Valentine’s Xmas No 1
QUESTION Which was the first Christmas song in the UK pop charts? And which was the first to reach number one? I SAW Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, with music and lyrics by songwriter Tommie Connor, was the first Christmas song to enter the British charts, which had started in 1952. Overall, three versions of this song charted.
The Beverley Sisters entered the charts on November 27, 1953, for one week, then re-entered on December 11 and stayed for four weeks, peaking at number six.
Jimmy Boyd’s version also entered the charts on the same date for a six-week run, reaching number three — it was number one on the U.S. Billboard chart. The young American recorded the song when he was just 13.
The third version, by the Billy Cotton Band, charted on December 18 for three weeks, reaching number 11.
The first Christmas song to hit the top spot was Christmas Alphabet by singer Dickie Valentine. Written by Buddy Kaye and Jules Loman, it used the letters ‘Christmas’ as the basis of the song: C is for the candy trimmed around the Christmas tree H is for the happiness with all the family R is for the reindeer prancing by the window pane . . .
It was first released in 1954 by the McGuire Sisters, but Valentine’s version had a seven-week run on the charts between December 1955 and January 1956, spending three weeks at the top spot, including on Christmas Day.
John Kitchen, Newark, Notts.
QUESTION Is there a world record for paper aeroplane flight? John COLLINS is known in America as the paper airplane guy: he uses origami and aerodynamics to design planes that set world records.
In 2012, one of his designs, thrown by professional football player Joe Ayoob, Dickie Valentine: Christmas No 1 in 1955 broke the Guinness world record for the farthest distance flown. Ayoob launched the paper aircraft Suzanne 226ft 10in (69.14m), at McClellan Air Force Base in California on February 26, 2012.
It was made from a single sheet of uncut A4 paper. The design can be found in Collins’s New World Champion Paper Airplane Book.
Collins offers some key pointers to novice paper-plane enthusiasts: ‘A folding tool gives you sharp creases and when folding edges in you need a little breathing room (about a 1mm in this case) so the layers don’t bunch up when folded.
‘Symmetry, flat layers and the exact lining up of edges are very important.’
The record for the longest-lasting flight is 27.9 seconds, which was achieved by Takua Toda, chairman of the Japan Origami Airplane Association, in 2009.
his plane was constructed from a single sheet of folded paper without cuts and measured 10cm from tip to tail.
Jackie Evans, Cardiff.
QUESTION What physiological processes cause us to lose our memory when struck on the head? CONCUSSION is the transient loss of consciousness after a blow to the head. It is often followed by one of two types of amnesia: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia is when we forget things that happened in the past, including what caused the injury. In severe cases, patients can forget days, weeks or even years.
In anterograde amnesia, we can’t make new memories, so might remember up to the point of the accident, but forget the events immediately afterwards. This is the more common problem following concussion. The types of injuries that produce concussion are usually associated with acceleration and then deceleration of the head, most often with a rotational component, such as a bump, blow or jolt.
There is disagreement among medical experts about what causes the loss of consciousness and impairment of memory.
The once popular vascular theory — that the trauma is caused by a rapid loss of blood in the brain — has largely been dismissed after evidence showed trauma is immediately followed by an increase in bloodflow, electrical activity and other chemical reactions in the brain.
The convulsive theory — an electrical shock in the brain caused by damage to neurones — could explain the loss of consciousness and the increased metabolic activity found in the brain followed by trauma.
The cholinergic theory suggests there is an imbalance in brain chemistry, with a large increase in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which helps regulate signalling in the brain and has a major role in attention and motivation.
A combination of these factors is thought to be the cause of the memory loss.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION What is known of Chu Chin Chow, a long-running show in the 1900s? FURTHER to the earlier answer, my grandfather, Bernard Button, appeared as one of the 40 thieves during that run.
he was in the Grenadier Guards and, after he returned from serving in the trenches and Belgium at the end of World War I, he was stationed at London’s Wellington Barracks, where he was the colonel’s orderly for two years.
All of the 40 thieves were played by serving soldiers, who received three shillings and sixpence (3s/6d) for each performance at a time when Army pay was just one shilling (1s) a week.
That probably explains why my grandfather was happy to appear in Chu Chin Chow several times!
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