An August Morning BH85

An English Country Garden Yesterday
I went all English indie yesterday at the Electric Gardens festival. In Kent of all places, which was previously known for asylum seekers and a Eurostar Station and a few things some guy called Charles Dickens mentioned about the place.

Having been completely lied to by the organisers who didn't bother putting on a bus service (they allegedly said "They can find their own way" ... the bastards), we walked along precarious motorways and squished rabbits and finally made it to Ephraim Gardens thanks to a lift from a kindly gent who took pity on our sweaty selves.

My verdict on the state of our nation's current indiehood. It's very indie, but a bit slight and inconsequential. The Fratellis suck and The Automatic blow. Man, they blow so hard that when they sang "What's that coming over the hill?" I responded not a "Monster", but me coming with a machine gun to shoot them in the testicles. The latter also Limp Bizkitized Kanye West's Golddigger with as much success as that verb suggests.

As you might have surmised, I hate The Automatic with a hate only slightly less toxic than the one I reserve for the BNP.

Otherwise, Jamie T seems to have been forced to loutishly Ordinary Boys it rather than stay nicely acoustic, Electric Soft Parade were surprisingly effective, Adem was plinky plonky, but pleasant, and The Long Blondes have Kate Jackson and subsequently will always make my knees go week, even if they struggled to cope with outdoor main stage-status.

The other ones I can't be bothered to write about.

All in all a pleasant day diversion and what must be the first festival at which I didn't go to the toilet the whole day (don't worry, I sweated all the excess liquids off it seems). Though the lack of buses make me feel the same way about the organisers as Mel Gibson does about Frank Rich.

Today I am further widening my cultural horizons by going to Edinburgh and partaking of Jenny's project. It's a stand-up show about quiz. Had to go really.

Also, remember the most important thing in the whole universe, like ever
And remember, The Colossus Quiz will save your life, just like an AM Homes novel.

E-mail:thecolossusquiz@gmail.com

Oh, here are more quiz questions *imperceptible yawn*
1 At which tournament did Tiger Woods miss his first cut in a major?

2 On which Graham Greene short story was the 1948 Carol Reed film The Fallen Idol based?

3 The capital of Andalusia, which Spanish city was called Hispalis or Hispal by the Romans and has the motto "NO8DO"; the "8" is shaped like a wool hank or in Spanish, madeja, and this makes the motto as a rebus read "NO madeja DO", which is a pun on "no me ha dejado" ("it has not abandoned me"), a reference to the city's support for King Alphonse X in the war with his son Don Sancho during the 20th century?

4 Captain Alatriste, who features in an eponymous 1996 novel and four others like El sol de Breda (1998) is the most famous character creation of which journalist, who made his fiction debut with the Napoleonic Wars-set El husar in 1986?

5 Which strait connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and separaes Crimea in the west from the Taman peninsula in the east?

6 Sukhumi is the capital of which de facto independent republic?

7 What was pianist, composer and singer Nina Simone's real name?

8 Which Paris-born industrial desiger was responsible for the Hoover Vacuum Company and Shell logos, the blue, white and chrome livery of Air Force One, the Lucky Strike package in 1940, Coca-Cola bottle redesign in 1955 and first Coke aluminium can with diamond design in 1960 and interior design for NASA's Skylab space station?

9 Whose first ever score was for Luciano Salce's 1961 film Il Federale?

10 What route was Percy Shelley taking when he drowned while sailing his schooner Don Juan on July 8, 1822?

11 Alternatively titled The Spirit of Solitude, which 1815 long poem by Percy Shelley had its name suggested from Roman myth by Thomas Love Peacock, who defined the said personification of familial feuds as an "evil genius", and which recounts the life of a Poet who zealously pursues the most obscure part of nature in search of "strange truths in undiscovered lands"?

12 Given a first name meaning "Great Poet" in his mother tongue Tamil, which writer (1882-1921) is considered one of the greatest poets of 20th century India thanks to such works as Kannan Paattu/The Song of Krishna, the poetic epic and semi-political reflection on greed and pride Panchali Sapatham/Draupadi's Vow and his tribute to Shelley, Kuyil Paatu/Song of The Cuckoo?

13 Who painted The Cremation of Shelley, a recreation of the scene at the poet's funeral pyre on the beach near Viareggio?

14 Which German former ice-skating champion was the last person to have seen her then boyfriend, Jimi Hendrix, alive, and committed suicide in 1996 by gassing herself in her car in Seaford, East Sussex, possibly due to losing a libel case?

15 At which hotel located at 22 Lansdowne Crescent, London did Jimi Hendrix die?

16 Formerly a staff surgeon at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, which French writer saw a resurgence in the latter stages of his career due to a trilogy telling of his exile: D'un chateau l'autre, Nord, and Rigodon?

17 Robert Bamford co-founded which British car company in 1913, having joined forces with his new partner the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London?

18 Founded in 1920, which car company began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd, and introduced its first four-wheel car, the R360 in 1960, followed by the Carol in 1962?

19 What two-word term originally referred to one specific vehicle, a pioneering civilian all-terrain utility vehicle launched on April 30, 1948 at the Amsterdam Motor Show?

20 Which world heavyweight boxing champion killed the possibly already brain-damaged Ernie Schaff after hitting him with a pathetic jab and was thereafter villified as a "man-killer"?

21 Which religion follows the five precepts or code of ethics known as the Pancasila?

22 On May 15, 1252, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull Ad exstirpanda. What did it authorise?

23 In 1848 which London park hosted the Chartists' biggest "monster rally"?

24 Who died offstage as he "babbled of green fields"?

25 Which German cobbler invented the first shoe with a contoured sole in 1897?

26 What dreadlocked sheepdog takes its name from the Tibetan for "herding"?

27 Which surah is called the heart of the Qu'ran?

28 In which city is the oldest bullring in Spain, La Maestranza?

29 What was discovered during the building of Fort Julian?

30 The ruins of Fountains Abbey are in which World Heritage site-designated park?

31 Chosen from a listing on Gumtree.com, Sam Butcher is the new singer of which high-flying 80s pop group?

32 What was originally founded in England by the barrister Roland Berrill and Dr Lance Ware in 1946?

33 What is the Capgras delusion the unnerving sensation of?

34 The millionth ever Wikipedia article was written on which Glasgow railway station?

35 From the Greek for "flower blue" , what pigment is found in the skin of blueberries, aubergines and cherries?

36 According to the Shabaka Stone, a relic from the 25th Dynasty of Egypt found incised with the remaining hieroglyphics of a decaying papyrus that was found as the pharoah Shabaka was inspecting the temple of the god in question in Memphis, which deity called the world into being having dreamt creation in his heart and speaking it, his name meaning "opener" in the sense of "opener of the mouth"?

37 In Egyptian mythology, what was the deification of the primordial watery abyss, in the Ogdoad cosmogony, the name meaning "abyss"?

38 What are the pigment-containing and light-reflecting cells found in amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods called?

39 A recently discovered shipwreck in the Baltic Sea has been confirmed to be that of which vessel, Nazi Germany's only aircraft carrier?

40 Nicknamed "John the One-Eyed" after reportedly losing one eye during the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, which Hussite leader headed the group who threw the town councillors out of windows at the First Defenestration of Prague in 1419?

41 The missionary Hiram Bingham Jr first translated the Bible into which language during the 1840s?

42 What pewter plate is the oldest known artefact of European exploration in Australia?

43 What US Navy ship was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945?

44 Who famously disappeared from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfields at about 2.30 in the afternoon?

45 Which Irish journalist and sports official was the sixth president of the International Olympic Committee (1972-1980)?

46 Which former Polish racewalker won four Olympic golds in the 50km walk (1996, 2000, 2004) and the 20km walk (2000), as well as three world championships?

47 Poet Laureate from 1692, which Irish-born writer's works include the words to the Christmas carol Song of the Angels at the Nativity of our Blessed Saviour, more famously known by its opening line "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks", as well as fitting a happy ending onto King Lear in 1687 and the Dido and Aeneas tragedy Brutus of Alba, or The Enchanted Lovers (1678)?

48 Bao Dai, the last Emperor of Vietnam who died in 1997, was the last emperor of which dynasty?

49 What was the name of the Japanese emperor, whose personal name wa Mutsuhito and whose adopted name meant "Emperor of Enlightened Rule"?

50 What make of motorcycle was Bob Dylan riding when he famously crashed in upstate New York in 1966?

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Answers to BH85
1 US Open 2006 2 The Basement Room 3 Seville 4 Arturo Perez-Reverte 5 The Kerch Strait 6 Abkhazia 7 Eunice Kathleen Wayman 8 Raymond Loewy 9 Ennio Morricone 10 Livorno to Lerici 11 Alastor 12 Subramanya Bharathi, or in Tamil, Mahakavi Bharathiar 13 Louis-Edward Fournier 14 Monika Dannemann 15 Samarkand Hotel 16 Louis-Ferdinand Celine 17 Aston Martin 18 Mazda 19 Land Rover 20 Primo Carnera 21 Buddhism 22 The use of torture by the Inquisition 23 Kennington Common 24 Falstaff in Henry V 25 Konrad Birkenstock 26 Puli 27 Surah Yasin 28 Seville 29 The Rosetta Stone (on the west bank of the Nile) 30 Studley Royal Park 31 Culture Club 32 MENSA 33 That an impostor has replaced a close relative 34 Jordanhill 35 Anthocyanin 36 Ptah 37 Nun 38 Chromatophores 39 Graf Zeppelin 40 Jan Zizka 41 Kiribati or Gilbertese 42 Hartog Plate 43 USS Indianapolis 44 Jimmy Hoffa 45 Michael Morris, Lord Killanin 46 Robert Korzeniowski 47 Nahum Tate 48 Nguyen 49 Meiji 50 Triumph