Find Your Own Way - With A Little Help Quiz

Answer: Santa Monica and Chicago

Although it is no longer a major carrier of traffic, or even intact, Route 66 is still popular with visitors. The original 2,400-mile highway was designated Route 66 in 1926 and was decommissioned in 1985. It passes through eight states on its way between Chicago, Illinois, and Santa Monica, California.

Route 66 was to become fabled in song, literature movies and television. John Steinbeck called it "the mother road, the road of flight" for those fleeing desperate midwestern conditions in the 1920s and 1930s for what another dustbowl storyteller, Woody Guthrie, was to call "a Garden of Eden" - California.

Today, the full route cannot be followed, but enough of it remains for an enjoyable road trip. It is best to allow three weeks for your odyssey.

Answer: Germany

This is a typical direction sign for visitors in towns in Germany and, of course, Austria.

Answer: Cincinnati, Ohio

William Howard Taft was born in Cincinnati on September 15th, 1857 and died in Washington D.C. on March 8th, 1930.

Most people in the Buckeye State would probably prefer to remember Taft as one of their own, rather that the fact that he supposedly got stuck in his bathtub at the White House. Let's nail that one right now, as another president might say "fake news": there is no evidence of it ever happening. Still he was a big man, weighing it at 350lb, so you can guess how the story arose.

It is unfortunate that it did overshadow Taft's achievements both as president between 1909 and 1913 and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court between 1921 and 1930. He supported constitutional amendments for a mandatory income tax and the direct election of senators by the people, whereas they had been appointed by the states before that. Some of these, and his anti-trust measures, did not endear him to his own Republican Party and it split, allowing the Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the 1912 general election.

Answer: France

The biggest place on that noticeboard is Perpignan which in the 13th Century was the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca. It is close to the Mediterranean Sea and the border with Spain: the latter may explain why so many street signs in the city are in Catalan as well as in French. In addition, over 40 per cent of the inhabitants have some knowledge of Catalan, the language of northern Spain.

The local tourist board paints a picture of a city with many assets. If culture is your thing, there are many places worth seeing, including The Palace of the Kings of Majorca. The city is also noted for its food and wine, much of the latter from the locally sourced muscat and grenache grape. Many musical events also take place during the year.

Perpignan is easily accessed along France's high speed TGV train system. An international airport has flight to destinations throughout France, as well as Belgium, England, and Ireland.

Answer: Suffolk

Like a lot of East Anglia, Suffolk is relatively flat but has a variety of landscape that attracted great painters such as John Constable, and Thomas Gainsborough. The county also has many historic town, including Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, and the county seat at Ipswich.

In the 15th Century, Suffolk was noted for its production of wool and many of the towns associated with that trade are well preserved. In the 21st Century, Suffolk became a home-from-home for many people who worked in London. They liked to get away from the hustle and bustle - just as Charles Dickens did before them.

Along the North Sea Coast are 50 miles of beaches and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Answer: Munich

The area around Munich in Germany is known for the variety of its beers and that is celebrated every year at the Oktoberfest. The first took place in 1810 and it is marked each year in the two-week period ending on the first Sunday in October.

The Munch Oktoberfest is the largest beer festival in the world. All the beer comes from six local breweries and in excess of 7.5 million litres - 15 million pints - are served annually. While many of those who work at the Octoberfest will wear traditional clothing such as dirndl or lederhosen, it is not compulsory for visitors.

The original festival has prompted copycats in other places in the world, few of which are close in scale or importance to the original. Among those copies was one planned for Northern Ireland, where one straight-laced local councillor was quoted as asking did it have to sell beer?

Answer: London

London's underground system - the tube - is the oldest of any in the world. The first tunnels were dug in the mid 19th century, and the first ever journey was taken on January 9, 1863.

By 1884 over 800 trains were running around the system each day. By the start of the 21st Century, the system had 270 stations and carried five million passengers daily across its 11 lines. Of those 270 stations, the deepest is Hampstead on the Northern line, almost 60 metres (200 feet) below the surface.

London is built on clay and tube lines need to be dug deep to avoid unsettling foundations of the many historic - and non historic - buildings.

Glasgow, meanwhile, also has an underground - the Subway - which opened in 1890.

Answer: Republic of Ireland

Drombeg Stone Circle is known locally as the Druid's Altar and is located near the village of Glandore in County Cork.

The stone circle dates to bronze age times, about 3,000 years ago. It is one of the finest of its type in Ireland and attracts a large number of visitors each year. The stones, originally there were 17, are aligned with the setting sun on the midwinter solstice, December 21st.

Answer: Nothing

In 1940 Woody Guthrie wrote "This Land Is Your Land" as an antidote to what he considered the saccharin-sweet "God Bless America" written by Irving Berlin. Guthrie thought his song should show America, warts and all, and one verse went:

"As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me...."

That verse and another are often omitted in modern singing:

"In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?..."

For many years, "This Land Is Your Land" was taught in American elementary schools. In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger - Guthrie's great friend and collaborator - sang it at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Answer: New York

At the time this quiz was written in July 2020, New York City's Broadway district had 41 theatres. In addition there were 62 smaller 'off Broadway' venues.

The oldest continuously operating theatre on Broadway is the Lyceum. It dates to 1903. ("The Republic" opened in 1900, but it was a cinema for a time and adopted the name "The Victory".)

The annual attendance at Broadway shows grew to more than 56 million by 2015. The longest-running show still playing when this quiz was written was "The Phantom of the Opera", which opened in January 1988.