THE BIG QUESTIONS
I was astonished to read a computer games company was bought in a £50 billion deal. Where does it rank in the biggest ever deals? – S
Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is small when compared to the takeover of German telecom giant Mannesmann AG. In 1999, British company Vodafone acquired the company in a deal worth £135 billion. Sadly, the deal was a failure and Vodafone had to write off billions of pounds.
William Mcgonagall is known as the World’s Worst Poet, but a friend tells me of another Scot who mangled the English language with his poems, but can only remember he moved to Canada. Can you help? – L
James Mcintyre (1827–1906) was born in Forres, before emigrating to Canada, where he became known as “The Chaucer Of Cheese”.
He earned the moniker after writing odes to promote the local economy in Ontario, a cheese-making area.
His works include Prophesy Of A Ten Ton Cheese and Dairy Ode, which includes the lines, “The quality is often vile, Of cheese that is made in April, Therefore we think for that reason, You should make cheese later in the season”.
My youngest daughter is really interested in dinosaurs and would like to know the best place to go fossil hunting? – N
Head to Helmsdale beach in Sutherland.
The boulder beds there are rich in fossils from the Jurassic period, particularly reptiles, fish and ammonites.
And look out for large corals, which can often be found simply lying on the foreshore. There are so many, you are almost guaranteed to find at least one large fossil.