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A Life in a Quiz - My Mother

Significant dates, people and places in my mother's life have inspired an assortment of questions with a UK bias - if you don't know the right answer, you may know the wrong ones!

A multiple-choice quiz by bucknallbabe. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
bucknallbabe

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
301,179

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
1730

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 2 (5/10), dreamdiva (4/10), Guest 166 (6/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. My mother was born on 14 April 1928, the 16th anniversary of the Titanic hitting the iceberg. From which port did the Titanic sail? Hint

Plymouth

Bristol

Southampton

Liverpool

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. My mother was born in the Midlands in the area popularly known as The Potteries. Which was her home county? Hint

Staffordshire

Surrey

Suffolk

Sussex

3. When my grandmother was pregnant with my mother, she nursed an injured song thrush back to health. The family decided to name my mother for this bird which they had named Joey. Being unwilling to give a daughter a name which could be shortened to a boy's name, they were happy when a family friend pointed out that there was a Scottish dialect word for songthrush which was also a girl's name. What was my mother's name? Hint

Linnet

Mavis

Robin

Nightingale

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Question 4 of 10

4. The Potteries were the location for a series of novels by which author? Hint

Samuel Beckett

Alan Bennett

Arnold Bennett

Benedict Arnold

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Question 5 of 10

5. My parents married on 10 June 1950. As the photographs were being taken, the strains of "A lovely bunch of coconuts" were heard from a fair nearby. Which of these artists did *not* perform this song? Hint

Monty Python

Ringo Starr

Danny Kaye

Merv Griffin

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Question 6 of 10

6. In 1954, my family moved to Cheshire to be closer to my father's workplace in Crewe. In 2002, which of these ceased to be one of Crewe's claims to fame? Hint

There is a crater on Mars named for Crewe

Major railway centre

Bill Bryson referred to Crewe as "the armpit of Cheshire"

Manufacture of Rolls Royce motor cars

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. The next family move was to the Fylde Coast of Lancashire. This area is known for its popular holiday destinations. Which one of these resorts is *not* in The Fylde? Hint

Lytham St Annes

Blackpool

Southport

Fleetwood

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. For their Silver Wedding Anniversary, my parents went on a cruise calling at Ponta Delgada, Funchal, Santander and Gibraltar. When and how did Gibraltar become a British colony? Hint

In 1501, upon the marriage of Henry VIII to Katharine of Aragon

In 1713, by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht

In 1587, captured by Sir Francis Drake

In 1748, at the end of the War of Jenkins' Ear

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Question 9 of 10

9. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1970. Which of the following James Bonds lost a wife to this cancer in 1991? Hint

Sean Connery

Pierce Brosnan

Roger Moore

Timothy Dalton

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Question 10 of 10

10. My mother died in the January of the same year as her favourite singer. She never had the opportunity to see him live in the UK as he never performed there. Who was he? Hint

Roy Orbison

Gene Pitney

Engelbert Humperdinck

Elvis Presley

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Most Recent Scores

Nov 07 2024 : Guest 2: 5/10
Oct 26 2024 : dreamdiva: 4/10
Oct 03 2024 : Guest 166: 6/10
Oct 02 2024 : Guest 107: 6/10
Oct 01 2024 : Guest 94: 6/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. My mother was born on 14 April 1928, the 16th anniversary of the Titanic hitting the iceberg. From which port did the Titanic sail?

Answer: Southampton

The White Star Line, owners of the RMS Titanic were taken over by Cunard which still operates cruises out of Southampton. Southampton was also the departure point for The Mayflower which took the Pilgrims to their new home in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Bristol was the port from which Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Eastern sailed.

When it was broken up, its topmast was purchased by Liverpool Football Club as a flagpole for their Anfield ground. Liverpool is also a port, on the River Mersey.

2. My mother was born in the Midlands in the area popularly known as The Potteries. Which was her home county?

Answer: Staffordshire

The prefix su- indicates south. Surrey is corrupted Saxon for south ridge or southern administrative unit; Sussex refers to the southern Saxons and Suffolk refers to southern folk or people. Stafford derives from the Old English for a ford by a landing place.

Answer: Mavis

The songthrush is also known as a mavis in East Anglia and Ireland and is believed to be of French origin "mauvis". Chaucer and Shakespeare both used the word and the first line of the traditional song "Mary of Argyle" is "I have heard the mavis singing..."

4. The Potteries were the location for a series of novels by which author?

Answer: Arnold Bennett

In Arnold Bennett's novels, The Potteries were depicted as the Five Towns - there are actually four, Burslem, Tunstall, Hanley and Stoke plus two districts Longton and the one Bennett did not use, Fenton.

Alan Bennett is a modern playwright whose "The Madness of George III" became a successful film in 1995. "The Madness of King George" had four Academy Award nominations and won the Best Art Direction category. Benedict Arnold was a general in the American Revolutionary War, originally for the Americans but then switched to the side of the British, his name therefater being associated with treason. Samuel Beckett was an Irish playwright who wrote many of his works in French, including "Waiting for Godot".

Answer: Monty Python

The song was written in 1944 by Fred Heatherton. Danny Kaye came across it on a tour of the UK and recorded it in 1950. His version was less successful than Merv Griffin's which also came out in 1950 and topped the US Hit Parade selling 3 million copies. His version is sometimes attributed on the Internet to Monty Python. Ringo Starr sang it on a BBC TV special in 1967.

6. In 1954, my family moved to Cheshire to be closer to my father's workplace in Crewe. In 2002, which of these ceased to be one of Crewe's claims to fame?

Answer: Manufacture of Rolls Royce motor cars

Rolls Royce used to manufacture motor cars in Crewe but the last one came off the production line in 2002. Bentleys are still made there. Crewe's role as a major railway centre started when the Grand Junction Railway sited its locomotive factory and a railway station there in the 1830s. Bill Bryson made this comment in his 1995 book "Notes from a Small Island". Crewe crater on Mars is about 3 kilometers in diameter.

7. The next family move was to the Fylde Coast of Lancashire. This area is known for its popular holiday destinations. Which one of these resorts is *not* in The Fylde?

Answer: Southport

Fylde means field or green area and refers to a flat plain roughly between the River Ribble in the South and the River Wyre in the north. Southport is on the southern side of the Ribble and can be seen from Lytham St Annes. Fleetwood is in the north on the Wyre and used to be home to an important fishing industry. Blackpool's Tower, Pleasure Beach, piers and autumn illuminations make it a popular holiday resort.

8. For their Silver Wedding Anniversary, my parents went on a cruise calling at Ponta Delgada, Funchal, Santander and Gibraltar. When and how did Gibraltar become a British colony?

Answer: In 1713, by the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht

The Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession during which several European powers had tried to prevent the union of the kingdoms of France and Spain. Gibraltar was part of Britain's spoils, as was the island of Minorca and the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America for the next 30 years.

9. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1970. Which of the following James Bonds lost a wife to this cancer in 1991?

Answer: Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan was married to the Australian actress Cassandra Harris in 1980. Since her death he has been involved with cancer charities, and is the London patron of Gilda's Club, the charity set up by Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka) whose wife also died from an ovarian tumour.

10. My mother died in the January of the same year as her favourite singer. She never had the opportunity to see him live in the UK as he never performed there. Who was he?

Answer: Elvis Presley

Actually my mother liked all these singers. Elvis did set foot in the UK in 1960 on his way back from military service. He had a stopover in Prestwick, Scotland.

Engelbert Humperdinck, although born in India, is a British performer who made many live appearances in Britain before his later successful career in Las Vegas. Roy Orbison toured Europe with The Beatles in 1963. Gene Pitney toured the UK several times - my mother took me to see him at the Queen's theatre in Blackpool on the same bill as Lonnie Donegan, Cilla Black and Billy J Kramer and much to my embarrassment told him to stand up when he sat on the edge of the stage as the people in the balcony could not see him. He died on a UK tour in Cardiff on 5 April 2006.

Source: Author bucknallbabe

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
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Related Quizzes

This quiz is part of series A Life in a Quiz:

Five quizzes largely about the UK inspired by significant dates and places in the lives of members of my family.

  1. A Life in a Quiz - My Mother Tough
  2. A Life in a Quiz - My Father Tough
  3. A Life in a Quiz - My Grandmother Average
  4. A Life in a Quiz - My Daughter Tough
  5. A Life in a Quiz - My Sister Average