THE BIG QUESTIONS
Are Russell Hobbs and Morphy Richards real people (Yes, I’ve been buying a kettle)? – P
They were – but they were four separate people.
Russell Hobbs was founded in 1952 by William Russell and Peter Hobbs after they designed the world’s first automatic coffee percolator.
Donal Morphy and Charles Richards formed Morphy Richards on July 8, 1936 at an oast house in St Mary Cray in Kent.
I’ve just started yet another diet which prompted my uncle to tell me about a Scotsman who ate nothing for a year. He claims it was sometime in the 1960s, but I can’t believe it happened at all. Did it? – A
For 382 days, from June 1965 until July 11, 1966, Angus Barbieri fasted.
Taking only tea, coffee, soda water, yeast and vitamins, the 27-year-old
from Tayport in Fife survived the longest ever fast.
When he began, he was clinically obese, weighing 207kg (32 stone).
However, at the end of his fast, during which he was closely monitored by Dundee University’s medical department, he weighed 82kg (12 stone) having lost 125kg (20 stone)
What did the first universities teach? – J
Scotland’s oldest university, St Andrews, was constituted in 1413.
In the 15th Century, subjects taught to students included natural philosophy, logic, medicine, theology, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, law, grammar and rhetoric.
Today, St Andrews is home to 10,000 students, and Scotland has 15 universities and three other institutions of higher education.