大象传媒

Tom asked what Walt Disney, Somerset Maugham, Stafford Cripps, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Jean Cocteau, have in common - and why you might have been pleased to see any of them in a time of strife?

The answer is that they were all, at some time or other, ambulance drivers in听the First听World War. Walt Disney was an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in France and Germany from 1917-18. W.Somerset Maugham worked听for the Red Cross and the ambulance corps before being recruited听into听the British Secret Intelligence Services in 1916.听The future Chancellor of the Exchequer Stafford Cripps didn't join up immediately in 1914 but went to France and听worked as a lorry driver, and then an ambulanceman, for the Red Cross听for a year.

Ralph Vaughan Williams served with the 2/4th Ambulance Division in France in 1916. Playwright and surrealist听film-maker Jean Cocteau also听drove a Red Cross ambulance in France in the First World War, long before his alleged sympathies towards the Nazi regime got him into trouble during the Second.

Other famous former wartime ambulance personnel include Ernest Hemingway, Jerome K. Jerome, and Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's restaurants.

The Round Britain Quiz league table stands like this with just one match to go. It's ranked according to the number of outright victories. After this week's contest we'll post the final league table for 2017-18 on the homepage.

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1听 WALES听 Played听3听 Won听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 P4听 W2听 D1听 L1听 Pts 72

4听 SCOTLAND听 P4听 W1听 D2听 L1听 Pts 71

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

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Q1 (from George L. Gillespie)听 According to the King James Bible, what type of fruit grows on the tree of knowledge of good and evil; how many wise men worship the infant Jesus in Matthew's Gospel; what type of fish swallows Jonah; and what is Mary Magdalene's profession?

Q2 (from Mark Caltonhill)听 What links a quiz-show host who liked 'digging and delving', a psychologist noted for his 'identity crisis', a knighted cricketer from Antigua, and the pseudonym of Thomas Percy's servant who'd apparently been left to guard some firewood?

Q3 (from Svavar Sigurdarson)听 Music - How could this remind you of Burt Reynolds' nemesis, the mountain range separating Tennessee and North Carolina, and a very northerly capital?

Q4 (from Peter Williams)听 Why would rays of sunlight follow the state of Minnesota, a lookout position, a machine-readable label, and Mother Teresa as of 2016?

Q5 (from Richard Freeland)听 In what other field might you hear of actors known for their roles in The Man With the Golden Gun, Once Upon a Time in China and Psycho?

Q6 (from Michael Trevett)听 Music - Listen to these pieces and decide why, collectively, they might give you a sign.

Q7听(from John Slater)听 How could a reforming monk become a Baptist dreamer; a Massachusetts senator become a Duke; and a Duke become a famous victim of emasculation?

Q8 (from Cristian Mocanu)听 At the foot of the mountain, where the old lady wears black and white stripes and God's first world in the Vulgate is set on four wheels, there is a place that - in scale at least - would help you measure the danger of... what?