Saturday 6 November 2010

Return trip to 1927

OK – here are the answers given to the questions from the 1927 quiz book which I posted last week : -

1) What is Wren’s most famous building ?
St. Paul’s Cathedral ( can’t really argue with this one, but its not the sort of question I like a great deal since ‘famous’ is very much a subjective concept )

2) What years are Leap Years ?
All years which are divisible evenly by four

3) Which blossom first – apple trees or pear trees ?
Pear trees ( I wouldn’t argue – but its just a boring question )

4) How are herrings caught ?
In nets ( d’oh ! )

5) From what animal do we get venison ?
Deer

6) What is flannel made of ?
Wool

7) Who was the Prince Consort ?
Prince Albert – husband of Queen Victoria

8) Where is the Coronation Stone ( in 1927 )
In Westminster Abbey ( now in Edinburgh Castle )

9) Where are cockles found ?
ON sandy sea shores

10) What is chiefly manufactured in Sheffield ?
Steel

11) In what county is the New Forest ?
Hampshire

12) What is Perry made from ?
Pears

13) What is larding ?
A method of introducing bacon fat into meat or fowl to be cooked

14) What is the postage on a letter to the USA ? ( in 1927 ! )
A penny-halfpenny ( daylight robbery )

15) When is Low Sunday ?
The Sunday after Easter

16) What is the highest weight for Parcel Post ? ( in 1927 )
11lbs

17) What is beetroot chiefly used for
Making Sugar

18) Who was Julius Caesar ?
The First Emperor of Rome (debatable – nowadays the consensus seems to be that Augustus was the first )

19) What happened at Runnymede ?
Signing of the Magna Carta ( terrible question, since other things have happened a Runnymede, although none quite as significant, I admit )

20) What is the Bodleian ?
The Oxford University Library

21) Who was Balak ?
The king of Moaab who employed Balaam to curse Israel

22) Who wrote Ivanhoe ?
Sir Walter Scott

23) What is flannelette made of ?
Cotton

24) What does I.L.P. stand for ?
Independent Labour Party

25) What is an isthmus ?
A narrow neck of land connecting two larger areas of land

26) What birds like building their nests under eaves ?
Swallows ( I would imagine that there are other birds who do this too )

27) What birds like building their nests in sandbanks ?
Sand Martins

28) What birds leave their eggs to hatch themselves in the sun ?
Ostriches

29) What do you connect with the name Butterick ?
Paper patterns of garments

30) What is measured in reams ?
Paper

31) Which British bird lays the largest egg ?
The swan ( little vague – I’d have liked to know which species )

32) Who is supposed to have said that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton ?
The Duke of Wellington

33) What is the meaning of Sinn Fein ?
Ourselves ( I’ve also heard it rendered as we, ourselves – and – ourselves alone )

34) In what year did Queen Victoria come to the throne ?
1837

35) How old is the Prince of Wales ( in 1927, later Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor )
33 in June 1927

36) Quote the proverb which tells you when it is safe to change winter for summer clothes
Cast ne’er a clout till May be out.

37) What is a sweetbread ?
The pancreas of an animal. A very digestible form of food ( his words, not mine )

38) Who is the fourth lady in the land ( in 1927 )
Princess Elizabeth ( now HM the Queen – Gawd Bless ‘Er )

39) How does cotton grow ?
On bushes in fields, in pods

40) What is the capital of Somerset ?
Taunton

41) What is the capital of Devon ?
Exeter

42) Where are the Cotswold Hills ?
Gloucestershire

43) Where are the Quantock Hills ?
Between Somerset and Devon

44) Where is Dartmoor ?
Devon

45) What is Worth famous for ?
Standing by shop windows and making silly reflections – no, not really , - Creator of fashions in women’s clothes

46) Who was Man Friday ?
Robinson Crusoe’s ‘savage’ companion on his island

47) What is November 11 , 1918, famous for ?
The Armistice

48) What is a barnacle ?
A shell fish which attaches itself to the bottom of ships

49) What two primary colours mixed together make purple ?
Blue and red

50) What are complines ?
The last of the daily hours of prayer in most monastic rules

How did you do ? Remember, George says that ANY adult ought to achieve at least 50% !

5 comments:

cwj said...

Question 2 re Leap Years: "except for century years not-divisible by 400" (although perhaps this adjustment hadn't been introduced in 1927)

Andrew B. said...

"except for century years not divisible by 400" was introduced when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar, so in 1752 in England.

Jennifer Turner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jennifer Turner said...

"29) What do you connect with the name Butterick ?
Paper patterns of garments"

I have never been so disappointed to get a question right. I was hoping George would associated it with something obscure and 1927-ish.

Londinius said...

Hi cwj and Andrew

Agreed, some of his answers frnkly aren't very satisfactory.

Hi Jenny

Respect for getting it right anyway - I didn't have a clue !

Dave