Pub Quiz – Round 10 – Kings and Queens…. In which

…We have a round of questions about Kings and Queens but not necessarily royalty

1	Where was Freddie Mercury Born?
2	Who won the Men's singles at Queens in 2009
3	Name the two other Boroughs of New York after Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn
4	Where is the village of Indian Queens?
5	In chess, what does queening refer to?
6	Which book is the King and I based on?
7	In a standard deck of playing cards, which King does not have a moustache?
8	What was the name of the progressive rock group formed by Robert Fripp and Michael Giles?
9	Which band has released Youth & Young Manhood', 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' & 'Because Of The Times'
10	Which Future Queen took refuge in Framlingham Castle?

Pub Quiz – Round 9 – The Play wot I wrote, in which……

… you'll see there is a theme

1	How was Ernest Wiseman better known?
2	She is a Birkenhead girl, formerly an actress and now a member of Parliament; what is her name?
3	She started work on the Western Morning News and famously exposed 'those legs'
4	Born in British India, Harry Webb is better known as who?
5	Born with the first names Andreas Ludwig to a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany, he grew up in Los Angeles; how is he better known
6	She was expected to sing the Windmills of your mind with a wind machine blowing; she also appeared in Upstiars Downstairs and my wife next door
7	He reached number 14 with his song Dik-a-dum-dum
8	She played Margot Leadbetter in The Good Life
9	What was the full name of the harmonica player who came on at the end?
10	What was the name of the lady who came on at the end and said "I'd like to thank all of you for watching me and my little show here tonight. If you've enjoyed it, then it's all been worthwhile. So, until we meet again, good night, and I love you all!"

Pub Quiz - Round 8 – Many hands make light work. In which……

… we have a round of questions related to light

1	How long does it take in minutes (rounded to nearest whole number) for light to travel to Earth from the Sun?
2	Who is attributed with the invention of the first practical light bulb (integrated system)?
3	The Electric Light Orchestra was created by which two rock stars?
4	The lightest metal is what?
5	Cigarette lighters contain which liquid hydro-carbon?
6	Which poem starts Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward,
7	Where would you expect to pay £150 for an electric company, illustrated by a light bulb?
8	Which team wears Light Blue in the Varsity Boat Race?
9	In 1895 which famous studios produced individually designed and constructed stained glass lamps?
10	What was the police based film that Jack Warner stared in before Dixon of Dock Green?

Round 7 – Pub quiz – Cloak and Dagger in which……

All of the answers are to do with cloaks, capes, daggers and other such ephemera

Oh to those who have asked – this is one of my rounds, general consensus is that O/H's rounds are easier. So a score above 7 of this and you are doing very well.

1	What is the name of the cloak that Harry Potter is given by Dumbeldore
2	What are the three swords used in modern fencing?
3	Where would you expect to find a dagger board?
4	What is the name of the traditional religious dress dagger worn by Sikhs?
5	What is the name of the traditional Scottish dress dagger?
6	Who wrote the lyrics in Joseph and the amazing technicoloured dreamcoat?
7	Who says "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee."
8	A traditional fairy tale throughout the world, what title do we tend to give to the Italian's Cappuchetto Rosso and the German Rottkapchen
9	What are the murder weapons in traditional Cluedo?
10	Who was known as the caped crusader, who appeared in DC comics?

Pub Quiz Round 6 – The names Bond, In which……

The questions are all about James Bond Films, books or associated information

 

1	What is the real name of the actor who played Jaws?
2	Who was the leading lady in On Her Majesty's Secret Service alongside Goerge Lazenby
3	In which Bond Film did Donald Pleasance play Ernst Stavro Blofeldt
4	What year did Ian Fleming die
5	What was the title of the first James Bond Novel
6	Mr Witt and Mr Kidd appeared in which James Bond Film
7	Pierce Brosnan drove what make of car in The World is not Enough
8	Who performed the title soundtrack for Live and Let Die?
9	What is believed to be Miss Moneypenny's first name?
10	Ian Fleming was the author of a famous children's novel called what?

Pub Quiz – Round 5 – First and last, in which……….

We have a round of beginnings and endings of one form or another, obviously only half a point if you only get half the answer!

 

1	What are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet?
2	Who were the first and last wives of Henry the Eighth (first and last names)?
3	Who were the first and the last American presidents to be assassinated?
4	Where are the first and last F1 grand prix locations for the 2009 season?
5	What where the start and finish in the film Genevieve?
6	What was the start and finish for the 2009 Dakar rally?
7	Cycle Route 1 which goes through Framlingham starts and finishes where?
8	What decade did Edward 1st & Edward 8th come to the throne?
9	What are the first and last books of the new testament?
10	What were the first and last manned moon landing missions called?

Pub Quiz – Round 4 - Keeping up with the Jones, in which……

The questions all have something Jones related as before if you post your answers in the comments section I will let you know how you are doing

1	What rank was Jack Jones in Dad's Army?
2	Alias Smith and Jones starred who?
3	Tom Jones was born where?
4	John Paul Jones was a founder member of which legendary band?
5	Norah Jones has a famous father – who?
6	Terry Jones came to fame with Monty Pythons Flying Circus – when did this first appear on our screens?
7	Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones died in 1969 – how did he die?
8	There have been a number of Indiana Jones Films since 1981 – what is the name of the last film made about the adventurer?
9	The origin of the phrase "keeping up with the Jones's" was first popularised in what way?
10	Who was the author of a History of Tom Jones (a Foundling 1749)?

Pub Quiz – Round 3, Seek and Ye Shall Find, in which……

..the questions are based on maps, mapping and directions. Remember this quiz was set for Saxtead Old Mill House, a pub in Suffolk. For the last three questions people were given a printed picture, I will try to set up links to the original sites; which will make your job very easy!

1	What do the letters GPS stand for?
2	An international treasure seeking game where participants track down hidden 'treasures' based on their GPS co-ordinates is known by what name taken from the words for earth and a hidden storage space
3	What is the name for the medieval map kept in Hereford Cathedral?
4	Harry Beck designed a simplified topographical map of where?
5	Dava Sobel wrote a book with the sub title The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time; what was it called?
6	This hobby is reputed to have begun in South West England in 1854 when a Victorian gentleman named James Perrott hid his calling card in a jar in a remote area by Cranmere Pool on the moors of Dartmoor
7	There are nearly 13,000 flush brackets around the country all logged on the ordnance survey database. What is the term used for them, which is also used for any standard by which something can be measured or judged?
8	The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland, and you can be part of it. Where are these stocks and whipping post?
9	Where are these roof tops?
10	Where is this iconic image?

Round 2 – Pub Quiz Matters Medical in which……..

All of the questions relate to Doctors of various kinds. As before if you post your answers as a comment I will let you know how you are getting on.

p.s. For those who follow me via twitter we have power back, sorry for the enforced delay – country living don't you know.

1	The Doctor in the House Books were written by?
2	Doctor Who was first shown on the television screens in which year?
3	Doctor David Owen was a former Labour MP and founder member of the SDP was an MP in for which parliamentary seat?
4	Doctor Finlay's Casebook was set in Tannochbrae, what was the name of the doctor whose opinions he regularly challenged?
5	Doc Martens footwear has been associated with which football club?
6	Which Doctor performed the first successful human heart transplant?
7	Dr Strangelove was played by whom?
8	Who was the High Court Judge appointed to oversee the Shipman Inquiry?
9	Who was the author of Dr Doolittle?
10	Dr Crippen was arrested in which country after fleeing England

Round 1 of the Pub Quiz – IT in which………….

I did say the round titles might not help. Round 1 is IT in which all of the answers contain the letters IT in that order. Please put your answers as a comment; I will let you know how many you have right full answers will be posted after the second round.

1	An 1842 book by Edgar Alan Poe, in 1961 it became a film with Vincent Price and features a giant pendulum
2	A technique used in macramé, pigtails, braiding, corn dolly making and stringing onions or garlic
3	a style of printing type patterned on a Renaissance script with the letters slanting to the right
4	Yes Minister and Only Fools and Horses are examples of this type of comedy
5	This gland is at the base of the brain, about the size of a pea and weighs approximately 0.5g
6	The soft spongy substance in the centre of the stems of many plants and trees
7	a brand of smokeless fuel invented by Thomas Parker in 1904
8	a form of iron oxide that is usually a silver grey or black/steel colour. Its metallic appearance is brought bout when the material is polished, if it were to be ground or cut up it would look red or red brown. If heated it can become mildly magnetic
9	The government recommend that you have five of these a day
10	a process for calculating a desired result by means of a repeated cycle of operations

Good luck, remember post your answers as a comment and I will publish as a group. Deadline for completed answers is tomorrow evening at 10.30pm

Pub Quiz

It always seems a pity to put in a lot of work creating pub quiz questions and then they are not used again. So just for fun I thought I would run the quiz here for a few days. There are ten rounds of ten questions; no prizes, just your own personal glory, after all I cannot tell if you phoned a friend or used a wiki. So first choose your joker round, if you have ever taken part in the quizzes O/H and I set you will know that the headings for the rounds may or may not be useful. If you put your answers in the comments section I will publish them all together after 24-48 hours. It may or may not help you to know that the questions were set for the Old Mill House, pub in Saxtead, Suffolk.

Choose your Joker rounds from:

	Round Name
1	IT
2	Matters Medical
3	Seek and Ye Shall Find
4	Keeping up with the Jones's
5	First and Last
6	The Name's Bond
7	Cloak and Dagger
8	Many hands make light work
9	The Play what I wrote
10	Kings and Queens

Pea Gleaning

One of the joys of living in the country is the opportunity for ridiculous levels of frugality. One of my favourite activities is pea gleaning. Pea harvesting around here is done at industrial strength; visitors are surprised when at 3.00am the viners, lorries, drivers etc pitch up with their lights on and start trundling up and down the fields, because the moment is right. The peas are carted off to be processed all within minutes of picking.

So where does gleaning come in and is it worth it? Birdseye and others could argue that the peas they sell in the shops are at optimum condition and they are probably right; but the whole something for nothing, picking, shelling, blanching and freezing for yourself makes it worthwhile. After the pea team have left the field it is left looking brown and forlorn, with little sign of life. However, adjusting the eye to see the areas where peas might have been left untouched, it is possible to see tracks where plants have fallen into the grooves where tractors passed earlier in the season, or edges of the field where the harvesters can not quite reach. It is backbreaking and best done in the early morning or evening on hot days and certainly within 12 hours of the pea team leaving. The resultant haul was one large canvas bag full, four hours shelling resulted in about four and a half pounds of peas, which are now blanched and in the freezer. The pods went to the hens, they enjoy picking at them, nothing is wasted. Is it worth it; of course it is, all part of life, a bit of fun and a few cheap eats even if it is quite a lot of effort.

Blackcurrants, jam, cassis and frogspawn

This time of year the soft fruits are coming in thick and fast. I love to take handfuls for breakfast and lunch; this is an ideal use for small quantities as they reach ripeness and fascinates the children who think I eat frogspawn when in fact it is white currants. I used to be fearful of jam making thinking that it was a large quantity affair with jars sitting on shelves going hard or mouldy depending on the sugar levels. However, I have changed my tack and with soft fruit and now adapt a preserve method, which works well for small quantities. The trick is to heat an oven to 110^oc and put in two separate containers an equal weight of sugar and soft fruit. Leave in the oven for 20 minutes until the fruit starts to 'bleed'.

Remove from the oven and stir the sugar into the fruit until fully dissolved. Do not underestimate the heat, the two will cook together and the resulting preserve can be put into jars at this point; this version is likely to be a soft set and only keep for four weeks in the fridge, but ideal with raspberries for scones or yogurt.

A further trick is to continue heating either in the microwave or on the hob to a more traditional setting point. The whole process is quicker than

traditional jam making and results in a fresher fruit jam. I used this technique for blackcurrant jam and a mixed summer fruit jam of gooseberries, red currants, strawberries and raspberries.

Also in production from the blackcurrants is the cassis. Based on Larousse I have used currants, a few of the leaves, a small piece of cinnamon and a clove. The pictures show progress so far, the currants are rising like the little oil bubbles in a Galileo thermometer, I anticipate straining and rebottling when they sink back down to the bottom, the colour is improving but it looks a little thin so I may add a thicker sugar syrup later.

Elderflower Fritters and the Expo

Against all the rules a two for the price of one blog; broken down into two sections, the Elderflower Fritters for the wild foodies and the Expo for those interested in the life of an English Village.

Elderflower fritters

There are only six houses in our lane so when all of the neighbours are invited, it only amounts to fourteen people. We may be creating a small tradition here of a barbecue followed by the frying of elderflower fritters to eat with ice cream and then a tour round the garden to compare notes on the progress of the runner beans, strawberries, compost etc. After the main eating was done three men were allocated the task of heating the oil on the barbecue (don't try this at home; we've never had a problem but it is for trained pyrotechnicians only).

The little girls mixed up the tempura style batter and then the girls and a few adults went to pick fresh sprigs of elderflower. The engineers in the crew worked out just how long to drain the dipped flower heads for and then plunged into the oil to fluff up like cauliflowers; they were eaten as fast as the oil drained off them.

Only after the conspicuous consumption did we discover how well a variety of spider can camouflage itself to look like elderflower, goodness knows how many we ate.

Dennington Expo 2009

The Expo day arrived and despite a brief shower in the early afternoon things brightened up and all went well. We will have banked £1,500 towards sports club funds and hope to start raising serious money and grants for the much needed tennis court replacement soon.

The Children's art wall was lovely, with the children having taken the theme of TIME and provided their own interpretation based on slides they had been shown in class; so we had everything from watch designs to timelines and seasonal changes.

It never ceases to amaze me the talent we have in a village of some 200 houses for creating art works. At the end of this posting are links to some of our artists, we also have very talented artists who rarely sell their work, yet it is stunning and thought provoking and others whose work sells regularly at local art shows and events. This year there were also taster sessions for rag rug making and modelling with paper.

Outside we had all the fun of a regular village fete, with the TIME theme woven through so we had ancient and modern tractors, displays by the local flower arrangers, the Tickled Pink drama group, face painting, and all the usual fete type stalls, some run by clubs and others by local businesses

Yes I did spend the day dressed up as a white rabbit, in keeping with the TIME theme and I wasn't the only one in fancy dress. All in all it was a fantastic day, amazing teamwork from everyone invovled; as is so often the case in a small village the same few people are involved in many events locally rasing funds and giving up hours of free time to keep things ticking along.

Some of our artists

http://www.loretteroberts.com/

http://www.maberly-art.com/

Some of our other Stall holders

WI

Tickled Pink on youtube

http://www.trulockandharris.com/

http://www.bone-dry.co.uk

Flower club