Here's a quiz question for you : -
Which song gave Elton John his first ever solo number 1 single in the UK ?
If you answered "Sacrifice" , then go to the top of the class. If you answered " Don't Go Breaking my Heart you can have half a point, since it was his first number 1, but it was a duet with Kiki Dee. If you answered "Your Song " take a quarter of a point, since it was hi first big hit, but wasn't a number 1.
The answer the question master in the Bryncoch Inn gave to that question last night was "Crocodile Rock ". Where the hell did he get that from ? I'm tempted to suggest that he made up the question himself, and just assumed that the answer he thought was right actually was right.
It led to me thinking about the different ways you can react when a question master serves up a wrong'un. I've only ever been to this quiz once before,so arguing the toss with the question master was probably a non starter. I thought about approaching him after the quiz and asking him exactly where he foun the question, but again hat can be a risky tactic when you don't actually know who you're dealing with. So in the end I cravenly kept my gob shut. As it is we were joint winners of the quiz, although we lost on the tie break.
Moving on , last Saturday night I noticed that BBC4 repeated the 1980 Fred Housego Mastermind Final. I rather enjoyed this trip down memory lane. It seemed to me that the General Knowledge rounds were rather easier than they are now, but that may just be my wishful thinking. Obviously my memory isn't what it was, since I thought that Ingram Wilcox, who won £1million on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire came second, but actually he came 4th. Old Fred made a huge impression when he won it. He had his own TV series as I recall, and appeared a lot on other shows. Yet last I heard he was back in his taxi now. Just oes to show. Not sure what it goes to show, but it does go to show something.
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When I returned to the UK in 1983, Fred Housego was still appearing in the media all over the place, I wouldn't have known who he was otherwise. Aside from a startling resemblance to the soul DJ Robbie Vincent, I got the strong impression that his fame was all the greater because he was a taxi driver rather than a teacher or other elevated professional. Don't see this as too much of a drawback myself, it's probably a good job for a voracious reader. It does indicate however, how English TV, society and societal attitudes have changed since the '80s.
Hi On a bike
Blimey, its a long time since I posted this - back in the early days of LAM.
No doubt at all Fred - who unfortunately I have never yet met - took a lot of his fame from the fact that he was the first to champ to come from outside the preferred professions of teacher/lecturer - civil servant.
Yes, Society has changed - and Fred and Chris Hughes' early 80s wins were probably a symptom of this. good thing too.
I had exactly the same experience a few years back, but in my case it concerned Billy Ocean not Elton John.
I answered When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going which reached the top in 1986, but the QM's answer was Caribbean Queen which only reached no.6 in 1984.
However, it turned out that the latter single went to no.1 in the US charts, although there was no mention of the US in the original question.
So out of interest I checked Elton's chart record in the US, and lo, his first no.1 there was Crocodile Rock!
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