Mother of all scrums

QUESTION What is the story of rugby union’s 99 call?

Realising that the springboks were likely to try to intimidate them physically and wouldn’t be averse to stepping over the line dividing what’s acceptable and what’s not, the great Willie John McBride, captain of the 1974 lions tour, came up with the idea of the 99 call.

it gave the men in red free rein to engage their opponents in a punch-up if even one of their number was on the receiving end of some ‘treatment’ from their counterparts in green and gold.

it was a ‘one in, all in’ policy, which meant the lions players were either to join in a melee if one started or, failing that, should hit the nearest springbok in sight.

The logic behind it, as well as illustrating that the lions were not to be messed with and wouldn’t be physically intimidated, was that if every player was involved, the referee wouldn’t be able to send anyone off. The cutting-edge technology that exists today wasn’t in use in 1974, as is evident from the grainy footage of the most wellknown use of the 99.

The call was used a couple of times during the tour, most famously during the third test in Port elizabeth when the springboks were getting desperate, having lost the first two Tests, and were putting the lions under serious pressure.

eventually, the call was made and all hell broke loose. The footage is now famous for the sight of JPR Williams running half the length of the pitch to land a punch on big second row Johannes van Heerden, an act which Williams has subsequently spoken of with regret.

The whole thing was most unsavoury and you’re unlikely to see it happen today, but lions tours back then could often be a frightening prospect, and McBride, who was on his fifth tour in 1974, had seen what could happen and wanted to be prepared if the going got tough.

legend has it that McBride was meant to call ‘999’ to replicate the number dialled in an emergency but didn’t have time to get the last 9 out; by that stage he was probably busy beating eight bells out of any springbok who crossed his path.

Brian Davies, Abertillery, South Wales.

QUESTION What proportion of soldiers fighting on the British side of the American War of Independence were German mercenaries?

Hessian auxiliaries were a prominent part of British forces during the american War of independence. They were a product Got stuck in: Willie John McBride of the harsh military regime of several german principalities, mainly Hesse. Their strict discipline and rigorous drill turned them into a fighting force without equal in conventional warfare, and they were much in demand by nations who found it more economical to use their services rather than train their own personnel.

about 30,000 served in america, amounting to a quarter of the British force. of that number, 1,200 were killed in action with a further 6,354 dying from illness and accidents. after defeat in 1783, 17,313 went home, but more than 5,000 stayed to make a new life in the u.s. and Canada.

as soldiers, they were much feared by the inexperienced americans, many of whom were themselves of german origin, but there were points at which the Hessians’ inflexible tactics proved vulnerable to hitand-run methods. The Hessians wore their own uniforms, served under german officers and didn’t always enjoy the best of relationships with British redcoats.

some years later, german troops again served in the British army as members of the King’s german legion during the napoleonic Wars: some of them were veterans of the american war. Wellington regarded them as his finest troops, particularly at Waterloo.

Clive Nelson-Singer, Beare Green, Surrey.

QUESTION What are the origins of the BBC’s international correspondent Lyse Doucet? I’ve been trying to place her accent.

lyse Marie Doucet oBe, the BBC’s chief international correspondent (right), is a Canadian journalist. she was born on December 24, 1958, in Bathurst, new Brunswick — Canada’s only officially bilingual province. Many of its inhabitants are of acadian origin, descendants of French colonists who settled in the area in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The acadian accent is quite distinct, even in Canada. Doucet is proud of her heritage and attends the acadian World Congress, a cultural festival held every five years. ‘it would be hypocritical to spend all my time learning about other tribes if i were to neglect my own,’ she has said.

Doucet has reported extensively from Middle eastern and south asian hotspots, where she built her reputation as a foreign correspondent. she claims that ‘my accent is probably a blend of all the places i have lived in the past 30 years but i still sound like my mother’.

Marie-Ann Freeman, London N11. QUESTION Current press coverage of the loco Flying Scotsman shows it bearing the No 60103. Previously it was No 4472. Do locomotives not always carry the same number during their working lives? FuRTHeR to the previous answer, many of the railway companies had a chaotic system for numbering, filling in gaps from scrapped engines with new engines of a different class.

some renumbering took place to make new blocks for each engine class in the big four and much more at nationalisation.

Flying scotsman was built in 1921 as 1472, and not 1923 as 4472. it became 4472 in 1923, when great northern engines had 3000 added to their original numbers. Flying scotsman was then classified as class a1 and not a3.

it became an a3 after rebuilding later on. Following trials against a great Western Railway Castle class engine, improvements were made to a1s and the improved engines were classed a3. later on, with a new a1 class being built, of which 60163 Tornado is a modern example, the few remaining original a1s were reclassified as a10, with all a10s eventually rebuilt to class a3.

interestingly one of the original three 1921 great northern engines, 1473, named great northern, became the prototype for the new a1 class, renumbered 60113. it thus became two different types of a1 class in its life.

The a3 designer, nigel gresley of great northern Railway, was in competition with Vincent Raven of the north eastern Railway to become chief mechanical engineer of the lneR, formed after 1923. Raven’s Pacifics, class a2, nicknamed ‘skittle alleys’ weren’t a success and all the a2 engines were scrapped by 1930, while gresley gained the position in lneR.

Alan Bowden, Bristol.

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