Top of the car cops
QUESTION Who said ‘a careless driver isn’t driving his car, he’s aiming it’?
This was one of the memorable messages by Chief Dan Matthews in the classic cop show highway Patrol.
The show ran for 156 episodes in the U.s. between 1955 and 1959 and was syndicated to Britain in the sixties.
highway Patrol starred Broderick Crawford as Matthews. it was inspired casting: his burly, gruff persona had just the right gravitas required for the role. Crawford was an Oscar winner following his barnstorming portrayal of Willie stark in 1949’s All The King’s Men.
The show was highly influential in terms of TV editing technique, making effective use of cut-aways and rapid edits to create dramatic tension. it featured modern police communication techniques and there were lots of ‘10-4s’ (meaning OK) as the officers used in-car radios.
Equally important were the vehicles used in police dragnets, Bell police helicopters and iconic cars, most notably 1955 Buick Century two- door sedans, which were not on sale to the public at the time.
Each episode began with a stentorian message: ‘Whenever the laws of any state are broken, a duly authorised organisation swings into action. it may be called the state Police, state Troopers, Militia, the Rangers . . . or the highway Patrol. These are the stories of the men whose training, skill and courage have enforced and preserved our state laws.’
The shows concluded with a safety message, most famously: ‘Leave your blood at the Red Cross, not on the highway!’
Other memorable slogans included: ‘The careless driver isn’t driving his car, he’s aiming it!’; ‘it isn’t the car that kills, it’s the driver!’; ‘No matter how new, the safest device in your car is you!’; ‘ The clowns at the circus, they’re real funny, but on the highway they’re murder!’; and ‘Reckless driving doesn’t determine who’s right, only who’s left!’ This moralising made highway Patrol ripe for parody. Mad magazine ran a comic strip called highway squad and saturday Night Live satirised the show, with John Belushi taking the Broderick role.
Jonathan Dean, Lowestoft, Suffolk.
QUESTION Was Sevenoaks in Kent named after real trees?
It is thought that sevenoaks was named after a clump of oaks in the ancient woodlands of what became the Manor of Knole Park. it is surmised that the name dates from AD900 around the time of the first settlement in the area.
The Textus Roffensis, or Tome Of Rochester, shows there was a church and place with the saxon name of Seouenaca, which means seven oaks, in 1112.
The importance of sevenoaks grew after the two main roads from London and Dartford merged into one route south through the Weald to the coast.
sevenoaks school founded in 1432 by William sevenoke, mayor of London and a friend of henry V, is probably the oldest secular secondary in England. it is home to the Vine cricket ground, one of the oldest in the world, dating from 1734.
seven oak trees were planted on the northern edge of the Vine in 1902 to mark the coronation of Edward Vii. This has led to a mistaken belief that they were the original trees. six were blown down in the Great storm of 1987. They were replaced in a ceremony led by TV personality Gloria hunniford.
M. J. Harrold, Canterbury, Kent.
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