Oh, What a Boo-Boo! Trivia Quiz

Answer: King Henry II - Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on 29th December 1170 because of his defiance of King Henry II. Henry wanted to change the law so that if a churchman was convicted of, for example, murder by a Church Court, which could not inflict capital punishment, he would, if found guilty, then revert to being a layman and could be tried in a Royal Court and hanged. Thomas defied him on this saying a man could not be tried and punished twice for the same crime.

Four of Henry's knights rode to Canterbury and demanded Thomas back down and when he would not they murdered him. Public reaction was swift and furious holding Thomas to be a martyr and Henry a murderer. Henry swore he did not mean the remark to be taken seriously and had himself publicly whipped at Thomas's tomb. "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" is a commonly used misquote, Henry's actual words were "Have I no friend who will rid me of this upstart priest?"

Answer: Helen of Troy

Helen was the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. She was seduced by Paris, a Prince of Troy. In one version of the legend she runs away with Paris, in another she is abducted by him. Whichever is correct she ends up in Troy, married to Paris. Menelaus, with the help of his brother Agamemnon, assembles an army and sails for Troy, where he lays siege to the city, demanding the return of his wife. The siege went on for some 10 years.

Entry into the city is eventually attained by means of troops hiding inside a giant wooden horse, which is left sitting outside the city gates. The rest of the army withdraw and hide. The horse so intrigues the Trojans that they bring it inside the City gates. After dark the troops leave the horse, open the gates and let in the rest of the army, leading to the fall of Troy. Helen survives the sack of the city, is reunited with Menelaus and eventually returns to Sparta with him.

Answer: Dick Francis - Devon Loch

In the 1956 Grand National at Aintree, Dick Francis, on Devon Loch, was leading the field by a comfortable margin, when the horse inexplicably half jumped and went down, leaving ESB to overtake it and win. Devon Loch was owned by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and some people have suggested that, because the win would have been so popular, the roar of the crowd as the finish line came into sight was so loud, it startled the horse causing it to jump and lose its footing. Others have suggested the horse mistook a shadow across the race track for a fence, and another suggestion is that it collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

What is certain is that Dick Francis did not get a knighthood, although he did go on to write some very popular novels all centered on horse racing.

Answer: Blue Peter

In a 1969 episode the BBC TV children's programme "Blue Peter" decided to have a baby elephant on the show. Lulu of Chessington Zoo came along, and Biddy Baxter, the producer of the show, asked her keeper to do without the stick he normally used to control her. Without the stick Lulu proceeded to do exactly what she wanted and caused havoc, she trod on presenter John Noake's foot, she made a terrible mess all over the studio, and then proceeded to drag her luckless keeper through the mess, all live on TV.

Fortunately, the episode was taped and has become one those classic TV moments.

Answer: Neville Chamberlain

Arthur Neville Chamberlain was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. In 1938 he visited Hitler and, as part of his appeasement policy, signed the Munich Agreement which conceded part of Czechoslovakia to Germany. He came back to Britain brandishing the agreement which, he declared, heralded "Peace for our time".

In March 1939 Hitler invaded the rest of Bohemia and Moravia and in September also Poland, whereupon Britain and France declared war on Germany. In May 1940 Chamberlain was forced to resign as Prime Minister following devastating critism of his handling of British support for Norway. He was succeeded by Winston Churchill but remained part of the War Cabinet till his death in November 1940.

Answer: Michael Parkinson

Rod Hull and his puppet, a mute, highly aggressive arm length Emu, were popular entertainers in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, wreaking havoc wherever they went as the bird appeared to attack anyone who came within its range. In a 1976 episode of Michael Parkinson's chat show the bird repeatedly attacked Parkinson eventually causing him to fall off his chair. Fellow guest Billy Connolly threatened to "break the bird's neck and your arm", which was enough to restore some semblance of order to the proceedings.

Answer: Icarus

According to legend, Icarus was the son of Daedelus who had built the labryinth which house the minotaur. King Minos exiled he and his father on Crete because Daedelus gave Ariadne the ball of string that enabled Theseus to survive the labryinth. In an attempt to escape Daedelus built wings made of wax and feathers, and warned his son not to go too close to the sea or to the sun. Exhilarated by flying, Icarus soared too close to the sun, the wax melted, he lost all his feathers and fell into the sea and drowned.

Answer: Dick Rowe

In January 1962 the Beatles auditioned for Decca producer Mike Smith who agreed to let them record. However, he was over-ruled by Dick Rowe, who turned them down in favour of Brian Poole and The Tremeloes. George Martin eventually signed them to Parlophone. Brian Epstein was their Manager.

Answer: Linda Barker

"Changing Rooms" was a highly popular British TV series with the concept that two couples would each renovate a room in the other couple's house with the assistance of a top interior designer. At the end of each show was a "reveal" where, hopefully, each couple loved their new room and they all remained friends, although it didn't always work out that way.

In this episode Linda Barker designed a room specifically to show off a large and expensive collection of antique teapots, and had the idea of suspended shelves hanging from the ceiling.

The shelves were loaded up with the teapots but overnight the weight of them proved too much for the pulley hooks which worked loose from the ceiling, depositing both shelves and teapots on the floor in several hundred pieces.

Answer: Clive Sinclair

The Sinclair C5 was a battery/electric vehicle invented by Clive Sinclair and launched in the United Kingdom in January 1986. It looked like an enclosed tricycle and was steered by handles on either side of the driver's seat. With a top speed of only 15 mph it could be driven without a driving licence.

Unfortunately, despite being only £399 to buy, it quickly became an object of popular ridicule and a commercial disaster, with only about 12,000 ever being sold. Trevor Bayliss invented the wind up radio, andDean Kamen invented The Segway. Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web.