The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz

[+Smithbats]

Ooooh I think I know this one, was it the HMS Bulldog?

That would be a DING!!

 

Thank you

 

Lord Robert Baden Powell set up Scouting. What was the name of his sister (Who set up Guiding)?

 

Agnes?

DING nicely done Edited September 13, 2009 by Smithbats

[+Team Noodles]

easy one next, bit of math here :

 

6 x 9 = ..?

[FourQ]

54

[+Team Noodles]

54

 

nope

[+keehotee]

42 (in base 13) - the answer to the ultimate question

[+Team Noodles]

42 (in base 13) - the answer to the ultimate question

 

WIN! (altho base 13 isn't required to ding )

[+keehotee]

Woohoo.

And as they haven't been posted for a while, the rules......

 

 

Rule 1 - No googling!

 

Rule 2 - Try and keep your question at the level someone in a pub quiz might be able to answer...

 

 

What have these got in common?

 

Monty Python - Matching Tie and Handkerchief

M - Pop Muzik

Kate Bush - Sensual World

[+The Forester]

Are we allowed to consult a houseguest?

 

I have a guest whose name is Mr Bean, yes really!, and he owns a record label in California. He's told me the connection, technically. Am I allowed to blow the gaff on that basis?

[+keehotee]

Are we allowed to consult a houseguest?

 

I have a guest whose name is Mr Bean, yes really!, and he owns a record label in California. He's told me the connection, technically. Am I allowed to blow the gaff on that basis?

 

You can, yes. Although I'm not sure why him owning a record label would help.

[+The Forester]

Here goes:

We think the link is that all three records were reorded on twin groove vinyl. On the Kate Bush album, for example, if you placed the stylus in one groove you could listen to the normal vocals, the other groove played the instrumental version.

 

My chum experimented with a few whacky vinyl technologies in the 1970s, including a now defunct method of recording video onto LP's. His idea was to combine video with pop music. It was an idea ahead of its time and the technology wasn't quite up to it. He produced the world's first video for the system which RCA were going to launch as "capacitive electronic disks". He worked with Michael Nesmith (Monkee) and Kevin McCormick (went on the produce Saturday Night Fever) and William Dear who went on to direct Harry & The Hendersons and some other guff that I've never heard of. RCA got cold feet and pulled the plug on the technology, thinking that nobody would ever want to watch a pop video.

Edited September 16, 2009 by The Forester

[+keehotee]

Here goes:

We think the link is that all three records were reorded on twin groove vinyl. On the Kate Bush album, for example, if you placed the stylus in one groove you could listen to the normal vocals, the other groove played the instrumental version.

 

 

Ding

[+The Forester]

Here's one I think the Blorenges can probably answer:

 

What word rhymes with 'month'?

[+Smithbats]

Isn't month like Purple? I thought it didn't have a rhyming word.

[+The Forester]

Hence my reference to Blorenge. Many people thought that orange doesn't have any rhyming words.

 

Month does have a rhyming word. It's in quite common useage in the UK (and elsewhere in Anglophone and some other countries).

[+Guanajuato]

Here's one I think the Blorenges can probably answer:

 

What word rhymes with 'month'?

Quite a few if you have a slight lisp.

 

How about Millionth, Billionth, trillionth ...

 

Do I win a nice juicy Blorenge? Or a Slurple?

[+The Forester]

 

Lithping ith not involved.

[+keehotee]

Grunth - if Stephen Fry's to be believed......

It's the Sikh (I think) holy book - or something.

[+The Forester]

That's a good Ding to Keehotee.

 

QI was where I discovered that little bijou.

 

Fry is right, by the way. I checked before uploading the question. I asked a chap whose surname is Singh. Seemed a pretty good credential to me!

[+keehotee]

OK - easy one, 'coz I'm in a rush....

 

Pick the odd one out:-

 

Humpback Whale

Beluga Whale

Killer Whale

Sperm Whale

Finback Whale

[+The Forester]

One difference that immediately springs to mind may not be the one you're looking for.

 

Belugas have no dorsal fin. That's one of the reasons why they are so at home in the Arctic under ice.

 

Orcas regularly come to grief in the Norwegian fjords in winter. The ice there is mostly freshwater ice from waterfall runoff. The Orcas have huge dorsal fins and they rip them to shreds when desperately trying to find a lead or a polynya in the ice. Because that huge dorsal fin sticks up a couple of metres and is some way behind the blowhole they just can't make use of small gaps in the ice to breathe, so they drown. I've seen it for myself. Very distressing to be able t odo nothing to help the poor blighters. I suspect that drowning must be the worst imaginable death for a marine mammal.

 

Perhaps that's the reason why the Belugas always have that silly grin. They're giggling at the stoopid killer whales!

Edited September 16, 2009 by The Forester

[+MartyBartfast]

I think it's the Killer Whale, which isn't a true whale.

[+keehotee]

I think it's the Killer Whale, which isn't a true whale.

 

Ding

 

They are all - with the exception of the killer whale - whales.

The killer whale isn't a whale at all - it's the largest of the dolphin family.

[+The Forester]

Will you tell them that they're not whales, or do you want me to?

[+MartyBartfast]

Just watching Shooting Stars, and they said that James Bond had shoes with a dagger in them. In fact they're wrong it wasn't 007 who had those shoes, so the Question :

 

Which of Bonds adversaries had shoes with a dagger in the toe, and which film did it appear in?

[FourQ]

That was an early one so it's either Dr No or From Russia With Love. I'd guess at FRWL but I'm not 100%.

As for the character / actress I have no idea. Probably someone named Ivana Killalott

[Chudley Cannons]

From Russia with Love. Rosa Klebb.

[+MartyBartfast]

From Russia with Love. Rosa Klebb.

 

Ding

[+MartyBartfast]

Oops

Edited September 17, 2009 by MartyBartfast

[Chudley Cannons]

Born in Texas, this singer, songwriter and actor earned a Blue at Oxford in Boxing.

 

Although pretty successful in his own right he will also be know for many hit versions of his songs that were performed by others. In fact one of his sons is named Johnny Cash ........

[Chudley Cannons]

Must be too hard for you. If the question makes it through the night I will give you a clue.

Edited September 18, 2009 by Chudley Cannons

[+chizu]

Complete guess - Weird Al Yankovitch?

[+Smithbats]

Kris Kristoffersson

 

One of the most famous songs he wrote for Johnny Cash was 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' one of my all time favourites!

[Chudley Cannons]

Kris Kristoffersson

 

One of the most famous songs he wrote for Johnny Cash was 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' one of my all time favourites!

Correct. Who would have thought that he studied at Oxford?

[+Smithbats]

I know! He is the last person you would think! Okay here is a new question...

 

Ambassador to the Court of Saint James, is the official title for Ambassadors of which country?

[+The Forester]

All of 'em.

 

It's the standard title for any Ambassador to the UK.

 

It's something to do with the fact that traditionally a Royal Court was quite mobile, so an Ambassador's title would have to change dozens of times a year. They (whoever "they" are) decided to simplify by making one single Court the designated location to which ambassadors were, err, ambassadors. They chose the oldest Court, which was St James's.

 

The reason why I know is that my first ever bank account was a Post Office savings account which I proudly opened at the delightfully quaint PO at the Palace of St James at the age of 7, with a shilling which my great-aunt Phoebe gave me to start me off at my first term at boarding school. I still remember those flint-lined walls today! As a kid I always thought of my money in that account being held somewhere deep inside St James's, carefully guarded by enormously tall Guardsmen in red tunics and huge bearskin hats. Whenever I heard the name of St James I always paid close attention in case it might affect my precious shillings.

[+Smithbats]

Huge Ding

Edited September 19, 2009 by Smithbats

[+The Forester]

The Russian equivalent of NavStar GPS is Glonass.

 

What was the name of Russian equivalent of the now obsolete US Navy Transit satnav system?

 

And for a bonus point, describe its operating principle. How did the thing work?

 

Usual rules: no Googling etc.

[+chizu]

 

Usual rules: no Googling etc.

 

Thought the rules also stated pub quiz level questions!!

[+The Duckers]

Yeah, I go to a regular pub quiz and I think if that question came up, everybody would give up and walk out!!!.........

 

I am sure that someone will know it though

[+Guanajuato]

The Russian equivalent of NavStar GPS is Glonass.

 

What was the name of Russian equivalent of the now obsolete US Navy Transit satnav system?

 

And for a bonus point, describe its operating principle. How did the thing work?

 

Usual rules: no Googling etc.

Along the lines of the Space Pen/Pencil myth...

 

The SEXTANT?

 

I've never studied how it worked, never having had need. But I know its to do the position of the stars & sun.

[+Lost in Space]

I've never studied how it worked, never having had need. But I know its to do the position of the stars & sun.

 

Elevation, angle, of the sun to the horizon at noon.

[+The Forester]

There are spacecraft which can measure their own co-ordinates by measuring angles between stars, but this satellite system wasn't/isn't one of them. The Shuttle Orbiter uses that optical system, as do Trident misssiles and other ICBMs.

 

The satellite system in this question is still in use, albeit using its priniciple of operation in reverse. It is part of the Search and Rescue satellite system. Instead of indicating position of receivers on the ground, it now measures the position of transmitters on the ground, specifically emergency locator beacons such as are fitted to trans-oceanic aircraft and ships.

 

Its former counterpart, USN Transit, is also still in use, but not for direct position fixing. Its signals are used to measure ionospheric effects and those measurements are used to tweak GPS data.

 

Edited to delete two grocer's apostrophes which had smuggled themselves in.

Edited September 21, 2009 by The Forester

[+The Forester]

Time for an easypeasy clue:

 

Named after a noisy insect.

[+drdick&vick]

glad you dont write the questions for the pub quiz at my local

[+The Forester]

If you sum the total IQs in that pub, do you reach triple digits?

[+drdick&vick]

I just think this is above the normal level of pub quizzes.

Maybe your local pub is inhabited my know everything types with IQ's of 200+.

[+The Blorenges]

If you sum the total IQs in that pub, do you reach triple digits?

 

This sarcastic remark adds nothing to this thread.

 

The Russian equivalent of NavStar GPS is Glonass.

 

What was the name of Russian equivalent of the now obsolete US Navy Transit satnav system?

 

And for a bonus point, describe its operating principle. How did the thing work?

 

Usual rules: no Googling etc.

 

I agree with the comments that others have made: I consider this question to be too difficult for "Pub Quiz"

standards.

 

MrsB

[+The Forester]

I doubt that the locals in the pub in my local village would be able to answer any question that isn't about football or tv soap-operas. They're type of people who say "Ooohh!" when ever they hear someone pronounce a trisyllabic word.

 

The denizens of another pub three or four villages away, however, easily beat the kids on University Challenge every time.

 

I suspect that even in the dumbest pub you'd find someone who could guess the name of a very loud insect though.

[+MartyBartfast]

 

I suspect that even in the dumbest pub you'd find someone who could guess the name of a very loud insect though.

 

Ciccada?, and I'll have a pint of best please landlord - Hic....

[+The Forester]

I'll accept that (the spelling of the answer, not the bar order).

 

The Russians actually called their SatNav system Tsikada. It worked by transmitting a constant tone which rose and faded as it passed your location like the sound of a passing train. Knowing its orbit and by timing the exact time that the tone's frequency nulled (known as the Doppler effect) you could calculate a line of position along which you were situated. Match several of those satellite pass measurements and you had your co-ordinates on the ground.

 

It worked quite well, but was as cumbersome as the American equivalent and lacked the sophistication of the US Imperial globe-spanning tracking network to tweak the orbital parameters.

 

They're still up there and they're still doing useful work, but unlike their American counterparts they're now integrated into the worldwide SARSAT (search and rescue satellite) system for the saving of human life at sea.