The 2015 London Reconnections Christmas Quiz

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It’s Christmas time, and that means just one thing here in LR Towers – time for our latest attempt to try and befuddle you all with our annual Christmas quiz. We’re still working out our list of prizes this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get started on answering our twenty-one questions. Keep on reading to begin.

Don’t forget – if you want to get someone a gift subscription to LR in time for Christmas then you need to do so in the next couple of days.

Merry Christmas to you all!

The LR Team

How to enter and rules

To enter send your answers to [email protected] with the word “quiz” in the subject line somewhere on or before 30th December 2015. Answers and winners will be posted on 31st December 2015.

Please be aware that by entering you are giving us permission to at least print your initials if you win a prize. If you’d prefer to by known by a pseudonym, just let us know in your entry email instead.

To try and keep things fair, please resist the urge to to post answers in the comments as we’ll only delete them, although clues may be permitted (at our discretion).

And now onto the questions…

Question 1

In this picture of one of the original 1863 Metropolitan Line stations we have blanked out part of the station name. What station is it?

119innings

Question 2

Which of Crossrail’s Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) completed the most tunnelling (i.e. did the most digging)?

Question 3

In short, what is special about LTZ2001?

Question 4

“A great battle that has now resulted in an almost universal acquiescence in the view that the new bridge is a fine bridge, well worthy of the capital city of the British Commonwealth of Nations” – Who was speaking, and about which bridge?

Question 5

The picture below is of the first female bus conductor in London. What was her name?

athousandwords

It was Mrs G Duncan of course (sorry, that would have been too easy). What we want you to tell us is her badge number.

Question 6

Fill in the gaps: Anson, Beatty, Collingwood, Drake, ????, Freemantle, Grenville, Hardy, Inglefield, ????, Keppel, Ley, Madden, Nelson, ????, Parry.

Question 7

Where in London are we?

vandalism

Question 8

Where in London can you be standing on a railway platform and be directly above a mosque?

Question 9

Another sequence, another set of gaps to fill: B, C, D, E, F, Q, CP, Q, CP, ???, A, D, A, ???

Question 10

An Imperial measure, a hardy Asian quadruped ruminant, the handiwork of the incarcerated,  a gang of four. Where were we, once (don’t worry if it takes you about 12 minutes to process)?

Question 11

Sometimes we have to doctor images for this quiz. In this case Southeastern made sure we didn’t have to bother. What’s wrong with their printed timetable map?

swapsies

Question 12

There are only two London boroughs in which TfL has no rail (or light rail) stations or stops. Which boroughs are they?

For a bonus point, by 2018 (as things stand) this will be reduced to one. Which borough?

Question 13

Time for an International question! Where are we?

arthur

Question 14

Another sequence question. Fill in the gaps: B25F00, F12B12, FFD300, ???, 00853A/FFFFFF, F5859F, 959CA1, ???, 231F20, 183C96, ???, 81CEBC

Question 15

To our knowledge, this is the most northerly occurrence of an officially approved roundel in the British Isles. Where is it?

shawl

Question 16

Where, now in 2015, attracts many more passengers to and from London than it used to, but in doing so has gone from being a town to a village?

Question 17

Whereabouts on the Underground will you see these Gentlemen?

hammertime

Question 18

Farringdon. Smithfield. St John Street. Charterhouse. Looked at a certain way one might say these were a source of blame on Crossrail. What are they?

Question 19

Where will you find this particular piece of London’s underground history?

63557

Question 20

Becky may have come to prominence in 2015, but she won’t be Tooting about what she’s up to anytime soon. Who, or what, is she?

Question 21

And finally, where in London will you find this little piece of the Underground, above ground – and what is her unit number?

400m

92 comments

  1. Oh grief – more mental torture. A few easy ones and despite being a south London railways numpty I think I’ve got the answer to Q11. 😉

  2. Re. prizes:

    The phrase “free magazine subscription” springs immediately to mind for some inexplicable reason.

    As for the quiz: I think I know about five of the answers, but what’s really eating my onions is the TBM image. I know I’ve seen that in person. I just can’t remember where. Drat, and double drat!

  4. I think you’ll find that officially that Q14 is 996633, CC3333, FFCC00, 006633, CC9999, 868F98 ….

  5. @Walthamstow Writer:

    If it’s any consolation, it took me a while to get past the “Why aren’t Charing Cross services calling at London Bridge?” aspect. Then I spotted the mistake.

    I was staring right at it for ages until it “clicked”.
    [Snip. Not obviously a clue but someone might pick up on it. PoP]

    I think I’ve cracked the Metropolitan Railway station too. But the sequence questions often stump me. (Except one, this time! Yay!)

  6. I found the TBM picture to be one of the easiest (and I’m not even local). What gave me trouble were most of the rest!

  8. I think you’ll find that officially that Q14 is 996633, CC3333, FFCC00, 006633, CC9999, 868F98 ….

    …Which suggests there might be more to that question than one might think…

  9. The frustrated may like to read Jane Shilling’s piece in today’s Telegraph on the subject of quizzes.

    Well done making it more or less Google proof!

  12. At least Q19 is easy, as long as you … [Snip]

    [Oh come on. No clues. Subtle clues maybe but clues nevertheless. PoP]

  13. On first skim through I know one answer, half of another and a reasonable idea of where another couple are going. Plus one further question which is apparently so ridiculously easy that I can confidently assume my answer cannot be correct. This is a distinct improvement on previous years where I generally have no idea about any whatsoever!

  14. I have a feeling that Q1 is one of those sneaky ones! (or possibly not: double-bluff, double-bluff-bluff, double-double-bluff? – I have got the LR Quiz paranoia syndrome, badly)

  18. Briantist,

    A simple description of what is wrong should only be a short sentence. You don’t need to say how to correct it – which would be more tricky to put into words.

  19. Eleven answered or part-answered, so far.
    However, is there a spelling mistake in Q6?
    Should it not be: “Fremantle” ??
    I suspect Q14 depends on, err, how you count?
    Q9 has more than one “correct” answer, according to which, err, “history” book you read, though the second query only has one correct answer.
    I really ought to know where Q19 is, but, um err ….
    ditto Q15, but I doubt I will get Q10, oh & Q2 has two correct answers, or did one go fractionally further than the other … (?)

    [I consulted the arbiter, a certain Mr Wiki, and thinks it should be Fremantle too so I have corrected it. So unless there was an error somewhere in the subsequent naming I will presume that is correct. PoP]

  21. A hint for first-timers: don’t underestimate why the pictures have those filenames. Possibly.

  22. Greg,

    Question 9. I cannot believe that there is more than one correct answer. One could argue very slightly over the sequencing in the question as there was a bit of an overlap sometimes. In any case, for both of the missing items there is one value for each that is stands out as being the likely correct one.

  23. Anonymous 12:02

    And then having got the answer you can wonder how the clue relates to the answer. By the way, I wouldn’t rely on the name of the image for Question 11.

  24. Comparing the map in Q11 with another map, a discrepancy is very easy to see. So easy that it makes me wonder if it can be the right answer.

  25. Comparing the map in Q11 with another map, a discrepancy is very easy to see. So easy that it makes me wonder if it can be the right answer.

    It’s worth remembering that we’re never out to trick someone with these questions. Sometimes the simple answer is the right one, because not every question is of equal difficulty.

    It’s just always important to read the questions carefully and thoroughly.

  26. I love the way that years of cumulative anguish of trying to answer the LR Quiz have now resulted in paranoia that there might actually be an easy / simple answer to a question. I’m working on the basis that there is a reasonable mix of easy and mind bending questions. 😉

  28. Stumped on 4, 10 and 18. I think I know the rest, or at least how to find the answers.

    Q17 – do those gentlemen appear in more than one place? because where I have found them is with a lot of other gentlemen, not tucked in a corner on their own like that.

    Q8 – do you mean vertically above, or just looking down on?

  29. Q8,

    Vertically above. If the platform and everything supporting it (and possibly more intervening stuff) suddenly disappeared you would be in a mosque.

  30. MR Ed,

    The fact that you had to go to the trouble to search for a similar map and then spot the difference(s) tells me that this is not an easy question for everybody. Plus of course it is not necessarily that easy to find a sufficiently similar map to be able to make a comparison.

    By the way, if you down download this PDF timetable you can see the same diagram on the front page. It was the same with the previous issue.

    It was pointed out to SouthEastern but their reply was “That version of the map is a basic representation of the train line, like how the standard London underground map is laid out. Using a journey planner would direct travelers in correct fashion.”

    So, American spelling, bad grammar and a failure to grasp that the map is wrong. And it can’t be that easy to spot the error if the company that made it is incapable of grasping it even when it is pointed out to them.

  36. [Question 10 has just undergone a minor correction, at the request of its original submitter. I hope the submitter has advised correctly, as I have no more idea of the answer to the corrected question than I had before! Malcolm]

  37. Pedantic says ” it can’t be that easy to spot the error if the company that made it is incapable of grasping it even when it is pointed out to them”

    I can confirm that it is not easy to spot the error, having crawled all over the map with a “fine toothcomb” several times before finally stumbling on it. Once you have spotted it, of course, it is difficult to work out how you didn’t see it earlier, but such is life.

    But you cannot blame SouthEastern, a company, for “not grasping” something. Companies do not grasp. What you can do (and probably meant) is blame SouthEastern management for putting someone so ungrasping (unspelling and ungrammatical to boot) in a position where they can make such an embarrassingly foolish response to a valid constructively-meant criticism of their publication. One pities the person’s colleagues.

  39. Re Malcolm,

    Somehow I suspect SouthEastern might issue a revised map in due course given it has now got a bit more publicity (I suspect like a lot of TOCs they outsource the design of maps to a particular company so a revision might not be as simple as it would appear)

  40. Re Q6 and GT’s comment and consequent change from Freemantle to Fremantle, I suspect that Greg is correct with respect to the origin but not in the context of the question as posed, where it should be Freemantle, as originally. (Supporting evidence provided offline on request, which also confirms other spellings that may otherwise be contentious.)

    Only eight questions to go!

  42. OK so Q8 refers to ports serving major cities.
    Freemantle (named after Captain Fremantle) is the port for PERTH.
    So, where are the other places ports or transfer-stations to?
    The “mosque” question is one you either know, or don’t know I suspect, & I don’t think a search will work. You MIGHT try looking at ariel view of all relevant lines on viaducts & bridges … err – maybe not.

    WW
    That eye-hurting roof underside is labelled “vandalism” but I know it isn’t Euston … errr ….

  44. I can easily get the answer to Q21 because I walk past the building every week. Out of curiosity, is it supposed to be possible to get the unit number by a Google search? I’ve not managed to find any pictures which show it…

  45. Q21: please would no-one answer the question (whether a Google search does the trick). If the answer is yes, then saying so would make the question too easy. And the answer cannot be a definite no (unless someone has tried every possible Google search in the universe). Of course, after the closing date, discussion of how people found the answer will be wide open…

  46. This is a great quiz. Q18 is most frustrating since I used to walk from Farringdon to Charterhouse St every day for work and I can’t for the life of me work out what’s occurring.

    Management: are you sure the ordering of the earliest entries in Q14 is right? There’s one which seems to be juxtaposed.

  47. @Fandroid: Q19 is way too easy, took me about 5 minutes, even though I haven’t been there in absolutely ages…

  48. @ Malcolm – Q21 is not exactly difficult if you have paid any attention to the demise of part of LU’s sub surface lines rolling stock over recent years. As with so many LR quiz questions you have to apply a bit of lateral thinking to dig out the answer.

  49. @WW I guess you are right about Q21 being easyish (although as it happens I have not yet solved it, but that proves nothing!). I was really issuing a more general bit of a reminder, that saying here whether or not an internet search will solve any given question is probably a hint too far. As most people realise, the questions are so designed that a simple internet search (for instance just throwing all the words in the question at Google) will not find the answer. But many of the answers are there on the internet, if solvers can find a way to look for them.

    But other sources of information – books, magazines, the real world, asking around, deep probing of one’s memory, cold towels round the head, etc, should also ideally be brought into play.

  50. I concur with Malcolm. My previous experience shows that assembling hints and clues via Google searches will often send the punter in the right direction (among others!), but other references and some shoe-leather are often needed too.

  51. Can we assume the provisions of the Temples Order 1971 are to be disregarded for the purposes of Q12?

  52. From (admittedly currently drunken) memory the Temples are local authorities, not boroughs, and are classified as part of the City of London I believe.

  53. @John Bull – Permit me to quote: “The Temple, though in London (unlike Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn, which were in Middlesex), has always been outside the jurisdiction of the city. On two unseemly occasions, in 1555 and 1669, when the lord mayor improperly entered the Inner Temple with his swordbearer (a right exercised only in the city), younger members of the society attempted forcibly to pull down the sword. The Inner Temple remains to this day a separate local authority.”

  54. Googling can be very effective – well binging as I don’t use google.

    I binged B25F00, F12B12, FFD300, ???, 00853A/FFFFFF and got a web page that this referred to. Unfortunately the web page was titled “The 2015 London Reconnections Christmas Quiz”.

    Also I have discovered that if you put the word “mosque” and the answer you do indeed get a strong indication there might be a suitable mosque that fulfils the critierion.

  55. @Greg T:
    OK so Q8 refers to ports serving major cities.
    Freemantle (named after Captain Fremantle) is the port for PERTH.
    So, where are the other places ports or transfer-stations to?

    Rumour suggests that Collingwood is the main port for Melbourne, located as it is on the banks of the mighty Yarra river. It is also the home of Collingwood Football Cub, known as the Magpies – and Wikipedia tells me that Freemantle FC (note the spelling!) were also known as the Magpies. Coincidence? I think not!

  56. re: Q15: Are you sure there isn’t one further north dated 2004? (although I appreciate it is in a location that has been known to move…)

  57. I have either got Q8 hopelessly wrong or else whoever set the question must be rolling on the floor in hysterics looking at the wild directions people are heading in. 😉 It’s probably the former but never mind I don’t think I’m going to get an answer to every question this year.

  58. @Ian J
    You could be right, although if Mr Google was unable to find a picture of it. Maybe it has moved!

    @PoP
    Yes, I have had that experience too – just the one hit, but it turns out to be this LR article.

    Q8
    Found it, I think. And as a bonus I’ve learned some Arabic.

    Still stuck on 10 and 18, and I suspect a twist to 17.

  59. @Graham Feakins/John Bull -it is correct that the Temples (Inner and Middle) are each a separate local authority but not London Boroughs, although they delegate/subcontract some functions to the City and do not exercise the full range of borough powers(the City provides those by right not contract). Their websites are quire informative for that. Nevertheless, they are full rating authorities (I believe I have already recalled my attempts to levy a precept on them to pay for LRT in 1984,so won’t repeat). [Nor, technically, is the City a London Borough – they’re just the 32 we all know and love…]

  60. Are you using the term “ruminant” in the strict taxonomic sense or the more general sense of an animal that ruminates – such as an alpaca?

  61. In the sense that the creature in question has a rumen and all the other parts of a stomach necessary to qualify.

  62. So a member of the order Ruminantia, rather than, for example, an animal whose name is often associated with that of London’s first underground railway?

  63. timbeau (and others),

    As I understand it – yes. I do not even know of a creature (other than a ghost) whose name is often associated with that of London’s first underground railway but I can assure you it is not directly relevant.

    On the subject of the hardy Asian quadruped ruminant I think it is only fair to point out that we are not necessarily saying there is a direct association with the creature in question but there is a tenuous link of some kind. In common with a lot of these questions, it is obvious when you get it. I feel I cannot say more at this stage without agreement from others.

  64. @ Greg Tingey: yes, but if so, what is the London connection? You may have to dig deeper.

  65. @Greg

    Aerial views are of limited use if looking for something directly under something else. Did you know there are at least 415 mosques in London?

  66. @timbeau: and yet aerial views might be helpful when the higher object is something long and narrow (such as a railway platform) and the lower object is something which would be typically less narrow. I did say might.

  67. @Pedantic 17th December 13,54
    Gosh – I always knew you had hidden depths of knowledge but never realised they were so deep.

  68. Mwmbwls,

    Don’t be fooled. A few quick searches and nice diagrams explaining everything mean that a vaguely intelligent comment can be formulated.

  69. @timbeau: I believe the train company are thinking of renaming it Elsinore Village for the tourist market…

  70. Could there be bonus points for anyone who can discover Mrs G Duncan’s first name? (TfL don’t seem to know).

  71. Q18 – so obvious when you finally realise……….

    Q14 – if I could only work out why the values you’ve given are almost-but-not-quite what all the sources say they should be, I might know how much to read-off from the remaining official values to get the answer I assume you are looking for.

    Q17 – is the singular pronoun and plural noun intentional? And presumably you want to know the location of this specimen (copy), rather than the better-known and more prominently displayed original?
    [I changed gentleman to gentlemen but failed to change pronoun. So no it wasn’t and is now corrected. I don’t know the answer to to the second question for sure but presume “yes” – otherwise it would be too easy. PoP]

    @pop
    “I do not even know of a creature whose name is often associated with that of London’s first underground railway ”

    Note I said the two names were often found together – the animal itself has no connection – but I won’t get the hump.

  74. At last! I’ve got an answer to one of the quiz questions! Only been trying for 4 years…

  75. How did you get the picture for q13? Difficult to take a photo there without it being obvious but you managed it.

    How specific does the answer need to be?

  76. Ha, ha, as usual I know next to nothing. However, I think I know the answer to question 1 and have walked past the structure in 19 if only I can recall where. I should know what’s wrong with the diagram in question 11 as this is my ‘stamping ground’, don’t have a clue. Look forward to the published answers.

  77. I have remembered where 19 is and know the answer to 21 as I read about it on another transport related blogging site. So that’s three.

  78. @ Lady Bracknell – I think I’ve got a few more answers than you but this year’s quiz is beyond me. Last year I got an answer to every question but several were incorrect. On the basis that an incomplete entry stands no chance of winning I won’t be submitting an entry and will simply await the answers to see if I’ve got more than 2 or 3 correct.

  79. WW
    Same here …
    I still lack any answer to numbers: 4, 7, 8, 10, 16

    However … this year’s is so tough it’s entirely possible that no-one will return a “full set” of correct answers – maybe?

  80. @ Greg – I have answers to a couple of the ones you don’t have. I think I was very lucky to have my eyes on Twitter in the week before the quiz was launched as I suspect the question setters did too. Hence the answers were easy and took 30 seconds to verify. Some others I can’t get past unravelling what the question is talking about never mind finding a London / transport connection – Q10 is in that category.

  81. Q4 is solvable through determined internet research even if one has not so much as an inkling as to the answer.

    Having said that, it took quite a while and I’m not sure I have enough time before the deadline to find the other eight answers that I’m missing!

  82. Whilst you are all awaiting the results of the Christmas quiz, you might care to note in your diaries that the next LR meet up date at the Blue Posts will be Thursday evening, 14th January, 2016. The home page doesn’t reflect that at the moment. Assuming that the quiz results will be out by then, that would be a good opportunity to pull it all apart and analyse.

  83. @Graham F

    Some of us have scheduling or geography constraints precluding an appearance at the Blue Posts, so I hope there’ll be some discussion here too!

  84. Answers and winners will be posted on 31st December 2015.

    Not only was I waiting all yesterday, but I’ve been waiting all this year (so far)! 😉

    Happy New Year!!

  85. Me too!
    I hope & suspect that was a typo, since I sent my incomplete answers in, late yestereve …..

  86. It was not a typo, the plan was for the 30th to be the closing date, leaving the 31st for marking and the four-hour meeting of the awards committee, complete with silly hats.

    However, unforeseen difficulties have supervened. I am not in a position to report on the new emergency timetable, nor to confirm whether any technically late entries will be accepted (though the rules committee and the flood-precautions committee have been known to be flexible in the past).

  87. Ha, ha, I am waiting with bated breath to see if the three I believe I know are actually corrrect. Happy New Year to all.

  88. @ Malcolm – perhaps there was too breeze in Purley or the lack of a new bridge has meant PoP is unable to leave the area? Were there not enough “visiting friends and relatives” entries compared to “commuter” ones to warrant provision of a regular marking service? Did LR HQ fail to have a project manager or was the quiz diversity consultant on holiday? 🙂 🙂 🙂

  89. Maybe we could swap with the people next to us and mark each other’s?

  90. Walthamstow Writer,

    You Joke! I have spent almost all of Christmas and New Year’s Eve at home because a combination of the railway being closed and the Brighton Road being dug up means that it is just not worth the hassle of going out other than on foot or if necessary.

    I even had a wonderful contingency plan to catch 434 to Upper Warlingham and get the train from there but the gas works means that the 434 is diverted due to the junction at the gas works being closed, its a long walk to the nearest hail & ride point and, not surprisingly, it isn’t running to time.

    Tomorrow I need to go up to Charing Cross. Not especially looking forward to the journey. I am may wait at where I think the rail replacement bus service supposedly stops (absolutely no indication on the stops as to which ones are for Reedham station) and see if it actually does stop and I am allowed on.

    More relevantly, I realised I hadn’t got a picture of the mosque under the railway platform and I wasn’t going to make the journey to the station in question just to get one for the answers thread.

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