THE BIG QUESTIONS
Did Jimmy Tarbuck ever take part in Strictly Come Dancing? My other half says he did, but I’m not so sure. – H
He certainly did, in 2004’s series 4. Jimmy was partnered with Flavia Cacace, who won series 10 with Louis Smith.
Their first dance was a waltz, and the pair scored 17 points, two more than Nick Owen and Nicole Cutler, but Tarby survived the public vote.
However, a few days later he had to withdraw on medical advice.
I see the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this week, but how many Nobel Prizes has Britain won? – M
Well, one of the latest is a Scot, David Macmillan, who jointly won the prize for chemistry last week for his molecular-building work, The Nobel Committee awards prizes in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace which, according to Sir Alfred Nobel’s will of 1895, are awarded to those conferring “the greatest benefit to humankind”.
Since 1902, when Ronald Ross was awarded the prize for medicine, the UK has a total of 136 award-winners. Actually, the total is 137, as Frederick Sanger has won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry twice, in 1958 and 1980.
I found a book that had been given to my mother in 1914, Treasury, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Can you tell me anything about her? – L
Wilcox (1850-1919) was an American author and poet, and Treasury is a collection of her poems.
Her most famous poem was Solitude, which contains the line: “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone.”
Wilcox was an early advocate of animal rights and vegetarianism.