Princess of many roles
QUESTION What is the story of Dawn Addams, Britain’s first actress-turned-princess?
DAWN ADDAMS was born in Felixstowe in 1930, the daughter of an RAF officer. Her mother died when she was a child and she was brought up by her grandparents. when she told her father she wanted to be an actress, he was furious, but she persevered and went to RADA.
with looks similar to Joan Collins, she went to Hollywood in 1950 and was cast in big budget films such as 1952’s singing In The Rain and Plymouth adventure, and 1953’s The Robe and Young Bess. In the latter film she played Catherine Howard, the doomed fifth wife of Henry VIII.
In 1953, she met Italian Prince Vittorio massimo of Roccaseca. They fell in love and married in Rome the following year. Dawn was 23 and the Prince 42.
They settled in his castle at scorona near Rome, but the royal bride refused to give up acting. as a compromise, she agreed to film only in Italy.
Their son stefano was born in 1955, but the marriage quickly foundered. Prince massimo thought Dawn’s role in 1954’s The Bed was too provocative, and when he tried to suppress publicity photos, he was banned from the set.
Dawn returned to Britain to make 1957’s a King In new York, directed by her friend Charlie Chaplin, who was exiled from Hollywood because of his political views. The film was not a success.
In november 1958, a formal separation from the Prince was announced and the following year legal proceedings were begun in France because divorce was illegal in Italy.
Dawn was upset when the Prince sought custody of their son. In 1962, she took stefano to England under the pretence of a holiday, but tried to have him made a ward of the British courts.
Prince massimo retaliated by having his wife’s Italian property seized and attempted to extradite her to Italy for abducting their son.
In 1966, Dawn gave birth to a second son, noel, refusing to name the father. a wealthy Italian industrialist admitted paternity and tried to gain custody. Tragically, the baby died from bronchial pneumonia at the age of six months.
That year, Dawn appeared to spoof her royal status, playing the fictional Queen adana in an episode of TV’s The saint.
In 1971, she finally obtained a divorce in the London courts. Two years later, she attended the wedding of 18-year- old stefano to atalanta Foxwell, the teenage daughter of Lady Edith Foxwell, one-time queen of London cafe society.
In 1974, Dawn married businessman Jimmy white. she revived her acting career, appearing in plays and on TV, notably in the hit ITV sitcom Father Dear Father with Patrick Cargill. Her last TV appearance was in the critically knocked nautical drama series Triangle in 1983.
Early in 1985, it was reported she was receiving treatment for cancer. she died in a London hospital that may, aged 54.
John Rutherford, Sevenoaks, Kent.
QUESTION If all the money in the world was shared equally with every person, how much would each of us get?
IT DEPENDS on your definition of money. The Bank For International settlements, an international financial organisation owned by the world’s central banks and based in switzerland, estimates there is £ 3.8 trillion in circulation as banknotes and coins.
The world population is 7.8 billion, so if all the money was divided equally, each person would get £490.
‘narrow’ money, which includes liquid cash — banknotes, coins and money in deposit accounts — equates to £28 trillion, which would work out at £3,590 per person. ‘Broad’ money — which includes semi-liquid forms of money, such as savings accounts with an agreed maturity of up to two years, government securities and gilts — is estimated to be £69 trillion. If this was divided equally, each person would receive £8,850.
Tom Seymore, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks.
QUESTION Does the universe have a shape?
GENERAL relativity predicts that space is a physical, dynamic thing. It can bend because matter and energy can curve the paths of objects moving within it. It can ripple with gravitational waves and expand, creating more space. These phenomena are described by the idea of curvature of space or spacetime.
If space has no curvature, there is exactly enough mass to cause the expansion to stop, but only after an infinite amount of time. Thus, the universe will expand for ever, but with the rate of expansion gradually approaching zero after an infinite amount of time. This is a flat or Euclidian universe.
If space contains enough matter (gravity) to re-collapse the universe, it is described as closed. Think of it as a sphere or giant potato — though a fourdimensional one.
If space has negative curvature, there is insufficient mass to cause the expansion of the universe to stop. In this case, the universe has no bounds and will expand for ever. This is called an open universe and is saddle-shaped.
Cosmologists attempt to decide the type of universe we have by measuring the inside of triangles. They look at the early universe and study the spatial relationship between different points on that picture. If the projected triangle is flat, the angles add up to 180 degrees; if positive, they are greater than 180; if negative, less than 180.
another method is to measure the density of matter throughout the universe. Incredibly, evidence suggests the universe is flat, which is the least probable option. It equates to an average five hydrogen atoms per cubic metre of space. why this ‘perfect’ level has been reached is not known.
Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
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