Going with the flow . . .
QUESTION Who invented the roundabout to manage traffic?
Traffic circles have long been a feature of grand urban design. a famous example is Bath circus, dating back to the mid-18th century and consisting of three curved segments of Grade i- listed townhouses arranged in a circular shape around a central green.
The 19th- century reconstructions of Paris and Vienna have circles at the intersection of wide boulevards and other radiating roads.
Traffic movement around circular intersections was once haphazard. To deal with this, ‘gyratory flow’ was proposed, but not implemented, by frederico ressano Garcia in his 1877 plan for major road junctions in Lisbon.
in 1897, architect Holroyd Smith proposed the concept to London county council, citing Ludgate circus as an intersection that could benefit. in 1903, the Parisian architect Eugene Henard produced a series of drawings highlighting the benefits of gyratory flow.
By the beginning of the 20th century, motorised vehicles began to dominate city traffic and better road management became essential. The first practical application of a one-way gyratory system was columbus circle in New York in 1905.
a traffic circle had surrounded Gaetano russo’s 76 ft-high columbus monument since 1857. However, traffic was undirected until the road was converted into a oneway gyratory system by architect William Phelps Eno, inspired by Henard.
Henard’s vision was implemented in france in grand style. in 1907, the Place de l’Etoile, the meeting place of 12 straight avenues (hence its name, ‘Star Square’) that surround the arc de Triomphe, became Europe’s first one-way gyratory.
around this time, richard Parker and raymond Unwin were developing Ebenezer Howard’s first Garden city at Letchworth in Hertfordshire. Howard’s vision had involved roads radiating from a central hub. During a visit to Paris in 1908, Parker was so impressed with the Place de l’Etoile that, on his return, a six-arm intersection planned for Letchworth was redesigned as a gyratory, becoming Britain’s first roundabout. it was opened in 1910 as Sollershott circus.
in 1929, roundabouts were formally recognised in the UK and guidelines issued as to their design.
Gus Holden, Wolverhampton, W. Mids.
QUESTION Do blue-eyed people have a higher tolerance for alcohol than brown-eyed people?
THERE is a working theory that light-eyed individuals are more tolerant to alcohol than dark-eyed ones. requiring more alcohol to feel its effects makes you more prone to alcoholism.
researchers from Georgia State University began to investigate this in 2001. Using information obtained from surveys of 10,860 caucasian male prison inmates and 1,862 caucasian women, they reported: ‘individuals with light eyes . . . consumed significantly more alcohol than individuals with dark eyes.’
a 2015 follow-up study published in the american Journal Of Medical Genetics confirmed a link between blue, grey and green eyes and alcohol dependency, with blue eyes showing the greatest risk.
The researchers from the University of Vermont and Yale used a genetic database to identify 1,263 patients of European ancestry suffering from alcohol addiction.
a higher risk was found among those with light- coloured eyes. a possible explanation is that a gene near Oca2 on chromosome 15 — which codes for the production of the skin pigment melanin — carries a mutation that leads to increased alcohol tolerance.
J. Singh, Nottingham.
QUESTION Was the movie title The Usual Suspects taken from a quote in the film Casablanca? Are any films named after movie quotes?
THE film’s title was inspired by a line of dialogue by captain Louis renault (claude rains) in 1942’s casablanca: ‘round up the usual suspects.’
it follows a long, tense pause after rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) had shot dead the Nazi Major Strasser. The french Prefect considers whether to arrest Bogart, before eventually delivering the immortal lines that let him off the hook.
The film contains one of history’s most misquoted lines: ‘Play it again, Sam.’
in fact, ilsa Lund (ingrid Bergman), in an exchange with piano player ‘Sam’ (Dooley Wilson), says: ‘Play it, Sam. Play as Time Goes By.’
Later on, rick has a similar exchange and simply says: ‘Play it.’ The misquote is perhaps more romantic and became the title for Woody allen’s 1972 film Play it again, Sam. allen plays a divorced film critic who receives advice from Humphrey Bogart on how to treat women.
Danny Darcy, Reading, Berks. aN OBViOUS example of a film named after a movie quote is They call Me Mister Tibbs!, the 1970 follow-up to 1967’s in The Heat Of The Night.
Philadelphia homicide detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is wrongfully arrested because of the colour of his skin while passing through the backwater town of Sparta.
The powerful quote comes in an exchange with Police chief Bill Gillespie (rod Steiger), who asks him what people call him in Philadelphia, using a racial slur in the process.
The angry response is: ‘They call me Mr Tibbs!’ There, he is not defined by his skin colour, but as the intelligent and experienced police officer that he is.
The recent film The Kindness Of Strangers, set in New York and starring andrea riseborough, is named after a quote from Tennessee Williams’s play a Streetcar Named Desire.
it was made into a film starring Vivien Leigh (Blanche DuBois) and Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski).
at the end of the film, Blanche says: ‘i have always depended on the kindness of strangers,’ hinting at her past as a prostitute. Jane Fowler, London N10.