Gordon Bennett - what a rascal!
QUESTION
Did Gordon Bennett almost kill Winston Churchill’s mother?
James Gordon Bennett Jr was one of the 19th century’s most famous playboys. the son of the multi-millionaire owner of the new York Herald, his escapades included driving his carriage naked through the streets of new York, tipping a railway porter $30,000 and turning up at his fiancee’s new Year’s party blind drunk and relieving himself on the grand piano.
this earned him eternal notoriety in the phrase ‘Gordon Bennett!’
His partner in crime was Leonard Jerome, a speculator dubbed the King of Wall street. Jerome married the heiress Clarissa ‘Clara’ Hall in 1849 and their second daughter Jeanette, or Jennie, the future mother of Winston Churchill, was born in 1854.
In 1867, the Jerome family moved to Paris. In her autobiography, Jennie claimed this was to benefit her mother’s health, but later biographers point to Clara’s love of Paris and fascination with the second empire, while others speculate that her husband’s adultery had embarrassed her in new York society.
Bennett also moved to Paris, where he went on to launch the Paris Herald, the forerunner of the International Herald tribune.
In 1869, Bennett nearly altered the course of history. He loved to drive heavy carriages four-in-hand and one evening was driving at breakneck speed with his passengers Jerome and Jennie.
the coach rounded a sharp bend, where he lost control and crashed. no one was injured.
Jennie recalled: ‘I also remember a picnic to st Germain when, as mr James Gordon Bennett was driving us back on his coach, we came to grief near the arc de triomphe and were nearly killed.’
the Jerome family were on holiday on the Isle of Wight when Jennie met randolph Churchill. they married in april 1874 and their son Winston was born that november.
Frederick Smith, Stonehouse, Glos.
QUESTION
Why do so many elements in the periodic table have the suffix -ium?
manY of the elements in the periodic table were discovered or isolated between 1750 and 1850. swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzelius proposed a Latin-based naming system in 1811.
He discovered the elements cerium, selenium and thorium, and was the first to isolate silicon, calcium, barium, strontium, tantalum and zirconium in pure form.
the suffix -um is the Latin neuter singular of the second declension: it’s a way you can refer to ‘stuff’, for example, of the sun (helios). the -i is often part of the word stem. a rule of thumb is that metals have the -um or -ium suffix, as distinguished from gases (-gen or -gon) or halogens (-ine).
there are exceptions. the long-known elements silver, gold, tin, copper and lead retained those names.
another anomaly is helium. When discovered, it was assumed to be an alkali metal but in fact it is an inert gas.
Dr Ken Bristow, Glasgow.
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