- No, not that.
I was just playing on the highly addictive Superbuzzer on Facebook. If you've played it you'll probably know what I mean when I say addictive, and if you haven't played it - well, you now know what you could be letting yourself in for if you do.
The way that it works is that you can play on a number of different levels. Elite is the highest level which is available to play on 24/7. However every five minutes at the start of the hour you can play a higher level - masters.
Whichever level you play, the gameplay is pretty much the same. You start off with 5 or 6 players in round one. A series of 5 questions come up, one after another. As soon as you think you know the answer, click on the big red buzzer on the screen, and type in your answer. The quickest correct answer gets 3 points, the next correct answer - 2 points, all other correct answers - 1 point. After 5 questions the 4 players with the highest scores go through to round two. What complicates things slightly is as soon as you buzz, the question stops in its tracks, and no more of it is revealed to you.
In round two , if you buzz in with a wrong answer, then you lose points. Only the first person to buzz gets a bonus point. Correct answers get 1, 2 or 3 points depending on the question tariff. After 5 questions, the two players with the highest scores go through to the final round.
In the final round, it's a straightforward fight to the finish. Six questions are revealed one after another. The first person to buzz in with a correct answer inflicts damage on the other's life bar. Usually 4 correct answers will knock out an opponent completely. Other than that, the opponent with the most intact life bar wins.
Questions are usually pretty simple, although it can be very frustrating if you get a series of questions about American TV shows you've never heard of let alone seen. Likewise the verification of some of the answers leaves a lot to be desired. It's bloomin' annoying when you get told your answer of 'Soo' for the other most regular companion of Sooty and Sweep is wrong - and the answer is given as 'Sue'. Grrr!
Yet I don't write about that. The fact is that about 25 minutes ago I got my timing spot on to get into a Masters game. And what happened? Exactly the same flippin' thing that has happened the last 4 or 5 times I've played a Masters game. I've won the first round. Been going great guns in the second round, bound to qualify for the final, and then it's just frozen. To be eventually followed by a message - sometimes in French - that something has gone wrong. You don't say. As I say, this has happened several times in a row now, and today was the last straw that broke the dromedary's back. I started swearing at it - in a mixture of English AND French as it happens. Unsurprisingly it didn't work.
I can't help thinking that maybe once you get to a certain level, or once you've won a certain number of masters games then it's just been decided that you're not going to be allowed to win any more. If that's the case, then fair enough. But come on, boys. If that is the way that it is - then say so. Having the game chuck you off every time you're on course for a Masters Level final round is just annoying.
What do you mean - sad?
Sunday, 29 June 2014
Saturday, 28 June 2014
Round Britain Quiz
Wales v. Northern Ireland
This week David and Myfanwy of Wales took on Polly and Brian of Northern Ireland, and if David and Myfanwy are to retain their title they really needed to put something in the W column this week. They kicked off with this one: -
Why might this be a good year to remember namesakes of the last English winner of the Ballon d’Or, the creator of the ‘Nancy Kwan’, and a couple of married spies?
Now, as before I did have a look at the questions before listening to the show. The married spies occurred to me as the Rosenbergs – Julius and Ethel. The Ballon d’Or winner was definitely Michael Owen. Now, Owen really helps. Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg were both World War One poets, and 2014 is the centenary of the start of the war. Which only left the Nancy Kwan. Bearing in mind the connection, it was irresistible to suggest that this might be a hairstyle created by Vidal Sassoon. As for Wales, they made the point that Michael Owen was born in Wales, but they still had him. They too went with Vidal Sassoon. Tom felt he had to direct them a little too much to Michael Owen, and gave them 5. I claimed a full 6
I was certainly off to a good start, and thus emboldened did my best with Northern Ireland’s first: -
Explain why the symbol of Charlie Chaplin’s dictator, and the company which merged with Mobil, might have come under the scrutiny of MI5’s Twenty Committee?
Right, the symbol of Charlie Chaplin’s dictator was, if I remembered correctly – two large letter X’s – representing a Double Cross. Two X’s also feature in the name of Exxon, which merged with mobile. I wasn’t at all sure about the MI5 twenty committee, although it was worth noting, I thought, that XX is the roman numeral way of representing the number 20. Obviously it must have something to do with double crossing someone or something. Northern Ireland got as far as I did with no help from Tom, but he wanted more about the twenty committee, and pushed them to the answer of double agents, and actually my suggestion of double cross. He awarded Northern Ireland 4, and I think I might have had 5.
I couldn’t do anything to prepare for Wales’ Music Question: -
Why might these clips make you think of a rose without a thorn?
We started with the music from Howards Way, then the arrangement of The 23rd Psalm made for the Vicar of Dibley. Which come to think of it was arranged by Howard Goodall. The last one was from the Lord of the Rings, but I didn’t know what the Howard connection was. Wales struggled with the first two – David just couldn’t quite bring to mind Howard Goodall. They tried a couple of guesses before Howards Way. Then Howard Goodall fell to them. They got the rose without a thorn, which I didn’t, which was Katherine Howard. As for the Lord of the Rings music, that was Howard Shore. Wales were given 3, which I would also claim for myself.
Northern Ireland’s Music Question was: -
To this music, add a hat which Arlen created and Garbo wore, and a suit from Alec in Ealing. Which nation does the whole outfit suggest?
I was intrigued to hear the music with this one, for I knew that Alec Guinness was The Man In The White Suit in a classic Ealing (Ealing!) comedy. I wondered whether the music might be from the Red Shoes. As for the hat, I had to wait for Polly to give us The Green hat. Red white and green then gave us Italy (or Mexico – or Bulgaria – or Hungary to name three). They struggled to get the music but when given the year 1948 they had it. Northern Ireland were given 5, I think I might have been given 4.
Back to the preprepared questions, and this one for Wales
Dylan and Vernon frequented one in Swansea; Collins turned the tables on an Egyptian one; and the one Bud and Ches belonged to was insane. What were they, and what do they have to do with an Old Norse journey?
The first most obvious part to fall into place was that Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen were members of the Crazy Gang. Gang fitted nicely with the Norse journey as well. For example, the first Norse Duke of Normandy, the ancestor of William Ist was nicknamed Rolfr inn Gangr – or – Rollo the Walker. It’s not often that having studied Old Norse as part of my English Lit degree (don’t ask) comes in useful but it’s lovely when it does. Swansea is pretty local, and Dylan Thomas is still revered in these parts, so it wasn’t hard to get the Kardomah Gang for Dylan and Vernon. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know anything about an Egyptian gang. Wales did as I had going for the Crazy Gang first. Then they took the Norse on. I’m surprised that David didn’t immediately think of the Kardomah gang, and it was Myfanwy who eventually supplied that part of the answer. When helped by Tom we all could see that Collins was Michael Collins, but I didn’t know what turned out to be The Cairo Gang, which Myfanwy eventually supplied – a counter intelligence unit. I think that I was worth the 3 that Wales got as well.
Northern Ireland’s next question -
What’s the temporal connection between Peter Weir’s Indonesian adventure, Joan Didion’s memoir of mourning, and a Margaret Atwood novel some would consider appropriate to 2014?
offered me little. I knew that Peter Weir directed “The Year of Living Dangerously”, but that was it. Polly dived in with the Joan Didion memoir as The Year of Magical Thinking. They didn’t actually know The Year of Living Dangerously – and played for time. As for Margaret Atwood, they didn’t know it any more than I did, but when given help by Tom they arrived at The Year of the Flood. I think I could give myself 3- again the same as Northern Ireland.
All too soon it was Wales’ last question, and they trailed by one: -
One which, when read, lies between good and fine; one which takes a more informal direction than Charles Kingsley; and one that ran from Sergeant to Columbus. Together these should help you to a name. Whose is it?
This meant nothing to me at the start. Then Sergeant to Columbus clicked – Sergeant was the first Carry One film, and Columbus the last. A direction from Charles Kingsley suggested nothing else to me than Westward Ho! Myfanwy started with Westward Ho! which was the right book, but we both needed to do more work with it. David knew the carry on films. As for the first part, well, I didn’t really benefit from Tom’s clues, but they were enough to lead Wales to Very Good – This led Myfanwy to Very Good Jeeves – Carry on Jeeves – Right Ho, Jeeves. I was nowhere near as many as Wales on this – they had a rather miserly two on this. I think that I would be worth less, so 1.
Northern Ireland then only needed a sympathy point to draw, and another to win. They brought the show to a conclusion with : -
What connects the little boy who became the 42nd President of the USA; a mild-mannered man who joined the Circus; and a Master of the Queen’s Music?
The 42nd President of the USA was Bill Clinton. His birth name was William Blythe, but I couldn’t really see how that helped. Arthur Bliss was Master of the Queen’s Music – was there possibly a happiness connection there? Northern Ireland knew that the mild mannered man was George Smiley, so I think I was definitely on the right track. They didn’t know Bill Clinton’s original name, and they weren’t getting anywhere with Arthur Bliss. Enlightenment dawned as Polly arrived at Arthur Bliss. That was enough to give them 3, and a win by 15 to 13. I would give myself 4 for that one, since I had 2 parts and the connection with no help. Not that it matters, but I scored myself 13 on Wales’ questions, and 16 on Northern Ireland’s.
This week David and Myfanwy of Wales took on Polly and Brian of Northern Ireland, and if David and Myfanwy are to retain their title they really needed to put something in the W column this week. They kicked off with this one: -
Why might this be a good year to remember namesakes of the last English winner of the Ballon d’Or, the creator of the ‘Nancy Kwan’, and a couple of married spies?
Now, as before I did have a look at the questions before listening to the show. The married spies occurred to me as the Rosenbergs – Julius and Ethel. The Ballon d’Or winner was definitely Michael Owen. Now, Owen really helps. Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg were both World War One poets, and 2014 is the centenary of the start of the war. Which only left the Nancy Kwan. Bearing in mind the connection, it was irresistible to suggest that this might be a hairstyle created by Vidal Sassoon. As for Wales, they made the point that Michael Owen was born in Wales, but they still had him. They too went with Vidal Sassoon. Tom felt he had to direct them a little too much to Michael Owen, and gave them 5. I claimed a full 6
I was certainly off to a good start, and thus emboldened did my best with Northern Ireland’s first: -
Explain why the symbol of Charlie Chaplin’s dictator, and the company which merged with Mobil, might have come under the scrutiny of MI5’s Twenty Committee?
Right, the symbol of Charlie Chaplin’s dictator was, if I remembered correctly – two large letter X’s – representing a Double Cross. Two X’s also feature in the name of Exxon, which merged with mobile. I wasn’t at all sure about the MI5 twenty committee, although it was worth noting, I thought, that XX is the roman numeral way of representing the number 20. Obviously it must have something to do with double crossing someone or something. Northern Ireland got as far as I did with no help from Tom, but he wanted more about the twenty committee, and pushed them to the answer of double agents, and actually my suggestion of double cross. He awarded Northern Ireland 4, and I think I might have had 5.
I couldn’t do anything to prepare for Wales’ Music Question: -
Why might these clips make you think of a rose without a thorn?
We started with the music from Howards Way, then the arrangement of The 23rd Psalm made for the Vicar of Dibley. Which come to think of it was arranged by Howard Goodall. The last one was from the Lord of the Rings, but I didn’t know what the Howard connection was. Wales struggled with the first two – David just couldn’t quite bring to mind Howard Goodall. They tried a couple of guesses before Howards Way. Then Howard Goodall fell to them. They got the rose without a thorn, which I didn’t, which was Katherine Howard. As for the Lord of the Rings music, that was Howard Shore. Wales were given 3, which I would also claim for myself.
Northern Ireland’s Music Question was: -
To this music, add a hat which Arlen created and Garbo wore, and a suit from Alec in Ealing. Which nation does the whole outfit suggest?
I was intrigued to hear the music with this one, for I knew that Alec Guinness was The Man In The White Suit in a classic Ealing (Ealing!) comedy. I wondered whether the music might be from the Red Shoes. As for the hat, I had to wait for Polly to give us The Green hat. Red white and green then gave us Italy (or Mexico – or Bulgaria – or Hungary to name three). They struggled to get the music but when given the year 1948 they had it. Northern Ireland were given 5, I think I might have been given 4.
Back to the preprepared questions, and this one for Wales
Dylan and Vernon frequented one in Swansea; Collins turned the tables on an Egyptian one; and the one Bud and Ches belonged to was insane. What were they, and what do they have to do with an Old Norse journey?
The first most obvious part to fall into place was that Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen were members of the Crazy Gang. Gang fitted nicely with the Norse journey as well. For example, the first Norse Duke of Normandy, the ancestor of William Ist was nicknamed Rolfr inn Gangr – or – Rollo the Walker. It’s not often that having studied Old Norse as part of my English Lit degree (don’t ask) comes in useful but it’s lovely when it does. Swansea is pretty local, and Dylan Thomas is still revered in these parts, so it wasn’t hard to get the Kardomah Gang for Dylan and Vernon. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know anything about an Egyptian gang. Wales did as I had going for the Crazy Gang first. Then they took the Norse on. I’m surprised that David didn’t immediately think of the Kardomah gang, and it was Myfanwy who eventually supplied that part of the answer. When helped by Tom we all could see that Collins was Michael Collins, but I didn’t know what turned out to be The Cairo Gang, which Myfanwy eventually supplied – a counter intelligence unit. I think that I was worth the 3 that Wales got as well.
Northern Ireland’s next question -
What’s the temporal connection between Peter Weir’s Indonesian adventure, Joan Didion’s memoir of mourning, and a Margaret Atwood novel some would consider appropriate to 2014?
offered me little. I knew that Peter Weir directed “The Year of Living Dangerously”, but that was it. Polly dived in with the Joan Didion memoir as The Year of Magical Thinking. They didn’t actually know The Year of Living Dangerously – and played for time. As for Margaret Atwood, they didn’t know it any more than I did, but when given help by Tom they arrived at The Year of the Flood. I think I could give myself 3- again the same as Northern Ireland.
All too soon it was Wales’ last question, and they trailed by one: -
One which, when read, lies between good and fine; one which takes a more informal direction than Charles Kingsley; and one that ran from Sergeant to Columbus. Together these should help you to a name. Whose is it?
This meant nothing to me at the start. Then Sergeant to Columbus clicked – Sergeant was the first Carry One film, and Columbus the last. A direction from Charles Kingsley suggested nothing else to me than Westward Ho! Myfanwy started with Westward Ho! which was the right book, but we both needed to do more work with it. David knew the carry on films. As for the first part, well, I didn’t really benefit from Tom’s clues, but they were enough to lead Wales to Very Good – This led Myfanwy to Very Good Jeeves – Carry on Jeeves – Right Ho, Jeeves. I was nowhere near as many as Wales on this – they had a rather miserly two on this. I think that I would be worth less, so 1.
Northern Ireland then only needed a sympathy point to draw, and another to win. They brought the show to a conclusion with : -
What connects the little boy who became the 42nd President of the USA; a mild-mannered man who joined the Circus; and a Master of the Queen’s Music?
The 42nd President of the USA was Bill Clinton. His birth name was William Blythe, but I couldn’t really see how that helped. Arthur Bliss was Master of the Queen’s Music – was there possibly a happiness connection there? Northern Ireland knew that the mild mannered man was George Smiley, so I think I was definitely on the right track. They didn’t know Bill Clinton’s original name, and they weren’t getting anywhere with Arthur Bliss. Enlightenment dawned as Polly arrived at Arthur Bliss. That was enough to give them 3, and a win by 15 to 13. I would give myself 4 for that one, since I had 2 parts and the connection with no help. Not that it matters, but I scored myself 13 on Wales’ questions, and 16 on Northern Ireland’s.
In The News
In The News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. The House of One
2. The Hoppings
3. Gerry Conlon
4. Patsy Byrne
5. Rui Costa
6. Naomi Broady
7. Andy Coulson
8. Thomas Ganter
9. Helena Costa
10. Giorgio Chellini
11. Princess Cristina de Borbon
12. Tara Moore
13. Owen Williams
14. Corinne Hutton
15. Fabio Fognini
16. Michael Voudouri
17. Chia Labouef
18. Becky James
In Other News
1. What was the score in the world cup group game between Belgium and Russia?
2. What was the first African country to score 4 goals in a game at a world cup?
3. Who won the Austrian Grand Prix?
4. What was the score in the third tests between England and the All Blacks?
5. Which country’s FA was implicated in a match rigging scandal last week?
6. What change is being made next month to the way that the UK singles chart will be compiled?
7. What was the score in the 2nd test between Wales and South Africa?
8. The 24th June was the 700th anniversary of which historic event?
9. Who was Andy Murray’s first 2014 Wimbledon opponent?
10. 2 journalists with which TV Channel were jailed in Egypt for 7 years for allegedly helping a terrorist organization?
11. What was the verdict in the Rebekah Brookes trial?
12. A draft of which Bob Dylan song sold for $2million at auction last week?
13. Which everyday item has been banned from Wimbledon 2014?
14. Who was freed in Sudan but prevented from leaving the country?
15. What was the score in England’s final world cup group game?
16. Who hit a defiant second innings century in England’s loss to Sri Lanka in the second test?
17. Who was out in the last ball of the same game?
18. Who is to donate ¼ million pounds to independent bookshops?
19. The One Show viewers decided that the Longitude Prize shall be awarded within which specific field?
20. Which 98 year old ‘bad guy’ actor passed away last week?
21. Name the only 2 players in the England squad who didn’t play in any of the three group matches at all?
22. A special edition of the Antiques Roadshow was filmed in Northern Ireland with whom?
23. The tallest permanent Maypole in England was cut down in which town last week?
24. Which famous and historic well ran dry last week?
25. Which British player played in his 23rd consecutive Wimbledon tournament?
26. What is the Queen to have surveyed for the first time ever?
27. Who is donating a collection of Alamo artefacts to San Antonio?
28. Who was acquitted of terrorism offences in Jordan?
29. Which company was criticized for sending ‘false’ threatening solicitor’s letters to customers?
30. Luis Suarez has been banned from football for which period of time?
31. Who won the National Time Trialling championships?
32. A new study revealed that what is more satisfying than an iphone?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. The House of One
2. The Hoppings
3. Gerry Conlon
4. Patsy Byrne
5. Rui Costa
6. Naomi Broady
7. Andy Coulson
8. Thomas Ganter
9. Helena Costa
10. Giorgio Chellini
11. Princess Cristina de Borbon
12. Tara Moore
13. Owen Williams
14. Corinne Hutton
15. Fabio Fognini
16. Michael Voudouri
17. Chia Labouef
18. Becky James
In Other News
1. What was the score in the world cup group game between Belgium and Russia?
2. What was the first African country to score 4 goals in a game at a world cup?
3. Who won the Austrian Grand Prix?
4. What was the score in the third tests between England and the All Blacks?
5. Which country’s FA was implicated in a match rigging scandal last week?
6. What change is being made next month to the way that the UK singles chart will be compiled?
7. What was the score in the 2nd test between Wales and South Africa?
8. The 24th June was the 700th anniversary of which historic event?
9. Who was Andy Murray’s first 2014 Wimbledon opponent?
10. 2 journalists with which TV Channel were jailed in Egypt for 7 years for allegedly helping a terrorist organization?
11. What was the verdict in the Rebekah Brookes trial?
12. A draft of which Bob Dylan song sold for $2million at auction last week?
13. Which everyday item has been banned from Wimbledon 2014?
14. Who was freed in Sudan but prevented from leaving the country?
15. What was the score in England’s final world cup group game?
16. Who hit a defiant second innings century in England’s loss to Sri Lanka in the second test?
17. Who was out in the last ball of the same game?
18. Who is to donate ¼ million pounds to independent bookshops?
19. The One Show viewers decided that the Longitude Prize shall be awarded within which specific field?
20. Which 98 year old ‘bad guy’ actor passed away last week?
21. Name the only 2 players in the England squad who didn’t play in any of the three group matches at all?
22. A special edition of the Antiques Roadshow was filmed in Northern Ireland with whom?
23. The tallest permanent Maypole in England was cut down in which town last week?
24. Which famous and historic well ran dry last week?
25. Which British player played in his 23rd consecutive Wimbledon tournament?
26. What is the Queen to have surveyed for the first time ever?
27. Who is donating a collection of Alamo artefacts to San Antonio?
28. Who was acquitted of terrorism offences in Jordan?
29. Which company was criticized for sending ‘false’ threatening solicitor’s letters to customers?
30. Luis Suarez has been banned from football for which period of time?
31. Who won the National Time Trialling championships?
32. A new study revealed that what is more satisfying than an iphone?
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Michelle Hamrick
2. Francis Matthews
3. Gary Lewin
4. Niall Iain McDOnald
5. Ultra Violet
6. Sam Kelly
7. Juan Manuel Santos
8. Michael Ibsen
9. East Anglian One
10. Yang Yongchun
11. Chann Sankaran – Krishna Sanjay Ganeshan – Michael Boateng
12. Carina Tyrell
13. British Guiana One Cent Magenta
14. Fire phone
15. Naved Arif
16. Dave Hockaway
17. Louis Tomlinson
18. Eugenie de Silva
19. Iggy
20. Mark McConville
21. Gerry Goffin
In Other News
1. Who won Queen’s?
2. What was the second test score between England and the All Blacks?
3. In which race was Chris Froome injured?
4. Which team beat England to the bronze in the men’s world hockey?
5. Pope Francis announced his first European visit will be to which country?
6. What was the score in the first test between Wales and South Africa?
7. Who won his seventh straight moto GP race of the season?
8. Which manufacturer won Le Mans?
9. Who officially woke from his coma?
10. What was the result in the first test v. Sri Lanka?
11. – and in the world cup match between Germany and Portugal?
12. Who is Southampton’s new manager?
13. Who won the US Open
14. Which two teams played out the first draw of the world cup?
15. With which team did Brazil also draw 0 – 0 ?
16. Which team did Belgium beat 2 – 1?
17. Which provincial team did England RU defeat in New Zealand?
18. Who crashed out of the cycling tour of Switzerland?
19. Whom did Jeremy Paxman interview in his final edition of Newsnight?
20. Which author was lambasted for catching, skinning, cooking and eating a rabbit on Twitter?
21. Who will be paying an official visit to the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland?
22. Which University gave back a 300 year old tapestry looted by Nazis to its rightful owners last week?
23. Defeat to which country saw Spain become the first team out of the World Cup?
24. What was the score between the Netherlands and Australia?
25. What decision has Rory McIlroy made for the 2016 Olympics?
26. What is Andy Murray’s Wimbledon seeding?
27. Morrisons have banned the use of what at self service tills?
28. Who scored both of Uruguay’s goals against England in the world cup?
29. A top of a mountain was blown off to make room for the world’s biggest deep space telescope in which country?
30. What is the regnal name and number of Spain’s new king, crowned last week?
31. Which ITV world cup pundit flew home after his wife was attacked by an armed robber last week?
32. Which famous TV set has been given a license to hold marriage ceremonies?
33. What was the score in the match between Italy and Costa Rica?
34. – and France and Switzerland?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. 27 year old ballerina linked in some papers with Mick Jagger
2. Actor who played Paul Temple and voiced Captain Scarlet – passed away 86
3. England Physio injured during Italy match
4. His attempt to row solo across the Atlantic ended when he got into difficulties 50 miles off the coast of the USA
5. Isabel Dufresne – Andy Warhol’s muse – passed away
6. Actor from Porridge and Allo Allo – passed away
7. Won a 2nd term as president of Colombia
8. Descendant of Richard III’s sister who designed his coffin
9. Massive planned wind farm off coast of East Anglia given OK from government
10. Created world’s biggest 3D painting
11. Convicted of football match fixing
12. Miss England
13. World’s most expensive stamp at auction (again) - $9.5 million
14. New phone from Amazon
15. Former Sussex cricketer banned for life for match fixing
16. New head coach of Leeds
17. One Direction singer who has bought DOncaster Rovers
18. Youngest ever PHD student at 15 – to study in Leicester
19. New Blue Peter Guide Dog
20. Scottish football fan pilloried for attending England v. Uruguay in Uruguayan kit, pictured cheering for Uruguay
21. Songwriter passed away 75
In Other News
1. Dmitrov
2. 28 – 27 New Zealand
3. Chris Froome
4. Argentina
5. Albania
6. 38 – 16 South Africa
7. Marc marquez
8. Audi
9. Michael Schumacher
10. A draw
11. 4 – 0 Germany
12. Ronald Koeman
13. Martin Kaymer
14. Iran and Nigeria
15. Mexico
16. Algeria
17. Canterbury Crusaders
18. Bradley Wiggins
19. Boris Johnson
20. Jeannette Winterson
21. The Queen
22. Sheffield University
23. Chile
24. 3 – 2 Netherlands
25. He will play for the Republic of Ireland – golf will return to the Olympics in Rio
26. 3
27. £2 coins
28. Luis Suarez
29. Chile
30. King Felipe VI
31. Ian Wright
32. The Rovers Return in Coronation Street
33. 1 – 0 Costa Rica
34. 5 – 2 France
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Michelle Hamrick
2. Francis Matthews
3. Gary Lewin
4. Niall Iain McDOnald
5. Ultra Violet
6. Sam Kelly
7. Juan Manuel Santos
8. Michael Ibsen
9. East Anglian One
10. Yang Yongchun
11. Chann Sankaran – Krishna Sanjay Ganeshan – Michael Boateng
12. Carina Tyrell
13. British Guiana One Cent Magenta
14. Fire phone
15. Naved Arif
16. Dave Hockaway
17. Louis Tomlinson
18. Eugenie de Silva
19. Iggy
20. Mark McConville
21. Gerry Goffin
In Other News
1. Who won Queen’s?
2. What was the second test score between England and the All Blacks?
3. In which race was Chris Froome injured?
4. Which team beat England to the bronze in the men’s world hockey?
5. Pope Francis announced his first European visit will be to which country?
6. What was the score in the first test between Wales and South Africa?
7. Who won his seventh straight moto GP race of the season?
8. Which manufacturer won Le Mans?
9. Who officially woke from his coma?
10. What was the result in the first test v. Sri Lanka?
11. – and in the world cup match between Germany and Portugal?
12. Who is Southampton’s new manager?
13. Who won the US Open
14. Which two teams played out the first draw of the world cup?
15. With which team did Brazil also draw 0 – 0 ?
16. Which team did Belgium beat 2 – 1?
17. Which provincial team did England RU defeat in New Zealand?
18. Who crashed out of the cycling tour of Switzerland?
19. Whom did Jeremy Paxman interview in his final edition of Newsnight?
20. Which author was lambasted for catching, skinning, cooking and eating a rabbit on Twitter?
21. Who will be paying an official visit to the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland?
22. Which University gave back a 300 year old tapestry looted by Nazis to its rightful owners last week?
23. Defeat to which country saw Spain become the first team out of the World Cup?
24. What was the score between the Netherlands and Australia?
25. What decision has Rory McIlroy made for the 2016 Olympics?
26. What is Andy Murray’s Wimbledon seeding?
27. Morrisons have banned the use of what at self service tills?
28. Who scored both of Uruguay’s goals against England in the world cup?
29. A top of a mountain was blown off to make room for the world’s biggest deep space telescope in which country?
30. What is the regnal name and number of Spain’s new king, crowned last week?
31. Which ITV world cup pundit flew home after his wife was attacked by an armed robber last week?
32. Which famous TV set has been given a license to hold marriage ceremonies?
33. What was the score in the match between Italy and Costa Rica?
34. – and France and Switzerland?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. 27 year old ballerina linked in some papers with Mick Jagger
2. Actor who played Paul Temple and voiced Captain Scarlet – passed away 86
3. England Physio injured during Italy match
4. His attempt to row solo across the Atlantic ended when he got into difficulties 50 miles off the coast of the USA
5. Isabel Dufresne – Andy Warhol’s muse – passed away
6. Actor from Porridge and Allo Allo – passed away
7. Won a 2nd term as president of Colombia
8. Descendant of Richard III’s sister who designed his coffin
9. Massive planned wind farm off coast of East Anglia given OK from government
10. Created world’s biggest 3D painting
11. Convicted of football match fixing
12. Miss England
13. World’s most expensive stamp at auction (again) - $9.5 million
14. New phone from Amazon
15. Former Sussex cricketer banned for life for match fixing
16. New head coach of Leeds
17. One Direction singer who has bought DOncaster Rovers
18. Youngest ever PHD student at 15 – to study in Leicester
19. New Blue Peter Guide Dog
20. Scottish football fan pilloried for attending England v. Uruguay in Uruguayan kit, pictured cheering for Uruguay
21. Songwriter passed away 75
In Other News
1. Dmitrov
2. 28 – 27 New Zealand
3. Chris Froome
4. Argentina
5. Albania
6. 38 – 16 South Africa
7. Marc marquez
8. Audi
9. Michael Schumacher
10. A draw
11. 4 – 0 Germany
12. Ronald Koeman
13. Martin Kaymer
14. Iran and Nigeria
15. Mexico
16. Algeria
17. Canterbury Crusaders
18. Bradley Wiggins
19. Boris Johnson
20. Jeannette Winterson
21. The Queen
22. Sheffield University
23. Chile
24. 3 – 2 Netherlands
25. He will play for the Republic of Ireland – golf will return to the Olympics in Rio
26. 3
27. £2 coins
28. Luis Suarez
29. Chile
30. King Felipe VI
31. Ian Wright
32. The Rovers Return in Coronation Street
33. 1 – 0 Costa Rica
34. 5 – 2 France
Only Connect Semi Final
Welsh Learners v. Relatives
The Welsh Learners, are Margaret Gabica, Chris Hern, and captain Stuart Hern. They comfortably beat the Software engineers in the first round, before those same engineers knocked out the Erstwhile Athletes, containing our own Daniel Fullard. In the second match they defeated the Record Collectors, with our own Rachel Neiman to become one of the two teams through to the semis without losing a match. Their opponents, the Relatives, took a third match to get here. Husband and wife Hamish and Davina Galloway together with Davina’s son Nick Latham, lost out in a close contest with the Europhiles in their first match, before hammering the last nail into the coffin of the Exhibitionists in their first sudden death shootout. Almost inevitably this meant that they too could qualify for the semis by beating the Record Collectors, which they did in last week’s show. You’d maybe take a look at the teams’ relative records and say that the Welsh Learners with their 100% record looked the more likely bet, however after that first defeat by the Euros the Rellies have got better and stronger with each match.
Round One – what’’s the Connection?
The Learners kicked off the show with two reeds. The first clue was Netherlands: 1815. The immediate thought of all of us was that the Battle of Waterloo was in 1815, but somehow that didn’t seem to gel with Netherlands so much. 1993: Cambodia didn’t really help me a great deal, nor the Learners. 1975 Spain did help though. This was obviously a restoration f the monarchy set. The Learners agreed, and were right to do so. Twisted Flax gave the Rels Dennis Taylor - (World snooker champion). Hmm – 1985? Big glasses? Beat Steve Davis? None of those particularly appealed to me. The next was Bon Scott (lead singer of AC/DC) . Well – he died in 1980. Didn’t help. Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London). Now, just the germ of an idea began with this one. Livingstone was succeeded by Boris Johnson – and 1986 world snooker champ was Joe Johnson. Come to think of it, didn’t Brian Johnson become lead singer with AC/DC (but only when he wasn’t on Test Match Special)? The Rels didn’t see it, although Lincoln and Kennedy (US Presidents) really should have given it to them – Lyndon and Andrew. Quite rightly the Learners took the point. Eye of Horus gave the Learners some picture clues. First we saw Ryan O’Neal, then David Tennant. I couldn’t yet see it. I could when BBC’s Martin Sixsmith followed. One – Ten – Six. The last one was England Rugby Union star Billy Twelvetrees. The Learners just couldn’t see it, and thus missed their own pretty gettable set. However it was less costly since the Rels couldn’t see it either. Davina spurned the chance to increase her chances of success, when she conventionally voiced horned viper. Now, this was a really nice, fair set. First we had Huddersfield and New York. Well, OK, this wouldn’t have been a five pointer for me. But when Widnes and Minnesota came up I did get it. With Widnes, while there are other things it could have been, your first thought is surely going to be rugby league. So we have both the Widnes Vikings, and the Minnesota Vikings – to go with the Huddersfield Giants, and the New York Giants – rugby league and American football teams sharing the same names. Sheffield and Philadelphia only served to confirm this. Nick came in with the answer, and although he was looking at Blades for Sheffield he had the main idea – sports teams sharing names. Lion didn’t reveal the music set, much to the Learners’ collective relief. Given Jason there were far too many possibilities for a five pointer. My dame looked intriguing rather than enlightening. Brian Whittle though did give the whole thing. Jason lost a shoe. Brian Whittle, the ‘flying scotsman’ lost a shoe when running a leg of the 1986 4x400m relay for the GB gold medal team in the European championship. I didn’t quite get the my dame thing, but it was obviously the correct answer. Cinderella was the last, but the Learners didn’t need it either. This left just the music set for the Rels. Now, I had what I think was my first ever music 5 pointer. With the first one, when I heard a very long drawn out “Oh Rose . . . “ I said – well, if the next lines is ‘thou art sick’, then the connection is poems by William Blake. Well, I wouldn’t have gambled in the studio, and I wouldn’t have got it from the second clue, or the third, but the last , “Jerusalem” made it clear I was right. The Rels didn’t know it, and the Learners did for a bonus. So the first round went pretty much to form. The Learners led by 6 – 2, and looked pretty good value for their lead too.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Twisted Flax gave the learners 36 (4). Ok – next clue please. 40(10)- nope. The third clue was 42(7) Neither team had it, and neither did I. They apparently Harshad numbers. What you do is you add together the two digits – so for the first 3 and 6. You get 9. Divide the original number 36 by 9 you get 4. So the next Harshad number is 45(5). Look, I’m not going to say that this is unfair, since for all I know Harshad numbers are well known – as you are well aware I was away the day they did Maths at school. Eye of Horus gave the Rels Elementary Charge – Faraday’s Constant – Gravitational Constant – and so what I did was search my brain for any other term I knew with the word constant, and came up with Planck’s Constant. Now, could I give you even an inkling what that is or what it means? No, of course not. But it was right! Should you pardon the pun, Hamish was rather more scientific about it, and got the right answer that way. The Learners took lion, and received Algeria =Algiers. Now, when this one came up I said that since Algiers is so obviously the capital of Algeria there’s going to be something a lot more difficult about it. The second Greece = Athens confirmed this. So I started counting the letters. Algeria and Algiers are both 7 letters long. Greece and Athens 6. So the answer would be a 4 letter country with a four letter capital – eg ( and it took a little while to figure one out) Peru and Lima. I did a lap of honour round the living room after that one. The Learners just didn’t see it, neither did the Rels. Two Reeds gave us a set of pictures – someone’s back – a sternum, or breastbone, and a butterfly (not, as Hamish suggested, a red admiral. No, that one wasn’t a British butterfly, sir.) It was Nick who quickly worked out that Back – Breast – Butterfly are all swimming strokes, so the last would be freestyle – Ok – they offered front crawl, but hey, same meat, different gravy. Quite a bit easier than the capitals, that set. Captain Stuart chose not to voice the second vowel of horned viper, and raised my anxiety levels over the Learners’ chances in the process. Still, a decent set of 2nd: Şalāt – 3rd Zakāt gave all of us 5th – Hajj, these being pillars of Islam. Water gave the Rels another relatively kind set (alright, it’s just my opinion, and as always, feel free to disagree) with Enobarbus (Grief) – Ah, said I, Antony and Cleopatra. Eros (Sword) followed. I predicted Antony (Sword) and Cleopatra (Asp) would finish the set – these being successive deaths, and their causes in the play. Nick actually tossed the correct answer onto the table, but too late. The Rels missed, and with an open goal to shoot at, the Learners skyed one into Row Z as well. Which meant that the Learners still led, but the gap had narrowed, and now stood at 9 – 6.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Rels picked the Lion wall, knowing that they needed a good haul of points to give themselves a realistic shout of making it through to the final. Early doors they isolated a set of industrial actions – work to rule – picket – stand-down – overtime ban. Then a long time passed before they isolated another set, Needles – Lizard – Eddystone and Bardsey. They skirted around the exact connection for a while, but did get that we were dealing with lighthouses. With only 20 seconds left, they separated Caparison – Cromer – Irrigate – and Go-slow. This tricky set each contained the name of a European capital city inside each word.This left Dog-ear – Cyclone – Electric – Lattice. None of us had a Scooby doo on this one. Apparently they are all types of fence. Fair enough. Still 7 points from a wall isn’t a bad haul, and the Rels had at least given themselves the chance of a win on the vowels.
The Learners had been perhaps a little unlucky with their choices in the second round – now we were to find out if they were also unlucky in the wall they were left with. First impressions were that they were lucky in as much as they isolated a set of Welsh historic counties very early indeed. They could clearly see that there was a set of actors each of whom had played Philip Marlowe, but they took a while to isolate. Eventually they were revealed as Mitchum – Gould – Powell and Montgomery. Three guesses for the remaining two lines failed, and that was that. The last two lines, when resolved were candle – lavender – loom and Bogart, while the last line was Brow – bones – doily and Afghan. The candle set I couldn’t see, but if you looked at the first few letters you’d see a slang word for toilet. No points to the Learners for that one. They might have had the Brow set – all things you can knit – but they didn’t see it. So this meant that they received 4 points, and even my basic arithmetic was enough to work out that this meant that both teams went into the final round with 13.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
So all bets were off – it was all or nothing on the vowels – to the victor the spoils, and the devil take the hindmost. EU countries in English and one of their own languages didn’t help settle the outcome as it fell 2 apiece. Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories saw one of those horrible outcomes when you know the right answer, but don’t quite give it. Margaret lost a point by giving The Cat WHO walks by himself, rather than the Cat THAT walks by himself. That went to the Rels to give them a two point lead. Margaret pulled one back, but the Rels took the next. Two song titles in one was the last set, and we didn’t have time for all of them. In fact we only had time for one, and it went to the Res, who won by 18 – 15.
Another good show, and a win for the Relatives – well played, and best of luck in the final.
The Welsh Learners, are Margaret Gabica, Chris Hern, and captain Stuart Hern. They comfortably beat the Software engineers in the first round, before those same engineers knocked out the Erstwhile Athletes, containing our own Daniel Fullard. In the second match they defeated the Record Collectors, with our own Rachel Neiman to become one of the two teams through to the semis without losing a match. Their opponents, the Relatives, took a third match to get here. Husband and wife Hamish and Davina Galloway together with Davina’s son Nick Latham, lost out in a close contest with the Europhiles in their first match, before hammering the last nail into the coffin of the Exhibitionists in their first sudden death shootout. Almost inevitably this meant that they too could qualify for the semis by beating the Record Collectors, which they did in last week’s show. You’d maybe take a look at the teams’ relative records and say that the Welsh Learners with their 100% record looked the more likely bet, however after that first defeat by the Euros the Rellies have got better and stronger with each match.
Round One – what’’s the Connection?
The Learners kicked off the show with two reeds. The first clue was Netherlands: 1815. The immediate thought of all of us was that the Battle of Waterloo was in 1815, but somehow that didn’t seem to gel with Netherlands so much. 1993: Cambodia didn’t really help me a great deal, nor the Learners. 1975 Spain did help though. This was obviously a restoration f the monarchy set. The Learners agreed, and were right to do so. Twisted Flax gave the Rels Dennis Taylor - (World snooker champion). Hmm – 1985? Big glasses? Beat Steve Davis? None of those particularly appealed to me. The next was Bon Scott (lead singer of AC/DC) . Well – he died in 1980. Didn’t help. Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London). Now, just the germ of an idea began with this one. Livingstone was succeeded by Boris Johnson – and 1986 world snooker champ was Joe Johnson. Come to think of it, didn’t Brian Johnson become lead singer with AC/DC (but only when he wasn’t on Test Match Special)? The Rels didn’t see it, although Lincoln and Kennedy (US Presidents) really should have given it to them – Lyndon and Andrew. Quite rightly the Learners took the point. Eye of Horus gave the Learners some picture clues. First we saw Ryan O’Neal, then David Tennant. I couldn’t yet see it. I could when BBC’s Martin Sixsmith followed. One – Ten – Six. The last one was England Rugby Union star Billy Twelvetrees. The Learners just couldn’t see it, and thus missed their own pretty gettable set. However it was less costly since the Rels couldn’t see it either. Davina spurned the chance to increase her chances of success, when she conventionally voiced horned viper. Now, this was a really nice, fair set. First we had Huddersfield and New York. Well, OK, this wouldn’t have been a five pointer for me. But when Widnes and Minnesota came up I did get it. With Widnes, while there are other things it could have been, your first thought is surely going to be rugby league. So we have both the Widnes Vikings, and the Minnesota Vikings – to go with the Huddersfield Giants, and the New York Giants – rugby league and American football teams sharing the same names. Sheffield and Philadelphia only served to confirm this. Nick came in with the answer, and although he was looking at Blades for Sheffield he had the main idea – sports teams sharing names. Lion didn’t reveal the music set, much to the Learners’ collective relief. Given Jason there were far too many possibilities for a five pointer. My dame looked intriguing rather than enlightening. Brian Whittle though did give the whole thing. Jason lost a shoe. Brian Whittle, the ‘flying scotsman’ lost a shoe when running a leg of the 1986 4x400m relay for the GB gold medal team in the European championship. I didn’t quite get the my dame thing, but it was obviously the correct answer. Cinderella was the last, but the Learners didn’t need it either. This left just the music set for the Rels. Now, I had what I think was my first ever music 5 pointer. With the first one, when I heard a very long drawn out “Oh Rose . . . “ I said – well, if the next lines is ‘thou art sick’, then the connection is poems by William Blake. Well, I wouldn’t have gambled in the studio, and I wouldn’t have got it from the second clue, or the third, but the last , “Jerusalem” made it clear I was right. The Rels didn’t know it, and the Learners did for a bonus. So the first round went pretty much to form. The Learners led by 6 – 2, and looked pretty good value for their lead too.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Twisted Flax gave the learners 36 (4). Ok – next clue please. 40(10)- nope. The third clue was 42(7) Neither team had it, and neither did I. They apparently Harshad numbers. What you do is you add together the two digits – so for the first 3 and 6. You get 9. Divide the original number 36 by 9 you get 4. So the next Harshad number is 45(5). Look, I’m not going to say that this is unfair, since for all I know Harshad numbers are well known – as you are well aware I was away the day they did Maths at school. Eye of Horus gave the Rels Elementary Charge – Faraday’s Constant – Gravitational Constant – and so what I did was search my brain for any other term I knew with the word constant, and came up with Planck’s Constant. Now, could I give you even an inkling what that is or what it means? No, of course not. But it was right! Should you pardon the pun, Hamish was rather more scientific about it, and got the right answer that way. The Learners took lion, and received Algeria =Algiers. Now, when this one came up I said that since Algiers is so obviously the capital of Algeria there’s going to be something a lot more difficult about it. The second Greece = Athens confirmed this. So I started counting the letters. Algeria and Algiers are both 7 letters long. Greece and Athens 6. So the answer would be a 4 letter country with a four letter capital – eg ( and it took a little while to figure one out) Peru and Lima. I did a lap of honour round the living room after that one. The Learners just didn’t see it, neither did the Rels. Two Reeds gave us a set of pictures – someone’s back – a sternum, or breastbone, and a butterfly (not, as Hamish suggested, a red admiral. No, that one wasn’t a British butterfly, sir.) It was Nick who quickly worked out that Back – Breast – Butterfly are all swimming strokes, so the last would be freestyle – Ok – they offered front crawl, but hey, same meat, different gravy. Quite a bit easier than the capitals, that set. Captain Stuart chose not to voice the second vowel of horned viper, and raised my anxiety levels over the Learners’ chances in the process. Still, a decent set of 2nd: Şalāt – 3rd Zakāt gave all of us 5th – Hajj, these being pillars of Islam. Water gave the Rels another relatively kind set (alright, it’s just my opinion, and as always, feel free to disagree) with Enobarbus (Grief) – Ah, said I, Antony and Cleopatra. Eros (Sword) followed. I predicted Antony (Sword) and Cleopatra (Asp) would finish the set – these being successive deaths, and their causes in the play. Nick actually tossed the correct answer onto the table, but too late. The Rels missed, and with an open goal to shoot at, the Learners skyed one into Row Z as well. Which meant that the Learners still led, but the gap had narrowed, and now stood at 9 – 6.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Rels picked the Lion wall, knowing that they needed a good haul of points to give themselves a realistic shout of making it through to the final. Early doors they isolated a set of industrial actions – work to rule – picket – stand-down – overtime ban. Then a long time passed before they isolated another set, Needles – Lizard – Eddystone and Bardsey. They skirted around the exact connection for a while, but did get that we were dealing with lighthouses. With only 20 seconds left, they separated Caparison – Cromer – Irrigate – and Go-slow. This tricky set each contained the name of a European capital city inside each word.This left Dog-ear – Cyclone – Electric – Lattice. None of us had a Scooby doo on this one. Apparently they are all types of fence. Fair enough. Still 7 points from a wall isn’t a bad haul, and the Rels had at least given themselves the chance of a win on the vowels.
The Learners had been perhaps a little unlucky with their choices in the second round – now we were to find out if they were also unlucky in the wall they were left with. First impressions were that they were lucky in as much as they isolated a set of Welsh historic counties very early indeed. They could clearly see that there was a set of actors each of whom had played Philip Marlowe, but they took a while to isolate. Eventually they were revealed as Mitchum – Gould – Powell and Montgomery. Three guesses for the remaining two lines failed, and that was that. The last two lines, when resolved were candle – lavender – loom and Bogart, while the last line was Brow – bones – doily and Afghan. The candle set I couldn’t see, but if you looked at the first few letters you’d see a slang word for toilet. No points to the Learners for that one. They might have had the Brow set – all things you can knit – but they didn’t see it. So this meant that they received 4 points, and even my basic arithmetic was enough to work out that this meant that both teams went into the final round with 13.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
So all bets were off – it was all or nothing on the vowels – to the victor the spoils, and the devil take the hindmost. EU countries in English and one of their own languages didn’t help settle the outcome as it fell 2 apiece. Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories saw one of those horrible outcomes when you know the right answer, but don’t quite give it. Margaret lost a point by giving The Cat WHO walks by himself, rather than the Cat THAT walks by himself. That went to the Rels to give them a two point lead. Margaret pulled one back, but the Rels took the next. Two song titles in one was the last set, and we didn’t have time for all of them. In fact we only had time for one, and it went to the Res, who won by 18 – 15.
Another good show, and a win for the Relatives – well played, and best of luck in the final.
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
Antiques Roadshow
I don’t know if you ever watch “Antiques Roadshow” on BBC television. I’ll be honest, I haven’t followed the last couple of series anything as much as I’d like to, but I still enjoy the show whenever I get to watch it. I was surfing the net idly a month or so ago, when it suddenly occurred to me to wonder whether it was coming anywhere near us in South Wales during the filming for the next season. A couple of years ago it was in St. Fagan’s just outside Cardiff, but that was filmed on a school day so it was outers for me. Checking out the show’s website I found out that not only was the show being recorded in Tredegar House, Newport, but it was also being recorded on a Sunday – last Sunday to be precise, 22nd June.
Mary and I talked about it and we both decided that we’d rather like to go and see what it was like in the flesh as it were. “Now then,” Mary began, “have we got anything we could take along?” I began humming ‘Approaching Menace’, and miming sitting in a black chair. She did not take the hint. So I spelled it out to her – why didn’t we take my Mastermind bowl along?
”It’s not an antique.” she quite reasonably pointed out.
”Neither is some of the other stuff they have on the show, but I reckon it’s just the sort of thing they might think has a bit of novelty value.”
So basically that’s what we decided to do, take the bowl out for an awayday, and see what happened.
Can I stress at this point that my lovely bowl will NOT be appearing on eBay (other popular internet auction sites are available) any time soon?! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even that interested in getting a valuation on it either, since the only way it will ever be sold is after having been prised out of my cold, dead fingers. But, well, I don’t know, the idea of taking it along pandered to my natural tendency to show off – never very far from the surface – and the fact that it was maybe the sort of thing that might make an interesting novelty item on the show.
Mary’s very good at this sort of thing. She found a bed and breakfast about 5 minutes’ walk from Tredegar House, and we stayed overnight there on Saturday. After we’d checked in, we walked the route to Tredegar House and had a chat with a couple of the groundsmen there. They advised us that if we were there by about 7 am on the Sunday morning we’d be pretty certain of getting a decent parking space, otherwise we were leaving it to chance. So on Sunday morning we drove the car to the car park by 7am and left it there. Then we walked back to the B and B to have our B. We came back by about 8, and started to queue. Now, I saw it reported in a local paper yesterday that queues were forming by 6 am. Rubbish. You can add another two hours to that. There were maybe a hundred or so of us waiting at about 8:15 when they opened the gates. This let us in only so far, and then we had to wait for another hour before the reception was open and ready for business. In all honesty that wasn’t a huge hardship. We had a chat with a very nice couple who had brought along the 1950s double decker bus they had restored. Then Henry Sandon, world expert on Royal Worcester came out to have a chat with the people in the queue. Top man for doing that.
Once the reception was opened things started moving pretty quickly. I didn’t take the bowl all the way out its box, just showed them that it was a piece of glassware, and they directed me over to Andy the specialist. Once again, I don’t know if you are a devotee of the show, but if you are a regular viewer you’ll know that Andy the Glass Specialist is not a man to whom the words ‘shrinking’, ‘violet’ or ‘introvert’ could ever be applied. We were his first ‘customers’ of the day, and he was on his phone, but he broke off for a second, said, “Have you got a piece of glass for me? Then whack it on the table and let’s have a look!” – then carried on with his phone call. He picked up the bowl, had a good look at it, and said “Look, I’ve got to go – first one of the day, and he’s just brought in a blimmin’ Mastermind bowl!” Then, and I kid you not, got on his knees and started doing the ‘We’re not worthy!’ thing. Then he immediately picked up a form, said “Scuse me a minute, this is definitely one for the recording.” and disappeared for a moment to find the producer.
So, first we were escorted to an outside ‘holding area’, where one of the producers would come up and basically give the yea or nay as to whether they were going to film you and your item or not. We passed that hurdle, although my hopes weren’t exactly raised when he came up to me and said,
”Hello David. Tell me, how much does this mean to you?”
which meant me think that he was going to go on and say,
“ – because although it means a lot to you, we ain’t interested - “
- or -
” – because although you love it, it ain’t an antique and we ain’t interested.’
Actually he said neither. What he did say was that they’d like to film me and the bowl with Andy just as a brief 30 second quickie. Fair enough, said I. So then we were moved from the outside holding area to the, well, I suppose it was a sort of green room. I had some slap applied, and apparently while this was happening Fiona Bruce came in to have hers done at the same time. I never noticed – shame.
Off to do the film, then, and this was a short , standing up job. It’s funny, but all you have to do to get a crowd to gather round is to point a TV camera. Suddenly we were surrounded, and Andy, I have to say, seemed to be in his element. He basically said, look, I’m not going to ask you a question, but I’ll start and you come in when you can. Fair enough. So we began with the spiel about it being the iconic prize for the show, and that the shape was fairly more known although he was used to seeing them in amethyst. I did correct Andy, for he said that the artist who creates each bowl is David Mann. I had to tell him that the gentleman in question is actually Denis Mann. That aside it was a perfectly pleasant chat, which I really rather enjoyed.
Right, I am one of those people who, when I watch the show and see people saying that they aren’t that bothered to hear the valuation, think – Liars! But honestly, in my case, I really wasn’t bothered – or really even that interested in the valuation. Because whatever it might have been, it wouldn’t begin to approach its value to me. As it is, how could you value it? As far as I know one has never been sold – although I am always willing to be proven wrong on that one. So what he did do was to tell me the approximate cost of getting another bowl, and commissioning the artist to produce a similar design. I’m sorry, but if you want to know that you’ll either have to look it up for yourself, or watch the show when it’s eventually transmitted.
Mary and I just went to it because we felt it would be a bit of fun, and that’s precisely what it was. Mind you, she didn’t win herself any brownie points in the queue earlier. when the nice couple with the bus asked her “What old antique have you brought along?” quick as a flash she replied,
”My husband.”
Charming.
Mary and I talked about it and we both decided that we’d rather like to go and see what it was like in the flesh as it were. “Now then,” Mary began, “have we got anything we could take along?” I began humming ‘Approaching Menace’, and miming sitting in a black chair. She did not take the hint. So I spelled it out to her – why didn’t we take my Mastermind bowl along?
”It’s not an antique.” she quite reasonably pointed out.
”Neither is some of the other stuff they have on the show, but I reckon it’s just the sort of thing they might think has a bit of novelty value.”
So basically that’s what we decided to do, take the bowl out for an awayday, and see what happened.
Can I stress at this point that my lovely bowl will NOT be appearing on eBay (other popular internet auction sites are available) any time soon?! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even that interested in getting a valuation on it either, since the only way it will ever be sold is after having been prised out of my cold, dead fingers. But, well, I don’t know, the idea of taking it along pandered to my natural tendency to show off – never very far from the surface – and the fact that it was maybe the sort of thing that might make an interesting novelty item on the show.
Mary’s very good at this sort of thing. She found a bed and breakfast about 5 minutes’ walk from Tredegar House, and we stayed overnight there on Saturday. After we’d checked in, we walked the route to Tredegar House and had a chat with a couple of the groundsmen there. They advised us that if we were there by about 7 am on the Sunday morning we’d be pretty certain of getting a decent parking space, otherwise we were leaving it to chance. So on Sunday morning we drove the car to the car park by 7am and left it there. Then we walked back to the B and B to have our B. We came back by about 8, and started to queue. Now, I saw it reported in a local paper yesterday that queues were forming by 6 am. Rubbish. You can add another two hours to that. There were maybe a hundred or so of us waiting at about 8:15 when they opened the gates. This let us in only so far, and then we had to wait for another hour before the reception was open and ready for business. In all honesty that wasn’t a huge hardship. We had a chat with a very nice couple who had brought along the 1950s double decker bus they had restored. Then Henry Sandon, world expert on Royal Worcester came out to have a chat with the people in the queue. Top man for doing that.
Once the reception was opened things started moving pretty quickly. I didn’t take the bowl all the way out its box, just showed them that it was a piece of glassware, and they directed me over to Andy the specialist. Once again, I don’t know if you are a devotee of the show, but if you are a regular viewer you’ll know that Andy the Glass Specialist is not a man to whom the words ‘shrinking’, ‘violet’ or ‘introvert’ could ever be applied. We were his first ‘customers’ of the day, and he was on his phone, but he broke off for a second, said, “Have you got a piece of glass for me? Then whack it on the table and let’s have a look!” – then carried on with his phone call. He picked up the bowl, had a good look at it, and said “Look, I’ve got to go – first one of the day, and he’s just brought in a blimmin’ Mastermind bowl!” Then, and I kid you not, got on his knees and started doing the ‘We’re not worthy!’ thing. Then he immediately picked up a form, said “Scuse me a minute, this is definitely one for the recording.” and disappeared for a moment to find the producer.
So, first we were escorted to an outside ‘holding area’, where one of the producers would come up and basically give the yea or nay as to whether they were going to film you and your item or not. We passed that hurdle, although my hopes weren’t exactly raised when he came up to me and said,
”Hello David. Tell me, how much does this mean to you?”
which meant me think that he was going to go on and say,
“ – because although it means a lot to you, we ain’t interested - “
- or -
” – because although you love it, it ain’t an antique and we ain’t interested.’
Actually he said neither. What he did say was that they’d like to film me and the bowl with Andy just as a brief 30 second quickie. Fair enough, said I. So then we were moved from the outside holding area to the, well, I suppose it was a sort of green room. I had some slap applied, and apparently while this was happening Fiona Bruce came in to have hers done at the same time. I never noticed – shame.
Off to do the film, then, and this was a short , standing up job. It’s funny, but all you have to do to get a crowd to gather round is to point a TV camera. Suddenly we were surrounded, and Andy, I have to say, seemed to be in his element. He basically said, look, I’m not going to ask you a question, but I’ll start and you come in when you can. Fair enough. So we began with the spiel about it being the iconic prize for the show, and that the shape was fairly more known although he was used to seeing them in amethyst. I did correct Andy, for he said that the artist who creates each bowl is David Mann. I had to tell him that the gentleman in question is actually Denis Mann. That aside it was a perfectly pleasant chat, which I really rather enjoyed.
Right, I am one of those people who, when I watch the show and see people saying that they aren’t that bothered to hear the valuation, think – Liars! But honestly, in my case, I really wasn’t bothered – or really even that interested in the valuation. Because whatever it might have been, it wouldn’t begin to approach its value to me. As it is, how could you value it? As far as I know one has never been sold – although I am always willing to be proven wrong on that one. So what he did do was to tell me the approximate cost of getting another bowl, and commissioning the artist to produce a similar design. I’m sorry, but if you want to know that you’ll either have to look it up for yourself, or watch the show when it’s eventually transmitted.
Mary and I just went to it because we felt it would be a bit of fun, and that’s precisely what it was. Mind you, she didn’t win herself any brownie points in the queue earlier. when the nice couple with the bus asked her “What old antique have you brought along?” quick as a flash she replied,
”My husband.”
Charming.
Saturday, 21 June 2014
In The News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Michelle Hamrick
2. Francis Matthews
3. Gary Lewin
4. Niall Iain McDOnald
5. Ultra Violet
6. Sam Kelly
7. Juan Manuel Santos
8. Michael Ibsen
9. East Anglian One
10. Yang Yongchun
11. Chann Sankaran – Krishna Sanjay Ganeshan – Michael Boateng
12. Carina Tyrell
13. British Guiana One Cent Magenta
14. Fire phone
15. Naved Arif
16. Dave Hockaway
17. Louis Tomlinson
18. Eugenie de Silva
19. Iggy
20. Mark McConville
21. Gerry Goffin
In Other News
1. Who won Queen’s?
2. What was the second test score between England and the All Blacks?
3. In which race was Chris Froome injured?
4. Which team beat England to the bronze in the men’s world hockey?
5. Pope Francis announced his first European visit will be to which country?
6. What was the score in the first test between Wales and South Africa?
7. Who won his seventh straight moto GP race of the season?
8. Which manufacturer won Le Mans?
9. Who officially woke from his coma?
10. What was the result in the first test v. Sri Lanka?
11. – and in the world cup match between Germany and Portugal?
12. Who is Southampton’s new manager?
13. Who won the US Open
14. Which two teams played out the first draw of the world cup?
15. With which team did Brazil also draw 0 – 0 ?
16. Which team did Belgium beat 2 – 1?
17. Which provincial team did England RU defeat in New Zealand?
18. Who crashed out of the cycling tour of Switzerland?
19. Whom did Jeremy Paxman interview in his final edition of Newsnight?
20. Which author was lambasted for catching, skinning, cooking and eating a rabbit on Twitter?
21. Who will be paying an official visit to the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland?
22. Which University gave back a 300 year old tapestry looted by Nazis to its rightful owners last week?
23. Defeat to which country saw Spain become the first team out of the World Cup?
24. What was the score between the Netherlands and Australia?
25. What decision has Rory McIlroy made for the 2016 Olympics?
26. What is Andy Murray’s Wimbledon seeding?
27. Morrisons have banned the use of what at self service tills?
28. Who scored both of Uruguay’s goals against England in the world cup?
29. A top of a mountain was blown off to make room for the world’s biggest deep space telescope in which country?
30. What is the regnal name and number of Spain’s new king, crowned last week?
31. Which ITV world cup pundit flew home after his wife was attacked by an armed robber last week?
32. Which famous TV set has been given a license to hold marriage ceremonies?
33. What was the score in the match between Italy and Costa Rica?
34. – and France and Switzerland?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Michelle Hamrick
2. Francis Matthews
3. Gary Lewin
4. Niall Iain McDOnald
5. Ultra Violet
6. Sam Kelly
7. Juan Manuel Santos
8. Michael Ibsen
9. East Anglian One
10. Yang Yongchun
11. Chann Sankaran – Krishna Sanjay Ganeshan – Michael Boateng
12. Carina Tyrell
13. British Guiana One Cent Magenta
14. Fire phone
15. Naved Arif
16. Dave Hockaway
17. Louis Tomlinson
18. Eugenie de Silva
19. Iggy
20. Mark McConville
21. Gerry Goffin
In Other News
1. Who won Queen’s?
2. What was the second test score between England and the All Blacks?
3. In which race was Chris Froome injured?
4. Which team beat England to the bronze in the men’s world hockey?
5. Pope Francis announced his first European visit will be to which country?
6. What was the score in the first test between Wales and South Africa?
7. Who won his seventh straight moto GP race of the season?
8. Which manufacturer won Le Mans?
9. Who officially woke from his coma?
10. What was the result in the first test v. Sri Lanka?
11. – and in the world cup match between Germany and Portugal?
12. Who is Southampton’s new manager?
13. Who won the US Open
14. Which two teams played out the first draw of the world cup?
15. With which team did Brazil also draw 0 – 0 ?
16. Which team did Belgium beat 2 – 1?
17. Which provincial team did England RU defeat in New Zealand?
18. Who crashed out of the cycling tour of Switzerland?
19. Whom did Jeremy Paxman interview in his final edition of Newsnight?
20. Which author was lambasted for catching, skinning, cooking and eating a rabbit on Twitter?
21. Who will be paying an official visit to the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland?
22. Which University gave back a 300 year old tapestry looted by Nazis to its rightful owners last week?
23. Defeat to which country saw Spain become the first team out of the World Cup?
24. What was the score between the Netherlands and Australia?
25. What decision has Rory McIlroy made for the 2016 Olympics?
26. What is Andy Murray’s Wimbledon seeding?
27. Morrisons have banned the use of what at self service tills?
28. Who scored both of Uruguay’s goals against England in the world cup?
29. A top of a mountain was blown off to make room for the world’s biggest deep space telescope in which country?
30. What is the regnal name and number of Spain’s new king, crowned last week?
31. Which ITV world cup pundit flew home after his wife was attacked by an armed robber last week?
32. Which famous TV set has been given a license to hold marriage ceremonies?
33. What was the score in the match between Italy and Costa Rica?
34. – and France and Switzerland?
RBQ _ South of England v. Scotland
Right then – a confrontation between two sides, both looking for a win. As with last week, I spent a wee bit of time looking at the questions before I started listening to the iplayer, so view my comments in this light. This week pitted the South of England – Fred Housego and Marcel Berlins , against Scotland, Val McDermid and Roddy Lumsden.Away we go.
Question 1 went to the South of England
Marlene’s one was blue. Cagney’s, of which there were several, sounded as though they needed a wash. A famous lifesaver declared that she wasn’t one; and a Hardy hero, despite his name, proved to be anything but. Can you explain?
Well, as it happened I thought I could. Marlene Dietrich starred in Der Blaue Engel – or – The Blue Angel. Jimmy Cagney starred in Angels with Dirty Faces. Mae West (life jacket) starred in I’m No Angel, while Angel Clare in Tess of the Durbervilles was, in my opinion, a bit of a plonker, and certainly didn’t act the part of an angel towards poor old Tess. 6 points to me. London needed quite a nudge with the life saver, so they ended up with 5.
Scotland’s first question asked
Where might you find collected: a late trade union leader, a carol popularised by Steeleye Span, and a sheaf of annual correspondence?
Well, any thought of me doing as well this week as last soon evaporated here. I thought that Gaudete was the carol sung by Steeleye Span, that didn’t help a great deal. I just didn’t have it, but Scotland saw a set of books by Ted Hughes straightaway. Bob Crowe was the Trade Union leader – Crows – I was right about the Crol – apparently this was the title of another book, which meant that the sheaf of annual correspondence would be Birthday Letters. 6 points and no problem to Scotland. I worked out birthday letters when they mentioned Hughes, so with a little help I reckon I’d have had 2 or 3.
The South of England’s Music Question asked
Which is the odd one out?
Well, first we heard Sweet Talking Guy by the Chiffons. Then Billy Cotton shouting Wakey Wakey. So seemingly textiles/fabrics. The third I wasn’t sure about, but the connection suggested Velvet Underground. Paper Lace with Billy Don’t Be A Hero looked the odd one out, paper lace not being a fabric. London had the first two, but didn’t have the third, nor the fourth, until prodding from Tom elicited the Velvet Underground, but not Paper Lace. 6 points to me, 3 to the South of England.
Scotland’s music question asked them
Why might all of the following be considered lucky in China – and why might one of them not really be so lucky?
I struggled here. I didn’t recognize the first piece of classical music at all. The second sounded like 8 Miles High by the Byrds. Well, 8 is a lucky number in China. This led me to Beethoven’s 8th for the first. Schubert’s Unfinished leapt to mind for the last one, which of course was his 8th Symphony. Scotland also worked their way this far after dabbling with lucky birds. They fancied the Schubert for not really being so lucky, and thought they didn’t get why they were right, since he really started it as his seventh. They were given 5 for their pains, and I don’t think I would have had less than 4.
Lagging behind at this stage South of England needed to get a wiggle on with this one
Why do a serenade to Rita, the largest private university in India, and a Cockney catch-phrase, collectively suggest ladybirds?
Well, the obvious thing was to go for Lovely Rita from the Sergeant Pepper album for the serenade. Lovely Jubbly therefore might be the catchphrase. Alright, so I have actually heard of the collective noun a loveliness ( or even a lovely, I’ve heard said) of ladybirds, which certainly helped. So I guessed that we must have the Lovely University in India, even though I’d never heard of it before. South struggled and needed nudging to get towards lovely. The university is apparently the Lovely Professional University. Again, the south needed a lot of pushing to get towards a loveliness, and never quite made it. They were given 2 points only, while I think I was worth 4, or maybe even 5.
So Scotland were given the opportunity to extend their lead with this
Can you trace a route from a novel in Scotland to a Welsh cathedral in the West country, via a fortress, and the location of the Ritz and the Royal Academy?. And if you took a short detour, where might you come into contact with a contagious disease?
Now, there aren’t that many cathedrals in Wales, and the only one which I could conceivably connect with the West Country was St. David’s, since this is also the name of Exeter’s main railway station. So if we were looking for stations, then Waverley would be the novel – Edinburgh’s main station being called just that. The fortress was slightly more difficult, bu t hey, I know my stations, and plumped for Carlisle Citadel.. The Ritz and the Royal Academy are both located along Piccadilly – which is also a station in Manchester. Stations obviously give us a railway route between all of those cities. A surprisingly gettable one thus far, I thought. I did help having been a trainspotter mind, which meant that I was also familiar with Mumps station in Oldham. Now, I have no idea whether Roddy and Val were either of them ever trainspotters, but they confidently dealt with the lot of them with the understandable exception of Carlisle Citadel5 points, and they were nearly home and dry.
The last question for the South of England, then, was
Why might you expect to find the following in Twickenham? A hotel with operatic beginnings, the jester to the Duke of Mantua, and a dog which no mean person may keep (according to a law passed during the reign of King Canute)?
The only one which sprang out at me was the Duke of Mantua’s jester, being Rigoletto. South also had this, and then started nosing around the dogs, without much success. Like Marcel I had guessed that Twickenham suggested something rugby. After prodding from Tom we both started edging towards the Savoy for the hotel, due to the connections with the Savoy Theatre and Gilbert and Sullivan. Savoy also made me think of cabbage, although the South still didn’t get it until Val helped them out. Twickenham was once upon a time known as The Cabbage Patch because where the rugby ground now stands, once grew cabbages. I still didn’t know about the dog, and apparently it was a greyhound.That’s also a name for a cabbage variety. Well, South were given 1 sympathy point – I reckon I’d maybe have had 2.
It fell to Scotland to finish with this-
Where would it get us, if we adopted an early interpretation of quantum mechanics, made promises about sovereignty and human rights, and started sympathising with those holding us captive?
Only the last part made instant sense with Stockholm Syndrome. I was hopeful that other Scandinavian capitals maybe would fall into place, but which was which I didn’t know. My best guess was with Nils Bohr being Danish, this would be called Copenhagen somehow, and maybe just maybe the Helsinki Declaration would fit the bill for the second part. Amazingly this was pretty much what Scotland said, and we were both given 6.
Scotland were clearly the better team, and won by 22 to 11.
Question 1 went to the South of England
Marlene’s one was blue. Cagney’s, of which there were several, sounded as though they needed a wash. A famous lifesaver declared that she wasn’t one; and a Hardy hero, despite his name, proved to be anything but. Can you explain?
Well, as it happened I thought I could. Marlene Dietrich starred in Der Blaue Engel – or – The Blue Angel. Jimmy Cagney starred in Angels with Dirty Faces. Mae West (life jacket) starred in I’m No Angel, while Angel Clare in Tess of the Durbervilles was, in my opinion, a bit of a plonker, and certainly didn’t act the part of an angel towards poor old Tess. 6 points to me. London needed quite a nudge with the life saver, so they ended up with 5.
Scotland’s first question asked
Where might you find collected: a late trade union leader, a carol popularised by Steeleye Span, and a sheaf of annual correspondence?
Well, any thought of me doing as well this week as last soon evaporated here. I thought that Gaudete was the carol sung by Steeleye Span, that didn’t help a great deal. I just didn’t have it, but Scotland saw a set of books by Ted Hughes straightaway. Bob Crowe was the Trade Union leader – Crows – I was right about the Crol – apparently this was the title of another book, which meant that the sheaf of annual correspondence would be Birthday Letters. 6 points and no problem to Scotland. I worked out birthday letters when they mentioned Hughes, so with a little help I reckon I’d have had 2 or 3.
The South of England’s Music Question asked
Which is the odd one out?
Well, first we heard Sweet Talking Guy by the Chiffons. Then Billy Cotton shouting Wakey Wakey. So seemingly textiles/fabrics. The third I wasn’t sure about, but the connection suggested Velvet Underground. Paper Lace with Billy Don’t Be A Hero looked the odd one out, paper lace not being a fabric. London had the first two, but didn’t have the third, nor the fourth, until prodding from Tom elicited the Velvet Underground, but not Paper Lace. 6 points to me, 3 to the South of England.
Scotland’s music question asked them
Why might all of the following be considered lucky in China – and why might one of them not really be so lucky?
I struggled here. I didn’t recognize the first piece of classical music at all. The second sounded like 8 Miles High by the Byrds. Well, 8 is a lucky number in China. This led me to Beethoven’s 8th for the first. Schubert’s Unfinished leapt to mind for the last one, which of course was his 8th Symphony. Scotland also worked their way this far after dabbling with lucky birds. They fancied the Schubert for not really being so lucky, and thought they didn’t get why they were right, since he really started it as his seventh. They were given 5 for their pains, and I don’t think I would have had less than 4.
Lagging behind at this stage South of England needed to get a wiggle on with this one
Why do a serenade to Rita, the largest private university in India, and a Cockney catch-phrase, collectively suggest ladybirds?
Well, the obvious thing was to go for Lovely Rita from the Sergeant Pepper album for the serenade. Lovely Jubbly therefore might be the catchphrase. Alright, so I have actually heard of the collective noun a loveliness ( or even a lovely, I’ve heard said) of ladybirds, which certainly helped. So I guessed that we must have the Lovely University in India, even though I’d never heard of it before. South struggled and needed nudging to get towards lovely. The university is apparently the Lovely Professional University. Again, the south needed a lot of pushing to get towards a loveliness, and never quite made it. They were given 2 points only, while I think I was worth 4, or maybe even 5.
So Scotland were given the opportunity to extend their lead with this
Can you trace a route from a novel in Scotland to a Welsh cathedral in the West country, via a fortress, and the location of the Ritz and the Royal Academy?. And if you took a short detour, where might you come into contact with a contagious disease?
Now, there aren’t that many cathedrals in Wales, and the only one which I could conceivably connect with the West Country was St. David’s, since this is also the name of Exeter’s main railway station. So if we were looking for stations, then Waverley would be the novel – Edinburgh’s main station being called just that. The fortress was slightly more difficult, bu t hey, I know my stations, and plumped for Carlisle Citadel.. The Ritz and the Royal Academy are both located along Piccadilly – which is also a station in Manchester. Stations obviously give us a railway route between all of those cities. A surprisingly gettable one thus far, I thought. I did help having been a trainspotter mind, which meant that I was also familiar with Mumps station in Oldham. Now, I have no idea whether Roddy and Val were either of them ever trainspotters, but they confidently dealt with the lot of them with the understandable exception of Carlisle Citadel5 points, and they were nearly home and dry.
The last question for the South of England, then, was
Why might you expect to find the following in Twickenham? A hotel with operatic beginnings, the jester to the Duke of Mantua, and a dog which no mean person may keep (according to a law passed during the reign of King Canute)?
The only one which sprang out at me was the Duke of Mantua’s jester, being Rigoletto. South also had this, and then started nosing around the dogs, without much success. Like Marcel I had guessed that Twickenham suggested something rugby. After prodding from Tom we both started edging towards the Savoy for the hotel, due to the connections with the Savoy Theatre and Gilbert and Sullivan. Savoy also made me think of cabbage, although the South still didn’t get it until Val helped them out. Twickenham was once upon a time known as The Cabbage Patch because where the rugby ground now stands, once grew cabbages. I still didn’t know about the dog, and apparently it was a greyhound.That’s also a name for a cabbage variety. Well, South were given 1 sympathy point – I reckon I’d maybe have had 2.
It fell to Scotland to finish with this-
Where would it get us, if we adopted an early interpretation of quantum mechanics, made promises about sovereignty and human rights, and started sympathising with those holding us captive?
Only the last part made instant sense with Stockholm Syndrome. I was hopeful that other Scandinavian capitals maybe would fall into place, but which was which I didn’t know. My best guess was with Nils Bohr being Danish, this would be called Copenhagen somehow, and maybe just maybe the Helsinki Declaration would fit the bill for the second part. Amazingly this was pretty much what Scotland said, and we were both given 6.
Scotland were clearly the better team, and won by 22 to 11.
Only Connect - Sudden Death Match
Relatives v. Record Collectors
To the victor the spoils, to the vanquished the bus fare home. Last Monday saw two more teams who have both tasted the champagne of victory and the bitter dregs of defeat already in the series. The Relatives, husband and wife Hamish and Davina Galloway together with Davina’s son Nick Latham, lost out in a close contest with the Europhiles in their first match, before hammering the last nail into the coffin of the Exhibitionists in their last sudden death shootout. Old hands at the survival game, then. The Record Collectors, Rachel Neiman, Adam Barr and Richard Gilbert, byt way of contrast, started the series at 100 miles an hour, beating the Erstwhile Athletes and our own Dan Fullard in the first match, before going down to the Welsh Learners in their qualification match. Picking a winner, Dave? No chance. This has been such a series of surprises that it’s difficult to predict anything with certainty.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
Skipper Rach opted to receive Twisted flax first. This gave the RCs Scent – sCent – Knight – reign. Now, I’ll be honest, I was working with the RCs here. Certainly the last three words all had their silent letter capitalized. Although that first word worried me. Victoria asked for more, and Rach explained that if you removed the letter in capitals, then you were left with a homophone which had a completely different meaning. Ah yes! Good set, and good shout. The Rels opted for eye of Horus, and began with a photograph of Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights, with an arrow pointing at dear old Larry. So either Laurence – or – Olivier – or – Heathcliff. Next was Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel. Hmm – no idea yet. The third looked like Albert Finney in Tom Jones. Well, it’s not unusual. Finally a stained glass window representation of Moses holding the tablets with the Ten Commandments. The Rels went for Moses as the connection. Nope. The RCs went for people who have all had awards named after them. Nope. Actually I had this because I once asked a similar connection in the club. They were all adopted after being abandoned by their parents. Rachel tempted fate by not voicing the second vowel of Horned viper. The first clue was Robert Langdon. Well, I think everyone knew that Robert Langdon is the hero of four of Dan Brown’s novels, and was played on film by Tom Hanks. The second was Lisbeth Salander – Steig Larsson’s The Girl with etc. – Sheldon Cooper is the exceptionally irritating main protagonist of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The last clue was Will Hunting. The RCs suggested that they might each have been mentored by professors. Incorrect. The Rels took a good bonus by suggesting that they each have eidetic – or photographic – memories. Two Reeds gave the Rels CBS – and my first thought was that there was no way it was going to be the obvious connection of US TV networks – AT&T came next. KFC took us right away from the communications and media connection and BP completed it. Now, I had a feeling that BP, which had started out meaning British Petroleum, made it clear during the oil spillage scandal a couple of years ago that the initials now mean nothing, so I guessed that the name of the company was now officially just the initials. The Rels clearly thought the same, and rightfully so. The RCs selected the audio clues, and the first was the far from immortal Doctorin’ The Tardis by the Timelords. Hmm. Songs based on other songs? The second was Prince’s Little Red Corvette. The Third was My Best Friend’s Girl by the Cars. Vehicles?, I wondered? The RCs at this point went for cars. Correct. Huh? I wondered. According to Victoria the first was performed by a car. OK, moving swiftly on. So the Rels finished the round with Lion. Football League one since 2004. Well, since 2004 it has been the division below the Championship, I thought.So did Nick. 5ive’s Big Reunion meant nothing to me, I’m afraid. Millipede didn’t immediately clear the waters. I did think that a millipede doesn’t have 1000 legs, and the first division is not actually the top division, since there are another two league – the Premier League above it. I think that it was Nick who working in the same direction with this one as well. He explained that not all 5 of 5ive came back for the reunion. Correct. All of which meant that at the end of the round the Rels actually led by 4 – 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The RCs took the Eye of Horus for the first set. It kicked off with War Crimes Tried in the UK. Nope, no idea from me. The second was European Voting System. Again, I didn’t see it. The RCs saw something and came in with AV, which was not the right answer. The third clue was equalizing the gay age of consent. Thinking referendums, the Rels offered Scottish Independence. No, these were all things brought into law by the Parliament Act. If, like me, you just thought – the what act? – well according to Victoria’s explanation when the Lords and Commons disagree then in extreme circumstances the Commons can invoke the Parliament Act and get the law through anyway. Tricky, tricky set. Two Reeds brought the Rels a picture set. The first looked like the former Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones, who I think is now Sarah Chatto. The second was a shoe with a stiletto heel, and the third Beth Ditto of Gossip. I think I had this a microsecond before the Rels themselves explained it. We had chATTO – StilETTO – dITTO – so the next would be something ending in OTTO – the Rels offered Motto. Nice set – above all else fair and gettable. Again Rach conventionally voiced Horned Viper, and this brought up 4th: Stockton 2012; 3rd: Orange County 1994: - and at this point I had no idea – 2nd: Jefferson County 2011. I wondered whether this was set by the same person who set the strangely named US towns set a couple of shows ago. It meant absolutely nothing to me, nor the RCs, nor the Rels. The answer – 1st: Detroit 2013. The connection is municipal bankruptcies. Right, now as you know, I love Only Connect. I don’t deliberately criticise for no reason, and I don’t automatically think that just because I can’t make anything out of a set, then it’s not a fair set. But, per-lease! American municipal bankruptices! Yes, Detroit I do actually remember hearing about. But the others, which were actually part of the clues, no. I’m sorry, but that set had no-pointer written all over it, and it’s all very well having Victoria to say it’s a fiendish little connection, but there’s fair and fiendish, and then there’s something else. This was something else. What’s next? Successive prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan? Alright, I know it isn’t meant to be easy, but come on – American municipal bankruptcies! Twisted flax gave the Rels the word Normal in green, then Meriting Attention by Astronomers in Yellow, then Threatening in what looked amber. Hamish looked to have a handle on it and offered Red: Impact Imminent. The actual answer was red : certain collision – good enough. This is the Torino Impact Hazard Scale. Not easy, but at least even if you didn’t know, a guess would have a chance of getting you close enough to the answer. American Municipal Bankruptcies! Sorry – I’m struggling to get over that set. The RCs, bloodied but not bowed chose Lion. The first was R1:10. The second was R1.QF:13. The third was SF: 17. Now I agreed with the RCs that R1 seemed to denote Round one – R2/QF – quarter final , and SF – semi final. By a process of deduction , if the numbers meant the cumulative total of matches in the competition by that stage, then it could only be F:18. I really don’t know why the RCs offered F:19, but it let the Rels in for a bonus with F:18. Which for me was the right answer for the wrong reason, as it happened. I’ve explained where I got it from. It’s actually the number of frames in world championship snooker matches you need to win to win that match. At least, though, at least you could work out some logic behind it, and come up with a guess. American municipal bankruptcies! The last remaining sequence was Water, and it kicked off with Barleywood. It meant now to me, so Berryfields came next. Greenacre was the third clue, and it didn’t help me. The Rels didn’t have it, neither did the RCs. They are all Gardener’s World Gardens, and the next is Longmeadow. Is that a fair set? Well, yes it is, in my opinion. Gardener’s World has a large and very loyal audience – it’s not unreasonable even though nobody knew it. American Municipal Bankruptcies! OK, enough of that. The score at the end of the round was 9 – 3 to the Rels.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Rels kicked off knowing that a really good wall round would see them with one collective foot in the semis. In good time they isolated a set of wrestling holds and moves – gogoplata – crucifix – Boston crab and sharpshooter – good shout with that lot, I thought. Double Act Halves were the next to fall with Hinge – Hale – Cannon and French. They were barking up the Stanley tree with Accrington, where I could see Lancashire towns, but they persisted correctly, isolating Falkland Islands – Accrington – Livingstone and Laurel as the Stanley set, which left Preston – Nelson – Morecambe and Bacup for the towns. They saw it , announced it, and took the points. A full house on the wall, and it’s been a few shows since we’ve seen one of those.
All of which meant that the RCs desperately needed a full house of their own. My first thought on seeing the wall was that I could see a set of tyre manufacturers. They started working on that set, but a sudden diversion to US State capitals with the word –City – in their name – Jefferson – Carson – Salt Lake and Oklahoma brought dividends. Now, THAT’S a fair set on US cities. After a fair bit of trial and persistence the tyres fell with Pirelli – Bridgestone – Yokohama – Michelin. Now, with three goes left I think we could all see that there were at least two Scottish cheeses there. The others though, they couldn’t, and with only seconds left three goes at hitting and hoping brought no joy. When the lines were resolved and I could see the third line Goodyear – Speed – Phoenix and Dawn the penny dropped. They are the surnames of actresses from Coronation Street – Julie, Doris, Pat and Liz. The Scottish cheeses were Dunlop – Lanark Blue – Caboc and Crowdie. Victoria gave Rach permission to thump her team mates for persuading her out of cheese and into cats. I’m afraid it was just that kind of show for the RCs. They scored 4, which meant that the Rels led by 19 – 7.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
If I’m honest, I thought that the gap was so big that the RCs were playing for pride in the last round. The first set was Cheesy chat up lines. These fell 4 – 0 to the Rels, and to add insult to injury the RCs miscued and lost a point. Titles of Prince Charles fell 3 – 1 to the RCs. Left Handed sportspeople fell 2 apiece. I must admit that when we ended with Eric Morecambe catchphrases nobody could see the great man’s – what do you think of it so far? That was that then. An emphatic 26 – 11 win for the Relatives. Very well done guys – good luck in the semis. Bad luck Record Collectors. In my opinion the Relatives deserved to win this show, but you certainly didn’t have the rub of the green. Well, that’s that then, and I think there’s only one thing left to be said about the show. American Municipal Bankruptcies!
To the victor the spoils, to the vanquished the bus fare home. Last Monday saw two more teams who have both tasted the champagne of victory and the bitter dregs of defeat already in the series. The Relatives, husband and wife Hamish and Davina Galloway together with Davina’s son Nick Latham, lost out in a close contest with the Europhiles in their first match, before hammering the last nail into the coffin of the Exhibitionists in their last sudden death shootout. Old hands at the survival game, then. The Record Collectors, Rachel Neiman, Adam Barr and Richard Gilbert, byt way of contrast, started the series at 100 miles an hour, beating the Erstwhile Athletes and our own Dan Fullard in the first match, before going down to the Welsh Learners in their qualification match. Picking a winner, Dave? No chance. This has been such a series of surprises that it’s difficult to predict anything with certainty.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
Skipper Rach opted to receive Twisted flax first. This gave the RCs Scent – sCent – Knight – reign. Now, I’ll be honest, I was working with the RCs here. Certainly the last three words all had their silent letter capitalized. Although that first word worried me. Victoria asked for more, and Rach explained that if you removed the letter in capitals, then you were left with a homophone which had a completely different meaning. Ah yes! Good set, and good shout. The Rels opted for eye of Horus, and began with a photograph of Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights, with an arrow pointing at dear old Larry. So either Laurence – or – Olivier – or – Heathcliff. Next was Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel. Hmm – no idea yet. The third looked like Albert Finney in Tom Jones. Well, it’s not unusual. Finally a stained glass window representation of Moses holding the tablets with the Ten Commandments. The Rels went for Moses as the connection. Nope. The RCs went for people who have all had awards named after them. Nope. Actually I had this because I once asked a similar connection in the club. They were all adopted after being abandoned by their parents. Rachel tempted fate by not voicing the second vowel of Horned viper. The first clue was Robert Langdon. Well, I think everyone knew that Robert Langdon is the hero of four of Dan Brown’s novels, and was played on film by Tom Hanks. The second was Lisbeth Salander – Steig Larsson’s The Girl with etc. – Sheldon Cooper is the exceptionally irritating main protagonist of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The last clue was Will Hunting. The RCs suggested that they might each have been mentored by professors. Incorrect. The Rels took a good bonus by suggesting that they each have eidetic – or photographic – memories. Two Reeds gave the Rels CBS – and my first thought was that there was no way it was going to be the obvious connection of US TV networks – AT&T came next. KFC took us right away from the communications and media connection and BP completed it. Now, I had a feeling that BP, which had started out meaning British Petroleum, made it clear during the oil spillage scandal a couple of years ago that the initials now mean nothing, so I guessed that the name of the company was now officially just the initials. The Rels clearly thought the same, and rightfully so. The RCs selected the audio clues, and the first was the far from immortal Doctorin’ The Tardis by the Timelords. Hmm. Songs based on other songs? The second was Prince’s Little Red Corvette. The Third was My Best Friend’s Girl by the Cars. Vehicles?, I wondered? The RCs at this point went for cars. Correct. Huh? I wondered. According to Victoria the first was performed by a car. OK, moving swiftly on. So the Rels finished the round with Lion. Football League one since 2004. Well, since 2004 it has been the division below the Championship, I thought.So did Nick. 5ive’s Big Reunion meant nothing to me, I’m afraid. Millipede didn’t immediately clear the waters. I did think that a millipede doesn’t have 1000 legs, and the first division is not actually the top division, since there are another two league – the Premier League above it. I think that it was Nick who working in the same direction with this one as well. He explained that not all 5 of 5ive came back for the reunion. Correct. All of which meant that at the end of the round the Rels actually led by 4 – 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The RCs took the Eye of Horus for the first set. It kicked off with War Crimes Tried in the UK. Nope, no idea from me. The second was European Voting System. Again, I didn’t see it. The RCs saw something and came in with AV, which was not the right answer. The third clue was equalizing the gay age of consent. Thinking referendums, the Rels offered Scottish Independence. No, these were all things brought into law by the Parliament Act. If, like me, you just thought – the what act? – well according to Victoria’s explanation when the Lords and Commons disagree then in extreme circumstances the Commons can invoke the Parliament Act and get the law through anyway. Tricky, tricky set. Two Reeds brought the Rels a picture set. The first looked like the former Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones, who I think is now Sarah Chatto. The second was a shoe with a stiletto heel, and the third Beth Ditto of Gossip. I think I had this a microsecond before the Rels themselves explained it. We had chATTO – StilETTO – dITTO – so the next would be something ending in OTTO – the Rels offered Motto. Nice set – above all else fair and gettable. Again Rach conventionally voiced Horned Viper, and this brought up 4th: Stockton 2012; 3rd: Orange County 1994: - and at this point I had no idea – 2nd: Jefferson County 2011. I wondered whether this was set by the same person who set the strangely named US towns set a couple of shows ago. It meant absolutely nothing to me, nor the RCs, nor the Rels. The answer – 1st: Detroit 2013. The connection is municipal bankruptcies. Right, now as you know, I love Only Connect. I don’t deliberately criticise for no reason, and I don’t automatically think that just because I can’t make anything out of a set, then it’s not a fair set. But, per-lease! American municipal bankruptices! Yes, Detroit I do actually remember hearing about. But the others, which were actually part of the clues, no. I’m sorry, but that set had no-pointer written all over it, and it’s all very well having Victoria to say it’s a fiendish little connection, but there’s fair and fiendish, and then there’s something else. This was something else. What’s next? Successive prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan? Alright, I know it isn’t meant to be easy, but come on – American municipal bankruptcies! Twisted flax gave the Rels the word Normal in green, then Meriting Attention by Astronomers in Yellow, then Threatening in what looked amber. Hamish looked to have a handle on it and offered Red: Impact Imminent. The actual answer was red : certain collision – good enough. This is the Torino Impact Hazard Scale. Not easy, but at least even if you didn’t know, a guess would have a chance of getting you close enough to the answer. American Municipal Bankruptcies! Sorry – I’m struggling to get over that set. The RCs, bloodied but not bowed chose Lion. The first was R1:10. The second was R1.QF:13. The third was SF: 17. Now I agreed with the RCs that R1 seemed to denote Round one – R2/QF – quarter final , and SF – semi final. By a process of deduction , if the numbers meant the cumulative total of matches in the competition by that stage, then it could only be F:18. I really don’t know why the RCs offered F:19, but it let the Rels in for a bonus with F:18. Which for me was the right answer for the wrong reason, as it happened. I’ve explained where I got it from. It’s actually the number of frames in world championship snooker matches you need to win to win that match. At least, though, at least you could work out some logic behind it, and come up with a guess. American municipal bankruptcies! The last remaining sequence was Water, and it kicked off with Barleywood. It meant now to me, so Berryfields came next. Greenacre was the third clue, and it didn’t help me. The Rels didn’t have it, neither did the RCs. They are all Gardener’s World Gardens, and the next is Longmeadow. Is that a fair set? Well, yes it is, in my opinion. Gardener’s World has a large and very loyal audience – it’s not unreasonable even though nobody knew it. American Municipal Bankruptcies! OK, enough of that. The score at the end of the round was 9 – 3 to the Rels.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Rels kicked off knowing that a really good wall round would see them with one collective foot in the semis. In good time they isolated a set of wrestling holds and moves – gogoplata – crucifix – Boston crab and sharpshooter – good shout with that lot, I thought. Double Act Halves were the next to fall with Hinge – Hale – Cannon and French. They were barking up the Stanley tree with Accrington, where I could see Lancashire towns, but they persisted correctly, isolating Falkland Islands – Accrington – Livingstone and Laurel as the Stanley set, which left Preston – Nelson – Morecambe and Bacup for the towns. They saw it , announced it, and took the points. A full house on the wall, and it’s been a few shows since we’ve seen one of those.
All of which meant that the RCs desperately needed a full house of their own. My first thought on seeing the wall was that I could see a set of tyre manufacturers. They started working on that set, but a sudden diversion to US State capitals with the word –City – in their name – Jefferson – Carson – Salt Lake and Oklahoma brought dividends. Now, THAT’S a fair set on US cities. After a fair bit of trial and persistence the tyres fell with Pirelli – Bridgestone – Yokohama – Michelin. Now, with three goes left I think we could all see that there were at least two Scottish cheeses there. The others though, they couldn’t, and with only seconds left three goes at hitting and hoping brought no joy. When the lines were resolved and I could see the third line Goodyear – Speed – Phoenix and Dawn the penny dropped. They are the surnames of actresses from Coronation Street – Julie, Doris, Pat and Liz. The Scottish cheeses were Dunlop – Lanark Blue – Caboc and Crowdie. Victoria gave Rach permission to thump her team mates for persuading her out of cheese and into cats. I’m afraid it was just that kind of show for the RCs. They scored 4, which meant that the Rels led by 19 – 7.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
If I’m honest, I thought that the gap was so big that the RCs were playing for pride in the last round. The first set was Cheesy chat up lines. These fell 4 – 0 to the Rels, and to add insult to injury the RCs miscued and lost a point. Titles of Prince Charles fell 3 – 1 to the RCs. Left Handed sportspeople fell 2 apiece. I must admit that when we ended with Eric Morecambe catchphrases nobody could see the great man’s – what do you think of it so far? That was that then. An emphatic 26 – 11 win for the Relatives. Very well done guys – good luck in the semis. Bad luck Record Collectors. In my opinion the Relatives deserved to win this show, but you certainly didn’t have the rub of the green. Well, that’s that then, and I think there’s only one thing left to be said about the show. American Municipal Bankruptcies!
Friday, 20 June 2014
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Jean Claude Juncker
2. Eugene Goostman
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Fiona Cunningham
5. Chijindu Ujah
6. Eric Hill
7. Uber
8. Hard Choices
9. Reuven Rivlin
10. Greg Dyke
11. Anna Soubry
12. Noble England
13. Marcus Wareing
14. Cy Twombly
15. Radek Stepanek
In Other News
1. Name the first four sponsors of the World Cup to demand an inquiry into the 2022 bidding procedure allegations of corruption
2. How many singles titles at the French Open has Rafael Nadal won?
3. Which national team refused to board their initial flight to brazil for the World Cup?
4. What was the score between England and Honduras in their last friendly?
5. Who is the new coach of Andy Murray?
6. Who won the women’s singles in the French Open?
7. What were the scores in the first and second rugby tests between new Zealand and England?
8. Which building was it announced was to undergo what has been described as a ‘mudpack facelift’?
9. How old was Rik Mayall, who passes away last week?
10. Why did Royal Mail workers in Skelmersdale threaten to strike last week?
11. Which team did England’s men beat to reach the world cup hockey semi finals?
12. Which two teams played the first game of the FIFA world cup?
13. What was the venue for the US Open golf championship?
14. Fly Half Olly Barkley was signed by which club?
15. Which word did Sepp Blatter use to describe criticism of Qatar’s selection as hosts for the 2022 World Cup?
16. Who is England’s cricket player of the year?
17. Where is Star Wars VII being filmed? 18. – and who injured his foot – allegedly when the door of the Millenium Falcon closed on it?
19. Which team has Joe Cole joined?
20. Which team have been expelled from the Conference for unpaid bills?
21. Who launched an America’s Cup team last week?
22. Which event will Mo Farah run in the Commonwealth Games?
23. Boris Johnson purchased three what for London last week?
24. David Beckham’s plans for a stadium where were rejected last week?
25. Who is the inaugural Country Life Gentleman of the Year?
26. Which cyclist was added to the England team for the Commonwealth Games last week?
27. Who was selected out of position on the wing for England in the second test v. The All Blacks?
28. Which two performers gyrated together in the Opening Ceremony of the FIFA World Cup?
29. In which country was a baffling spate of lego theft reported?
30. Who shot a record first two rounds low score at the US Open?
31. Cesc Fabregas has joined which team?
32. How did George H.W.Bush celebrate his 90th birthday?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. The man wanted as EU president by Angela Merkel, and very much not wanted by David Cameron
2. Computer programme which successfully passes the Turning Test
3. Australian driver who won the Canadian GP
4. Theresa May’s Press aide who resigned
5. British sprinter who ran 9.96 for the 100m
6. The creator of Spot the dog who passed away last week?
7. The taxi hailing app against which hundreds of London cabbies staged a protest last week
8. Hillary Clinton’s latest book
9. New President of Israel
10. Head of the FA who called for Sepp Blatter’s resignation
11. Defence Minister who broke up a drunken brawl last week
12. Rik Mayall’s 2010 world cup song which reentered the higher levels of the singles chart
13. Chef set to replace Michel Roux Jr. on Masterchef
14. Artist whose estate gifted three paintings to the Tate Modern
15. Player who knocked Andy Murray out of Queens
In Other News
1. Sony – Adidas – Visa – Coca Cola
2. 9
3. Cameroon
4. 0 - 0
5. Amelie Mauresmo
6. Maria Sharapova
7. 1st – 20 – 15 to NZ – 2nd – 28 – 27 to NZ
8. The Taj Mahal
9. 56. RIP.
10. Because they were being ordered to deliver free copies of the Sun in Merseyside
11. Belgium
12. Brazil v. Croatia
13. Pinehurst
14. London Welsh
15. Racist
16. Ian Bell
17. Pinewood
18. Harrison Ford
19. Aston Villa
20. Hereford Utd.
21. Sir Ben Ainslie
22. Trick – he will do both the 5,000m and the 10,000m
23. Water Cannon
24. Miami
25. David Dimbleby
26. Sir Bradley Wiggins
27. Manu Tuilagi
28. Jennifer Lopez and Pit Bull
29. Australia
30. Martin Kaymer
31. Chelsea
32. By doing a parachute jump
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Jean Claude Juncker
2. Eugene Goostman
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Fiona Cunningham
5. Chijindu Ujah
6. Eric Hill
7. Uber
8. Hard Choices
9. Reuven Rivlin
10. Greg Dyke
11. Anna Soubry
12. Noble England
13. Marcus Wareing
14. Cy Twombly
15. Radek Stepanek
In Other News
1. Name the first four sponsors of the World Cup to demand an inquiry into the 2022 bidding procedure allegations of corruption
2. How many singles titles at the French Open has Rafael Nadal won?
3. Which national team refused to board their initial flight to brazil for the World Cup?
4. What was the score between England and Honduras in their last friendly?
5. Who is the new coach of Andy Murray?
6. Who won the women’s singles in the French Open?
7. What were the scores in the first and second rugby tests between new Zealand and England?
8. Which building was it announced was to undergo what has been described as a ‘mudpack facelift’?
9. How old was Rik Mayall, who passes away last week?
10. Why did Royal Mail workers in Skelmersdale threaten to strike last week?
11. Which team did England’s men beat to reach the world cup hockey semi finals?
12. Which two teams played the first game of the FIFA world cup?
13. What was the venue for the US Open golf championship?
14. Fly Half Olly Barkley was signed by which club?
15. Which word did Sepp Blatter use to describe criticism of Qatar’s selection as hosts for the 2022 World Cup?
16. Who is England’s cricket player of the year?
17. Where is Star Wars VII being filmed? 18. – and who injured his foot – allegedly when the door of the Millenium Falcon closed on it?
19. Which team has Joe Cole joined?
20. Which team have been expelled from the Conference for unpaid bills?
21. Who launched an America’s Cup team last week?
22. Which event will Mo Farah run in the Commonwealth Games?
23. Boris Johnson purchased three what for London last week?
24. David Beckham’s plans for a stadium where were rejected last week?
25. Who is the inaugural Country Life Gentleman of the Year?
26. Which cyclist was added to the England team for the Commonwealth Games last week?
27. Who was selected out of position on the wing for England in the second test v. The All Blacks?
28. Which two performers gyrated together in the Opening Ceremony of the FIFA World Cup?
29. In which country was a baffling spate of lego theft reported?
30. Who shot a record first two rounds low score at the US Open?
31. Cesc Fabregas has joined which team?
32. How did George H.W.Bush celebrate his 90th birthday?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. The man wanted as EU president by Angela Merkel, and very much not wanted by David Cameron
2. Computer programme which successfully passes the Turning Test
3. Australian driver who won the Canadian GP
4. Theresa May’s Press aide who resigned
5. British sprinter who ran 9.96 for the 100m
6. The creator of Spot the dog who passed away last week?
7. The taxi hailing app against which hundreds of London cabbies staged a protest last week
8. Hillary Clinton’s latest book
9. New President of Israel
10. Head of the FA who called for Sepp Blatter’s resignation
11. Defence Minister who broke up a drunken brawl last week
12. Rik Mayall’s 2010 world cup song which reentered the higher levels of the singles chart
13. Chef set to replace Michel Roux Jr. on Masterchef
14. Artist whose estate gifted three paintings to the Tate Modern
15. Player who knocked Andy Murray out of Queens
In Other News
1. Sony – Adidas – Visa – Coca Cola
2. 9
3. Cameroon
4. 0 - 0
5. Amelie Mauresmo
6. Maria Sharapova
7. 1st – 20 – 15 to NZ – 2nd – 28 – 27 to NZ
8. The Taj Mahal
9. 56. RIP.
10. Because they were being ordered to deliver free copies of the Sun in Merseyside
11. Belgium
12. Brazil v. Croatia
13. Pinehurst
14. London Welsh
15. Racist
16. Ian Bell
17. Pinewood
18. Harrison Ford
19. Aston Villa
20. Hereford Utd.
21. Sir Ben Ainslie
22. Trick – he will do both the 5,000m and the 10,000m
23. Water Cannon
24. Miami
25. David Dimbleby
26. Sir Bradley Wiggins
27. Manu Tuilagi
28. Jennifer Lopez and Pit Bull
29. Australia
30. Martin Kaymer
31. Chelsea
32. By doing a parachute jump
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
I Do Like A Good Post Mortem
In the winter of 1980, I think it was, I played for a brief while for GWR RFC in Perivale, West London. It was quite an experience, bearing in mind that I was only about 16 at the time, a kid playing in a team of grown men against, frankly, some hard, ugly, gnarly old opponents. It also didn’t help very much the fact that I was, not to put too fine a point on it, rubbish. Notwithstanding that though, the guys put up with me, and I enjoyed the experience while it lasted. I became particularly friendly with another guy on the team whose name I sadly no longer recall, who was a medical student in St. Thomas’ Hospital. He sometimes brought his girlfriend, a nurse, along to the matches, and I distinctly remember her saying one time after a match words to the effect of – You know, I think you guys only want to play in these games in the first place, so that you can hold the post mortem in the bar afterwards, which you enjoy far more than the game itself. – I didn’t voice an opinion, being the ‘sprog who really should have been seen and not heard’, but in my heart of hearts I had to concede that she had a point. Even more so when she said – And what you talk about in the post mortem never bears any resemblance to the match that I was actually watching! –
This came to mind yesterday evening as Barry dropped me off home after the quiz in Newport. Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t actually enjoy the quiz, because I did, and I’m not saying that it wasn’t actually a good quiz, because it was. Which was a little surprising since last night’s guest question master is, in my experience, a little hit and miss when it comes to compiling a quiz. I’ve been to ones he’s done in the past which I haven’t enjoyed at all, then there have been others which I’ve enjoyed, like last night. But, I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m now officially in my fifties, but I found that as much as I enjoyed last night’s quiz, I enjoyed the drive home in the car, holding the post mortem with Barry and John even more than I enjoyed the quiz itself. I don’t know that I can explain it, but there’s something about a good quiz story that maybe only another quizzer can really appreciate.
Here’s one that came out last night during the course of the conversation. This occurred, I think, a little before my time, maybe just before I moved to Wales. John, Barry, my dear old mate the late Allan Coombs, and another guy whose name I shall protect for reasons which will become obvious later on. Let’s call him ‘Steve’. Sky TV were producing a home grown quiz show. Don’t ask me what it was called – as I say, this was before my time. The four of them were in a team. Now, they did tell me the name of the host, but I can’t remember it, so I doubt that it was in any way a luminary of the world of TV presentation. Apparently this fellow was taking forever for his introductory chat, where he spoke to the other team first, and was really rather sarcastic and arrogant, making fun of whatever they said. Then he turned to my boys, and was treating them exactly the same way. ‘Steve’ became rather annoyed with this, so when he asked them something like, “Well, do you see yourself jetting off to some fabulous location if you win the big prize then?”, Steve let fly an expletive under his breath. Unfortunately he was miked up, and someone backstage must have heard it, and alerted the host, since he rounded on ‘Steve’ and said, “I’m sorry, Steve – what was that?!” Quick as a flash Steve replied,
“Tosser” Cue apoplexy from host, while Steve calmly continued,
“Tossa De Mar on the Costa Brava – I can thoroughly recommend it!”
Mind you, the host had the last laugh. According to the boys they thrashed the other team in rehearsal, but during the show they were just buzzed out of it completely.
This came to mind yesterday evening as Barry dropped me off home after the quiz in Newport. Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t actually enjoy the quiz, because I did, and I’m not saying that it wasn’t actually a good quiz, because it was. Which was a little surprising since last night’s guest question master is, in my experience, a little hit and miss when it comes to compiling a quiz. I’ve been to ones he’s done in the past which I haven’t enjoyed at all, then there have been others which I’ve enjoyed, like last night. But, I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m now officially in my fifties, but I found that as much as I enjoyed last night’s quiz, I enjoyed the drive home in the car, holding the post mortem with Barry and John even more than I enjoyed the quiz itself. I don’t know that I can explain it, but there’s something about a good quiz story that maybe only another quizzer can really appreciate.
Here’s one that came out last night during the course of the conversation. This occurred, I think, a little before my time, maybe just before I moved to Wales. John, Barry, my dear old mate the late Allan Coombs, and another guy whose name I shall protect for reasons which will become obvious later on. Let’s call him ‘Steve’. Sky TV were producing a home grown quiz show. Don’t ask me what it was called – as I say, this was before my time. The four of them were in a team. Now, they did tell me the name of the host, but I can’t remember it, so I doubt that it was in any way a luminary of the world of TV presentation. Apparently this fellow was taking forever for his introductory chat, where he spoke to the other team first, and was really rather sarcastic and arrogant, making fun of whatever they said. Then he turned to my boys, and was treating them exactly the same way. ‘Steve’ became rather annoyed with this, so when he asked them something like, “Well, do you see yourself jetting off to some fabulous location if you win the big prize then?”, Steve let fly an expletive under his breath. Unfortunately he was miked up, and someone backstage must have heard it, and alerted the host, since he rounded on ‘Steve’ and said, “I’m sorry, Steve – what was that?!” Quick as a flash Steve replied,
“Tosser” Cue apoplexy from host, while Steve calmly continued,
“Tossa De Mar on the Costa Brava – I can thoroughly recommend it!”
Mind you, the host had the last laugh. According to the boys they thrashed the other team in rehearsal, but during the show they were just buzzed out of it completely.
Monday, 16 June 2014
In the News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Jean Claude Juncker
2. Eugene Goostman
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Fiona Cunningham
5. Chijindu Ujah
6. Eric Hill
7. Uber
8. Hard Choices
9. Reuven Rivlin
10. Greg Dyke
11. Anna Soubry
12. Noble England
13. Marcus Wareing
14. Cy Twombly
15. Radek Stepanek
In Other News
1. Name the first four sponsors of the World Cup to demand an inquiry into the 2022 bidding procedure allegations of corruption
2. How many singles titles at the French Open has Rafael Nadal won?
3. Which national team refused to board their initial flight to brazil for the World Cup?
4. What was the score between England and Honduras in their last friendly?
5. Who is the new coach of Andy Murray?
6. Who won the women’s singles in the French Open?
7. What were the scores in the first and second rugby tests between new Zealand and England?
8. Which building was it announced was to undergo what has been described as a ‘mudpack facelift’?
9. How old was Rik Mayall, who passes away last week?
10. Why did Royal Mail workers in Skelmersdale threaten to strike last week?
11. Which team did England’s men beat to reach the world cup hockey semi finals?
12. Which two teams played the first game of the FIFA world cup?
13. What was the venue for the US Open golf championship?
14. Fly Half Olly Barkley was signed by which club?
15. Which word did Sepp Blatter use to describe criticism of Qatar’s selection as hosts for the 2022 World Cup?
16. Who is England’s cricket player of the year?
17. Where is Star Wars VII being filmed? 18. – and who injured his foot – allegedly when the door of the Millenium Falcon closed on it?
19. Which team has Joe Cole joined?
20. Which team have been expelled from the Conference for unpaid bills?
21. Who launched an America’s Cup team last week?
22. Which event will Mo Farah run in the Commonwealth Games?
23. Boris Johnson purchased three what for London last week?
24. David Beckham’s plans for a stadium where were rejected last week?
25. Who is the inaugural Country Life Gentleman of the Year?
26. Which cyclist was added to the England team for the Commonwealth Games last week?
27. Who was selected out of position on the wing for England in the second test v. The All Blacks?
28. Which two performers gyrated together in the Opening Ceremony of the FIFA World Cup?
29. In which country was a baffling spate of lego theft reported?
30. Who shot a record first two rounds low score at the US Open?
31. Cesc Fabregas has joined which team?
32. How did George H.W.Bush celebrate his 90th birthday?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Jean Claude Juncker
2. Eugene Goostman
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Fiona Cunningham
5. Chijindu Ujah
6. Eric Hill
7. Uber
8. Hard Choices
9. Reuven Rivlin
10. Greg Dyke
11. Anna Soubry
12. Noble England
13. Marcus Wareing
14. Cy Twombly
15. Radek Stepanek
In Other News
1. Name the first four sponsors of the World Cup to demand an inquiry into the 2022 bidding procedure allegations of corruption
2. How many singles titles at the French Open has Rafael Nadal won?
3. Which national team refused to board their initial flight to brazil for the World Cup?
4. What was the score between England and Honduras in their last friendly?
5. Who is the new coach of Andy Murray?
6. Who won the women’s singles in the French Open?
7. What were the scores in the first and second rugby tests between new Zealand and England?
8. Which building was it announced was to undergo what has been described as a ‘mudpack facelift’?
9. How old was Rik Mayall, who passes away last week?
10. Why did Royal Mail workers in Skelmersdale threaten to strike last week?
11. Which team did England’s men beat to reach the world cup hockey semi finals?
12. Which two teams played the first game of the FIFA world cup?
13. What was the venue for the US Open golf championship?
14. Fly Half Olly Barkley was signed by which club?
15. Which word did Sepp Blatter use to describe criticism of Qatar’s selection as hosts for the 2022 World Cup?
16. Who is England’s cricket player of the year?
17. Where is Star Wars VII being filmed? 18. – and who injured his foot – allegedly when the door of the Millenium Falcon closed on it?
19. Which team has Joe Cole joined?
20. Which team have been expelled from the Conference for unpaid bills?
21. Who launched an America’s Cup team last week?
22. Which event will Mo Farah run in the Commonwealth Games?
23. Boris Johnson purchased three what for London last week?
24. David Beckham’s plans for a stadium where were rejected last week?
25. Who is the inaugural Country Life Gentleman of the Year?
26. Which cyclist was added to the England team for the Commonwealth Games last week?
27. Who was selected out of position on the wing for England in the second test v. The All Blacks?
28. Which two performers gyrated together in the Opening Ceremony of the FIFA World Cup?
29. In which country was a baffling spate of lego theft reported?
30. Who shot a record first two rounds low score at the US Open?
31. Cesc Fabregas has joined which team?
32. How did George H.W.Bush celebrate his 90th birthday?
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl
2. Edinho
3. John Wilkinson
4. Gareth Huntley
5. Lady Soames
6. Gerard Benson
7. Nairo Quintana
8. Ernest Gulbis
9. Alexander Shulgin
10. Eimar McBride
11. A Girl is a Half Formed Thing
12. Jos Buttler
13. ITH Pharma Ltd.
14. Chester Nez
15. Ann Barnes
In Other News
1. Who was sworn in as the new president of Ukraine? 2. The world’s oldest example of which form of clothing was found near the Great Wall of China? 3. Which national team achieved their first ever win at football when they defeated Malta 1 – 0? 4. Harvard University carried out tests on a book in its library which revealed that it is made out of what? 5. Which was the first song to gain over 2 billion hits on Youtube?
6. Why were calls made to rerun the vote for the host of the 2022 world cup?
7. What was the result in the women’s FA Cup Final?
8. – and the Froch v. Groves world championship fight?
9. Who won the Gotzis Heptathlon?
10. What was the result of the English rugby Premiership final?
11. Marc Marquez has now won how many motogp races in a row this season?
12. Which dancer is quitting Strictly, although his wife will stay on?
13. Which rally was hit by tragedy last weekend?
14. In a YouGov poll, what was voted the nation’s favourite children’s book?
15. King Juan Carlos of Spain is to abdicate in favour of whom?
16. Andy Murray defeated whom in the quarter final of the French Open?
17. Which English club will James Hook be joining?
18. Which are deadlier – ‘male’ or ‘female’ hurricanes?
19. Which actress, known for many 60s and 70s comedy roles, passed away?
20. Which ‘drug cheat’ will be returning after a 1 year ban in the Diamond League meeting in July?
21. What has President Hollande proposed for the regions of Alsace and Lorraine in France?
22. Which world leader was unreachable on a celebrity version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ in her own country, when they reached her answerphone?
23. What was the result of the Syrian election?
24. Who proposed the Loyal Address at the Queen’s Speech in parliament?
25. Which two ministers was it revealed last week had blamed each other for the Birmingham schools ‘trojan horse’ furore?
26. Last week saw the 25th anniversary of which world event?
27. A set of royal mail stamps featuring what was issued last week?
28. What was the score between Ecuador and England?
29. At which stage of the competition was Olympic champion Nicola Adams defeated in the European championships?
30. Which club won their return to English rugby’s premiership?
31. What was the score in the Italy friendly match against Luxembourg?
32. Which song will be used for BBC’s World Cup coverage?
33. Ed Milliband said that the NHS must be – what – after the next election?
34. Who denied that he said that fairy tales are bad for children?
35. Which classic computer game celebrated its 30th birthday? 36. Which two players won the French Open women’s singles semi finals?
37. Which England player was injured in the friendly v. Ecuador?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. US Soldier freed after 5 years of captivity by Taliban
2. Son of Pele, given a 33 year sentence for laundering drug money
3. Man jailed for feeding birds in Morecambe
4. Last child of Winston Churchill – passed away
5. Editor of Poems on the Underground – passed away
6. Rider who won the Giro d’Italia
7. Player who knocked Roger Federer out of the French Open
8. Alleged creator of Ecstasy – passed away
9. Won Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction
10. Novel for which she won
11. Cricketer controversially run out while backing up v. Sri Lanka
12. Lab which produced contaminated NHS baby drips
13. Last Navajo code talker who passed away
14. Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent , under fire for appearing in Channel 4 fly on the wall documentary
In Other News
1. Petro Poroshenko
2. Trousers
3. Gibraltar
4. Human Skin
5. Gangnam Style
6. Alleged corruption claims
7. Arsenal 2 – Everton 0
8. Froch won, defeating Groves with a round 8 knockout
9. Katerina Johnson-Thompson
10. Northampton 24 – Saracens 20 11. 6
12. James Jordan
13. The Jim Clark Rally
14. Winnie the Pooh
15. Crown Prince Felipe
16. Gael Montfils
17. Gloucester
18. Female
19. Barbara Murray
20. Tyson Gay
21. They will merge to form one region
22. Angela Merkel
23. A landslide for President Assad
24. Penny Mordaunt MP
25. Michael Gove and Theresa May
26. Tiananmen Square
27. Sustainable Fish
28. 2 – 2
29. Quarter finals
30. London Welsh
31. 1 - 1
32. “Another Star” by Stevie Wonder
33. Reset
34. Richard Dawkins
35. Tetris
36. Sharapova and Halep
37. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl
2. Edinho
3. John Wilkinson
4. Gareth Huntley
5. Lady Soames
6. Gerard Benson
7. Nairo Quintana
8. Ernest Gulbis
9. Alexander Shulgin
10. Eimar McBride
11. A Girl is a Half Formed Thing
12. Jos Buttler
13. ITH Pharma Ltd.
14. Chester Nez
15. Ann Barnes
In Other News
1. Who was sworn in as the new president of Ukraine? 2. The world’s oldest example of which form of clothing was found near the Great Wall of China? 3. Which national team achieved their first ever win at football when they defeated Malta 1 – 0? 4. Harvard University carried out tests on a book in its library which revealed that it is made out of what? 5. Which was the first song to gain over 2 billion hits on Youtube?
6. Why were calls made to rerun the vote for the host of the 2022 world cup?
7. What was the result in the women’s FA Cup Final?
8. – and the Froch v. Groves world championship fight?
9. Who won the Gotzis Heptathlon?
10. What was the result of the English rugby Premiership final?
11. Marc Marquez has now won how many motogp races in a row this season?
12. Which dancer is quitting Strictly, although his wife will stay on?
13. Which rally was hit by tragedy last weekend?
14. In a YouGov poll, what was voted the nation’s favourite children’s book?
15. King Juan Carlos of Spain is to abdicate in favour of whom?
16. Andy Murray defeated whom in the quarter final of the French Open?
17. Which English club will James Hook be joining?
18. Which are deadlier – ‘male’ or ‘female’ hurricanes?
19. Which actress, known for many 60s and 70s comedy roles, passed away?
20. Which ‘drug cheat’ will be returning after a 1 year ban in the Diamond League meeting in July?
21. What has President Hollande proposed for the regions of Alsace and Lorraine in France?
22. Which world leader was unreachable on a celebrity version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ in her own country, when they reached her answerphone?
23. What was the result of the Syrian election?
24. Who proposed the Loyal Address at the Queen’s Speech in parliament?
25. Which two ministers was it revealed last week had blamed each other for the Birmingham schools ‘trojan horse’ furore?
26. Last week saw the 25th anniversary of which world event?
27. A set of royal mail stamps featuring what was issued last week?
28. What was the score between Ecuador and England?
29. At which stage of the competition was Olympic champion Nicola Adams defeated in the European championships?
30. Which club won their return to English rugby’s premiership?
31. What was the score in the Italy friendly match against Luxembourg?
32. Which song will be used for BBC’s World Cup coverage?
33. Ed Milliband said that the NHS must be – what – after the next election?
34. Who denied that he said that fairy tales are bad for children?
35. Which classic computer game celebrated its 30th birthday? 36. Which two players won the French Open women’s singles semi finals?
37. Which England player was injured in the friendly v. Ecuador?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. US Soldier freed after 5 years of captivity by Taliban
2. Son of Pele, given a 33 year sentence for laundering drug money
3. Man jailed for feeding birds in Morecambe
4. Last child of Winston Churchill – passed away
5. Editor of Poems on the Underground – passed away
6. Rider who won the Giro d’Italia
7. Player who knocked Roger Federer out of the French Open
8. Alleged creator of Ecstasy – passed away
9. Won Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction
10. Novel for which she won
11. Cricketer controversially run out while backing up v. Sri Lanka
12. Lab which produced contaminated NHS baby drips
13. Last Navajo code talker who passed away
14. Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent , under fire for appearing in Channel 4 fly on the wall documentary
In Other News
1. Petro Poroshenko
2. Trousers
3. Gibraltar
4. Human Skin
5. Gangnam Style
6. Alleged corruption claims
7. Arsenal 2 – Everton 0
8. Froch won, defeating Groves with a round 8 knockout
9. Katerina Johnson-Thompson
10. Northampton 24 – Saracens 20 11. 6
12. James Jordan
13. The Jim Clark Rally
14. Winnie the Pooh
15. Crown Prince Felipe
16. Gael Montfils
17. Gloucester
18. Female
19. Barbara Murray
20. Tyson Gay
21. They will merge to form one region
22. Angela Merkel
23. A landslide for President Assad
24. Penny Mordaunt MP
25. Michael Gove and Theresa May
26. Tiananmen Square
27. Sustainable Fish
28. 2 – 2
29. Quarter finals
30. London Welsh
31. 1 - 1
32. “Another Star” by Stevie Wonder
33. Reset
34. Richard Dawkins
35. Tetris
36. Sharapova and Halep
37. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Sunday, 15 June 2014
RBQ _ Scotland v. North of England
By way of a change I decided that I would spend a few minutes having a go at the questions in last Monday’s show before listening to it on the iplayer, and hopefully this will be reflected in my comments.
Right then. Last Monday’s teams were Scotland and North of England. Scotland, making their season opener, represented by novelist Val McDermid, and poet Roddy Lumsden. In their previous match the North of England’s Adele Geras and Diana Collecot were beaten by the highly impressive Midlands team. OK, so let’s get on with the show.
It was the Scotland team standing at first receiver, and they were given this: -
If you enlisted the following, would they improve your spelling? A capable sailor; a hawk-headed man; a bounder; a vitamin found in liver and carrots; and a supportive item of apparel.
My preliminary thoughts on this one were not that enlightening. Capable Sailor suggested Able Seaman, which is shortened to AB. Now, he wasn’t really a man at all, but there were a couple of Gods in Egyptian mythology depicted as this. My first thought was Horus, but he was specifically a falcon. SO this then led to the Sun God Ra. Ah, I thought – ABRA. This meant that the bounder was a CAD. The vitamin in liver and carrots is vitamin A. The supporting garment is a BRA, giving us ABRACADABRA, used for performing spells. Lovely set – 6 points to me. 6 points to Scotland, who paused for perhaps 5 seconds, then Roddy explained the whole thing perfectly, barely breaking sweat.
The North of England were asked this as their first set: -
Why should someone with triskaidekaphobia avoid the Duke of Coffin Castle, the gothic tale of novelist Vida Winter, and the abolition of slavery?
Now, someone with triskaidekaphobia as any serious pub quizzer can tell you is fear of the number 13. So obviously the other parts were connected with 13. The Duke of Coffin Castle was unknown to me, but Vida Winter I knew to be a fictional novelist in Dianne Setterfield’s “The Thirteenth Tale”. The Abolition of Slavery was, of course, the subject of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. The North also new triskaidekaphobia. They went straight to the Thirteenth Tale, and the Thirteenth Amendment, and like me didn’t know the Duke of Coffin Castle. Apparently it was made into an opera in 2002, but that didn’t help any of us. American short story writer and cartoonist gave me James Thurber, but the team needed a lot more, and didn’t get it. It didn’t help me, mind. Apparently the story in question is the Thirteen Clocks. I thought that I deserved the same number of points as the North, and so we both had 4
Scotland’s Music Question was not one I could prepare, obviously. It was
What comes next?
I knew the Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen to start, then I recognized red roses for a blue lady – hardly surprising since it was sung prominently at the start of the second extract, then the third was a piece of speech about golf, and then we had the theme music of Fawlty Towers. Right. I pressed pause before any explanation came on, and looked, and could see the rationale. Echo – Golf – Hotel (Fawlty Towers) are all from the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, so India would come next. I guessed that somebody in some film dances a Foxtrot to the other song. Pressing play on the iplayer again, I heard Scotland barking up the Tower tree wrongly. They really didn’t see what the sequence was until they focused on Echo. When they did that the whole thing fell into place as I explained. Well, I’m sorry but I was a 6 for that. Scotland needed help, and so they received 4 The North of England’s Music Question was
How would this, when combined with a National nemesis and the occupier of a corner of an Aegean field that is forever England, suggest a famous jazz-age beauty?
Even before the start I knew that the Aegean field referred to poet Rupert Brooke. The jazz age beauty would be Louise Brookes. So working on Brooks, I thought that the National nemesis was most likely to be Beecher’s Brook – could have been Valentine’s, but I played the percentages. The music I didn’t know, and neither did the North. Brook Green Suite by Holst it was. So by my reckoning we both earned the same which was a rather generous 5 points.
Right, moving back to my pre-prepared answers, Scotland were asked
A fictional criminal psychologist, a Conservative minister, and the eponymous protagonist of a Peter Hedges novel, might all serve on the board alongside some big cheeses. Can you explain?
I knew that “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” began as a novel by Peter Hedges, and grapes would be on a cheese board. Cracker seemed to fit as the criminal psychologist. The stupid thing was I couldn’t get the last bit, which was possibly easier than the other 2! Scotland struggled with this one from the start, and really needed Tom’s help to arrive at accompaniments to cheese, rather than cheeses themselves. With a lot of pushing they got my grapes and crackers. They did, at least get Eric Pickles, the minister. I think I was worth 4, while Scotland were given 3.
The next question for the North of England was
Why would you need a bright light to see a polar show, understated cutlery, and an optical aid that neither stops nor goes?
I didn’t see a great deal in this at first. I mean the lights and the polar show suggested the Aurora Borealis, but what had that to do with cutlery? The answer was, nothing at all. But when you call them The Northern Lights, then enlightenment might dawn. The Subtle Knife was also a title from Philip Pullman’s rightly lauded His Dark Materials trilogy, the other being The Amber Spyglass. I probably took quite a bit longer with it than the North did, as they had it before they even started to explain it. 6 points each.
Back to Scotland, who finished up with this set: -
Why might you find a communications pioneer, a feline Lakeland fell, novels by Alistair McLean and Ernest Hemingway, and Betjeman’s autobiography, in Whitechapel?
Betjeman’s autobiography helped get this relatively benign set rolling for me. It was titled “Summoned by Bells”. Now, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry is famed throughout the world having cast both Big Ben and the Liberty Bell, to name just two of its most famous products. Alexander Graham Bell was a pioneer of the telephone, Alistair McClean wrote “When Eight Bells Toll”, and Ernest Hemingway wrote “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. The only part of it I didn’t know was the feline Lakeland fell. Scotland knew that this was Cat Bells. However they didn’t know the Alistair McLean novel. They also decided to go for Oranges and Lemons, before focusing on the Bell Foundry. 5 points apiece was fair for both of us I think. So Scotland finished with 18.
All that remained then was for the North of England to finish with :-
A definitely French male receives a series of five letters, and gets a London river, a Confederate general, a Hawaiian garland, a sign of the zodiac and an East European currency. Can you explain?
My thinking was that if the definitively French male is the definite article le - then just add vowels to get the others. Lea is the London river, Lee is the confederate general, lei, the Hawaiian garland, Leo the sign of the zodiac and leu the currency of Romania. What a beautiful set that one is, and actually made a nice book end with the first set, which was my first unaided full house. Frankly this show was a my best ever at home performance, which probably says more about what you can do when you take a bit of time to work them out for yourself than any sudden brilliance on my part.
As for the North, well, they were right onto it too. That was enough to take them up to 21 to bring them a well deserved win. Great show – loved it.
It was the Scotland team standing at first receiver, and they were given this: -
If you enlisted the following, would they improve your spelling? A capable sailor; a hawk-headed man; a bounder; a vitamin found in liver and carrots; and a supportive item of apparel.
My preliminary thoughts on this one were not that enlightening. Capable Sailor suggested Able Seaman, which is shortened to AB. Now, he wasn’t really a man at all, but there were a couple of Gods in Egyptian mythology depicted as this. My first thought was Horus, but he was specifically a falcon. SO this then led to the Sun God Ra. Ah, I thought – ABRA. This meant that the bounder was a CAD. The vitamin in liver and carrots is vitamin A. The supporting garment is a BRA, giving us ABRACADABRA, used for performing spells. Lovely set – 6 points to me. 6 points to Scotland, who paused for perhaps 5 seconds, then Roddy explained the whole thing perfectly, barely breaking sweat.
The North of England were asked this as their first set: -
Why should someone with triskaidekaphobia avoid the Duke of Coffin Castle, the gothic tale of novelist Vida Winter, and the abolition of slavery?
Now, someone with triskaidekaphobia as any serious pub quizzer can tell you is fear of the number 13. So obviously the other parts were connected with 13. The Duke of Coffin Castle was unknown to me, but Vida Winter I knew to be a fictional novelist in Dianne Setterfield’s “The Thirteenth Tale”. The Abolition of Slavery was, of course, the subject of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. The North also new triskaidekaphobia. They went straight to the Thirteenth Tale, and the Thirteenth Amendment, and like me didn’t know the Duke of Coffin Castle. Apparently it was made into an opera in 2002, but that didn’t help any of us. American short story writer and cartoonist gave me James Thurber, but the team needed a lot more, and didn’t get it. It didn’t help me, mind. Apparently the story in question is the Thirteen Clocks. I thought that I deserved the same number of points as the North, and so we both had 4
Scotland’s Music Question was not one I could prepare, obviously. It was
What comes next?
I knew the Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen to start, then I recognized red roses for a blue lady – hardly surprising since it was sung prominently at the start of the second extract, then the third was a piece of speech about golf, and then we had the theme music of Fawlty Towers. Right. I pressed pause before any explanation came on, and looked, and could see the rationale. Echo – Golf – Hotel (Fawlty Towers) are all from the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, so India would come next. I guessed that somebody in some film dances a Foxtrot to the other song. Pressing play on the iplayer again, I heard Scotland barking up the Tower tree wrongly. They really didn’t see what the sequence was until they focused on Echo. When they did that the whole thing fell into place as I explained. Well, I’m sorry but I was a 6 for that. Scotland needed help, and so they received 4 The North of England’s Music Question was
How would this, when combined with a National nemesis and the occupier of a corner of an Aegean field that is forever England, suggest a famous jazz-age beauty?
Even before the start I knew that the Aegean field referred to poet Rupert Brooke. The jazz age beauty would be Louise Brookes. So working on Brooks, I thought that the National nemesis was most likely to be Beecher’s Brook – could have been Valentine’s, but I played the percentages. The music I didn’t know, and neither did the North. Brook Green Suite by Holst it was. So by my reckoning we both earned the same which was a rather generous 5 points.
Right, moving back to my pre-prepared answers, Scotland were asked
A fictional criminal psychologist, a Conservative minister, and the eponymous protagonist of a Peter Hedges novel, might all serve on the board alongside some big cheeses. Can you explain?
I knew that “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” began as a novel by Peter Hedges, and grapes would be on a cheese board. Cracker seemed to fit as the criminal psychologist. The stupid thing was I couldn’t get the last bit, which was possibly easier than the other 2! Scotland struggled with this one from the start, and really needed Tom’s help to arrive at accompaniments to cheese, rather than cheeses themselves. With a lot of pushing they got my grapes and crackers. They did, at least get Eric Pickles, the minister. I think I was worth 4, while Scotland were given 3.
The next question for the North of England was
Why would you need a bright light to see a polar show, understated cutlery, and an optical aid that neither stops nor goes?
I didn’t see a great deal in this at first. I mean the lights and the polar show suggested the Aurora Borealis, but what had that to do with cutlery? The answer was, nothing at all. But when you call them The Northern Lights, then enlightenment might dawn. The Subtle Knife was also a title from Philip Pullman’s rightly lauded His Dark Materials trilogy, the other being The Amber Spyglass. I probably took quite a bit longer with it than the North did, as they had it before they even started to explain it. 6 points each.
Back to Scotland, who finished up with this set: -
Why might you find a communications pioneer, a feline Lakeland fell, novels by Alistair McLean and Ernest Hemingway, and Betjeman’s autobiography, in Whitechapel?
Betjeman’s autobiography helped get this relatively benign set rolling for me. It was titled “Summoned by Bells”. Now, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry is famed throughout the world having cast both Big Ben and the Liberty Bell, to name just two of its most famous products. Alexander Graham Bell was a pioneer of the telephone, Alistair McClean wrote “When Eight Bells Toll”, and Ernest Hemingway wrote “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. The only part of it I didn’t know was the feline Lakeland fell. Scotland knew that this was Cat Bells. However they didn’t know the Alistair McLean novel. They also decided to go for Oranges and Lemons, before focusing on the Bell Foundry. 5 points apiece was fair for both of us I think. So Scotland finished with 18.
All that remained then was for the North of England to finish with :-
A definitely French male receives a series of five letters, and gets a London river, a Confederate general, a Hawaiian garland, a sign of the zodiac and an East European currency. Can you explain?
My thinking was that if the definitively French male is the definite article le - then just add vowels to get the others. Lea is the London river, Lee is the confederate general, lei, the Hawaiian garland, Leo the sign of the zodiac and leu the currency of Romania. What a beautiful set that one is, and actually made a nice book end with the first set, which was my first unaided full house. Frankly this show was a my best ever at home performance, which probably says more about what you can do when you take a bit of time to work them out for yourself than any sudden brilliance on my part.
As for the North, well, they were right onto it too. That was enough to take them up to 21 to bring them a well deserved win. Great show – loved it.
Saturday, 14 June 2014
Only Connect - Sudden Death Match
Heath Family v. The Software Engineers
Oh, decisions, decisions! Who to support? There were LAM readers – and contributors - on both sides! In the blue corner we had the Heath Family – daughter Kip, mother Heather and father and skipper Alan – who defeated the Exhibitionists in their first match. An inspired Europhiles team beat them in the qualification match, and this placed them into this winner-takes-all-loser-has-to-fall showdown. In the red corner we had the Software Engineers Stephen Macintosh, Anne Harrison and captain Chris Howlett. They were well beaten in their first round by the Welsh Learners, but came back to knock out the Erstwhile Athletes in their own first sudden death match. Well, I wasn’t making any predictions. Neither team deserved to be jinxed by that.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Heaths began their bid for glory with Lion. The first clue was The Devil’s Tune – hmm, no ideas occurred to me. The Devil You Know – came next. Now that was one of those things where I kind of had the feeling that I really ought to be seeing some connection after two – but I couldn’t. The Clematis Tree gave me a clue. I seemed to recall that Anne Widdicombe had published a novel under a similar title - and when Seventy Two Virgins came up as the last clue, well that, I knew, was written by Boris Johnson. So novels by (Conservative) politicians was my offer. The Heaths just hadn’t heard of them, and offered things you find in Heaven. The Engs knew that they were novels, but offered novels by the same author. A bold gambit from the Engs to kick off their bid saw them go for a traditionally voiced horned viper, and, joy of joys, even Victoria pronounced it this way as well! It was at this point I started to suspect that they might win. Right, a few years ago on the IQA website somebody pointed out Stendhal’s passing resemblance to the great Pat Gibson, which is how I knew that the first picture of the set was Stendhal. Unfortunately I didn’t recognize Stockholm in the second picture, or Diogenes in the third. Baron Munchausen in the last I did recognize, which suggested nothing other than syndromes – which was all I could come up with – I didn’t know Stendahl’s syndrome. That was the right answer, though neither team had it. Two Reeds gave the Heaths the sound set. Now, the first clue was the song Many of Horror by Biffy Clyro – which is also known by the title When We Collide. Was that, I wondered, the connection – all were songs to have been retitled? Hallelujah came next, and that meant I knew I was wrong. Matt Cardy recorded the previous song, and Alexandra Burke this one, as their first singles after winning the X-Factor. But there was just the sound of footsteps, or something like that for the next one. Huh? Then Killing in the Name Of, by Rage Against the Machine – and that made me go for the opposite to my second idea – singles released to prevent X-Factor singles getting the Christmas Number 1. D’you know what – I liked that set. It was one which actually did get much easier when the last clue was revealed. Neither team had it. So Twisted Flax offered the Engs Cheddar Gorge. A brilliant shout saw the team put games from I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on the table, and when the second clue, Late Arrivals confirmed it the points were there. Water began with the Beatles for the Heaths. I’m sorry but a clue like that just gives me possibility overload. Mr. Bean came next – and I couldn’t see it – but Gordon Tracy meant I could. Thunderbird 4, Gordon’s vehicle of choice – was a yellow submarine – you see where I’m coming from. Mr. Bean’s car was yellow. Alas, Alan and Heather are, I would imagine, of a similar vintage to myself, and knew that Gordon piloted Thunderbird Four, but they went with Four, rather than the colour. I mentally patted myself on the back for guessing that Del Boy (alright, it was The Trotters) would be the last in the set. The Engs made no mistake, and took the first bonus of the contest. Given the chance to extend the lead with Eye of Horus, the Engs began with Manhattanhenge – huh?– The Palio – huh huh?? – Football Transfer Window – hmm – twice a year events? I wondered. Clocks Change, the last clue certainly didn’t disprove it. The Engs liked it to, and offered it, which was just as well since it was the correct answer. Oh, when you haven’t got the rub of the green it can be a cruel game. Alan even knew what the Palio was, but never got the chance for the bonus. All of which meant that the Engs had scored 5, while the Heaths had yet to get off the mark.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Twisted Flax gave the Heaths the first opportunity to strike back. Twisted Flax revealed Nicky Hutchinson, and that meant nothing to any of us. DI Alec Hardy didn’t do anything more for me either. Whatever ‘Party Animals’ is, I haven’t seen it, and so that set passed me by completely. Nobody had it. However, when it’s explained, you can’t help admiring the set. The first was played by Christopher Ecclestone – the second by David Tennant – ah, you see it now, don’t you. So anything played by Peter Capaldi such as Malcolm Tucker would have worked. Lion gave the Engs the words Double Take printed in green. Round House in yellow followed. Fast Pace in red came fourth. Nobody knew that these were stages in the American DEFCON warning system. No, of course I didn’t. The answer was – cocked pistol – in white. Eye of Horus gave the Heaths 1976 Mark Edmondson. Now, I knew that Mark Edmondson was the Australian tennis player who won the Australian Open Singles – somewhat against the odds – in 1976. I made a punt for a 5 pointer at this stage, and plumped for Andy Murray - 2013 – these all being home winners of Grand Slam Tournaments. Yannick Noah 1983 certainly worked – French player, French Open. Alan had it on two, but didn’t press the buzzer yet – Come on Alan! – I was shouting at the telly by this point. Yes! Water saw the Engs start with sit – far too many directions that one could go in, I thought – dolor came next, and it looked like Stephen who was straight in with the lorem ipsum thingy – you’ve seen it, I’m sure. Lorem gave them three points, and that, Engineers, was a pretty good shout, I reckon. Alan passed on the viper, and took Two Reeds for their third set. They received pictures for their pains. We saw capers – I didn’t recognize them – a Manhattan cocktail (ditto) – and Carol Vorderman. Huh? Ah, apparently they are the last word in titles of Muppet films. Muppets’ Christmas Carol is still Mary’s favourite film. Didn’t help. The last should have been an Island for the Muppets Treasure Island. Now, Victoria did an interesting thing here. She didn’t give Chris a chance to pronounce horned as horn-ed again, turning to them and voicing it conventionally herself. I suppose to ask for twice in the same show is just greedy. The set started with A: One hundred and one – B: One billion – C. One octillion. Now, neither team had it, and I’m not surprised. One hundred and one is the first number in which the letter a appears – one billion – b and so on. So for the 4th the answer would be D- One hundred. Absolutely fiendish. The round being ended, the Heaths were up to 3, and the Engs to 8.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Engs, kicking off, picked Lion. Ta-ta – Cya – Ciao and Vale they resolved early doors as a set of ways of saying slong. They saw a set of plots too, but they wouldn’t resolve. I could see a set of words which could follow Spanish, but they hadn’t seen them yet. Then Stephen had it , and a little trial and error isolated Inquisition – Practices – Flea and Fly.Three attempts failed to sort out the others and that was that. The first of the last two lines was Bye – Main – Babington and Gunpowder. These they knew as plots against the crown, and even though they didn’t say specifically catholic plots they were given the point – rightly so, I think. Now – Sencha – Gyokuro – Hyson and Chun Mee, well, none of us knew they were types of green tea. So 6 points, enough to ensure they would lead in to the last round.
For the water wall the Heaths could see a group of Flemish artists, and a group of lucky articles. They were stubbornly refusing to untangle, though. It was scant consolation when time was up to hear Victoria say what a wicked wall it was, I’m sure. When the lines were resolved they knew that Brill – Hayter – Flymo and Bosch make lawn mowers. Vermeer – Hals – Steen and Cuyp – were the recalcitrant set of painters. Circle – Anchor – Van Dyke and Horseshoe were beards, leaving Jade – Wishbone – Number Seven and Rainbow – all things that were lucky. All the groups they had, but none of them would resolve. Ouch. So 4 points scored, and I’m afraid that going into the vowels, the Heaths were looking down the barrel of a gun at 13 – 7 to the Engs.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
We kicked off with things that swing, and these went one apiece. Fashion designer and product went 2 – 1 to the Engineers. Cyclists I fancied as a set, but I will confess that even I didn’t have the master of the standing trike, Mr. MacHenry from the Magic Roundabout. Good clue though. Well, that was that, another 1 apiece, and a deduction for the Engs meant that the final score was 16 – 10 to the Software Engineers. Well done Engineers, and best of luck in the semi finals. Bad luck, Heaths, but well played for your efforts in the series – we’re sorry to see you go.
Oh, decisions, decisions! Who to support? There were LAM readers – and contributors - on both sides! In the blue corner we had the Heath Family – daughter Kip, mother Heather and father and skipper Alan – who defeated the Exhibitionists in their first match. An inspired Europhiles team beat them in the qualification match, and this placed them into this winner-takes-all-loser-has-to-fall showdown. In the red corner we had the Software Engineers Stephen Macintosh, Anne Harrison and captain Chris Howlett. They were well beaten in their first round by the Welsh Learners, but came back to knock out the Erstwhile Athletes in their own first sudden death match. Well, I wasn’t making any predictions. Neither team deserved to be jinxed by that.
Round One – What’s The Connection?
The Heaths began their bid for glory with Lion. The first clue was The Devil’s Tune – hmm, no ideas occurred to me. The Devil You Know – came next. Now that was one of those things where I kind of had the feeling that I really ought to be seeing some connection after two – but I couldn’t. The Clematis Tree gave me a clue. I seemed to recall that Anne Widdicombe had published a novel under a similar title - and when Seventy Two Virgins came up as the last clue, well that, I knew, was written by Boris Johnson. So novels by (Conservative) politicians was my offer. The Heaths just hadn’t heard of them, and offered things you find in Heaven. The Engs knew that they were novels, but offered novels by the same author. A bold gambit from the Engs to kick off their bid saw them go for a traditionally voiced horned viper, and, joy of joys, even Victoria pronounced it this way as well! It was at this point I started to suspect that they might win. Right, a few years ago on the IQA website somebody pointed out Stendhal’s passing resemblance to the great Pat Gibson, which is how I knew that the first picture of the set was Stendhal. Unfortunately I didn’t recognize Stockholm in the second picture, or Diogenes in the third. Baron Munchausen in the last I did recognize, which suggested nothing other than syndromes – which was all I could come up with – I didn’t know Stendahl’s syndrome. That was the right answer, though neither team had it. Two Reeds gave the Heaths the sound set. Now, the first clue was the song Many of Horror by Biffy Clyro – which is also known by the title When We Collide. Was that, I wondered, the connection – all were songs to have been retitled? Hallelujah came next, and that meant I knew I was wrong. Matt Cardy recorded the previous song, and Alexandra Burke this one, as their first singles after winning the X-Factor. But there was just the sound of footsteps, or something like that for the next one. Huh? Then Killing in the Name Of, by Rage Against the Machine – and that made me go for the opposite to my second idea – singles released to prevent X-Factor singles getting the Christmas Number 1. D’you know what – I liked that set. It was one which actually did get much easier when the last clue was revealed. Neither team had it. So Twisted Flax offered the Engs Cheddar Gorge. A brilliant shout saw the team put games from I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on the table, and when the second clue, Late Arrivals confirmed it the points were there. Water began with the Beatles for the Heaths. I’m sorry but a clue like that just gives me possibility overload. Mr. Bean came next – and I couldn’t see it – but Gordon Tracy meant I could. Thunderbird 4, Gordon’s vehicle of choice – was a yellow submarine – you see where I’m coming from. Mr. Bean’s car was yellow. Alas, Alan and Heather are, I would imagine, of a similar vintage to myself, and knew that Gordon piloted Thunderbird Four, but they went with Four, rather than the colour. I mentally patted myself on the back for guessing that Del Boy (alright, it was The Trotters) would be the last in the set. The Engs made no mistake, and took the first bonus of the contest. Given the chance to extend the lead with Eye of Horus, the Engs began with Manhattanhenge – huh?– The Palio – huh huh?? – Football Transfer Window – hmm – twice a year events? I wondered. Clocks Change, the last clue certainly didn’t disprove it. The Engs liked it to, and offered it, which was just as well since it was the correct answer. Oh, when you haven’t got the rub of the green it can be a cruel game. Alan even knew what the Palio was, but never got the chance for the bonus. All of which meant that the Engs had scored 5, while the Heaths had yet to get off the mark.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
Twisted Flax gave the Heaths the first opportunity to strike back. Twisted Flax revealed Nicky Hutchinson, and that meant nothing to any of us. DI Alec Hardy didn’t do anything more for me either. Whatever ‘Party Animals’ is, I haven’t seen it, and so that set passed me by completely. Nobody had it. However, when it’s explained, you can’t help admiring the set. The first was played by Christopher Ecclestone – the second by David Tennant – ah, you see it now, don’t you. So anything played by Peter Capaldi such as Malcolm Tucker would have worked. Lion gave the Engs the words Double Take printed in green. Round House in yellow followed. Fast Pace in red came fourth. Nobody knew that these were stages in the American DEFCON warning system. No, of course I didn’t. The answer was – cocked pistol – in white. Eye of Horus gave the Heaths 1976 Mark Edmondson. Now, I knew that Mark Edmondson was the Australian tennis player who won the Australian Open Singles – somewhat against the odds – in 1976. I made a punt for a 5 pointer at this stage, and plumped for Andy Murray - 2013 – these all being home winners of Grand Slam Tournaments. Yannick Noah 1983 certainly worked – French player, French Open. Alan had it on two, but didn’t press the buzzer yet – Come on Alan! – I was shouting at the telly by this point. Yes! Water saw the Engs start with sit – far too many directions that one could go in, I thought – dolor came next, and it looked like Stephen who was straight in with the lorem ipsum thingy – you’ve seen it, I’m sure. Lorem gave them three points, and that, Engineers, was a pretty good shout, I reckon. Alan passed on the viper, and took Two Reeds for their third set. They received pictures for their pains. We saw capers – I didn’t recognize them – a Manhattan cocktail (ditto) – and Carol Vorderman. Huh? Ah, apparently they are the last word in titles of Muppet films. Muppets’ Christmas Carol is still Mary’s favourite film. Didn’t help. The last should have been an Island for the Muppets Treasure Island. Now, Victoria did an interesting thing here. She didn’t give Chris a chance to pronounce horned as horn-ed again, turning to them and voicing it conventionally herself. I suppose to ask for twice in the same show is just greedy. The set started with A: One hundred and one – B: One billion – C. One octillion. Now, neither team had it, and I’m not surprised. One hundred and one is the first number in which the letter a appears – one billion – b and so on. So for the 4th the answer would be D- One hundred. Absolutely fiendish. The round being ended, the Heaths were up to 3, and the Engs to 8.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Engs, kicking off, picked Lion. Ta-ta – Cya – Ciao and Vale they resolved early doors as a set of ways of saying slong. They saw a set of plots too, but they wouldn’t resolve. I could see a set of words which could follow Spanish, but they hadn’t seen them yet. Then Stephen had it , and a little trial and error isolated Inquisition – Practices – Flea and Fly.Three attempts failed to sort out the others and that was that. The first of the last two lines was Bye – Main – Babington and Gunpowder. These they knew as plots against the crown, and even though they didn’t say specifically catholic plots they were given the point – rightly so, I think. Now – Sencha – Gyokuro – Hyson and Chun Mee, well, none of us knew they were types of green tea. So 6 points, enough to ensure they would lead in to the last round.
For the water wall the Heaths could see a group of Flemish artists, and a group of lucky articles. They were stubbornly refusing to untangle, though. It was scant consolation when time was up to hear Victoria say what a wicked wall it was, I’m sure. When the lines were resolved they knew that Brill – Hayter – Flymo and Bosch make lawn mowers. Vermeer – Hals – Steen and Cuyp – were the recalcitrant set of painters. Circle – Anchor – Van Dyke and Horseshoe were beards, leaving Jade – Wishbone – Number Seven and Rainbow – all things that were lucky. All the groups they had, but none of them would resolve. Ouch. So 4 points scored, and I’m afraid that going into the vowels, the Heaths were looking down the barrel of a gun at 13 – 7 to the Engs.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
We kicked off with things that swing, and these went one apiece. Fashion designer and product went 2 – 1 to the Engineers. Cyclists I fancied as a set, but I will confess that even I didn’t have the master of the standing trike, Mr. MacHenry from the Magic Roundabout. Good clue though. Well, that was that, another 1 apiece, and a deduction for the Engs meant that the final score was 16 – 10 to the Software Engineers. Well done Engineers, and best of luck in the semi finals. Bad luck, Heaths, but well played for your efforts in the series – we’re sorry to see you go.
In case you're wondering
- Yes, sorry about this. I literally haven't had a chance to post yet this weekend. It should be a one off, since I've spent most of today either travelling to, travelling from, or playing in a quiz event, which I'll be telling you about in the not too distant future. I will do my best to catch up asap, although I have no idea whether I'll be able to do much tomorrow, since it's my 50th birthday, and I don't know if my family have anything special planned or not.
So just for this weekend, thanks for your patience, and I'll catch up with you as soon as I can.
Saturday, 7 June 2014
Can you help me with a bit of information?
This is a bit of a strange request, but there we are, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. I’ve been trying to compile a list of venues where the Mastermind Grand Finals were all recorded. Magnus Magnusson’s wonderful “I’ve Started So I’ll Finish” has been invaluable for the first 25 years, but there are still a few I haven’t been able so far to find out. For the Magnus years these are: -
1973
1976
1981
1983
As for the Radio 4 years – 1998 – 2000, I am presuming that they might have been recorded in Broadcasting House in London – but I don’t know. So if anyone can put me right on that I’d be grateful.
Discovery Mastermind I haven’t a clue – again, if you know I’d be really grateful if you could drop me a line. As for the Humphrys years, well I know where 2003 was filmed, and also 2007/8 and 2009. As for the others, well, I’m guessing that prior to 2013 they might have been filmed in TV Centre in White City in London – but I don’t know. Likewise with 2013 and 14, I guess that it was in media City in Salford – but I don’t know. So if you do know any of these, could you just drop me a line? I’d be really grateful.
1973
1976
1981
1983
As for the Radio 4 years – 1998 – 2000, I am presuming that they might have been recorded in Broadcasting House in London – but I don’t know. So if anyone can put me right on that I’d be grateful.
Discovery Mastermind I haven’t a clue – again, if you know I’d be really grateful if you could drop me a line. As for the Humphrys years, well I know where 2003 was filmed, and also 2007/8 and 2009. As for the others, well, I’m guessing that prior to 2013 they might have been filmed in TV Centre in White City in London – but I don’t know. Likewise with 2013 and 14, I guess that it was in media City in Salford – but I don’t know. So if you do know any of these, could you just drop me a line? I’d be really grateful.
Pass me my Helmet of Invisibility
If you should be just embarking upon your quiz odyssey, or dipping your toe into the murky waters of quizdom before taking the plunge in at the deep end, then I should perhaps warn you that while quizzing can bring you great pleasure, it can also bring you more than your fair share of frustration. I have written along these particular lines in the past. Allow me to explain.
I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go to Newport last Monday night. Barry and John weren’t available which meant ¾ of an hour there and ¾ of an hour back driving all on my Jack Jones, and we knew that Trevor wasn’t going to be doing the quiz. But what the hell, I went for it. Brian, who did the quiz, is a very nice guy, and you can’t say that the quiz he produced on Monday night wasn’t a good quiz, because it was. Alright, we went out with the washing in the last round which didn’t suit us, but there you go, you can’t win ‘em all. As I said, a good quiz, and an enjoyable evening. So why did I go home with a face like a smacked bum, which delightful expression never changed once until I’d fed the cats and got into bed? Well, it all came down to one question in the last round.
Who was the owner of the Helmet of Invisibility in Greek Mythology?
I’ve written before about the dangers of being a self-declared authority on a given subject. Perseus was immediately thrown on the table. I confidently shot this down in flames saying, yes, Perseus definitely used the Helmet – or cap – of Invisibility, but he was lent it by Athena, who in turn had borrowed it from Hades. So, bearing in mind that the question had asked who ‘owned’ the helmet, I insisted we put Hades down. Come time for the answers, and the answer he gave was Perseus. Cue indignation from me, and when I pointed out that Perseus never owned it, he borrowed it from Hades, the QM chuckled and answered words to the effect of – yeah, I know, but Perseus was the one who used it – so Perseus is the answer. Even when I reminded him that he had specifically asked for the owner he cocked a deaf ‘un, and mindful of the time, and the fact that one more point would not make any difference I shut up.
I suppose it’s the English teacher in me, but that kind of error – asking for the owner when he wanted the most famous user – can still really get under my skin, even though I like to think I’ve mellowed in recent years. Did it spoil the quiz? Absolutely not. Did it affect the result? No, the results were clear cut, I think. But . . . it’s Greek Mythology! In either late 1980 or early 1981 I won Elthorne High School’s inaugural Mastermind competition using Greek Mythology as my specialist subject. I just hate getting questions on this subject wrong, or as I prefer to think of it – having my answers on this subject marked wrong.
Oh well, not all doom and gloom this week. Dai Norwich was question master on Thursday, and he produced a difficult, testing, and at times rather uneven quiz. Dai has the habit of asking things which, well, you’re never going to guess off the top of your head, and more to the point, neither is anybody else. Several times on the evening he said “Nobody had this one . . . “ Mind you, at least he didn’t say “Nobody had this one, and I didn’t really expect anybody to.” This usually leads me to make the observation – if you don’t think anybody can answer it, what are you doing asking it? Still, as I said, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. For once there was a picture hand out that was right up my street. 30 stills from British sitcoms past and present. The only one I wasn’t sure of was Derek Nimmo in ecclesiastical get up, after all you could go for All Gas and Gaiters, Oh Brother or even Oh Father. In the end I went for the first and was right. We won the questions as well with a mixture of knowledge, knowledge of the question master’s likes and dislikes, and a couple plucked from the ether. With regards to the question master’s likes, Dai asked
Which TV programme has featured on the cover of Radio Times most times – 21 in total?
Now, I didn’t know for definite. But I do know that Dai is a big Dr. Who fan – sensible fellow – so that seemed like the percentage answer to give. Correct. As regards answers plucked from the ether, well the very first question of the evening was this one: -
Tomb Thumb is the name of one of the Two Bad Mice in the story by Beatrix Potter. What is the other?
Just before we were about to hand it in, the name Hunca Munca popped into my head. Now, it is well over 40 years since I read it, or had it read to me as a kid, and about 20 years since I would have read it to my own kids, so I didn’t trust the answer, but in the absence of anything else, I shoved it down. Well it wasn’t as if we had anything else, so I wouldn’t have needed to reach for the Cap of Invisibility if I’d had it wrong.
Which reminds me of another thing. You must have heard questions being asked before where you think, either the QM is misreading his own questions, or he’s copied it down wrongly from a book. Dai asked this one. It started with “Troika Pottery – “ and immediately I said “Cornwall” – the usual question being in which county is it manufactured? Dai continued “- is manufactured in which countRy?” Without thinking I immediately blurted out “Don’t you mean in which COUNTY?” Dai came over for a chat, saying no, that was exactly what he meant, and asked why I thought it would be which county. I said something along the lines of that it was just that every time I’ve heard it asked – every time it’s been asked down the club – the county has been asked for. It just struck me as a bit easy, bearing in mind that if you watch any Antiques based TV programmes, Troika comes up on them almost as often as the ubiquitous Clarice Cliff. Well, there we are, despite that, and despite my giving the game away that the country in question did in fact have counties, apparently 2 teams had it wrong anyway, Dai gleefully informed me. All good clean fun.
I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go to Newport last Monday night. Barry and John weren’t available which meant ¾ of an hour there and ¾ of an hour back driving all on my Jack Jones, and we knew that Trevor wasn’t going to be doing the quiz. But what the hell, I went for it. Brian, who did the quiz, is a very nice guy, and you can’t say that the quiz he produced on Monday night wasn’t a good quiz, because it was. Alright, we went out with the washing in the last round which didn’t suit us, but there you go, you can’t win ‘em all. As I said, a good quiz, and an enjoyable evening. So why did I go home with a face like a smacked bum, which delightful expression never changed once until I’d fed the cats and got into bed? Well, it all came down to one question in the last round.
Who was the owner of the Helmet of Invisibility in Greek Mythology?
I’ve written before about the dangers of being a self-declared authority on a given subject. Perseus was immediately thrown on the table. I confidently shot this down in flames saying, yes, Perseus definitely used the Helmet – or cap – of Invisibility, but he was lent it by Athena, who in turn had borrowed it from Hades. So, bearing in mind that the question had asked who ‘owned’ the helmet, I insisted we put Hades down. Come time for the answers, and the answer he gave was Perseus. Cue indignation from me, and when I pointed out that Perseus never owned it, he borrowed it from Hades, the QM chuckled and answered words to the effect of – yeah, I know, but Perseus was the one who used it – so Perseus is the answer. Even when I reminded him that he had specifically asked for the owner he cocked a deaf ‘un, and mindful of the time, and the fact that one more point would not make any difference I shut up.
I suppose it’s the English teacher in me, but that kind of error – asking for the owner when he wanted the most famous user – can still really get under my skin, even though I like to think I’ve mellowed in recent years. Did it spoil the quiz? Absolutely not. Did it affect the result? No, the results were clear cut, I think. But . . . it’s Greek Mythology! In either late 1980 or early 1981 I won Elthorne High School’s inaugural Mastermind competition using Greek Mythology as my specialist subject. I just hate getting questions on this subject wrong, or as I prefer to think of it – having my answers on this subject marked wrong.
Oh well, not all doom and gloom this week. Dai Norwich was question master on Thursday, and he produced a difficult, testing, and at times rather uneven quiz. Dai has the habit of asking things which, well, you’re never going to guess off the top of your head, and more to the point, neither is anybody else. Several times on the evening he said “Nobody had this one . . . “ Mind you, at least he didn’t say “Nobody had this one, and I didn’t really expect anybody to.” This usually leads me to make the observation – if you don’t think anybody can answer it, what are you doing asking it? Still, as I said, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. For once there was a picture hand out that was right up my street. 30 stills from British sitcoms past and present. The only one I wasn’t sure of was Derek Nimmo in ecclesiastical get up, after all you could go for All Gas and Gaiters, Oh Brother or even Oh Father. In the end I went for the first and was right. We won the questions as well with a mixture of knowledge, knowledge of the question master’s likes and dislikes, and a couple plucked from the ether. With regards to the question master’s likes, Dai asked
Which TV programme has featured on the cover of Radio Times most times – 21 in total?
Now, I didn’t know for definite. But I do know that Dai is a big Dr. Who fan – sensible fellow – so that seemed like the percentage answer to give. Correct. As regards answers plucked from the ether, well the very first question of the evening was this one: -
Tomb Thumb is the name of one of the Two Bad Mice in the story by Beatrix Potter. What is the other?
Just before we were about to hand it in, the name Hunca Munca popped into my head. Now, it is well over 40 years since I read it, or had it read to me as a kid, and about 20 years since I would have read it to my own kids, so I didn’t trust the answer, but in the absence of anything else, I shoved it down. Well it wasn’t as if we had anything else, so I wouldn’t have needed to reach for the Cap of Invisibility if I’d had it wrong.
Which reminds me of another thing. You must have heard questions being asked before where you think, either the QM is misreading his own questions, or he’s copied it down wrongly from a book. Dai asked this one. It started with “Troika Pottery – “ and immediately I said “Cornwall” – the usual question being in which county is it manufactured? Dai continued “- is manufactured in which countRy?” Without thinking I immediately blurted out “Don’t you mean in which COUNTY?” Dai came over for a chat, saying no, that was exactly what he meant, and asked why I thought it would be which county. I said something along the lines of that it was just that every time I’ve heard it asked – every time it’s been asked down the club – the county has been asked for. It just struck me as a bit easy, bearing in mind that if you watch any Antiques based TV programmes, Troika comes up on them almost as often as the ubiquitous Clarice Cliff. Well, there we are, despite that, and despite my giving the game away that the country in question did in fact have counties, apparently 2 teams had it wrong anyway, Dai gleefully informed me. All good clean fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
