Tuesday 6 April 2010

The Daily Teaser.

Oh, heck!

It’s all over the news.

Literally, ALL over the news, with no getting away from it.

The rules of Scrabble are to be changed to allow proper nouns … !

Ye GODS, it’ll be adverbials, next, won’t it?

•••••

Oh …

And it looks Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament, and call for an election on May 6th.

Which means that MP’s here in the UK are going to ask the voters to let them keep fiddling their expenses for the the next five years.

Cynical … ME?

Not when you remember the fuss about Brentwood MP, Eric Pickles, £7, 500 laptop.

Or if you don’t know how much rehearsal’s going into the much-heralded TV debates between the three main party leaders.

NEVER!!

•••••

But enough ranting, already!!

Let’s get on with, shall we? Yes, I think we should, shouldn’t we … ?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Trevor getting 5 out of 5, and putting in some great quotes: including one from Sir Winston Churchill that seems very relevant, considering the expected announcement about a General Election: “A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.”

Which struck me as funny, too … !

Lets see what every body does with today’s questions, shall we? Here they are, along with the ‘How To’ and Creative Commons License

Q1) 6th April saw the formal opening of the first modern Olympic Games: in which year of the 1890s?

Q2) More to the point, in which Greek were those games held?

Q3) More to the point, Pierre de Coubertin - the founder and instigator of the Modern Olympics - was an Olympic Gold Medallist: in what?

Q4) 6th April, 1793, saw what take over as the executive body of the French Republic?

Q5) More to the point, this body led to the period later known as ... what?

Q6) 6th April, 1830, saw the original found of which American church, by Joseph Smith, Jnr?

Q7) 6th April, 1965, saw the launch of the Early Bird satellite: this was the first satellite to be placed in what kind of orbit?

Q8) And finally ... 6th April, 1947, saw the first presentation of which theatrical Awards?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 5th April, 1994, saw the death of singer/songwriter, Kurt Cobain: with which Seattle Grunge band did he come to international prominence?
A1) Nirvana.

Q2) 14 years later, 5th April, 2008, saw death of Charlton Heston: name any of the three Planet of the Apes movies he appeared in.
A2) The original 1968 Planet of the Apes, Beneath The Planet of the Apes in 1970, and - making a cameo as General Thade’s father - in the 2001 Tim Burton re-imagining.

Q3) 5th April, 1614, saw American colonist, John Rolfe, get married to who? (This is a famous part of early US history: if Angela and Andrea don’t get this ... )
A3) Pocahontas.

Q4) 5th April, 1955, saw which British politician resign on health grounds?
A4) Sir Winston Churchill.

Q5) And finally ... 5th April, 1976, saw the death of which US billionaire?
A5) Howard Hughes.

Enjoy those, everyone … ! I’ll catch you later. But will leave you with a couple of rather relevant quotes.

Everybody votes for a dictator.
Patrick McGoohan, as No. 6, in The Prisoner.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Mind you, the Elizabethans had so many words for the female genitals that it is quite hard to speak a sentence of modern English without inadvertently mentioning at least three of them.
Terry Pratchett, writing on alt.fan.pratchett

And I mention the last one because I’m convinced one of those words is politician …


4 comments:

Simon said...

1. 1896
2. Athens
3. Gold Medal for Literature
4. Committee of Public Safety
5. Reign of Terror
6. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
7. Geosynchronous orbit
8. Antoinette Perry awards (Tony Awards)

'Sport is part of every man and woman's heritage and its absence can never be compensated for.'
Baron Pierre De Coubertin

Anonymous said...

Q1 1896
Q2 Athens
Q3 Literature - Poetry
Q4 The Committee of Public Safety
Q5 The Reign of Terror
Q6 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (original name Church of Christ)
Q7 geosynchronous orbit
Q8 The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre commonly called The Tony Awards
Trevor

All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men.

Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.

Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.

All quotes by Isaac Asimov died April 6th 1992.

Kaiju said...

1. 1859
2. Athens
3. Rugby
4. Committee of Public Safety
5. Reign of Terror (Or Reign of Teabaggers? Oh. Sorry. Wrong country, wrong year...)
6. Church of Latter Day Saints or Mormons
7. geostationary orbit
8. Tonys

Nik Nak said...

Cheers for joining us, Kaiju!!

And a Reign of Teabaggers … ?

NOW I’m curious!!