The ultimate fighting foes
QUESTION In their prime, who would have won a martial arts contest between Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris?
Despite the fact Chuck Norris is 5 ft 10 in and steven seagal is 6 ft 4 in, my money would be on the shorter man because of the nature of his expertise and wealth of combat experience.
in the late 1950s, Norris was an air policeman in the U.s. Air Force. While stationed in south Korea, he became a student of the Korean martial art known as tang soo Do, one of several branches of taekwondo — the source of his signature roundhouse kick. He rose to the level of 8th Dan in this discipline.
He was also a 5th degree black belt in shito-ryu karate, 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a black belt in judo. With this array of skills he could have been a top mixed martial arts fighter.
Norris was world professional middleweight karate champion for six years.
steven seagal is a highly accomplished martial arts practitioner. He moved to Japan when he was 17 where he learned to speak the language fluently and became the first foreigner to own and operate an Aikido dojo (club). As Master take shigemichi, he became an Aikido master — 7th Dan. He is also a master in Japanese Kendo.
While seagal’s height and extensive reach might be a factor, Norris’s combat experience would be telling. Nothing helps your distancing, application of power, timing and ability to take a hit like an actual bout. His mastery of Brazilian jiu-jitsu would also help — one ankle pick or single leg would lead to a mauling on the floor. i believe that in his prime, Norris would win eight times out of ten.
Justin Taverner, Hull.
QUESTION How many hits did it take the RAF to sink the Battleship Tirpitz with specialised bombs in 1944? Was she salvaged by the Norwegians?
tHe German battleship tirpitz was not so much sunk but obliterated on November 12, 1944, by 29 Lancaster bombers of No. 617 and No. 9 squadrons, each armed with single 12,000 lb tallboy bombs. the tirpitz had been damaged by previous attacks by the RAF and miniature submarines.
stationed in tromso fjord in Norway for repairs and refitting, she was spotted by agents of the Milorg, the Norwegian resistance, and the news passed on to London. the decision to attack was made and the job given to the RAF.
the raid started at 9.31am on November 12. Bizarrely, the bombers were not attacked by the Luftwaffe fighters stationed in nearby Bardufoss. A breakdown in communications meant that a token counter-attack only arrived after the Lancasters had completed their bombing run and left the area.
Had this not happened, the German fighters would have had little trouble shooting the lumbering, heavily laden bombers out of the sky.
the tirpitz was first struck by two tallboys that burst through the armoured deck, but one did not explode. the other struck the port side and exploded over a boiler room. this caused extensive flooding and the tirpitz began to list heavily to port. three other bombs detonated in the water nearby, which caused further damage, buckling her hull, tearing open steel plating and causing more flooding.
A sixth tallboy hit the tirpitz, but it is thought it glanced off the side of the sinking battleship and did not explode.
At 9.50am, the magazine for one of the main turrets exploded and, two minutes later, the battleship capsized. it is estimated 1,204 crew died in the raid, 596 managed to swim to shore and 87 were rescued from the flooded hull.
the RAF did not suffer any casualties, though one of No 9 squadron’s Lancasters crash-landed near Naisjarv in sweden. some wreckage is still there.
Work began on dismantling the wreck of the tirpitz immediately. German engineers removed the bronze propellers so they could be melted down.
the wreck was sold to a Norwegian salvage company in 1948 and by 1957 it had been broken up and removed.
A macabre footnote is that it was discovered the salvage company was burying parts of the wreck it did not consider valuable and dumping human remains in makeshift graves.
the Norwegian government put a stop to this and any remains subsequently recovered were buried in a mass grave near the fjord. Angus Gafraidh, London E11.
QUESTION Where did poloneck jumpers get their name?
tHe polo-neck is thought to have originated in the late 19th century in the birthplace of the sport of polo — Manipur in north-eastern india.
After British soldiers witnessed a match while stationed in the area, they set up their own polo club.
the traditional attire of the time was a thick, long-sleeved shirt made of cotton, but this was uncomfortable to wear while playing polo. so players attached their collars to their shirts with buttons to stop them flapping. the sport was introduced into england in the 1860s.
the roll-neck or turtle-neck jumper with a tubular neck that is folded down was beloved of the Beat poets in the 1950s. However, it has been around since medieval times when it was worn under armour. elaborate versions with a ruff were later adopted. it became a functional favourite among the working classes, particularly fishermen.
Noel Coward often wore turtle-necks and can be credited for making the look popular during the Roaring twenties.
Rachel Eavis, Portishead, Somerset.
■ 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