Like Antiques Roadshow, Radio 4’s Round Britain Quiz is one of those comforting programmes that reassure us that England – ‘Platonic England’ as Geoffrey Hill calls it, though he probably wasn’t thinking of Antiques Roadshow – still exists, and all’s well with the world. It’s been running for ever – well, since 1947 – and remains little changed from what it always was, a cryptic quiz that calls for what might be called a well furnished mind and a degree of lateral thinking, rather than the traditional quickfire quizzer’s skills. It’s polite, good-natured and barely competitive – and the ‘questions’ (they’re not really questions as such) can be fiendishly hard, though, oddly, it’s often the easier bits that flummox the learned contestants.
Every now and then a question occurs to me. I could send it in – there’s a listener’s question every week – but that would be just too sad. On the other hand, on The Dabbler, among friends… Why not? Here’s a question, then, that I thought up the other day.
It’s in the usual RBQ form – link this to these – and it’s not easy. I have a maximum of six points at my disposal, and partial answers will be more welcome than none. Who knows? If this takes off, it might become a Dabbler feature…
Here’s the question then:
What word links a cult TV series that started with a bang to the following? A weary organist’s quest. A solitary Oxford bondmaid. And Hudson’s Purple Land.
The Prisoner (Patrick McGoohan’s version) started with a thunderclap or two. A bondmaid is a kind of prisoner… that’s as far as my brain takes me.
“a weary organist’s quest” – Is this something to do with Russell Brand’s latest memoir??? 🙂
ps. I worked it out (I think) but I’ll let others put forward their thoughts! Quite deviously fiendish! God only knows how you came up with the clues!
Unfortunately Nige told me the answer. (My mind wasn’t sufficiently well-furnished to get it myself…)
To paraphrase:
They may seek, but they’ll seek it vainly ….
(Or not as the case may be.)
the Lost chord. Is the TV series, Lost? I never ever watched it…..
I’ve found a ”lost” connection for the other two clues, thanks to google. They may even be right.
I get the feeling you’re closing in on this one – you guys are just too clever. But I’ll keep mum for now – you’re clearly not going to need clues at this rate…
A mythical place which is also an anagram of the quizmaster’s name plus a denizen of the farmyard? The musical work I’m thinking of involves an organ I think, Hudson provides NE and the TV series, which blows apart the fabric of space/time as we, er, know it is much about a hat. But who knows whether there is an answer at all.
There is indeed an answer, Mark! The full solution will be revealed tomorrow morning…
There is an answer all right, and it will be unveiled tomorrow. Meanwhile I’m inclined to give Ian two of my six points, and perhaps one to Sir Watkin…
Like Ian, I go with Arthur Sullivan’s Lost Chord, and there is something about an organist being weary in the text – and ‘er indoors tells me that there was/is a TV series called Lost which began with an air crash. After that I run out of gas. With the nine answers above this comment I feel I’m definitely outside the tent with a full bladder – certainly not inside the circle of trust. And my post on Lazy Sunday to Carshalton’s finest is my very last attempt to suck-up to him. After this, the gloves are off.
Is Hudson’s Purple Land the place the butler from Upstairs Downstairs retired to?
The Purple Land is a book by William Henry Hudson set in Uruguay telling the adventures of one Richard Lamb. Weary (?) organist Albert Schweitzer wrote a famous book called The Quest for the Historical Jesus, whose main character was the Lamb of God. The Solitary Oxford Bondmaid is a thinly disguised autobiography by Lady Caroline Lamb. And Shari Lewis’ TV show famously featured Lamb Chop, and, errr, began with an explosion (didn’t it?) I claim my prize.
Sorry Gadjo, I think you’ll find I get at least one point – unless Nige gets me disqualified for getting lippy. This is obviously an inside job, if the banter above is anything to go by – and the ‘winner’ will emerge from inside that tight knit group who form the ‘circle of trust’. I want to live somewhere like you do Gadjo, where they point at aircraft in the sky.
Oh, insults! 🙂 Actually, our next-door neighbour really does point at aircraft in the sky: you see, there was a big gap between Romanian aviation pioneers Traian Viua, Aurel Vlaicu and Henri Coanda (look them up)…. and the coming of WizzAir. The competition is indeed clearly a stitch-up, but that doesn’t stop my answer being more correct in a very real sense.
Damn good effort, Gadjo. Possibly better than the real answer.
Thank you, Mr Brit, you have somewhat alleviated the effects upon me of Mr so-called Mahlerman’s smart alec comments and pathetic knowledge of aviation history 🙂
Hey that’s much more fun than the answers – you don’t get that level of banter on Round Britain Quiz. I didn’t notice you sucking up to me Mahlerman, so I’m afraid you’ll have to do it again hehe – gloves back on.