QUESTION: What is the story behind the harmonica player Max Geldray, who features on The Goon Show?
Born Max van Gelder to a Jewish family in Amsterdam in 1916, Geldray was a pioneering jazz harmonica player.
In 1940, the Nazis invaded Belgium, where he had been performing, and Geldray fled to Britain. He joined the Royal Netherlands Motorised Infantry Brigade, part of the Dutch army in exile, and, in 1942 he was part of the entertainment laid on for Princess Elizabeth’s 16th birthday at Windsor Castle.
In 1944 Geldray took part in the Normandy landings, where he was injured in a bomb blast. In May 1945 he arrived in Amsterdam where, tragically, he discovered his parents and younger sister had been murdered by the Nazis.
He moved to Britain and in 1951 joined a new BBC radio series, Crazy People, which a year later became The Goon Show. Alongside his jazz harmonica, he was a comic foil to Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine and Harry Secombe; in one episode, Milligan says that Geldray could play the harmonica only if he is torpedoed, a cue for sound effects.
His harmonica performances added a jazz element to the show, and his colleagues staunchly supported his inclusion — Sellers even threatened to leave when the BBC considered dropping him in 1958.
In 1961 he was offered cruise work on the liner Queen Elizabeth, sailing to the United States. Impressed by Los Angeles, and following the collapse of his first marriage, he decided to emigrate. He worked with singers Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels and played the casinos in Reno, Nevada. In 1962 he met a divorcee, Susan, and, after they married, sold clothes in a department store, then worked as the regional sales supervisor for the Christian Science Monitor.
Born Max van Gelder to a Jewish family in Amsterdam in 1916, Geldray was a pioneering jazz harmonica player.
Geldray later moved to Palm Springs. He continued to play his harmonica in local bars until 2002, before passing away in 2004, leaving a legacy as a harmonica virtuoso.
Robin Mackintosh, Wedmore, Somerset
QUESTION What is the origin of the name Elvis?
The name Elvis has multiple possible origins. Some scholars believe it may derive from the Old Norse name Alviss, meaning ‘all-wise’. The name could also have Anglo-Saxon roots, where similar-sounding names such as Aelfwine (meaning ‘noble friend’) were common.
There’s an Irish origin, where the name might be derived from Ailbhe, meaning ‘white’. Saint Ailbhe of Munster was the monk who baptised the Welsh patron saint, St David. He is remembered in Wales as St Elvis and there is a Pembrokeshire parish by that name.
In Middle English, the surname Elvis was used interchangeably with Elwes. This seems the probable origin of the name of the world’s most famous Elvis, Elvis Presley, as appropriating surnames has been common in America.
Paul Dart, Nantwich, Cheshire
QUESTION: I read that Turkish is one of the ten hardest languages to learn. What are the other nine?
Turkish is considered one of the ten hardest common languages to learn for English speakers because of its agglutinative and rhythmic structure. Agglutinative words are formed by adding to root words.
The language’s rhythmic element is controlled by vowel harmony, a rule in which vowels match each otherto sound smooth.
Turkish also has a subject-object-verb order, as opposed to the subject-verb-object order used in English.
Nine other difficult languages are: Mandarin Chinese, which has thousands of characters, tonal pronunciation and no alphabetic script.
Arabic, which has complex grammar, non-Latin script and distinct regional dialects.
Japanese, which has threewriting systems (kanji, hiragana, katakana), extensive honorifics and contextual meanings.
Korean, which has a unique grammar structure, three levels of formality and a large number of loanwords with nuanced meanings.
Hungarian, which has agglutinative grammar, 18 cases to dictate tense and possession, and extensive vowel harmony.
Finnish, which has complex grammar, numerous dialects and no future tense.
Polish, which has seven grammatical cases, difficult consonant clusters and a gendered noun system.
Russian, which has Cyrillic script and a complex case system.
Icelandic, which has archaic grammar and vocabulary.
Worse still are isolated languages such as Navajo, Basque or the Khoisan group, indigenous African languages that are characterised by their use of click consonants.
Angelika Coles, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham
