Political gain in star names
QUESTION
Celebrity endorsements are often a feature in general elections. Is there a long history of this in politics?
CELEBRITY involvement in politics had its advent in the US.
In 1918, Woodrow Wilson invited Hollywood stars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr, Charlie Chaplin and Marie Dressler to sell Liberty bonds.
In 1920, Al Jolson led a delegation of Broadway entertainers to Warren Harding’s hometown of Marion, Ohio, to endorse the Republican candidate.
In the 1932 campaign, Republican Teddy Roosevelt received the backing of film stars including Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Katherine Hepburn.
Democrat Franklin D Roosevelt formed such a relationship with the film industry and the Hollywood Democratic Committee was formed to support him. Stars of stage and screen including Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, Groucho Marx, Edward G Robinson and Judy Garland endorsed the president.
In 1944, the committee ran a national radio broadcast narrated by Humphrey Bogart: ‘Personally, I am voting for Franklin D Roosevelt because I believe he is one of the world’s greatest humanitarians: because he’s leading our fight against the enemies of a free world.’
John F Kennedy was closely connected with the Rat Pack. During the 1960 Democratic National Convention, Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr and Nat King Cole took part in events to promote JFK.
In 1980, a real-life celebrity, actor Ronald Reagan, became US president. Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama basked in the glow of celebrity endorsements. However, when businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump became US president it was much to the opprobrium of Hollywood liberals.
In Britain, Margaret Thatcher appeared on Desert Island Discs, The Jimmy Young Show, Wogan and the children’s TV show Saturday Superstore, where she was interviewed by John Craven.
Her big-name supporters included Peter Sellers, Frederick Forsyth, Michael Winner, Henry Cooper, Barbara Windsor, Petula Clark, Bobby Moore, Phil Collins, Lulu and Eric Morecambe.
However, it was Tony Blair who embraced celebrity culture to the full. His Cool Britannia reception in Downing Street in 1997 saw him fawning over the likes of Noel Gallagher, Vivienne Westwood, Mick Hucknall, Ben Elton, Ross Kemp and Eddie Izzard.
Marcus Ladd, London.
QUESTION
Where is the longest flight of steps in the world? And where is the longest escalator?
THE longest staircase in the world runs alongside the Niesen funicular railway near Bern, Switzerland, which scales the Niesen mountain. There are 11,674 steps stretching 2.11 miles with a vertical gain of 1.03 miles. The staircase is open once a year to competitors in the Niesenlauf, a gruelling annual race to the top.
The rest of the year it can be accessed only by service personnel.
The longest individual escalator in the world is at the Park Pobedy station on the A rb atskoPokrovs kay a line in Moscow. The 413 ft escalators are made up of 740 steps and take three minutes to ride.
The Central-Mid-Levels escalator is the longest system in the world.
It’s not a single continuous escalator, but a series of 20 plus three moving walkways connected by footbridges stretching 2,600ft through Hong Kong’s Central district.
A. Bingham, Worcestershire.
QUESTION
Are there any countries where divorce is illegal?
THE last states to forbid divorce were mostly Catholic. The process began in 1970 when Italy legalised divorce, despite strong opposition from the Vatican. This was followed by Brazil in 1977, Spain in 1981, Argentina in 1987, Ireland in 1997, Chile in 2004 and finally Malta in 2011.
Only two states have not legalised divorce: the Philippines and Vatican City.
In the city state within Italy, which is home to just 450 citizens, most of whom are celibate priests, laws against divorce are an ideological gesture.
In the Philippines, 80% of the population is Catholic.
Common grounds for divorce in other countries, such as domestic violence and adultery, can result only in a legal separation under Philippines law, which prevents remarriage.
The country’s 11% Muslim minority is allowed to divorce in accordance with Sharia law.
Liv Pritchard, West Midlands.
QUESTION
I get upset when Winnie-the-Pooh is stuck in the entrance to Rabbit’s house. What other disturbing children’s stories are there?
FANS of The Rev W Awdry’s Railway Stories will know that Sir Topham Hatt, aka The Fat Controller, wasn’t afraid to take extreme measures to bring his engines into line.
The most upsetting case was The Sad Story Of Henry, the third instalment in the first series of books, The Three Railway Engines, published in 1945.
Henry has received a new coat of paint — green with red stripes. He doesn’t want it damaged by the rain, so he stops in a tunnel and refuses to come out.
A furious Fat Controller berates him and exhorts the passengers to push Henry out, which fails. Thomas The Tank Engine also tries to push him and fails.
The Fat Controller exacts the cruellest of punishments — he has Henry bricked up in the tunnel and leaves the vain engine to rot.
There is just enough space for Henry to watch the other trains going about their business and, in the case of Gordon, to taunt him as he steams by. Henry’s despairing face has always upset me. Mercifully, he’s freed in the next story.
Ray Pallett, Worcester.
BEATRIX POTTER’S The Tale Of Samuel Whiskers, published in 1926, is one of the great horror stories in children’s literature. Mischievous Tom Kitten gets lost in ‘an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages’.
He is captured by Samuel Whiskers and his wife Anna Maria, a pair of rats, who tie him up and set about turning him into ‘a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding’ that they intend to eat. Tom Kitten is eventually rescued, but is so traumatised that he is afraid of anything larger than a mouse, while his sisters Moppet and Mittens become fine rat catchers.
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, Irish Daily Mail, Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles.legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.