Alphabet associations - I

[Don Petter]

how's your cold this morning Anna?

O

Can I hear Keith Hamshere and Blondel singing in Hundred Acre Wood?

Well, Owl lives in The Chestnuts (a tree) in Hundred Acre Wood, but without googling I've no idea who Keith Hamshere is. Blondel was a French troubadour - did he sing about owls?

[Don Petter]

he may well have done but I'm afraid that's not my O

feel free to google

I have. Apparently he was the child actor who played the original Oliver in the musical in 1960. However, I don't recall any Olivers in A A Milne (or up in the actual wood, which is just up the road from here).

I think I'll go back to lurking.

[Don Petter]

please don't - you're doing so well

Only by google (and now Wiki). Stephen Oliver wrote music for a rock opera called Blondel.

So maybe there must be another Oliver lurking in that wood?

[Don Petter]

excellent! excellent! - have some honey

OK. So Oliver Dillon plays the voice of Lumpy, the Heffalump, in a children's TV series based on Winnie the Pooh. I'm happy to find that although Heffalump is reputed to live in Hundred Acre Wood, he is rarely seen, so I can sleep easily tonight. Is that it?

[BetweenTheStaves]

Talking of Pooh...I saw this when the Swine Flu issue started...

[Don Petter]

oh dear, I've been hoisted by my own petard. that wasn't the one I was looking for but unless you would care to dig a little more, with the help of a clue, I don't think I can deny you the prize

Clue for my alternative answer: the opus 6 of a contemporary Scottish-born composer and conductor (he conducted at last year's proms I think).

I haven’t time to dig any more right now. We were very late up today, and it’s lunchtime already. SWMBO is straining at the leash to be taken for our traditional pub lunch, but we’ll be back before long, so that she can watch the footy on telly this afternoon. I will take up the cudgels again about that time.

If anyone else wants to follow the trail of the Opus 6, please do, as contemporary composers are not my strong point.

[Nick Armstrong]

That was fun... Rather a busy weekend as it turns out, won't be back till tomorrow. Glad to see the thread has picked up again! Love the Pooh illustration

[Don Petter]

I thought of Oliver Knussen on the way to the pub (though I doubt if he thought of me).

I think he wrote Hums of Pooh, a double entendre if ever I heard one.

P coming up shortly.

[Don Petter]

have a nice lunch - I hope I haven't spoilt your Sunday morning with my downmarket obscurities

Downmarket is a word which had already occured to me in relation to this thread of late.

But that's fine by me. I've kept out mainly because of my reticence to google, at least unless I have some sort of lead come to mind by brainpower first (as in Hundred Acre Wood).

It's always instructive to see the eventual answers, anyway.

[Don Petter]

A good lunch, thanks, only slightly sidetracked by wracking of brains over a suitable question. Here she blows:

What P has springtime music in the streets, surrounding an animal which could be rearranged to launch an appropriate work by Arnold?

[Don Petter]

lifeboats need to be launched

That didn't last long! At least I can't be accused of being too arcane, this time.

Let it ride for a little bit to see if anyone else comes on board? (Otherwise I'll have seemed to have given poor value.)

[rubbernecker]

I think the reason no one else is on board is because there is no more room in the lifeboat after Hercule got there first. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know I'm back in the saddle, at least as far as this particular hobby horse is concerned. No need to send out an SOS just yet, methinks...

[rubbernecker]

er, but lifeboat ain't the answer, is it? (after all lifeboat don't start with a P)

Now you're just being disingenuous, Hercule. We'll see what Don has to say about that. I'm about to try out a new Rick Stein recipe

[subcontrabass]

?

what's this animal to be rearranged (meaning an anagram?)

When you have identified the place and the associated work by Arnold then rubbernecker's message #2127 will be clear.

[Don Petter]

?

what's this animal to be rearranged (meaning an anagram?)

Hercule,

I thought from your initial quick response that you had the complete answer, and were just playing with us. Not quite so, it seems.

We have the lifeboat, being launched by an SOS (which is indeed an anagram of the animal). Both lifeboat and animal come from the required 'P'.