,000 leaflets were distributed to Londoners, explaining what the building was for.
4. Staying with toilets, on this date in 1993 a patent was issued to Ron Alsip of Raynham, Massachusetts, for a toilet seat with a Clock built into the space which would be between a person's legs while sitting on the toilet. Ideal for people on a tight schedule.
5. In 1893, the first motion-picture close-up was filmed at the Edison studio in West Orange, New Jersey, by cameraman William Dickson. His subject was comedian Fred Ott, who may not have been quite ready for his close up because he was Sneezing.
6. In 1709, Alexander Selkirk was rescued by Captain Thomas Dover, having spent five years on the uninhabited island of Mas à Tierra. When Daniel Defoe heard his story, he wrote a book based on it: Robinson Crusoe.
7. In 1988, a gardener in Stratton St Margaret near Swindon got rather excited when he unearthed what he thought was the world's longest earthworm, at 6ft long. However, when it was sent to the Natural History Museum for identification, it was found to be a hedgehog’s intestine.
8. In 1921, the first Airmail service opened between New York and San Francisco. Exactly a decade later in 1931 the postal service in Austria went one better by becoming the first to use a rocket to deliver mail.
9. Today in 1887 was the world's first Groundhog day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. While the tradition had been around for some time, this was the first time that official records were kept. Just for the record, the rodent saw his shadow and 6 more weeks of winter were forecast.
10. In 1922 It was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22. In 2000, the date was made up entirely of even numbered digits for the first time in 1,112 years (02/02/2000). The last time this happened was on 28 August 888. Not such a long wait for the next one, though. February 2000 would have eight such dates. “It’s a bit like a mathematical bus,” commented David Jerwood, head of maths at Bradford University. “You’ve been waiting around for this to occur for more than a thousand years and then dozens of them come along at once.”

A superhero love story:

The Power of Love

Willow believes in crystal healing, cosmic  ordering  and the significance of chance  encounters. She believes there's a spiritual  explanation for everything. Except she struggles to find a reason why she can turn herself into  mist and create a wave of energy which can slam a would-be mugger into a wall. Or why the love of  her life left her for a mysterious woman in sunglasses, who then disappeared without trace.  

A chance encounter with Firebolt, leader of the Freedom League superhero team, in a Glastonbury coffee shop, does turn out to be significant. He offers her a new start and the chance to use her powers for good.

Servant is a Christian who has joined the Freedom League in order to use his teleporting power to serve God. He and Willow clash from the start, yet they are drawn inexorably to one another.

When Willow leaves the team abruptly for reasons unknown, Servant knows he must put her out of his mind and find a nice Christian girl to settle down with. He is about to propose to devout and straight-laced Ruth, when Willow returns and turns his entire world upside down.

Available from Amazon:

Paperback

Kindle