The Double Dangerous Book for Boys

The Double Dangerous Book for Boys Conn Iggulden Spark your imagination, forge your own adventures and unearth long-lost skills. In this long-awaited follow-up to his much-loved bestseller, written with his sons Cameron and Arthur, Conn Iggulden presents a brand-new compendium of cunning schemes, projects, tricks, games and tales of extraordinary courage. Whether it’s building a flying machine (keep your temper with this one) or learning how to pick a padlock (or your own front door, but not someone else’s), discovering our forgotten explorers and the world’s greatest speeches, or mastering the lauded task of solving a Rubik’s cube, The Double Dangerous Book for Boys is the ultimate companion to be cherished by readers and doers of all ages. COPYRIGHT (#ulink_1cf1cbd2-646e-5562-8d06-b0b5487fb938) HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk) First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019 FIRST EDITION Text © Conn Iggulden, Arthur Iggulden and Cameron Iggulden, 2019 Illustrations © Nicolette Caven, 2019 Cover and internal design © Simeon Greenaway A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library The authors assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. 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Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green) Source ISBN: 9780008332983 Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008299682 Version 2019-10-28 CONTENTS Cover (#u216fe568-debc-5442-a074-97250d5dc6ff) Title Page (#litres_trial_promo) Copyright (#uc897bf58-7617-5af1-a1d2-311dec1b7f8a) Epigraph (#ulink_7bf3bc7b-980f-516f-8b8e-69cac6332c77) Introduction (#uee1dc7cb-99e8-55e0-9f10-f20bd6bbc9e1) Notes from the Treehouse (#u300ece77-d12c-5fc9-8a08-501408a8e41a) Picking Locks (#ud2e7efbc-644d-5c70-8fd3-eb48e2a7ba27) Extraordinary Stories – Part One: Ernest Shackleton (#u29e132ee-ed43-54cc-80f4-1db779907300) Old British Coins (#u7eea9d0c-b268-5c1b-b1dd-787bd0931050) Flying Machines (#u1ff9c193-c605-50d5-9fb7-b26a673fe603) Questions About the World – Part One: (#uddea725d-1944-5e3c-9097-0c7ef4e3b9cf)What is the tallest mountain on earth? (#ulink_c9df1c73-4e6b-5d6d-887e-4862e96eaeb1)Why does the earth have a magnetic field? (#ulink_ca874527-d704-5aa4-8d9f-134ce804c87b)Where are the hottest and the coldest places on earth? (#ulink_70e76b9e-88d6-5ddc-95c5-fba12dd6200d)What was Pangaea? (#ulink_d8d56b5f-1385-5c39-9d30-802c1baeb10c)Is the earth slowing down? (#ulink_e719815a-fe15-574f-9e40-065ce08bc042)What are the longest rivers? (#ulink_92bdaa9a-8f8d-514c-a48a-cc942596d1c2) Tying a Windsor Knot (#u14e4ed25-bd42-587b-a4e0-0be5f35e678b) Advice from Fighting Men (#ua0a1044d-1361-5942-810a-96d22da5c540) Kintsugi (#u1692dfa4-8129-50f0-b1f9-764ce7f7fde6) The Fastest Laces in the West (#u5e88166a-a7fb-59d5-9273-3831eba0f19a) Finding the Height of a Tree (#udccc692a-0f8d-544d-9e52-87ac9ce8bf36) How to Start a Fire with a Battery (#ucb60deed-553d-5fac-8824-f1e3c0d3b291) Questions About the Law – Part One: (#udae61bca-f205-5509-95ed-dca47a7a47f5)Can the Queen be charged with a crime? (#ulink_2a8a9793-6b9f-5a73-893f-4864e1ca77c3)Is treason still a crime? (#ulink_03bccd77-0f20-5dc1-bfb4-9d49318d0890)When can the police stop and search you? (#ulink_c866c35b-2b91-5159-b5a5-55340281f45e)What is the highest court authority in Britain? (#ulink_537d9769-0960-5f38-8527-38552cee3fd0)Can you be tried twice for the same crime? (#ulink_a0ebecb8-8f58-52ad-85ac-8ae2d77d52f9) Chess Openings (#ued55c3ad-65a7-5ca7-b84e-594f8358c2b4) Great British Trees (#udacf41ed-c443-5457-95fb-f6a232bb5b2f) Hanging Tools on a Wall (#u3782764e-5d01-5f59-8d5d-188547fd698e) Interesting Chemical Reactions (#u664e8d7f-e41a-5466-aedf-de60d1cee4da) Regiments of the British Army (#ucd983182-2477-561f-b82c-d37cc91a4ed0) Making a Board Game (#u4c8cd24e-ee73-5a01-8fc7-1a038b0f0ac7) Great Tales of the Past (#litres_trial_promo) Making a Stink Bomb (#litres_trial_promo) Gods of Greece and Rome (#litres_trial_promo) Balloon Dog and Sword (#litres_trial_promo) Johnny Ball – Maths Puzzles I (#litres_trial_promo) Famous Horses (#litres_trial_promo) The Rules of Ultimate Frisbee (#litres_trial_promo) Solving the Rubik’s Cube (#litres_trial_promo) Great Ruins (#litres_trial_promo) Things to Do: Two Table Tricks (#litres_trial_promo) The Endless Card (#litres_trial_promo) The Commonwealth (#litres_trial_promo) Stress Balls and Rollers (#litres_trial_promo) Three Greek Legends Every Boy Should Know (#litres_trial_promo) Things to Do: Two Table Games (#litres_trial_promo) Extraordinary Stories – Part Two: Mount Cook, 1982 (#litres_trial_promo) Making Perfume (#litres_trial_promo) Empires of Gold: (#litres_trial_promo)Akkadian (#litres_trial_promo), Persian (#litres_trial_promo), Greek (#litres_trial_promo), Mayan (#litres_trial_promo), Roman (#litres_trial_promo), Mongol (#litres_trial_promo), Aztec (#litres_trial_promo), Ottoman (#litres_trial_promo), British (#litres_trial_promo) Johnny Ball – Maths Puzzles II (#litres_trial_promo) Two Great Card Games: Nomination Whist and Cheat (#litres_trial_promo) The Paper Box (#litres_trial_promo) Five Great Speeches (#litres_trial_promo) Things to Do: Frustration Games (#litres_trial_promo) The History of Navigation: The Ancients to the Mars Lander (#litres_trial_promo) Casting in Clear Resin (#litres_trial_promo) Five More Poems Every Boy Should Know (#litres_trial_promo) Famous Battles: (#litres_trial_promo)Cunaxa (#litres_trial_promo), Brunanburh (#litres_trial_promo), Towton (#litres_trial_promo) The Summer Meal: (#litres_trial_promo)Starter (#litres_trial_promo), Lasagne (#litres_trial_promo), Tiramisu (#litres_trial_promo) British Birds (#litres_trial_promo) Shotguns (#litres_trial_promo) Forgotten Explorers (#litres_trial_promo) How to Wire a Plug and Make an Inspection Lamp (#litres_trial_promo) Writing a Thank-You Letter (#litres_trial_promo) Five Great Mathematicians: (#litres_trial_promo)Pythagoras (#litres_trial_promo), Euclid (#litres_trial_promo), Newton (#litres_trial_promo), Einstein (#litres_trial_promo), Hawking (#litres_trial_promo) The Best Paper Aeroplane in the World – Take Two (#litres_trial_promo) The Twelve Caesars (#litres_trial_promo) Jumping Paper Frog (#litres_trial_promo) Extraordinary Stories – Part Three: Victor Gregg (#litres_trial_promo) More Quotes from Shakespeare (#litres_trial_promo) Making an Igloo (#litres_trial_promo) British Prime Ministers (#litres_trial_promo) Making a Pencil Catapult (#litres_trial_promo) British Sign Language (#litres_trial_promo) Forty Quotations Worth Knowing (#litres_trial_promo) Questions About the Law – Part Two: (#litres_trial_promo)Does the death penalty still exist? (#litres_trial_promo)What rights do you have in a police station once you’re under arrest? (#litres_trial_promo)How and when can you legally use force in self-defence? (#litres_trial_promo)Who has the right to enter your home and when? (#litres_trial_promo)What happens if you’re maliciously targeted by the police? (#litres_trial_promo) Elastic-Band Gun (#litres_trial_promo) Making a Cup of Coffee (#litres_trial_promo) Polishing Boots like the British Army (#litres_trial_promo) Questions About the World – Part Two: (#litres_trial_promo)How many active volcanoes are there? (#litres_trial_promo)How many satellites orbit the earth? (#litres_trial_promo)How deep can we go? (#litres_trial_promo)How do we generate electricity? (#litres_trial_promo)What is the universe made of? (#litres_trial_promo) Extraordinary Stories – Part Four: Hunting a King (#litres_trial_promo) Johnny Ball – Maths Puzzles III (#litres_trial_promo) Strength Exercises Every Boy Should Do (#litres_trial_promo) More Books Every Boy Should Read (#litres_trial_promo) Things that Didn’t Go In (#litres_trial_promo) Imperial and Metric Measures (#litres_trial_promo) The Last Word (#litres_trial_promo) Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo) Additional contributors (#litres_trial_promo) Picture credits (#litres_trial_promo) About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo) In this long-awaited follow-up to his much-loved bestseller, written with his sons Cameron and Arthur, Conn Iggulden presents a brand-new compendium of cunning schemes, projects, tricks, games and tales of extraordinary courage. Whether it’s building a flying machine, learning how to pick a lock, discovering the world’s greatest speeches or mastering a Rubik’s cube, The Double Dangerous Book for Boys is the ultimate companion, to be cherished by readers and doers of all ages. EPIGRAPH (#ulink_0a6416b1-ba6f-547f-9563-f0a3a62d66b9) ‘Boys – you are here to study, and while you are at it, study hard. When you have got the chance to play outside, play hard. Do not forget this, that in the long run the man who shirks his work will shirk his play. I remember a professor in Yale speaking to me of a member of the Yale eleven some years ago, and saying: “That fellow is going to fail. He stands too low in his studies. He is slack there, and he will be slack when it comes to the hard work on the gridiron.” He did fail. ‘You are preparing yourself for the best work of life. During your schooldays, and in after-life, I earnestly believe in each of you having as good a time as possible, but making it come second to doing the best kind of work possible. And in your studies, and in your sports in school, and afterwards in life in doing your work in the great world, it is a safe plan to follow this rule – a rule I once heard preached on the football field: Don’t flinch, don’t foul, and hit the line hard.’ THE ADVICE OF US PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT, GIVEN TO THE READERS OF THE BOY’S OWN PAPER IN 1903 INTRODUCTION (#ulink_2257bc3c-3c6c-5379-9fad-ed1eed7e19e4) In 2006, there didn’t seem to be many books of the kind I used to love. I wanted adventures, catapults, crystals, knowledge, history and craftsmanship. I wanted to read dozens of chapters, each different from the last. In short, I wanted a book I could hide in a treehouse – after I’d used it to build one. With my brother Harry, I worked for six months in a shed and wrote chapters on all the things that interested us – from cloud formations and astronomy, to juggling and tripwires. When it was finished, we sent it to the publishers. We didn’t set out to write a bestseller. We just wanted to celebrate the wonderful, daft ideas of boyhood – when all doors are open, the future is unwritten and summers seem to last a really long time. Thank you to all those who recommended it to friends and family. You made the publisher reprint that red and gold hardback over and over. You gave the book to a wider audience – to sons, grandsons, nephews, brothers and fathers. We said it would appeal to ‘every boy from eight to eighty’ and that was about how it turned out. If I am remembered for just one book, if my tales of Caesar and Genghis and the Wars of the Roses are all forgotten, I don’t mind too much if someone dusts off the Dangerous Book in an attic and settles down to read with a smile. I wrote this one with my two sons. One has become a young man since the original Dangerous Book came out. The other has reached the age of ten. He runs around like Huckleberry Finn and should wear shoes more often, probably. I thought for a while that I’d covered everything in the first book, but there’s nothing like raising boys for surprising you. Twelve years have passed since I first roughed out a chapter on conkers for a publisher. I wrote then, ‘In this age of video games and mobile phones, there must still be a place for knots, treehouses and stories of incredible courage.’ That’s just as important today – though how we missed picking a lock, making an elastic-band gun and learning sign language, I’ll never know. In the intervening years, I wrote down a good idea whenever I heard one. Perhaps I always knew I’d go back and do another book. These are all new chapters, from casting things in resin, doing table tricks and wiring a lamp, to learning strength exercises, the twelve Caesars, stress balls and ancient ruins. There is also a design for a paper aeroplane – and, yes, it’s even better than the last one. The world is full of fascinating things. You’ll see. Conn Iggulden NOTES FROM THE TREEHOUSE (#ulink_ab0e5558-ceb2-5636-b065-e2a66dac6e74) For us, this has been a chance to act like boys without consequences: to make catapults, build igloos and mix chemicals. We spent two days casting our grandfather’s beans in resin to preserve them for ever, and who knows how many evenings playing cards with our family. We learned to make a paper frog jump and to polish shoes like the British Army. Yet it was also a chance to show our dad some of the things we knew and he didn’t. Those sunny afternoons the three of us spent learning sign language or struggling to teach him how to solve a Rubik’s cube will be some we never forget. For all that, we are very grateful. So when we have sons of our own and we pick up this book, what will stay in our minds and our memories will not be individual triumphs and disasters. No. In the end, what matters most is that we did these things together. Cameron Iggulden Arthur Iggulden PICKING LOCKS (#ulink_af76ac68-89aa-53ab-abfd-c42a5e78189b) To open a padlock or the cylinder lock of a door without a key, you need to have an idea of how that lock works. The process of picking the lock is actually fairly simple and involves just two tools. When we were young, all the spies and heroes on TV seemed to be able to do it in five seconds with a bent hairpin. It felt a little like a superpower. The truth is that it’s a little trickier, but not that much. While researching this, we managed to open an old padlock – and that was one of the most satisfying moments of a lifetime. Before we get to picks, look at all the illustrations in this chapter, preferably with a padlock in hand. A standard padlock is identical in function to the cylinder lock on a front door. A cylinder – usually of brass – has to turn to release the lock. It cannot turn while a number of pins pass through it, blocking it from moving. Those pins come in two parts: a driver pin and a differ pin, with a spring pressing them down and the shape of the lock holding them in place. The different lengths of the differ pins match the key to the lock. Cylinder lock Standard tools Pin set-up When the correct key is pushed in, it raises those pins, one by one, to a shear point. When the differ pins are raised to the shear point, the cylinder turns. The trick, then, is to copy the action of that key. LOCK PICKS Slightly to our surprise, two pieces of wire might work. However, we discovered that only after purchasing four different sets of lock picks. The cheapest was ?3 and fitted inside a fake credit card. The most expensive came with two Perspex locks and about twenty different lock picks. We don’t usually recommend internet purchases. In this case, though, search for ‘lock picks’ and consider buying a Perspex lock or asking for one as a present. They’re interesting things. Although this chapter is not intended to make you into a professional locksmith, it is our hope that, with a bit of practice, you’ll be able to open a padlock of your very own. Or your front door. The first tool is called a tension tool or tension wrench. It keeps a slight turning force on the lock as you attempt to raise the pins. You’ll need a stiff piece of metal – an ordinary paperclip would bend too easily. Examples can be seen below. Note that they all have a sharp bend in common. Types of tension tool Some hooks and rakes The idea is to insert the tension tool into the lock and maintain a constant clockwise turning pressure as you insert the lock pick. That pressure strains the pins slightly so they remain in place as you adjust them. It also means that if something goes right and the lock is freed, it turns immediately. In practice, we got used to keeping gentle pressure on – beginners usually press too hard – until it suddenly turned, sometimes quite unexpectedly. The second tool is the actual lock pick – a hook or a rake. The rakes might look a little like a key, while a hook is designed to raise pins to the shear line one by one. That is why a stiff hairpin with a bent end can be used by a skilful locksmith. Practise on a cheap padlock – as large as you can find, so that the pins are obvious. Begin by looking into the lock and seeing where the first pin sits. When you are ready, insert the tension tool, moving it as far out of the way as you can. Put a little pressure in the direction the key would turn the lock. Then insert your lock pick. If it is the rake style, you’ll have to fiddle it back and forth, getting a feel for the pins within. That action can result in lifting the pins into place, so try that first – just move the pick back and forth like a key a dozen times, while keeping that gentle turning pressure on. Alternatively, if your pick has a bend at the end – the one known as a hook – you’ll want to reach right to the back and feel the ends of the pins, one by one, raising them up to the shear line. The first time we tried this on a proper padlock, it took about two minutes. We decided there and then that we were lock-picking geniuses. Unfortunately, that overconfidence led to the lock being snapped shut again. The second attempt took well over half an hour of constant fiddling with both a hook and a rake. It was harder than we’d realised, but the wonder of it was that it worked at all. For those of you, like us, who have never understood how lock picks, or indeed cylinder locks, worked, this was a thing of awe. In our research, we also came across the idea of a ‘bump’ key. These are keys for cylinder locks that do the job of a rake and tension tool in one go. They are inserted into a lock and either wiggled back and forth like a rake or tapped. We’ve included an example to show what they look like, but we had no luck in using ours at all. Lock picks are clearly better. The most satisfying combination was the padlock pictured, opened with a hook and a broad wire tension wrench. Finally – enjoy the knowledge and the skill. One day, it might even come in useful. EXTRAORDINARY STORIES – PART ONE: ERNEST SHACKLETON (#ulink_e349fb50-dbb7-5a60-9797-22affed1c8a8) PA/PA Archive/PA Images ‘For scientific discovery, give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel, give me Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when you are seeing no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.’ Raymond Priestley, part of Shackleton’s Nimrod polar expedition team as well as Scott’s Terra Nova expedition Born in Ireland to an Anglo-Irish family on 15 February 1874, Ernest Shackleton came to England at the age of ten and was educated at Dulwich College in London, of which more later. Along with a small group of elite explorers at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, Shackleton chose to pit himself against the last truly unknown continent: Antarctica. When things went wrong, he called on depths of character and courage that still inspire today. Wherever leadership is taught around the western world, the name of Shackleton is spoken with quiet reverence. Shackleton learned his seacraft in the Merchant Navy, joining at the age of sixteen. In 1898, aged just twenty-four, he passed as Master: a qualification to command a British ship anywhere in the world. When he was twenty-seven, he joined the 1901 Discovery expedition under Robert Falcon Scott, mapping the first part of the Antarctic continent. There, Shackleton fell ill and had to be sent to New Zealand to recover. He was bitterly disappointed. Three years later, Shackleton returned as leader of his own Nimrod expedition – named after the ship. Shackleton and three companions made an attempt on the South Pole in horrific weather conditions. They came to within 97 miles of it, but by then they were dangerously low on food. Shackleton made the decision to turn back, though they had come closer than anyone before them. Wryly, he told his wife, ‘I thought you would prefer a live donkey to a dead lion.’ He came home a hero and was knighted by King Edward VII. However, the Pole remained unconquered – and Shackleton had caught the bug for the strange ‘white warfare’ of the south. Antarctica has never had an indigenous population. It is a frozen wilderness larger than China. A range of mountains cross its heart and winds there can reach speeds of 200 miles an hour as they roar and scour in blizzards of astonishing ferocity. It has a good claim to being the most hostile place on earth. In 1911, Robert Scott launched his own ill-fated run at the Pole, reaching it in January 1912, only to discover the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it. Scott and his team died on the return journey. The story of that brave expedition and the extraordinary character of those men is told in the first Dangerous Book. It didn’t seem possible to include two ‘Extraordinary Stories’ of Antarctic exploration at that time – but the world turns and here we are, with a story that deserves to be told. As the Pole had been reached, Shackleton set his cap to be the first to cross the entire continent on foot. The plan was to sail as far as possible through sea ice, set out on foot to the Pole, then continue through to the other side. It was, to say the very least, a massive undertaking. It was simply impossible for his men to carry enough food to keep them alive over such distances, so Shackleton needed two ships. Endurance was a solid Norwegian three-master, designed in oak to smash through half-frozen seas. The captain would be a New Zealander named Frank Worsley. Endurance would land as far south as possible and, if necessary, provide a base during the first hard winter. The second ship, Aurora, would make key supply drops on the other side of Antarctica. It became the ‘Endurance’ expedition, a name taken from both the ship and his family motto: Fortitudine Vincimus – ‘Through endurance, we conquer’. The trip was mostly privately funded and Shackleton himself wrote to those who might donate. Public schools raised money for the dogs he would need and he named each dog after the school which had raised the funds for it. Given that he had seventy dogs, he ran out of those names fairly quickly. After that, the dogs were called things like Satan, Bosun, Sally, Fluffy, Sailor and Shakespeare. Shackleton also asked a wealthy cloth manufacturer named James Caird for a relatively small amount. In the end, Caird donated ?24,000, a sum worth millions today. Shackleton had that effect on those he met, many times. In gratitude, one of three lifeboats was named James Caird in the man’s honour, and a stretch of Antarctica is known today as the Caird Coast. Shackleton advertised for men willing to endure years of harsh conditions. He wrote to The Times and almost five thousand hopeful replies came in, which says something about the age and culture. In the end, he chose fifty-six, in two teams of twenty-eight. Preparations continued right into the summer of 1914 – and in Europe, Germany invaded Belgium and Britain declared war in response. World War I began. Shackleton immediately sent a telegram, offering himself, his men and both ships to the war effort. Though he had spent years planning the expedition, he gave it all up the moment war was declared. However, the First Lord of the Admiralty understood there was more to life than war and sent them on. That was a young Winston Churchill. By such choices and such men, history is written – for good or ill. Shackleton described the single-word order from Churchill – ‘Proceed’ – as laconic. Laconia was the region of Greece that gave birth to the Spartans, famous for their courage and never wasting words. When Philip II of Macedon threatened them, asking if he should march to Sparta as friend or enemy, they sent a one-word message: ‘Neither.’ Furiously, he tried again: ‘You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people and raze your city.’ Their reply was once more a single word: ‘If.’ In the end, he did not threaten them further and the word ‘laconic’ came to be used to describe a dry, brief response. In August 1914, Endurance set sail from Plymouth on the first leg, to Buenos Aires in Argentina, then headed to the active whaling island of South Georgia – the last piece of inhabited land before Antarctica. The plan was to make for the coast of Antarctica and spend the winter months in camp, growing used to the conditions and waiting for the few months of spring when a crossing might be possible. They set off from South Georgia in December 1914, taking Endurance into the Weddell Sea, a dangerous graveyard for ships. The sea froze in great sheets as they went further and further south. At times, it seemed as if they were sailing across white land, breaking ice as they went. January 1915 was spent forcing Endurance through ice floes. The men used a system of semaphore to signal to the captain at the helm, dodging round huge pieces of ice and breaking through others. The whalers back at South Georgia had said the pack ice was unusually far out that season – and so it proved. After days of slow progress searching for paths through, the ice grew so thick that even the reinforced hull of Endurance, combined with powerful engines, could not force the ship any further. Endurance was gripped in solid ice that froze hard, cracking and groaning against the timbers. Shackleton had no choice but to wait for spring. He had the sled dogs moved onto the surrounding ice and the men shot seals to feed them. They were at the 77th parallel of latitude, but moved north again as the ice floe they were on drifted, undoing all their labours. It was, in those months, the most isolated spot on earth. To pass the time, Shackleton involved the men in races and competitions on the ice, binding them together in hardship. He dispensed with the normal ship’s routines, understanding instinctively that he didn’t need to enforce ship’s discipline with men he had hand-picked for the expedition. To do this, he redesignated the ship as a ‘Winter Station’. The crew kept their spirits up by hunting seals and training the dog teams. It was a bleak existence even so. After months of unbroken darkness, the Antarctic spring in October brought hope – and then disaster. As the pack ice began to break up, vast pressures built against the hull of Endurance, crushing it remorselessly. Shackleton and the men tried to repair the broken beams, but the ship had to be abandoned. It sank from sight in November 1915, taking their hopes of crossing the continent with it. The men were left on the ice, with tents, dogs and supplies, but with no way of reaching their goal. One reason Shackleton is held to be an example of a great leader of men is the decision he made then. Though everything he had dreamed of for years had been taken from him, he changed plan and accepted the new reality. He understood he could not complete the expedition – instead, his task was to save his crew. Not a soul knew they were there, on floating ice, at the bottom of the world. Without extraordinary intervention, all that lay ahead were starvation and death. The men used planks taken from the Endurance to raise the Union Flag – to give them hope. They were in British territory, but utterly alone and impossibly far from help. John Frost Newspapers/Alamy Stock Photo As the ice moved, the original camp proved too unstable and so they made another one further back. They began to ration food and burn seal blubber to cook and keep warm, while Shackleton planned a way out. They had kept the three lifeboats from Endurance – the James Caird, the Stancomb Wills and the Dudley Docker – and hauled them for seven miles to a more stable spot on the ice they named Patience Camp – while they waited for spring to advance. In April 1916, the ice broke up and they took to the boats and the open sea, making for Elephant Island, an uninhabited flyspeck named after the enormous seals that rested there. The crew navigated and sailed the three small lifeboats for five days and nights in brutal cold, always wet and frozen by spray from the waves. When they were forced to row, the oars grew thick with ice. Yet when they reached the tiny island, they laughed and cheered and picked up pebbles from the shore – the first time they had set foot on true land for a year and a half. Despite having reached solid ground, their predicament was still unknown. To get back to civilisation would require a much longer journey. Shackleton chose to make for the island of South Georgia. The Falkland Islands were closer, but the winds blew from that direction and the lifeboats were too frail to beat up against them. Though South Georgia was 800 miles away across wild and open sea, it lay with the winds. Shackleton knew the whaling stations there would put them in touch with civilisation – if he could reach them. The James Caird was the largest and heaviest of the three lifeboats, so was chosen for the job. Shackleton needed Worsley for his skill at navigation. He asked for volunteers to form the rest of a crew of six. They would risk their lives to bring back a rescue party for those they left behind. They took supplies for just four weeks. It is difficult to imagine how it must have felt to watch that tiny boat set off. The men on the island had seal meat and could camp under the hulls of the other two boats, but Elephant Island was still a bleak and inhospitable place. They remained in polar waters, and the terrible cold, gales and hard conditions wore them down. On 24 April 1916, Shackleton, Worsley, Tom Crean, Harry McNeish, Tim McCarthy and John Vincent set off in the James Caird. They had rigged canvas and wood to give a little shelter on the open boat – enough to allow them to use a primus stove. Each man took two-hour spells at the tiller or kept a four-hour watch, while the others tried to rest in sodden sleeping bags. For sixteen days they were never dry. Shackleton’s account of that voyage remains one of the all-time great stories of seacraft and survival. They ran north into continuous gales and storms, so that the little boat climbed mountainous waves that made it look like a child’s toy. When the rough seas opened seams in the boat, they had to bale at all hours, though the cold meant they were always exhausted. There was never enough fresh water, never enough food or sleep. The little boat grew sodden and heavy under the weight of ice and they had to spend hours each day chipping it away. Worsley navigated using a sextant when there was sight of the sun or stars, as well as dead reckoning – a master sailor’s estimate of speed, time and bearing to give distance and position. In that way, he brought them across open sea to South Georgia, though the winds were blowing a savage gale around the island and the sea was too rough to land at first. The men on the boat had grown weak and Shackleton decided he must land or see them die. He tacked back to bring the James Caird onto the south of the island, the only place he could reach. With the boat leaking and the seas still running high, Shackleton knew how lucky they had been to make safe landfall. Some of the six were not doing well. Vincent and McNeish were weak from exhaustion and frostbite. Shackleton ordered McCarthy to stay and look after them. The waves were far too rough to consider venturing out into them again, even if the boat had not been leaking and made fragile by the constant battering. Shackleton knew that he had been fortunate to survive the extraordinary journey. So instead of trying to sail around South Georgia to the north side, he made a decision to cross the island on foot. It was a risky choice. The island had never been explored and no one knew what lay in the interior. Shackleton set off with Captain Worsley and Second Officer Crean on Friday 18 May. The James Caird Courtesy of the author These three men crossed the mountain range of South Georgia, walking doggedly on with the fate of the twenty-two on Elephant Island and their three boat companions on their shoulders. They walked and climbed to the point of complete collapse, but kept going. Shackleton asked nothing more from the others than he gave himself and, by his uncomplaining endurance, inspired the others to the same. On the morning of 20 May 1916, they climbed the last ridge and sighted the whaling station below. They had marched for thirty-six hours, though they had barely recovered from the sea journey. Yet the odyssey was at an end. Pausing only to shake hands, the three men climbed down a frozen waterfall to get close enough to signal the astonished whalers. Filthy and bearded, they were not recognised at first by those who had met them on the way out. They picked up the three on the other side of the island, as well as the James Caird that had brought them so far. Yet winter had come again – and the sea to the south had begun to freeze into the same pack ice that had trapped and crushed Endurance. Shackleton made four attempts to reach the men on Elephant Island, but each one was defeated by savage winter conditions. In August 1916, the sea ice began to break up once more – and Shackleton set out in a small steamship he had borrowed from the Chilean government. The ice had thinned enough for him to get through and he reached Elephant Island at last, desperate for some sight of those he had left behind. When the waiting men saw the ship, they lined up on the shore. On board, Shackleton counted them aloud in joy, one by one. They had four days of food left and had been so certain ‘The Boss’ would return that for weeks they’d begun each day by rolling up their kit for a quick rescue. They had never lost faith that Shackleton would come for them – and he did. In 1917 they returned to a world that was still at war – and a world that had discovered how terrible war can be. Most of his men signed up to fight and, of course, some of them did not make it home again. Shackleton was brutally honest and blunt about the expedition being a failure. Yet the rescue of his men is still one of the great tales – of endurance, courage and honour. He did not let them down. Shackleton wrote his account of it in the book that forms the main source for this chapter, still in print as South: The Endurance Expedition. He gave the copyright of that book to his creditors to pay debts and tried to live simply with his wife. Yet he was unhappy in the real world, away from the ice. It was not long before he was planning a return. In 1921, Shackleton sailed back to the southern continent as commander of the Quest scientific expedition. With Antarctica in sight, he had a heart attack and died. When news reached his wife, she sent back the instruction ‘Bury him where he was happiest.’ His grave is on South Georgia, where he knew at last that he had reached civilisation – and saved his men. As a postscript, the James Caird lifeboat was brought back to England. Shackleton gave it to an old school friend in exchange for him sponsoring the Quest expedition. It was then donated to the school both men had known: Dulwich College in London. It can be viewed today, with prior appointment, on any Tuesday. It is a small, frail boat that has known the howling gales and vast swells of the Antarctic oceans. OLD BRITISH COINS (#ulink_c472199d-25af-51c4-94b7-01e7fa8aa557) Left. Ivan Vdovin/Alamy Stock Photo; Right. Simon Evans/Alamy Stock Photo Each generation loses some old knowledge – and learns something new. Along with death and taxes, this is one of life’s certainties. Over passing centuries or millennia it can lead to great shifts in ‘general knowledge’. What was once known to all can become the knowledge only of specialists – or lost for ever. Our task is not to preserve the past for its own sake. There are many thousands of books and plays that refer to the pre-decimal coinage of Britain. We include a brief sampler here of those coins. It would not feel quite right if no child today knew that there were once twelve pennies in a shilling, or two hundred and forty pennies in a pound. The first coins to circulate in Britain were gold staters from ancient Gaul, imported around 150 BC. The designs suggest they were influenced by Macedonian coins of King Philip II, father to Alexander the Great. Coin production in Britain began some fifty years later, around 100 BC. These ancient coins, like those of Rome, were made of gold, silver or bronze. The three metals seem to form the basis of all ancient coin systems. Gold is eternal – it does not rust – so has always been a symbol of perfection and high value in almost every human society. Silver is attractive, but goes black very easily. Like bronze, however, silver has a relatively low melting point and is easy to mine and work. That probably explains its popularity, along with tin and copper. Those metals are all soft enough to be hand-stamped with a hammer. In the early British coins, the images stamped on them were very varied. They included horses, helmets, faces, stags, wreaths and a host of other pictures without words. Most people could not read, after all. From the first Roman invasion in 55 and 54 BC, Britain came into the orbit of the Roman world. After AD 45, Roman coins circulated as well as native ones. The metal itself had value, so could be exchanged for others with a different design or origin. The Cantii tribe in Kent produced their own coins, as did the Trinovantes, the Catuvellauni and the Iceni in Norfolk under Boadicea, who led an uprising against the Romans in the 1st century AD. The Roman empire produced many coins – not only for all its emperors, but also to mark military successes and key festivals. As well as gold aureus coins, they issued silver denarius coins (denarii in the plural: den-ar-i-eye) and sestertius coins (sestertii: sest-ur-tee-eye) in silver or brass. There was also a bronze coin called an as. After the Roman legions left Britain and their last officials were expelled in AD 410, coins were still minted north and south – the silver penny became virtually the sole coin in common use for at least five centuries. It was still referred to as a ‘denarius’, or ‘d’ for short. Though it became a copper coin in later centuries, the habit of labelling a penny as ‘1d’ continued right up to decimalisation in 1971. Rulers of small kingdoms such as Mercia or East Anglia would issue their own silver coins, as did established Viking invaders around York. By the 10th century, King ?thelstan, the first king of England and Scotland, organised the mints and closed down a lot of fake coin shops. After 1066, King William of Normandy maintained the Anglo-Saxon regional mint system, but over time it became more centralised. Coins that could be cut into halves and quarters were a brief experiment, but not popular. In 1180, Henry II put his name ‘Henricus’ and ‘Rex’ (king) on his coins, though it did not become standard practice for his sons Richard and John. Short-cross coin of Henry II, issued 1180–1189 AMR Coins By the 13th century, under King Edward I, the minting of coins had become a royal activity and was restricted to London, Canterbury, Durham and Bury. In 1279, new coins were produced: the first halfpenny, a ‘farthing’ quarter-penny and a groat, worth fourpence. The name of ‘Edward’ appeared on them all. A fourpenny piece – the ‘groat’ Courtesy of the author In the 14th century, during the long reign of Edward III, gold coins made a return, with the introduction of the gold florin and the gold noble and half-noble. Intricate designs could be stamped on gold and they were still the symbol of great wealth. Silver pennies, halfpennies and farthings also continued to be issued. Those were the main denominations up to King Henry VI, Edward IV and the Wars of the Roses, when the wonderfully named gold angel and half-angels were also issued – a reference to the design of the Archangel Michael killing a dragon stamped on the coin. The gold ‘angel’ Left. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK/Bridgeman Images; Right. Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2019/Bridgeman Images As the first Tudor, King Henry VII made changes in 1489. A pound by weight of sterling silver had been a unit of measurement for centuries, but no pound coin had ever been issued. Henry Tudor issued the first – and as the design included the king on a throne, called it a sovereign. Double- and even triple-weight sovereigns were also issued. Sovereigns have been issued by every monarch since then, a practice that continues today. They are still made of gold and are very valuable. The first pound coin – the ‘sovereign’ Universal History Archive/UIG/Bridgeman Images The first shillings, coins worth twelve pennies, were produced by Henry VII and known then as ‘testoons’ or ‘head-pieces’ – as they had his head printed on them. He and his son Henry VIII debased the level of silver in the coins, a practice that was just too tempting. Mixing silver with cheaper metals meant two coins could be produced for the same amount of silver – or four, or twelve … The history of coins is also the history of forgery and cheating. Queen Elizabeth I recalled many of these cheap coins and reissued higher-quality ones. The explosion of commerce in the Elizabethan age required sixpence and threepence coins marked with a rose, as well as the shilling, groat, penny, halfpenny and farthing. She also issued crowns, worth five shillings, and half-crowns, worth two shillings and sixpence. They were issued from the brief reign of her older brother Edward to 1967. Elizabethan shilling – a very modern coin Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo In 1660, King Charles II was restored to the throne after the years under Cromwell. In 1663, the first machine-produced coins were made, consigning hand-stamping to history. Coins could then be milled with great precision. Some even had the words ‘Decus and Tutamen’ cut into the edge – ‘an ornament and a shield’ – to protect them from being clipped. The gold used in these coins came from Guinea in Africa, so they became known as the first guineas. Originally, they were worth twenty silver shillings. Later, they became worth twenty-one shillings, or a pound and a shilling. Guineas are still used in some racehorse auctions, where it is possible to bid a thousand pounds and have the bid raised with the word ‘guineas’ – one thousand and fifty pounds. Charles II also issued copper coinage for the first time and tin/copper coins to help the Cornish tin industry. In 1797, the government issued copper pennies, though when copper became scarce, they changed to bronze around 1860. Still called ‘coppers’, bronze halfpennies, farthings and even third-farthings were issued as the 19th century went on. At the start of the 20th century, the currency was stable and produced by a royal mint. King Edward VII and then King George V had their image on coins ranging from a third of a farthing up to a five-pound gold coin. Over time, smaller coins began to be less useful. The ‘inflation’ of currency meant that prices went up and money was not worth as much. Farthings were dropped around 1960. Queen Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952 with a currency based around the number twelve, with a history stretching back to ancient Rome. When the symbols for pounds, shillings and pence were written, it was always ‘?, s and d’ – the last, as we’ve seen, for denarius. In 1970, Britain still used the halfpenny, the penny, the threepenny bit, the silver sixpence, the shilling, the florin (two-shilling piece), the half-crown (two shillings and sixpence), the crown (five shillings), the half-sovereign (ten shillings), the sovereign (twenty shillings or ?1) – and the guinea of twenty-one shillings. My mother told a story of when she was a young girl and found her father asleep in an armchair. Kneeling beside him, she whispered, ‘Can I have a half-crown?’ into his ear. When there was no response, she crept around to the other side and whispered, ‘Can I have a crown?’ into that ear. There was silence for a time, then without opening his eyes, he murmured, ‘Go back to the half-crown ear.’ In 1971, the government of Prime Minister Edward Heath formally abolished the old coin values and went to a decimal system (based on the number ten). He hoped to modernise Britain, breaking those ties to the ancient past. New coins were issued, with the five-pence piece referred to as a shilling to help with the transition. A pound was redesignated as 100 pennies, so that the 5p piece was still one-twentieth. New green one-pound notes were issued, replaced in 1983 by the first pound coins. Later, two-pound coins were issued for normal use. Some special-edition five-pound coins are produced each year and gold sovereigns are still minted. The bank notes at the time of writing are for five, ten, twenty and fifty pounds. It is worth noting that these are artificial systems. Whether a pound (or a dollar) has a hundred pennies or 60, 240 or even 360 is a matter of choice. We chose to keep 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees in a circle and 24 hours in a day. Yet some numbers are just more useful than others. 240 has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 40, 48, 60, 80, 120 and 240 itself as factors – 20 in all. In comparison, 100 has 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 and 100 itself – just nine factors. In that way, 240 is more useful than 100, both in trade and in teaching maths. The history and stability of a country can be read in its currency – and knowing the road behind can be useful in judging the road ahead. Of course, it is possible that before the 21st century comes to an end, all transactions will have become digital and coins will have gone the way of the dinosaurs. That would be a shame – there is something comforting about a handful of change clinking in a pocket – along with two thousand years of history. FLYING MACHINES (#ulink_f0225a6c-2edc-5b7e-a763-37759413437a) Rubber-band aeroplanes are as old as, well, rubber bands. You could use the skills in this chapter to make a simple one, with a propeller. That’s part of the reason why we’ve put this in the book: it’s astounding what you can do with balsa wood, superglue and ordinary thread. The other reason is that an ‘ornithopter’ flaps its wings. They’ve been around since the 19th century as toys, but they’re still impressive. You can buy a kit or a complete plastic one easily enough, but it is immensely satisfying to make. At the time of writing, the world record for indoor rubber-band-powered flight is 21 minutes, 44 seconds, held by Roy White of America. Our ornithopter will fly for just a few seconds, but it’s still worth it. YOU WILL NEED Needle-nose pliers Superglue Thread Elastic bands A razor blade or art knife Tissue paper or a supermarket plastic bag Wire. Paperclips will do, but we used 1/16in brass rod, because it felt a little stronger Electrical wire (for the plastic covering) Oil or grease ?in aluminium tubing A few coffee-shop wooden stirrers (or ice-lolly sticks) A hard plastic bead Spars of balsa wood Note: ‘Super’ or ‘crazy’ glue refers to the group of fast-setting cyanoacrylate glues. Although it is apparently a myth that they were developed to close battlefield wounds, they are sometimes used in that way today, to seal cuts where it would be difficult to stitch. In other words, superglue sticks well to balsa wood, but it sticks amazingly well to skin. In the course of making this ornithopter, we stuck our fingers together many times – and our fingers to other things, including the tube of glue itself. Acetone is your friend when it comes to removing superglue, but please try to avoid pulling your fingerprints off. They do grow back, however. There is clearly potential for injury here, so find a dad and make him help, but don’t let him do all the tricky bits. Remember: scars are fine. Having to go through life attached to a superglue tube is not. In balsa wood, you’ll need a couple of spar pieces to act as the body and a couple of thin spars to form the backbone of the wings. Hobby shops sell balsa in all shapes and sizes. It’s not expensive stuff, so you should be able to get a selection for a few pounds. The point of having more than you need is (a) for when you tread on a wing spar and snap it, and (b) because, as you’ll see, balsa is really useful. It won’t be wasted. We formed the main body with four pieces. The thin spars are ?in thick, ?in wide and 7in long (4mm ? 13mm ? 17.5cm). The thick ones are ?in ? ?in square and 2in long (13mm ? 13mm ? 50mm). We added blocks of ? ? ?in batten beneath as well, to hold the rubber band later. Up to this point, it’s all symmetrical. Choose an end to be the front and cut three pieces of aluminium tube. You could use brass or plastic. It should be the right size to allow your wire to pass through. With a razor blade or a hacksaw, we cut all three tubes the same length – ?in (16mm). As a general principle, it’s worth sanding the rough edges. Two tubes go on the top, parallel to one another, while the third goes at the bottom. It’s vital they don’t come loose, so we cut a groove for the bottom one, glued them all in place, then wound cotton thread around the entire assembly. Cyanoacrylate glues essentially form a hard plastic as they set, with a little heat given off. The result is impressive and incredibly strong. Honestly, the application of superglue on balsa was very satisfying. Once or twice when fiddling, a crack was heard. A dab of glue on the hairline crack, good as new. The crank is the only tricky part of making this, so here it is. The rubber band will be held by one end and wound at the front. (We did try a rear-winder on the first attempt, with a cork attached. That actually worked pretty well, but we’ll keep this simple.) The problem is how to turn that rubber band rotation into an up-and-down motion for the wings. A spinning disc doesn’t work – it’s impossible to get the wings to act together. What works is a staggered crank, which lifts two rods at slightly different times. The wire comes out of the bottom tube, leaving enough room for a plastic bead (fake pearls work well). With the needle-nose pliers, make a 90-degree bend to the left, looking at it from the front. It should be as sharp as you can make it – you do not want that bead to work its way around the corner. After ?in (6mm), make another 90-degree bend, heading away from the main body. Leaving enough space for a small wooden batten – say ?in – turn back in a 90-degree bend, parallel with the first bend. So far so good, but that upside-down ‘U’ has to be twisted to create an angle of 60 or 70 degrees. Looking down the crank, it will look like this: If you bend it the wrong way, the wings will not work together, no matter what you do. It took us a ridiculously long time to figure that out. On to the wings. You’ll need two narrow 8in (200mm) balsa spars for this. We’ve heard of one built entirely of wooden coffee stirrers, which isn’t a bad idea, though balsa is perfect. Lightness is crucial – the less weight the better. The two wing wires are bent twice at 90 degrees. One end will go into the twin tubes from before, as shown below. More thread and glue will keep the wires stable. We cut the wires so that a little bit poked out at the back of the tubes. With the pliers, you can twist those ends up a fraction. It stops the wings falling out all the time. That is the hardest part over with, believe it or not. There might be some fiddly bits to finish, but the main job is done. JOINING THE CRANK AND THE WING SPARS This is where the wooden coffee stirrers or ice-lolly sticks cut lengthways come in. You’ll need to drill a tiny hole at each end. Remember to use scrap wood underneath. Our first stick had holes 2?in (70mm) apart for the inner batten, with a fraction more – 72mm – for the outer one. The plastic stoppers are vital to stop it all falling apart. Cut a piece of electrical wire and use pliers to tug out the copper core, leaving only the plastic sheath. You can then cut that into small pieces and wiggle them on. The inner batten sits at the bottom of the ‘U’ on the crank – the first position. Line up the highest position of the crank with a wing position of no higher than 40 degrees up from horizontal. Any higher and it can be unstable. Mark your holes and drill. Once attached, you should be able to turn the crank and watch one wing rise and fall through its entire motion. If for some reason it doesn’t work – which happened to us on the second run-through – the problem will lie with the length between the holes or the angle of the wire crank. Adjust – half of making something is fiddling around when the thing just refuses to work and you can’t see why. Once you have one wing rising and falling on the crank’s turn, you can attach the second. This outer batten sits on the part of the crank furthest from the main body – the second position. You’ll need more bits of electrical plastic sheath to hold it in place. Line up both wings so that they’re symmetrical at the midpoint of the sequence, mark your holes and drill. Be prepared to drill a line of holes and try each one if it doesn’t quite work. Keep your temper. You will be proud you did – and ashamed if you didn’t. Once you have the wings moving smoothly, you’ll need to attach a hook at the back to hold the elastic band. The crank will wind it, so this is just a piece of wire, held with thread and glue. Something like this: For the tail, we first tried a short wide one, which was completely useless. This bird is front-heavy, so it needs a long tail to give it a chance of stability in the air. With a main body 7in long, our best tail was 8in (20cm). We bent a narrow wire into a shape of an isosceles triangle with an apex of 45 degrees, and fixed coffee stirrers to it with glue and a few turns of thread. The top wire was then fixed with glue and thread to the main body. It’s trickier to wind the thread with the wings attached, so the tail should go on first. To cut out the tail, just put the plane on a flat surface upside down, use sticky tape to hold the plastic in place, mark it with a felt-tip pen and cut it. Superglue will hold the tail to the wooden struts. Our first wings were made from white paper, which looked fantastic, like something Leonardo da Vinci might have dangled from his workshop ceiling on a thread. If you’re after a model, that will look great. The trouble is that the paper tore really easily – and even though they were easy to fix, with strips of more paper and a dab of glue, we ended up cutting up a supermarket plastic bag and making a new tail and wings out of that instead. Fiddling and improving is the key here. THE WINGS We tried two wing shapes – curved and later a triangle. Both seemed to work. They should be taut, however. Leaving them to flop about just leads to rips. The first wings were formed as a big semicircle of 16in radius (40cm). We used a circular tray to trace it on tissue paper. We then cut out a smaller semicircle at the centre point, to keep the mechanism clear. When you are finished, it is a thing of beauty and enormously satisfying to use. Photograph it immediately, before you snap it in two. When you wind the elastic for the first time, it’s quite possible it will jam. The band pulls tight on the front assembly and friction is the enemy. The plastic bead on the outer side of the crank will help, but a drop of oil on every moving part is vital. The elastic is two bands doubled and doubled again. We tried various kinds, but thin ones seemed to provide better power than thick ones. Buy a box of them and put oil on the bands to ease friction. That’s it. Wind it up forty or fifty turns, find a high place and let it fly. Fetch it back, raise the tail a little and let it fly again. If there is a bad landing, be prepared to fix it on the spot with superglue and thread. The mechanism is a wonder to behold – it moves a little bit like the mandibles of an insect. Making a rear winder is easy enough, with a cork to help turn the wire and a groove to lock it, ready for take-off. FINAL THOUGHTS After half a dozen flights, our first ornithopter snapped almost entirely in half while we were wrestling with the crank. One of the wing spars broke at the same time. The amazing glue-and-thread combination restored it all well enough to flap again! No damage is so great that it means the end – though it will get heavier. One bead works better than two. Flapping speed is vital, so you might consider purchasing a range of rubber bands. Remember, the purpose of this is to build a flying machine, yes, but also to introduce you to the combination of balsa, thread and glue. Using the same set-up, you could get a small plastic propeller from a model shop and glue it to a hook instead of a crank. An epoxy glue would be more suited to holding the propeller in place. If you add a fixed wing made from either balsa sheeting or paper, it shouldn’t be too hard to make a small prop plane. Pictures of planes you have made can be sent to the authors care of the publishers – and are very welcome. Good luck. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WORLD – PART ONE (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) The first Dangerous Book asked and answered a number of questions: Why is a summer day longer than a winter day? Why is it hotter at the Equator? What is a vacuum? What is latitude and longitude? How do you tell the age of a tree? How do we measure the earth’s circumference? Why does a day have twenty-four hours? How far away are the stars? Why is the sky blue? Why can’t we see the other side of the moon? What causes the tides? How do ships sail against the wind? Where does cork come from? What causes the wind? and What is chalk? Could there possibly be any questions left unanswered? Well, yes. 1. What is the tallest mountain on earth? (#ulink_c9df1c73-4e6b-5d6d-887e-4862e96eaeb1) 2. Why does the earth have a magnetic field? (#ulink_ca874527-d704-5aa4-8d9f-134ce804c87b) 3. Where are the hottest and the coldest places on earth? (#ulink_70e76b9e-88d6-5ddc-95c5-fba12dd6200d) 4. What was Pangaea? (#ulink_d8d56b5f-1385-5c39-9d30-802c1baeb10c) 5. Is the earth slowing down? (#ulink_e719815a-fe15-574f-9e40-065ce08bc042) 6. What are the longest rivers? (#ulink_92bdaa9a-8f8d-514c-a48a-cc942596d1c2) 1 WHAT IS THE TALLEST MOUNTAIN ON EARTH? (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) Hawaii. Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii is the tip of a much larger mountain. From the sea floor to that mountaintop is over 33,000 feet (10,203m). In comparison, Mount Everest on the Nepal/Tibet border is just over 29,000 feet (8,848m). Of course, at the bottom of Mauna Kea, pressure is crushing, so the mountain may never be climbed. If you measured all the peaks from the centre of the earth, the mountain known as Chimborazo in Ecuador is furthest out. It lies almost on the Equator. As an actual bottom-to-top measurement, though, Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is No. 1. (The deepest spot on earth is the Mariana Trench. Everest could be dropped into it.) 2 WHY DOES THE EARTH HAVE A MAGNETIC FIELD? (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) The earth’s magnetic field deflects charged particles coming off the sun, known as the ‘solar wind’. We suspect it is a key requirement for life to exist, so it’s something we look for in the solar system and further out. It is generated by the rotation of liquid metal at the earth’s core. The forces involved are almost beyond imagination, but that much molten iron/nickel moving at that speed produces a huge magnetic field. In comparison, Mars has a very weak magnetic field – and one problem of Mars colonisation would always be that lack of protection from solar particles. By measuring the strength of gravity at the surface (scientists jumping up and down, mostly), we are able to estimate the mass of the earth – it’s around 5.9 sextillion tonnes. Nothing on the surface is heavy enough to produce the gravity we can observe, which means the centre has to be a dense metal able to produce a magnetic field. Iron and nickel are the best candidates – both dense enough to explain gravity and a magnetic field. A number of planets in the solar system have magnetic fields. Yet when it comes to future exploration, our best bet might be the only moon that does – Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. Dwarfed by the largest planet in the solar system, Ganymede is a respectable size – about two-thirds the size of Mars. Although its magnetic field is relatively weak, it should mean it has a liquid core, which suggests a source of heat to tap for future explorers. 3 WHERE ARE THE HOTTEST AND THE COLDEST PLACES ON EARTH? (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) The hottest air temperature ever recorded was in Death Valley, California, in June 1913, of 134°F (56°C). (There was actually a temperature of 136°F recorded in Libya in 1922, but that’s considered dubious due to problems with the instrumentation.) Either way, temperatures of over 110°F (43°C) are common in Death Valley each year from May to October, which makes it all the more extraordinary that long-distance races are run across it. The Badwater Ultramarathon is run across Death Valley in summer each year – 135 miles (217 km) from the lowest point in California to the foothills of Mount Whitney. The runners tend to use the white lines in the middle of the road. If they run on black tarmac, their shoes melt. Human beings can be extraordinary. The coldest place on the earth is Antarctica. This measurement is complicated by wind chill, which can make a low temperature much, much lower. However, in still air, the coldest temperatures recorded in Antarctica are ?135°F (?93°C). The Antarctic Ice Marathon has been run every December since 2006. It takes place at 80 degrees south latitude, at the foot of the Ellsworth Mountains. Although it is run during the Antarctic ‘summer’, temperatures of ?20°C (?4°F) are common, with winds of 10–25 knots. (Note: Centigrade/Celsius (C) is used almost universally in Britain, influenced by its wide adoption in European countries. Fahrenheit (F) used to be the British standard and is still more common in America. The best idea, it seems to us, is to use Fahrenheit for hot days (It’s 80 degrees!) and Centigrade for cold days (It’s ?5!) There’s no particular reason to choose Fahrenheit (German/Polish/Dutch) over Celsius (Swedish), but using both underlines that they are utterly artificial and man-made.) 4 WHAT WAS PANGAEA? (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) was a German scientist and the first to notice that the continents of earth look as if they might fit together. Africa and South America share a suspiciously similar-looking coastline, for example. Wegener’s theory was that continents drift on enormous plates – and if time could be wound back, they would creep towards one another. The original land mass would have been a single super-plate that slowly broke up to form modern continents. Later measurements of drifting plates and similarities in fossil records have borne out the theory. The name ‘Pangaea’ was coined to describe that single land mass of ‘all the earth’. 5 IS THE EARTH SLOWING DOWN? (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) The short answer is yes. This is measurable by the length of the day, which is getting longer. That much is certain – 2017 was the fourth year in a row that we measured a decrease in the earth’s spin. The reasons for this are still a matter of conjecture, of course. One theory is that the moon exerts a braking effect on the earth. That is a good possibility. We know tides are created by the moon’s gravitational pull. It makes sense that this might exert a slowing effect. However, the effect is incredibly small. It would take millions of years to get to the point of a 28-hour day, for example. 6 WHAT ARE THE LONGEST RIVERS? (#ulink_f9e461b3-5f33-5897-8b26-2e402aa0a715) There are two possibilities. The Nile is usually given as the longest river system on earth, providing water to eleven countries and stretching 4,200 miles (6,700 km) across Africa. However, until every tributary and source has been mapped and measured, we can never know for certain. The river rises in the great lakes of central Africa and flows north until it reaches Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. The Amazon in South America is the other candidate. Usually described as the second-longest river in the world, it too has its champions and it is true that more water passes through the Amazon than the Nile each day. It begins in Brazil – or Peru, depending whom you ask. Rivers can run underground, which is one of the reasons it’s not always easy to measure their length and pin down the exact source. Still, these are by far the two longest – the Amazon is just over 4,000 miles (6,400 km). TYING A WINDSOR KNOT (#ulink_8c657567-ae15-5461-883b-8f5b572f82bd) Every boy learns a basic tie knot in school – the ‘four-in-hand’ or ‘schoolboy’ knot. You can probably do it in your sleep. However, that’s no reason to go through your whole life tying the same knot. The Windsor knot is just as easy to do – and it’s a neat, symmetrical knot. In From Russia, With Love, Ian Fleming writes that a Windsor knot is too flashy – a knot that rouses James Bond’s suspicions. If that was ever true, it isn’t now. The Windsor is used by the Royal Air Force and the armed forces of Canada and the United States. It suits a wide collar. Tie it a dozen times. Chances are, you’ll never go back to your primary-school knot again. There is a ‘wide end’ and a ‘narrow end’ to a tie. That’s pretty much it for terminology. 1. Begin with the wide end ten or twelve inches longer than the narrow end. You’ll find a first position that works for you – and you’ll learn which shirt button (fourth or fifth) you prefer to align with the narrow end. Cross the long wide end over the narrow end. 2. Bring the wide end up underneath on the left side of the narrow end, pulling it through. 3. Take the wide end around the back of the narrow end and then over the right-hand side of the knot, pulling it through. 4. Completing the knot is very similar to the schoolboy knot. Take the wide end across, then up behind the knot. Poke it under the top layer and pull taut. Adjust as you would for the knot you know. The result is pretty magnificent – a triangular, symmetrical knot – and simpler than most people realise. Left, right, across and under. Worth learning. ADVICE FROM FIGHTING MEN (#ulink_28a1c454-ff2b-5d09-9528-da46a07637a9) Left and right. Mary Evans Picture Library ‘Boxing is the first necessity for a gentleman, unless he wishes to be imposed upon whenever he comes into the company of rough men, stronger than himself. It is necessary, if he wishes to be able to protect a lady from insult, a position in which a man often finds himself.’ Colonel T.H. Monstery, Self-Defense for Gentlemen and Ladies ‘Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face.’ Mike Tyson, former world heavyweight boxing champion Many years ago, a friend of the authors got into an altercation with a group of six men outside a pub in London. The friend was young and fit, but he knew he couldn’t possibly take on so many. As the leader went for him, he sprinted away – and, of course, they followed, howling, in his wake. Men run at different speeds. When he risked a glance over his shoulder, he noticed they had begun to string out over distance. The slowest were quite far back, while one keen young greyhound was right out in front of the rest. Our friend slowed just a touch to let the man in the lead catch all the way up. He waited until his pursuer was almost on top of him, then stopped suddenly. The one chasing was not ready for the move. As he skidded to a halt, our friend hit him twice in the face and knocked him down. The ones behind were closing at high speed by then, so he set off again, sprinting away into the night. Some time later, the same beads-on-a-string effect could be observed, with a different pursuer in the lead. Our friend knew he’d be less likely to surprise them a second time, but it had worked once and, frankly, had delighted him. In short, it worked again. He stopped, hit the man rushing at him – and then raced away. The rest of them gave up the chase. Now, our friend couldn’t possibly have survived a battle with six opponents. There are few men alive who could. Yet with tactics and a steady nerve, he surely won that battle, and lived to tell the tale. Years passed between hearing that true story and meeting a 5th Dan Aikido master named Stuart Akers – perhaps the deadliest man I have ever encountered. Stuart trained for long, gruelling sessions every day, working with weapons and multiple opponents. He and I discussed the beginnings of an idea that fighting techniques, as told by truly dangerous men, might make an interesting and unusual book. We’d have to travel around the country and interview a range of trained people to see what advice they would offer. We lined up serving members of the SAS and the Brigade of Gurkhas, a former British boxing champion, Tae Kwon Do and Karate masters, and even experienced nightclub bouncers. The question – some variant of ‘What advice would you give to someone in a fight?’ – was for the most experienced, for the ones who had survived dozens or hundreds of violent events. We also thought that there was a good chance there would be many stories like the one above, just on general principles. The problem revealed itself very quickly. Regardless of the particular martial art or even war experience, the advice was very similar. Over and over again, we kept hearing the same things. It became obvious that there just wasn’t enough material for a book. It was possible, however, that there might be enough for a short chapter. Here is what we were told. It is offered, not as an instruction manual on how to beat someone up, but as an insight into self-defence that you might one day find useful. A boy – or a man – should be able to defend himself to a degree, as a matter of pride and self-respect. After all, one simple truth of being a boy is this: you will be punched in the mouth at some point in your life. Possibly just once, possibly many times. How you react to that event will be something you chew over in your memory for years afterwards – in humiliation and regret, or enormous satisfaction. So try to get it right. Please note: We do not recommend any of these comments for use. They are for academic interest and nothing more. The first point is this: men who knew they could fight and win, who were not insecure about themselves, kept responding in the same way: ‘First thing is, I’d walk away, if I could.’ Every fight involves some risk, and the recovery from injury is painful and takes for ever. No matter how confident you might feel, you could still slip on a bit of mud and lose. So if there is an opportunity to get clear without fighting, take it. You might also consider that walking away will remove an opponent from his place of choosing, and perhaps also from those who might support him, but in the main, it removes you. I cannot stress enough that this wasn’t cowardice. One of them called it: ‘turning the other cheek, but from a position of strength’. This was the most common first response from men who had fought a hundred times and who had nothing to prove. An unexpected response was the reluctance to use kicks of any kind. The advice was: unless you are actually a martial-arts black belt with hundreds or thousands of hours of sparring behind you, you must not raise your leg above knee height in a fight. What worked for Bruce Lee does not work in the real world. There’s just too great a chance of an opponent grabbing the leg – and once they have a leg, it’s all over. One old boy, who’d received World War II commando training, was still keen on a short, sharp kick at the other man’s knee as he rushed in. Bear in mind that he was in a war and his opponent would have been trying to kill him, but the idea was that he could maintain eye contact with the enemy, while lashing out very low down. As he put it: ‘Worst case you’d just cause him to stumble, but a good strike to the knee will ruin his day.’ Another friend of ours used to enjoy fighting in pubs. Red-haired and well over six feet tall, he preferred to end a Friday or Saturday evening with a massive battle and someone calling the police. There was never any malice in it, though it is true he spoiled a wedding or two in his time. He tells of one incident in his youth when he was jostled by a stranger. Our friend was around eighteen at the time. Without a thought, the red-haired one hit a man in his thirties twice in the face: one-two. The man was driven back a step and went down to one knee. He raised a hand to his lips and examined the smear of blood. He nodded, looked up at our friend and said, ‘OK, son, you’ve shown me what you can do. Now I’m going to show you what I can do.’ As you can imagine, what followed was a beating the likes of which he had rarely known. In summary, then, the advice was that if all else fails, if an attack cannot be avoided, don’t muck about. The best defence then becomes a steadfast and determined offence. If an opponent falls over, or quits the battle to lie down and quietly consider his life choices, the advice varied as to whether it was ever acceptable to continue the fight after that. In such a situation, we’d like to think the calibre of our readers means they would do the decent thing. We would like to believe in a world where no one ever ‘puts the boot in’ to a fallen opponent. Spite should certainly be resisted, especially in moments of high emotion. Try to imagine your father standing at your shoulder and act accordingly – unless he would be trying to kick the fallen man himself, obviously. Practice is key. Our red-haired friend got into fights almost every week for years and years, so he was actually pretty good at it. Yet as a rule, a trained man does not fear an untrained man, that’s just the truth of it. If you want to survive or win, visit a boxing or kick-boxing class and be honest – say that you don’t know how to fight and you’d like to learn. Or take up a martial art – every single one involves sparring, and though they are rarely as aggressive and fast as a real-life encounter on the street, they’ll help you to stay calm for those vital few seconds. Honestly, a lot of it is resisting the urge to freeze up after a blow. The first reaction is absolutely the wrong one – it holds you in place for the follow-up punch. So always keep moving. A martial art will also improve your fitness, and that is no small thing. Fighting is the most exhausting activity known to man, though chopping wood is a close second, for some reason. One reason most fights last less than ten seconds is that untrained men are usually exhausted by then. If you’re not exhausted after ten seconds of adrenaline-fuelled scrambling, you will be in a pretty good position to make them regret ever starting it. As a final point, if you ever see a group beating up just one person and you call to a crowd something like: ‘Come on, lads, let’s lend a hand,’ check they are actually coming with you before you arrive as guest of honour to your own beating. Another friend of ours once joined four others in a car to drive to where they had been challenged by a gang in Harefield, England. When they arrived at the designated spot and time, they were dismayed to find perhaps a dozen young men waiting for them. Full of youthful enthusiasm, our friend leaped from the car – and then watched in amazement as it was driven away without him. He chased that car – and the gang of lads chased him – for a long, long way. So choose your friends carefully as well. KINTSUGI (#ulink_eedbd66e-aae4-5103-8516-3cb3fc416ff4) akg-images/Interfoto Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese art form that means ‘golden joinery’. It is also called kintsukuroi – ‘golden repair’. Whether you ever try it or not, it is a fascinating thing. In essence, it’s repairing broken pottery, but not in order to hide the cracks. Instead, the cracks are filled with gold or silver dust and made as obvious as possible. The result is a spiderweb of bright colour across the original surface – as beautiful, or even more so, than the original. The idea is that broken things can still be valuable, even wondrous. Perhaps there is a lesson in kintsugi about scars and how we see ourselves. It is not difficult to imagine a bowl or vase with special value – the gift of a loved one, for example. Allowed to drop, it would break into pieces and seem impossible to fix. Yet perhaps, a dozen quiet evenings later, something beautiful might emerge. There are pieces of ceramic that are masterworks in themselves, of course. For such a fragile material, it’s amazing they survive for the centuries they do. You might see iron bands worked into one of those to hold an old break together. This is not that practical solution – kintsugi is an art form in itself. Now, obviously we can’t manage the expense of gold dust, silver or platinum. Ours was strictly a cheaper project. Our white vase came from Hobbycraft, as did the glitter and glue. Make sure you get a glue that can handle a ceramic break. The Japanese use resin or lacquer. For the purposes of testing it for this chapter, we thumped the vase once with a club hammer and broke off a piece. If you have shattered a vase into forty different pieces, don’t despair. It will take a long time to complete a job that has to wait for glue to dry at each stage, so bear that in mind. If we simply reglued the broken piece, even with glitter mixed into the glue, it would form a hairline and be almost invisible. The idea is for the break lines to be as obvious as possible. Take a steel file and remove the edges of the broken piece and the rest of the jug. Try not to break it or send anything flying across the room. The idea is to widen those cracks. You might try refitting the piece every now and then to check your progress. When you’re ready, mix up a batch of glue and glitter. PVA glues will dry clear, leaving the glitter visible. However, our best result came from a premixed glitter paste. Slather the stuff on liberally and replace the broken piece. Of course, as you’ve filed away the edges, you might find it doesn’t stay in place any longer. Having a roll of masking tape around is extremely useful. Wipe as much of the glitter-glue away as you can while it’s still wet – it’s trickier to remove when it’s dry, especially if the piece of pottery isn’t glazed. Try not to get too much of the glitter on you as well. This is a fairly messy process, but the results can be rather lovely. The most valuable thing you will ever own is your time. Using some of it to make a thing of beauty cannot be a bad thing – and reminding yourself that broken things can be fixed is always worthwhile. THE FASTEST LACES IN THE WEST (#ulink_c7b4af1a-1e22-5bda-996e-a80bd74d027d) We all learn a simple way to tie shoelaces when we are kids. This technique – sometimes called a butterfly knot – is at least twice as fast. You appear to tie the knot in one quick movement, which impresses onlookers. It might look tricky, but it’s one you can learn very quickly. Once you have done it a few times, you’ll never go back to the old loop-loop-knot method again. Note: This is much easier to do than to describe! Follow these instructions while you try to tie the knot on an actual shoe. Just as when you first learned to tie a shoe – it gets much easier. 1. Begin with the traditional cross-over. Regardless of how you tie your shoes, you might want to put one lace through a second time. It forms a triple, which has more friction and so locks every knot in place. Your shoes will come untied less often if you take nothing but this away. 2. Note and practise the finger positions in the next pictures until they are second nature. Thumb and middle on the right hand, index and middle on the left. The idea is to form and bring both loops together in the same movement, completing the knot in one swift tug. 3. Rotate each hand – the left clockwise to bring the thumb underneath, then anticlockwise to form an upside-down U or open loop. 4. The right hand moves anticlockwise to bring the second/index finger up underneath, then clockwise to form an upside-down U or open loop. This probably seems impossibly complex at this point. Just remember – there is nothing wrong with complexity. If something is hard, we don’t give up. We grab it by the throat and throttle it until it’s easier. In this case, that might mean sitting with a shoe on a table and the book propped open next to you for ten minutes, but the principle is clear enough. 5. It helps to form exaggerated open loops when you are learning. Bring them together, right hand over the left hand, holding the four points taut – the two bends and two grips. 6. When the right-hand lace is brought over to the left hand, it forms a capital letter A. 7. With the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, grasp the crossbar of the A. 8. With the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, grasp the lower left leg of the A. 9. Pull gently – and the familiar twin loops will form. FINDING THE HEIGHT OF A TREE (#ulink_42f8e1e7-1b49-501b-8616-fa85f2ba6d1f) If you want pinpoint accuracy, there are laser devices on the market that will give you precision in a split second. This is more for those who want to know if a tree will hit their roof when it blows down. Or just because the basics of trigonometry are interesting. YOU WILL NEED A protractor A pencil A bit of Blu Tack A calculator Trigonometry has to do with triangles. It’s the branch of mathematics that examines the relationships between the lengths of the sides and the angles. You probably already know that the internal angles of a triangle always add up to 180°. That is one of the first things you learn – so if we know one angle of a triangle is 40° and another is 80°, the last has to be 60°, because 40 + 80 + 60 = 180. So whether it’s an equilateral triangle, where all the sides and angles are equal: Or an isosceles triangle, where at least two sides are equal: … the internal angles always add up to 180°. You might also be interested to know that angles along a straight line also add up to 180°. If you think about it, 180° is half a circle of 360°. If you drew a straight line and crossed another through it, you would have two right angles of 90° – for a total of 180°. Four right angles, or 4 ? 90 = 360 – the full turn. That means, just as a matter of interest, that if you know any internal angle of a triangle, you can extend a straight line and also know the external angle. That might come in handy one day. Sadly, there isn’t space enough here to cover all the interesting aspects of triangles. We’ll concentrate on one very specific task – finding the height of something using trigonometry – a word that means ‘triangle measuring’. It might be a tree or a building. In theory, it could be a person, though this is more a method for big objects. First, pace a distance from the base of your object. Use a little common sense and pace out a fair way – 30, 60 or 90 yards. Those are not accidental choices. One problem with metres is that they have no physical reality, whereas a yard is a man’s pace. It’s possible to pace out a field in yards, for example, but not metres. However, a metre is – as near as makes no odds for our purposes – 3ft 4in. That means that 10ft (3 ? 3ft 4in) is very close to 3m. So we chose a distance from the tree that could be expressed fairly easily in both yards and metres. Sixty yards is 180ft, or 18 ? 3m = 54m. You now have the base of your triangle. You are still missing the height of the tree, the hypotenuse (the longest side diagonal) and the angles. Where the tree touches the ground is 90°, which is what will make this work. The next part works for all right-angled triangles – triangles with a 90° angle in them. Now, part of trigonometry lies in recognising the relationship between the lengths of the lines and the angles. If you lengthen a line in a triangle, the angles change. We express that relationship with the words ‘sine’, ‘cosine’ and ‘tangent’. On a calculator, they are usually written as Sin, Cos and Tan. Each one of those three expresses a relationship between two of the triangle lines and an angle. The mnemonic for all three is SOH-CAH-TOA (pronounced so-car-toe-a). The letter ‘O’ is for Opposite, ‘H’ is for Hypotenuse and ‘A’ is for Adjacent – the side closest to the angle. Sine is the relationship or ratio between the Opposite and the Hypotenuse. You find the sine of the angle x by Opposite/Hypotenuse. The most famous example is the 3–4–5 triangle. (Pythagoras used it to prove the relationship between the sides on a right-angled triangle was a + b = c , where c is the hypotenuse.) In this case that would be 3? (3 ? 3) + 4? (4 ? 4) = 5? (5 ? 5). In this example, if we wanted to find the angle x and had all three side lengths, we could use Sin, Cos or Tan to do it. Sin = Opposite divided by Hypotenuse = 4/5 = 0.8 Cos = Adjacent divided by Hypotenuse = 3/5 = 0.6 Tan = Opposite divided by Adjacent = 4/3 = 1.33 recurring It is possible to work out which angle would produce each of those ratios, but it’s pretty advanced. Before calculators, schoolboys used log books, where the answers had been worked out and could be checked or confirmed. Today, you’ll probably use the Sin button – inverse sine – to turn that ratio back into an angle. Sin x = 0.8 x = inverse sin (Sin ) of 0.8 = 53° Now that we’ve covered the basics of trig – back to our tree. We have the base of the triangle. However, we don’t know the height of the tree, nor the hypotenuse. We need to know an angle. For this, we use a protractor, a pencil and a blob of Blu Tack. Lie on the grass and get as low as you can with the protractor. (We found we couldn’t lay it right on the ground because we couldn’t get an eye low enough to look along the pencil and see the top of the tree.) Holding it steady and just off the ground, raise the pencil until the tip points at the top of the tree. Read off the angle – in our example it was 50°. We still couldn’t use sine or cosine (Sin or Cos) as we didn’t know the hypotenuse. However, we could use the Tan ratio to discover the missing height. Tan 50° = Opposite (h for height) divided by Adjacent (60) Tan of 50° is 1.19 (to two decimal places), which we can plug into the equation: 1.19 = h/60 To get h alone, we still have to do something about that ‘divided by 60’. You may know that an equation means two sides that are equal. You can double one side and, as long as you do the same to the other side, it’s still equal. So 2x = 4 is the same as 4x = 8. If we multiply both sides by 60, that will make the ‘divided by 60’ disappear – and leave just h: the height of the tree. 1.19 ? 60 = h So 71.4 = h That figure of 71.4 is in yards, of course. We’d multiply that by three to put it in feet – a mature Douglas fir that turned out to be 214ft tall. Just to be clear, 60 yards is approximately 54m. (It’s actually 54.864m, so a little over.) To prove it works, we’ll use the metre figure here. If we plug that into the same equation, the answer comes out in metres. Tan 50° = Opposite (h) divided by Adjacent (54.864) 1.19 = h/54.864 1.19 ? 54.864 = h (in metres) h = 65.288m Or in feet: 1.19 ? 180 = h h = 214ft tall Now, this wasn’t as precise as we’d have liked – that angle will always be a best estimate and it’s a key number. However, the basic idea – pace off 60 yards, estimate the angle and use Tan x = Opposite divided by Adjacent to find a height you can’t reach otherwise – is not beyond you. Finally, you could estimate the key angle by kneeling and raising an outstretched arm. Remember to tell those around you that it’s not a Nazi salute. That could be really important. HOW TO START A FIRE WITH A BATTERY (#ulink_78acb5f1-d816-54c1-ab7b-6a1cebf5f718) Quick and easy, this one. You’ll need a packet of chewing gum, a battery and ideally a pair of scissors, though at a pinch you could tear it carefully. Chewing gum usually comes wrapped in a piece of paper-backed foil. You’ll have to try this a few times before you find the width that works, but you want to cut or tear the foil into this sort of shape. Foil on one side, paper on the other. The electricity in an ordinary AA battery cannot overwhelm the full width of foil – but it can set a narrow strip of paper on fire, where it is in contact with the foil. Test it a few times first, then assemble something flammable, such as a shred of tissue paper or, you know, a small piece of firelighter. Attach one end of the foil to either terminal of the battery, put it in position and touch the other end to the second terminal. With a little luck, it should burn through the paper layer. Alternatively, try a little wire wool rubbed across the terminals of a 9v battery. We teased out a bit of Brillo Pad. You may be thinking, with some justification, that if you have the foresight to bring a battery and some chewing gum or steel wool with you, you might as well just bring a box of matches. Wire wool can be lit with those matches to help you start a fire, after all. However, that would be missing the point entirely. The nice thing about this is that you will have learned something interesting. The actual lighting of the fire is fiddly and secondary. And you never know, there might come a time when all you have is a battery and a bit of wrapper – and perhaps a firelighter. That is worth a little forward planning. This page is that forward planning. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LAW – PART ONE (#ulink_655a9ff3-01b6-5cd5-8e41-1315158e397e) PhotoEdit/Alamy Stock Photo 1. Can the Queen be charged with a crime? (#ulink_2a8a9793-6b9f-5a73-893f-4864e1ca77c3) 2. Is treason still a crime? (#ulink_03bccd77-0f20-5dc1-bfb4-9d49318d0890) 3. When can the police stop and search you? (#ulink_c866c35b-2b91-5159-b5a5-55340281f45e) 4. What is the highest court authority in Britain? (#ulink_537d9769-0960-5f38-8527-38552cee3fd0) 5. Can you be tried twice for the same crime? (#ulink_a0ebecb8-8f58-52ad-85ac-8ae2d77d52f9) Ignorance is no defence under the law, so it isn’t enough to say, ‘I didn’t know it was illegal!’ If you don’t know anything about the laws of the land, there will be times when you are effectively helpless. Not everyone has the time or capacity to learn all the ins and outs of the law and its procedures, of course. That is why solicitors and barristers exist – as experts in their field. In recent years, attempts have been made to make the law more accessible, by replacing Latin terms such as ‘plaintiff’, ‘writ’ and ‘in camera’ with ‘claimant’, ‘claim’ and ‘in private’. As you might guess, we think that’s a shame. Yet regardless of the language used, there will always be a need for expert defence and prosecution. It seems to us that we should all know a few basics. Our usual explanation in this book is that some knowledge is ‘a joy to own for its own sake’. Yet knowledge of the law might be worth rather more, in the right circumstances. 1 CAN THE QUEEN BE CHARGED WITH A CRIME? (#ulink_655a9ff3-01b6-5cd5-8e41-1315158e397e) It is a fairly well-known principle that the Queen cannot be prosecuted with a criminal offence. She also cannot be arrested, interviewed in a police station or even stopped by the police and spoken to. She is quite literally above the law, and for good reason. As well as being our monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is also our head of state (and head of state for many other countries). It is very common that heads of state enjoy immunity from prosecution, one of the primary reasons being to protect the country from scandal and embarrassment. The only sitting monarch to be charged with a crime was Charles I, in 1649. He was famously charged with crimes against his own people and executed, following the end of the English Civil War. Parliament established the High Court of Justice to try Charles I for treason, the justification being that the king had made war and a secret pact with the Scots, which had led to great loss of life. The trial was prosecuted by the first solicitor general of England, John Cook, who came from a Leicestershire farming family. Following the English Restoration of 1660, which saw Charles II (Charles I’s son) take the throne, a new law was passed that condemned the revolution and its protagonists. Brilliantly named the ‘Indemnity and Oblivion Act’, this piece of legislation delegitimised the entire period following Charles I’s execution up until the Restoration. John Cook, alongside all those who had officiated over the trial of King Charles, was named by the Act as traitor and convicted of regicide. The penalty for such a crime? Cook was hanged, drawn and quartered. He is, however, peerless in legal history as the first lawyer to prosecute a head of state, an event seen by many as the foundation stone of modern international criminal law. The closest any modern monarch has come to a brush with the courts was King George V (our current Queen’s grandfather), who in 1910 was accused of bigamy by a republican newspaper. He sued the paper for libel and was apparently prepared to give evidence. However, the attorney general advised that it would be unconstitutional and that put an end to it. The journalist, Edward Mylius, was convicted regardless and sentenced to twelve months in prison. Unfortunately for them, the Queen’s wider family do not enjoy the same untouchable status as Elizabeth II. Her daughter, Anne, the Princess Royal, was once summonsed to appear at Slough Magistrates’ Court for speeding. In the absence of a revolution, however, it is almost unimaginable that we will ever see the Queen anywhere near a courtroom. Parliament could, of course, change the law in this area if they wished, although they would need the Queen’s assent to pass the Act, so that’s not very likely either! 2 IS TREASON STILL A CRIME? (#ulink_655a9ff3-01b6-5cd5-8e41-1315158e397e) Treason is a crime committed against the Crown and is one of the most infamous and serious crimes a person can face. The original common-law offence was brought into law by the Treason Act 1351. One of the oldest laws still in force in the UK today, it defines treason as: Compassing the Death of the King, Queen, or their eldest Son; violating the Queen, or the King’s eldest Daughter unmarried, or his eldest Son’s Wife; levying War; adhering to the King’s Enemies; killing the Chancellor, Treasurer, or Judges in Execution of their Duty. Perhaps the most famous traitor in British history is Guy Fawkes, who was brutally tortured and then executed in 1606 for his part in the Gunpowder Plot. The event is still marked today on 5 November, Bonfire Night. The last person to be hanged in this country for the offence of high treason was a man called William Brooke Joyce (aka Lord Haw-Haw), in 1946, for ‘adhering to the King’s enemies’ by spreading Nazi propaganda during WWII. This was despite Joyce being an American citizen at the time and therefore technically not one of the King’s subjects. The introduction of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 reduced the maximum penalty for an offence of treason in the UK to one of life imprisonment. The offence of ‘high treason’ has not been used since the war and more recent high-profile prosecutions for behaviour that the public might consider ‘treasonous’ have tended to rely on other offences of a similar nature, such as breaching the Official Secrets Act. One of the most famous cases of recent times was that of the former British spy George Blake, who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union between 1953 and 1961, after being taken prisoner during the Korean War. He was caught and sentenced to forty-two years in prison, the longest sentence in British history at the time – said to represent a year for the life of each MI6 agent he had given up to the Russians. Blake managed to escape from Wormwood Scrubs prison and fled to Russia soon afterwards. However, despite the range of modern sentences available, if a British subject made a direct attempt on the Queen’s life today, then he or she could very well expect to be charged and convicted with the offence of high treason. 3 WHEN CAN THE POLICE STOP AND SEARCH YOU? (#ulink_655a9ff3-01b6-5cd5-8e41-1315158e397e) The main powers of the police come from the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, normally referred to as PACE. Section 1 of PACE confers powers on police to stop and search any person where they have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the person may be carrying a weapon, illegal drugs or stolen property. They can even search you for perfectly legal items such as a crowbar or screwdriver, if they have grounds to suspect that it is intended to be used in a crime (referred to as ‘going equipped’). In the year up to March 2017, the Metropolitan Police carried out over 137,000 stop and searches in London alone and it remains an effective tool in the fight against drug-related violent crime. A police officer may stop you in the street and ask you what your name is and where you are going, and there is nothing to say that you must stop and answer him. If you choose not to, and there is no other reason to suspect anything is wrong, then the police have no right to search you. However, refusing to answer these questions may give the police ‘reasonable suspicion’ that you have some criminal reason for not wanting to speak to them. It is therefore normally advisable to cooperate with the police, unless of course you really are hiding something. Perhaps it’s also worth pointing out that the police do a very difficult job, during which they often deal with angry, rude and violent people. It doesn’t hurt you to be courteous and polite when dealing with a police officer – and it might help. 4 WHAT IS THE HIGHEST COURT AUTHORITY IN BRITAIN? (#ulink_655a9ff3-01b6-5cd5-8e41-1315158e397e) For centuries the highest court in Britain was the House of Lords. Sometimes confused with its namesake, the parliamentary House of Lords, this was in fact the supreme court in Britain until 2009. It was originally a court intended to try peers of the realm (lords who had been charged with crimes), as well as being a court of last resort in the UK and across the Commonwealth. In 2009, many of the judicial functions of the House of Lords were transferred to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which is the highest court authority for anything governed by English, Welsh and Northern Irish law, as well as for any matters in Scottish civil law. The ‘Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’ remains the highest appellate court for a number of Commonwealth countries and Crown dependencies (such as the Falkland Islands). While the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, Britain has been a member of the European Economic Community (later the EU) since 1973 and has therefore been subject to the rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). However, the supremacy of the European Courts has always sat uneasily with the UK’s unique, largely unwritten constitution and the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. Many have argued that being subject to the ECJ fundamentally undermines a central tenet of the British constitution, while others point to the fact that Parliament could, ultimately, withdraw the UK from the EU at any time, thus preserving its sovereignty. At the time of writing, it is impossible to say whether EU law will still apply in the UK after 2019. 5 CAN YOU BE TRIED TWICE FOR THE SAME CRIME? (#ulink_655a9ff3-01b6-5cd5-8e41-1315158e397e) For centuries a legal principle existed in the UK that prevented a defendant being retried for the same offence, or a similar offence arising out of the same facts, if he or she had already faced trial and been acquitted. However, that rule was removed by the Criminal Justice Act, introduced in April 2005, which allows the Crown Prosecution Service to reopen cases where ‘new and compelling’ evidence comes to light. There have been several cases where defendants acquitted of serious crimes, such as murder or involvement in organised crime, have given interviews to the press and even written books in which they appear to admit their crimes. However, this evidence is often inadmissible in court, so cannot be used to reopen old cases. The development of DNA techniques, however, as well as other digital forensic investigation tools, means that prosecutors can now re-examine serious cases in which they suspect a miscarriage of justice, such as the murder of Julie Hogg by her boyfriend Billy Dunlop in 1986. Dunlop was acquitted after two juries failed to reach verdicts, meaning that he could not be prosecuted again for the crime. Knowing this, Dunlop confessed to having killed Hogg to a prison guard while serving a sentence for assault. He was also reported to have confessed the crime to Judge Michael Taylor during a closed family hearing following the criminal trials. The double-jeopardy principle meant that he could only be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice at his original trial, for which he received a six-year sentence. Following the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act, however, Dunlop became the first person ever to be convicted of an offence in the UK having previously been acquitted. CHESS OPENINGS (#ulink_c9cd0c1f-b7e3-5756-83a8-cd7745fd9350) A chess opening is a pattern of moves that has been proven over time to create a strong attack or defence. The idea is both to control the centre of the board and to create an opportunity to castle. Which opening you use depends on the responses of the opponent, with nearly infinite variations. The idea here is to learn and practise four or five of them, so as to be able to develop any opening position. That said, former world champion Bobby Fischer began every white game with pawn e2-e4. He considered that the perfect opening move. There was a chapter on the basics of chess in the first Dangerous Book. Unfortunately, with the constraints of space, the only classic opening we were able to include was ‘The King’s Indian’. For that reason, we have not included it here. We’ll use the standard modern description of a board, with ‘a’ to ‘h’ across from the left and 1–8 up. (Always begin with a white corner in the bottom right.) So ‘e2-e4’ would mean the fifth white pawn from the left, moving forward two places. (A lot of chess books use shorthand such as ‘e4’ to describe the same move.) As both knights and kings begin with the letter ‘k’, knight moves are usually written with an ‘N’ such as ‘Nf3’ or ‘Nc6’. For those, there will be only one knight that can reach the square RUY LOPEZ One of the quickest and easiest openings in three white moves. 1 White opens with pawn e2-e4. Black counters with pawn e7-e5. 2 White moves knight Nf3, attacking the black pawn. Black responds with Nc6, protecting the pawn. 3 White brings out the bishop to b5, to attack the black knight on c6. That’s it. The Ruy Lopez (pronounced ‘Roy’) is a favourite of Garry Kasparov. It does, however, usually lead to the exchange of knight and bishop. THE ENGLISH OPENING Most openings begin with the white pawn move e2-e4 or d2-d4. That’s because those moves begin to control the central four squares and open a path to move a bishop – allowing you to castle on king or queen side. Set up a board and have a look at the opportunities that come from each move. The English Opening is so named because it was a popular first move among English players in the 19th century, including Howard Staunton. You are probably using a set with pieces named after him as they are now the standard design. However, it is not a weak or old-fashioned opening. It was used by Fabiano Caruana in round ten of the 2016 world championship, to defeat former world champion Viswanathan Anand. 1 Pawn c2-c4 – that’s it. One move. In the Caruana vs. Anand game, Anand as black replied by going for the centre squares with pawn e7-e5. White brought up a knight Nc3, which was echoed by black with Nf6. White Nf3, black Nc6 – all knights out. White (Caruana) then brought up another pawn at g2-g3 – and the game develops. The English Opening has the advantage of surprising opponents who are not used to a flank attack on the centre. Back almost two hundred years ago, Staunton also tended to bring out his knight behind the c4 pawn and develop the pawn on g2 to g3. THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT This is one of the most popular openings because of its quick attack and then constant pressure on black. It is an opening for players who like to play white aggressively. 1 Pawn d2-d4, answered by black’s pawn d7-d5. So far, nothing too shocking. 2 White moves pawn c2-c4 – allowing it to be taken by the black pawn. The idea is to develop white rapidly, at the expense of a pawn, while black loses a move of its development to take that pawn: ‘Queen’s Gambit Accepted’. It’s a trade-off and it’s risky. White will then reply by moving the pawn on e2-e3, which defends the pawn on d4 and attacks the black pawn. It’s not easy for black to protect that pawn and it mucks up his whole development trying. However, black can also defend that pawn on d5 with a pawn to e6. White can then exchange pawns. The Queen’s Gambit is an interesting opening and well worth including in your range. THE NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENCE So far, we’ve dealt with white openings, but, of course, there are also black openings – defences. The Nimzo-Indian Defence (developed by Aron Nimzowitsch 1886–1935) is a good example of the class of black openings known as ‘Indian’ defences. They were first developed by Moheschunder Bannerjee in the 19th century. The Nimzo-Indian, Bogo-Indian and Queen’s Indian are all in response to a pawn d2-d4 opening by white. 1 Pawn d2-d4 by white. Black responds with Nf6 – knight to f6. 2 Pawn c2-c4 by white. Black moves pawn e7-e6. Those two exchanges are the opening moves of all ‘Indian’ defences. The Nimzo variation looks a little bit like the Ruy Lopez attack. 3. If white moves Nc3 – knight to c3 – black can bring the bishop across to pin the knight. The white attack has been disrupted. Black usually takes the knight on c3, for the advantage of doubling white’s pawns. Indian Defence Nimzo-Indian Defence THE SICILIAN DEFENCE This defence begins from an e2-e4 pawn opening by white. Instead of the standard response of e7-e5, black responds with c7-c5, attacking from the c file. This is known as the Dragon Variation, as the black pawns are said to look like a dragon. 1 Pawn e2-e4, Black responds with c7-c5. 2 White knight moves: Nf3. Black moves pawn d7-d6. 3 White moves pawn d2-d4. It is taken by black’s pawn: c5 x d4. 4 White takes the black pawn: N x d4. Black is still developing and moves: Nf6. 5 White moves up second knight: Nc3. Black responds with pawn g7-g6. Sicilian Defence after two opening moves Further developed: five moves The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence was one often used by Bobby Fischer. It is exactly the same until move five, when instead of the g7-g6 pawn move, a pawn is moved a7-a6 instead. There is also an attack on the foremost white knight with the black pawn move e7-e5. You get better at chess by playing, but also by learning successful strategies. Get to know these. Use them as often as you can and enjoy the games that result. GREAT BRITISH TREES (#ulink_2c3bcc0d-be3f-5536-a7f2-cee95f9458d7) David Pearson/Alamy Stock Photo; Inset. Kefca/Shutterstock.com There is a chapter on trees in the original Dangerous Book, but despite astonishing variety, we managed to include only eight: the oak, the lime, the hawthorn, the silver birch, the beech, the horse chestnut, the sycamore and the ash. They are good ones, but space prevented the inclusion of more – something we can remedy with another six here, bringing the total to fourteen. With thanks to the Woodland Trust, a charity that protects ancient woodland and plants new ones. YEW Taxus baccata Evergreen and extremely long-lived, with dense foliage that can be shaped into a hedge. Highly poisonous and traditionally believed to ward off evil spirits, which is one reason why they are often planted in churchyards. Ancient yews are slightly eerie to encounter. The most famous use of their wood is in the longbows of English and Welsh archers, so they have a powerful historical association. WILLOW Not only are cricket bats, baskets, fences and chairs made from flexible willow, but its bark contains salicylic acid, which is better known as aspirin. It was the world’s first painkiller and anti-fever agent. For that alone, it would be a wonder – but also, see cricket bats. The two most common varieties are the crack willow (Salix fragilis), which has twigs that break with a crack sound, and the white willow (Salix alba), which has pale undersided leaves and more flexible twigs. Usually found near water. M?ller/McPhoto/Alamy Stock Photo; Inset. Florapix/Alamy Stock Photo LONDON PLANE Worth including here as it is found in every London park and places such as Berkeley Square, though few other places. It is not a native breed, but a hybrid of the Oriental plane (Platanus orientalis) and the American plane (Platanus occidentalis) – imported in the 16th and 17th centuries respectively. Distinctive speckled bark. Planted in huge numbers in the 19th century to help soak up pollution. Sometimes called the ‘lungs’ of London. Mark Zytynski/Alamy Stock Photo; Inset. Manor Photography/Alamy Stock Photo ROWAN Sorbus aucuparia Known to the Greeks and sacred to the druids, this ancient British tree hangs heavy with red berries when all else has gone to winter. The berries are inedible in large quantities to humans, but loved by birds. The trees have been associated with protection and magic for thousands of years. They were often planted near houses to keep witches away. One friend of ours has rowan trees on three sides of his house, but cannot prevent his aunties getting in through the front door. Geoff Smith/Alamy Stock Photo; Inset. FLPA/Alamy Stock Photo SCOTS PINE Pinus sylvestris Ancient pine with blue-green needles. Native to Scotland and found mainly in the Highlands. Adopted as the official tree of Scotland in 2014, they can grow to 120ft tall (36m). They are home to red squirrels, wildcats, pine martens, owls and capercaillies – the largest member of the grouse family. As with oaks, each mature tree is a village. Arterra Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo; Inset. Rootstock/Shutterstock.com HORNBEAM Carpinus betulus An ancient hardwood tree, native to south-east England. The name means ‘hard tree’. Looks similar to beech, as the bark is smooth and grey, though hornbeam leaves are double-toothed, spikier, with much more pronounced ridges. Grows surprisingly quickly for such a hard wood, and so densely it also makes a good hedge, though unlike a beech hedge, it loses all leaves in winter. hornbeam Mark Zytynski/Alamy Stock Photo hornbeam leaves Nic Murray/Alamy Stock Photo beech (left), hornbeam (right) Courtesy of the author HANGING TOOLS ON A WALL (#ulink_9cbec124-996d-52d6-8784-05909cb119bf) Courtesy of the author One day, with a little luck, you’ll have a workshop to call your own. It might be a shed, with a workbench, a vice and a range of tools, or the wall of a garage perhaps. You’ll use the space for little jobs – it is amazing how vital a single vice can be. You’ll plane a pine shelf in there, or rewire a plug, or repair the base of a door where it went rotten and had to be cut out. Each job will require its own tools and slowly you’ll build up a collection. You’ll get a set of chisels and find you use the half-inch one for almost everything. You’ll buy a massive hammer and discover it’s too big for knocking in small tacks. Piece by piece, you will put together a set capable of handling most jobs. Here is a list of the tools you’d hope to find in any workshop set: tenon saw, coping saw, jigsaw (powered), rip saw, hacksaw; inch, half-inch and quarter-inch chisels; sharpening stone and sharpening jig to hold the chisel steady; G-clamps in varying sizes, sash clamps, grip clamps that can be fastened with a pumping action; sander (powered), as well as a box of sandpaper in various grades; two or three Phillips or cross-head screwdrivers; two or three flat-bladed screwdrivers in different sizes; a wooden mallet and a couple of different-size hammers up to 23oz; a wood and steel try square, a metal ruler, spirit levels – short and long; needle-nosed and blunt-nosed pliers; pincers, a punch; marking gauge, planes long and short; drill (powered) and various drill bits; box of miscellaneous screws; carpenter’s pencils for marking wood; kneepads to wear while kneeling on the floor. Also, a socket set will be useful for a thousand jobs. That’s a decent start. Altogether, it costs a fortune, but, of course, they are built up in single purchases over many years. High-quality tools are also often inherited. They should be kept oiled, clean and in the open, so they’re not found rusted and ruined years later. Warning: If a man buys a pair of first-class boots, he will pay more than for the cheapest ones, but be warm and secure for ten or twenty years. The man who bought the cheapest boots will have to replace them as they break apart – over and over and over. In the end, he will spend more on bad boots than the first spent on good ones – and he’ll have wet feet. Good boots are an investment – and so are good tools. There are very cheap tools out there, made of such poor metal alloys that they can bend or even snap. This is an area – to be delicate – where better results can be found when buying an adjustable spanner made in England in the 1900s rather than some modern ones. The concept of cheap, replaceable items is an invention of the second half of the 20th century. Bear that in mind. Good-quality tools can be found in car-boot sales or auctions for very little. If you need new, go for better-quality brands like Stanley, Crown, Vaughan or Lie-Nielsen. The tools will cost more than the cheapest possible alternatives, but they will last a lifetime. As with the boots, that is cheaper in the end. Some of these tools come in their own plastic boxes. These can be fussy and annoying to open. The best system of storage is still to hang the tools on a flat wall in plain sight and arm’s reach. There must be hundreds of different ways to do it. In America, for example, boards with metal pins are very popular, as well as being easy to attach and set up. There is nothing wrong with that. This chapter aims to give some ideas about hanging tools using bits of pine and brass screws. Making the holders does, of course, involve sharp tools like chisels, so this might be a job for dads. Each piece took a while to shape and hang, but the results look pretty good, and frankly there is something satisfying about seeing them in place. (We use the word ‘satisfying’ a lot in this book, because it is a feeling not of joy or excitement, but of a craft learned or a job well done. That is worth something.) All of the holders are attached to a sheet of five-ply. It’s cheap and easy to shape. We bought a large sheet and sawed it into two pieces. Those were attached to a brick wall. (Drill holes with a power drill and a masonry bit. Insert plastic Rawlplug. One screw in each corner will hold immense weight. In this case, we also used white plastic cuffs on the screws for the look of the thing.) THE SAWS Four of the five saws in the picture (here (#ulink_9f93bb64-02fb-5631-8f6c-c16c30b3f593)) are held with some sort of oval shape attached to the wall with a single screw. (Note that all of these screws were ‘countersunk’, that is, the original holes were drilled, then a new drill bit was swapped in to widen the top. That meant the screw could sit flush, and frankly it looks neater. It’s time-consuming to keep swapping the drill bits, but we think it’s worth it.) The ovals had to be cut to fit the saw. We did this quickly and crudely. Laying the saw on a pine plank, we put a pencil through the handle onto the wood and drew the oval. As it was a curved shape, we used an electric jigsaw to cut out the oval – and an electric sander held upside down in a vice to sand the edges. Please note that a jigsaw is one of the most dangerous tools in a workshop. You’re cutting a line in a sheet of wood, but you often can’t see beneath it. You’ll need clamps to hold the wood steady – and you need to be sure you don’t send one of your fingers flying into the air. Once the oval was formed, we put a small pilot hole through into the plywood sheet behind. We then countersunk the hole and screwed in a brass screw. (Get one colour of screw for this. It looks better.) Some of the saws were left hanging down, but for the look of it and to save space, we wanted to keep this one horizontal. To do that, we cut a rectangle of pine. Two countersunk holes straight into the plywood would hold it in place. The only extra work was the trench for the saw blade. We held the piece in a vice and made two shallow cuts with a tenon saw, then chiselled it out. Strictly speaking, it would have been fine without that trench, but it’s … satisfying to take time and get it right. THE MALLET To hold the wooden mallet in place, we used three pieces of pine. All these pieces were made using the same cheap planking. For each one, we’d just cut whatever we needed, usually with a tenon saw or the jigsaw. In this case, we sawed off two short pieces, which then had countersunk pilot holes drilled in them. Pine can snap really easily along its grain, especially near the edge. In many ways it’s a terrible wood, but it’s cheap and it does work. The main bar was just a simple rectangle, with a trench cut in it for the hammer handle. We placed the handle up against the piece of pine and drew a pencil line on it to show where to saw, then chiselled out the trench. Sandpaper was always on hand to smooth rough edges – another thing that is a lot easier with pine than, say, oak. We attached the two top pieces to the main bar before putting the holder onto the wall. Glue would work, of course, though screws are faster than waiting for glue to set. Held by single screws, they can obviously still move. That’s fine. If the screw is tightened, they’ll remain in place without needing adjustment. THE TRY SQUARES These tools – used for measuring and scribing angles – are held by two pieces. The first is a narrow bar of pine, held in place with two screws. In the centre, we cut and shaped a little tab of pine. On a single screw, the idea was that it could be moved open and shut if necessary, to remove the tool. That worked surprisingly well, though we had to take great care not to snap the thing along its length. To make it, we cut a narrow strip of pine, sawed it across to make a short piece, then sanded the edge to a curve by holding it against an electric sander. THE SPIRIT LEVEL We used a similar set-up to hold one of the spirit levels. For this, though, we decided the central tab shouldn’t move. We used two pieces to build out a ‘shelf’ to the right width to hold the level, then attached the final tab using a shallow trench chiselled out, so that it couldn’t turn. It’s probably a bit fussy, but it’s an old spirit level and we didn’t want it to fall off just because someone slammed a door. COPING SAWS Coping saws are useful. They cut around corners and are excellent for delicate work such as dovetail joints. (The narrow blades do snap, though, so keep spares. There’s nothing worse than having your last blade snap on a Sunday afternoon, with no shops open.) For these, we cut a piece of pine as you can see in the cross-section image. Hold in a vice and make two saw cuts that meet. Leave enough room for a couple of screws to attach it to the wall and you have a nice wooden lip. THE HAMMER AND RIP SAW The big 23oz hammer and the rip saw are held with pegs. For this we went to a DIY store and bought pine dowel, then sawed it into pieces. We needed a much bigger drill bit to put the holes in the plywood sheet. We held the saw to the wall and marked the positions where the pegs would go – using a spirit level to make sure the saw hung straight down as well. With a little sanding and shaping, we glued the dowel pegs in place, tapping them in gently with the wooden mallet – and then hitting them really hard when ‘gently’ had no effect whatsoever. THE CHISELS The most complicated holder is the one we made for the chisels. We shaped two opposite side pieces with a jigsaw. We cut a trench in each one to support the shelf, but had no screws long enough to go through the wide bottom section, so added a lower bar. We were able to attach that with screws at both ends and then also attach it to the plywood behind. The chisels drop down into square holes we marked at regular intervals. A lot of careful marking, measuring and pencilling was required to make these. Pleasingly, we used the chisels themselves to cut their own slots. We also tapped a few nails in. Hammers can have a small hole drilled in the wooden shaft and be hung from a nail. Rulers and spirit levels usually come with a hole to hang them. None of this is expert-level carpentry. It’s all pretty rough and ready, but the results work. The tools are all within reach, exactly where we left them last time. It makes life easier. Finally, we attached a shelf of pine on another wall with about twenty holes drilled in it, to hold pliers and screwdrivers. It’s enormously useful and it helps to keep clutter off the workbench from the original Dangerous Book – still going strong. INTERESTING CHEMICAL REACTIONS (#ulink_da773aa8-43f9-5e20-bbf6-5edfc96c9ea9) Courtesy of the author Chemical reactions can be extremely dangerous. Read these for interest, but either don’t try them or get an adult involved and accept that trying them comes with risk. You should wear goggles, masks and gloves when using potentially toxic chemicals. One difficulty of writing the first Dangerous Book was getting hold of chemicals. Even for something simple like growing crystals, finding a reliable source for copper sulphate or potassium permanganate was almost impossible. Since then, the website eBay will supply all sorts of interesting chemicals – for a price. As a test, we bought pieces of sodium and potassium. These metals react so violently with water that they have to be kept under oil – just the moisture in air will cause them to combust. You may have seen them used in school chemistry labs: tiny pieces dropped into a bowl of water to fizz around and glow purple or orange. In comparison, dropping a large piece into a drinks bottle half-full of water will cause it to explode after two or three seconds. Do not try that. If you do try that, make sure you run a long way and are safely behind something; learning about the properties of sodium and potassium is interesting, but it should not be at the expense of eyes or fingers. Please be clear about this: the man who invented the stunt kite became a recluse when he heard a boy had been carried off a cliff by one of his kites – a death that would not have happened if not for his invention. If in doubt, don’t do it. Without resorting to the internet, some things found around the home can also be made to react in interesting ways. Of course, sometimes a reaction is just setting something on fire. 1 FLAMING BUBBLES This first one should not be tried without adult supervision. It involves large bursts of flame and, frankly, of the eight or ten times we tried it for this chapter, we almost set the house on fire twice and actually did burn all the hair off our fingers and forearms. It was spectacular, but come to think of it, just do not try this inside. Or at all. We used a kitchen bowl half-filled with water, some liquid soap, a box of matches and some butane gas of the sort that refills cigarette lighters. It’s available from any supermarket. Upturn the butane gas in the water and press the nozzle against the bottom of the bowl. The gas will form large bubbles in the soap – exactly like a bubble bath, but, you know, filled with highly flammable gas. Wet your hand in cold water. Do not forget to do this. Move away from the bowl. On the two occasions we nearly set fire to the kitchen, it was when we forgot to move clear of the bowl and the butane-filled spatters of foam on the kitchen counter. Touch a match to the bubbles. The flame burns bright and large, but if you remembered to wet your hand, you won’t be burned before the flame is out. Probably. 2 MATCH AND MATCH, OR MATCH AND CANDLE This is fiddly, but nice when it works. When you blow out a candle or a match, a line of smoke rises in a curling grey/white line. That line can be set on fire, so that the flame travels back down and relights the candle or match below. This could easily take half a dozen attempts. We suggest you never try this on a date, or at a formal dinner table. Not because of fumes or setting something on fire. It just might suggest you are not completely focused on the event. Courtesy of the author 3 THE FIRE SNAKE This next one is pretty spectacular, though the main ingredients can be found in most kitchens. Now, it can be done indoors, in theory. It smells quite pleasant, like burned sugar or toasted marshmallows. It does involve flame and considerable heat, however, so there is always a chance you will burn the house down. Outdoors on a windless day might be a better idea. You may have seen versions of it in indoor fireworks sets. We’ll call it the Ram’s Horn, or possibly the Dragon’s Tail. Or the Fire Snake. You’ll need some ordinary sand, lighter fluid and a kitchen cereal bowl. The bowl will get hot, so stand it on something solid, like a piece of tile. We used an old wooden chopping board. Courtesy of the author Fill the bowl almost to the brim with the sand and pack it down. Scoop out the centre, or mould the sand so the centre is lower than the edges. Take 10g (?oz) of bicarbonate of soda (ordinary baking soda) and mix it with 40g (1?oz) of ordinary white sugar. Use a cup or any container for the mixture. Squirt lighter fluid onto the sand until it is dark and wet with it. Be generous – it’s not easy or advisable to add more later. When you have drenched the sand in the bowl, pour in the mixture of baking soda and sugar – doing your best to keep it to the centre of the bowl. The ideal is a cone shape. Narrower cones will create longer snakes – or horns. Or dragon’s tails. With a match, touch a flame to the lighter fluid. There is no going back from this point. What happens will take up to half an hour. The heat will ignite the mixture. A snake (or possibly a ram’s horn) of thick black ash rises slowly out of the bowl and begins to curl on itself. The ash is actually cool to the touch, but the bowl is not, so be careful not to get burned poking at it. You’ll be able to get different widths of snake (or tail) with different cone diameters of the baking powder/sugar mix, but keep the same ratio of 1:4 as it works well. Courtesy of the author After half an hour, the bubbling comes to an end. By then, the ash should be about eighteen inches to two feet long (45–60cm). It is a thing of awe. Courtesy of the author The ash is formed from carbon dioxide released when the baking soda is heated – the burning sugar caramelises and creates the ash, while the baking powder inflates it. When the flames have gone out, you can usually lift the entire snake (or dragon’s tail) away from the bowl. Take it outside if you are overcome with the desire to squish it, however. REGIMENTS of the BRITISH ARMY (#ulink_f77859ca-3ad7-594d-b6b6-a1b6cbeac34f) It seems to us that there is a certain quiet pleasure in knowing things. Whether it is that the United Kingdom has 102 counties: from Cornwall to Antrim in Northern Ireland; or that the UK has 48 police forces, including the British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. The accumulation of knowledge is one of life’s subtle joys. Here, for that reason, is a list of British Army regiments, correct at the time of writing. These things do change, of course. Most of these regiments were formed from one or more older ones, either to reduce costs or to answer modern requirements of warfare, reconnaissance, defence and peacekeeping roles. For reasons of space, we have been able to include only a few of the cap badges and mottos. For those who would like more information, we recommend Charles Heyman’s excellent British Army Guide, which is produced each year. The total for Army, Navy and Royal Air Force is approximately 150,000 serving men and women. Of these, 84,000 are in the British Army. CAVALRY THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY Life Guards, and Blues and Royals. Formed in 17th century by King Charles II. Current Commander-in-Chief: Queen Elizabeth II. (On operations, they become the Household Cavalry Regiment and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment – armoured fighting vehicles.) 1ST THE QUEEN’S DRAGOON GUARDS Light armoured cavalry vehicles. Amalgamated from two 1685 regiments in 1959. Dragoons were originally mounted infantry who would dismount to fight, but became light cavalry units. The origin of the name could be from draconarius, a Roman standard-bearer. Alternatively, they were named after the short muskets, or ‘dragons’, carried by horse soldiers. THE ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS Formed in 1971 by amalgamation of ancient regiments. Through one of them, the Royal Scots Greys, this is the oldest cavalry line regiment in the British Army. Victorious at Waterloo against Napoleon. THE ROYAL DRAGOON GUARDS Formed in 1992 from the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, the 5th Dragoon Guards, the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons and the 7th Dragoon Guards, regiments dating back to 1685–1689. Served in Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. Motto: QUIS SEPARABIT – ‘Who shall separate us?’ THE QUEEN’S ROYAL HUSSARS Formed in 1993 from the Queen’s Own and the Royal Irish. Challenger 2 tanks. Winston Churchill joined the Hussars as a young man. THE ROYAL LANCERS (Queen Elizabeth’s Own). Raised in 1715, they are the last regiment to retain the word ‘Lancers’ – referring to the ancient weapon of armoured knights. Today, they are a modern armoured cavalry reconnaissance regiment, using tracked fighting vehicles. Motto: DEATH OR GLORY. THE KING’S ROYAL HUSSARS First raised in 1715. Modern armoured regiment, using Challenger 2 tanks and Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles to seek out and destroy the enemy. THE LIGHT DRAGOONS Uses Jackal 2 armoured vehicles. Originally formed in 1759 as a fast, light cavalry unit. Took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War. 1ST ROYAL TANK REGIMENT Formed when tanks were invented by the British in WWI, this is the oldest tank regiment in the world. Uses Challenger 2 tanks as well as Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles. INFANTRY The five Foot Guard regiments all have a dual role – active service in war, and protection and guard duty in royal palaces in London and Windsor. They wear red uniforms and the famous bearskin hat – taken from Napoleon’s Guards at the Battle of Waterloo. THE GRENADIER GUARDS Active from 1656. Motto: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE – ‘Evil be to him who evil thinks’. THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS Formed 1650. The oldest continuously serving unit in the British Army. Captured New York in 1776. Motto: NULLI SECUNDUS – ‘Second to none’. THE SCOTS GUARDS Mechanised infantry. Uses Mastiff and Jackal vehicles. Motto: NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT – ‘No one attacks me with impunity’. THE IRISH GUARDS Formed in 1900 by Queen Victoria. Light and fast infantry as well as the guarding role. Motto: QUIS SEPARABIT – ‘Who shall separate us?’ THE WELSH GUARDS Formed in 1915 by King George V. Motto: WALES FOREVER. They wear a metal leek as a cap badge. Sniper rifles, machine guns and Foxhound vehicles. THE LONDON REGIMENT A Reserve regiment formed in 1908 that provides reinforcements to the five Foot Guard regiments. Sniper, heavy machine gun, mortar, assault rifle. THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF SCOTLAND Formed in 2006 from ancient Scottish regiments stretching back to 1633. 1ST BATTALION: The Royal Scots Borderers 2ND BATTALION: The Royal Highland Fusiliers 3RD BATTALION: The Black Watch 4TH BATTALION: The Highlanders – mechanised infantry 5TH BATTALION: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 6TH BATTALION RESERVE: 52nd Lowland 7TH BATTALION RESERVE: 51st Highland THE PRINCESS OF WALES’S ROYAL REGIMENT – ‘The Tigers’. Formed in 1992 as an amalgamation of regiments going back to 1572. Warrior and Bulldog vehicles. Mortars and machine guns. THE ROYAL REGIMENT OF FUSILIERS Modern regiment created in 1968. Originally raised in 1674, named after the ‘fusil’ musket. THE ROYAL ANGLIAN REGIMENT Light infantry. Formed in 1964 from regiments that went back to 1685. Based in Woolwich, London, and Cyprus. THE DUKE OF LANCASTER’S REGIMENT – ‘Kingsmen’. Raised in 1680 by Charles II. Modern regiment formed in 2006. Uses Jackal 2 vehicles, as well as mortars, grenade machine gun and heavy machine gun. Note red rose of Lancaster. Motto: NEC ASPERA TERRENT – ‘Nor do hardships terrify’, or alternatively ‘Difficulties be damned’. THE YORKSHIRE REGIMENT Originally raised in 1685. Close combat and urban operations. Uses Warrior, Foxhound and Bulldog armoured vehicles. Main weapon SA80 A2 assault rifle. Motto: FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE. Note white rose of York. THE MERCIAN REGIMENT Formed in 2007. Recruits from the English counties of the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Warrior vehicles, sniper rifles, mortars, machine guns. Motto: STAND FIRM AND STRIKE HARD. THE ROYAL WELSH Recruits primarily in Wales. Original regiments raised in 1689. Modern regiment formed in 2006. Warrior vehicles. Sniper rifles, mortars, machine guns. Motto: GWELL ANGAU NA CHYWILYDD – ‘Death before dishonour’. Also: ICH DIEN – ‘I serve’. THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT Recruits primarily in Ireland. Raised in 1689. Modern regiment formed in 1992. Motto: FAUGH A BALLAGH – ‘Clear the Way’. Uses vehicle-mounted grenade machine guns as well as SA80 assault rifles. Land Rover and Foxhound vehicles. L118 field gun of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery Andrew Chittock/Alamy Stock Photo ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘THE GUNNERS’ 1ST REGIMENT ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY Uses AS90 self-propelled artillery and armoured multiple rocket launchers. 3RD REGIMENT ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY – ‘The Liverpool and Manchester Gunners’. Uses L118 field gun. 4TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The North-East Gunners’. Uses L118 field gun. 5TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The Yorkshire Gunners’. Current role includes Surveillance and target acquisition. 7TH (PARACHUTE) REGIMENT ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY –‘The Airborne Gunners’. Uses L118 field gun. Serves in Air Assault Brigade. 12TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The Lancashire and Cumbrian Gunners’. Uses STARstreak high velocity missiles. 14TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY Provides training and support. 16TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The London and Kent Gunners’. Equipped with Rapier surface-to-air missiles. 19TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The Highland Gunners’. AS90 self-propelled and multiple-armoured rocket launchers. A Thales Watchkeeper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Andrew Chittock/Alamy Stock Photo 26TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The West Midland Gunners’. AS90 and rocket launchers. 29TH COMMANDO REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The Commando Gunners’. Provides artillery support to 3 Commando Brigade. 32ND REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The Wessex Gunners’. Unmanned aerial vehicles: war drones. 47TH REGIMENT ROYAL ARTILLERY – ‘The Hampshire and Sussex Gunners’. They operate the Thales Watchkeeper unmanned surveillance and target acquisition system. THE KING’S TROOP ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY Ceremonial regiment, based at Woolwich, London. Provides royal gun salutes on celebratory occasions. Uses 13lb WWI-era field guns. OTHER UNITS THE RIFLES Formed in 2007 from much older regiments dating back to 1685. First to wear camouflaged uniforms. 117 Victoria Crosses won. Five battalions, and three more in reserve. THE ROYAL GURKHA RIFLES Recruits only in Nepal. Modern regiment formed in 1994, amalgamating four that served the Crown for two hundred years. Based in Brunei and UK. Motto: KAATAR HUNNU BANDA MARNU RAMRO – ‘Better to die than be a coward’. Andrew Chittock/Alamy Stock Photo THE PARACHUTE REGIMENT – ‘The Red Devils’. Formed in 1942. Airborne assault infantry. Motto: UTRINQUE PARATUS – ‘Ready for anything’. THE SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS) Special Forces. Founded in 1941. Small team and covert actions. Snipers, stealth and combat. Motto: ‘Who dares wins’. THE SPECIAL RECONNAISSANCE REGIMENT (SRR) Special Forces. Formed 2005. Surveillance and reconnaissance. Counter-terrorism. THE CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS Combat engineers or ‘Sappers’ provide support to the rest of the Army in war and peacetime. Duties include bomb disposal, bridge building, diving, communications and maintenance of armoured vehicles. The regiments are: 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th Commando, 26th, 32nd, 33rd, 35th, 36th, 39th and 42nd. THE ROYAL CORPS OF SIGNALS Formed in 1920, signals regiments deploy wherever the main army or special forces go. They are responsible for communications, digital security and electronic warfare. The signals regiments are: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 30th. THE ROYAL LOGISTIC CORPS The logistic corps provides ammunition, parts, rations, food, water and whatever else the rest of the army needs to function. The regiments are: 1st, 3rd and 4th Close Support Regiments; 6th and 7th Force Logistic Regiments; 9th Theatre Logistic Regiment; 10th Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment; 11th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment; 13th Air Assault Regiment; 17th Port and Maritime Regiment; 27th, 29th Regiments. They use heavy transport vehicles like the Mastiff. ARMY AIR CORPS Combat air support is provided by helicopters and fixed-wing planes. The regiments are 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th, and they use Apache helicopters as well as the Lynx. THE CORPS OF ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS Six battalions. They maintain all equipment, including tanks and helicopters. Motto: ARTE ET MARTE – ‘By skill and fighting’. ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS Six regiments. Formed in 1898. Non-combatant, though they may use their weapons in self-defence. Provides vital surgery for the wounded. Maintains the health of the rest of the army. Regiments are: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 16th. There are also three field hospitals: 22nd, 33rd and 34th. There are a number of other corps and services in the Army, as might be expected to administer so many, often far from home and under extreme conditions. These are: Queen Alexandra’s Royal Nursing Corps (nursing), Adjutant General’s Corps (administration), Intelligence Corps (intelligence), Royal Army Veterinary Corps (animals, mostly dogs), Small Arms School Corps (small arms training), Royal Army Dental Corps, Royal Military Police, Military Bands and the Royal Army Physical Training Corps – Motto: MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO – ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’. Finally, there is a Royal Gibraltar Regiment, defending the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. In Bermuda, the Royal Bermuda Regiment defends the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. This is not part of the British Army but can request training and operational support if needed. The Commander-in-Chief is the Bermudan Governor General. Around another 30,000 soldiers can be counted in various reserves, such as the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry, or the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, always available to be called up. ‘There is no beating these troops, in spite of their generals. I always thought them bad soldiers, now I am sure of it. I turned their right, pierced their centre, broke them everywhere; the day was mine, and yet they did not know it and would not run.’ French Marshal Soult, commenting on the British infantry as he retreated in 1811 RANKS IN THE BRITISH ARMY ‘OTHER’ OR NON-COMMISSIONED RANKS PRIVATE – Trooper, Gunner, Sapper, Kingsman etc., depending on regiment. LANCE CORPORAL – in charge of four soldiers. CORPORAL – in charge of more soldiers and equipment. SERGEANT – senior role, often second in command of thirty soldiers. STAFF OR COLOUR SERGEANT – senior role, managing 120 soldiers. WARRANT OFFICER CLASS 2 (Company Sergeant Major) – senior adviser to the Major in command of the unit. WARRANT OFFICER CLASS 1 (Regimental Sergeant Major) – senior adviser to the Commanding Officer, responsible for up to 650 men. OFFICER OR COMMISSIONED RANKS OFFICER CADET – rank held while training at Sandhurst. SECOND LIEUTENANT – first rank on being commissioned. LIEUTENANT – in command of around thirty soldiers. CAPTAIN – second in command of 120, equivalent to Roman optio. MAJOR – in command of 120, equivalent to Roman centurion. LIEUTENANT COLONEL – in command of 650. COLONEL – staff rather than field rank. BRIGADIER – commands a brigade. MAJOR GENERAL – commands a division, and Sandhurst Military Academy. LIEUTENANT GENERAL – very senior role, commands a corps. GENERAL – highest rank available to serving officers. FIELD MARSHAL – highest honorary rank. MAKING A BOARD GAME (#ulink_098b83fa-6d13-54c4-b1c8-764b8e4e6b25) Left and right. Courtesy of The Advertising Archives Many of us have looked at Monopoly or Cluedo and thought, really, how hard can it be to make something like that? The answer is a little like chess: easy to begin but hard to master. Anyone can make a board game. The question is, will you be able to persuade your family or friends to learn the rules and actually play it? Still, that’s exactly how Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit started. Those remain hugely popular today. In a world of smartphones and first-person shooter games, there still seems to be a place for a small group to sit around and compete with one another for fun. In this chapter, we aren’t going to try and invent a new form of chess, go or draughts. We’ll concentrate on classic board games, like The Game of Life, Sorry! or Risk. THE CONCEPT The basic concept should be simple – even Snakes and Ladders has its fans, and that has no structure or tactics whatsoever. As it is almost two thousand years old, though, that makes a bit of sense. They hadn’t invented Chance cards then. Snakes and Ladders has the aim of reaching a particular square, while in Monopoly players go round and round the board as difficulty increases, until someone runs out of money. We think the second form is a better model – no ‘goal’ square, but gaining money from a finite pot. People like collecting wads of cash. Pick a concept your family or friends might possibly enjoy. This is important: as soon as you decide the game is called ‘Ninja Castle’, ideas will pop up. Can you win Ninja equipment? Is the basic idea to climb through the levels? Will you need a fighting system when players encounter guards? Are you an assassin, or is that too dark for a board game – and so on. If you call it, say, Poker Master, you’ll have to work out how to incorporate poker hands into a board game. Will there be betting? Will someone have to be the dealer? You may have a lifelong interest in orchids, but will your hobby make a good theme for a board game? Probably not – though now we’re wondering if an orchid hunt through a jungle board might just be the best idea we’ve ever had. MONEY Consider the use of money. In Monopoly, money is used to purchase tokens (houses and hotels) that make life harder for the other players. Your game ‘Orchid Adventure’ (all right, we’re just running with it now) might involve the purchase of rare flower bulbs. You could then win breeding tokens and cross-breed them to form rarer and more expensive orchids, with the aim of producing truly rare specimens that would allow you to finally build your own glasshouse in Orchid Manor. However, as fun as that is beginning to sound, you also need a way to disadvantage the other players. In our example, you might be able to purchase ‘Root Rot’ cards or, better still, tokens, to be left on the board like a booby-trap, or deployed against another player at a crucial moment. (That attack might be limited further by the use of a six-sided die: roll 1 or 2, the attack succeeds; 3 or 4, no result; 5 or 6, rebounds on you. That is a 1/3 or 33.3% chance of success. Learn percentages – they’re really useful for this sort of thing.) Money, then, is not an end in itself, but a means to an end in the game. Whatever they start with, it should be possible for a player to take some from the others – perhaps at the end of each circle of the board – and then to buy something useful with it. The Monopoly hotel piece is the model for that – a token earned or won that ruins another player’s day when he or she lands on it. In a Ninja game, you might have caltrops made from paperclips, for example. DISASTERS AND REWARDS The game shouldn’t feel too arbitrary. People like to develop tactics. Our Orchid Adventure idea has scope for any number of disasters – jungle spiders, chased back down the board by local tribes, etc: all variants of the snake in Snakes and Ladders. Yet if we are to go round and round the board (with possible trips through the jungle interior for extra risk/reward), you’ll need to incorporate small successes and failures into the game. As a side note, we learned recently of the unpleasantly large camel spider found in desert locations, which follows moving shadows, so appears to hunt people. A soldier we met described how he had to use a handgun to shoot a particularly aggressive one. The idea of a spider token that pursues a player – perhaps beginning a few squares back, with a 50/50 die roll to bring it closer or not each move – feels like a good one. Another alternative might be to have some aggressive tokens on a particular square – ghost ninjas, say, that might choose to follow any players that go past – if a 6 is rolled. Or an odd number. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». 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