Bong! It’s new at ten
QUESTION What was the first item on ITV’s News At Ten when it launched on Monday, July 3, 1967?
The first item on ITV’s News At Ten was the resolution of a planned freight strike by the National Union of Railwaymen.
The newscasters were Alastair Burnet and Andrew Gardner. David Nicholas was in charge. I was the production assistant, the person who added up the length of all the items and calculated whether the programme was running to exact time.
The director was Gordon hesketh, who went on to spearhead the Apollo moon landing programmes.
We had weeks of dummy runs and rehearsals, because a half-hour news programme was a new concept in British television broadcasting. There was a commercial break of two minutes, 35 seconds, the first time a British news programme included one.
I kept a copy of that first running order; it was an important piece of history. I went on to become a studio director myself on News At Ten.
The first episode was broadcast from a tiny studio on the top floor of Television house at Kingsway, in London’s holborn. Alastair and Andrew were impeccably presented despite the extreme temperature; there was a heatwave and there were fans behind the newscasters blowing over blocks of ice to keep them cool.
It was a bit basic, until ITN moved to Wells Street in 1969, with two new air-conditioned studios and much more modern space. Jacqueline Moger (nee Bromley),
East Preston, West Sussex.
NeWS At Ten began life on July 3 as a 13-week experiment, but ran in the same format until 1999. Prior to this, no bulletin had lasted more than 15 minutes.
The first item was an abandoned strike from the NUR. Also on the menu were reports from Suez and Aden, the abduction of former Congolese Prime Minister Moise Tshombe, the development of China’s first hydrogen bomb and Montreal’s expo 67.
The second half had a sports bulletin featuring tennis and cricket and a report from the house Of Commons. News At Ten opened with the instantly recognisable theme tune called Arabesque, written by Johnny Pearson. The programme had intended to use the chimes of Big Ben prior to the news beginning. By happy accident, the engineer played it over Andrew Gardner’s words and he fitted his soundbites into the bongs, creating the show’s famous signature opening.
News At Ten was also the first British news show to have two anchors.
Jason Black, Coventry.
QUESTION Do male athletes benefit due to the anatomical difference known as a deeper Q angle?
The Q angle is shallower in men. Q angle is short for quadriceps angle and is a measurement of pelvic width that is thought to contribute to sports injury risk in women.
The Q angle is measured by taking a line from the top edge of the hips (a bony prominence called the anterior superior iliac spine) and connecting it to the centre of the kneecap. On average, this angle is three degrees greater in women than in men (17 degrees average for women, compared with 14 degrees for men).
The wider the Q angle, the ‘less stable the structure’. A wider Q angle is associated with valgus knees (knees dropping in), and resulting medial pain at the knee.
hip instability may also be related to this wider Q angle and it could be one of the reasons why female athletes have a much higher incidence of ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury than males, particularly in basketball, squash and football, where there is explosive loading from running, rapidly changing direction, jumping and landing. It is also a problem in women’s powerlifting. It’s important that training regimens reflect the different biology.
It is one of the biomechanical components that has been taken into account in the debate about trans women in sport.
Kristina Rice, Southsea, Hants.
QUESTION Why were the Knights Templar purged in 1307?
The Knights Templar were considered to have amassed too much wealth and power.
After Jerusalem was captured from the conquering Muslims in 1099, Christian pilgrims started to travel to the city from across europe. however, the journey was perilous and the pilgrims were often attacked by bandits and Muslim warriors intent on recapturing the holy Land.
A French knight by the name of hugues de Payens and eight of his relatives established an order of knights called the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, later shortened to Knights Templar. Their purpose was, ostensibly, to protect travelling pilgrims. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem allowed the order to establish a headquarters in the city, and in 1129 the order gained the blessing of the Catholic Church.
This was strengthened when Pope Innocent II issued a Papal Bull that granted the Knights Templar special rights, including an exemption from taxation. With this papal backing, the Knights Templar soon became rich and powerful. They established a banking network for pilgrims. It is unsurprising that with so much wealth and power, the Knights Templar made enemies, but it wasn’t until the fall of Jerusalem that any of their enemies felt they could act.
Losing their stronghold in the holy Land, they had to withdraw to their bases, the principal one of which was in Paris. It was there that Philip IV of France decided to bring them down.
The Templars were accused of multiple crimes against both God and humanity. On Friday, October 13, 1307, all the French Templars, including their Grand Master Jacques de Molay, were arrested and tortured until they confessed to their ‘crimes’. Most of them were later burnt at the stake as heretics.
Most of the Templar wealth went to Philip IV and some of it to edward II of england. There is a popular belief that the purge of October 13, 1307, led to the notion of Friday 13 being unlucky.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.