The making of Albert Square
QUESTION
Which London East End square is TV’s EastEnders modelled on?
In 1983, David Reid, BBC head of drama, asked Julia Smith and Tony Holland to create a soap opera to rival ITV’s Coronation Street.
Having dismissed proposed settings of a caravan park and shopping arcade, the pair chose a Victorian square in the East End of London. They imagined a terrace of houses facing a well-kept garden square to invoke a sense of community.
The model for Albert Square was Fassett Square in Hackney. This collection of 56 late Victorian homes, in blocks of four, borders a communal garden with wrought iron railings. When the houses were built in 1865, they were occupied by clerks who walked down Kingsland Road to their offices in the City.
The Queen Vic was based on the former Queen Elizabeth pub nearby, and the stalls on Ridley Road Market, which has been trading since the 1880s.
However, Fassett Square was clearly a more pleasant area than Albert Square. The writers wanted to make the TV version grittier with a dark, claustrophobic feel inspired by the U.S. police drama, Hill Street Blues.
Albert Square was built from scratch in 1984 using steel frames, plywood and plaster brick panels on a piece of land behind the BBC’s Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, by set designer Keith Harris.
It was intended to last only two years, but is still in use. The set is undergoing a controversial £87 million makeover that is expected to be completed in 2023 — two-and-half years late and £20million over budget.
Isabelle Russell, Tring, Herts.
QUESTION
Did one of James Bond’s cars have a real ejector seat?
THE famous ejector seat first featured in the Aston Martin DB5 in 1964’s Goldfinger. It was the first Bond car with gadgets — it also came with tyre slashers and pop-up machine guns.
The DB5 was far too lightweight to be able to contain a genuine ejector seat and its explosive charge. Firing it would have obliterated the chassis, so the props men used a dummy ejected out of the car using compressed air.
A passenger ejector seat didn’t appear again until Die Another Day in 2002. The Aston Martin Vanquish’s ejector seat is used to flip Pierce Brosnan’s vehicle onto its wheels again after a missile knocks it upside down. This would be impossible without a very powerful ejection system, which would have destroyed the car.
The effect was created using CGI in a film that became notorious for its shoddy use of the technology, in particular its depiction of an invisible car.
Tom Cowan, Kidderminster, Worcs.
QUESTION
What were the Crusader states and what happened to them?
THE Crusader states were four territories in the Middle East created to keep control of land conquered by Christian armies battling the Muslim Seljuk Turks. These were controlled by western nobles from 1099 until 1221 AD.
Moving eastwards from the Christian city of Byzantium (now Istanbul), Christian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem went along the coast of modern Turkey through land conquered by the Turks.
The Byzantine army and Frankish (French) armies provided protection for the pilgrims and took control of vast tracts of disputed land after the eastern Byzantine Empire declined.
The first state to be established was the Principality of Armenia and Cilicia on the south-eastern coast of Turkey. It stretched as far as its modern border with Syria and inland to the area known as Cappadocia.
Moving inland to protect the pilgrims and Crusader armies from attacks from the East, the County of Edessa was established in what is now eastern Turkey, northern Syria and northern Iraq.
This area is part of what is claimed by the Kurds as a homeland. They were the resident population and later helped the Muslims to retake it.
The Principality of Antioch was south along the Mediterranean coast of modern-day Syria while the County of Tripoli was around what is now Lebanon.
From here pilgrims and Crusader armies entered what was called the Holy Land, made up of modern-day Israel, western Jordan and the disputed territory of the West Bank.
Each of the four territories was ruled by a self-appointed prince or count, mainly of Frankish origin, claiming authority from the Popes who had authorised the Crusades.
The Crusader states fell to the invading Ottomans, who came from Central Asia during the 13th and 14th centuries.
They became part of the Ottoman Empire until the end of World War I, when the borders of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine were established.
Robert Sutherland, Edinburgh.
QUESTION
What is the origin of plastic surgery?
Is plastic used?
FURTHER to the earlier answer that referenced modern plastic implants, in 1964 and 1965 I had operations on my nose to help clear my sinuses following an injury from a vicious assault.
I had been left with a deformed nose that looked as if I had been an unsuccessful prize fighter.
My GP referred me to an EnT specialist for plastic surgery. This was no doubt before medical grade plastics were readily available.
During the pre-op procedure, I was asked to remove my pyjama jacket. When they started to shave my body hair, I inquired if they were aware I was having an operation on my nose.
The staff nurse giggled and said they would be taking part of one of my ribs to rebuild my nose.
‘Won’t they be using plastic?’ I asked. ‘After all, it’s called plastic surgery.’
‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘We like to use real bone from the patient where possible. You won’t miss it.’
I retorted: ‘How do you know? It’s not your rib they’re taking!’ needless to say, I survived the ordeal.
Roy Haskett, Cleveleys, Lancs.