Pass the Hod Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sir Henry Wood

Henry Wood was an English orchestral conductor and composer who in 1895 collaborated with the manager of the Queen's Hall in London and with a wealthy investor to hold a ten week series of promenade concerts. In a promenade concert many of the audience are standing in the well of the auditorium instead of being seated and are able to move around. This was not an entirely new idea but it became very popular as an annual series, with Sir Henry conducting many of the concerts personally for fifty years.

The BBC took over running the concerts in 1927 and still holds them, though the series now last eight weeks instead of ten. Sir Henry is still honoured by having a bronze bust situated in front of the organ during the season.

Answer: Stonehenge

The earthwork ditch surrounding this Neolithic structure may date as far back as 3000 BC, but the great stones themselves were probably set up about 2500 BC. The stones form two concentric circles, and although some have fallen and disappeared over the centuries, most are still standing. The stones are of two types, sandstone sarsens which are relatively local (from about 25km away) and bluestones which have been brought from 250km distance, an amazing feat for prehistoric people.

There have been several theories as to what Stonehenge was and why it was built. Today the most widely accepted is that it was a temple set up to be aligned with the movements of the sun.

Answer: The Glass Menagerie

Written in 1944 and a spectacular success on Broadway in 1945, "The Glass Menagerie" was the play that made the author's name. He described it as a memory play, as it is narrated by Tom Wingfield, brother of Laura, telling the story of his family's past. Tom is based on Tennessee Williams himself and many aspects of the play relate to his early life.

Answer: Concrete and Clay

This was the only big hit for a very talented and hard-working group. They made several other songs based on good melodies, clever lyrics and harmony singing, including "You've Never Been in Love like this Before", "Hark!" and "For a Moment". For whatever reason none of these captured the public the way that "Concrete and Clay" did.

Answer: The Sand Pebbles

The title of the film, based on a novel which won the Harper prize for fiction in 1963, is a pun on the name San Pablo, the crew being known as the Sand Pebbles. The film received eight Academy Award nominations and Richard Attenborough won a Golden Globe award for his performance.

Despite good critical reviews and audience ratings, the film did not quite cover its costs at the box office.

Answer: Iron Man

Chief Executive Officer of Stark Industries, Tony Stark creates mechanised suits of armour to enable him to become Iron Man and combat evil. Though created in 1963, the character did not make it to the silver screen until 2008, being portrayed in various films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Robert Downey Junior.

Answer: The Plastic Ono Band

The Plastic Ono Band existed between 1969, shortly after the marriage of John and Yoko, and 1974. During that period they produced four studio albums and one live album, "Live Peace in Toronto 1969". After the band was no longer active, a compilation album, "Shaved Fish" appeared in 1975.

At various times famous musicians including Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Klaus Voorman appeared in the band, which never had a settled lineup.

Answer: Sir David Steel

David Steel was first elected to the United Kingdom parliament in a by-election in 1965 at the age of 27. As a young MP he did not shirk from controversial topics, being president of the Anti-Apartheid movement in Britain from 1966 to 1970 and introducing what became the Abortion Act in 1967.

Between 1976 and 1988 Steel was leader of the Liberal Party, taking it into partnership with the Labour Party to sustain Labour in power and taking the Liberals into a merger with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988.

Having retired from the House of Commons in 1997 he stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, was elected and became the Presiding Officer.

The other three names were all politicians elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Answer: The Brickyard

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was constructed in 1909. The shape of the track was inspired by Brooklands, the racetrack in England that had a banked layout, and being a relatively small circuit, enabled spectators to see more of the race than just a few seconds of action each time the cars passed them.

After a series of fatal accidents at the first meeting on its original surface in August, the owners laid a new surface of brick and following speed trials the track was reopened for racing in December. It was during that reconstruction that local people called the track "The Brickyard".

Answer: David Copperfield

As with many of Dickens' books, "David Copperfield" was first published as a serial in 1849-1850. Its plot contains elements of Dickens' own life, including a portrait of his father as Mr Micawber who is imprisoned for debt, and the time Copperfield, like Dickens, spent working in a shoe factory.

The book contains some of his most memorable characters, including the evil Uriah Heep, the faithful servant Clara Peggotty and Betsy Trotwood, Copperfield's great-aunt and guardian. It is a very emotional novel which well repays the effort of reading a long work.