Old Pete's Final flurry - -
just got back from a very pleasant holiday in Provence so had plenty of time to think up obscure things. There may be slightly Gallic bias to some questions - but not all.
1. What connects the beginnings
of the European community with
water lilies
2. Whose
thumb print allegedly explains the name of a fish ?
St Peter
- whose thumb print is allegedly on the fish known in France as a St
Pierre and in Britain as a John
Dory.
3. What
was the nice price was paid for
french support much to the chagrin of red shirted rebel ?
4. Where
was terpsichorean activity alleged to indicate cardinal inactivity.
5. Who
or what were Les Marie
Louises - Les Vieux
Moustaches - The bravest of the
brave ?
6. Which
capital City is divided by the green line ?
Nicosia
7. A
Paris - Brest is a large gateaux made with cream and strawberries forming a spoked wheel - what else is it ?
A cycle race- commemorated in the wheel like form
of the gateaux
8. If
you greeting someone with "
Fit like "and he or she replied
"Chaffin awae "
where would you be ?
Aberdeen- translatedyou askWhat its like ( how goes it ? )they reply Chuffing away- referring to their chimney.
9. In
the recent Tour de France
many spectators waved flags
with a red lion on a background of horizontal light blue and white stripes - where were they from ?
Luxemburg
- the official flag is
easily confused with the horizontal Dutch tricolour - but has a lighter blue band . The flag described above and
waved during Le Tour is derived from the arms of the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg.
10. Why
is a bachelor from Bermondsey
worried by the home thoughts of a man from Witney ?
Sorry, more questions than answers here.
1. Is this anything to do with Monet?
2. Is this to do with a haddock?
6. Jerusalem?
7. Paris-Brest is also a cycle race.
8. Sounds like it should be Newcastle but its definitely Scotland. I would add Aberdeen in particular (but that's only a guess because I know you have lived there)
9. Luxembourg?
10. I think the man from Witney is probably David Cameron and therefore the "batchelor" from Bermondsey must be Simon Hughes. I think poor Simon is a little worried by some of the policies adopted by the Coalition Government.
5: Think your on the right lines Clive I',m sure in the long long version of Les Miserables (the book) theres something about someone on hard times who should be shown more respect because they fought with or led a troop of Maries Louises alongside Napoleon.
Not an answer as Ians already given it but on one the legs of Le Tour the Eurosport commentators were talking about the Paris-Brest (and back) endurance race and how they were looking for entrants for the next one in 2011 as its only run every four years now.
No.5: Teenage concripts in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Initially though as being a liablity due to their youth and lack of training, they earned the respect of the veteran soldiers for their bravery.
Mr Spokes tentative queries - Q1 - yes but why ? no its not a haddock - nor is it Jerusalem - Aberdeen is correct for the dialetical linguistics - The flag is Luxembourg - or rather the the flag of the grand Duchy - the state flag is very like the Dutch but with a lighter blue stripe.
Paris brest is a cycle race - as others have said. and Q10 is to do with Simon Hughes but what is the connection with the home thoughs of a man from Whitney.
Saintly Pursuit - yes its a John Dory in English !!! the explanation and answer lies in what it is called in ....?
Question Five - no answers on the Old moustaches - fit the bill - the Marie Louise bit - well Sarge is as near as dammit - the teenage recruits to Napoleoans armies in 1813 were known as Marie louises - but why ? The bravest of the brave was an individual .
Pete you obviously let the wily old countryman Jack Hargreaves pass you by in the 60's and 70's. As there are sometimes found round the oxgenated water around watermills and because they are thumb shaped(ish) they got the name Millers Thumb.
Miller's thumb. (Zool.)
(a) A small fresh-water fish of the genus Uranidea
(formerly Cottus), as the European species
({Uranidea gobio), and the American ({Uranidea
gracilis); -- called also bullhead.
In France theres a fish called St Pierre, he was a fisherman and with you having just been there on holiday (and other French related questions) putting two and two together and probably getting five i'm plumping for St Peter.
Chris you are close enough - a St Pierre is what in english is a John Dory - its so called because the black mark on its back is supposed to be the Saints thumb print.
On our last night in Nice the missus had St Pierre garni avec et les St Jaques( scallops ) . I had the Loup de mer ( sae bass )
I remember Jack Hargreaves - but obvioulsy didnt pay as much attention as yourself.
No.5: "Les Maries Louises" - it was her name on the bottom of the legal document that conscripted them.
As for Les Vieux Moustaches, is this Napolean's Old Guard who, when asked to surrender at Waterloo ellegedly replied: 'The Old Guard dies , but does not surrender.'?
Bravest of the Brave: There's a book by that title which is about Mashall Ney.
Sarge - its simply that they - very young men were conscripted ( by lowering the age for service ) during the period when Napoleon had divorced Josephine and Married the Austrian princess Marie Louise. circa 1813 . The veteran troops called the the new intake Marie Louises.
The Vieux moustache were indeed the Old Guard - usually the grenadiers of the guard. other units also had nicknames - The Chasseurs a pied of the old Guard were called les Groingnards - the grumblers.
and yes Marshal Ney was called the bravest of the brave - after he commanded the rear guard in the retreat from Moscow.
No.1: Jean Monnett devised the plan that was to lead to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community - which later led to the formation of the European Community.
His surname is similar to that of Claude Monet, who produced seemingly hundreds of paintings of the water lilies in his garden.
Right its thursday pm and Im going to a rugby match tommorrow night
so Qs3 7 4 unanswered.
Q3 This refers to the song " Sur les ponts d'avignon etc " which satirised the inability of the collection of cardinals assembled by the frnech king to elect a rival Pope to the one in Rome who was controled by the emperor Frederick. The terpsichorean acttvity is of course dancing - rather than electing a Pope. The French king in the end locked them up withot food andwater and even threatened to burn them if they didnt come up with a Pope.
Q4 is nasty pun - the nice price - was the city of NICE which was ceded to France by ther Kingdom of of Piedmont in return for French support in their war of liberation against the Austrians in 1859. The red shirted rebel was Garibaldi who was quite miffed at what he saw as selling his home land.
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