Quiz Makers Guild Makes a Quiz on Guilds

Answer: Billingsgate

The Fishmongers, who rank fourth among the "great" guilds, once had the monopoly of the fish trade in the City of London. The main fishmarket, Billingsgate, in the shadow of London Bridge, was naturally regulated by them, and they retained their inspectorate even after they lost their general control of the trade.

In the 1980s, by an Act of Parliament, the market was moved about four miles to the east to a new site on the Isle of Dogs. The Act provided that the Company should keep its powers of inspection at the new market, where they are also involved in vocational training.

This question comes from TabbyTom, who has a cat's fondness for fishmongers.

Answer: Preston

The Preston Guild goes right back to 1179 when Henry II gave the town its first royal charter. The street parties, festivals and concerts celebrating the guild are so boisterous that they're probably only held once every 20 years - as they have been since 1542 apart from a break for WWII - in order to give the locals time to recover! There's even a Lancashire saying, "Once every Preston Guild," meaning "not very often at all."
(And the bus station - now a listed building - IS iconic. Do go and look up some photos of it. The motorway is...less exciting).

This question was originally set by Oidioid32123

Answer: Dominion

In a game of "Dominion", all players start with the same ten cards: three Estates (worth one Victory Point apiece) and seven Coppers (worth a single coin each). With their coins, they can buy more valuable treasure cards or more valuable victory cards -- or they can strengthen their decks by buying from ten types of kingdom cards, drawn at random from the basic game and from the expansions. The randomness of the kingdom cards makes every game a little different, and the common starting point keeps the players on level ground -- at least at the beginning, before attacks start to fly!

"Guilds", released in June 2013, was the last of eight planned expansions to the original game. The theme of the set is investment: for the first time, you can play a card (such as a Butcher, a Baker, or a Candlestick Maker) to get coins that can be spent at any time, not just on that turn or the one thereafter. Plus, many Guilds cards give you rewards for overpaying when you buy them, making strategies all the more complex.

This question was written by CellarDoor, who rode a pair of Baker cards to victory over Mr. CellarDoor just yesterday.

Answer: Guild

Too easy? But it could have been a trick question...

The history of the various replicas of Brian May's iconic "Red Special" is long and convoluted, but Guild's 1984 BHM1 was the first. Electric guitar websites are generally not kind about it, however. Guild had another go in 1993 with the (apparently slightly better) BHM01 Brian May Signature.

Several more Red Special clones of varying quality and legitimacy then started to appear from various firms in the early 2000s leading Brian May himself to take the initiative to form his own company Brian May Guitars to make and sell 100% authorised Red Specials under his own control. According to the BMG website they make four models; the (Red) Special itself, the Rhapsody, the Brian May Bass and the Mini May.

Answer: the "minuto popolo"

The guilds or 'arti' in Italian, basically governed just about every significant aspect of life in Florentine society. Although the 'minuto popolo' were the largest group in numbers, these unskilled and sometimes skilled people were not allowed to make their own guild. Some of their jobs were boatmen, peddlers, spinners, dyers and other sundry craftspeople.

As the guilds developed, entrance was very difficult process as you had to be the son of a guild member, exercise your craft to a high level of competency and pay fees or dues. Painters belonged to the apothecary and doctors' guild because they bought their paint from the former. Sculptors belonged to the woodworkers guild.

Answer: Thieves

Jimmy The Hand was a young lad apprenticed to the Guild of Thieves. Living in the city of Krondor, on his first appearance he saved the life of a Prince of the Realm from an assassin. He soon became a trusted associate of the royal family and rose to prominence as an advisor and leader.
His adventures are a part of the vast tapestry of novels in Raymond E. Feist's Midkemia world. "The Riftwar Cycle" began with "Magician" in 1982 and Feist, often with collaborators, wrote more than 30 in as many years.

This question was posed by darksplash, who is in thrall to the storytelling of Raymond E. Feist.

Answer: Ogden Nash

Born August 19, 1902, Ogden Nash grew up with the family business of import/export services. As such, his family moved often coast to coast, exposing young Nash to a wide variety of places and cultures. His life was consumed with rhyme, with Nash using his skills in print, on Broadway, and as a presenter, speaker, and guest of variety shows.

Nash joined the Screen Writers Guild in the 1930s as his popularity in music and entertainment grew. The guild itself initially served as artistic protection for the group. However, the group eventually came under attack by the House Committee on Un-American Activities for their liberal leanings.

The guild itself survived and thrived, eventually splitting into east and west contingents of the Writers Guild of America.

Question contribution by QMG guilder, TemptressToo.

Answer: Fletchers

Yes, Fletcher (arrow maker) is another one of those profession-based surnames based on once common but now rare jobs, like Cooper (barrel maker) and Chandler (candle maker), both of which also had their own London guilds.

The fletchers and bowyers (longbow makers - yet another surname) used to be in the same guild but they didn't get on and in 1371 they split with the bowyers going off to form their own outfit. It was actually made illegal at that point for a fletcher to carry out bowyers' work and vice versa. Quite some tiff...

The Worshipful Company of Fletchers is still around today and is mostly a charitable fund-raising organisation (as are most of the London guilds) but they do still hold archery contests twice a year and judging by the photos on their website have a lot of fun doing so!

Answer: Hornswagglers

A hornswaggler is a cheat or swindler; the word appears to have originated in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The other three trades were genuine medieval guilds. Cordwainers were leather-workers, mercers were dealers in general merchandise, and scriveners were writers of official and legal documents.

Question by stedman, who rather likes the idea of a Guild of Hornswagglers.

Answer: The Spacing Guild

The Spacing Guild has a total monopoly on space travel and commerce in Frank Herbert's best-selling and popular "Dune" series of books; adjectives that could not be applied to the film version, which bombed at the box office, was savaged by the critics and was to a large extent disowned by its director David Lynch. The struggle for control of the spice melange, which is vital for instant interstellar space travel and therefore all trade to be possible, is key to all the books in the series.

There have been various Guilds of Watchmen ranging from an organisation set up in the early 20th century to protect early Jewish settlements in Palestine to one of the many Guilds in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The Priests and Sacerdotes are another Discworld guild. There is a guild of torturers (the Seekers of Truth and Penitence) in Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series of science fantasy novels.