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.
QWHAT is the theme song of Silent Witness (the TV crime series starring Emilia Fox) and who is the singer?
ATHE song is called Silencium and comes from the Silencium Suite by the composer and saxophonist John Harle.
The vocal element is performed by Sarah Leonard, a soprano opera singer.
QI UNDERSTAND the Royal Navy is sometimes referred to as “The Andrew”. Can you explain this?
ATHERE are a number of conflicting explanations for this, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich. Some sources, including the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, claim the nickname “Andrew” derives from a man called Andrew Miller, who organised press gangs during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Miller “recruited” so many men to His Majesty’s ships that the navy was said to belong to him.
Others suggest that an Andrew Miller supplied provisions to Royal Navy warships and had such a monopoly that he was said to “own the Navy”.
Another explanation has it that it is a reference to an 18thcentury king of the press gangs Andrew Walker, who was said to have forcibly hired so many seamen that people argued the national fleet was not His Majesty’s
Navy, but Andrew’s.
QCOULD you let me know the origin of the oak leaf as a military decoration?
ABEFORE the First World War nothing was worn on uniforms to signify a mention in despatches but from 1914 up to 1920 recipients wore a spray of oak leaves in bronze on the ribbon of
HP Rhodes, Leeds Timothy Dabbs, Surbiton, Greater London James Mcilhatton, Ballymena, Northern Ireland ilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales For Children have always been among my favourites. Sadly he died 66 years ago, so missed all the drama of today’s world. So here’s an update. the Victory medal. From 1920 to 1993 the device was a single bronze oak leaf.
From 1993 the oak leaf was made in silver and was awarded for operational gallantry during
active operations.
QCOULD you please tell me the history of Brooke Bond, the famous tea company? Was it set up by two people called Brooke and Bond?
John Donogue, Beckton, Greater London
ASURPRISINGLY enough, no. When Arthur Brooke opened a shop selling tea, coffee and sugar in Manchester in 1869 there was no Mr Bond. Although he traded as “Brooke, Bond and Co” he used the name Bond solely on the grounds that he liked the sound of the name. Arthur, the son of a tea dealer, realised that the drink would become very popular and shrewdly opened shops in Liverpool, Leeds and Bradford, before relocating to London in 1872 when he opened a blending warehouse in Whitechapel High Street. By 1897 two million Britons were drinking the company’s tea every day.
A model employer, Arthur was credited with introducing the eight hour-long working day. When he retired in 1910 he was succeeded by his son Gerald, who was, in turn, succeeded by his son John in 1952. Unilever bought Brooke Bond for £389million in 1984, ending the family dynasty.
QARE animals, particularly domestic pets, afflicted with dementia?
David R Hudson, Nuneaton, Warwickshire
AAS more and more cats and dogs live longer, just like humans, they can suffer from a kind of dementia called cognitive dysfunction syndrome, or CDS.
This syndrome is associated with brain ageing and leads to changes in a pet’s responsiveness, learning, memory and can cause anxiety with age.
Some tell-tale signs of CDS are disorientation, increased sleep during the day, irritability and excessive licking.
Testing in dogs has shown they can show signs of memory decline when they are just six years old. Clinical signs in cats develop when they are older. by
QI DID my National Service training in the Royal Army Medical Corps at Queen Elizabeth barracks in Crookham, Hampshire, in 1954. Could you tell me if the barracks are still there?
Derek Gardner, Victoria, Australia
ATHE barracks were built in 1938 when they were known as Boyce Barracks after Major William Wallace Boyce, DSO.
They were renamed after the Queen visited the site in 1948, when the wooden-hutted camp was big enough for 2,500 soldiers.
The Medical Corps left in 1962 and were replaced by the Royal Corps of Transport and later by Gurkha regiments.
When the Gurkhas left in 2000 the site was decommissioned and bought by Bryant Homes two years later.
Is there anything you can’t answer? Try us! You can ask a question:
By email:
l put “questions” in the subject line and send your question to dominic.midgley@reachplc.com l By post: to Any Questions, c/o Dominic Midgley, Daily Express, Number 10 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6EN
We cannot promise replies to everyone but the best will feature on this page.
And before the fridge so often, my poor mind is filled with doubt, have I just put food away, or have I come to take some out?
And there’s the time when it is dark with my nightcap on my head, I don’t know if I’m retiring, or just getting out of bed.
So if it’s my turn to write to you, there’s no need for getting sore, I may think that I have written and don’t want to be a bore.
So, remember that I love you and wish that you were near but now it’s nearly mail time so I must say good-bye dear,
There I stand beside the mailbox with a face so very red, instead of mailing you my letter, I opened it instead!
Do you have a half-remembered poem from your childhood you would like to see again? Just send us details of what you can remember and we shall bring as many as possible to our Forgotten Verse corner.