The Agency of Wonder

The Agency of Wonder is dedicated to experiences of the weird, the wonderful and the marvellous.

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The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event in recorded history: it is thought that a disintegrating stony meteoroid about 160-200 feet (50-60 metres) was responsible, but much remains a mystery about the Tunguska event.

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Head to https://t.co/5o6SMKq7oW for more mystery.

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The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event in recorded history, took place over Eastern Siberia.

The 12 megaton explosion flattened ~80 million trees across 830 sq mi (2,150 km²); instead of a crater there was found a zone of upright burnt tree trunks 5 miles (8 km) across.

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#OnThisDay in 1899, inventor and engineer Verena Winifred Holmes (née Syme) was born in Kent.

The first woman to be elected to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Holmes’ inventions include valves for internal combustion engines, a surgeon’s headlamp and a guillotine!

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#newyork #themepark #amusements #blackpool #leisure #beach #seaside #speed #history #factoftheday #thursdaywonders #coneyisland #nyc #history #amazing

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On this day in 1884, the first dedicated roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, opened at Coney Island, NYC, for 5c a ride.

With a drop of 13m, it reached 6mph (9.7km/h).

Today, The Big One at Blackpool Leisure Beach has a drop of 62m and travels at 74mph (119km/h).

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In 1868, expressionist can-can dancer and model Jane Avril was born of a prostitute and an Italian aristocrat in Belleville, Paris.

Diagnosed as suffering from St Vitus Dance (Sydenham’s chorea), Avril became a dancer of repute, once described as ‘an orchid in a frenzy’.

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#Almanac: 2nd June 1899: Influential animator Lotte Reiniger was born in Berlin.

Learning paper-cutting skills as a child, she went on to become a prolific animator of silhouettes.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) is the oldest surviving animated feature film.

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On this day in 1897, Dracula by Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was published.

This famous novel establishes many accepted elements of vampire lore, including intolerance of sunlight, crucifixes, and garlic.

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#almanac #myths #monsters #books #authors

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‘#Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.’

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#OnThisDay Edward de Bono (1933-2021), polymath and inventor, was born in Malta.

De Bono is best known for his creative techniques including ‘lateral thinking’ and ‘thinking hats’.

He also invented the ‘L Game’, a board game for two players with surprisingly rich strategies.

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The artist, composer, and poet Edward Lear (1812-1888) was born in Holloway.

Famous for ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ and many nonsense poems, Lear occasionally hid behind playful pseudonyms such as ‘Mr Abebika Kratoponoko Prizzikalo Kattefello Ablegorabalus Ableborinto Phashyph’.

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#OnThisDay in 1937, Delia Derbyshire (1937-2001), pioneer of electronic music, was born in Coventry.

Chiefly responsible for the unique and haunting sound of the Dr Who theme tune, Derbyshire remains an auditory ‘visionary’.

#agencyofwonder #almanac

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#OnThisDay, Marie Harel (née Fontaine) was born in Crouttes, France.

Legend has it that Harel invented the Camembert cheese, having learnt the secret from the Abbot Charles-Jean Bonvoust in 1796.

The priest, who was in hiding at Harel’s workplace, hailed from Brie.

#almanac

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>> ‘Nessie’ was a sculpture made by Christian Spurling (1904-1993) attached to a toy submarine.

The film-director and big-game hunter Marmaduke Wetherell (1883-1939) took the photograph.

Wetherell also faked footprints using a hippopotamus-foot umbrella stand.

#almanac #aow

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1934... A picture of the head and neck of the Loch Ness Monster was published in the Daily Mail.

Purported to have been photographed by the surgeon and gynaecologist Robert Kenneth Wilson (1899-1969), in 1999 it was confirmed to have been a hoax by an eccentric collective. >>

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On this day in 1561, unidentified flying objects were seen over Nuremberg.

A variety of apparitions, including weapons, spheres, and a huge black triangle, were seen issuing from a blood-red sun, clashing as if in battle.

#almanac #agencyofwonder #history

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Empress Matilda, England’s first female monarch attempted to take the throne.

The daughter of King Henry I, Matilda’s moves to be crowned at Westminster were met with riots and necessitated an escape first to Oxford then to France, dressed in white to camouflage against the snow

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On this day in 1913, a concert in Vienna conducted by Arnold Schoenberg erupted in violence.

The audience rioted in response to the programme of avant garde music.

Two months later in Paris the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring also turned nasty.

#almanac #aow

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‘I am a great admirer of mystery and magic. Look at this life: all mystery and magic.’

[The Agency of Wonder @AgencyOfWonder]

On this day in 1874, the magician, escapologist, actor, writer, aviator, and investigator Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest.

Houdini’s legendary escapes included coffins, milk cans, wet sheets, prison vans, and the belly of the corpse of a washed-up whale.

#almanac