A nose for a good idea
QUESTION Do astronauts perform the Valsalva manoeuvre at lift-off?
THE Valsalva manoeuvre was devised by 17th century Italian physician Antonio Maria Valsalva to test circulatory function, but has the effect of normalising ear pressure.
You exhale while closing your mouth and pinching your nose. It is a common sight on take-off or landing on aircraft, and is essential to astronauts.
It should be noted that if it is performed too forcefully, there is a risk of auditory damage from over-pressurisation of the middle ear.
It is safer to swallow a few times or yawn, which has the same effect of opening the Eustachian tubes that connect to the ears.
Astronauts are unable to use their hands when wearing a space suit, so to help them there is a small plastic foam pad at the front of their mask called the Valsalva device.
They use this to block their nostrils so they can normalise their ear pressure and to scratch their nose if necessary.
The original design was a styrofoam cube with a slit down the middle into which an astronaut pushed the tip of his nose to perform the procedure.
Former astronaut Richard Linnehan modified it into two rounded mounds, which astronauts dubbed the Dolly Parton. This far superior design is still used today.
The small device is extremely important, as astronaut Leland Melvin discovered. On his first day of spacewalk training in Nasa’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, the technical team had failed to place a Valsalva device in his helmet.
Unable to equalise the pressure in his ears, he was rendered partially deaf and required emergency surgery.
He was left with only 60 per cent hearing levels, which cost him the chance to do a spacewalk, but he did get a medical waiver that allowed him to go on two shuttle flights to the International Space Station. Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION Was there a Turkish TV show where an imam, a rabbi and a priest attempted to convert contestants? What other weird TV shows are there from around the world?
PENITENTS Compete was planned in 2009, but never aired. The idea was that a Muslim imam, Greek Orthodox priest, Jewish rabbi and Buddhist monk would attempt to convert ten atheists to their respective faiths.
If an atheist converted, they would win a trip to their newly acquired Holy Land. The idea was pulled after Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs denied permission for an imam to appear.
Perehvat, which translates as ‘to nab’, was a Russian TV show from the lawless Nineties.
The producers gave contestants a car and then reported it to the police as stolen. If they could avoid getting caught for 35 minutes, they could keep the vehicle. In one episode, a contestant drove the car onto a raft and waited out the 35 minutes in the middle of a lake.
The producers claimed the show would rehabilitate the image of the hated, baton- wielding state automobile inspectors, the GAI, known for demanding bribes thinly disguised as fines for such offences as driving an unwashed car. In fact, Perehvat fed off the fantasies of Muscovites, who dreamt of outwitting the GAI. At its peak, the show had more than 60 million viewers.
One of the most ridiculous British TV shows was Flockstars, presented by Gabby Logan on ITV in 2015.
A host of minor celebrities had to master the art of sheep herding. It was won by Strictly Come Dancing professional Brendan Cole and his partner, a border collie called Hoggy. The show was cancelled after just one series.
Helen Matthews, Newport, Shropshire. TOMORROw’S Pioneers was an extraordinary Palestinian children’s TV show broadcast between 2007 and 2009. Presented by female host Saraa Barhoum in a hijab, it featured costume characters, including Farfour, a cynical, dishevelled Mickey Mouse character.
The children’s educational format modelled on the likes of Sesame Street combined benign advice, such as advising youngsters to drink more milk, alongside anti- Semitic, anti-American and jihadist views.
In the episode Farfour And The AK-47, the character simulated shooting guns and grenades. Eventually, Farfour was beaten to death by Israeli interrogators and replaced by Nahoul the giant bumblebee, who proclaimed: ‘we will go on jihad when we grow up!’
Christopher Dean, Bristol.
QUESTION Why did the crooner Harry Lillis Crosby call himself Bing?
BING CROSBY was one of the world’s most successful singers, selling one billion records. His version of white Christmas, written by Irving Berlin, is the best-selling record of all time, with Guinness world Records reporting sales of 50 million.
Born in 1903 in Tacoma, washington State, most people didn’t call him Harry for long. He acquired his nickname from The Bingville Bugle, a weekly satirical column that poked fun at the imaginary town of Bingville. It was written by the Boston Post humourist Newton Newkirk and syndicated nationally.
The young Crosby loved it and would giggle uncontrollably when he saw it.
‘when I was a kid, three or four years old, there was a comic strip called The Bingville Bugle,’ he recalled.
‘A neighbour . . . called me Bingo, then it was cut to Bing. But my mother always called me Harry.’
K. E. Evans, Purley on Thames, Berks.
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