Sinking cash into Venice
QUESTION The Venice flood barrier is costing billions. How is this being paid for?
Venice is a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by 400 bridges. The islands lie in a shallow lagoon at the north-western end of the Adriatic Sea and are susceptible to flood.
it has been prone to inundation since its foundation as a city state in the fifth century AD and throughout its domination as a trading centre in medieval and Renaissance times. But, owing to subsidence and higher tides that some argue have been caused by global warming, Venice is more prone to flooding than ever before.
The MOSe flood defence project is under construction and will consist of a series of gates in the lagoon to protect the city during high tides.
At the start of the project in 2003, it was estimated it would cost £2.8 billion, but it has already reached £5 billion. By the time it is completed in 2020, this will have reached at least £6.5 billion. The project has been funded by the italian government, with the help of a loan of 1.5 billion euros from the european investment Bank.
MOSe is an acronym for Modulo Sperimentale elettromeccanico (experimental electromechanical Module), but is also the italian word for Moses, neatly alluding to the parting of the Red Sea.
The project has involved the construction of 79 hinged steel panels or buoyancy flap gates, each weighing 300 tonnes. These will be submerged most of the time, but will fill with compressed air when the high-tide alarm sounds, cutting off the three inlets, the Lido, Malamocco and chioggia, which separate the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.
it should be able to prevent floods for tide levels up to three metres.
When the project was launched by Silvio Berlusconi, the then italian prime minister, it was due to be completed by 2012. This has been delayed because of technical issues, political and financial uncertainty and corruption.
in 2014, the Guardia di Finanza, italy’s tax police, found a network of bribery, kick-backs, extortion and money laundering. Thirty-five people were arrested, including Giorgio Orsoni, the then mayor of Venice. Huge sums of money were paid to politicians by construction firms to win contracts to work on the flood relief project. consequently, the european investment Bank has held back the third tranche of loan money. Daniel Russo, London W6.
QUESTION My friend has a 35mm camera made by Reid and Sigrist of Leicester. What is the history of this firm?
ReiD and Sigrist Ltd was set up in 1928 by Squadron Leader George Hancock Reid DFc and Frederick Sigrist. The company made precision aircraft instrumentation. Originally at the Athenaeum Works, in Hampstead, north London, it moved to a purpose-built factory at Shannon corner, new Malden, Surrey, in 1935. As the company expanded, further sites were acquired at Desford and Braunstone in Leicestershire.
in the late Thirties the company tried its hand at aircraft design. They developed a twin-engined advanced training aircraft, the R.S.1 ‘Snargasher’ in 1939.
However, the aircraft never went into production because of the onset of war. The company was fully engaged in Boulton Paul Defiant and Hawker Hurricane assembly and repairs.
The firm entered the camera market after the war. The famous German optics firm Leica was in the British control zone of Germany. As a result of the London Agreement of 1945-46, all German patents were ruled invalid and open for copy.
The intelligence service left Leica with a complete set of microfilm plans for the pre-war iiiB and postwar iiic cameras, two famous 50mm models. Reid and Sigrist secured the contract to produce military cameras for the Army. it also took the opportunity to improve the tolerances, fit and finish to the standards of aircraft instruments and gyroscopes.
Using Leica’s blueprints, they produced the Reid iii, a high-quality 35mm rangefinder camera. This beautiful machine had one flaw — it was expensive. The camera fitted with a standard lens cost £150 — £3,500 in today’s money. About 1,500 were made, most for military use.
The Decca Record company took over Reid and Sigrist Ltd in 1954 and closed down the camera arm in 1970. Steve Marsh, Holgate, W. Yorks.
QUESTION When was the first quiz night in a pub or club in Britain? Are they popular in other countries such as the U.S.?
THe precise origin of pub quizzes is uncertain. There were probably impromptu versions before 1976 when Sharon Burns and Tom Porter formalised the game.
Realising quizzes could help get customers into pubs on nights that would otherwise be quiet, they established their company, Burns & Porter, to cash in on this by organising a quiz league. it began on Sunday nights in Hampshire and Dorset, but eventually growing to incorporate more than 10,000 teams across the country.
Burns & Porter would post the questions to the pubs each week, then collate the results into a league table. Such was the venture’s popularity that the company began producing quiz books.
While Britain remains the home of the pub quiz, they are popular in Australia and new Zealand. Pub quizzes are a relatively recent introduction to the U.S., where they are increasingly popular.
Army veteran Michael Landmann established America’s Pub Quiz, a company that hosts trivia nights in states ranging from new York to california, but mainly in Wisconsin. Jim Smith, Leeds.