The floating flatpacks
QUESTION The Russian ice-breaking ferries Baikal and Angara were ‘knock down’ vessels. What does this mean? THE icebreaker SS Baikal was a mobile bridge carrying railway carriages across the lake to connect the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Lake Baikal.
The Trans-Siberian Railroad committee placed its order on November 29, 1895. The ship was built by Armstrong and Co. of Newcastle and cost £80,000.
Purchased as a flat pack, it was transported from Britain in sections, travelling by ship and by horse, and was assembled in Listvyanka in 1898-99.
As Baikal was being transported, the committee ordered the smaller icebreaker SS Angara. Angara’s pieces were shipped from Britain to Revel (now Tallinn), then went by the Trans-Siberian Railroad to the shore of Baykal where it was assembled. It was launched on July 25, 1900.
When the Russian Civil War broke out, Baikal was equipped with machine-guns and cannons by the Red Army. In August 1918 it was damaged by field artillery fire. It was burnt at the Mysovaya pier and scuttled in 1926.
Angara continued to transport goods and passengers until 1962 when she was moved up the Angara River to Irkutsk. She rotted there for years before being refurbished in 1989 through private donation. Angara is now a floating museum. Eric Fowles, Southampton. IN THIS context, the term ‘knock down’ means they were supplied as a kit of dismantled parts. It was easier to deliver them as separate parts (or modules) for assembly on site.
After World War II, the UK car industry exported cars in Completely Knocked Down (CKD) form. Typically at the time, the country where the vehicle was to be sold did not have the facilities to manufacture but did have modest facilities where assembly of the CKD kit exported from the UK could take place. David Marks, Kent. QUESTION I’d like to create a music playlist with songs about artists. Vincent by Don McLean is an obvious example. Any other suggestions? ANDY WARHOL’S pop art was a clear influence on many musicians, especially his house band the Velvet Underground.
Following his death in 1987, two of the ex-Velvets, Lou Reed and John Cale, dedicated an entire album to him. It was called Songs For Drella (1990), Drella being Warhol’s nickname, a cross between Dracula and Cinderella.
It’s a heartfelt work charting his rise to fame (Smalltown, Open House), work ethic and artistic method (Images, Work and Style It takes), and demise (Slip Away, A Warning and Hello It’s Me).
Another artist influenced by Warhol was David Bowie whose clever song Andy Warhol features on his 1971 Hunky Dory album. When Bowie played it for Warhol, there was an awkward silence followed by Warhol saying: ‘I like your shoes.’
The Nat King Cole classic Mona Lisa was written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the 1950 film Captain Carey, USA. It captures the mystery of Da Vinci’s enigmatic work ‘Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa? Or is this your way to hide a broken heart?’
It was most effectively used as the theme tune for Neil Jordan’s gritty crime drama Mona Lisa (1986).
Paul McCartney and Wings’s song Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me) appeared on their 1973 album Band On the Run.
Picasso’s last words were said to be, ‘drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink any more’, which forms the chorus of the song.
A more contemporary reference can be found in Jay Z’s Picasso Baby (2013). Lots of artists are name-checked in his rap song: ‘I just want a Picasso, in my casa ... I wanna Rothko, no I wanna brothel ...Jeff Koon’s balloons, I just wanna blow up... Leonardo Da Vinci flows... Yellow Basquiat in my kitchen corner’ etc. Not one for the children.
American singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman wrote several tribute songs to painters. His songs include No One Was Like Vermeer. In his song called Vincent Van Gogh, he wrote: ‘He loved colour and he let it show. Heather Kavanagh, Bath. PAUL Simon’s evocative song René And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War, on his 1983 album Hearts And Bones, was written by the US singer after he saw a photograph with that title, featuring the Belgian surrealist artist.
Pop duo Brian And Michael’s hit single, Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs, from 1978, was inspired by the distinc-
tive style of the English artist LS Lowry, who died two years earlier, in 1976.
And Welsh act Manic Street Preachers wrote the song Interiors (Song For Willem De Kooning) in tribute to the struggle with Alzheimer’s disease suffered by the Dutch expressionist painter of the title. De Kooning would die aged 92 in 1997, a year after the song’s release. Gary Glynn, Dublin. QUESTION Hyenas are ruled by a matriarchy. Are there other matriarchies in nature? FURTHER to the earlier answer which cited hyenas, bees, ants, mole rats and elephants as matriarchal societies, another example is meerkats.
They live in underground burrows in groups of two or three families, called mobs. Each mob is led by a dominant female, which leads the group in foraging trips, finding new burrows, and settling disputes with other mobs. Mrs A. Briggs, Chepstow, Monmouthshire.
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