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The All New All New Groundspeak UK Pub Quiz

Simply Paul
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hal-an-tow

+hal-an-tow

Posted
Posted

Bingo.! (or whatever the Italian is for bingo ) ding to searcherdog

(With an honourable mention to speakers-corner who sent me the answer by e-mail yesterday, but had researched part of it so would not falsely claim the ding here.)

Italy was on our side in WW1 (unlike the next time ... ) Apparently Haig was not happy to take any men away from the Western Front, but Lloyd George insisted. The Italians had joined the war somewhat late, and got battered by the opposing Austro-Hungarian armies, especially when the German armr reinforced them (over 1.5 million lives lost from both sides in several battles) so French and British troops were sent to back them up.

Some first hand info about the logistics of the long, slow train journey for anyone interested here

They set off from the Western Front on the 23rd November, by today, 28th,  the records say:

 "28th NOVEMBER
1917–1/1st Buckinghamshire Battalion  - IN THE TRAIN. En route to ITALY.
NO 1 TRAIN Route for Day:
PIACENZA arr 10.45am
PARMA arr 12.15pm
REGGIO arr 3.30pm
MODENA arr 6.45pm
BOLOGNA arr 8.40pm
Spent greater part of night in BOLOGNA Station: full advantage could not be taken of it by giving men and horses exercise owing to our never knowing when we might start.
 
NO 2 TRAIN Route for the Day
ST PIERRE D’ARENA – ARQUATA – NOVI – TORTONE – VOGHERA – STRADELLA – PIACENZA –PARMA
No incidents of importance during the day.
2 men of B Coy missed the train at STRADELLA, and did not rejoin during the journey.
Coys had teas at PIACENZA."
 
From mud to limestone mountains.
On his 21st birthday in January 1918 grandad was marching up one of those mountains to help protect a water source . Apparently as a gift, the officer carried his rifle all day for him.
Optimist on the run

+Optimist on the run

Posted
Posted
On 12/8/2017 at 3:22 AM, speakers-corner said:

After singing the song over and over again and using Excel to count everything up I come up with 808 legs.

I also came up with 808 (assuming the eight maids are a-milking one four-legged beast each), but I'll add me and my true love and say 812.

hal-an-tow

+hal-an-tow

Posted
Posted

OK, sometimes you have a boring wait to occupy, and I've reached an impasse withh the puzzle cache I'm banging my head against, so I went through and revised my calculations for this, having realised I'd only added in the milking stools the once. So, as my grammar school training always insisted in exams you must 'show your working'  here goes : best read from the bottom to top
day 12 = 182+24 = 206   (day 11 plus twelve lords a leaping)
day 11 = 160+22 = 182   (day 10 plus eleven ladies)
day 10 = 140+20 = 160   (day 9 plus 20 for ten pipers)
day  9 = 122+18 = 140   (day 8 plus 18 for  nine drummers)
day  8 = 50+72   = 122   (day 7 plus 8 maid/cow/milking stool combos, 9 legs per)= 72)
day  7 = 36+14    =  50   (day 6 plus 14 for seven swans)
day  6 = 24+12    =  36   (day 5 plus 12 for Six geese)

day  5 =                  24    gold rings,same legs as day 4
day  4 =   16+8  =   24    (day 3 plus 8 for four colly birds)
day  3 =   10+6  =  16    (day 2 plus 6 for three fench hens)
day  2 =   6+4   =   10    (day 1 plus 4 for two turtle doves)
Day  1 = 2+2+2   =  6    (me,my true love + one partridge)

                   Total = 976

So, my new answer is 976.

hal-an-tow

+hal-an-tow

Posted
Posted

 Or. if inanimate legs are disallowed ( and assuming none of the lords a leaping are drunk as lords, i.e. legless )

day 12 = 158+24=  182 (day 11 plus twelve lords a leaping)
day 11 = 136+22 = 158 (day 10 plus eleven ladies)
day 10 = 116+20 = 136   (day 9 plus 20 for ten pipers)
day  9 =  98+18 = 116 (day 8 plus 18 for  nine drummers)
day  8 = 50+48  =  98   (day 7 plus 8 maid/cow combos,6 legs per)=48)
      Giving a  total without milking stools = 856

I think I need a lie down now.

Optimist on the run

+Optimist on the run

Posted
Posted

Hal-an-tow, the problem with your method is that it adds me and my true love on every day of Christmas. Although they (we?) are mentioned 12 times, I think it is safe to assume that there is only one true love, and certainly only one of me.

So revising your incremental method gives

Day 1 = 2

Day 2 = 2+(2x2) = 2+4 = 6

Day 3 = 6+(3x2) = 6+6 = 12

Day 4 = 12+(4x2) = 12+8 = 20

Day 5 = 20+(5x0) = 20+0 = 20

Day 6 = 20+(6x2) = 20+12 = 32

Day 7 = 32+(7x2) = 32+14 = 46

Day 8 = 46+(8x9) = 46+72 = 118 (assuming 8 milkmaids, 8 cows and 8 three-legged stools)

Day 9 = 118+(9x2) = 118 + 18 = 136

Day 10 = 136+(10x2) = 136+20 = 156

Day 11 = 156+(11x2) = 156+22 = 178

Day 12 = 178+(12x2) = 178+24 = 202

Total = 928, plus me and my true love = 932.

 

If you ignore the milking stools, the last five days becomes

Day 8 = 46+(8x6) = 46+48 = 94

Day 9 = 94+(9x2) = 94+18 = 112

Day 10 = 112+(10x2) = 112+20 = 132

Day 11 = 132+(11x2) = 132+22 = 154

Day 12 = 154+(12x2) = 154+24 = 178

Total = 808, plus me and my true love = 812 as stated earlier.

 

Boggin's Dad, have any of us hit the target yet?

hal-an-tow

+hal-an-tow

Posted
Posted

Ah, a debate on semantics, that could easily run to a dozen pages of intemperate shouting if this wasn't a civilised area ... :laughing:

If the " first person plus beloved" characters appear in each verse, and we assume they are the same individuals each day, how can we say the same french hens etc etc are not also re-deployed each day ? I can't tell chickens apart*, you could easily fool me by claiming these were entirely different to yesterdays fowl ...same for the other birds, none of which has the distinctive individually varied plumage which identifies budgies for instance  ...

Also, the initial question said ' How many legs ' , not how many different legs, so same beloved, same legs, different day = 2 more legs in the song  :lol:

I rest my case, (while suggesting that the problem lies with the phrasing of the question) and await the final authoritative verdict of the questioner (who is probably weeping softly over a calculator as I type) .

 

 

^ As an afterthought, I have farmer friends who have some rescued battery hens clucking round their yard, one of who (inevitably named 'Stumpy' ) I can distinguish from the rest,  but only because she would ruin the leg count with 1 .5 to her name  ... pretty sure she is not French though ....

Boggin's Dad

+Boggin's Dad

Posted
Posted

I am going to have to give this one to searcherdog, but a close second and congratulations to Hal-an-tow for getting full marks, as he showed all his working

My intitial sum led me to 928 - I was including the milking stool, but then had not added in me, and my true love....

So the answer I am going to judge as right is 976 which includes those extra 48 legs.

Well done searcherdog A very festive ding for you - Over to you

 

dodgydaved

dodgydaved

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Optimist on the run said:

I got a feeling of deja-vu when I read this, and looking back I asked the same question last year. I shall therefore refrain from answering!

Its a right cracker of a question though!

searcherdog

+searcherdog

Posted
Posted

OK, I didn't have hindsight but well remembered to Optimist on the run who refrained from answering.

The BANG DING goes to dodgydaved for winning the cracker. He can now tell us the joke, wear the hat and set the next question. 

dodgydaved

dodgydaved

Posted
Posted

I tore the hat putting it on!:(

How does Santa like his Pizzas?    Deep pan crisp and even!:lol:

 

Which country has the tradition of a Christmas Witch dropping presents for children down the chimney? 

hal-an-tow

+hal-an-tow

Posted
Posted

Arrgh, I know I've heard of this folktale - it's similar to the Russian Baboushka  story* ... so it's not Russian, and I know the German and Austrian festive scare figures are male, so I'll have a guess at Swiss maybe ?

* Woman invited to accompany kings to visit baby Jesus thinks she is too busy with housework, turns down chance, thereafter roams earth for eternity trying to  make up for her choice. The moral of the story: ALWAYS abandon housework at the slightest pretext.  Works for me ...

Beach_hut

+Beach_hut

Posted
Posted

Thanks very much, and here's the next question:

Yesterday (or today, depending on how you look at it) was the 26th anniversary of the so-called Velvet Divorce. Who got divorced?

speakers-corner

+speakers-corner

Posted
Posted

On the night of November 9th 1989 at 23:30 Lt.-Col. Harald Jäger, after being faced by a crowd of 20000 East German protesters, gave the order to the 46 armed guards at Bornholmer Straße to open the barriers and stand aside. With this historic order he opened the Berlin Wall.

For weeks, my wife and I had been following the events leading up to this because we have relatives living in East Germany.

The Ding goes to Boggin's Dad

Boggin's Dad

+Boggin's Dad

Posted
Posted

West Berlin was created in the aftermath of World War 2. It was an enclave within East Germany, and blockaded in the late 1940s; the only way to get supplies into the city was by air, and between June 1948 and September 1949 the Berlin Airlift delivered all the goods this city needed to function

My question is what was the area (in square kilometres) of West Berlin?

I will use the trusted higher/lower technique of getting closer should it not hit exactly.

Optimist on the run

+Optimist on the run

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, speakers-corner said:

Thanks for the DING Boggin's Dad.

Going from geography to history with a 2-part question.

Who was the first English king to marry a German woman, and what was her name.

It depends whether you mean from Germany as a state, or from the region that is now called Germany. As the unified state we now call Germany didn't exist before the 19th Century, it will presumably be a king from the 20th Century, after Victoria. Although I don't know if she was German or not, I'll guess Mary of Teck, wife of George V.

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