Please Be Upstanding for... XTC! Quiz

Answer: Oranges & Lemons

Released as a follow-up to the album "Skylarking", "Oranges & Lemons" was produced by Paul Fox, recorded in Los Angeles, and included the track "King for a Day". The band never took it on the road, except for some radio sessions, as by then lead singer Andy Partridge had developed such terrible stage fright that he could not perform live.

Answer: a university

"Never been near a university"

Andy Partridge, lead singer and songwriter for XTC, was born in Valetta, Malta on 11 November 1953. I can't find any reference to his having attended a university - doesn't mean he didn't, just that I can't find it! He now resides in Swindon.

Answer: a learned degree

"Never took a paper or a learned degree,"

Partridge's father was in the Royal Navy.

He married Marianne Wybourne in August 1979 and they had two children, Holly and Harry. They divorced in the early '90s and he has since lived with Erica Wexler, niece of famed record producer Jerry Wexler.

Answer: sun

"And some of your friends think that's stupid of me,
But it's nothing that I care about.

Well I don't know how to tell the weight of the sun,"


Colin Moulding helped form the group, providing bass and vocals. Born on 17 August 1955 in Swindon, he still lives in the area.

Answer: cold

"And of mathematics well I want none,
And I may be the mayor of simpleton,
But I know one thing,
And that's I love you.
When their logic grows cold and all thinking gets done,"

Moulding has played the same guitar since 1984 - an English-made Wal bass he bought in Bath. He dislikes using a pick, and claims to have very little technical knowledge about his guitar, other than "it feels nice". (info from www.chalkhills.com)

Answer: warm

"You'll be warm in the arms of the Mayor of Simpleton."

Moulding has a son, Lee, born around 1975, who plays the drums.

Answer: brains were handed round

"I can't have been there when brains were handed round
(please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton),"

Terry Chambers joined the group in 1973 as its drummer. He also was born in Swindon, on 18 July 1955.

Answer: profound

"Or get past the cover of your books profound,
(please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton),
And some of your friends thinks it's really unsound,
That you're ever seen talking to me."

Chambers left the group in 1983 and moved to Australia, where his wife was from.

Answer: write

"Well I don't know how to write a big hit song"

Chambers spent about two years with an Australian group, Dragon, then left the music scene altogether and now works as a foreman in industry. (wikipedia)

Answer: crossword puzzles

"And all crossword puzzles well I just shun,
And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton,
But I know one thing,
And that's I love you.

I'm not proud of the fact that I never learned much,
Just feel I should say,
What you get is all real,
I can't put on an act,
It takes brains to do that anyway. (and anyway...)"

Keyboardist Barry Andrews joined the band in 1976. He was born in London on 12 September 1956.

Answer: home computer

"And I can't unravel riddles, problems and puns,
How the home computer has me on the run,
And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton,
But I know one thing,
And that's I love you (I love you)."

Andrews is also a sculptor and maker of furniture. He has worked with many artists, including Brian Eno and David Bowie, and co-founded the group Shriekback.

For those who did not have the benefit of BBC programming, Magnus Magnusson is a Scottish television personality who for many years moderated the very highbrow quiz show, Mastermind. That show makes "Millionaire" look like a kindergarten quiz...

Answer: a currency

"If depth of feeling is a currency,
(please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton),"


Andrews' son Finn is singer/songwriter for The Veils.

Answer: money

"Then I'm the man who grew the money tree,
(no chain of office and no hope of getting one).
Some of your friends are too brainy to see,
That they're paupers and that's how they'll stay."

When Andrews left in 1979, he was replaced by keyboardist/guitarist Dave Gregory. Gregory was born in Swindon on 21 September 1952.

Answer: ton

"Well I don't know how many pounds make up a ton,"

Since leaving XTC in 1999, Gregory has worked as a session musician.

For those who don't know, a stone is 14 pounds in weight, and a guinea is one pound sterling plus one shilling. It is still sometimes referenced even today - some of the better auction houses and suitmakers still quote prices in guineas. Of course, with the decimalisation of currency a WAY long time ago, probably only we old folks remember what a shilling was!

Answer: Nobel

"Of all the Nobel prizes that I've never won,
And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton,
But I know one thing,
And that's I love you.

When all logic grows cold and all thinking gets done,
You'll be warm in the arms of the Mayor of Simpleton.
You'll be warm in the arms of the Mayor of Simpleton.
You'll be warm in the arms of the Mayor.
(please be upstanding for the Mayor of Simpleton.)"

Alfred Nobel made a killing from his invention of dynamite (sorry, couldn't resist the pun.) He put his money to good use, establishing the Nobel prizes in peace, chemistry, physics, literature, medicine/physiology and economics.

Anyone on somebody's e-mail jokes list probably knows the Darwin awards. "The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who inadvertently remove themselves from it." (www.darwinawards.com)

Tyler Prize was established in 1956 for the best manuscript in American intellectual history.

The Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, are a comic relief balancing out the Oscars - they recognise the worst films, actors, actresses etc.

Hope you enjoyed spending time with the Mayor of Simpleton!