Neighbours from swell

QUESTION From where does the idea of keeping up with the Joneses come?

Keeping up with the Joneses means trying to match your neighbours, in terms of material possessions, at any cost.

The term originated with cartoonist Arthur ‘pop’ Momand in his comic strip Keeping Up With The Joneses in the new York globe. The strip was first published in 1913 and was widely syndicated. By September 1915, a cartoon film of the same name was touring U.S. cinemas.

The strip was based on Momand’s experience of living with his wife in Cedarhurst, new York, one of Long island’s Five Towns where the average income was (and still is) among America’s highest.

Living ‘far beyond our means in our endeavour to keep up with the well-to-do class’, the Momands wisely moved to a cheap rented apartment in Manhattan.

Momand thought of calling the strip Keeping Up With The Smiths, but decided Joneses was ‘more euphonious’.

it ran in U.S. newspapers and appeared in book, movie and musical comedy form, giving the expression a wide currency.

not trying to keep up with the Joneses served Momand well; he lived to be 100.

Diane Cranford, Heston, Middx.

QUESTION Which sporting records are the least likely to be broken?

TeST Match cricket has some records that are unlikely to be surpassed. Only a handful of elite world-class batsmen have averaged a little over 60, but Sir Donald Bradman had a career average of 99.94.

A couple of unlikely batting records are held by bowlers. Australia’s Jason gillespie scored 201 not out vs Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2006, a record for a nightwatchman — a lower order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day’s play.

The nearest contender is South Africa’s Mark Boucher with two centuries (125 and 108) as nightwatchman, though he was more recognised as a batsman and wicketkeeper.

given that nightwatchmen are not deployed very often, and when they are they are usually bowlers, there are limited circumstances for gillespie’s record to be challenged. england bowler James Upwardly mobile: Momand’s cartoon Anderson has been not out 87 times — 26 more than the nearest contender, Courtney Walsh of West indies.

in Association Football, portsmouth FC’s record of holding the FA Cup for seven consecutive years is unlikely to be beaten. However, this was because pompey won the cup in 1939 and the competition was not held again until 1946. Legend has it the trophy was hidden in a pub cellar throughout the war.

Graeme Jefferson, Fareham, Hants. in THe early nineties, Southend United became the only visiting team to win four consecutive games at Sunderland’s Roker park — a record that will never be broken because the stadium was demolished in 1998.

Freddy eastwood’s 7.7-second league debut strike in 2004 against Swansea may be hard to better.

W. Overton, Chigwell, Essex. WiLLiAM RALpH ‘Dixie’ DeAn scored 60 league goals for everton in the 1927/28 season. His total for 1928 was 85 goals.

in 399 appearances for everton, he scored an astonishing 349 goals.

Stephen Stokes, Mold, Flintshire. THAnKS to fewer first- class matches being played, no cricketer is likely to beat Jack Hobbs’s career record of 61,237 runs nor his total of 197 centuries. Similarly, no one will approach Denis Compton’s achievement of scoring 3,816 and making 18 centuries in the 1947 season.

As far as bowlers are concerned, the 4,187 career wickets taken by Wilfred Rhodes or the 304 in the 1928 season by A. p. ‘Tich’ Freeman will remain records.

in women’s athletics, the 10.49 seconds 100m and 21.34 second 200m by Florence griffith- Joyner in 1988 will take some beating — perhaps due to today’s more stringent drug testing regime.

i doubt anyone will match Margaret Court’s 11 Australian open singles titles. Most were obtained in the amateur era, when it was too costly for some players to go Down Under for the tournament.

Tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby, Lincs. One record unlikely to be broken is that of throwing the cricket ball. Robert percival made his record-breaking throw of 140 yards and two feet on April 18, 1882, at Durham’s annual easter Monday sports meeting. Despite many efforts since, it has never been beaten.

Colin H. Smith, East Preston, W. Sussex. RAFAeL nADAL’S record of 12 French Open titles is unlikely to be broken. Only a handful of male tennis players have won more than 12 titles in their career, let alone at the same tournament.

Rod Laver’s record of twice winning the grand Slam — the four majors of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year — is unlikely to be broken.

Since then, only Djokovic has held all four majors at the same time, though not in the same calendar year.

Angela Shakesby, Hull.

QUESTION Did Smith, Britain’s most common surname, originate in Scotland?

SMiTH/Smythe derives from the Saxon word, Smytan, one who hits metal — the word ‘smite’ comes from it.

The earliest mention is 985 in england, describing the trade of a certain Waltheof. it came to be used by others regardless of their occupation and by those who wanted to hide their real identities because they were proscribed, banned or criminals.

Though it is very english, many Scots adopted Smith. it’s also common, under other guises, in europe: Fabre/Fevre/ Lefavre/Lefabre/Lefevre/Fabri in France; Ferrari in italy; Ferreiro/Ferrer/Ferreira in the Spanish peninsula; Kowalski in poland; Kovacs in eastern europe; Schmidt in german-speaking countries; Smet/Smedt/Schmid in Holland and Belgium; and Dvorjak in Hungary.

Peter de Loriol Chandieu, London SW4.