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

(1) By 2mm? No, where would you be measuring from, and at what points? It's something more specific than that.

(2) Well, yes, the Catholic Church was responsible, and they feared cats. 30,000 witches were killed in England, and their familiars with them. The coincidence of numbers is remarkable.

A point of toast! Yes, thank you!

Tennis Balls! I like it! I'll check it out!

OK, first of all, as I said earlier, if you think you know the answer, you're probably wrong. Don't *assume* you know. Check your facts. I have (now) 45 answers, and I *know* they're right, because I checked every single one.

Here we go...

1. Who wrote the first British cheque?

2. Who appeared with Long John Baldry's Steampacket before becoming famous on his own?

3. What did postal clerk, Arthur Cyril Ellis see on Christmas Eve?

4. Which American state's motto translates from Latin as "Mountaineers are always free"?

5. What was formed in the Crown and Anchor Tavern on The Strand in 1841?

6. What increased in diameter by 2mm on 10 October this year?

7. What was the first nylon product sold commercially?

8. Which song was written on Widnes Farnworth Railway Station?

9. Which competition will have this as its last year as being solely British?

10. Who was born at 11 Mallord Street, Chelsea, and was first known as Billy?

11. Whose cat phobia led to the execution of about 30,000 cats?

12. Which crown was C.B. Fry offered?

13. Where is Little Ben?

14. Who invented the world's first cat-flap?

15. Status Quo opened Live Aid in 1985. Which band was on stage 2nd?

16. Who is the only British athlete to win a gymnastics medal at the olympics?

17. What is a triangle of toast used as a garnish called?

18. Which country's flag represents the sky, the soil, and the aspirations or soul of its people?

19. Who from an Emneth home penned a series of classic children's books?

20. Who owns the oldest bookshop in Britain?

21. Jeremiah Lagden of Little Abington plied his trade on Newmarket Road. What was his profession?

22. "He is for the gallows in this world and the fires of hell in the next" were reputedly the words of the midwife. To whom was she referring?

23. Who was the constable of Pontefract castle at the time of the murder of Richard II?

24. Where is "The Land of Green Ginger"?

25. In 1927 BBC broadcasted its first ever running commentary of a sporting event. What was the event?

26. What was the first name of Doctor Finlay in Dr. Finlay's Casebook?

27. What was invented by Tom Smith?

28. Who did Arthur Conan Doyle get disqualified from the Olympics?

29. Who said "class barriers have come down or I wouldn't be talking to someone like you"?

30. Between which two American cities was the first government controlled airmail route?

31. Who wrote in his diary "Great God! This is an awful place!"?

32. Who famously kept pet lemurs at his Harrow Weald home?

33. According to the Persian Proverb what is the Key of Knowledge?

34. Whose letter was addressed to "The Boss" at the Central News Office?

35. Who conducted his first opera, Aida, at the age of 19?

36. Who was the landscape gardener of Badminton Park?

37. Whose standard was borne by John de Codrington?

38. Why did Thomas Woodrooffe eat his hat?

39. Who was the first to be buried at Poets Corner?

40. Who uses the Galton-Henry system?

41. Which country's capital means Elephant's Trunk?

42. Which poet's daughter had a computer language named after her?

43. Who started his career as an apprentice to the surgeon Mr. James Bates?

44. Which city is named after the Gaelic for "Edinburgh"?

45. Whose identity did Leonore adopt to save Florestan?

46. Which country established the world's first bookclub?

47. Whose coat of arms is the only one to include a globe?

48. How did Ideal Man and Ballycamey Dell make history?

49. Which nurse who became famous in the Crimean War is buried at Kensal Green?

50. Whose statue stands in the courtyard of the Jockey Club in Newmarket?

Talk about obscure! Off the top of my head I can only answer two or three of those!

The new tennis balls are 2.79 inches in diameter instead of 2.63 inches. This means the diameter is 4 mm bigger. So it can't be tennis balls.

Likewise - 4 and I'm not absolutely positive of 2 of those
Where did your friend get this from?

Oh no - what a nerd I am. The only one I know with 100% confidence is #42...

I actually found the 2mm diameter answer about an hour ago. It wasn't Tennis Balls.

The quiz was a pub quiz with a holiday as a prize attached for the most answers correctly answered. The claim is that nobody will get all 50. I am so close I can taste it...

I'm not in line for the award, by the way, I'm just helping out because I really enjoy it.

Dave

On the other hand, table tennis balls are increasing by 2mm from 38mm to 40mm. The official date for the change was supposed to be 1 October, not 10 October.

The only ones I knew for certain when I started were 42 (yes, I'm a nerd too) and 14. I guessed 9 (after a week of searching) and turned out to be right. My wife knew 24 and 27, a friend knew 29. I guessed 30 and 36 and was right, I was 80% (yes, Chris, confident) on 31 and correct. Most people seemed to guess correctly on 32.

Dave

It was table tennis balls....
http://www.ittf.com/2000/MWC/press.html#Saive
You would think, btw, given that I was in Yangshou in October, I might have known about it...ah well

OK! We have our first right answer from the crowd!

Yes, it was Table Tennis Balls.

Dave

So that leaves four questions for us to concentrate on:

11. Whose cat phobia led to the execution of about 30,000 cats?

16. Who is the only British athlete to win a gymnastics medal at the Olympics?

21. Jeremiah Lagden of Little Abington plied his trade on Newmarket Road. What was his profession?

22. "He is for the gallows in this world and the fires of hell in the next" were reputedly the words of the midwife. To whom was she referring?

Question 21 doesn't specifically mention Cambridge, but since Little Abington is very close to both Cambridge and Newmarket, it appears that this is Cambridge, England we're talking about.

The answer to the cats question is probably Pope Innocent VIII who in 1484 sentenced witches and their cats to death. I haven't found any reference to the exact numbers, but others claim it was 30,000.

According to the Team GB site, "Great Britain has won two Bronze medals for Gymnastics: the men's team in 1912 (in Stockholm) and the women's team in 1928 (in Amsterdam)."

So clearly the answer to question 16 is a very old transvestite with multiple personality disorder?

Well, that was what I found. Which suggested to me that the answer was actually someone who was British but won the medal for another country.

I phoned BAGA (the British Amateur Gymnastics Association) and the guy there said, "Oh, yes, his name was Arthur Whitfield, I think, and he won a silver" but no web site anywhere mentions him, so I think that BAGA don't know. :-|

Hey ho.

Dave

No new answers, just a request - how about filling in your personal space so that some of these assorted bods can drop by and say hi...

..although I still think "Charles I"; because that quote sounds familiar and I recently watched some film about Cromwel....hmm...

I just wanted to guess the answers to several--can you tell me if I'm right?

4) West Virginia
7) Hosiery
34) Jack the Ripper
35) Giuseppe Verdi
49) Florence Nightengale

That's all I could answer. And here I play Pub Trivia, and am the founding member of a winning team. I guess I'm not as smart as I thought!