Answers to Old Pete's really Big Quiz

Ambiguities and setting questions.

Firstly –apologies for some ambiguities in the questions  - in particular questions   17  and 24

Q17 - An Elected monarch ? well I hadn’t considered that someone might come with Andorra   . But then it is funny where google can lead you.   Pedantically - Andorra is only half elected in that only one of the co -princes is elected. I also accept that not many people would think of either Andorra or the Vatican as Monarchies. So let’s call it a draw.   Perhaps I should have asked a question about the former Polish monarchy which was also elected-  at least in theory– and that caused no end of trouble.

Q24. I have as some have  suggested conflated Aldeburgh and Southwold  - perhaps I have regarded the dominance of Adnams beer in the region as more  significant than  the actual place where Ben   wrote his music etc.

Setting questions – on line in the age of google and Wikipedia is very difficult. I try to set questions that are based on what I know  - but I do check some facts .   The trick is then to ask the question as a puzzle rather than  as a straight question of fact. However , in doing so  we must always remember to ensure that   the puzzle element is not so obscure and complex as to be unanswerable by most of the respondents.

On that note it is always interesting to discover that the questions  I  think most people will get prove to be difficult and some that I think will be difficult fall at the first time of asking.

Thanks to all of you who participated   and   hope that you have enjoyed  our/ your  efforts  as I have.

 Pete

THE ANSWERS

SECTION ONE –Political and  some Current and less Recent Affairs  

1.              Who once described who’s performance in the house of commons as  “ Like being savaged by a dead sheep “  Dennis Healy  on Geoffrey Howe

2.              Which House of Commons debate is never chaired by the Speaker of the house ? the budget debate

3.              How did a canine execution lead to the down fall of party leader.   Jeremy Thorpe –his  friend/lovers   dog a great Dane called Rinka was shot  as part of a bungled – alleged conspiracy to murder Thorpe’s lover  Norman Scott. This led to a sensational trial and Thorpe’s political demise.

4.              What follows in   this list  and why -  what do they represent ?  -   None ;     Massachusetts , Texas , California , Michigan,  Georgia , California, Texas , Arkansas ,  Texas ………  Illinois – for Obama   They are all the home states /political bases of the  Presidents of the USA since world war 2.  The None refers to Eisenhower who had no recognisable base ( unless you count the US Army )  or even home state having moved about a lot.

5.              How did the son of professor of Technology  cause “Mummy  “ to jump up and down -  By scoring Germany’s winning goal in the football world cup final – Mario Goetse  who scored the goal is the  son of a Professor of Technology at Dortmund University. Mummy or  Mutti  in German is the nickname for Angela Merkel the Chancellor of Germany.

SECTION TWO  -   Travel - Trains & Boats and Planes

6.              What connects  Sir Edward Elgar with a submarine  hunter – Nimrod  is the name of  a submarine hunting aircraft developed from the old Comet airframe  -The composer  Sir Edward Elgar wrote  Nimrod as one of his Enigma variations.  Variation.  Nimrod in Greek mythology is a mighty hunter.

7.              Can you trace /track this very odd journey   - I start with a   Footballer – And then go via a Popular Musician   to  a sometime  General  - from there I go to a Painter and Polymath  and take big hike to a Trumpeter  ending up at a Film star/Comedian   They are all airports  George Best /Belfast   - John Lennon/ Liverpool  -Charles De Gaulle / Paris  - Leonardo  Da Vinci /Rome – Louis Armstrong / New Orleans  - Bob Hope / Burbank California.

8.              Which is the odd one out  - Gnat , Mosquito , Hornet , Wasp   - Wasp is a helicopter – the others are all fixed wing aircraft.

9.              How did a wrecked politician  allegedly lead to the  intoxication of an island  .   Sir Compton McKenzie’s novel – later filmed  -Whisky Galore – was based on the wreck of the  SS Politician on the island of Eriskay

10.            What is the connection between a performer with a “ heavy stomach “   a passing train   and hopes of freedom.  It refers to the song Midnight Special as sung by  “Leadbelly “ Huddie William  Leadbetter  which tells of a midnight train shining its light into the cells of black prisoners in a Southern US prison. The prisoners saw the trains light as symbol of salvation or freedom.

SECTION THREE  - Green,  Black and Gold – all of the answers will involve at least  one of these iconic colours .

11.            Of whom might it be said that  they all but telegraphed their fraudulent acts by their opulent and extravagant expenditure  Conrad Black former owner of the Daily Telegraph

12.            What is the link between  a Presidential aspirant;  a Bulls- eye and a West African country  - Gold  -  Barry Goldwater , a  bulls eye in Archery is Gold and Ghana formerly known as The Gold Coast.

13.            How might  -  a tyro practitioner involved in a deniable enterprise by  joining   an old imperial  Order   become canonised  .               a Tyro is new or Green – a deniable enterprise is also known  as a Black op  and an old European Imperial order is the order of the Golden Fleece  - ( Austria) hence  Green , Black , and Gold -leads to being a Saint.

14.            what is the connection between John Buchan  ;  a Lusitanian wine  and a  late medieval  French Queen   John Buchan wrote Green Mantle – A Lusitanian  - ( aka Portugeuse )  wine is Vino Verde or  Green Wine  - and the medieval French Queen is Reine Claude - also a commonly used French  name for Greengages

15.            How would you link the following  to a saintly colour scheme -    The head of a holy order ;  The father General of the Jesuits is known as the Black Pope  variations on an allegedly  Henrican melody ;   The variations on Green sleeves by Vaughn Williams  - Green sleeves was allegedly written by Henry VIII –a villainous digit. ;  refers to the Bond villain   Gold finger

SECTION  FOUR     A Game of Thrones  ( Kings and  Queens Etc.)

16.            what visible change occasioned by an event in 1876   was brought to an end by another event in 1947.. In 1876 after being persuaded at last by Disraeli  , Queen Victoria took the title Empress of India – this title was later  included on coinage  as in “Fid def . Ind imp.”   The Ind Imp “  was removed after Indian Independence in 1947.

17.            Amazingly  there is at least in theory  one elected monarchy   in Europe - where or which one is it. The Vatican  - the Pope- although recent pontiffs have forgone most of the monarchical trappings the occupant of the papal throne  is elected .

18.            Which is the odd one out   -   Wittlesbach ; Hohenzollern , Savoy , Battenberg ,Braganza , Bernadotte;   Battenberg  - they are all otherwise the family names of royal houses . In order    – Bavaria;  Prussia / Germany ;  Piedmont /Italy ;   Portugal ; Sweden..

19.            Who was the last British Monarch to have at one time  participated in an actual  battle.  George V1th   who as a young prince served as a turret officer on HMS  Collingwood  at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

20.            Bertie , David and Bertie   were the familial names used by three British Monarchs  who were they officially ?  in order  Edward VII   ; Edward VIII   and George VI

SECTION  FIVE  -  People and Places

21.            Whose return to  Croydon raised false hopes   ?  Neville Chamberlain returning from the Munich Conference with Hitler.

22.            What connects  an  air show  ,   Marks and Spencer  and a former special constable Louis Napoleon Bonaparte – aka Napoleon III served as a special constable in London at the time of the great Chartist rally in Hyde Park. He  is buried at St Michaels Abbey , Farnborough  -a place known also for its air shows. 

23             What place links a former butchers boy who revolutionised health care and  a prominent supporter of Plymouth Argyle. Ebbw Vale which   was the parliamentary constituency of both Aneurin Bevan ( a former butchers boy ) and Michael Foot ( a life - long supporter of Plymouth Argyle )

24             Who , known for musical offerings  with a nautical bent is also associated  with  a small coastal town known for its extremely good locally brewed beer  Benjamin Brittan –wrote the operas Billy Budd and Peter Grimes –lived and worked at Southwold in Suffolk also the home of Adnams Brewery.

25.            which eponymous city would you associate with a man who was exceptionally tall for the age in which he lived – but was actually quite frail and suffered from occasional epilepsy. He was also    fascinated by ships and shipbuilding    St Petersburg and Peter 1^st – The Great  - founder of that city.