I read recently in one of your postings that some girls from a very exclusive private school in Darbyshire were alleged to have pocketed some gold coins during an excursion to the Rotal mint in 1979 and were consequently seen to by Miss for their trouble.

This is sheer nonsense. I attended an excursion to the Royal mint around this time and souvenier commerative coins were given to all the visitors. These were not made of gold but a copper nickel alloy and consequently were very shiny and might have been mistaken for gold. I was later informed that each coin was worth about 1p.

I think that the real story probably was that these girls were misbehaving during the excursion and were seen to on their return to school. However just to big note themselves they may have made up this rather elaborate charade.
I can assure all and sundry that the security at the Royal mint is at least good enough not to be breached by some sassy brats from Darbyshire.

Its funny you should mention that as there was a Gold coin incident at ourpublic school.
Some parents had contributed ancient roman gold coins for a open day historical display.
needless to say this was arranged by fourth formers who simply placed the coins on tables with bits of card.visitors were sparse and security was nil.(the room was unattanded at times)You guessed it at the end of the day the coins were gone!
The school also had valuable medals and awards on permenent display in the library in glass cases though militaria collectors were tmepted they never went missing!

I find it very hard to believe thany anybody in their right mind would allow genuine gold coins to be displayed at a school under those conditions.

Those gold coins would have been as genuine as some of the postings on this forum.

Well its true.
You gotta remember that the price of gold in the 1970s was about
$100 an oz.
Very low.
The boys were left to their own devices

A ton was worth something in the 70s. Gold is still a bad idea as it attracts non refundable VAT. In other words as soon as you buy it you are 17.5% worse off.

Volatile stuff, gold. In 1980 one of my colleagues, enthused by the meteoric rise of gold, tried very hard to get me to invest with him at the then price of $850 per ounce. I often think of the poor chap - he'll have had to wait until this year to get his money back!

Bozo, irrespective of the price of gold, those coins presumably had a value due to their antiquity. Did you ever get to hear what the cost of the theft was assessed at?

Whatever one thinks of antiquity one would be surprised to find how cheap the real thing is.
For instance Roman coins which to anyone with any romance in their reason de etre are beyond price are really quite cheap.
T'is in the eye of the beholder!

As I clearly pointed out in my original posting these alleged coins were almost certainly not gold but some sort of copper alloy which looks very similar to gold.

In ancient times the so called alchemists used to ty and dupe some unsuspecting simpletons by passing this alloy off as real gold. Of course if you were caught trying this then it would not be worth your while to buy any green bananas.

The coins in question were very small-smaller than a current 5p piece so it was no big deal.
No I dont know with 100%accuracy that they were pure unadulterated gold but they were definetly genuine ancient
coins.
Incidentally reading readers letters in August Metal Detecting magazine-a chap states that he found a Gold Coin
in a field and promtly dutiously submitted it to a woman
at his local British Museum/Local Archaelogy finds office
who apprently sent it to London.Thta was the last he heard of it and that was 9 months ago-he states.He is an OAP and has only recently taken up htis hobby instead of sitting in front of the TV.
I am surpsied at the interest this thread is attracting-seems theres more to Gold coins than first thought

"Wow! I’ve found another ring-pull."

Rejected by ‘Metal Detecting’ magazine as ‘inappropriate’, my picture taken on the beach at Hove, nevertheless captures all the glamour and excitement of this fascinating pastime.

I researched that story about the alleged theft of gold coins from the mint around 1979. It turns out that it was just a mistake in the inventory at the time which happened to coincide with an excursion from some girls school.

Naturally the tabloids seized on it and try to beat up some sort of a story. It was all a lot of hype. As far as I know no girls from that particular school could have been involved since all the gold coins in question were securely dislayed in glass cabinets.

Hello Asquith.

Your research skills leave a lot to be desired. The incident was reported in the mainstream media as well as the tabloids. The missing coins, gold or not, were never recovered and no satisfactory explanation was ever given.

Although I do agree with your assertion that the school excursion had nothing to do with the incident. I suggest you improve your researching skills before posting any more information on this forum.

I stand by my researching skills. I challenge anybody out there to provide any credible evidence that there was a breach of security at the Royal Mint around that time or in fact in recent times.

Please, aren't we getting a little off topic here? In any case can we at least maintain a certain semblance of decorum?

Nicked in time!

Please show a little respect.

The following is taken from a UK news article in 1979:

"that there was a breach of security at the Royal Mint around that time or in ..."

However I agree there is no mention of any school excursion.

I stand corrected.

Apology accepted.

I do not recall any apology. But I must admit I am impressed by your research skills.

Well thank you. I used to work as a research assistant at BMW.

However I am not completely satisfied with the outcome. I am starting to suspect that the entire story was a hoax. Never the less thank you for your patience.

Pherhaps some of the other forum members can come up with something.

You seem like a very nice woman.

Bye for now

Lets not get hysterical.

Order Please!

Although this posting does not have anything to do with gold coins, the original posting reminds me of a school excursion that I went on to a petting farm near Bedale in North Yorkshire.

I remember that some of the girls were misbehaving, I cannot recall exactly what they were doing, but the teacher in charge (female) gave them all a really good smacking in front of all the other girls. Fortunately there were no other visitors there at the time apart from our school.

I know these day this would not be allowed and the younger readers of the forum probably do not believe me, but in the early 1980s this was not uncommon and would be forgotten 5 minutes after it happened.

After we got back to school the girls involved and the teacher were getting on alright and everything went back to normal. A lot of the postings I have read on this forum make too big a deal of cp and were obviously written by people who were too young to have either experienced it or witnessed it. It was just a normal part of school life at the time.

Hi Bessy

Very interesting posting. Yes I once went on a school excursion to a petting farm, but unfortunately I do not remember the location.

It was some time ago but I do remember that they had a tiger cub there, and according to our teacher it was one of the few in the UK at the time.

We would never risk playing up on an excursion because the senior mistress usually came along as back up. But in any case we were not really interested in misbehaving at excursions because then the school would have probably stopped them.

My posting is also off topic since there are no gold coins involved, but I feel I had to respond to your posting because it had a lot of warmth and feeling to it. I had a great time at my school despite the cp which was only moderate. I think kids back then appreciated those kind of outings much more than kids do today.

Hi Nikki

You are lucky. There were no tiger cubs at the petting farm I mentioned, just farm animals. I would have really liked to pet a tiger cub.

Your school sounded really good. Mine was ok. There was not really that much cp, but of course if you got out of line you could be seen to, but so what?

Even though most of the female teachers were rather strict, at least they were quite friendly and you could share a joke with them as long as you did not cross the line. I got on well with most of them.

Bye for now

If it helps I can make it possible for you to run your fingers over the cowling of a Piper Cub or a Tiger Moth?

As my many colleagues who visit this forum will confirm there are many problems in having tiger cubs in petting farms, not least of them being that tiger cubs inexorably become tigers. The point of transition is sometimes difficult to gauge. However, an infallible indicator is if the animal eats one of the kids, something that, sadly, doesn't seem to have happened here!

It is obvious from some of the recent postings that many of you are wasting your rapier sharp wits frequenting these forums when you should be playing the comedy circuits in the major cities.

Seconded!
What's tigers and zoos got to do with this thread?
Keep on subject please.

Hello Bessy

I am sorry that you did not get to see any tiger cubs on that particular excursion. I hope my posting did not upset you in any way. I did not realise that you had such affection for these beautiful animals.

Never mind, I am not sure if you still live in the UK, but there must be petting farms around that do have tiger cubs. I am pretty sure you will find one.

Best of luck

Hi Nikki

Do not worry. I am not upset. Yes I do think tigers are beautiful animals and I would like to find a petting farm in the UK, where I still live that has one. To be honest I have never pursued the matter, but your posting ignited a spark in me that I thought was gone.

Best wishes

Bessy

I agree with you that tigers are beautiful creatures,as are all animals in fact. And this is a subject very close to my heart. In fact if I had to bring the cane back for one reason it would be for those who mistreat animals. And in fact there was an item in the news very recently(I forgot which country it was) where some boys were caned by order of court for mistreating animals. I think it was somewhere in Asia.
But this is a different subject from this topic. You could make another new topic on this subject so we don't get mixed up. I'm sure there will be many people interested in it,including me I assure you.

Party Whip said:

"You could make another new topic on this subject so we don't get mixed up."

Oh no they could'nt! Sorry, I'll re-phrase that, oh no they shouldn't! The title of this forum happens to be:

School Corporal Punishment

not "Cuddly Tiger Cubs"!

No one likes tigers more than me. Left to myself I'd keep a couple for quick disposal of TV licence inspectors and similar riff-raff who occasionally find their way to the door.  However, anyone wanting a protracted dialogue on tigers, cubs or otherwise, should look elsewhere. I'd recommend these two Network54 forums (the names below are clickable links). They could certainly both use the traffic! Be warned though that the "Council of Tigers" forum is not only a little 'strange' shall we say, but the colour scheme borders on the dreadful!

1. Council of Tigers
   
   
2. Animal Lover Forum

Can anybody actually confirm if there is or was a petting farm near Bedale in North Yorkshire?

Confirmed.

http://www.farmattraction.co.uk/

Thank you Research Assistant 2 for that fine piece of research. It shows that all the postings under this topic were indeed genuine, but I am afraid some of the contributors may have been discouraged from making any further contributions due to the unwelcome comments of some doubters.

I find some of these accounts very interesting and humorous. Why haven't we seen more of these?

Is it possible to check if there really were some gold coins nicked from the mint during a school excursion?

After some exhaustive research I can confirm that some gold coins did go missing from the mint in 1979. However what is not clear is if they were taken during a school excursion or were just missed during an inventory. Can anybody out there please help me out in this regard?

I think that it was possibly just a matter of some misplaced gold coins.

I found this article on the web. It might help as it gives some idea of the value of those gold coins you mentioned:

Proofs are specially struck coins, with a highly polished mirror finished background, and the raised design in contrasting matt finish. They are issued as limited editions, and are more expensive than the ordinary uncirculated version.
1979 proof sovereigns are contained in a plastic capsule within a Royal Mint leatherette wallet, but were not issued with a certificate in 1979, although those from 1980 onwards were issued with certificate.
They are unnecessarily good for use in jewellery, which would ruin their special finish in a very short space of time, but they are ideal for the person who would prefer to keep them as a memento or family heirloom.

Price & Availability
Date Description Availability Price Ł Price $
1979 Proof Yes Ł150 $300
1979 Uncirculated Yes Ł145 $Ask
1979 EF Yes Ł142 $Ask

Regards

Ellie

Could somebody please explain the relevance of this topic?

EM if you took the time to read the previous messages then you would realise that this topic is very relevant. It is very disappointing to have cynics like you query obviously sincere individuals such as EM. Please show more respect and do some research before posting. Thank you for your time and patience.

Dear Ellie

Please accept my very humble and sincere apology. I did not take the trouble to read the earlier messages. I now realise that this topic has relevance and I am very surprised that more people are not contributing, especially fine women folk such as your very good self.

I know it takes a lot of courage for women to post on this forum since there are always a lot of cowardly cynics lurking ready to pounce. I therefore congratulate you on your bravery in confronting these stand over merchants.

Thank you for your time and best of luck in the future.

Apology accepted

Thank you Ellie. You are very gracious.

I was just reading this topic out of curiosity and saw this reference to a petting farm in Bedale in North Yorkshire? If I am not mistaken this might be the same petting farm that was quite close to one of the schools I attended.

I am sure that I visited there on a school excursion, but it was so long ago I doubt if it still exists. I also got a laugh about the incident at the royal mint, since this was a standard excursion for a lot of UK schools in the 1970s and 1980s. I remember receiving some "gold" coins when we got there. As far as I can remember each student received about three of these coins in a sealed plastic envelope. I found out later they were worth about 5p in total if that. Still it was a great promotion. I seriously doubt that story about girls nicking real gold coins from the mint. They were probably seen to back at school for something else. Also loved that message about the tiger cubs.

I remember playing up once on a school excursion and being soundly smacked by Miss there and then. When we got back to school I got another dose.
I ended up with a lot of hand prints on the back of my thighs that day.

Hello Heidi

Although strangely enough I never actually went on an excursion to the Royal mint or a petting farm for that matter, but can relate to having clearly visible hand prints on the backs of both my upper thighs too many times to mention, especially after a p.e lesson. Would have loved to have nicked those gold coins or petted a tiger cub. You were lucky to go on those excursions. I assume you did not nick those gold coins (only kidding).

Just for the record, I did not nick any gold coins from the mint. In fact I have never nicked anything in my life. I was very well behaved at school, but was quite the chatterbox which earned me a few trips to the front desk. But apart from that and the usual encounters with the gym mistress everything was fine. I got on really well with all my female teachers. They were great. Not all used cp, but those who did, sometimes went overboard. However they only did it to help us and I am thankful to all of them.

Hello girls

Great postings. Good to see the younger generation coming forward with interesting and relevant messages. Although I may not be as young as some of you (I prefer not to disclose my exact age) I can identify with a lot of your messages since I did most of my schooling in the same general time frame as most of you, as opposed to some of the more cynical members of the forum whose experiences predate Catherine the Great.

It is good to see a new generation of vibrant, confident young women who have the courage to come forward regardless. This is exactly what this forum needs. Although I no longer live in the UK, that is where I did most of my secondary schooling and all your stories certainly resonate with me. Keep up the good work.

Celine

Cynicism is a talent. You are either born with it, or you are not. You don't develop it with age.

My E-bay feedback rating of 4,100+ proves what Oscar Wilde said"A cynic is a man who knows the price of anything, and the value of nothing."

Even so, your jolly-hockey-sticks approach is actually valuable-we all need a good laugh, hence why the powers-that-be have dubbed you fun posters.

And I've also posted a Ł15k profit from a hobby in just over 5 years, so maybe I know more about values than I acknowledge.

And don't please lump me in with Another_Lurker; he has a very significant talent fully earnt by that appelation, to which I could not hope to aspire!


Steve M

Better hope that the internal revenue department in your country of residence does not frequent this forum.

Thank you Celine for those very kind words of encouragement. I am often reluctant to post on these kind of forums because of the occasional negative feedback. So I always welcome positive people like your very good self who are always there to support your fellow female contributors, who are the only ones with any relevance as far as I am concerned.

It is with the encouragement and example displayed by people like you that a new and modern generation of contributors are starting to shatter the diamond ceiling established by the less relevant members of this forum.
I believe a new golden age has emerged in which the modern 30-40 something female is able to shine and be a very productive member of society. Once again I salute you and all my female colleagues.

Bye for now

Amelia

Sexist!

Promoting women's rights is not sexist.

Yes it is.....

Well if promoting equal rights for women makes one a sexist, then I am proud to be called one.

Pray tell me what rights that they do not have?

MIMI

I think Heidi wants rights to post as much mendacious twaddle on this forum as her fellow "gels" Amelia,Celine & co.

I'm all for that, as long as she realises people like you, me and Another_Lurker automatically assume the same rights to shoot down their particularly silly assertions as we would do with those posting in our gender. There's even room for muppets, as you accurately name the present outbreak, as long as they don't make a bloody Xmas movie with Michael Caine as their next attempt at art.

Unfortunately, not all "gels" had sufficient rights as some of our contemporaries. So the value of a truly sound spanking was never imparted to them, otherwise they'd know when to shut up and stop digging


Steve M

That in itself is such a sexist comment on so many levels that it is not even worth discussing.

WHICH comment-I've made about six. Try being specific.

No,the truth is it's not worth discussing because I've hit the nail on the head!

Please feel free to twaddle away & I'll feel free to shoot you down as required, and not for the sake of it.



Steve M

Well said Steve, the heroic efforts of yourself and Mimi in holding the bridge against the current wave of feminist fun posters have been much appreciated, and I've been proud to stand on your right hand (or left hand, as the case may be). Happily Celine and her cohorts haven't proved as effective as Lars Porsena's Etruscan army so it hasn't been necessary the for rest of our longer established contributors to hack down the bridge behind us, and none of us have had to swim to safety.

No one would be happier than me if just once one of our fun posters came up with something believable, and the rest of them then expanded on, agreed with or disputed it individually, the way this estimable Forum used to run.

Instead of that, what have we had? Concerted choruses on tawsing in boarding houses for young ladies. Complete nonsense (I'm happy to be contradicted on that, providing the evidence is reliable) and in any event nothing to do with School CP.

Ditto ear pulling. Complete nonsense again. It happened, but I doubt if anyone considered it school CP, except in parts of Asia, and I don't think many of our fun posters have been identified as hailing from that part of the world.

Ditto the saintliness of gym mistresses. I've no experience of gym mistresses, but all the gym masters I encountered were without exception absolute so and so's, especially if you weren't athletically inclined, which I wasn't. I see no reason to suppose gym mistresses were any different.

However, I guess I'm indebted to our fun posters for some good laughs, so perhaps there really is good in everyone somewhere!

A_L

Now they've dragged in a make-believe bloody Aztec(see Coodgee Piers thread)!

Sorry, make that Amazon, as it's supposed to be a woman.

After 21 years with Sarah, I can tell you we've never had a moment's disagreement. I ALWAYS get the last word.

And then we do what Sarah wanted, of course! What do they need to fight for?

I do object to being called sexist, particularly as I've spent the last 15 months helping Sarah with breast cancer. We've done bi-lateral mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and one breast reconstruction so far, so one down one to go there.

As practical proof of the level of help I've tried to give, it was me that insisted Sarah had a 2nd wig to see her through chemo and its' aftermath-and me that sneaked a 3rd one in last year's Xmas presents!!

Best of all, when Sarah says she could not have coped with it all without my support, I know bloody well who most people would want fighting their corner-Sarah, every time.

That's partly why I do get a little hacked off with these "gels". This sort of thing didn't even happen in girls' schools in my Mum's time(1930's). Rather, as in Sarah's time(1966-1973), most female teachers back then commanded respect with their demeanour, withering sarcasm and occasionally the sort of face that would stop a clock!

The average female teacher was always ten times likelier to command respect because they always made it abundantly clear they would NOT take any crap by the general aura they had. I find it laughable that they suddenly transmorgified into sadistic bullies who ever NEEDED to quieten a class down.

The few female teachers we had at MGS were the same.I don't recall anyone, even me, questioning their authority, and our class, especially 3N,4N & 5P, contained more than its' share of juveline delinquents, career criminals etc.

So there!


Steve M

Lets be Rrank or Fred or Charlie,Francis,Frederika or Charlotte. Males and females compliment each other. With mutual respect and if we are very, very fortunate Love then nothing can come between us. ( oops already I could make a naughty joke but I will desist.
I have been fortunate to come accross ( oh oh another deux entande ) a few feisty females who know what they wamt and want what they like.
I have never come across a sub female who did not "top from the bottom". They like to think they are in charge but really love the security that a dominating protective male can provide.
I am happy to be the father/teacher figure of authority that most ladies like. I am also happy to be the naughty cheeky male schoolboy they love to think they can dominate.
Truth is that females all want to be bottom up above a manly knee. Its just the way it is.

I think it is time we all agreed to disagree. So let us all join hands (figuratively speaking of course) and sing Coombaya together.

Hiedi you have just blown the gaff, Combyahh.

Please explain.

With all this argie bargie we are losing sight of the main issue of whether there was actually any theft of gold coins from the mint, and who was responsible.

Work it out by researching a keyword clue, duh

Thank you Ms. Sherlock Holmes.

Mr actually duh.....

Well in that case somebody is in line for a huge surprise.

Yourself if you did some research, had something to offer!

Please, a little decorum.

I think that there was a breach of security at the mint, but I doubt if the excursion had anything to do with it.

I think I remember hearing about that incident when I was in senior school around 1979.

Just about any girl who attended school in the UK around that time heard of that case. As far as I know it was never solved.

Actually I think it was solved. I believe it was simply an inventory error.

Hello Gemma

Thank you for your reply, but I am not certain it was solved. That was just one theory put forward. I think it was a cover up. I suspect that those school girls were able to breach the mint security some how and nick a few "gold" coins.

However I think they probably got away with a few promotional coins which were mostly copper alloy and only worth a few p each. They probably thought the coins were real gold and thought a seeing to was worth the risk.

I doubt if the coins contained the alloy that you mention. They were probably composed of real gold and possibly silver or a small percentage of copper. Just out of interest was the case ever solved? I vaguely remember reading about it at the time. I doubt if any school girls were involved.

As far as I know it was a just publicity stunt concocted by the mint in order to promote the newly issued 100 pound gold sovereign.

I know that this posting is completely off topic and has nothing to do with spanking but I used to know a girl at school who worked at a jewelers during the holidays.

She once told me that it was possible to melt gold and then capture some of the gold vapor on plotting paper. She claims that you could obtain a certain percentage of the original gold mass without anybody being any the wiser.

Maybe some schoolgirls knew about this process and used it while at the mint. Although I guess it is highly unlikely since where would they get the equipment, and how could they vaporise the gold without arousing any suspicion?
However stranger things have happened. Has anybody else heard about this process?

Technically that process would work if you are talking about pure gold. Most jewelry is gold alloy. For example 14 Kt gold is approximately 56% gold while the rest is composed of other metals say silver, copper etc. or even some metals that are more precious than gold. However the vapor might contain the other less precious metals, so it would not really be worth your while to do this.

As for the missing gold coins from the mint escapade being a result of some school girls using this process, well this highly unlikely to say the least.
However it is interesting to consider.

I have researched the process further and have since been informed that in order for such a venture to be worthwhile the amount of gold would have to be so great that the average person would not have access to same.

Also I believe that the incident at the mint simply involved coins not gold bullion. It is possible that some girls on the excursion could have nicked a few but I seriously doubt it.

I did all my schooling in the UK around the time it was suggested that some schoolgirls were able to relieve the royal mint of a considerable amount of gold coins. I do not remember reading of this incident. Would any members of the forum be able to supply details?

I have try to research the topic but cannot find any details. Will keep trying.

Thanks for your help it is really appreciated.

I was reading through some of the earlier postings on this topic out of curiosity and saw this reference to a petting farm in Bedale in North Yorkshire?

If I am not mistaken this might be the same petting farm that was quite close to one of the schools I attended for a brief period although most of my schooling was in Scotland.

Can any members of the forum confirm the existence of this petting farm and is it possible that there were tiger cubs present? Also are there any records of this petting farm being a popular destination for school excursions around that time?

HRH, I previously posted along these lines back on 26 July 2008, when you were calling yourself Asquith as well as Nikki, Bessy and a variety of other fictitious female names. As it happens I also posted under an assumed name on that occasion.

Anyway, in case you missed it last time, in response to your query above there are many problems in having tiger cubs in petting farms, not the least of them being that tiger cubs inexorably become tigers. The point of transition is sometimes difficult to gauge. However, an infallible indicator is if the animal eats one of the kids, something that, sadly, doesn't seem to have happened in your case!

In other words you are saying that this particular petting farm did actually have tiger cubs? I would be interested if any members of this forum actually visited that petting farm during a school excursion or know of some other schools that went on excursions to that petting farm or maybe some similar ones. School excursions were quite common back in the day but I guess nowadays the are not really fashionable. Any comments from the folk out there?

Yes school excursions were quite common in most parts of the UK from about 1970-1990 but I think they were phased out after that due to economic reasons.

I am not familiar with that particular petting farm that you are referring to but it is doubtful that they would have had access to tiger cubs since they are very rare and even large animal sanctuaries do not generally speaking house tiger cubs. They were most probably lion cubs which are much more common.

Excursions were quite common when I was at school. I remember playing up at one excursion and receiving a very good seeing to from Miss on my return to school. That was the last time I played up on an excursion. I am pretty sure that we visited that petting farm you mentioned. I think you are right about those cubs, they were lions.

Excursions were quite common when I attended secondary school. Most students were usually well behaved since the senior mistress would always accompany us just to make sure. I remember once a few senior girls playing up at an excursion to a nuclear reactor and were given a very good seeing to on their return to school.

I am still trying to find a way to slip the word "onomatopoeia" into one of my postings. Any suggestions?

HRH

Don't stand on a mat down there, stand on a mat up here.

Yes please.

That is a difficult phrase to use on this forum. But thanks anyway.

I remember our English teacher using the word "onomatopoeia". I think I know what it means but I am not quite sure. Actually it is the first time I have seen it written down for many years. What are the odds of coming across the word "onomatopoeia" on this type of forum?

This question might be slightly off topic but do any members of the forum know how to convert km/hr into m.p.h? Also how many m.p.h are equal to 70 km/hr?

Our fun posters will find an explanation of and an exercise on onomatopoeia matched to their level of intelligence at this excellent site.

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/onomat.htm

I think I can safely say that I speak on behalf of the overwhelming majority of the forum members in thanking A/L for producing this excellent tribute.

He has not only combined artistic excellence with advanced software skills but managed to throw in a very interesting albeit esoteric snippet of British history which even my very good self was unaware of.

Needless to say his stalwart supporter and part time code breaker will be feverishly researching the mathematical probability of a journalist being eaten by a tiger during the normal course of his reporting duties.

Never the less nothing can detract from this very moving and respectful tribute to all the forum members without whose regular contributions this forum could not function resulting in certain people not being able to enjoy a life style marginally above that of Mahatma Gandi. So there is nothing more to say than: thank you and good bye for now.

Hi soused. What you ask is a bit tricky and we really need Alan Turing, but until he's had his breakfast and gets chance to log on I'll do my best.

There are 25·4 mm to the inch and 36 inches to the yard and 1760 yards to the mile.

So there are 25·4×36×1760 mm in a mile, that's 1·609344×10⁶ mm.

In 1 km there are 1000 metres and there are 1000 mm in 1 metre, so there are 1000×1000 mm in 1 km, that's 10⁶ mm.

So if S is the speed in km/h, the speed in mph will be:

(S×10⁶)÷(1·609344×10⁶) mph

and therefore

70 km/h = (70×10⁶)÷(1·609344×10⁶) mph = 43·49598346 mph

Hope that helps!

Heidi, I thank you for your very kind comments on my 100th posting marker in this thread. Absolutely nothing difficult I assure you, just routine really!

I am a little sad though to see that you appear to be ever so slightly attempting to drive a wedge between my esteemed fellow contributor Alan Turing and myself. I realise that such a schism would be welcomed by the fun posting hordes. However I hope I speak for both of us when I say that while we may enjoy our little rivalries and the friendly banter that accompanies them we stand united in the ceaseless and untiring defence of this estimable Forum against the dark forces that encircle it and batter with ever increasing confidence against its fragile gates!

Sorry, just got up!

I should like to add my congratulations to Another_Lurker for his Grand Design to celebrate the hundredth post. It adds to the gaiety of nations!

His calculation is absolutely on the nail, too. Personally, though, I tend to use an approximation where only a few significant figures are needed, and a good rule of thuimb is to realise that 100 km/hr (or, to give it the proper SI designation, 100 m³h^-1) is about 62 mph. You can work it out from that: 70 km/hr will be 7/10 times 62 mph.

Hi Alan Turing. I have just spent some time trying to work out what on earth m³h^-1 actually means!

Amazing to think that a long time ago in another life I had a job which involved ensuring that ONC and HNC examination papers complied with SI standards. At that time SI was so new that most of the examiners and moderators either hadn't got a clue or couldn't be bothered with all that new-fangled stuff! Now, many, many years later, I suddenly realise how they felt!

Well, m³h^-1 was meant to be a joke, and intended to gain a response from Fun Posters pointing out the error of my ways. But I guess they're all asleep.

Of course hours aren't SI units at all; one would have to use seconds and include a factor of 3600. More seriously, though, m³ means cubic metres, not kilometres! Not quite what we need.

BTW, I might have some periods of absence coming up soon. I can't tell you about them for reasons connected with the Official Secrets Act, but they involve a trip to a railway station served by LMS trains around fifty miles north of London ...

Hi Alan Turing. You say:

Well, m³h^-1 was meant to be a joke, and intended to gain a response from Fun Posters pointing out the error of my ways. But I guess they're all asleep.

Phew, thank goodness for that. I am ashamed to say that I couldn't absolutely convince myself that it was a little fishy! I have to say though that you have a higher opinion of our Fun Posters than I do. I'm not totally surprised you didn't get a response!

You also say:

I can't tell you about them for reasons connected with the Official Secrets Act

Dreadful isn't it. Nearly 20 years since I retired and I still can't tell anybody exactly what I did or exactly where I did it.

And you also say:

they involve a trip to a railway station served by LMS trains around fifty miles north of London ...

You've lost me there. I don't do trains, I'm a car man. I'm ashamed to admit that at one time I commuted daily from Nottingham to London by car for several weeks rather than face London Hotels or British Rail. Terrible for somebody who grew up living beside a railway line! However, while 50 miles is perhaps a touch on the low side I'm wondering if the town in which the station in question is situated might be sadly in need of a tower about 12400 miles high from which the residents would be able to see the Golden Gate Bridge?

My good man!

Don't you know where Mr Turing works? It's got nothing to do with pork pies, he has rather more important things on his mind! I can't, for obvious reasons, give you further details of the establishment in question, but the railway station he mentioned is on the junction of the Euston main line and the railway from Oxford to Cambridge (which I am about to close).

I can only think of Bletchley Park, of which Mr Turing will be familiar, which is near Milton Keynes, but is that as far as 50 miles away. Melton Mowbray of which HRH and her pals will be familiar is more like a 100 miles.

I read at the weekend that the Apple name and logo were named after a half eaten apple found at the bedside of Mr Turing senior after he commited suicide in 1954, as Mr Turing was credited with the invention of the modern computer. Any truth in this ?

Thank you Dr Beeching and Declan. I stand corrected. I'm afraid that until we have been rid of HRH and his cronies for at least a month I shall remain obsessed with pork pies!

Declan, I'll let Alan Turing answer your question re the apple logo and/or the invention of the modern computer. Alan will probably disagree, but my own nomination for the latter honour goes on sentimental grounds to Charles Babbage. His collaborator, Lady Ada Lovelace, often credited with being the first computer programmer, was the only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron. She never actually knew her father, but lies buried next to him in a church not a thousand miles from where I sit typing this.