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.
CAN you please tell me what happened to all the plastic bottles used during the London Marathon last weekend?
Sue Bailey, by email IT has been estimated that 760,000 bottles of water were consumed and seven tons of waste were left at the London Marathon, which is seen by environmental groups looking to tackle plastics as a big potential problem.
This year, as an experiment, 90,000 compostable cups were offered to the runners as well as the bottles. In addition Buxton Water, which is a sponsor of the race, says its bottles are 100 per cent recyclable. London Marathon organisers said they plan to recycle all the bottles.
MY dad was watching the London Marathon and heard that Mo Farah was contestant 13. He wondered how the belief that the number 13 is unlucky for some came about. Can you help?
Carol Edwards, by email IN Christian tradition, triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) is usually linked to the number of people present at the Last Supper, though that connection was only made in the Middle Ages, and other cultures had a deep suspicion of 13 long before Christianity even existed.
The Babylonians, for example, felt that the sun had to be kept separate from the 12 zodiac signs in any celestial references, while Old Norse mythology tells of a disaster following Loki arriving uninvited as the 13th guest at a banquet in Valhalla.
The simplest explanation is probably linked to the reverence with which the number 12 was held. Divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6, 12 was often seen as an ideal number, which is why, as well as the 12 zodiac signs, we settled for 12 months of the year, 12 apostles, 12 Days of Christmas, 12 inches in a foot, 12 Labours of Hercules and 12 Tribes of Israel. The number 13 spoils all this. EARLY in the 20th century there was a cricket Test match known as the “Timeless Test”. Why was it called this and which countries took part? David Garbutt, by email ‘ONE-ARMED BANDIT’: Gus Walker by THERE were in fact almost 100 Timeless Tests between 1877 and 1939 in which, rather than ending after the normally scheduled five days, both sides were given enough time to complete their two innings.
The last of these, and by far the most famous, was between England and South Africa in Durban in 1939.
The match lasted for 12 days after which it was abandoned as a draw (which was exactly what the timelessness was meant to avoid) as the English team had to leave to catch their boat home.
At the end, England were 654 for 5 in their second innings, chasing 696 to win. I HAVE seen flags at lots of different heights but what is the correct height for flying a flag at half-mast? Mick Horsman, York THE tradition of flying a flag at half-mast began in the 17th century.
Some say the idea was to leave room for an invisible “flag of death” at the top of the pole and that is indeed the procedure followed in some countries where the rule is to leave the height of the flag itself at the top of the pole.
Others take “half-mast” literally and lower flags to exactly halfway down the pole but the British tradition is neither of these.
According to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, a flag at half-mast should be two-thirds of the way from the bottom to the top of the flagstaff, with at least the width of the flag between its top and the top of the pole. BACK in the 1950s I met Sir Augustus Walker who was in the RAF. He had only one arm and I was told that he actually piloted aeroplanes. Is that really the case?
Shirley Mulvana, Ayr, Scotland THAT’S absolutely right. Air Chief Marshal Sir “Gus” Walker (1912-1986) was a truly extraordinary man. As an RAF station commander in 1942, he lost half his right arm in an explosion but quickly returned to service with an artificial arm.
The Science Museum has a prosthetic attachment he used which enabled him to continue flying planes and he became a pioneer in devising techniques for flying jet bombers. His colleagues are said to have called him the “one-armed bandit”.
Before his accident he had been an excellent rugby player, captaining the RAF side and earning two caps for England. He later became a rugby referee and in 1965 was elected president of the Rugby Union. At the same time, he was Air Chief Marshal and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Central Europe. ON a recent re-run of Homes Under The Hammer, the presenter stood outside a house in Streatham, south London, and said the original name for the area was Street Hamlet, which led to the name “Streatham”. Is that correct? DW Davenport, Congleton,
Cheshire IT’S more or less correct. The street in question was the old Roman road from London to Brighton which, as an important route, attracted continuing development.
The Domesday Book in 1086 referred to the settlement there as “Estreham”, so it might be more accurate to say the original name for the area meant (rather than “was”) Street Hamlet.