THE BIG QUESTIONS
Driving past a field of Highland cows the other day, I spotted a few black ones in among the red. Are there any other colours? – G
Highland cattle were originally black but, over generations, other shades have developed, including yellow, brindle (brown with darker stripes), dun (tan) and white.
The hair should be long and gracefully waved, and island cattle have much longer hair than mainland cattle, as they aren’t housed indoors in winter.
Is it true that the president of Turkey was a professional footballer before becoming a politician? – N
President Recep Erdogan played in the 1970s for Erokspor, Camialti and IETT Spor. He won five titles with IETT.
He isn’t the only head of state to have played football. Fellow rightwinger (in the political sense) Victor Orban, president of Hungary, turned out for Puskás Akademia FC in Hungary’s fourth tier.
George Weah, who had a glittering playing career with clubs such as Paris Saint-germain, AC Milan and Chelsea, became president of Liberia.
And Clement Atlee, UK Prime Minister from 1945-51, played semi-pro with Fleet FC in Hampshire.
There is a wonderful old grandfather clock in the waiting room of my doctor’s surgery – why are they called that? – D
The term comes from an 1876 song, My Grandfather’s Clock.
American songwriter, Henry Clay Work, was staying at a Yorkshire inn, when he noticed a stopped clock.
He was told the probably apocryphal tale that it had stopped only twice, both times at the exact second its owners, two brothers, had died.