THE BIG QUESTIONS
I’ve just seen (for the umpteenth time) the brilliant The Producers, starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel. Was Zero his real name? – M The Producers, released in 1967, was a satirical comedy written and directed by Mel Brooks. Mostel starred as Max Bialystock, a corrupt Broadway producer. Born Samuel Mostel in 1915, his mother nicknamed him “Zero” as she joked that was what he would amount to if he didn’t do well at school.
With the Tour de France starting this week after being postponed due to Covid-19, I was reminiscing about the day I witnessed the race’s “grand depart” in London in 2007. How many other countries have hosted the opening stage? – R
The Tour begins on August 29 this year, leaving from Nice.
The three-week race often crosses into neighbouring countries, but from the first race in 1903, it always began in France, until 1954, when Holland hosted the Grand depart. Since then, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Ireland and the UK (in 2007 and 2014) have hosted the event. Next year, Denmark will have the honour.
There’s a phrase that has intrigued me – to hide your light under a bushel. Where on earth did that come from, and is a bushel a small bush? – T Meaning “to keep your good qualities hidden from others” the phrase is Biblical in origin. A bushel was a kind of wooden bucket or basket which people used to measure goods such as grain or peas. To turn a bushel measure upside down and put a candle under it was to hide its light from view