The Saturday Briefing - Knowledge is power
Is there anything you are desperately yearning to know? Are there any pressing factual disputes you would like us to help resolve? This is the page where we shall do our best to answer any questions you throw at us, whatever the subject.
Q - I am an old crinkly and have been remembering films I saw long ago. One featured Jim Brown and Rod Taylor guarding a train going through the Congo carrying gold or diamonds and surrounded by terrorists. But what was the film called? DVD stores have been unable to help me. Janice E Acosta, Neath, Wales
A - The 1968 film was originally called Dark Of The Sun but was released in the UK as The Mercenaries. As well as the actors you mention the cast included Kenneth More and Yvette Mimieux. It was based on a novel, The Dark Of The Sun by Wilbur Smith. The film was extraordinarily violent for its time, including murder, rape and a duel with a chainsaw but has been praised by modern directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. The main theme was borrowed by the Inglourious Basterds film.
Q - My father, who was born in 1900, was a horseman on a farm and always called his horses “osses”. I had always thought this was just slang for “horses” but thinking of Tim the ostler in Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman, I have begun to wonder whether the word “osses” had a connection with “ostler” and whether old coaching inns had “ostleries” or livery stables for passing “osses”. Frank White, by email
A - That’s a nice idea but it’s not supported by the origins of the word “ostler”. It dates back to the 14th century and came from “hosteler” or “hostler” who was a person running a hostel and receiving guests. Since many of those guests arrived on horseback or in horsedriven coaches the hostels turned into coaching inns and by the late 15th century “ostler” was the word for the groom or stableman at the inn. The earliest known use of the slang “osses” for “horses” was around 1800.
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Q - There is a verse about Cheshire which contains the line, “As many Masseys as asses”. Please could you let me have more details? John Lowe, by email
A - In the Middle Ages the gentry of Cheshire were proud of their practice of not marrying outside the county, which led to a restricted number of surnames in the county. As they said: “There be as many Masseys as asses, Lees as fleas, Fittons as kittens, Eatons as peasens [peas], Duttons as muttons, Dones as bones and Davenports as dogs’ tails.” The Masseys were a noble Jacobite family who lived at Puddington Hall in Cheshire from the 15th century to the 18th.
Q - When TV programmes show stately homes they often say that many of the beautiful fixtures and artworks were acquired when the owners were on European grand tours or trips further afield. How did the people back then pay for them? Did they carry huge sums of cash on their travels or could they drop into a local bank to draw out the required amount? Ken Naylor, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex
A - The most useful instruments in that respect in olden times were “letters of credit”. Essentially they were promissory notes giving the recipient the right to have the funds transferred from the purchaser’s bank. Travelling with gold was unwise so even before banknotes, letters of credit were used for large purchases. These led to the development of cheques, pioneered by the Bank of England in 1717.
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Q - I have always considered the Catalina PBY the best flying boat ever built. But can you tell me what the letters PBY stood for? Roy Bradbury, Oldbury, West Midlands
A - The Catalina PBY was one of the most widely used US seaplanes in the Second World War, used for patrol bombing, convoy escorts, anti-submarine warfare and air-sea rescue. The PB stood for “Patrol Bomber”, the Y was the code assigned to its manufacturers, Consolidated Aircraft.
Q - Please can you settle a dispute in our church social club? Acting as quizmaster recently, I asked “Where is TV soap Hollyoaks set?” According to my quizbook the answer is Chester. One of our members who has a relation in the cast is adamant the answer is Liverpool. Please can you tell us who is right and restore peace to our club? Ray Hulston, Stalybridge, Cheshire
A - I suppose the really correct answer is Hollyoaks, which is a fictional suburb of Chester. But it is mainly produced and filmed in Childwall, Liverpool. So it may all come down to a dispute over the meaning of the verb “to set”. The Oxford English Dictionary gives 126 distinct meanings of this verb so I think I’ll leave it to your club!