Add to National Service:
Called up for National Service, he trained as a cook and won five RAF boxing titles and four UK armed forces championships.
Olympic gold followed etc.
Being based at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire meant he was billed as an English boxer and did not fight for Scotland until 1958, when he picked up another gold at the Empire Games in Cardiff. Yet anyone who questioned his allegiance had to contend with two of his brothers, Army and Navy boxing champions, who rarely hesitated to defend the family honour.
Genetics, eh?
Yarp.
The incomparable genius William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, had an older brother James who was a brilliant engineer and physicist in his own right. Together, their work created the first mechanical computers to predict tides and improve fire control for the Royal Navy.
George, Francis and Horace Darwin, sons of Charles, were highly respected scientists too.
There’s something to this Crick-Watson business, I reckon.
NB – they used to build scientific analogue computers using the Thomson Bros’ designs and Meccano, and Meccano helped us win WW2:
The model differential analyser built at Manchester University in 1934 by Douglas Hartree and Arthur Porter made extensive use of Meccano parts: this meant that the machine was less costly to build, and it proved “accurate enough for the solution of many scientific problems”.[27] A similar machine built by J.B. Bratt at Cambridge University in 1935 is now in the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) collection in Auckland, New Zealand.[27] A memorandum written for the British military’s Armament Research Department in 1944 describes how this machine had been modified during World War II for improved reliability and enhanced capability, and identifies its wartime applications as including research on the flow of heat, explosive detonations, and simulations of transmission lines.[28]
It has been estimated, by Garry Tee that “about 15 Meccano model Differential Analysers were built for serious work by scientists and researchers around the world”.[29]
Not bad for a toy, eh?
To remind, the world’s first contact lenses were built on Meccano (well, sorta) https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/29/worstall_merkur_meccano_intellectual_property/
The Olympic champion who chose *not* to cash in by turning professional. Got another Olympic medal four years later. I, among many, never even thought to doubt his Scottishness.
Also, there are many many more examples that suggest that genetics is a factor (Muhammad Ali’s daughter was a world champion, the Mayor of Kyiv and his brother were both world champions, the feuding Eubank and Benn dynasties, the Furys … in cricket there were Hutton, Compton and Cowdrey and Broad dynasties, Bedser and Graveney brothers, Sciver-Brunt sisters … in football Charlton brothers and their uncle …)
It is only intelligence that cannot, according to Guardianistas, be inherited
Reading Tim’s link recalled the toilet paper gag.
Out of toilet paper? All you need’s a ordinary sheet of writing paper. Fold in half, then fold in half again. Now very carefully tear the corner off. Keep that piece, you’ll need it later. Now open out the paper, stick your finger through the hole & you can wipe your arse. When you’re satisfied, gather the paper around your finger & pull it out, cleaning your finger as you do it. That piece you saved? That’s to clean under your fingernail. But you’re still recommended not to pick your nose.
“It is only intelligence that cannot, according to Guardianistas, be inherited”
Guardianistas and intelligence: IQ doesn’t exist except (i) when it’s lowered by lead pollution, and (ii) when some black murderer in the US should be spared execution because of his low IQ .
“Genetics, eh?” And Jehovah’s son Jesus turned out to be pretty bright too.
@dearieme Did you just say “Jehovah”?
Adjusts false beard.
Hefts rock.
It is only intelligence that cannot, according to Guardianistas, be inherited
And yet the silly cunts are desperate to anthropomorphise dolphins, elephants and anything else that moves as being intelligent. “Oooh, ravens are as intelligent as dogs! And some dogs are really intelligent!” Why do they think that is? What brought it about? Why are some dog breeds (they’re breeds or ‘races’, not separate species) more intelligent than others? And why should the same not apply to humans?
Er, because reasons. Yes they also think they’re being scientific. Climate Emergency! And chicks with dicks!
What’s a Y chromosome for, then? What does it signify? How can it be possible for a woman to have a Y chromosome? Er, reasons.
And then they wonder why we think they’re silly cunts. [Actually, they don’t wonder. They simply think we’re Bad People.]
Analogue computers. I was taken for lunch one day to a Cambridge college: afterwards in the Combination Room we were discussing computers and I speculated that I might conceivably be the youngest person in Cambridge to have used an (electronic) analogue computer.
Someone overheard us and strode up to say “I have used an analogue computer and I’ll bet I’m younger than you”. Chortling ensued.
Interested being reminded of Meccano. Used to have some of it. Used it for roughing out bits of mechanical stuff prior to cutting, drilling & welding for real. Wouldn’t even mind some now. Thinking about building a beach buggy.
So I looked at what was available. The only thing on offer is a boxed set at over 200 notes. But the seem very reluctant to tell you what’s in the box. Says 633 pieces but a bag of screws, nuts & washers could be 200. Rest of it’s specific things to build. Why would you want to do that? S’pose kids don’t have much imagination these days. They’re not taught to have, are they?
Tim – the world’s first contact lenses were built on Meccano (well, sorta)
Bloody marvellous, I miss El Reg.
DM – And Jehovah’s son Jesus turned out to be pretty bright too.
We know Jesus also owned a Japanese car, but he did not speak of his own Accord.
Heritability? Don’t forget the Bach family – with over 50 known musicians and several notable composers, most famously JSB.
Meccano was brilliant. And Lego was good before it moved to model kits.
The Bernoullis: armies of the buggers.