QUESTION: Many films from the 1950s and 1960s featured Percy Herbert. How many films did he make and what became of him?
Percy Herbert (1920-1992) was a London-born actor who made over 70 films. He was often cast as soldiers, tough guys or working-class characters.
His rugged demeanour made him a natural fit for such roles, and he became a reliable presence in war films and historical dramas.
Before acting, Herbert was in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during World War II and spent four years at the Changi PoW camp, from where he was forced to work on the Burma Railway. He was released by U.S. soldiers, eventually returning to London .
His acting career began in the theatre, working at John Gielgud’s Old Vic Company. Film-wise, he was in The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) and The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), which was based on the PoW camp where he had been.
Herbert was also a consultant on the film. He was also in other war films, such as Tobruk (1967).Herbert was versatile, featuring in films across the genres, from fantasy (One Million Years B.C.) to historical drama (Mutiny On The Bounty) and comedy (he was in two Carry On films).
On television, he appeared in Worzel Gummidge, General Hospital and Dixon Of Dock Green.He married Amy Lindsay in 1947 and they had two children. He died of a heart attack, aged 72.
Clive Gill, Wimborne, Dorset
QUESTION: Why is a hoax also a canard?
The English word ‘canard’, meaning a false, derogatory or unfounded rumour, comes from the identical French word for a duck. It is used the same way in France.
The 19th-century Frenchlexicographer Emile Littre traced the usage to an old expression, ‘vendre un canard a moitie’, meaning ‘to half-sell a duck’ (i.e. to not sell it at all).
Randle Cotgrave, in A Dictionarie Of The French And English Tongues, from 1611, defines the French expression ‘vendeur de canards a moitie’ as ‘a cousener, guller, cogger; foister, lyer’.
S. E. Smith, Leamington Spa, Warks
QUESTION: What are the world’s weirdest and most extreme marathon events?
Further to the earlier answer, one of the strangest must be the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race. Participants run around a single New York City block for up to 52 days to complete it.
Diane Higgs, Street, Somerset
Read more
