The Saturday briefing
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Is there anything you’re yearning to know? Send your questions, on any subject, to the contacts given below, and we will do our best to answer them...
Q Why did the Royal Family choose the colours of the state cars and how many are there? Alexander Jaworski, Beeston, Nottinghamshire
A There are five state cars used for official engagements – two Bentleys and three Rolls-Royces – which do not have registration plates. There are also two opentop “State Review” Range Rovers used for parades.
King EdwardVII was the first royal motor enthusiast and gave Daimler his royal warrant. When he ascended to the throne in 1901 he ordered a touring carriage in “dark claret with fine red lines”.
By the time of the First World War, that deep maroon, known as Royal Claret, had become the traditional colour for royal cars, with a fleet kept at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace.
King Charles has been seen in the same Rolls-Royce Phantom IV that was built for his mother 72 years ago. It features one of the late Queen’s mascots, designed in the year of her coronation, in place of the silver Spirit of Ecstasy figure.When travelling in Scotland, the figurine is replaced with the Scottish lion rampant.
The royals have many other vehicles for private use. Princess Diana owned three Ford Escorts and Prince William has recalled his mother driving them to school in a Ford Escort RS Turbo Series One, while singing Tina Turner’s The Best. It was thought to be the only model painted black, instead of the usual white, for discretion.
Q My cat, Suki, grooms herself constantly but my neighbour’s dog couldn’t care less. Why?
Paul Robbins, Weston-superMare, North Somerset
A Cats spend up to half their waking hours grooming, and they instinctively do this to get rid of scents that could mark them out to other animals.They are solitary hunters so rely on stealth, whereas dogs hunt in packs and there is safety in numbers, regardless of what you smell like. Dogs’ tongues are smooth, but cats’ tongues are covered in tiny hook-like spines that act like a comb, and are also useful for getting meat off bones. Grooming also regulates their body temperature – cats sweat a small amount from their paws but need saliva evaporation from their fur to stay cool. They also use it as a way of distributing oils evenly over their coat, which works like insulation. But dogs do have ways to keep clean. Because their skin is loose, it travels across their body at speed, meaning they can shake three quarters of the water off themselves in seconds.
Shiba inus, one of the oldest and smallest dogs from Japan, has been called the cat of the canine world, as it pounces and grooms itself with its front paws.
Q I was watching an old film on TV and someone mentioned “reading the riot act”. What actually was it and who read it?
Stella Kemp, New Ash Green, Kent
A This expression has its roots in the 1714 Riot Act, which came about in a period of unrest in Britain, with Jacobites, who supported the exiled Stuart King James II – our last Catholic king – opposing the new Hanoverian King George I, a Protestant.
The Riot Act allowed local officials to read a proclamation ordering mobs of 12 or more to disperse within the hour. Refusal to obey carried the death penalty.
The actual Act read: “Our sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God save the King.”
A famous use of the law came in 1819 at the Peterloo Massacre at St Peter’s Field in Manchester. Some 60,000 people had come together at a peaceful rally to demand voting reforms, as only 11 per cent of males could vote. The Act was read, but few people heard it and cavalry charged into the crowd, killing an estimated 15 people, with 600 injured.
The last time the Riot Act was read was at the Battle of George Square in Glasgow on January 31, 1919, when workers fighting for better hours clashed with police.
The Act was repealed by statute in 1973 but the expression has stood the test of time to mean issuing a severe reprimand.
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