The ultimate fighting foes
QUESTION In their prime, who would have won a martial arts contest between Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris?
DESPITE the fact Chuck Norris is 5 ft 10 in and Steven Seagal is 6 ft 4 in, my money would be on the shorter man because of the nature of his expertise and wealth of combat experience.
In the late 1950s, Norris was an air policeman in the US Air Force. While stationed in South Korea, he became a student of the Korean martial art known as tang soo do, one of several branches of taekwondo – the source of his signature roundhouse kick. He rose to the level of eighth dan in this discipline.
He was also a fifth-degree black belt in shito-ryu karate, thirddegree black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu and a black belt in judo.
With this array of skills he could have been a top mixed martial arts fighter.
Norris was world professional middleweight karate champion for six years.
Steven Seagal is a highly accomplished martial arts practitioner. He moved to Japan when he was 17 where he learned to speak the language fluently and became the first foreigner to own and operate an aikido dojo (club). As Master Take Shigemichi, he became an aikido master – seventh dan. He is also a master in Japanese kendo.
While Seagal’s height and extensive reach might be a factor, Norris’s combat experience would be telling. Nothing helps your distancing, application of power, timing and ability to take a hit like an actual bout. His mastery of Brazilian jiu-jitsu would also help – one ankle pick or single leg would lead to a mauling on the floor.
I believe that in his prime, Norris would win eight times out of ten.
Justin Taverner, Hull.
QUESTION Where did polo-neck jumpers get their name?
THE polo neck is thought to have originated in the late 19th century in the birthplace of the sport of polo – Manipur, northeast India.
After British soldiers witnessed a match while stationed in the area, they set up their own polo club. The traditional attire of the time was a thick, long- sleeved shirt made of cotton, but this was uncomfortable to wear while playing polo. So players attached their collars to their shirts with buttons to stop them flapping. The sport was introduced into England in the 1860s.
The roll- neck or turtleneck jumper with a tubular neck that is folded down was beloved of the Beat poets in the 1950s.
However, it has been around since medieval times when it was worn under armour. Elaborate versions with a ruff were later adopted. It became a functional favourite among the working classes, particularly fishermen.
Noël Coward often wore turtlenecks and can be credited for making the look popular during the Roaring Twenties.
Rachel Eavis, Portishead, Somerset.
QUESTION How many hits did it take to sink the German Battleship Tirpitz with specialised bombs in 1944? Was she salvaged by the Norwegians?
THE German battleship Tirpitz was not so much sunk but obliterated on November 12, 1944, by 29 Lancaster bombers of No. 617 and No. 9 Squadrons, each armed with single 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs. The Tirpitz had been damaged by previous attacks by the RAF and miniature submarines.
Stationed in Tromso fjord in Norway for repairs and refitting, she was spotted by agents of the Milorg, the Norwegian resistance, and the news passed on to London. The decision to attack was made and the job given to the RAF.
The raid started at 9.31am on November 12. Bizarrely, the bombers were not attacked by the Luftwaffe fighters stationed in nearby Bardufoss. A breakdown in communications meant a token counter-attack only arrived after the Lancasters had completed their bombing run and left the area.
Had this not happened, the German fighters would have had little trouble shooting the lumbering, heavily laden bombers out of the sky. The Tirpitz was first struck by two Tallboys that burst through the armoured deck, but one did not explode. The other struck the port side and exploded over a boiler room. This caused extensive flooding and the Tirpitz began to list heavily to port. Three other bombs detonated in the water nearby, which caused further damage, buckling her hull, tearing open steel plating and causing more flooding.
A sixth Tallboy hit the Tirpitz, but it is thought it glanced off the side of the sinking battleship and did not explode.
At 9.50am, the magazine for one of the main turrets exploded and, two minutes later, the battleship capsized. It is estimated 1,204 crew died in the raid, 596 managed to swim to shore and 87 were rescued from the flooded hull.
The RAF did not suffer any casualties, though one of No 9 Squadron’s Lancasters crash-landed near Naisjarv in Sweden. Some wreckage is still there.
Work began on dismantling the wreck of the Tirpitz immediately. German engineers removed the bronze propellers so they could be melted down. The wreck was sold to a Norwegian salvage company in 1948 and by 1957 it had been broken up and removed.
A macabre footnote is that it was discovered the salvage company was burying parts of the wreck it did not consider valuable and dumping human remains in makeshift graves.
The Norwegian government put a stop to this and any remains subsequently recovered were buried in a mass grave near the fjord. Angus Gafraidh, London E11.
QUESTION Where does all the milk consumed in Britain come from?
WHILE it is true there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of dairy cows in Britain, there has not been a decrease i n milk production.
Today, 16% of dairy products are i mported, with 98% of these imports from the EU. However, less than 1% of this is milk; the majority is butter and cheese.
According to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs ( DEFRA), the number of dairy cows have fallen from 2.6million in 1996 to 1.9million in 2018. This has been accompanied by a dramatic fall in the number of dairy farmers, from 35,741 in 1995 to 12,209 in 2019.
In 2018, the average number of cows per herd was 148 compared to 115 in 2004 and just 75 in 1996.
The yield per cow has increased by 94% since 1975, up from 4,099 to 7,959 litres in 2018. As a result, domestic milk production has risen by 12% over this period. The increased yield is explained by improvements in genetic selection, nutrition, technology and logistics. An average 22 litres per day is typical, with some cows producing up to 60 litres. Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.