Discussion Groups / British English / January 2007

    There are several umrats who regularly participate in pub
quizzes and I draw their attention to the annual King William's
College quiz, the answers to this year's version being now available:
see www.kwc.im

    This site has the questions, originally published (*) before
Christmas and also the answers. For those not familiar with this, I
think unique, quiz let me say that the questions are released towards
the end of the Autumn term and the pupils are allowed a go at them
under test conditions. (**) When they return after Christmas they have
another go, having had the holiday to do research.
    The structure is important. This year there are 180 questions
divided among 18 sections and it is helpful if you can identify the
unifying theme of a section when seeking answers. For example (this is
giving no clues since it is stated on the paper) one section is
devoted to events in 1906. Another may be unified by every answer
containing a particular word or syllable; another by each answer
starting with a particular letter.
    This year I had my most successful attempt, mainly because one
section was about astronomy and I got eight out of ten for that (but
my total for the whole quiz was only 20, so you can see how tough it
is).
    There is one answer of great interest to one notable umrat;
the question is the first one in section 3 (the astronomical section
referred to above). Now who do we know who would feature in a quiz
about astonomy?
    There is, I think one answer which is wrong. For anyone who
wishes to have a go without hints I will stick the (wrong?) answer
down below a spoiler space.  The question is the first one in section
2) The section is preceded by: Who is, or was:

1)  the guy who went for his entire bundle on Apparition?

*.  The Guardian usually prints them a few days before Christmas.

**. I am not sure whether participation is compulsory or not. If it is
it must be a very nasty experience for most because the questions are
very tough.

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Answer as given: Nicely Nicely Jones (Damon Runyon - Guys and Dolls)

    Now I haven't read much DR and certainly don't recall coming
across NNJ in his stories, but in the film version of the musical he
is called Nicely Nicely Johnson. This error is mildly serious because
if the name really is Johnson then the theme of this section is flawed
right at the beginning.

    Mike Ruddock

    Www:  lig