The Saturday briefing
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...
QAfter watching Liverpool vs Manchester City, contested between a majority of imported players, it got me to wondering how many Premier League players are eligible to be chosen for the England team for Euro 2024? Graham Abrahall, Warwick, Warks
AIn the Nineties, when the Premier League was founded, more than three-quarters of the players were eligible to play for England, but that figure has dipped to less than a third (32 per cent). England boss Gareth Southgate said the figures were 35 per cent when he took over in 2016 and 38 per cent in the years before.
Southgate, who will name a provisional squad on May 21, two days after the end of the Premier League season, has warned the national team will suffer if the trend continues.
The squad Southgate takes to Germany is likely to include relative newcomers such as Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton) and Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United).
The Premier League sees 20 teams battling it out and a club is allowed to sign a maximum of 25 players, and as many under-21s as they want.
Out of the 25 players, there can be only 17 “non-home grown” senior players of any nationality. The remaining eight must be home grown, but that does not necessarily mean that their nationality has to be English.
Of the 532 Premier League players, 171 could play for England, while 361 are stars from another country, with France top of the list (31) followed by Brazil (30) and
Portugal (20).
QWho were the two female comedians who were often on Workers’ Playtime? T Russell, Derby
ASisters Elsie and DorisWaters were regulars on touring show Workers’ Playtime, with their gossipy characters Gert and Daisy. They were one of the first highly successful female double acts who wrote their own material. Workers’ Playtime came on air in 1941, to relieve the monotony of the wartime production lines and increase output.
The first edition on the BBC Home Service was introduced by the Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin. It was broadcast live at lunchtime, three times a week, from a factory canteen, with performers doing musical numbers, sketches and jokes for audiences of 500 to 4,000 staff and their families, with seven million regularly tuning in. Ken Dodd, Charlie Chester, Peter Sellers, Julie Andrews, Moracambe and Wise,
Betty Driver, Frankie Howerd, Bob Monkhouse and Tony Hancock were among the performers.
On the fifth birthday show, Elsie and Doris performed alongside their brother Jack Warner, of Dixon Of Dock Green fame.
The Ministry of Labour picked which factory canteens to visit to boost staff morale, such as a site in Cosham, where workers were building houses for the bombed out people of Portsmouth.
In 1957,Workers’ Playtime switched to the Light Programme, and the final edition aired in 1964.
For all its 23 years, each show concluded with the words from presenter Bill Gates: “Good luck, all workers.”
QMy brother was born on April 14 in Cuckfield near Haywards Heath, and he told me he was born on “Cuckoo Day”. Is this a real thing? Janet Harrison,Wirral
AIt’s said the first cuckoos will be heard in the UK on St Tiburtius’ Day, which is indeed tomorrow,April 14, and their song heralds the start of spring.
It was believed if you did hear one on Cuckoo Day, you should empty your pockets of money and spit on the floor and if you were standing on soft ground, you’d be owed some good luck.Another tradition saw workers downing tools after hearing the first cuckoo, and rolling a barrel of ale to where the bird had been heard, to drink to its health, called “wetting the cuckoo”.
Centuries ago, in East Sussex, a woman would release a cuckoo on April 14, which would tell all of England that winter was over.
Saint Tiburtius was traditionally honoured on a joint feast day with Valerian and Maximus.
Valerian was married to St Cecilia, a noblewoman who pledged herself to God.Valerian took the news of her sworn virginity well, converting to Christianity, and encouraging his brother Tiburtius to be baptised. Roman soldier Maximus, sent to arrest them, also converted and was martyred alongside them.
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