Extremely difficult quiz questions

First topic message reminder :

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. ?

Closer than I thought...!

Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Robert Tressell
1902, I think

OK boatlady, but "answering questions before they're asked" originated with The Two Ronnies.

https://youtu.be/y0C59pI_ypQ

Oh no it didn't!

Sorry- I went to a panto with the grandchildren last week and now I can't quite kick the habit ...

Spike Milligan, then.

Milligan told a story about Peter Sellers, with whom he famously performed in the Goon Show.

During the war, Sellers - who was in the Army somewhere in Africa - reported to a sergeant that he had heard a tiger growling outside his tent during the night. Sellers was told that he was mistaken because there were no tigers in Africa.

What was Sellers' response...?

didn't Ivan ask a question? am I losing my marbles?

Can't speak as to the quantity of marbles retained, but Ivan did indeed ask that question.
On November 04 2011.  
This thread has continued over another 22 pages since then.  
That's what comes of clicking onto the title "Extremely difficult quiz questions" which will always take you to page one.

Now you can answer Mr Hornby's question about participants in the Goon Show, if you like. Unless you'd prefer to wait five years, of course.

The White Box of Great Bardfield

Series 5, Episode 25

First broadcast on March 15, 1955. Script by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes. Produced by Peter Eton. Announced by Wallace Greenslade. Orchestra conducted by Wally Stott. Transcribed by Kurt Adkins and Tony Wills, adjusted by Peter Olausson..

"Come out of there. Tigers aren't meant to be slept in you know. You mustn't... Come out at once, I'm...

Seagoon:
Stop this madness..."

Phil Hornby wrote:Milligan told a story about Peter Sellers, with whom he famously performed in the Goon Show.

During the war, Sellers - who was in the Army somewhere in Africa - reported to a sergeant that he had heard a tiger growling outside his tent during the night. Sellers was told that he was mistaken because there were no tigers in Africa.

What was Sellers' response...?

Peter Sellers is alleged to have replied : " This growl definitely had stripes on it..."

Here's a quick teaser question whilst someone thinks up something fiendish:

The film Star Wars is often thought to have been the most profitable, with a gross Box-office take of $775million, but in fact that was easily surpassed by James Cameron's "Avatar" (flying blue people) with a worldwide box-office gross of over $2.7 billion.

What is the simple explanation?

Is this to do with the re-release of an extended version of Avatar and the multiplicity of technical formats which maybe even Star Wars didn't have?

Then there is the matter of inflation of ticket prices which must have taken place during the intervening period since Star Wars was first released...?

All contributory factors, no doubt. 3D exhibition of Avatar was an important advance. But the true explanation is indeed a very simple one.

(There is a small clue in the question. No limit to the number of tries allowed).

Was the geographical reach of Avatar greater then Star Wars?

Exactly. America's trading world was smaller in 1975 when Star Wars had been made. So the movie was not distributed in China and Korea.

The financial significance of this should perhaps have been drawn to the attention of the President-elect by now, but perhaps he doesn't want their money.

Probably much too easy, but here goes…..

Can you make a connection between Louis Armstrong, a peripheral character in ‘Dad’s Army’, a female American singer, and the process of nuclear transfer?

This is a bit of a dolly...

and a bit more just to tidy up ....
"Hello Dolly"
Dolly Parton
Dolly Godfrey, Private Godfrey's younger sister.
"..... the sheep"

The world of popular music received a complete shake-up from Elvis, Bill Haley, Little Richard and Bo Didley etcetera, and the most extraordinary song-lyric of 1957 must surely have been the one commencing:

"AWOPBOPADOOLOPAWOPBAMBOOM!"

What was the song's title, and who "sang" it, please?

That's too easy for those of us of a certain age, my old fruit.  

Theresa May is taking us to the edge of a massive cliff, but the dick who sang that is of a smaller variety.

Curses! Foiled again.  Older people do have advantages!  However, so that digital millennials should not feel in any way disadvantaged on Cutting Edge, here is the tune as it was heard 59 years ago, brought to you by the miracle of Youtube:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j20_6WwF59Y

Somebody from the warehouse called to find out why he hadn’t gone to work on the early train. Who was he? What had happened to him?

Shades of Kafka's oversleeping Gregor Samsa who turned into an insect...?

Awkward.

Very good. For any readers of this thread who are not familiar with this harrowing story, it's called 'Metamorphosis' (or 'Die Verwandlung', as they say in Germany), and it was first published in 1915. The first sentence is absurd - Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect - but the rest of the story is a frighteningly realistic parable about the human reaction to suffering and disease.

Speaking of books, it's not only that electronic readers like Kindle have arisen from the internet, but search-engines such as Google have (almost) replaced the need for Reference Books on bookshelves.

Not long ago the library of an educated reader would possibly have included, as well as Dictionaries and an Atlas, volumes with names like Roget, Rees, Roger, Pevsner and Wisden covering topics such as Cricket, Quotations, Filthy Limericks, Architecture and Synonyms.

Can you couple each of those title-words with the appropriate subject?

Roget – synonyms
Rees – filthy limericks (though Erdoğan thinks that should be Boris Johnson)
Rogers – quotations
Pevsner – architecture
Wisden - cricket

Try this one…..

"He may not have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he will certainly die with one."

Where does that come from?

It's bound to be somebody having a pop at Tony Blair...

Not this time. It has to do with a story about a seat of learning.....

While we think more about that one, who might just as easily have been Arthur and Babe...?

"...a story about a seat of learning"

Ok. What about Skullion and ' Porterhouse Blue'...?

Yes, that remark was made about Skullion at the end of the television production of Tom Sharpe’s ‘Porterhouse Blue’.

Arthur Hoggett is the main human character in the film ‘Babe’, the star of which is a pig. Why does David Cameron suddenly spring to mind?

  even a dunce like me knows that answer!

A clever response about Arthur and Babe!

But not the one I had in mind, however...

Stretching credibility as usual, a Music-Hall Act comprising Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane trading as OLD MOTHER RILEY.

Another very inventive effort - getting ever closer!

But still not quite there...

Still nobody on the trail of this one?

Morecambe and Wise
Flanagan and Allen
Laurel and Hardy
Caesar and Cleopatra
Burton and Taylor
Marks and Spencer
Ant and Dec
Eggs and bacon
Scylla and Charybdis
Pride and Prejudice
Ben and Jerry
Holmes and Watson
Mac and Cheese
Simon and Garfunkel
Bonnie and Clyde
Lennon and McCartney
Lady and the tramp
Mom and apple pie
Romeo and Juliette
Thunder and lightning
Thelma and Louise
Fish and Chips
Beauty and the beast
Jekyll and Hyde
Sonny and Cher
Starsky and Hutch
Wallace and Gromit
Batman and Robin
Pen and ink
Bread and butter
Gin and Tonic
Salt and vinegar
Smash and grab
Hit and run
Cash and carry

might just as easily have been Arthur and Babe

Arthur Stanley Jackson was the real name of Stan Laurel, and his partner Oliver ( actually Norvelle) Hardy was given the nickname 'Babe' by his barber and was known by it in his personal life.

What was the name of Britain's first baby of 2017, born at 00.01 today in Birmingham, weighing 6lbs 8oz?