Letter of the week
Hold on to your hat!
BOATERS, originally seen worn by Venetian gondoliers and popularised by Edwardians frolicking in boats, are deeper crowned than the straw hats worn by Harrow schoolboys (‘Ancient and modern’, August 30), which have a shorter crown (about 2½in). If used as a Frisbee, exceeding most straw hats’ design limitations, a similar rotational force applied to the hat’s brim will result in a greater distance flown by the Harrow straw hat by comparison with that of the boater, owing to the former’s lower form drag and weight.
The flight characteristics of Oddjob’s steel-rimmed square-topped bowler hat (Lock and Co, London, 1964) remain classified. Dr T. C. B. Dehn, Berkshire
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