麻豆社

Last week Tom's closing question was:

Augustus created Stephen as a home for Ben, but was rather late for the opening ceremony.

Will made an acrobatic attempt to stop it.

Stephen is now Elizabeth, and they all stand in silence. What is this about?

The solution is that this all refers to the Palace of Westminster, in London. Augustus Pugin designed the clock tower, at first known as St Stephen's Tower,聽housing the bell known as Big Ben. The tower was still incomplete when the new parliament buildings were officially opened. In a famous scene in the 1940s film comedy My Learned Friend, the actor Will Hay acrobatically dangles from the hands of the clock tower in order to prevent a time-bomb from going off. St Stephen's Tower was re-named the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee聽- and they all currently stand in silence because the bell mechanism has been disabled during the refurbishments which are planned to last until 2021.

Not all of the聽six teams have yet played聽in this series, but the league table before today's programme looks like this.

1 SOUTH OF ENGLAND聽聽聽 Played 2聽 Won聽1聽 Drawn聽1聽 Lost 0聽 Total points 41

2 THE MIDLANDS聽 P1聽聽W1聽 D0聽 L0聽 Points 17

3聽SCOTLAND聽聽 P1聽 W0聽 D1聽 L0聽 Points 19聽

4= NORTH OF ENGLAND聽 P1聽 W0聽 D0聽 L1聽 Points 16

4= NORTHERN IRELAND聽 P1聽 W0聽 D0聽 L1聽 Points 16

6聽 WALES聽 P0聽 W0聽 D0聽 L0聽 Points 0

Q1聽 Consider how Aristotle's peri poietikes might apply to an aristocratic devotee of Hitler, NASA's primary International Space Station node, and a radical theatre in Liverpool.

Q2 (from Ivan Whetton)聽 In what endeavour might Piper's companion, a 'stupid boy' and a modern maker of things electric contribute the right notes?

Q3聽(from Kieran Sidley)聽 Music - How could all of these help you get close to the President?

Q4 How could Steve Jobs help a forest to become a novelist, a chimney sweep to write French orchestral music, and an Indian queen to play cricket for England?

Q5 (from Joe Houlihan)聽 Where might you find a California gold-miner, a native of Suomi, and the powerful result of a stimulated emission, competing? And why might they be haunted by Wagner's fourth opera?

Q6聽(from James Bingham)聽 Music - Where might you聽be if one of these left at the end of 2017, and the others stayed?

Q7聽 Mrs Roger Rabbit, the voice of Puss-in-Boots and Archie Leach's daughter: which one's the Merchant?

Q8 (from John Robinson)聽 What distinguishes the owner of Etruria, the Captain of the Pequod, the last director-general of New Netherland, a speedy British Peacock and a pioneering female Hamlet from a notorious outlaw that preys on gamblers?

If The Wooden Horse, Whisky Galore and The Code of the Woosters are the first three, why might you find the fourth at St James' Park?

There are no prizes - it's just for fun - and the answer will appear at the beginning of next week's broadcast.