David Mankelow, Whitstable
A The British Grand Prix was first held at Aintree in 1955 when England’s Stirling Moss led the great Juan Fangio home. It returned two years later, when Moss was again the victor. In 1959, the race was won by Australian Jack Brabham with Moss second, while in 1961 Wolfgang von Trips of Germany took the chequered flag. The final Aintree British Grand Prix was in 1962, with Scotsman Jim Clark winning. Clark and Brabham are the only drivers to have won at all three British Grand Prix venues — Aintree, Brands Hatch and Silverstone.
Lesley Bhola, Whitstable
Q Which was the oldest horse to win the Grand National? Martin Davies, Swansea
A Some of the older records are incomplete, but at least two horses were 13 when winning the Grand National — Why Not in 1894 and Sergeant Murphy in 1923. At the other end of the range, there have been at least two winners who were five — Alcibiade in 1865 and Empress in 1880.
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Ron Elliott, Edinburgh
Q Who was the first rider to die in the Tour de France?
Peter Mensforth, Leigh
A According to my research, the first death was in 1910 when Adolphe Helier of France drowned after being stung by a jellyfish while swimming near Nice on a rest day. The first fatality in the race itself was Spain’s Francisco Cepeda, who crashed in the mountains and fractured his skull in 1935.
Lee Oliver, Tunbridge Wells
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Q What happened to the World Cup between Italy’s 1938 win and Uruguay’s in 1950
? Len Moss, Pinner
A Between Italy defeating Hungary 4-2 in France in the 1938 final and the end of the second world war in 1945, the World Cup went into hiding. Dr Ottorino Barassi, the Italian vice-president of Fifa, later claimed to have kept the original gold Jules Rimet trophy in a shoe-box under his bed to save it from being ‘liberated’ by occupying troops. He produced it once more in time for the 1950 tournament in Brazil when the home nation lost 2-1 to Uruguay in the final.
Tom Tennent, Swinton
Q Which was the first association football team formed in the USA?
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Terence Frear, Cambridge
A Further to earlier replies, in the early 1900s my great uncle, Frederick Pepper, played for Notts County. In 1912, he wanted to emigrate to the US and asked his fiancée’s parents if he could take her. They told him to go alone and first make himself financially secure. Great-uncle Fred booked his passage on the Titanic but a few days before he sailed his future bride’s parents changed their minds and said that she could go after all, but they would have to marry first. Luckily, Fred cancelled his ticket for the Titanic, and the couple married and went to America later. In America, he played for a US team named Bethlehem Steel of Pennsylvania, who won the US Open Cup four times between 1915 and 1919. The Open Cup, similar in format to the FA Cup, was first contested in 1914 and is the oldest annual team tournament in US sport. I still have Uncle Fred’s winner’s medal from 1915.
Rob Ward, Burbage
Q What is the origin of the pole vault?
Stuart Marsh, Whitehaven
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A Further to earlier replies, pole vaulting was a pastime invented during the mid-19th century in Ulverston, north Lancashire, and the first world champions were from the area. Local shepherds and farm workers from the Furness fells found it easier to negotiate rough terrain by vaulting over streams and ditches with long ash poles. Quite naturally, tall tales arose about who was the best vaulter, and eventually a competition for agile young men became a fixture at the annual Flan Sports (inaugurated 1836), although a high bar was used instead of vaulting over ditches. Eventually, this pastime spread to neighbouring Cumberland and Westmorland where the famous Grasmere sports became a venue for pole vaulting.
Early rules were much different from today. A competitor could climb up the pole during the vault then simply drop over the bar. Two great champions from Ulverston were Edwin Woodburn and Tom Ray — the latter setting a world record in 1877 of 11ft 6in. At the turn of the 20th century, more-flexible bamboo replaced ash, then, by 1940, metal poles took over until fibreglass became the norm in the 1960s.
Dan Birtwistle, Ulverston Heritage Centre
ANSWERS?
Send your questions or answers to Peter Boyle, Q & A, The Sunday Times Sport, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST, or e-mail: peter.boyle@sunday-times.co.uk
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This week’s questions:
Q Which of the two Old Trafford sports grounds was built first?
Norma Postin, Rugby
Q What is the record attendance for a world heavyweight title fight?
Kevin Maguire, Batley
Q Has any goalkeeper enjoyed real success as a manager?
Louis Platt, Burnley
Q What is the origin of the Portsmouth chant known as the Pompey chimes?
Chris Mason, Kidderminster