20 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 20 December:

1. Uri Geller, Israeli-British performer known for claiming to have psychic powers was born on this date in 1946. Famous for his ability to bend metal objects by stroking them with his fingers and to stop Clocks simply by gazing at them. He claimed his metal-bending and mind reading abilities developed after he was accidentally shocked by his mother's electric Sewing machine when he was five years old.
2. In 2002, Mark Billington, 35, of Halifax, west Yorkshire, died when he suffered an epileptic fit, fell out of bed and got his head stuck in a wastepaper basket.
3. An even sadder story from 1786. Hannah Ocuish, aged 12, became the youngest person ever to be legally executed in US. Hannah was a Pequot Indian girl with learning difficulties, accused of killing the young daughter of a prominent white family during a fight over some Strawberries. The primary evidence against her was her confession. At her execution, she thanked the sheriff for his kindness as she stepped forward to be hanged.
4. In 1803, the Louisana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred to the US at ceremonies in New Orleans. The US had paid the French about $15 million for the 800,000 square miles of land, which effectively doubled the size of the country.
5. In 1963, the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time. It opened for the holiday season, but closed again on January 6, 1964. 4,000 people crossed over to visit relatives during this time.
6. Fred Astaire’s first film with partner Ginger Rogers, Flying Down to Rio, was premièred in New York on this date in 1933.
7. On this date in 1928, Harry Ramsden started his fish and chip restaurant, which later became the most famous in the world, in a hut near Bradford.
8. In 2018, Gatwick Airport was shut down intermittently after drones were seen flying over the airfield. Police believed it was "a deliberate act to disrupt the airport".
9. In 1991, American and Egyptian archaeologists announced the discovery of a fleet of 5,000-year-old ships buried 13 km from the River Nile.
10. A new board game, Emulation, was published on this date in 1804, ‘designed for the Amusement of Youth of both Sexes and calculated to inspire their Minds with an Abhorrence of Vice and a Love of Virtue’. Players moving their tokens around the board, passing through various virtues and vices, and the winner was the first to reach the centre where ‘Virtue is its Own reward’. It didn't catch on.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

19 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 19 December:

1. Edith Piaf, French singer nicknamed Little Sparrow, was born on this date in 1915. Among her famous songs are La vie en rose and Non, je ne regrette rien. She entertained POW's while refusing to sing for Nazis during WWII.
2. The first motorised ambulance service for victims of road accidents was established in London on this date in 1905.
3. In 1996, scientists at Cambridge University discovered how Bumble Bees fly – they use vortices.
4. Linoleum was patented by Frederick Walton of London on this date in 1863.
5. In 1904. the Dawson City hockey team, based in Yukon, started walking to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa in order to play in the Stanley Cup on 13 January.
6. In 2006, two giant eyeballs donated by Pink Floyd raised £16,500 for the homeless charity Crisis. The 6ft-high eyeballs, made to promote the Pulse DVD, were put on eBay and attracted 46 bids.
7. In 1976, The Daily Mail interviewed Sex Pistol Paul Cook's mother. She said he was no longer welcome at home and she was going to turn his bedroom into a dining room.
8. In 1995, Queen Elizabeth asked Prince Charles and Diana to get a divorce.
9. Robert Ripley began his Believe It Or Not column in The New York Globe on this date in 1918.
10. In 2001, former Spice Girl Emma Bunton paid £3,000 for a custom built Toilet. The singer ordered a hand painted porcelain loo complete with hand crafted toilet roll holder for her new seaside apartment.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

18 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 18 December:

1. Born this date in 1947 was Steven Spielberg, US film producer/director, whose films include Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park, Hook, Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Gremlins and Schindler's List.
2. Another big name in the film world was also born on this date. In 1963 the actor Brad Pitt was born. His films include 12 Monkeys, Seven, Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It and Thelma and Louise.
3. In 1832, the poet Philip Freneau, aged 80, died when he got lost in a snowstorm on his way home from the pub.
4. In 1918, Al Capone married Mae Coughlin. He was 19, she was 21. He was actually rather embarrassed that he was marrying an older woman and so on the wedding certificate they are both recorded as being 20.
5. In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II attended a Cabinet meeting to receive a gift in honour of her Diamond Jubilee. It is believed to be the first time that a British monarch had attended a Cabinet meeting in peace-time since Queen Victoria's reign.
6. Bill and Ben, The Flower Pot Men, were first seen on BBC TV on this date in 1952, along with their friend, "Little Weed".
7. George and Kathleen Lutz bought a house on this date in 1975. The previous year, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, two brothers, and two sisters in the house. What happened to the Lutzes over the next few months were the basis for the film, The Amityville Horror.
8. In 1849, American astronomer William C. Bond took the first known photograph of the Moon through a Telescope.
9. In 1912, The Piltdown Man was discovered in Sussex by Charles Dawson. He claimed it was the remains of the earliest known European human being. In 1953, however, it was proved to be a hoax. The skull was that of an Orangutan.
10. In 2000, the towns of Brighton and Hove, Wolverhampton and Inverness were made cities in honour of the Millennium and the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

17 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 17 December:

1. This date in 1778 saw the birth of Sir Humphrey Davy, the scientist who discovered the effects of inhaling laughing gas. He also discovered Potassium, Sodium, barium, strontium, calcium and invented the safety lamp for miners.
2. In 1955, song writer Carl Perkins had a severe case of insomnia. He got up and wrote a song on a paper bag, which he recorded a couple of days later. The song was called Blue Suede Shoes.
3. In 1967, Harold Holt, 59, Prime Minister of Australia, went for a swim at Cheviot Beach, Victoria. He told his concerned friends not to worry: "I know this beach like the back of my hand." He swam out of view and was never seen again.
4. The first one way street was established in New York on this date in 1791.
5. It was on this date in 1903 that the Wright Brothers – Orville and Wilbur – achieved the first successful powered flight near Kitty Hawk. The longest of the four flights went 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds.
6. In 2018, tolls were scrapped for the Severn crossing bridges connecting England and South Wales, making travel across the River Severn free for the first time in 800 years.
7. In 1900, a prize of 100,00 francs was offered to anyone who could prove they'd communicated with extraterrestrials. Martians, however, were excluded, because apparently having a chat with our nearest neighbours was considered too easy.
8. 1849 Thomas and William Bowler, felt hatmakers, sold their first Bowler hat to William Coke at Lock’s of St James on this date in 1849. Coke wanted a hat to protect his head from overhanging branches when he was out shooting. To test the headgear, he put it on the floor and stamped on it – when he saw it was still intact, he was suitably impressed and coughed up 12 shillings (60p) for it.
9. The Aztec Sun Stone was discovered on this date in 1790 by workmen repairing Mexico City's Central Plaza. Believed to have been carved in 1479, the 25-ton round tablet was a highly developed Calendar made in honour of the sun.
10. In 1998, Li Jian Hua of Jiangshan, China, lifted a column of bricks weighing 7st 12lb hanging from a clamp attached to one of his ears, and held it for 9.3 seconds, making a record for the heaviest weight lifted by an ear.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

16 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 16 December:

1. Noel Coward, playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit and flamboyance was born on this date in 1899. His works include Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit. He said, "I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."
2. In 1775 Jane Austen, English novelist was born. Her works include Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion. She wrote, "One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other."
3. This date in 1770 saw the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist. Beethoven's hearing gradually deteriorated beginning in his twenties, yet he continued to compose, and to conduct and perform, even after he was completely deaf.
4. In 1950, Shirley Temple married Charles Black, socialite and business executive from San Francisco.
5. In 1929, the first all-talking feature film was made in Britain. Called The Clue Of The New Pin, it featured a young actor, John Gielgud, as the villain.
6. In 2005 a British television reality show called Space Cadets carried out the most expensive practical joke ever, which cost £4.5 million to pull off. 12 contestants were selected to compete to become the first British space tourists. They were told they would be training in Russia, but the plane they boarded flew around in circles for four hours before landing. The contestants were taken to an elaborate set in Suffolk where their training was filmed. The joke was revealed on this date when the three winners, Keri Hasset, Paul French and Billy Jackson, were shown a shot of the outside of the fake shuttle along with an audience including their friends and family. The three did get £25,000 prize money each, however, to soften the blow.
7. In 1971, Don McLean’s eight-minute-plus version of American Pie was released. It was one of the longest songs with some of the most confusing lyrics to ever hit the pop charts.
8. The highest wind speed ever measured – 236 mph – at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam as Typhoon Paka occurred on this date in 1997.
9. In 1987 Himalayan herdsmen were reported to have offered a £44 reward for help in catching thieves who cut off yaks’ tails for use as dusters or decorations and in religious ceremonies.
10. In 2015, a bank in Minnesota was robbed by the same person a second time while an Iowa television station was doing a live update on the first robbery.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

15 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 15 December:

1. This date in 1832 was the birth date of Alexander Gustave Eiffel, the French architect who designed the Eiffel Tower.
2. Jane Austen's Emma was published on this date in 1815, the day before her 40th birthday. In it she points out: "One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other."
3. In 1995, for the first time ever, the quiz show Fifteen to One ended in a tie, between Ian Mullen and Nick Peel.
4. In 1986, Carnegie Hall reopened after a $50 million refurbishment. Violinist Isaac Stern arrived in a horse-drawn carriage to cut the ribbon.
5. Trumpeter John Shaw invented the tuning fork on this date in 1711.
6. In 1997, the distance of the Moon from the Earth was measured by laser aimed at mirrors. The answer was 15,134,310,000 inches.
7. In 1997, a New York doctor was convicted of defrauding McDonalds after the rat tail he claimed to have found in a burger was revealed to be from one of his lab Rats.
8. The last entry in the log of three Lighthouse keepers on uninhabited Flannen Isles, off Western Scotland was made on this date. The entry suggested nothing out of the ordinary, but when the supply ship Hesperus arrived, 11 days later, for a routine drop off, the crew found that all three keepers had vanished. There was an overturned chair in the kitchen and the Clock had stopped. A search of the island revealed that a rock weighing more than a ton had been moved and 30ft of turf had been ripped from the top of a cliff. The keepers were never found.
9. In 1979, two 30-year-old Canadians, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, came up with the idea for a game called Trivial Pursuit. It was manufactured 1982 and sold 45 million copies worldwide in its first five years.
10. In 2010, the mummified remains of the head of King Henri IV of France were discovered in the garage of a French pensioner.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book

14 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 14 December:

1. This date in 1503 was the birth date of Nostradamus (Michel de Nostradame), French astrologer and physician who published a famous book of prophecies, Centuries, in 1555, written in the form of rhymed quatrains. Among his predictions were Franco causing civil war in Spain and an Austrian named "Hister" leading Germany in a great war against many other nations.
2. This date in 1895 was the birth date of George VI, King of the United Kingdom from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India and the last King of Ireland. As the second son of King George V, he wasn't expected to inherit the throne. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth (who succeeded him as Queen Elizabeth II) and Margaret.
3. British women (over 30) voted in a General Election for the first time on this date in 1918. The first woman elected to Parliament was Constance, the Countess Markievicz who won for Sinn Fein contesting a Dublin seat. She was unable to take her seat as she was in Holloway Prison, which is why Lady Astor is officially recognised as the first woman member in 1919.
4. The Motown record label was founded on this date in 1959. Artists who recorded for Mowtown included The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men and many others.
5. In 1977, Saturday Night Fever premièred in New York.
6. In 1911, the Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen became the first to reach the South Pole 35 days before Captain Scott.
7. In 2001 the results of some important research was announced at Delft University of Technology Holland. They'd been looking at how to get lids off jam jars. The best way to remove a tight lid from a jar, they concluded, was not to screw it on too tightly in the first place.
8. The first scheduled airliner disaster in aviation history occurred on this date in 1920 when an airliner with six passengers and two crew took off from Cricklewood Airport, London, for Paris. Barely airborne, the plane crashed into a house in nearby Golders Green, killing the crew and two of the passengers. The others escaped from the wreckage.
9. Modern-day imitation pearls were first manufactured by the Frenchman Jacquin, a rosary-bead maker, on this date in 1656. He coated the inside surface of a hollow glass bead with a mixture made of fish scales, and then filled the bead with wax.
10. In 1951, two journalists in Rome were fined for letting a seal swim in the Trevi Fountain.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

E-book