大象传媒

Tom asked for the connection between the Prime Minister's residence, Samuel Pepys and the island of Martha's Vineyard. This was especially tough!

The man after whom Downing St is named, Sir George Downing, was a government official and one of Samuel Pepys's employers, referred to frequently in his Diary. (So far, so good.)

Downing had grown up in an area of Kent where there was a high incidence of deafness in the local population, so a great many people in that area knew deaf sign language. Downing was able to put this skill to work in recruiting deaf people as government听informers听- as they would be less likely to be suspected.

Many of the inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard emigrated from the same region of Kent, and to this day there is a higher than usual incidence of deafness on the island, and a strong likelihood that a resident of Martha's Vineyard will know sign language.

The Round Britain Quiz league table for 2017-18 after ten matches, going into today's contest, stands as follows - ranked according to number of outright wins.

1听 WALES听 Played 3听 Won 3听 Drawn 0听 Lost 0听 Total points 55

2听 SOUTH OF ENGLAND听 P4听 W2听 D1听 L1听 Pts 75

3听 NORTH OF ENGLAND听 P3听 W2听 D0听 L1听 Pts 55

4听 SCOTLAND听 P3听 W1听 D1听 L1听 Pts 54

5听 THE MIDLANDS听 P4听 W1听 D0听 L3听 Pts 67

6听 NORTHERN IRELAND听 P3听 W0听 D0听 L3听 Pts 46

Q1 (from Rob Webb)听 Why would Richard Briers' cat be concerned about the opening of Physical Graffiti, and the shambolic educational establishment dedicated to his saintly namesake?

Q2听 If D is confidential, Soho porn hides a secret, and Peter Dinklage's recluse inhabits a railway building, who gets their 15% cut?

Q3听(from Mike Foster)听 Music - What connects these pieces with an ancient illumination and skerpikjot?

Q4听 If the TV schedules included celebrity winter sports and repeats of The Chinese Detective, how would prairie dogs show that they might watch?

Q5听 Lottie was the first to听net five titles; Queenie was right on target to become the oldest gold; and Marjorie sprang to fame as the youngest gold - in which sports, and when?

Q6听 Music - Where would these flourish, and which one is the protector?

Q7 (from Peter Stockdale)听 Why might a northern philanthropic entrepreneur and an acid-tongued General be absorbed in yesterday's news - particularly when in the company of a presenter who suffered embarrassment from depression, and Robert Donat's Oscar-winning character?

Q8听(from Ivan Whetton)听 The 'little gentleman in black velvet', a tributary of the Clyde, the composer who issued an Invitation to the Dance, and a literary lagomorph first encountered running... do you have the measure of them?

See if you can work this question out before the final programme of the series next week, when the answer will be revealed. It's been suggested by John Howitt.

Walt Disney, Somerset Maugham, Stafford Cripps, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Jean Cocteau - how are they connected, and why might you have been pleased to see any of them in a time of strife?

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