Clawing Our Way Back Up the Scoreboard

Despite being a player down this time, I think we proved that we weren't out of the running. We notched up a fairly decent score, which is pretty satisfying as this will probably be my last quiz round up for over a week.  I know, I'm sobbing as we speak, but I'll try and make it up to you at some point if I can. Not many for you to have a go at this time, but secretly I prefer it that way as I don't have to spend so long writing the blog! I see it as an extra incentive to do well. 1st place was only one question ahead, so answering 2 or more of these would make you the hero of the hour. Are you ready then?

26/08/2014
Venue: The Victory                                                          Team: Me + 3 others      
Position: 2nd - 86 points (1st - 88)                                   Snowball: Not chosen

Let's cut right to the chase...

Questions

1) Name all five people who have presented Match Of the Day (we managed 4).

2) Which (cricket) team won the T20 Blast final this week?

3) If you are being 'lapidated', what is happening to you? (Clue given: This tends to happen more in Muslim countries.)

4) Which cricketer captained England in the 1986/87 Ashes Test?

5) What does the second A stand for in NASA?

6) Which famous American said 'I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.'

7) These lyrics are from which song - 'What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you'?


Answers

1) Kenneth Wolstenholme, David Coleman, Jimmy Hill, Des Lynam, Gary Lineker
2) Birmingham Bears
3) You are being stoned to death
4) Mike Gatting
5) Administration
6) Abraham Lincoln
7) Wicked Game by Chris Isaak


The Excuses

1) This one was quite the team effort, although I was basically excluded. We only missed Wolstenholme, opting for ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson, who actually presented Football Focus from 1974-94. I had meant to watch the 50th anniversary programme this week, but as usual, didn't manage to find the time. I might end up putting it on in the background one day.
Knowledge Is Power: Match of the Day first appeared on BBC2 on 22nd August 1964 and the first game featured was a Liverpool home game against Arsenal. Liverpool won 3-2 and Roger Hunt was the first person to score a goal on the programme. The presenters in order are Wolstenholme (1964-69), Coleman (1968-73), Hill (1973-88), Lynam (1988-99) and Lineker (1999 - present). Lineker first appeared on the programme as a player for Leicester in 1980.

2) More sport. Irritatingly, I had seen the news article, and allowed myself to be talked out of the correct answer. Knowing that the final was played at Edgbaston Cricket Ground (in Birmingham, for those non-cricketaholics), we went with Warwickshire, who historically play there.
Knowledge Is Power: It looks like the two teams are actually more or less the same thing, with Warwickshire Bears being the name used for one-day matches and Birmingham Bears the name used for Twenty20 games. The T20 Blast is a new competition, a replacement for the Friends Life T20. Twenty20 cricket is a shorter version of the game, where each side is restricted to 20 overs. The Birmingham Bears is also the name of the city's Aussie Rules Football club.

3) Not one of those things that one just happens to know. On the back of the clue, we went for having a body part cut off. I know someone who managed to work this out, but all I could think of was if it was related to 'dilapidated'. It doesn't look like it is.
Knowledge Is Power: The word is derived from Latin, and lapidary is the art of refining precious or non-precious stones for decoration. A lapidarium is a place where stone features are stored or exhibited. According to Wikipedia, stoning as a legal form of capital punishment is still used in  Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Aceh (the westernmost province of Indonesia) and Brunei.

4) Cricket returns. I think there's less chance of me getting into cricket than football. All we could assume was that this was one of the years that England won. We went with Ian Botham, who did at least play in that series.
Knowledge Is Power: The concept of the Ashes comes from a Test match contested between England and Australia in 1882 at the Oval. England lost and the Ashes are supposed to represent the death of English cricket. The two sides usually compete for the Ashes every two years and Australia have won 32 series to England's 31, with 5 draws. The 'real' Ashes are always kept at the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum, with a replica awarded to the winning side. Gatting played from 1975-1998 for Middlesex County Cricket Club.

5) This question is one of the most serial offenders for our getting it incorrect. It just seems to fox us all the time over the years. This is the sort of question that this blog is all about. We always, whatever our logic, always end up thinking the answer is 'Agency' rather than 'Administration'. It looks like old habits die hard.
Knowledge Is Power: NASA was established in 1958 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and is based in Washington D.C. Its full name is the 'National Aeronautics and Space Administration'. It succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

6) I should have known this, but I thought it might be another Mark Twain quote. In the end we went with Barack Obama.
Knowledge Is Power: Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States from 1861 - 1865, and was the first to represent the Republican Party. His election in 1860 precipitated the American Civil War, but Lincoln's victory in the war and his efforts to abolish slavery have made him highly regarded amongst many Americans. Lincoln's grandfather (also called Abraham) was a captain in the U.S. army, who was killed fighting against native Indians in 1786 in present day Kentucky.

7) I had never heard this song before, though I had heard of it. We worked out that it was by Chris Isaak, but we were pressed for time and not going to come up with the goods before our papers were collected in.
Knowledge Is Power: Wicked Game was initially released in 1989, but did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch crime thriller Wild At Heart. It then went onto reach the top 10 in the USA. The B side was an instrumental version of the song.



Time for the Snowballs. See if you could have won the cash. Two teams managed it this week.

Snowballs

S1) Which cartoon duo live in Frostbite Falls?

S2) Eric Spear composed the music for which long running TV series?

Answers

S1) Rocky and Bullwinkle. The Rocky and Bullwinkle show originally ran from 1959 to 1964. Bullwinkle is the moose and Rocky is a flying squirrel, and their nemeses are the Russian spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. A live action movie, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was released in 2000 and was co-produced by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal.

S2) Coronation Street. Spear was born in Croydon in 1908 and died in 1966. He primarily composed music for films, but was commissioned to write the music in 1960 for a project then known as 'Florizel Street'. The proper name of the piece is 'Lancashire Blues' and Spear was paid £6 for his efforts.

So there you have it. My last quiz outing for a little while. Hope you've enjoyed it, and don't hesitate to let me know how you did, especially if you could have helped us win it. See you soon, and remember, you're fabulous.