The floating flatpacks . . .
QUESTION The Russian icebreaking ferries Baikal and Angara were ‘knock down’ vessels. What does this mean? The icebreaker SS Baikal was a train ferry connecting the eastern and western sections of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, across Lake Baikal. It could carry up to 25 railway cars.
The Trans-Siberian Railroad committee placed its order on November 29, 1895, for the ship to be built by Armstrong and Co. of Newcastle at a cost of £80,000.
Bought as a flat pack, it was transported from Britain in sections, travelling by ship and horse, and was assembled in Listvyanka in 1898-99.
As SS Baikal was being transported, the committee ordered the smaller icebreaker SS Angara. Its pieces were shipped from Britain to Reval (now Tallinn), then by the Trans-Siberian Railroad to the lake shore, where it was assembled. It was launched on July 25, 1900.
When the Russian Civil War broke out, SS Baikal was equipped with machineguns and cannons by the Red Army. In August 1918, it was damaged by field artillery fire. It was burnt at the Mysovaya pier and scuttled in 1926.
SS Angara continued to transport goods and passengers until 1962 when she was moved up the Angara River to Irkutsk. She rotted there for years before being refurbished in 1989 through private donation and is now a floating museum.
Eric Fowles, Southampton. The term ‘knock down’ means these icebreakers were supplied as a kit of dismantled parts. It was easier to deliver them as separate parts (or modules) for assembly on site.
After World War II, the British car industry exported cars in Completely Knocked Down (CKD) form.
Typically at the time, the country where the vehicle was to be sold did not have the facilities to manufacture, but did have modest facilities where assembly of the kit exported from the UK could take place. Vehicles are still supplied in CKD form, often to avoid import duties.
David Marks, Orpington, Kent. QUESTION I’d like to create a music playlist with songs about artists. Vincent by Don McLean is an obvious example. Any other suggestions? ANDy WARhOL’S pop art was a strong influence on musicians, especially his house band, The Velvet Underground.
Following Warhol’s death in 1987, two of the former Velvets, Lou Reed and John Cale, dedicated an album to him, Songs For Drella. Warhol’s nickname was Drella, which was a cross between Dracula and Cinderella.
It’s a heartfelt work charting his rise to fame (the songs Smalltown and Open house); work ethic and artistic method (Images, Work and Style It Takes) and demise (Slip Away: A Warning and hello It’s Me).
Another artist influenced by Warhol was David Bowie, whose clever song Andy Warhol features on his 1971 hunky Dory album.
When Bowie played it for the pop artist, there was an awkward silence followed by Warhol saying: ‘I like your shoes.’
The Nat King Cole classic Mona Lisa was written by Ray evans and Jay Livingston for the 1950 film Captain Carey, U.S.A. It captures the mystery of Da Vinci’s enigmatic work: ‘Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa? Or is this your way to hide a broken heart?’
It was most effectively used as the theme tune for Neil Jordan’s gritty 1986 crime drama Mona Lisa.
The only UK No. 1 single inspired by an artist was Brian And Michael’s Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs about L. S Lowry, a hit in 1978.
Paul McCartney and Wings’s song Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me) appeared on their 1973 album Band On The Run. Picasso’s last words were said to be ‘drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink any more’, which forms the chorus of the song.
Lots of artists are name-checked in Jay Z’s 2013 rap song Picasso Baby: ‘I just want a Picasso, in my casa’, ‘I wanna Rothko, no I wanna brothel’, ‘I want a billion Jeff Koon’s balloons, I just wanna blow up’, ‘Leonardo Da Vinci flows’, ‘yellow Basquiat in my kitchen corner’.
American singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman wrote several tribute songs to painters including Vincent Van Gogh (‘he loved colour and he let it show’), No One Was Like Vermeer, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. Heather Kavanagh, Bath. QUESTION Hyenas are ruled by a matriarchy. Are there other examples in nature? FURTheR to the earlier answer, which cited hyenas, bees, ants, mole rats and elephants as matriarchal societies, another example is meerkats.
They live in underground burrows in groups of two or three families called mobs. each mob is led by a dominant female, which leads the group in foraging trips, finding new burrows and settling disputes with other mobs. Mrs A. Briggs, Chepstow, Monmouthshire.