Some music questions

[wellinghall]

1. Whose clothes are all made by Balmain?
2. What is the longest operatic encore ever?
3. Which stations do slow trains no longer call at?
4. What does a lovestruck Romeo sing?
5. How do you get to be ruler of the Queen's navy?
6. Who was a post-war baby in a small Scots town?

Comments are screened for now. Googling is strictly frowned on. Marks will be given for fun, style, elegance and pedantry, as well as accuracy.

Comments

[overconvergent.livejournal.com]

1. Marie-Claire (whose loveliness goes on and on ...).

3. Is Kirby Muxloe one of them?

5. It's a tough selection procedure; at each stage very little original thought is needed, but keeping cuffs clean, writing in a clear hand, and always voting with one's Party are all important indicators of success here. Going to sea is frowned upon.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

1. Yes indeed. 2 marks.

3. Yes. 1 mark.

5. It's very tough. 2 marks.

[miss-next.livejournal.com]

1. I have no idea, but I do know a musician who would still manage to look scruffy even if his were.

2. Still no idea, I'm afraid.

3. Ah, now we're getting somewhere. To be more precise, we're getting to quite a lot of places, including (and this is not an exhaustive list): Blandford Forum, Midsomer Norton, Mortihoe, Selby, Goole, St Erth, St Ives, Long Stratton, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Chester-le-Street, Kirkby Muxloe, Malcop, Schola Green. Inexplicably not mentioned is the charming Wiltshire village of Sixpenny Handley, which really ought to have got in there somewhere.

4. He sings, I understand, a streetsuss serenade... whatever that is. :-)

5. You rise through the ranks of a legal firm from humble beginnings. Actual seamanship is not required, and may even be counterindicated.

6. Sorry - right back to total lack of clue.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

1. 1/2 mark for witty comment.

3. 2 marks.

4. Correct. 2 marks.

5. Yes. 1 mark.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

3. Those axed by Beeching. Do you want the full list? No churns, no porters, no cat on a seat. At Midsomer Norton and Chester le Street...
5. Stay close to your desk and never go to sea!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

3. Yes. 2 marks.

5. Yes. 1 mark.

[segh.livejournal.com]

3. Flanders and Swann have the whole list; I can't do them all from memory and I daresay you'd call it cheating if I went and got the book, so I will merely mention Fenby Four Corners, Trouble House Halt and Windmill End.
5. Stick close to your desk and never go to sea.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

3. Yes. 1 mark.

5. Yes. 1 mark.

[segh.livejournal.com]

I even know where Trouble House Halt is. We passed by it on holiday.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Not that far from where I now live, I believe.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

A lovestruck Romeo sings some sort of serenade but I never have been able to catch the word(s)...streetsong? I know it is Dire Straits...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Streetsuss. 1 mark.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not going to get any marks, nor will I deserve them, but 3 and 6 serve to show me how much I've forgotten. Of all the places that the slow train doesn't call at, Midsomer Norton is the only one that sticks in my mind. And when I was a teenager, I could probably sing the whole song for number 6, but now can only remember the first verse - from which I will claim that polishing the handle on the big front door (so carefullee) is what makes you the ruler of the Queen's navee.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

2. Yes. 1 mark.

6 (presumably actually 5?) Yes. 1 mark.

[miss-t-ide.livejournal.com]

1. I know the song... Where do you go to my lovely... but I can't answer the question. *frustration*
2. I have no idea.
3. I could look that one up in my Flanders & Swann songbook...
4. Well it always sounded to me like "A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade"
5. Stick close to your desks and never go to sea.
6. Not a clue, sorry.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

1. Yes. 1 mark.

3. It's F&S. 1/2 mark.

4. Streetsuss. 1 mark.

5. Yes. 1 mark.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

4. A street-suss serenade.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

4. Yes. 2 marks.

Well, 5 wants a well-polished man of law.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

As for 3, the important one (Betjeman, as usual) is Dilton Marsh Halt, at which no trains, express or otherwise, any longer stop ... for now. (My view is that if Betjeman didn't immortalise it, why ought I to know it, eh?)

I refuse to suggest that the answer to 1 wants to have been, my mater, God rest her. Partly because she did Buy British on occasion.

Re: Well, 5 wants a well-polished man of law.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

3. Yes. 1 mark.

1. Nice answer. 1/2 mark.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Rubbish as I am at music, I can at least get number 4: "Stick close to your desks, and never go to sea". Not to mention wielding polish etc.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

4. Yes. 2 marks.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed - well done!