Why Mussolini was a milk addict
QUESTION
Was Benito Mussolini addicted to milk? ITALIAN dictator Benito Mussolini is known to have suffered bad digestive problems. On February 15, 1925, he vomited blood in his house on Rome’s via Rasella. Doctors diagnosed a duodenal ulcer and he was obliged to take several weeks away from the public gaze.
il Duce was forced to adopt a drastic new diet, consisting of tea, pane biscottato (dry toast), boiled fruit and milk, as much as three litres a day. He had already given up alcohol in 1923, save on special occasions. He also gave up smoking.
Mussolini continued to drink a great deal of milk until 1943, when he came under the care of German physician Dr Georg Zachariae, who discovered that the ulcer, along with his extreme diet, had enlarged his liver and partially blocked his bowel.
Dr Zachariae noted: ‘in the two or three hours after eating and at night he was tormented by cramps, which felt as though someone was punching him in the stomach as hard as they could.’
Zachariae noted that vitamin enhancement and the elimination of milk from il Duce’s diet brought immediate relief. By 1944 ‘he put on weight, improved his colour, began to ride a bicycle and could play tennis for an hour and a half each morning’. Mussolini remained in good health until February 1945, when he suffered a probable nervous breakdown. He was shot dead on April 28 of that year.
Nicola Flanegan, Sonning, Berks.
QUESTION
Where is the largest aquarium in the world? IN TERMS of total size, the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, part of Chimelong Hengqin Bay Hotel in Zhuhai, South-east China, is the largest.
The aquatic park has seven themed areas, each representing a different part of the ocean and contains 12.87 million gallons of salt and fresh water. it also has the world’s largest underwater viewing dome, aquarium tank, aquarium window and acrylic panel.
When it was opened in 2014, the Guinness Book Of Records immediately confirmed it as the largest aquarium. This claim is controversial as some consider a proper aquarium to mean the largest tank. if that is the case, then the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, U.S., would be the largest.
Funded mostly by a $250 million donation from Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of U.S. DIY store Home Depot, and opened in November 2005, it houses more than 120,000 animals, representing 500 species, in 8.5 million gallons of water in four tanks.
its main feature is its Ocean voyager tank, which holds three- quarters of the aquarium’s water. it is 263ft long by 126ft wide by 33ft deep, and it holds 6.3 million gallons of water.
A conveyor belt takes visitors through a 100ft-long acrylic tunnel under the tank, letting them view the fish from below.
in contrast, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom’s largest tank holds five million gallons of water, which makes it the second largest tank in the world.
A. L .Hinds, Portsmouth.
QUESTION
On holiday in Northern France, staying in the small village of Caumont, south of Hesdin, we discovered the headstones of four British airmen who had died on the same day, March 31, 1944. Who were they and what had happened to them? THERE are eight graves of British and Canadian servicemen in the church cemetery at Caumont, six together and two in the north-west corner.
One is that of Private Thomas Hartley, of the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, who died on December 27, 1916. There is no record as to how he died or why he’s buried at Caumont rather than in one of the Commonwealth War Cemeteries in the area. Although his headstone records his rank as private, his Graves Registration Report (Army Form W3372) gives his rank as lance-corporal.
At the time of his death, the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars were based at vaulx, a short distance from Caumont, but there’s no evidence of combat in the area, so his death might have been the result of accident or illness. Other records show Hartley had been born in France and his burial in Caumont might have been a recognition of this.
The second grave is that of Sqn leader Patrick Thornton-Brown, who died on December 21, 1943. Aged 24, he was leading a flight of six Hawker Typhoons from 609 Squadron, based at RAF Manston, in Kent, accompanying USAAF Martin Marauder light bombers on a daylight raid over Northern France.
After the Typhoons had fired their rockets at ground targets, they came under friendly fire from RAF Spitfires and USAAF Thunderbolts. The Typhoons and Marauders fired their recognition flares but the attack continued, downing Thornton-Brown and another of the Typhoons.
The Squadron leader was seen to bale out of his damaged aircraft and is believed to have been killed by fire from German troops on the ground. He was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross.
Of the six lying together, five are RAF members and one from the Royal Canadian Air Force, all of whom died on March 31, 1944. They are: Flying Officer Peter Munnery RCAF, Flight Sergeant Albert Brice, Sgt Frederick Boyd, Sgt William Gibson, Sgt Graham McNeight and Sgt victor Rhaney.
All six were members of 158 Squadron RAF flying Handley Page Halifax Mk iii bomber HX322 from RAF lisset, in Yorkshire. A seventh crew member, wireless operator Sgt Kenneth Dobbs, survived and was taken prisoner.
On the night of March 30/31,1944, Bomber Command mounted an attack on Nuremburg that resulted in the heaviest loss of aircraft and aircrew of the entire war. Of the 795 bombers dispatched, 95 failed to return and HX322 was one of them.
The plane was shot down over Caumont by Hauptman earnst-Willhelm Modrow in a Heinkel 219 night fighter. it’s thought most of the crew were killed by the night-fighter’s cannon fire rather than in the crash.
Sgt Dobbs had no recollection of leaving the aircraft. He regained consciousness in the back of a German army truck, suffering from a broken leg, broken ribs and head injuries. He later discovered he had been found in the rear of the aircraft’s wreckage.
HX322 was the only aircraft lost by 158 Sqn on that fateful night. A full- sized replica of a 158 Sqn Halifax bomber can be seen at Yorkshire Air Museum.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.