Stolen art in a Bond lair
QUESTION What is the art in Oberhauser’s lair in the Bond movie Spectre?
When James Bond and Dr Madeleine Swann are invited to stay at Franz Oberhauser’s (aka ernst Stavro Blofeld) Moroccan desert villa, two paintings can be seen hanging over their beds.
In Bond’s, it is 1911’s Le Pigeon Aux Petit Pois (The Pigeon With Green Peas) by Pablo Picasso, and in Madeleine’s room, it’s 1919’s Woman With A Fan by Amedeo Modigliani.
It was a clever idea using these pictures, as they were part of an infamous art heist. In scenes reminiscent of a Bond film, on the night of May 20, 2010, five paintings worth a total of £100 million were stolen from the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
In addition to the Picasso and the Modigliani, 1906’ s L’Olivier Pres de l’estaque (Olive Tree near L’estaque) by Georges Braque, 1906’s La Pastorale by henri Matisse and 1922’s Still Life With Candlestick by Fernand Leger were stolen.
The culprit was the notorious cat burglar Vjeran Tomic, aka Spiderman. The theft had been commissioned by antiques dealer Jean-Michel Corvez to be fenced by art expert Yonathan Birn.
Tomic was meant to take only Leger’s Cubist painting, but when the alarm failed to go off, he decided to take the other paintings.
Though the trio were arrested and sentenced to several years in jail in 2017, the artworks are still missing. Birn claimed during the trial that he’d thrown away the paintings in panic.
however, he is thought to be lying — they may well be in the hands of a Blofeld-like collector.
Sharp-eyed James Bond fans will have seen the Modigliani before in 2012’s Skyfall, when 007 spots the enigmatic Severine for the first time. She is showing the painting to a potential buyer, who is subsequently assassinated.
Kayleigh Parrish, Nottingham.
QUESTION In the Seventies, was an Australian prime minister removed from office by the Governor-General?
I WAS in Australia in november 1975 during the greatest constitutional crisis the country has experienced.
edward Gough Whitlam had led the Australian Labour Party from 23 years in the political wilderness to win the 1972 election from the entrenched Liberal Party (similar to our Conservatives).
Australia’s parliament comprises the house of Representatives (their house of Commons) and the Senate. Both are elected under proportional representation. In 1975, an election saw Labour with a majority in the house of Representatives, but not in the Senate.
When a supply Bill was passed by the Representatives, it was blocked by the Senate. encouraged by Malcolm Fraser, the leader of the Liberal Party, GovernorGeneral Sir John Kerr, as representative of the Queen and acting within his authority, dismissed the Labour Government and appointed Fraser as caretaker prime minister.
Immediately, Fraser called a general election and the Labour Party was heavily defeated. Fraser continued as PM until defeated by trades union leader Bob hawke in a snap election in 1983 that returned the Labour Party to power.
Keith Turton, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leics.
QUESTION What is the origin of the girl’s name Brenda?
BRenDA is often thought to be the feminine form of the Irish saint’s name Brendan ( Brenainn in Irish), but linguistically this is not the case.
It is probably of nordic origin, with the name Brandr meaning flame and sword. This is where we get the word brand, meaning a burning piece of wood or a mark made by singeing the skin. It arrived in Britain as a male name in the 8th century with the norse colonisation of the Orkney and Shetland islands.
It is possible that it was misheard as Brenda and became a female name over time. Until the 19th century, it wasn’t common outside the northern Isles, where nordic traditions were strongest.
The first recorded use of the name in Wales is the 12th century legend of Madoc, which features the purported son of Owain Gwynedd and his wife, a nordic princess by the name of Brenda.
In his 1823 novel The Pirate, set in Orkney, Sir Walter Scott names his heroine Brenda and it is likely this popularised the name outside Scotland.
There have been many famous Brendas. In music, there was Sixties chart-topper Brenda Lee, while Crystal Gayle was born Brenda Gayle Webb.
In acting, there is Brenda Fricker, who found fame in Casualty, and Brenda Blethyn, who plays TV detective Vera.
Brenda reached its peak of popularity in the Forties when it was in the top 20. Last year it failed to make it into the top 100 names for newborn girls.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.
QUESTION A Birmingham street is named after Charlie Hall, a now forgotten actor in Laurel and Hardy films. What other streets are named after long-forgotten celebrities?
FURTheR to the earlier answer, a street in the hanley district of Stoke-on-Trent is named after the locally born music hall star Gertie Gitana, nicknamed the Staffordshire Cinderella. Gitana is Italian for ‘little gipsy’. Born Gertrude Mary Astbury, her sweet, childlike voice suited her signature tune, nellie Dean. her name lives on in cockney rhyming slang: Gertie Gitana — banana.
David Wood, Bradeley, Staffs.
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