Sorry, Iceland is not top banana

QUESTION Is it true that Iceland is Europe’s biggest banana producer?

THIS is an urban myth. It was widely propagated by the TV show QI, where host Stephen Fry asked: ‘ What is the biggest banana republic in Europe?’ The answer being ‘Iceland’.

France ( in Martinique and Guadeloupe) then Spain (the Canary Islands) are the biggest producers, followed by Portugal (Madeira), Greece and Italy.

As with any urban myth, there is a kernel of truth in the story.

Following World War II, Iceland established a number of greenhouses where bananas could be grown using inexpensive geo-thermal power for energy.

Icelandic banana production was slower due to low levels of sunlight. Its bananas took two years to mature, while they take only a few months near the equator. Just one banana ‘plantation’ remains in Iceland, at the National Gardening School near hverageroi. Its students look after 600 to 700 banana plants in the tropical greenhouse. Phil Lee, Worthing, W. Sussex.

QUESTION The Fifties TV show Oh Boy! featured The Vernons Girls. What became of them?

THE previous answer referred to The Vernons’ hit Lover Please. This was a cover of the No 7 U.S. hit by Clyde McPhatter — not the Drifters.

The Vernons’ version reached No 16, but Clyde’s original failed to make the Top 40 in Britain.

Clyde, a founder member of the Drifters, later had a successful solo career as an R&B singer, being inducted into the hall of Fame. Sadly, he suffered ill health and died in 1972 at the age of 39. John Hammond-Spencer,

Chalford Hill, Glos.