Your wits against Green Gym?

After the joys of Christmas Lunch, back to normal for most Green Gymmers this week.  Meantime, the session-blog is taking a holiday.

At time of posting, today’s session was advertised as: “Scrub clearing on a slope.  And a bonfire.”  In the absence of site warden with helpful landie, the warm-up to consist of carrying tools and tea crate from the bottom of the hill to the work site.  At least the walk at session end would be downhill, with lighter loads.  And, depending on weather and precise location, one might be able to see for miles and miles? 

Meantime, for those absent from last week’s festivities, a challenge: your chance to measure your wits against a WGG team.  And for those who were there, some reminiscences of a merry meal – “delicious and very well presented”. 

No crackers this year, but home-grown entertainment with a quiz which had been set by one of our members.  In true Green-Gym fashion ‘solving’ it was done as a team effort: pooling of resources to tackle the questions – and then to help consume the (designer-chocolate) prize.

The verdict of one participant in the quiz: “I don’t think we did it justice even with our combined general knowledge and code breaking ‘ability’.  A— was definitely the master of the anagrams.”  If you would like to see how you get on, below are the questions. 

Answers next time.

The famous Wallingford Green-Gym Quiz, Xmas 2018 edition:
‘Around The World in 80 Questions’

One way or another, all 80 items relate to countries current or historic, whether in the question or the answer.  All names of countries are anglicised.

A) Complete the quotation:

1) “Something is rotten in the state of -------”

2) the glory that was ------

3) “I’m Charley’s aunt, from ------, where the nuts come from”

4) “You’re a very small bear,” said Mrs Brown, “where are you from?”  “Darkest ----,” said the bear: “I’m not really supposed to be here at all.  I’m a stowaway.  I came all the way in a lifeboat, and I ate marmalade.  Bears like marmalade.” 

5) In today’s modern Galaxy there is, of course, very little still held to be unspeak­able.  Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were con­sidered so distastefully explicit that were they merely to be breathed in public, the perpetrator would be shunned, barred from polite society, and, in extreme cases, shot through the lungs, are now thought to be very healthy and proper, and their use in everyday speech is seen as evidence of a well-adjusted, relaxed, and totally unf [bleep!] ked-up personality ... But though even words like ‘juju-flop’, ‘swut’, and ‘turlingdrome’ are now perfectly acceptable in common usage, there is one word that is still beyond the pale.  The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one – where they don’t know what it means.  That word is ‘-------’

B) Can you match the country to the product or species?

One has already been done, as an example

6) Canada                                            Sling

7) India  ^{____________________________}  Rubber

8) Japan                                               Pine

9) Lebanon                                         Leather

10) Morocco                                      Hat

11) Norway                                        Goose

12) Panama                                        Cedar

13) Singapore                                    Black

C) Books with countries in the title

Can you identify title and author?

                Example: A------ i- B------ by G&U = Asterix in Britain - Goscinny and Uderzo

14) A P------ t- I---- by E M F

15) T-- P------ t- I---- by A M

16) H--------- a-- t-- W--- I----- by C S F

17) T-- K-------- o- M---- by N M

18) R------- i- R----- by S

19) E------, m- E------ by D H L

20) F--- S---- t-- W--- f-- F----- by H E B

D) Films with bizarre titles when released in other countries

Sometimes books are given different titles when published in different countries.  eg ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ is known to readers in USA as ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’.  Likewise the movie.

Can you work out the original title of these films from (or in spite of) the titles they were given when shown in other countries.

                Example: My Boyfriend Is a Psycho (Russia) = Silver Linings Playbook

(Yes, it really was billed as Мой парень – псих.  And the director had tried so hard to make a sensitive piece about living with mental-health difficulties!  ‘Playbook’ I guess is a reference to American Football, so distributors may thought correctly that would not travel well.  In France and Belgium the film was called ‘Happiness Therapy’; in Canada, ‘Le bon côté des choses’.)

21) ‘Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team’ (Taiwan)   

22) ‘Mr. Cat Scat’ (Hong Kong)   
and in French-speaking countries: Pour le pire et pour le meilleur

23) ‘Love in the Skies’ (Israel)    

24) ‘Vaseline’ (Argentina)  

E) Songs with countries in the title

Can you name the song and original recording artist?

                Example: D---- C—F—M- A-------- by JC
                = Don’t Cry For Me Argentina – Julie Covington

25) B--- i- t-- U--- by TB

26) B--- i- t-- U-- by BS

27) F----- o- S------- by TC

28) P----- by VG

29) P------- by IP

30) F------ by MP

F) Places in England with names which include foreign countries

Can you identify?

                Example: H------ P--- (London underground station) = Holland Park

31) G---- H------ (Essex)

32) N--- H------ (Lincs.)

33) N--- Z------ (Bucks.)

34) D------ H--- (London railway station)

35) E---- (Bucks.)

36) L----- S---------- (North Devon)

G) Visual Images

This is an experiment.  Normally travel-photographers go to a great deal of trouble to give an image a sense of place.  I often do the same, but sometimes take shots precisely because I think one would not guess where we were just by looking.  Can you divine which countries these photographs were taken in?  Bonus point if you can be more precise re location.

                Example:

                Answer= RUSSIA: ul. Lenina, Novosibirsk

37)

38)

39)

40)

H) ‘H’ for Half way!  Time to relax, with some jokes:

For completeness of Green-Gym experience: put the kettle on, and cut yourself a slice of cake.  Now, can you work out the answers to these old chestnuts?

                Example: How do you get two whales in a car?
                Answer = Down the M4 and across the Severn Bridge! (Pont Hafren)
                                     or, these days, the Prince of Wales Bridge (Pont Tywysog Cymru)

41) What is the fastest country in the world?

42) What is the the coldest (and the hottest) country?

43) What is in the middle of India?

44) What country does a pirate love to sail his ship to?

45) If a plane crashed on the border of Canada and the USA, where would they bury the survivors?

I) Fencing

Work your way down from the top strand of wire on the fence to the bottom
by changing one letter at a time –without scrambling the order of the letters.

                Example: ‘LOCK’ to ‘GATE’ in 4 moves            

                                 --+-- LOCK --+--

                                 --+-- LACK --+--

                                 --+-- LACE --+--

                                 --+-- LATE --+--

                                 --+-- GATE --+--

46) ‘HOME’ to ‘AWAY’ in 9 moves:

--+-- HOME --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- _ _ _ _  --+--

--+-- AWAY --+--

It would be very much in order to beat the quiz-setter by accomplishing it in fewer moves, as long as the words deployed may be found in a regular dictionary.  It could be done in 7, if one used a technical term from the world of administrative manage­ment (acronym SORP: ‘Statement of Recommended Practice’).

J) Country surnames

These people each have the name of a country as their main moniker.  Can you work out who they are? 

                Example: M- C---, graffiti character = Mr Chad
                (who is fictional, aka ‘Kilroy’, but questions below relate to people in real life)

47) A------ F-----, French writer

48) J--- I------, English classical composer

49) R-- D------, British athlete

50) C---- P-----, thrash-metal muso

51) C------- M---------, Spanish model/dancer/actor

52) T----, Belgian comic-creator

53) M---- Z----, American-Football quarterback

K) Albums

You’ve done songs.  This time, can you name album and recording artist(s)?

54) S------ E------ b- t-- P---- by G------

55) B--- i- t-- U-- by M--

56) S------- o- S---- by M---- D----

57) R----- t- R----- by R------

L) Anagrams

Match the country to the jumbled-up version of the letters in its name.

                Example: sprucy ^_______ Cyprus

58) a bison                                          Argentina

59) earn giant                                    Bosnia

60) estimator                                     Cameroon          

61) grey man                                      East Timor          

62) moon race                                   Ecuador

63) opera sign                                    Germany                            

64) road cue                                       Netherlands

65) shed lantern                               Singapore

M) Movies with the name of a country in the title

Can you name the film and give the year of its release?

                Example: O--------, B----! = Objective, Burma! (1945)

66) F--- R----- w--- L---

67) T-- B--- f--- B-----

68) T-- C---- S-------

69) G--- M------, V------

70) M---------

N) for ‘New’ Territories

Can you link up the territory to the sovereign country, of which it is part?

                Example: New Britain – Papua New Guinea

71) New Ireland

72) New Caledonia

73) New Brunswick

74) New Mexico

75) New Georgia

O) Oh my, we’re almost there!  Some trad knock-knock jokes

Can you come up with the/a last line for each?

76)          Knock, knock!  Who's there?
                Jamaica  Jamaica who?

                …

77)         Knock, knock!  Who's there?
                Francis  Francis who?
                …

78)         Knock, knock!  Who's there?
                Canada  Canada who?
                …

79)         Knock, knock!  Who's there?
                Kenya  Kenya who?
                …

80)         Knock, knock!  Who's there?
                Oman  Oman who?

                …

Good job!  Time for another slice of cake?