Noah And The Whale Trivia Quiz

Answer: Twickenham

Although Twickenham is home to over 50,000 people, it is known to the majority of non residents as the home of English rugby, with the headquarters of the Rugby Football Union and the largest rugby stadium in the world, Twickenham Stadium, both being situated there.

The other answers are all London sporting venues, with Lords Cricket Ground being in St. John's Wood. Wembley Stadium, in Wembley being the home of English football and Wimbledon in south west London, being the headquarters of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Answer: 5 Years Time

All were tracks from the band's highly acclaimed debut album, "Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down" (2008) but it was "5 Years Time" which gave them their first top ten success when it was re released in 2008, following its initial lack of success in 2007. Although the track wasn't a hit in USA, it has some recognition there due to its use in commercials for Frito-Lays "Sun Chips".

Answer: Laura Marling

Although she appears on Noah And The Whale's debut album "Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down" (2008), Marling left the band around the time it was released to concentrate on her solo work. An early incarnation of Marling's backing band included Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane and Winston Marshall who would go on to form new folk giants, Mumford & Sons.

Answer: A favourite film of the band

The band collectively agree that their favourite movie is the 2005 Jeff Daniels film, "The Squid And The Whale" which was directed by Noah Baumbach. An amalgamation of the names of the director and movie gave us the band name. The movie gained Golden Globe nominations for Daniels and his co star Laura Linney as well as an Oscar nomination for Baumbach.

Answer: Charlie Fink

Fink wrote all of the songs for Noah And The Whale and has won many plaudits for his songwriting in general, not just of catchy folk rock songs. He wrote the music for the stage production of "The Lorax" which was nominated for an Olivier Award in 2016 and for an open air production of Shakespeare's play "As You Like It", as well as for the 2016 movie, "A Street Cat Named Bob",
Orlando Weeks was vocalist for The Maccabees, Robin Pecknold is a member of Fleet Foxes and Ezra Koenig is vocalist for Vampire Weekend.

Answer: Their instruments

Following a gig at Manchester's Club Academy, the band had retired for the night at the Park Inn hotel. When they awoke the next morning, they discovered that the trailer containing all of their instruments, along with peripherals such as drumsticks, amplifiers, delay pedals, a soldering kit, screwdrivers and an electric toothbrush had been stolen.

Not wishing to disappoint fans, they managed to borrow replacements in time for the next gig, and didn't cancel a single date on the tour. The instruments were recovered in late 2009, and in 2011, two men were sentenced to four years and one year respectively for their part in the crime.

Answer: The First Days Of Spring

The album, released in 2009, featured no female vocalist due to the departure of Laura Marling following the break up of her relationship with Charlie Fink, and the lyrics conveyed Fink's thoughts on heartbreak. In live shows, several vocalists have taken Marling's role since her departure, notably Rebecca Taylor of the band Slow Club and the wonderfully talented Emmy The Great.

Answer: Wilderness

The Wilderness festival takes place in Cornbury Park, owned by Lord Rotherwick, and has been described as the most civilised music festival, with a car park full of Audis and Mercedes rather than VW camper vans, and offering clean showers, bathrooms and even a spa in contrast to regular festival portable toilets. David Cameron and his wife Samantha have been regular attendees, and when Noah And The Whale headlined the rest of the bill included Empire Of The Sum, Tom Odell and subject of the 2012 movie, "Searching For Sugarman", Rodriguez.

Answer: L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

"L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N." was the lead single from the album and gave the band their first UK top 20 hit since 2007.

"F.I.N.E." is a track from Aerosmith's 1989 album "Pump", "The E.N.D." is the title of a 2009 Black Eyed Peas album, and stands for "the energy never dies", while "D.I.V.O.R.C.E" was a 1975 UK number one for comedian Billy Connolly and was a parody of Tammy Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" from 1968.

Answer: April 1st 2015

Of the four dates, April 1st is the only one associated with jokes, so that is the correct one. The band actually went into hiatus at the end of 2013, but kept fans hoping for new material until their April Fool's Day announcement. Hopefully there will be sporadic reunions at some point but until then, there is a wealth of music to listen to.

The other possible dates were of course, Christmas Day (December 25th), Guy Fawkes Night (November 5th) and St. George's Day (April 23rd).