Well here we are again; autumn is here and Christmas shopping will soon begin. I got my COVID booster jab yesterday (as I [type]write this) and I’ve had my letter from the DWP saying that my Winter Fuel Allowance is on its way, so all is well with the world – apart from all the usual cr*p. Oh, the joys of being an old git! With any luck, you may be reading this from a paper copy, picked in a pub! What’s not to like? as purveyors of meaningless aphorisms say (endlessly).
Ah Christmas! The season of sleeping three to a bed with your brother’s big toe in your nose! (AP 2021) But it was a long time ago.
Let’s have some number puzzles. You might find something Christmassy among them but I don’t expect so; like tanners in the pudding, I didn’t put any in:
1.4 SA on the MT-F
2.7 L on the RS
3.4130 M is the L of the RN
4.3 R of S on a WTH
5.11 VS on the BS
6.2 P on a LE
7.8 OT in a SS
8.2159 M is the MD of the M
9.5 L on the RS in S
10.7 P on the BS on the AF
I was musing on what to do for 5BY4 this time when I remembered seeing a television programme recently which informed me that Anglesey is bigger than the Isle of Man (Oops! What a giveaway!). I’d never compared them before. I just assumed it was the other way round. Anyway, that prompted me to call this time’s offering ‘British Islands Top Ten (Not)’ listing the islands ranked 3rd to 12th for you to sort out into order. Areas are also given to help (or obfuscate, take your pick):
1.Isle of Mull A. 9th [221 sq. mi.]
2.Isle of Wight B. 5th [374 sq. mi.]
3.Mainland (Shetland) C. 11th [167 sq. mi.]
4.Isle of Skye D. 12th [147 sq. mi.]
5.Lewis & Harris E. 10th [202 sq. mi.]
6.Mainland (Orkney) F. 3rd [841 sq. mi.]
7.Anglesey (including
Holy Island) G. 8th [239 sq. mi.]
8.Isle of Man H. 6th [338 sq. mi.]
9.Isle of Arran I. 7th [276 sq. mi.]
10.Islay J. 4th [639 sq. mi.]
If you haven’t worked out the two biggest islands, ask somebody to buy you an atlas for Christmas.
And so finally, we come to the last Trivial Knowledge for 2021. It started out with a bit of a Christmas theme but I got diverted after question 1. I did drop back to the season however (mainly out of desperation) for the last two:
1.The tune ‘Cranbrook’ by Canterbury cobbler, Thomas Clark is perhaps best known as the music to ‘On Ilkla Moor ‘Baht ‘At’ but for what Christmas hymn was it written?
2.Similarly (but not Christmassy), which hymn is sung to the tune Crimond?
3.Without cheating (i.e. looking) what is the only vowel that is not on the top letters row of the standard English keyboard?
4.Although there had been earlier court poets, who was the first poet laureate, appointed by King Charles II in 1668?
5Why was the above poet laureate the only one ever to have been dismissed?
6.How many people have held the post of poet laureate in the 21st century (and can you name them)?
7.What was the most powerful class of steam railway locomotive ever built and put into service (in the world)?
8.What number do you get if you subtract Flying Scotsman (now) from Tornado?
9.In the Twelve Days of Christmas, how many presents did the remarkably (nay ridiculously) generous True Love give to the object of his affection?
10.And of these presents, what two were the most numerous (and how many of each did he give)?
So there we are then. Here’s hoping that we don’t get another PM’s U-turn and we shall be able to celebrate Christmas with people outside our household bubble (remember them?) Keep wearing the masks! And have a good New Year.
Andy Pirson
PS: New Year’s Resolution – cut down on the parentheses!
As usual, here are the solutions to the puzzles set in the October/November Idle Moments column.
Number puzzles:
1.10 Square Chains in an Acre
2.6 Firkins in a Hogshead
3.1927 First Solo Transatlantic Flight (by Charles Lindbergh)
4.2 Magpies for Joy
5.2620 Passenger Capacity of Queen Mary Two
6.787 Model Number of the Boeing Dreamliner
7.3 Kings of Orient Are
8.0 Locks on the Norfolk Broads
9.20 Points for Four Fives in Cribbage
10.46 Churches in the City of London
5BY4: (Soloists):
1.Emmanuel Pahoud – Flute
2.John Williams – Guitar
3.Nicholas Daniel – Oboe
4.Anna Lapwood – Organ
5.Julian Bream – Lute
6.Nicola Benedetti – Violin
7.Barry Tuckwell– (French) Horn
8.Sheku Kanneh-Mason – ‘Cello
9.Alfred Brendel – Piano
10.Evelyn Glennie – Percussion
General Knowledge:
1.The British grocer, philanthropist and racing yacht owner who died in London on 2nd October 1931 was Sir Thomas Lipton.
2.The first escalators in Great Britain entered service on 4 October 1911, at Earls Court underground station.
3.The President of a Middle East state, assassinated during a military parade on 6 October 1981, was Anwar Sadat. He was the president of Egypt and died in Cairo.
4.The first charity street collection in Britain, which took place in Manchester and Salford on 8 October 1891, was held in support of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
5.The polar explorer who was born near Oslo on 10 October 1861 was Fridtjof Nansen.
6.The author David John Cornwell, who was born on 19 October 1931, wrote under the name John le Carré.
7.Britain’s largest ever and last battleship, laid down on 20 October 1941, was HMS Vanguard and it was built at Clydebank by John Brown & Company.
8.The famous meeting which took place on 10 November at Ujiji (then in Tanganyika), was between Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone.
9.The long running BBC television competition which was first broadcast on 12 November 1951 and still continues today (although under a somewhat different format and title) is Come Dancing.
10.The Swedish astronomer born in Uppsala, Sweden on 27 November 1701 was Anders Celsius and he, of course, devised the eponymous temperature scale in 1742.