Daily Mail - 16.08.2019

Page 64 Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019

QUESTIONS

RICH and silky treat.

Serves: 2.

Flying into the

record books

Compiled by Charles Legge

TODAY’S RECIPE:

Passion fruit cream

Method

QUESTION

What could have
been the fastest
creature ever to have existed?

SCIENTIFIC studies have mostly
concluded that the current speed record-
holders are the fastest of all time. Number
one is the peregrine falcon, which, while
diving, can reach a top speed of 240 mph.
For flapping flight, as opposed to diving,
the fastest is the white-throated
needletail, a type of swift from Central
Asia and a relative of the chimney swift
found in Britain. It can fly at 105 mph.
On land, the record holder is the
cheetah, achieving speeds of 70 mph.
Cheetahs have longer legs proportionally
than any other feline species, which
allows them to run considerably faster.
This speed hasn’t been exceeded since
the time of the dinosaurs. The fastest
land dinosaurs were the ostrich dinosaurs,
or Ornithomimids, which included
Gallimimus in Asia.
It lived 75 to 85 million years ago, and
speed estimates — calculated using
biomechanical models and the spacing of
fossilised footprints — vary, but all
suggest it was extremely fast.
While most estimates are in the realm of
35 mph to 40 mph, some researchers have
claimed speeds in excess of 65 mph,
rivalling the cheetah.
Pterosaurs are widely considered the
best flyers in the prehistoric era.
According to a 2010 study, the largest
could reach speeds of almost 70 mph for
several minutes and then settle into a
gliding speed of 55 mph.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.

QUESTION

Did Ernest
Hemingway say
‘There are only three sports:
bullfighting, motor racing and
mountaineering. All the rest are
merely games’?

THIS is one in a long list of quotations
attributed to the American author and
bullfighting aficionado, but there are
good reasons to suspect he never wrote
or said it. Hemingway did not consider
bullfighting a sport, but a tragedy in the
Shakespearean sense.
His October 20, 1923 article Bullfighting
A Tragedy, published in the Toronto Star,
states: ‘Bullfighting is not a sport. It was
never supposed to be. It is a tragedy. A

very great tragedy. The tragedy is the

death of the bull. It is played in three

definite acts.’

In 1932’s Death In The Afternoon,

Hemingway’s non-fiction account of the

rituals and traditions of Spanish bull-

fighting, he explained: ‘The bullfight is

not a sport in the Anglo-Saxon sense of

the word, that is, it is not an equal contest

or an attempt at an equal contest

between a bull and a man.

‘Rather it is a tragedy; the death of the

bull, which is played, more or less well, by

the bull and the man involved and in

which there is danger for the man, but

certain death for the animal.’

The true origin of the quote about sport

and games appears to be from the short

story Blood Sport by Ken Purdy, a lead-

ing writer on classic cars and automobile

racing, which appeared in the July 27,

1957 edition of the Saturday Evening

Post. It also appeared in a 1972 collec-

tion, Ken Purdy’s Book Of Automobiles.

One of the story’s characters, the racing

driver Helmut Ovden, is reported to have

said: ‘There are three sports. Bullfighting,

motor racing, mountain climbing. All the

rest are recreations.’

It’s thought that the character of Ovden

was modelled on Hemingway, which

could explain why the quote has been so

widely attributed to the author.

Purdy mirrored Hemingway in the

manner of his death: a self-inflicted

gunshot wound, on June 7, 1972.

Samantha Martin, Exminster, Devon.

QUESTION

Why did the U.S.

and Britain once

have different definitions for a billion?

Why have we adopted the U.S. version?

IN BRITAIN, a thousand is a one with

three zeros after it (1,000); a million is a

thousand times bigger than that — a one

with six zeros after it (1,000,000); and a

billion is a thousand times bigger than a

million — a one followed by nine zeros

(1,000,000,000).

The original British meaning of a billion

was established in the 15th century as a

million of a million: 1,000,000 to the power

of 2, which makes a one followed by 12

zeros (1,000,000,000,000).

With bi meaning two (such as bicycle),

the word billion comes from bi-million

and is a system known in French as the

‘long-scale’ — which is used in most

countries where English is not the

primary language.

In American English, a billion equates

to a thousand million (known as the

short-scale system) and one explanation

could be due to French influence after

the American revolutionary war.

The French use of ‘millard’ for a million

of a million, with ‘billion’ as an alterna-

tive, is relatively late. The word appears

at least as early as the beginning of the

16th century as the equivalent of million

and billion, the latter being the billion of

Britain today.

As France was the centre of

mathematical scholarship at the time,

‘billion’ was imported by Americans.

They adopted the original French con-

vention because it was used by the most

important writers.

Holding onto the short-scale system

while other countries began to adopt

long-scale was based on practicality.

There was logic behind the American

usage because billion didn’t mean ‘million

squared’ but ‘second-illion’.

Britain changed to the U.S. billion in

the Seventies after being overwhelmed

by the sheer weight of scientific and

mathematical literature that used the

American version.

Emilie Lamplough,

Trowbridge, Wilts.

n IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the

answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send

your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To

Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT. You can

also fax them to 01952 780111 or you can email them to charles.legge@

dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to

enter into individual correspondence.

: Why was Fleetwood Town’s

football ground named Highbury?

Keith Greene, Rowde, Wilts.

: Was the two-day weekend a

20th-century invention?

James Hollcombe, Wilmington, Devon.

: Do sugar cane plants need to

be propagated each year? How is

this achieved?

C. Vaughan, Southampton.

Q

Q

Q

Ingredients

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp Cointreau

or triple sec, plus

extra to serve

Squeeze of

lemon juice

3 passion fruits

150ml double cream

1 Whisk yolk and sugar until light and fluffy and

doubled in size. Beat in Cointreau, lemon and

flesh of two passion fruits. Softly whip cream

until it just holds its shape. Chill two glasses.

2 To assemble, give egg mix another brisk whisk

and then gently fold into double cream. Spoon

into glasses and top with seeds from remaining

passion fruit and a drizzle of Cointreau.

n 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

buysubscriptions.com/goodfood and enter code

GFDAILY19 or call 03330 162 124 and quote GFDAILY19.

Top gun: The

peregrine falcon

can reach a

speed of 240mph

Picture: M PAYNE-GILL/BBC PICTURE ARCHIVES

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