It’s all Greek to these idiots

QUESTION

I recently heard Bob Dylan described as an ‘idiot’ in the ancient Greek sense of the word. How does the Greek definition differ from our current use? THE ancient Greek idiotes, from idios, meaning personal, meant an individual. It was a term to distinguish such a man from the political class.

I imagine the comment referred to Dylan as one who has consciously withdrawn from public office and is criticising from the sidelines, though that isn’t precisely how the Greeks viewed it.

In democratic Athenian society idiotes was a derogatory term, one used to describe those who didn’t immerse themselves in political life to fulfil their obligations as citizens. They were considered socially useless.

The great orator Pericles said ‘… our private citizens, though occupied with their personal business, are still fair judges of public matters. Athenians regard those who take no part in civic duties not as unambitious but as useless’.

By the time the English imported idiot from the French in the 13th century, the term had evolved to mean an ‘uneducated common man’, so the step to ‘ignorant or stupid person’ wasn’t a great one. Almost all use of ‘idiot’ in the subsequent centuries has reflected this general sense of ‘fool’.

Raymond Fillman, Chelmsford, Essex.

QUESTION

The £2 coin issued in 2012 to commemorate Charles Dickens’s birth features his profile made up of the titles of his famous works. Which works were used? THE £2 coin had a design on the reverse by Matthew Dent. The titles used to make up the profile are The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick club; Barnaby Rudge; Bleak House; A Tale of Two cities; The old curiosity Shop; Great Expectations; David copperfield; Dombey And Son; little Dorrit; Hard Times; The Adventures of oliver Twist; The life And Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby; our Mutual Friend; and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Also featured are collections of short stories: Sketches By Boz and The Mudfog Papers; christmas Short Stories; A christmas carol; The Battle of life; The cricket on The Hearth; The Haunted Man And The Ghost’s Bargain; and The Seven Poor Travellers. Then there’s a comic opera called The Village coquettes; a play called The Frozen Deep; the travelogue Pictures From Italy; the poetry collection The Fine old English Gentleman; and the collection of Speeches, letters and Sayings.

Two educational books for children are also featured: The life of our lord and A child’s History of England. Finally, there is Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, an autobiography of the famous clown that was edited by Dickens.

The words chosen for the edge inscription are those of the always hopeful Mr Micawber from David copperfield: ‘Something will turn up.’ The obverse features Ian Rank-Broadley’s familiar portrait of the Queen.

andrew Paine, Lyme Regis, Dorset.

QUESTION

Using regular scheduled flights, how quickly can you fly around the world? And what is the longest scheduled flight? SEVERAl records have been set for completing a circumnavigation of the world on scheduled flights. They vary depending upon whether it’s a simple circuit or an ‘antipodal’ route.

A simple circuit must cross a line of meridian at least the length of the Tropic of cancer (22,859 miles long). An antipodal journey takes in a latitude and longitude location directly opposite to one of the points on the route.

There’s no exactly antipodal point to the UK on land: the nearest convenient route passes through Madrid and Ti Tree Point in New Zealand. Under different rules this could be an exact antipodal route or an approximate one.

An approximate antipodal route should cross a point within plus or minus five degrees of latitude or longitude of the actual antipodal point.

All forms of transport may be used providing they operate to a timetable and are accessible to the general public. Private transport, such as a car, may only be used if no public transport is available. Public and private: Greek orator Pericles (far left) and Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan The passenger must set foot on the approximate or actual antipodal point, so they can’t remain on board their aircraft.

The world record for a simple circumnavigation was set between January 8 and 10, 1980, is held by David J. Springbett, from Taplow, Buckinghamshire.

He used the route los Angeles-london-Bahrein-Singapore-BangkokManila-Tokyo-Honolululos Angeles. His time was 44 hours and six minutes. As he used concorde for some of the journey and concorde is no longer in service, it’s unlikely his record will be broken in the near future.

The record for an approximate antipodal route is 58 hours 44 minutes, set between February 13 and 16, 1995, by another Briton, ‘the flying monk’ Brother Michael Bartlett, from Sandy, Bedfordshire. He used the route Zurich-Beijing-ShanghaiSan Francisco-Miami-Buenos Aires-Zurich.

He also holds the world record for a double circumnavigation, set from october 13 to 31, 2010, in a time of 215 hours 31 minutes.

For this he used a route from london Heathrow to Dubai-Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) -Brisbane-Bandar Seri Begawanlondon Heathrow-Vancouver-SydneyBrisbane-Sydney-Vancouver and back to london Heathrow, travelling both east to west and west to east.

The longest scheduled flight is now operated by Emirates Airlines, going nonstop from Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand, a distance of 8,824 miles. The first flight, on March 2, 2016, was expected to take 17 hours 15 minutes, but actually took only 16 hours 24 minutes thanks to tail winds.

The first flight was made using an Airbus A380 aircraft but it is now undertaken using a Boeing 777.

Brother Bartlett, a 76-year-old Anglican monk, says he undertook his recordbreaking flights simply because he loves flying. He has had a total of 21 entries in the Guinness Book of Records, all related to flying. David Springbett, 78, is a former insurance broker and noted philatelist.

Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.

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