THE BIG QUESTIONS
Scots have been responsible for many great inventions such as the telephone and television so, with our wet climate, surely we invented the tumble dryer, too? – M
I’m afraid not, as the first seems to have been dreamt up by Frenchman named Ponchos who invented a machine for drying clothes over an open fire in 1799.
The first patented electric clothes dyer was made by an American, Henry Altorfer, in 1937.
I have sampled plenty of the whisky that bears his name, but I must admit I don’t know much about Johnnie Walker. Can you fill me in? – A
Walker opened a grocer’s shop in Kilmarnock in 1820. At the time, grocers stocked single malt whiskies, but Walker was unhappy that the tastes varied, so he began blending them until he found a whisky with a consistently good taste.
Walker died in 1857 and his son, Alexander took over. Within 10 years, he began exporting Johnnie Walker whisky in its now iconic square bottle with a slanted label and the brand became world famous.
Strangely, Johnnie Walker was teetotal and never drank a drop.
I’ve been lucky enough to have played the five oldest golf courses in Scotland. Now I’d like to try my luck in England – where is it’s oldest course? – S
That is the Royal North Devon course at Westward Ho!, which was founded in 1864.
Known as “St Andrews of the south”, the fastrunning links course was
recently included on Golf World’s “Top 100 Courses in the World”.
St Andrews dates back to 1552.