Tuesday 20 November 2012

The Daily Teaser — 20-11-2012: Nuremberg … 

Hmmm … 

THAT’S something.   I’ve got Radio 4’s Today programme on, again.

According to the report they’ve just had on, it seems the UK’s going to be putting more into the European pot for the European Space Agency.

Apparently, the UK gets quite a bit by way of business contracts out of it: mostly for the companies working on satellites.

Here’s hoping that helps the economy.

Although I must say … it’d be nice to see a British astronaut on an ESA rocket.

Let’s move on, shall we?   Yes, let’s … 

~~~~~

Yesterday’s lavatorial Teaser saw Debbi putting in her answers: along with bagging 5 out of 6, she also had to admit, she recognised the episode of Dr Who* I’d flagged up for her.

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

Q1) 20th November, 1945, saw the start of the Nuremberg War Trials.   Name any of the four allied nations that had judges or Chief Prosecutors at the trials.
Q2) More to the point, which country’s judge was the President of the Tribunal … ?
Q3) Which of the 24 accused famously flew to Scotland in 1941, to try and broker peace … ?
Q4) Who — notoriously — was the only one of the accused to say sorry … ?
Q5) Finally … the Trials were unique in introducing simultaneous what, to international events: broadcast, translation or note-taking … ?
And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …
Q1) 19th November is — obviously — World Toilet Day: according to whom … ?
Q2) More to the point, this year’s World Toilet Summit is to be held in which South African city … ?
A2) Durban.
Q3) Garderobe was a Medieval word for toilet: especially ones in castles.   The term — or room, depending on who you ask — ALSO described a storage room for what … ?
A3) Clothes.   (In some parts, they’re the SAME room: the smell was supposed to protect clothes from fleas.   I believe it.   Thousands WOULDN’T, of course …)
Q4) What — usually — would be the first thing activated on the Space Shuttle, once astronauts unbuckled themselves in orbit … ?
A4) The Toilet.   (Apparently, it operates with a complicated series on fans … … … )
Q5) Honey trucks and honey wagons are terms used for the tankers that empty what … ?
A5) Cesspits and cesspools and potable toilets.   (And that’s BEFORE I get onto the phrase gong-farmer … !)
Q6) And finally … in which year did the Great Stink — guess what of — prompt Parliament to build the London sewer system …?
A6) 1858.   (Incredibly, it’s only NOW, a century and a half or so later, that people are thinking of expanding it.)
Enjoy those, everyone.

Given today’s subject, I’ll leave you with the theme from the ITV documentary, The World At War: a series I still consider to be television’s last word on the subjectª.


And with this quote from Robert H Jackson, the US chief prosecutor at the Trials
“The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.”   
Robert H. Jackson, Chief US Prosecutor.











*        It’s from Pertwee’s first season, Debbiº: the one with the Martians … ?   (As distinct from Ice Warriors.)   It’s fairly well know in some circles, actually: it’s one of the few early Pertwee stories that’s been reconstructed from all sorts of sources. 

º        And, yes, you’re right, Debbi, they usually ARE a bit different: that’s part of the show’s charm, I always think.   (Mind you, this one’s VERY different: Pertwee’s first season was very different from the later ones he did.   Ambassadors of Death treats the Brigadier as less of a Colonel Blimp, for starters … !)

ª        Handily, it ALSO feature Jimmy Stewart as an interview subject: he was a front-line pilot for the USAAF.

1 comment:

Debbi said...

Very thought-provoking teaser theme today.

Well done!

1. the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia
2. Great Britain
3. Rudolf Hess
4. Goering
5. translation