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January 11

Real-life characters in Tintin

The new article Al Capone in popular culture claims Al Capone is one of only two real-life characters in The Adventures of Tintin. Who is the other? JIP | Talk 21:22, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried asking the article's creator? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:35, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's possible they don't know, the article was created by splitting it off from Al Capone. The creator is not necessarily the one who originally added that information. JIP | Talk 21:49, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tintin in America says: "Capone was one of only two real-life individuals to be named in The Adventures of Tintin,[23] and was the only real-life figure to appear as a character in the series." The French article also says: "Le seul personnage réel qui apparaît dans les Aventures de Tintin". If it's only about name-dropping, then Tintin in the Land of the Soviets already mentions three (Lenin, Trosky and Stalin). There are, however, cameos by Studios Hergé members, but none of those have their real names in the book. --Wrongfilter (talk) 22:25, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Not entirely real-life, but it goes a but further than inspiration as both name and occupation match, is captain Haddock. Herbert Haddock was captain of the RMS Olympic during Hergé's lifetime, although this may be coincidence. There were also admiral Richard Haddock of the British Royal Navy and his grandfather of the same name, who commanded the HMS Unicorn in 1648-52. These appear to be the inspiration for sir Francis Haddock in The Secret of the Unicorn. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:26, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to imagine that Captain Haddock was inspired in part by Albert Haddock, but I cannot honestly call it plausible. —Tamfang (talk) 02:11, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tintin character Ridgewell is said to be "strongly reminiscent of the real-life British explorer Percy Fawcett". --Lambiam 12:34, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Herge included himself at times. He also used other criminals with very slightly changed names, such as changing Zaharoff to Bazarov. Other than the name change,the characters are identical to the real person. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 12:37, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That statement (Al Capone being one of only two real-life characters) was added to the Al Capone article in 2017 [1]. The reference is Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin by Pierre Assouline (translation by Charles Ruas). It only says: "(He is the first of only two historical characters whose actual names Hergé would use in his work)."

The other historical character is not mentioned in that chapter, and I don't know who is meant. Based on the exact wording ("in his work") the other historical character need not be part of the Tintin universe. ---Sluzzelin talk 17:31, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

January 12

Tolkien expert question – advanced: Where was the Balrog before it faced the Fellowship?

At the beginning of the famous epic scene of the battle between Gandalf and Durin's Bane, we see the fellowship noticing the presence of the creature entering the Second Hall. Regarding the architecture / topography of Khazad Dum – either as for the account of the book or the representation in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring –, where exactly is the most likely place (hall?) the balrog would have appeared from before entering the Second Hall? Wouldn't one have to actually consider its dwelling place far, far beneath the areas passed by the "intruders"? Why did it come in "orderly" through the hall's entrance gate (and not e. g. from the great chasm), then?--Hildeoc (talk) 15:31, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The location of Durin's Bane is not known between when it killed Durin VI to when it encountered the Fellowship: [2]. It had free reign of the caverns and mines, so presumably in the millenium between its documented appearances, it happened to be somewhere to access the Chamber of Mazarbul The Chamber had two main doors, but also a side smaller side door which the Fellowship fled through when the Balrog arrived. It is unclear which of the two main doors on either end the Balrog entered from; it could have been the same one the Fellowship used (if it had been following the Fellowship unbeknownst to them) or through the other door where they would not have encountered it. Moria/Khazad-dum would have been consisted of a vast network of tunnels, caverns, chambers, etc. so the places the Balrog could have come from would have been vast and likely that Tolkien never bothered to map them out, even for himself. Tolkien establishes the place as hopelessly confusing and vastly messy anyways; it isn't like they were following a single path that led them straight to the Chamber and then on to the Staircase. This is an underground kingdom that would have had thousands of miles of tunnels branching out in all three dimensions. There are a LOT of places for the Balrog to have been and been unnoticed by the Fellowship until it was too late. --Jayron 32 16:58, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I should also note that Durin's Bane was not encountered by the other dwarf colonies who attempted to re-establish Moria after it had been initially abandoned. There were at least two such colonies; the one established in the TA 2790ish period that led to the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, and one a generation later led by Balin, during the events between the Hobbit and the LOTR. Both of those colonies failed due to conflicts with the Orcs that had established themselves in Moria after the kingdom was abandoned. According to this the Orcs placated the Balrog by worshiping it as a God; but I see no mention Dwarves encountering it during either colony. The Book of Mazarbul the chronicle of Balin's colony, makes no mention of it, only of the Watcher in the Water and of the Orcs. --Jayron 32 17:10, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Speaking from memory now, but I think in some Tolkien writing we are told that after the war of DaO, one dwarf said "Now KD is ours", and another replied "Heck no, I stepped inside and I saw DB." Also, I think Gandalf mentioned caves and tunnels far below KD itself, the Balrog could have been spelunking there a bit. Also also, "The end comes soon. We hear drums, drums in the deep. They are coming." can be read as a hint that the Balrog came for Balin's colony. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 20:36, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'd always read the drums as orcs... --Jayron 32 13:15, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Haven't read the book in years, but I think my reading was that the drums summoned/heralded the Balrog. Of course they could also/instead be an orcish march. Perhaps Simon Tolkien has some inside info. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 15:41, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, Dáin Ironfoot enters Khazad-dûm to kill Azog and apparently encounters the Balrog. That would have been TA 2799. After the battle, the dwarves discuss what to do next and Dáin explains that Moria is still unsafe, as he had seen Durin's Bane inside. As far as I know, that's the last the Balrog is seen until the events of the Fellowship of the Ring. For some reason, this cameo is seems to be omitted from here, but mentioned here. Matt Deres (talk) 19:55, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Btw Jayron32, colony "established in the TA 2790ish period", per [3], that's not really an established "colony", is it? Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 18:07, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say the Balrog had free run, not free reign. Free rein is even less likely here. —Tamfang (talk) 02:26, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tolkien expert question – advanced: Why was the Endless Stair built?

Resuming a question already asked – but, to my mind, insufficiently answered – here: "As far as we know, there's nothing down there (i. e. the very roots of the Misty Mountains where Ganadalf and the balrog end up after their epic fall from the Bridge of Khazad-Dum) except darkness, a flooded underground cavern, and nameless ancient monsters that gnaw at the roots of the earth. Why would the Dwarves shift tens of thousands of tons of rock and dig straight down to reach that?" – In advance, Gandalf himself states that the caves that led to the Endless Stair were not dug by the dwarves but instead by those said "nameless things"! (Thus, the mithril-hypothesis stated within the linked forum thread does not really work for this, in fact.) So why would the dwarves take the trouble to build an enormously deep staircase leading merely to a cave system of strange, ugly, primordial beasts?--Hildeoc (talk) 16:09, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The stair leads to Durin's Tower, a watch tower on the top of the tallest peak of the Misty Mountains, Zirakzigil. Presumably, the stair is built up to access the tower, the downward direction into the caves of ancient monsters was an unintended consequence. Presumably the intersecting mining tunnels used by the dwarves intersected these pre-existing caverns without the dwarves knowing what they had found, and the stair built to access the surface and the tower. See [4] and [5]. --Jayron 32 16:46, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It adds the wow factor and boosts the resale value. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:15, 12 January 2021 (UTC) [reply]

How long did it take to complete this infinitely long staircase? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:27, 12 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For each step they became more proficient and worked faster by one tenth of one percent, so for the whole staircase they needed 1001 times the time they needed for the first step. --Lambiam 11:01, 13 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

An endless staircase needn't be infinitely long; it can have less than 50 steps, for example. ---Sluzzelin talk 12:38, 13 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Lambiam: ???--Hildeoc (talk) 11:51, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

BB's imputation that the staircase was "infinitely long" insinuates that it could not have been completed, since the task would appear to require an infinite amount of time. But never underestimate them Middle-earth dwarves. As in Archimedes' resolution of Zeno's arrow paradox, the sum of infinitely many terms can have a finite result if they get progressively smaller, and definitely when they get smaller by a constant factor, which results in a geometric series. An infinite sum of decreasing terms

1 + .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}1⁄r + 1⁄r2 + 1⁄r3 + ···

adds up to

r ⁄ r -1

. If

r = 1.001

– corresponding to an increase in speed of 0.1% per step – this comes out as

1.001 ⁄ 0.001 = 1001

. Since the Endless Stair was destroyed, we cannot count the number of steps to check whether they were infinite in number. --Lambiam 12:23, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Lambiam: 😊 Well, actually not the whole stair was destroyed – only the uppermost part …--Hildeoc (talk) 13:27, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That still makes it impossible to provide an accurate count of the original number – for all we know, a countless number of steps were destroyed. --Lambiam 13:32, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe they just engaged M.C. Escher to design it. Britmax (talk) 13:17, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

See above! :-)---Sluzzelin talk 13:44, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I keep trying to, but I never get there. Britmax (talk) 14:09, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

January 15

ChuckleVision - Smugness, silly clothes & no violence.

In the TV series ChuckleVision, why has there never been any physical violence or aggressive behaviour? And why has there never been any question about the Chuckle Brothers having smug-smiles/smirks on their faces and not taking things seriously, wearing silly fashion and behaving like so-called policemen or anything? Why has other characters never hit/punched Paul & Barry in the noses, asking why they were smirking and not taking things seriously, telling them to wipe the smirks off their faces, raising their voices at them angrily, asking if they were real policemen or royal people? Why have they never took the Chuckles seriously, getting very emotional and using physical violence on them, shouting at them aggressively and questioning thier annoying, accident-prone, strange personailties (especially Paul, the worst one)? And how would the brothers react? 86.130.15.190 (talk) 21:57, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It was a children's show. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:15, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This is basically the same as asking "why is it that Barney never ate the kids?"--Khajidha (talk) 00:06, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Because these gruesome scenes were deleted in the final cut? --Lambiam 13:53, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Or maybe Barney ate that footage? Or was it Cookie Monster? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:12, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

January 16

George Rufus Adams

Does anyone out there have any demographic information about the late George Rufus Adams tenor sax player? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hija de Adam (talk • contribs) 18:21, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Are you talking about George Adams (musician)? And how do you mean "demographics"? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:25, 16 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Population: one. Matt Deres (talk) 14:02, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

January 17

Poirot

Does anyone know how to contact the producers of Agatha Christie's Poirot? Thank you -- Edmund Claw (talk) 04:41, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There were two production companies (LWT, and later ITV); IMDb lists 29 producers:[6]. I don't know who you could "contact", but you might get contact info via IMDb Pro. -- 2603:6081:1C00:1187:8198:9810:E98D:8593 (talk) 06:16, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

itv.com - contact - how to get in touch. Alansplodge (talk) 14:58, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Back in the old routine"?

Am searching for the band who had a minor hit on the UK singles chart with ""Back in the Old Routine" (or at least that was repeated in the lyrics several times) sometime in the 70s. I think it was maybe a one-hit wonder. Can recall softly picked melodic acoustic guitar riff but little else. Nothing to do with Strawbs or Bing Crosby. Have searched YouTube without any success. Anyone got any ideas who it was? 86.188.121.66 (talk) 21:26, 17 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Strawbs recorded a song with that title in 1977. It features on their album Burning for You too. ---Sluzzelin talk 10:01, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's not that one by the Strawbs, thanks. This one starts with a guitar picking riff, instead of strumming. Has a prominent bass line. And it's not got that vaudeville style that the Strawbs song has. The vocal sounds like Colin Blunstone, as I recall, but it's not by him. 86.188.121.66 (talk) 10:07, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

January 18