The Daily Teaser …

Oh …

Right …

That actually makes sense …

The BBC news has just had a brief piece on VAT: the rate’s due to go up in the new year.

It’s usually charged on everything except food and children’s clothes.

What I had realised is that’s also on ready-meals.

Makes sense: I’ve just realised usual rationale is that it’s charged on luxury goods and services.

Buying a ready meal means you’ve bought a service from the frozen food company who’ve supplied it: after all, they’ve half cooked it for you …

Lets move on, shall we … ?

Before I tell you that the VAT Inclusive figure equals 0.166666667 of a given price …

«•»

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Trevor, Kaiju and AlexandraFunFit — welcome back, Alexandra, we’ve missed you … ! — all putting in their answers in: it saw Kaiju and Trevor bagging Five out of five, and Alexandra scoring 2. On top of that, it saw Trevor quoting Golda Meir, Kaiju giving us a posthumous John Lennon discography, and Alexandra putting a smile on my face, at least.

Although I’m keeping my undies to myself, thank you!

Lets see how they — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we … ? Here they are along with the ‘How To’, License and video …

Q1) 9th December, 1872, saw Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback become the first Afro-American governor of a US state: which US state … ?

Q2) 9th December, 1973, saw the signing of the Sunningdale Agreement: this saw the setting up of a Council of … where?

Q3) 9th December, 1886, saw the birth of the inventor who kick-started the frozen food industry: who was he … ?

Q4) 9th December, 1952, saw sunshine return after four days of thick, killer fog: in which British city … ?

Q5) And finally … 9th December, 1929, saw the birth of the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia: what was his name … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 8th December, 1980, saw the death of former Beatle, John Lennon: what was the name of the album he and Yoko Ono had released, just prior to his death … ?


A1) Double Fantasy.

Q2) More to the point, which of his singles from that album was a UK and US hit, after his death … ?

A2) (Just Like) Starting Over.

Q3) 8th December is — in the Roman Catholic Church — the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Name any of the 21 countries — apart from the catholic cantons of Switzerland, that would just complicate things — where it’s a Public Holiday.

A3) Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Chile, Columbia, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macau, Malta, Monaco, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Seychelles, Spain, Vatican City and Venezuela. But you’d guessed about Venezuela, hadn’t you … ?

Q4) 8th December, 2008, saw Kirsty Williams become the first woman elected as a party leader in Wales: of which party was she elected leader?

A4) The Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Q5) And finally … 8th of December, 2008, saw the death of animator, Oliver Postgate: which of his creations was described as “an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams” … ?

A5) Bagpuss.

Enjoy those, everyone …