Travel The "A" Roads Of UK With A Song Quiz

Answer: A64

The lyrics are from "When I'm Sixty-Four" (1967) by the Beatles, although I can't imagine travelling the road's 70 miles (113 kilometres) with Vera, Chuck and Dave, the grandkids also mentioned in the song.
From the A64, motorists can see the breweries of John Smith and Samuel Smith as the road crosses the River Wharfe outside Leeds. On the section of the road between York and Scarborough, Castle Howard stately home can be seen, as can RAF Staxton Wold, a Remote Radar Head (RRH) radar station.

At Tadcaster, there is a memorial to Special Police Constable Glenn Goodman, an unarmed police officer who was shot by the IRA on this section of the A64 in 1992, and died soon afterwards.

Answer: A17

"Edge Of Seventeen" (1982) was written by Nicks following the death of her uncle Jonathan and John Lennon in the same week in December 1980. The credit for the title belongs to Jane Petty, first wife of musician Tom, who had remarked to Nicks that they had met "at the age of seventeen", a phrase that, due to Jane's strong southern accent, Nicks misheard as "at the edge of seventeen".
The riff for "Edge Of Seventeen" was sampled by Destiny's Child for their hit, "Bootylicious" (2001) and Nicks appeared in the video that accompanied the track.

The A17 is almost constantly busy and carries far more traffic than it was designed for, including slow moving vehicles such as heavy goods vehicles, which are restricted to 50 mph on the single carriageway road, and many tractors which travel even slower. Despite several by-passes being built, taking the A17 around built up areas, the rate of accidents remains high, and seems to have always been above average, as a parliamentary report published in the "Hansard" in 1973 lists 35 accidents involving heavy goods vehicles during the previous four years just on the stretch between King's Lynn and the north western boundary of Norfolk.

Answer: A40

"A Pirate Looks at Forty" (1975) never troubled the charts but anyone who has been to a Jimmy Buffet concert will be familiar with this track as it is part of his famed "Big 8", the series of songs that he and his band play at almost every live appearance. In fact, when figures are collated, in 262 shows between 2010 and 2016, Buffet played "A Pirate Looks at Forty" 232 times, four more than "Cheeseburger in Paradise" (1978) and seven more than "Five O'Clock Somewhere" (2003).

The A40 takes in Oxford Street and Marble Arch in London, and on leaving the city heads to Oxford where it forms a part of the Oxford ring road before heading off towards Cheltenham, passing through the town centre and going past intelligence and security organisation, GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) and following the Wye Valley, designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to enter South Wales a mile east of Monmouth.
It then continues on to Carmarthen, touching the eastern part of the Brecon Beacons National Park before travelling through some beautiful scenic views and arriving in Fishguard.

Answer: A50

Although he had experienced several number one hits as part of Simon and Garfunkel, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1975) became Paul Simon's first solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in USA, when it hit the top in 1976.

The A50 starts in Leicester city centre and runs to Uttoxeter, forming part of the Derby ring road on the way. From Uttoxeter, the road heads off to Stoke-on-Trent and Knutsford before reaching Warrington.
In all the A50 is 99.3 miles (159.8 kilometres) long and passes through the counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire.

Answer: A7

"7 Rings" (2019) became the second number one for Ariana Grande on the Billboard Hot 100 in USA and also hit the top spot in UK, Australia and Canada among many others.
The song is Grande's reinterpretation of "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound Of Music" (1965) and as it features the melody of that song, the writers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II both get a songwriting credit on Grande's hit.

The A7 connects two countries as it is a primary road between Edinburgh, Scotland and Carlisle, England, running for 92 miles (148 kilometres).
From Edinburgh, the road flows south to the Scottish borders, passing through Galashiels and Hawick, before crossing the border and heading into Carlisle.

Answer: A15

Taylor Swift's "Fifteen" (2009) was based on her experiences of falling in love and having her heart broken when she was 15 years old. Although the track didn't perform as well as some of her other hits from the same period, failing to crack the the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in USA, it did well on the Canadian country chart where it was a top five hit for her.

The 92 mile (148 kilometre) long A15 partially follows the route of Roman roads and starts at Norman Cross near Peterborough. before heading into the actual city of Peterborough. From there it travels into Lincolnshire, passing the Royal Air Force base Waddington before heading into the city of Lincoln.
North of Lincoln, the road passes the Royal Air Force base at Scampton, home to the 617 Squadron (Dambusters) during WWII and home to the Red Arrows Aerobatic Team in the late 20th and early 21st century.
On its way to the Humber Bridge, the road passes the RAF base at Kirton in Lindsey and the former WWII fighter airfield at Hibaldstow as well as crossing the runways of the former RAF Bomber Command airfield at RAF Elsham Wolds before reaching Hessle, near Kingston-upon-Hull, on the north bank of the Humber Estuary.

Answer: A48

"48 Crash" (1973) is definitely not about an accident on the A48, but there is no definite answer on the song's actual subject matter. Songwriters Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn have claimed that it is about the banking collapse and depression which affected USA in 1848, while Quatro maintains it is about the male menopause. Could there be two subjects further apart? The track was a top ten hit in most of Europe as well as being a number one in Australia.

Prior to the opening of the Severn Bridge in 1966, the A48 was the main route from England into South Wales, and is still the preferred route if high winds are affecting the bridge.
The road starts just outside Gloucester before crossing the border between England and Wales at Chepstow before continuing on to Newport and then Carmarthen.
The 27 mile (43 kilometre) stretch of the A48 between Gloucester and Chepstow was called the most dangerous road in South West England following 45 fatal and serious injury collisions between 2004 and 2006.

Answer: A99

Surprisingly, Jay-Z's 2004 hit, "99 Problems" performed better in UK charts than in Billboard Hot 100 in USA. The track addresses criticism of rap music and racial profiling by New Jersey police and draws from a wide variety of sources in its musical make up. Songwriting credits go to Ice-T, whose 1993 track, "99 Problems" had the same chorus, as well as Felix Pappalardi and Leslie West from rock band Mountain, whose track "Long Red" (1969) is sampled, as is "The Big Beat" (1980) by Billy Squier, who also receives credit.

The A99 runs its entire 34 mile (54.7 kilometre) length in what used to be the county of Caithness, absorbed into the Highland council area in 1996. Throughout its entire length, the road is a two lane single carriageway that, in 2008, due to the number of fatal accidents that had occurred, was named the most dangerous road in Scotland.
After leaving Latheron, the road passes through several small villages before arriving at John O'Groats and its many "end of the road" tourist attractions.

Answer: A69

Considering "Summer Of '69" is one now of the most recognised and loved songs by Bryan Adams, surprisingly, it didn't do as well in the charts as one might think. It was a huge hit in Australia and New Zealand, hitting numbers three and four respectively, and a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in USA, but didn't crack the top ten anywhere else, not even his native Canada.

The A69 starts at Denton Burn, four miles outside Newcastle upon Tyne and crosses the Pennines, through the counties of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria. Along the route, the road crosses Milecastle 13 of Hadrian's Wall and is a main route into the market town of Hexham, which was burnt by William Wallace in 1297, but paid the fees in 1312 to Robert the Bruce to prevent him doing the same.
From Hexham, the A69 continues another 37 miles (60 kilometres) through several villages, finally terminating at Carlisle.

Answer: A5

"Take Five" (1959) from the Dave Brubeck Quartet is the jazz standard that almost everybody will have heard at some point, though they may not be aware of its title. The track has been used in many TV and film productions and covered by artists as diverse as The Specials, Chet Atkins, Stevie Wonder and Al Jarreau.
When the Dave Brubeck Quartet originally recorded the song, it took over 20 attempts to get right, as the song is played in 5/4 time, and is notoriously difficult to master.

The A5 is over 250 miles (400 kilometres) long and runs from Marble Arch in London, and between there and Shrewsbury follows the route of the Roman road, "Iter II", a section of which ran between Londinium (London) and Deva (Chester).
From Shrewsbury, the road forms a part of the Oswestry by-pass before crossing the River Ceiriog and entering Wales, continuing through the majestic countryside of Snowdonia to the centre of the city of Bangor.
From Bangor, it crosses the Menai Suspension Bridge to the island of Anglesey, finally ending at Holyhead.