Jump to content

The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz

Simply Paul

Recommended Posts

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

If one pound of pure lead is divided equally in x parts and each part is formed into a sphere, the shot so formed is known as x-gauge. This is also used to measure the bore of a smooth-bored gun. So a 12-bore shotgun has a barrel bore the same diameter as that of a 12-gauge shot.

 

I have a friend in the Sealed Knot who tells me that the cost of renewing his blackpowder musket licence is £40 per year, which I understand is the same as for a shotgun licence.

keehotee

+keehotee

Posted
Posted

If one pound of pure lead is divided equally in x parts and each part is formed into a sphere, the shot so formed is known as x-gauge. This is also used to measure the bore of a smooth-bored gun. So a 12-bore shotgun has a barrel bore the same diameter as that of a 12-gauge shot.

 

I have a friend in the Sealed Knot who tells me that the cost of renewing his blackpowder musket licence is £40 per year, which I understand is the same as for a shotgun licence.

 

ding

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

Thanks! Next question:

 

On December 7 1941 the USS Phoenix was moored at Pearl Harbour when the Japanese attacked. She had the distinction of being the only major warship at Pearl Harbour during the attack that sustained neither damage nor casualties, which earned her the nickname of the luckiest ship in the fleet. She was still in service in 1982 when she acquired another distinction. What was that distinction?

MartyBartfast

+MartyBartfast

Posted
Posted

Thanks! Next question:

 

On December 7 1941 the USS Phoenix was moored at Pearl Harbour when the Japanese attacked. She had the distinction of being the only major warship at Pearl Harbour during the attack that sustained neither damage nor casualties, which earned her the nickname of the luckiest ship in the fleet. She was still in service in 1982 when she acquired another distinction. What was that distinction?

 

She was sunk by a British Submarine, while (supposedly) steaming away from The Falkland Islands during the Falklands War!

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

Close, but not quite enough.

 

As you probably know, she was sold to Argentina in 1951, eventually renamed ARA General Belgrano, and was involved in the Falklands 'conflict'. Her track roughly followed the perimeter of the 200-mile exclusion zone in the period leading to her sinking and she was outside that zone. However, the exclusion zone was never for the benefit of the Argentine but a warning for neutral vessels that any unidentified vessel within the zone was likely to be fired upon. The British declaration gave notice that Argentine forces were legitimate targets no matter what their location. In fact, British submarines blockaded most of the Argentine surface fleet in port - well outside the exclusion zone - and AIUI would have fired on any Argentine warship that set sail.

 

Her sinking is the event that gave rise to the distinction. However, she isn't the only ship to be sunk during armed conflict and she isn't the only ship to have been sunk by a submarine. The distinction is unique (i.e. it is not true for any other ship at any time or place in the World).

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

Ok,

 

I think the British sub was nuclear. Is this the only ship sunk by a nuclear sub?

DING!

 

She is the only ship ever to be sunk in anger by a nuclear-powered submarine during armed conflict. The boat in question was HMS Conqueror and it follows that she's the only nuclear powered submarine ever to sink a ship 'in anger'.

NattyBooshka

+NattyBooshka

Posted
Posted

Another marque of the VAG then: Porche?

DING

 

Porsche indeed... VW was funded by the Nazis but a new factory under engineer Ferdinand Porsche was chosen for the project. Later he set up another car company. Current chairman of the VW group Dr. Ferdinand Karl Piëch is Porsche's grandson.

 

VW own 55% of Audi, all of Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, and kind for Rolls Royce that was (apart from the name!) Porsche themselves are not part of the group.

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

Thanks. Until now I had thought that Porsche and VW were part of the same overall group since VW was created to market the car Porsche designed and built to Hitler's specification.

 

FWIW I worked for BMW when they bought the rights to the Rolls Royce name with respect to motor vehicles and remember having a chuckle when we found out that VW had bought the IP. So although VW could make proper Rolls Royce cars they couldn't call them that and BMW could call anything they made a Rolls Royce just as long as it wasn't a proper roller!

 

That said, something seemed wrong about Porsche owning exactly 50% of VW. So (after getting the ding) I checked with Volkswagen themselves. Porsche have just over 50% of the voting rights, but that's not the same as ownership. Porsche Automobil Holding SE own 32.2% with Porsche Holding GmbH, Saltzburg owning 1.5%. Whichever way you look at it, that is way short of the 50% Wikipedia etc. suggests and just shows that you can't always trust Wikipedia!

 

Anyway, next question: What was the name of the first dalmatian recorded as having walked on Chinese soil?

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted (edited)

Lucky guess! I thought he was Venetian.

 

As it's the summer hols:

 

Where did Billy Butlin set up his first holiday camp in 1936?

 

Hi de hi.

He was, but he came from a dalmation family. I got the Q from QI, so a bit more research reveals, "He was born in Curzola, Venetian Dalmatia - now Croatia." HTH

 

To answer your question, ISTR it was Skegness.

Edited by Pajaholic
NattyBooshka

+NattyBooshka

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks. Until now I had thought that Porsche and VW were part of the same overall group since VW was created to market the car Porsche designed and built to Hitler's specification.

 

FWIW I worked for BMW when they bought the rights to the Rolls Royce name with respect to motor vehicles and remember having a chuckle when we found out that VW had bought the IP. So although VW could make proper Rolls Royce cars they couldn't call them that and BMW could call anything they made a Rolls Royce just as long as it wasn't a proper roller!

 

That said, something seemed wrong about Porsche owning exactly 50% of VW. So (after getting the ding) I checked with Volkswagen themselves. Porsche have just over 50% of the voting rights, but that's not the same as ownership. Porsche Automobil Holding SE own 32.2% with Porsche Holding GmbH, Saltzburg owning 1.5%. Whichever way you look at it, that is way short of the 50% Wikipedia etc. suggests and just shows that you can't always trust Wikipedia!

 

Anyway, next question: What was the name of the first dalmatian recorded as having walked on Chinese soil?

Sorry... Data a bit out, but they do hold enough to control the company, can't remember if I was looking at voting or actual shares. Full merger is expected this year, I hope they go for Porsche as the business name, as he's the dude that did the hard work!

 

The RR issue is why I'd have a Bentley. If I wanted luxury I'd buy maybach... For real "ultimate driving machine" it's hard to beat a 2 ton plus British motor that is perfectly capable on the track.

Edited by NattyBooshka
Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

Natty: No need to apologise. As I wrote, sometimes the source of info on which one relies is wrong - but it's not your fault; it's theirs!

 

Anyway, next question: Going back to units of measure. The barn and outhouse are scientific units, but of what are they a measure and what order of magnitude are they in relation to more usual SI units of length, area, volume, temperature, mass, density, etc?

NattyBooshka

+NattyBooshka

Posted
Posted

Natty: No need to apologise. As I wrote, sometimes the source of info on which one relies is wrong - but it's not your fault; it's theirs!

 

Anyway, next question: Going back to units of measure. The barn and outhouse are scientific units, but of what are they a measure and what order of magnitude are they in relation to more usual SI units of length, area, volume, temperature, mass, density, etc?

Area... But no clue on the rest... I'm out!

The Patrician

+The Patrician

Posted
Posted

"Broad as a barn door" and "built like a brick outhouse" are my best shots, though "outhouse" is not always the word used. If I had to make a better guess I'd say something to do with particle physics, they're always making up strange units and particles, and indeed charmed, up and down!

 

I'm out too, I've never heard of them.

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

Darn it. That's two of the three I felt sure would know the answer who've declared themselves out. BTW, by 'order of magnitude' I'm only expecting an answer in general terms. e.g. is it microscopic, pea-sized, football-sized, as big as a building, city, planet, the solar system, galaxy, the universe, etc.

NattyBooshka

+NattyBooshka

Posted
Posted

Darn it. That's two of the three I felt sure would know the answer who've declared themselves out. BTW, by 'order of magnitude' I'm only expecting an answer in general terms. e.g. is it microscopic, pea-sized, football-sized, as big as a building, city, planet, the solar system, galaxy, the universe, etc.

C'mon #3! I'm guessing it's big... Brick outhouses are built quite well?!

MartyBartfast

+MartyBartfast

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'll have a guess that :

 

Barn, unit of area, magnitude building size, usage "couldn't hit the side of a barn at that distance"

Outhouse, unit of density, magnitude couple of tonnes/m^3, usage "built like a brick sh outhouse "

 

edit to add:

 

Oddly enough I was going to ask a question on a unit of measurement last time round, but changed my mind. In the unlikely event that I get the DING for this I'll use it next time.

 

edit (again) to add:

 

Just googled it and I'm waaaaaaay off in the magnitude stakes!

Edited by MartyBartfast
The Patrician

+The Patrician

Posted
Posted

 

Just googled it and I'm waaaaaaay off in the magnitude stakes!

 

I have been staring into my crystal balls all evening and think that it may be something very, very small. It's just a feeling I have.

Pajaholic

Pajaholic

Posted
Posted

I think I'm going to give it to The Patrician. Even though he hasn't actually said what it's a measure of IMO he's the closest having given the application and order of magnitude! The three people I expected to know the answer have all posted and nobody's spot on. We had a discussion of weird units a few pages back, which was why I thought it would go pretty quickly.

 

Anyway, the barn and outhouse are units of area that allegedly came about during the experiments that led up to the first atom bombs. They were firing neutrons at various atoms and some said that doing this with a uranium atoms was like shooting at a barn. It stuck. Today, they are often used in particle physics and are accepted for use alongside more-traditional SI units. A barn is 10-28 square metres (about the cross-sectional area of a uranium nucleus). An outhouse is 10-6 barns (i.e. a microbarn).

 

Over to The Patrician.

The Patrician

+The Patrician

Posted
Posted

Strewth, that's the first time I've ever got a question right without having a bleeding clue what was going on.

 

Easy peasy question requested.....

 

Who is the chief baddy in the Harry Potter films?

 

We have a beer in my local pub that isn't supposed to be there (the pub owner doesn't like the brewer, but the landlord does). We locals get some funny looks from strangers when we ask for a pint of V..... (the beer that cannot be named!) and the bar staff disappear out the back and return with a pint which does not appear on the pumps.

The Blorenges

+The Blorenges

Posted
Posted

This is more QI than pub quiz, but see what you make of it:

 

Here's an odd spot

 

N52°38.415'N, W0°29.707'

 

Why odd?

 

(Bonus virtual exploding rockets and a virtual magnum of champagne if you can find me another similarly odd spot within GB.)

 

MrsB

Fianccetto

+Fianccetto

Posted
Posted (edited)

Is it where 4 county boundaries meet - Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland (at a guess)?

 

if so..a similarly odd spot would be where Staffs, Lincs, Derbyshire and Warks meet.

Edited by Fianccetto
Bear and Ragged

+Bear and Ragged

Posted
Posted (edited)

Didnt twig until Fianccetto said... And I did the cache. :anicute:

http://coord.info/GCG6X9 Four County Bounty (cache now archived)

 

http://coord.info/GC1BCFQ The Four Shire Stone.

The Four Shire Stone is an 18th century monument that marked the meeting of the four counties of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Although the isolated island of Worcestershire has been swallowed up in Gloucestershire, its still possible to step into the other three counties.

Edited by Bear and Ragged
The Blorenges

+The Blorenges

Posted
Posted

Is it where several county boundaries meet - Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland (at a guess) and is between the signs for these and so doesn't appear to be in any particular county?

 

That's near enough, MrsF. As far as I've been able to tell, with much peering at maps, it seems to be the only place in GB where four counties meet at one point.

 

That's why I asked whether anyone could find another similar spot because I'd be QIinged if anyone finds another one.

 

It doesn't seem to have a cache on it either as yet... Quick, somebody! Rush out and mark this oddity!

 

Over to you...

The Blorenges

+The Blorenges

Posted
Posted

Is it where 4 county boundaries meet - Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland (at a guess)?

 

if so..a similarly odd spot would be where Staffs, Lincs, Derbyshire and Warks meet.

 

I had a look at that one but, zooming in, I don't think they all meet at one point.

 

MrsB

The Blorenges

+The Blorenges

Posted
Posted

http://coord.info/GCG6X9 Four County Bounty (cache now archived)

 

http://coord.info/GC1BCFQ The Four Shire Stone.

The Four Shire Stone is an 18th century monument that marked the meeting of the four counties of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Although the isolated island of Worcestershire has been swallowed up in Gloucestershire, its still possible to step into the other three counties.

 

That's a good one. I didn't notice that one, cos I've got Swindon town stuck in the corner of Wiltshire and so it's not immediately obvious on the map I was browsing.

Fianccetto

+Fianccetto

Posted
Posted

I was looking around the other day, trying to find 5 counties meeting, to answer Coldgears question about 5 or more (US) counties meeting.

 

I grew up in Northants and don't remember a 4 county meeting spot...So i did a bit more digging and found this:

 

mistaken claims of an extant one are sometimes made about a place near Stamford where Rutland, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire seem to meet at a point. (52°38′25″N 0°29′40″W) However, the location actually consists of two tripoints around 66 ft (20 metres) apart.

 

"An early instance of four political divisions meeting at a point is in England (attested in the Domesday Book, 1086,[6][7] and mentioned since 969 if not 772[8]); it combined until 1931 the English shires/counties of Gloucester, Oxford, Warwick and Worcester. But another ancient four county point between Warwick, Derby, Leicester and Stafford could be slightly older, as it is associated with a Mercian stone in No Man's Heath, Warwickshire."

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...