Des smokes out rival Russ
QUESTION Did Des O’Connor and Russ Abbot co-star in an advert?
COMEDIAN Russ Abbot made a series of adverts for Castella Classic cigars. Each had a humorous ending, with the caption: ‘Castella Classic, for the man who thinks that little bit bigger.’
One of these featured, but didn’t show, Des O’Connor.
Russ arrives at a fishing lake kitted out in waders and a sou’wester. Among his equipment is a record player.
Russ takes out a Des O’Connor album and starts to play it, at the same time lowering a speaker at the end of his fishing rod into the lake.
Immediately, to the astonishment of a fellow fisherman, fish start jumping out of the water and into Russ’s fishing net.
Des did appear in a later Castella Classic cigars advert.
Russ is at a clay pigeon shooting range and when it is his turn to shoot, he holds up his hands to signify he wants ten clays to be fired for him to aim at. He gets a thumbs up from an unseen figure.
He pulls out of a bag a bizarre gun with a barrel that resembles two car horns. The clays are fired and he shoots his weapon, destroying the clays and covering himself in gunpowder.
The camera then pans to the previously unseen person in the dugout, who proceeds to light up a cigar.
He turns to the camera and is revealed to be Des O’Connor. Instead of firing clays, he has been launching Russ Abbot LPs, exacting his revenge for the earlier fishing scene.
Robert Taylor, Stubbington, Hants.
QUESTION Did the French Foreign Legion operate during World War II?
THE Foreign Legion was established in 1831 to absorb a number of foreign regiments from Switzerland and Germany in the service of France.
Its main purpose was to expand French control of North Africa. Once the initial membership had retired or died in combat, the Legion became much more French in nature. Whether the Foreign Legion served on the Allied side during World War II or as part of the Vichy French Army depended very much on where they were when the French signed an Armistice with Germany in June 1940. This established the French government under Marshal Petain in the town of Vichy.
The Foreign Legion served mainly in French territories overseas. Countries under the control of the Vichy government included Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon and Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), which was a French colony.
About 2,000 Legionnaires of German origin were transferred to the Afrika Korps in Libya.
The 13th Demi-Brigade, formed in 1940 for service in the defence of Norway, was evacuated to Britain and became part of the Free French Forces under the eventual command of Charles de Gaulle. It was deployed as part of the British 8th Army in North Africa.
In June 1941, during Operation Exporter, Legionnaire fought Legionnaire as Free French forces made up some of the units that were sent to ensure Vichy-controlled Syria and Lebanon didn’t fall into German hands.
Following Operation Torch, the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria in November 1942, all the Vichy forces in North Africa transferred their allegiance to the Free French. This included Foreign Legion units.
They fought alongside the Americans at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, February 19-25, 1943, which was pivotal in the liberation of Tunisia. They then took part in the invasions of Sicily and Italy in July and September.
Foreign Legion units also fought on D-Day and in the liberation of France and then onwards through Germany.
After the war, the Foreign Legion continued in French military service, fighting in Indochina and Algeria. The Foreign Legion still exists as 9,000 elite light infantry troops and continues to accept foreign volunteers.
It is based in mainland France and Corsica, with units in French Guiana in South America and Mayotte, which is part of the Comoros Islands north of the Mozambique channel.
Robert Sutherland, Edinburgh.
QUESTION What was the origin of the Vanity Fair publisher Condé Nast’s unusual Christian name?
CONDÉ NAST (1873-1942) came from a prominent French family. His mother Esther was descended from Guillaume Benoist, chamberlain of Charles VII of France in 1437.
His grandfather, Louis Auguste Benoist, was a pioneer banker and financier in St Louis, Missouri. Louis had three daughters and one son, Condé, after whom the publisher was named.
Condé may seem unusual to Anglo-Saxon ears, but not only is it a common French boy’s name, there are at least 25 places in France that share this name.
It is derived from a Celtic word, Condate, meaning confluence (of two rivers), from which was derived the Romanised form Condatum and finally the French Condé.
A branch of the House of Bourbon, the French royal family, is named after Condé-en-Brie in northern France.
Susie Faulkner, Norwich, Norfolk.
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