The first Ed-stone
QUESTION Has the idea of writing election promises on stone tablets been used before Ed Miliband’s ill advised version? On Alex Salmond’s last full day as Scotland’s First Minister in november 2014, he unveiled a commemorative stone at Heriot-Watt University pledging that he would never let students be charged for a university degree.
The tribute, made from elgin sandstone, was inscribed: ‘The rocks will melt with the sun before I allow tuition fees to be imposed on Scottish students.’
Salmond added: ‘The single biggest achievement by this government has been the abolition of tuition fees. This one action has restored Scotland’s long tradition of education being based on ability to learn, not the ability to pay.’
His stance was criticised by the UK Government, which pointed out that just 9.4 per cent of university applicants from the areas in Scotland with the worst admissions records had won a place a fortnight after getting their exam results, compared with 17.1 per cent in england.
The stone was carved and designed by second-year stonemasonry apprentices from Historic Scotland’s national Conservation Centre in elgin, Moray. The agency said it cost only £80. It was funded by the taxpayer.
John Gunn, Edinburgh. QUESTION A recent TV review stated that John Craven had never hosted a game show. Is this true? CHRISTOPHER STEVENS’S Tv review of Beat The Brain said: ‘Despite appearances on all sorts of quizzes from Blankety Blank to Countdown, John has never presented a game show. Goodness knows why no one thought of it before, because on Beat The Brain (BBC2) he was as affably expert as you’d expect.’
Actually, John Craven did once present a game show. It was called Brainchild and was broadcast on BBC1 Children’s Tv in the mid-Seventies.
It was similar to Beat The Brain in that the contestants were battling against a computer.
Four children competed each week, solving various puzzles and problems. The game was overseen and timed by a computer called BERYL — ‘the Brainchild electronic random Year and letter indicator’. It made a kind of humming noise when time had run out. The winner was the child who, over the series, scored the most points. Brainchild ran for two series in 1974-5 and is remembered for its catchy theme tune.
Miss J. M. Holt, Romford, Essex. QUESTION How do the automatic windscreen wipers on my car sense that it is raining? THE first automatic windscreen wiper was invented by British inventor peter Daykin from Blackpool.
He had added several innovations to his Cortina GT, including remote radiocontrolled ignition, automatic lights that turned on at dusk, a tracking system in case the car was stolen and a PA system so he could talk to other road users.
His electronic wipers utilised a sensitive electronic contact at the bottom of the trim, which started the wiper motor when it came into contact with water.
In 1970, Citroen introduced rainsensitive intermittent wipers. The engine measured the resistance that wipers met on the first swipe; slight resistance meant the windscreen was relatively dry, while greater resistance indicated more moisture.
In 1996, Cadillac became the first company to introduce automatic wiper technology on a commercial scale.
Today’s technology uses infrared optical sensors built into windscreens that can sense water and determine wiper speed.
The sensor projects infrared light into the windshield at a 45-degree angle.
If the glass is dry, most of this light is reflected back into the sensor by the front of the windscreen.
If water droplets are on the glass, they reflect the light in different directions — the wetter the glass, the less light makes it back into the sensor.
The electronics and software in the sensor turn on the wipers when the amount of light reflected onto the sensor decreases to a pre-set level.
C. Bates, Coventry. QUESTION When and why was the seapie bird renamed the oystercatcher? AS A member of a family who for several generations have wrested a living from the channels and sands of Morecambe Bay, I was probably in my 20s before I ever heard the word oystercatcher — we always called these birds seapies.
In earlier times, our families harvested anything that would make a few shillings or could be put on a plate at mealtimes. We used to net the birds to eat or to sell, just like any other bounty from the bay.
nets to catch seabirds — mainly seapies — were set out on the sands in winter. We ate some and the rest were sold.
The hand-braided nets were made of thin cotton twine with a mesh of about six inches. They were set in place on thin poles and we would get a catch only on dark winter nights as the incoming tide chased the birds from their feeding grounds.
Seapies were very tasty when stuffed with sage and onion and roasted, the meat being dark in colour, but very tender.
Then a lady named Jane Alesebrook, the daughter of a local judge, rode her horse out on the sands and came across a net with birds entangled in it. She complained about what she had seen and, as a result, the netting of birds was stopped.
More about the life of a Morecambe Bay fisherman can be found in my autobiography, It Was Better Than Working, available to download from Amazon to a Kindle or other electronic readers.
Jack Manning, Flookburgh, Cumbria.