Fact and fiction seen in glass
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WHO would believe that a Mercedes-Benz L1638 lorry weighing nearly nine tons could stand on four beer glasses without breaking them? The trick was done on German television, although not before two attempts failed while the four hydraulic-jack operators were learning to lower the wheels precisely and uniformly to ensure that the static load on each glass was exactly equal at the moment of contact with the tyre.
The jacks were then removed and the lorry stood perched on its frail bases. To prove that there was no jiggery pokery, the steering wheel was jerked and the glasses broke.
Cinderella, I seem to remember, has a somewhat similar experience with her glass coach. All went well until, as she
drove down King's Road, it was shattered by Chelsea Town Hall clock's striking midnight. In the absence of a candid camera she has difficulty in explaining to a policeman why she was lying on a pumpkin in the gutter and wearing only one shoe.