What happened on the 8th February

Every month, the radio industry eagerly awaits X-Trax.

The radio industry magazine, it contains competitions and pictures, from local radio stations across the country. My mug's been slapped in there a few times. Even Piglet's made the cut and been featured as "The WinFM Mascot."

It also features 'on this day...' features, which mark who was born, who died and what happened on each day of the month.

For a giggle, I looked up my birthday and discovered that the 8th February was quite a depressing date!

It was the date in which Mary, Queen of Scots was executed in 1587. In 1924, the gas chamber was used to execute somebody for the first time in Nevada State Prison. In 1994, Tory MP Stephan Millington died after a kinky sex act he was trying went wrong. Boy, what a way to go!

Most depressing of all, in 1983, those bastards in the IRA kidnapped race horse Shergar. He was never seen again. I was only 5 at the time (and don't remember the event) but what a horrible thing to happen on my birthday.

But it's not all bad news. I share my birthday with some interesting people, like Jules Verne, one of my most favourite writers (author of some of my favourite books, Around the World in 80 Day, 5 Weeks in a Balloon and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.)

John Grisham, the brilliant legal novelist, was also born on my birthday in 1955.

Ironically, one of the few famous ginger people, Seth Green, was born on my birthday in 1974. He went on to play Willow's boyfriend Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers trilogy.

Lana Turner, who Frank Sinatra almost left his wife for, was born on the 8th February in 1920.