This was defined as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy which comprised ninety per cent platinum. So platinum became, so to speak, the gold standard for the measure of length. I think I must pause here to tell you the story of how I myself first heard about platinum, if you can spare me a minute.
Like most Mauritians, we speak a mixture of Creole, French, English, Indian languages and other languages; some speak Mandarin, Cantonese and so forth. We speak lots of languages. In the old days we used to run British cars as part of the legacy of imperial preference. Cars from other countries would only be allowed after paying extortionate rates of import duty.