麻豆社

Going into today's contest, the 2021 RBQ league table stands as follows:
1聽 North of England聽 Played 3聽 Won 2聽 Drawn 1聽 Lost 0聽 Total points 63
2聽 Midlands聽 P2聽 W2聽 D0聽 L0聽 Pts 41
3聽 Scotland聽 P2聽 W1聽 D0聽 L1聽 Pts 35
4聽 Northern Ireland聽 聽P2聽 W1聽 D0聽 L1聽 Pts 34
5聽 South of England聽 P3聽 W0聽 D1聽 L2聽 Pts 58
6聽 Wales聽 P2聽 W0聽 D0聽 L2聽 Pts 31聽聽

Tom asked: in what way might a Blue Peter pet, a bodyguard called Bullion, and Kate Hudson's Mum, all have had their chance to shine?
The answer is that they are, or were, all called Goldie. Goldie was the name of the golden retriever on Blue Peter聽in the 1980s, looked after by presenter Simon Groom; the actor and musician Goldie played a character called Bullion, or 'Bull', in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond adventure The World Is Not Enough; and Goldie Hawn is the mother of the actor Kate Hudson.

Q1 (from Duncan Jones)聽 How in 2020 might we all have had additional empathy with Edmond Dantes, Ivan Shukhov, Sydney Carton's doppelganger, and a property-owning member of the Bufo family?
Q2 (from Terry O'Brien)聽 How might the following make you think of a dodgy domestic defence: Helen's Pepysian protagonist, Ted's fishy ode, Flashman's creator, Russell's linguistically unconventional narrator, and the creator of a young dweller in the dumping ground?
Q3聽 Music: What names would Jack give these performers, and which order should they come in?
Q4 (from Simon Meara)聽 What, appropriately, connects the home of the Yellowbellies and an illegal hunter from a folk song, the left in Germany, the North American bobcat and the London Internet Exchange?
Q5 (from Peter Slater)聽 The following could have done it: the 33rd President of the USA, the late Ms Kappelhoff, Chairman Mao's followers and the Nabob of Sob. Keith Flint claimed he did do it. Christie Brinkley's second husband has always claimed he didn't do it, and, furthermore, that he's not guilty. Who are these people, and what is it they may have done?
Q6 (from Paul Maki)聽 Music: Which synth-pop band might provide a place for all of these?
Q7 (from The Revd Oliver Harrison)聽 Why might a Peckham road sweeper's chief tool, tin in the land of Oz, and the vessel of an ancient Greek hero, not be quite what they seem?聽
Q8 (from Cameron Hall)聽 If you were weighing up your progress from an author of Arthurian tales to a singer who wanted to be taken to the river, then to an album celebrating聽 its 50th birthday this year, and finally to the nickname of a London mayor, what would you have missed out?

Paul Hollywood, Fergus Henderson, Mike Oldfield, Horace Rumpole, Mark Carney, Philip Treacy and Castor fiber: what might they all be looking for, and what might it turn out to be instead?
There are no prizes: but you can see if you've been thinking along the right lines when we reveal the solution next time.