The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz

[+Hellfire1917]

Thanks for the DING. OK - staying with flying.

 

On the seafront in Dover there's a statue to a famous English pioneer flyer. Who is it?

 

Clues for those who don't live in Dover:

 

He was the first pilot to make a non-stop powered flight across the English Channel and back.

He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft.

He was probably the first powered aircraft pilot to smoke a cigarette in flight, having successfully rolled and lit it in the air.

 

Edits - to include the phrase "powered" and "powered aircraft" to disqualify early balloonists.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Hellfire1917

[+Pajaholic]

I'll guess that it was either Charles Rolls or Henry Royce (originators of Rolls-Royce). I can't remember which was the pilot, so I'll plump for Charles Rolls.

[+Hellfire1917]

DING!

 

It was indeed the Hon. C. S. Rolls.

 

Over to Pajaholic.

[+Pajaholic]

Thanks.

 

Another aviation question: Who was the first person to circumnavigate the World in a microlight?

[+Yorkshire Yellow]

I have a 'feeling of knowing' for this one.

 

Almost certainly wrong, but I'll guess Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

[+Pajaholic]

You are correct -- it wasn't Sir Ranulph Fiennes!

 

For info, the flight took 120 calendar days (80 flying days) in 1998 and was documented in a BBC series first aired in 1999 and repeated on Discovery channels several times since. The flight set a world record, beating the previous World record of 175 days for circumnavigation in an open-cockpit, single-engined aircraft set in 1924.

[+Pajaholic]

I guess that we don't have as many microlight enthusiasts as I at first thought. To keep the thread moving, I'll authorise Googling. Please feel free to use an Internet search engine to help answer this question.

[+Beach_hut]

I guess that we don't have as many microlight enthusiasts as I at first thought. To keep the thread moving, I'll authorise Googling. Please feel free to use an Internet search engine to help answer this question.

In that case, the gentleman concerned is Brian Milton.

[+Pajaholic]

DING! Over to you ...

[+Beach_hut]

Thanks

 

William de Cahaignes and his descendants see their name immortalised in the name of where in the UK? Although the spelling has changed somewhat over the years...

 

(there is a lateral link to the last question!)

[Sharpeset]

Thanks

 

William de Cahaignes and his descendants see their name immortalised in the name of where in the UK? Although the spelling has changed somewhat over the years...

 

(there is a lateral link to the last question!)

 

Milton Keynes maybe?

[+Beach_hut]

Milton Keynes maybe?

 

In a roundabout way, you're right. (See what I did there?)

 

Ding to Sharpeset.

[Sharpeset]

Milton Keynes maybe?

 

In a roundabout way, you're right. (See what I did there?)

 

Ding to Sharpeset.

 

Thanks! Don't get me started on MK roundabouts!

 

Near to MK is a music venue closely associated with a recently-deceased legendary jazz musician. For the ding name either the venue, the musician, or his wife...

[+Hellfire1917]

The only jazz musician who has wife that I can name is John Dankworth, married to Cleo Laine. Is that any good?

[Sharpeset]

DING

 

That's the pair - they founded the Stables at Wavendon (and I went to school with their son...)

[+Hellfire1917]

Thanks for the DING. I know nothing about Jazz, but remember the names Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine from my school days. I know nothing about MK either, beyond the fact that the trains I take to Euston sometimes stop there. So I'm going to ask about a different town.

 

I'm writing this in France, in the town of Epernay, which is the centre of the production of.......... What?

[+martin&lindabryn]

As the wife has a higher wine certificate she knew this

Epernay, is the center of the production of Champagne

Edited July 24, 2015 by martin&lindabryn

[+Hellfire1917]

And it's a bubbly DING to martin&lindabryn.

 

I'll be sampling a few vintages tomorrow so for now - over to you.

[+martin&lindabryn]

Thanks for the ding

 

Wenlock and Mandeville have been described as a "drunken one night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek". Who are Wenlock and Mandeville?

[+Boggin's Dad]

They were there mascots used at the 2012 Geolympix mega event in Oxford, organised by the originator of this post, SimplyPaul. No, hang on a minute, I think it was that much smaller gathering in London, in the same year with a similar name - The Summer Olympics.

[+martin&lindabryn]

They were there mascots used at the 2012 Geolympix mega event in Oxford, organised by the originator of this post, SimplyPaul. No, hang on a minute, I think it was that much smaller gathering in London, in the same year with a similar name - The Summer Olympics.

I started reading your answer, and was thinking you have it wrong.

But then reading further I began to chuckle to myself.

That’s a ding to you

[+Simply Paul]

Ha! Don't make Geoff angry. He's back you know...

[+Boggin's Dad]

Apologies to Geoff, look forward to seeing him again new year.

 

Sticking with the Olympic theme. Which metals are used to make the alloy bronze?

[+Pajaholic]

Depending on variant, copper with up to 30% tin. Some variants have other metals .. e.g. Ni Al Br also has nickel and aluminium in addition to copper and tin.

 

Edited to add: I suspect that my answer might not be complete enough Ni Al Br is only one variant. Other possible metals alloyed with copper and tin to form bronzes are phosphorous, iron, arsenic, silver etc. Even zinc can be included in a bronze (although copper and zinc usually make brass). Basically, copper alloyed with anything other than just zinc is a bronze.

 

If you really meant, "which metals make up the bronze used to make Olympic bronze medals?", IIRC this is usually an alloy of copper and tin with a small amount of zinc added to make the alloy easier to cast.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Pajaholic

[+Boggin's Dad]

A very thorough answer there.

 

I was only really looking for copper and tin; although as mentioned lots of other metals can be added to the alloy to modify its properties, so a gold DING for you there

[+Pajaholic]

Thanks.

 

Staying on the subject of copper: Which UK town or city was nicknamed "Copperopolis" in the 18th and 19th centuries?

[+Pharisee]

Having just watched the recent Poldark series that I recorded a while back, they were complaining about copper being mined more cheaply in Wales So I'll have a guess that it was somewhere on the South Wales coast... Swansea?

[dodgydaved]

Thanks.

 

Staying on the subject of copper: Which UK town or city was nicknamed "Copperopolis" in the 18th and 19th centuries?

 

Swansea?

[+Pajaholic]

Having just watched the recent Poldark series that I recorded a while back, they were complaining about copper being mined more cheaply in Wales So I'll have a guess that it was somewhere on the South Wales coast... Swansea?

The issue wasn't that copper was mined more cheaply in Wales (which AFAICT doesn't have any significant copper deposits). The issue was that South Wales had the coal. As more coal than copper ore is required to smelt copper, it made economic sense to ship the ore to Wales rather than import coal into Cornwall -- and the smelters rather than the miners dictated the price of ore.

 

That said, Swansea was indeed nicknamed Copperopolis -- so a very rapid DING to Pharisee and commiserations to dodgydaved!

[+Pharisee]

Ta... guesses do sometimes work.

 

It starred an American actor, born in 1934 but was essentially a British film.

The theme tune was "Wednesday's Child"

The opening scene was a bloke being shot in a telephone box in Berlin.

 

What was the title of the film?

[+Pharisee]

Ok... You obviously need a clue...

 

Starred George Segal, Alec Guinness and the very lovely Senta Berger

[+martin&lindabryn]

I had no clue from the first question and was still non the wiser with the hint.

so I have goggled the answer and I have never heard of the film.

[+speakers-corner]

The Spy that came in from the cold?

[+speakers-corner]

Forget it, wrong answer. I also googled after posting - Ive never heard of it.

[+Pharisee]

Forget it, wrong answer. I also googled after posting - Ive never heard of it.

 

I had no clue from the first question and was still non the wiser with the hint.

so I have goggled the answer and I have never heard of the film.

 

I'd always considered it one of the classic spy films.... You should watch it!!

Edited August 3, 2015 by Pharisee

[+Pharisee]

Ok... It was "The Quiller Memorandum"....

 

First one in gets the next question.

[+Hellfire1917]

I'll take you up on your kind offer, Paja.

 

Richard Wayne Penniman is better known as.....?

[+TheOldfields]

I'll have a guess at Richard Clayderman.

[+Hellfire1917]

Not Richard Clayderman, but the name "Richard" is a small part of the answer. (There's a clue, there).

[+Pajaholic]

"Richard", "small" -- Little Richard, perhaps?

[+Hellfire1917]

Wop-bop-a-lom-bop a-lom-bop-DING to Pajaholic. Over to you.

[+Pajaholic]

Thanks.

 

Staying with the musical theme: Who was the wife of Les Paul (pioneer of the electric guitar and multitrack tape recorder)?

[+Boggin's Dad]

Alice Cooper

[+Pajaholic]

Not Alice Cooper

 

Although they divorced in the mid 1960's, Les Paul's wife was also his partner on stage and in the recording studio for well over a decade. They had a string of hits in the 1950s that included Tenessee Walz, Mocking Bird Hill, Bye Bye Blues, Lady of Spain, I'm Sitting on Top of the World, Vaya Con Dios and How High the Moon.

[+Pajaholic]

I'm gobsmacked that nobody seems to know this OK, time to give it away ... SPOILER ALERT =>

! <= SPOILER ALERT

[+martin&lindabryn]

not goggling but using the link above, would that be MARY FORD

[+Pajaholic]

It would! DING!

[+martin&lindabryn]

thanks for the easy Ding I didn't have any clue as to the answer.

now for a change of subject and hopefully an easy one.

Issued in 1840, what were the names given to the first TWO postage stamps in the world?

[+MartyBartfast]

I feel like this might be a QI moment but,

 

Penny Black and Two penny Blue.

[+martin&lindabryn]

I feel like this might be a QI moment but,

 

Penny Black and Two penny Blue.

 

Nothing that devious this time

You get the stamp.