University Challenge

[french frank]

Ah, yes, but Hamelin town in Brunswick is pronounced (and spelt) 'Hameln'. My father made that mistake when he tried to book a train ticket to that town in 1958.

Yes, though I was quoting Browning's po-em. I could have gone on:

The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its walls on the southern side.
When begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago …

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, though I was quoting Browning's po-em. I could have gone on:

I remember it well. My father had a filmstrip to go with the poem, which he operated as my mother read it out loud. I think I may still have that filmstrip in the loft.

[gurnemanz]

Ah, yes, but Hamelin town in Brunswick is pronounced (and spelt) 'Hameln'. My father made that mistake when he tried to book a train ticket to that town in 1958.

I would have thought that Hameln isn't in Brunswick (Braunschweig). They are separate towns in Niedersachsen.

[jean]

I would have thought that Hameln isn't in Brunswick (Braunschweig). They are separate towns in Niedersachsen.

Robert Browning doesn't agree:

Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover City...

[Roehre]

Robert Browning doesn't agree:

Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover City...

...and as Hannover is the capital of Niedersachsen

[gurnemanz]

Robert Browning doesn't agree:

Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover City...

Sorry about my inadequate statement. What I wrote has been true only since 1945. As a penance I have done some research. In 1814 after the Congress of Vienna the Herzogtum (Dukedom) of Braunschweig succeeded the Fürstentum (principality) of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel which traced it roots back 1235. (Hameln was obviously part of its territory). After the November Revolution in 1918, during which it was a Socialist Republic, it became the Freistaat Braunschweig which it remained until Hitler took over.

[Nick Armstrong]

Interesting one tonight - four women v. four foreigners...

...and an "M.D. in Sphincter Preservation" thrown in for good measure!

You couldn't make it up

How true again!

(Then again, which of isn't, in our own way, working towards that qualification as far as humanly possible...? )

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And did I hear correctly - there was a PhD student of English Literature (who didn't recognize Wuthering Heights, by-the-by) who was researching "The Lapdog"?!

[Nick Armstrong]

You did hear correctly.

Sphincters and Lapdogs...

These are murky waters, Watson

[gurnemanz]

You did hear correctly.

Sphincters and Lapdogs...

These are murky waters, Watson

I was rooting that ladies team and not just because of sphincters and lapdogs, about which I would have happily heard more.

[Serial_Apologist]

sphincters

It won't be long before ISIS starts destroying those, too, I tell yer.

[Nick Armstrong]

The ironically cute 'good byes' from both teams were amusing. Cracked Paxo up anyway.

[Richard Tarleton]

I found the Nuffield team's protracted internal debates annoying - not sure if it was gamesmanship, but I was shouting at them to get a move on. Hope the other team returns as a high scoring loser.

I missed the intros. A few mentions of lapdogs here - Cantos 1,3......

[vinteuil]

I missed the intros. A few mentions of lapdogs here - Cantos 1,3......

... John Sutherland pointed out the problem of the gender of the pug in Mansfield Park.

And see also -

http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol25no1/palmer.html

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%22Hearty+fow+children%22%3A+the+Penrhyns,+pugs,+and+Mansfield+Park.-a0370031590

https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/pugnacious-the-pug-in-mansfield-park-and-the-19th-century/

.

[mercia]

would Dora Copperfield's Jip count as a lapdog ? Then there's Flush of course but perhaps that wasn't a lapdog either