Quarantine Quiz Rounds Four To Seven

So I put together a whole quiz this week, if anyone would like to flex their trivia muscles. Leave answers in comments.


Round 1: Connections

1. Which UK crisp brand began advertising itself as "Man crisps" in 2009?

2 Which Royal Navy officer and explorer led the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition, which lasted from 1910 to 1913?

3 Where is New York City's main jail complex found?

4 Which subatomic particles were proposed to exist in the 1960s, and come in six flavours?

5 Released in 1969 and based on a Barry Hines novel set in Yorkshire, what was Ken Loach's second feature film?

6 What alternative name is given to Sagittarius, relating to its astrological symbol?

7 The only living genus in the family Esocidae, the genus Esox comprises of pickerel and which other freshwater fish?

8 The Battle of the Somme took place in which former administrative region of France?

9 Which Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem relates the story of a man who curses his ship by needlessly shooting an albatross?

10 What connects the first nine answers?

Round 2: Film Sequels

Below are the names (though not necessarily the *full* names) of ten films. Each of the are either sequels, or form part of a film series. In each case, I just want you to give the name either of the film its a sequel to, or the film that comes immediately before it in the the series. I've also given you the year in which the film I'm looking for came out.

1. Revenge Of The Sith - 2002

2. Jewel Of The Nile - 1984

3. City Of Men - 2002

4. Magnum Force - 1971

5. The Return of Jafar - 1992

6. Diamonds Are Forever - 1969

7. Once Upon A Time In Mexico - 1995

8. Be Cool - 1995

9. Day Of The Dead - 1978

10. Batman Forever - 1992

Round 3: Red Flags

1. Which two Asian countries have flags that comprise of a red circle on a uniform field?

2. The Albanian flag features what specific animal in black on a red field?

3. Which US state, with its capital in Nashville, has a flag comprising of three white stars in a blue circle, all on a red field?

4. A red flag on the beach means "Do not go into the water", but what does a red and yellow flag mean? Is it:

a Lifeguards patrolling

b No swimming; designated surfboard area

c Safe to swim only when tide is coming in

d Safe to swim only when tide is going out

5. Which Game of Thrones house features a golden lion on a red background as its banner?

6. The Soviet Flag, featuring a gold star and a hammer and sickle on a red field, was introduced five years after the October Revolution which saw the Bolsheviks take power in Russia. In what year did that revolution take place?

7. Which country from the Marvel comics had a flag with a red stripe before Dr Doom took control of it?

8. "Red flag laws" are an American term for any legislation which limits access to what?

9. The Mexican General Santa Anna used a red flag as notification he intended to spare none of the defenders of which location, which he took in 1836 and made good on his threat?

10. Which girl group, who released their fourth studio album "Red Flag" in 2016, comprises of Shaznay Lewis, Mel Blatt, and Nicole and Natalie Appleton?

Round 4: General Knowledge

1. Which US general was given command of the Third Army at the start of the Western Allied invasion of France?

2. Which TV show ends each episode with a round entitled "General Ignorance"?

3. Which multinational corporation which distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, and sells financial services, has its global headquarters in Detroit's Renaissance Center?

4. "General Hospital" was the fifth episode of the fourth season of which sitcom?

5. What was the name of the rabbit who ruled the warren of Efrafa, and fills the role of primary antagonist in "Watership Down"?

6. Which Star Wars villain made his debut in "Revenge Of The Sith", and wielded four lightsabers simultaneously?

7. In which country's Navy did the General Belgrano serve, until she was sunk in 1982?

8. Who was the last UK Prime Minister to serve two non-contiguous terms, winning general elections in 1964, 1966 and twice in 1974, but losing to Edward Heath in 1970?

9. Although he has fought many superheroes over the decades, General Zod is counted as one of which comic book hero's nemesisi- nemesee - nemeses?

10. Which TV show, and later film, featured two cousins racing around a fictional county in Georgia in their car, The General Lee?

Lockdown Quiz Rounds 3

A rather gauche round, this time.

1) What alternative name is there for the exclamation mark in American English?
2) Which is the only British place name to include an exclamation mark?
3) Which UK band released a triple album entitled "Sandinista!" in December 1980, just twelve months after their previous album, "London Calling"?
4) Which American film has the alternative title of "Flying High!", with both titles including an exclamation mark?
5) In 1754 the Royal Academy of which country added an inverted exclamation mark to the list of punctuation for their written language?
6) The show Oklahoma!, first performed on Broadway in 1943, was written by which highly successful musical duo?
7) What is 3!+1!?
8) The video to which 2003 single features composer and lyricist Andre 3000 playing all eight members of his "band", The Love Below?
9) In which Canadian province is the city of St Louis du Ha! Ha!? 
10) What is the first name of George W Bush's younger brother, who used that name followed by an exclamation mark as his campaign slogan in 2016 when running to be the Republican candidate for president?

Lockdown Quiz Rounds 2

Answers in comments!

1. Which soul singer covered "Yesterday" on a 1970 release, fourteen years before being shot by his own father in their Los Angeles home?

2. Which former Beatle covered "Yesterday" in 1970, alongside his fellow member of the Travelling Wilburys, Bob Dylan?

3. Which American superstar covered "Yesterday" on his 1970 album On The Stage, recorded seven months into his residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas?

4. Shirley Bassey covered "Yesterday" in 1991, twelve years after providing her third Bond title song. Which of the Roger Moore Bond films was that song for?

5. Who covered "Yesterday" on their 1969 album "My Way"?

6. Which all-female R&B group release a cover of "Yesterday" on their 1992 album "Funky Divas", which also included the hits "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", "Free Your Mind", and "Give Him Something He Can Feel"?

7. Cuban-born singer La Lupe covered "Yesterday" in 1967's "El Rey y Yo". What are the English translations of "La Lupe" and "El Rey y Yo"? (1/2 each)

8. Opera singer Placido Domingo covered "Yesterday" in 1981, nine years before becoming part of which musical group?

9. Which piano player covered "Yesterday" in 1967, twenty years before his death and forty-six years before Michael Douglas played him in the biopic "Behind The Candelabra"?

10. Which teenage pop singer performed "Yesterday" at the 92nd Academy Awards this February?

Lockdown Quiz Rounds I

With most of us trapped at home for the foreseeable, I've started once more dabbling in the dark arts of trivia. Put your answers in comments, SHOULD YOU DARE.

Maths in film

1. With twenty-eight films in its home country and three American adaptations, which is the only other film franchise with as many installments as the Carry On series? Godzilla

2. Which was the highest number: Sean Penn's grams, Katherine Heigl's dresses, or Josh Hartnett's days of night? Days Of Night (30, rather than 21 and 27)

3. The Search For Spock, Season Of The Witch, and Mockingjay Part I are all which number in their respective film franchises? Third

4. What is the name of the Star Wars episode which corresponds to the highest prime number in the nine-film series? The Force Awakens

5. What total do you get if you add the numbers in all films whose main characters are either Danny or Debbie Ocean? 55

6. Which 1999 film starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze as American soldiers trying to steal Iraqi gold at the end of the first Gulf War? Three Kings

7. What number Bond film (excluding the original Casino Royale) was the last to feature Sean Connery before his sort-of return in Never Say Never Again? Diamonds Are Forever

8. Which is the odd one out, and why: Apollo, Days, Ghosts, Years A Slave? Years A Slave - the number is 12, rather than 13

9. Complete the sequence: 16 Candles and Molly Ringwald, The Whole Nine Yards and Bruce Willis, Four Lions and Riz Ahmed, ? and ?. I was looking for any film that contains the number one, and a star of that film - I went with The One and Jet Li

10. What is the highest finite number in the title of any film which adapts characters from the Marvel comics? 6, as in Big Hero 6

Quck Quz

Update: Now with added spelling!

Shamelessly "liberated" from a local pub quiz, I really rather liked this round and so figured I'd give it a... well, not a wider audience, obviously, but a different one at least.

For the first ten questions, there are two six-letter word answers, with the second answer only one letter different from the first. For example:

Combat teams fight against underwater ink-squirters: Squads - Squids.

For the last five questions, instead of changing a letter for the second answer, add one instead.

1. Courteous detectives, perhaps?     Polite - Police (Tomsk)
2. Think about food then add condiments    Reason - Season (Tomsk)
3. Take a fall during a gang-fight Tumble - Rumble (Dan)
4. A psychiatrist finds themselves in a holy place    Shrink - Shrine (Tomsk)
5. Lose your nerve before a big fight    Bottle - Battle (Pause)
6. Give an ant a disease    Infect - Insect (Pause)
7. An Eastern ruler with a healthy glow    Sultan - Suntan (Moddey_Dhoo)
8. Feel a bit shook up about having a black eye    Shiver - Shiner (anonymous)
9. Got into a scrap about nothing at all    Fought - Nought (Moddey_Dhoo)
10. Haggle over price with an ex-US President    Barter - Carter (Moddey_Dhoo)
11. Put into some kind of order, than blew a fuse    Sorted - Shorted (Pause)
12. When given a faint colouring, went off    Tinted - Tainted (Pause)
13. Product protection for someone in a ward perhaps Patent - Patient (Dan)
14. Annoy the riverbank sportsmen    Angers - Anglers (Pause)
15. Relish a sharp tingly sensation    Pickle - Prickle (Pause)

Good luck!

Initiquz Redux

Huh.  It's been eighteen months since the last music quiz on this 'ere blog.  Looking back at it, it was clearly too fiendishly difficult. As much as a calibration exercise as anything else, then, let's try something a little simpler.

Last time I gave you the initials of twenty five song titles (and their first word), along with the initials of their artists and albums.  This time I'll shake things up by a) giving you an idea of the number of missing letters, and b) linking all 24 songs.  There will be one point each for a song title, artist or album, another point for getting the first line correct (you don't need to give me all four for each song). The remaining four points goes to the first person to see the link.

As usual Google is permitted to check hunches and to get the exact wording of answers you already know.  Otherwise, keep off!

Here we go:

1. "They say that Richard Corey owns half of this whole town" - 'Richard Corey' - Simon and Garfunkel- Sounds Of Silence (Jamie)


2. "We stank O_ H___ D__ A__ A______" - 'D___ L_______ B____' - The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (Jamie)

 
3."That's when Wendell Gee takes a tug upon the string" - 'Wendell Gee' - REM - Fables Of The Reconstruction (Jamie/Tara)

4. "You came I___ T__ P___- W___ A L___ B____ S____" - 'S_____ N__' - The Hold Steady - S_________ S_____ (Jamie)


5. "The cut-rate mime walking through the dirty streets" - 'Grace Kelly Blues' - Eels - Daisies Of The Galaxy (edenspresence)


6. "I never knew her name- 'Billy Davey's Daughter' - Stereophonics - Word Gets Around (Jamie)


7. "Doctor, what is happening to me?" - 'Just like Fred Astaire' - James - Millionaires (Fonz)

8. "Let's take T__ B___ O__ O_ T__ B__" - 'W____ C____' - Blink-182 - Enema Of The State (Jamie)


9. "Julie C______ T__ R_____ A__ T___" - T__ C________ - Yo La Tengo - E____ -O- P___ (Jamie)


10. "Out here in the fields I fight for my meals" - 'Baba O'Riley' - The Who - Who's Next (Fonz)


11. "This is F__ M_ B___" - 'F_____ K______' - R_____ - R______ I_ R______ B________

12. "Seymour Stein I've been lonely" - 'Seymour Stein' - Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap (Jamie)


13. "Come A__ I__ T___ Y__ U____" - 'Hey, Johnny Park!' - Foo Fighters - The Color And The Shape (Jamie)

14. "Echoes O_ R_____ C_____ T______ M_ B______ W___" - 'R___ S___' - R_____ - ...A__ O__ C___ T__ W_____

15. "I was waiting for a cross-town train in the London underground when it struck me" - 'Clark Gable' - The Postal Service - Give Up (edenspresence)


16. "He's walking W____ I_ A_____ I D___ K___" - 'M______ C____' - M______ - K___ M_____

17. "I wish I H__ A S_____ P____" - 'S_____ P____' - R___ A____ - G___

18. "Goldenrod A__ T__ 4_ S____" - 'C______ P______ D__' - S_____ S______ - C___ O_ F___ T__ I________

19. "What would Brian Boitano do if he was here right now?" - 'What Would Brian Boitano Do?' - Trey Parker & Matt Stone - South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Soundtrack (Fonz/Jamie)

20. "Whatever P______ I_ T___ B_____ W___ L____ M_ B_____ S___ A__ S____" - 'J___ L__ A__ A S______ A____' - B____ N__ - Y___ F_______ W_____

21. "Who sees the interiors like young Willem once did?" - 'Interiors (Song For Willem De Kooning)' - Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (Tara)


22. "I drove F___ M________ T_ A_______" - 'S______ R_____' - D_____ J_____ - N__ T___ I_ I_ Y___ S_____

23. "Like M____ D____ I__ B___ S_____ B_ T__ C___" - 'M____ D____ A__ T__ C___' - T__ G_______ A_____ - T__ 5_ S____

24. "Is everybody happy now?" - 'Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes To Hollywood)' - Counting Crows - Hard Candy (Fonz)

Link: full names in song titles (Fonz)

ANKOD 2: ANKODic Boogaloo

All this talk of music has made me realise it's been a while since our last music quiz here: almost six months in fact.  And since my ridiculous riff on a tired formula somehow became one of the most read posts I ever produced, I figure we may as well try it again.  I'll put the rest of the answers up to the previous post in exactly one week, in case anyone wants one last try.

So, as last time: 25 songs.  The first word of the song, and the first letters of the first line are given, though I've been kind and included "wooah"s, "yeah!"s, and "1-2-3!"s. "The" and pronouns (plus derivatives) get you another word, too.  Also given are the initials of the song title, the band, and the album, in that order.  One point for the complete first line, the song title, the band, or the album.  As usual, there is no artist who appears more than once.  Good luck.

1.   "We live and dream about the future" - Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I - R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now. (Jamie)
2.   "Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road" - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) - Green Day - Nimrod. (Tim)
3.   "Woa-hoah! They must pay the rent!" - Destiny - Tenacious D - The Pick Of Destiny.
4.   "Once I knew a girl in the hard hard times" - Best For The Best - Josh Ritter - The Animal Years. (The Other Half)
5.   "Don't stop, isn't it funny how you shine?" - Don't Stop - The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses. (Jamie)
6.   "Amphetamine Annie Dog" - Annie Dog - Smashing Pumpkins - Adore.
7.   "Put your hand inside this dream."- Skindiving - James - Laid. (Jamie)
8.   "I love you through stars and shining dragons, I do" - Made Up Love Song #43 - Guillemots - Through The Window Pane.
9.   "Yeah! Lover I'm on the street" - Desire - U2 - Rattle And Hum.
10. "I'd rather be some nameless fisherman" - I'd Rather Be - Abbie Gardner and Anthony da Costa - Bad Nights/Better Days.
11. "Mirrors in the room go black and blue" - Cold Roses - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cold Roses.
12. "Follow you around 'til it's time" - Evidence - Jimmy Eat Word - Invented.
13. "Come WM" - CWM -Zwan -MSOTS. (Jamie)
14. "1-2-3 Woo! You gotta LE" - LE - Presidents Of The USA - LE. (Jamie)
15. "We'll be fighting in the streets" - Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who - Who's Next? (BigHead)
16. "So you don't want to hear about my good day" Good Day - The Dresden Dolls - Dresden Dolls.
17. "I get ahead on my motorbike" - The Living End - Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy.
18. "The sirens are screaming and the fires are howling" - Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell. (Tim)
19. "I went down to the place where I knew she lay waiting" - Night Comes On - Leonard Cohen - Various Positions.
20. "She grew up in an Indiana town" - Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits.
21. "These mist-covored mountains" - Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms. (Tim)
22. "I found a mountain on my own" - A Little Discourage - Idlewild - One Hundred Broken Windows.
23. "Everyone want to be a showman" - Genius - Kings Of Leon - Youth And Young Manhood.
24. "You know I don't like you but you wanna be my friend" - When I Dream Of Michaelangelo - Counting Crows - Saturday Nights, Sunday Mornings. (Jamie)
25. "He's a pistol grip" - Killboy Powerhead - Offspring - Smash.

Hints 'n' tips: I've had to replace five ampersands above, along with three sets of letters, either in song titles or band names; as well as pretending one band name was a single word, rather than a delineated acronym.  At least one song here has been recently posted on this blog as a video. There's nineteen definite bands here (or at least duos), though one vocalist appears with two different bands.  There's also three solo artists in there, along with two solo artists who arguably should be considered as having bands at the time. Eight artists come from this side of the pond.

Oh, and "GH" is exactly as obvious as you think it is.

ANKOD

It's been ages since I had a music quiz up here, so let's give it another whirl.  Another variation on the theme this time around.  Rather than giving you first lines and asking for song and artist, I'm going to give you the first word of the first line, then the rest of the line as initials, together with the initials of song, artist and album (in that order). One point each for title, band, album and the full first line.  One hundred points in all; how neat.

No idea whether this will work, but I figure it's worth a go.  This time round I'm not putting them in any order, but once again no artist appears more than once.

1.   "When YLOYS" YLTT - JB - ROE  "When you look over your shoulder" Running on Empty - Jackson Browne - Running on Empty (Mozz/BigHead/lyndagb)
2.   "Can YHTWITTF" NE - I - MAW  "Can you hear the worlds I'm trying to find" No Emotion -  Idlewild - Make Another World (Jamie/lyndagb)
3.   "A GPWC" FPT - R - TB  "A green plastic watering can" Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead - The Bends (edenspresence/Jamie)
4.   "I DKIIT" A - MSP - EMG "I don't know if I'm tired" Australia - Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (Mozz)
5.   "As IWGOTCAKM" WITJ - M - GI "As I was going over the Cork and Kerry mountains" Whiskey in the Jar - Metallica - Garage, Inc. (BigHead)
6.   "The KADUABNH" CFTC - E - ESB  "The kids are digging up a brand new hole" Cancer for the Cure - Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (edenspresence)
7.   "Crazy BIBRTT" M - FF - IYH  "Crazy but I'm relieved this time" Miracle - Foo Fighters - In Your Honor (BigHead/Fries'n'Shake)
8.   "We SSAOI" NDL - S - ATW "We should stay and order in" No Deliveries List - Styrofoam - A Thousand Words (BigHead)
9.   "Everybody HCFS" SS - R - A  "Everybody here comes from somewhere" Supernatural Superserious - REM - Accelerate (Jamie)
10. "We NV (O)" V -  BN - D "We need vices (oh)" Vices - Brand New - Daisy (James)
11. "I GSBI" U - RA&TC - I/I  "I get some bad ideas" Users - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - III/IV (Mozz)
12. "I SMTS" SD - J - GM  "I sing myself to sleep" Sit Down - James - Gold Mother (Mozz)
13. "I WALOAND" ISWM - B&S - DCW "I wrote a letter on a nothing day" If She Wants Me - Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Mozz)
14. "You WLATB" SD - AT - AT "You were like a toilet bowl" Sundials - Alkaline Trio - Alkaline Trio (Mozz)
15. "Sail LOW" SK - TC - TC "Sail lightly on winds" Skeleton Key - The Coral - The Coral (James)
16. "Meet HBTR" SD - B - S "Meet him by the road" Slow Dog - Belly - Star (James)
17. "Elysium, IECAYC" E - M - W  "Elysium, is everyone chipping at your cordiality?" Elysium - Madness - Wonderful (edenspresence)
18. "Woke UITT" PJ - THS - AKM  "Woke up in the twenties" Positive Jam - The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me (edenspresence/Kirsty)
19. "Hey MYKIRO" BH - TO - S "Hey man you know I'm really okay" Bad Habit - The Offspring - Smash (BigHead)
20. "Listen HN" LPM - SS - DHM "Listen here, now" Last Po' Man - Seasick Steve - Dog House Music (James)
21. "You CMTYA" WAYF - TP - S  "You consider me the young apprentice" Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police - Sychronicity (edenspresence/Mozz) 
22. "Someone TMW" TF - GBV - DTC "Someone tell me why" Teenage FBI - Guided By Voices - Do The Collapse (Mozz)
23. "Summer HCAP" WMUWSE - GD - AI  "Summer has come and passed" Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day - American Idiot (edenspresence)
24. "I WSPTTW" IBTGTM - SP - EO  "I wanted something that's purer than the water" It's Beginning To Get To Me - Snow Patrol - Eyes Open - Mozz
25. "I WAFTSSC" TU - TBS - WYWTB "I wait around for the still small center" The Union - Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want To Be (Kirsty)

We got fifteen American artists, five English, three (predominantly) Scottish, one Welsh, and one Belgian.  Two solo artists (arguably three), the rest are at least nominally bands.  One song is a cover.

Good luck!

Update: 38 down already!  Much respect to edenspresence, Mozz and BigHead (who also gets an award for coolest comment).  Just so everyone knows, it's more than fine to finish off a partial answer.  It shouldn't be too hard I'd think, for example, for someone to work out which song from the Foo's In Your Honor #7 is, its two discs notwithstanding.  Plenty of first lines from identified songs up there as well.

Update II: 49! One more to get halfway, with some low-hanging fruit still to be picked!  No-one knows the track list from Eyes Open?  Or Make Another World, now?

Update III: Up to 62 now, and thanks to BigHead, there's plenty more partial answers and (in the comments) possible hints and clues.  There are at least seven more points that shouldn't be much of a problem.

Update IV: 75%. Boom.

Merry Quizmas Redux

Answers up now.  Faintly surprised no-one reads Billy Bunter anymore, and that "2,000 Miles" isn't more well-known a song than it apparently is.  Admittedly, its link to Christmas has maybe been overplayed a little (depending on how one interprets the lyrics), but in my opinion, only "Fairytale of New York" is more a more welcome tune when heard through shop speakers or a pub jukebox over the festive season.

Anyway, that's another holiday period sorted.  Time to start planning the Easter edition.

Just Checkin'

How time flies.  It's already been three weeks since I delivered the Christmas quiz to a room full of confused drunkards and sarcastic barmaids.  It's always strange how different your former local feels after you've been away for a while, and when circumstances demand you stay sober.

Ordinarily it would be past time for me to put the answers up to the online transcript, but since takers were pretty thin on the ground this time around (maybe everyone was too busy trowelling on the brandy butter, or maybe I've just gotten out of practice and lost my quizzing mojo), I'll wait another week, in case anyone feels like having a go.

Merry Quizmas

Since it doesn't look like this "Christmas" idea is going anywhere, we might as well embrace it. Have yourselves a Christmas quiz. The highest score when I ran this at the pub on Wednesday was 32. Good luck!


Round 1: Chranagrams

(Five anagrams of things associated with Christmas)

1. Hell wrath, yo!  (Holly wreath)

2. Ethnic girls  (Christingle)

3. Most elite  (Mistletoe)

4. Staunchest sort  (Roast chestnuts)

5. He doddered sheerer unlit porn  (Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer)


Round 2: December

1. In which Russian city did the Decembrist uprising take place in Senate Square in December 1825, which led a century later to the location being renamed Decembrist Square until 2008?  (St Petersburg)

2. "A Long December" was a 1996 single release for which band, whose back catalogue also includes the 1993 hit "Mr Jones", and the song "Accidentally In Love", which was Oscar nominated following its appearance in the film Shrek 2?  (Counting Crows)

3. People born in December have either the starsign Sagittarius or Capricorn, depending on the day. Which two planets are associated with these signs? (1/2 for each) (Jupiter and Saturn)

4. "Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December" is a line from which poem?  "The Raven"

 5. In the evening of which date in December do the Dutch begin the celebration of Sinterklaas?  5th


Round 3: The Ghost of Christmas Past

1. Former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed on Christmas Day 1989, under a wide range of charges, in which country?  (Romania)

2. Which British physicist, mathematician, natural philosopher, theologian and occult obsessive was born on Christmas Day 1642 (Julian calender), and shares credit with Gottfried Leibniz for developing differential and integral calculus? (Isaac Newton)

3. Which space probe stopped trasmitting on Christmas Day 2003, just before its scheduled landing on Mars?  (Beagle 2)

4. On Christmas Day 1941 the Free French liberated their first piece of former French territory, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, by successfully defeating a different group of French people. Saint Pierre and Miquelon lies just off the coast of which country?  (Canada)

5. Which R&B and soul singer, who passed away on Christmas Day 2006, was known amongst other things as "The hardest working man in showbusiness", having released well over sixty albums over a career spanning six decades?  (James Brown)


Round 4: Cake

1. Which '90s satirical series featured an earnest Bruno Brookes warning us that "Only an idiot would enter the nightmare of Cake."  (Brass Eye)

2. In what decade of the 18th Century was Marie Antoinette executed, after her cake-based prescription for society's ills was found wanting?  (1790s)

3. Yellowcake is a concentrate powder primarly made up of which radioactive element, atomic number 92?  (Uranium)

4. What do the eleven marzipan balls atop a simnel cake represent? (The original disciples of Jesus, minus Judas)

5. Who sang "MacArthur Park" in 1968, in which a cake is left out in the rain, causing great consternation to the singer, who has for some reason misplaced the recipe?  (Richard Harris)

　
Round 5: All I Want For Christmas... Is Another One Of Squid's Increasingly Unoriginal Music Rounds

(Five Xmas songs that have been laterally/cryptically renamed. Half a mark each for the real title, and the artists who recorded it).

1. "A Made-Up Story From South Of Albany"  ("Fairytale of New York", The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl)

2. "3,200 km"  ("2,000 Miles", The Pretenders)

3. "Perambulation Without A Surface" ("Walking in the Air", Aled Jones (though Peter Auty sang the original version in The Snowman))

4. "Poison Plants And Fermented Fruit"  ("Mistletoe and Wine", Cliff Richard)

5. "Arrest Those Men on Horseback" ("Stop the Cavalry", Jona Lewie)


Round 6: Santa-Shaped (AKA "Who ate all the mince pies?")

1. Who played Fat Bastard in the second and third Austin Powers movies?  (Mike Myers)

2. Who was reputed to hold important wartime meetings whilst still in his bath?  (Winston Churchill)

3. Sumo wrestling, a noble sport in which two expansive gentlemen pit themselves against each other in martial combat, requires that the competitors cleanse the dohyo, or ring, with what substance prior to each bout?  (Salt)

4. What was the nickname of prepubsecent obesonaut Billy Bunter?  (The Fat Owl of the Remove)

5. Which foodstuff is created by forcibly turning geese or ducks into horrible fatties and then removing their livers? (Foie gras)


General Knowledge

1. Who won this year's Crucible World Snooker Championship Final? (John Higgins)

2. What is kudzu? (A weed)

3. Which planet has moons named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope? (Uranus) 

4. Modern-day Romania is made up of three former principalities of autonomous regions: Moldova, Transylvania, and which third region, which is sometimes further diivied into Muntenia and Oltenia?  (Wallachia)

5. Which instrument represents the duck in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf?  (Oboe)

6. Jonquil, Mikado and Naples are all shades of what colout?  (Yellow)

7. According to popular legend, for whom is a "Dead Man's Hand" in poker named? (Wild Bill Hiccock)

8. For what crime was former French President Jacques Chirac convicted last week? (Embezzlement)

9. What shape is the playing field in Australian Rules Footaball? (Oval)

10. What is the square root of 841? (29)

Linked Distractions: Part 2

I'm off on another jaunt this weekend - I'm headed to Poland to watch Mad Richard get married - but whilst I'm gone, here's the second part of the Linked Distractions music quiz for you to think about.

The same rules as last time: there are 33 song titles (from L to S, this time), each one of which is represented by two first lines from two different songs.  One point each for the name of the song, and for either of the two artists.  The 100th point goes to anyone who can name a third song with the same title, along with the artist who recorded it, that's currently in my collection.  This time round there are four such songs.

1.   "Hung up here on your web of comfort"
      "You're only 29"
2.   "Heart bleeds for now it's temporary"
      "Since your mother cast her spell"
3.   "In many ways they'll miss the good old days"
      "Don't hold me like that"
4.    Oh My Heart (Jamie)
      "The kids have a new take" R.E.M. (SpaceSquid (d'oh!))
      "I adore this life, there is no guarantee" (Jamie)
5.   "So here you are, my friend"
      "You don't know what's going on"
6.   Suspicion (Jamie)
      "Ain't it light the sun to never shine"
      "Now my suspicion's on the rise" R.E.M. (Jamie)
7.    Surprise (Jamie)
      "I feel the day's arriving soon"
      "So you thought we were over?" James (Jamie)
8.   "This is the sound, the here and the now"
      "This may be the last thing that I write for long"
9.   "I was eight years old"
      "On back down in my home town"
10.  Shame (Midget_Yoda)
      "You're gonna walk on home"
      "What did we learn here - it's that love tastes bitter when it's
       gone" Matchbox 20 (Midget_Yoda)
11. "If you need a friend, don't look to a stranger"
      "How time will heal, make me forget"
12. Stay (BigHead)
      "Stay, oh oh oh stay"
      "People stay just a little bit longer"
13. "I tell you I didn't do it, 'cos I wasn't there"
      "'Shut the fuck up' she said"
14. Mother (Jamie)
      "This war's a mother-fucker" James (Jamie)
      "Well the telephone is ringing"
15. "It's too late for remorse"
      "Lately I've been livin' in my head"
16.  Superman (Jamie)
      "I am, I am, I am Superman" R.E.M. (Jamie)
      "You don't know what it's been like"
17.  (The) Miracle (Midget_Yoda)
       "Every drop of rain that falls" Queen (Midget_Yoda)
       "Crazy but I believe this time"
18. "This is the first song for your mix tape"
      "Maybe we could put your tape back on"
19. "Restless little one"
      "'Over and out', she said"
20. "Settle down, don't settle down without me"
      "Brimming with useless information"
21.  Smoke (Jamie)
      "Leaf by leaf and page by page" Ben Folds Five (Jamie)
      "Over and out of it for one more plane ride out"
22.  Soma (Jamie)
      "Soma is what they will take when hard times open their
      eyes" The Strokes (Jamie)
      "Nothing left to say, and all I've left to do"
23. "Dusk has dawned this day: where did it go?"
      "Hey you, are you in there?"
24. "No I won't do it again"
      "Why should you leave your home when the TV's on"
25. "Say the west is a story we made up to erase"
      "How long, how long will I slide?"
26. "I've informed you to leave"
      "The night is falling, thank God"
27. Stop (Jamie)
      "Yes it's true that I believe" Matchbox 20 (Jamie)
      "Don't have to be the prettiest"
28. "This is the first (thing I remember)"
       "What's the matter, why don't you answer"
29.  Know Your Enemy (Chuck)
       "Do you know the enemy?" Green Day (Chuck)
       "Huh! Yeah we're comin' back then with another bombtrack"
        Rage Against The Machine (Chuck)
30. "Where you're hiding, the shine off the wall"
        "If you want to be free then I want you be"
31. "On a Sunday I'll think it through"
       "Heavy night, it was a heavy night"
32. "The credits roll, the camera pans"
      "I beg to differ, to break the chain"
33.  The Road (Jamie)
      "Highways and dancehall, a good song takes you far"
      "The road is fucking hard, the road is fucking tough"
      Tenacious D (Jamie)

Last time round y'all managed 40%.  Let's smash that bitch!

Linked Distractions

Something of a variation on the now well-worn first line music quiz format.  This time I've scoured my music collection for pairs of songs with identical names (give or take the odd "The" or punctuation mark).  I've found thirty three of them already, from A-J, and their first lines are given below (they're a bit shorter than normal, to make up for the song title link).

So, for each of the thirty-three pairs, you get one point for naming the song, and one point each for either of the two artists who provided the lyrics.  There is a final bonus point (to bring the potential score up to 100) for anyone who can identify any of the three song titles here for which I have a third version, along with the artist behind them.

Right, then.  To battle!

1.  Hallelujah (Chuck) 
     "I've heard there was a secret chord." Leonard Cohen (Chuck)
     "I've been a desperate man." Ryan Adams
2.  Captain (Dan Edmunds)
     "This is my ideas for captain." Idlewild
     "Angels fall to the floor."  Biffy Clyro (Dan Edmunds) 
3.  Catapult (Jamie)
    "All of a sudden she disappears." Counting Crows (Jamie)
     "Oooh, we were little boys." R.E.M. (Jamie)
4.  Bad Habit
     "Hey man, you know I'm really OK."  The Offspring
     "Biting keeps your words at bay." The Dresden Dolls
5.  Boxer/The Boxer (Dan Edmunds)
     "You got your pride and your prose." The Gaslight Anthem
      (Dan Edmunds)    
     "I am just a poor boy." Simon & Garfunkel (Dan Edmunds)
6.  Compliments (Ste)
     "We sit and we sigh." Bloc Party (Ste)
     "I'm fixing a drink in the morning." Band of Horses
7.  Give It Away (Chuck)
     "No more you choose to sue for peace." James (Jamie)
     "What I've got, you've gotta give it to your momma." Red Hot
     Chili Peppers (Chuck)
8.   Anthem
     "No man, no madness." "Chess"
     "The birds they sang at the break of day." Leonard Cohen
9.   Be Gone
      "Be gone, be gone."  British Sea Power
      "It's getting hard to stay up." Brand New
10. Good Time (Jamie)
      "Roller coasters, holy roller." Leroy
      "The gentleman caller in the blue suede shoes." Counting
       Crows (Jamie)
11. Jack-Ass/Jackass (Jamie)
      "I've been drifting along in the same stale shoes." Beck
      (Jamie)
      "To know you is to hate you." Green Day
12. Bodies
      "Cast the pearls aside."
      "She was a girl from Birmingham."
13. Avalanche
      "The avalanche we strode towards." Hundred Reasons
      "I found your photograph in a cardboard box." Ryan Adams
14.  Closing Time (Ste)
       "Oh, we're drinking and we're dancing." Leonard Cohen (Ste)
       "Closing time, open all the doors and let you out into the
        world." Semisonic (Ste)
15.  Burn
       "There's a lightning storm, each and every night." Alkaline Trio
       "I thought about leaving but I couldn't even get out of bed."
       Matchbox 20
16.  Desire
       "Lover, I'm on the streets." U2
       "Northern star, am I frightened?" Zwan
17.  City Hall (Dan Edmunds)
       "All you people up there." Tenacious D (Dan Edmunds)
       "I'll meet you outside the city halls." Idlewild
18. Closer (Chuck)
      "Every day I get a little closer dear." Jimmy Eat World
      "Stranded in this spooky town."  Kings of Leon (Chuck)
19. Beautiful
      "What if you were not just for show?" Barenaked Ladies
      "She laid in bed all night watching the morning change." Belle &
       Sebastian
20.  Have It All
      "You're my size, I need to try you on." Foo Fighters
      "Some days I feel like crying." Jeremy Kay
21. Bubbles (Ste)
      "Take an axe to your past." James (Jamie)
      "Well how's your view of things today?" Biffy Clyro (Ste)
22.  Boy
       "Oh, I am, I'm tired out." Reuben
       "There was a time when everything you cared about was
       free." Hundred Reasons
23.  Cold Water (Jill)
       "Cold, cold water." Damien Rice (Jill)
       "I feel faint, what have I just heard?" Reindeer Section
24.  Fine 
      "It's gonna rain like this for days." Alkaline Trio
      "I'm a boomerang in the outback." James
25. Gone/Gone! (Jamie)
     "I thought I'd write, I thought I'd let you know." Ben Folds
     (Jamie)
      "Oh you know how it is, wake up feeling blue." The Cure
26.  Bed
      "My little darling, it's a crying shame." Semisonic
      "My head is lead." Brand New
27.  Better Days
       "Well my soul checked out." Bruce Springsteen
       "It's a bad night, and I don't wanna think." Anthony da Costa &
       Abbie Gardner
28. Crawl (Chuck)
      "You fall, my pride." Kings of Leon (Chuck)
      "Waking up I'm zeroed in on medicine." Alkaline Trio (Chuck)
29. Feel
      "What you want, what you got, little luck in a crawlspace."
       Matchbox 20
      "Here it comes again, like the first time again." Stereophonics
30. Everybody Knows (Jamie)
      "Everybody knows that the dice are loaded." Leonard Cohen
      "When you took me in your arms I knew I'd revive." James
      (Jamie)
31. California (Jamie)
      "Driven through the canyon I was." Semisonic
      "Going out to California." Josh Ritter (Jamie)
32. Disintegration
      "I've spent my last nights strung up." Jimmy Eat World
      "Oh, I miss the kind of treachery." The Cure  
33. El Capitan
      "Ooh, la la la la la la la." OPM
      "By the harbour, I harbour the strangest memories." Idlewild

I also have a song called "Anthem" by Blink-182, a song called "Desire" by Ryan Adams, and a song called "Beautiful" by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Quz 11 Redux

Answers to the final quiz (for the foreseeable future) are up now.  In the meantime, those desperate for more question-based goodness might want to check out Gooder's Opening Images quiz over at the other blog.

Quz 11

Right. That’s that then. My final quiz has been delivered, and is replicated below for your entertainment. Given what happened last time, I shall wait a full fortnight before handing out the answers (YOU’RE WELCOME).


This time round the winners scored 32, with three other teams scoring 31, 30 and 30. Be warned: the last round is a pisser. I've also included the bonus round, in which no team scored higher than 4.

(Particularly observant readers will note a common theme here: me. I figured I may as well go out with a grotesquely self-absorbed bang).


Round 1: Words (Each word contains the letters “RIC”)

1. A fruit with a scientific name which means “Armenian plum”, and which is believed to have been introduced to Greece by Alexander the Great. Apricot

2. A set of instructions, such as those found on an exam paper, which are often in a different colour to the rest of the text. Rubric

3. A member of the ginger family, which when boiled and dried can be crushed into an orange-yellow powder which is used as a spice and a colouring, and was once used as a cheap alternative to saffron. Tumeric

4. To be expressing thoughts or feelings in a particularly beautiful way, perhaps most obviously in the context of songs. Lyrical

5. A description given to the method of imparting information in a non-literal way, so that characters, events or objects can be used to represent particular qualities or ideas. Allegorical (or metaphorical)


Round 2: Mathematicians

1. In which country did mathematicians first use “zero” as a number, and not merely a symbol for separation? India

2. Which third century BC mathematician and inventor was killed by a Roman Centurion during the Siege of Syracuse, with his last words according to legend being “Do not disturb my circles!” Archimedes

3. The Chinese mathematician and astrologer Zu Chongzhi created an approximation for the value of pi, which he found by dividing twenty-two by what other whole number? Seven

4. What was the cause of death of the mathematician and staunch Republican Evariste Galois, who died at twenty in circumstances some believed to have been arranged by the French Secret Police? Shot in a duel

5. Which mathematician co-authored the papers “Random Walks with Restraining Barrier as Applied to the Biased Binary Counter” and “The Distribution of the Number of Locally Maximal Elements in a Random Sample”, before going on to write such songs as “The Elements”, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” and “The Masochism Tango”? Tom Lehrer


Round 3: Leaving

1. Which band released “Leaving New York” in 2004, the first single from their thirteenth album Around the Sun? R.E.M.

2. Which Shakespeare character notes that “Parting is such sweet sorrow?” Juliet Capulet

3. The poem “The God Abandons Antony”, by Constantine P. Cavafy, recounts the tale of how Marc Antony was abandoned by Bacchus, who left with a parade of people from which city, being held at the time by Antony against a siege by Octavian? Alexandria

4. According to legend, Winston Churchill once claimed that the best way to make a martini was to pour gin into a glass and simply look a bottle of what other beverage, thus leaving it out of the cocktail entirely? Vermouth

5. Which country did the British Empire not leave until 1936, despite having installed Sultan Hussein Kamel there in 1914? Egypt


Round 4: Ends of Eras

1. Which geological era was brought to an end by the meteorite impact at Chixulub about 65 million years ago? Mesozoic (though I accepted Cretaceous, because Gin-Soaked Boy asked me to, and he wrote this round)

2. A major factor in the end of the Communist era in Russia, what policy and movement meant, in English, 'restructuring'? Perestroika

3. In which year did the Shearer era end, when Alan Shearer retired from playing professional football? 2006

4. The end of the She-Ra Ee-Ra occurred in 1987 when the cartoon was cancelled, but of whom was She-Ra the twin sister? He-Man/Prince Adam

5. Due to an administrative error; we now have a question on the ends of ears: what 'c' is the innermost organ of the human ear? Cochlea


Round 5: Egomania

1. The proud and handsome Narcissus was made to fall in love with his own reflection by the Gods as a punishment for his mistreatment of which nymph? Echo

2. Sapamurat Niyazov spent 21 years as first President and then President for Life of which country, during which time he had a giant golden statue of himself made, which rotated to follow the Sun? Turkmenistan

3. By what method does the narcissist and hedonist Dorian Gray take his own life? (Be specific) Stabbed his portrait in the heart

4. Which Beatle announced to the world that the group was “More popular than Jesus” in 1966? John Lennon

5. Which US President and former Five Star General, who among other accomplishments concluded negotiations with China to end the Korean War, said “Any man who wants to be President is either an egomaniac or crazy”? Dwight D Eisenhower


Round 6: Warwick

1. On which river is Warwick located? Avon

2. The Lady Ethelfleda, sister to Edward the Elder and daughter to Alfred, is believed to have founded Warwick as a fortification to drive out the Vikings from which Anglo-Saxon kingdom to which she belonged? Mercia

3. Which famous resident of Warwick (but born in nearby Coventry) was offered the position of Poet Laureate upon the death of John Betjeman, though he turned the role down? Philip Larkin

4. White Koan is a modern arts sculpture outside the Warwick Arts Centre which is intended to represent the quest for “koans”, or questions without answers; an idea which is important in which religion? Buddhism

5. What title does Warwick University graduate Gus O’Donnell hold in the Civil Service? Cabinet Secretary


General Knowledge

1. (Watership Down) What property is shared by all of the rabbits who are to be stolen from the totalitarian warren Efrafa? They're all female

2. From which English county does Stinking Bishop cheese originate? Gloustershire

3. What kind of creature is Nils Olaf, a resident of Edinburgh Zoo who holds both a knighthood and an honorary commission in the Norwegian King’s Guard? A penguin

4. What is the sum in degrees of the internal angles of a regular hexagon? 720


5. Who directed The King’s Speech, which won four Oscars on Sunday? Tom Hooper


6. What is the closest member of the Local Group? The Milky Way (yes, yes, I know...)

7. The name “Molotov cocktail” was coined by the Soviet Union’s enemies during the Winter War to mock Soviet Prime Minister Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov. Who were the Soviets fighting? The Fins

8. The financial sector often refer to companies or economic sectors that rise early after downturns as being what kind of flower, referencing its ability to thrive in late winter and early spring? Crocuses

9. The trans-Neptunian dwarf planet FY9 was originally codenamed “Easter Bunny” after discovery, but was officially named Makemake in 2008 following the convention of naming such objects after creation deities. From what place does the myth of Makemake originate? Easter Island


10. How many hearts does a squid have? 3


Bonus Round: Cider (Five words for cider; I want the language)

1. Cidre (French)

2. Apfelwein (German)

3. Saidaa (Japanese)

4. Sidro (Italian)

5. Seidr (Welsh)

Quz 10 Redux

Answers are up now.  It's a shame there weren't more entries; I figured this one would be a perfect opportunity for my adoring fans to show their superiority to the decrepit bunch that show up in the pub once a month.  Hopefully we can get a goodly number of contributions last month, for my last... quiz... EVER! [1]

[1] Until I get bored, or someone hires me to do one in Warwick.

Quz 10

Heya, peeps!  It's time for another round of red-hot quz action!  Since I'll be moving to Warwick in eight weeks or so, this is liable to be the penultimate quz for a while.  I still plan to write the occasional round to send back home, but as far as complete articles go, it might be a while.

Still, let's not dwell on such matters!  There's still two quzzes to come; and here is one of them. The top three scores this week were 34, 31, and 28, but I'm sure you can beat that.  I've also once again included the bonus round; only a perfect score will win you the (entirely abstract) beer tokens this time.

Round 1: Words

(Each word is an anagram of the previous word, with one letter added; the first word is four letters long).

1. To pass, flow or ooze gradually through a porous substance. Seep

2. A period, spell or bout of indulgence of ones whims or cravings. Spree

3. To persistently bother or trouble another with minor annoyances. Pester

4. An interval of relief. Respite

5. A class of cold-blooded animals which lay their eggs on land. Reptiles


Round 2: Blue

1. Which song is cited as the biggest selling 12” of all time, but was not eligible for gold disc status as its label was not a member of the BPI organisation? "Blue Monday"

2. What kind of animal is a Russian blue? A cat

3. The 1980 film Blues Brothers held for eighteen years the world record for having destroyed the greatest number of what object in one film? Carsa

4. Who defined “C” as a “Big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in” during an attempt to rewrite the first English dictionary overnight? Baldrick

5. In 1997 the chess-playing computer Deep Blue won a six game match by two wins to one with three draws against which holder of the title “classical world chess champion“? Garry Kasparov


Round 3: Ants

1. Who was born Stuart Leslie Goddard in 1954? Adam Ant

2. Which kind of ants include living larders in their colonies in the form of fellow ants with enormously swollen abdomens, which can form part of the diet of various Australian Aboriginal peoples? The honey(pot) ant

3. Who provided the voice for Z in the 1998 animated film Antz? Woody Allen

4. Who wrote The Electric Ant, written in 1969, in which a man discovers his entire reality is being created by punch cards being fed into his chest? Phillip K. Dick

5. What kind of creature was constantly trying to eat Charlie Ant in a run of United Artist cartoons, in which both characters were played by John Bryner using impersonations of Jackie Mason and Dean Martin? A blue aardvark


Round 4: Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

1. What was the name of Klatu’s robot companion in the film The Day the Earth Stood Still? Gort

2. Who replaced Blake as captain of the Liberator at the start of Blake's 7’s third season? Avon

3. Who had the role of Command Module Pilot during the Apollo 11 mission? Michael Collins

4. Which former sports commentator is now best known for insisting that intelligent reptiles from the constellation of Draco travelled to Earth hundreds of millennia ago to steal our monatomic gold? David Icke

5. In which Arthur C Clarke book does a fifty-kilometre long spaceship enter the solar system, resulting in the solar survey vessel Endeavour being dispatched to investigate? Rendezvous With Rama


Round 5: Bananas

1. In March 2006 Cyclone Larry hit which country, destroying over 80% of the national banana crop, losses which could not quickly be replaced due to stringent import laws preventing bananas being brought in from elsewhere? Australia

2. An isotope of which element occurs naturally in bananas, making them more radioactive than the average fruit? Potassium

3. The Banana Splits, an early attempt to mix live action and animation, were created in the 1960s by Hanna Barbera, and consisted of Fleegle the dog, Bingo the gorilla, Snorky the elephant, and a lion that went by what name? Drooper

4. The most common exported banana is the Cavendish Banana, which was cultivated to replace which other form of banana that was almost wiped out by Panama Disease in the early and middle 20th Century? Gros Michel

5. What was the name of the schoolboy underwent an amazing transformation whenever he ate a banana, becoming Bananaman; ever alert for the call to action? Eric Wimp


Round 6: York

1. At the confluence of which two rivers is York situated? The Ouse and the Foss

2. What name did the Romans give to the city when they founded it in 71 AD? Eboracum

3. A popular tourist destination in York, the teashop "Bettys" is part of a company with the full name of "Bettys and Taylors of…" where? Harrogate

4. The capital of York County in Virginia, Yorktown saw the last major land battle in the American Revolutionary War, which ended in British defeat and the surrender of which leading general? General Lord Charles Cornwallis

5. The word “Yorker” part of the standard terminology of which sport? Cricket

General Knowledge

1. (Watership Down) What is a lendri? A badger

2. A first folio of which writer’s work was stolen from Bishop Cosin’s Library on Palace Green in 1998, and returned last year? Shakespeare

3. Which chemical element has the abbreviation Cs? Caesium

4. According to Rudyard Kipling, where was the sailor of infinite-resource-and-sagacity whilst he was dancing hornpipes where he shouldn’t? Inside a whale

5. On Saturday the 15th of January I turned 31. On what day in 1980 was I born? Tuesday

6. Which two colours can be found on the Cornish flag? Black and white

7. With what weapon was the Jabberwock dispatched? Vorpal Sword

8. What is the English name for the Indian snack known variously as chiwda, chevdo, or chevda? Bombay mix

9. The British sailor James Weddell gave his name to a sea to the north west of which continent? Antarctica

10. What fictional monster is made from clay and animated by carving the word "Truth" into their "flesh"? A golem



Bonus Round
 
(Below are the names of five bands. All I want from you is their studio album which appears first alphabetically, not counting the words “A” or “The”.)

1. The Beatles - "Abbey Road"

2. The Rolling Stones - "Aftermath"

3. Simon and Garfunkel - "Bookends"

4. The Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Blood Sugar Sex Magik"

5. Radiohead - "Amnesiac"

A Quiz Quiz

A brief riddle for you, based on tonight's entertainment.

Two teams participate in a quiz with fifty questions.  Each question is worth one mark, with no half marks allowed.  Team Squid gets 31 of the first 49 questions correct.  Team Old Man gets 30 of the first 49 questions correct.  Both teams put the same answer for Question 50.

a) Which of the two teams scored higher?

b) How could it have been impossible to explain the answer to the above question to the guy who was supposed to be running the quiz in the first place?

Sometimes I really do think I might as well try teaching butterflies to yodel.

Xmas Quz Redux

Answers up now.  I was a little surprised no-one got the fairy lights anagram.  I suspect the fairies will be quite disappointed; in fact, they may see it as a... fairy slight?

Please yourselves.

Otherwise, another exemplary performance.  The round on pub quiz questions was a purposeful call-back to earlier questions from our weekly quiz, only one of which has appeared on this 'ere blog.

Anyway, get on with the music quiz.

Distraction 2011

Another year, another trawl through my music collection.  Once again, they're in approximate order of difficulty.

1. I'm the invisible man. Queen - The Invisible Man (lyndagb)
2. Put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded a plane.  Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis (Senior Spielbergo/lyndagb)
3. You spurn my natural emotions, you make me feel like dirt and I'm hurt. The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love
4. Shyness is nice and shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to. The Smiths - Ask (Chuck)
5. You can't kill the metal. Tenacious D - The Metal (Senior Spielbergo)
6. I got no regret right now (I'm feeling this!) Blink 182 - Feeling This (The Light Fantastic)
7. Hey Gloria, are you standing close to the edge? Green Day - Viva La Gloria (The Light Fantastic)
8. I change the key from C to D. The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Minor Thing
9. There's a destination a little up the road from the habitations and the towns we know. Beck - Where It's At (Jamie)
10. Looking at your watch a third time, waiting in the station for a bus. REM - (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Jamie)
11. Made the fatal mistake, like I did once before. Joy Division - The Only Mistake
12. Well you shouldn't talk to yourself. Heatmiser - Half Right
13. On a plane, on a plane, off to see the city girls again. Kings of Leon - Rememo 
14. Give me back my broken night, my mirrored room, my secret life. Leonard Cohen - The Future
15. Dear Haley, can you save me from the borrowed cloud I'm on? Foo Fighters - Ain't It The Life
16. When you're on, I swear you're on, you rip my heart right out.  Jimmy Eat World - Your House (jamie)
17. Now we're out of time, I said it's my fault.  The Strokes - You Talk Way Too Much
18. I don't get many things right the first time. Ben Folds - The Luckiest (lyndagb)
19. I am on, switched on. Bloc Party - On
20. Joseph was travelling with a heavy load. Belle & Sebastian - Beyond The Sunrise
21. Tuck me in to where it's freezing. Alkaline Trio - 5-3-10-4
22. Our little secret just might be the kind of thing that you can't hide.  Semisonic - Act Naturally
23. I wait around for the "still small center". Taking Back Sunday - The Union
24. Hey, it's your ride, get your petals out and lay them in the aisle. Brand New - Limousine
25. I thought it was the only time you could look at me and say "This feels right". Reindeer Section - Where I Fall

This time round there are four solo artists, twenty bands, and what can best be described as a minor supergroup. Five acts are British English, two are Scottish, and one is Canadian.  The other 17 are all from the US. Five of the lines contain the title of the song within them, and two more come pretty close. This time all 25 lines are sung by men (or by two men in the case of #6).

Last time round you guys managed a record-breaking 14 out of 25.  Let's see if that figure can get smashed too.

Update: Halfway there!  Quite surprised no-one has #3 yet.  I would bet heavily in favour of any given person having heard it; at least anyone with an interest in English-language music.