14 July: World Chimpanzee Day

Today is World Chimpanzee Day. Here are 10 things you might not know about chimps:

1. Wild chimpanzees are only found in Africa. Most live in rainforests because that’s where there is the most abundant supplies of food and water. The largest groups are found in Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.

2. There are four confirmed subspecies of chimpanzee: Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti), Central chimpanzee (P. t. troglodytes), Western chimpanzee (P. t. verus) and Eastern chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii). There’s a proposed fifth subspecies: the Southeastern chimpanzee (P. t. marungensis).

3. The English word chimpanzee was first recorded in 1738. It derives from the Tshiluba word “chimpenze”, which means “ape”. The genus name, Pan, derives from the Greek god, while the specific name troglodytes was taken from the Troglodytae, a mythical race of cave-dwellers.

4. They’re omnivores, meaning they’ll eat anything, although they seem to like fruit best. Seeds, leaves, insects, Honey and roots also feature in their diet. Sometimes they’ll even co-operate to hunt small animals so they can have meat.

5. We Share 95 to 98% of DNA with Chimpanzees. Our two species are descended from a single ancestor species which lived 6-7 million years ago.

6. Chimps are fast (they can reach speeds of 25mph (40kph) when running) and very strong, thanks to their arms being adapted for climbing and swinging through trees.

7. They can be highly aggressive. They’ve been known to attack people and severely injure or kill them, and groups of chimps will wage war against other groups of chimps if resources are scarce, often fighting to the death (just like humans).

8. They’re highly social animals and live in groups of up to 150 individuals presided over by a dominant male. Within that group there will be smaller groups of about ten individuals. They teach each other to use tools. Chimps bond with one another by grooming, and they communicate using about 30 different vocalisations and 58 different types of gesture. They will warn other chimps of danger. They can even be taught to communicate with us, using sign language. A chimpanzee named Washoe learned to communicate with ASL and was able to use over 350 signs. Washoe also managed to pass on some signs to her adopted son.

9. Chimps have cleaner beds than we do, because they build a new, clean nest to sleep in every night.

10. Two chimpanzees have been sent into space as NASA research subjects. Ham, the first great ape in space, was launched in January 1961 on a sub-orbital flight, and survived. Enos was the third primate to orbit the Earth after Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Garagrin and Gherman Titov, flew on in November of the same year.

Character birthday

Flatman, an experimental synthesoid who appeared human. He was programmed with false memories and believed himself to be an unmarried, unremarkable accountant named Colin Hughes, who lived alone and had no family. He did, however, secretly dream of adventure and excitement.

When visiting a construction company to do their accounts, "Colin" was involved in a freak accident with a steam roller. Any human would have died, but the synthesoid was simply rolled out flat. While he and all his functions survived intact, "Colin" was forced to accept that he had never been human.

While coming to terms with this, he met Destroyer who recruited him to help with the nuclear testing as he would be immune to most of the effects. Hence he was with Destroyer off Bird Island when the bomb opened a wormhole. He was transported to Earth where he, Destroyer and several others became the Desperadoes.

Over the Rainbow

'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian  movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home. 

In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.

Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived.  Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.  

Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down. 

Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth. 

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

13 July: Victoria Embankment

On this date in 1870 Victoria Embankment in London was opened by the then Prince of Wales and Princess Louise. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London.

2. It was one element of a three part project, which also included the Albert Embankment, from the Lambeth end of Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall; and the Chelsea Embankment, extending from Millbank to the Cadogan Pier at Chelsea, near Battersea Bridge.

3. The original date for the opening was to be 25 July 1870, but Queen Victoria Unexpectedly sent word on 8 July that she wanted to open it on the 13^th. What Queen Victoria said went, so there was a last minute push with about 2,000 workers toiling day and night to get it finished a week early. After all that, on the new appointed day, Queen Victoria was “indisposed”. Hence her son, the future King Edward VII, was the one who opened the Embankment on her behalf.

4. The Dictionary defines the word Embankment as a wall or bank of earth or stone built to prevent a body of water from flooding an area.

5. The Victoria Embankment was designed by civil engineer Francis Webb Sheilds. Construction, started in 1865, was under the direction of Joseph Bazalgette. The contractor for the work was Thomas Brassey. The net cost was £1,156,981.

6. Thirty-seven and a quarter acres of land was reclaimed from the River Thames. Nineteen of them became the road and footway. About ten acres were made into gardens and ornamental grounds for the public, and the remainder became the property of the Crown, the Societies of the Inner and Middle Temple and other landowners.

7. Why was it done? Partly in order to provide London with a new sewage system, and partly to relieve congestion on the Strand and Fleet Street.

8. In December 1878 Victoria Embankment became the first street in Britain to be permanently lit by Electricity.

9. London Underground stations along Victoria Embankment are Embankment and Temple. Its only London Bus route is the N550, a night bus providing a service when the Tube is closed.

10. Ships permanently moored by Victoria Embankment include HMS President, HQS Wellington, and PS Tattershall Castle.

Character birthday

Glare was violently opposed to plans to privatise rail companies, believing the system should be under government control. He comes from a long line of railway workers – both his father and grandfather were engineers. His father taught him to drive a train and he has worked his way up through the ranks to become a senior planner.

It is not known how or when his power of hypnotism first manifested. He was recruited by the Gunpowder Lot, a group intent on bringing down the government, in order to help them divert a train of nuclear waste to their hideout.

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:

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12 July: Festival of Cronus

The Ancient Greek festival of Cronus took place on this date. This festival commemorated the Golden age, when Cronus ruled the world. 10 things you might not know about Cronus:

1. He was the son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth) and the youngest of the Titans.

2. Alternate spellings of his name include Chronus, Chronos, Cronus, Kronos, and Kronus.

3. He’s sometimes depicted as a vigorous male, and sometimes as an old man with a long Beard. He might be carrying a walking stick, a scythe, sickle or harpe (a kind of curved sword).

4. The reason for the scythe is because, according to myth, Gaia got rather fed up with Uranus and his shenanigans and called upon her children to castrate him. It was Cronus who stepped up, using such an adamantine sickle to fulfil the task.

5. Cronus is married to Rhea, who is also a Titan. He wasn’t a great father to his own children, either – he used to eat them so they couldn’t overthrow him. In the end, Rhea gave Cronus a rock wrapped in a blanket instead of her baby, Zeus, and sent him away to be brought up in secret. Zeus overthrew Cronus and made him regurgitate his siblings.

6. Cronus was sometimes confused with Chronos, the god of time, which resulted in the “Old Father Time” character who appears on New Year's Eve, carrying a sickle, and is replaced by a baby representing the new year.

7. The word "crone," meaning an older woman, may also derive from the same root as Kronos.

8. The Roman equivalent of Cronus is Saturn, after whom the planet Saturn is named. The Greek word for the planet is "Cronus".

9. The planet Pluto was almost named Cronus, but the astronomy community voted against it because they didn’t like the person who suggested it, Thomas Jefferson Jackson See.

10. Cronus did get a star named after him, though. Star HD 240430 was named after him in 2017 when it was reported to have swallowed its planets.

Character birthday

Cecile Reynard, grandmother of Basil (Fox). An old lady living in a small village in France, she strongly disapproved of her son Jean Paul’s pregnant girlfriend. She ordered Jean Paul to marry Elaine, and the couple lived with her. She made life miserable for Elaine, telling her that Basil’s genetic variant fox tail was a punishment for her sin. She appears in From a Jack to a King.

From A Jack To A King

A royal palace is burning. The King and Queen are dead. The only hopes for an ancient dynasty flee to England for their lives.

A boy runs from his mother and the people he believes want to mutilate him, and vanishes, seemingly forever.

Gary Winchcombe, the experimental "super-cop" pursues a notorious gang of bank robbers, and starts to discover that his friends and neighbours have secrets he never could have imagined.

Tod Reynard wants to turn his life around. When he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Jade, he knows she might just be the one to help him change his life for the better. He cannot possibly know just how much.

When Jade's twin sister Gloria is kidnapped, old rivalries must be put aside and new associations formed in order to save Gloria's life and restore the rightful order of things.

Available from: Amazon, Amazon Kindle

11 July: Andy Pandy

On this date in 1950, Andy Pandy first appeared on the BBC. 10 things you might not know about this programme:

1. Andy Pandy was created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird and was first broadcast as part of “Watch With Mother” before getting his own series.

2. He was a marionette style puppet who lived in a picnic basket. The puppet was made by an old man in Bird and Lingstrom’s village (Westerham, Kent) and the person pulling the strings was Audrey Atterbury.

3. Andy never spoke. The show was narrated by Maria Bird.

4. There wasn’t much of a plot to speak of, just Andy doing random things. The narrator would encourage viewers to join in with some of his movements, such as swinging arms as if you were on a swing.

5. Andy was later joined by two friends: Teddy (a Teddy bear) and Looby Loo (a rag doll). Looby Loo would only come to life when Andy and Teddy weren’t around. Then she would sing and dance and clean their house. While, like the others, she never spoke, she would sing her own signature song, "Here we go Looby Loo".

6. Every episode would end with the song, "Time to go home / Time to go home / Andy is waving goodbye." The songs were sung by Janet Ferber.

7. Andy wears a Blue and White striped all-in-one romper suit, ruffle collar and hat, and his strings were always very visible.

8. The first episodes were broadcast live, until someone at the BBC realised that if they were recorded, they could be shown over and over again until the film wore out. Which it did, and some episodes were re-recorded in colour in the 1970s.

9. Initially, it was shown in the afternoon between 3:45 pm and 4:00 pm at the end of the women’s programme For Women. In the 1960s Watch with Mother was scheduled at lunch time.

10. In 2002 the BBC produced a revival of 52 episodes with the use of stop-motion animation instead of string puppets. This aired on Cbeebies and was voiced by Tom Conti.

Character birthday

Spectre, aka Katie Bosley, a member of the crime fighting team, the Chain Gang. Katie, a teenage girl, lived next door to Gary Winchcombe (Chain) and was befriended by them. She is a genetic variant who is able to turn intangible and walk through walls. Her power was discovered when she made physical contact with Two Tone, whose power is absorbing other people’s powers. At the time, the Chain Gang were trying to figure out what Two Tone’s power was and how it worked, and her sudden ability to phase through walls confused their theories. Katie, on discovering her neighbours were the Chain Gang, was keen to get involved with their work and managed to stow away on their plane when they flew to Galorvia to rescue Gloria. Katie’s power manifested when cornered by an enemy with an axe; she phased through the wall to escape. Once the rest of the team realised what had happened, she was allowed to join the team. She initially used the name Silver Mist, but changed it to Spectre as she felt this name better represented what she could do. She appears in From a Jack to a King.

From A Jack To A King

A royal palace is burning. The King and Queen are dead. The only hopes for an ancient dynasty flee to England for their lives.

A boy runs from his mother and the people he believes want to mutilate him, and vanishes, seemingly forever.

Gary Winchcombe, the experimental "super-cop" pursues a notorious gang of bank robbers, and starts to discover that his friends and neighbours have secrets he never could have imagined.

Tod Reynard wants to turn his life around. When he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Jade, he knows she might just be the one to help him change his life for the better. He cannot possibly know just how much.

When Jade's twin sister Gloria is kidnapped, old rivalries must be put aside and new associations formed in order to save Gloria's life and restore the rightful order of things.

Available from: Amazon, Amazon Kindle

10 July: Turmeric

On National Herbs and Spices Day, 10 facts about turmeric:

1. The scientific name for turmeric is Curcuma longa and it belongs to the ginger family, Zingiberaceae.

2. It has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries, and is also known as haridra. Turmeric reached Tahiti, Hawaii and Easter Island before the Europeans did.

3. In Medieval Europe, turmeric was called "Indian saffron."

4. The plant is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and requires temperatures between 20 and 30 °C (68 and 86 °F) and high annual rainfall to thrive.

5. It’s the rhizomes which are harvested and used. The turmeric rhizome takes about 10 months to grow before it can be harvested; it is then boiled, cleaned, dried and ground into a powder.

6. India produces nearly all of the world’s turmeric crop and consumes 80% of it.

7. It can be used as a Yellow dye, both in foods (E number E100) and for fabrics: it is what Buddhist monks and priests used to dye their robes.

8. It can also act like litmus paper. Turmeric paper, also called curcuma paper, is paper steeped in turmeric and allowed to dry. It is used as an indicator for acidity and alkalinity. The paper is yellow in acidic and neutral solutions and turns reddish-brown in alkaline solutions.

9. The plant has a role in marriage ceremonies in parts of India. Dried tubers can be turned into necklaces or tied to the couple’s wrists.

10. Does it have health benefits? Some say yes (good for the skin, a treatment for arthritis and can even help prevent cancer), others say nothing is proven. In Chinese medicine, turmeric is used to aid digestion and for abdominal discomfort. It does contain a number of essential nutrients including beta-carotene, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, niacin, Potassium and Zinc.

Character birthday

Ivory, aka Fiona Kingston-Parker, later Fiona Miller. She is a genetic variant who can generate energy attacks which can pass harmlessly through anyone who is not the target. She is the heir to the Kingston-Parker family oil fortune; the super villain Obsidian is her uncle and was written out of his father’s will. In an attempt to be the sole surviving heir, he killed Fiona’s parents, brother and sister-in-law, and then went after Fiona. She was saved from him by the Freedom League. Wanting to learn to use her power and get fit, she asked Richard Miller (Target), an Olympic athlete and Freedom League member to train her. Their relationship was difficult at first but in due course they became a couple. Fiona retired from active superheroing when Richard did, in order to enter politics, and because she wanted to have children. There were fertility issues, however, and she had one child, Yasmin.

Eternal Flame

The Freedom League's numbers have dwindled to three - but leader Unicorn knows his team isn't finished yet. The turning point comes with Russell, a boy with bright red hair and a genetic variant ability to start fires. He's the first of an influx of new members who will take the League into the future. 

Judith and Wil are child prodigies - Judith in physics and electronics, and Wil in medicine. They have another thing in common - they are both genetic variants. And another thing - they both have fiery red hair. They are drawn to one another as their destinies intertwine, but the course of true love doesn't always run smoothly!

Richard is not a variant. He's an Olympic athlete who has picked up useful knowledge from his unusual friends to add to his own natural abilities. A chance encounter with a dying alien throws him into a Freedom League mission in which his skills are put to the ultimate test, along with theirs.

The Freedom League's arch-enemy, the super-villain Obsidian, wants his family fortune all to himself. One person stands in his way - his niece, Fiona. Fiona, devastated by a family tragedy and her failure to get in to her first choice university, is miserable and has few friends. When she realises her brother's death was no accident, and his killer is also after her, she fears it may be too late to gather allies around her and learn how to use her own genetic variant powers.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

9 July: Edward Heath

Edward Heath, former Prime Minister of the UK was born on this date in 1916. Here are 10 things you might not know about him:

1. His full name was Sir Edward Richard George Heath, commonly known as “Ted”.

2. He came from a working class background. His father was a carpenter and his mother a lady’s maid.

3. He received a second class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Balliol College, Oxford.

4. Heath served in the Second World War, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1944 he took part in the Normandy Landings.

5. One of his major interests outside politics was playing and conducting Music. He won an organ scholarship during his first term at university and famously brought his Steinway grand Piano to Ten Downing Street.

6. Another of his lifelong passions was sailing. He bought his first yacht Morning Cloud in 1969 and won the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race that year. During his time as Prime Minister he captained Britain's winning team for the Admiral's Cup in 1971.

7. Heath was a supporter of the Lancashire Football club Burnley.

8. Heath never married, which naturally led to allegations that he was either gay or a paedophile. At one time, he did have a childhood friend called Kay Raven, who people thought he might marry, but Heath didn’t make a move because he was too busy establishing his career after the war and had "perhaps ... taken too much for granted". Kay, meanwhile, got tired of waiting and married someone else.

9. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 until 1974. Heath continued to serve in the House of Commons until 2001, becoming the Father of the House.

10. Heath's autobiography, The Course of My Life, was published in 1998.

Character birthday

Castle, power armour user and member of Combat Team Epsilon. Castle has a highly competitive personality and was attracted to the idea of Combat Teams. He approached each of the Combat Team directors in turn but they all laughed at the idea of what they saw as "a dwarf in power armour". (Castle is not a dwarf – he is short but his body is perfectly proportioned.) Neither were any of them impressed that he turned up without an appointment to hard sell himself.

His next plan was to announce publicly that he would take on Megamek, Combat Team Epsilon's huge mechanoid. The two turned out to be evenly matched, which impressed Epsilon sufficiently that they recruited him.

8 July: Nora Name Day

Today’s Czech name day is Nora.

Nora is a feminine personal name. It originates as a short form of Honora (also Honoria), a common Anglo-Norman name, ultimately derived from the Latin word Honor. 10 famous Noras:

Nora Barnacle

1. Nora Barnacle: muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce. Barnacle and Joyce had their first romantic assignation in 1904 on a date celebrated worldwide as the "Bloomsday" of his novel Ulysses.

2. Nora Batty: fictional character in the world's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine. Nora became a national icon, recognised by her wrinkled stockings, pinny and distinctive style of hair curlers.

3. Nora of Kelmendi: woman in 17th century Albanian folklore known for her beauty and valour. She is sometimes referred to as the "Helen of Albania" as her beauty sparked a great war. She is also called the Albanian Brünhilde, for she herself was the greatest woman warrior in the history of Albania. She killed the Pasha, head of the Ottoman Army, who had vowed to reduce the Highland into ashes if Nora did not become his wife.

4. Norah Jones: American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has sold more than 50 million records worldwide.

5. Nora Ephron: American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films including When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle.

6. Princess Nora of Liechtenstein: fourth child and only daughter of Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein and his wife Georgina von Wilczek.

7. Nora Perry: 19^th century American poet, newspaper correspondent, and writer of children’s stories.

8. Nora Roberts: American author of more than 225 romance novels. She writes as J. D. Robb for the in Death series and has also written under the pseudonyms Jill March and Sarah Hardesty.

9. Nora Swinburne: English actress who appeared in many British films.

10. Nora Baker: eldest daughter of 'The Bakers' in the film Cheaper by the Dozen.

Character birthday

Iowa Smith. Essentially the Indiana Jones of the Ultraheroes Universe. He spends part of the year lecturing at the University of Birmingham, and in the vacations goes off in search of adventure. On one such adventure, he discovered a mysterious artefact which he brought back to England to study.

The object was alien rather than historic, something which Smith's colleague James Lovell (Unicorn) recognised immediately at a seminar in which Smith invited colleagues to share their ideas as to what the mystifying object was.

As Unicorn wondered how to explain to Smith what a dangerous object he had in his possession, the Power League attacked in order to obtain it. The Freedom League were summoned to fight the Power League off, and Unicorn was able to explain. He advised Smith to return it to the deep cave in which he found it. There followed an expedition in which Smith did exactly that, with the help and protection of the Freedom League. During the trip, Unicorn and Smith became firm friends, and he extended his studies to include alien cultures. Smith is fearless, except when it comes to spiders. He is a severe arachnophobe.