THE BIG QUESTIONS
When I was a kid, there often seemed to be a plate spinner on light entertainment shows. I’m sure youngsters today wouldn’t be impressed, but I was. So who has kept most plates going at once? – R
Plate spinning is a manipulation art where the performer spins plates, bowls and other flat objects on poles, without them falling. David Spathaky spun 108 plates simultaneously in Bangkok, Thailand, live on TV in 1996.
On my evening stroll during the last full moon, I was enthralled by how much of the moon’s surface I could see in detail. Now I’d like to know which crater is the newest? – P
It is believed that there are more than 500 million craters more than 10 metres wide on the moon’s surface, so selecting which is the newest is an impossible task.
However, on a larger scale, there are one million around 1km across and 5,165 approximately 20km in diameter. Of the craters visible from Earth, one of the most prominent is Tycho Crater which appears as a bright spot just above the south pole. Named after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, it may be 108 million years old.
I read recently of a baseball card being sold for several million dollars. I used to collect football cards as a kid, so would like to know who appears on the most expensive footy card. – N
A card featuring 1950s baseball player Mickey Mantle sold for £3.8 million earlier this month.
The most expensive football card I can track down is of Lionel Messi. A 2104 Panini Sports Mega Cracks card sold for just over £10,000.