To 'B' or not to 'B' Test | Alphabetics

Answer: Bucks Fizz

Bucks Fizz were formed in 1981 specifically to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. They duly won with 'Making Your Mind Up', which also topped the UK singles chart. They produced two more UK #1 singles, 'The Land of Make Believe' and 'My Camera Never Lies'. Of the alternatives, The Bangles also began in 1981. Out of Los Angeles, their original members were Susanna Hoffs and the Peterson sisters, Vicki and Debbi. Box of Frogs, founded in 1983, featured three former members of 'The Yardbirds', guitarist Chris Dreja, drummer Jim McCarty and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, along with vocalist John Fiddler. Jeff Beck and Jimmy Paige also played on their albums.

The Beastie Boys were a New York City hip-hop band founded in 1979 by Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock plus DJ Mix Master Mike.

Answer: Butterfly

Charričre's 1969 best-selling novel was so named because of the tattoo on his chest, in the shape of a butterfly -- papillon in French.
A papillon is also a breed of dog. Otherwise known as a Continental Toy Spaniel, it is called papillon because of its large, butterfly-like ears.
British horse-racing fans will also remember Papillon, which carried Ruby Walsh to a Grand National win in 2000, in his first ever ride in the big race. The pair managed to finish fourth a year later despite falling at the 19th fence -- Ruby remounted and was one of only four finishers.

Answer: Canada

Established in 1885, Banff is Canada's oldest national park. Covering some 2,500 sq miles of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, near to the border with British Columbia, Banff is a two-hour drive west of Calgary. Highlights include glaciers, ice fields and spectacular alpine-like scenery. The Trans-Canada Highway passes through the park.
Banffshire was also the name of a traditional county in Scotland, since 1975 part of Aberdeenshire. The former neighboring royal burghs of Banff and Macduff stand on the edge of Banff Bay.

Answer: Bill Bryson

William McGuire Bryson OBE, was born in Iowa but has lived in England for most of his professional life. Satirical accounts of his journeys around the world include 'The Lost Continent' and 'Notes from a Big Country' (about his native USA), 'Notes from a Small Island' (about the UK), and 'Neither Here nor There' (about his travels around Europe).

His 2003 tome, 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', explains all sorts of things that you think you should understand but don't (quantum physics, for example) in layman's terms. Entertaining and enlightening. The alternatives are all writers. Bancroft was also the first woman to ski across Greenland and the leader of the first all-women group to reach the South Pole on skis. Berman is an award-winning travel writer based primarily in Central America. Bombeck wrote a humorous newspaper column for 30 years as well as numerous best-selling books.

Answer: 'Bonnie & Clyde'

'Bonnie & Clyde' was nominated for four acting Oscars, Dunaway, Beatty and Gene Hackman, plus Estelle Parsons, who won the 'Best Supporting Actress' award for her performance as Clyde's sister-in-law, Blanche.
The real-life Bonnie and Clyde were both from Texas -- Clyde Chestnut Barrow and Bonnie Elizabeth Parker.
The alternatives are also 1967 films. 'Barefoot in the Park' was written by Neil Simon and starred Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. 'Billion Dollar Brain' was written by Len Deighton and starred Michael Caine. 'Point Blank' was a John Boorman film starring Angie Dickinson and Lee Marvin.

Answer: Riga

With a population of around 725,000 (1.15m in the metropolitan area), Latvia's capital, Riga, is the largest city in the Baltic States. Situated near the Baltic Sea mouth of the Daugava River, Riga is noted for its historic Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and for the Dom Cathedral, the largest church in the Baltics.
The Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, has a population of around 550,000, while Tallin, Estonia's capital and largest city, is home to around 400,000. Gdansk is a major seaport on the Baltic, with a population of around 450,000, but although in the Baltic region it is actually in Poland and is that country's fourth-largest city.

Answer: Betty

The redoubtable Mrs. Slocombe was born Mary Elizabeth Jennifer Rachel Abergavenny Yiddel in Blackpool in 1926. Deserted by her husband, she lives with her cat, Tiddles. Mr. Humphries regularly asks if anyone has seen 'Mrs. Slocombe's pussy'. Mrs. Slocombe was played through the series from 1972 until 1985 by Mollie Sugden, who hails from the other side of the Pennines, from Keighley in Yorkshire.

The character reappeared in 1992-93 for the spin-off show, 'Grace & Favour'. Sugden also appeared periodically in 'Coronation Street' between 1965 and 1976, where she played Nellie Harvey, landlady of the Street's 'other' pub, 'The Laughing Donkey'.

Answer: Hungarian

László József Bíró was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1899. He first unveiled his invention at the 1931 Budapest International Fair but only finally patented it in 1938, in Paris.
Along with his brother, a fellow chemist, Biro emigrated to Argentina during WWII and his birthday, September 29, is now celebrated as 'Inventors Day' in that country.

Answer: Bess Truman

Elizabeth Virginia Wallace was born in Independence MO in 1885. She spend eight years as Harry Truman's First Lady from 1945-53. When she died in 1982, she was the oldest-lived First Lady at 97 years 247 days. Of the alternatives, Claudia Alta Taylor, aka 'Lady Bird' Johnson died in 2007 aged 94. Edith Bolling, the second wife of Woodrow Wilson, is sometimes referred to as the first female President because of the key role she played behind the scenes during her husband's illness.

She lived for 40 years after leaving the White House, dying in 1961 aged 89. Elizabeth Anne Bloomer, widow of former President Gerald Ford, may yet overtake Bess Truman's record, but she still has a fair way to go.

She was born in April 1918, so will have to live until December 12 2015 in order to do so.

Answer: Bananarama

Founded in 1979, the most successful lineup of England's first successful girl-group, Bananarama, was Siobhan Fahey, Karen Woodward and Sara Dallin. In all, they had ten UK Top 10 singles, with three also breaking into the US Top 10. Their biggest worldwide hit, 'Venus' in 1986, was a #1 in the US and elsewhere, but only reached #8 in the UK. Of the alternatives, Bad Manners, founded in 1976 and fronted by Buster Bloodvessel (aka Douglas Trendle) had hits with 'My Girl Lollipop', 'Walking in the Sunshine' and 'Ne Ne Na Na Na Na Nu Nu'. BJH were an Oldham-based prog-rock band who began in 1966.

The Boomtown Rats were an Irish band fronted by Bob Geldof whose biggest hit was the 1979 #1 'I Don't Like Mondays'.

Answer: Boris Becker

Boris Becker first achieved international acclaim by winning the 1985 Wimbledon Men's Singles title at the age of 17, and thus becoming the youngest ever winner. He went on to win six grand slam titles and an Olympic gold medal.
Since retiring as a player, Becker has been a regular on TV, both a a tennis commentator and on shows such as 'They Think it's All Over'. A huge soccer fan, he supports both Chelsea and Bayern Munich, and is a member of the board for the German team. In 2007, he joined the growing list of poker players sponsored by 'Poker Stars'.
Of the alternatives, former England rugby captain was once a team captain on 'A Question of Sport'. Former Swedish tennis star Bjorn Borg and New Zealand's former speedway ace Barry Briggs have not yet needed to stoop as low as playing 'Feel the Sportsman'!

Answer: Arabic

Bahrain literally means 'Kingdom of the Two Seas'. Located on an island in the Persian Gulf, it is separated from the Qatar peninsula by the Gulf of Bahrain. To the west, the King Faud Causeway (opened in 1986) connects the island to Saudi Arabia. At 253 sq miles, Bahrain is about the same size as Tonga and would fit 100 times into Panama and more than 10,000 into Australia.
An independent constitutional monarchy, Bahrain gained independence from Great Britain in 1971.

Answer: Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams's '(Everything I Do) I do it for You' established a new record with it's 16-week run atop the UK singles chart starting on July 13 1991. The single, first appeared on Adams' album 'Waking Up the Neighbors' and on the soundtrack for the film 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'.
Of the alternatives, David Bowie has produced 7 UK #1 singles between 'Aladdin Sane' in 1973 and 'Black Tie White Noise' 20 years later. The most successful single for Boyz II Men was 'End of the Road, a worldwide #1 in 1992. Belinda Carlisle scored her biggest hit in 1987 with 'Heaven is a Place on Earth'.

Answer: Bhutan

The landlocked Kingdom of Bhutan, located high in the eastern Himalayas, is the largest at just over 18,000 sq miles. The capital and largest city in this nation of about 675,000 people is Thimphu. At just under 12,000 sq miles, Belgium is the second largest of those listed.

It is one of the few countries in the world with three official languages -- French, Dutch and German. The African Republic of Burundi covers just under 11,000 sq miles. Burundi became a German colony in 1899, passed into Belgian hands in 1924, and became independent in 1962.

The former colony of British Honduras became independent as Belize in 1981. It covers a little less than 9,000 sq miles and is the only country in Central America with English as its official language.

Answer: Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1942. An extremely versatile entertainer, she is one of a very short list of performers who have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. Indeed, since winning her first in 1963, Streisand has more than 40 Grammys to her name, including just about every 'lifetime achievement' award going. She received a special 'Grammy Legend Award' in 1992.

She shares a birthday (April 24) with actress Shirley MacLaine, and they usually celebrate together.

Answer: 'Bumble'

David Lloyd was born in the Lancashire town of Accrington, which is probably best remembered as the home of one of England's original Football League teams (and is also the home town of TV's Mystic Meg). 'Bumble' played for County Cricket for Lancashire and although his test match career was limited, playing just nine times for England, he did record a double century, 214*, to give him a test match average of over 40. As a coach, he led Lancashire to numerous one-day trophies in the early and mid 1990s.

He then took over in charge of the England test team in 1996. After leaving that post in 1999, he joined 'Sky Sports' and he is now a highly entertaining and very popular, if much maligned, commentator and pundit.

Answer: Belfast

Belfast is the largest city in Northern Ireland, and the second largest, after Dublin, in the whole of Ireland. Although widely remembered for 'the Troubles' which dogged Northern Ireland and Belfast in particular for more than a quarter of a century, the city today is probably best described as a sporting hotbed. Sellout crowds regularly fill Belfast stadiums for rugby, Gaelic Football and Hurling.

The Belfast Marathon, run annually on May Day, is one of the biggest participation sporting events in Europe, regularly attracting in the region of 15,000 runners.

The city's favorite sporting son is the footballing legend George Best and more than 100,000 turned out for his funeral procession in 2005. The airport has since been renamed in his honor.

Answer: 'Between the Lines'

'Between the Lines' first aired in 1992 and in 1994 was named 'Best Drama Series' at the British Academy Television Awards.
Of the alternatives, 'Banacek' was a 1970s series starring George Peppard, 'Blue Murder' first aired in 2001 and stars Mimi Kuzyk (Detective Mayo from 'Hill Street Blues'), and 'Nash Bridges' was a 1990s police drama set in San Francisco starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin

Answer: Battle of the Somme

The WWI Battle of the Somme is particularly remembered for the opening day, July 1, 1916, the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army. In all, the Somme Offensive lasted almost five months and was one of the biggest battles in human history, with more than a million casualties.

By the time it was over, the French had lost more than 200,000 men and the Germans more than 500,000, in addition to the British losses. One additional piece of trivia worth noting is that a 27-year old Austrian serving as a runner for the 16th Bavarian Reserves was wounded in the leg during the battle -- Adolf Hitler. In terms of single-day losses in British military history, only the Battle of Towton in the Wars of the Roses compares with the opening day at the Somme. Fought on March 29, 1461, Palm Sunday, some 28,000 died in a single day at Towton, which at the time was more than 1% of the population of England.

Answer: A Behind

Often just called 'football' in the land down under, Australian Rules is one of the most popular spectator sports in Australia. The game is played with the same shaped ball as rugby on an Oval-shaped pitch, with 18 players on each team. At each end of the pitch is a 'goal' consisting of four vertical posts. Getting the ball between the middle two posts scores a 'goal' and is worth six points. If the ball, instead, passes between either of the outer sets of posts, that is a 'behind', which scores one point.