Friday 31 August 2012

Mastermind - Wiki Challenge Accepted

Ok, tonight is Mastermind - huzzah ! - and I've had a look at the four subjects. I'll have a go at
Duran Duran
unprepared( they took their name from Barbarella's Nightclub - could that be the first question, do you think ? ) but I don't expect much there. I'm going to have a go unaided at
Shakespeare's Comedies.
I don't fancy
The British Alpine Club.
So, for my first attempt at the wiki challenge I'm going to have a go at
The Shipping Forecast.
Bearing in mind the terms of the challenge, I have restricted myself just to the wikipedia article about the same. In case you fancy having a go yourself, here's the list of questions I've prepared : -

Wiki Challenge – The Shipping Forecast – Questions

1. In the opening ceremony to the 2012 Olympics, the shipping forecast was played along with which piece of music to symbolize the British Isles ?
2. On whose behalf is the Shipping forecast broadcast on Radio 4 ?
3. At what precise time does the first broadcast of the day begin ?
4. What is significant about the 12:01 broadcast ?
5. The Shipping forecast is broadcast on its own , and also as part of which daily weekday programme ?
6. Which is the northernmost shipping area ?
7. Alphabetically which is the last shipping area ?
8. In 1955 which shipping area was created when Dogger was split into two areas ?
9. Which name was given to German Bight up until 1956 ?
10. In 1983 which shipping area was absorbed by Hebrides ?
11. Why was the name of Finisterre changed to Fitzroy ?
12. Admiral Fitzroy, after whom the sea area was named, was the captain of which famous naval expedition ?
13. Which shipping area is usually only mentioned in the 00:48 broadcast ?
14. Excluding the header line, what is the maximum number of words allowed for a broadcast of the shipping forecast ?
15. The General synopsis gives which three pieces of information for each area ?
16. Which word is used to indicate an anti clockwise change of wind direction ?
17. Which word is used to describe a clockwise change of wind direction ?
18. The word force is only normally used for winds of which number and above on the Beaufort Scale ?
19. On 10th January 1993, the forecast reported a record North Atlantic low pressure of what ?
20. Reports from which of the coastal stations are only included in the closedown version ?
21. Which was the first BBC channel to broadcast the shipping forecast, until 1939 ?
22. Which was the second channel to broadcast the BBC shipping forecast ?
23. On 23rd November 1978, Radio 4 took over the broadcasting of the shipping forecast from which other channel ?
24. What is the name of the piece of music which precedes the 00:48 broadcast of the forecast ?
25. Who composed the piece of music which precedes the 00:48 broadcast ?
26. What mistake occurred in the Friday 17 August 2007, 0520 forecast and data, as read by BBC Weatherman Philip Avery ?
27. Which song on Blur’s Parklife album contains several references to shipping forecast areas ?
28. Which group used references to the shipping forecast in their song “in Limbo” ?
29. Whose sonnet “The Shipping Forecast “ opens with the lines “"Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea:Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux
30. Which forecast is available daily on BBC iplayer ?

All of the answers are on the wikipedia page.Or you could email me if you're desperate for them - doubt it somehow.

Now, it's obvious they won't ask all of them - after all, you're only going to ask about one group,if any etc. Still , if I can get anything over a couple then that will be more than I'm sure I would have done anyway, and if I get over half a dozen I'll be delighted. Watch this space.

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