Desert Island Discs Part Four Quiz | Desert Island Discs Style

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. I have to take one of my favourite songs from the early '60s with me to my desert island, "Girl of My Best Friend". All of the singers below recorded the song, but only one of them entered the Billboard Hot 100 with it. Which singer was it?

Answer: Ral Donner

"Girl of My Best Friend", written by Sam Bobrick/Beverly Ross, gave Ral Donner a number 19 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. It did not chart in the UK.

Ral Donner was born Ralph Stuart Donner in Chicago, Illinois, USA in 1943. Many people thought that it was Elvis Presley singing on the record and Donner sounded even more like Elvis on his next release. Ral Donner's second record "You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It)" reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961 and was his only Billboard Top Ten hit. It reached number 25 on the UK singles chart and was his only UK chart hit. He died aged 41 of lung cancer in 1984.

Charlie Blackwell was the first to release the song, as the B-side of his 1959 US single "Choppin' Mountains". Elvis Presley recorded the song (my favourite version) in 1960 for his album "Elvis Is Back" and it was also released as the B-side of his UK single "A Mess of Blues" in 1960. "A Mess of Blues" was the B-side of "It's Now Or Never" in the US. The Elvis version of "Girl of My Best Friend" was re-released as an A-side in the UK and reached number nine on the UK singles chart in 1976. Johnny Burnette recorded the song in 1962 for his album "Hits And Other Favorites".

Question supplied by shipyardbernie.

2. This duet from Delibe's opera "Lakme" will not only give me pleasure on my desert island, but also a chance to learn the words while singing along where no one can hear me! What is the name of this famous soprano duet?

Answer: The Flower Duet

The Flower Duet, or "Sous le d�me �pais", is one of the best-known and best-loved duets in opera. Even people who don't particularly like the genre seem to enjoy it. It is sung by a priest's daughter and her servant whilst they are gathering flowers by a river. It was used and further popularised by British Airways in a series of adverts.

Question supplied by Waitakere.

3. One of my choices of songs was a Billboard Hot 100 number one hit for Paul Revere and The Raiders in 1971, although it wasn't an original. It depicts the suffering of the Native Americans following the Indian Removal Act. What song am I talking about?

Answer: Indian Reservation

This song, also subtitled "The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian", was written by John D. Loudermilk and has been recorded many times. The Paul Revere and The Raiders' version was released in the US on July 24, 1971. The lead singer, Mark Lindsay, is part Cherokee. The song tells of the removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes to what is now Oklahoma in the Indian Removal Act of 1830, although Lindsay sang only of the Cherokee.

"They took the whole Cherokee nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our way of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan...

Cherokee people, Cherokee tribe
So proud to live, so proud to die

But maybe someday when they learn
Cherokee nation will return".

It is a very moving song!

Question submitted by kennell.

4. "You're Sixteen" is a song I would definitely take with me to a desert island. Originally released in 1960 by Johnny Burnette, a cover version was recorded in 1974 by which very famous person?

Answer: Ringo Starr

"You're Sixteen" was written by the Sherman Brothers and first recorded by Johnny Burnette. His record rose to number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and made it to number three on the UK Singles Chart the following year.

In 1974, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr recorded the song and this version went to number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the UK Singles Chart. He was the only Beatle not to have a number one single on the UK charts.

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney was reputed to be playing the kazoo on this record, but according to the song's producer Richard Perry, it was not a kazoo. He said, "In fact, the solo which sounds like a kazoo or something, was Paul singing very spontaneously as we played that track back, so he's singing the solo on that." Harry Nilsson sang backing vocals on this version.

On the music video of Ringo Starr's version, Hollywood actress Carrie Fisher played his love interest.

"You're Sixteen" was a hit in Australia in 1961, when I was 16 and whenever I hear it, it brings back so many memories of that time of my life.

Question supplied by wenray.

5. A record that would make my list of music to take to a desert island would be this lovely song originally by The Kinks about the break-up of a relationship, although the lyrics are full of love and gratitude, not bitterness. I'm taking the 1989 version which was a hit for the late, great Kirsty MacColl. What song am I talking about?

Answer: Days

Kirsty MacColl died in 2000 after being hit by a speed boat while she was diving with her sons in Mexico. She pushed one of her sons out the path of the boat (which should not have been in that area), but in doing so she was killed instantly.

Kirsty and the Pogues had a huge hit with "Fairytale of New York" which is a Christmas favourite for many people. She had an amazing voice and is sorely missed by many.

Question supplied by scotsbluebell.

6. A song I would take to a desert island is the title track of the LP "2112". Which band came up with this abstruse concept album in 1976 after their record company had demanded they make songs that were more likely to get radio airplay?

Answer: Rush

Rush fans everywhere are extremely thankful the guys didn't follow their record label's instructions! "2112", the favorite of my desert island songs, is more than 20 minutes long, having seven different parts (hardly radio friendly). It tells a futuristic story of an "individual against the masses".

Question supplied by rebelyank.

7. I'd definitely take "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus" written by Serge Gainsbourg to a desert island. Although it was originally sung as a duet with Bridget Bardot, the version that was a number one hit in the UK in 1969 was sung with another woman. Whom did Serge duet with on that hit single version in 1969?

Answer: Jane Birkin

Brigitte Bardot actually asked Serge Gainsbourg to write a love song for her, and so he came up with "Je T'aime... Moi Non-Plus", but when her husband got wind of the saucy duet version recorded in 1967, he blocked the release. That version didn't see the light of day until almost twenty years later.

By 1969, Gainsbourg was involved with British actress Jane Birkin and decided to rerecord the song he'd written for Bardot. Birkin went a bit over the top with the orgasmic heavy breathing and made the song borderline ridiculous, but the censors didn't see it that way and it was banned from radio stations in countries such as Spain, Sweden, UK, Italy, and Portugal. In the USA, stations rarely dared broadcast it. However, the whole hullabaloo is rather silly as the song seems to be about the difficulty of physical gratification sans emotional involvement rather than licentiousness, and if anything it's sickly romantic.

The pithy wit of the title is somewhat lost in the English translation. Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime" (I Love You) is answered with "Moi Non Plus" (Me Neither) by Birkin, suggesting that his declaration of love is fake. Gainsboug's repartee wasn't 100% original as he was citing Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dal�'s drollery; "Picasso is Spanish, me too. Picasso is a genius, me too. Picasso is a communist, me neither".

Donna Summer recorded the song in 1978, but it flopped.

Rita Marley recorded vocals on Serge Gainsbourg 1979 album "Aux Armes Et Cetera", which was recorded in Jamaica.

Caroline von Paulus, aka Bambou, was Gainsbourg's wife for the last ten years of his life (1981 to 1991). They had a son together.

Question supplied by thula2.

8. Being a republican (anti-monarchist), one of the few books that I have read is a biography of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector during the only time that England has been a republic. It was written by Antonia Fraser who was married to one of England's greatest playwrights of the 20th century. Who was he?

Answer: Harold Pinter

I am not a great book reader and have read less than a dozen books in my lifetime. One of them, "Peyton Place", I even read twice.

One of the historical characters from the UK that interests me the most is Oliver Cromwell. To rise from virtual obscurity to re-model the army and become a monarch in all but name is astounding. All the more so that it should happen in England, where we have had our fair share of despotic, mad, and murderous monarchs.

Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser DBE, who wrote the biography, is the daughter of Frank Pakenham the 7th Earl of Longford. Lord Longford, who had been a minister in the post-war Labour government of Clement Attlee, infamously campaigned tirelessly but unsuccessfully for the release of child murderer Myra Hindley.

Antonia Fraser married British playwright/screenwriter/actor/director Harold Pinter in 1980. Pinter was friends with, and in his early work at least, influenced by Samuel Beckett. One of my favourite early Pinter plays is "The Caretaker" which opened in London's West End in 1960. It was made into a movie in 1964 starring original cast members Alan Bates and Donald Pleasence who were joined in the movie by Robert Shaw. Harold Pinter died from liver cancer in 2008. Passages from writings selected by Pinter were read at the graveside, among those giving the readings were actress Penelope Wilton and actor Michael Gambon.

Question supplied by shipyardbernie.

9. Having kept a journal for more than 35 years, my choice of luxuries on this island would be pencils and paper to document the days. One of my favourite diarists, from Yorkshire, wrote 'The History Boys', 'Forty Years On' and 'A Woman of No Importance'. Who is he?

Answer: Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett grew up in Leeds and later attended Oxford University where he met Peter Cook and Dudley Moore with whom he wrote 'Beyond the Fringe', a satire on life. His fame was assured from then on and he is now one of the stalwarts of British comedy and satirical writing.

Question supplied by Waitakere.

10. One of the most controversial guests on Desert Island Discs was wife to the British Union of Fascists' leader, and friend to Adolf Hitler. The latter shared her love of Wagner, by whom she chose two pieces on the show in 1989. She came from the notorious aristocratic Mitford family, known for the six Mitford sisters. Who am I talking about?

Answer: Lady Diana Mosley

Lady Mosley, n�e Diana Mitford, married Sir Oswald Mosley at notorious Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels' house in Berlin in 1936. Their pal Adolf Hitler was a guest. It was a second marriage for both of them.

She came from the noble family of Mitford, best-known for the intriguing Mitford sisters, a six-fold gang which also included a celebrated author (Nancy Mitford), a lesbian (Pamela Mitford), a Nazi sympathizer (Unity Valkyrie Mitford), a communist (Jessica Mitford), and a writer on English heritage site Chatsworth House (Deborah Mitford). There was also a brother, Thomas Mitford, who refused to fight against Germany in Europe but went to fight Imperial Japan. He died in action in 1945.

During World War II, the Mosleys were interned in London's Holloway prison. Following the war, they moved to Paris. In Paris, their neighbours included fellow Nazi sympathizers the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Oswald died in 1980 and Diana carved out a career as a writer, most notably as a literary reviewer. She stayed in Paris until her death in 2003.

Lady Mosley never recanted her belief in fascism, or her great admiration for Hitler. On Desert Island Discs, host Sue Lawley (very politely) accused her of "rewriting history" when Lady Mosley cast doubt on the Nazis having killed six million in the Final Solution and claimed her husband's Fascist Blackshirts' marches had been peaceful until Jewish communists had started causing trouble. Lady Mosley also claims her husband wasn't anti-Semitic until Jews started attacking his party.

On Desert Island Discs, her choices included Mozart's "Symphony No. 41", Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale"! The two Richard Wagner pieces were "Liebestod" (from Tristan und Isolde), and "Die Walk�re", which was her top choice.

Lady Diana Spencer got caught in the spotlight when she became HRH Prince of Wales in 1981. She died in a car crash in 1997.

Lady Jane Grey is known as The Nine Days' Queen since she was executed just nine days after becoming Queen of England in February 1554

"Lady Jane" is a song by the Rolling Stones, written partly by Keith Richards, hence the Lady Jane Richards red herring.

Question supplied by thula2.

Source: Author thula2

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
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Desert Island Discs Part Four Trivia Quiz

BBC Radio's "Desert Island Discs" invites a celebrity to choose eight pieces of music, a book, and an item to have if found castaway. Here are seven pieces of music, one book and one luxury item. The last question is about a past guest.

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