Here is this week’s quiz. 1 point for each correct answer and answers below:

1. What is the most expensive property on the original UK monopoly board?

2. What is the name of The Mayfair hotel with the same name as savoury biscuit?

3. What is the chemical symbol for Carbon Monoxide?

4. Where would you most expect to find Creole cuisine? USA, Mexico, India?

5. When is St Stephen’s Day?

6. How do Vipers kill their prey? Squeeze to death, Poison, Suffocate

7. Stucco is a coating found on: Cookware, Nails or Walls

8. Who said “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time” ?

9. Where is Horatio Nelson buried?

10. How tall is Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square?  52 metres, 102 metres, 152 metres

Answers…

1. What is the most expensive property on the original UK monopoly board?

Answer: Mayfair £400

2. What is the name of The Mayfair hotel with the same name as savoury biscuit

Answer: The Ritz

3. What is the chemical symbol for Carbon Monoxide

Answer: CO – a highly poisonous, odourless gas made up of 1 carbon atom and 1 oxygen atom

4. Where would you most expect to find Creole cuisine? USA, Mexico, India

Answer: Louisiana USA  Creole cooking originates from Louisiana

5. When is St Stephen’s Day?

Answer: December 26th most often referred to as Boxing Day in the UK

6. How do Vipers kill their prey? Squeeze to death, Poison, Suffocate

Answer: Poison with venom stored in their upper jaws Their fangs spear the prey and jaws can open to 180 degrees

7. Stucco is a coating found on Cookware, Nails or Walls

Answer: Walls, traditionally made from lime, sand and water. Nowadays made using portland cement

8. Who said “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time” ?

Answer: Abraham Lincoln – a great site for famous quotes is https://www.brainyquote.com/

9. Where is Nelson buried?

Answer: St Paul’s Cathedral 9th January 1806 It was over a year after his death hit by a sniper in the battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. His body is reputed to have been preserved in spirits of rum or brandy.

10. How tall is Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square?  52 metres, 102 metres, 152 metres

Answer: 52 meters or to be exact 169 feet 3 inches equivalent to 51.59 metres

Book Club…

Click Here to go to BOOK CLUB

Ian Fleming – The Man With A Golden Typewriter

Delia Owens – Where The Crawdads Sing

He discovered the cholesterol-reducing compound in 1973 which has saved the lives of millions of people.

“A remarkable scientist”

Prof Bryan Williams of The British Heart Foundation described him as “a remarkable scientist”. Akira said he was inspired by Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 which led him to study the mould of fungi to develop new medicines.

His research involved testing more than 6,000 concoctions.

Statins are prescribed by doctors for patients who have had a heart attack and those at high risk of heart attack or stroke. The pioneering biochemist received several awards including the Laska Award in the USA.

The Laska Award is known as the US’s own version of the Nobel Prize and whilst he didn’t receive the actual Nobel prize, his contribution to medicine is one of the major achievements of the 20th century.

Drop in for a chat, have a go at the quiz and browse articles on books, collecting, food and travel. (Answers to quiz at the bottom of the page).

This week’s quiz:

1. Who was the first female artist to have a UK number one with a self penned song?

Clue – Teak Hubs (anag)

2. Which Beatle wrote – Here Comes The Sun?

3. Which Canadian singer had an album Cuts like a knife? (clue 1983) 

4. Who joined Kenny Rogers on their ‘islands in the stream’?

5. What is the largest human sensory organ?

6. In which year did the Soviet Union collapse? 1991, 2001, 2011

7. What is the most common fuel in a nuclear reactor? Hydrogen, Uranium, Plutonium

8. In which year did the world population reach 1 billion? 1704, 1804, 1904

9. Which year was the first powered flight over Kitty Hawk Beach? 1703, 1803, 1903

10. In which state is Kitty Hawk Beach? Nevada, North Carolina, Florida

Collectables – lighting

Lighting is one of the most popular home accessories. Whilst there are plenty of attractive modern designs available at low prices, sometimes a vintage item is required.

Eileen Gray lamps:

Eileen Gray lamps are timeless and add art deco style to your home office. If you’re lucky enough to find a pair they are magnificent bedside lamps. They don’t come up often, but if you find them, buy them quickly if the price is right. A lamp like this one in good condition is worth over a $1000. Tarnished ones that aren’t damaged are easily restored and rewired.

Who was Eileen Gray? An Irish woman from County Wexford with a keen eye for design. Read her bio at http://www.eileengray.co.uk/ or go to our page HERE

Answers to this week’s quiz:

1. Who was the first female artist to have a UK number one with a self penned song?

Answer: Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights (1978)

2. Which Beatle wrote – Here Comes The Sun?

Answer: George Harrison

3. Which Canadian singer had an album Cuts like a knife?

Answer: Bryan Adams

4. Who joined Kenny Rogers on their ‘islands in the stream’?

Answer: Dolly Parton

5. What is the largest human sensory organ?

Answer: The skin, which occupies approximately 15% of our body mass

6. In which year did the Soviet Union collapse? 1991, 2001, 2011

Answer: 1991

7. What is the most common fuel in a nuclear reactor? Hydrogen, Uranium, Plutonium

Answer: Uranium (Plutonium is produced as a bi-product of nuclear reaction)

8. In which year did the world population reach 1 billion? 1704, 1804, 1904

Answer: 1804  (see the J curve chart below to see how dramatic the rise has been in the last 200 years)

9. Which year was the first powered flight? 1703, 1803, 1903

Answer: 1903  Wilbur and Orville Wright flew their 12 horsepower engine twin prop plane over Kitty Hawk Beach.

10. In which state is Kitty Hawk Beach? Nevada, North Carolina, Florida

Answer: North Carolina

The J Curve world population in billions:

The world population clock is Here

J.J. Barnes featured artist

Soul singer / songwriter J. J. Barnes passed away recently and there is a short bio HERE

What are you reading?

Casino Royale – Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel

Did you know? Ian Fleming wrote his first Bond novel in 1952 at his home in Jamaica called Goldeneye. Fleming was born in London in 1908 and educated at Eton. He worked as a journalist in Moscow and banker / stockbroker in London before becoming personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence during the second world war. No wonder he could write such good stories.

It’s worth looking out for the original issue which is printed with red text on black hard cover and wrapped in the dust jacket shown above. Only 4,500 copies (the smallest number of any Bond print runs) were produced. Valued at anywhere between $10,000 to $100,000 depending on condition. Note that ex library copies which have library stamps removed or concealed are worth much less.

If you buy it on Audible, the story is well told by Dan Stevens and there is an extra interview with the narrator.

More recommended reading from our book club HERE

It’s not quite clear who coined the phrase A picture is worth a thousand words. Fred Barnard wrote One Look Is Worth A Thousand Words in a journal called Printers Ink back in 1921. An advertisement for a newspaper The San Antonio Light published in 1918, the exact phrase was used and it is widely accepted as a journalistic and advertisement design principle.

Some images are so powerful, they make us stop to think. The art of good composition can be learned and it takes practice to take a good photo. Sometimes of course the shot is just right with subject, light and mood. This photo of a polar bear asleep on some drifting ice is this years winner in The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest. Nima Sarikhani took the photo in the Far North, off Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.

Please let me know what thoughts this image provokes in you?

There is much more information about the People’s Choice: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 Here

You might also find our article Finding Vivien Maier interesting > Here

Interesting prompt from Clare to think about five fun activities. Firstly, without sounding too virtuous, I consider myself lucky to be able to ponder this. If I had been born to different circumstances, things would certainly be different.

1. Time with family
2. Reading
3. Travel
4. Music
5. Cooking

1. We are blessed to have time with family in an increasingly complicated and uncertain world.
2. Research or escapism and I’m always keen to hear reading recommendations from people.
3. Camping and exploring regions, nature and cultures, travel certainly adds to life.
4. Never a day without music for me, classical, rock, pop or ideally sixties soul, bring it on.
5. Luckily, I am married to a good cook and she loves to cook for the whole family. Occasionally I try my hand at simple recipes, usually with dire consequences.

A recent success in the kitchen was Carole’s Key Lime Pie

Bloganuary – Day 23

Who was Vivian Maier?

A reclusive photographer who built up a huge library of what we nowadays would call ‘street photography’. If you are interested in photographic composition, mid twentieth century fashion and architecture, you will find this a fascinating film.

The easiest way to view it is on Amazon Prime (rent or buy for less than $10), or you can find it on DVD on the internet.

For more information about Vivian Maier, go to the website: https://www.vivianmaier.com/

Online Viewing Area > Here

Online discussion > Here