The Breezer - the joyride for a curious mind: A weekly newsletter from me, Steve Winduss, at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me discovering historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. Add to that updates relating to the podcast, a touch of humour and a dash of "lots more". - 16th February 2025.

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Happy Sunday!

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Last week, there were 450 kilometres of traffic jams in and around Paris, France. Poor weather, one or two minor accidents and the World Summit on Artificial Intelligence were suggested as the root causes (route cause?).

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On the same day, the English language news channel in India, WION, was reporting that a traffic jam emanating from the state of Madhya Pradesh to Prayagraj was more than 200 kilometres long.

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This jam was caused by a surge of pilgrims trying to reach the Hindu Maha Kumbh festival at Prayagraj in the state of Uttar Pradesh. (Luckily, this festival only occurs every 12 years.)

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The longest official traffic jam by distance ever recorded occurred 45 years ago today, 16 February 1980. Drivers in France joining the A6 from Lyon bound for Auxerre (150 km southeast of Paris) were mighty upset to find themselves in a 176-kilometre queue the entire length of their trip.

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The length of the traffic jam approximates to the distance between Los Angeles and San Diego, New York and Philadelphia or London and Bristol.

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The expected four-and-a-half-hour journey would take them over ten hours. Ouch.

Out of Curiosity…
The longest ever traffic jam by duration occurred on China’s Beijing-Tibet Expressway in 2010. It lasted for 12 days.
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Vehicles moved at an average rate of one kilometre per day.

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I am sure you have been stuck in a traffic jam on a highway at some point. You’re happily belting along at 120 kph, and the dreaded brake lights appear ahead of you.
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When those brake lights become more concentrated and prolonged, you’re in for a jam.
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Even more frustrating; 45 minutes later, you reach the point at which the jam has dispersed… to find that apparently nothing caused it in the first place.
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Sometimes, the queue may be so long, the accident that caused it has been cleared away. But sometimes ‘nothing’ caused your frustrating hold up.
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I’ve thought through the mechanics of these phantom traffic jams in the delusional hope that the queuing will be less painful if I understand where the pain comes from.
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You will recognise the concertina effect. The first time you stop is the longest. Then you move off, gather speed over some distance and…. come to a stop again.
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This time, the stop is slightly shorter. Again you pull away, speed up over a shorter distance and…. come to a stop again sooner.
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At each concertina, the timings reduce. You are stationary for less time, and when you start to move again, the movement is over a smaller distance.
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By the time you are just shy of the holdup point, you are hardly stopping at all, while imperceptibly changing speed when moving forward.
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And suddenly you’re through… and there’s nothing there. Nothing and no-one to wave your fist at.
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The main reason for the concertina - erratic human behaviour.
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Let’s say at some point, a driver on the highway slows down for no apparent reason. In fact, they were sending a text message while driving, got a little close to the car in front and had to dab the brakes to ease back.
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The car behind wasn’t expecting this. After all, it’s a clear road with good visibility. They dab their brakes a little harder than the original car because they have slightly less time to react.

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The following car in line has even less time to react because the car in front of them slowed down quicker than the first. Their reaction has to be more rapid and abrupt than the car in front.
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This ripple of reactions works its way down the previously orderly line of traffic until, at some point, the car in question reacts so firmly that they stop.
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From that point onwards, if the next car to join the back of the queue arrives quicker than the car at the front of the queue pulls away, the traffic jam will get longer - and vice versa.
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These phantom traffic jams aren’t just caused by dramatic actions from careless drivers. Sometimes, even small variations in speed can cascade down the line to bring the traffic to a stop.
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In steady-state situations, the key variables are speed of traffic, road conditions, average distance between cars and human reaction time.
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Using a circular track, researchers have shown that by gradually introducing more cars onto the track, i.e. replicating heavier periods of traffic, cars will eventually stop.

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This stop is caused by sheer traffic density alone, even though drivers have been briefed to keep a steady speed behind the car in front.
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So it turns out that you can actually travel faster by slowing down in certain conditions. That is, of course, if someone has done the maths and shared what that optimum speed should be.
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Back in France, the one-off jam that day was the resut of severe weather and an increased density of cars returning from ski trips in the Alps.
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So, next time you’re on a highway and see the temporary speed reduction warnings, remember that if everyone paid attention to them and slowed down, you would get home earlier.
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If they don’t, you’ll be heading for a traffic jam. In that case, see if you can predict how long you will be stuck in that jam based on the length of time you are stationary during the first concertina.
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I’d love to hear your traffic jam stories - steve@battingthebreeze.com.

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Thursday...
Anne Frank was the legendary German Jewish teenager who stowed away in a secret space at the back of an office building in Amsterdam between 1942 and 1944 during World War II.
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The Germans occupied the Netherlands from 1940. The anti-Semitism that had forced Anne’s family in Germany to escape to Amsterdam had now caught up with them.
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In 1942, her sister Margot was snatched and deported to a labour camp.
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The remaining Frank family and four others hid in the secret annex for two years before they were betrayed and taken by the Gestapo.The families were sent to Auschwitz. Anne and her reunited sister Margot were subsequently sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
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Eighty years ago on Thursday, 20 February 1945*, Anne died from typhus. She was 15 years old. Anne’s sister Margot had died in camp also from typhus a few days earlier.
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We know the story of Anne Frank because she kept a diary. Her father, Otto Heinrich Frank, survived and, on returning to Amsterdam, found Anne’s diary and published it as “The Diary of a Young Girl” in 1947.

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The book has since sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
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Otto lived until the age of 91, passing away in 1980. He was the only member of the family to survive the war.
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* The date of Anne’s death is disputed. The date quoted is regularly cited, but the range of dates spread from mid February to mid March.

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Friday…
One hundred and fifteen years ago this Friday, 21 February 1910, Jessie Mackenzie Bader gave birth to a son, Douglas.
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Douglas Bader proved to be a little unruly growing up, a reputation enhanced by once shooting his neighbour with an air rifle through her bathroom window.
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He was sent to Temple Grove School in Parsons Green, London to try and soften the edges.
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Bader joined the Royal Air Force in 1928 and although an excellent sportsman, he failed to excel as a student of flying.
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In 1931, against Squadron orders, Bader attempted some slow-altitude acrobatics at Reading Aero Club and crashed. He survived, but both legs had to be amputated. In 1933, Bader was forced out of the service.
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As the Second World War entered its early stages, Bader demonstrated his flying credentials once again and was recommissioned for operational flying in the RAF towards the end of 1939.
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Bader became the first person known to fly with two artificial legs, mastering both the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire throughout the war.

Out of Curiosity…
It has been suggested that Bader’s double-amputation turned to his advantage when engaged in aerial combat. Pilots were in danger of passing out when high G-forces forced blood into their legs and away from their brain.

Since Bader had no legs, he didn’t need to worry.

In 1940, Bader fought in the Battle of Britain, defending the United Kingdom against the might of the German Luftwaffe. He would shoot down 22 enemy aircraft during the war.
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Bader was himself shot down over France in 1941 and captured by the Germans. Despite two artificial legs, he proved to be a serial escapee and was transferred to the infamous Colditz Castle, about 45 minutes by car from Leipzig, where he remained until the end of the war.

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After the war, Bader befriended several former Luftwaffe fighter pilots. This was not unusual, as opposing pilots often expressed mutual respect.
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One of these friends was Adolf Galland, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 pilot. Galland had arranged for a spare prosthetic leg to be flown over from England when Bader was first captured.
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Galland and Bader remained friends for life. After Bader’s death, Galland reflected, “Douglas was the only Englishman I have ever loved”.
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Bader led the Victory Flypast over London in 1945 and was immortalised in the 1954 biography “Reach for the Sky”. A film of the same name followed in 1956.
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Douglas Bader is remembered as a British hero, a huge character both during and after the war. He died in 1982, aged 72.

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​Later in the week…
A few weeks ago I raised the subject of Marsy’s Law in the United States. I learned that state law caters for the needs of the accused more than those of the victims of crime.
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As a result of the tragic murder of Marsy Nicholas in 1983 (see Marsy's Law for more information), Marsy’s brother Henry devoted himself to advancing legal rights for victims of crime and their families.
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Marsy’s Law was established in California 16 years ago. Since then, victims and their families receive stronger protection under the law in that state.

Subsequently, Marsy's Law has been passed in 11 further states, one of those states being Kentucky. I was privileged to catch up with David Toney in 2022, whose father was murdered in 1994. David tirelessly worked with the Marsy’s Law team in Kentucky to help enact the new law there in 2020.

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David subsequently moved to Tennessee and continued the fight for Marsy’s Law in that state. One year ago next Saturday, 22 February 2024, David contacted me to confirm that the state of Tennessee had approved Marsy's Law that day for the second time.
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They are now awaiting the statewide referendum in 2026 to give voters their own chance to approve Marsy’s Law, triggering an amendment to Article 1 of the Tennessee Constitution.
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I’ll report back then.

By the Way

Jimmy Greaves was one of England’s greatest, and perhaps unluckiest, footballers. He was born 85 years ago on Thursday, 20 February 1940.
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Greaves’ professional career started at Chelsea in 1957. After a brief stint at AC Milan, he returned to England in 1961 to join Tottenham Hotspur, scoring 268 goals in 381 appearances.
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Greaves would win two FA Cups and a European Cup Winner’s Cup in 1963.

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Jimmy was unlucky because, despite scoring six hat trick’s for England and playing a significant part in the group stages at the 1966 World Cup, he was injured prior to the final.
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​Geoff Hurst replaced Jimmy for the World Cup Final, scored his own hat trick and the rest is history. England won their first, and only, FIFA World Cup.

Out of curiosity…
In 1858, The bowler Heathfield Stephenson took three wickets in three consecutive deliveries during a cricket match at The Hyde Park ground in Sheffield.
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Spectators were so excited that they raised money to buy Stephenson a hat as a memento.
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The All-England eleven won the game and Stephenson’s “hat trick” was the highlight. The term “hat trick” has subsequently been adopted by many sports to refer to three successful something-or-others in a row.

I was invited to a gentleman’s sporting dinner in Christchurch around 2005. Jimmy Greaves was the guest speaker. He was an even funnier speaker than he was prodigious a goalscorer.
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Every sentence received roars of laughter, but the one comment that stood out was when he was asked why he never became a football manager:

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Jimmy died in 2021 at the age of 81.

Question of the Week

Eric Liddell was born in China in 1902 to Scottish missionary parents. He would play rugby union for Scotland seven times before winning a gold medal in the 400 metres at the 1924 Paris Olympics, breaking the world record along the way.
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In 1932, Liddell returned to China to follow his parents’ missionary footsteps. When the second Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1937, Eric chose to stay in China.
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Liddell was interned by the Japanese in 1943 and died from a brain tumour in 1945 at the Weihsien Internment Camp in Shandong Province, China. He had spent those last two years mentoring and supporting prisoners through their ordeal.
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Eric Liddell’s Olympic journey was captured in a famous 1981 British film. What was the name of the film?

And finally...

In the 1980s, I was a Mechanical Engineering student at Manchester University in the North of England.
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Forty years ago this Tuesday, 18 February 1985, I went to a production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.
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It was a gripping courtroom drama where Lieutenant Stephen Maryk of the US Navy is charged with mutiny on the USS Caine during World War II. Mark believed his captain, Lieutenant Commander Philip Queeg, to be mentally incapacitated during a typhoon and took charge.
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No spoiler alerts.
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I mention this occasion because of the headline director and actor in the play - the legendary Charlton Heston. Why would a Hollywood AA lister end up in a regional UK venue on stage?
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In those days, the top Hollywood actors were iconic. Heston’s roles in Ben-Hur and El Cid were blockbusters with a mythical quality. The films and the actors were inseparable.

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Modern stars have to deal in a more fragmented marketplace. They appear in blockbusters one minute and undercooked Netflix series the next. Scripts seem to be written more with the franchise in mind than with which actor will feature.
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So, that evening in 1985, we watched a legend performing his craft only feet in front of us. It was a pleasure and privilege that I still remember fondly today.
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It turns out that for all his Hollywood greatness, in later life Heston preferred to test himself on stage. He never stopped refining his acting skills and relished the complexity that theatrical parts could offer in a form that Hollywood could not.
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Charlton Heston died in 2008 at the age of 84.

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Thank you for joining me. Have a great week!

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Steve

HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER

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P:S: Incidentally, I am always keen to receive your feedback to help me continuously improve this newsletter and the podcast. Just hit reply to this email and...... let it rip! I respond to every email that I receive.

Question of the week… Answer

Eric Liddell’s Olympic story was portrayed in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. The film contrasted the journeys of the two main characters, Liddell and Harold Abrahams.
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Chariots of Fire cost $5 million to produce and surprisingly grossed $60 million at the box office.
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The 2019 film Avengers: Endgame cost $356 million to produce and grossed $2.8 billion, representing a take of eight times cost. Chariots of Fire grossed 12 times cost.

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