Byline: Compiled by Charles Legge
QUESTION Telford in Shropshire is named after Thomas Telford, but where did his name come from?
THOMAS TELFORD (1757-1834), the great Scots-born civil engineer and builder of roads, canals and bridges, was born Thomas Telfer.
ScotlandsPeople, the official internet source for Scottish genealogy, has a copy of the entry for Thomas's birth on August 9, 1757, in the old Parish registers for the parish of Westerkirk, Dumfriesshire.
This shows a John Telfer of glendenning in that parish had a son, baptised Thomas. The date accords with virtually all known references to Telford's birth date.
John Telfer, a poor shepherd, and Janet Jackson, married at Westerkirk on March 7, 1755. They had an earlier child, also Thomas, b. 1756, but he died in infancy. John died when the second Thomas was only about three months old.
It would appear John used both 'Telfer' and 'Telford' as a surname -- while in the registration of Thomas's birth and baptism he is recorded as John Telfer, the inscription on his gravestone reads: 'In memory of John Telford who, after living 33 years as an unblameable shepherd, died at glendenning November 1757'.
The usage of two or more surnames was quite common in the 18th and earlier centuries when many people, being illiterate, had little idea how their name was spelt and left it to the incumbent or parish clerk to devise his own version.
After his father's death, Thomas was brought up largely in poverty by his mother, who died in 1794.
The name Telfer is likely to be derived from 'Son of Taillefer', an old French personal name meaning 'cut-iron' or 'iron cleaver', a nickname for a fierce warrior who could cleave clean through the iron armour of his foe.
The most famous Taillefer is said to have been a knight and minstrel who fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of hastings in 1066. He is claimed to have gone before the Norman army, singing and juggling his sword until slain.
C. W. Bardsley, whose Dictionary of English And Welsh Surnames was originally published in 1901, quotes Thomas Telford as having said: 'When I was ignorant of Latin, I did not suspect that my true name might be translated, "I bear arms" and, thinking it unmeaning, adopted Telford.'
However, ear l ier evidence suggests the family were using both versions more or less from Thomas's birth. Research into the distribution of surnames indicates Telfer is principally a name of the Scottish Lowlands and Borders, while Telford is predominant on the English side in Northumberland, Co. Durham and Cumberland.
Roy Stockdill, Genealogical researcher, writer and lecturer, Watford, Herts.
QUESTION Are we drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank? Or is it created by some other means?
ALTHOUGH the balance of water on Earth remains constant over time, individual water molecules are being constantly destroyed by photosynthesis.
Water is part of a closed loop called the water or hydrological cycle. It changes states (liquid, vapour, and ice) at various places in the cycle by evaporating from the oceans, forming clouds, raining (or snowing), before the rivers return the water to the ocean. Most water stays in the deep ocean for several thousand years and in deep groundwater where it remains for tens of thousands of years.
However, water is slowly destroyed chemically by photosynthesis (the conversion by plants of carbon dioxide and water into sugars and oxygen) or chemically converted into other materials to form oxides, hydroxides, etc. Or consumed into biological systems and incorporated into the living tissue in various molecular forms.
New water molecules are returned to the cycle by respiration, the metabolic process whereby glucose and oxygen are converted to Co2 and water to produce energy.
One can approximately calculate how much water remains from the dinosaur age from the total amount of water on the planet and the amount of water taken up by photosynthesis per year.
Earth's plants are thought to take up about 12,000 billion kilograms of water per year (calculated from the amount of Co2 they soak up).
The total water on Earth is about 1,400 billion billion kilogram.
Taking into account the other factors that destroy water, we can calculate that over 100 million years, every water molecule will have been chemically destroyed. As dinosaurs were in their heyday 65 million years ago, about a third of Earth's water is the same as they drank.
Paul Adams, Oxford.
QUESTION As I drove past a Nissan with a gold bonnet and maroon sides, the colours reversed to maroon bonnet and gold sides and back again. How is this effect achieved?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, it's now possible to buy rolls of colour changing, self-adhesive vinyl film which can be applied by an enthusiastic amateur or specialist applicators for relatively low cost.
No solvents are involved, which means special workshops are not required.
The vinyl material is produced in Wales, by Kay Premium Marking Films Ltd, and is available in four different colour-change effects.
It forms part of its 'vehicle wrapping system' and is referred to as 'iridescent' or 'chameleon effect film'. The vinyl is supplied in rolls with a width of 1.52m, which makes it suitable for application to all body panes without a join.
Gary Thompson, Chepstow, Mons.
QUESTION When did the last tram run in london?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, The Elephant Never Forgets (1953), directed by John Krish, is a beautiful film capturing the last days of the London trams.
He went against the orders of his boss at British Transport Films who told him the unit's job was not to record the passing of old transport and he must only film the chairman of London Transport shaking hands with the driver of the last tram.
Krish believed it was vital to document the trams before they disappeared for future generations.
He made the film in secret and was given the sack. It's since become one of the most successful BTF films of all time.
The Elephant Never Forgets is one of four short films by Krish in A Day In The Life -- Four Portraits of Post War-Britain now touring Britain. It is showing at selected venues in the New Year. For details go to: www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_around_the_uk
The film is also in the four-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film In Post-War Britain 1951-1977 (BFI, [pounds sterling]34.99).
Caroline Hendrie, London.
THIS month's lucky jackpot winner becomes ErNIE'S latest Premium Bond millionaire.
JANUARY'S Premium Bond millionaire lives in Dorset.
Winning bond number: 132FT042813 bought in October 2007.
Total holdings: [pounds sterling]30,000
QUESTIONS
Q: What become of the group The Flying Pickets who had a Christmas no 1 with Only You in 1983?
Tom Walsh, Woking, Surrey.
Q: In World War II, what was 'Popski's Private Army'?
Fred Thurlwell, Birmingham.
Q: Several years ago, a 'heated blanket' was placed under the Tarmac on the Mound in Edinburgh to prevent the road from icing up. Is it still working?
Mrs J. P. Oliver, Tetbury, Glos.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB. You can also fax them to 0141 331 4739 or you can e-mail them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.
CAPTION(S):
Genius: Thomas Telford, whose father John was also known as Telfer
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