The S's are Coming, Hurrah, Hurrah! Quiz

Answer: Sea lions have visible ears, and can maneuver on four limbs

True seals are also less adapted to be comfortable on land, and haul out much less frequently than sea lions and fur seals do. Note the distinction between fur seals and true seals - fur seals and sea lions belong to a group called "eared seals" where the main difference between them and true seals lies to a large part in the structure and use of their hind flippers. Sea lions also have a more dog-like head.

They all give birth on land.

Answer: Sad Sack

The original "Sad Sack" comics, intended for a military audience of grown men, were a little raunchy. By the time I became acquainted with the strip, in the Harvey comic books, it had been toned down for a younger audience. As I recall, he spent most of his time digging ditches and peeling potatoes.

There was even a "Sad Sack" radio show, and a 1957 movie with Jerry Lewis.

Answer: Zilpha Keatley Snyder

This 1967 book had everything I wanted - imaginative misfit kids deeply engrossed in their invented world, mystery, real danger and real stakes. Add to that the exotic touch (to me, in my 1960s Edmonton suburb) of multi-ethnic characters living in apartment buildings! I clearly wasn't the only one, as it's a Newbury Honor book, and still considered a classic.

Three of Snyder's many books won Newbury Honors. An early fantasy computer game, "Below the Root", was based on one of her book series, and she was involved in its development.

Answer: Saskatoon

Unlike many cities in the Canadian west, Saskatoon was not originally a fur-trading post. Instead, it was formed in 1881 as a Temperance colony, in furtherance of the somewhat utopian idea that a place always free from alcohol would also be free of all the other ills of mankind. (Hmmm... I've been to Saskatoon, and while it's a very nice city, if it ever once reached those heights, it has since descended).

This fit in well with the federal government's plans to fill the prairies with settlers from eastern Canada and Europe, and a city was born.

Answer: Hastings

The Battle of Hastings (October 14, 1066) was of course the beginning of the Norman Invasion. King Harold of England had fought and won an earlier battle at Stamford Bridge (another S!) in Yorkshire less than a month earlier, against a different claimant to his throne, Harald Hardrada of Norway. A week after that battle, William of Normandy's army landed on the south coast, forcing Harold to quickly head south with his tired and depleted force.

Whether the site of the Battle of Hastings was actually called Senlac at the time, or whether all this was the somewhat fanciful invention of a Victorian historian is a little muddled. It makes for a nice pun, though - the Norman name for Senlac (Sand Lake in early English) was reportedly Sanguelac (Blood Lake), fitting for the site of a bloody battle.

Answer: Show Boat

First produced by Flo Ziegfeld in 1927, "Show Boat" was something different from the usual Broadway fare. Musicals of the time (especially those from Ziegfeld) tended to be revues, or light as air romantic comedies. This story of racial prejudice, abandonment, and alcoholism was not something seen before in a musical. It turned out to be a critical and popular success right from the start, however.

The character of Joe was written specifically for Paul Robeson. Due to timing issues, he was unable to create the role, and the first Joe on Broadway was Jules Bledsoe. Robeson went on to play the part in several revivals and the 1936 film, and is strongly identified with it. If you've heard "Ol' Man River", chances are pretty good you've heard Robeson singing it.

Answer: Preston Sturges

Sturges was the king of the classic screwball comedy - in contrast to some others in the genre, his movies often made a certain amount of sense. and the writing was, always, superb. He was among the first writer/directors.

Surges had a childhood that would have fit into one of his movies; his mother was quite something. Four times married, close friend of Isadora Duncan, sometime mistress of Aleister Crowley, cosmetics queen, and all around loopy eccentric, she raised Preston partly in France and partly in the US, and always, it seems, in a colourful whirlwind. Unstable, certainly, but also probably quite a lot of fun.

Answer: Rex Stout

Rex Stout, creator of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, had a pretty interesting life. He was in the Navy for awhile, served on Theodore Roosevelt's yacht. Invented a school banking system that gave him enough money to take off for Europe to try to make it as a writer. During and after the Second World War, on the radio and in print he was a tireless fighter against both fascism and communism. But the tidbit I like best, from the author blurbs in several editions of his books, was that after the Navy and before he started writing, he worked as "an itinerant bookkeeper" (I can just imagine him, adding machine and red and black pencils wrapped up in a bandana, going wherever the road would take him...). That wording has to have come from Stout himself, it's got his style.

His great detective, Nero Wolfe, is mostly a collection of quirks - fun ones, to be sure, but just quirks. But Archie Goodwin is a real person, a complete and rounded character, and just as personable and engaging now, nearly 100 years later, as he was in the first book. I've been reading and rereading Nero Wolfe mysteries since I was twelve years old, and in the fifty years since, still haven't gotten tired of Archie's voice.

Answer: Saturday

Finally, a nice clean S question, without a lot of other pesky letters...

The Seventh-day Adventist Church was established in Battle Creek, Michigan (the home of Special K cereal - another S!), in 1863. They are a branch of the Millerite movement, which distinguishes itself by its beliefs around the imminent Second Coming.

It's no coincidence that the denomination started in Battle Creek, as healthy eating and vegetarianism are an important part of their beliefs, and also lie at the root of the Kellogg breakfast cereal company, founded in the same city. Adventists tend to live up to ten years longer, statistically, and this is usually ascribed to their diet, abstention from alcohol and tobacco, and other lifestyle practices.

Answer: Totem poles

SG̱ang Gwaay holds the remains of a 19th century Haida village, including cedar long houses, and the majestic memorial and mortuary poles. Some poles are being preserved upright, while others are allowed to return to the earth, as is natural. Some visitors are allowed, under the guidance and management of the Canadian government and the Haida Council of Elders.