Druid

Druid (proniunced droo-id)

(1) A member of a pre-Christian religious order which existed among the ancient Celts of Gaul, Britain and Ireland (sometimes with initial capital).

(2) A member of any of several modern movements which have attempted to revive (what they claim to be) druidism.

1555–1565: From the Latin druis (feminine druias; plural druidae), from the Gaulish Druides (and replacing the sixteenth century French druide).  In the Old Irish druí was the nominative, druid (wizard) the dative & accusative and druad the plural.  from the Celtic compound dru-wid- (strong seer), from the Old Celtic derwos (true), from the primitive Indo-European root deru- (tree (especially oak)) + wid- (to know), from the primitive Indo-European root weid- (to see).  The meaning in the Old Celtic was thus literally "they who know the oak" which some etymologists have suggested may be an allusion to divination from mistletoe but probably was understood as something like “those able to divine (know) the truth.  In the Anglo-Saxon too, there was an identical word meaning both "tree" and "truth"; that was treow.

The adoption in English came via Latin rather than directly from Celtic although in the Old English there was dry (magician) which, though unattested, has always been thought likely from the Old Irish druí from which Modern Irish and Gaelic gained draoi, genitive druadh (magician, sorcerer).  Related forms are the nouns druidity & druidism and the adjectives druidic, druidical, (the alleged) druidistic & druidic (of or pertaining to druids or druidry (which dates from 1773)).

The feminine form druidess (female druid; druidic prophetess or priestess (plural druidesses)) was actually coined as late as 1755; prior to that druid had been used when speaking of box sexes.  Despite the similarity in spelling and a speculative etymological link, the female proper name Drusilla (diminutive of Drusus and a frequent surname in the gens Livia) is derived from the earlier Drausus which, although of uncertain origin, may be from a Celtic word meaning literally "strong" (thus the possible connection with the Old Celtic dru- which meant both "oak & "strong".

Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England.  Despite the popular association, archaeologists believe there's no basis for the medieval myth Stonehenge was built by druids, the construction pre-dating them by many centuries.  In medieval histories, there was not a little "making stuff up", even some of what were passed-off as myths from antiquity were creations of the time.

The class structure of ancient Celtic society was not untypical, the four major strata, like the Indian caste system, organized in four groups (1) peasants and artisans, (2) warriors, (3) the ruling classes and (4), the druids although, unlike in India where the Brahmin priestly caste sit atop the hierarchy, among the Celts, it was the kings and chieftains who enjoyed primacy.  That much is certain but the rest of what constitutes druidic history is mostly a mix of the writings classical Greek & Roman authors, medieval writers with varied relationships to scholarship and the work of modern anthropologists who have examined the archaeological record.  Given the time which has passed, the evidence is not only patchy but limited in scope.  Although the Romans & Greeks had encountered the Celts in the wars of earlier centuries earlier, it was only in the first century BC their historians began, sometimes impressionistically, sometimes more systematically, to observe their cultures and customs.

Among the earliest observers was the Syrian stoic polymath Posidonius (circa 135-circa 51 BC) although none of his text survives, except in referenced by later writers, notably the Greek geographer Strabo (circa 64 BC-circa 24 AD) who credited Posidonius as his primary source.  Contemporary to Posidonius, though perhaps less reliable was Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) who devoted some pages to a description of "the barbarians" in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War), his vivid recollections of the conflict.  Written as a third-person narrative in which Caesar describes the battles and political intrigue of the conflict, it too shows evidence of the legacy of what was created by Posidonius but the Roman general certainly had many first-hand experiences with the Celts, both as opponents and allies, some (notably the Aedui), serving in his army.  Obviously astute in the practice of politics as well as military matters, Caesar suggested druidism had probably originated in Britain and from there spread to the Gauls but although he had the advantage of being there at the time, he offered no documentary evidence and scholars and historians have long speculated on their origins.  What's more solid is his description of their place in society.  He wrote that they seemed a secretive but learned group who enjoyed certain privileges among the Celtic population, exempted from taxation and military service and acting as judges, deciding cases and setting penalties.  Unlike most in the tribal-based culture, they appeared to enjoy freedom of passage through any territories.

He found one aspect most curious.  Although a partially literate society, the Celts using both Greek and Roman script (depending on the state of conquest), the druids had never committed their learning and traditions to writing, remarkable given it apparently took over twenty years fully to be schooled in the philosophy, divination, poetry, healing, religious rites and spells that was druidic knowledge.  That knowledge therefore existed almost entirely in the collective memory of the living druids, its transmission oral except for a few inscriptions found in sacred sites such as shrines and sanctuaries.  There may have been some philosophical basis for that or it may have been just a restrictive trade practice designed to maintain closed shop, Caesar observing the Gauls were a most religious people but they always had to wait for the druids to perform the necessary rituals or sacrifices.  The exclusivity of the trade and the secrecy of its protocols was sound business practice and one that can be identified in religions and other institutions over the centuries.  There are both similarities with and differences between Celtic and other religious traditions.  The Celts didn’t build temples to their gods, the druids practicing their worship in the open air in places they described as sacred, often a space with some geographically distinct identity such as a grove or the shores of a lakes although, as Caesar noted, a sacred spot could be anywhere a druid nominated, a kind of ad-hoc consecration; another practical advantage of having no written record to contradict the assertion.  As later writers confirmed, the Gauls believed in an immortal soul but rather than a conception of heaven & hell or any other afterlife, they believed that upon death, it passed to another body after death, an eschatology of reincarnation.

Druids, gathered for the annual summer solstice ceremonies, Stonehenge, June 2019.

The lack of historic documents means it's impossible exactly to describe any exact sense of an internal druidical structure or indeed any indication whether it was static or essentially unchanging.  Caesar said that in Gaul there were three groups: the druidae, vates or uatis & bardi (which existed in Ireland as the druidh, filidh & baird) but whether these were exact organization divisions or simply a description of traditions or disciplines is unknown and all druids seem to have been required to learn all the skills to permit them to function as teachers, philosophers, physicians, priests, seers and sorcerers.  It was certainly a wide job-description which ranged from teaching the children of the nobility to performing human ritual sacrifice but the fundamental role (and the one which gave the druids their mystique and legitimacy) was that which appears in the institutional structure of the clergy in so many religions: the druids were the priests who would communicate with the gods on behalf of the Celtic people and thus mediate their relationship with the gods.  However, although the name was shared, what is often casually referred to as druidism wasn't monolithic and there are Irish and Welsh texts which mention druids as teachers, healers, seers and wizards, but not as priests and certainly not following the Gallic druids tradition of prayer, Irish myths suggesting druids were sorcerers and wizards rather than priests.  More is actually known about the druids of the Partholonians, Nemedians, Milesians & Fomorians because, unlike those in Gaul and Britain, there were no rules against writing.

Modern interest in the druids focuses mostly on their magic, sorcery and spells.  Over the centuries, there's been much imaginative speculation about their nature and purpose in Gaul, something inevitable because unlike in what survives in the Irish and Welsh record, there's scant evidence.  In the Irish & Welsh literature, classical authors found mentions of magic and witchcraft although the details were vague, it’s clear ancient druids were much concerned with healing and divination, like the shamans or medicine men who gathered herbs and poultice to ward off evil spirits.  There was also practical medicine, the natural scientist Pliny the Elder (29-79 AD) writing that druids held the mistletoe and oak trees as sacred, the former cultivated and with great ceremony on the sixth day of the moon; as part of the ritual, a golden sickle was used carefully to cut the mistletoes, the druid garbed in a full-length white cloak.  A bit of a cure-all in the druidic medicine cabinet, mistletoe was said to be able to heal all illness and disease, act as the antidote to any poison and impart fecundity to barren cattle.  In the medieval Irish histories, the vista of arboreal sacredness and utility is wider spread, ash trees (often called rowan and quicken), the yew, the apple and the hazel all listed.

For the professional historian, the druids are difficult subjects because nobody will ever know how much truth lies in so many ancient and medieval writings.  The speculations, exaggerations and general mischief-making however probably accounts for much of the interest in druidism and it long predates both the revival of paganism and the weird world of the new age.  The haziness means it can by anyone be constructed to be what they wish it to be and there are many societies to join if one wishes to become a druid although those lured by the attraction of ritual human sacrifice will these days have to join a more accommodating religion.

A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids, oil on canvas by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

William Holman Hunt's 1860 painting was at the time of its exhibition sometimes referred to as A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Priest from the Persecution of the Druids by those who liked the whiff of popery that "priest" seemed to summon.  The depiction is of a family of ancient Britons in their humble hovel, concealing and tending to the wounds of a Christian missionary, injuries inflicted presumably by the pagan Celtic Druids, seen outside pursuing another fleeing missionary at the urging of the white-robed Druid priest.  The artist always remained convinced this early work was one of his finest but it was much criticized on both compositional and representational grounds.

As a work, it's indicative of the disapproval of paganism among Victorian Christians which even some historians tended to dismiss as something which, except for the odd deranged heretic, vanished wherever Christianity arrived which wasn't true; paganism in Europe enduring in places for centuries and even enjoying spasmodic revivals after Christianization.  The first country outside of the Roman Empire to embrace Christianity was Armenia in the fourth century and the last, Lithuania in the fifteenth so the two systems co-existed for a millennium.  In England, despite what Roman church's publicity machine taught to generations, paganism was not eradiated by the mission of Saint Augustine of Canterbury (circa 520-604) in 597 but by the ninth century conversion of Danelaw (the central and eastern regions of England where the way and laws of the Danes were practiced) and the killing of Eric Bloodaxe ((Eric Haraldsson (also known as Eirik fratrum interfector), circa 885-954; of Norwegian origin and variously (and apparently briefly) several times King of Norway and twice of Northumbria (circa 947–948 and 952–954)) in York in 954.  Beyond England however, paganism lived on as the dominant social order in Viking Scandinavia and the more remote regions of the British Isles until well into the twelfth century and in Prussia, it wouldn't be until the later fourteenth century crusades of the Teutonic Knights that Christendom finally prevailed.

Proboscis

Proboscis (pronounced proh-bos-is or proh-bos–kis)

(1) A long flexible prehensile trunk or snout, as that of an elephant.

(2) In zoology, any elongated tube from the head or connected to the mouth.

(3) In entomology & malacology, the elongate, protruding mouth parts of certain insects and certain invertebrates like insects, worms and molluscs, adapted for sucking or piercing (more popularly called “the beak”).

(4) Any of various elongate feeding, defensive, or sensory organs of the oral region, as in certain leeches and worms.

(5) In facetious use, the human nose, the use probably roughly with the size of prominence of the nose.

(6) In informal use, as applied in geography, engineering, geometry etc, any protrusion vaguely analogous with the human nose.

1570-1580: From the Latin proboscis (trunk of an elephant), from the Ancient Greek προβοσκίς (proboskís) (elephant's trunk (literally “feeder; means for taking food"), the construct being προ- (pro-) (before) +‎ βόσκω (bóskō) (to nourish, to feed”), from boskesthai (graze, be fed), from the stem bot- (source of botane (grass, fodder) and from which English gained botanic), from the primitive Indo-European root gwehs (source also of βοτάνη (botánē) (grass, fodder) + -is (the noun suffix).  The related terms include nose beak, organ, snoot, snout, trunk and probably dozens of slang forms.  Other descendents from the Latin include the Italian proboscide, the Portuguese probóscide and the Spanish probóscide.  Proboscis & proboscidean are nouns and proboscidate is an adjective; the noun plural is proboscises or proboscides.  The Greek derived form of the plural (proboscides) appears often in the technical literature that built using the conventions of English (proboscises) appears to be the common general form, rare though it is.

#Freckles: Lindsay Lohan’s nose.

Aerodynamics were of interest to some even in the early days of the automobile and those involved in motorsport were more interested than most.  For decades, the interest manifested mostly in the art of streamlining, the reduction of drag and research, accomplished mostly without wind-tunnel testing and obviously without computers, tended to produce cigar-shaped bodies with as few protrusions as possible.  Drag in many cases was certainly minimized, some of the shapes rendered in the 1920s & 1930s delivering drag coefficients (CD) impressive even by twenty-first century standards but it took a long time before fully it was understood that the fluid dynamics (the behavior of air) at the rear of a vehicle could be as significant as the more obvious disturbances at the front.  Not un-related to this was that it also took time (and not a few deaths) before it was appreciated quite how vital was the trade-off between drag-reduction and the downforce needed to ensure cars did not “take-off” from the surface, resulting in instant instability.

The 1923 Benz Tropfenwagen (teardrop vehicle) (left) not only used an aerodynamic nose using lessons learned from military aviation during World War I (1614-1918) but was able to optimize the shape because the engine was mid-mounted, something would wouldn’t become commonplace in Formula One for over thirty years.  The front-engined 1931 Mercedes-Benz SSKL (centre) made few concessions to aerodynamics, relying on sheer power and weight-trimming to win the 1931 German Grand Prix but even by then it was clear the approach had reached its evolutionary dead-end.  Time and the competition had definitely caught up by 1932 however and it was no longer possible further to lighten the chassis or increase power so the factory had aerodynamics specialist Baron Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld (1899-1992) design a streamlined body (right), the lines influenced by wartime aeronautical experience.  This coaxed from the SSKL, one last successful season.  Crafted in aluminum by Vetter in Cannstatt, it was mounted on Manfred von Brauchitsch's (1905-2003) race-car and proved its worth at the at the Avus race in May 1932; with drag reduced by a quarter, the top speed increased by over 12 mph (20 km/h) and the SSKL won its last major trophy on the unique circuit which rewarded straight-line speed like no other.  It was the last of the breed.  Subsequent grand prix cars would be pure racing machines with none of the compromises demanded for road-use.

That the early attempts at streamlining might induce aircraft-like “take-offs” was not surprising given so much of the available data came from work in ballistics and aeronautics where lift is desirable and as speeds rose, it became clear what would need also to be considered was what air was doing underneath the vehicle, some cars obviously with "just enough lift to be a bad airplane" as one driver put it.  That increase in speed in itself imposed a limit on research, the terminal velocities suddenly possible exceeding the capacity of ground-effects based wind tunnels and few manufacturers had access to test facilities with straights of sufficient length to match those on some race-tracks.  High-speed testing was thus sometimes undertaken by racing drivers at speeds rarely before explored, something complicated by being among disrupted air induced by surrounding cars and some unpredictable behavior ensued; it was actually remarkable there weren’t more fatalities than there were.

2020 Jaguar C-Type (XK120-C) (2014 continuation of 1953 production, left) & 1957 Jaguar XKSS (right).

In the embryonic study of aerodynamics, one of the first conclusions (correctly) drawn was that few changes produced more dramatic improvements than lowering and optimizing the shape of the nose.  At the time, it was something not as simple as it sounded, engines mounted usually close to the nose and in the era, those usually long-stroke engines were tall, often in-line units, a shape which imposed limits on what was possible.  Jaguar used dry-sump lubrication on the D-Type (and the road-going derivative the XKSS) to allow the nose to drop a few inches compared with its predecessor, an expedient also adopted by Mercedes-Benz for their 300 SL (W198, 1954-1963) and 300 SLR (W196S, 1955), more lowering still made possible by mounting the power-plant on a slant.

1954 Maserati 250F with the original “short nose” body and 1956 (centre) and 1957 (right) variations of the “long nose”.

In the same era, Maserati, impressed by the speed of the Mercedes-Benz W196 when fitted with the "streamliner" body used on the faster circuits and, apparently without the benefit of a wind-tunnel, developed its own partially enclosed bodywork for its 250F Grand Prix car but it also developed, quite serendipitously, an even more effective shape and it was initially known as the “long-nose” 250F until it proved so successful it was adopted as the definitive 250F body.  The 1957 “long nose” 250F (right) is the one with which Juan Manuel Fangio, won the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in August, 1957, an epic drive and his most famous.  Fangio was Scuderia Alfieri Maserati’s team leader and a splash of yellow was added to the nosecone of his 250F so easily it could be identified, the color chosen because it was one of the two allocated to his native Argentina.  The 250Fs of the other team members also had nosecones painted in accordance with the original international auto racing colours standardized early in the century, American Harry Schell (1921–1960) in white and Frenchman Jean Behra (1921–1959), blue, all atop the factory’s traditional Italian red.

The long and short of it: The Ferrari 250 LM in long (left) and short (right) nose configuration.

Ferrari and others noted the gains aerodynamics provided and among engineers, some fairly inaccurate (though broadly indicative) "rules of thumb" emerged, based usually on the calculation that for every one inch (25 mm) reduction in nose height, an effective gain of so many horsepower would be realized.  Precise or not, the method, honed by slide-rules, lingered until computer calculations and wind tunnels began more accurately to produce the numbers.  Ferrari’s first mid-engined sports car, the 250 LM (1963-1965), was one of the vehicles to benefit from a nose job, the revised bodywork fashioned by coachbuilder Piero Drogo (1926–1973) who had formed the Modena-based Carrozzeria Sports Cars to service the ecosystem of sports cars that congregated in the region.  There was an urban myth the Drogo nose was created so an “FIA standard size” suitcase could be carried (to convince the regulatory body it was a car for road and track rather than a pure racing machine) but it was really was purely for aerodynamic advantage.

Ferrari 250 LM, the short-nose chassis 6321 (left) and the long-nose (5893) right.

Testing confirmed the “Drogo nose” certainly conferred aerodynamic benefits on the 250 LM but the change brought it own difficulties because Ferrari was at the time attempting to convince the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (the FIA; the International Automobile Federation) the 250 LM should be homologated in the Grand Turismo (GT) category so it could contest the World Sports Car Championship.  This was being done using the argument the 250 LM was a mere update of the 250 GTO, despite the 250 LM having a different engine & transmission (mid rather than front-mounted) and a different body.  For homologation to be granted, there had to be 100 essentially identical examples of the model produced and given (1) there were such fundamental differences from the earlier 250s and (2) not even two dozen 250 LMs had then been produced, the FIA was understandably reticent.  Anticipating the FIA would (as usual) find some rationalization to accommodate Ferrari's demand, the factory issued a very public recall notice for all 250 LMs to be returned to Maranello to be fitted with the Drogo nose.  One 250 LM (chassis 6321) however was by then being raced in Australia which was a long way away so that one was quietly overlooked (the FIA either turned a blind eye or didn't check), meaning that at least for some time it was the only “short-nosed” 250 LM left in the world, although it’s known at least two have since be converted back to their original specification.  Eventually, 32 250 LMs would be built and the FIA didn’t relent, forcing the car to compete in the 1965 championship against much faster machinery in the prototype class but it was fast enough and importantly, more reliable than the more fragile prototypes and chassis 5893 won the 1965 Le Mans 24 hour endurance race, Ferrari's last victory in the event until the back-to-back triumphs in 2023--2024.  In February 2025, at RM Sotheby's Paris Auction, the Scaglietti-bodied 1964 250 LM which won at Le Mans in 1965 (and the only Ferrari from the era to compete in six 24 hour races) was sold for US$36.2 million.  The car had for decades been on display at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, like the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R Stromlinienwagen (streamliner) which a few days earlier had fetched US$53 million.

1965 Ferrari 250 LM Stradale by Carrozzeria Pininfarina (Chassis 6025 LM in the “long nose” style with the “Drogo nose”).  The two seats, electric windows and lashings of red vinyl (some quilted) papered over the cracks between road and race cars but while the longer wheelbase made things less cramped, the origin as something designed for one to use in competition was obvious in the size of the footwells where four feet would have to fit a space designed for two.  Although quintessentially Italian, most 250 LMs were made in right-hand drive (RHD) configuration because they were intended for use on circuits where that conferred some advantage, the tradition of anti-clockwise racing meaning a majority of turns were right and the RHD layout afforded drivers a better view.

Denied homologation and thus buyers from teams wanting what would have been the fastest Group 3 GT available, Ferrari decided to test the market of the rich, displaying the the 250 LM Stradale (Road), complete with a (slightly) more civilized interior and electric windows.  A genuine attempt at something derived from a racing car (in the manner of the 1968 Ford GT40 Mark III) rather than merely a racing car with mufflers (like the road-registrable Mark I GT40s), the Stradale (chassis 6025 LM) used a lengthened version of the Tipo 577 tubular steel chassis with the wheelbase extended from 2400 to 2600mm (94-102 inches), providing a more generously sized passenger compartment.  Unlike the rest of the 250 LM line for which the bodies which were fabricated by Scaglietti in Modena, the LWB (long wheelbase) coachwork was created by Pininfarina at their Grugliasco facility.  Millionaires in the US identified as potentially the most receptive (and lucrative) market, the Stradale was painted in the white and blue then used by many American teams and presented at the 1965 Geneva Salon.  Unfortunately, it transpired the buyers for raucous racing cars and those for boulevard cruisers inhabited two different planets and no orders were received so the Stradale remained an exquisite one-off although the factory did later convert chassis 5995 LM to quasi Stradale specification (on the standard wheelbase) and even fitted air-conditioning.   

Ferrari 275 GTB (1964-1968): A 1964 "short nose" (left) and a "long-nose" (right), the latter designated Series II which debuted in 1965.

The 1960s saw the last generation of Ferrari cars styled without the use of wind tunnels or much in the way of electronic assistance.  Even for the road cars, as speeds rose, some high speed instability was occasionally noted but this became pronounced with the cars were used in competition, especially on the faster tracks with the long straights.  Accordingly, knowing there would be a competition version of the 275 GTB (the 275 GTB/C) a long-nose was created which was also used on other models beginning in 1965.  The 275 GTB/C was notable also for marking the swan song of the classic Borrani wire-spooked wheels on Ferrari competition cars, the elegant, chromed creations no longer strong enough to handle the increase loads in extreme conditions now that tyres provided much more adhesion; they were replaced by aluminium or magnesium castings.

1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Berlinetta Competizione (short nose) with competition specification 15" Borrani wire wheels.

By 1966, standard equipment on the 275 GTB/4 were 7.0 x 14" Campagnola magnesium-alloy wheels.  The 7.0 x 14" Borrani wire wheels (RW4039) were a special-order option and the competition specification 7.0 x 15” Borrani wire wheels (RW4010) fitted to the front of 275 GTB/C could also be ordered.  The 7.5 x 15" Borrani wire wheels (RW4011) were exclusive to the 275 GTB/C on which they were fitted to the rear.  The competition specification wheels varied in construction in that the front units had the spokes laced to the outer bead seat while those of the rear were centrally laced.  The difference in construction represented the different loadings each would have to endure in extreme use, the stresses at the rear quite different since the introduction of independent rear suspension.  Having to cease use of the classic wire wheels because the grip of modern racing tyres produced loadings which physically cracked the spokes brought problems with brake cooling, addressed with the new design of five spoke wheel fitted to the 365 GTB/4 Daytona although, on the road cars, the Borrani wire wheels remained available.

1969 Dodge Daytona (left) and 1968 Dodge Charger 500 (right).

Across the Atlantic, on the NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) circuits, the manufacturers had reached a dead end imposed by their regulatory body.  By 1969 the NASCAR authorities had fine-tuned their rules, restricting engine power and mandating a minimum weight so manufacturers, finding it increasingly harder to cheat, resorted to the then less policed field of aerodynamics, ushering what came to be known as the brief era of the "aero-cars".  Dodge began by making modifications to their Charger which smoothed the air-flow, labelling it the Charger 500 in a nod to the rules which demanded 500 identical models for eligibility.  It proved less successful than hoped and Dodge apparently gave up on the design, producing only 392 (although to make up the numbers they did the next year add an unrelated “500” option to the Charger line and NASCAR generously turned their blind eye).  Not discouraged however, Dodge recruited engineers from Chrysler's soon to be shuttered (as arms control treaties with the USSR loomed) aerospace & missile division and quickly created the Daytona, adding to the 500 a protruding nosecone and high wing at the rear.  Even now, the nosecone would be thought extreme but it worked on the track and this time the required 500 were actually built.  NASCAR responded by again moving the goalposts, requiring manufacturers to build at least one example of each vehicle for each of their dealers before homologation would be granted, something which would demand thousands of cars.  Accepting the challenge, in 1970 Dodge's corporate stablemate Plymouth duly built about two-thousand of their similar aero car, the Road Runner Superbird, an expensive exercise given they reportedly lost money on each one.  Now more unhappy than ever, NASCAR lawyered-up, drafted rules rendering the aero-cars uncompetitive and their brief era ended.  So extreme in appearance were the cars they proved at the time sometimes hard to sell and some were actually converted back to the standard specification to get them out of the showroom.  Views changed over time and they're now much sought by collectors, selling for up to US$3 million in the most desirable configuration.

1969 Ford Torino Sportsroof (left) 1969 Ford Torino Talladega (right).

As imposing as the noses developed for the Daytona and Superbird were, it may have been that much of the modification was wasted effort and an application of the Europeans’ old “inch by inch” rule of thumb might have been as effective.  The nose jobs Ford in 1969 applied to their Torino Talladega and Mercury’s Cyclone Spoiler II were modest compared to what Chrysler did.  The grill was flattened, a la the Charger 500, the front bumper was replaced with a re-shaped version of the rear unit from a 1969 Fairlane which functioned effectively as an air-dam and the leading edge of the nose was extended and re-shaped downwards.  The effect was subtle but on the track, appeared to confer a similar advantage to the one Chrysler’s rocket scientists had achieved but Ford had also made some changes which lowered the centre of gravity and improved the under-body air-flow.  Quite what this achieved has never been documented but the drivers were certainly convinced, retaining the Talladegas and Cyclone Spoilers as long as possible, the shapes proving much more efficient than their sleek-looking successors.

Porsche 911 (930) Turbo in profile (left) and Porsche 911 (930) flachbau (slantnose).

When in 1973 regulations forced Porsche to fit more substantial bumpers to the 911 (in production since 1964), it necessitated a change to the front bodywork, the earlier cars became known as the "long hood" and subsequent models the "short hood", both references to the hood (bonnet) being shortened to accommodate the unsightly battering rams.  More nose jobs would follow.  Between 1982-1989, Porsche produced three generations of the 911 (930) Turbo S with the flachbau (slantnose) bodywork, a total of 948 believed built.  It seems there were a few, hand-built prototypes completed by 1980 in addition to one completed under the factory’s Sonderwunsch (special wishes) programme for an individual who was either well-connected or a very good customer.  The 58 first generation cars lack the pop-up headlamps so associated with the design, instead using smooth, flat-faced wings with a fibreglass front valance assembly containing twin lamps either side below the bumper.  Nicknamed the “hammerhead”, the styling divided opinion and was anyway found not to be compliant with regulations in some markets, thus the substitution of the pop-up headlamps which appeared during 1983.  As was typical of much which emerged from the programme, the cars were built with a variety of Sonderwunsch options so there was no one consistent specification.

1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS from the long hood era (1963-1973, left) and 1975 Porsche 911 Turbo (930) with the short hood (used between 1973-1989, (right).  Such is the lure of the early 911s something of a cottage industry has emerged, devoted to "backdating" later cars.  The change in 1974 was necessitated by US "front impact" laws which emerged from lobbying by the insurance industry which wished to avoid liability for "low speed" accidents such as those associated typically with supermarket car parks.  Later, the technology improved and the laws were revised but until the 1990s, bumper bars described as "battering rams" or "railway sleepers" were a common sight on US market cars and because of the economics of production, some manufacturers were compelled to inflict them also on the RoW (rest of the world) cars.

The second generation flachbau yielded 204 cars, the styling updated with a simplified air dam containing driving lights and a centrally mounted oil-cooler, the pop-up headlamps relocated to front wings, a much admired feature the optional air-intake vents above the pop-ups, something borrowed from the 935 track cars.  Again, other than the structural changes, there was no standard configuration, each flachbau reflecting the buyer’s ticking of the option list and any special wishes the factory was able to satisfy.  The third generation were the most numerous with 686 produced, the increased volume reflecting the effort made to ensure the cars could be made available in the lucrative US market which eventually received 630 flachbaus.  More standardized, production shifted from the Sonderwunsch’s Restoration and Repair Department facility (Werks 1) to the line in Zuffenhausen where the standard 930s were assembled though for ease of completion (and to maintain exclusivity) the cars were transferred to the Sonderwunsch for finishing and detailing.

Mercedes-Benz Heckflosse: Top row W112s: 1964 300 SE (left) and 300 SE Lang (long) (right); Bottom row W111s: 1967 230 (left) and 1967 230 S (right).  Although both 230s used the 2.3 litre straight-six, the basic 230 used the “short nose” front from the four-cylinder W110 while the more expensive 230 S was fitted with the “long nose” from the W111 & W112.

All W112 models (sedan (1961-1965), coupé & cabriolet (1962-1967)) were designated 300 SE including the LWB (long wheelbase) “Lang” models with the extended rear doors (on a wheelbase of 2850 mm (112.2 inches) against the 2750 mm (108.27 inches) of the standard 300 SE.  It wasn’t until the debut of W109 range (1965-1972) the SEL designation was adopted for the LWB sedans and that would persist until 1993 when the corporate alpha-numeric text strings were re-configured.  The 1964 300 SE Lang pictured above (one of 1,546 LWBs) was built as a factory exhibition car (code 997) for that year’s European show circuit and featured the rarely ordered electric partition (code 214).  After the show season, the car was sold to the royal household of the Netherlands before being passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which allocated it to the Embassy in Belgium.

1965 Mercedes-Benz 190 (W110).

The difference in wheelbase between the W111 & W112 is well-known but in 1961 the W110 range was introduced, comprising a range of four-cylinder gas (petrol) and diesel models and these used the W111/W112 body fitted with a shorter nose.  That of course made sense because an in-line four is shorter than an in-line six.  However, when the six cylinder W111 (220, 220 S & 220 SE) sedans were in 1965 replaced by the W108 & W109, the W110 remained in production until 1968 along with the newly created 230 & 230 S, the latter pair using the new 2.3 litre six, the former in the “short nose” W110 body while the better appointed, more expensive 230 S used the “long nose” coachwork.  The short & long noses thus came to signify a place in the hierarchy rather than the number of cylinders under the hood (bonnet).  This had years earlier been done by some US manufacturers which until the 1950s offered some models with straight-sixes and more expensive ones with straight-eights, the latter with a longer nose better to accommodate the longer engine.  However, when the industry shifted from straight-eights to V8s, the manufacturers didn’t take advantage of the new configuration being shorter by using shorter noses than those used for the on-going sixes, instead, in some cases, the V8s still got “long nose” coachwork, resulting in much un-used under-hood space and the fitting of enveloping “fan shrouds” to ensure cooling of the now more distant V8 engines.

Wax model of Thomas Wedders (circa 1730-circa 1782).

Thomas Wedders (AKA Thomas Wadhouse) from Yorkshire, England (a member of a travelling "freak show" circus) is recorded as having enjoyed (sic) the world's longest known human nose, claimed to be some 200mm (7¾ inches) in length.  In the absence of any verified evidence, the truth of that can't be known but it may be assumed his nose was very big.  The current record is held by Mehmet Özyürek (b 1949) of Türkiye, his nose officially measured and found to be 88mm (3½ inches).

The political proboscis: Crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013, left), Julia Gillard (b 1961; Australian prime minister 2010-2013, centre) and Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025, right).  In case uncultured Australians didn't get the "Pinocchio" connection and its implication, some phonetically opportunistic critics also labeled Julia Gillard “Juliar”.  Note the hammer & sickle appended to crooked Hillary, more evidence she was the victim of a “vast right-wing conspiracy”.

The fictional Pinocchio was the protagonist in the children's tale The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi (1826-1890).  Carved from timber by a Tuscan woodcarver, he is best known for his nose; it grows as he lies.  As a motif it has proved irresistible for cartoonists and meme-makers depicting politicians, a breed notorious for their distant and infrequent relationship with truthfulness.  Remarkably, Jimmy Carter (b 1924; US President 1977-1981) seems not to have been drawn with a nose-job suggesting mendacity.  Although there was some cynicism when, during his successful 1976 presidential campaign he asserted: “I'll never tell a lie”, that did have some resonance in a electorate which had been scandalized by the revelations from Richard Nixon's (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974) administration and although judged a failure, there's nothing in the record to suggest Carter ever was untruthful about anything substantive.  That may not be unique among politicians but it’s untypical.

Pravda

Pravda (pronounced prahv-duh)

(1) Formerly an official newspaper of the Communist Party of the USSR.

(2) A newspaper now run by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (the digital presence (Russian, English & Portuguese) maintained by a nominally privately-controlled entity.

(3) In slang (in the West), a derisive term applied to any form of news media thought to be biased or distributing fake news or misinformation (often on the basis of them being a mouthpiece of the state or the corporate interests of the owners).

Pre 1600: From the Russian правда (pravda) (literally “the truth”), from the Proto-Slavic правъ (pravŭ) (used variously to denote concepts related to law, order, and correctness), the source also of other Slavic words such as the Bulgarian, Czech and Slovak право (pravo) which was formed in Polish as prawo, all of which variously conveyed “law”, “justice”, “right” or “righteousness”.  Over time, the word shifted in meaning, assuming the modern general sense of “truth” by the mid-nineteenth century. Pravda is a noun; the noun plural is pravdas.

Pravda mini pencil-skirt with hammer & sickle.

Officially, Pravda was first published in 1912 but it had actually existed in Moscow since 1903 although originally it showed no overt political orientation, something which changed after the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905 and editorial direction became contested before a leftist faction gained control.  In the manner in which the control of institutions passed between the factions in the years prior to the 1917 revolution, Pravda was for a while edited by Comrade Leon Trotsky (1879-1940; founder of the Fourth International) who moved the operation to Vienna to protect it from the attention of the Tsar’s police before it was taken over by Comrade Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924; head of government of Russia or Soviet Union 1917-1924).  Lenin was a lawyer who understood how a carefully designed corporate structure could take advantage of Russian law and moved the paper to Saint Petersburg (known as Leningrad in the days of the USSR).  His tactics substantially ensured ongoing publication until the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) when the government (like many including some in the West) either suspended or changed any laws which looked inconvenient and wartime regulations were used to censor the press to the extent Pravda was closed and in a game of cat-and-mouse was forced to change both its name and the premises from which it operated on a number of occasions (officially eight but some editions never actually reached the printing stage and it may have been as many as eleven).  Despite it all, between 1912-1991, Pravda survived to operate as the organ of the Communist Party and after 1917 it was the voice of the state.  Pravda always enjoyed wide circulation but under an arrangement which must make modern editors and proprietors envious, there was never much interest in stimulating sales, it being compulsory for all the many parts of state institutions and the military to each day buy multiple copies.  Whenever additional funds were needed, department heads were ordered to order more.

Special Edition of Izvestia published in honor of Comrade Stalin’s state funeral, Moscow, 9 March 1953.  Both newspapers were integral to the manufacturing of Stalin's cult of personality.

The other Russian newspaper of note was Известия (Izvestia) which translates for most purposes as “the news”.  The Russian izvestiya means “bring news”, “tidings” or “herald” (in the medieval sense of an official messenger announcing news) and was from the verb izveshchat (to inform; to notify).  It was exclusively a creation of the party, founded in 1917 initially as a vehicle for the distribution of statements by and comment on behalf of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.  Unlike Pravda which to some extent still operated as a conventional newspaper (though without any dissenting views), Izvestia existed only to disseminate state propaganda.  Now controlled by the National Media Group, it survives to this day and is described as a “national newspaper of Russia” although, given the present-day influence the Kremlin, its original full-name Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР (Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR) which translates as “Reports of Soviets of Peoples' Deputies of the USSR” hints at the source of editorial direction.  There are of course differences between the press in Russia and in the West but there are also similarities, notably in the cynicism of the readership, a favorite saying in Soviet times being there was no pravda in the Izvestia and no investia in the Pravda.  Another similarity with Western corporations is that Pravda enjoys an eponymous street address, its headquarters being at 24 Pravda Street, Moscow, emulating Apple (1 Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California) and Microsoft (One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington).

Pravda, 6 March 1953.  On the day the death of Comrade Joseph Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) was announced, the first indication to Muscovites the news might be ominous was that Pravda and Izvestia, rather than appearing shortly after midnight, didn’t show up in the kiosks until after nine.  Pravda noted the event with an appropriately mournful black border around its front page which was devoted wholly to Stalin and included an editorial calling for “monolithic unity” and “vigilance”.  Presumably, Mr Putin (b 1952; president or prime minister of Russia since 1999) still feels much the same.

Lindsay Lohan attending the Just Sing It App Launch at Pravda, New York City, December 2013.

For over seventy years, the two newspapers existed as documents, if not of news and truth in the conventional sense of the words, a uniquely accurate record of the official Soviet world-view and the way it wish to be represented.  It was influential too in that many of its stock phrases and modes of expression were picked up by political scientists in the West and, given the paucity of information from other sources, analyzing Pravda and Izvestia became a staple of the diet of the Kremlinologists who inhabited university departments and later think tanks, parsing and deconstructing the text in search of the hidden meanings of what Winston Churchill (1975-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) described as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.

Assart

Assart (pronounced ess-sart)

(1) In English law, as an intransitive verb, the act of grubbing up trees or bushes to convert forest into arable land; a variant was the less common essart, directly from the Old French).

(2) In English law, as a noun, a piece of once forested land cleared for use in agriculture (obsolete).

Pre 1000: From the Middle French essarter, from the Old French essart, from essarter (to “grub up” or clear land), from the Late Latin exartum, probably from the Vulgar Latin exsartum, neuter of exsartus, past participle of exsarire (to weed out), the construct being ex- (out) + sarire (to hoe, weed).  It was akin to the Old High German sarf (sharp), the Latin sarpere (to prune), the Ancient Greek harpagē (hook, rake) and the Sanskrit sṛṇī (sickle).  Assart is a noun & verb and assarted & assarting are verbs; the noun plural is assarts.

The companion noun was the now archaic thwaite, from the Middle English thwait, from the Old Norse þveit (paddock).  Related forms included the Old Norse þveita (to hurl (and linked to the later English “whittle”)), the Danish døjt (1⁄160 of the gulden (and in dialectal use: “a small coin”)), the German Deut and the Dutch duit.  It was cognate with the Old English þwītan (to thwite; cut; cut off) and was a doublet of doit (the small Dutch coin) and possibly of twat (slang for both “a stupid person” and “the vulva or vagina”).  A thwaite was also a piece of assarted forest land, the only difference being it could be used for purpose of habitation as well as agriculture or habitation but the distinction was never enforced in law and the two words co-existed, apparently without ill-effect.

Land clearance

Assart: Lindsay Lohan in Prussian blue bikini, Florianópolis, Brazil, April 2013.

Although an ancient practice, the legal mechanism of the assart was a creation of feudal law and referred to to the act of clearing forested land for the purpose of converting it into arable land or pasture, something of some significance in medieval England.  Assarting was often regulated by feudal law because forested land was valuable (both the land value and resources such as water, timber and wild game) and typically the property of the crown or a lord and the unauthorized clearing (assarting) of forest land was prohibited, offenders subject to legal sanction.  Once approval was granted, the parcel of land assarted was described as “an assart” (except in northern England where the common law term was “a riding”) and in some instances, those granted permission to assart might be required to pay an "assart rent" as a form of tax or fee for the use of the newly cleared land, a legal concept not dissimilar to the modern RRT (resource rental tax) system used in some jurisdictions to generate revenue from those exploiting an area of land or sea for purposes of resource extraction.  In medieval England, clearances happened usually on common land which was then put to private use, the “assart rents” paid to the Crown for the land assarted.  Assarting (though usually without the elaborate legal structures) has been practiced since the last days of the hunter-gatherer societies towards the end of the pre-historic era and was a significant practice during the Middle Ages as it played a role in agricultural expansion and the transformation of the landscape from wild forest to cultivated land, something which enabled an increase in the production of food which in turn made sustainable larger populations, something which of course led to the need further to assart.

Like any form of government action in which a government transfers a right in land held in common (although the term “common land” is a little misleading) by way of a leasehold or freehold title, there were often “special deals” and the better connected one was, the more special (in terms of area, frequency of grant, exchange of consideration etc) they were likely to be, local Lords and churches especially favoured.  The land cleared was usually common land but after assarting, the space became privately used, either by the individual family who would remove the wooded coverage except to the extent hedges were retained to create individual paddocks or by cooperatives (groups of geographically close families or even whole villages) which would divide the space on some agreed basis.  The monasteries (which once littered the country) were also players, needing agricultural activities both to secure the necessary food supplies and to provide surpluses which could be cash crops or used in the then prevalent barter economy.  The thousand-year trend, in most parts of the world settled or colonised by Europeans, has been that assartment has tended to increase the acreage of cleared land suitable for agriculture and reduce the size of forests.  However, one aberration happened during the fourteenth century when the Black Death pandemic radically depopulated the countryside and many assarted areas reverted to woodland.