General Knowledge Quiz

[Strat-tastic]

57 days.

 

[krus_aragon]

Welsh has two words for bridge, pont and bont. No doubt both derived from the Latin pons.

Just the one, actually: "bont" is just "pont" with an initial mutation e.g. bridge = pont, the bridge = y bont.

But you're spot on on the derivation.

 

[DerekC]

OK - interesting stuff.

The Great Tea Race was run in 1866 between Shanghai and Gravesend by the fastest clipper ships of the day. What was the fastest time (to the nearest day)?

57 days.

No. Remember that the Suez Canal wasn't opened until 1869 so they had to go round the Cape of Good Hope.

 

[Strat-tastic]

Oh yes of course
129 days.

 

[DerekC]

57 days.

Oh yes of course
129 days.

Second estimate closer than the first but you have overshot. They sailed south via the Sunda Strait, south west across the Indian Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope, north west across the Atlantic until about half way between Newfoundland and Spain to catch the westerlies, then eastward through the Western Approaches, the English Channel and home. The winner of the race logged 15,800 nautical miles!

 

[Strat-tastic]

114 days.

 

[DerekC]

114 days.

Getting closer. A clipper ship could average 16 knots in favourable wind, but of course they often weren't!

 

[Strat-tastic]

Is everyone else self-isolating from this quiz?

101 days.

 

[Calthrop]

Is everyone else self-isolating from this quiz?

Responding a la the Napoleonic-wars sailors in Patrick O'Brian's novels about that milieu: Which I don't know from these here newfangled clipper ships, cully -- to say nothing of these Sewage Canals, whatever they might be...

 

[PeterC]

Similarly, the Welsh for "cathedral" is " cadeirlan", which is obviously derived from the word "cadair" (chair), as well as the "llan" (church) found in so many place names.

Strictly a church building is "eglwys" which is from the latin "ecclesia". Llan is the sanctified enclosure in which the eglwys is built.

 

[DerekC]

Is everyone else self-isolating from this quiz?

101 days.

I think that's easily close enough. The fleet of five ships left Fuzhou (part of Shanghai) at about 5AM on 29th May 1866. The leader, Ariel, sighted the Bishop Rock Lighthouse on the Scillies at 1:30AM on 5th September. Unbelievably, by the time they were off Dungeness and signalling for a pilot the second in the race, Taeping, was only about two hours behind. Rather unfairly Taeping passed Gravesend first at around 7PM on 6th because she got the better Thames tug, with Ariel 55 minutes behind - but the owners of the two boats agreed to share the prize!

I make that 99 days and 14 hours. How the world has changed - and that was less than thirty years before my grandfather was born!

Your ocean.

 

[krus_aragon]

Strictly a church building is "eglwys" which is from the latin "ecclesia". Llan is the sanctified enclosure in which the eglwys is built.

Yes, I was trying to give the "quick" explanation, but you're quite correct.

 

[DerekC]

Yes, I was trying to give the "quick" explanation, but you're quite correct.

This is in danger of turning into a thread on the Welsh language! Is there an explanation for why so many places are called "Llan.. " something and relatively few "Eglwys.." I wonder if "Llan.." is an older word dating from pre-Christian times.

 

[Strat-tastic]

I think that's easily close enough. The fleet of five ships left Fuzhou (part of Shanghai) at about 5AM on 29th May 1866. The leader, Ariel, sighted the Bishop Rock Lighthouse on the Scillies at 1:30AM on 5th September. Unbelievably, by the time they were off Dungeness and signalling for a pilot the second in the race, Taeping, was only about two hours behind. Rather unfairly Taeping passed Gravesend first at around 7PM on 6th because she got the better Thames tug, with Ariel 55 minutes behind - but the owners of the two boats agreed to share the prize!

I make that 99 days and 14 hours. How the world has changed - and that was less than thirty years before my grandfather was born!

Your ocean.

Aye cap'n.

OPEN WATERS

 

[341o2]

In the Grand Duke, or the Statutory Duel, the last collaboration between Gilbert & Sullivan, what did the conspirators fail to check which rendered all their actions regarding deposing that gentleman null and void

 

[krus_aragon]

Had they forgotten to load their guns?

 

[341o2]

No, as the Statutory Duel is explained
"The then residing prince
Who useless bloodshed hated
He passed an Act
Short and compact
Which may be briefly stated"

 

[341o2]

I'll give a clue regarding a song which was a major hit for the Carpenters and reminds me of a Bond girl

 

[DerekC]

I confess to Googling - very hard to guess if you don't know the story!

 

[341o2]

The answer I was after was the position of the ace in a deck of cards, which, while usually the highest, is not always so.
The clue was Solitaire (or patience in the UK) where the Ace is the foundation card - the lowest
The Statutory Duel was fought by each opponent drawing a card, and the one who drew the lowest becoming legally dead. The small print decreed that ace counts as lowest.

To explain the context, there is a theatrical troupe visiting the state ruled by the Grand Duke as a cover for a conspiracy to depose him. He learns of the plot, and the troupe fear his retribution. The way out is suggested by fighting a rigged statutory duel, so the winner can go to the Grand Duke and denounce his legally dead rival as the instigator of the plot.

Declaring open floor

 

[krus_aragon]

The answer I was after was the position of the ace in a deck of cards, which, while usually the highest, is not always so.

A fascinating story, and very much in their style (even if I wasn't able to guess it).

Filling the open floor...

What single word connects the following:

• A method of encoding data
• A type of dog
• A twin-engine bomber aircraft
• A tart

 

[Revaulx]

Manchester?

Bomber and tart definitely.

Manchester Terrier rings a bell. And it was a major centre of computer development so why not?

 

[krus_aragon]

Manchester?

Bomber and tart definitely.

Manchester Terrier rings a bell. And it was a major centre of computer development so why not?

Got it in one.

Manchester encoding, or Manchester code, is a method of sending a sequence of ones and zeroes along a wire without a net flow of current from one end to the other. The voltage would always switch from positive to negative in between each bit, but it would also switch in the middle of each "one" bit (whereas it wouldn't in a "zero" bit). It's part of the Ethernet networking standard, among many others.

Your floor...

 

[Revaulx]

Which European city suffered the highest death rate (%) in the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, and why?

 

[krus_aragon]

Which European city suffered the highest death rate (%) in the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, and why?

Might it be Paris? (I'll come back with a reason if I'm right.)

 

[MotCO]

I'll take a punt at Lisbon (as Spaniards fled from Spain?).

 

[SteveM70]

Somewhere relatively small but very isolated that got the infection via an arrival by boat or train

Port Stanley?

Anchorage?

 

[krus_aragon]

Somewhere relatively small but very isolated that got the infection via an arrival by boat or train

Port Stanley?

Anchorage?

They're probably not European enough for the question setter, though.

 

[Revaulx]

They're probably not European enough for the question setter, though.

First time I’ve participated in this thread. At what point is it decent to give clues?

 

[MotCO]

Is it a capital city?