Pretenders to the King
QUESTION
In his classic 1960 hit Donald Where’s Your Troosers, Andy Stewart sings part of the song in the style of Elvis Presley. Does this make him the first Elvis impersonator?
IT would appear that Andy Stewart doing an Elvis impersonation was preceded by a number of imitators.
Presley is probably the most impersonated singer in pop history. Famous notables he influenced or inspired include Cliff Richard, Paul McCartney, John lennon, Tom Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Buddy Holly and Bob dylan.
david Bowie was a fan and wrote Golden Years with Elvis in mind, even singing it in his style.
Cliff sung in an Elvis style, too, as did many American singers in the Fifties, though not as straight impersonations. Stan Freberg’s hilarious take-off version of Heartbreak Hotel is from 1956, but Pat Cupp and Carl ‘Cheesie’ Nelson are arguably the earliest Elvis tribute artists, dating from 1955.
Cupp and Nelson were rockabilly/ country singers from Arkansas. when Elvis came on the music scene, it became apparent Cheesie could do an uncanny imitation of the young Presley.
Cupp and Nelson stood in when Presley and his band had a minor car crash on their way to their gig at the Arkansas Municipal Auditorium, Texarkana.
when Elvis arrived, he was amused by what he saw, thanked the boys for helping out and took over.
The two earliest recorded Elvis covers are both for Blue Moon of Kentucky, one by Phil Gulley and the other by Cliffie Stone, released within just two months of Presley’s July 5, 1954 recording.
Paul Lindus, Sidcup, Kent. IN 1956, my ship HMS Striker was the HQ ship of the salvage fleet after the invasion of the Suez Canal. In the engine room department, we put on a concert for the salvage fleet, and one of the acts was Roy (Scouse) Chapman who sang Elvis’s Heartbreak Hotel.
Roy James, Kenfig Hill, Bridgend. IN 1957, The Goons released a single whistle Your Cares Away, the flip-side of which was called A Russian love Song. It was inspired by the Russians being the first country to put a satellite into orbit.
There followed a passable imitation of Elvis singing ‘I’m gonna rock around that Russian satellite moon’, featuring Spike Milligan.
Alan James, Pencoed, Glamorgan.
QUESTION
Are Nike missiles still in use? THE bristling menace of the Nike missile system was one of the iconic images of the Cold war.
Named after the Greek goddess of Victory, Project Nike began in 1944 when the war department demanded a new air defence system able to combat fast jet aircraft that military strategists realised would render their existing anti-aircraft guns obsolete.
Bell Telephone laboratories drafted the Anti-Aircraft Guided Missile Report in 1945, presenting the idea for a surfaceto-air missile system, to account for any efforts by the enemy pilot to avoid the missile.
when the Soviets detonated their first nuclear bomb in 1949, the rush to develop the missile system intensified.
By 1951, the military had developed the Nike Ajax missile and sites were constructed in defensive rings surrounding major urban and industrial areas.
Additional Nike sites protected key strategic Air Command bases and other sensitive installations, such as the nuclear facilities at Hanford, washington.
In 1958 the addition of Nike Hercules missiles vastly increased the ability to intercept Soviet bombers before they reached effective range.
The Hercules was capable of 2,100 mph and a range of 90 miles, compared with the 1,500 mph and 25-mile range of the Nike Ajax.
development continued, producing improved Nike Hercules and then Nike Zeus A and B. Soviet development of intercontinental ballistic missiles decreased the value of the Nike system and, from 1965, Nike batteries began to be decommissioned.
during 1974, all remaining operational sites within the Nike air defence system were deactivated. Army Air defence Command, which administered this system, was closed down shortly after.
In the u.S., Nike was replaced by the Patriot missile system, with computer control, multiple target engagement and the ability to operate in an electronic counter-measures heavy environment.
However, Nike has not completely disappeared. More than four decades after the first Nike missile became operational in the u.S., Nike Hercules missile systems still form part of the air defence systems of Italy, Greece, Turkey and South Korea.
Jason Smith, Leicester.
QUESTION
Packaging on supermarket mushrooms advises not to wash or clean them before cooking. Why? THE standard advice is that because mushrooms absorb water like little sponges, they won’t brown well when cooked if they are full of water. They may also lose some of their nutritious amino acids this way.
loss of aroma and flavour tends not to be a problem as most of the associated molecules are not water soluble.
Some cookbooks suggest you may rinse mushrooms with cool water and pat dry with paper towels.
Harold McGee investigated the subject in his book on Food And Cooking by soaking batches of mushrooms.
He concluded that you may wash fresh mushrooms and that, as they’re already around 90 per cent water, a little more or less isn’t going to make much difference in cooking.
He adds: ‘ The amino acids are inside cells and most cells are not going to be breached by surface exposure to water. So I wash my mushrooms with a clear conscience.’
Alison Beddoes, Hereford.