A New Year Quiz Question

[decantor]

I'll toss out the odd cluette over the next few days in case anyone's still trying.

Cluette No 1

It will help to find three surnames. (Christian names are not relevant to the puzzle.)

Thank you. I fall asleep each night thinking about it on the basis that my brain will solve it for me overnight. It's not working out as well as I hoped.

[decantor]

Let's clear the air of one set of possibilities.

Lamb (spring pastures), Davy (miner's lamp), and Browne (John Brown's body) all have works included in the Eton Choirbook. Any good?

[Finzi4ever]

That's very Smart indeed, decantor - love the name btw!

[Simon]

Yes, well done dec!

I had Lamb and Davy as being fairly obvious, but all the famous bodies I could bring to mind were females ...

So I couldn't work out a connection, perhaps unsurprisingly.

... and I belatedly add a thanks to ardcarp for an interesting puzzle.

[ardcarp]

I've got the champers on ice ready to celebrate your victory, decantor.

I had intended the final answer to be the letter 'e' because Lamb, Davy and Brown all appear as Lambe, Davey and Browne in the Eton Choirbook. However as you spelt John Brown of body fame with an 'e' anyway, let's call it an outright victory.

Congratulations!

[decantor]

I've got the champers on ice ready to celebrate your victory, decantor.

I had intended the final answer to be the letter 'e' because Lamb, Davy and Brown all appear as Lambe, Davey and Browne in the Eton Choirbook. However as you spelt John Brown of body fame with an 'e' anyway, let's call it an outright victory.

Congratulations!

Yes, many thanks, ardcarp, for a tantalising puzzle and for the champers (which I hope you will enjoy on my behalf - grab it while it's still frais!).

I too was long foxed by the 'body' clue. Even when I had put aside thoughts of Racquel Welch emerging from the Caribbean, I could think only of Charles Atlas and the chap who played Tarzan. But then I approached the problem from the other end, and recalled that both Lambe and Davy were represented on my CD of Christ Church singing the Eton Choirbook (a recording I adore - why isn't every piece available on CD?). Lo and behold, the next track was by Browne, and the light-bulb flashed dazzlingly.

In fact, with Lambe, Davy (no 'e' on the insert), and Browne on successive tracks, I wondered if that's what gave ardcarp his inspiration. Nice one, if so.

[Lizzie]

Yes, many thanks, ardcarp, for a tantalising puzzle and for the champers (which I hope you will enjoy on my behalf - grab it while it's still frais!).

I too was long foxed by the 'body' clue. Even when I had put aside thoughts of Racquel Welch emerging from the Caribbean, I could think only of Charles Atlas and the chap who played Tarzan. But then I approached the problem from the other end, and recalled that both Lambe and Davy were represented on my CD of Christ Church singing the Eton Choirbook (a recording I adore - why isn't every piece available on CD?). Lo and behold, the next track was by Browne, and the light-bulb flashed dazzlingly.

In fact, with Lambe, Davy (no 'e' on the insert), and Browne on successive tracks, I wondered if that's what gave ardcarp his inspiration. Nice one, if so.

Jolly well done Solver and Setter! Well deserved bubbles up your noses! Liz

[Wolsey]

Even when I had put aside thoughts of Racquel Welch emerging from the Caribbean

Others may think of Ursula Andress doing the same thing in the Bond film Dr No, but I don't want to stifle your imagination...

[Lizzie]

Others may think of Ursula Andress doing the same thing in the Bond film Dr No, but I don't want to stifle your imagination...

What/Who ever does it for you boys! Just be thankful I'M Not recreating the scenes for you! Liz

[decantor]

Others may think of Ursula Andress doing the same thing in the Bond film Dr No, but I don't want to stifle your imagination...

Fear not, Wolsey: a forgetful old man's imagination needs just the sort of boost you provide......

[ardcarp]

both Lambe and Davy were represented on my CD of Christ Church singing the Eton Choirbook ......
In fact, with Lambe, Davy (no 'e' on the insert), and Browne on successive tracks

...oh well, spelling was a bit of a lottery in those days.

No, I haven't got that CD. But I was privileged, some 35 years ago, to hear a handful of Eton music scholars singing from the book...the original that is, in Eton College Chapel. The book is arranged so that four or five singers can stand around it and see their parts. I guess they'd had a bit of private practice at reading the notation. Graham Smallbone was the (then) Precentor (i.e. DoM). This was after the choir-school had been disbanded, but they still attracted ex-choristers with some mileage left in their voices who formed the top-line of the Chapel Choir. Incidentally, I notice that a replacement is being sought for Ralph Allwood, who I gather is retiring at the end of the 2011 academic year. Anyone interested?

[decantor]

No, I haven't got that CD. But (1) I was privileged, some 35 years ago, to hear a handful of Eton music scholars singing from the book...the original that is, in Eton College Chapel. The book is arranged so that four or five singers can stand around it and see their parts. I guess they'd had a bit of private practice at reading the notation. Graham Smallbone was the (then) Precentor (i.e. DoM). This was after the choir-school had been disbanded, but they still attracted ex-choristers with some mileage left in their voices who formed the top-line of the Chapel Choir. Incidentally, I notice that (2) a replacement is being sought for Ralph Allwood, who I gather is retiring at the end of the 2011 academic year. Anyone interested?

1) O that we were there......

2) Ralph has been inspirational, and the choral world centred on Eton will miss him. Thirty years ago, while still at Uppingham, he was running choral courses for prep school boys that fired them up wonderfully well - I know this from experience, as he included some of my own choir's boy choristers, and they were never the same again, enchanted by their own potential, and ending up singing the War Requiem in the RAH. He continued the good work at Eton for a number of years, always lifting the choral game for boys, and even coming to take the occasional rehearsal in our own school chapel - his buzz lasted for weeks. And he was such a delightful man to entertain. He will be hard to replace - but Eton will no doubt find the right man (or, I suppose, woman).

[ardcarp]

Item 2. Indeed, decantor. My own youngest daughter went on one of his Eton choral courses and went on to higher things. She was, however, the only state-school kid in that paticular group. What a pity there aren't more (like that lovely bloke from Warwickshire on Choir of the Year) doing it for the masses.