My Apologies

I'm sorry to have to deliver yet another apology for not having updated this blog recently, but unfortunately I'm been swamped with things to do. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some breathing space by next week and maybe I'll be able to upload a few backdated quizzes. Until then, happy quizzing everyone!

Not Even a Pear

Don't ever doubt my dedication to you, as last Monday I hauled myself out on my lonesome to bolster this blog. The Bristol Pear quiz however, has always been a very tough nut for me to crack, even with a solid team behind me. I don't think I disgraced myself, but I was far from glory (though I did manage to win some lager as a spot prize). Having just one more person on the team is usually a huge boost as you can run with each others thoughts and guesses. In this case though, there wasn't much I could do, and only a very small number of answers where I went the wrong way (as opposed to having zero ideas). Shall we get started?

 

Outline:

Venue: The Bristol Pear                                         Team: Just me :(      
Score: 38/60 (8th approx.) - 1st = 49/60                Prizes won: Pitcher of Carling             

Plug: If you fancy coming along, the address of the pub is Bristol Pear, 676 Bristol Road, Birmingham, West Midlands B29 6BJ. The quiz starts at 8.30 on Mondays.

Best Team Name:

Some decent candidates this week to be fair. It's up to you to decide which of these is the best, so comment below or tweet me at @MPRTaylor. Here are the hopefuls...

- You're a Quizzard, Harry!

- The Cunning Stunts

- Al Qaeda Will Hate My New Coffee, It's French Press

- Selly Oak Swingers Club

Get voting, the result will be up next week.

 

Questions:

I didn't do too badly, especially considering the size of some of the teams I was up against. By the way, if you're not a fan of bad language, avoid question 9 this week. Let me know how you found these...

1) What is the original reason for the presence of the slice of lemon or lime served in the neck of bottles of the lager Corona?

2) Which US law enforcement agency uses the motto 'Justice. Integrity. Service.'?

3) After Thanksgiving, on which day do Americans consume the most food?**

4) The 2007 New England Patriots scandal, which featured Head Coach Bill Belichick being fined $500,000 over the videotaping of the New York Jets' coaches gameplay signals, was dubbed what '...gate'?

5) At the grounds of which Belgian football club was a banner unfurled depicting the severed head of player Steven Defour, causing him to kick the ball into the crowd?

The third round (Quickfire Round) asked you to establish whether the following American laws are real or made up.

6) In California, it is illegal for women to drive a car whilst wearing a bathrobe. True or False?

7) In Denver, Colorado, it is illegal for people to perform dance moves that may frighten horses. True or False?

8) In Florida, it is illegal to catch jellyfish on Tuesdays. True or False?

Identify who said the following famous quotes...

9) 'No one dies a virgin, life fucks us all.'

10) Which actor repeated this Eric Cantona quote when asked about a nude scene he had participated in? - 'When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.'

The final round was the music intros round, which really cost me. Here are 7 songs for you to guess BOTH the artist and the song - half a point for each. Clink on the links below to be taken to a  relevant YouTube video. As always with this round, avert your eyes and watch out for adverts. You only have about 15 seconds to work out what the song is.

11) Song 1     12) Song 2     13) Song 3    14) Song 4     15) Song 5    16) Song 6   17) Song 7

Would you have won anything on these bonus questions? Why not give them a go too?

B1) In which year did Donald Duck make his first appearance in a cartoon?

B2) In which year did Deirdre Barlow first appear on Coronation Street?

B3) In which year was the first film in the 'Naked Gun' series released?

Answers

1) To keep out flies and other insects*
2) The US Marshals
3) Superbowl Sunday**
4) Spygate
5) Standard Liege
6) True
7) False
8) False
9) Kurt Cobain
10) Shia LaBeouf
11) Achilles Heel - Toploader
12) Shoot the Runner - Kasabian
13) Lifted - The Lighthouse Family
14) In For the Kill - La Roux
15) Ready For the Floor - Hot Chip
16) Flux - Bloc Party
17) Jesus He Knows Me - Genesis

Post Match Analysis

Best Moment: Correctly identifying a song by Snoop Dogg ('Drop It Like It's Hot') on the music round. This is the equivalent for me of most people identifying a piece of classical music and the composer on University Challenge.
Worst Moment: The rest of music round, as you can see.

1) *This was not something I was going to get. I pontificated that it might be to stop air reacting with the liquid and making it go off too quickly. However, I have had difficulty verifying this nugget of information. This website actually comes up with several theories as to why the slice might be there...
Fact File: Corona was first brewed in 1925 in Mexico by Cerveceria Modelo. The name is taken from the Spanish for 'crown', which features on its logo. It is Mexico's leading export brand and in 1997, Corona overtook Heineken to become the highest selling foreign beer in the United States. The lemon and lime are not commonly used in native Mexico. It is now owned by the world's largest brewer AB InBev.

2) Another one that I had some trouble with. I was fairly sure that the FBI's motto utilised the initials FBI, so it seemed logical to go for the CIA on the basis that these sorts of questions are usually one or the other. Not the case this time though, but I doubt that many teams in the pub got this question correct either.
Fact File: The United States Marshals Service was formed in 1789, the same year that George Washington became President of the US. This makes the Marshals the oldest federal law enforcement body in the country, having celebrated 225 years in 2014. Its chief role is to uphold the decisions of American courts and it is also responsible for the Witness Protection Programme. Probably the most famous member is Wyatt Earp, a Special Deputy who took part in the Gunfight at the OK Corral in 1881. There is one full Marshal for each of the 94 federal judicial districts, and they are appointed by the President. It is a part of the Department of Justice, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, and the Director is Stacia Hylton.

3) **This is not the actual question that was asked in the quiz. That was 'After Thanksgiving and Christmas...' to which my answer was Valentine's Day. It could happen. However, I lacked any knowledge on this front anyway, so the point was lost, despite this being a somewhat topical story.
Fact File: The Super Bowl sees the winners of the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL) compete for the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy. The Super Bowl has been contested since 1967, is traditionally held on the last Sunday in January or the first in February, and has recently continually broken its own record for highest TV audience in the US (2014's Superbowl is thought to have averaged 111.5 million viewers.) 2015's Super Bowl XLIX saw the New England Patriots defeat the Seattle Seahawks 28 - 24 at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Perhaps the food most associated with the big day is chicken wings, of which it is predicted that Americans will have eaten over 1 billion on 1st February.

4) Another American Football question. I nearly went with the correct answer of Spygate, but it seemed a little too obvious to me. Given that the Quiz Master mentioned Bill Belichick, I assumed this might be a clue and accordingly went for 'Bill-Gate'. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a joke too far.
Fact File: Belichick's fine of $500,000 was the maximum amount possible under football rules and the Patriots were fined a further $250,000. Belichick was first appointed as Head Coach in 2000, and is still in this position, having contested 6 Super Bowls with the team and won 4. The scandal did not stop the Patriots contesting the Super Bowl in 2008, though they lost to the New York Giants (17-14).

5) Didn't know, and there was nothing I could do. I badly needed the Teacher's help here.
Fact File: Royal Standard de Liege was founded in 1898, and the club plays at Stade Maurice Dufrasne. The banner, featuring the words 'Red Or Dead' was unfurled by Standard Liege fans unhappy with Defour's recent transfer to rival team R.S.C. Anderlecht, Defour having played for Liege from 2006 - 2011. Defour, who played for Belgium in the 2014 World Cup, was sent off for his reaction, and Liege beat Anderlecht 2-0.

6) Bizarrely enough, this appears to be true. I should have used a bit of quizzer's instinct here, but I couldn't for the life of me come up with any reason why somebody should need to legislate for this, particularly in relatively liberal California. If anybody could enlighten me I would be grateful.

7&8) I did quite well on this round (7/10), with only these slip ups. At least you could conceive of these two scenarios having a reason for their being drawn up.


9) I can't find when exactly Cobain said this, but it is definitely attributed to him. I wouldn't have thought of Cobain, but I wasn't too far out with fellow musician Ozzy Osbourne.
Fact File: Kurt Donald Cobain was born in 1967 in Aberdeen, Washington. Cobain is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of pioneering grunge band Nirvana, most famous for the song 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' released in 1991. Having experienced difficulty coping with fame and his marriage to Courtney Love, Cobain was found to have committed suicide in 1994. This made him a member of the fabled '27 Club' and he retains a strong cult following.

10) I haven't really seen Shia LaBeouf in anything since he was in Even Stevens many years ago, so he wasn't exactly the first person on my mind. Indeed, the thought of a character from childhood doing a nude scene is quite a surreal thought.
Fact File: Shia Saide LaBeouf was born in Los Angeles in 1986 and first found his acting feet through the Disney Channel. His first film role came with 'Holes' in 2003 and he has found his greatest fame through starring as Sam Witwicky in the Transformers franchise. He has also appeared as Indiana Jones' son Henry in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He iterated this quote at a 2014 press conference at the Berlin Film Festival for the Lars von Trier film 'Nymphomaniac'.

11) I had heard this before, but I had completely disconnected it from Toploader, consigning them in my memory to the status of One Hit Wonders.
Fact File: Achilles Heel is Toploader's only Top 10 hit besides their cover of King Harvest's 'Dancing In the Moonlight'. It reached #8 on its 2000 re-release on the UK Singles Chart and is taken from the album Onka's Big Moka. According to Wikipedia, Toploader were the last band to play at the old Wembley Stadium. The band hails from Eastbourne and was formed in 1997.



12) Didn't recognise this at all, but I'm beginning to think I should always put Kasabian down in situations like that.
Fact File: Shoot the Runner was taken from Kasabian's second album Empire and released in 2006, and peaked at #17 in the UK. It was written by the band's guitarist Sergio Pizzorno. Kasabian was also formed in 1997, in Leicester. The video is notable for the use of 'rotoscoping' animation effects.

13) I'm sure I would get into them, but I have never really listened to the Lighthouse Family, so had nothing going here either.
Fact File: Lifted was the lead single from the Lighthouse Family's debut album Ocean Drive. On the song's re-release the song reached #4 in the UK. Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker originally formed in the group in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1993.

14) I was demoralised enough by this point not to be able to really think what this one was. A run of bad answers can often break your ability to think straight and I'm pretty sure I was a victim of that here.
Fact File: Peaking at #2 in the UK, In For the Kill was the synthpop paring La Roux's breakthrough single in 2009. They achieved a No. 1 later in the same year with 'Bulletproof' and both singles come from their self titled debut album. Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid formed La Roux in London in 2006.

15) I'd never heard this song before, so no chance here.
Fact File: Ready For the Floor was taken from the album Made In the Dark and released in 2008. It is the electronic group's second single and reached #6 in the UK. Hot Chip were formed in London in 2000.




16) Ditto.
Fact File: Flux was released in 2007 and is taken from the album A Weekend In the City. It was the fourth single from the album and reached #8 in the UK. The band was formed in London in 2003.

17) What more is there really to say? On listening to this song properly for the first time, I have to say I actually rather like it.
Fact File: Genesis released the song from the album We Can't Dance in 1991. Reaching #20 in the UK, the song is intended to attack televangelism, with Phil Collins portraying the pastor Ernest Angley in the accompanying video. 




B1) I wasn't too far away with this, but hardly bang on. I knew that Donald Duck has been around for a while before WWII (thanks in part to this video), so I went with 1937.
Fact File: One of Disney's 'Sensational Six', Donald Duck's first appearance was in the cartoon 'The Wise Little Hen', where he fakes having a stomach ache to avoid planting corn. Having featured in over 150 films (the most of any Disney character), Donald's distinctive voice has been provided by only two actors during this time, with Clarence Nash lasting in the role for 50 years, and Tony Anselmo taking over in 1985. He is also apparently the fifth most published comic book character in the world, with only superheroes Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Wolverine ahead of him.
     

B2) Soaps have never and never will be my bag. I assumed that her first appearance would roughly coincide with that of her future husband Ken.
Fact File: Deirdre Barlow was played by Anne Kirkbride for 42 years on the show. She was originally called Deirdre Hunt and first married Ray Langton. After their divorce, she fell in love with Ken Barlow and it was estimated that more people in the UK watched her marriage to Ken than the Royal Wedding between Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in the same year (1981). Though the two split, they would later remarry in 2005, once again eclipsing the viewership figures for Prince Charles' marriage to Camilla Parker-Bowles. Saldy, Anne Kirkbride died of breast cancer in 2015 without having left the show.

B3) I was one year out on this one (1989) which was a little frustrating but I did at least get one of the bonuses, so I can't be too upset.
Fact File: Starring Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley, 'The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad' features the Police Squad department tasked with protecting Queen Elizabeth II during a state visit to Los Angeles. The film is based on the 1982 series 'Police Squad', also starring Nielsen and known for its surreal and fast paced style of comedy. It is directed by David Zucker.

There you go. As always, let me know how you would have done with these ones that got away by commenting or tweeting me @MPRTaylor. Maybe I'll even see you there in the future. Until next time then.