Page 64 Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019
QUESTIONS
BREAKFAST classic
taken to a new level.
Serves: 2.Getting a kick
out of stamps
Compiled by Charles LeggeTODAY’S RECIPE: Superfood
scrambled eggs
MethodQUESTION
When England
won the World
Cup in 1966, a postage stamp was
issued with the words ‘England
Winners’. Was it available in Scotland
and, if so, how well was it received?
To commemoraTe england hosting
the World cup in 1966, a set of three
stamps was issued in advance of the
championships: the fourpenny ‘Players
with ball’; the sixpenny ‘Goalmouth
melee’; and ‘Goalkeeper saving goal’ at
one shilling and threepence.
after the england team were victorious
on July 30, 1966, the Post office reissued
the fourpenny stamp with the inscription
‘england winners’ in capitals at the top.
Unusually, these stamps were not issued
in Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey,
Jersey or the Isle of man. However, they
were issued in Scotland, but in very
limited numbers.
The stamps went on sale in england on
august 18. The Post office had made it
known it would be a smaller run than
normal commemorative stamps, which
caused excitement and speculation.
The print run was limited to 100,000
sheets, or 12 million stamps. This may
sound a lot but was equal to three or four
days’ supply of stamps in england.
The stamps were snapped up at post
offices around england by eager collec-
tors and within days were being resold at
up to 50 times their face value.
Scottish collectors were upset they
were unable to buy the stamps. They may
not have supported the team but still
wanted to buy the stamp. The Post office
put a small batch of stamps on sale at the
edinburgh GPo on august 22 to coincide
with the edinburgh Festival. These, too,
were quickly snapped up.
While they were initially sold at inflated
prices (there was even talk of them being
listed on the London Stock exchange), it
was eventually realised that with 12 million
stamps in circulation, they had little real
value and prices plummeted.
Pete Edgars, Cromer, Norfolk.
QUESTION
Are the world’s
most ancient
pyramids in Brazil?
aNcIeNT pyramids have been found in
asia, africa and the americas. of very
different construction, they all served to
connect people to the heavens.
They were an architectural necessity in
ancient times. Without modern reinforce-
ment, the only way to build higher
structures was to have a large base
topped by ever-decreasing storeys.
The earliest stone ones were built in
egypt. The oldest known stepped Pyramid
of Djoser, was completed in 2611Bc. It
was 203ft high and 411ft at the base.
Pharaohs had extravagant tombs built
during their lives, to assist their passage
into the heavens after their death.
ancient pyramids have also been found
in Brazil, the oldest dating from 3000 Bc.
Built of seashells, historians once consid-
ered them to be no more than middens,
or rubbish dumps.
But archaeologists have discovered
they contain the remains of hundreds of
people buried alongside treasured
possessions including stone plaques,
shell breastplates, stone birds, fish,
whales and other animals.
The shell pyramid at Jaguaruna is 100ft
in height and covers 25 acres.
Mary Taylor, Goring, Oxon.QUESTION
Was there a French
Jack the Ripper?
a rIPPer is a tool used to tear or break
something. Following Jack’s brutal
murders of women in Victorian London,
the term came to mean a murderer who
mutilated their victims’ bodies.
The French ripper, as he is sometimes
known, was Joseph Vacher, who
committed a horrific series of murders
between 1894 and 1897. Unlike Jack, he
was arrested, tried and executed.
Vacher was born in 1869, the youngest
of 15 children in a poor farming family.
He joined the army at 17 but, frustrated
by a lack of promotion, twice attempted
suicide and was dismissed from the
army in 1893.
He became infatuated with Louise
Barant, a maid, and asked for her hand
in marriage. When she rejected him, he
shot her several times before shooting
himself twice in the head. Both survived.
Vacher was left with half his face
paralysed, which gave him a permanent
grimace. one of the bullets remained
lodged in his ear for the rest of his life.
He was sent to a mental asylum but
released after just a year, having been
declared ‘completely cured’. He drifted
into vagrancy and, in may 1894, murdered
21-year-old eugenie Delhomme, a mill
worker. Vacher slit her throat and
mutilated her body after death.
over the next four years, he travelled
through the countryside, killing at random.
most of his victims were shepherds — one
woman, five teenage girls and five teenage
boys — earning him the nickname The
Killer of Little Shepherds.
Vacher was caught in 1897 after a failed
attack on a woman working in a field. Her
screams alerted her husband and son,
who rescued her and took Vacher to the
police. The authorities had no evidence he
was a serial killer until he chose to confess
to the murders, saying: ‘I committed them
all in moments of frenzy.’
He pleaded insanity, claiming to have
been bitten by a rabid dog. Later, he said
he had been sent by God, comparing
himself to Joan of arc.
Despite his protestations, he was
pronounced sane and sent to trial.
Sentenced to death on December 31, 1898,
he refused to walk and had to be dragged
to the guillotine by his executioners.
Richard Gough, Worcester.: Why do some words have two past
tense forms (eg leaped vs leapt)?
D. Wilson, Kemble, Glos.
: The long gone Volta Tower at
Finedon, Northants, was built in 1865
to commemorate a local naval
officer who drowned off Nigeria in- A few sources state the tower
was named after HMS Volta. Is there
a record of this ship?
James Sorrie, Northampton.
: Is ‘kemosahbe’ a real word or was
it made up by the writers of the Lone
Ranger TV series?
Alan Jackson, Lancaster.
QQQIngredientsThey think it’s all over: The 1966 stamp2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tsp rapeseed oil
100g spinach,
roughly chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp turmeric½ tsp curry powder
4 eggs, beaten
150g smoked salmon
To serve: Toast
(optional)1 Tip pumpkin seeds into a saucepan and toast
over a high heat until they start to pop, then
transfer to a plate.
2 Add oil to pan with spinach, tomato and
garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until
spinach has wilted, then add turmeric, curry
powder and eggs. Scramble eggs over a
medium heat — take pan off heat before they
look too dry. Serve with salmon, on toast, if
you like.
O RECIPE of the Day brought to you in association
with BBC Good Food Magazine. Subscribe today and
get your first five issues for £5 (direct debit). Visit
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