THE BIG QUESTIONS
Friends tell me I’m talking nonsense, but wasn’t there a consumer affairs programme called Money-go-round? – D
There was, and it was on our screens at lunchtimes in the 1980s.
It was presented by Joan Shenton and Tony Bastaple, and featured comic chat and sketches from Paul Eddington (Yes, Minister), Lance Percival (That Was The Week That Was) Frank Thornton (Are You Being Served) and Kenneth Williams of Carry On fame.
Out of the mouths of babes, as they say, but my great-niece, who is five, baffled me last week when she asked: “What’s the biggest thing?” Well, Queries Man, what is it? – D
You have to go into the depths of space to find the largest structure known to man.
Discovered in 2013, the HerculesCorona Borealis Great Wall is a vast group of galaxies forming a giant sheet-like pattern, bound together by gravity, about 10 billion light years from Earth. Scientists believe it is 10 billion light years across.
Istvan Horvath, who led the team which discovered the structure by mapping gamma-ray bursts, says he has no idea how it has formed.
Why does Imperial Leather soap have that sticky label on it – other soaps seem to be fine without one? – N
The label is to prevent the soap becoming mushy, which makes it last longer. As the soap is used, the sticker helps keep the bar concave in shape.
The brand originated in 18th-century Russia, where nobleman Count Orlof commissioned a perfume, Eau de Cologne Imperiale Russe, which was later added to soap.