Footprints that last millennia
QUESTION Whenever astronauts return to the Moon, will they still be able to see the footprints of some of the previous Moon-walkers?
FOOTPRINTS on the Moon will last for millions of years, due to the lack of atmosphere and weathering on the Moon’s surface. On Earth, wind, rain and other environmental factors erode footprints quickly.
Footprints on the Moon will be erased only by micrometeorite impacts and the occasional moonquake. The slow churning of lunar soil (regolith) by thermal cycling and solar radiation can gradually degrade the sharpness of the footprints over time.
In 2009, Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was sent to the Moon to make high-resolution maps of the composition of the lunar surface. It photographed each of the six Apollo landing sites from low orbit and the astronauts’ tracks are plainly visible.
E. F. Cowley, Cromer, Norfolk.
QUESTION Was Marlon Brando’s son Christian imprisoned for killing a man?
CHRISTIAN Brando – the son of legendary film star Marlon and actress Anna Kashfi – was a deeply troubled character.
He was born in 1958, and his parents divorced when he was still a toddler. Kashfi was initially awarded custody after a bitter battle with Marlon. However, this was later overturned, with the judge citing her ‘reliance on drugs and alcohol’ and an uncontrollable temper.
Kashfi later kidnapped Christian and took him to a hippie commune in Mexico. When he was rescued, he was found living in a tent and suffering from bronchial pneumonia. Christian dropped out of school in 11th grade and became a hard drinker and LSD user.
He secured some work as an actor, but never got close to emulating his father’s success.
In May 1990, Christian, then aged 32, fatally shot Dag Drollet, the boyfriend of his half-sister Cheyenne Brando. The incident occurred at Marlon’s residence in Los Angeles. Cheyenne, a French fashion model, was the daughter of Marlon and his third wife, actress Tarita Teriipaia.
Christian told police Cheyenne had complained to him that her boyfriend was physically abusive. He said that he had accidentally shot Drollet during a struggle when he confronted him about the allegation. ‘I did not go into that room to kill Dag Drollet,’ Christian maintained in 1991. ‘I just wanted to scare him.’
He also about said subsequent Cheyenne’s revelations poor mental health made him doubt her allegations of abuse against Drollet. ‘I feel like a complete chump for believing her,’ he said.
Christian was initially charged with murder, but ultimately entered a guilty plea to manslaughter, which was accepted.
Pleading for leniency in sentencing, a tearful Marlon took the stand and said: ‘I think that perhaps I failed as a father.
‘I’m certain that there were things that I could have done differently, had I known better at the time. But I didn’t.’ Christian was handed a ten-year sentence in 1991 – and served just half of that, being released in 1996. He died of pneumonia in 2008, aged just 49. Cheyenne died by suicide in 1995, aged 25.
Róisín Mellon, Co. Wicklow.
QUESTION Was the title of Lynne Truss’s book, Eats, Shoots And Leaves, the punchline to a joke? THE BOOK title is, indeed, the punchline to a joke. It illustrates the importance of correct punctuation and how it can influence or change the meaning of a sentence. A panda goes into a bar and orders some food. The landlord supplies food, which is consumed by said panda. When he has finished, the panda takes out a gun and shoots the waiter behind the bar, then calmly begins to walk away. The outraged landlord asks him what on earth he is doing. The panda replies: ‘I’m a panda, it’s what I do. Look me up in the dictionary.’ The landlord does just that and reads: ‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.’ (Our panda has been misled by a stray comma).
Truss was promoting the importance of grammar to ensure the correct meaning. Clever lady.
C. Sewell, Solihull, West Midlands.
QUESTION What was Britain’s first steam-powered ship?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, HMS Warrior (1860), which is on display in Portsmouth, was not an ironclad (a wooden ship with additional iron or steel plating fixed to the hull).
The Warrior and her sister ship, HMS Black Prince, were the first armour-plated, iron-hulled warships. They were built in response to France’s launching of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the Gloire, in 1859.
J. Smith, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
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