27th January, 2019.
Tight … I’m up nice and early, today.
Actually, no, scrub that.
I’m actually up at my usual time.
I just got to bed, late, last night: after watching a movie.
King of Thieves, so you know.
I actually got finished writing the review of it … at one in the morning!
Yep: you’re right: I really want to go back to bed.
~≈§≈~
Oh, I have Radio Four on, this morning: as ever.
While I’m not especially religious?
I do find the Sunday morning services rather soothing to hear.
Especially the more old fashioned Anglican ones: today’s is about the Holocaust, as it’s Holocaust Memorial Day.
Something I’ll have to write a set about, one day.
At any rate, something in the news bulletin that caught my eye? Was a piece about how Action Fraud — the organisation run by City of London police, to let people report fraud — have seen fraud go up, last year.
Somehow?
I’m not surprised …
~≈§≈~
Let’s move on, shall we?
Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga*, Badwolf†, Debbi‡ putting in their answers: with Debbi and Badwolf scoring five out of five, and Olga on four.
The day ALSO saw Trevorª leaving us a hello.
The day ALSO saw Trevorª leaving us a hello.
Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?
Q1) 27th January saw the lifting of siege of Leningrad. The city had been besieged by which country’ forces?
Q2) In which year was it lifted?
Q3) The besieging army was led by Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. What rank did he hold?
Q4) The siege was part of the invasion of the Soviet Union known as Operation … what … ?
Q5) Finally … Leningrad was said to have been besieged for how many days and nights: 700, 800 or 900?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …
Q1) 26th January is Liberation Day in Uganda. Making the end of the Tito Okello’s regime: in which year of the 1980s?A1) 1986.
Q2) He died in what was and is, Uganda’s capital city. What is that city … ?A2) Kampala.
Q3) Uganda is a what: constitutional monarchy, absolute monarchy or republic?A3) Republic.
Q4) Name one of Uganda’s two official languages.
Q5) Finally … ? Which country has the smaller rail network: Uganda or the UK … ?A5) Uganda: with some 783 miles for rail track … !
Here’s a thought …
“Shelling, many felt, was actually worse than bombing, since bombardments were not preceded by an alarm. From 4 September to the end of the year the Wehrmacht’s heavy artillery pounded Leningrad 272 times, for up to eighteen hours at a stretch, with a total of over 13,000 shells. The rumour that some shells were filled only with granulated sugar, or held supportive notes from sympathetic German workers, was a soothing invention.”Anna Reid, Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944.
And some music: Shostakovich wrote part of this living, in Leningrad at the time …
This tune is also about the Siege …
And Billy Joel references the Siege in this …
Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.
Have a good day.
* Yes, you did mention the visa, Olga. It’s for the Saint Petersburg trip, isn’t it … ? The funny thing is you mentioned it … on the day I was writing today’s Teaser^. Funny how these things go! So there’s talk of a second Catalonian independence referendum? Oh, boy, welcome to the club! We’ve had nothing but talk of a second referendum since 2016. It’s getting more frequent in the run-up to Brexit Day. (Oh … Uganda has the smaller rail network: bizarre, isn’t it?)
† Morning, @Badwolf: how’s the day? Oh, did you get the link to my King of Thieves write up? It’s rather good!
‡ I’ve not done … yet, Debbi … Right at the moment, I HAVE posted to the Apple forums: but not yet heard anything. I’ll probably have a look over the next couple of days: we can — handily — request a call from Apple support, over here.
^ The name changes some cities got through … ? Are … well … synchronicity, and all that … !
ª I might just mention that to Jude, and his mother, Trevor: she’ll never hear the last of it … !
ª I might just mention that to Jude, and his mother, Trevor: she’ll never hear the last of it … !
(1)Germany(2)1944(3)Field Marshal)4)Operation Barbarossa (5)900
ReplyDeleteQ1) Germany
ReplyDeleteQ2) 1944
Q3) Field Marshal
Q4) Barbarossa
Q5) 872 (would that mean 900?) There is a fabulous book by a Catalan writer and investigative journalist, Montserrat Roig, called ‘L’agulla daurada’ (the Golden Needle) about the siege. She visited and talked to survivors in 1980 and it’s a truly moving and compelling read. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have been translated into English (the author died of breast cancer a few years back and she also researched Catalans in Nazi concentration camps, where she mentions one of my mother’s uncles. I know I’ve talked about him before). Perhaps it should be. I wonder…
Oh, about the answer I got wrong, I committed one of the sins I always warn my students against. For some reason I read the biggest, rather than the smallest, and didn’t check again (that’s one of the problems as I cut and paste the questions into a document and then delete the questions and cut and paste the answers into your blog where you can no longer see the questions, and therefore I have no option to read the questions again…). In wordpress you comment on the same page where the actual post is, so at least you have the option of checking what you're talking about (not that it always helps). Anyway…
Second referendum… The problem here is that the government does not want a referendum because it insists it is unconstitutional (even though quite a few other things, like the fact that we have a King were decided before the constitution was in place and nobody ever was given a choice, and the actual Estatut d’Autonomia, that governs Catalonia, was not subject of a referendum either) and in any case it should be the whole of Spain that should have a say (you can see where this is going, I’m sure). Anyway… It doesn’t look as if either of those referendums (referenda?) will happen. I must check your review of that movie. When I saw your tweet I checked and the reviews are very bad.
Apple provides great support.
ReplyDelete1. Germany
2. 1944
3. Field Marshall
4. Barbarossa
5. 900