Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 8-1-2022: Stephen Hawking

8th January, 2022.

Yayness!

It’s Saturday!

Which means I’ve got to try and pick up some paperwork from my GPs,

And see if a repeat prescription’s in.

Here’s hoping it’s not raining … !

~≈§≈~

Oh … I’ve just had a look at the BBC’s website.

Apparently, the building that used to be the local branch of Dorothy Perkins*?

Is going to be turned into a branch of Tescos.

Whether’s that a good or bad thing, is a whole other idea.

But at least it’s an alternative to Sainsbury’s.

~≈§≈~

Oh, as one last thing … ?

Do you remember a TV show called Grange Hill … ?   It was aimed at children, and huge, when I was growing up.

And famously controversial.

After all, it saw teenage pregnancies, bullying, racist pupils, activist pupils, and at least one teacher/pupil affair.

And had one heroin addicted character — Zammo, played by Lee McDonald — ending up licking spilt heroin from the floor, after stealing from his friends.

All this … ?

Is due to be revived as a film in 2023.

I might just have to keep an eye peeled.

~≈§≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga†, Mum‡ and Debbi^ putting in their answers: with Olga and Debbi scoring five out of five and Mum on four.



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

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

Q1)        8th January saw the birth of scientist, Stephen Hawking.   In which year of the 1940s?

Q2)        Between 1979 and 2009, Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.   At which University: Oxford, Cambridge or Liverpool?

Q3)        He famously proposed what’s now called Hawking radiation.   It’s a type of radiation emitted by what: neutron stars, black holes or super novas?

Q4)        For many years, he worked with which mathematical physicist: Roger Penrose, Albert Einstein or Pierre de Fermat?

Q5)        Finally … ?   1988 saw him release him release his best known book: A Brief History of what?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1)        The HMS Beagle dropped anchor off the Chonos Archipelago: on 7th January, 1835.   The man who wrote The Voyage of the Beagle, and On the Origin of Species was on board.   Who was that man … ?
A1)        Charles Darwin.

Q2)        CDQ was introduced as a distress call: on 7th January, 1904.   What replaced it, in 1906: SOS, RPG or RNR?
A2)        SOS.

Q3)        The Sakigake probe — the first Space Probe launched by Japan — was launched on 7th January, 1985.   Where was it going: Halley’s Comet, Mars or Venus?
A3)        Halley’s Comet.

Q4)        14 people died on 7th January, 1928.   When which London river flooded: Hackney Brook, the Fleet or the Thames?
A4)        The Thames.   (Both Hackney Brook and the Fleet are subterranean.)

Q5)        Finally … ?   The Surveyor 7 craft was launched: on 7th January, 1968.   Where was it going: Mars, the Moon or Venus?
A5)        The Moon.

Here’s a thought …

“My goal is simple.   It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
Stephen Hawking.

And a song …

Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

The quizmaster’s decisions about scores are final.

Thank you for coming: have a good day.

*        The building used to be a pub called the Lion and Lamb: hence the signs over the doors.   It ALSO used to be WHSmiths: I got my first computer, a ZX Spectrum, there.

†        Yeah: I would have to be awkward on the Southpaw front, Olga … !   :)   But on a mildly serious note?   I bowl right handedly … and play guitar left handedly: which involves fretting — the initially fiddly bit — with my right hand.   What I’d do with a golf club, I don’t know … !

        As for the NHS?   Well … what can I tell you … ?   Bar the fact that some two hundred army medics have been drafted in to help out.   (I’m assuming they’re combat medics, and roughly equivalent to a civilian Accident and Emergency doctor.)

        Oh, the restart people got back in touch: they’d like me to do a face to face CV meeting.   I’m umming and ahhing about it.   Even given the cost will be reimbursed, I’d rather not spent the money.

‡        Hello, Mum!

^        It’s fantasy, Debbi.   Well … high fantasy: but not what you call Tolkien!   The world building, from what I remember, is great.   Although, for a lot of the first book, I was seriously tempted to slap Covenant, and tell him to get on with it!   He — I read the first six novels, back then — are seriously murky!   It would be a difficult one to film.   (Did I mention the character’s a leper?   No, really: he’s got Hansen’s Disease …)

        Oh, as a thought … ?   And I think I’ve mentioned it before … ?   Posh is supposed to be a contraction of the phrase ‘Port Out, Starboard Home.’