Q: When were the first and last sailings of the hovercraft across the English Channel? – The Saturday Briefing
A: The first commercial cross-Channel sailing was on July 24, 1965, though there had been trials since the late 1950s and small-scale services in places such as the North Wales coast since 1962.
The last cross-Channel service ended on October 1, 2000.
It closed after increased competition from ferries and the opening of the Channel Tunnel. There is still a hovercraft service from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight.
Q: Who is the very versatile actor and singer that sings the Gypsy Drinking Song in the 1949 film The Inspector General?
A: It was the multi-talented actor, singer, dancer, comedian, musician and Unicef ambassador Danny Kaye.
He made numerous films and my favourite role was his portrayal of the title role in the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen (including a great performance of The Ugly Duckling).
Q: I recently read that Henry “Hank” Deutschendorf, who played the baby Oscar in the movie Ghostbusters II, died on June 14, 2017, in a suspected suicide, aged only 29. Unlikely though it is, I wondered whether there was any family connection to the singer John Denver, whose real name was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr?
A: Well spotted, he was John Denver’s nephew and teamed with his twin brother William in playing the part of the baby in Ghostbusters II in 1989. He had been suffering from schizoaffective disorder since 2008.
Q: During a recent funeral a CD was played of the Ashokan Farewell performed by the band of the Royal Marines. Who were the Ashokans and why were they saying farewell?
A: The Ashokan Farewell was written in 1982 by US musician Jay Ungar to mark the end of a season at the Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camps which he ran with Molly Mason. So the music is essentially a farewell to the dance camp but it could just as well be seen as a farewell to the old town of Ashokan which was cleared to make way for the Ashokan Reservoir that supplies water to much of New York. According to one theory the name of Ashokan came from an old Indian word meaning “fine place to fish”.
Q: I used to sing a song years ago called The Trout which began: “I stood beside a brooklet, that sparkled on its way.” I’d love to hear the full words again and know who wrote it.
A: The words you quote are a translation of Franz Schubert’s song Die Forelle (The Trout) which he composed around 1817 to words by his almost namesake Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart. There were several anonymous English translations popular in many schools around 1960. I am sending you the full lyrics to one of them.
Q: When our son was born in 1955 we bought two £1 Premium Bonds. When our other children were born in 1959, 1960 and 1962 we bought them each two £1 Bonds. In all that time we have won nothing. How much interest would that £8 have earned in Post Office Savings?
A: First let me say that you haven’t been exceptionally unlucky. The chance of £8 in Premium Bonds winning something over a period of about 60 years is about the same as £480 winning over a period of one year, which is only about one in five. Calculating the interest if you had put the money in Post Office Savings is difficult as the scheme and interest rates has changed so many times but if we stick to the original annual interest rate of 2.5 per cent, then £8 invested 60 years ago would now be worth £35.20.
Q: How much money is collected from road tax and what proportion goes on road repairs and building new roads? And while I’m writing, how will driverless cars react to potholes?
A: In 2016, road tax (or Vehicle Excise Duty to give it its proper name) generated about £6billion, with an additional £38billion from fuel duty. You might also like to add £12.2billion in VAT paid by motorists when buying cars, fuel and related goods. That gives a total of over £56billion. By comparison, only £9.7billion was spent on roads. On the pothole question, sensors are being developed to pulse lasers at objects and detect hazards such as potholes, when they will either drive round them or slow down. Some reports suggest that the entire road network may need to be upgraded if driverless traffic is to move at more than a “proceed with caution” pace.
