22 October: 295

Today is the 295th day of the year. 10 things you might not know about the number 295:

1. The year 295 was a common year starting on Tuesday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Tuscus and Anullinus. In this year, Saint Maximilian of Tebessa was martyred.
2. 295 Theresia is a Main belt Asteroid discovered by Johann Palisa in 1890 in Vienna.
3. In the Marvel Universe, Earth-295 is a reality which was accidentally created by Legion, son Professor Charles Xavier and Israeli diplomat Gabrielle Haller, when he travelled back in time in order to kill Magneto before he could incite the anti-mutant movement.
4. The A295 is a road in England which runs between Hailsham and Amberstone, East Sussex.
5. 295 is also the number given to seven roads in the US which are routes associated with Interstate 95.
6. The London Bus route 295 runs between Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's and Clapham Junction.
7. The 295 is a band from South West London, producing a rough and ready rock sound.
8. In Roman numerals, 295 is written CCXCV.
9. The tallest structure in Serbia is the Chimney of TPP Kostolac which is 295 metres (968 ft) in height.
10. In the I Chin the number 295 represents success in all personal spheres. It means now is a good time to make changes as those changes will result in better living conditions. In the Egyptian Tarot it is related to the ability to admit mistakes and reflect on them in order to learn.

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21 October: The Battle of Trafalgar

Today is Trafalgar Day, commemorating Nelson’s victory and his death. There is a parade down the Mall to Trafalgar Square where a wreath is laid at the bottom of Nelson’s Column. On HMS Victory there is a commemorative service. 10 things you might not know about the Battle of Trafalgar:

1. Why did it happen? Napoleon Bonaparte, rather like Hitler in the 1930s, was trying to take over Europe which had resulted in the Napoleonic Wars. Britain knew Napoleon's plan would eventually include conquering Britain as well. As an island, Britain had a pretty good Navy and was working on preventing this by blockading French ports to stop the French ships from leaving.
2. However, during a storm, some French ships managed to get out of Toulon during a storm and avoid the blockade. They met up with a fleet of ships from Spain, their ally at the time. This combined fleet sailed to the West Indies, then back across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spanish port of Cadiz, pursued by the British the whole way.
3. The battle took place near Cape Trafalgar, which is in south west Spain.
4. You probably know that Horatio Nelson was the commander of the British fleet on HMS Victory. His French counterpart was Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve on board the French flagship, the Bucentaure.
5. The British fleet was outnumbered: the British had 27 ships, the French and Spanish had a combined total of 33 ships. Nevertheless, the French and Spanish lost 22 ships, the British lost none. Unlike Nelson, Villeneuve survived the battle and returned to France, only to be murdered by Napoleon.
6. Before the battle, Nelson ordered his signal officer, Lieutenant John Pasco to signal the fleet. The message Nelson initially wanted was "England confides that every man will do his duty." (Confides means, "is confident".) He wanted it sent as quickly as possible. Pasco suggested using the word "expects" instead, because it was in the signal book and could therefore be communicated using just one flag instead of having to spell it out letter by letter. Nelson agreed to the change, and said "That will do, Pasco, make it directly." The message is often misquoted as "England expects every man to do his duty," including on Nelson's tomb. The message is hoisted on board HMS Victory on Trafalgar Day each year.
7. HMS Victory had 104 guns, was constructed from 6,000 Oaks and elms, needed 26 miles of rope and rigging for the three masts, and was crewed by 821 men.
8. Nelson didn't play by the usual rules of engagement of sea battles. The convention was that opposing fleets would form two lines and engage in a clash of broadsides until one fleet withdrew. Nelson, however, split his fleet in two, placing half of it under the command of his deputy, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, and sailed straight at the French and Spanish lines to separate them.
9. Nelson was fatally wounded as his ship engaged with the French ship the Redoutable. He was standing on deck as was traditional, when a French sharpshooter shot him in the spine. He knew at once it was a fatal wound and asked to be taken below so that his men wouldn't see him die and be discouraged. Nelson’s last words, according to contemporary accounts, were: “Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy, take care of poor Lady Hamilton. Kiss me, Hardy.” (Hardy did, on the cheek.) Nelson then said, “Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty.”
10. After the battle, many of the men couldn't return home for many years as Britain had to maintain a blockade of Cadiz and other ports. Admiral Collingwood never saw his family again. He spent five years commanding the blockade until at the age of 62, he became ill and asked permission to go home. Permission was granted, but he died at sea on the way back to England.

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20 October: Sydney Opera House

Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House on October 20, 1973. 10 things you might not know about Sydney Opera House:

1. The entire site of the Sydney Opera House covers an area of 5.798 hectares. Eight Boeing 747s could sit wing-to-wing on the site. It is 185 metres long, 120 metres wide, and has roof sections weighing up to 15 tons. There are over a million tiles on the roof. The highest roof point is 67 metres above sea-level, the height of a 22-storey building.
2. The roof is made of 2,194 pre-cast concrete sections weighing up to 15 tons each and held together by 350 km of tensioned steel cable, which if laid end-to-end would reach Canberra.
3. The Sydney Opera House contains 6,225 square metres of glass and 645 kilometres of electric cable.
4. The architect was Jorn Utzon, who beat 232 other entrants in the contest to design the Opera House in 1956. Three of the judges rejected his entry, but the fourth judge declared it outstanding.
5. The Sydney Opera House was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007. UNESCO describes it as “great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip of a peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbour.”
6. It has unique glass. 6,233 square metres of topaz coloured Glass was used in the construction of the Sydney Opera House. The glass was made to order by Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel in France in a shade used exclusively by the Sydney Opera House.
7. The first person to perform at the Sydney Opera House was Paul Robeson, bass singer, actor and Civil Rights Activist. In 1960, Robeson had performed Ol’ Man River for the construction workers.
8. There are 1,000 rooms in the Opera House, and seven venues. The largest is the Concert Hall which has 2,679 seats. The smallest is the Utzon room, which seats up to 210 people.
9. Though the “sails” of the Sydney Opera House appear uniformly White from a distance, they actually have a subtle chevron pattern composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colours: glossy white and matte cream. The sails were built using specially made cranes built in France. Each crane cost $100,000.
10. It exceeded its projected budget by over fourteen times and was completed ten years behind schedule.

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19 October: Led Zeppelin

On this date in 1968 Jimmy Page's "New Yardbirds" renamed themselves "Led Zeppelin". 10 things you might not know about Led Zeppelin:

1. It all started with Jimmy Page, a member of a band called the Yardbirds. One member of the band left and the rest of them were all for winding the band down. Page, however, had aspirations to form a supergroup. The line-up which was to become Led Zeppelin was gathered together initially to fulfil a contractual obligation the original Yardbirds had to tour in Scandinavia.
2. During this tour, and for a few months afterwards, the band was known as The New Yardbirds. It was when Page raised the suggestion of a supergroup with John Entwhistle and Keith Moon of The Who, Moon allegedly commented, "that will go over like a Lead balloon." Entwistle allegedly added, “a lead zeppelin!” So why are they not called "Lead Zeppelin"? They dropped the letter "A" as they didn't want people mispronouncing it as "leed".
3. The name did go over like a lead balloon as far as one lady was concerned. Her name was Frau Eva von Zeppelin, and she was a direct descendant of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. She tried to get them to change it on the grounds it dishonoured her family name. They did change it, but only for one night, when they briefly appeared as "The Nobs". The public preferred the name Led Zeppelin so they continued to use it thereafter.
4. The band's members were: Robert Plant (lead vocals, harmonica), Jimmy Page (Guitar, Theremin, live backing vocals), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards, occasional backing vocals) and John Bonham (Drums, percussion, occasional backing vocals).
5. Their fourth album is technically untitled. The band were getting sick of critics slating their music and wanted to be as anonymous as possible. Instead of their names, the cover showed a set of four symbols which each member had chosen to represent themselves. Jones chose a circle with three interlocking ovals which he got from a book of runes, which is supposed to represent a confident and competent person. Bonham chose his symbol from the same book. Plant’s symbol of a circle around a feather represents Ma’at, the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice. Page's symbol? Who knows? His symbol appeared to spell out the word “Zoso,” so fans referred to the album as that, even though Page claimed his mysterious symbol was not made up of letters at all.
6. In 1971, Page bought a house near Loch Ness which had been owned by the occultist Aleister Crowley, which Page claimed was haunted, not by Crowley but by people who'd met grisly ends there before Crowley was even born. It on the site of a church which had burned down with the congregation still inside, and a man had been beheaded there.
7. Were the group Satanists? Page's interest in Crowley and the fact he had Crowley’s motto “Do what thou wilt” inscribed in the run-off groove of Led Zeppelin III vinyl records led people to think so. There was a theory that if you play some of the tracks backwards, you can hear subliminal Satanic messages. Robert Plant debunked that by saying “You’ve got to have a lot of time on your hands to even consider that people would do that.” What you can hear, During The Ocean, is a telephone ringing, twice. The song was recorded in a private house, and nobody heard the phone ringing while they were recording.
8. They were JRR Tolkien fans, however, and there are numerous references to Lord of the Rings and its characters in their songs. Hence the cloaked figure with a lantern in the inside cover of their fourth album was assumed to be from Lord of the Rings as well, In fact, it's a figure from Tarot Cards, The Hermit.
9. The band had a custom made private plane which was the first Boeing 720-022 ever built. It included such features as a 30-foot long couch, a bar with an electronic organ built into it, a TV set, a video cassette player, and a bedroom with a white fur bedspread and a shower room. It set them back $30,000 and they named it “The Starship”. Bonham is said to have taken the controls at one occasion and flew the plane from New York to Los Angeles, despite not having a pilot's licence.
10. Jimmy Page appeared on TV when he was 13, and stated then that he wanted to become a scientist and find a cure for cancer. He didn't do that, but he did do charity work with poor Brazilian children. When he received an OBE in 2005, it was for that, not anything to do with Music.

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18 October: The Magic Roundabout

On this date in 1965, The Magic Roundabout was first shown on British TV. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. The series was originally in French and was called Le Manège Enchanté ('The Enchanted Merry-Go-Round'). It was written by Serge Danot, and animated by Ivor Wood and his wife, Josiane. Ivor Wood would later go on to animate The Herbs, Paddington Bear and Postman Pat.
2. The series features Mr Rusty's Magic Roundabout in the Magic Garden, which, at the start of the first episode, has somehow lost its magic, and the children no longer come to play there. A parcel arrives and inside it is a magical jack-in-the-box called Zebedee (Zebedee was originally created from a giant Pea which happened to be lying around in the animation studio. They painted it Red and added a face and the rest is history) who restores the magic.
3. The other characters include a girl called Florence and her friends Paul, Basil and Rosalie; Dougal, a Skye terrier based on the comedian Tony Hancock, Brian the Snail, Ermintrude the Cow (said to be based on the narrator's wife), Dylan the hippy Rabbit (named after Bob Dylan), a talking train, and Mr McHenry the elderly gardener who rode around on a tricycle.
4. The BBC turned it down at first, because they felt the script would be too difficult to dub into English. However, they had the idea of having a narrator tell the stories instead. The person the BBC hired to write and voice the narration was Eric Thompson, father of the actress Emma Thompson. He'd watch the footage on a special machine he operated with his foot, a pad and pencil on his lap, and write the stories.
5. The narrated stories in the English version bore little if any resemblance to the original French ones. Thompson not only made up new stories from watching the footage without any sound, but changed the names of a lot of the characters as well. Dougal was originally called Pollux; Zebedee was Zébulon; Brian was Ambroise; Ermintrude was Azalée; Dylan was Flappy; Florence was Margote; Mr Rusty was le Père Pivoine and Mr McHenry was Bonhomme Jouvence.
6. Each episode was just five minutes long and the show would be the final children's programme each weekday before the news at six o'clock. This timing ensured that as well as the kids and their parents, adults who turned on to watch the news would be watching as well. There would regularly be over 8 million viewers and the show gained a cult following. Whenever the BBC tried to move it to a different time it would get complaints, for example: "I should like to know how the BBC thinks I am going to regain my equilibrium after teaching all day if there is no Magic Roundabout to come home to?"
7. Why did the grownups like it so much? Possibly because they could interpret a lot of it with reference to the politics of the day (some said Dougal was named for De Gaulle and his interactions with Ermintrude the cow were a satire of Anglo-French relations at the time) but perhaps more likely, references to drug culture. Dougal's fondness for Sugar lumps suggested to some that he might be on LSD as that was a common way of taking that drug. Dylan usually appeared to be stoned and even Zebedee was said to be on speed because he was so jumpy. The Magic Roundabout itself could be compared with taking a trip.
8. There were two feature films in 1972 and 2005. The 1972 version introduced a new character called Buxton the Blue Cat who was from the North of England. He was welcomed by all the other characters except for one – Dougal. This film sailed even closer to the wind in terms of the drug references. The 2005 film featured a star-studded cast of voices: including Robbie Williams (Dougal), Bill Nighy (Dylan), Joanna Lumley (Ermintrude), Jim Broadbent (Brian), Kylie Minogue (Florence), Lee Evans (The Train), Sir Ian McKellan (Zebedee), and Ray Winstone (Soldier Sam). This story introduced us to Zebedee's evil twin, Zee-Bad, voiced by Tom Baker.
9. In 1992 it was discovered that there were 39 episodes which had never received the Eric Thompson treatment. Sadly, he'd died by then, so these episodes were narrated by Nigel Planer and shown on Channel 4.
10. The B side of Jasper Carrott's 1975 hit Funky Moped is a parody of The Magic Roundabout performed live.

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If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

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