ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Who was Roald Dahl's friend David Coke?

QUESTION: What became of Roald Dahl’s friend David Coke?

David Arthur Coke (pronounced Cook) was a British aristocrat and Second World War pilot who fought with Dahl in Greece. 

He was killed in action in North Africa, just five days after his 26th birthday.

Coke was born on December 4, 1915, in London. He was the second son of Thomas Coke, fourth Earl of Leicester, who had served in the Scots Guards in the Boer War and the First World War. The family seat was Holkham Hall, in Norfolk.

Educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, Coke learnt to fly with the university air squadron and was commissioned in the RAF Volunteer Reserve in June 1939.

Called up on September 1, 1939, Coke was posted to 257 Squadron at Hendon and fought in the Battle of Britain. By 1941, he was serving with 33 Squadron in Greece.

In April 1941, Dahl (1916-1990), a young Hurricane pilot, joined the squadron. Morale was low, as the Germans had teamed up with the Italians in the Greek fray and the Luftwaffe had a massive advantage.

Consequently, Dahl found most of his fellow squad members taciturn and fatalistic. However, the affable Coke took Dahl under his wing and advised him on how to deal with the German Junkers bombers. 

As Dahl stated in his memoir Going Solo: ‘The way David Coke had treated me was exceptional, but then he was an exceptional person.’

The squadron subsequently took part in the Battle of Athens where the small band of Hurricanes harried the Luftwaffe, who had more than 100 planes in the air there. 

Of the 15 RAF pilots who took to the sky over Athens on April 20, 1941, four were killed, including Squadron Leader and ace ‘Pat’ Pattle. It made only a slight dent in the German advance and Greece fell mere days later, on April 27.

Dahl’s career as a fighter pilot was cut short in June 1941 when the injuries he had sustained to his skull following a crash the previous year began to give him severe headaches, even causing him to black out. He was invalided back to Britain.

Coke was killed in action on December 9, 1941. He is buried at Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, in present-day Libya.

Colin Young, Clitheroe, Lancs

QUESTION: When and how was France split into communes?

France was split into communes following the French Revolution of 1789, which aimed to end the country’s ancien regime.

From medieval times until the French Revolution, France was administered by a feudal system in which the Third Estate — which was made up of many types of people, including peasants, lawyers, labourers and land workers — paid taxes, from which the First Estate (clergy) and Second Estate (nobility) were mainly exempt.

The National Constituent Assembly introduced the concept of communes. This reorganisation allowed for direct representation and local governance while supporting revolutionary ideals of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’. 

The word commune was derived from the Latin communis, ‘things held in common’.Communes gave ordinary citizens a representative role in public administration. 

Tomorrow's questions 

Q:Were the ruins of ancient monuments used to build Egypt’s Port Said?

Sue Craig, Richmond, Surrey 

Q: What became of the robots in the Mash Get Smash TV ad?

Nick Fletcher, Malton, North Yorkshire

Q: Which political figure has had the most statues created in their honour?

Catherine Brown,Shaftesbury, Dorset 

Each commune was granted a local council and an elected mayor to oversee daily matters. More than 40,000 communes, varying greatly in population and resources, from major cities to rural villages, were created. 

There have been rationalisations over the years but there remain around 35,000 communes in France today.

Mr P. L. Connors, Lincoln

QUESTION: How does virtual reality trick our brains?

Virtual reality (VR) immerses users in computer-generated environments that feel real by mimicking sensory experiences.

Visually, VR systems present slightly different images to each eye, creating a sense of depth, which tricks our brains into perceiving 3D space, a phenomenon similar to how our eyes naturally work.

In VR, motion tracking synchronises the user’s real movements with the virtual environment, convincing the brain that the virtual space is real. 

It also employs spatial audio, where sound appears to originate from specific locations in the virtual space. 

This taps into the brain’s natural way of perceiving sound direction and distance, enhancing immersion.

These sensory tricks work because the brain processes VR input almost identically to real-world stimuli. While VR doesn’t provide full physical sensations, the brain ‘fills in the gaps’ based on visual and auditory cues, leading to a sense of presence.

This cognitive illusion is so effective that VR can trigger emotional and physiological responses as if users were experiencing real events.

Rebecca Blakeman, Birmingham