Quiz from over the Water: Quixotic quiz of the decade 2010 – 2019 – Answers and winners

First up many thanks to everyone who participated. There were no fully correct submissions, closest was Joe who will receive a small runner-up prize (and proves the point that if you aren’t in you won’t win anything)! Here are the correct answers. We’ll run another one in a few months (NollagO being willing!) and again with prizes.

Quiz from over the Water: Quixotic quiz of the decade 2010 – 2019
1. In January 2010, why was Kirk McCambley, a 21 year old from Belfast, compared to Benjamin, a fictional character from a famous 1967 Holiday Movie?
Ans: Both were having an adulterous affair with an older Mrs Robinson. [Iris Robinson / The Graduate.]
2. Operation Neptune Spear was a mission launched by the CIA on 1 May 2011 under the direct supervision of Obama. What was the aim of the mission?
Ans: Capture / Execution of Osama Bin Laden
3. Introducing it in July 2015, Ireland was the last country in the OECD to create this system on a country wide basis. What system?
Ans: National postal codes
4. A polar research ship was launched in Birkenhead on July 2018. The ship was named RRS Sir David Attenborough. What popular name had previously been suggested on an Internet poll?
Ans: Boaty McBoatface [now the name of an attached mini-submarine]
5. Who did Bangor DUP councillor Alan Graham ask to desist from inappropriate activities in his grain field in July 2011?
Ans: Rihanna [while dancing topless]
6. What is the name of the American businesswoman (much in the news in the UK in late 2019) who founded the online security firm Hacker House?
Ans: Jennifer Arcuri ; [tech businesswoman who furiously denied being unfairly awarded taxpayer cash when she was “close” to the former London mayor.]
7. In January 2019, An Post issued two stamps commemorating the centenary of the first public meeting of Dáil Éireann held on January 21, 1919. One features a painting of the members of that first Dáil. The second, ironically, is based on a graphic of what?
Ans: The electronic seating system! [The one that featured in the absentee voting scandal? (NollaigO)]
8. Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, died in 2014. She was the youngest and last surviving member of which famous family?
Ans: The Mitford sisters
9. Without Googling, can you name all the former (i) Irish Taoisigh (ii) US Presidents (iii) British Prime Ministers who have died in the last decade?
Ans: (i) Liam Cosgrave, Garret Fitzgerald, Albert Reynolds (need all three for the point) (ii) George H.W. Bush (iii) Margaret Thatcher
10. Who in 2010 was posthumously awarded The Lost Man Booker Prize? Bonus point: What is the title of the Novel?
Ans: J.G. Farrell ; Troubles [The plot concerns the dilapidation of a once grand Irish hotel (the Majestic), in the midst of the political upheaval during the Irish War of Independence]
11. What was written on the briefing note written by UK Treasury minister, Liam Byrne, to his successor when he left office in May 2010?
Ans: “ I’m afraid there is no money.” [or equivalent for point]
12. Former CIA chief David Petraeus apologised in March 2013 for “slipping my moorings”.
This was described by journalist, Camilla Long as “Best euphemism for ____ ___ so far today.”
What goes in the blank spaces? [Anything which captures the basic idea gets the points!]
Ans: Illicit sex
13. Whose UK political career may stall because of rumours of his Pabolite associations in the 1980s?
Ans: Keir Starmer. He was associated with a journal “ Socialist Alternatives”. Us anoraks can read the full story here:

Keir Starmer and ‘Pabloism’ in Prestigious Spart World Column in Private Eye.

14. Former Belfast born pop star, 80 year old Ronnie Carroll, stood as an independent candidate for the 2015 United Kingdom general election in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency and received 112 votes. What was so unusual about his candidacy?
Ans: He was dead on election day but name still stayed on ballot paper.
[Us oldies might remember “Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue….]
15. The World premier of a sequel to the opera, The Marriage of Figaro, had its premiere in February 2016 at the Welsh National Opera at Cardiff. What was it called? (Worth a guess!)
Ans: Figaro’s Divorce! [accept “Divorce of Figaro” for point]