We hosted the weekly quiz! Was it a success? Hmm, not sure. Anyway it's done now and a) it would not be our turn to host again and b) I'm not sure anyone would want me to write the questions again. I thought I'd done a good mix of questions to appeal to all generations, but apparently not. The only people who did well (absolutely romped home) are those closest in age to myself with some of the same references. They're still ten years younger than me at least but closest. The format of the quiz was different this time, done on Facebook instead of Zoom to let more people join in. This meant it was a one way broadcast, rather than a shared chat, so there was no audience feedback and I couldn't tell how it was going until the end. The rounds were of only a slightly different format to usual - my Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert round was really just the normal music round wasn't it..? I'll add the questions at the end of this post, with only the audio questions missing, as they were played directly off the youtube.
Thing one has been back at school for two days now and has really enjoyed it. The first day was very odd, all admin and he estimates only about half an hour of work. Day two was better apparently, though now (Wednesday) the school is closed again, and he's not back until Monday. Real shame there is no chance of thing two going back to primary school now. He'd love to go back, and I think he's stagnating a bit. I'm definitely stagnating, this Groundhog Day is really bugging me now. All the little things that happen every day, even the normal things that happened anyway like the kids complaining that it's not time to go to bed yet, not time to get up yet, are driving me crazy. I need to shake my day up a bit. A lot. I don't think I want to go back to work but I obviously need something like that.
Brazil are ging to overtake us in terms of deaths, though they seem to be stopping reporting their actual numbers so I wonder if worldometers etc1 will be able to keep reporting?
| Country | cases | deaths |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 2026493 | 113055 |
| Brazil | 710887 | 37312 |
| Russia | 476658 | 5971 |
| Spain | 288797 | 27136 |
| UK | 287399 | 40597 |
| India | 265928 | 7473 |
| Italy | 235278 | 33964 |
| Peru | 199696 | 5571 |
| Germany | 186205 | 8783 |
| Iran | 173832 | 8351 |
I finished The Interpretation of Murder2 and it was great, so what next?
| Author | Book | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Ian Rankin | Westwind3 | Dated thriller, shame. |
| Ian Rankin | Doors Open3 | Really good crime caper in Edinburgh but with no Rebus. |
| Suzanne Collins | The Hunger Games3 | Borrowed from the children, very good. |
| Suzanne Collins | Catching Fire3 | Hunger Games part 2, read this even quicker, a bit darker. |
| Suzanne Collins | Mockingjay3 | Hunger Games part 3, joyless and grim. Very 2020... |
| Karen McManus | One Of Us Is Lying4 | Another one liberated from the children's bookshelf. A Breakfast Club whodunnit, dying to be a film, not at all suitable for a ten year old... |
| Robin Paige | Death at Glamis Castle5 | Edwardian era mystery written by Americans. I read one of these before. Quite atmospheric, though a little twee. Sort of romance / crime. Written in accents, with plenty of "of the time" attitudes. |
| Jed Rubenfield | The Interpretation of Murder2 | A charity shop find, one you always see, have had it kicking around a long time. Historical crime fiction again set in New York 1909, featuring Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Great, but complicated and fairly unlikely! |
Quiz questions:
Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
- Which performer at the concert died on Christmas Day 2016?
- Which also deceased performer's album Legacy is still in this week's charts (at number 35)
- Who is the bass player from Queen?
- Which fictional rock band starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer played on the day?
- What is Elton John's middle name?
- The singer of Led Zeppelin asked for his contribution not to be released on the video and DVD of the concert, who is he?
- Who had a July 1972 hit with the song All The Young Dudes?
- How many number one singles have U2 had? 7, 8, or 9
- Who is this singing I Want It All with Brian May [audio]
- Who is this singing Bohemian Rhapsody? [audio]
I thought these were all quite gettable, especially after I made them easier, but seemingly not. I didn't remember U2 having any connection to the concert, but they did a track via satellite apparently.
Sport And Leisure
- Who got the first televised 147 break, at the Lada Classic, on 11 January 1982.
- How many different ways can you get a nine dart finish in darts?
- Which monopoly square is an anagram of REASONABLE MINT TOY
- How many points for a touchdown in American Football
- What are the five events in a modern pentathlon? Point for each
- How far do you cycle in an Iron Man triathlon?
- What is the name of the Maori war dance performed by the All Blacks
- Tallest fence in the Grand National
- What is the name for four under par in golf?
- Which sporting event shown in The Seagull in June 1990 caused the customers to riot and smash the place up?
The first two questions surprised me too, I thought I knew the first televised 147, but the one I remembered was first at the Crucible. The darts one BLEW ME AWAY, I only realised recently there was more than one way of doing this. There are a lot.
- Which 1961 musical film is based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?
- Number of Fast and Furiouses multiplied by the number of Police Academies?
- Name the film [audio]
- What's the title of the third Bill and Ted movie, coming this summer?
- Which 1986 film has the tag line "one man's struggle to take it easy"?
- Name the film [audio]
- Dwayne Johnson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Lou Ferrigno have all played which mythical character?
- Which other Marvel Superhero did Captain America Chris Evans play on film?
- What are the three rules of looking after a mogwai?
- Only three films have won the five main oscars in one year. The years 1934, 1975, and 1991, what are the films?
I was going to have a whole round on Shakespeare, hence the odd first question.
General Knowledge
- What is the name for a U-shaped lake that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water?
- Who has the number one single this week?
- Whose statue was pulled down in Bristol this week?
- Which songwriter (born this day in 1891) wrote the musical Kiss Me Kate and songs including Anything Goes, I've Got You Under My Skin, and I Get A Kick Out Of You?
- What are the names of Joe Wicks' children?
- Which King of England signed the Magna Carta in 1215?
- What is the smallest bird in the world?
- Name a double landlocked country
- What is Meghan Markle's first name Rachel, Phoebe, Monica?
- How old was the queen on VE day?
Again a shakespeare connection as Kiss Me Kate is based on The Taming Of The Shrew. Then some traditional quiz questions, if you do quizzes regularly you should have been ready for these.
- Which comedian and actor who died this day 2014 played DI Gideon Pryke in two episodes of Jonathan Creek?
- What sort of key worker is Patrick Clifton?
- In which show did Alan Partridge first appear?
- In which US State is Joe Exotic's zoo (now owned by Carol Baskin)?
- What was the English / French remake of Swedish / Danish crime drama The Bridge?
- Name the TV show [five audio clips here]
My TV themes were universally unpopular.
Kids stayed up for the quiz, because it made so much noise. So I have not even got them out of bed today, we'll do Joe Wicks workout much later when Clare gets back in.
Coronavirus weekly death graph for USA + UK + Brazil + Italy + France + Spain
Paul Clarke's blog - I live in Hythe near Folkestone. Wed + father to two, I am a full stack web developr, + I do js / Node, some ruby, python, php ect ect. I like pubbing, running, eating, home-automation + other diy stuff, history, family tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, and TIME TRAVEL.