QUESTION Was Charlie Chaplin's grave once robbed?

Yes, his coffin was stolen and held for ransom.

In 1952 Charlie Chaplin paid a visit to Britain only to find that the U.S. attorney general had revoked his visa (he had never obtained U.S. citizenship) because of alleged Communist sympathies. Incensed, Chaplin vowed never to set foot in the U.S. again. He settled in Switzerland and died there on Christmas Day 1977 in the town of Corsier-sur-Vevey on the banks of Lake Geneva.

One morning early in 1978, the local cemetery worker made a startling discovery: a muddy hole where Chaplin's coffin should have been.

The Press speculated that a group of neo-Nazis, rabid anti-Semites or a crazed Englishman who wanted to repatriate Chaplin were responsible. Within a few days, the motive was revealed. The coffin was offered for a ransom of 600,000 Swiss francs.

The thieves made numerous phone calls to his widow Oona threatening to harm the younger Chaplin children, and the police traced the calls to a series of local phone booths. After three months they captured the culprits: Roman Wardas, a 24-year-old Pole, and Gantscho Ganev, a 38-year-old Bulgarian.

Charlie Chaplin in 1915. The Press speculated that a group of neo-Nazis, rabid anti-Semites or a crazed Englishman who wanted to repatriate Chaplin were responsible. Within a few days, the motive was revealed. The coffin was offered for a ransom of 600,000 Swiss francs

Charlie Chaplin's grave in Switzerland. He settled in Switzerland and died there on Christmas Day 1977 in the town of Corsier-sur-Vevey on the banks of Lake Geneva

The coffin was unearthed, having been hidden in a farmer's field some 14 miles away. It was soon reinterred in its plot in the cemetery and reinforced with concrete.

Wardas, the mastermind of the plot, got four and a half years hard labour while Ganev got 18 months.

Heidi Powell, Nantwich, Cheshire.

QUESTION How is the nutritional value of foods determined by the supermarkets and food manufacturers?

The government requires food and drink manufacturers to declare the nutritional value of their products based on their own analysis. This is usually undertaken by an accredited laboratory, which is a requirement when there are specific nutritional claims, such as those with a boosted mineral or vitamin content.

Accredited laboratories are listed on the Food Standards Agency website. They can test factors such as carbohydrate, fat, protein and vitamin content using a variety of recognised tests.

A laboratory analysis is not mandatory, especially for simple foods. Manufacturers can refer to existing nutritional data. McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset is the reference that the government recommends for this purpose.

Alun Griffiths, Swansea.

QUESTION How were the Dogon people of Mali aware of the planet Sirius B, which isn't visible to the naked eye?

The story that the Dogon have knowledge of a star that can only be seen with a powerful telescope has been gleefully used to prop up nonsensical stories of aliens from outer space coming to Earth in the ancient past. But it is not a mystery at all, and as U.S. astronomer Carl Sagan pointed out, the Dogon have no knowledge of a planet further out than Saturn or that Jupiter has more than four moons. Wouldn't the little green men have told them otherwise?

Masked ceremonial Dogon dancers in Mali. The Dogon appeared to have some knowledge of Sirius B, but that their 'facts' were often wildly incorrect and contradictory

TOMORROW'S QUESTIONS 

Q:What is the best area of the dartboard for amateurs to aim at to maximise their scores?

Jenny Burns, Kendal, Cumbria.

Q: Where does the term 'straw man argument' come from?

Edward Smith, Monmouth.

Q: If a Lieutenant is junior to a Major, why does a Lieutenant General outrank a Major General?

Richard Barry, Bristol.

The Dogon are not a single culture or 'tribe'. Their civilization is diverse and encompasses different dialects, religions, cultural and social groups and beliefs. It is more accurate to say that some of the Dogon appeared to have some knowledge of Sirius B, but that their 'facts' were often wildly incorrect and contradictory.

In 1844, the German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel concluded that irregularities in the orbit of Sirius A meant that it must have a massive but faint companion star. American astronomer Alvan Graham Clark confirmed this in 1862 when he first observed Sirius B using a huge refracting telescope at the Dearborn Observatory in Illinois.

French astrophysicist Henri- Alexandre Deslandres led an expedition to Mali to observe the solar eclipse of April 1893. Deslandres and his team lived among the Dogon for over a month and were reportedly fascinated by their extensive knowledge of astronomy, much of which was based upon myth and legend. It is probable that they told the Dogon of the existence of Sirius B.

This fits in well with some Dogon beliefs that there is a duality in all nature. So, when the ancient alien theorists began gleefully reporting on the 'fact' that the Dogon had knowledge of a star they could not possibly have seen, they were careful to select and listen to those few Dogon who had heard the parables passed down from Deslandres and his associates, conveniently ignoring those who believed that Sirius is a triple rather than a binary system (it isn't) or those who had not even heard of Sirius B in the first place.

Angus Gafraidh, London E11.