Report and results

Christopher Booker's Treasure Hunt in 1982 attracted 434 entries. I am afraid

to say that Dame Edna's 'Game for a Daimler' produced only a fraction of that number. Perhaps our mistake was that two of the questions, set by Jo Grimond and Michael Heath, asked for an opinion or Personal judgment rather than an answer which tested your erudition or which could be found by diligent research. The correct answers, and those judged to be the best, are as follows:

Question 1: set by Malcolm Muggeridge. The poet William Blake is famous for his intuitive understanding of what is going to happen in the future. I am asking you to Produce a quotation from his work which shows he foresaw the coming of television and its disastrous consequences:

Answer: This life's dim Windows of the Soul Distorts the Heavens from Pole to Pole And leads you to believe a lie When you see with, not thro' the Eye

That was born in a night to perish in a night When the Soul slept in the beams of Light.'

The Everlasting Gospel

P.139 William Blake: His Complete Poetry and Prose edited by Geoffrey Keynes (Nonesuch).

Contestants might have found this answer easier if they had reached for the complete works not of Blake, but of Muggeridge. For in an essay on Blake entitled 'A Third Testament', Malcolm Muggeridge illus- trates his view that Blake prophesied televi- sion with this quotation. Apart from the right answer the most frequently given quotation was from Jerusalem where Satan is described as

'Having a white Dot Call'd

from which branches out a Center, A Circle in continual gyrations .. •

The last word must rest with William Blake Whose Milton was quoted by a frustrated competitor: • The idiot questioner who is always 9uestioning but never capable of answer- itn8, who sits with shy grin silent plot- ting - • dge. , . w o h publishes doubt and calls it le

Question 2: set by Sir Alec Guinness. Scene: The domino room of the Cafe Royal.

m5' Were you so determined not to draw asked. 'Draw him? Him? How can onehalo draw a man who doesn't exist?' The gue is between two men who existed. Who were they? And if the man they spoke o didn't exist, was he perhaps one of seven men? You are asked to identify the three men.

Question 3: set by Michael Heath. You are asked to make up captions for these two cartoons:

Michael Heath's original captions were: a) 'Oh, there you are, I've been hunting for you everywhere!'

b) 'Good evening, I'm Dr John's locum, I also do twenty-four-hour plumbing, baby- sitting and can supply double glazing.'

to list what you think are the six major con- temporary values with examples.

There were no perfect answers to this ques- tion. Perhaps they don't exist (perhaps that's the answer). In attempting it people either listed values that would lead to a ge- nuinely good and fruitful life or, in a more cynical vein, values that would help them get on in the world. I list some of the best: Self-improvement: morbid preoccupation with self e.g. jogging.

Self-expression: bad manners.

Honour the old: T.V. repeats.

Quick reward: not deferred enjoyment e.g. this competition.

Question 6: set by Kingley Amis.

What were the other designations of The Secretary, Gogol, the Marquis de St Eustache, Gabriel Syme, Professor de Worms, Dr Bull and The President?

Answer: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from The Man who was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton.

Question 7: set by Richard Ingrams. In 1977 I proposed in my Spectator column a 'Society for the Extermination of Russell Harty'. Which well-known working-class playwright and which distinguished car- toonist applied for membership?

Answer: Frank Norman was the playwright and Giles was the cartoonist. Their names were given in the issue dated 2 July 1977.

Question 8: set by Dame Edna Everage. a) What is Dame Nellie Melba supposed to have advised her EEC opposite number Dame Clara Butt to warble on her Antipo- dean tour?

b) What did Dame Nellie Melba later claim to have really said?

Answers: a) 'All I can say is sing 'em muck. It's all they understand.'

b) 'I've never said anything of the kind to Dame Clara Butt or to anyone else. Please will you give the story in the book an un- qualified denial. All my life I've spent working for the cause of art in Australia and to improve Australian standards of ap- preciation. I cannot understand the origin of it.' The story is related in Melba by John Hetherington (Faber 1967).

Winners

First Prize: 1934 Daimler saloon won by W. Gutteridge, 35 Fieldhead Gardens, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire.

Second Prize: A case of Johnnie Walker Cardhu Malt Whisky won by T. Miller, 9 Bartholomew Villas, London NW1.

Third Prize: A Targa 1005 gold Sheaffer fountain pen won by D.P.M. Michael, 28 Fields Road, Newport, Gwent.

The special British Airways Prize for Students: Two return tickets to anywhere in the world on the British Airways network won by C.S. Miller, 58 Cambridge Road, Seven Kings, Ilford, Essex. Theatre

NTIONAL THEATRE 01-928 2252 OliAvier Theatre (Open Stage): JEAN SEBERG THE RIVALS, TALES FROM HOLLYWOOD. Lyttelton Theatre Proscenium Stage): MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS (not Cinderella as originally scheduled). Coltesioe Theatre (Small Auditorium): GLENGARRY GLEN

ROSS (not Maste as THE STORY OF A HORSE by Mark Rozovsky from a story by Leo Tolstoy. ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY 01-528 8795/638 Lectures GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE Tuesday 28 February. Dr Gerd Krumeich (Dusseldorf): -Poincare and the French Government in the July Crisis of 1914'. The seminar will be held at 5pm in the Seminar Room of the German Historical Institute, 17 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2LP.

Tuition PORTUGUESE: Telephone 01-935 8641. Poetry

POETRY & JAZZ at Photographer's Gallery, 5 Gt Newport St, WC2 (Leicester Sq tube) to launch A Celebration of Frances Horovitz (New Departures 16) - Jeff Nuttall, A & M Horovitz, women poets, actors & many others. Thurs 1 March 8pm, £2.00.

For Sale