h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Klaxon hunt!!!

Throw in a name..........................................

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa..



GT

Feisor - ACE -0- Generix - getting used to BBCid
Does the woman in question sing a particular genre of music or is she a "crossover" artist?
Would it help to find the genre?

Yes it certainly would.

Nalot of the Silver
Considering the subject matter, its probably classical. Is she a Diva?

The gospel according to Wiki has this to say about Divas:
"A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music."
So not a lot of help to you if I say yes she is a Diva, more help if I say not classical.


gandalfstwin OGGMSTKMBGSUIKWIATA
Klaxon hunt!!!

Throw in a name..........................................

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Not the Dame but interestingly (perhaps) Kiri sang on disc the same character as the singer we are seeking had sung.

Ah!!!

Now then, the Grey Matter is vibrating.....


Would she come from the same era as 'The Great Caruso'?



GT

gandalfstwin OGGMSTKMBGSUIKWIATA
Ah!!!
Now then, the Grey Matter is vibrating.....

Would she come from the same era as 'The Great Caruso'?

That would make her 109 years old if she was (given say an age of 20 years old for a first performance)

I think, as I have said that she is still alive, that I give nothing away to say that she was heard by vast audiences throughout the second half of the twentieth century.

Not well up on opera...

Is she British, perhaps?


GT

gandalfstwin OGGMSTKMBGSUIKWIATA

Not well up on opera...

Is she British, perhaps?

Whilst she has performed in concerts and opera, her claim to fame is undoubtedly in a more popular cultural medium.

She could have been British but for a combination of the minute men and either potato blight or the highland clearances.

Ah, pebble. You have given a cluelet there!

Minute Men/Potato Blight/Highland Clearances.....

All good pointers to her being a Yank!!


GT

All good pointers to her being a Yank!!
.......................................

Not wishing to mislead you in any way (you are in popular modern parlance, correct in surmising that fact) she isn't strictly speaking a "yank"

Oh Poo!!

Canadian, perhaps???????


GT

gandalfstwin OGGMSTKMBGSUIKWIATA
Oh Poo!!

Canadian, perhaps???????

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh nop I have accidently misled you.
The United States of Amerika is the birthplace of this person, but strictly speaking the yanks were the northern states of the union.

Had to jump in there before Celine Dion turned up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

................Misled you!

No Worries pebble.

That will help no end as it tells us she is an American from te Southern States. A Confederate if you like!!!!



GT

That will help no end as it tells us she is an American from te Southern States. A Confederate if you like!!!!
............................................

You are condemning me to death by pedantry!

Not being a yankee does not make one a confederate!!!!

Hmmmm

Let me see...............

The Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California. Have I missed any???



GT

The great thing about QI is the things you learn. I have assumptions which often turn out to be just that.

I said that this person wasn't a yankee as I believed that term was applied in its original limited sense to the members of the northern states that remained in the Union during the civil war.

You have forced me to check that assumption and I now know more than I did!

The state that is the birthplace of this person was (I am surprised to find out as I thought that it wasn't actively involved) allied to the Union states.

The term Yankee has a number of uses best summed up by this humorous aphorism attributed to E. B. White summarizing the distinctions:

To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
To a Vermonter, a Yankee is somebody who still uses an outhouse.

YAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

My Brain Hurts!!!!

So she was born in the Northern part of the United States. Now he tells me!!!!

(Totters off into a corner of the room, muttering jibberish to himself)


GT

This is getting silly!!!!

The person we are looking for was born in California which was allied to the Union in the American Civil War (or the War of the Southern Confederacy depending on your allegiances).

May I say that you speak jibberish like native.

Now come out of that corner.

Thank God!

Got there!

We are looking for a Californian singer!!!

Now, lets get thinking!!!


GT

Its Monday. Time to bump this one and see if there are any takers.

QI- There's a place for people like her.
The voice of an angel yet sounded like a goose.
She was a good girl but the opposite of a good child.
Who?

The story so far:
We are looking for an actual human singer who is not:
the indomitable Florence Foster-Jenkins
Madonna (either one)
Edith Piaf (who will live for ever in the hearts of smokers)
Katherine Jenkins (oooh)
Charlotte (who ate all the pies) Church
Della Reese
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Not of the era of Caruso (neither Enrico or Robinson)
Not British but (after some confusion over the use of the term "Yank" and the varied affiliations in the War of the Southern Confederacy) born in California.

Is currently alive and has never needed to be a celeb wild child.

A DGI+1 has been awarded for recognising that the title references the song "Somewhere".

A good girl but not the one from the rhyme with a curl in the middle of her forehead.

And not an enfant terrible.

It would help to find the main genre; although this artist did concerts and opera this is not the main claim to fame.

As for the clue:
"The voice of an angel yet sounded like a goose", requires 'specialist' knowledge.
"She was a good girl but the opposite of a good child", is deducible by the application of logic to a knowledge of well known phrases or sayings.

Wouldn't the oposite of a good child be a bad adult? Or has this already come up?

Nalot of the Silver
Wouldn't the oposite of a good child be a bad adult? Or has this already come up?

That is true but but the reference is to the attributes of a good child.