The Daily Teaser — 15-10-2012

Well, there’s a thing.

Not only is today the 25th Anniversary of the Great Storm Of 1987 — I remember that Storm, quite something, that — but also the day after skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a capsule dangling off a weather balloon.

That was 24 miles up.

Good for him.

Although I don’t think it’s something I’d be doing.

For one thing, I’m scared of heights.

For another, I’d be too worried about the word ‘splat’ being involved at some point.

Still … 

More power to him!

Let’s get moving on, shall we?

~~~~~

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi* putting in her answers.   Along with mentioning that trouserlessness at Liverpool Street wasn’t necessarily a good idea, also managing to score 6 out of 6.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video … 

Q1) 15th october, 1888, saw investigators receive a letter from where … ?   

Q2) More the the point, who — apparently — wrote that letter … ?   

Q3) 15th October, 1956, saw which programming language available to programmers: FORTRAN, Basic or Python … ?   

Q4) 15th October, 1964, saw which Russian, suddenly retire … ?   

Q5) 15th October, 1987, saw Sir Penaia Ganilau resign as Commonwealth Governor General of where … ?   

Q6) And finally … 15th October, 1987, saw the Great Storm of 1987 hit the UK.   How much did this eventually cost insurers: £2 billion, £3 billion or £4 billion … ?  

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 14th October, 1969, saw the introduction of the 50p piece: how many edges does the 50p piece have … ?   

A1) 7.

Q2) More to the point, which note was the 50p piece designed to replace … ?   

A2) The Ten Shilling note.

Q3) EQUALLY to the point … how many shillings made up a pound, in pre-decimal British currency … ?    

A3) 20.

Q4) Moving on … 14th October, 1656, saw the colony of Massachusetts ban which religious group … ?    

A4) The Society of Friends: or Quakers, as they’re also known …

Q5) 14th October, 1962, saw a U2 spy-plane overfly — and take famous photos of missiles on — which Caribbean island?   

A5) Cuba.

Q6) And finally … 14th October, 1926, saw the first publication of Winnie the Pooh: who wrote Winnie the Pooh … ?   

A6) A. A. Milne.

Enjoy those, everyone.

I’ll leave you with a line from Virgil, shall I … ?

“Equo ne credite, Teucri.
quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.”: translated as “Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Grecians, even bearing gifts.”

Virgil, October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC

And, as it’s ALSO Chris De Burgh’s birthday … ?

I thought it’s worth digging up the one song of his that banned in his native Ireland … 

*        Did I just invent the word ‘trouserlessness’, there, Debbi … ?   But, anyway, it’s not just that that’s the problem: it’s getting to Liverpool Street from Brentwood, in a state of trouserlessnessº that’s going to be entertaining … !

º        nessnessnessnessnessnessnessness … Yeah, I’ll leave that RIGHT there … !