h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A previous conversation discusses the complicated question of the name of Napoleon's horse(s). It concludes that the most frequent answer given is 'Marengo'. This, too, is the answer given to the question by Mr. Memory in all 4 film versions of Buchan's 'The 39 Steps'. (1938, 1959, 1978, 2008). Yet in the stage version which has been running at the Criterion Theatre for many years, Mr. Memory claims that Napoleon's horse was Bellerophon, which was instead the British on which Napoleon was imprisoned after Waterloo. Indeed, he just gave the erroneous answer again this evening on BBC2 Newsnight (3 August 20111 edition). Why the discrepancy?

Well, if you've read the Entry to which you attached this conversation, you realise that Marengo is not the correct answer to the question, since Napoleon also owned Aboukir, Ali (or Aly), Arabella, Artaxercés, Austerlitz, Babylonien, Belle, Bijou, Bonaparte, Bouffon, Bréant, Calvados, Cheikh, Cid, Coceyre, Coco, Conquérant, Cordoue, Cuchillero, Cyrus, Désirée, Distingué, Embelli, Emir, Épicurien, Estime, Euphrate, Extrê me, Familier, Favori, Folâ tre, Gessner, Gisors, Gonsalvo, Gracieux, Hahim, Harbet, Helavert, Héricle, Hippogriffe, Ingenu, Intendant, Jaffa, Kurde, Labrador, Lowska, Lydienne, Lyre, Major, Marie, Mon Cousin, Montevideo, Moscou, Naï ade, Nankin, Naturaliste, Naufragé, Nausicaa, Navigateur, Navire, Néron, Ninon, Numid, Roitelet I, Roitelet II, Russe, Sagonte, Sahara, Sara, Sélim, Styrie, Sultan, Tamerlan, Taurus, Tcherkes, Timide, Triomphant, Wagram, Wuzbourg, and Zina.

But that list doesn't include Bellerophon. So I don't know why that particular name was used.

The list isn't exhaustive - I'm sure there could well have been a Bellerophon. But maybe it's some kind of symbolic thing, since Bellerophon was the rider of Pegasus?