Venus, planet on a very slow spin
QUESTION Is it true that a day on Venus is longer than a year on the planet?
Calendars on Venus would be a mess. One day on Venus, i.e. the time taken for the planet to rotate once on its axis, is the equivalent of 243 days on earth. It takes about 224.7 earth days for the planet to make a complete orbit around the sun. Its day is not only longer than its year, but the longest day of the entire solar system.
In some ways, Venus is the planet in our solar system most like earth because they are similar in size, density, composition and volume, although one difference is that Venus spins backwards.
This is called retrograde motion and, in a sense, means Venus’s north pole got swapped with its south pole: it flipped over. It’s not clear why this happened, although one idea that’s been proposed is a giant collision that skidded the planet’s spin to a halt.
The lazy rotation of Venus is still not completely understood. It rotates so slowly that, at its equator, a person could jog faster than the planet spins. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
QUESTION A recently televised film, Man At The Carlton Tower (1961), included a young policeman character being addressed by his superintendent as Sergeant Pepper. Was that the inspiration for The Beatles’ song/album?
IT’s an enticing thought, but this appears to be no more than coincidence.
The origin of the sergeant Pepper name is well established. The title was a play on words based on the salt and pepper packets supplied with an airline meal.
In 1966 the Beatles took a three-month break from the band. Paul McCartney spent much of the time travelling in the company of The Beatles’ road manager and personal assistant Mal evans.
The idea for sgt Pepper came during their return flight from nairobi, Kenya, to london on november 19, 1966. Unable to sleep on the overnight journey, McCartney toyed with the idea of creating a new identity for The Beatles.
In his biography, Paul McCartney: Many Years From now, he said: ‘We were having our meal and they had those little packets marked s and P. Mal said, “What’s that mean? Oh, salt and pepper ...” We had a joke about that. so I said, “sergeant Pepper,” just to vary it, “sergeant Pepper, salt and pepper,” just playing with the words.’
Man at The Carlton Tower was a crime story, part of a series called The edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre. sgt Pepper was played by Geoffrey Frederick, a handsome British actor who had small parts in numerous British TV series.
Katie Turner, Wolverhampton.
QUESTION Peter Stringfellow’s youngest child was 52 years younger than his eldest. Was this a record?
FUrTher to the earlier answer, though he can’t beat the exploits of Julio Iglesias sr (who had children 63 years apart), anthony Quinn (1915-2001), hollywood star of Zorba The Greek, lust For life, Viva Zapata!, The Guns Of navarone and many more, came close.
Quinn’s first wife was the adopted daughter of Cecil B. deMille, the actress Katherine deMille; they wed in 1937. The couple had five children, the first — Christopher — was born in 1939. sadly he died aged two, drowned in the lily pond belonging to neighbour W. C. Fields.
Quinn and deMille divorced in 1965 following his affair with Italian costume designer Jolanda addolori. with whom he had three children. he and Jolanda were married from 1966 to 1996.
during that time he had four children outside wedlock; two with an event producer in los angeles named Friedel dunbar, and two by his secretary Katherine Benvin (47 years his junior); daughter antonia Patricia rose Quinn (born 1993) and son ryan nicholas Quinn (born 1996). Thus his youngest child was 57 years younger than poor Christopher.
Ed Mickleson, Harpenden, Herts.
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