King Billy 2008

December 23, 2008 12:41 PM

The 104th General Knowledge Quiz from King William's College on the Isle of Man.Previously linked each year on MeFi.(2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 , 2003, 2002) Sometimes people share answers, sometimes they play alone. Last year's quiz.
posted by CCBC (189 comments total)

Can we just call this the Knowledge Possesed Only By Dorks Who Never Get Laid Quiz and be done with it?
posted by jonmc at 12:47 PM on December 23, 2008 [2 favorites]

The hell of it is they probably do get laid, even if only by other dorks.
posted by Reverend John at 1:03 PM on December 23, 2008

Thus producing more dorks. Oh well, I guess somebody has to know this shit.
posted by jonmc at 1:06 PM on December 23, 2008

Hmm, off the top of my head I can answer...

1.6, 8.1, 14.6, 14.8, 18.1


That's not very impressive.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 1:06 PM on December 23, 2008

Answer 1: Ford

How dorkish.
posted by phoque at 1:11 PM on December 23, 2008

Thanks for revealing the abysmal depth of my ignorance.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:18 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Everybody cheats, and Googling is OK. In fact, it's just about essential. Answer threads are popping up already elsewhere; our usual protocol here is to start posting answers until we've got most of it "on our own" before borrowing answers posted elsewhere.

I would suggest hyperlinking to source pages.

Here's a start:

4.1. Norlands (based on Faroes)
4.2 Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, The Hebrides
4.3 Island of Egilsay, Orkney Islands
4.4 A monastery on the Isle of May
4.7 North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands
4.8 Gruinard, Britain’s “anthrax island”
4.10 The Bass (R. L. Stevenson, Catronia)
posted by beagle at 1:25 PM on December 23, 2008

3 (e) from the 2002 version is probably Douglas Bader. I'm proud I just figured that out.

All this time, and I never knew that King William College was on the Isle of Man.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 1:25 PM on December 23, 2008

I don't even understand what some of the questions are asking. I'll slink away in shame, now.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 1:32 PM on December 23, 2008 [3 favorites]

1.3 The Chocolate Soldier
posted by Phlogiston at 1:40 PM on December 23, 2008

1.1 Henry Ford.
1.5 Vladivostok.
1.6 King Edward VII. (The Cullinan diamond was the present.)
1.7 I think it's Henry Campbell-Bannerman, though the dates don't quite match.
1.9 Winston Churchill.
1.10 The assassination of King Carlos, his father.
posted by Iridic at 1:42 PM on December 23, 2008

2.7 Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
posted by Phlogiston at 1:45 PM on December 23, 2008

2.10 Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:50 PM on December 23, 2008

2.8 Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
posted by Iridic at 1:51 PM on December 23, 2008

Oh, and 2.8, Gabriel García Márquez, 100 Years of Solitude
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:51 PM on December 23, 2008

DAMN YOU! :)
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:52 PM on December 23, 2008

4.5 Lismore
4.6 Eriskay (where Bonnie Prince Charlie, born in Italy, landed in 1745. He was the great-grandson of King John III Sobieski of Poland)
4.9 Ailsa Craig (Robert Burns, “Duncan Gray”)

(completing section 4)
posted by beagle at 1:52 PM on December 23, 2008

2.6 Austen, Pride and Prejudice
posted by Iridic at 1:54 PM on December 23, 2008

2.3 Dickens, Great Expectations.
posted by Phlogiston at 1:55 PM on December 23, 2008

As usual, I'm drawing a, well, you know.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:57 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

5.3 Ugly Duckling
7.1 Esperanto
7.7 Romansh
13.7 George Washington
18.1 Sir Edmund Hillary

Can't work out the Sherlock Holmes one.
posted by NailsTheCat at 1:57 PM on December 23, 2008

17.1 Montpelier
posted by NailsTheCat at 1:59 PM on December 23, 2008

7.3 might be Basque
posted by fingerbang at 2:01 PM on December 23, 2008

18.5 Ian Botham
Just googled it...
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:02 PM on December 23, 2008

Oh, and they've got linguistics!

7.2 Romanian
7.3 Basque
7.4 Finnish
7.6 Sorbian
7.7 Romansh
7.10 Slovene
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:02 PM on December 23, 2008

17.2 The Three Musketeers (Dumas)
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:03 PM on December 23, 2008

7.1 Esperanto
posted by Iridic at 2:05 PM on December 23, 2008

Sorry, my Sherlock Holmes one should have been:
17.7 Montpelier
not 17.1
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:07 PM on December 23, 2008

Might 2.5 be Great Expectations?
posted by Iridic at 2:13 PM on December 23, 2008

Dammit. Sorry, they wanted town, not book.

17.2 Bethune. (From The Three Musketeers: Dumas)
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:17 PM on December 23, 2008

9.2 Johannes Kepler
9.3 Lord Byron
9.10 Salvador Dali
posted by elmono at 2:18 PM on December 23, 2008

Googling is OK.

Sacrilege! Getting only a single-digit number of answers is the time-honoured traditional way.
posted by matthewr at 2:19 PM on December 23, 2008

Geez, I only got five right off the top of my head, and other people have already answered most of them here.

7.1 Esperanto
8.7 Oysters
8.10 The Lobster
17.9 Harfleur
18.1 Sir Edmund Hilary
posted by andraste at 2:22 PM on December 23, 2008

I think I' don't understand what they want for an answer in section 9 . . .
posted by elmono at 2:23 PM on December 23, 2008

13.1 - James Buchanan
13.3 - James Madison
13.4 - Dwight Eisenhower
13.9 - James Monroe
13.10 - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
posted by Lucinda at 2:24 PM on December 23, 2008

elmono, I'm not sure that it is are sufficient to just name the related person. Doesn't it ask for
Journeying on what, between which termini, might one's thoughts turn to:
I was thinking it would have to be a mode of transport: trains, ships or something. But I haven't a clue how.

On preview, I agree.
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:25 PM on December 23, 2008

17.8 Rheims
posted by andraste at 2:26 PM on December 23, 2008

That's what I realized after I posted... but like yourself, I have no clue! Dammit!
posted by elmono at 2:29 PM on December 23, 2008

I thought section 9 was to do with the London Underground, but I can't make any connections yet.
posted by andraste at 2:35 PM on December 23, 2008

The Underground... nice thinking. Well 9.9 the mount of Bellerophon? This was Pegasus. If that's of any use to you. Doesn't help me in the slightest.
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:41 PM on December 23, 2008

6.2 Pope Alexander VI
6.3 King Haakon VI of Norway
6.9 Constantine
posted by Lucinda at 2:42 PM on December 23, 2008

Here's what I've got so far, sorry for any repeats:
1.5 Vladivostok, Siberia
1.6 Cullinan Diamond
3.1 Samuel Morse
3.2 Flora Post
3.8 BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN
4.1 1936 novel by John Buchan
4.3 Egilsay
4.8 Gruinard Island
4.10 Leiden University?
7.1 Esperanto
7.2 Catalan
7.4 Scandoromani
7.5 Albanian
7.7 Romansh
7.10 Scottish Gaelic
8.1 Abalone
8.3 Scallops?
13.1 Buchannan
13.3 James Madison
13.4 Ike Eisenhower
13.6 Calvin Coolidge
13.7 George Washington
13.9 James Monroe
13.10 Jefferson and Adams
15.2 Clarice Starling
17.1 Digne-Les-Bains
18.6 Olney
posted by The White Hat at 2:48 PM on December 23, 2008

Christian II of Denmark was a prisoner in Soderborg Castle, which is on an Island... so could the answer to 9.6 be by boat?
posted by elmono at 2:51 PM on December 23, 2008

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN

I am absolutely disgusted that I didn't get this myself.
posted by andraste at 2:52 PM on December 23, 2008

Section 9 clue:

9.10 On a train, at The Dali Station on the Yilan Line, running from Badu to Suao, Taiwan.
posted by beagle at 2:55 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS
I would never have got it... but boy, it takes me back.
posted by NailsTheCat at 2:56 PM on December 23, 2008

9.9 The Pegasus Express, Zurich to Amsterdam
posted by beagle at 2:59 PM on December 23, 2008

All of the answers in 12 are various Dickensian public houses:

12.2 The Sol's Arms (Bleak House)
12.3 The Jolly Fellowship Porters (Our Mutual Friend)
12.4 The Pegasus' Arms (Hard Times)ou
12.7 The Three Cripples Inn (Oliver Twist)
12.9 The Three Jolly Bargemen (Great Expectations)
posted by Iridic at 3:05 PM on December 23, 2008

Ahah. So we've broken the back of 9 now:
9.2 The Czech Express train R 60352 JOHANNES KEPLER goes from Prague (Czech republic) passing through Dresden and ends in Leipzig (Germany)
posted by NailsTheCat at 3:07 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

9.2 could be the Johannes Kepler sleeper train on Czech Railways.

I think we've established that section 9 is probably All About Trains.
posted by andraste at 3:10 PM on December 23, 2008

damn, should've previewed!
posted by andraste at 3:10 PM on December 23, 2008

12.5 The Goat and Boots ("Our Parish")
12.8 The Saracen's Head Inn (Nicholas Nickleby)
12.10 The Maypole Porch (Barnaby Rudge)
posted by Iridic at 3:17 PM on December 23, 2008

5.1 is Quisling.
6.9 is Byzantine emperor Constantine VI.
2.5 is probably Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard.
posted by nasreddin at 3:19 PM on December 23, 2008

Is this something I'd have to be a Genesis fan to understand?
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 3:22 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Nine is definitely all trains:

9.8 The hotel train Francisco de Goya (who painted the Clothed Maya and the Naked Maya), between Paris and Madrid
posted by beagle at 3:24 PM on December 23, 2008

A lot of these are poorly worded and lead to more than one "correct" response. For instance:

7-2. Which language of the Romance group has a definite article suffix?

I think that the "right" answer is Romanian, but what about Latin?

7-3. Of which European language is the origin unknown, even to the experts?

Basque seems the obvious living answer, but Etruscan?

7-4. Which geographically Scandinavian language is not linguistically Scandinavian?

The White Hat's answer - Scandoromani - is correct, right? Meets all the requirements of the question, though the "right" answer is probably Finnish. Sami could be a correct answer, too.

7-5. Which European language is the only survivor of its branch of the Indo-European group?

My first thought, Albanian. My second thought, Armenian. Both seem to work, although maybe Armenia is not considered "European," though technically, isn't it?

7-6. Which Slavonic language is spoken in a country whose national language is not Slavonic?

I know of Serbian and Croatian speakers in Hungary, Serbian speakers in Romania, the Sorbs in Germany, various Czechs and Slovaks in a couple of countries like Germany and Romania, etc. (And I don't mean random people, but long-standing communities.) If they mean "only spoken in a country whose national language is not Slavonic," then I guess it would be Sorbian. But that's not what the question asks.

7-10. Which European national language still retains the dual number?

A White Hat wrote "Scottish Gaelic," and this seems to fit the bill, as I reckon Scotland is a "state" and the language does have the dual number. But what about Slovenian?

That's 60% of the question in one category that could have arguable responses.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 3:37 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

10.8 The Ohio River
18.6 Ripon
posted by Iridic at 3:39 PM on December 23, 2008

Hats off to beagle.

9.3 If you travel from KGX to NSD, you´ll pass trough Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Lord Byron. Lord Byron was a Libertine.


You reckon?
posted by elmono at 3:39 PM on December 23, 2008

7.10 Maltese is another European "national language" with a dual, in addition to those mentioned above.
posted by gubo at 3:54 PM on December 23, 2008

Byron sounds pretty good... but following your Byron link onto Libertines and, on famous libertines, thence to Casanova.
There's a Casanova train (Ljubljana to Venice). It's more likely this I think?

I think that the train to Dali mentioned above may be called Dali train also. Which would be more consistent.
posted by NailsTheCat at 4:01 PM on December 23, 2008

I looked at one question at random - knew the answer (!?!) and closed the page. So for me 2008 will always be the year that, of all the questions I had time to look at, I got 100% of the questions correct on the King William's College General Knowledge Quiz.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:03 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

There's a Casanova train (Ljubljana to Venice). It's more likely this I think?

Yup. I agree.
posted by elmono at 4:16 PM on December 23, 2008

If you look at this page while not logged in, the ad that's served is headlined "Just how dumb are you?"
posted by beagle at 4:20 PM on December 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

A White Hat wrote "Scottish Gaelic," and this seems to fit the bill, as I reckon Scotland is a "state" and the language does have the dual number. But what about Slovenian?

No, Gaelic isn't one of the 23 'official languages' of the European Union, whereas Slovenian is.
posted by matthewr at 4:27 PM on December 23, 2008

Anybody still on section 9, here's links to all kinds of named trains.
posted by beagle at 4:30 PM on December 23, 2008

Dammit. Everybody's already posted the handful I could claim I knew off the top of my head.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 4:34 PM on December 23, 2008

For 9.1 (trains/sleepwalking) I nominate the Highland Chieftain, which runs between London and Inverness, which is the closest you can get by train to Cawdor Castle, the Thane of which was Shakespeare's Macbeth, whose Lady was a sleepwalker. And Macbeth was a Highland Chieftain, I guess. It's a stretch, but you got something better?
posted by beagle at 4:37 PM on December 23, 2008

2.2 - The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:39 PM on December 23, 2008

3.3 Captain Henry George Kendall of the SS Montrose
posted by andraste at 4:44 PM on December 23, 2008

17.3 Rouen
posted by andraste at 4:49 PM on December 23, 2008

13:

2. William Henry Harrison
5. William McKinley
6. Calvin Coolidge
8. Theodore Roosevelt

15.4: Bernard Nightingale
posted by rewil at 5:02 PM on December 23, 2008

So the only section 12 answers we are missing is 12.1 and 12.6 Mistress leguminous has me stumped (the closest I can come is Podsnap.)

12.6 is The Magpie and Stump (Pickwick Papers)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:03 PM on December 23, 2008

6.8 Mehmed VI
16.4 Iona Abbey, Scotland
posted by andraste at 5:15 PM on December 23, 2008

15.5 is Sir Mulberry Hawk

They really love their Dickens, eh?
posted by andraste at 5:22 PM on December 23, 2008

No, Gaelic isn't one of the 23 'official languages' of the European Union, whereas Slovenian is.

Except Scotland is a state, and the question said nothing about "official languages" or anything about the EU.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 5:30 PM on December 23, 2008

Ahah. Thanks for the list of named trains. There's a Trenhotel Salvador Dalí in Spain. Maybe that's the one they mean. (Ironic that the previous Dali post was the one that put us onto the train theme.)
posted by NailsTheCat at 5:34 PM on December 23, 2008

OK, how about these for 5:

5.1
5.2
5.3 Ugly Duckling
5.4 gosling (anser is a type of goose)
5.5
5.6
5.7 angling (they're both rivers... angle/geometry...)
5.8 tickling
5.9
5.10 Riesling
posted by NailsTheCat at 5:46 PM on December 23, 2008

During the year 1908, who announced T?

Is this something that I'd have to speak English to understand?
posted by Flunkie at 5:46 PM on December 23, 2008

nailsthecat, agreed about the Dali train. The category seems to be Named Trains, and Dali Station doesn't fit the bill, so I withdraw that.
posted by beagle at 5:58 PM on December 23, 2008

Flunkie, it's the Model T Ford.
posted by beagle at 5:59 PM on December 23, 2008

3.5 - Arthur Davies (Riddle of the Sands)
posted by djgh at 6:05 PM on December 23, 2008

Flunkie, it's the Model T Ford.

Yes, I understand that that's what people say the answer is, and I'm even willing to believe that that's what the designers of the quiz intend the answer to be. What I don't understand is in what sense of the word "announced" or the letter "T" Henry Ford "announced T".

I mean, really, why is the question not "During the year 1908, who surfed Model" or "During the year 1908, who polled car"?
posted by Flunkie at 6:09 PM on December 23, 2008

Ok, so 5 trots down through Europe from Norway.

5.1 Quisling - Norway (Nasreddin already had this above)
5.2 ... something Swedish?
5.3 Ugly Duckling (Denmark)
5.4 gosling
5.5 ...netherlands clearly
5.6 Memling (Belgium)
5.7 angling (France)
5.8 fingerling
5.9 ... who knows
5.10 Riesling (Germany)
posted by NailsTheCat at 6:58 PM on December 23, 2008

So just a quick recap:

1 (1908) is missing 2, 4, 8

2 (Opening lines) is missing 1, 4, 9

3 (Communications) is missing 4, 6, 7, 9, 10

4 Finished

5 (Nordic Lands) 2, 5, 9

6 (People) 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10

7 (languages) 8, 9

8 (Seafood) 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, with #3-scallop being a guess

9 (Trains) 4, 5, 7, with 1, 6 being guessed

10 (Rivers) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10

11 No guesses so far

12 (Public Houses in Dickens) is missing 1

13 (American Presidents) Done

14 (Countries) No guesses so far

15 (People with bird names) missing 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

16 No guesses so far

17 (Places in Sherlock Holmes stories) 4, 5, 6, 10

18 (2008) 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:03 PM on December 23, 2008

10.8 = the Ohio River (it's a reference to Huckleberry Finn)
posted by Flunkie at 7:27 PM on December 23, 2008

Whoops, my bad. #10.8 was already answered, in fact it is the only answer so far in category 10.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:33 PM on December 23, 2008

17.6 Gap (Day of the Jackal)
posted by gubo at 7:49 PM on December 23, 2008

14.1 = Wellington (New Zealand) - "ling" = heather = calluna
14.2 = Apia (Samoa) - "pi" = 3.14159 (approximately)
14.3 = Tokyo (Japan) - "ok" = "it's alright" (um, maybe - but also Melekeok, Palau, and Bangkok, Thailand, so I'm probably wrong about this)
14.8 = Islamabad (Pakistan) - "lama" = Tibetan monk
posted by Flunkie at 7:49 PM on December 23, 2008

2.1: Lawrence Durrell, "Clea."
2.9: E.M. Forster, "Where Angels Fear to Tread."
posted by rewil at 7:53 PM on December 23, 2008

Six of mine were answered already, so here's the rest.

11.4 Terry Hall (Fun Boy Three) and Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Gos). FBT on TOTP; GG on Carson

Otherwise, I got nuthin'.
posted by maudlin at 7:55 PM on December 23, 2008

8.6 is mussel (rev. Thomas Langhorne's school is located in Musselburgh.)

So far all the section 8 answers have been shellfish so 8 9. nominally, has blue representatives in another kingdom? should be easy, but I am getting sleepy. All I can think of is blue green algae. The answer must be a plant that is "Blue (shellfish)."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:56 PM on December 23, 2008

17.10 Amiens (Mr. Standfast)
posted by gubo at 7:58 PM on December 23, 2008

Maybe 14.4 = Bucharest (Hungary) - "char" = a type of fish that lives in Lake Windermere
posted by Flunkie at 7:59 PM on December 23, 2008

If I'm right, section 11 is musical. If I'm wrong, it could be anything.
posted by maudlin at 8:01 PM on December 23, 2008

14.5 = Ottawa (Canada) - "taw" = River Taw = river in England's West Country
posted by Flunkie at 8:07 PM on December 23, 2008

17.5 Alençon (The Surgeon's Mate)
posted by gubo at 8:10 PM on December 23, 2008

18.7 refers to the building in Liverpool that had the giant spider sculpture on it (arachnid = spider; coleopteran = beetle [Beatle]).
posted by gubo at 8:16 PM on December 23, 2008

For 11.8, James Stanley seems to work, but I've no idea how that ties in with a theme yet.
posted by rewil at 8:23 PM on December 23, 2008

OK, other people have probably noticed this already, but everybody in part 6 is a "the Sixth". From the answers here so far:

6.2 Pope Alexander VI
6.3 King Haakon VI of Norway
6.8 Mehmed VI
6.9 Constantine VI
posted by Flunkie at 8:29 PM on December 23, 2008

14.10 = Manila (Philippines) - "nil" = Nothing
posted by Midnight Rambler at 8:33 PM on December 23, 2008

14.7 = Budapest (Hungary) - Simian representative = ape
posted by Midnight Rambler at 8:35 PM on December 23, 2008

This one might be stretching it

14.9 = Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) - Semi-metal = hg ie. mercury
posted by Midnight Rambler at 8:38 PM on December 23, 2008

I got the following answers with a creative use of Wikipedia, so I guess it's unfair.

The category 6 (which I'd gotten with Constantine VI before) includes only rulers who are "the Sixth."
6.1 might be Charles VI of France (he was le Fou, which means "the Mad" but could be "the Foolish" at a stretch)
6.2 is Pope Alexander VI.
6.3 is Haakon VI.
6.5 is Rama VI (Vajiravudh), king of Thailand.
6.8 is Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
6.10 is Henry VI (three Shakespeare plays).

So the only ones left in 6 are 4, 6, and 7.
posted by nasreddin at 8:38 PM on December 23, 2008

Dammit, didn't preview!
posted by nasreddin at 8:39 PM on December 23, 2008

Oh, and 3.1 is Samuel Morse, whose first telegram ever was "What hath God wrought!"
posted by nasreddin at 8:41 PM on December 23, 2008

Aha! Section 11 is a bunch of Stanleys!

11.4 is actually Stanley Baldwin
posted by maudlin at 8:44 PM on December 23, 2008

3.9 is Edward Leithen. (used Google!)
posted by nasreddin at 8:48 PM on December 23, 2008

18.9 is Marion Jones.
posted by gubo at 8:56 PM on December 23, 2008

14.9 = Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) - Semi-metal = hg ie. mercury

Mercury is a metal, not a semimetal.
posted by Flunkie at 8:59 PM on December 23, 2008

11.8 is James Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby.
posted by nasreddin at 9:01 PM on December 23, 2008

No fucking idea. I'm one of the stupid mefi, ask me about motor oil.
posted by nola at 9:01 PM on December 23, 2008

Section 5 answers all end in "ling."

5.5 is Terschelling (yeah I'm googling these).
posted by gubo at 9:06 PM on December 23, 2008

Thanks to Google, I do believe 11.10 is Stanley Schmidt.

It's most presumptuous to believe we already know all the answers and will never get any more big surprises.
posted by maudlin at 9:06 PM on December 23, 2008

15.9 could be Mao Zedong.
posted by Pseudology at 9:08 PM on December 23, 2008

10.1 might be the Olonka River (flows through Olonets, the object of the failed 1919 Aunus Expedition).
10.2 is the Thames.
posted by nasreddin at 9:11 PM on December 23, 2008

6.6 George VI
posted by empath at 9:11 PM on December 23, 2008

14.9 = Gabarone (Botwswana) - "boron" is a semimetal
posted by Flunkie at 9:13 PM on December 23, 2008

Err, I mean "Gaborone", not "Gabarone".
posted by Flunkie at 9:13 PM on December 23, 2008

Or could 11.10 be Henry Stanley? ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume?")
posted by rewil at 9:13 PM on December 23, 2008

16.4 is Iona Abbey, Scotland (Colum Cille being the Irish name for St Columba)

Oooh, Stanleys - well done maudlin! In that case:

11.10 Henry Morton Stanley ("Dr Livingstone, I presume?")
posted by andraste at 9:19 PM on December 23, 2008

11.1
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.3
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.5
11.6
11.7
11.8 James Stanley
11.9
11.10 Stanley Schmidt OR Henry Stanley
posted by maudlin at 9:19 PM on December 23, 2008

(I think Henry Stanley is a better fit than Stanley Schmidt for 11.10, except that I wonder if the more obscure figure and that quote especially appeals to the quiz makers).
posted by maudlin at 9:20 PM on December 23, 2008

6.7 Frederick VI of Denmark, (Caroline of Ansbach is the grandmother in common)
posted by empath at 9:27 PM on December 23, 2008

I keep thinking that 11.6 is Stanley from 'A Streetcar Named Desire' because "Stella, Stella, Stella" counts as repetitive utterances, but I have no idea where the Glyn Daniels reference might tie into that.
posted by andraste at 9:28 PM on December 23, 2008

6.4-- I'm stumped on any kings whose wives had an affair with a physician. or queens, for that matter.
posted by empath at 9:35 PM on December 23, 2008

11.9 is Stanley Webber, the protagonist of The Birthday Party
posted by Iridic at 9:38 PM on December 23, 2008

Wait -- 6.4 is ALSO Frederick VI of denmark.. that can't be right, can it?

His half-sister was the result of an affair with her physician.

Ah, i just rechecked my work on the grandmothers.. i seem to be incorrect there. But in any case. 6.4 is Frederick VI of Denmark.

6.7 is still unanswered.
posted by empath at 9:40 PM on December 23, 2008

11.6 solved! It's Major General Stanley from Pirates of Penzance (who had information vegetable, animal and mineral, as did Glyn Daniels)
posted by andraste at 9:48 PM on December 23, 2008

No, I was right 6.7 is Frederick VI of Denmark. His parents were cousins, and they shared a grandmother.

Caroline of Ansbach
| |
Frdrck/wales Louise/Norway
| |
Caroline-Matilda/wls Christian VI/Den
\ /
Frederick VI of Denmark
posted by empath at 9:59 PM on December 23, 2008

so:

6.1 might be Charles VI of France (he was le Fou, which means "the Mad" but could be "the Foolish" at a stretch)
6.2 is Pope Alexander VI.
6.3 is Haakon VI.
6.4 Frederick VI of Den
6.5 is Rama VI (Vajiravudh), king of Thailand.
6.6 is George VI (born on Dec 14th, the day Prince Albert died)
6.7 Frederick VI of Den
6.8 is Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
6.10 is Henry VI (three Shakespeare plays).
posted by empath at 10:01 PM on December 23, 2008

6.7 could also be James VI of Scotland, and it's tricky because he is more commonly known as James I of England. The common ancestor is Margaret Tudor who was mother to both his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother.
posted by andraste at 10:03 PM on December 23, 2008

I bet that 6.7 is a lot of "the Sixths".
posted by Flunkie at 10:10 PM on December 23, 2008

I am tempted to call 11.1 for Stanley Milgram (of the Milgram experiment)
posted by empath at 10:17 PM on December 23, 2008

empath, add Constantine VI to 6.9 (Lucinda and nasreddin got this earlier in the thread).

Section 11: Stanleys

11.1 unsolved: "had instinct"
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.3 unsolved: "uniquely, got three in whose match?"
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.5 unsolved: "was formerly William and succeeded Louis"
11.6 Major General Stanley
11.7 unsolved: "described a small arm accident on 17/6/15"
11.8 James Stanley
11.9 Stanley Webber
11.10 Henry Stanley (likely) Stanley Schmidt (possible)
posted by maudlin at 10:18 PM on December 23, 2008

11.1, instincts, G. Stanley Hall?
posted by rewil at 10:27 PM on December 23, 2008

6.1 might be Charles VI of France (he was le Fou, which means "the Mad" but could be "the Foolish" at a stretch)

I say yes. Googling "Charles the Foolish" gets several independent hits for Charles VI.
posted by Flunkie at 10:33 PM on December 23, 2008

I think that works, rewil. (And it was your answer of James Stanley that led me to the Stanley category, too!)

Section 11: Stanleys

11.1 G. Stanley Hall
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.3 unsolved: "uniquely, got three in whose match?"
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.5 unsolved: "was formerly William and succeeded Louis"
11.6 Major General Stanley
11.7 unsolved: "described a small arm accident on 17/6/15"
11.8 James Stanley
11.9 Stanley Webber
11.10 Henry Stanley (likely) Stanley Schmidt (possible)
posted by maudlin at 10:33 PM on December 23, 2008

15.3 Fanny Robin
posted by andraste at 10:47 PM on December 23, 2008

Is there someone named stanley who got a hat trick in the stanley cup finals?
posted by empath at 10:48 PM on December 23, 2008

11.3 - Stan Mortenson, only person ever to score a hat trick in an FA Cup Final, in the Matthews Match named after Stanley Matthews. It's a double Stanley question.
posted by andraste at 11:10 PM on December 23, 2008

With apologies for any repeats:

1.2 W.G.Grace; last innings aged 59, scored 15 and 25
1.3 The Chocolate Soldier, operetta by Oscar Straus based on GBS' Arms and the Man
1.5 Yokohama, Japan
1.6 King Edward VII - the Cullinan diamond
1.7 Campbell-Bannerman
1.8 Kenneth Grahame' Wind in the Willows, Mr Toad
1.9 Winston Churchill's best man
1.10 Younger son came to throne as Manuel II on the assassination of his
father Carlos I and his brother Crown Prince Luis Filipe

2.6 Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice

3.2 Flora Poste in Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
3.3 Capt George Kendall (led to the arrest of Crippen)

4.1 I have a feeling that the wording is intended to mislead. There is a
breed of sheep named after the island of Soay
4.2 Staffa (Fingal's Cave - Mendelsohnn)
4.3 Egilsay
4.4 Isle of May gifted by King David I to the Benedictine monks
4.6 Eriskay. Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was the gt
grandson of John III of Poland
4.7 North Ronaldsay. Kelp-fed mutton is a special delicacy
4.8 North Gruinard; quarantined until 1990 because of anthrax experiments;
now allegedly safe.
4.9 Ailsa Craig; poem by Robert Burns
4.10 Bass Rock; Catriona - Robert Louis Stevenson

I think section 6 is just "6"s
6.1 Charles VI of France
6.2 Pope Alexander VI
6.3 King Haakon VI of Norway
6.5 King Rama VI of Siam
6.8 Sultan Mehmet VI, last Ottoman Emperor (Empire founded 1299 by Osman I)

11.8 Earl of derby

17.6 Gap (Day of the Jackal)

18.3 Rebecca Romero; Olympic gold medallist cycling
18.6 Ripon North Yorkshire. Traditional pancake race abandoned because of
health & safety regulations
posted by lesbroux at 11:40 PM on December 23, 2008

Man! I never saw one of these gutted so quickly! I did the FPP, went to do some Xmas stuff, ate, entertained, returned, and the damn thing is almost done! Last year people decided Google was illegal or some such twaddle and nothing much happened here. Anyway, great work on the Named Trains of Europe, Dickens' Pubs, and the others. I really wonder about the --ings business for 5, but maybe. I guess those work "from Nordic lands" on down the North Sea. Jeez, I got nothing to add. You got all the Scots Isles and the Presidents and the Literary Beginnings... I was proud of those.
posted by CCBC at 12:17 AM on December 24, 2008

1.2 William G. Grace (He made his 880th and final first-class appearance on 20-22 April 1908 for the Gentlemen of England v Surrey at The Oval, where, opening the innings, he scored 15 and 25.)
posted by CCBC at 12:59 AM on December 24, 2008

8.3 Morecambe Bay Shrimps
posted by CCBC at 1:04 AM on December 24, 2008

18.10 Lucien Freud
posted by CCBC at 1:15 AM on December 24, 2008

I think 15.8 has to do with The Lark, but I don't have the play and, anyway, that's not the date for Joan's burning. I'm going to bed.
posted by CCBC at 1:40 AM on December 24, 2008

Okay, I can't sleep. 16.2 is Dry Fly (Findlater's Amontillado Sherry) and I bet the others are all flies (flys) of some sort -- wet or dry, trout or salmon -- but there might be other fish lures there as well.
16.3 Greased Lightning
"Hampshire Jewel" ought to be easy, but I can't find it. "Mink Tail" might work for 16.10.
Brit fisherman are the ones to answer this category.
posted by CCBC at 2:53 AM on December 24, 2008

16.5 Mallard & Claret
posted by CCBC at 3:02 AM on December 24, 2008

16.7 Tups Indispensable
posted by CCBC at 3:18 AM on December 24, 2008

18.2 Melton Mowbray Pork Pies
posted by Shave at 3:25 AM on December 24, 2008

A, B, D, E, B, D, C, A, E, B, A, C, D, A, E.
posted by qvantamon at 3:49 AM on December 24, 2008

Don't you lovable dorks get any sleep? (OK, andraste got the double Stanley, so she gets to be an uberdork.)

Section 11: Stanleys

11.1 G. Stanley Hall
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.3 Stan Mortenson, only person ever to score a hat trick in an FA Cup Final, in the Matthews Match named after Stanley Matthews. It's a double Stanley question.
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.5 unsolved: "was formerly William and succeeded Louis"
11.6 Major General Stanley
11.7 unsolved: "described a small arm accident on 17/6/15"
11.8 James Stanley
11.9 Stanley Webber
11.10 Henry Stanley (likely) Stanley Schmidt (possible)

11.5 seems as if it could refer to royalty, but I think that's a distraction. And I keep thinking that 11.7 somehow relates to the Battle of Waterloo, which started on the next day (June 18, 1815).
posted by maudlin at 5:47 AM on December 24, 2008

Nice going, MeFites!

Here's a compendium of all the answers so far (apologies if my cutting, pasting and sorting chopped you out). I've included all the multiples. Hyperlinks got lost in the process, but you can find them in the original answers above.

There are 44 questions still without answers (a few of these have guesses), listed as blanks in this list. Let's knock this bastard off, today.

1.1 Henry Ford.
1.2 W.G.Grace; last innings aged 59, scored 15 and 25
1.2 William G. Grace (He made his 880th and final first-class appearance on 20-22 April 1908 for the Gentlemen of England v Surrey at The Oval, where, opening the innings, he scored 15 and 25.)
1.3 The Chocolate Soldier
1.3 The Chocolate Soldier, operetta by Oscar Straus based on GBS' Arms and the Man
1.4
1.5 Vladivostok, Siberia
1.5 Vladivostok.
1.5 Yokohama, Japan
1.6 Cullinan Diamond
1.6 King Edward VII - the Cullinan diamond
1.6 King Edward VII. (The Cullinan diamond was the present.)
1.7 Campbell-Bannerman
1.7 I think it's Henry Campbell-Bannerman, though the dates don't quite match.
1.8 Kenneth Grahame' Wind in the Willows, Mr Toad
1.9 Winston Churchill.
1.9 Winston Churchill's best man
1.10 The assassination of King Carlos, his father.
1.10 Younger son came to throne as Manuel II on the assassination of his father Carlos I and his brother Crown Prince Luis Filipe


2.1: Lawrence Durrell, "Clea."
2.2 - The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.
2.3 Dickens, Great Expectations.
2.4
2.5 is probably Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard.
2.6 Austen, Pride and Prejudice
2.6 Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
2.7 Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
2.8 Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
2.8, Gabriel García Márquez, 100 Years of Solitude
2.9: E.M. Forster, "Where Angels Fear to Tread."
2.10 Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

3.1 is Samuel Morse, whose first telegram ever was "What hath God wrought!"
3.1 Samuel Morse
3.2 Flora Post
3.2 Flora Poste in Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
3.3 Capt George Kendall (led to the arrest of Crippen)
3.3 Captain Henry George Kendall of the SS Montrose
3.4
3.5 - Arthur Davies (Riddle of the Sands)
3.6
3.7
3.8 BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WONT DROWN
3.9 is Edward Leithen. (used Google!)
3.10

4.1 1936 novel by John Buchan
4.1. Norlands (based on Faroes)
4.2 Fingal's Cave, Staffa, The Hebrides
4.2 Staffa (Fingal's Cave - Mendelsohnn)
4.3 Egilsay
4.3 Egilsay
4.3 Island of Egilsay, Orkney Islands
4.4 A monastery on the Isle of May
4.4 Isle of May gifted by King David I to the Benedictine monks
4.5 Lismore
4.6 Eriskay (where Bonnie Prince Charlie, born in Italy, landed in 1745. He was the great-grandson of King John III Sobieski of Poland)
4.6 Eriskay. Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was the gt
4.7 North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands
4.7 North Ronaldsay. Kelp-fed mutton is a special delicacy
4.8 Gruinard Island
4.8 Gruinard, Britain's "anthrax island"
4.8 North Gruinard; quarantined until 1990 because of anthrax experiments;
4.9 Ailsa Craig (Robert Burns, "Duncan Gray")
4.9 Ailsa Craig; poem by Robert Burns
4.10 Bass Rock; Catriona - Robert Louis Stevenson
4.10 Leiden University?
4.10 The Bass (R. L. Stevenson, Catronia)

5.1 is Quisling.
5.1 Quisling - Norway (Nasreddin already had this above)
5.2
5.3 Ugly Duckling
5.3 Ugly Duckling
5.3 Ugly Duckling (Denmark)
5.4 gosling
5.4 gosling (anser is a type of goose)
5.5 is Terschelling (yeah I'm googling these).
5.6 Memling (Belgium)
5.7 angling (France)
5.7 angling (they're both rivers... angle/geometry...)
5.8 fingerling
5.8 tickling
5.9
5.10 Riesling
5.10 Riesling (Germany)

6.1 Charles VI of France
6.1 might be Charles VI of France (he was le Fou, which means "the Mad" but could be "the Foolish" at a stretch)
6.2 is Pope Alexander VI.
6.2 is Pope Alexander VI.
6.2 Pope Alexander VI
6.2 Pope Alexander VI
6.2 Pope Alexander VI
6.3 is Haakon VI.
6.3 is Haakon VI.
6.3 King Haakon VI of Norway
6.3 King Haakon VI of Norway
6.3 King Haakon VI of Norway
6.4 Frederick VI of Den
6.4 is ALSO Frederick VI of denmark.. that can't be right, can it?
6.5 is Rama VI (Vajiravudh), king of Thailand.
6.5 is Rama VI (Vajiravudh), king of Thailand.
6.5 King Rama VI of Siam
6.6 George VI
6.6 is George VI (born on Dec 14th, the day Prince Albert died)
6.7 could also be James VI of Scotland, and it's tricky because he is more commonly known as James I of England. The common ancestor is Margaret Tudor who was mother to both his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother.
6.7 Frederick VI of Den
6.7 Frederick VI of Denmark, (Caroline of Ansbach is the grandmother in common)
6.7 is Frederick VI of Denmark. His parents were cousins, and they shared a grandmother.
6.8 is Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
6.8 is Mehmed VI, last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
6.8 Mehmed VI
6.8 Mehmed VI
6.8 Sultan Mehmet VI, last Ottoman Emperor (Empire founded 1299 by Osman I)
6.9 Constantine
6.9 Constantine VI
6.9 is Byzantine emperor Constantine VI.
6.10 is Henry VI (three Shakespeare plays).

7.1 Esperanto
7.1 Esperanto
7.1 Esperanto
7.1 Esperanto
7.2 Catalan
7.2 Romanian
7.3 Basque
7.3 might be Basque
7.4 Finnish
7.4 Scandoromani
7.5 Albanian
7.6 Sorbian
7.7 Romansh
7.7 Romansh
7.7 Romansh
7.8
7.9
7.10 Maltese is another European "national language" with a dual, in addition to those mentioned above.
7.10 Scottish Gaelic
7.10 Slovene

8.1 Abalone
8.2
8.3 Morecambe Bay Shrimps
8.3 Scallops?
8.4
8.5
8.6 is mussel (rev. Thomas Langhorne's school is located in Musselburgh.)
8.7 Oysters
8.8
8.9
8.10 The Lobster

9.1 (trains/sleepwalking) I nominate the Highland Chieftain, which runs between London and Inverness, which is the closest you can get by train to Cawdor Castle, the Thane of which was Shakespeare's Macbeth, whose Lady was a sleepwalker. And Macbeth was a Highland Chieftain, I guess. It's a stretch, but you got something better?9.2 could be the Johannes Kepler sleeper train on Czech Railways.
9.2 Johannes Kepler
9.2 The Czech Express train R 60352 JOHANNES KEPLER goes from Prague (Czech republic) passing through Dresden and ends in Leipzig (Germany)
9.3 If you travel from KGX to NSD, you´ll pass trough Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Lord Byron. Lord Byron was a Libertine.
9.3 Lord Byron
9.3 There's a Casanova train (Ljubljana to Venice). It's more likely this I think?
9.4
9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8 The hotel train Francisco de Goya (who painted the Clothed Maya and the Naked Maya), between Paris and Madrid
9.9 The Pegasus Express, Zurich to Amsterdam
9.10 On a train, at The Dali Station on the Yilan Line, running from Badu to Suao, Taiwan.
9.10 Trenhotel Salvador Dalí in Spain.
9.10 Salvador Dali

10.1 might be the Olonka River (flows through Olonets, the object of the failed 1919 Aunus Expedition).
10.2 is the Thames.
10.3
10.4
10.5
10.6
10.7
10.8 = the Ohio River (it's a reference to Huckleberry Finn)
10.8 The Ohio River
10.9
10.10

11.1 G. Stanley Hall
11.1 G. Stanley Hall
11.1, instincts, G. Stanley Hall?
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.2 Accrington Stanley F.C. a.k.a Accrington FC - Th' Owd Reds a.k.a Stanley Villa
11.3 Stan Mortenson, only person ever to score a hat trick in an FA Cup Final, in the Matthews Match named after Stanley Matthews. It's a double Stanley question.
11.3 - Stan Mortenson, only person ever to score a hat trick in an FA Cup Final, in the Matthews Match named after Stanley Matthews. It's a double Stanley question.
11.4 is actually Stanley Baldwin
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.4 Stanley Baldwin
11.4 Terry Hall (Fun Boy Three) and Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Gos). FBT on TOTP ; GG on Carson
11.5 seems as if it could refer to royalty, but I think that's a distraction.
11.5
11.6 Major General Stanley
11.6 Major General Stanley
11.6 Major General Stanley
11.6 solved! It's Major General Stanley from Pirates of Penzance (who had information vegetable, animal and mineral, as did Glyn Daniels)
11.7 somehow relates to the Battle of Waterloo, which started on the next day (June 18, 1815).
11.7
11.8 Earl of derby
11.8 is James Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby.
11.8 James Stanley
11.8 James Stanley
11.8, James Stanley seems to work, but I've no idea how that ties in with a theme yet.
11.8 James Stanley
11.9 Stanley Webber
11.9 is Stanley Webber, the protagonist of The Birthday Party11.10 Stanley Schmidt OR Henry Stanley
11.9 Stanley Webber
11.9 Stanley Webber
11.10 Henry Stanley (likely) Stanley Schmidt (possible)
11.10 be Henry Stanley? ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume?")
11.10 Henry Morton Stanley ("Dr Livingstone, I presume?")
11.10 Henry Stanley (likely) Stanley Schmidt (possible)
11.10 Henry Stanley (likely) Stanley Schmidt (possible)
11.10 is Stanley Schmidt.

12.1
12.2 The Sol's Arms (Bleak House)
12.3 The Jolly Fellowship Porters (Our Mutual Friend)
12.4 The Pegasus' Arms (Hard Times)ou
12.5 The Goat and Boots ("Our Parish")
12.6 is The Magpie and Stump (Pickwick Papers)
12.7 The Three Cripples Inn (Oliver Twist)
12.8 The Saracen's Head Inn (Nicholas Nickleby)
12.9 The Three Jolly Bargemen (Great Expectations)
12.10 The Maypole Porch (Barnaby Rudge)

13.1 - James Buchanan
13.1 Buchannan
13.2 William Henry Harrison
13.3 - James Madison
13.3 Calvin Coolidge
13.3 James Madison
13.4 - Dwight Eisenhower
13.4 Ike Eisenhower
13.5 William McKinley
13.6 Calvin Coolidge
13.7 George Washington
13.7 George Washington
13.8 Theodore Roosevelt
13.9 - James Monroe
13.9 James Monroe
13.10 - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
13.10 Jefferson and Adams

14.1 Wellington (New Zealand) - "ling" = heather = calluna
14.2 Apia (Samoa) - "pi" = 3.14159 (approximately)
14.3 Tokyo (Japan) - "ok" = "it's alright" (um, maybe - but also Melekeok, Palau, and Bangkok, Thailand, so I'm probably wrong about this)
14.4 = Bucharest (Hungary) - "char" = a type of fish that lives in Lake Windermere
14.5 Ottawa (Canada) - "taw" = River Taw = river in England's West Country

14.6
14.7 Budapest (Hungary) - Simian representative = ape
14.8 Islamabad (Pakistan) - "lama" = Tibetan monk
14.9 = Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) - Semi-metal = hg ie. mercury
14.9 Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) - Semi-metal = hg ie. mercury
14.9 Gabarone (Botwswana) - "boron" is a semimetal
14.10 Manila (Philippines) - "nil" = Nothing


15.1
15.2 Clarice Starling
15.3 Fanny Robin
15.4 Bernard Nightingale
15.5 is Sir Mulberry Hawk
15.6
15.7
15.8
15.9
15.9 could be Mao Zedong.
15.10

16.1
16.2 is Dry Fly (Findlater's Amontillado Sherry) and I bet the others are all flies (flys) of some sort -- wet or dry, trout or salmon -- but there might be other fish lures there as well.
16.3 Greased Lightning
16.4 Iona Abbey, Scotland
16.4 is Iona Abbey, Scotland (Colum Cille being the Irish name for St Columba)
16.5 Mallard & Claret
16.6
16.7 Tups Indispensable
16.8
16.9
16.10
16.10 "Mink Tail" might work

17.1 Digne-Les-Bains
17.1 Montpelier
17.2 Bethune. (From The Three Musketeers: Dumas)
17.2 The Three Musketeers (Dumas)
17.3 Rouen
17.4
17.5 Alençon (The Surgeon's Mate)
17.6 Gap (Day of the Jackal)
17.6 Gap (Day of the Jackal)
17.7 Montpelier
17.8 Rheims
17.9 Harfleur
17.10 Amiens (Mr. Standfast)

18.1 Sir Edmund Hilary
18.1 Sir Edmund Hillary
18.2 Melton Mowbray Pork Pies
18.3 Rebecca Romero; Olympic gold medallist cycling
18.4
18.5 Ian Botham
18.6 Olney
18.6 Ripon
18.6 Ripon North Yorkshire. Traditional pancake race abandoned because of
18.7 refers to the building in Liverpool that had the giant spider sculpture on it (arachnid = spider; coleopteran = beetle [Beatle]).
18.8
18.9 is Marion Jones.
18.10 Lucien Freud
posted by beagle at 6:04 AM on December 24, 2008

Not that anyone would possibly want to cheat, but here are a couple of parallel group solving efforts ongoing:

Mark D. Lew's annual page

Quite Interesting forum

Fiso
posted by beagle at 6:20 AM on December 24, 2008

And by the way, paging Tigris, who had all the answers last year.
posted by beagle at 6:24 AM on December 24, 2008

I can't really add anything of any intelligent worth to this thread so here goes my contribution:

Everyone was Google Fu Fighting... do dodo dodo do dooo!

Those searches were fast as lighting.

In fact it was a little bit enlighting

but it was done with expert finding!
posted by Mastercheddaar at 7:13 AM on December 24, 2008

I am not entirely convinced of the purported answer "Budapest" for 14.7.

"Ape" is certainly "simian", but the question is not "a simian". The question is "a simian representative".
posted by Flunkie at 7:35 AM on December 24, 2008

5.9 I'm going with Grayling, a type of butterfly found throughout Europe.
posted by beagle at 7:37 AM on December 24, 2008

Also, in beagle's compiled list of our answers (thank you beagle), please note that my answer for 14.9, "Gabarone", is not nearly as stupid as it seems (in fact I'm highly confident that it's the correct answer), because that's a typo (that I made, not beagle). It's actually spelled "Gaborone", not "Gabarone", and hence contains "boron", which is a semimetal.
posted by Flunkie at 7:38 AM on December 24, 2008

9.6 is the Sibelius, a train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg (via), named after the composer Jean Sibelius, who wrote the King Christian II Suite. Christian II was the prisoner of Sonderberg.
posted by beagle at 7:50 AM on December 24, 2008

Last year people decided Google was illegal or some such twaddle

As the quiz itself says, scire ubi aliquid invenire possis ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est.
posted by Flunkie at 8:09 AM on December 24, 2008 [2 favorites]

re: 15.1, EC2 is (probably amongst other things) a postal code referring to an area in London - Wikipedia entry. Might help anyone trying to crack that one.
posted by djgh at 8:32 AM on December 24, 2008

17.5 Can a Patrick O'Brian fan check what town this is taking place: The Surgeon's Mate , top of page 321. It looks to me like this takes place in the town of Brest, not Alençon as previously suggested.
posted by beagle at 9:28 AM on December 24, 2008

17.4 Jake Barnes, in the Sun Also Rises (Hemingway), drinks that bottle of Margaux in Bayonne.
posted by beagle at 9:32 AM on December 24, 2008

18.8 During 2008, what legendary diamond fell to the successors of the fictitious Misson?

The "fictitious Misson" seems to be Captain James Misson, the founder of a legendary anarchist pirate state in northern Madagascar called Libertatia.

Did the Somalian pirates capture any diamonds this past year? Alternately, did the Pittsburgh Pirates pull off any upsets on the road?
posted by Iridic at 12:41 PM on December 24, 2008

Once in a while, when my ego gets out of line, I like to look at a quiz like this to remind myself of how truly stupid an individual I really am.

Fortunately, around then my lizard brain then kicks in and reminds me that while I might not be the brightest bulb, my moral flexibility and willingness to cross the lines of good manners ensures that when the end times comes, I'll happily survive by eating all of your delicious brains.

For the uninitiated, here "end times" refers to any of us, on a road-trip, being stranded by the side of the road for more than 20 minutes.
posted by quin at 12:41 PM on December 24, 2008

I think 13.4 is Martin Van Buren, nicknamed Old Kinderhook or OK, and not Ike.
posted by rewil at 1:24 PM on December 24, 2008

15.1 Moll Yellowhammer, titular heroine of Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside.

djgh, thank you for the London hint. That cracked it.
posted by andraste at 1:57 PM on December 24, 2008

4.1 I still think that the "Island of Sheep" is the quizmaster trying to diddle us! I think the answer is Soay . There's a breed of sheep called Soay.

1.5 I withdraw my answer Yokohama, Japan. Not on the mainland... Should read clues more carefully...
posted by lesbroux at 2:00 PM on December 24, 2008

1.4 Elizabeth arrett Anderson. First woman to get a medical degree in GB; became Mayor of Aldeburgh
posted by lesbroux at 2:04 PM on December 24, 2008

1.4 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, first woman to earn a medical degree in Britain, was elected Britain's first female mayor in Aldeburgh, which means "old fort".
posted by andraste at 2:06 PM on December 24, 2008

17.4 Paris (I think; it's from The Sun Also Rises, but I don't have a copy, anyone want to check?)
posted by andraste at 2:12 PM on December 24, 2008

3.6 "unpack" (Al Smith told reporters he wired this to the Pope after his defeat)
3.7 Mercer (to Sherlock Holmes in "Adventure of the Creeping Man")
10.1 Volhov
10.5 I am told this is the Danube from Greenmantle but I never read the book. (Buchan gets a lot of play in the quiz because the family are benefactors of the College.)
10.7 Oise (RLStevenson, An Inland Voyage)
10.9 Amazon (Kipling, "Beginning of the Armadilloes",Just So Stories)
13.4 has to be Van Buren, Old Kinderhook, OK -- Good one, rewil!
posted by CCBC at 2:15 PM on December 24, 2008

15.6 Raven (Graham Greene's A Gun for Sale)
posted by andraste at 2:18 PM on December 24, 2008

Looking at names of flies ..

16.8:Alexandra
16.10: The Stoat's Tail
posted by rewil at 2:22 PM on December 24, 2008

16.3 Thunder and Lightning
posted by andraste at 2:53 PM on December 24, 2008

16.6 Yellow Sally

I must thank this quiz for drwaing to my attention the fascinating world of fly names.
posted by andraste at 2:58 PM on December 24, 2008

4.1 I've read over Buchan's Island of Sheep and Fair Isle, not the Faeroes, seems right. He has fairly explicit sailing directions to get there and the Shertlands (of which Fair Isle is a remote member) and Iceland, rather than Norway, are prominent.

Good calls, rewil and Andraste, on section 16.
posted by CCBC at 5:25 PM on December 24, 2008

Forgive me for not joining in the compendium of answering, y'all are way over my head. But I'm wondering exactly how this quiz can remain relevant to the actual students? I understand they take it blind before Christmas, then take it home to research, and take it again when they get back. Even though the quiz is apparently not academically important, wouldn't the whole process be fairly meaningless being that students can not just Google the answers, but now gain the collective knowledge of MeFi and other hive mind groups who pitch in on answering. I would expect it to be fairly common for there to be close to perfect scores for students who know where on the intarwebs to look for threads like this one.
posted by jetsetsc at 5:38 PM on December 24, 2008

I don't think 10.1 is the Volkhov. First of all, I think the fate of one particular tugboat is too obscure even for this quiz. Second of all, it wasn't really "received" or "defeated"--it was simply decommissioned and left on the riverbank, rather than sunk in the river itself.
posted by nasreddin at 5:47 PM on December 24, 2008

jetsetsc: maybe what you are asking is whether a liberal education and grounding in a particular canon has any relevance. Your stance on exams seems to be (correct me if I'm wrong) that their only function is to test rather to serve as a learning device. Personally, I learn a lot each year from this quiz.
posted by CCBC at 6:04 PM on December 24, 2008

CCBC - No, I think you can learn a lot from the answers, even if you do nothing but copy them from a MeFi thread. It's all fascinating, even for those like me who don't contribute. I just think as a student that you could learn a lot less from a near perfect score these days (by copying answers from a MeFi thread) than you would have thirty years ago when you had to do a lot of research and ask a lot of smart people yourself and get maybe half the answers right. That's all.
posted by jetsetsc at 6:24 PM on December 24, 2008

jetsetsc: Okay. There is some kind of monetary prize for the winner, too. But maybe being an ace googler -- that is, being good enough to find the answers, including those posted by strangers, and then separating the wheat from the chaff -- maybe that's a part of general knowledge these days. It seems to me that, say, 80 or 90 years ago, the student whose family had the largest library or visiting cousins who were dons had an advantage. So maybe Google helps level the social playing field.
Or not.
posted by CCBC at 6:28 PM on December 24, 2008

I want to change 16.2 to Sherry Spinner rather than Dry Fly. That's the actual fly on the Dry Fly label and (ahem) it seems to have been an answer in the 2001 quiz.
posted by CCBC at 6:31 PM on December 24, 2008

jetsetsc: It would be interesting to see a pre-Google version of this quiz, if anyone has one. But today, this is not just an exercise in Googling, it's an eye-opener to show you how big and how interesting the world is, how varied your interests can be, how many deep topics there are, and what you don't know. Join the fun and try coming up with a few of the missing answers, and you'll get it.
posted by beagle at 8:03 PM on December 24, 2008

The answers have now been posted here.
posted by CCBC at 11:32 AM on January 18

So how did we do?
posted by empath at 1:55 PM on January 18

Agggh. All that time trying to think of a blue plant with (shellfish) in its name and I didn't think of a winkle-- 8/9.

Also spent a fair amount of time on 15/8: Who wore white for her immolation on Oct 27th? Edwina Crane (The Towers of Silence, Paul Scott) which is on my bookshelf at eye level no more than 4 feet away from me. To be sure, it must be 20 years since I read it.

15/9 is just exasperating: Who advocated unlimited slaughter of bluejays? How many times have I read To Kill a Mockingbird? At least 10. Yet Atticus Finch never popped into my head. Oh Well.

ON the other hand Martin Chuzzlewit is probably my least favorite Dickens novel so I don't take it so hard that I missed 12/1:Where was the mistress leguminous? The Blue Dragon.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:22 AM on January 19

14.6 is just wrong! I mean it's bad. Every year the quizmaster screws up at least one and that's the worst for this year. And van Buren is a better answer for 13.4. But, there you go, whingeing over the answers is part of the process.
MeFi did really well on this year's quiz, BTW.
posted by CCBC at 1:11 PM on January 19