Tale 45 - Usain Bolt - not all that!

 On the way to school, the Prince of Tales shocked us with a new theory! 

“Usain Bolt is NOT the fastest man that ever lived”

I was astounded by this revelation! 

Surely there was no one who could match the speed of Usain Bolt! 

What could The Prince of Tales be thinking?  I wanted to know, but I’ve been here before and ended up with egg on my face! 

I had two options;

1 - I could shout ‘Magpie!’

2 - I could follow this up! Surely Usain is the fastest man that ever lived! Who could be faster!

Bravely, I went for option 2.

“Well, I think he is the fastest!” I replied. “Who do you think is faster?”

The Prince looked confident.

“When Usain Bolt is running, the TV cameraman keeps up with him to film the race. If he can keep level with Usain with his camera, he must be faster without it!”

I laughed.

“No, the cameraman does not run down the track with the athletes. These days there is like a rail track that the camera goes on at the grass at the side of the race. This keeps up with the athletes.” I said confidently.

The Prince was not 100% convinced. However, he could not argue that my argument was plausible.

“OK” he said, “ I have a different question!”

Bring it on I thought. I was on a roll. My street cred was going through the roof!

“Right” said the Prince, “ If I am in the aisle in a moving train carriage and I jump straight up, I will land on the same spot I took off from. If I was stood on top of a moving train and I jump straight up, the train would travel faster than me and I would land nearer the back of the train. Why?” 

I passed all my GCE’s (old fashioned GCSE’s) except French and Physics! As I was totally out of my depth there was only one solution 

I immediately shouted “Magpie!” 

One for sorrow, two for joy ……………..

What’s the hardest question your child has ever asked you, and what was your answer! Let me know!

PS If you don’t know the game of Magpie read Tale 9!