Beadle.

It's hard to sum up Beadle. He's an artist who works in paint, fabric, cardboard robotics, you name it. I've got a couple of "Beadle" originals on my wall; I've commissioned him to do some work for me as a gift - when I wanted to give something nice to Carl Potts, the creator of Alien Legion after we worked together, Beadle did a little portrait of Carl, Sarigar and I. Heck, he even made me a little felt ninja for Christmas (mine is yellow). And no, I didn't get him anything, because I'm not like Beadle - I'm not even close. Beadle, you see, is the nicest person on the planet. If they gave Beadle open heart surgery (heaven forbid) I bet as soon as the Doctor sliced through the wall of Beadle's heart, out would come a million butterflies, a gallon of perfectly warmed hot chocolate, four kittens, a thousand heartfelt favors and the life-giving energy of the Sun itself.

The Doctor would sit there smiling saying, "Wow, that's just the BEST!" (Then I'd hope he'd get to work patching up poor Beadle, laying there with a hole in his aortic valve or ventricle or whatnot).

See, there's no nicer, kinder, more warm hearted person on the planet than Colin Beadle. Without a word of a lie, if you put a gun to this man and said, "It's you or him, pick one!" I would WITHOUT HESITATION choose to take the bullet - because a world without Colin Beadle, my friends, is no world of which I wish to be a part.

The 4th of July? Those fireworks? They celebrate Beadle. That's the real reason. It's BeadleDay. The whole "independence" thing is a mere coincidence.