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The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz


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Good thinking - there was a set of "traffic lights" somewhere in London in the 1800s. They looked just like railway signals, and had gas lights for visibility at night. But there had to be a policeman in a hut somewhere, pulling levers to control them, so they weren't automatic. They didn't last long, either, as a gas leak caused an explosion and injured the policeman on duty at the time.

 

So your clues are:

 

- it was in 1927

- it was a temporary, experimental installation

- the lights were automatic, not requiring anyone to operate them

 

and some new clues:

 

- the place was a town in 1927. It's a city now and has been since 2000

- historically in Staffordshire, it's now part of the Metropolitan County of the West Midlands

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Killed the policeman. They were at the west end of Westminster bridge, close to the clocktower for Big Ben. I'll say Wolverhampton for the more modern lights, as I know it had the first Zebra Crossing in Britain. The poles now at the site have the old-fashioned black and white markings as a little nod to this.

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It depends on what you mean by "Britain". If you mean the geographical area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, it's probably either Bishop Rock lighthouse, off the Scilly Isles, or the battlements at Europa Point, Gibraltar (since Gib is politically part of South West England). If you mean mainland Great Britain, it's probably the Lizard lighthouse. If you mean "British Sovereign Territory", it's probably a research facility in Antarctica.

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A toilet?!
Ding! Yes, on the tiny Channel Island of Maîtresse (50x20m) on the Les Minquiers reef, south of Jersey has a (non-flushing at the time of my visit in 2010) loo at the edge of a 'village' of tiny stone cottages. A sign on the door reads "This Toilet has the distinction of being the most southerly building in the British Isles. Use with care..."

(By Britain I meant the British Isles rather than Great Britain - the island [disused lifeboat station, or small shop on Lizard Point] - or British Overseas Territories [not actually part of Britain, just under its control], etc. Sorry for the confussion.)

 

Over to Yorkshire Yellow!

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A lucky guess!

 

Okay, here's the next one: -

 

Who were the first professional football club in Britain to install floodlights and in what year were they first used?

 

My Dad was, and my brother is, staunch Owls and I am sure it was one of the Sheffield clubs. I am going for the Blades, Sheffield United in 1892 (date a guess!).

 

ddd

 

PS I saw the first match under lights at Saltergate (the last league ground to install lights!), Chesterfield played Wednesday!

Edited by dodgydaved
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