Blue Notes from Around the World Quiz

Answer: Blue Bayou

"I'm going back some day, gonna stay on blue bayou
Where the folks are fine and the world is mine on blue bayou
Oh, that girl of mine by my side the silver moon and the evening tide
Oh, some sweet day gonna take away this hurtin' inside
I'll never be blue, my dreams come true on blue bayou."

Roy Kelton Orbison (1936-1988) was born in Vernon, Texas and showed a keen interest in music from an early age. His prolific career included a UK tour with The Beatles in 1963, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and brief membership of the "Traveling Wilburys" immediately before his untimely death (the other members of the band were George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty). "Blue Bayou" was released in 1963 on the Monument record label.

Answer: Appalachian

"In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia,
On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine."

Stan Laurel's dazed falsetto rendition of these lines after a blow on the head is a real picture!

The geological massif of the Blue Ridge is part of the Appalachians in the United States, and forms a narrow band stretching from Pennsylvania in the north down to northern Georgia in the south, passing though Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The wider Blue Ridge Province also includes parts of Tennessee and West Virginia.

Answer: It's a clean beach

The prestigious "Blue Flag" classification scheme for beaches operates throughout Europe, Canada, New Zealand, Morocco, the Caribbean and South Africa.

Beaches have to comply with twenty-nine criteria in the four categories of Environmental Education and Information, Water Quality, Environmental Management, and Safety and Services. Some of these criteria are guidelines, some are imperative and some are not applicable to certain areas. All the imperative requirements have to be met before a Blue Flag is considered; the number of guideline criteria to be met will vary.

Blue Flags are awarded for one season only and if a beach fails on one or more of the imperative criteria within a season the flag is withdrawn.

Theoretically, this particular Blue Flag shouldn't still be flying as the summer season is over, but everyone likes to brag a little sometimes!

Answer: Pablo Picasso

The Spanish artist Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881, and died in 1973.

The "Blue Period" describes Picasso's work in his early twenties. From 1901 to 1904 he produced a series of subtle and melancholy paintings in which the colour blue was predominant, and this period illustrates his changing style from classicism to abstract.

Georges Braque was a contemporary of Picasso; Thomas Gainsborough painted "The Blue Boy"; Tintoretto was the son of a dyer, hence his nickname which means "dyer's boy" or "little dyer".

Answer: Afghanistan

The limestone of the Kokcha river valley of the Badakhstan province in Afghanistan yields the best and deepest blue lapis lazuli: the mines of Sar-e-Sang located there have been worked for over six thousand years, supplying the ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indus Valley, Greek and Roman civilisations.

The other countries mentioned also produce lapis lazuli, but these sources are considered inferior to the Afghan stone. The Chilean source is in the Andes; the Russian, in the Lake Baikal region; the U.S. deposits are in California and Colorado.

Answer: Jamaica

The Jamaican Blue Mountain is considered by many to be the best quality coffee bean: it is certainly one of the most expensive.

It has a mild flavour and minimal bitterness and is also used as the base flavour for the coffee liqueur "Tia Maria".

Jamaican Blue Mountain is a controlled name (like the appellation d'origine contrôlée for French wines) and can only be used for beans grown in the Blue Mountain area of Jamaica. There are other Blue Mountain coffees (from Kenya, for example), but they may not use the word "Jamaica" in their name.

The Blue Mountains are located between Kingston and Port Maria; the combination of cool, misty climate with high rainfall, and rich soil conditions, is ideal for coffee production.

Answer: Alice

"Alice blue" is a pale blue-grey or steely blue colour. It was said to match the eye colour of Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980), oldest daughter of 26th US president Theodore Roosevelt (president 1901-1909), and was one of her favourites.

Alice was a controversial lady who made her social debut in 1902; she was known for her outspokenness and an example of her acid wit was embroidered onto one of her sofa cushions: "If you can't say something good about someone sit right here by me."

The colour inspired the song "Alice Blue Gown", originally written for the 1919 Broadway musical "Irene"; and Alice Blue is the U.S. Navy colour specification for the trim and insignia in vessels named for Theodore Roosevelt.

Answer: Martin Van Buren

The eighth President of the United States, Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) is credited with the introduction of blue into the White House colour scheme in 1837, when he had the oval reception salon now known as the "Blue Room" redecorated.

Ever since, it has been a White House tradition to retain the blue colour scheme although successive administrations usually make at least one small change to the overall decor.

Answer: Ancient Greek

The Ancient Greeks had the word "kyanos" (think of our modern "cyan") but this had the specific meaning of a dark blue tile or enamel, not the actual name of the colour blue.

Blue things were generally referred to by the word for "bronze", which also had the connotation of "bright". Although this may sound illogical to us, it makes sense when you consider that bronze metal objects develop a blue-green patina with age.

The other "blues" in the question are English, modern Welsh, German and French.

Spanish=azul; Chinese=lan, or lan se; Bulgarian=sin.

Answer: China and Korea

Cryptozoology is the study of "mythical" beasts, such as unicorns and dragons, and includes contemporary creatures for which evidence is scientifically unconfirmed (i.e. they haven't caught one yet); examples of the latter are the Yeti, Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster and the big cats reported in remote areas of the UK.

The coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct but rediscovered in the last century, is an example of a cryptozoological creature whose existence has been proven (several have been caught).

There have been occasional reports of Blue Tigers from the mountains of China's Fujian province. The tigers are a bluish-grey or slate blue colour, with dark grey or black stripes, and white patches on the face. Another name for the Blue Tiger is Maltese Tiger - nothing to do with the Mediterranean island of Malta geographically, but because "maltese" is a word for this particular bluish-grey colour variation found in cats.

An American missionary in south-east China reported seeing one in 1910, and the local people in Fujian have also reported seeing the tigers; another report came from a US soldier at the time of the Korean War.

It has been suggested that the animals were just ordinary orange tigers covered in mud, but the "maltese" colour variation does exist in domestic breeds of cat and has also been documented in wild bobcats and lynxes.

There is no photographic evidence or "expert" report to substantiate the existence of Blue Tigers but, although the evidence is circumstantial, the possibility of their existence cannot be discounted.

Incidentally, "In Dreams" is another song from Roy Orbison, so that takes us full circle!