The Daily Teaser …

Hmmm …

Now there’s a thing I always keep forgetting.

Today is obviously the day that Britain’s first referendum since 1973 goes ahead, along with various local elections in the UK.

I’ll have to put mine in, in a bit.

But also … ?

Today is also the birthday of composer and arranger, the late Delia Derbyshire.

Delia was something of a noted composer of Music Concrète. But famously worked in the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop during the early sixties, when composer Ron Grainer walked in with the theme tune for a new science fiction show that he’d written and thought should sound a bit spacey.

Delia told told him to come back in a fortnight, it’ll be done by then, and went to work on it, with assorted oscillators, bells, widgets, a lampshade, and about fifty miles of tape.

The results … ?

Well, when Grainer back and heard what Delia had done to the theme he’d written for Dr Who, his chin hit the floor. According to fan history, there’s various versions of the resultant conversation: in the one I heard, Grainer’s supposed to have said “Sodding hell, it didn’t sound like that when I wrote it … !” To which Ms Derbyshire apparently replied “Well, that’s what we’re paid for … ”. Either way, Grainer was impressed enough to try and get a co-composer’s credit for her. Shame the BBC didn’t like the idea …

»»•««

But lets move on, shall we … ?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi putting in her answers: and , although admitting being baffled by Saints and religious holidays, managed to bag six out of six.

Lets see how she — and you — do with today’s questions: here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video: the video’s soundtrack, today, includes the theme to 70s series, The Tomorrow People, also composed by Delia Derbyshire.

Q1) 5th May, 2011, sees people in the UK vote in a referendum on what: voting reform, joining the EU or keeping the Queen as head of State?

Q2) 5th May, 1865, saw the US’s first train robbery take place: in a suburb of which US city … ?

Q3) 5th May, 1981, saw the death in prison of which member of the IRA … ?

Q4) More to the point, which constituency was he the MP for … ?

Q5) 5th May, 1925, saw the government of South Africa declare what to be one of the countries official languages … ?

Q6) Both born on 5th May, who’s the eldest: Karl Marx or Soren Kierkegaard … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) According to an oft-reported joke in Hansard, May 4th is Star Wars Day: May the Forth Be With you, in other words. Hansard is the official record of what: the Houses of Parliament, the Royal Family or the Prime Minister … ?

Q2) Apart from the relevant bodies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where else in the British Isles have a Hansard … ?

Q3) 4th May, 1910, saw the which country’s Royal Navy … ?

Q4) 4th May, 2000, saw Ken Livingston elected as the first Mayor of London. Who replaced him, in 2008 … ?

Q5) 4th May, 1953, saw which member of the Royal Family awarded his pilots wings by the RAF … ?

Q6) And finally … 4th May, 1953, saw Ernest Hemingway awarded the Pulitzer Prize: for which of his works … ?

Enjoy those, everyone: I’m off to vote.