Nostradamus or Michel de Nostredame as probably the most well-known prophet of ancient times.

He was born on 21 December in 1503 in Salon-de-Provence, in France. He died 2 July 1566 aged 62.

He was an author, translator, astrologer, and a consultant. He was known for making many prophecies and for treating the plague. His book ‘Les Propheties’ was a collection of 942 poems predicting future events and was published in 1555.

His family was originally Jewish but had converted to Catholics before he was born. He attended the University of Avignon however he had to leave after a year due to an outbreak of the plague. He worked as an apothecary or as it is known today, like a pharmacy. He then went back to university at the University of Montpellier but was unfortunately expelled when they found out that he worked as an apothecary as this was against the rules.

He married in 1531 but his two children and his wife died in 1534 during a plague outbreak. He married again and had six more children. He also worked as an astrologer for wealthy people. He unfortunately suffered with severe gout towards the end of his life. Some believe that Nostradamus predicted the great fire of London in 1666. Another belief is that he predicted the rise of Adolph Hitler. It is also thought that he predicted the atomic bombs between Hiroshima and Nagasaki which were bombed at the end of World War two. The assassination of John F Kennedy is also one of his predictions.

In 1888 an author Edward Bellamy predicted credit cards. In his book called “Looking Backward” he wrote. Each person is given a physical punch card “with which he procures at the public storehouses, found in every community, whatever he desires whenever he desires it. This arrangement, you will see, totally obviates the necessity for business transactions of any sort between individuals and consumers”. Was this a premonition or just a coincidence?

Jules Verne predicted many details that were close in 1865. He wrote about the weightlessness that astronauts experienced, something that he could not have possibly known. He also predicted that three astronauts would be on that first moon mission and that they would launch from Tampa Florida. The Apollo 11 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Orlando nearby.

The first organ major transplant was in 1954. How ever a chemist called Robert Boyle predicted transplants 300 years ago. He had a list and nearly all of his predictions have come true. It is incredible that he made this prediction in 1660 when the medical world new so little. Surely not just a coincidence?

Years ago when I was midwife I visited a patient and after examining her and her baby we sat down with her mum for a cup of tea.

Her mother told me that her husband had died suddenly recently.

She then told me this strange tale.

Her husband and her son were miners and worked at the local pits.

Her husband used to get up for work early to do the early shift and he would get up around 5am and make a cup of tea and bring one up for her and for her son as well.

However after the funeral her son started to go back to work and he would get up at around 5 am to make the tea and bring one up for his mum just like his father did.

But when her son went into the kitchen the first time the kettle was already boiling!! Even though he had not even gone into the kitchen and definitely he had not switched the kettle on.

This happened every morning for two weeks, then just stopped.

 Was this her husband trying to communicate to her? Well both her and her son felt he was.

The kettle was not faulty and there was no explanation for the kettle boiling and after the two week period it just became normal again.

It is strange how often after someone has passed away that things happen connected with metal that cannot be explained.

I have heard before about keys being lost then just appearing on a table, light switches going on and off. I have heard of televisions going haywire but then correcting themselves.

If you have a story that you would like to share with us we would love to hear from you.

One of the most common superstitions is the fear of Friday the 13^th, and that something nasty will happen to us on that date. Bad luck is associated with this date and it is considered the unluckiest day of the year. Some Christians believed that the World would end on Friday 13^th. Cruise ships do not have a deck thirteen and neither do airports have a row thirteen. The next Friday 13^th will be in August 2021.

Why is this this so? Well delving back into history for hundreds of years, some people think it is linked with the last supper, when there were thirteen people present before Jesus died on a Friday. Many other catastrophic events have happened on this date too, amongst them the bombing of Buckingham Palace and the sinking of the Costa Concordia.

The fear is so strong psychologists have even called the fear of Friday the 13^th paraskevidekatriaphobes!

One popular myth is that if a single woman slept with a piece of wedding cake, then she would dream of her future husband!! However, nothing has ever been proven that this is true.

Waking a sleepwalker is supposed to give them a heart attack according to a popular myth, which is not true. Nothing can happen to their major organs. However, it is not advisable to wake them as they well be agitated and strike out as they could be confused and disoriented.

Do you believe in coincidences or do you think that there is a divine or spiritual intervention?

I once heard a man telling a story about something that happened to him. This is a true story.

He had been working very hard and doing a lot of overtime, so he decided to go off for the weekend and chill out.

He told his secretary that he would be away.

On the Sunday of that weekend he decided to go for a long walk on his own up the Peak District.

He had not been walking for long it was about 10.30 am up a deserted track when he came upon a red telephone box, as he passed it the telephone rang, he was surprised but ignored it and carried on up the hill.

A few hours later he came passed the telephone box again on his way home.

To his surprise the telephone rang as he passed it again. So he decided to answer it this time.

To his amazement it was his secretary telephoning him to tell him that there was an emergency at work.

He asked her how she had got the number of this phone box that was in the middle of nowhere.

She said I rang your telephone number, but he said I did not leave my number and they had a conversation and he realized that she had rung his clocking in number!! Thinking it was his phone number and that number was the number of the phone box!

He asked her if she had rung the phone box before and she said yes that she had tried at 10.30 that morning, the time that he had passed the phone box that morning when it was ringing.

So was this a coincidence, or was it divine intervention? Was he meant to be contacted? And as a result meant to sort out his work problem, what do you think?