Unutterably Silly Quiz

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

Getting colder. The man concerned was of the generation of your earlier suggestions.

Also, Branagh isn't English.

He isn't? Do you by that mean he is Welsh or something?

[Shayne Parkinson]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

He isn't? Do you by that mean he is Welsh or something?

Yes. He's from the United Kingdom, but not from England. He was born in Northern Ireland and spent much of his childhood there before his family moved to England (to the town of Reading, where I once lived, actually. Not while he was there, though). I've seen him quoted as saying he still feels more Irish than English, though he acquired an English accent as a child to "fit in" at his school in England.

[Kumabjorn]

I've been watching him play Kurt Wallander, a Swedish police detective, in a BBC series by the same name. He does get some of the Swedish broodiness through in his character.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Oh, we've been watching those, too! We have all three (so far) seasons on DVD. I've been really impressed, but it's interesting to hear from an actual Swedish person on the subject.

I watched some of the interviews on the DVDs, and it was interesting to see how much of a fan Branagh is of the books. It was very much his idea to make the BBC series.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

5. It is fun to be in the same decade with you.

No, think earlier.

Roosevelt and Churchill? Though I'm not sure about the "fun" aspect...

[Kumabjorn]

Unfortunately there are a lot of other mistakes in the series, especially as it relates to Ystad (the city), I live 30 minutes away and visit a few times a year. In the summer they have Wallander walks, very popular with German tourists, after BBC 's broadcast maybe there will be a British invasion.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Unfortunately there are a lot of other mistakes in the series, especially as it relates to Ystad (the city), I live 30 minutes away and visit a few times a year. In the summer they have Wallander walks, very popular with German tourists, after BBC 's broadcast maybe there will be a British invasion.

Brits love fish 'n chips, so serve them some lutfisk 'n chips

[Shayne Parkinson]

Originally Posted by orlok

Roosevelt and Churchill? Though I'm not sure about the "fun" aspect...

That's it! It's from FDR's response to 60th birthday greetings from Churchill - the "same decade" refers, I think to the fact that they were now both in their sixties. 1942 was not exactly a fun time otherwise.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Only one question to go, and Poohbear has an unassailable lead, so I'll give the answer: it's Mark Knopfler referring to Marina Warner

All yours, Pooh!

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

Quotes from famous people about other famous people. One point for the person or said (or wrote) it, and one point for the person it was said (or written) about.

1. Shakespeare — the nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God. - Laurence Olivier on Shakespeare. Poohbear 1 point, Bilbo, 1 point.

2. Posterity will talk of Washington as the founder of a great empire, when my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolution.
- Napoleon on George Washington. Bookpossum, 2 points

3. We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could.
- Walt Disney on Charlie Chaplin. pdurrant, 2 points

4. Jane Austen's books, too, are absent from this library. Just that one omission alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn't a book in it.
- Mark Twain on Jane Austen. Poohbear, 2 points

5. It is fun to be in the same decade with you. - Roosevelt to Churchill. Orlok, 2 points

6. My Princess of Parallelograms
- Byron on Annabella Milbanke (his future wife). Fat Abe, 2 points

7. He had a large loving mind and the strongest sympathy with the poorer classes. He felt sure a better feeling, and much greater union of classes, would take place in time. And I pray earnestly it may.
- Queen Victoria on Charles Dickens. Poohbear 1 point, Bookpossum, 1 point.

8. Lady writer on the TV - Mark Knopfler on Marina Warner.

9. The man who tunnelled into the very material of God
- Einstein on Rutherford. Kumabjorn, 1 point; Bilbo, 1 point

10. She is magnificently ugly — deliciously hideous... in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end as I ended, in falling in love with her.
- Henry James on George Eliot. Poohbear, 2 points

Scores so far:
Poohbear 6 points
Bookpossum 3 points
Bilbo, Fat Abe, Orlok, pdurrant 2 points
Kumabjorn 1 point

[poohbear_nc]

Only one question to go, and Poohbear has an unassailable lead, so I'll give the answer: it's Mark Knopfler referring to Marina Warner

All yours, Pooh!

Hah! The unassailable chicken strikes! Finally! [Haven't won the Quiz for a while] - BRB with a new question!

[poohbear_nc]

Mystery novels are memorable for their sleuths! And their villains! But what about the victims? Those poor souls whose demise gives rise to hundreds of pages of reading pleasure? Who remembers the victims? Do you?

Here are the names of some victims found in mysteries penned by Agatha Christie.
Naming the book title (British or American version) earns 1 point.
Naming the means of death earns 1 point.
If poison, naming the specific poison earns a bonus point! Dame Christie did love her poisons!

Please put your means of death guesses in spoiler tags - as some folk may not have read all the Christie books [Gasp! I know - hard to believe] - and we wouldn't want to spoil their first read!


Added some hints:


1. Emily Ingelthorp - The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Iznogood

Spoiler:

Poison

- Iznogood

Spoiler:

Strychnine

- Iznogood

2. Arlena Marshall - (Poirot) - actress - Evil Under the Sun - Iznogood

Spoiler:

strangled

- Iznogood

3. Linnet Ridgeway Doyle - Death on the Nile - Iznogood

Spoiler:

Shot

- Iznogood

4. Ruby Keene - The Body in the Library - pdurrant

Spoiler:

strangled

- pdurrant

5. Mr. Ratchett - Murder on the Orient Express - Iznogood

Spoiler:

Stabbed

- Iznogood

6. Henry Morley - (Poirot) - dentist
Mr. Amberiotis - spy

7. Thomasina Tuckerton - (not a Poirot nor a Marple)

8. Marlene Tucker - (Ariadne Oliver) - Girl Guide

9. Rex Fortescue - (Marple) - business man

10. Madame Giselle (Poirot) - blackmailer

11. Hercule Poirot - Curtain - pdurrant



OK - the game's afoot! [Or awing!]

[Kumabjorn]

For some reason I associate Tuckerton with Murder on the Nile, but it is a long time since I read it so I probably got it wrong.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

For some reason I associate Tuckerton with Murder on the Nile, but it is a long time since I read it so I probably got it wrong.

Sorry - not on the Nile!

[Kumabjorn]

Come to think of it that is a Poirot, isn't it?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

11. Hercule Poirot

Is this Curtain?

No other spoilers, please - I haven't read it yet!