It’s hats off to Poldark
QUESTION What is the practical purpose of the tricorn hat, as worn by Poldark?
The original bicorne and tricorne hats (in Britain, the final ‘e’ is often omitted, but both spellings are correct) were designed for functionality, not style.
They are based on a hat with a large, circular brim to keep rain off the face, neck and shoulders, which were worn by soldiers in the Spanish Netherlands in the 17th century.
however, the large brim got in the way when the soldier’s bayonet-tipped musket was held up at the shoulder, the position known as ‘shoulder arms’ in the British Army.
This resulted in the brim being torn to shreds. To prevent this, the soldiers folded up one side of the hat and pinned it to the crown to keep it out of the way.
When war broke out between France and the Spanish Netherlands in 1667, this style of wearing a hat was adopted by French soldiers. It found its way back to France as a fashion item.
It is familiar from images of French musketeers made famous by Alexander Dumas and in various films. errol Flynn wore a hat of this style in the 1935 film Captain Blood.
From this model the tricorne developed, with three sides pinned to the crown of the hat. It was more fashionable than functional because the folded brim became so narrow it no longer had a practical use. The sides could be folded back down to protect against the rain, but rarely were.
It fell out of favour at the end of the 18th century — and was only described as a tricorne later, with the first mentions in the mid 19th century.
The bicorne hat was also a development from France. hats with a wider brim at the back than the front couldn’t be turned up in three equal portions, so this was resolved by pinning it twice.
It became fashionable after it was adopted by Napoleon Bonaparte. Many paintings depict him wearing a bicorne hat. This style became popular from 1790 onwards and was worn by French and American military officers and British naval officers. The tricorne hat remains in use today as part of the uniform of the Chelsea Pensioners, the livery of carriage drivers of the Royal household and the regalia of town criers. It sometimes forms part of the official robes of lord mayors, including the Lord Mayor of London. Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
QUESTION Was the word dude an insult?
DuDe first appeared in 1880s America as a term of mockery directed at affectedly fashionable young men. The Oxford english Dictionary states ‘dude’ describes a man who is overly fastidious in matters of dress and style.
According to the New York evening Post in 1883: ‘A dude is a young man, not over twenty-five, who may be seen on Fifth Avenue between the hours of three and six, and may be recognised by the following distinguished marks . . .
‘his trousers are very tight; his shirt collar, which must be clerical in cut, encircles his neck so as to suggest that a sudden motion of the head in any direction will cause pain; he wears a tall, black hat, pointed shoes and a cane (not a stick), which should, we believe, properly have a silver handle, is carried by him under his right arm . . .’
From the Twenties, city dwellers who wanted to enjoy the cowboy experience holidayed at a dude ranch, something like Billy Crystal’s experience in the 1991 film City Slickers.
In the Sixties, the idea of a dude as a fop gave rise to its use in New York black slang for a pimp or fancy man. Later, it was used for any male.
David Bowie helped bring the term to Britain with his 1973 song All The Young Dudes, which the American singer Lou Reed described as a gay anthem.
Dude’s meaning was reversed when it was applied to Jeff Bridges’s slovenly, slipper-wearing, dressing gown-clad, White Russian-imbibing, pot-smoking slacker The Dude in the 1998 Coen Brothers film The Big Lebowski.
It has given rise to Dudeism — a religion, philosophy or lifestyle inspired by The Dude.
The origin of the word dude is uncertain. One theory is that it’s derived from Yankee Doodle, the 18th-century song with which the British taunted the uncouth colonists. The term doodle first appeared in the 17th century, from the Low German dodel, meaning simpleton.
Another suggestion is that it stems from the Scots word duddies, meaning clothes. The word dudde appeared in Putnam’s Magazine in 1876, making fun of the way a woman was dressed.
Mike Simmons, Harrogate, N. Yorks.
QUESTION Does anyone still keep fit using the dynamic tension exercises popularised by Charles Atlas?
FURTHER to previous answers, I must point out that Charles Atlas did not invent the Bullworker. The exercise device came about as a result of research carried out at the Max Planck Institute in West Germany in the Fifties.
It suggested maximum muscle growth could be achieved by contracting each muscle against a fixed resistance at just 60 per cent of maximum strength for seven seconds. This led to the first Bullworker, designed by Gert F. Kolbel in 1962.
Kolbel’s follow-up device, the Isokinator, is claimed to produce even greater muscle growth than the Bullworker. Dr Colin M. Barron, Dunblane, Perthshire.
I BOUGHT a Charles Atlas endorsed Bullworker 2 in October 1965 and have used it on and off ever since.
Its box has long gone, but I have the instruction booklet and wall chart with photos of the 24 exercises demonstrated by Dave Prowse of Darth Vader and Green Cross Code man fame. It still works perfectly after more than 50 years. Derek Britchford, London Colney, Herts.