Travelling with style
QUESTION Was the London Transport logo based on the Plimsoll line? though the circle and bar that is the corporate logo of t ransport for London (formerly London transport), resembles the Plimsoll line (a circle bisected horizontally by a bar that indicates the water level at which a ship may safely maintain buoyancy), this was not the inspiration for the design. But it was certainly influenced by the YMCA symbol, a red triangle with a blue line through it.
the London t ransport logo was adopted in 1908 and is down to the passion for design of Frank Pick , then the company’s publicity officer responsible for marketing. Pick went on to become the first chief executive in 1933.
the first logo, known as the bullseye, consisted of a solid red disc crossed with a blue bar on which the name of the station was written in blunt lettering. Pick liked the logo, but wanted to improve on it.
‘how does the YMCA red triangle symbol manage to hold your eye?’ he asked his assistant, wondering whether this was due to the white void inside the triangle rather than the triangular design.
his next step was to find a suitable font, or typeface, for his symbol. he was not an artist or typographer , but had a great eye for talent.
For the task he chose young artist Edward Johnston, who between 1913 and 1916 created what has become the iconic underground font (officially known as Johnston).
It is sans serif, which means that it lacks the little flicks and terminations that adorn traditional alphabets.
Designed so that it would not be mistaken for advertising , it has perfectly circular ‘o’s and a quirky diagonal dot above ‘i’s and ‘j’s.
Frank Pick also commissioned the classic tube map designed by harry Beck, based on a circuit board, which is still in use in London, New Y ork and Sydney. Simon Craven, Derby.
QUESTION How accurate are the events in the James Woods film Indictment: The McMartin Trial?
FroM 1987 to 1990, in the longest criminal trial in u . S. history , prosecutors tried to prove V irginia McMartin, who owned a pre-school in Manhattan Beach, California, had abused 13 children, taken pornographic pictures of them and forced them to watch the mutilation of animals. Indictment: the McMartin t rial was an accurate portrayal of these events and won the 1996 golden globe award for best tV film.
the trial was a sensational affair that gripped America. one witness in the preliminary hearing , a ten-year - old boy, testified that he had seen hundreds of animals slaughtered, and that priests and nuns had abused him in a dozen satanic rituals.
Vigilante parents went through garbage and dug up a car park next to the school, looking for the skeletons of slaughtered classroom pets.
there was a lack of evidence against the teachers at the school and every indication that the children had been coerced and manipulated to give their testimony.
however, on March 22, 1984, Virginia McMartin, her daughter P eggy McMartin Buckey, grandchildren ray Buckey and P eggy Ann Buckey and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Betty raidor and Babette Spitler were charged with 115 counts of child abuse, later increased to 321 counts involving 48 children.
the u.S. Supreme Court held that child witnesses could testify outside the courtroom despite the Sixth Amendment stating a defendant had the right to confront his or her accusers. Eventually, all the plaintiffs were acquitted, though ray Buckey was tried again on several indictments. Defence attorney Danny Davis (played by James Woods in the film) said of Buckey: ‘he was singly the most heroic client I’ve ever defended, not only because he was innocent, but he endured it with a quiet wisdom.’ though certain events were omitted or compressed owing to dramatic considerations, the court scenes were based on the transcripts, and the renditions of the children’s interview tapes were virtually verbatim. Sarah Westwood, Birmingham.
QUESTION Antiques expert David Dickinson was born David Gulesserian. What are the origins of this name?
DAVID DICKINSoN was born in 1941, the son of an Armenian woman called Eugenie gulesserian. he was the result of an affair she had with a married man.
In the moral climate of the time, she could not keep her baby , and he was adopted by Jim and Joyce Dickinson and brought up in Cheadle heath, a suburb of Stockport in greater Manchester. Dickinson only discovered he was adopted when he was 12.
After he left school, he went into trading in the textile business — he later discovered it was the same path his grandfather, hrant gulessarian, had taken. hrant had come to Manchester in the 1900s due to the strong textile trading links between the city and the ottoman Empire.
‘gul’ is a common name in P ersian and turkish languages, meaning rose, a significant flower in eastern culture. the word ‘ sar’ means head, so gulesserian is thought to mean head of the rose family or clan.
Erica greene, Hale, greater Manchester.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT; fax them to 01952 780111 or email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co. uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.