Real Demons
The Jinn are invisible beings that inhabit a world that is parallel to ours. They are central to the Muslim world-view and are often mentioned in the Holy Koran. Jinns are said to have created out of smokeless flame, while man and angels are from clay and light and it is said that Muhammad even passed on the message of Islam to them. This has meant the exact nature of the Jinns, and whether Satan comes from them, has long been a subject of discussion for Muslim theologians. Jinns also existed in pre-Islamic Arabia where they were described as the nymphs and satyrs of the dessert
Doctor Who
Miss Hawthorne utters the line: "The children next door say a witch, you know," a reference to a Miss Hawthorne, a white witch, featured in the 1971 Doctor Who story The Daemons, memorably played by Damaris Hayman. For more information on The Daemons visit our Doctor Who Episode Guide.
Black name
Canon Black's first name Adolphus translates as "noble wolf". A derivation of it is Adolphe, which means "benevolent, placid, cultured". People with this name are said to be handsome and physically strong and are popular with women, but men tend to distrust them.
Star Trek
Toby name-checks Spock, the pointy-eared Vulcan played by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series (1966-1969) and the spin-off feature films.
Bionic Woman
Toby also mentions the Bionic Woman, a spin-off series from The Six Million-Dollar Man, which starred Lindsay Wagner as the technologically enhanced secret agent (1976-1978).
Old Testament
Black's comment "Vanity of Vanities; sayeth the Preacher, All is Vanity" is from the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes 1:2. The passage continues: "What profit hath a man of all his labour under the sun? All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing...There is no new thing under the sun."
Rapid ageing
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disease that accelerates the ageing process to about seven times the normal rate. For example a ten-year old child will be of similar health to a seventy-year old. Currently, there is no cure for this disease and there are between 30 and 40 known cases worldwide. Physical features associated with the condition include dwarfism, wrinkled-looking skin, baldness, and a pinched nose. Most children with Progeria die in their teens. Progeria was first described by Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson in 1886 and Dr. Hastings Gilford in 1904.
