What's in a Name? The Four Track, Now! Daft Quiz

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

No prizes, just for fun. Some of the questions are a little convoluted, some just plain barmy. Let's see who else has the head full of useless knowledge that helps solve this kind of puzzle!

1)   Which British born actor, who went to a school close to the Severn Beach Line, appeared in one film only as Archie Leach?

Answer - John Cleese

2)   Which former Beatle, and occasional rail passenger (tenuous, I know) has the same first name as three post-World War 1 century British Prime Ministers?

Answer - Paul McCartney

3)   Which star of “The Railway Children” worked briefly with my late father for a taxi firm, to supplement his earnings as an apprentice at Oldham Repertory Theatre?

Answer - Bernard Cribbens

4)   Who in the 1970s played cricket for England and football for Scotland, but not in the same year?


5)   Which former chairman of British Rail apparently had a secret life as a web-slinging super-hero?

Answer - Sir Peter Parker

6)   Which London Underground station is principally known for being the only one whose name contains none of the letters of the word “Mackerel”?

St Johns Wood


7)   Who produced a fantastic performance at the 2012 Olympic Games despite mainly being known prior to the games not so much for sporting prowess as for trainspotting?


8 )   Which GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)-managed station has a name which it shares (in the literal translation) with the nearby Indian restaurant Lal Jomi? (Clue: It isn’t Parson Street.)


9)   Which GWR-managed station is at a village whose original name according to the Domesday Book of 1086 translated as “Homestead by the brow of a hill”?

Iver


10)   Which former (and hopefully future) station on the GWR within the Greater Bristol area is adjacent to a holy well visited by King Henry VII – although he didn’t arrive by train (over-running engineering works)

Answer - St Annes Park

[grahame]

6)   Which London Underground station is principally known for being the only one whose name contains none of the letters of the word “Mackerel”?

That's the station that was going to be called "Acacia Road" before it was opened ...

P.S. Not noticing a one answer per person limit?   I'm a bit sad an know a couple more!

[ellendune]

10) St Annes Park?

[signalandtelegraph]

5. Peter Parker

[TonyK]

I spotted an error in question 2, now corrected!

10) St Annes Park is correct - a well is still there, although not the shrine it used to be. Pilgrims seem few in number, no doubt as a result of the closure of the station.

5) Peter Parker is also correct

[JayMac]

2. Paul McCartney. I spotted the error too, but got the answer.

[TonyK]

2. Paul McCartney. I spotted the error too, but got the answer.

Correct - James Paul McCartney shares his first given name with James Ramsay MacDonald, James Harold Wilson, and James Gordon Brown - but not Leonard James Callaghan.

I intended a bit of a trick question, but my original form of the question did not limit the time period, and grahame correctly dug up three Georges, being Grenville, Canning, and Hamilton-Gordon from the 18th and 19th centuries. I had not done my homework properly! A point to grahame also!

[old original]

1) John Cleese ( A fish called wanda)

[TonyK]

1) John Cleese ( A fish called wanda)

Absolutely correct - Mr Cleese went to Clifton College, close to Clifton Down station. He starred in A Fish Called Wanda as the lawyer Archie Leach. This was a deliberate act of homage to Cary Grant, born Archibald Leach, who went to Fairfield School, close to Montpelier Station. The latter changed his name to Cary Grant in 1931, but did not get his first film role until the following year.

[Red Squirrel]

The latter changed his name to Cary Grant in 1931...

He was still called 'Montpelier' last time I was there...

[Red Squirrel]

Would 3 be Bernard Cribbins?

[TonyK]

Would 3 be Bernard Cribbins?

It would indeed! For reasons I never fathomed, my grandmother got a Christmas card from his mother until Mrs C's death.

I have updated the post to include answers where they have been given, and re-worded number 8 to add a further clue.

[froome]

Is 6 St John's Wood?

[PhilWakely]

Would 9 be Iver?  Evreham in the Domesday Book.

[TonyK]

Is 6 St John's Wood?

It is indeed - it still astonishes me that someone should spot that or make it up.

3 more to get! At least one is just plain unfair.