A. Good question there from Nooti - and one that opens a real can of worms. This startling black and white bird is subject of many superstitions and rhymes. Q. Such as A. The 'one for sorrow'
01:00 Mon 25th Jun 2001A. Tricky one there, daniela. Quickest answer is that most are myths. Some are not. Believe nothing. The film Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) follows the story of a student who struggles to complete
01:00 Mon 18th Jun 2001 A. A dastardly plot hatched in 1683 to assassinate King Charles II and his brother and heir, the Duke of York (later James II), as they passed by Rye House in Hertfordshire on their way back from
01:00 Mon 18th Jun 2001A. Excellent question there from CaptCrummond. Michel Hollard was the French secret agent who ran the Reseau Agir and whose espionage and sabotage forced Germany to abandon plans to unleash 5,000
01:00 Mon 18th Jun 2001A. Good question from Potent. Thomas Carlyle, the essayist said in his 1837 book on the French Revolution: 'The song is a short one, and may perhaps serve to qualify our judgement of the sea-green
01:00 Wed 11th Apr 2001 A. Well you heard wrong. Papers about the Cabinet War Rooms are on the market, though. Q. Pardon me. What's all that about then A. This extraordinary collection of papers, detailing the
01:00 Wed 11th Apr 2001A. No. But Prince Victor Emmanuel of Savoy, exiled heir to the Italian throne, hopes to return soon - after being banished for more than half a century. Q. Why was he banned A. When Italians voted
01:00 Mon 11th Jun 2001 A. Principally Thomas Jefferson - one of the great American heroes. He is regarded as a great inspiration in the States today. Bill Clinton's middle name is Jefferson and even Homer Simpson looks up
01:00 Mon 04th Jun 2001 A. Yes. All true. It seems that Kaiser Wilhelm II liked a bit of bondage and was blackmailed by a high-class prostitute. Q. This is the bad guy of the First World War A. Indeed. One biography
01:00 Mon 04th Jun 2001 Statue of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, EgyptA. You are probably thinking of Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1818 poem Ozymandias, which contains the splendid lines: And on the pedestal these words appear:
01:00 Mon 04th Jun 2001A. No. But they both have interesting origins to their names. Q. And I expect you want me to ask you what they are A. Yes please. Q. Oh all right then. What are the interesting origins A. I'm
01:00 Mon 28th May 2001A. If you discount football hooliganism and anarchists' May Day riots, the answer is 1838 at Bossenden Wood, near Faversham, Kent. Q. Go on. A. It all surrounded a self-styled Messiah called John
01:00 Mon 28th May 2001A. Legend says there was one called Popess Joan. History says it's just a legend. There are lots of versions of it. I expect you want to hear 'em Q. Too right. A. Here goes. In the 11th Century,
01:00 Mon 28th May 2001 A. They were workers incensed by the use of more machinery and fewer skilled tradesmen. So they set about breaking the machinery. The name has stuck to anyone who opposes new technology. Q. Why
01:00 Mon 21st May 2001 A. Aah, a topical question. It's 75 years since it ended. Put in a nutshell, it was a national strike by workers in Britain's major industries, lasting from 3 to 12 May, 1926. It began when the
01:00 Mon 21st May 2001 A. The unfortunate premier was Spencer Perceval, a Tory. Q. What happened A. Perceval was shot as he passed through the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham on 11 May, 1812. He was
01:00 Mon 21st May 2001A. Gory question there from mehy0823. Answer: 26 May, 1868, at Newgate, London. The hangman's victim was Michael Barrett, the Fenian convicted of bombing Clerkenwell Prison, central London. Q.
01:00 Mon 14th May 2001 A. This is a sad story of religion, power and politics. I shall try to unravel it for the questioner, Tangle. First, two definitions. A Templar, sometimes called a Knight Templar, was a member of a
01:00 Mon 14th May 2001 A. Tricky one there from Tangle. There are many superstitions about shoes. Never put them on the table; never put them on the bed - both mean there will be a death in the family. Don't leave shoes
01:00 Mon 14th May 2001 A. I see what you're getting at. This has been Britain's wettest spring since records began and the phrase since records began is being bandied about a bit. Short answer: 1766 or thereabouts. Q.
01:00 Mon 07th May 2001