The Saturday briefing
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Is there anything you’re yearning to know? Send your questions, on any subject, to the contacts given below, and we will do our best to answer them...
Q
Tonight is Bonfire Night and kids will be captivated by firework displays up and down the country no doubt. After leaving school I learned Guy Fawkes’ real name was Guido but now I’m told he wasn’t even the ringleader of the Gunpowder Plot. Who was? Dennis Cooper, Lytham St
Annes, Lancs
A There were 13 conspirators in the failed plot to blow up King James I and Parliament on November 5, 1605. Fawkes gets all the attention because he was caught red-handed in the cellar underneath the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder. But the mastermind was actually Robert Catesby, who was dead set on ending the persecution of Roman Catholics by the English government. Devout Catholic Catesby hoped the Spanish would help, but took matters into his own hands when he realised support was not there.
After Fawkes was arrested, Catesby fled London and made a last stand with other plotters at Holbeche House in Staffordshire, where he was fatally shot. His head was later stuck on the roof of the House of Commons.
Fawkes was due to be hanged, then drawn and quartered. But he avoided that by jumping from a ladder on his way to the gallows, breaking his neck in the process. Q I was wondering what will happen to the late Queen’s beautiful coat and hat sets? She had so many lovely colours and styles.
Ann Downey, Teignmouth, Devon A Many of these outfits have already found a new home with Angela Kelly, 69, who was Queen Elizabeth’s dresser, often described as her gatekeeper. Angela’s team, who helped coordinate the outfits – choosing striking colours that could be spotted easily at events – have also been gifted some. These clothes can be worn or sold on but all labels must be removed so their original owner cannot be identified.
Most of Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe will be split between family members, particularly the Princess ofWales and Queen Consort Camilla, who will also get the lion’s share of the late Monarch’s personal jewellery. According to royal sources, Queen Elizabeth had 98 brooches, 46 necklaces, 37 bracelets, 34 pairs of earrings, 15 rings, 14 watches and five pendants. Her granddaughters and greatgranddaughters will also have ballgowns,
which can be altered.You can expect to see outfits of historical importance on display, including her wedding dress and coronation gown, which will be preserved by the Royal Collection Trust.
This year, five outfits worn by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth while celebrating the Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilees have been on display at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Such outfits will continue to offer an insight into her reign and life for years to come, as has been the case with Queen Victoria. Her elegant black dress was the star exhibit at the Museum of London in 2019.The dress was worn in mourning for her grandson, Prince Albert Victor, who died in the 1892 flu epidemic.
At that time,Victoria was in her 70s, and in the fourth decade of mourning Prince Albert, and the dress reveals she had decreased in height and stood at 4ft 8in.
Q
If a mistake arises we are said to have made a pig’s ear of something. What is the possible connection with the ear of a pig?
David Hughes, Lichfield, Staffs
A
This has come to mean making a complete mess of something, with an early
recording found in the 1950 edition of Reader’s Digest.
It stems from an older piggy proverb, which appeared in London clergyman Stephen Gosson’s book The Ephemerides of Phialo in 1579, with the satirist mentioning a hopeless task as seeking to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
Aberdeen sculptor John Steell used a pig’s ear to make a subtle dig that can still be seen today in the courtyard of Edinburgh City Chambers. He was commissioned in 1832 to make a bronze of Alexander the Great taming warhorse Bucephalus. But it took a further 50 years for the statue to be completed. The artist is said to have given the horse pig-shaped ears just before it was cast in bronze in 1883, when he realised he would not get his full wage.
PLEASE SEND US YOUR INTRIGUING QUESTIONS ON ANY SUBJECT:
● By email: put “questions” in the subject line and send to kay.harrison@reachplc.com
● By post: to Any Questions, Daily Express, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AP
● Unfortunately we cannot reply individually, but we will feature the best questions on this page.