The Daily Teaser — 20-2-2016: Swanning About

You know, Harper Lee died yesterday … 

Which is sad.   I read To Kill A Mockingbird — many years ago — and, while it’s not my favourite book, it’s still one that left a mark on me and many other people.

One I felt deserved company from a writer who clearly had a knack for it.

We’ll never know, now, whether she had more, other than Go Set A Watchman.

~≈É≈~

It get’s worse.   I’m listening to Radio 4’s Today programme.   And they’ve just announced the death of Umberto Eco, the man who wrote The Name of the Rose: a book I loved, as I did it’s accompanying film.

Personally?    I might just have to re-read both The Name of the Rose, and To Kill A Mockingbird, as a mark of respect to both.

Not doing so?   Would be rude.

~≈É≈~

In the midst of all this?   The fact Prime Minister David Cameron has renegotiated the terms of the various EU treaties governing the UK’s membership of the organization, and will be announcing the date of the referendum* on the subject at some point today, practically gets overlooked.

~≈É≈~

But let’s get moving on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Old Peculiar veteran, Debbi†, putting in her answers: scoring nine out of ten in the process.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

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

Q1) 20th February saw the first performance of Swan Lake.   In which Moscow theatre?

Q2) In which year?

Q3) What date would it have been, had Russia been using the Gregorian calendar?

Q4) What WAS Swan Lake: an opera, ballet or musical?

Q5) The heroine of the story was called what: Olivia, Odette or Adele?

Q6) The heroine of the story is turned into a swan: by an evil sorcerer called Von … what?

Q7) The hero of Swan Lake is the handsome Prince … who?

Q8) Which Russian composer wrote the music for Swan Lake?

Q9) Which 2010 Natalie Portman film, is based around a production of Swan Lake?

Q10) Finally … which country’s State Circus tours an acrobatic version of Swan Lake?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 19th February saw the patenting of the phonograph: by which American inventor?

A1) Thomas Edison.

Q2) In which year of the 1870s?

A2) 1878.

Q3) What shape were those early phonographs: cylindrical, spherical or ovoid?

A3) Cylindrical.

Q4) The original test phonograms were covered in what: wax, tinfoil or Bakelite?

A4) Tinfoil.   (Bakelite, or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, to give it its technical name, wasn’t developed until 1907.)

Q5) By 1925, disc shaped records — or gramophones — were gaining popularity.   Those gramophones went at how many revolutions per minute: 78, 45 or 33⅓?

A5) 78 rpm.

Q6) What was the diameter — in inches — of those records: 7”, 10” or 12”?

A6) 10”.   (That, the rotation speed, and the space between the grooves are what generally limited those early recorded songs to roughly three minutes.)

Q7) Early records were made from shellac.   Later ones, from roughly the 1960s onwards, were made from PVC: which stood for poly-vinyl … what?

A7) Chloride.

Q8) All these records were analogue, of course.   These days, modern musical recordings are what: digital, analogue or composite?

A8) Digital.

Q9) Which Dire Straits album was the first — on a major label — to sell extremely well, on CD?

A9) Brothers In Arms.

Q10) Most modern songs are in the digital format known as ‘MP3’: what does the ‘MP’ stand for?

A10) Moving picture.

I’ll leave you with this thought …

“I think it requires a bit of honesty, Swan Lake.”

Graeme Murphy.

And this video … 

Have a good day … !

*        Right here and now?   I still couldn’t tell you if I’d vote to leave or stay in the EU.   Although, twenty years ago?   I’d’ve voted to leave.   Right here and now?   I don’t know what way I’d vote.   I know the last time something like this happened was in 1975.   I was seven.   And, like many of my contemporaries, had no vote in that election: and believe this referendum should have taken place, regardless of any reform negotiations.   I know not doing so is undemocratic: and would deny all of us a say on the matter.   This must happen.

†        Don’t worry, Debbi!   You always do well!