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

Ah-ha!



Was he older than the other runners thus making the implant seem even more effective?

Yes he was +3

So from the list of outstanding thigns to be resolved we can cross off the 2nd unusual thing about John Pearson. He had three testicles, one belong to a former inmate who had been executed and at the time of the race in 1923 he was 70 years old in prison for life.

So that leaves:


Outstanding questions to puzzle over:
------------

Why were they doing this?

The link to silent films.

The link to The Vatican.




Additional Bonus Round
-------------

Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.

Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?

I have no ideas to offer so here they are.

Outstanding questions to puzzle over:
------------
Why were they doing this?
To prove that psychologically nothing perks a man up better than a new set of testicles.
The link to silent films.
They performed the removals without anaesthetic, and in a silent movie no one can hear you scream.
The link to The Vatican.
90% of all the B******* created in the world can be traced back to the Vatican

Additional Bonus Round
-------------
Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.
Doctor Vladimir Bolokov
Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?
The Condemned Prisoners Society because they felt that hanging was punishment enough.

The Womens Equality Collective who believed that it infringed their exclusive rights in this field.

The Vatican who disagreed with anything that they couldn't make money out of.

Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?

I imagine that the Society of Surgeons (or whatever they were called then) might have been one?


I also remember reading that soprano Lily Pons and Sarah Bernhardt were said to have attended a clinic in Italy for monkey gland injections at about that time. They were thought to restore youth apparently, but weren't they also used to treat mental illness?

Pebble,



The Posting to which you are replying is from pebblederook
I have no ideas to offer so here they are.

Outstanding questions to puzzle over:
------------
Why were they doing this?
To prove that psychologically nothing perks a man up better than a new set of testicles.
DGI +1


The link to silent films.
They performed the removals without anaesthetic, and in a silent movie no one can hear you scream.
Nope.



The link to The Vatican.
90% of all the B******* created in the world can be traced back to the Vatican
Nope.


Additional Bonus Round
-------------
Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.
Doctor Vladimir Bolokov
Nope.


Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?
The Condemned Prisoners Society because they felt that hanging was punishment enough.
Nope.

The Womens Equality Collective who believed that it infringed their exclusive rights in this field.
Nope.


The Vatican who disagreed with anything that they couldn't make money out of.
The Vatican.

Feisor,

Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?

I imagine that the Society of Surgeons (or whatever they were called then) might have been one?

There was by this point a lot of hostility towards him however surgeons were not specifically amongst the lobbyists.


Certainly he was friends with Sarah Bernhadt, and visited his farm though it's not clear that she ever had any monkey gland injections as his business was transplants.

Also she is or was a silent movie actress, but that's not the link I'm looking for.

Lily Pons, similarly, friends with but not obviously patients of the good doctor.

Have a DGI +1 for both.



They were thought to restore youth

Yes. +3

"Doctor Vladimir Bolokov"







Thanks Clive BTW

Still mileage in this one...

Seems only the antipodeans like thyself and Keith are paying it any attention though.

I had no idea testicles were such a sensitive subject!

Oh, I'm paying attention, just lacking inspiration, even for wild guesses.

Link to silent films - Rudolph Valentino had it done. It's got to be more complicated than that hasn't it?

Link to the Vatican - something to do with the Swiss Guard? Keeping them young and strong? Nah.

Complaining groups - Licensed Victuallers Association, Royal Society, WI, Veterinarians, George Bernard Shaw.

I'm paying attention too, but I can't say I've had much experience in the subject....

Outstanding questions to puzzle over:
------------

Why were they doing this?

The link to silent films.
The only link I can think of (at the moment) is that the practice of transplanting testicles would make for a good comedy did one of the silent era comedians do a skit in a film about it or maybe had the operation?

An aside: I was going to write 'testes' as I thought it was the plural of testicle but I thought I'd check it's meaning first and it didn't seem to make sense; "Testis, 1483, the latin word for witness, well I'd better not use that then I thought...but I read on. Testis. Chiefly in plural.testes. Anat. 1.=Testicle 1704. Ah ha I thought that's more like it and they mention that the ovaries in 'females' are sometimes called this.
But what's 'witness' got to do with testicles then?

Testicle [-L. Testiculas, dim. of testis, witness. (here's the interesting bit btw) "the organ being evidence of virility"

and the OED always hedges it's bets...." two ellipsoid glandular bodies 'usually' enclosed in a scrotum ...

The link to The Vatican.

Umm, they were going to transplant new scrotum's and such onto all those statues that lost theirs to some mad priest many years ago ?




Additional Bonus Round
-------------

Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.

No idea of a name.

Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?

Now if this doctor was involved in transplants then at some stage he probably practiced on animals so maybe one of the groups were an anti-vivisectionist mob.

Another group might be some old Tsarists if the guy was a communist.

Oh, and I just had a thought. Maybe a group representing the particular animal involved in the transplants was protesting too; a bit like the anti-whalers.

Sorry been out all day - will reply to these in a moment...

>Rudolph Valentino had it done. It's got to be more complicated than that hasn't it?<

Oh yeah.

Not more complicated as such, just a bit more lateral thinking.

>Link to the Vatican - something to do with the Swiss Guard? Keeping them young and strong? Nah.<

Nah.

>Complaining groups - Licensed Victuallers Association, Royal Society, WI, Veterinarians, George Bernard Shaw.<

None of those.

Keith,

>The only link I can think of (at the moment) is that the practice of transplanting testicles would make for a good comedy did one of the silent era comedians do a skit in a film about it or maybe had the operation?<

Transplanting testicles is our theme, but beyond that nil points.


>The OED always hedges it's bets...." two ellipsoid glandular bodies 'usually' enclosed in a scrotum ... <

Balderdash and Piffle was never like this....

Additional Bonus Round
-------------

>>Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.

No idea of a name.<<

The name's not really at issue. I just didn't want to say it in case someone went: "Oh! HIM!!!"

Now if this doctor was involved in transplants then at some stage he probably practiced on animals so maybe one of the groups were an anti-vivisectionist mob.

Correct +3. 1 down...

Not Tsarists or an animal pressure group.

Yay, one less conundrum to worry about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Outstanding questions to puzzle over:
------------

Why were they doing this?
Your asking about the race or the prison or all the above?

The link to silent films.
A scene was shot at the prison and later included in a film?
or
A movie was made of the medical procedure (probably not, we would of all seen it by now but I had to ask)

The link to The Vatican.
The prison priest was a Papist?




Additional Bonus Round
-------------

Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.

His qualifications not recognised or accepted or his particular field of study not considered a real subject (grasping at straws Clive) ?

Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?
Two to go, hmmm.

sorry...minds gone blank. Time to go to work (building a stone wall at the moment and that's always good for contemplation so i might be back with a idea or two later )

Why were they doing this?


Feisor (I think) got that one. The nswr is rejuvination / reversal of aging.

The link to silent films.
A scene was shot at the prison and later included in a film?

or

A movie was made of the medical procedure (probably not, we would of all seen it by now but I had to ask)


neither of those - this is slightly tricker because it focusses on events *outside* the prison (i.e thematically linked but not concerning dead prisoners, septuagenarians race-runners etc.)

The link to The Vatican.
The prison priest was a Papist?

Nope. (well maybe, but that's not it.) Again cast your mind wider to events outside the prison and onto the theme more generally.


Additional Bonus Round
-------------

Russian Doctor arrived in London May 20 1928, but was denied a licence to practice.

His qualifications not recognised or accepted or his particular field of study not considered a real subject (grasping at straws Clive) ?


No people took him very seriously, for a time.


Which three groups lobbied against his being granted the licence and why?
Two to go, hmmm.

sorry...minds gone blank. Time to go to work (building a stone wall at the moment and that's always good for contemplation so i might be back with a idea or two later )


No worries.

Anything to do with the Great Depression that began in 1926????


GT

Nope.