The Daily Teaser — 30-3-2015

You know, blurt … 

Thingie … 

Wossname … Rhubarb … With a head on it … 

Yargle … !   Argh … !

Bleagh … 

I swear, I will never get the hang of daylight saving!

Just in case you hadn’t worked out, clocks have gone forward, here in the UK: the annual change in times, at the end of March and October.

It always throws my body clock out.

Not by much … but just enough to make sure I need a GOOD long run up to a keyboard … !

~≈†≈~

But let’s get a move on, shall we?   As I’ve got at least one cup of tea down my neck … 

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi* putting in her answers: and scoring nine out of ten.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s Teaser, shall we?

Here’s the questions, along with the How To, License and video … 

Q1) 30th March, 1867, saw the USA buy what’s now Alaska: from what was then Russia.   What’s the capital of Alaska?

Q2) 30th March, 1939, saw the publication of Detective Comics № 27.   Which famous comic book character did it introduce: Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman?

Q3) 30th March, 1979, saw the death of Airey Neave, MP: blown up by which paramilitary group?

Q4) 30th March, 1905, saw the birth of Albert Pierrepoint.   Pierrepoint was a long serving what, for the UK?

Q5) Finally … 30th March, 1856, saw the signing of the Treaty Of Paris: which ended the Crimean War.   In which French city was it signed?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 29th March, 1871, saw the Royal Albert Hall formally opened.   By which British monarch?

A1) Prince Albert’s widow, Queen Victoria.

Q2) Who made the opening speech, on that monarch’s behalf?

A2) Her son and heir, Edward 7th: the then Prince Of Wales.

Q3) What — technically — is the Hall’s full name?

A3) The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences.

Q4) The Hall has played host to which series of famous concerts?

A4) The Proms.

Q5) The Hall’s also played host to the world — and royal — premières of two James Bond movies.   Name one of those movies.

A5) Die Another Day and Skyfall.

Q6) Which noted British blues guitarist compared playing at the Hall to “… playing in my front room”?

A6) God, himself: Eric Clapton.

Q7) Electric lighting was first installed into the Hall: in which year of the 1880s?

A7) 1888.   (One annoyed patron wrote that it was a “ghastly and unpleasant innovation.”)

Q8) The Hall was designed by engineers from which corp of the British Army?

A8) The Royal Engineers.   (It was actually built by the Lucas Brothers)

Q9) Which of the Hall’s feature’s was built by Henry Willis and Sons: the Dome, the main entrance or the Grand Organ?

A9) The Grand Organ.   (It’s the second largest in the UK.   It’s ALSO got a Claribel Flute stop.   A sad thing for me?   Is that I now no longer have the chance to pass that on to Sir Terry Pratchett, and ask if that would make a good name for a character … )

Q10) Finally … when viewed from the top, the Hall is what shape: square, circular or elliptical?

A10) Elliptical.

I’ll leave you with this thought …

“I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people.”

Albert Pierrepoint, 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992.

And this tune … 

Have a good day … 

*        Basically, Debbi, in Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal — the original novel, rather than the TV film — the action’s sparked by the death of a minor character: John Dearheart, one of the inventors of the Disc’s Clacks† system.   The Clacks operators who knew him thought well of him: and set things up so that Dearheart’s name is sent up and down the Clacks lines: preceded by the GNU code, that means it keeps getting sent up an down the lines.   A group of real-world coders, fans of Sir Terry’s, have worked that they could do something similar, by inserting the phrase, ‘GNUTerryPratchett’ into various bits of computer code.   You can find out more, here‡.

†        The Clacks is the Disc’s rough — very rough — equivalent to the ’Net: a very fast communications system, in other words.   It’s actually a semaphore system Sir Terry based loosely on the old visual telegraph system, used in the 19th Century.

‡        I’m no coder: so I’ve settled for inserting the phrase into my email signature …