麻豆社

Last time Tom asked:

The environmental adventures of a spiritual guru; a precipitous little vehicle; Josephine's feline band; and a possible miniature version of a satirical magazine - where were they all to be found in the 1970s?

Well done if you spotted that these were clues to now-forgotten Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the 70s, shown on children's TV in the UK.

A spiritual guru might be Yogi, and Yogi's Gang was an animated series with an environmental theme聽in which Yogi Bear and a group of friends went around bringing evil polluters down to size.

The precipitous little vehicle gives us Speed Buggy.

Josephine's feline band is Josie and the Pussycats, a series about a female pop group. There was a聽follow-up series entitled Josie and the Pussycats In Outer Space.

Finally the miniature version of a satirical magazine might be Inch-High Private Eye.

There'll be another teaser at the end of today's quiz.

Q1聽 What's needed to transform a matrimonial promise into Lincoln's faithful canine, Aschenbach's last resort, and the Queen of Carthage?

Q2聽 If you're a regulator with no real powers, a bureaucrat who's anonymous and unaccountable, or someone who's drunk, in what sense might you sympathise with Samson in Gaza?

Q3 (Music)聽 What makes these musical pieces essential?

Q4聽 Someone called Michael was inspired by a Humphrey Bogart film. Someone called Robbie was inspired by an American jazz saxophonist. Someone called Stefani was inspired by a Queen song. Who was inspired by two members of a 1960s British R&B band and a horse in a TV sitcom?

Q5 (from Dudley Hilsden)聽 How might the following lead you reluctantly to a 13th century Watergate:聽a son of a knight who may have warned of an impending Parliamentary disaster; a Lieutenant-Colonel from Scotland remembered in Northern Ireland; a broadcaster on Radio Hamburg; and a Number Three with a Kipling connection?

Q6 (Music)聽 Which of these would you want fighting your corner?

Q7聽 When and why could you once have encountered: a President plotting in Virginia; a Communist revolutionary in a French kitchen; a Bundeskanzler serving drinks in a disco; and a pontiff standing outside one?

Q8聽 If Blondie's second begat Indiana's first; a French lexicographer's second begat a Canadian novelist's first; and a pair of British Post-Impressionists' second begat a VC's first - which relation of Cuchulainn won the Formula One World Championship?

There's an indefinite reason why you might:

assign a large quantity,

gather a team for a sea voyage,

confront what you are charged,

and bear witness to something challenging.

Can you explain?

Don't write to us: there are no prizes, but the solution聽will be revealed next time.