Vauxhall’s next stop? It’s Russia…

QUESTION Does the Russian word for railway station come from Vauxhall in London?

THE name Vauxhall dates back to the 13th century, when Sir Falkes de Breaute built Falkes’ Hall on land south of the Thames. Over time, the name was corrupted to Fox Hall and then finally Vauxhall.

A pleasure garden, where people went to dance and watch boxing matches and the circus, was established on this site on the south bank of the River Thames in 1660.

Set apart from London, it was accessible from the growing city only by boat until the building of Vauxhall Bridge in the 1810s.

In 1776, Michael Maddox, an English entrepreneur, tightrope walker and theatre manager, was given permission to establish a theatre in Moscow. It was restricted to serious plays, so he offered lighter fare in his pleasure garden, which he named Vauxhall after the one in London. Shortly afterwards, a Vauxhall pleasure garden was established in the St Petersburg suburbs. (Maddox wasn’t the first to use the name – a Vauxhall Gardens had opened in New York in 1767.)

St Petersburg pleasure garden became known as Vokzal in Russian. In 1837, the first Russian railway ran from St Petersburg to the pleasure garden and the station was called Vokzal.

This then became the generic word for all Russian stations.

Andrew Galin, Birmingham.

QUESTION Many action films feature skyscrapers. Do high-rises feature in novels?

FURTHER to the earlier answer about the novel that inspired the film Die Hard, Terminal World by sci-fi author Alastair Reynolds features a massive skyscraper called Spearpoint.

This atmosphere-piercing spire city is home to a number of semi-autonomous regions.

Ian Marsh, Llandudno, Wales.