QUESTIONS

Q: I always believed John Philip Holland from Co. Clare was the inventor of the submarine, but author Iain Ballantyne claims it was American Robert Fulton. Who is correct? David Smyth, via email. Q: When the Bolshevik party was banned in early 1917, Lenin hid out in a peasant’s hut disguised as a farmer. Does this hut still exist? Tom Benyon, Eccleshall, Staffordshire. Q: Was there once a craze for making paintings from spider silk? Charlotte McCormick, Walsall, West Midlands.