Many countries and cultures have legends and stories about mysterious lake or sea creatures similar to the Loch Ness Monster.
Sweden has the Storsjoodjuret (literally ‘The Great Lake Monster’), said to live in the 250ft-deep Lake Storsjon.
Legends about this creature date back hundreds of years – the first written evidence is from 1635, when a church minister named Mogens Pedersen described it as ‘a strange animal with a black wormlike body and catlike head’.
Overall, there are 200 documented testimonies from people who say they have seen the monster.
In Canada, there’s the Ogopogo, a denizen of the 84-mile-long Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. Ogopogo is described as a long, serpentine creature similar to Nessie and is well-known in Canadian folklore.
Japan has Issie, which is said to dwell in Lake Ikeda. According to mythology, Issie was a white mare who lived with her foal on the shore of the lake.
However, when the foal was kidnapped by a samurai and Issie was unable to find it, she jumped into the lake and her despair transformed her into a giant beast. Issie periodically surfaces, trying to find her lost child.
Mokele-mbembe is a mythical water-dwelling creature of the Congo river basin, often described as a giant, dinosaur-like creature.
Rob MacDonald, Billingham, Co Durham
QUESTION Has any footballer ever won the league title in all four top divisions of the English Football League pyramid system?
Kasper Schmeichel has to be the closest. The Danish goalkeeper has won three league titles in three different tiers of the English football pyramid system, only missing out on League One (the third tier).
He was part of the team that won the League Two championship with Notts County (2009-10) before winning both the Championship and the Premier League with Leicester in 2013-14 and 2015-16 respectively.
The first footballer to go from National League to Premier League with the same team was Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, who has played for Luton since 2013.
However, they were champions only of the National League (2013-14) and League One (2018-19) along the way.
James Daley, Brecon, Powys
QUESTION Has a greyhound ever caught the fake rabbit?
Q: Has any band completely remade an album because they hated the first production?
Amie Richardson, Herne Bay, Kent
Q: Where’s the largest single vineyard in the world?
David Severs, Consett, Co Durham
Q: Who were the tallest and shortest heavyweight boxers of note? Is there an ideal height?
Lisa Curtis, Swadlincote, Derbys
This happened at Mount Gambier, Southern , in 2017.
A malfunction caused the greyhounds to catch the lure on the turn into the home straight.
Dog No 3, Jasmine Lilly, was streaking ahead of the pack when the lure malfunctioned. The commentator was decidedly unhappy: ‘They’ve caught the lure! If you’re on Jasmine Lilly you’re stiff because it was going like the winner.’ The dogs spent a few minutes mauling the fake rabbit before the handlers took them away.
Peter Smith, Durham
If all the components that go towards the fake hare completing its journey around the greyhound track work as designed, then no greyhound can possibly catch up.
However, in the event of mechanical faults occurring, then the hare will be available to the leading greyhounds.
A common fault is one where the hare comes loose from the trolley it is mounted on and becomes detached, or in the event of a pulley system hare, it leaves the cable. In each of these circumstances a ‘No Race’ will be declared.
Other instances that will lead to the hare being deliberately stopped are when a greyhound is knocked over and rejoins the race going in the wrong direction.
For the interests of safety, the hare driver will be advised by the stewards to stop the hare. The hare driver will be concentrating on keeping the hare at a steady distance from the leading greyhound and will not be aware of the potential problems further back.
An amusing story connected with the mechanical hare involves ‘Rupert the barmy bunny’, as it was dubbed by The Sporting Life of June 1926.
The one-line header ‘Hare Goes On Strike’ told its own story: ‘Everybody and everything at the White City is active, except the hare.
Gangs of engineers have been busy throughout the weekend and yesterday were still engaged in trying to speed up this obstinate hare, but he steadfastly refuses to be hurried… He did nothing but stand in an outstretched position staring with glassy eye at the reproachful crowds that gathered around him.’
White City Stadium in London officially opened for greyhound racing the following year, where it continued until 1984.
David Urquhart, Burntisland, Fife