SAL’s Christmas Quiz – Answers
1
i
ii
iii
iv
v
in the film Grease, they are the rival gangs;
in the retina;
on the banks of a river (in the UK and the rest of “region A“– though, confusingly in North America
(and the rest of “region B”) the port/starboard indicators are green squares and red triangles) – though
SAL know knows that Green Triangles Red Squares is a track by SeibZehn on the album Ambient
Cycles;
in Dublin, they are the nicknames for the statues Molly Malone and Meeting Place (two women sitting
on a bench with their shopping at their feet) – there are also “The Ace with the Bass” (Phil Lynott),
“The Crank on the Bank” (Patrick Kavanagh) and other statues with distinctly more offensive
nicknames; and
in Sevenoaks, Kent – it’s a railway station (not sport, due to the capitalisation).
2
These chemicals which are found in, amongst other things, mistletoe, holly and ivy.
3
A red triangle used to appear on a Bank of England £50 note to assist those with a visual impairment.
4
They are slang terms for parking enforcement officers:
i. Brown Bomber – in New South Wales;
ii. Periwinkle (pervanche) – in France;
iii. Lovely Rita (meter maid) – US;
iv. Green Onions – Montreal; and
v. Yellow fever – Nigeria.
5
Dogberry is a Shakespearean policemen, the rest are servants:
i. Launce – a servant in The Two Gentlemen of Verona;
ii. Leonardo – a servant in The Merchant of Venice;
iii. Dogberry – a constable in Much Ado About Nothing;
iv. Adam – a servant in As You Like It;
v. Fabian – a servant in Twelfth Night
6
No, because he is still alive!
7
Models of Ford cars:
i. Mustang;
ii. Anglia (who produced the TV show The Sale of the Century);
iii. Capri;
iv. Corsair; and
v. Thunderbird (from the film Thunderbird 6)
8
i
ii
iii
iv
v
9
Characters played by British winners of the Oscar for Best Actor, in chronological order:
i. Henry VIII played by Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933);
ii. Sir Thomas More played by Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1966);
iii. Gandhi played byBen Kingsley in Gandhi (1982);
iv. George VI played by Colin Firth in The King’s Speech (2010); and
v. Abraham Lincoln played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (2012)?
10
These are abbreviations of the edge inscriptions on £1 coins (Decus Et Tutamen, etc.). In 2010 the new
coins were minted with Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus for Belfast; Domine Dirige Nos for London; Y Ddraig
Goch Ddyry Cychwyn for Cardiff and Nisi Dominus Frustra for Edinburgh.
11
North and south of Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
12
The hotel in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers
i. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby – Miss Gatsby is one of the two resident old ladies;
ii. the Sherman tank – Polly’s surname is Sherman;
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer;
the Christmas card – Sir Henry Cole commissioned the first one;
the Christmas tree;
poinsettias, named after Joel R. Poinsett; and
Jingle Bells.
© S.A.Livesey, 2014
iii. Tony O’Reilly – O’Reilly is the incompetent builder in the episode The Builders;
iv. John Major – Major Gowen is another resident; and
v. José Manuel Durão Barosso – Manuel was the (equally) hapless waiter.
13
Tom and Jerry.
Burg Katz and Burg Maus are castles on opposite sides of the Rhine. Burg Katz was originally called Burg
Katzenelnbogen.
Gilly, Gilly, Ossenfeffer, Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea was a song written by Al Hoffman and Dick
Manning and famously sung by Max Bygraves. However, the song has no connection with the castle as it
was also recorded as in Dutch as Giet't pijpenstelen Ossenfeffer, katzenellen, bogen bij de zee (Pour 't
pipe steal Ossenfeffer, katzenellen, arches by the sea) and in German as Heckelbruckel Ossenfeffer
Schlachenbachenbaden an der see (Heckelbruckel Ossenfeffer Schlachenbachenbaden by the lake).
14
(Sgùrr) Alasdair and (Ben) Hope are two of the 282 Munros (mountains in Scotland over 3,000ft); (Ben)
Arthur (better known as The Cobbler) and Morven are two of the 221 Corbetts (peaks in Scotland between
2,500 and 3,000 feet), there are 223 Grahams (mountains in Scotland between 2000 and 2499 feet).
Osgood Fielding the third is a character in Some Like It Hot which starred Marilyn Monroe; Marilyns are
hills in the British Isles with relative height of at least 150 metres (492 ft), the name being a pun on the
homophones Munro and Monroe.
15
These are all cars driven by James Bond:
i. the Ford Mustang Mach I in Diamonds Are Forever (which enters an alley on two wheels and,
curiously, exits it on the other two wheels);
ii. the Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible in Dr No (the first vehicle driven on film by 007);
iii. the BMW 750iL in Tomorrow Never Dies;
iv. the Jaguar XJ X351 (M’s official car in which he abducts her) in Skyfall; and
v. the submersible Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me.
16
Major-General Stanley in his patter song in The Pirates of Penzance.
17
The UK typist is one key to the right (with scrolling to the start of the letters in the row in the case of the
letters P, L and M) so the encoded letter need shifting back to the left by one key (again with scrolling) to
give the message: BEST WISHES FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON FROM ALL AT IMS.
18
In the game Cluedo; these are clues to the characters:
i. Captain Scarlet (Miss Scarlett);
ii. Plum Island (Professor Plum);
iii. Captain Peacock (Mrs Peacock)
iv. Rachel Green (Rev Green); and
v. nickname of the snooker player Jimmy White (Mrs White).
So you would be Colonel Mustard you would be in Tudor Close (also Tudor Manor and Tudor Hall) and the
host, Dr Black, would be dead.
19
The missing Trumpton fireman is one of the Pugh twins:
i. the Grubbs;
ii. Officer Dibble;
iii. Jonathan Pugh
iv. The Shooting of Dan McGrew by Robert W Service; and
v. Saint Cuthbert.
20
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Q9v) on Good Friday, 14 April 1865 BY John Wilkes Booth, a
famous actor and Confederate sympathiser; Fawlty Towers (Q12) was co-written by Connie Booth (who
played Polly).
Without his main bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln attended the play Our American Cousin (an 1858
three-act play by English playwright Tom (Q13) Taylor) at Ford’s (Q7) Theater, Washington.
Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker (chauffeur in Thunderbirds, Q7v), left Ford's Theater during intermission
to join Lincoln's coachman for drinks in the Star Saloon next door. The now unguarded President sat in his
state box in the balcony. Seizing the opportunity, halfway through Act III, Scene 2, following the laughter at
what is considered one of the play’s funniest lines, Booth (who was attending the show, not performing in
it) crept up from behind, aimed at the back of Lincoln's head and (at about 22:13) fired at point-blank
range, mortally wounding the President; Major (Q12iv) Henry Rathbone momentarily grappled with Booth,
but Booth stabbed him and escaped. The fatally wounded president was carried across the street to the
© S.A.Livesey, 2014
Petersen House, where he died the next morning.
Two days later, Booth and his accomplice, David Herold, were surrounded by the New York cavalry in a
tobacco barn on the Virginia farm of Richard Garrett. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused to give
himself up. The barn was set on fire in an attempt to force him out into the open, but Booth remained
inside. Despite the order of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton that he should be taken alive, Booth was
shot in the back of the head by Sergeant Boston Corbett (Q14).
© S.A.Livesey, 2014