Niven’s pride in Iron Cross

QUESTION Why did David Niven wear an Iron Cross throughout the war?

The late, great David Niven (1910-1983) saw active service during World War II. But like many of his generation, he preferred not to talk about it. In his memoirs he said he preferred remembering the bizarre and funny incidents.

One of these was his ‘award’ of the Iron Cross — given to him by an American friend whom he met on the battlefields of Normandy following D-Day.

Niven was educated at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, graduating in 1930 as a second lieutenant in the British Army. This experience was the foundation of the refined, unflappable bearing that helped him become a film star.

Although he’d just cracked hollywood, taking leading roles in The Dawn Patrol (1938) and Raffles (1939), Niven rejoined the Army the day after war was declared — despite the British embassy advising most actors to stay put.

Niven was recommissioned as a lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own) on February 25, 1940, and assigned to a training division but wanted something more exciting. he transferred to the Commandos, eventually commanding ‘A’ Squadron GhQ Liaison Regiment, better known as ‘Phantom’.

he related the Iron Cross story during an interview with U.S. talk show host Dick Cavett. he’d been asked to describe his most perilous wartime experience. ever self-deprecating, he prefaced his answer by stating many other men had done much greater things than he had.

Niven was an acting lieutenant colonel by the time he landed on the Continent shortly after D-Day. Phantom was tasked with covertly locating and reporting enemy positions in the chaos following Operation Overlord.

Crossing a bridge just as the Germans began dropping artillery on it, Niven jumped out of his Jeep and into a foxhole under heavy fire. Amid the chaos, he looked up to see U.S. reporter John McClain, an old friend and drama critic, ducking for cover in the adjacent foxhole.

The Germans obliterated the bridge, but Niven and McClain emerged unscathed. McClain then produced a bag filled with German Iron Crosses.

These had been requested by KarlWilhelm von Schlieben, commander of the German forces at Cherbourg, which had later been cut off and surrounded. Schlieben hoped the medals would boost morale, but the Luftwaffe had dropped the bag into McClain’s hands.

Following the bombardment, McClain ceremoniously pinned an Iron Cross for bravery to Niven’s chest. The actor said he wore the decoration underneath his combat jacket for the rest of the war.

Stephen Dowler, Beverley, Humberside.

QUESTION How high can a fly fly?

ThIS depends on where the fly lives and what the weather is like.

Flies dislike extreme altitude and low temperatures and so are seldom found in cities such as mile-high Denver and not at all in Antarctica.

They have a fondness for warmth and humidity, and fly higher on hotter days. A temperature of 5c is difficult for them, and at 10c they will still stay low, but at 20c they are capable of reaching 3,000 ft.

Ten degrees more than that and they can attain 5,000 ft, but at 40c they start to struggle. They have been known only rarely at 6,000 ft. This makes them similar to most other insects, with the exception of butterflies, which can exist happily at heights of 20,000 ft.

Preferring warm, moist conditions, flies will stay low when seeking food, shelter or compost to lay their eggs in. Annoyingly, they often seem happy to stay around human height and leave droppings which can transmit serious diseases, or attack animals unable to protect themselves as they seek moisture in the animals’ eyes.

Sometimes flies will dart swiftly upwards, usually to avoid competition from rivals or to escape danger from predators such as birds and spiders.

Ian MacDonald, Billericay, Essex.

QUESTION What is the Goldilocks Zone?

The Goldilocks Zone is an analogy used by scientists to describe the position of a planet that is in orbit around its star that will allow water to remain liquid and, therefore, be capable of supporting life.

In the story of the Three Bears, when Goldilocks tries the bears’ porridge, one is too hot, one is too cold and the third is just right. So it is with planets that orbit distant stars.

To take our own solar system as an example, Mercury is too close to the Sun and its heat would cause water (if there were any) to boil and therefore disperse as vapour. Pluto, on the other hand, is too far from the Sun and any water would exist only as ice. earth is in just the right orbit for water to exist as a liquid and so support the life that exists on our planet in its myriad forms.

The same rule can be applied across the universe. The only variable is the distance from the star where the Goldilocks Zone lies, as every star is a different size and burns with a different intensity.

If a star is the same size as our Sun, the Goldilocks Zone will be the same distance from it as earth, give or take a few thousand miles. If the star is larger, the Goldilocks Zone is likely to be farther from it; if it is smaller, the Goldilocks Zone is likely to be closer.

At present, only a few planets have been identified as being in the Goldilocks Zone for their stars, one of which is Kepler-186f. The fact that a star orbits in the Goldilocks Zone is not proof that it supports life. however, the likelihood that it might is greater.

Bob Cubitt, Northampton.

IS THERE a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB; or email charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection is published, but we’re unable to enter into individual correspondence.