Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

Photo: Aces Four ridden by Graham Lee jumps a fence on the way to winning the John Smith’s Mildmay Novices’ Chase.

It’s that time of year again: the days are light, spring is in the air and come this Saturday the 40 horses running in the Grand National at Aintree will be chomping at the bit ready to prove that they and their riders have what it takes to win the world’s most famous steeplechase.

The race draws in a global audience of casual viewers, once-a-year gamblers and serious punters hoping that this year will be the year that they strike it rich. Considered to be one of the hardest courses in the world, the 30 fence, four and a half mile course at Aintree really tests the horsemanship of the jockey, the strength and stamina of the horse and the size of the many anxiously observing gamblers’ wallets!

It was in the spring of 1839 that we saw the first Grand National staged at the Aintree course in Liverpool, as it still is to this day. The race was won by the 5-1 favourite Lottery and sparked off a tradition of racing at the venue that has since encompassed over 160 years of the Grand National, though it remained a gentleman’s club until the first female jockey rode in 1977.

The Steeplechase is particularly famous for its host of difficult and demanding jumps, twists and turns – sometimes all in one go – including Beachers Brook, Valentine’s and the Canal Twin. One of the most famous and revered of all of the jumps however is the Chair. Chizzer wonders what’s the highest jump in the Grand National?

In fact it’s the The Chair, tallest and broadest of all of the jumps on the course and stands at five feet two inches high. What makes this jump particularly unique and challenging for both the jockey and horse however is the six feet wide ditch on the take-off side that needs to be compensated for before assent over the hedge, requiring perfect timing of the jump. “It is the 15th of the 30 fences and is only jumped once during the race, on the first circuit,” explains Newmarketsalsa. “There are actually only 16 fences on the course, but 14 of them are jumped twice. Not as many horses as you would think fall at this fence, horses are not bothered by large fences – they are there to scare the jockeys!” And if that’s not enough, after all of the jumps have been completed the horses must endure a 494 yard sprint to the final post.

In the late 1800’s one horse that was more than able to gallop past all expectations was the double winner, Manifesto. Considered by many as the greatest ever Grand National runner, Manifesto was a tough and powerful horse that jointly holds the record for the highest weight carried by a winning horse (12st 7 lbs), and the record weight for a placed horse (12st 13lbs). Manifesto also holds the record for the most number of runs in the race, running through the course a total of eight times.

The most famous horse of all time to run the National, however, has to be Red Rum. Trained by Donald “Ginger” McCain, Red Rum has a record in the National that others can only dream of. The young horse first made a name for himself in the 1973 race when he made up 20 lengths to beat the big Australian horse Crisp and take the first of his three Grand National titles, as Davidrobertson43 points out. The next year he did it again to take his second title and the public’s love affair with this horse was cemented. Even after he retired Red Rum would still draw in the crowds leading the parade before the race and at one point he even made an appearance onto Sports Personality of the Year.

So if you fancy guessing the winner, you’ll need to study the form. One thing is for certain, this race is sure to be enthralling. Just make sure that your horse doesn’t lose it at the first: with all the fallers in the National, it might be better to follow more than one horse in this epic race.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Many of you may have noticed that Answers was being updated last week. Based on some recent feedback, we wanted to share a glimpse of what the team is working on. Here are some of the newest features fixed during last week’s update.

Refining “Top Contributors”

The team has taken a lot of the feedback into consideration regarding “Top Contributor” badges. One of the criticisms that really resonated with us was the need for the Best Answer percentage to be weighted more heavily in the selection criteria, so we’ve applied a tweak requiring a higher percentage in order to earn one of these badges. We are aware of the other issues the community has with the “Top Contributor” badge and we’re still considering other changes for future updates.

Speedier Troll Deletions

Our Customer Care Team is thrilled with a recent enhancement to our abuse tools that allows for multiple troll deletions at once. This helps them fend off troll attacks all at once – effectively removing abusive content from the site at a quicker pace, and at a much larger scale so that the community will have less junk to filter through on their own. The entire team is dedicated to finding bigger and better ways to improve content quality on the site, and this is yet another tool to help us achieve this goal.

Disappearing 360 Images

Many Answerers use photos that they’ve uploaded to their 360 pages as their avatars on Answers. Unfortunately, a bug was preventing Answers from surfacing 360 images as user profiles in some cases. We’ve heard everyone’s woes, and believe us, we feel your pain. As editors we were also dealing with missing images when programming Q&A on the Answers front page. Thankfully our engineers have come up with a fix that will increase the reliability of 360 photos appearing on Answers profiles where they belong.

Category Leaderboards for International Markets

Another update to the site involved the addition of category leaderboards for International Answers markets. Now each market can view leaderboard stats for their categories. One Answers user, Tabia, recently suggested an interesting idea: adding the functionality to view either the global or local category leaders on these leaderboards. As of yet, we don’t have plans for this in the works, but that could very well change! We’ll look into it. Thanks Tabia!

The team is continuing to work hard on tackling the issues you are reporting so you can count on some very cool updates down the road. Thank you for continuing to make Answers the thriving community it is, and keep that feedback coming in the suggestion forums.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Situated in the middle of England lay the country’s two most prestigious and world renowned universities: Oxford and Cambridge. Each of them is steeped in a historical tradition and bitter rivalry that collides once year. This rivalry comes not via the academic brilliance that its scholars possess, but through the yearly face off on the waters of the river Thames that see’s the opponents rowing a 4.5 mile course through South London in the pursuit of honour and bragging rights.

Yahuh posed the education question on Yahoo! Answers “what do you think about Oxford and Cambridge” and it seems that many of the responses seems to draw on each of the universities’ sense of history, tradition and globally respected record of academic achievement. Many of the answerers called the universities “the best two in Europe”, with some going as far as saying that they were up there with “the best in the world”.

The boat race itself derives from two friends, Charles Merivale and Charles Wordsworth, that were attendees of the two respective universities. On the 12 March 1829, once the plan for the race had been approved, Cambridge offered Oxford a challenge on the waters and in doing so the tradition was born. Each year thereafter the loser of the previous encounter follows on by sending a challenge in the form of a re-match to the other.

Many of the early races took place in Westminster in London. However by 1845, due to the races popularity and the continued over crowding of the Westminster area the race moved six miles up stream to the once-country village of Putney. Since 1856 the boat race has been a yearly event, except during the war years.

Answers user Natalia A also asked “from what bridge does the Oxford/ Cambridge boat race start” and in doing so found out where was the best place to watch the race from one of the networks many helpful and informative answerers.

The 153rd boat race will take place this Saturday at 4.30pm preceded by the universities reserves race. Although Cambridge is currently winning the tie overall, it is Oxford that has won the previous two encounters and this year see’s both sides claiming the advantage.

So if you’re in London, why not get down to Putney Bridge to catch the start of the race or join the many thousands of fans that line the course both sides of the Thames to watch this historic battle of strength and teamwork from two of the worlds greatest educational establishments? If previous years are anything to go by, it should be a mighty contest.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Bouncing bunnies, colourful eggs, cute chicks, irresistible chocolates and weekend getaways can only mean one thing – it’s Easter. Although we may be more familiar with these things at this time of year, the history of Easter is much more serious. Traditionally known as the Sunday of Resurrection, Easter is celebrated for the return of Jesus two days after his crucifixion on Good Friday. Although the date changes every year, Easter always falls on a Sunday, followed by Easter Monday.

Even with a great religious foundation, it’s interesting to see how the day’s significance has changed over the years. These days the Easter bunny is mostly likely to be the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of all things related to Easter. This strange association is not so easy to understand though. Users such as Ammu M are left confused, more so as rabbits don’t even lay eggs. However, eggs definitely will be on everyone’s (especially chocoholic’s) shopping lists this weekend. Whether you’re wondering why we give them to friends, or how to decorate them Answers can help reveal all.

So, while many little ones will be looking forward to indulging in chocolate eggs, stressed adults will be anxiously waiting for their chance to escape the life of work and enjoy a break. Watch out for traffic clogged roads as families rush to various locations to catch a few days of celebration, peace or plain fun. Foodieblake will be one of those braving the motorway for a view of scenic Scotland. Some tips from Answerers will make sure he doesn’t miss out on any must-see sites.

If you’re someone that fancies more beautiful views, maybe like Umpa, you could head off to the Yorkshire Dales. And as long as Answers is here, there is no need to worry about where to stay or what to do once you get there. Of course, with such a long weekend, many answerers might be looking further afield for a chance to enjoy Easter abroad.

Whatever you’re doing this weekend, or wherever you’re travelling to, remember that Answers isn’t going anywhere. It’ll be here waiting for any more baffling Easter questions you may have. Have a fantastic Easter!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Lost amongst TV, video games and the Internet, sometimes it feels like books are having a hard time finding their way into modern life. With time ever pressured, are we becoming a society where we only read when commuting or when we pick up free papers given out at stations?

There are a growing number of Answers users who agree with this view and blame our lack of quality time on our busy lives, like Super-Glitch: “I do find it very hard to fit everything I want to do in a day, and reading, I am afraid is one of them.” Ellie, meanwhile, laments on the loss of seeing people enjoying novels: “The only place I see people read these days is the tube, and it’s only to entertain themselves in the boring claustrophobic tube journey. Plus, it’s the newspaper a majority of the time!” Sadly, it seems some people feel that many people now don’t have the time and patience to sit down and get into a good book when they can get information in bite-sized chunks via the massive range of magazines, newspapers and other technologies available.

The popular ‘Books & Authors‘ category on Answers shows us everyday that many Answerers are still book lovers at heart and are happy to wave a J.R.R Tolkien novel in the face of anyone of with anti-reading opinions!

Everybody loves a bit of Harry Potter, but believe it or not, despite the success of the series, The Goblet of Fire appears to be one of the top ten books most British people said they couldn’t finish. Rowling was up there amongst other less ‘accessible’ authors like Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Salman Rushdie.

It’s little wonder children struggle with reading if they get books many adults can’t finish and it’s no fun struggling when you see others practically devouring a good book. For plenty of tips and advice, there’s no place like Answers to find the best ways to get kids excited about reading, with suggestions and recommendations of great books to help with reluctant young readers.

Delving even further into the ‘Books & Authors’ category, you’ll also find it’s a place to get emotional and share your feelings about reading. A few months ago WhySoCurious asked: have some books changed or influenced your view on life? While some answers were quite moving, the best quote came from Ichiban: “Each book that I have read has either added to or taken away a part of me. Reading has always been a happy or sad time for me, depending on what I’m reading.”

So why not share more of your literary tips and can’t-put-down-reads with the Answers community? By contributing suggestions you’re spreading a precious type of knowledge and encouraging others come back to books and, by any form of measurement, we love books!

Eight Answers books quick links:

• What are your all time classic books?
• What makes Paulo Coelho’s books so popular?
• What’s your favourite part of Shakespeare?
• How good is Dan Brown?
• What’s a perfect book for a teenager?
• What are the top 5 books from British literature?
• What are your “must read” books?
• What inspired Dickens to write Oliver Twist?

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team