Croon prince of politicians
QUESTION Was Silvio Berlusconi once a cruise ship singer? What other interesting jobs have our leaders had? In THIS day and age when all you need to become an MP is a degree in PPE and work experience as a ‘special adviser’, it’s refreshing to find a politician with an interesting career. none more so than Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi was born in Milan in 1936. At his Catholic high school, the Sant’ Ambrogio Salesian institute, he met his lifelong friend, Fedele Confalonieri, who now runs his media empire.
Confalonieri was always the dour straight man to Berlusconi’s vaudeville act. Both shared a passion for music. By the age of 16 they were putting on improvised shows, with Confalonieri on piano and Berlusconi twanging the double bass and crooning standards made popular by Frank Sinatra, nat King Cole and Yves Montand.
By the late Fifties, when Berlusconi had to pay his way through Milan Statale University, he was earning money as a singer and host on Mediterranean cruise ships, putting his natural charm to good use, effortlessly entertaining large audiences with songs, jokes and patter. It was here that the politician learned how to work a crowd. Berlusconi still sings at any opportunity (you can watch him on Youtube) and has released four albums of ballads.
Another musical leader is Croatia President Ivo Josipovic. Before turning his hand to politics, Ivo Josipovic was a respected classical composer who ran Croatia’s flagship music festival, Music Biennale Zagreb.
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov took over from longtime authoritarian leader Saparmurat niyazov after the latter’s death in 2006. He was formerly niyazov’s personal dentist and the former President made him Minister of Health in 1997.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor worked as a male model to pay his way through college. His nationalist political rivals taunt him with the nickname ‘Barbie Doll’.
In his 20s, Tony Abbott trained to become a Catholic priest at Australia’s leading St Patrick’s Seminary, but quit after three years. He is also a former boxer and the 56year- old politician’s aggressive style of politics and religious past earned him the nickname The Mad Monk.
Finally, before becoming a Priest, Pope Francis worked as a bouncer and a janitor in a nightclub in his native Buenos Aires.
Jacob Moores, Manchester. QUESTION The River Severn flows into the Severn Estuary and the River Thames flows into the Thames Estuary. Why do the Rivers Trent and Ouse flow into the Humber Estuary when there is no River Humber? THE Humber Estuary is on the north-east coast of England and borders the north Sea. Its catchment area drains one-fifth of England (24,472 km2), thereby providing the largest single input of freshwater to the north Sea from the English coastline.
Many local inhabitants refer to it as the River Humber, though it is tidal along its length, so arguably it is an estuary. A similar situation can be found at River Plate in Argentina or the Elizabeth River in America.
Its separate name is probably derived from its cultural and historic importance to the area. Humber is a Celtic river name meaning ‘ good-well’ and the root of the name can be traced back to the Sanskrit ambhas meaning water.
In the Anglo-Saxon period, the Humber was the major boundary, separating the unruly northumbrians from the southern kingdoms. Indeed, the name northumbria came from Anglo-Saxon norðhymbre — ‘the people north of the Humber’. It once stretched as far north as Edinburgh.
Dr Sam Ives, Hull. QUESTION Was the Australian Tamam Shud murder ever solved? Considered to be one of Australia’s most profound mysteries, the Tamam Shud Case revolves around an unidentified man found dead on Somerton Beach in Adelaide.
He was discovered on December 1, 1948, slumped against a seawall. He could not be identified and an autopsy said he died of unnatural causes, probably because of an unknown poison. The death coincided with the start of the Cold War and, according to some, the visit to Adelaide of high-ranking British officials and weapons development at Woomera — later the site of a nuclear-testing facility.
A coroner’s inquest found hidden in a secret pocket in the man’s clothing a roll of paper on which was printed ‘Tamam shud’ — ‘finished’ in Persian. It was torn from a book of Persian poetry — the Rubaiyat of omar Khayyam.
When the back page of the book was treated with iodine during the inquest, five lines of code appeared and these are the source of the ongoing fascination with the case as the code has yet to be cracked.
Another clue was that the phone number of a local nurse, Jo Thomson, was found in the book. Her home was five minutes’ walk from where he was found dead. Ms Thomson identified the body as one Alf Boxall, to whom she said she had given a copy of the Rubaiyat.
But Alf Boxall came forward, alive and with his copy of the Rubaiyat intact. Due to the content of the Khayyam poem, many have come to believe that the message may represent a suicide note of sorts, but it remains uncracked, as does the case.
Tom Davies, Sydney. QUESTION Was the sailing ship Eclipse really destroyed by a meteor in the Pacific? FURTHER to the earlier answer, another ship that might have suffered a meteor strike was the steamship nessmore.
Captain Richardson gave a very careful description of the incident, with the atmospheric conditions prevailing at the time: ‘March, 29 [in 1895] the steamship was off the southern end of the newfoundland banks. The day opened perfectly, and at noon a good observation was had. At 12.30 o’clock the weather changed; a dense and black fog suddenly set in, completely enveloping the steamer.
‘At this moment, without any warning, a terrific explosion was heard, coming from the direction of the foremost top pole head. A vivid flash of a whitish colour accompanied the explosion, and small particles of what appeared to be a whiteash matter were seen to fall to the deck.’
Captain Richardson, who was on the bridge, stopped the steamship. Explaining his astonishment, he said that he at first thought that some man-of-war had fired a shell at him.
An examination of the fore pole showed a splinter of wood projecting from it at right angles, and a sailor was sent aloft to investigate. He found the pole split across and downward for three feet. The paint was burned off the entire length of the pole. While there was a rainstorm shortly after the explosion, Richardson insisted that there was no lightning.
Paul Anster, Frome, Somerset.