General Knowledge Quiz

[John Griffiths]

A venture? It's the response the name causes in me, without knowing why, or what the Ockenden Venture was (other than some kind of good work), like one of Pavlov's dogs.

 

[millemille]

I am a bit short of ideas, but will try this:

What is North Ockendon alone in being?

I was working at Upminster sidings last week - which is on the end of Upminster station and is, I think, the station for North Ockendon as I drove through Havering and North Ockendon to get there from the M25 - and one thing that did strike me as odd was that I had to turn left off the clockwise M25 (heading away from London) at the roundabout to get there.

Is it outside of the M25 rather than inside the M25, unlike the rest of London?

 

[Gloster]

I was working at Upminster sidings last week - which is on the end of Upminster station and is, I think, the station for North Ockendon as I drove through Havering and North Ockendon to get there from the M25 - and one thing that did strike me as odd was that I had to turn left off the clockwise M25 (heading away from London) at the roundabout to get there.

Is it outside of the M25 rather than inside the M25, unlike the rest of London?

Exactly correct. North Ockendon is the only part of Greater London outside the M25. Your turn.

 

[millemille]

I've not got anything so open floor?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I'll take this, if I may ... here are some things that happened on this day; can you name them?

1471 - a battle during the Wars of the Roses
1780 - the first horserace to bear this name
1839 - the creation of a shipping line
1896 - the first day of this newspaper's publication
1974 - the first number one record for a Swedish pop group
1989 - the birthday of an Irish professional golfer.

Best of luck!

 

[341o2]

1974 would be Abba with Waterloo
1896 Daily Mail

 

[EbbwJunction1]

1974 would be Abba with Waterloo

Correct!

 

[341o2]

Edited above 1896 Daily Mail

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Edited above 1896 Daily Mail

Thanks, also correct.

 

[MotCO]

1839 Pacific and Oriental?
1989 Rory Mcilroy?
1471 Marston Moor?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

1839 Pacific and Oriental?
1989 Rory Mcilroy?
1471 Marston Moor?

The second one is right, the other two aren't.

 

[MotCO]

1839 Cunard?

 

[Calthrop]

The 1471 battle was Tewkesbury, in the Wars of the Roses (I know this because a late relative of mine, who was knowledgeable about history but hopeless with figures; used the date of the B of T to remind him that 1471 was the number to dial to find out who had phoned you).

 

[Gloster]

1780 St Leger?

 

[MotCO]

1780 Derby?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

1839 Cunard?

Correct!

The 1471 battle was Tewkesbury, in the Wars of the Roses (I know this because a late relative of mine, who was knowledgeable about history but hopeless with figures; used the date of the B of T to remind him that 1471 was the number to dial to find out who had phoned you).

Correct!

1780 St Leger?

No, because ....

1780 Derby?

is correct!

So, we have Calthrop with one, 341o2 with two, but the winner is MotCo, with three - well done.

Your turn to look at a list of dates and happenings!

 

[MotCO]

Your turn to look at a list of dates and happenings!

I've consulted my notebook and come up with:

If my father gave me his earnings for working fourteen hours, and I had to pay the rent for a room with no phone, no pool, no pets, and spoke to Mrs Avery for three minutes, how much money would I have left?

 

[martinsh]

I know how much you had to pay out - but not how much was coming in

 

[MotCO]

I know how much you had to pay out - but not how much was coming in

Do you want to share your thinking? I could award part points!

 

[Gloster]

I think I can guess what this refers to, but I can’t remember any details.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Mrs Avery is in the song 'Sylvia's mother' by Dr Hook and the medicine show, I think the singer is on the phone to her, he keeps bleating about Three More Minutes, Sylvia is marrying a fellow down Galveston way.
'Twenty cents more, for the next three minutes'.

 

[MotCO]

Mrs Avery is in the song 'Sylvia's mother' by Dr Hook and the medicine show, I think the singer is on the phone to her, he keeps bleating about Three More Minutes, Sylvia is marrying a fellow down Galveston way.
'Twenty cents more, for the next three minutes'.

Mrs Avery is indeed Sylvia's Mother, but the three minutes do not cost 20 cents.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

30 cents?

 

[MotCO]

30 cents?

No - it's more than that.

 

[martinsh]

1) A 3 minute phone call with Mrs Avery costs 40 cents

2) "Trailer for sale or rent
Rooms to let 50 cents"

from King of the Road

 

[MotCO]

1) A 3 minute phone call with Mrs Avery costs 40 cents

2) "Trailer for sale or rent
Rooms to let 50 cents"

from King of the Road

Both correct.

Time for a clue for the first part. It is from 1973 by a famous artiste (certainly not a one-hit wonder), and the song reached no 15 in the UK charts. (And there is a clue in the clue!)

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

14 hours and deeper in debt, I owe my soul to the company store?
Squeeze: 'up the junction': I worked eleven hours and bought the girl some flowers'?

 

[MotCO]

14 hours and deeper in debt, I owe my soul to the company store?
Squeeze: 'up the junction': I worked eleven hours and bought the girl some flowers'?

No, definitely 14 hours. Not this song or artiste.

The song won a Grammy in 1974 for Best Rhythm and Blues Song.

 

[perryman]

From the clue within the clue, I would suggest the artist is Stevie Wonder.

Around that time his Innervisions album was released. From the album came the song Livin' For The City (amongst others of course). I don't know the song quite line-by-line by there are a couple of numeric references along the lines of 'his father works for 14 hours' but there are also other numeric references in the song. However, I don't know if the song won a grammy. But if it helps anyone, I think a Stevie Wonder song is where we need to go.

On a slight tangent, the long version of Livin' For The City is a where Wonder highlights racism as he saw it at the time. His voice takes a deliberately more 'aggressive' tone after the verbal break in the middle of the song. Very powerful.

 

[MotCO]

From the clue within the clue, I would suggest the artist is Stevie Wonder.

Around that time his Innervisions album was released. From the album came the song Livin' For The City (amongst others of course). I don't know the song quite line-by-line by there are a couple of numeric references along the lines of 'his father works for 14 hours' but there are also other numeric references in the song. However, I don't know if the song won a grammy. But if it helps anyone, I think a Stevie Wonder song is where we need to go.

On a slight tangent, the long version of Livin' For The City is a where Wonder highlights racism as he saw it at the time. His voice takes a deliberately more 'aggressive' tone after the verbal break in the middle of the song. Very powerful.

Livin' for the City is indeed the correct song. The question then is how much does his father earn for working 14 hours.