Why Blair fell for a dancer
QUESTION
What was the pop video that nearly made former Prime Minister Tony Blair fall off his exercise bike when it was shown in his gym? This was the video for Call On Me, a 2004 dance track by swedish DJ Eric Prydz, based on a sample of stevie Winwood’s 1982 hit Valerie.
The video features an aerobics class of women wearing highly revealing Eightiesstyle outfits, performing a gym routine led by dancer and choreographer Deanne Berry, much to the enjoyment of the sole man in the group, played by Juan Pablo Di Pace.
The video was filmed in Laban Dance Centre in Deptford, south-East London, and spoofs a scene in the 1985 film Perfect starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis. interviewed on radio in 2004 by Chris Evans, what Tony Blair actually said was: ‘The first time it came on, i nearly fell off my rowing machine.’ William Cox, Teignmouth, Devon.
QUESTION
What was Goethe doing at the Battle of Valmy? GErMan polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) wrote the novel The sorrows Of Young Werther, one of the most influential books ever written as it gave birth to the romantic movement.
in 1776, Goethe, then 26, was summoned to Weimar by 18-year- old Karl august, Grand Duke of saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, to become a member of his privy council, and the two began a lifelong friendship.
Karl august joined the Prussian army in 1788, and in 1792 he was a major-general in active command of a regiment engaged in the Battle of Valmy, a massive reverse for the Prussians and the holy roman Empire.
The action took place on september 20, as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris. French generals Francois Kellermann and Charles Dumouriez stopped the advance near the village of Valmy in Champagne in the first major victory for the French army in the revolutionary Wars that followed the French revolution.
The Prussians and their allies were confident they would win, and Goethe was invited to join Karl august’s retinue to watch. Unlike many of his intellectual contemporaries, Goethe wasn’t enamoured with the French revolution, believing it endangered intellectual culture.
Thirty years later, he wrote of his experience in Campaigns in France (1822), a depiction of military events interwoven with personal thoughts and poetic asides. it reflects the attitude of an observer rather than a participant.
During the capture of Verdun on september 2, his interest was directed not to the action but to a pond in which tiny fish created prismatic effects.
During the advance to Valmy, he took more interest in the effects of the cannonade than the events of war. and as the futility of allies’ efforts became apparent, he foresaw how the day’s developments presaged the fall of the holy roman Empire:
‘The greatest consternation was diffused among the army,’ he wrote. ‘That very morning, they had thought of nothing short of spitting the whole of the French and devouring them; nay, i myself had been tempted to take part in this dangerous expedition from the unbounded confidence i felt in such an army and in the Duke of Brunswick; but now everyone went about alone, nobody looked at his neighbour, or if it did happen, it was to curse or to swear.
‘Just as night was coming on, we had accidentally formed ourselves into a circle, in the middle of which the usual fire even could not be kindled: . . . at last, i was called upon to say what i thought of it; for i had been in the habit of enlivening and amusing the troop with short sayings.
‘This time, i said: “From this place and from this day forth commences a new era in the world’s history, and you can all say that you were present at its birth.”’
Goethe was in the entourage of Duke Karl august again when the allies laid siege to French- occupied Mainz in the following summer and later at the Battles of Pirmasens ( september 14) and Kaiserslautern (november 28–30).
Jane sumner, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
QUESTION
With Henry Ford offering cars in any colour ‘as long as it’s black’, what was the first Ford model in a non-black colour, and what was that colour? COnTrarY to popular belief, when henry Ford first introduced the Model T into the market in 1908, it was available in several colours including Fire Engine red and hunter Green.
But Ford soon grasped the fact that if he were to realise his dream of mass production, he would have to simplify the production process, and in an age before robots and modern infrastructure, one way of speeding up the assembly line was to limit customer choice. Ford concluded that only fast-drying black paint allowed for full-speed assembly.
his 1922 autobiography My Life and Work records his sentiments: ‘Therefore in 1909, i announced one morning, without any previous warning, that in the future we were going to build only one model, that the model was going to be Model T and that the chassis would be exactly the same for all cars, and i remarked: “any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, so long as it is black.”’
Ford patented 30 types of paint during the Model T era, all of them black.
From 1909 to 1926, all mass-produced cars were black, though several signature vehicles were produced in hunter Green. During this period Ford revolutionised the automobile industry, and by 1925 half of all cars owned by americans were Model Ts.
Ford finally broke with uniform colour near the end of the Model T’s lifespan. More colours were introduced in mid1926: Gunmetal Blue and Phoenix Brown were offered on the open models, and royal Maroon, Fawn Gray, highland Green, Moleskin and Drake Green on the closed cars. Gerry simonds, Portsmouth.
QUESTION
Were the plans for the Soviet Union’s Buran spacecraft stolen from Nasa? FUrThEr to the earlier answer, the prototype Buran OK-GL1 built to test the gliderflight and landing characteristics of the craft is on display at the Technic Museum, in speyer, Germany.
This craft made 25 atmospheric flights between 1984 and 1989, and was a big contribution to the development programme. The museum also has on display the landing module of the soyuz 19 mission. situated on the banks of the rhine, this museum is well worth a visit if you are in the area.
Allan Collinge, Girona, spain.
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