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The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz


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parliament wasn't around in the 8th century, this man also calculated the length of the british coast line and was only a few miles out

 

no popes where harmed in the anwsering of this question, but this bloke was not a pope

Edited by Munkeh
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Hang on, I thought you were talking about the switch from Julian (Roman) calendar to Gregorian ('the current calender system') in this country around 1750... Mandelbrot's famous for his calculations of the length of the coast of Britain, but he's 20th century. I don't think you can 'calculate' it without accurate maps, which didn't exist in the 8th century, so your mystery person could either i) guessed the length of the British coast or ii) Surveyed the length of the British coast...? Anyway, Bede is the only multi-tasker I know from that early in our history.

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Hang on, I thought you were talking about the switch from Julian (Roman) calendar to Gregorian ('the current calender system') in this country around 1750... Mandelbrot's famous for his calculations of the length of the coast of Britain, but he's 20th century. I don't think you can 'calculate' it without accurate maps, which didn't exist in the 8th century, so your mystery person could either i) guessed the length of the British coast or ii) Surveyed the length of the British coast...? Anyway, Bede is the only multi-tasker I know from that early in our history.

 

ding bede

 

Born in about 673, Bede was placed under the care of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, at the age of seven. A few years later he was sent to the foundation of Jarrow under Abbot Ceolfrid and there he remained, learning, teaching and writing for the rest of his life. He is famous for writing the History of the English Church and People which earned him the title the 'Father of English History'. However, as well as historical and biographical works, he also wrote scriptural commentaries and treatises on grammar and science. The major work of this manuscript is Bede's treatise of 725 On the Reckoning of Time. Amplifying his earlier work On Times, the book was intended to provide Bede's students with a theoretical outline to increase their understanding of computation and the calendar.

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Hang on, I thought you were talking about the switch from Julian (Roman) calendar to Gregorian ('the current calender system') in this country around 1750... Mandelbrot's famous for his calculations of the length of the coast of Britain, but he's 20th century. I don't think you can 'calculate' it without accurate maps, which didn't exist in the 8th century, so your mystery person could either i) guessed the length of the British coast or ii) Surveyed the length of the British coast...? Anyway, Bede is the only multi-tasker I know from that early in our history.

 

ding bede

 

Born in about 673, Bede was placed under the care of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, at the age of seven. A few years later he was sent to the foundation of Jarrow under Abbot Ceolfrid and there he remained, learning, teaching and writing for the rest of his life. He is famous for writing the History of the English Church and People which earned him the title the 'Father of English History'. However, as well as historical and biographical works, he also wrote scriptural commentaries and treatises on grammar and science. The major work of this manuscript is Bede's treatise of 725 On the Reckoning of Time. Amplifying his earlier work On Times, the book was intended to provide Bede's students with a theoretical outline to increase their understanding of computation and the calendar.

Hardly the modern calendar as Bede's reckoning made March 21st new years day

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Hardly the modern calendar as Bede's reckoning made March 21st new years day

I've got to agree. Pope Gregory XIII, who gave his name to the Gregorian Calendar we now use, didn't make the decree that created the calendar until 1582. Only four countries initially adopted it, and we didn't until 1752 - over a millennium after Bede. (link)

 

Geoff

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Hardly the modern calendar as Bede's reckoning made March 21st new years day

I've got to agree. Pope Gregory XIII, who gave his name to the Gregorian Calendar we now use, didn't make the decree that created the calendar until 1582. Only four countries initially adopted it, and we didn't until 1752 - over a millennium after Bede. (link)

 

Geoff

 

so what you are saying is that bede introduced it to this country

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Hardly the modern calendar as Bede's reckoning made March 21st new years day

I've got to agree. Pope Gregory XIII, who gave his name to the Gregorian Calendar we now use, didn't make the decree that created the calendar until 1582. Only four countries initially adopted it, and we didn't until 1752 - over a millennium after Bede. (link)

 

Geoff

 

so what you are saying is that bede introduced it to this country

No. What I'm saying is that it was impossible for Bede to have introduced the Gregorian calendar to this country because that calendar didn't exist during Bede's lifetime. Bede lived approx 672 to 735 AD; the current calendar was created by papal bull of Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 - about three quarters of a millennium after Bede died. While Bede gave instructions for calculating the date of Easter, AFAICT he used the Julian calendar, not the current system.

 

HTH,

 

Geoff

 

Wiki links:

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Anyway! Moving away from the Jarrow area, what's next in this series? A circus, a street, an arch, a gate...
Is it a way?

As in London Underground Central Line Stations...... Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Marble Arch, Lancaster Gate then Queensway

DING to Turtlebum; yep, that's what I was after. Over to you :(
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Sadly I know the answer, it's the Jubilee which norsch answered first, however, the East London line is closed for reconstruction and will reopen as a Overground line later this year, so technically is now no longer a Tube Line. So, this now means the Central also connects all Tube/DLR lines and if you include the interchange at Bank/Monument so too the Circle and District lines!

 

I better get a life....like hunting plastic Tupperware. :)

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None at all

DING to Dr Dick, the last "legal tender" note in Scotland was the Bank of England £1.

Can you explain this?

 

The definition of "legal tender" is anything that cannot legally be refused as payment of a debt. The Pound Sterling is now a fiat currency. Thus, all Sterling banknotes and coins are "legal tender" AFAICT across the entire UK.

 

TIA,

 

Geoff

 

Edited to add:

 

I've done some further research and according to the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954, only Bank of England notes with value less than £5 are legal tender in Scotland (i.e. the pound and ten-shilling notes at the time the legislation was enacted). With the demise of the pound and ten-shilling notes, Scotland was left with only coinage as legal tender. However, there is case law that should mean all English and Scottish bank notes are now legal tender. "Some time ago" the reference I found claims that a Scottish authority tried to refuse a cash payment in Scottish notes on the grounds that it was not legal tender, but the Sheriff ruled that that they were obliged to accept anything which was commonly accepted as "money". In doing so, AFAICT his ruling set a precedent that anything commonly accepted as "money" cannot be legally refused as payment of a debt in Scotland, and hence "anything commonly accepted as 'money'" now meets the definition of legal tender.

Edited by Pajaholic
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None at all

DING to Dr Dick, the last "legal tender" note in Scotland was the Bank of England £1.

Can you explain this?

 

The definition of "legal tender" is anything that cannot legally be refused as payment of a debt. The Pound Sterling is now a fiat currency. Thus, all Sterling banknotes and coins are "legal tender" AFAICT across the entire UK.

 

TIA,

 

Geoff

 

Edited to add:

 

I've done some further research and according to the Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954, only Bank of England notes with value less than £5 are legal tender in Scotland (i.e. the pound and ten-shilling notes at the time the legislation was enacted). With the demise of the pound and ten-shilling notes, Scotland was left with only coinage as legal tender. However, there is case law that should mean all English and Scottish bank notes are now legal tender. "Some time ago" the reference I found claims that a Scottish authority tried to refuse a cash payment in Scottish notes on the grounds that it was not legal tender, but the Sheriff ruled that that they were obliged to accept anything which was commonly accepted as "money". In doing so, AFAICT his ruling set a precedent that anything commonly accepted as "money" cannot be legally refused as payment of a debt in Scotland, and hence "anything commonly accepted as 'money'" now meets the definition of legal tender.

Payment by cheque or credit card is also accepted, but neither are legal tender.

 

In the United Kingdom, only coins valued 1 pound Sterling, 2 pounds, and 5 pounds Sterling are legal tender in unlimited amounts throughout the territory of the United Kingdom. In accordance with the Coinage Act 1971,[9] gold sovereigns are also legal tender for any amount. Although not specifically mentioned on them, the face values of gold coins are 50p, £1, £2 and £5, a mere fraction of their worth as bullion. The United Kingdom legislation that introduced the 1 pound coin left no United Kingdom-wide legal tender banknote.

 

Currently, 20 pence pieces, 25-pence coins and 50-pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 10 pounds; 5-pence pieces and 10-pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 5 pounds; and 1-penny pieces and 2-pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 20 pence.

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Payment by cheque or credit card is also accepted, but neither are legal tender.

AIUI, the difference between "acceptable payment" and "legal tender" is whether the recipient is legally obliged to accept the form of payment. Thus credit cards and cheques are not legal tender and are accepted by agreement between the parties concerned since the recipient is under no obligation to accept that form of payment. With legal tender, agreement is not necessary since the recipient is legally obliged to accept that form of payment.

 

If that reference I dug up is correct then case law has modified the statutes we quoted to make legal tender in Scotland anything (including English and Scottish banknotes) commonly accepted as money - since that ruling obliged the authority concerned to accept such payments.

 

That said, I guess this is moot and the quizmaster's decision is final. So notwithstanding this interesting excursion into the UK money system, I await DrDick&Vick's question with interest.

 

Geoff

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He played Inspector Lynch and also played the same character in 'Softly Softly' even earlier. Showing my age now!!

 

By the way, sorry for my non-confirmation of my last question, internet went down at work over the weekend. It was, indeed, a correct Ding to Norsch.

Edited by Madam Cholet
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