Going mad for mastiffs
QUESTION
Which is the most expensive dog breed? In 2011, a red Tibetan mastiff sold for ten million Chinese Yuan (£945,000) to a coal baron in Qingdao city, in east China’s Shandong province.
The man, identified only as Mr Jang, bought the 11-month-old dog named Big Splash, or Hong Dong in Chinese. The high price paid is a sign that the red Tibetan mastiff has become a status symbol in China, replacing jewellery and cars.
not only is red considered a lucky colour, but Tibetan mastiffs are thought to be holy animals, blessing their owners’ health and security. Tibetans believe the dogs have the souls of monks and nuns who weren’t good enough to be reincarnated as humans or go to Shambhala, the heavenly realm.
The breed has also been owned by George IV and Queen Victoria. Genghis Khan is said to have taken 30,000 of them with his army in his bid to conquer Europe.
In Britain, other breeds fetch the highest prices. People pay up to £9,000 for Cavalier King Charles spaniels, and rottweiler and Lowchen (little lion) puppies can fetch up to £5,000, closely followed by the Canadian eskimo dog and Samoyeds.
English bulldogs and Egyptian pharaoh hounds fetch up to £2,000.
Kelly White, Chester.
QUESTION
What exactly is a Teumessian fox? In GREEK mythology, the Teumessian fox (Alopekos Teumisios) was a giant beast sent by the gods to the countryside around Thebes as punishment for excluding the descendants of Kadmos, the first king of Thebes, from the throne.
Kreon, then regent of Thebes, gave his general Amphitryon the impossible task of destroying the beast — impossible because the gods had decreed the fox could never be caught. Amphitryon’s solution was to set the magical dog Lailaps, an animal destined always to catch its quarry, to hunt it down.
Faced with this contradiction — an uncatchable fox pursued by an unavoidable dog — Zeus turned the pair of beasts to stone and placed them among the stars as the constellations Canis Major (Lailaps) and Canis Minor or Lepus (the fox), their contest playing out for eternity.
Susan Greatman, Cowes, Isle of Wight.
QUESTION
When was the first ready-mix concrete lorry used in the British Isles? THE most important figure in the development of the concrete mixer was Gebhard Jaeger of Columbus, Ohio.
Born in Germany on June 19, 1874, Jaeger emigrated to the U.S. at 18 and settled in St Louis, Missouri. In 1900, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a designer of woven wire fence machines for the Union Steel Company.
Jaeger moved to Columbus in 1902 and formed the Jaeger Machine Company, producing the Hayden concrete block machine. In 1905, he designed and built the first concrete mixing machine, later successfully manufactured by his company.
In 1926, a converted Model T Ford delivered the first load of truck-mixed concrete for use in the construction of San Francisco Children’s Hospital.
In 1928, Jaeger acquired ownership of the oldest and most basic patents on truck mixers, realising their potential for the economical production and delivery of commercial concrete to builders who didn’t have their own mixing machines.
In 1932, ransomes & rapier Ltd, of Ipswich, entered into an agreement with Jaeger that led to the production of Britain’s first ready-mix concrete lorries.
These were used by several pre-war construction firms such as Jaeger System Concrete Ltd in Glasgow; Express Supply Concrete Ltd, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty in Paddington, West London, and Alperton, Middlesex; and Trent Gravels Ltd of Attenborough, near nottingham.
The rapier Jaeger truck mixer consisted of a horizontal drum, usually rotated by an independent petrol engine. A swivelling chute was included for distributing the concrete. The whole outfit was carried on a rectangular steel frame, and mounted or dismounted as one unit.
After the war, ransomes & rapier continued to make mixers in the concrete industry, but many new players entered the market. By 1961, the company was at its peak, specialising in contractors’ plant, mobile cranes, excavators, walking draglines, railway plant and equipment, sluice gates and water control machinery. It employed 2,000 people.
The company struggled in the Seventies and Eighties, particularly with the declining coal industry, and finally closed its doors in 1987. But it lasted longer than the original Jaeger Machine Company, which closed down in 1960.
Jarrod C. Marsh, Bournemouth.
QUESTION
Does Gerry (the Pacemaker) Marsden ever go to Anfield and sing You’ll Never Walk Alone, possibly the most famous fans’ song of all time? FURTHER to the previous answer, it’s interesting to note how You’ll never Walk Alone made the transition from obscure 1952 middle- of-the-road film musical ballad to worldwide anthem.
The song was originally part of rogers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration, Carousel, in 1952, but it went relatively unnoticed, with no best-selling versions cherry-picked by stars of the day.
At the start of the Sixties, Hamburg was a hotbed of rock ’n’ roll where little-known British bands were much appreciated by the German locals.
At the Star Club, these included the prefame The Beatles and Gerry & The Pacemakers, while another act appearing at a venue nearby was Bristol group Johnny Carr & the Cadillacs.
By October 1963, Gerry & The Pacemakers had made a huge impact in Britain, achieving number One hits with their first two releases, and they needed something special for their third single.
But Gerry’s band lacked the rich vein of songwriting skill enjoyed by their contemporaries Lennon & McCartney.
At that point, the monthly magazine The Western Scene, based on the music scene around Bristol, carried an article from a contributor who lived in Hamburg in 1962 and recalled Johnny Carr closing his show with You’ll never Walk Alone to rapturous applause from his fans.
Gerry followed his instinct and released his version which became his third consecutive number One — the first time this had been achieved.
Even if Carr had persuaded a record company to record and release his version, without the benefit of two number Ones, he was unlikely to have succeeded with it. His only chart achievement was Do You Love That Girl? which spent one week at no 30.
Tex Waite, Trowbridge, Wilts.
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