The Daily Teaser — 27-11-2012: Parliamentary Trouble

Well, it’s official.

Today’s the day I take delivery of my new washing machine!

Which is going to make for a fascinating day.

Although — debatably — not as fascinating as Sunday: which is when I disconnected my old one.

Or yesterday: when I suddenly realised I was going to potentially need a fuse.

Just in case … !

Let’s get moving on, shall we?

Let … !

~~~~~

Yesterday’s Teaser both Debbi, AND a welcomed back Trevor putting in their answers: with both scoring 5 out of 6*, it also saw Debbi filling us in on Rick’s motherº.

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

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

Q1) 27th November, 1990, saw Britain’s Conservative party — effectively — pick Britain’s new Prime Minister: who was he … ?

Q2) Which government post had he held until then … ?

Q3) More to the point, who did he replace as PM … ?

Q4) More to the point, who’s considered to be the first PM … ?

Q5) Who’s the current British PM … ?

Q6) And finally … what’s the name of the PM’s official country house … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 26th November, 1778, saw the first Europeans visit Maui: who led that expedition … ?

A1) Captain James Cook.

Q2) More to the point, in which chain of islands is Maui … ?

A2) The Hawaiian Islands.

Q3) Who served as the main ship’s master, on that voyage … ?

A3) William Bligh.   Yes, THAT William Bligh: “This is mutiny, Mister Christian, MUTINY … !”

Q4) Moving on … 26th November, 1953, saw the House Of Lords vote to allow commercial television in the UK: how is that first resulting station generally known … ?

A4) ITV.

Q5) 26th November, 1977, saw part of that commercial network highjacked by someone calling themselves what: Vrillon, Gillon or Ashteron … ?

A5) Actually, all three: at least, going by the Wikipedia entry.

Q6) And finally … 26th November, 1998, saw Tony Blair become the first  British PM, to address the parliament of the Republic of Ireland: what’s that parliament’s name … in Irish … ?

A6) The Tithe an Oireachtas.

Enjoy those, everyone.

I’ll leave you with this quote from the (fictional) Sir Jim Hacker …

“The three articles of Civil Service faith: it takes longer to do things quickly, it’s more expensive to do them cheaply and it’s more democratic to do them in secret.”

Paul Eddingtonª as (fictional) former PM, Sir Jim Hacker, in Yes, Prime Minister.

And here’s the Yes, Prime Minister theme tune.

Along with an entertaining thought about the press … 

*        Going by the Wikipedia entry, guys, all three names got used: although Vrillon is the generally accepted one …

º        Hmmm … Debbi, I don’t know if it’s of any help, but has Rick thought of also asking about some form of monitoring service … ?   Strikes me THAT’S going to be useful, at some point … ?

ª        He crops up as Cobb, in The Prisoner, Debbi: just in case the name’s ringin a bell or two.