Mark Brader:
> Welcome to Rotating Quiz #295, titled "Born in 1819".
> I'd like to thank Erland Sommarskog for running RQ 294 and for
> writing a contest that allowed me to win. The winner of RQ 295,
> in turn, will be the first choice to set RQ 296, in whatever manner
> they prefer.
And that winner is DAN TILQUE -- on the third tiebreaker!
Hearty congratulations!
> Scores on this quiz will be out of 20 or more, depending on how
> many correct answers question #13 has.
Scores were out of 20. This was a little harder than I thought,
and it only took 8/20 to win.
> As usual, you only get one guess at each answer. Some questions
> require you to give more than one answer and may allow for more
> answers than the number of points available. Give extra answers
> if you want to show off. However, there is a penalty of 1 point
> for wrong answers -- to a maximum of 1 penalty point per question
> and then only if you also gave a correct answer on that question.
I was surprised at how many penalties there were. Entrants marked
as scoring either "0" or "1*" on a question reached those results
by giving one or two right answers and, instead of stopping there,
giving a wrong answer as well. Indeed, without the penalty points,
Calvin would have won.
> * Places
> 1. Two states of Australia are named after the same person.
> Name both of them *and* the capital of each one. 1 point
> per state.
Queensland: Brisbane. Victoria: Melbourne. 2 for everyone --
Erland, Dan Blum, Calvin, Dan Tilque, and Peter.
> 2. Two capital cities in Canada are also named after that same
> person. Name both of them *and* say what they are the capital
> of. Do not use abbreviations. 1 point per city.
Victoria, British Columbia. Regina, Saskatchewan. 2 for Dan Blum
and Dan Tilque. 0 for Erland and Calvin.
> After you've finished with those, you'll've figured out who we're
> talking about, so next you can decode the rot13 to see the rest
> of the questions.
> * Holidays
> 3. In Canada, what was the traditional date of Victoria Day?
> 1 point.
May 24.
> 4. When is the holiday now observed? 1 point.
May 18-24, whichever one is a Monday.
> * British Railways
> 5. In London, England, Victoria Station consists of two separate
> structures sharing a common wall, originally built and operated
> by different railways. They are known as the two "sides"
> of the station. Name them for 1 point each.
Chatham side -- London, Chatham & Dover Railway. Brighton side --
London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. 2 for Peter.
In Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest", the place
where the infant who grew up as Jack Worthing was Victoria Station --
"the Brighton line". Lady Bracknell's comment is that "the line is
immaterial", but this proves not to be exactly true.
> 6. Adjacent to this station is Victoria station on the London
> Underground. Name all the Underground lines serving it, for
> 1 point each to a maximum of 2.
Circle Line -- Inner Circle. District Line -- Metropolitan
District Railway. Victoria Line. 2 for Peter. 1* for Calvin.
0 for Erland and Dan Blum.
> For questions #5-6, most of the acceptable answers are shortened from
> original names that had additional words. If you want to show off,
> for fun but for no extra points, give any or all of the full names.
Peter got one of these.
> * Military Awards
> 7. Give the exact name of the highest medal for gallantry in the
> British military. 1 point.
Victoria Cross. 1 for Calvin, Dan Tilque, and Peter.
> 8. What text is on the medal? 1 point.
"For Valour". 1 for Calvin and Peter.
Actually that's on the front of the medal, while the back shows the
date that it was earned. I meant to only ask for the text on the
front, but would have accepted either answer.
Some time after World War II, the Canadian government decided that
Canada should have its own military medals instead of using British
ones, so the Victoria Cross from Britain is no longer awarded here
-- Canada now has its own Victoria Cross, which has never actually
been awarded either. Well, apparently they decided that having
"For Valour" only in English wasn't appropriate, but they didn't
want to take the space to show it in French as well. Instead they
finagled the point by translating it into Latin: "Pro Valore".
> * Entertainment
> 9. Who played/plays Queen Victoria in the following movie or TV
> productions? 1 point per *actress* to a maximum of 3, but
> you must correctly identify the corresponding title or titles.
> "Disraeli" (1929); "Victoria the Great" (1937) and "Queen of
> Destiny" (1938); "Mädchenjahre einer Königin" (1954), known
> in English as "The Story of Vickie" or "Victoria in Dover";
> "Victoria Regina" (1961); "The Wrong Box" (1966), where she's
> seen in the prologue; "Mrs. Brown" (1997) and "Victoria &
> Abdul" (2017); "Victoria & Albert" (2001); "The Young Victoria"
> (2009); and "Victoria" (TV series 2016-).
Margaret Mann in 1929; Anna Neagle in 1937 and 1938; Romy Schneider
in 1954; Julie Harris in 1961; Avis Bunnage in 1966; Judi Dench
in 1997 and 2017; Victoria Hamilton and Joyce Redman in 2001; Grace
Smith, Michaela Brooks, and Emily Blunt in 2009; Jenna Coleman
in 2016-. 2 for Calvin. 1 for Dan Blum.
> 10. Who wrote these lyrics? 1 point per author.
> Canada to India,
> Australia to Cornwall,
> Singapore to Hong Kong,
> From the West to the East,
> From the rich to the poor,
> Victoria loved them all.
> Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, 'toria,
> Victoria, Victoria, Victoria.
> Queen Victoria,
> The Twentieth Century belongs to you and me.
> Let us be two severe giants not less lonely for our partnership,
> Who discolor test tubes in the halls of Science,
> Who turn up unwelcome at every World's Fair,
> Heavy with proverbs and corrections,
> Confusing the star-dazed tourists
> With our incomparable sense of loss.
Leonard Cohen, Ray Davies (of the Kinks).
> * Herself
> 11. What was Queen Victoria's first name? 1 point.
Alexandrina.
> 12. What did Edward Oxford do in 1840 that gets him into this quiz?
> 1 point.
He was the first of the 7 people who tried to assassinate Queen
Victoria.
The only one to injure her was the one who hit her with his cane
instead of firing a gun. One gunman even tried twice -- the first
time the thing didn't go off.
> * Her Descendants
> 13. To date, all kings and queens of the UK since Queen Victoria
> have been her descendants. Which of her children either took
> the British throne or had descendants who did? 1 point per
> relevant child.
Prince Edward, who became King Edward VII, is the only one.
(The four later monarchs have been his son, two grandsons, and
great-granddaughter.) 1 for Calvin and Dan Tilque.
> 14. Another of her children was never queen of the UK, but did
> become a queen and empress by marriage. Identify her by name,
> by who she married, *and* by where she was queen and empress of.
> 1 point per relevant fact to a maximum of 2.
Princess Victoria, Prince Frederick who became Emperor Frederick
III, queen of Prussia and empress of Germany. 2 for Dan Tilque.
0 for Dan Blum.
Princess Alice married (and introduced hemophilia) into the Russian
royal family, but she did not become a queen or empress herself.
Scores, if there are no errors:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 TOTALS
Dan Tilque 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 8
Peter Smyth 2 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
"Calvin" 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 8
Dan Blum 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
Erland Sommarskog 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
10 4 0 0 2 3 3 2 3 0 0 0 2 2
> In case of a tie, the first tiebreaker is correct spelling and
> capitalization; the second tiebreaker is who scored on the hardest
> questions; and the third tiebreaker is who posted first.
None of the tied players made any errors in spelling of capitalization,
so the first tiebreaker is moot.
I decided to work the second tiebreaker based only on how many people
scored points on each question and not how many points they scored.
With the questions ranking unequally, this seemed fairest.
Dan Tilque and Peter Smyth each scored points on one question that
nobody else scored on, which Calvin did not, so Calvin is eliminated.
Dan Tilque and Peter each scored their other points on two questions
that only two people scored on, one question that three people scored
on, and one that five people scored on.
So we go to the third tiebreaker. Dan Tilque posted his answers about
a day before Peter posted his, so Dan Tilque wins.
Congratulations once again, and it's over to Dan Tilque for RQ 296.
--
Mark Brader | It's practically impossible to keep two separate databases
Toronto | in step for any length of time. That's true even when one
m...@vex.net | of the "databases" is reality itself. -- Andrew Koenig