General Knowledge Quiz

[EbbwJunction1]

James Bond! Open secret... I'm in a rush tonight.

Commander James Bond (007). Aston Martin BMT 214A. Driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger, and Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye. This Aston has also been seen with Daniel Craig behind the wheel recently in Skyfall (where it was written off by an Augusta Westland EH-101 Merlin) Edit- Why did I have to go full fan boy? Beaten to it.

Ah, but I declared an open secret so if the question setter confirms the answer is correct, you can still pose the next question...

You are, of course, both right, well done.

I'm going to make the Q Award to deltic1989, who gave me much more than I'd originally requested!

 

[deltic1989]

Thank you Gentlemen.

To stay with the bond theme.

Which actor has appeared in the most James Bond films?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I'll go for Desmond Llewellyn, who played Q.

 

[deltic1989]

I'll go for Desmond Llewellyn, who played Q.

And my source (IMDb) says you are correct. Well done for seeing through that one, I was half expecting some one come up with Roger Moore, who has made the most appearances as Commander Bond himself.
Desmond Llewellyn First appeared as Q in 'From Russia With Love' (1963), and his last appearance was in 'The World is not Enough' (1999).

Over to you.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Ah, thanks very much - I was going to suggest Sir Sean, but then I noticed the actual wording of the question.

Anyway, still with 007, in May 2017 (apparently to mark the death of Sir Roger Moore) a web site called Highsnobiety (no, I hadn't heard of them before, either!) ranked all the 23 Bond Theme tunes.

So, can you give me their top three and bottom three, please? I should say that I didn't agree with most of their rankings, so if anyone gets this totally right, I'll buy them a virtual dry vodka martini - shaken, not stirred, of course!

Best of luck!

 

[GusB]

Top 3: Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me
Bottom 3: A View to a Kill, Quantum of Solace, Spectre?

I'm struggling to remember the themes for the later Bond films, so I'm just guessing.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Thank you; yes, "Goldfinger" is in the top three (at No. 3) but the other two aren't.

None of your suggestions for the bottom three are right, but "A View to a Kill" is in the top three at No. 2!

See, I told you that it was an odd selection .... but you're in the lead for now.

 

[fowler9]

Is You Know My Name from Casino Royale in the top three?

 

[deltic1989]

I'm going to say 'All the Time in the World' from 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' would be somewhere in the bottom 3. 'OHMSS' usually hangs out at the bottom of the rankings in terms of the films themselves, so that's my reasoning there.
I would have put 'The Living Daylights' close to the bottom as well, but I may be letting my low opinion of Timothy Dalton as Bond cloud my judgement a little.

I would have said that 'Tomorrow Never Dies' could be in the top 3. Loved that song, and Peirce Brosnan's performance as Bond was good too.
'A View to a Kill' had a pretty good intro song. I would like it to be top 3.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Is You Know My Name from Casino Royale in the top three?

No, it was No. 12 in the list.

I'm going to say 'All the Time in the World' from 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' would be somewhere in the bottom 3. 'OHMSS' usually hangs out at the bottom of the rankings in terms of the films themselves, so that's my reasoning there.
I would have put 'The Living Daylights' close to the bottom as well, but I may be letting my low opinion of Timothy Dalton as Bond cloud my judgement a little.

I would have said that 'Tomorrow Never Dies' could be in the top 3. Loved that song, and Peirce Brosnan's performance as Bond was good too.
'A View to a Kill' had a pretty good intro song. I would like it to be top 3.

Yes, 'All the Time in the World' is No. 23 out of 23, with a pretty harsh review, imho. You're also right with 'A View to a Kill', as it's No. 2.
Neither of your other guesses are right, though: 'The Living Daylights' is No. 15 and 'Tomorrow Never Dies' is No. 19.

Just to complete the answer to GusB's offering as well:
Diamonds are Forever - No. 7; The Spy Who Loved Me - No. 9; 'Another Way to Die' (from Quantum of Solace) - No. 14; and 'The Writing's on the Wall (from Spectre) - No. 17.

So, we've got three out of six so far ... GusB has two, and deltic1989 has one.

 

[krus_aragon]

I'll suggest "Goldeneye" as being near the top, and Octopussy's "All Time High" near the basement.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I'll suggest "Goldeneye" as being near the top, and Octopussy's "All Time High" near the basement.

Not "Goldeneye" - that's No. 8, but "All Time High" is no. 21, so it's in the bottom three.

So, to summarise, we have identified the following so far: Nos. 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21 & 23. The two outstanding from the actual question are Nos. 1 & 22, and they are ones that I would definitely not have put in their respective positions!

Over to you!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Okay, 24 hours plus without any more guesses, so I'll give you the answers:

The top three were:
1. "You Only Live Twice" by Nancy Sinatra
2. "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran
2. "Goldfinger" by Shirley Bassey

and the bottom three were:
21. "All Time High" by Rita Coolidge
22. "Thunderball" by Tom Jones
23. "All the Time in the World" by Louis Armstrong.

As I said earlier, some of these rankings do surprise me greatly, as they're certainly not what I would have done.

If you're interested, here's a link to the web site: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/05/24/james-bond-theme-song-ranking/

I shall award the composer's baton to GusB, as he got two right - well done!

 

[GusB]

Cheers!

A popular music compilation series has made the news this week as it celebrates its 100th edition. What is the name of the compilation in question, and can you name 5 tracks from the original release?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I know that it's the "Now Music" series, as I've reading about it, but can I remember any of the tracks? No ... !

 

[deltic1989]

"Now That's What I Call Music"

Pulling my cassette (remember them) of the first release down from my shelf I can see that;

Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Heaven 17 - Temptation
Men at Work - Down Under
UB-40 - Red Red Wine

Were all featured.

 

[GusB]

"Now That's What I Call Music"

Pulling my cassette (remember them) of the first release down from my shelf I can see that;

Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Heaven 17 - Temptation
Men at Work - Down Under
UB-40 - Red Red Wine

Were all featured.

I'm quite impressed that you still have the cassette on the shelf and readily accessible (even if that is cheating slightly! ) - my cassettes are all stored in boxes somewhere. However, it is "Now That's What I Call Music", and all five tracks feature on said compilation. Your hi-fi

 

[krus_aragon]

As the floor stands open, here's a question:
The following quotations are lines spoken by fictional robots. What are their names?

• Hey laser lips: your mamma was a snowblower!
  
• It gives me a headache just trying to think down to your level.
  
• Serve the public trust. Protect the innocent. Uphold the law.
  
• I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.
  
• The crew are all alive, sir! This is great news! Wonderful, marvellous, incredible news! All that extra ironing! Bliss!
  
• Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease.

 

[GusB]

1) Number 5 from Short Circuit
2) ??
3) ED209, Robocop?
4) Terminator
5) ??
6) C-3PO, Star Wars

 

[fowler9]

5 is Kryten from Red Dwarf I think.

 

[krus_aragon]

1) Number 5 from Short Circuit
2) ??
3) ED209, Robocop?
4) Terminator
5) ??
6) C-3PO, Star Wars

1: Yes
3: Robocop, rather than ED209
4: Yes
6: Yeup.
A very good (and quick) shot at them.

5 is Kryten from Red Dwarf I think.

It is indeed. Just one left.

 

[Cowley]

2) Has to be Marvin?

 

[krus_aragon]

2) Has to be Marvin?

If nobody got it I'd have been very depressed.

All six done, GusB (with four correct answers) has first dibs on the next question.

 

[GusB]

I shall declare the floor open.

 

[Cowley]

I shall declare the floor open.

That makes me very depressed.
Life. Don’t talk to me about life.
Here I am, brain the size of a planet etc...

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Assuming the last post is a statement and not a question, try this one:

What significant change was made to the postal system in 1959 (yesterday is the 59th anniversary of the event)?

 

[Calthrop]

What significant change was made to the postal system in 1959 (yesterday is the 59th anniversary of the event)?

I suppose it wasn't the abolition of the half-(old)-penny stamp?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

No, not that, sorry.

 

[Warwick]

Postcodes. First area - I think - was Naarrwich.

 

[theageofthetra]

First 6 digit postcode.