Who’s game for gridiron?
QUESTION Has any American football player become a professional rugby player, or vice versa? Despite the rewards on offer in the American game, this is a rare occurrence. scotland and British Lions fullback Gavin Hastings spent a couple of seasons playing in the World League of American Football (WLAF), a mainly european competition, as a kicker with the scottish Claymores in 1996. the Claymores won the World Bowl that year at Murrayfield.
terry price was a fine Welsh fullback who played for Llanelli and Wales, and is fondly remembered for dropping the goal against ireland at Cardiff Arms park in 1965, winning Wales their first triple Crown since 1953.
in 1971, his goal-kicking exploits landed him a move to America and a brief spell as a specialist goal-kicker for the Buffalo Bills, the New York National League team.
French player Richard tardits was the most successful of those who ventured across the Atlantic. As a young man, he represented his home-town of Biarritz and France Under-21 in rugby union.
His foray into gridiron football began with the University of Georgia, from where he progressed to the phoenix Cardinals in 1989, then the New england patriots a year later. tardits continued to play rugby union during the off season and played 24 times for the U.s. eagles.
Manfred Moore was an NFL running back for san Francisco 49ers, tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders. After winning super Bowl Xi with the Oakland Raiders in the U.s., he was recruited by New south Wales RFL premiership team the Newtown Jets in 1977.
He lasted only four games after receiving a head injury in a match against penrith, which prompted him to return to the National Football League, signing for Minnesota Vikings.
T. L. Redwood, Sale, Cheshire. QUESTION Are any real-life pirates mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island? FiVe known pirate captains — William Kidd, Blackbeard (edward teach), edward england, Howell Davies and Bartholomew Roberts — are named in the book, but don’t appear as characters.
Captain Flint, the pirate who is supposed to have buried the treasure and the name of Long John silver’s parrot, was created by stevenson, but his name is used in at least three books by different authors: porto Bello Gold by A. D. Howden-smith, peter And Wendy by J.M. Barrie and swallows And Amazons by Arthur Ransome.
William Kidd is supposed to have buried a treasure horde on Gardiner’s island and it’s the hunt for treasure such as this that forms the backdrop to the story of treasure island. in reality, the authorities quickly recovered Kidd’s cache.
in the story, the names of two real pirate crew members — israel Hands and John silver — are used for crew members aboard the Hispaniola, the ship hired by squire trelawny to sail to treasure island.
the real israel Hands, also known as Basilica Hands, was a member of Blackbeard’s crew whom the captain maimed by shooting him in the knee to ensure the rest of the crew remained in terror of him.
Hands was taken ashore to have his wound treated and, therefore, was not present for Blackbeard’s last fight at Ocracoke island. this saved him from the gallows, as the surviving crew were captured and put on trial. Blackbeard was killed in the fight.
John silver is believed to have been a ships’ surgeon in Bartholomew Roberts’s crew. He was hanged at Cape Coast Castle, a British fort on the Gold Coast of Africa.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton. QUESTION How did the navy of the Austria-Hungary Empire compare with that of the other participants in World War I? tHe Austro-Hungarian navy faced some unique difficulties. Despite being one of europe’s great powers, the AustroHungarian empire wasn’t a colonial power, and so didn’t need a large, powerful navy.
Both parliaments had to agree naval budgets. Not having a coastline, Hungary preferred to spend money on the army rather than the navy. However, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a keen supporter of the navy and campaigned energetically on its behalf, overseeing its expansion from 1904.
there were some advantages in coming so late to the party. the empire’s new dread nought s sMss teget th off , Viribus, prinz eugen and szent istvan — l aunched at trieste between 1911 and 1912 amid wild celebrations — were consider-ably ahead of rival navies in some aspects of design.
they were constructed with Marconi wireless r ooms and anti- ai rc r af t armaments and they were the f i rst battleships to be equipped with torpedo launchers built into their bows.
However, compared with other World War i navies, this fleet was a minnow. By 1914, it had four modern Dreadnoughts, 18 destroyers, seven cruisers, nine battleships of pre-Dreadnought design and five submarines. the bulk of the fleet was based at the Adriatic port of pula.
By 1914, the British Royal Navy was the l argest i n the world. it comprised 22 dreadnoughts (with another 13 under construction), nine battle cruisers (with another under construction), 40 older preDreadnoughts ( older battleships), 121 cruisers of varying types, 221 destroyers and 73 submarines.
the German High seas Fleet consisted of 15 Dreadnoughts (with five more under construction), five battle cruisers (plus three under construction), 22 preDreadnoughts, 40 cruisers, 90 destroyers, 115 torpedo boats and 31 submarines.
Pete May, Poole, Dorset.