THE BIG QUESTIONS
I was born in 1974 and named after my dad’s hero, Denis Law, who was part of Scotland’s World Cup side that year. Were there many other people named Denis? – D
There were 14 babies given the name in 1974, making it the 153rd most popular boy’s name, equal with Alisdair, Drew, Evan and Philip. There were 10 Dennis’s and 128 girls named Denise.
The most popular names that year were David (1,794 boys) and Nicola (935 girls).
Taggart has long been one of my TV favourites, throughout its many guises. But where did the name for the eponymous Glaswegian detective come from? – R
Glenn Chandler, the original creator of Taggart, found the name on a headstone while he was walking through a graveyard and thought it ideal for his gruff detective character.
Whisper it, though, as the graveyard wasn’t in Glasgow, it was in Edinburgh, so DCI Jim Taggart is no Glaswegian.
The surname Taggart is Scots/ Irish, a diminution of the surnames Mactaggart and Mctaggart, which themselves are anglicisations of the Gaelic Mac an t-sagairt, meaning “son of the priest”.
I’ve brushed my cat twice this week as its hair was getting everywhere. Are there any hairier beasts? – I
The sea otter is probably the hairiest animal – and it’s certainly one of the cutest!
They have around 900 million hairs covering their body – that’s 150,000 per sq cm.
As they don’t have a layer of blubber, sea otters, native to the north and east Pacific, rely on their hair to keep them warm in the water.