Plus: Is history really written by the winners? Is it possible to shoot locks off doors, like in the movies?

Sherlock or Doctor Who – who would win in a chess match?

While Sherlock is undoubtedly a highly intelligent human being, the Doctor would probably have the edge. Not only does he have a bit more life experience (a mere 900 years), he has a greater knowledge of chess as well: we have frequently seen him in past regenerations sit down to play with friends and enemies alike. His robotic dog K9 did get the better of him once, but K9 had been programmed with all championship games since 1866.

Besides, Sherlock doesn't really get along with board games. In the Hounds of Baskerville, John tells Sherlock they are never playing Cluedo again because "it's not actually possible for the victim to have done it".

Alice Kerr, London SE23

A win by default for Sherlock: although Holmes's powers of deduction would give him no advantage over a man who is literally alien to his experience, the odds of getting the Doctor to sit still long enough to complete a game seem rather remote.

Julian Hazeldine London E14

In The Adventure of the Retired Colourman, Sherlock Holmes says: "Amberley excelled at chess – one mark, Watson, of a scheming mind". So Holmes would probably lose, and be proud of it.

Peter Chrisp, Brighton

It is said that history is written by the winners, but how does the teaching of history differ between European nations? Does France teach Napoleon differently, or Germany have a different view of the world wars?

Can I just nail this canard that history is written by the victors? It often is, but the best history written in ancient Greece was Thucydides' work on the Peloponnesian War, which was not only written by someone on the losing side, but by someone who was so unsuccessful as a general that he was sent into exile.

vastariner

The French were not completely abandoned on the beach at Dunkirk (N&Q, 19 January). Of the 338,226 men who escaped, 139,997 were French, Polish and Belgian troops, together with a small number of Dutch. Between 30,000 and 40,000 French, and a number of British who had failed to make it to the rendevous beaches were left and they had to surrender to the Germans.

Alexandria

Does your contributor mean history is rewritten by the descendants of the winners, rather than, as he wrote, the ancestors (N&Q, 19 January)? It would need an awful lot of historical foresight for that to happen.

Mary Fletcher, Berkhamsted

A supplementary question: We celebrate heroic British actions during the war – the Dambusters, the Cockleshell Heroes, etc. But had the Germans won the war, what exploits would they have made movies about?

LotteryLarry

In films and on TV, locked doors and padlocks are opened by firing bullets at them. Is this feasible in real life?

The short answer is no – at least not in any practical sense. Mythbusters on Discovery Channel had a go at it, and found that handguns were useless; they had to use an M1 Garand Rifle, which basically knocked the lock through the door and trashed it. But the shrapnel would have made the whole thing too dangerous to do.

Considering that there are plenty of easier ways to open a door, shooting the lock is just plain silly. A better option would be to use a small battering ram or to kick the door open.

hybridartifacts

Any answers?

How do artists do self-portraits? When we look in a mirror the image is laterally inverted and we do not see ourselves as others see us. So are we seeing a true image of the artist?

Frank Jackson, Harlow, Essex

Who does the washing up in MasterChef?

Clare Glass, London SE20

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