Guilding the Lily Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lily Potter

Lily Potter's role in the "Harry Potter" saga is an undeniably important one, even if we only ever see her in an ethereal sense, in pictures, mirrors or in Harry's memory, when the Dementors force him to relive her death. She also emerges from the tip of Voldemort's wand, with some of his other past victims, and joins in the battle to save her son once again.
Despite rumours that have been circulating for years, the actress who played Lily Potter is not Daniel Radcliffe's real life mother. Born in Ireland, the daughter of a baronet and his lady fair, Geraldine Somerville boasts a bloodline that can be traced back to former Kings of England, and is a distant relative of the currently reigning monarch.

Author skunkee took a literary approach to the Lily challenge and has reminded us all of the power of a mother's love.

Answer: Tribble

In "The Trouble with Tribbles", the tribbles' silver-screen debut, the cuddly and not terribly lily-like beasts proved useful in detecting both disguised Klingons and poisoned grain. They were so very fertile (McCoy memorably announced that they're "born pregnant"), that on an enclosed spaceship they were more of a nuisance than anything else, turning up everywhere from engine rooms to Kirk's coffee cup. Maybe that was why the Klingon Empire declared war on the little fuzzballs, eventually eradicating the species, a tragic tale hilariously recounted in the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations."

Stand-up comic Mitch Hedberg once claimed that koalas would constitute "the cutest infestation ever," but Star Trek's tribbles give them a run for their money.

CellarDoor took the honours in finding a Lily reference in the most obscure and unlikely of places - a science fiction television drama.

Answer: Judge Roy Bean

Lily Langtry's success as an actress actually came about due to her newfound need to support herself after her break-up with Prince Edward. At the urging of her friend, Sarah Bernhardt, she began acting in stage plays, garnering almost instant success, and becoming famous not only in England but in America as well. She died in 1929, a popular cultural phenomenon to the end.

Guild member gretas found her Lily question spanning the very different worlds of Victorian England and America's wild western frontier.

Answer: The Who

"Pictures Of Lily" was written by Pete Townshend and recorded by The Who on their album "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy" in 1967. The lyrics deal with a lad who has sleepless nights trying to deal with the effects of puberty. His father gives him pictures of beautiful women, including one of Lily Langtry. The son falls in love with the picture of Langtry, only to find out from his father later that she died in 1929. This causes the son to cry at night wishing that he had been born in Ms. Langtry's time. Many radio stations banned this song because of the suggestive lyrical content in the 1960's era. Despite the banning, the song reached number 4 on the U.K. singles charts, and it reached number 51 on the U.S.A. Billboard pop charts.

Quiz writer lemmyrules found Lily in the words of an English pop hit of the 1960s. He shares his Lily with gretas, but two more disparate questions on the same famous lady would be difficult to find.

Answer: King Lear

Although all four of the above named plays contain the phrase "lily liver'd", it is in "King Lear" that Kent delivers to Oswald the quintessential Shakespearean insult. In fact, only half of the slur was included in the question.
Kent continues, "One-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd, in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pandar, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition."

The meaning of "lily-livered" apparently derives from the expected pale, bloodless color of a coward's liver.

It was almost to be expected that uglybird would take great delight in consulting with the Bard for his Lily reference. We are also treated to the bonus of an etymological footnote, gruesome though it may be.

Answer: Prozac

Eli Lilly has been one of the highest ranked pharmaceutical companies in earned revenue. They manufacture Prozac, which has had the distinction of being described as the most widely prescribed antidepressant medication in the world. Lipitor is a cholesterol-reducing drug from Pfizer, Vioxx is an anti-inflamatory drug from Merck, and Cialis is an erectile dysfunction medication also from Eli Lilly.

Trident87 has managed to loosely link his Lily reference to a successful pharmaceutical company, proving what diverse thinkers Guild members can be.

Answer: French revolutionaries in 1789

The French monarchy used the symbol for centuries. Some trace it to the 'baptismal lily' which represents the Virgin and Clovis I. Some trace it to Ancient Egypt and a martial symbol of a hooked
javelin. The province of Quebec adopted the motif and began using it officially in 1948 (as well as the cities of New Orleans and St Louis with French heritage). Lord Baden Powell used the symbol in Scouts but the French scouts did not use it until after WWII because of its association with Royalty. Henri le Comte de Chambord (first proclaimed King of France as a boy in 1830 and then in exile for years) allegedly refused to take the throne unless the fleur-de-lys flew again after the Prussian war, in an attempt to restore the monarchy. The French revolutionaries introduced the modern tricolor flag.

Bruyere looked to ancient symbolism in her question on the "fleur-de-lys", linking this form of the Lily through three very different historical perspectives.

Answer: The Hotel New Hampshire

When I first heard the term 'defenestration' I giggled. The thought process went something like this: "'fenster' is window in German, so it sounds like it means being 'de-windowed'. I wonder what it really means." Imagine my surprise when I looked it up! It is the act of throwing someone out of a window. In its purest sense, 'defenestration' has always struck me as such a prosaic term for such a terrible act, and as such is perfect to use in relation to one of John Irving's characters.

(For an interesting tangent on what the term has come to mean in 'geek-speak' see: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/D/defenestration.html).

Back to 'The Hotel New Hampshire'. Without giving away too much of the story (then again there is an awful lot of story to give away!), the Berry family saga is in many ways an 'every family' story, complete with tragedies, jealousies, reconciliations and a whole lot of just getting by. The difference is the extreme nature of the characters and their tragedies, not to mention their extraordinary methods for exacting revenge on those who have crossed them. In many ways Lilly is a minor character - she is
forever trying to convince her siblings that she is actually a dwarf, and not just 'small'. To me her story sums up one of the major points of the book, which is that no matter how hard you try, no matter how successful you are, no matter how old you are or how much you've been through, you can never 'grow' enough.
This novel also gives the wonderful through-story of Sorrow, the Berry's black Labrador. Again without giving too much away, this culminates in the (deceased!) Sorrow's stuffed body being washed up on a beach; naturally you can't sink Sorrow, because Sorrow floats.

Another literary Lily has been contributed by ing from the fascinating world of John Irving's unusual novel "The Hotel New Hampshire".

Answer: Claude Monet

Monet's love of flowers is reflected not only in his numerous floral paintings, but by his famous, lovingly tended garden at Giverny. During the course of his career, he painted numerous flowers, including irises, dahlias, poppies, chrysanthemums, and tulips, both in their natural habitat and as still-life subjects. But the colors, form, and aquatic habit of water-lilies, with their accompanying saucer-like foliage floating flat on the surface of the water, held the same strange fascination for the artist as that of the facade of Rouen cathedral, or the haystack near Giverny (both of which he painted numerous times, studying the effects of light at different times of day). Among the best of his paintings in this genre are "The White Water Lilies" (1899), "The Water Lily Pond; Pink Harmony" (1900; both of these feature the famous Japanese bridge), and the hauntingly beautiful "Blue Water Lilies" (1916). The fourteen paintings at the Tuileries are displayed in two oval-shaped rooms. They are arranged so that they encircle the viewer, giving one the effect of being on a small island surrounded by water and floating blossoms and leaves.

Trust Jouen58 to paint the most delightful Lily images in his descriptions of some of Monet's most famous works.

Answer: All of these

Lillee terrorised batsmen the world over. His bowling figures were enhanced by the remarkable wicket keeping of Rodney Marsh, and the entry "caught Marsh, bowled Lillee" was written 95 times over in the scoring records.
Lillee also had success bowling with the great Max Walker. Together they made an imposing opening pace attack against England in the mid 1970s.
Lillee's most impressive partnership was arguably with fellow quick Jeff Thomson. They opened the bowling for Australia with a fearsome attack that cowed the world's best batsmen. A combination of their surnames was often misheard and the most feared "lady" in the cricketing world without a doubt was Miss "Lillian Thomson".

As facilitator of this eclectic Guild collection, I couldn't help but rely on my love of cricket for the final Lily of the quiz.

I hope you have enjoyed discovering the versatility of our Guild writers. I trust the diversity of their "takes" on Guilding the Lily has entertained and perhaps even intrigued you. I thank them all.