The Saturday briefing

IS THERE anything you are desperately yearning to know? Are there any pressing factual disputes you would like us to help resolve? This is the page where we shall do our best to answer any questions you throw at us, whatever the subject.

WATCHING reruns of Columbo I have noticed certain guest stars appearing in multiple episodes as murderer or victim. Who did this most often?

J Rhodes, Leeds I THINK the prize for most appearances as a killer must go to Patrick McGoohan, who played the murderer four times. He also directed four episodes.

Amazingly two Star Trek regulars were also killers in Columbo episodes: William Shatner (Captain Kirk, who was twice a Columbo killer) and Leonard Nimoy (Spock).

DURING my time in the UK in the 1960s there was a story about a planned royal visit which caused an organisation (a school, I think) to whitewash the coal heap so as not to offend the royal gaze. Was this an urban myth or did it actually happen?

Richard Lea Clough, New Zealand I’VE seen a number of stories on those lines but only two that I feel have been verified.

One goes back to the days of Queen Victoria making the first trips on the royal train in the 1840s when the top layer of coal in the tender was reported to have been whitewashed in case the coal dust offended royal eyes.

The other comes from Michael Caine’s autobiography What’s It All About? Reporting his Army years he recalls a task he was personally detailed to do before a visit to the regiment by Princess Margaret.

He wrote: “We had a pile of coal which was very ugly and was deemed likely to offend the view of Her Royal Highness and as it was too large to move in time we were told to whitewash it. This we did under the eagle eye of a sergeant who made sure there was not a single piece of black coal showing.”

IS it more hygienic to make a bed in the morning or to leave it uncovered?

Chris Schuman, Reading, Berkshire IT seems generally agreed that, even without extolling the virtues of laziness, not making your bed is the better option.

The reason is that if the bed is made it provides a better, warmer environment for dust mites to flourish as they feed off dead skin cells and sweat.

Leaving the bedclothes exposed, at least for a few hours, gives them a chance to dry out and to expose the mites to fresh air, light and dehydration which will help kill them off. KILLER PLOT: William Shatner, above left, pictured on set with Peter Falk as Columbo, right. Princess Margaret, inset

WHEN and how did a cigarette become known as a “fag”?

E Baldwin, Islesteps, Dumfries THE earliest use of “fag” for cigarette recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1888. The history of the word is interesting.

First came the verb to fag or flag, meaning to drop off or droop. From this a “fag-end” became the end piece of a roll of cloth, then fag-end came to be used for the unsmoked last piece of a cigarette. Finally, all cigarettes came to be referred to as fags.

I WAS born in 1933 and can remember both the start and end of the Second World War. Is it true that the British government paid money to the German armaments company Krupp for damage to its factories in the war?

BS Fenton, West Bromwich, West Midlands THE British did pay money to Krupp but it was for matters relating to the First World War and it wasn’t for wartime damages. The story is rather amazing. After the 1914-18 war Krupp actually sued a British firm of armament manufacturers for breach of patent rights.

The claim was that during the war they had used patents belonging to Germany. A writ for £4million in damages was issued in the courts of London. It never came to trial, being considered too secret to be made public. It was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum said to have been “a very large payment”.

IS it true that camel hair brushes are made of squirrel hair? If so, why?

C Pope, Isle of Wight AMAZINGLY that’s absolutely right. Historically, camel hair was used long ago for ink brushes in China.

Around 250BC Chinese general Meng Tian is said to have invented a brush made of camel hair, or sometimes rabbit hair, to be used for calligraphy.

Softer bristles are needed for most types of painting and nowadays squirrel is the most common hair used. Goat, ox and pony hair, or blends of all these, are also used but not camel.

There is even a story, perhaps invented to explain why “camel-hair” brushes are not made of camel hair and this has it that they were invented by a man by named Camel but there is no evidence to support that idea.

Is there anything you can’t answer? Try us! You can ask a question:

By email:

put “questions” in the subject line and send your question to william.hartston@express.co.uk

to Any Questions, c/o William Hartston, Daily Express, Number 10 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6EN

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