16 November 2010

16 November... You may not have thought there was anything particularly special about that particular date (unless your birthday happens to fall on that day, in which case you share it with the Roman emperor Tiberius, Oswald Mosley, Griff Rhys Jones, Frank Bruno and Danny Wallace) but you'd be wrong.

For a start, from 16 November there's only 45 days left until the end of the year. On this day in 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, Hessian mercenaries captures Fort Washington from the Patriots. On this day in 1857, twenty-four Victoria Crosses are awarded (the most in a single day) after the second relief of Lucknow. On this day in 1938, LSD was first synthesized by the Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. In 1940, during World War II, in response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg. In 1945, Operation Paperclip saw the United States Army secretly admit 88 German scientists and engineers to help in the development of rocket technology, on the very same day that UNESCO was founded.

But 16 November 2010 is going to be a special day as well. First off it's the day that the Solaris Books horror anthology The End of the Line is launched at Foyle's Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London...

and secondly because this is out the same day...