Not a Firm friendship
QUESTION How many soccer players have crossed the rubicon to play for arch-rivals Celtic and Rangers?
CELTIC and Rangers, founded in 1872 and 1887 respectively, are Scotland’s most successful football clubs, and the rivalry between them is deeply embedded. Sectarian tensions mean just 19 players have played for both in the past 130 years, with just five since the Second World War. They are known collectively as the Old Firm; ironically, this was coined in the early years when they were said to be ‘like two old, firm friends’. The Scottish Protestant, unionist, loyalist impulses that see Rangers as the antithesis of the Irish Catholic, republican Celtic has a complex history. It was not uncommon to cross the divide before the First World War. The first of 13 players to do so was Tom Dunbar, one of only two players to cross the Old Firm divide on two occasions, playing for Celtic twice. The political aspect of the feud was exacerbated in 1912 when Belfast shipbuilders Harland & Wolff was established in Glasgow due to instability in Ireland. Hundreds of Ulster Protestant workers, many of Scottish descent, made the move and adopted Rangers – whose Ibrox ground was near the Govan shipyard – as their team. The Easter Rising in 1916 contributed to Rangers being adopted as a symbol of the Scottish Protestant establishment in the face of Irish Catholic rebellion personified by Celtic. Tully Craig was the only player to cross the divide in the interwar period. After being discharged by Celtic in 1922 for being too small, he became a Rangers legend, winning five league championships, two Scottish Cups, two Glasgow Cups and four Charity Cups in 12 years. Sectarianism was so strong after the war that the next switch was not made until 1977. Alfie Conn Jr started out at Rangers and was part of the 1972 European Cup Winners’ Cup-winning team, as well as the 1973 Scottish Cup-winning side. He played for Spurs, then for Celtic from 1977 to 1979. His move didn’t cause a grudge with Rangers and he was inducted into its hall of fame in 2007. The most controversial switch was that of Maurice ‘Mo’ Johnston, a devout Catholic who signed for Celtic in 1984 and was a big success, scoring 52 goals in 99 league games. After a spell at Nantes he was signed by Graeme Souness for Rangers. The combative Souness was disgusted by Rangers’s alleged Protestant-only policy and made the brave signing. The move caused outrage among both sets of supporters, with Celtic fans branding Johnston a traitor and Rangers livid that a Catholic had been signed. Despite this watershed moment, just three more players have since crossed the divide: Stephen Pressley and Mark Brown, Rangers players who signed for Celtic later in their careers, and striker Kenny Miller, who has played for Rangers three times and Celtic once. Willie Prentice, Glasgow. QUESTION What are the origins of the terms brogue and burr to describe an accent? BROGUE is a word with ancient origins, derived from the Irish word for shoe. It’s also thought that the word brogue may be derived in part from another very similar Irish word, barróg, which means a hold on the tongue, so that it became the expression used for accent or speech impediment. Originally, brogue was used in Ireland for someone who spoke Irish with a strong English accent, but that has had a complete role reversal over the years to denote English spoken with a strong Irish accent. The explanations for how the word burr came to be used for certain regional accents in England is much more complicated. Burr has close on 20 definitions, ranging from rough and prickly to woodworking tools, such as a triangular chisel, or a small circular saw. But when ‘burr’ is used to define speech, it refers to the trilling sound produced by the extremity of the soft palate reacting with the back part of the tongue. The burr in everyday speech is confined to certain parts of the north-east of England, Newcastle upon Tyne and Numberland, as well as Tweedside, on the border of north-east England and southeast Scotland. A similar kind of burr is also a strong feature of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset accents in the south-west of England. The definition of speech and how certain phrases, intonations and accents came into being is always fascinating, especially in the case of brogue, although less so in the case of burr! Darragh Moore, Trim, Co. Meath. QUESTION Why is there a statue of St Volodymyr, ruler of Ukraine from 980 to 1016AD, in London’s Holland Park? St VOLODYMYR, or Vladimir the Great of Kiev, was a tenth-century prince of Novgorod who conquered the city and established Christianity in the region. The London statue was commissioned by the Ukrainian Institute and stands on a granite plinth with an inscription noting it was erected by Ukrainians in Great Britain in 1988, with the signature of the sculptor, Leo Mol, on the base. The statue stands opposite the Ukrainian Institute, an organisation that promotes a greater awareness, understanding and knowledge of all things Ukrainian. The institute is maintained and supported by the Society of St Sophia, a UK-registered charity. Mrs Lucie Lowell, Carmarthen.
QUESTION Was M*A*S*H the first TV show to feature celebrity guest appearances?
AN EARLIER answer listed stars who appeared in Wagon Train, the first TV show to routinely use guest stars, but omitted mentioning the biggest western star of them all, John Wayne. In the episode The Colter Craven Story, aired on November 28, 1960, Wayne guest starred as General Sherman. This guest appearance was a result of his friendship with Wagon Train star Ward Bond and guest director John Ford, and was billed under the name Michael Morris to keep the audience guessing. Wayne also introduced the first episode of Gunsmoke, another popular TV western drama, in April 1952. Mike O’Hara, Birchington, Kent. IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles.legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.