Only Connect

[Lat-Literal]

Could be - but they're also the names of comedians: Benny Hill, Marty Feldman, Les Dawson, Dick Martin?

Yes - this is it.

Composers with the same surnames as comedians.

(Arguably comedians who have done stand-up comedy.)

Hence the songs from Ken Dodd, Jasper Carrott and Vic Reeves and the brief reference to a Mr Emery (Unai but also Dick).

I had Steve Martin in my list but Dick Martin will do equally well as an example.

I had two Hills.

The alternative to Benny Hill is Harry Hill.

[LMcD]

Yes - this is it.

Composers with the same surnames as comedians.

(Arguably comedians who have done stand-up comedy.)

Hence the songs from Ken Dodd, Jasper Carrott and Vic Reeves and the brief reference to a Mr Emery (Unai but also Dick).

I had Steve Martin in my list but Dick Martin will do equally well as an example.

I had two Hills.

The alternative to Benny Hill is Harry Hill.

(There's also an American comedian called Dave Hill, who may be funnier than either of the above...)

[Richard Tarleton]

Here's Victoria Coren Mitchell winning half a million at poker

[gradus]

Super-naïve question but are they actually betting with their own money?

[Richard Tarleton]

Super-naïve question but are they actually betting with their own money?

I have absolutely no idea - there may well be sponsorship deals for all I know. It was just to indicate there is no end to her talents (and I used to read her amusing column in GQ Magazine while waiting to have my hair cut).

PS I daresay if you start with a small pot of your own money you can build it up by winning in the early rounds......

[LMcD]

VC-M is a long-time professional poker player and has won a number of major tournaments and competitions and a shed-load of money.

[LMcD]

Ferney, LMcD, et al, anyone care to proffer their first connecting wall?

I'll give your kind suggestion serious attention...

[LMcD]

Here's a (very low-tech!) Musical Wall:

David / Bohuslav / Georges / Leonard
George / Malcolm / Victor / Georges
Glenn / Arthur / George / Henri
Claude / Benjamin / Paul / Lili

[Boilk]

Thanks LMcD. I've manged to whittle some names into groups of As, Bs and Ds and Ms...

A: Georges Auric / Malcolm Arnold / ?? / ??
B: Arthur Bliss / George Benjamin / Benjamin Britten / Lili Boulanger
D: Claude Debussy / Paul Dukas / Henri Duparc / George Dyson
M: David Matthews / Bohuslav Martinu / Glenn Miller / ?

3 leftover names: Georges (could be Bizet?) / Leonard / Victor (not Meldrew?!)
Cannot return now until tonight.

[LMcD]

Georges is indeed Bizet. Of your other surnames, a further 6 are correct but you have no correct groups.

[LMcD]

Glenn Gould and Victor Borge belong to the same precocious set of 4; the other 2 in that set were also pianists but achieved greater fame in other ways.
Georges appears twice, in different sets of 4, while George and George each appear once in another set of 4.
I hope that helps a bit!

[LMcD]

Let's see if I can help a little bit more. There are examples of precocious talent, of prizewinners, of music written for performance on the telly, and of departures.

[Boilk]

I think this is where we're at in terms of clues offered by LMcD.

I'm guessing:
> Bittten and Boulanger are the other precocious chaps/chapesses
> One of the "made for TV" composers is George Benjamin, and Claude must be Debussy.

But I've not had much time to look at this one due to work commitments this week.

[LMcD]

Boulanger is the third precocious talent, but Britten is not the 4th.
George Benjamin is not one of the 'made for TV composers'.
Claude is indeed Debussy.
Malcolm and Arthur belong to the same set of 4 as Benjamin and Bohuslav.
David is in the same set of 4 as 2 Georges.

[Boilk]

Thanks for the further clues, this is where I think we're at - with Leonard (Bernstein?), Paul and Georges as yet unallocated.

I guess the telly music/film score composers could be Malcolm Arnold and Arthur Rubinstein.