Music Hall Memories Trivia Quiz

Answer: Boiled Beef and Carrots

Harry Champion, real name William Crump, was one of music hall's greatest stars and trod the boards between 1887 and 1928, when he retired following the death of his wife. He returned to performing in 1930 as radio became popular and found favour with a younger audience as well as influencing entertainers who would follow him, including Stanley Holloway, who in 1960 recorded some of Champion's songs, and 80s UK band, Chas and Dave, who drew heavily on Champion's style.

Answer: After The Ball

"After The Ball" is a clever song lyrically, as in just three verses it tells the story of an uncle explaining to his niece that he is unmarried due to the fact he saw his sweetheart kissing another man after the ball, only to discover years later, after her death, that the man she was kissing was her brother. In a time before music charts, when a song's popularity was based on sheet music sales, "After The Ball" was a smash hit, with sheet sales in excess of five million and it has been covered by many artists through the decades such as Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians in 1950, Nat King Cole in 1963, Anita Harris in 1978 and Dave Davies in 2013.

Answer: Any Old Iron

"Any Old Iron" is another music hall song with great longevity, demonstrated when Peter Sellers took the song to number 17 in UK charts in 1957. On their 1992 live album, "An Irish Evening", The Chieftains with special guest Roger Daltrey close the show with their version of the track.

Answer: Two Lovely Black Eyes

In the lyrics of the song, made famous by Coburn in 1886, the subject receives two black eyes for praising the Conservatives, so having learned his lesson, the next time politics is on the agenda, he praises Gladstone and the Liberals, with the same result.
The song ends with the final verse, "The moral you've caught I can hardly doubt, Never on politics rave and shout, Leave it to others to fight it out,
If you would be wise.
Better, far better it is to let, Lib'rals and Tories alone, you bet, Unless you're willing and anxious to get, Two lovely black eyes!"

Answer: The Seaside

Although Mark Sheridan did the original version of this song, most people are more familiar with the recording from British Australian singer Florrie Forde, also from 1909. The song was used as the signature tune of the organist at Tower Ballrooms, Blackpool between 1930 and 1970, illustrating the enduring affection for this song, but my personal favourite version is the one used by Queen as the outro to "Seven Seas Of Rhye" (1974).

Answer: The Van

"My Old Man (Said Follow the Van)" was highly relatable for the working class of early 20th century London, when moving house the night before the rent was due, known as a moonlight flit, was common due to a shortage of paid work.
In the lyrics to the song, the van is loaded but there is no room for the wife, so her husband instructs her to follow the van, carrying the family's pet bird, a cock linnet for whom there was also no room in the van.

Answer: Glasgow

"I Belong To Glasgow" is a song extolling the pleasures of getting drunk in Glasgow on a Saturday night, something which I believe still occurs a century later, when the song can still be heard being sung by the occasional bar patron.
The picture clue for this question shows the well known "Glasgow Armadillo" as the Scottish Exhibition Centre is affectionately known. The inspiration for this fine piece of architecture is the shipbuilding industry which the River Clyde was once so famous for, with the building depicting interlocking ship's hulls.

Answer: Daisy

Most people know the chorus to "Daisy Bell" (1892) but finding someone who remembers the three verses is not so easy. Like the chorus, the rest of the song involves a suitor asking a lady to marry him, and trying to influence her by describing what their life would be like, including such lyrics as, "You'll take the lead in each trip we take, Then if I don't do well, I will permit you to use the brake, My beautiful Daisy Bell"

Answer: Henry

"I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" from 1910, tells the tale of a woman who would only marry men named Henery, ("she wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam") and is now on her eighth marriage.
Herman's Hermits recorded a version of this in 1965, which when released as a single in USA, knocked the Rolling Stones and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" off the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
On the Herman's Hermits version, the name in the song title was changed from the Cockney pronunciation of Henery to the usual Henry.

Answer: George Formby

George Formby Snr may not be as well remembered as his son, George Formby Jnr, but he entertained many audiences with songs such as "I was Standing on the Corner of the Street" (1910), "John Willie, Come On!" (1926) and the aforementioned "My Grandfather's Clock" (1917), which is sung in a Wigan dialect and contains such great lyrics as "So Grandad, 'oo was dead, Changed his mind, got up instead, And the sight that he saw give 'im a shock, For the man 'oo brough the coal, Couldn't get it down the 'ole, So, 'ee slung it in me Grandfather's Clock"