So, Caine you guess who?
QUESTION Did Michael Caine appear on the TV panel show What’s My Line?
YES, the star of Alfie, Zulu and The Italian Job appeared on the U.S. panel game show in 1966.
What’s My Line? ran on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967 in black and white. Hosted by John Daly, contestants were asked simple yes and no questions by panel members — the original line-up was columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, actress Arlene Francis, poet Louis Untermeyer and comedy writer Hal Block — who attempted to determine their interesting or unusual occupation.
A successful version ran in Britain from 1951 to 1963 hosted by Eamonn Andrews, where the contestants used mime to describe their jobs.
A highlight of the U.S. version was a regular segment where the panellists wore blindfolds and were asked to identify a mystery guest, usually a celebrity, who tried to avoid being identified by disguising their voice — often with hilarious results.
The show attracted hundreds of famous names including Muhammad Ali, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Andre Previn, Oliver Reed, David Niven, Liza Minnelli, Lucille Ball, Sean Connery, Buster Keaton, Elizabeth Taylor, Liberace, Debbie Reynolds and Lassie.
Michael Caine appeared shortly after the release of Alfie. It was panellist Sue Oakland who cottoned on when she asked him if he’d appeared in a film chasing lots of women about!
Steve Allman, Bournemouth.
QUESTION Who invented the ventilator?
FROM its origins in applying bellows to resuscitate drowning victims in the 1760s, the field of mechanical ventilation has advanced incrementally as clinical needs have been identified.
From the 19th century to the mid-20th century, the negative pressure ventilator was the main type of ventilator.
Air was pumped out manually from a chamber, creating low air pressure around a patient’s chest. This enabled the lungs to expand, causing the patient to breathe in.
An early tank ventilator was described by the Scottish physician John Dalziel in 1838. It consisted of an air-tight box with the patient sitting, not prone.
The iron lung, used to treat polio patients in the early 20th century, was developed at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1928 by Dr Philip Drinker and Dr Louis Agassiz Shaw. It was greatly improved in 1931 by American inventor John Haven Emerson, who made a cheaper and significantly lighter version.
In the Fifties, there was a movement away from full body negative-pressure ventilation towards positive ventilation: the pumping of air into the lungs through a face mask or tube in the throat.
This was inspired by the development of jet aviation at the end of World War II, which led to the development of small, compact, intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) devices.
A number of British engineers were at the forefront of early research, including George Thomas Smith-Clarke, former chief engineer and director of the Alvis Motor Company in Coventry, who developed the Smith-Clarke mechanical respirator; a team from Barnet Hospital, who developed the Barnet respirator; and the anaesthetist Roger Manley, whose gas-driven Manley ventilator was highly influential.
Modern mechanical ventilators have evolved significantly over the past 40 years. First generation ventilators had relatively primitive electrical or pneumatic control circuits, were capable of only one mode of ventilation and had uncalibrated dials and no alarms.
Modern, fifth generation ventilators incorporate advanced control software and are capable of delivering ventilation in a fully controlled manner to patients with a wide variety of conditions.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION How does today’s Crufts compare with the original?
CHARLES Alfred Cruft was born on June 28, 1852. Instead of joining the family jewellery business, he took a job in the central London shop of James Spratt, the maker of Spratt’s Dog Cakes.
A brilliant marketing man, Cruft overhauled the business. He suggested that the Maltese cross, Spratt’s emblem, was stamped on each biscuit.
As general manager, he was the company’s representative at dog shows and events.
In 1886, Cruft was approached to run a dog show for terriers in London by the Duchess of Newcastle. The First Great Show Of All Kinds Of Terriers opened on March 10 at the Royal Aquarium in Westminster.
The first event to bear his name was Cruft’s Greatest Dog Show in 1891, where all breeds were welcomed. Held at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington, North London, from February 11 to 13, it attracted 2,437 entries and 36 breeds.
The dogs were judged by breed — Best In Show wasn’t introduced until 1928. The popular agility trials did not appear until 1978 and weren’t awarded prizes until 1980.
Among the entries in 1891 were several dogs owned by Queen Victoria, with her collie Darnley II and two of her pomeranians winning prizes.
When Cruft died on September 10, 1938, his widow Emma took over the running of the dog show. She handed it over to the Kennel Club in 1948.
The first show under the club’s auspices was held at Olympia with 84 breeds. In 1979, the show moved to Earl’s Court and then, in 1991, to Birmingham.
Today, there are 20,000 contestants and 200 breeds.
Gillian Butler, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks.
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