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QUESTION: Was Sean Connery‘s role of Zed in Zardoz the most bizarre piece of casting ever?
While former 007 Connery, wearing an oversized nappy and long flowing hairpiece, was indeed a strange sight, the casting of 5ft 7in tall Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in two films raised more than a few eyebrows as, in the Reacher books written by Lee Child, the character is a powerfully built 6ft 5in.
Academy Award-winning actress Joan Crawford played an unlikely anthropologist who favoured brightly hued outfits and attempted to communicate with a prehistoric caveman found living beneath the British countryside in Trog (1970).
British comedian Dave King appeared in a straight role in the 1961 Hollywood swashbuckler Pirates Of Tortuga; Hugh Grant played an Oompa-Loompa in Wonka (2023); and Alan Ladd, fresh from playing the title role in Shane, came to the UK to play the lead — complete with cowboy drawl — in the hysterical epic The Black Knight (1954).
Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling in Zardoz
Sean Connery as Zed in Zardoz
Bryan Forbes’s account of being phoned by the film’s producer one Saturday and asked to write a brief but vital scene over the weekend that could hopefully ‘save’ the picture is in his 1992 autobiography A Divided Life.
But one of the greatest movie miscastings of all time was in Zulu (1964). On the charter flight taking the cast and crew to South Africa, Stanley Baker introduced himself to everyone. When he’d finished, he sat next to director and co-producer Cy Endfield and whispered: ‘I recognise all the actors apart from that guy’. Endfield surreptitiously turned around to steal a glance at the actor in question and said: ‘That’s the guy you asked for from That Was The Week That Was. You said his name began with a ‘K’. That’s David Kernan.’ Baker sank back in his seat, shook his head in despair and said: ‘I meant Roy Kinnear!’
Which is why West End musical performer David Kernan (1938-2023) played the role of Private Hitch —and made a fine job of it, too. I just hope the great Roy Kinnear never got to hear the story.
Alan Wightman, Newport, Gwent
QUESTION: How many foods and drinks in the UK benefit from protected status?
The EU’s Protected Food Scheme system came into force in 1993. After Brexit, from January 1, 2021, a UK scheme was adopted. It used existing EU categories, though with a different logo. These are: Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG). The scheme is managed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
To be designated PDO, the raw ingredients and all steps of production need to take place in the same region. For PGIs, at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in the region. TSG covers products with a ‘traditional character’.
Stilton blue cheese is one of the protected foods under the UK’s scheme
There are 81 British products covered by this scheme, which comprises meats, fish, fruit and veg, spices, beers, wines and cheeses. Those 81 are made up of 28 PDOs, 49 PGIs and four TSGs.
Examples of PDOs include: Lakeland Herdwick lamb, Orkney lamb, Buxton blue cheese, Stilton blue cheese, Cornish clotted cream, Isle of Man queenies (scallops), Fal oysters, Welsh laverbread (seaweed), Jersey Royal potatoes and East Kent goldings (hops).
PGIs include: Welsh lamb, Melton Mowbray pork pie, Cumberland sausage, traditional Welsh Caerphilly, Yorkshire Wensleydale, Vale of Evesham asparagus, Welsh leeks, Cornish sardines, Lough Neagh eel, Cornish pasty, Kentish ale and Herefordshire cider. TSGs include Gloucestershire Old Spots pork and Bramley apple pie filling.
E. P. Quentin, York
QUESTION: Were some of the first ME109s that we fought in the Battle of Britain powered by Rolls-Royce engines?
Further to the earlier answer, although none of the ME109s was powered by a Rolls-Royce engine, a number of ME109s were built under licence in Spain from 1942 onwards.
Known as the Hispano Aviacion HA-1112, they were initially powered by a Hispano Suiza engine. However, from 1954, that was replaced by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Further to the earlier answer, although none of the ME109s was powered by a Rolls-Royce engine, a number of ME109s were built under licence in Spain from 1942 onwards
Genuine ME109s are very rare and some of the Spanish Merlin-engined variants were used in the 1969 film Battle Of Britain.
Also used in the film was the CASA 2.111, a licence-built version of the Heinkel He111 bomber, again using the Merlin engine. These variants are easily spotted by the shape of the engine cowling.
Bob Howard, Southall, Middlesex