The Brentwood Gazette’s Weekly Teaser — 5-12-2012

Does anyone else I know listen to weather reports … ?

Anyone … ?

No … ?

Because I could’ve sworn last night’s forecast said we’d see rain, this morning.

Given we’ve seen half a centimetre of snow this morning — along with the usual train stoppages, bus troubles and school closures — I think we can say that that forecast … was wrong … !

But let’s get moving on, shall we … ?

~~~~~

After all, today is Wednesday: which means, of course, that Brentwood Gazette has published my Weekly Teaser: you can find it in this week’s issue, and find the online version, here.

But, obviously, if you’d rather NOT go galloping around the ’Net, here’s this week’s questions …

Q1) 5th December saw the first recorded disappearance over the Bermuda Triangle… What was the name of the vanished squad of bombers: Flight 19, Flight 20 or Flight 21 … ?   

Q2) More to the point, in which year of the 1940s was this … ?   

Q3) What was the name of the writer who wrote the standard book about the Bermuda Triangle … ?   

Q4) More to the point, what was the name of the book … ?   

Q5) That same writer wrote ‘The Philadelphia Experiment’, about a vanishing what: tank, battleship or plane … ?   

Q6) Back to where we started, now: the northern-most point of the Bermuda Triangle is just off the coast of Bermuda.   Where’s it’s most southerly point: Cuba, Haiti or Puerto Rico … ?   

Q7) Equally to the point, the Triangle’s most westerly point is on the coast of which US state … ?   

Q8) In which bit of sea is the Bermuda Triangle: the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean … ?   

Q9) According to the old Barry Manilow song, The Bermuda Triangle makes people  disappear.   Between 1976 and 1983, which South American country saw many people ‘disappear’ … ?   

Q10) And finally … The Bermuda Triangle is off Bermuda.   What’s the name of the equivalent, roughly 100 kilometers south of Tokyo … ?  

And here’s last week’s questions and answers …

Questions.

Q1) 28th November, 1814, saw ‘The Times’ being printing by automatic presses, for the first time.   What powered those presses: electricity, water-wheels or steam … ?   

Q2) More to the point, what was ‘The Times’ called, when originally published … ?   

Q3) Even more to the point, what was the name of the first London based newspaper … ?   

Q4) Dating from 1665, what was the UK’s oldest newspaper: the Oxford Gazette, the Cambridge Journal or the Brighton Recorder … ?   

Q5) Fleet Street — home of London”s newspaper industry for many years — was built over the top of which river … ?   

Q6) Avvisi were the early Italian newsletters.   Apart from in Rome, in which Italian city state would you have found avvisi: Florence, Venice or Milan … ?   

Q7) The word ‘Gazette’ comes to English — through French — from Italian: was it a pen, a purse or a coin … ?   

Q8) Getting American, what — by circulation — is the largest US newspaper … ?   

Q9) Which former Liberal Democrat MP famously — or possibly foolishly — became political columnist for the ‘Daily Sport’.   

Q10) And finally … What’s the UK’s oldest broadsheet newspaper … ?   

Answers.

A1) Steam.   

A2) The Daily Universal Register.   

A3) The Daily Courant.   

A4) Oxford Gazette.   

A5) The River Fleet.   

A6) Venice.   

A7) A coin.   (Early Avviso cost exactly that: one gazeta … )   

A8) The Wall Street Journal.   

A9) Lembit Opik.   (You couldn’t make it up.   Unlike some of The Sports’ headlines.   It’s the one paper that made The Sun look good … !)   

A10) We’re back where we started: it’s The Times.

Enjoy those, everyone.

I’ll leave you with a relevant tune, shall I … ?