The voice gone in five seconds

QUESTION Who voices the Mission: Impossible ‘This tape will selfdestruct’ message?

IT WAS Robert Cleveland ‘Bob’ Johnson (1920-1993) whose voice issued the weekly challenge on the TV series Mission: Impossible.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Johnson was an accountant in the entertainment industry, but during service in the Army Air Corps in World War II, he began singing and announcing in variety shows.

He also sang with the Roger Wagner Chorale and in background groups for films such as Dr Zhivago.

Johnson achieved TV immortality for seven years on CBS (1966-73) and two on ABC (1988-90) with the weekly warning: ‘This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck.’

In the film adaptations, the voice was provided by whoever was IMF (Impossible Mission Force) director. For example, in the 1996 film the voice is that of

Under orders: The original M:I cast

Eugene Kittridge, played by Henry Czerny. In M:I 2 (2000), the voice is provided by Anthony Hopkins’s character Commander Swanbeck.

John Cowan, luton, Beds.

QUESTION Why were Royal Marines officers sometimes referred to as Joe?

THE origin is uncertain. Cyril Field, in Britain’s Sea-Soldiers: A History Of The Royal Marines (1924) suggests it was to differentiate between the Marines and the common sailors, the Jacks. It may have been popularised by the John Ashley song Poor Joe The Marine (1839).

Today, it’s the Paras who are known as Joe. The Parachute Regiment was formed in 1942 from soldiers already in the Army. The volunteers had their documents stamped with the letters J.O.E, for ‘joined on enlistment’.

Marines are usually called Leathernecks, a term derived from the high leather stock once worn around the neck to protect the wearer from sword cuts.

Paul Rees, Cardiff.

QUESTION What are the biggest rivalries between bands or singers in the rock world?

FURTHER to the earlier answer, Keith Richards found fellow Rolling Stone Mick Jagger ‘unbearable’. In his memoir, Life, he revealed his nicknames for Jagger were ‘Brenda’ or ‘Your Majesty’.

Charlie Watts, the Stones’ usually mildmannered drummer, recalled how he once decked Jagger with a right hook after Mick had demanded the presence of ‘his drummer’.

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