QUESTION What is the origin of the clerical collar?
The clerical collar is a detachable collar made from white cotton or linen (although nowadays it is often made of plastic). It fastens at the back of the neck and can be buttoned onto a clergy shirt.
It is believed that the clerical collar, still the uniform of clergy today, is an invention dating back to the Presbyterian Church in Scotland in the second half of the 19th century. It is routinely attributed to the Rev Donald McLeod of Glasgow.
Before this, clergymen wore the black cassock, often with two white cloth strips hanging from the front of the collar. These are known as preaching tabs or Geneva bands.
So, why do we credit Donald McLeod with the invention of the clerical collar?
The Reverend presided over Park Church, Glasgow, for much of the second half of the 19th century.
Rev McLeod is noted for serving as moderator of the General Assembly of The Kirk and delivering a series of lectures entitled The Doctrine And Validity Of The Ministry And Sacrament Of The National Church of Scotland.
The attribution of the collar to McLeod appears to be derived from a General Assembly meeting in December 5, 1894.
In the meeting notes, it was recorded that ‘Personally he [McLeod] had only one claim to immortality, and he was afraid it rested upon a fact known to no one but himself, and that was, he was first to introduce what was known as the ‘dog collar’… he hoped that his claim to immortality on that account would be taken notice of by the historians.’
It seems quite possible that McLeod was joking, yet he often gets credit for the invention.
Mr Peter S. Dann, Oundle, Leics
QUESTION What was the story of Peanut King Percy Dalton?
Percy Dalton was born in Whitechapel in 1908 or 1909. He left school at the age of nine and worked as a ‘barrow boy’, collecting discarded fruit from the gutter in Spitalfields market, polishing it up and reselling it at a street market.
From around 1940 the Dalton family occupied a building on the corner of Crispin Street and Brushfield Street, where they traded as fruit merchants.
In the early 1950s Percy had the idea of roasting peanuts in their shells and selling them at football matches and other events.
Men surrounded the football grounds of West Ham and Tottenham, selling roasted peanuts. The grounds were often strewn with white Percy Dalton bags after the game.
Percy Dalton’s Famous Peanut Company was officially incorporated on May 22, 1957. You can still see a ‘ghost sign’ above the English Restaurant at the Crispin/ Brushfield premises. The Percy Dalton’s warehouse moved to Dace Road on Fish Island, Tower Hamlets.
Q: Did the Romans ever come close to inventing and/or using a steam engine?
David Stayte, Skipton, North Yorks
Q: Did Lord Redesdale, father of the Mitford sisters, have any connection to the Redesdale valley in Northumberland?
Ian Kerr, Shotley Bridge, Co. Durham
Q: Who was the first fashion model and who could be called the first supermodel?
Heather Morgan, Conwy
Percy Dalton retired in 1975 and handed control to his sons. Percy died on August 9, 1983.
In 2005, Percy Dalton’s relocated to Haverhill in Suffolk. The state-of-the-art factory produced 10,000 tons of nuts every year.
The business was acquired by the German Intersnack Group in 2009. The group closed the Haverhill operation in 2015, deciding to produce nuts under the KP Snacks name (which they also owned) instead. Percy Dalton was discontinued as a brand.
John Seddon, Ipswich, Suffolk
QUESTION Which is the world’s longest subterranean river? Which is the longest in Britain?
The 95-mile watercourse running through the Sac Actun (Mayan for ‘white cave’) system in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico is considered the world’s longest underground river. It was discovered in 2007 by British diver Stephen Bogaerts and Robbie Schmittner from Germany.
The pair spent four years looking for a connection between the Yucatan region’s second and third longest cave systems, exploring great caverns and squeezing through narrow slits.
On January 23, 2007, they connected the two systems, dropping a bottle of champagne at the meeting point. Since then, it has been discovered that the cave system is even larger.
Before 2007, the world’s longest subterranean river was thought to be in the Philippines.
The Cheddar Yeo is the largest underground river system in Britain, concealed in the Mendip Hills. The catchment area of the Cheddar Yeo, which rises in Gough’s Cave, measures 20.8 square miles.
The water can travel underground for up to ten miles, taking up to 14 days to reach the village of Cheddar.
Katherine Greene, Pulborough, West Sussex