Making a giant error
QUESTION In Ramsgate, a multi-storey car park was built the wrong way round. Are there other buildings where the plans were misread?
There’s a popular urban myth of the accidentally reversed building, with the embarrassed architect committing suicide once he has discovered his folly.
False rumours have been attached to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, but its grand entrance was always intended to face Kelvingrove Park, and southport’s Birkdale Palace hotel, now demolished, which was said to have been built facing inland rather than making the most of the sea views.
Palmerston’s Follies were a number of forts built in 1860 on Portsdown hill overlooking Portsmouth and its harbour. It was vigorously promoted by Prime Minister henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston.
The people of Portsmouth regarded the forts with surprise as the guns face inland rather than out to sea towards France, the expected source of an invasion.
Then there’s Kirkby’s notorious artificial ski slope. In 1973, the council commissioned a 150 ft slope to be built next to the M57. Not only was it erected without planning permission, over a water main and on land the council didn’t own, but it was the wrong way round — skiers would have the sun in their eyes for most of the day.
After further obstacles, including a lumpy slope, lack of structural integrity and problems with vandalism, the project was shelved in 1975.
By that time, 70,000 tonnes of earth had been moved to the site and 100,000 segments of plastic matting had been laid, at a cost of £114,000.
Emma Coleman, Formby, Lancs. The Lucerne Arch is an iron and plastic excrescence on st Peter’s Walk, Bournemouth. Dubbed a bus shelter for giants by Bill Bryson in his Notes From A small Island, it was designed to connect two shopping arcades, one Grade I listed.
It was built 90 degrees adrift because the designers forgot fire engines needed access through a major shopping street. It’s now home to pigeons and buskers.
Neil Bourne, Bournemouth.
A MuLTI-sTorey car park built in Liverpool in the 1960s appears to be the wrong way round.
urban legend has it that the plans were misread in ramsgate, but that is highly unlikely. As soon as groundworks were begun it would have been impossible that an error would have gone unnoticed.
There was a change of plan over the redevelopment of the area and the road layout was altered, giving the appearance the car park was built wrongly.
It had been proposed to continue the M62 from Manchester into the city centre, and the car park was designed to cope with commuter traffic. however, the plan to extend the M62 was dropped.
Meanwhile, the design of the car park was reversed with what was the multilane entrance becoming the exit and the lesser exit becoming the entrance — giving the impression it was built the wrong way round. It is under- used because of its awkward location.
Phil Jones, Liverpool.
QUESTION On the 1995 album Help in aid of the charity War Child, the opening track Fade Away is credited to Oasis & Friends, with a female backing vocal. Who were the friends?
The celebrity friends accompanying oasis on Fade Away were singer- songwriter Lisa Moorish providing backing vocals, Johnny Depp playing guitar and Kate Moss shaking a tambourine.
Noel Gallagher was the lead singer with brother Liam adding vocals. I can only assume the song recording ended with a party and they went mad for it!
Chris Wells, Burton-on-Trent, Staffs.
QUESTION In mathematics, what is the Monty Hall problem? Why is it so controversial?
The Monty hall problem, named after a game show host in the u.s., appeared in an article in scientific American.
It was popularised by Marilyn Vos savant, famous for being listed in the Guinness Book of records as having the world’s highest IQ.
The problem proposes a game in which there are three doors. Behind one is a valuable prize, such as a car, and behind the other two are goats.
The contestant chooses a door. Monty, who knows the winning door, then opens one of the goat doors and asks the contestant if he would like to switch.
It would seem the game has been reduced to a choice between two doors with equal probability, increasing the chances of winning. There would seem to be no advantage in swapping.
Marilyn claimed that the odds started out at a one in three chance and Monty choosing to show one goat had made no difference to those odds.
The chance of the alternative door must be two to one. swapping would double the chances of getting the car. Analysis of all combinations show this to be true, but it is counter-intuitive.
If you are confused, you are not alone. Many mathematical academics would not accept that Marilyn was right, hence the controversy.
There is an easy way of making it obvious, by proposing a lot more doors, say 100. Now the contestant has a 1 per cent chance of winning initially.
Monty then opens doors, not at random, but only ones with goats, until there are only two left: the one the contestant chose and one other.
Now it is clear that the one chosen still has only a 1 per cent chance of winning because nothing has changed. Therefore, the other remaining door has a 99 per cent chance of having the car. It’s the same problem essentially, but is obvious with more doors.
had Monty opened doors at random this would not be true.
Phil Alexander, Farnborough, Hants. IS THERE a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT; or email charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection is published, but we’re unable to enter into individual correspondence. Visit mailplus.co.uk to hear the Answers To Correspondents podcast