General Knowledge Quiz

[DaleCooper]

Indeed it is, well done @DaleCooper

Trevor Eve starred in Shoestring, with the theme mainly played by harmonica.

Oz Clarke & James May presented Oz & James Drink To Britain (a follow up from a previous show they co-hosted). The theme was Groovin' With Mr Bloe, by Mr Bloe (a group). Again, harmonica features very heavily in the tune.

The Milky Bar Kid & Oxo had adverts in the 1970s with the harmonica featuring as the main instrument.

Frank Ifield's 'I Remember You' featured a harmonica in it's tune; John Lennon took the advice of a particular harmonica player before writing 'Love Me Do'.

The fictitious non-mainland detective was Bergerac, with the theme tune predominantly harmonica based.

As mentioned earlier, 'Groovin' With Mr Bloe', by Mr Bloe heavily features a harmonica.

The village in West Yorkshire famous for something specific is Holmfirth, home to Last Of The Summer Wine, with its theme tune again being very harmonica based.

However, the overriding theme here is that all of the above pieces of harmonica music, and references, were played by one man: Harry Pitch, who was one of the foremost players of said instrument.

For the record, I have absolute no interest in the particular instrument other than I am very fond of the 'Groovin' With Mr Bloe' tune.

@DaleCooper, time for you to blow away.

Thanks for reminding me of Groovin' with Mr. Bloe, I hadn't heard that for years, it was that and remembering that Love Me Do featured harmonica that got me to the answer, I hadn't a clue about the rest of it. I thought the "who" might be Larry Adler.

I hope another music question is acceptable:

These song titles from two well known groups differ only in the middle word. What are they?

..... Your .....
..... My .....

 

[Neo9320]

Live your life & live my life?

 

[DaleCooper]

Live your life & live my life?

I feared I was tempting fate with that question. Your answer is perfectly valid although it isn't what I intended which was :
Under Your Thumb
Under My Thumb

Your turn...

 

[Neo9320]

I feared I was tempting fate with that question. Your answer is perfectly valid although it isn't what I intended which was :
Under Your Thumb
Under My Thumb

Your turn...

Yours however are 2 of my favourite songs and how they weren’t my first choice is beyond me.

I shall declare open floor due to my mind obviously not being on track.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Ah, an open floor....


Returning briefly to television questions, this is a "best of three" and should be relatively easy:

1) The theme tune for a long running sitcom was a small extract from a much longer piece of music with lyrics. Which sitcom was this?

2) Which long running sitcom was done as a mickey take to a serious drama of a few years earlier?

3) Which sitcom was titled with the real names of the stars?

 

[444045]

1/ Bless this House ?

2/ Allo Allo was the mickey take of Secret Army.

 

[CarltonA]

3) Would be "Terry and June" I expect.

 

[xotGD]

1. The Royle Family

3. Sykes

 

[DaleCooper]

2. Brass parodied When the Boat Comes In among others.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

2) Is indeed Allo Allo - a mickey take of Secret Army.

3) Is Terry and June.

Nobody has got 1) yet - which means that as 444 045 and Carlton A have both got one each, if either of them gets 1) they will win it.

Dale Cooper - You are quite right, but Brass only ran to three series I'm afraid. Allo Allo went on for nine series; longer than the war in fact!

 

[444045]

1/ Just Good Friends had lyrics sung by Paul Nicholas ?

 

[DaleCooper]

1. Does Take Three Girls count as a sitcom? (music: Light Flight by Pentangle)

 

[Neo9320]

I was gonna suggest father ted!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

None of those... this is one where the very gentle and relaxing theme tune is simply a tune on the sitcom, but the full song with words is about 5 minutes long.

 

[Neo9320]

None of those... this is one where the very gentle and relaxing theme tune is simply a tune on the sitcom, but the full song with words is about 5 minutes long.

M*A*S*H?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

M*A*S*H?

No. Think much closer to home...

Here's a clue:

In one episode, the sole Regional Railways liveried 47 475 put in a brief appearance in the background on a Trans-Pennine express working.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

1. "Last of the Summer Wine"?

 

[D6130]

Was it the the sitcom in which the two characters played by Jan Francis and Paul Nicholas lived together on a narrowboat in Leeds and Paul Nicholas sang the theme song? Can't remember the name of it....was it 'Just Good Friends'?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

1. "Last of the Summer Wine"?

Correct!

And we now have a three-way tie-breaker as three people have one answer each.

The first out of the following three to correctly answer the tie-breaker wins the director's chair:

@444045
@CarltonA
@Mcr Warrior

The tie-break question is:

What record, which is unlikely to ever be broken, does Last of the Summer Wine hold?

 

[444045]

The longest running series with the most episodes ?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The longest running series with the most episodes ?

Cut! That's a wrap!

Yes; 31 series and 295 episodes. ( Most involving people careering out of control down a hill in some contraption or another! )

 

[444045]

Thank you @Peter Mugridge ,

A sports question next :

Who was the 1st darts player to check out 501 in 9 darts live on TV ?

 

[perryman]

Was it John Lowe in the News Of The World Championships at the Ally Pally?

 

[444045]

Was it John Lowe in the News Of The World Championships at the Ally Pally?

You are correct - John Lowe in 1984 at the World Matchplay against Keith Dellar.

You're next up on the Oche.....

 

[perryman]

You are correct - John Lowe in 1984 at the World Matchplay against Keith Dellar.

You're next up on the Oche.....

Well, half right I guess.

Thank you and let's go with an open floor.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Minor point of pedantry - John Lowe’s was the first televised nine darter, not the first to be broadcast live. The first nine darter broadcast live on British TV was Phil Taylor in 2002

 

[MotCO]

Can I step in and ask which 3 US presidents were born in the same year?

 

[perryman]

Nixon, Ford, Kennedy?

 

[MotCO]

Nixon, Ford, Kennedy?

No, 1913,1913 and 1917 respectively.

 

[perryman]

No, 1913,1913 and 1917 respectively.

Nixon, Ford, Johnson? They all looked old even when they were young, Kennedy aside.