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Programme 12, 2024

Kirsty Lang chairs the last contest of the current series, in which the North of England and Scotland face the trademark cryptic questions.

(12/12)

Kirsty Lang welcomes back the North of England and the Scots for the closing match of the 2024 series. With the results very tight this year, Scotland could take the overall series title if they win today. Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras face Val McDermid and Alan McCredie.

Today's questions:

Q1 Which Borough Treasurer's list might include the main thoroughfare of any town, the companion of Mr Smith and Mr Jones, something you might attach to the collars of felines, and (very nearly) where orphan Anne Shirley grows up?

Q2 What would French women conclude about mitochondria and other structures in a cell, the strait connecting the Aegean with the Sea of Marmara, and Britain's most common bats?

Q3 (from James Francis) Music: Why might all of these please a cat?

Q4 The common origin of romantically-inclined geriatrics, an expression of pity for people or creatures, an object made from cowhide and an ancient town on the Clyde, is anything but colourful. Can you explain why?

Q5 If I gave you an old-fashioned tanner, the town where Henry James died, a lot of Lockheed SR-71s and Piscine Molitor Patel, could you give me the rest of the song?

Q6 Music: Why might these three do their bit for the environment?

Q7 (from Simon Dooker) How could the following be said to contribute to an English Victorian poet's most famous work: an American baseball legend, the home ground of Solihull Moors, the colour of Carly's conceited lover's scarf, Rumer's coming-of-age classic, and what a fabled runaway duo dined on?

Q8 (from Frank Paul) How often would you expect accurate information from items belonging to the following: a deceased relative who lived to be 90, the bride whom Compeyson jilted, and those obeying the first words of 'Funeral Blues'?

Producer: Paul Bajoria

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sat 1 Jun 2024 23:30

The 2024 League Table

Going into today's twelfth and last match, this is how the teams are ranked in the series so far:

1  The Midlands     Played 4  Won 2  Drawn 2  Lost 0   Total points 80
2  Northern Ireland    P4  W2  D1  L1   Pts 75
3  Wales     P4  W2  D1  L1   Pts 71
4  Scotland    P3  W2  D0  L1   Pts 59
5  South of England     P4  W0  D1  L3   Pts 68
6  North of England    P3  W0  D1  L2   Pts 55

Scotland will go to the top of the table and become series champions if they win today.

Last week's teaser question

At the end of the previous edition Kirsty asked: Can you grasp the connection between a tiny fairy-tale character, a hunting dog, a well-chronicled parish, a circus arena and half of a porcine duo? 

Well done if you grasped that this was all about the fingers of the hand. The fairy-tale character is Tom Thumb; the dog is a pointer; the village is Myddle in Shropshire (The History of Myddle being a classic work of social history written about the life and inhabitants of the village in 1700); a circus arena is a ring; and Pinky was one of the 1950s children's TV puppets Pinky & Perky. So we have thumb, pointer, middle, ring and pinky.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 26 May 2024 16:30
  • Sat 1 Jun 2024 23:30

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