Extremely difficult quiz questions

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This extremely difficult quiz question is possible to answer using the internet, lets see who gets the correct answer first.

What is the name of the cottage next door to The Crown & Anchor pub, near Kilnsea, East Yorkshire. ?

That's a pity, since the prize for success was to become the next Chelsea FC Club doctor...

( But no prizes for me, having inadvertently added an extra 'o' to the infinitive in my last post)

"the next Chelsea FC Club doctor" would be advised to administer several enemas to the manager (who appears to be rather full of himself) at an early opportunity.

"...who was the Scottish goalkeeper on that occasion who conceded nine goals in his team's heavy defeat?"

Nobody seems interested in tackling this one - and neither, it seems, did poor old Frank Haffey - a Glasgow Celtic FC 'keeper - as he let in nine goals at Wembley in Scotland's 3-9 defeat to England in 1961.

(bbc)

It was his second - and last - match for his country and led to the joke : " What's the time?"... " It's nearly ten past Haffey..."

Well that's funnier than calling 2.30 "Dentist time".

We don't wish to know that -kindly leave the surgery...

This one should stump the sage......

Find a connection between 'Midsomer Murders', Gillingham Football Club and the Napoleonic Wars.  

Angela Merkel, born in Prussia, is said to be a fan of Inspektor Barnaby. The Prussian Army was instrumental at the battle of Waterloo. Lord Gillingham of Downton Abbey may have had a guest appearance in Midsomer Murders, but I'm guessing that bit.

Not a bad try, but I'm afraid you're all at sea. Could this be my first victory over the sage?

Wasn't there a boat called the Barnaby active during the Napoleonic Wars? Though the Gillingham FC bit is a step too far for me...but then, most things are...

Ivan wrote:Not a bad try, but I'm afraid you're all at sea. Could this be my first victory over the sage?

Oh, THAT Victory, the HMS. Thanks for the steer. So, after several aspirin, the link is probably Collingwood.

Charles Collingwood, a frequent guest actor on Midsomer Murders, claims to be a descendant of Admiral Collingwood, Nelson's 2-i-C on board Victory at Trafalgar in 1805. There is an HMS Collingwood barracks (at Gibraltar and also) at Chatham which is where Victory was built. The former part of Chatham dockyard effectively in Gillingham includes the football ground of Gillingham FC.

You can apologise to the German Chancellor if need be since you're the Deutsch sprecher around these here parts.

You can apologise to the German Chancellor if need be since you're the Deutsch sprecher around these here parts.

Jawohl, mein Herr. I understand that Cameron asked John Nettles to go and see Merkel because she likes 'Midsomer Murders' - and that Nettles told Cameron to get stuffed!  

You've produced a very ingenious reply, much more erudite than the simple connections I had in mind - and just as valid. I'm not sure that Brian Aldridge has "frequently" escaped from 'The Archers' to guest on 'Midsomer Murders', but he has certainly done so on at least one occasion.

Barnaby II's most recent sidekick? Gillingham's current goalkeeper? Did you turn a blind eye to those?

since you're the Deutsch sprecher around these here parts.

Fair enough. This is an extract from a song written in either 1935 or 1939, depending on which source you believe:-

Und wenn der erste Maßkrug leer,
Bringt dir die Reserl bald mehr.
Oft kriegt zu Haus die Frau 'nen Schreck,
Bleibt der Mann mal länger weg.
Aber die braven Nachbarsleut',
Die wissen besser Bescheid!

What’s the connection between the song, a certain German city and a particular month of the year?

I think the last line comes from Nigel Molesworth  "as any fule kno", but since I am anything but knowledgeable on things Germanic I'll have to leave the field open on this one.

Surely I haven't stumped the sage? That might seem like small beer to some, but I think it's quite a putsch!

Sounds like a German drinking song, and probably one that relates to the rise of the Nazi party, but after that I have no clue - you may need to give the answer, unless someone cleverer than OW and Phil comes along

Go onto any street in the land and someone cleverer than Phil will soon come along, I can assure you!

If it's a beer-drinking ditty, it's probably Munich ,but the month escapes me - unless it's Christmas and , therefore, December.

Munich is correct. The title of the song is ‘In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus’ (brewery):-



Every autumn ‘the Oktoberfest’ is held in Munich (this year from 19 September until 4 October). The festival always lasts for 16 days (starting on a Saturday and ending on a Sunday). In 2013, 7.7 million litres of beer were consumed during the event.

This is the Hofbräuhaus mentioned in the song:-


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Hofbrauhaus.JPG

The Oktoberfest - I've heard of that - and a bit more thought might have retrieved it from my memory.

But old bad habits die hard...!

a bit more thought might have retrieved it from my memory

Yeah, tell me about it! There are two things which happen to the memory as you grow older - but just at the moment I can't remember what they are.

Anyway, for those still claiming to be in possession of their faculties, an easier Extremely difficult quiz question, about the Trade Union movement:

In Britain, the workers' movements that followed creation of the Tolpuddle Martyrs were pretty much colour-blind to racism but the same could not be said of the USA, where not only was there a strong resistance by Employers to recognise workers' rights to Union representation in the late 19th C and early 20th C. but those Unions themselves were often of an all-white composition.

So, what was the name of the first all-black Trade Union that was set up following a meeting in Harlem in 1925?

I am crystal clear that I don't know.

But Harlem - something around the docks, ships or railways? Certainly something on the menial end of the spectrum one supposes. But the name? - I wouldn't have a clue...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1976.jpg

I wonder if I'm on the right train of thought?

The Union of Naff Euro Song Contest Groups?

I don't think so...

But my subsequent research suggests that The Sage will smile upon you ...

Mr Hornby's logic was unassailable, but our esteemed Administrator for Correspondence and Recruitment, having identified the first word of the answer for a breathless public, presumably knows the rest.

You can read about Pullman Car Porters in the link  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_Sleeping_Car_Porters  

An extract for flavour: "Working for the Pullman Company was, however, less glamorous in practice than it appeared. Porters depended on tips for much of their income and thus on the generosity of white passengers who often referred to all porters as "George", the first name of George Pullman, the company's founder (see also Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George"). Porters spent roughly ten percent of their time in unpaid "preparatory" and "terminal" set-up and clean-up duties, paid for their food, lodging, and uniforms, which could consume up to half of their wages, and were charged whenever their passengers stole a towel or a water pitcher."

I doubt if this one will be 'difficult' for our sage, but here goes. Where are these verses from?

Now for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me

Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned

And while Lenin read a book on Marx
The quartet practised in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark

Something by Bobby D?

Surely 'American Pie' . Was it Don Maclean?

I seem to recall it was a song inspired by the death of another musician/ singer - Buddy Holly or Eddie Cochran? - since he refers to the 'day the music died' in the song.

The Sage will tell us what key it was in...

Oh, you're right

Yes, 'American Pie' by Don McLean, written in 1971 but assumed to be about the distress he experienced when his hero Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in Iowa in 1959. As Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died at the same time, it probably explains why McLean wrote about "the day the music died".

http://www.whrc-wi.org/americanpie.htm

Staying on the topic of American pop stars who are sadly no longer with us, can you name the widely popular singer whose debut movie was released by Warner Bros. just  over twenty years ago?  One song in particular from the several featuring in that romantic-musical-mystery-detective film was subsequently re-recorded as a single on the Arista label, which shot straight to the top of the US charts and stayed there for many weeks, with sales totalling 20 million.  It was re-issued in 2012.  The co-star of the movie incidentally also had a hand in producing.
 
So the task is to name the Singer, name the Song (which  was not the title-track) and identify the Film.  Show-offs can mention the somethat laconic and taciturn co-star, who is still living.

Re-issued in 2012, presumably immediately after the death of the singer? I will always love the subtle clues we are given in questions such as this one, but why do I keep thinking of a place in Texas?

I might need a bodyguard if I proferred any answers before others have at least had a chance to make a name out of this anagram - never in stock.

Houston - do we have a problem...?

Just don't ask Ivan for any more about that little place in Texas - this is meant to be a family show, isn't it? For the record, the star was of course Whitney Houston. She covered Dolly Parton's song I will always love you in the film The Bodyguard, which also starred the man who on a different occasion danced with wolves. Allegedly.

"Reigate, 20 October 1825. Having done my business at Hartswood today about eleven o’clock, I went to a sale at a farm, which the farmer is quitting. Here I had a view of what has long been going on all over the country. The farm, which belongs to Christ’s Hospital, has been held by a man of the name of Charington, in whose family the lease has been, I hear, a great number of years. The house is hidden by trees. It stands in the Weald of Surrey, close by the River Mole, which is here a mere rivulet, though just below this house the rivulet supplies the very prettiest flour-mill I ever saw in my life.”

- Which Tory pamphleteer wrote this during his travels through southern England?
- What is the name of the book from which this extract comes?
- What was Christ’s Hospital, and in which year did it ‘move’?

I thought the next question would be, "Why didn't the Blair government, during thirteen years of power, rescind Thatcher's destructive RIGHT TO BUY?"

As to cobbett is apparently not a verb in common use, and rural rides sounds like yet another saucy bonkbuster whilst my education didn't extend to hospitals, so with all due respect as I understand tea is ready....
I'll pass.

Wasn't it some sort of religious institution? I know nowt about any relevant dates, I'm afraid...

oftenwrong wrote:-
I thought the next question would be, "Why didn't the Blair government, during thirteen years of power, rescind Thatcher's destructive RIGHT TO BUY?"

Since you mention it: when Labour returned to power in 1997, it reduced the discount available to tenants in those areas where there was severe pressure on the housing stock; this included almost the whole of London. Then ‘the Right to Buy’ rules were changed in 2005 so that five years' tenancy was required for new occupiers to qualify, and properties purchased could no longer immediately be placed on the open market should the owner decide to sell. Such owners then had to approach their previous landlord (the local council or a housing association) and offer them “first right of refusal”.

All milk and water changes, soon washed away by malevolent Tories. Still, good ol' Tony, some of us won't have a word said against him!!

By the way, Christ's Hospital is not a hospital.

"... good ol' Tony, some of us won't have a word said against him!! " Rolling Eyes

And, indeed, the same could be said of Corbyn - the current beau of the Labour Party faithful before they eventually consider it appropriate to vilify him and favour a different hero while it spends a decade or three in opposition.

On a more pertinent matter, are we thinking of the Christ's Hospital School or is that a different entity?

Christ’s Hospital was indeed a school, opened in London in 1552 and moved to Horsham in 1902.

Now for a cricket teaser…..  

In the first Test Match of a home series, England’s opponents had the task of getting just one run to win in their second innings. Not surprisingly, they achieved that monumental feat in just one ball. In the second Test, three results were still possible when the last ball of the game (which ended in a draw) was bowled.

- When was that Test series?
- Who were England’s opponents?
- Who resumed his innings in that second Test even though his arm was broken?

For a bonus point:-
- Which seam bowler, aged 38, was recalled to the England team for that second Test after not being picked for eleven years?

I remember it well.

It was England-v-West Indies at Lord's in 1963 when Colin Cowdrey waddled in with his arm in a plaster cast. Luckily, he didn't have to face Wes Hall, who was just about the fastest bowler in the world just then.   ( He's now a vicar, I believe!). I think David Allen, the spinner, played out the last ball or two.

I am a bit stuck on the bowler - was it Harold Jackson of Derbyshire - or maybe Tom Cartwright of Warwickshire?


Later change of mind at the pavilion end : It's come to me - the bowler referred to was Derek Shackleton who played for Hampshire...he wasn't quick but had a nagging accuracy and probably swung the ball in English conditions which could have - but didn't!- upset the West Indian batsmen...

Well done, 10/10.  

The scores in the first Test were West Indies 501-6dec and 1-0, England 205 and (following on) 296.

The scores in the second Test were West Indies 301 and 229, England 297 and 228-9.

I can still recall sitting watching it in the living room at home on a small black-and-white rented TV , while Mum busied herself making the tea, and Dad - just home from his office - probably grumbling about the Labour Party and the Unions as he invariably did...