Greeny News

Plus: Ships named after clubs (2); Live musical football soundtracks (2); and third-choice Peter Shilton. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow the Knowledge on Twitter at twitter.com/TheKnowledge_GU

"After Kevin Davies was called up to the England squad, I was wondering who the oldest ever international debutant might be," poses Tony Hurley.

Even at 33 years old, Tony, Davies is still some way short of the English record. At the age of 38 Leslie Compton became this country's oldest post-war debutant on 15 November 1950, when he won the first of his two caps during a 4-2 Home International Championship win over Wales at Roker Park. He is also the oldest outfield debutant, but even he arrived later on the scene than the all-time England record holder, Alec Morten.

Morten's date of birth is disputed with some sources citing 15 November 1831 and others suggesting it was not until 1832. Either way, though, his age at death (68 in February 1900) confirms that he could not have been younger than 41 (and may have been as old as 42) when he captained England in only their second official game, against Scotland at Kennington Oval in London on 8 March 1873. Coincidentally, the game also finished 4-2 to the home side.

We haven't managed to find any older debutants from other countries, but if you know of one then drop us a line at knowledge@guardian.co.uk

SHIPS NAMED AFTER FOOTBALL CLUBS (2)

Last week we listed major football clubs who have had ships named after them but it seems there may be even more out there than we first realised. We've included a few more suggestions below, though first of all we'd like to revisit one of the ships mentioned last week â€" a vessel called Aston Villa.

"There is a story about this ship that may interest you," begins Pete Moxon and he's not wrong. "During the second world war she was requisitioned by the navy and became HMS Aston Villa, and was part of the fleet that responded to the German invasion of Norway. On 30 April 1940 she was struck by German dive bombers, and eight of the 38 crew were killed. She sank off the coast of Norway on 3 May 1940."

More information can be found on the HMS Aston Villa here and here, but it wasn't the only ship with a familiar name to see service. "I seem to remember reading somewhere that Tottenham supporters raised enough money during WWII to buy a battleship for the Royal Navy, called the HMS Hotspur," writes Paris Goursoyannis. "This one was apparently bought with those funds and nicknamed 'Tottenham'. Is this really what happened?"

You're not far off Paris. The Royal Navy has had four different HMS Hotspurs down the years but the version to which you refer was launched in 1936, and went on to serve in the second world war. The name did not initially have anything to do with Tottenham but in 1942, as part of the British National Savings campaign â€" in which the public were asked to donate money to help the war effort â€" residents of Tottenham decided to pool their funds and "adopt" the ship (although presumably not all necessarily cared about the local team).

Many other communities across the country did the same during Warship Week, raising huge sums which were spent on repairing and refitting the ships they had adopted, as well as running costs. People who had raised money would often send letters and gifts to the crew, and as this account notes, the "ladies in Tottenham knitted woollies for the crew of their adopted ship".

Claus Moser alerts us to the steamship Hertha, which, rather than being named after Hertha Berlin, actually provided the German club's name in the first place. "The name was suggested by one of the club's founders (as were the ship's blue and white colours, and the flag, which is part of the club crest) because he had spent a recent weekend cruise on it, and his partners couldn't come up with a better one," explains Claus. "Like the club, the ship subsequently had a history of ups and downs.

"She was built in 1886 and in service well into the 20th century, mostly travelling on lake, canal and river cruises across Berlin. Then in East Germany, she was renamed Seid Bereit."

Peter Hands alerted us to ER Bayern, launched this August in Korea by none other than Heidi Beckenbauer, wife to Der Kaiser himself. Dietmar Lang, meanwhile, points out the ship named Werder Bremen that, as he puts it, "simply can't refrain from entering the Port of Hamburg".

Any more for any more? Drop us a line at knowledge@guardian.co.uk

FOOTBALL SCORES (2)

Another topic discussed last week was the idea of putting football to music. We relayed how Nigel Kennedy put together a semi-improvised performance in front of a silent screening of Poland's 1973 World Cup qualifying draw with England as part of his Polish Weekend event in May this year, but Ben Cottrell wrote in to point out that it's all been done before.

"The Vortex jazz club in Dalston has run improv gigs for loads of matches at the last two World Cups," he says. The performers react live to the action on the screen, mixing improvised riffs with more familiar tunes, and generally receiving positive reviews.

Ben alerted us to a Time Out interview with Billy Jenkins, the man behind the shows at the Vortex jazz club, in which reference is made to performances dating back to 1998. "Most memorable was a gig in a Deptford pub during the 1998 World Cup that coincided with the Iran v USA fixture," writes Time Out's John Lewis. "Jenkins's band played the role of the United States (playing Duane Eddy riffs) while Stuart Hall's tongue-in-cheek world music band Orquestra Mahatma played Iran (ululating horns, Persian ghazals, hypnotic Middle Eastern rhythms and so on)."

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

\\ "In England 'S Group game against Morocco to Mexico, 86 Bryan Robson got off injured and threw bandages to Ray Wilkins. But Butch was sent shortly after for throwing the ball at work, so that those who took the captain "S bandage? " asked Ruth Relfe in 2007.

Easy answer here Ruth, or at least it was for the all-knowing FA historian David Barber. Ray handed the armband over to goalkeeper Peter Shilton â€" unsurprisingly, it was the first time more than two players had worn the England captain's armband in the same match.

For many more sepia-tinged questions and answers, why not visit the Knowledge archive?

Can you help?

"My quiz team-mate was telling me how caught Marsh bowled Lillee (c Marsh b Lillee, the way it would go down in the scoring books) was the most common form of dismissal in cricket until it was replaced by lbw Akram," writes Tamizhmarai. "This made me wonder what it would be for football. If we came up with a form of notation in football, say, assist X goal Y, then which would be the most common form of goal scoring in football?"

"During the City-Newcastle MBM Steven Thomas wrote in and asked how many British players have had their legs broken this season. This got me thinking. Are there differing injury rates between different leagues? If so, do they support the perception that football is 'harder' in the British leagues? Has anyone ever studied this?" ponders Tom Baird.

"Local Notts newspapers are positively buzzing with the news that Mansfield may be afforded city status," writes Tom Parry. "Has any club ever changed their name because of a change in their status? Will Mansfield Town become Mansfield City?"

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow the Knowledge on Twitter at twitter.com / TheKnowledge_GU .