24 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 24 March:

1. This date in 1733 saw the birth of Joseph Priestley, English clergyman and scientist who discovered Oxygen, sulphur dioxide, silicon fluoride and ammonia, invented the pneumatic trough, and the pencil eraser. He once observed, "The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate."
2. Elizabeth I, also called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, The Faerie Queen or Good Queen Bess, died on this date in 1603 at the age of 69. Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. James I, son of Mary Queen of Scots, acceded to the throne and united the English and Scottish crowns.
3. In 1975 Alex Mitchell, aged 50, a bricklayer, was watching The Goodies with his wife. He found one particular sketch, "Kung Fu Kapers" so hilarious that he literally died laughing. He laughed for 25 minutes before expiring from a fatal heart attack. Far from hating The Goodies for taking her husband from her, Mitchell's wife sent the show a letter thanking the producers and performers for making her husband's last moments so enjoyable.
4. In 1932, the first radio broadcast from a moving train took place in America. A New York radio station, WABC, broadcast a variety program from a moving train in Maryland.
5. In 1995, the 19-10 Cardiff Central train to Birmingham was late. The reason given was because the driver didn’t know the way. (Did no-one tell him all he had to do was follow the train tracks?)
6. In 1877, the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race ended in a dead heat for the first and only time.
7. In 1832, Mormon founder Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio. (Was this on one of his many stag nights???)
8. In 1965, on the first date of their anniversary tour, Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman was knocked unconscious by an electric shock from a microphone stand in Odense, Denmark.
9. In 1953 a tenant at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill Gate in London made a ghoulish discovery while examining wallpaper in the kitchen. There was a hidden cupboard, which had been papered over. Inside was the naked body of Mrs Ethel Christie.
10. The world's longest dive took place on this date in 1960. Kaiko, a Japanese deep-sea probe, made the longest unmanned dive reaching the bottom of the Challenger Deep, measuring it at 10,911 meters or 35,797 feet deep.

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

23 March

10 weird and wonderful things that happened on 23 March:

The Woolwich Ferry

1. Sir Roger Bannister, the athlete best known as the first man in history to run the mile in less than 4 minutes, was born on this date in 1929.
2. The death of Ronald Opus occurred today in 1994, according to an urban legend. Opus decided to commit suicide and jumped from the tenth floor of a building. On the ninth floor, an elderly couple were embroiled in a serious row. As Opus jumped from the floor above, the old man shot at his wife. He missed her and the bullet went through the window and hit Opus in the head, killing him before he hit the ground. It just so happened that Opus's suicide attempt would actually have failed because he hadn't known there was a safety net on the eighth floor to protect building workers. The medical examiner ruled his death was homicide, because when a person intends to kill someone but kills someone else by mistake, they are guilty of the murder of the person who died. Confronted with a murder charge the old couple insisted they didn't think the gun was loaded. The old man said he often threatened his wife with the unloaded shotgun, and didn't intend to kill her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident. The investigation found a witness who'd seen the couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks before the fatal accident. It just so happened that the old lady had cut off the son's financial support; he knew his father often threatened his mother with the unloaded gun, so he loaded it in the expectation that his father would sooner or later “accidentally” shoot his mother. So it would now appear that the son is guilty of the murder. Further investigation revealed that the son was none other than Ronald Opus, himself. He had become suicidal when his ruse to kill his mother didn't seem to be working. Ronald Opus had therefore murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide. However, the story is not true. A Medical Examiner, Don Harper Mills, told the story at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences to illustrate how, by altering a few small facts you can alter the legal consequences a lot. In 1994, someone posted the fictitious example on the Internet.
3. In 1840, the Americanism "O.K." was first used in the New York publication The New Era by the Democratic OK Club. They got the name from Old Kinderhook, NY, where President Martin van Buren was born.
4. George Frederic Handel's famous oratorio Messiah was performed for the first time in London on this date in 1744. This was also the date of the first "standing ovation". King George was so "inspired" by Handel's oratorio that he jumped to his feet and everyone else followed suit.
5. In 1889, The Woolwich Ferry in London began operation.
6. In 1918 at the Wood Green Empire, Chung Ling-soo (William E Robinson, an American magician) was about to perform his ‘Defying Bullets’ trick which required him to ‘catch’ two bullets fired at him from separate guns. However, there was a mechanical failure in one of the guns, causing it to go off prematurely so the bullet pierced Robinson's lung. He managed to cry ‘Lower the curtain’, as he collapsed. He died the following morning in hospital.
7. An Australian crook, Bruce Kirkbride, dubbed the Bendigo Tickler, was arrested on this date in 1995. His crime? He'd break into houses to tickle children’s feet.
8. In 1966, Archbishop of Canterbury Arthur Michael Ramsey exchanged public greetings with Pope Paul VI in Rome. It was the first official meeting between the heads of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in over 400 years.
9. In 1891, goal nets were used for the first time in an FA Cup final. The net was invented by Liverpudlian J A Brodie.
10. It was on this date in 1912 that Captain Robert Falcon Scott made the last entry in his diary. “We are getting weaker, and the end cannot be far,” he wrote. “I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great fortitude as in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of providence, determined still to do our best to the last. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.”

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

22 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 22 March:

1. This date in 1931 saw the birth of William Shatner, the Canadian actor who plays Star Trek's Captain James Tiberius Kirk. On a TV interview Shatner confessed to a fear of flying, and also revealed that the dramatic pauses in Kirk's speeches were the result of him trying to remember his next line. It's probably no coincidence that in the Star Trek Universe, this same date in 2233 is (or will be) the birthdate of Captain James T Kirk, in a small Iowa town.
2. This date has not been a good day for the Wallenda family. In 1978, Karl Wallenda, 73, patriarch of "The Flying Wallendas" high-wire act, fell to his death while promoting a touring circus by attempting to walk a cable between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On the same date in 1962, his nephew and son-in-law were killed when their human pyramid act collapsed, and in 1972, Richard Guzman accidentally touched a live wire while climbing a pole to join his father-in-law, Karl Wallenda, during a performance. The shock made him lose his grip and he plunged to his death.
3. In 2002, Susie Stephens, 36, America's top pedestrian safety expert, was run over and killed by a tour bus in St Louis, Missouri, where she was advising a cycling and walking conference on safety. The driver said he didn't see her as he turned left.
4. In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière showed their first movie to an audience in Paris; generally regarded as the first ever display of a film projected onto a screen. It showed workers leaving the Lumière factory at Lyons at the start of their lunch hour.
5. In 2001, the Space station Mir fell into Pacific Ocean south-east of Fiji.
6. In 2002, in an attempt to end a jinx on a dressing room at the Millennium Stadium, where the last 8 teams to use it had lost, Paul Darby carried out geomancy ceremony with incense, bells, and chants. He even had help from Uri Geller, who offered to fly over in a Helicopter and beam down positive thoughts. None of it worked. The next team to use that dressing room also lost.
7. The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was made on this date in 1880. The myth had started with a sighting by the medieval saint, Columba.
8. In 1903, Niagara Falls ran out of water because of a drought.
9. In 1997, the world's smallest boomerang, measuring 48 mm or 1.8 inches long and 45 mm or 1.77 inches wide was thrown successfully by Sadir Kattan during the Australian National Boomerang Championships in Melbourne.
10. This date in 1990 was not a good day for Broccoli. It was the day that George Bush announced, "I do not like broccoli and I haven't since I was a kid and my mother made me eat it, and I'm the President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."

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

21 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 21 March:

1. Two well known composers were born on this date. In 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer and organist whose works include the Brandenburg concertos, and in 1839, Modest P Mussorgsky, Russian composer whose works include Night on Bald Mountain.
2. On this date in 2007, Kevin Whitrick, aged 42, became the first person to commit suicide live on The Internet. Watched by about 60 other users in a chatroom where people "have a go at each other", he placed a rope around a joist and around his neck, then stepped off a chair. Other users thought this was a prank, until his face started to turn blue. Some people in the chat room egged him on, but others tried desperately to save him. One of them called the police, who arrived at the scene two minutes later but by then Whitrick was already dead.
3. The first ever Star Wars film was released in the US on this date in 1977.
4. In 2011, surgeons at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, performed the first full face transplant in the United States.
5. In 1969 John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono staged their ‘Bed-in for Peace’ at the Amsterdam Hilton.
6. The results of an internet poll of who people wanted as their ambassador to welcome aliens to planet earth were in on this date in 2004, following the discovery of signs of water on Mars. The favourite to represent the human race was Ozzy Osbourne.
7. Alcatraz, the world's most secure prison, closed on this date in 1963. Only one man had ever escaped from the prison in its 29 years of operation, only to be arrested on reaching the mainland. Al Capone and the famous ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ were two of its best known inmates. The last inmate to leave Alcatraz was Frank Wathernam. Let's hope he remembered to turn the lights off.
8. The world's longest wheelchair journey began on this date in 1985. Rick Hansen left Vancouver in his wheelchair on a journey that would take him around the world in just over 2 years, raising $20 million for spinal cord research.
9. The world's longest card throw took place on this date in 2002. Magician Rick Smith Jr. of Cleveland threw a Playing card 65.96 meters (216 ft 4 inches).
10. In 2006, Twitter was created by Jack Dorsey in San Francisco, California.

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

20 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 20 March:

1. This date in 1917 was the birth date of Dame Vera Lynn, a singer popular during the second world war with hits such as We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs of Dover.
2. In 1963, Mount Agung, a volcano on the island of Bali in the East Indies erupted. The eruption coincided with the Balinese festival of Eka Dasa Rudra, and so hundreds of worshippers gathered on the slopes of the volcano to pray and chant to it. The volcano clearly didn't care much for their acts of worship, as it proceeded to spew lava, ash and poison gas over them. The eventual death toll from the eruption exceeded 1,500 and 80,000 people were left homeless.
3. In Sudan, the last known male Northern white Rhinoceros, died in captivity on this date in 2018, leaving two females as the only surviving members of the subspecies.
4. In 1999, Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Britain became the first aviators to fly a Hot air balloon around the world non-stop.
5. In 1985, Libby Riddles of Teller, Alaska, became the first woman to win the Iditarod sled dog race, covering the distance from Anchorage to Nome in nearly 18 days.
6. In 1980, Joseph Riveria, aged 28, a truck driver from Texas, walked into the New York office of Elektra/Asylum Records, drew a gun and took the office manager hostage. He demanded to see either Jackson Browne or the Eagles, because he hoped they would invest in his trucking operation. Eventually, Riviera surrendered to police without hurting anybody.
7. In 1974 An attempt was made to kidnap Princess Anne in the Mall. Ian Ball fired six shots, then tried to drag her out of her car. He fled as passers-by joined her bodyguard and police to foil the attempt, and was later caught. He was charged with attempted murder, and claimed he'd done it to highlight the lack of mental care facilities.
8. In 2000, an armed robber in Germany put his gun down on the counter so he could hold his swag bag open with both hands to receive the money. The clerk seized the gun and the robber fled.
9. On the same day in Palestine Texas, Antonio Laro escaped from prison by sawing through the bars with dental floss.
10. In 1988, DeAndra Anrig, aged 8, was lifted ten feet off the ground and carried 100 feet, when the string of her Kite was snagged by a plane flying over Shoreline Park, California.

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

19 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 19 March:

1. This date in 1813 saw the birth of Dr David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer who was the first European to discover the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi. During his expedition to find the source of the Nile, H. M. Stanley met him and greeted him with the immortal words, "Dr Livingstone, I presume?". Livingstone never found the source of the Nile, however. That was discovered by Sir Richard Francis Burton, who shared a birthday with him; Burton was born on this date in 1821.
2. In 1996, Julianna Farkas, aged 80, from Eles, Hungary, drowned in a barrel of sauerkraut after falling in while trying to spoon more out of the bottom.
3. On this date in 1928, the Industrial Fatigue Research Board officially discovered what people in England have known for a long time; that a cup of Tea aids efficiency and reduces industrial discontent.
4. It's a good day for record breaking food. In 1994, the largest omelet, at 1,383 square feet, was made in Yokohama, Japan using 160,000 Eggs. In 2000, Elah-Dufour United Food Companies made the world’s longest Chocolate bar in Turin. It weighed 5,026lb, was 17.7 inches thick, 59 inches wide and 124 inches long, equivalent to just under 23,000 regular chocolate bars.
5. Britain's first planetarium opened at Madame Tussaud's in London on this date in 1958.
6. In 721 BC, Persian astronomers observed the first recorded Solar Eclipse.
7. In 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was opened in Australia. It's the world's longest single-span arch bridge, at 503m/1,650 ft. It was officially opened by New South Wales Premier Jack Lang. Before Lang could do the honours, an ex-soldier by the name of Francis Edward de Groot charged ahead on a horse, in full military garb, and slashed the ribbon with his sabre on behalf of the National Front, an opposing political party.
8. The first death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on public roads took place on this date in 2018. A woman in Tempe, Arizona, died after being hit by a self-driving car operated by Uber. Uber suspended self-driving car tests in all U.S. cities and in Toronto.
9. The inciting incident of the Falklands war took place on this date in 1982, when an Argentine scrap metal dealer landed on South Georgia and planted an Argentinian flag. The situation escalated and the rest is history.
10. In 1995, a 34 year old London man was divorcing his wife. The divorce settlement demanded that the couple's furniture should be divided and shared between them. He set about doing so, with a chainsaw. He was sentenced to a year in prison.

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

18 March

 10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 18 March:

1. This date in 1844 saw the birth of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer whose works include Scheherazade and Flight of the Bumble Bee. Rimsky-Korsakov had synaesthesia, which caused him to perceive colours associated with major musical keys.
2. In 1834, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six Dorset farm labourers, were sentenced to transportation to a penal colony for forming a trade union.
3. In 1902, Enrico Caruso, aged 29, became the first celebrity performer to make a record. He sang ten songs for a fee of $500 in a hotel room in Milan which was used as a studio. Caruso was chosen because only he could sing loudly and piercingly enough to be heard clearly over the noise of the primitive gramophone. Microphones didn't exist yet.
4. In 1877 Edgar Cayce, clairvoyant; psychic healer, was born. He is said to have been able to channel beings from the other side, giving answers to questions on subjects such as health or Atlantis, while in a self-induced trance.
5. On this date in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto.
6. Lt Col Aleksey Arkhipovich Leanor became the first human to walk in space on this date in 1965. He spent 12 minutes 9 seconds outside his Voskhod II spacecraft, connected to it only by a nylon cord.
7. In 1950, Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes.
8. In 1996, would be robber David Currey attempted to hold up a post office with a Cucumber shaped like a gun.
9. In 1913, John Steinocher of Texas patented a Scarecrow which could fire a gun to scare away birds.
10. Britain’s first National Fat Women’s conference was held on this date in 1989. More than 150 attended. They planned to establish associations throughout the country to urge fat women to stop worrying about their weight.

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