When love flies high
QUESTION
Simon Dupree And The Big Sound’s 1967 hit Kites included a woman speaking. What language did she use and what was she saying? Simon Dupree (Dupree being the name of a pompey Brewery family) and the Big Sound were formed in 1964 in portsmouth and were well received on the club scene.
They were originally called the Howling Wolves but changed names in 1966 and gained a five-year emi contract.
The group’s fourth record was Kites — originally recorded by American outfit the rooftop Singers and written by Lee pockriss and Hal Hackaday who penned several hits in the Fifties and Sixties.
Kites was recorded in the Abbey road studios featuring unusual instruments including a mellotron (playback keyboard ‘borrowed’ from The Beatles who had recorded Sgt pepper in the same studio), xylophone, gong and wind machine.
The song incorporated a spoken passage in Chinese by the actress Jacqui Chan (a friend of the group) who appeared in the films east of Java, Cleopatra and The World of Suzie Wong and who was a girlfriend of Antony Armstrong- Jones in the Fifties.
The owner of a local Fu King restaurant was asked to write a few lines that Jacqui recited — she couldn’t speak Chinese as she was born in Trinidad. There is no truth in the rumour that the words were the numbers nine to 13 on the food list.
There are two versions of what the Chinese words might be: ‘i love you, i love you, my love is very strong, it flies high like a kite before the wind, please do not let go of the string’, and the second: ‘i love, i need you, i want you, please say you’ll never leave me’. The record reached no 9 in the charts in november 1967, their only hit release.
in 1968, Simon Dupree’s keyboard player was ill and they drafted in a temporary replacement called reg Dwight (elton John). They were impressed with him and asked him to join as a permanent member, but he declined and — as they say — the rest is history.
Simon Myers, Stockport, Cheshire.
QUESTION
When WWII pilot Mary Ellis had flown each plane to an airfield, how did she get back home? Mary Ellis would have taken the train. on the authority of the Air ministry, she would either have been issued with a rail warrant before departure, or she would have reported to the adjutant of the airfield where she had delivered the aircraft to be issued with one.
This would entitle her to a rail ticket to her destination. The railway company reclaimed the cost of the ticket from the Air ministry.
When i joined the raf in 1968, we were entitled to a set number of rail warrants per year for leave travel, and the use of rail warrants was a normal method of obtaining rail tickets for travel on duty. nowadays military personnel, like their civilian counterparts, pay their own way and then claim the cost back.
The adjutant would also organise road transport for mary to the nearest railway station, probably alongside airmen going on leave or being posted to other units. Depending on what time she arrived at the airfield, she might have to stay the night, in which case she would have been lodged in the officers’ mess.
if ferry pilots were required to bring aircraft in from Canada or the u.S. they would travel across the Atlantic in one of the many ships that crossed the ocean in the wartime convoys or, perhaps, on the fast passenger liners like the Queen mary and Queen elizabeth, that crossed the Atlantic independently.
if there happened to be a transport aircraft, usually American, making the journey the ferry pilots might be able to hitch a lift, if there was space available. As World War ii aircraft couldn’t make the journey in a single hop, they flew via iceland, Greenland and newfoundland — deliveries being in the reverse direction. Small aircraft, such as fighters, were crated up and shipped as freight. The Air Transport Auxiliary employed 1,320 pilots, of whom 168 were women. They also employed 170 flight engineers and radio operators. From 1943, female ATA pilots were one of the first groups of women to earn the same wage as the male counterparts. Fifteen women lost their lives while ferrying aircraft, including the noted airwoman Amy Johnson. Bob Cubitt, Northampton.
QUESTION
Why are passion flowers so-called? The passiflora or passion flower (Flos passionis) acquired its name from descriptions of its flower parts supplied in the 17th century by Spanish priests in South America, then called new Spain. it was known by the Spanish as La Flor
de las cinco Llagas or the The Flower With The Five Wounds.
passionis refers to (Christ’s) suffering. The parts were interpreted from drawings and dried plants by Giacomo Bosio, a churchman and historian in rome ( 1609), as representing elements of the Crucifixion.
At the heart of the flower, reminding us of the main column of the Cross, we see five stamens representing the five wounds endured by Christ.
The blue-fringed corona surrounding the centre symbolises the Crown of Thorns, with its red stains signifying the blood of Christ.
The spiralled tendrils denote the lashes used against Christ, while the round fruit produced by the plant speaks of the world Christ came to save.