101 Things and other design adventures

TTD No. 101.1 24 - See a Space Shuttle Launch

2011-07-21T13:34:00.002Z

All good things come to an end and after 30 years the Space Shuttle program is finally grounded. I didn't get to see a Shuttle Launch and I think I'm going to regret that for the rest of my life but I'm happy in the knowledge that other 101ers did.

So Thing To Do No. 24 in the Before You Die is now defunct. 'See a Space Shuttle Launch' has now become 'See a Rocket Launch'. So for all of us who didn't get to see the space shuttle head for space, let's send up a our home made rockets in tribute and fill in the modified new spread here.

For all those people who saw a shuttle launch, we salute you.

101.1 Thing To Do No. 12 – ...Work into an Exhibition - Gocco Printing

2011-04-18T14:29:00.030Z

Here are my first successful Gocco prints that can be seen as part of the 2011: print odyssey exhibition at STEW Studios in Norwich.

My first attempt at a Gocco print was in the shape of the Superhero Assembly Point from the previous post but it didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, so following on from my Flock of Pigeons screen print, here is my set of Rock Pigeons.

Gocco printing is a scaled down self-contained version of screen printing from Japan. For a tutorial on Gocco printing, click here.

I've been slowly turning my cellar into an underground studio and gocco secret lair and as of today it is fully operational, which is handy as the photographer David Drake is due to pay me a visit tomorrow to catch me at work as part of his upcoming exhibtion at the Rumsey Wells, which features past exhibitors from previous exhibitions at the Rumsey Wells. Confusing? Just a little ...

Anyway, I hope you like the prints.

Right, I'm off to test my new secret lair ...

101.1 Thing To Do No. 12 – Get a piece of work into an exhibition

2011-03-07T22:17:00.001Z

I Like Pigeons Because You Don't • Superhero Assembly Point B • Jackpot

Five of us formed a printmaking group called the Mesh Collective earlier this year (see previous post) and things moved very fast. We were given a chance to exhibit at the Rumsey Wells at short notice, with three pieces of work to produce each, It was all a bit of a rush but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

The first brief we set ourselves was to create a gig poster. Two of our members are friends with up and coming bands and they'd already produced posters to sell at their gigs but, for me, I needed to produce a poster from scratch and settled on a gig that never happened: The Velvet Underground and Nico – Live from Las Vegas. the chance to make Andy Warhol's banana as a fruit machine jackpot was too good to pass up.

My other posters could be of anything. I could have display my older screen prints of illustrations taken from the A is for Armageddon book that I'd already printed but I wanted to created something new so I decided to do something with pigeons and settled upon the pest fest you see above.

Finally, I love infographics so I created a screen print based on my Superhero Assembly Point illustration previously seen in the 101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius book.

Between the five of us, we created fifteen pieces of work and hung them on the morning of the exhibition. On the night we hung the Superhero assembly point print between two of the largest prints on display to see if our visitors would realise that the sign was part of the exhibition, and as we're all so used to this kind of signage most people missed it. A compliment in one way that I got the design spot on but bad when it comes to sales ... oh well.

On the whole the launch night was a great success and a couple of bands that featured in the gig posters within the exhibition, Hello Bear and the Olympians, played our very intimate party too, and the icing on the cake was a that some of the collectives work was sold on the night and we also featured in the local paper, a great advert for the event. To see the newspaper article and the mesh collective blog click here. All our prints are for sale and we'll add a link to a shop soon so you can see all our work. In the meantime if you're interested the prints above then email thingstodobook@gmail.com

101.2 Thing To Do No. 61 - Join a Club

2011-03-04T14:08:00.000Z

In the Autumn of 2009, after many years at a computer screen, I returned to screen printing, a technique I hadn't used since Art College, and loved it. But a move to Norwich from London put an end to my screen printing hobby as there wasn't a studio that I could find so I could carry on where I'd left off.

Luckily, in October 2010 Stew Studios opened it's doors to (Nor)folk like me, and I was back in business. After a couple of months of printing this and that with no real direction, Jo Stafford and Vicki Johnson, the founders of the studios ask me if I wanted to join them and two other guys, Tim Wall and Daryl Williams in a kind of screen printing club, where we meet up and create a new brief every month and print them (the first brief was to create a band poster).

Jo and Vicki have made great connections in the area through there screen printing and through Stew Studios, so even before we'd put ink to squeegee the exhibitions started racking up. The first exhibtation came from Luke at the Rumsey Wells, who had a space in the exhibition diary for the month of March, and the Mesh Collective, as we have called ourselves, were slotted in at very short notice.

So with just two weeks to print three pieces of work each, last night we completed 101.1 Thing To Do No. 12 – Get a piece of work into an exhibition. (post to follow).

Things You've Done ... No. 4

2011-02-14T10:23:00.005Z

Things You've Done No. 50 - Write Your Name over a Star on the Walk of Fame ...

I visited the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the mid 90's long before I thought of the 101 Things book. I sat next to the 'Little Richard' star for the obligatory photograph. But it was only years later when compiling the book that i realised that I should've added 'Horne' in chalk.

I discovered this on photo on Flickr and I'm not sure if it's real or photoshop trickery but it's the only example of Thing To Do No. 50 that I've seen so far ...

Things You've Done No. 50 – Write Your Name over a Star on the Walk of Fame

Things You've Done ... No. 3

2011-02-07T10:00:00.001Z

Things You've Done No. 24 - See a Space Shuttle Launch ...

I doubt I will ever see a space shuttle launch as the shuttle program is coming to an end but I am SO pleased that the book has inspired others to see a space shuttle launch. Click the link to see Gina Lewis and family's second successful attempt to complete ...

Things You've Done No. 24 – See a Space Shuttle Launch

Things You've Done ... No. 2

2011-01-12T11:00:00.000Z

Here's a Thing You've Done from the Old and Boring book:
Things You've Done No. 18 - Win Something ...

Daniel Berglund from Sweden has loads of great posts on his blog about attempting the Things To Do in the 101 books and I picked this entry out as it's so brilliant that he won something and something that he really wanted.

I'll probably come back to Daniel at a later date as there are some other brilliant entries on his blog that are worth sharing, but for now ... Congratulations Daniel!

Things You've Done No. 18 – Win Something

The Illustrated Comic Strip and Norwich Magazine

2011-01-07T12:54:00.000Z

When I first moved to Norwich I thought It'd be great to land a local design or illustration job and a few months after I moved here a great new independent magazine surfaced.

I planned to get in contact with them and see if they needed anything illustrating and then I saw an appeal for a comic strip. As soon as I saw this, I knew what I wanted to do.

Ever since I arrived in Norwich I keep seeing great newspaper headlines and I started to photograph them. I've gathered together quite a collection so I started posting them on facebook for my friends but then I saw the call for a comic strip and The Illustrated News Comic Strip was born.

I created three samples from some of my favourite headlines that I'd seen and sent them in. A few weeks went by and then the bad news ... they really liked my idea but they went with someone else. It was a bit of a blow but they suggest that I put my comic strip on my site – so here it is ... The Illustrated News Comic Strip No. 1

I'm planning to release one every week hopefully, at least I've got the first three under my belt. If you see any funny headlines that you think could undergo the Illustrated News treatment then take a photo and email them via the contact link at www.elhorno.co.uk and don't forget to put your name and the name of the newspaper it was taken from and i'll give you a mention.

The End ... and a New Beginning

2010-12-31T10:55:00.000Z

Another year over in the blink of an eye and a time to make a yearly to do list of resolutions that may, or may not, be fulfilled.

I don't usually make new years resolutions as the Things on my Personal/Domestic Things To Do list are ongoing and usually roll-overs from previous lists from one year to the next, but this year I'm going to make one. I need to write more blog posts.

I have many things I want to post about but I find it difficult to pencil in time to add blog posts. Why is that? I work on my computer all day so it should be easy, mind you i'm also on twitter and I hardly post to this too, so I think I need to alter my thinking and take time to pencil in time for the blog.

Ideally I'd try and post at least twice a week but let's aim for once a week and see how we go. I have a new fun project that I will need your help for that I've been meaning to do but more on this next week (hopefully) plus I have many things that I plan to upload including the 'Things You've Done' posts which I started a month or so ago but I didn't follow up - I know what and who I'd like to post about.

As for 2010, it's been a great year. After moving away from London to a new city where we didn't know anyone, 2010 has been a year of huge change, and definitely for the better.

The first half was taken up with the design and illustration of the latest 101 book, 101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius and then a week later my wife and I completed 101.1 TTD No. 101 - Continue Your Gene Pool with the birth of Marlie. The rest of the year was adjusting to a working from home/family life balance and with the odd design and illustration job here and there and thinking about 'What Next?' I thought the year was going to fizzle out workwise ... but December has been pretty wonderful.

One thing I hoped that would happen this year was to land a local design/illustration project - and with the year almost up I was awarded the cover of issue 3 of an up and coming magazine. The illustration took a week to do and I'll post the cover to the site after publication in January. They, and I were very pleased with the final piece.

And lastly, A is for ... Awesome. At the end of 2009 my A is for Armageddon book was published in the UK (another post I want to write is why I wrote a book about the end of the world - but let's leave that for next year) and after one great review, the book disappeared into the bookshelves of oblivion.

The book didn't do as well as I hoped in the UK, maybe it was bad timing (by this time the economy was in freefall and the world was changing) or maybe it was due to other factors, publishing is like gambling, you just never know what will catch the public's imagination. So for a year, the Armageddon book has felt like the unloved half-brother to the 101 books.

But luckily things change and on December 21st 2010 the book was published in the US and the best Christmas present I've had this year have been the great reviews and praise for this previously obscure book of mine.

As for 2011, the question 'What next?' is still out there but I have an idea for a new project ... three in fact, and my perpetual list of Domestic Things To Do grows ever bigger from year to year and, one day, these things will get done (if only time would stand still for a bit).

So the day before I'm due to tackle my New Years resolution, I've got ahead of myself with the longest blog post I've written so far, but I'm not getting carried away, let's take it one post at a time ...

Have a wonderful 2011 and I hope you manage to tick everything off your Things To Do list

101.1 TTD No. 49 - See a Lunar Eclipse ...

2010-12-20T18:04:00.000Z

I nearly missed this one. A lunar eclipse tonight, and for once there are clear skies above me!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20026147-17.html

I hope you see it. Good luck and wrap up warm!

A 101 Things To Do Mistake?

2010-12-14T11:49:00.001Z

Dear 101 Things To Do

I just wanted to notify you of a mistake in your book "101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius. The mistake I noticed is in relation to form 29 question 4. The answer given in the back of the book is number 2 but is quite clearly number 3.

As an evil genius I found it prudent to notify you of this mistake and will shortly send my army of ninjas to your office.

Thank you

Tobias Blake

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear Tobias

Congratulations. You have passed the test. You are correct that the answer is 'quite clearly number 3'.

The boffins at Bloomsbury Towers have already put the wheels into motion and the 'error' has been corrected for the second edition of the book.

Please call off your ninjas as they won't stand a chance against our army of 101 killlerbots.

Yours

El Horno and The Scribbler aka Richard Horne and Helen Szirtes

A is for Armageddon US Version

2010-12-01T17:34:00.000Z

I've just received finished copies of the US edition of my A is for Armageddon book (on the right hand side of the photo)

The US edition is published on December 21st 2010, which coincidentally is exactly two years to the day before some naysayers believe that the world will end - thanks to the now extinct Mayan civilisation and their calendar of doom. So read the book while you still can!

You can buy your copy via the A is for Armageddon website. I hope you like it just don't have nightmares!

Things You've Done Before You Die

2010-11-10T12:09:00.002Z

After looking over some of the blogs associated with the 101 books I've decided to see if I can recreate the 101 Things To Do Before You Die book using links to blogs that feature completed or attempted Things To Do as some of entries are too good not to share in a Your Things Done compendium ...

So I think I'll start with Things You've Done No. 57 - See the All-Time Greatest Films reviewed by the Mighty Ginge. I love this entry. If you need proof the Mighty Ginge has seen them all just read his descriptions of each film such as:
An American Werewolf in London (1981) – American tourists act like jackasses by ignoring local advice, get mauled by a werewolf – my favourite kind of fable. Jenny Agutter causes a werewolf-like transformation in my pants.

Jules et Jim (1962) – I’m not kidding; if I ever have to watch another French film noir I’m going to go on a violent rampage with a burnt baguette.

Utterly Brilliant. See the entire list here: http://www.themightyginge.com/blog/2010/06/28/all-time-greatest-films/

101.1 TTD No. 24 - See the Space Shuttle Launch

2010-11-05T11:37:00.000Z

It's your last chance to see Discovery fly today as she sets sail latter today on her last mission. Atlantis and Endeavour are pencilled in to fly in 2011. Follow the mission here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Spot the difference ...

2010-11-01T09:18:00.005Z

As promised here is the final cover for the US version of 101 ~~Things To Do~~ Ways to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius. Can you spot the difference?

101 Ways to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius is published in the US on 12 April 2011

101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius OUT TODAY!

2010-10-04T08:52:00.006Z

Are you Super or just plain Evil? Find out with 101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius which is published today in the UK.

Learn to Groom Your Dark Side, Identify Your Nemesis, Train Your Superpet, Gather Your Superteam, along with 97 other Super (or Evil) Things To Do.
You can start your 101 mission by Discovering Your Alter Ego (Thing To Do No. 1) on the 101 Website here. Good luck and keep watching the skies!

Jackets and Re-jackets

2010-09-17T09:22:00.002Z

Very strange this. I was poised to write an entry about book covers and upload the US cover of the 101 Superhero book (which has gone through many incarnations) when my editor rang with changes to the US cover even though the cover was signed off over three months ago.

Why she picked that exact moment to ring was surreal. I shall start my investigations into how my editor knew to ring at that precise moment, maybe she's already mastered Telepathy (TTD No. 92) ... if so, I'll need to keep her on my side. She is already a part of my Superteam (TTD No. 99), but there is always a fear she could become my Nemesis (TTD No. 31) with this kind of power ...

So in the meantime, the blog entry has been postponed for now, until yet another jacket has been agreed on ...

So What's Next?

2010-09-06T16:25:00.007Z

Way back in April, I handed over the final files for the latest 101 book, 101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius. As I handed the files over I was hit with the eternal question 'What next?' from my editor ...

This is a question I like and dislike in equal measure. I like it for the fact that the publishers have confidence in me and when I have another idea for a book lined up ... but when you don't have the makings of a new idea it's a really hard question to answer ...

So, what is next?

It's tricky as not all ideas translate into good books: I do have some great ideas in my head but that's where they'll have to stay ... and the trouble is I've been hit with the same question by three different publishers so let's just say ... 1. I'm working on it ... 2. I'll think of something ... 3. Monkey Tennis?

When I'm struggling for ideas I always think of this from Alan Partridge ... (in 2 parts)

Part 1 ...

... and Part 2

101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius has arrived

2010-07-30T14:34:00.002Z

A finished copy of the 101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius book has just landed on the door mat!

Helen and I are very happy with it, we hope you will be too ...

In all good bookshops and some evil ones from 4th October 2010

101.1 Korean Change - Create an Alter Ego

2010-07-29T15:07:00.008Z

I'm surprised this hasn't happened before ...

101 Things To Do Before You Die has been printed into approximately 15 languages and only once has a foreign publisher asked me to change a Thing To Do.

My Korean publisher asked me to create a new Thing To Do to replace one that wouldn't be suitable for Korean readers so I devised Create an Alter Ego. The illustration is based on three of my favourite Twitterers: big_ben_clock, common_squirrel and feral_pigeon.

What follows is an extract from the new Thing To Do but you can download the entire spread including form here

Create an Alter Ego
Authors, actors, comedians and musicians adopt them, impersonators become them, people are imprisoned because they have them, while superheroes and evil geniuses save the world or destroy the earth with theirs. Create an alter ego for all those times you wished you could be someone or something else.

Two True?

Choose a pen or stage name to represent your creative alter ego. A great name could be the key to your success. (see Pen & Stage Names)

Immerse yourself in the virtual world of internet games such as Second Life, Final Fantasy or World of Warcraft. Create the persona you’ve always desired with the avatar of your dreams.

Create an alter ego on a social networking website. Let your imagination run riot. You can be anything ... you don’t even have to be human. Check out some of these alter egos on Twitter: HolyGod, big_ben_clock, DianaInHeaven, darthvader, common_squirrel and feral_pigeon.

101.1 TTD No. 48 - ... World Cup

2010-06-07T17:22:00.015Z

The Fifa World Cup is the biggest team event in the world and it starts today!

In the original 101 Things To Do Before You Die published in 2004, one of the Things To Do was Be Present When Your Team Wins the World Cup, now a lot of people quite rightly pointed out that this was pretty unrealistic. So in a later edition of the book this Thing To Do was revised. It is now called:

101.1 TTD No. 48 - Be Present When Your Country Wins the World Cup (or Another Major Trophy).

The form can now be tweaked for any sport PLUS I've added an extra box in the corner of the form for those fans who weren't lucky enough to get into the stadium (or for the average sports couch potato).

As I didn't make it to South Africa for the World Cup this time I'm hoping to fill this box in with England's name in a month's time – Come on England!

Click here for this and more Updates for the 101 books via the Things To Do Website. Good Luck to all the teams in the World Cup.

101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius

2010-05-28T11:52:00.007Z

The proofs are in for the Superhero/Evil Genius book. Here's a sneak preview. Some of the categories for the new book include: Identity, Special Powers, Super-Heroic & Super-Villainous in which we'll help you Train Your Superpet, Assemble Your Superteam, Get a Villainous Chair, Discover Your Alter Ego and even Take Flight! (sort of ...)

101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero ... or Evil Genius is published on 4th October 2010

101.1 TTD No. 75 - Get a Tattoo and/or Piercing

2010-05-25T09:36:00.012Z

A few years ago I blogged about tattoos when I discovered that someone in the USA had tattoo'd one of my illustrations onto his body (see it here) but two years later I still haven't decided on what tattoo to have.

The problem I face is that, being a designer and illustrator (and an annoying perfectionist), I plan to design it myself, but I cannot decide what it should be of, how big, what colour, etc ... and when I eventually rock up to the tattooists and ask them to copy the tattoo I've designed EXACTLY as I've designed it, then I expect they'll either add their own quirks and trademarks or they'll add spelling 'mistakes' or go over the lines due to the lack of creative freedom I've given them.

In the meantime, at the end of last week I received a package in the post that contained a handful of temporary tattoos of the winged logo I designed for Harper Voyager at the end of last year (see the previous post below).

Temporary Tattoos are great — rebellion on a very small scale with a limited time span. So I wore one for a few days to get a feel of it and when the rest of the extended family turned up to visit, I branded the entire family with tattoos too. So for a few days in May the extended Horne family, from the ages of 2 to 71 , were temporarily labeled property of Harper Voyager.

101.1 TTD No. 92 - Publish a Cult Website

2010-05-21T10:58:00.007Z

You can now find 101 Things on Twitter and Facebook ...

For Twitter you can find us here - @101ThingsToDo

and for Facebook type in '101ThingsToDo' (without spaces) in the search box and look for the 101 Things To Do Before You Die Logo. I've sent up a page where you can discuss the 101 series ...

See you there!

101.1 TTD No. 57 – See the All-time Greatest Films

2010-05-14T09:20:00.009Z

We hired an electrician to carry out some work on the house son after we moved in, while we were in my office he said 'Who's the Star Wars fan then?' – I knew that he knew full well that I was the fan. He then told me he'd never seen Star Wars, which was an even bigger surprise to me especially as he has three kids. If I'd had this YouTube clip at the time, he could have gone away with more of an idea of what all the fuss is about ... then again, maybe not ...

Sent to me via @101froots on Twitter

101.1 TTD No. 101 - Continue Your Gene Pool

2010-05-08T16:26:00.015Z

Well I guess it had to happen sometime, who else were we going to pass down the 101 Things To Do Empire down too?

Marlie Florence Szirtes Horne was born on Friday morning after three days of fun and games. While the whole country was mobilised to vote, from beyond the womb, our unborn baby revoked our voting rights as we were unable to attend the polling station ... although it's very apt that we went into Labour on polling day.

Words and pictures

We've had some lovely messages from friends and family, here are a couple of my favourites via my @101ThingsToDo Twitter account:

@froots101: 'At least one person in Britain made a decisive move for change this morning'

@writingstudio: 'Congratulations! You are now old and boring!'

I don't plan to bombard this blog with baby photos but I guess you might like to see at least one. As for words I'll leave you with the elegant words of a fellow Blogger, The TS Eliot Prize winning poet and proud first time granddad - George Szirtes ...

'...we finally got to see the new grand-daughter, now named, but name under wraps until all family informed. I forgot how small a two-day baby is. She looks (even at original weight 8lb 2oz) almost irresponsibly tiny. You have no business being that small, I want to say. Nobody has. And swaddled, you look are very like a doll, except you move: your eyes flick this away and that way without actually seeing very much, your mouth grins and pouts a little, your nose wrinkles and you move your head from side to side. Beneath the swaddling your legs are kicking. You are on the point of crying, then you do cry, maybe only because air is passing through you, or your digestive system is doing something still unfamiliar. So we stroke your cheeks and brows and you slowly quieten and close the blue eyes, which are only blue because all babies' eyes are.

What a piece of work is a baby! How human she is already and how quick to learn! Those brain cells must be multiplying like rabbits!

I am working on something for you, something serious I hope but, because I now have your name and know that your first two given names have fourteen letters precisely, you shall also have an acrostic sonnet, as light and pretty as I can make it like a small cheap home-made jewel that really glitters when you hold it up to the light, and you know it's just a cheap toy, but understand, some time at least, that poetry should be prepared to make such toys out of its love of language and occasion and that this too will be made out of love because you are the occasion.'

Once written, I'll post Georges sonnet too.

Taken from: http://georgeszirtes.blogspot.com/

The 101 Superhero Cover is in ...

2010-04-28T07:53:00.004Z

... but can you spot the printer error?

Handy Hint: Look to the spine for the answer ...

101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero or Evil Genius

2010-04-20T14:33:00.006Z

... is finally finished! Many months of hard work has finally come to an end. Here is a sneak preview of our Superhero/Evil Genius statistics at the end of the book. Right, I'm off for a beer ...

101.1 TTD No. 67 - Visit ...

2010-04-16T06:54:00.004Z

I love it when a Things To Do plan comes together ...

Here is a message from Thing To Doer Jessica Meadows ...

Just thought you'd like to know that your 101 Things to Do Before You Die book is "bringing people together." Miranda and I met while I was in San Francisco on a 10 hour layover. We both blogged about it. Just FYI!

http://101thingsbeforeyoudie.com/2010/04/11/thing-to-do-67-visit-the-golden-gate-bridge/

and here's Miranda's blog post too: http://www.listof101.blogspot.com/

I love the fact that the book brought you together. I never imagined that it would but I'm so pleased it has ...

101.1 TTD No. 35 - Play a Part in your Favourite TV or Radio Show

2010-03-30T18:05:00.012Z

Thanks to Lauren Laverne and BBC 6 Music I completed Thing To Do No. 35 (Play a Part in your Favourite TV or Radio Show) from the 101 Things To Do Before You Die yesterday when Lauren serenaded Professor Brian Cox with a little poem I wrote for the A is for Armageddon book.

Even though I've left London behind for Norwich, familiar voices and names keep floating out the radio ...

The other day I woke to hear a familiar voice of my friend Colin, my WWF friend (the panda hugging type not the wrestling animals type) who helped me with the facts in the Armageddon book. He was talking on the Today programme about species extinction, save the Tuna and that.

Scroll down to link at 0848 to hear him ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8584000/8584377.stm

Then as the day went on I heard some other names float out of the radio via Lauren Laverne's show. She mentioned Leigh and Katy. Lauren was creating a picture gallery of Indie Easter Eggs and Leigh sent in these two great photos worth it for Katy's expression alone - Pics 24 & 25 below ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/lauren_laverne/galleries/5798/24/#gallery5798

So after hearing this lot on the radio I decided to get a piece of the radio action too. I'll let the video speak for itself ... hope you like it ...

Hope you like it!

Happy Birthday Harper Voyager

2010-03-23T19:33:00.005Z

Harper Voyager is 15 years old this year and to celebrate it Ben North at Harper Collins commissioned me to design a logo for their anniversary year ... Here's the final logo. Hope you like it! Great comments so far ...

‘I really like the new proof look. Color, logo and all.’

‘I really like the simple style… very aesthetically pleasing :)’

‘I love the New 15 Logo & the colours are gorgeous’

‘I'm the lucky owner of V15 Editions of Under Heaven and For the Win. :-) Stunning work, these are beautiful!’

‘Love the new colour and look!’

‘the new logo is really good. It really stands out’

‘i think it looks really good, i was impressed with logo and colours’

This weeks 101 Suggestions ...

2010-03-22T16:52:00.002Z

Things To Do suggestions don't usually feature on the blog as we usually upload the new suggestions, that we receive via the website, every Monday. But not this week. I'm currently drowning under my huge workload (the latest 101 book about Superheres and villains) and I forgot that my web guru at Bloomsbury has gone away for a few weeks and can't upload the suggest and since I cocked up I thought I'd list this weeks suggestions here for the time being. We'll upload them to their rightful place when gets back on April 6th:

KIDS 101 Things To Do Suggestions

Blooms1112 (Phil):
Kiss your boyfriend

Katie and Neve (England) :
Make a tent and turn it in to something really cool.

Amber (England) :
Own a farm, Learn another language, hold a spider without screaming, Swim with dolphins or Go to Singapore!!

Bethy ***** (England) :
Wow what can i Say I LOVE 101
GO 101

- - - - -

ADULT 101 Things To Do Suggestions

Manos (Greece):
Read The Celestine Prophecy, The Tenth Insight and The Eleventh Insight - The Secret of Shambala, then decide again what you want to do with your life; accept all warm-hearted invitations offered to you without criticism and see where your life takes you

Go 101!
Thanks Bethy and all our other contributors

101.2 TTD No. 37 - Write Lyrics for a Song - Part 2

2010-03-13T10:55:00.004Z

If you thought the previous post was good then take a look at this stripped down version - it's as funny as the original!

Watch previous post first though ...

101.2 TTD No. 37 - Write Lyrics for a Song - Part 1

2010-03-11T21:04:00.005Z

I don't think this qualifies as lyrics but if you ever get down, turn to this chap ...

New Asteroids Found (A is for Armageddon)

2010-03-09T08:27:00.010Z

Dark Asteroids have been found near Earth. Look to the skies ... read the New Scientist article

WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?
In the next twenty-five years we’re on an asteroid hit list. Look to the skies!

WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR?
A large flaming object in the sky that isn’t usually there and isn’t the Sun in a different position.

WHEN SHOULD I START TO PANIC?
Soon. Keep the pets indoors, it’s almost fireworks night.

POSSIBILITY IT WILL HAPPEN?
0–100%. Depends how good its aim is.

WHAT SHOULD I DO NEXT?
Have a video camera ready to capture any space rocks that breach the Earth’s atmosphere. If it doesn’t wipe us out then you’ve got great YouTube footage.*

Illustration and text taken from A is for Armageddon - Out Now!
Click here for the A is for Armageddon website

* Search for ‘Swedish meteor (17.01.2009)’ for inspiration

101 TTD Extra: Make an Official Complaint - Extra

2010-03-01T10:40:00.005Z

Here is the reply to my complaint from Auntie Beeb (My official complaint is in the previous post below). The reply was so swift I can only guess it's a standard reply. :

Thanks for your e-mail regarding BBC 6 Music.

Last summer, the BBC Trust challenged the BBC to develop a new strategy to meet the opportunities and the threats of the rapidly changing media landscape.

Although the details have yet to be agreed – meaning media speculation is therefore premature – the BBC expects to present its proposals to the BBC Trust in the near future.

At the core of the strategy will be a renewed commitment to serving the British public with programmes and services of the highest quality. Audiences admire and value the BBC's digital services and the BBC will remain fully committed to online and to digital television and radio.

But the new strategy will lay out ways of focusing and concentrating licence fee investment on areas and services which are distinctive and best fulfil the BBC's public purposes, which meet the expectations of licence-payers but also leave plenty of space for commercial media providers.

Chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, has also issued a statement about the ongoing BBC Strategy Review which can be found on the BBC Trust's website at www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/february/strategy_statement.shtml.

However, we would like to assure you that we've registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

Regards

BBC Complaints

101 TTD Extra: Make an Official Complaint

2010-03-01T10:03:00.003Z

Not everything in life goes your way and sometimes you've got to do something about it. The BBC have announced the possible closure of 6 music, a station that keeps me sane while I work on the 101 books, so I've made an official complaint to the BBC ...

I would like to complain about the proposed closure of 6 music.

6 music is a unique radio station that champions the individuality of its presenters and their music tastes. The station opens up new music to its listeners while introducing little known tunes that challenge the mainstream dross. No other radio station provides such a varied and interesting platform for quality leftfield music.

I believe this is the BBC at its best, when it has shown itself to have thought outside the box and has produced something really worth fighting for. It would be an absolute tragedy if the station were to close.

If you're equally enraged you can also complain here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/homepage/

101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero or Evil Genius

2010-02-17T10:48:00.005Z

First there was 101 Things To Do ... then there was 202 with Old & Boring ... and now after 5 books there's 505 Things To Do.

Helen Szirtes and I are currently working on 101 Things To Do to Become a Superhero or Evil Genius to be published in the Autumn.

There are Things to Do in the book to encourage your untapped super powers and there are also hints on how to become truly villiainous ...

Here's the cover ... hope you like it.

101 Days Later ...

2010-01-31T16:51:00.001Z

Surprisingly, and this wasn't planned, it's 101 days since I last made a decent post (Oct 22). OK, I promise to update you in February ...

All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... All work and no blogging makes Rich a dull boy ... etc ...

101.1 TTD No. 12 Get a Piece of Art into an Exhibition

2009-10-22T10:13:00.007Z

Getting a piece of art into an exhibition is something I've been planning to do for the last 15 years, ever since my final University exhibition (a necessity to pass the course rather than an achievement). But as I'm usually tied to the computer these days I could never find the time to produce other artwork ... until now!

After finally managing to finish the A is for Armageddon book, I decided to take up screen printing. I'd only ever done a three week session of screen printing at art college but it was something I always wanted to go back too.

So I picked my favourite illustrations from the A book and altered them to make them more SP friendly. After about a month in the studio space, a sign appeared saying that artists could display up to three new pieces as part of the Deptford X art exhibition. Perfect timing! So three prints of my prints: Moon, Extinction and Food Chain Collapse currently grace the walls of the ART HUB studio.

AND soon you'll be able to buy them. I'm planning to sell them via the A is for Armageddon website very soon. I've done a limited run of four illustrations so far, the three prints mentioned above and Sun (See the A book for more details)

I'll let you know when they're available to buy as soon as the shop part of the wesite is up and running ...

The Cosmic Calendar 7

2009-10-09T06:00:00.001Z

The history of the universe can be expressed as a calendar. If the Big Bang occurs on the very first second of 1 January and present day is represented as midnight on 31 December.

9 October: OLDEST KNOWN FOSSILS

Next event for your cosmic calendar: 12 November

Taken from 101 Things You Need To Know ... and Some You Don't!

101.1 TTD No. 9 Learn That Instrument

2009-10-02T08:04:00.003Z

The music to the title sequence of Stanley Kubrick's "A Space Odyessey" as played by a local school orchestra, the Portsmouth Sinfonia.

Kubrick must be turning in his grave

The Cosmic Calendar 6

2009-10-02T07:00:00.000Z

The history of the universe can be expressed as a calendar. If the Big Bang occurs on the very first second of 1 January and present day is represented as midnight on 31 December.

2 October: OLDEST KNOWN ROCKS FORMED

Next event for your cosmic calendar: 9 October

Taken from 101 Things You Need To Know ... and Some You Don't!

The Cosmic Calendar 5

2009-09-25T16:29:00.000Z

The history of the universe can be expressed as a calendar. If the Big Bang occurs on the very first second of 1 January and present day is represented as midnight on 31 December.

25 September: LIFE ON EARTH

Next event for your cosmic calendar: 2 October

Taken from 101 Things You Need To Know ... and Some You Don't!

Five Years Old Today

2009-09-20T09:06:00.009Z

101 Things To Do Before You Die is five years old today.

It was published in the UK on 20th September 2004 and ever since it has helped many people around the world to do all sorts of things they never knew they wanted to do.

Click the blogs below to discover some 101'ers including: Winners of Prizes, Flash Mobbers, Space Shuttle chasers, Skinny-dippers, Big dippers, Big spenders, Millionaires, Exhibitionists, Bungy Jumpers and much more besides ...

Keep up the good work guys and gals ...

Daniel Berglund, Sweden (Before You Die & Old and Boring)

Gina Lewis, USA (Before You Die)

Joshua Shronce, USA (Before You Die)

Richard Adams UK (Before You Die)

Andrea Smith (Before You Die)

Walker Sexton USA (Before You Die)

Jessica Meadows, USA (Before You Die)

Edith Allison, USA (Before You Die)

Suzie W, USA (Before You Die)

Christophe Oberle, France (Before You Die)

Matt Rose, UK (101 in 365) (Before You
Die)

Ryan (Before You Die)

Pablo Baez (Before You Die)

Albert Tay

Before 40

Another case of Mistaken Identity ...

2009-09-18T16:42:00.003Z

I found this wonderful case of mistaken identity on a Japanese website for the 101 Things To Do Before You Die book:

Richard Horne (born 16th July, 1982 in Kingston upon Hull) is a professional Rugby league player with Hull FC. His preferred position is scrum half.

Horne has been playing for Hull since he was 16 years old. He has also played for Great Britain and Scotland. He recently created a try scoring record by scoring 13 tries in a row.

http://www.tushucheng.com/book/2274403.html

The Cosmic Calendar 4

2009-09-14T08:00:00.001Z

The history of the universe can be expressed as a calendar. If the Big Bang occurs on the very first second of 1 January and present day is represented as midnight on 31 December.

9 September: THE EARTH IS FORMED

Next event for your cosmic calendar: 25 September

Taken from 101 Things You Need To Know ... and Some You Don't!

101.1 TTD No. 72 Have Enough Money To Do All the Things on the List

2009-09-10T08:53:00.003Z

Well Derren Brown has amazed us all again by predicting last nights lottery numbers before they happen, click the link to see the video:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212370/How-did-THAT-Derren-Brown-predicts-winning-lottery-numbers--hell-reveal-method-Friday.html

Now all we have have to do is learn from the master, then we can do all the Things on the list with ease ...

09.09.09 - DOOMMONGERS OF THE WORLD TAKE NOTE!

2009-09-10T07:41:00.006Z

Neat dates do not signal the end of the world!

The Millennium came and went and nothing happened ... The 6th June 2006 (06.06.06) came and went and nothing happened ... and yesterday, 09.09.09, came and went and nothing happened. Countless other neats dates have been and gone and nothing ever happens ...

On the 7th of August 2009, just after noon, the numbers in the time and date lined up to list the numbers from 1-9 in a row:

12h 34m 56s - 7th August 2009.

Surprisingly, no one mentioned the end of the world on that day as everyone thought that the numbers lining up just looked cool, but 9.9.9 is a different matter - as it looks a bit like 6.6.6 but the other way up ... and remember what happened on the 6th June 2006 ... er ... that's right ... nothing. If the world was going to end it'd be either on the devils day, 6.6.6 which it didn't, or on a totally unrelated random day.

06.06.06 looks neat, so does 09.09.09 and as you've probably noticed ... we're all still here.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6161137/9909-Will-the-world-end-today.html

The Cosmic Calendar 3

2009-09-09T06:00:00.001Z

The history of the universe can be expressed as a calendar. If the Big Bang occurs on the very first second of 1 January and present day is represented as midnight on 31 December.

9 September: THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS FORMED

Next event for your cosmic calendar: 14 September

Taken from 101 Things You Need To Know ... and Some You Don't!

It's the End of the World as We Know It!

2009-09-03T07:03:00.005Z

A is for Armageddon is out today! Visit the website to Buy the Book and to uncover your doom rating ... are you a Fantasist, Optimist, Realist, Pessimist or a Doommonger ...

www.aisforarmageddon.co.uk

Ten ways that technology could kill us all - Times online

2009-09-02T21:37:00.004Z

The TimesOnline has featured ten technologically killer situations from
A is for Armageddon, which is published tomorrow ...

Click here to read the extracts from the book...

First A is for Armageddon review!

2009-08-30T09:27:00.005Z

30 Aug 2009
Independent on Sunday

An early contender for the perfect anti-Christmas present comes in the form of A is for Armageddon. This cheery tome catalogues in wittily illustrated and scarily accurate detail the different ways in which we're all going to die – everything from pandemic to food-chain collapse to asteroid attack. Buy now: the end of the world is nigh, you know... Lisa Markwell

£14.99, Square Peg

Read it here

Five Days to go ...

2009-08-29T09:29:00.000Z

A is for Armageddon Website

2009-08-25T08:27:00.003Z

I'm currently working on the Armageddon website. Hopefully I'll have it up and running by the time the book is published next week (Thurs 3rd Sept)

Keep calm and carry on ...

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (6) More Unusal Elements

2009-08-10T13:39:00.003Z

I've been meaning to upload this post for ages and since we've finally got the wedding photos back it's spurred me on to finish the wedding posts.

When the guests arrived at the wedding venue they were each presented with a badge that, during the ceremony and drinks reception, served as a name tag, whereas at dinner, it served a different purpose.

We based the wedding on colour and being a designer I based the badges and place names on the Pantone colour chart and for a bonus at no extra cost we searched the internet for official paint shade names and tried to match our guests up with these names. HSz and I had real fun with this, some of the paint names are hilarious.

Dulux and Crown paints actually have colours called Banana Dream, Party Surprise, Bongo Jazz and Volcanic Splash amongst many other very funny names. Well, we thought they were, lets hope the guests did too ...

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (7) Pre-ceremony

2009-08-08T21:33:00.007Z

Organising the wedding wasn't as stressful as friends and family had said it would be, this could be because we took over a year on and off to plan it ... or it may be down to the fact that we liked almost all of each others suggestions.

When it came to the ceremony I really wanted to lever some film music in and we agreed to play the movie tunes as part of the pre-ceremony, so as the guests gathered, the movie music played.

I've uploaded the music here. Can you guess the five films these pieces of music feature in?

Click here to hear ...

101.2 TTD No. 47 - Make your own badges

2009-08-07T12:15:00.004Z

I've finally realised that I'm rubbish at blogging ... but I'm tworse at Twitter ...

101.1 TTD No. 57 See the All-time Greatest Films

2009-08-07T11:52:00.004Z

The writer/director of such greats such as The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Ferris Buellers Day Off died today. He leaves behind a lot of memorable movie quotes ...

...those aren't pillows!

The End is Almost Nigh!

2009-07-23T10:57:00.010Z

A finished copy of the A is for Armageddon book has finally landed on my doorstep.

There's only six weeks before the book is launched on an unsuspecting UK audience on September the 3rd.

For sample spreads click the 'A' button here

aye••iz••fore••arrgh•ma•ged•don – A catalogue of disasters that may culminate in the end of the world as we know it. Have a nice day.

101.1 TTD No. 49 - See a Solar Eclipse

2009-07-22T12:02:00.003Z

If you're lucky enough to be in Asia today you may have been doubly lucky and you may have seen this too ...

(source: BBC)

101.1 TTD No. 8 - Realise Your Childhood Dream (Man on the Moon Day)

2009-07-20T12:32:00.004Z

Well, I don't think I'm ever going to walk on the moon but I can still dream. Here is a lesser known Moon photo and it's one of my favourites.

It's a snap of Charlie Dukes family, (the 10th man on the walk on the Moon). The photo is still up there. Really eerie.

Photo: NASA

101.2 TTD No. 69 - Make a Scene in a Public Place

2009-07-14T07:44:00.011Z

Over the next few months you can make a scene in a public place in the name of ART and be guaranteed an audience by becoming a live exhibit on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. Sign up on the website and you can win a place on the plinth.

To see who is up there right now click here, One&Other Live Feed

As the websites says ... This is a live webstream that may contain offensive content. Here's hoping ...

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (5) Ceremony Elements 1

2009-07-13T16:33:00.004Z

We also had a specially written poem for us (and about us) by the winner of the TS Eliot Prize of 2004, and coincidently he also happens to be my new father-in-law:

Sestina for a Wedding
Performed and written by George Szirtes

Some girls insist a partner should be rich,
or fit at least: a footballer, male model,
a six-pack hunk with wealth or land or power,
a duke, a king, an emperor ... well, no,
not quite a godhead, but a decent catch:
a proper big fish in a proper sea.

Some demand love sweep them away, the sea
complete with sea-nymphs in a tempest, rich
and strange, transforming, sudden as a catch
in the throat, the proper Shakespearean model
of romance to whom the answer cannot be No,
because such love carries an absolute power.

Some, grimly sensible, reject the power
of imagery. They deprecate the sea
and shun the rhetoric. Their no means NO!
Out for a meal they’ll not pick one too rich.
They want plain food. They follow Cromwell’s model.
They read the small print and can spot a catch.

Some think love is an ailment that you catch
while waiting for a train. Love’s loss of power
is weakness, the lovelorn a sick role model,
all passion the plague of a polluted sea,
and yet they end up loving, weak but rich
in pleasure, saying No to the big No.

Some can’t love at all. They harbour no
illusions but might marry, if only to catch
the last bus before loneliness. Once rich
in time, they come to know time’s heavy power
is overwhelming, a slow creeping sea.
The model marriage now is last-year’s model.

But we are who we are, our only model,
and no one here is likely to say No.
An hour away or so from the North Sea,
we stand and listen, straining ears to catch
the sound of happiness and know the power
of love, the partner certain to be Rich.

This is the sea. Before us is the model.
For Helen and Rich the big Yes cancels no.
Love is the generous catch. Here’s to its power.

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (4) First dance

2009-07-07T09:36:00.001Z

What's a wedding without a bad first dance? Unfortunately this video doesn't include our solo riverdances, or our moonwalks but it has the rest of it...

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (3) John Motson

2009-07-07T09:22:00.006Z

In my wedding speech I mentioned that my Wife and I's contributions to previous weddings reads like a set of football results. I asked a friend to try and get the legendary UK football commentator, John Motson, to read the results out and he did!

The Groom's contributions are listed first vs the Brides contributions second.

My wife mentioned in her speech that we watch each others teams although this season her team Manchester United topped the premiership, while my team, Middlesbrough, were relegated from it ...

The version played during the ceremony was audio edited with the Grandstand theme but people didn't believe it was really him. So here are the video results ...

In the torture box today (2)

2009-06-17T11:04:00.008Z

WHAT'S IN THE TORTURE BOX TODAY?

ITEM: My new bright red adidas trainers

REASON: They've shredded both my heels

COMMENT: Ha! The shoe is on the other foot now!

What is a torture box?

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (2) Accomplished!

2009-06-16T10:31:00.010Z

Helen and I are slowing sorting through the wedding bits and bobs and we found the book that was handed around to our guests.

When I was studying graphic design at University I carried A6 drawing books everywhere I went and allowed anyone to write what they liked in them and over the course of 3 years I ended up with a lot of these books with mini works of art by friends and strangers and also a lot of illegible drunken ramblings.

But Hackett, my Master of Ceremonies had the wonderful idea of starting a new book at the wedding for all the guests to write in.

Helen and I were just looking through it when we came across this entry:

Thanks for a wonderful, unusual, wonderful, different, excellent day - Congratulations
Keith & Di

So we did it! If our guests think we got married unusually then I guess we did!

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually - Tick!

I'll explain more as I go very soon ...

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (1) The Secret is Out

2009-06-15T09:18:00.010Z

Well. The secret is now out. On the 13th June 2009 my co-author (Helen Szirtes) and I were married. We're just recovering from a wedding that was even more fun that we thought it'd be.

We had a few surprises for our guests and there were a few surprises for us too and after a long long time without being able to complete any of the tasks in the books, over the course of the wedding preparations, from the proposal through to the stag do and the big day, we managed to complete/attempt quite a few between us:

including

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually

101.2 TTD No. 69 - Make a Scene in a Public Place

101.2 TTD No. 89 - Dye Your Hair

101.1 TTD No. 75 - Get a Tattoo

101.1 TTD No. 29 - Meet Your Idol

101.1 TTD No. 85 - Visit the World's Tallest Buildings

101.1 TTD No. 33 - Get to Score a Hole in One

101.2 TTD No. 47 - Make Your Own Badges

101.1 TTD No. 78 - Drink a Vintage Wine

101.1 TTD No. 99 - Confess

and many many more ...

So give us a little recovery time and then we'll tell you all about it

Richard and Helen
xxx

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually (Jessica Meadows)

2009-06-04T11:24:00.009Z

Jessica Meadows, a Before You Die Thing To Do-er in the US, is trying to complete most of the Things To Do from the original list in the book.

The next thing she plans to do is: Get Married Unusally this weekend in Vegas.

Watch her wedding ceremony live at: https://webcasting.cashmanpro.com/mb/viewweddings.cfm - choose the Meadows/Hammett wedding at 3:30pm on June 6th (Pacific Time) East Coast 6:30pm) - UK time (11.30 pm).

Good luck Jessica and all the very best for the future!

101.1 TTD 76 - Invent Something

2009-06-02T08:34:00.012Z

I saw this idea on the BBC show 'Genius' and thought it was absolutely genius - A torture box for inanimate objects - so I made one too!

The first torture box I made was at my sisters house to punish the utterly rubbish corkscrew they've got. For a couple that really love wine, a decent corkscrew is essential, not one that snaps the cork inside the bottle. So I took an empty bread stick packet, wrote TORTURE BOX in drunken handwriting and in it went. Then the next day my nieces and I put together their wooden train set. It was a masterpiece of bridges, inclines and descents, unfortunately the battery operated Brio train that my nieces love has the worst traction as it cannot climb the hills - so I bought them a new train that worked and into the torture box the old yellow and red train went - I believe these two items are still being tortured to this day.

So I've finally got around to making my own torture box. I've made it from the shoe box that came with a limited edition pair of trainers that I bought (They're great, when you walk in sand or puddles they left an imprint of space invaders behind you).

The box is perfect for torture as it's bright red and has the words WARNING! on the lid in big letters, so ...

WHAT'S IN THE TORTURE BOX TODAY?

ITEM: My gym membership

REASON: The gym was closed due to a pool malfunction, so I couldn't have a birthday swim

COMMENT: Look who's in deep water now!

W is for Website

2009-05-22T11:11:00.013Z

Here is a little taster for the upcoming A is for
Armageddon site. Click here for the holding page

P is for Proofs

2009-05-21T20:16:00.006Z

The doorbell went earlier today and the A is for Armageddon proofs made a surprise visit.

They hung around in the flat for a few hours, we had a cup of tea together, I looked at their good points and criticised the bad. They then jumped back on a bike and returned to Random House for a bit of soul searching and self-improvement.

We had a really lovely day and it was really great to see them. Very colourful characters.

101.1 TTD No. 5 - Make a discovery

2009-05-20T07:55:00.006Z

Discoveries don't come much better than this ...

101.1 TTD No. 88 - Get Married Unusually

2009-05-10T15:23:00.004Z

When I wrote this in the first 101 book ...

'Wedding ideas
Get married at 30,000ft. The plane would take off for your honeymoon destination. The ceremony would then be performed mid flight in first class by the captain and it would be played on the in-flight video screens for the rest of the guests. After the ceremony, dancing would take place in the aisles in the aisles. The only downside is that the whole wedding party would be joining you on your honeymoon.'

... I never expected it to come true.

EasyJet have announced they're going to be the first airline to provide an in-flight wedding ceremony service. I got the basic idea right but I did get it slightly wrong. EasyJet don't have video screens or a first class ...

The Cosmic Calendar 2

2009-05-01T16:07:00.008Z

The history of the universe can be expressed as a calendar. If the Big Bang occurs on the very first second of 1 January and present day is represented as midnight on 31 December.

1 May: THE MILKY WAY IS FORMED

Next event for your cosmic calendar: 09 September

Taken from 101 Things You Need To Know ... and Some You Don't!

A is for Armageddon Sampler Has Arrived!

2009-04-22T07:55:00.011Z

A is for Armageddon is almost upon us! While I was working on the final text corrections yesterday, the sampler for the book arrived in the post.

But no time to stop, I've got just over a week to finish the entire 272 page book . . .

The A is for Armageddon sampler can currently be seen at a London Book fair near you!

The 52 States of America

2009-04-08T08:10:00.005Z

The 101 site has been visited by all the 52 states of America, amazing ... in more ways than one ...

Pinch Punch, First Day of the Month ... No returns

2009-04-01T08:18:00.006Z

Hello All
Just a quick post to say SORRY for the lack of action on the blog over the last few months but the magnum opus that is the A is for Armageddon book is so close to being finished and just a few more weeks and then I'll be back in the land to the Blog to tell you all about it and other such stuff ... so sit back, think of England and I'll post more in the very near future, big hugs rx

101.1 TTD No. 66 - Take Part in a Flash Mob - Today

2009-03-27T08:49:00.002Z

Very late notice but if you're in the Euston area of London today at around Midday. Here's a Poetry Flash Mob for you:

It's a last minute announcement for a poetry flashmob at London's Euston station.
This friday it's taking place on the main concourse in the station,
http://oasis.halfmoon.jp/extphoto/gb1_photo/p9221201.jpg

It will happen at 12:05 and the stations main display board is going to be taken over
with a poem for all to see. No really !

You should arrive just before 12:05 Aim to get there on time, if you are early, stall, if you are late hurry! although no one will need to rush.

Why not bring an old poetry book along and swap it with a stranger afterwards.

After the Flash MOB, carry on with your lives as per normal. At all times remember that a flashMOB is just fun.

101.1 – TTD No. 66 Take Part in a Flash Mob

2009-02-26T16:28:00.002Z

I've just heard on the London news that the police are considering banning Flash mobs in the capital, that's just ridiculous. Some commuters were upset that they were late home from work because a flash mob, that happens once in a blue moon, held them up.
The commuters that complained happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and couldn't see the funny side. Well I'd like to see them try and ban them as it'd invoke Flash Mob protesting. Then the powers that be would have even bigger, but all too brief, angry mobs on their hands.

A is for Armageddon

2009-02-23T08:11:00.002Z

Now I'm on a big push to get the Armageddon book finished and then I can have a little break before the next big project takes over. I reckon i'll have finished the A book by the end of March after a colossal 4 years in the planning ... here's to only 4 more weeks ...

Happy Darwin Day!

2009-02-12T07:00:00.007Z

Darwin was born 200 years ago today. Thanks to the D-man for making sense of the world. Try this for a bit of fun ... Devolve Me!

In the old days, Today used to be known as St. Frankenstein's day but that was changed due to ethical reasons. Here's a chance to time travel and see what you'd have had in store for you back to the 70's ...

101.1 TTD 39 Go to the Dogs / 101.2 TTD 98 - Drive Something

2009-02-09T09:05:00.003Z

Stag Do's are a great place to complete the Things To Do in the books. On previous Stag Do's I've done Archery, Rally Car Driving, Horse Racing, Clay pigeon shooting, Paintballing, all of which can be levered into helping me complete a Thing To Do ... more or less. The latest Stag Do, this weekend, was Karting and Greyhound racing.

I'd never done karting on large outdoor track before and anything other than last would be fine. There was still snow and patches of ice dotted around but on the whole the course was pretty clear and I thought I'd misheard when the instructor said 75 laps, but that is what he had planned for us.

I picked car 11 of 11 racers and we set off. After a lap or two of staying in formation the race started and these little carts could pick up a decent amount of speed. After a few laps my visor had steamed up and the sun was going down right in my line of vision on the straight and a few laps later a tried to avoid a spill in front of me and ended up plowing right into the snow just off the track. But I was stuck. No-one came to my rescue, even though the instructions were to sit and wait until an official spots you, So I forced myself back onto the track. By this time I was already two laps behind and most definately last. So I just had to put my foot down and although I took a few more spins off the track I managed to make back the two of the three laps I'd lost, due to a few other spills on the way. Our hands were frozen even through the gloves, our butts still ache but we loved it.

So results time came, read out in reverse order ... I wasn't last, or 10th (although the Stag was). or 9th ... I was 6th which I felt was pretty decent and a great comeback. and the more I thought about it, IF I hadn't come off, IF I had gone faster, IF I'd have started in a different position etc etc ... I worked out I would have been FIRST. I need a rematch!

MY RESULTS:
Kart 11 - 74 Laps - Best Lap: 59 in 32.077secs - Top speed: 78.6 - Av speed: 86.1 (Results didn't say wether the speeds were kph or mph - I'm hoping mph, I suspect kph) Track: Surbition Raceway - Track record - 24.46 secs - Track length: 700m

As for going to the Dogs
I spent a lot and won little. I've been to the Dogs before and my fuzzy logic last time came up trumps and I won big but this time I lost large. My logic of backing lane two is as good as logic as any when you see the form of the dogs (as it seems that they've all come in each place, 1-6, over the last 6 races. My logic could have come good (although it would have if I'd picked Dog 3 every time) ... The only time I did win, the odds were against me and I got back less than I'd put on - never back a dog before the odds come up! But it was good fun, the beer may have clouded my judgement and the 1p burger may not have helped but it was good fun.

101.1 - TTD No. 100 - Reach 100 years of Age

2009-02-05T07:33:00.002Z

Happy 70th Birthday Dad - only thirty years to go!

Happy Day

2009-02-02T22:21:00.001Z

This photo was taken by my friend Simon Warren on his way to work -
Snow makes you happy - it's official.

London is closed

2009-02-02T11:27:00.010Z

Londoners woke up to a Dickensian London this morning. I've lived in London for 13 years and this is the heaviest snow I've seen in the capital. London hardly ever gets snow due to the heat bubble that is generated by the capital but it had a bit today. On the way home from swimming this morning, I took a slight detour to do a bit of London snow sightseeing.

I picked up Helen and we took in the sights: St. Paul's, Shakespeare's Globe, Millennium Bridge, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Bank of England, Bunhill fields (The resting place of William Blake), The Gerkin, Monument, The Tower of London, The Tate Modern ... We also saw Snowmen that had been built in the middle of the road, A man on skis, A woman dragging a sled, I took a few snowballs from buisinessmen and sent some back in their direction, everyone had a camera and we didn't see one single bus in 2 hours ... so it looks like everyone has an unofficially day off on a day when London has been offically cancelled.

This should come under a new Thing To Do - Be a tourist in your home town – in London we're really spoilt.

Project A - A is for Armageddon

2009-01-28T09:29:00.008Z

Project A is now written but I'm due to deliver everything (Text,illustrations and design) in THREE DAYS time. but that is truely impossible. I think I can realisitically deliver everything in MARCH as I'm the author, designer, illustator, typesetter, researcher, and part editor ... It's not a quick process ...

I first thought of the idea in 2005, and started the research – it's taken a year to write and design, 6 days a week (on some occasions 7 days a week and many 6am starts) and now i'm working on a big push to get the illustrations done ...

Publication date - September/October 2009

And the scary thing is ... it's already on Amazon! Click here

... but it'll be worth it

(Hence the lack of blog activity ...)

On This Day: 19th Jan - 26th Jan

2009-01-19T09:16:00.005Z

19th Jan - 1736 Birth of James Watt, the Scottish inventor who developed the steam engine and gave his name to a unit of power • 1915 DOUBLEMINT gum was trademark registered.

20th Jan - 1929 The first outdoor feature-length talking motion picture was made, a film called "In Old Arizona."

21st Jan - 1954 The first atomic submarine was launched. The USS Nautilus was christened by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.

22nd Jan - 1984 - Apple introduced the Macintosh. It was the first computer to use point-and-click technology.

23rd Jan - 1924 - The first Labour government was formed, under Ramsay MacDonald.

24th Jan - 1935 The first canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," was sold by the Kruger Brewing Company of Richmond, VA.

25th Jan - 1881 Michael Brassill obtained a patent for a candlestick.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Sources: On-This-Day.com, beautifulbritain, About.com.

January 18th - On This Day ...

2009-01-18T08:00:00.000Z

In 1788, the first English settlers arrived in Australia's Botany Bay to establish a penal colony. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

In 1896, the x-ray machine was exhibited for the first time.

In 1957, the first, non-stop, around-the-world, jet flight came to an end at Riverside, CA. The plane was refueled in mid-flight by huge aerial tankers.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 17th - On This Day ...

2009-01-17T08:00:00.001Z

In 1773, Captain Cook's Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle.

In 1912, English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source: OnThisDay.com

January 16th - On This Day ...

2009-01-16T08:00:00.002Z

In 1759, the British Museum opened.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 15th - On This Day ...

2009-01-15T08:00:00.001Z

In 1955, the first solar-heated, radiation-cooled house was built by Raymond Bliss in Tucson, AZ.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 14th - On This Day ...

2009-01-14T08:00:00.001Z

In 1878, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone for Britain's Queen Victoria.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 13th - On This Day ...

2009-01-13T08:00:00.001Z

In 1942, Henry Ford patented the plastic automobile, which allowed for a 30% decrease in car weight.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 12th - On This Day ...

2009-01-12T09:07:00.001Z

In 1908, a wireless message was sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 11th - On This Day ...

2009-01-11T08:14:00.000Z

In 1569, England's first state lottery was held.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 10th - On This Day ...

2009-01-10T08:12:00.001Z

In 1840, the penny post, whereby mail was delivered at a standard charge rather than paid for by the recipient, began in Britain.

In 1949, vinyl records were introduced by RCA (45 rpm) and Columbia (33.3 rpm).

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 9th - On This Day ...

2009-01-09T08:09:00.001Z

In 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight.

In 1848, the first commercial bank was established in San Francisco, USA.

In 1969, the supersonic aeroplane Concorde made its first trial flight, in Bristol, UK.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com

January 8th - On This Day ...

2009-01-08T08:07:00.001Z

In 1838, Alfred Vail demonstrated a telegraph code he had devised using dots and dashes as letters. The code was the predecessor to Samuel Morse's code.

In 1998, scientists announced that they had discovered that galaxies were accelerating and moving apart and at faster speeds.

For more inventiveness and discoveries check out 101 Things You Wish You'd Invented and Some you Wish No-one Had!

Source:OnThisDay.com