Idle Moments – Dec 22 / Jan 23

So, the year has nearly gone full circle (whatever that means) and it is nearly the season to be jolly (or substitute any emotion you feel to be appropriate in your case). But that doesn’t mean that I shan’t pass up the opportunity to plague you with the usual batch of grief and rubbish that hides under the title above. Oh, by the way – Happy Christmas.

Now let the head scratching begin (Do people really scratch their heads when facing a puzzle?) in time-honoured (there’s another cliché) manner with the Number Puzzles:

2 F is the L of a MCOP
20 TPI on a QIWS
200 B in a HCM
297 M is the L of AFP
1928 TSNFI in GB
36 F is the W of a TC
4 B on a CP
210 is the S of the N from O to T
1847 QTS
345 S to the T of TM

I often wonder how ideas for 5BY4 spring into my mind (I think desperation plays a large part). Somehow, this time, I came up with the idea of linking dukedoms (not the royal ones) with their ancestral homes. You can call it ‘Envy Corner’ if you like. Rather than linking them, I broke the links; can you reconnect them? (Do you give a monkey’s? Do I care?). Before we start, I offer a word of warning (perilously close to a cliché). Some Dukes have more than one family home; I may not have chosen the most obvious one in every case.

 1. Duke of Westminster         A. Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire
 2. Duke of Rutland             B. Goodwood House, Sussex
 3. Duke of Marlborough         C. Badminton House, Gloucestershire
 4. Duke of Devonshire          D. Eaton Hall, Cheshire
 5. Duke of Bedford             E. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
 6. Duke of Beaufort            F. Stratfield Saye House, Hampshire
 7. Duke of Richmond            G. Syon House, London
 8. Duke of Wellington          H. Arundel Castle, Sussex
 9. Duke of Northumberland      I. Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
10. Duke of Norfolk             J. Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire

General knowledge

Collectively, who were Athol Guy, Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger? And who is missing?
Thought by some to be a totally loopy motorbike, the 2.5 litre Rocket 3 is the top of the Triumph range, but what company was the first to sell a Rocket 3 model (of a mere 750cc engine capacity)?
While I’m thinking about motorbikes, what company was famous for its Chief and Scout models?
They claim that ‘What made Milwaukee famous’ is a beer but what motorcycle manufacturer really made Milwaukee famous?
Right, let’s get Christmassy. Who first recorded the song Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which topped the American Billboard chart in 1949?
And who first had a hit with it in the UK and when?
Before the song came the book titled Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer; it was written by Robert L May but when was it published?
The display of Christmas lights in Oxford Street was preceded (by a few years) by Regent Street. In what years were both streets first so decorated?
According to the National Christmas Tree Association (of America), the first written record of a decorated Christmas tree comes from 1510; in what European capital city?
Of course, it is widely reported that the Christmas tree was introduced into Great Britain by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (mainly the former). To put this into context, in what year were Victoria and Albert married (and if you’re feeling really clever, on what date)?

So there we are for another year, then. I hope you all have a Happy Christmas (Capitalisation must make it a cliché, surely) despite my efforts to the contrary.

Andy Pirson

Here are the solutions to the puzzles set in the October/November column:

Number puzzles:

5 Boys Chocolate bar by Fry’s
68 Pence is the Price of a Second Class Postage Stamp (currently)
5 Magpies for Silver
1710 Consecration of Saint Paul’s Cathedral
3,628,800 is the Product of the Numbers One to Ten
3 is the Number of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony
74 is the Atomic Number of Tungsten
5 Films by the Beatles
24 Carat is Pure Gold
18,915 Tons was the Displacement of Great Eastern

5BY4:

The National Parks in England (smallest to largest)

117 square miles – The Broads
224 square miles – New Forest
268 square miles – Exmoor
370 square miles – Dartmoor
405 square miles – Northumberland
554 square miles – North York Moors
555 square miles – Peak District
634 square miles – South Downs
841 square miles – Yorkshire Dales
885 square miles – Lake District

General knowledge:

The original venue for the Promenade Concerts, which was destroyed by an incendiary bomb during the Blitz in 1941, was Queen’s Hall in Langham Place, London W1.
The first Promenade Concerts, organised by impresario Robert Newman and conductor Henry Wood, were held in 1895.
The Chamber Music Prom concerts on Monday lunchtime through the season, were held until 2021 in Cadogan Hall, London SW1.
When it opened in 1907, Cadogan Hall was a Christian Science church. It reopened as a concert hall, after refurbishment, in 2004.
The iconic motor car, launched at the Motor Show in November 1922, was the Austin Seven.
10 October 2022 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the appointment of Sir John Betjeman as Poet Laureate.
The author, Thomas Hughes, born on 20 October 1822 in Uffington, Berkshire, is best known for Tom Brown’s Schooldays.
The licences introduced on 1 November 1922 (at a cost of 10 shillings (50p) per year) were radio licences.
Charles Buchinsky, born on 13 November 1922 in Ehrenfiels, Pennsylvania, is better known as Charles Bronson.
At the first international football match, on 30 November 1872 between Scotland and England, the final score was a 0-0 draw.

Finally, somehow, in the last edition, we repeated the Number Puzzle questions from the August / September edition instead of giving the answers. Apologies; here they are:

9 is the Logarithm of a Billion
20 Nickels in a Dollar
8 Legs of an Arachnid
30 is the Product of the First Three Prime Numbers
1 Crossing of the River Thames in the London Marathon
4 Atoms of Hydrogen in a Molecule of Methane
9 Players in a Baseball Team
20 Hundredweight in a Ton
2 Merlin Engines on a De Havilland Mosquito
6 Reputed Quarts in an Imperial Gallon