My True Love Guild to Me - 10th Day Quiz

Answer: David Tennant

"Doctor Who" is a science fiction series made initially by the BBC Children's department. The show first aired on the BBC in 1963 and ran until 1989 when it was cancelled. The star of the show was The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travelled through time and space combating injustice (with a particular affinity for the planet Earth and earth-reared companions). One of the peculiarities of the Time Lord race is that they can physically regenerate after being struck a fatal blow; this regeneration results in The Doctor taking on a new physical form.

The first incarnation of The Doctor was played by William Hartnell and through six regenerations he ended up looking like Sylvester McCoy by the time of the series cancellation in 1989. In 1996, Doctor Who was revived as a one-off telemovie (originally intended as the launch pad for a new series that never came to be). McCoy returned briefly before being fatally wounded leading to regeneration as Paul McGann, the eighth Doctor.

The Doctor subsequently disappeared from our screens for nine years. By the time of his return in 2005 in a BBC Wales series, he had regenerated again into Christopher Eccleston. In the final episode of the 2005 series, "The Parting of the Ways", The Doctor regenerated again and David Tennant arrived as the tenth Doctor.

Tennant, born in Scotland as David McDonald, spent a large part of his early career working with the Royal Shakespeare Company before his breakthrough role as "Casanova" in a 2005 BBC production. "Doctor Who" soon followed and made him a household name. At the 2008 National Television Awards, Tennant announced that his time as a Time Lord would end with The Doctor's tenth regeneration in early 2010.

Answer: Michael Flatley

Flatley made his name with "Riverdance", which was first performed as a seven minute interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin, Ireland. This performance of traditional Irish step dancing was very well received and on the back of its success, Flatley and his co-creator Jean Butler created a stage show which completely sold out its initial run at Dublin's Point Theatre the following year.

The show was transferred to London but before its debut, Flatley fell out with the show's producers and left. Flatley immediately began writing and choreographing a new show which he called "Lord of the Dance". The musical is based on Irish folklore and tells the story of the Lord's struggle with "Don Dorcha", a dark lord who looks to take over Ireland. The "Lord of the Dance" calls on the help of the spirits to help him win the fight.

The show premiered, like "Riverdance", at the Point Theatre in Dublin in 1996. Like its predecessor, it was an instant success and began to tour Europe and North America, including an appearance at the 1997 Oscars. In 1998, Flatley greatly expanded the show to include 100 dancers for a performance in London's Hyde Park. The expanded show was called "Feet of Flames". Flatley's last stage appearance as the "Lord of the Dance" was in 2001.

Answer: Cricket

Lord's is colloquially known as "The home of cricket" and was founded by Thomas Lord, a Yorkshireman who made his living as a cricketer. As well as his career as a bowler, Lord worked as an attendant at the London gentleman's club, The White Conduit Club. Two of the members of the club, the Earl of Winchelsea and the Duke of Richmond, encouraged Lord to build a ground to house the newly-formed Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and gave him a guarantee against any losses he might incur in doing so.

Lord set up his first ground just off Dorset Square in London in 1787 and the MCC played there until 1810 when the lease on the land expired. By this time a second ground had been built in St John's Wood in 1809 with an 80-year land lease but just five years later, the UK government requisitioned the land in order to build the Regents Canal, which was due to run right through the ground's outfield.

Lord found a new site just a few hundred yards away and since 1814 this ground, with its famous slope, has been the MCC's exclusive home. The ground is now completely unrecognisable from that which Lord established. The oldest remaining part is "The Long Room", a grade II-listed building which is the exclusive reserve of members of the MCC and, during Middlesex home matches, members of Middlesex County Cricket Club.

The ground, which now holds 32,000 spectators, was first used as a Test venue for England matches in 1884 and has hosted more than 100 since then. As the most famous venue in cricket, it seems to inspire the visiting teams more than it does England; at the time of writing, England has not won a test match against its greatest rival, Australia, at Lords since 1934.

As well as being the home of cricket, Lord's was also host to the main Archery events when London hosted the summer Olympic Games in 2012.

Answer: First Lord of the Treasury

The position of First Lord of the Treasury is now synonymous with that of Prime Minister but it was not always the case. As with most things in the government of the United Kingdom it is a complicated business. With the flight of King James II in 1688, the English parliament seized the chance to amend the country's constitution by the setting of conditions upon the incoming monarchs, William and Mary. Power over the treasury was transferred from the sovereign towards a group of commissioners known as the Lords of the Treasury. In due course, the members of the commission were given orders of seniority with the most senior becoming known as The First Lord of the Treasury.

The First Lord of the Treasury effectively assumed the role of head of the government and by 1721 when Sir Robert Walpole ascended to the position, the epithet "Prime Minister" became attached to the role. Though Prime Minister at this stage, and for almost 200 years beyond, was not an official legislative position, the head of government was routinely referred to by this name. Save for the Premierships of William Pitt, the Elder (1766-68) and the Marquess of Salisbury (1885-86, 1886-92 and 1895-1902), the First Lord and the Prime Minister have been one and the same.

Since the office of Prime Minister became officially recognised in 1905, the Prime Minister has always also been the First Lord of the Treasury. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the minister in charge of the treasury department, is known as the Second Lord of the Treasury.

Answer: Little Orphan Annie

Annie originally started life as "Little Orphan Otto" in 1924 created by Harold Gray. The adventures of the orphan boy were written for the Chicago Tribune. Joseph Medill Patterson, the manager of The Chicago Tribune Syndicate, was keen on the strip but suggested two key changes; the gender and name of the orphan and so "Little Orphan Annie" was born.

Annie was introduced into the world in an orphanage but soon after the strip's launch she met millionaire Daddy Warbucks, who took her in and gave her a life of luxury. However, Annie was soon to run away after failing to get on with Mrs Warbucks and found herself wandering the streets with only her dog Sandy for company. The pattern of meeting and losing Daddy Warbucks, all the while battling criminals, politicians and nazis, was to repeated throughout the 44 years that Gray drew the strip before his death in 1968.

The comic strip was twice adapted for the silver screen in the 1930s but its greatest crossover success came when it was adapted for the stage as the Broadway musical "Annie" in 1977. Its original run lasted nearly six years and the musical was itself adapted for the screen, directed by John Huston.

"Little Orphan Annie" was one of twenty strips commemorated in the US Postal Service's Comic Strip Classics series alongside the likes of Popeye, Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy.

Answer: The Great Leap Forward

The Great Leap Forward was designed as a means of modernising China both technologically and economically so that it could reach a level of productivity that could match the western nations, such as Britain and the USA. Mao introduced it with the words - "it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever."

The idea underpinning it was that agriculture and industry needed to develop alongside each other in symbiosis. Factories were built to provide the tools for agriculture, and large-scale collectivisation and labour-intensive methods were introduced into farms to increase food production so that the factory workers were well fed.

Unfortunately its consequences were far greater and far less positive than its ambitions. Initially the results appeared good as production of raw materials such as steel, cement and coal increased significantly, whilst good weather helped the agricultural workers reap a bumper harvest.

By the second year of the Great Leap Forward, major problems became apparent; the intensive factory work had accentuated speed over quality and much of the farm machinery it produced proved to be of poor quality. Compounding this issue was the fact that so many people had been taken from the fields to work the factories that there were not enough of them remaining to work on the land and harvest the food that had been produced.

In addition to the thousands who died in the factories as a consequence of poor conditions and over-work, it has been estimated that upwards of twenty million people died through starvation or disease during the first three years of the five year plan.

The Great Leap Forward was abandoned by China's rulers in 1960, by which time Mao had been forced to stand down as China's head of state though he remained as Chairman of the Communist Party.

Answer: Gravlax

Gravlax, which roughly translates from the Swedish as "entombed salmon", is also known as gravadlax from the Swedish for "pickled salmon". It goes by many different recipes but the fundamentals are raw salmon and a marinade of salt, sugar and dill in which the salmon cures until it has turned opaque. This process takes between three and four days. The dish is often served on bread as a starter or an "amuse bouche" with an accompaniment called hovmästarsås, a dill and mustard sauce.

Most salmon are anadromous which means they breed and are born in fresh water but live in the oceans. The salmon's leap takes place as part of its migration back to its breeding ground in fresh water rivers and streams. The salmon swims upstream to reach its destination, which frequently requires the fish to leap above the water as it navigates its way against strong currents and rising water and river bed levels.

Answer: Ja Rule

Atkins was born in Queens, New York on February 29, 1976. His stage name, "Ja Rule", came from a nickname given to him by a friend.

He began his hip-hop career as a rapper in the band "Cash Money Click" in 1994. He was soon spotted by Irv Gotti, at the time an executive at "Def Jam Recordings", who signed him for his new "Murder Inc." label in 1997. Ja Rule's first recording for the new label was his first solo album "Venni Vetti Vecci", released in 1999. Several multi-platinum selling albums were to follow that yielded a number of hit singles and brought Ja recognition at the MTV and Grammy Awards amongst others.

As well as a successful music career, Ja Rule has appeared in a number of Hollywood movies including "The Fast and the Furious" and "Assault on Precinct 13". He has also set up a charitable foundation called "L.I.F.E.", a clothing company, a film company, an internet radio station, a poker website, a brand of alcoholic drinks and a new record label, "Empire Music Group".

Answer: Leopards

The magnificent beasts that are "Panthera pardus" will sit well on the shelf in my living room. Leopards, the smallest members of the panther family, are agile, stealthy, nocturnal and sport a relatively big head which my true love might suggest is not unlike my good self.

Many collective nouns come from hunting and were formerly known as terms of venery, a phrase that derives from the latin "veneri" meaning to hunt. A leap of leopards is one such example although, as a predominantly solitary animal, the leopard is unlikely to be found in groups too often. The name is likely to come from the behaviour of the leopard which is capable of jumping over six metres horizontally and three metres vertically.

Answer: Australia

Lord Howe Island, a self-governed part of New South Wales, formed from the remnants of a volcano nearly seven million years ago. The 10 km long crescent-shaped island was discovered in 1788 by the ship "HMS Supply" on route from Australia to Norfolk Island to set up a penal colony. The island was named after the First Lord of the Admiralty of the time, Richard Howe.

It was listed as a World Heritage site in 1982 for its "spectacular and scenic landscapes", its "outstanding underwater vistas" and its "rare and endangered species of plants and animals". Its many endemic species and subspecies, such as the Lord Howe Woodhen, the Howea palm and Glowing Mushrooms, were deemed to be under threat even though only ten per cent of the island's habitat had been cleared for human use.

As well as viewing the native flora and fauna, the main attractions of the island include the coral reef (the world's most southerly) which can afford spectacular underwater views for both the occasional snorkler and the serious SCUBA diver and hiking up Mount Gower, an 875 metre peak at the south of the island. However, despite these enticing attractions, Lord Howe Island has relatively few visitors each year as the governing board limits the number of tourists allowed on the island.

So that's all my presents unwrapped now. I have been well and truly spoiled and I now feel guilty as all I bought my true love was a partridge.