Ihope you enjoyed January’s questions and even managed to answer a few. This month’s quiz is about memorials and monuments in London. As before the correct answer will turn green when it’s clicked upon and expanded to give more information. The incorrect answers will turn red giving the correct explanation.
1. Which Blue Plaque uses the typeface designed by its recipient?
Edward Johnston
CORRECT Johnston’s eponymous font was introduced onto London’s transport system in 1916 and with minor modifications is still in use. The blue plaque at 3 Hammersmith Terrace is the only one using a typeface designed by the person so commemorated.
William Caslon
WRONG Johnston’s eponymous font was introduced onto London’s transport system in 1916 and with minor modifications is still in use. The blue plaque at 3 Hammersmith Terrace is the only one using a typeface designed by the person so commemorated.
Emery Walker
WRONG Johnston’s eponymous font was introduced onto London’s transport system in 1916 and with minor modifications is still in use. The blue plaque at 3 Hammersmith Terrace is the only one using a typeface designed by the person so commemorated.
2. What is Florence Nightingale’s statue made from?
Bronze
WRONG The statue of Florence Nightingale on the north terrace of St. Thomas’ Hospital is an oddity, the bronze original was stolen in 1970 and has never been recovered. Its replacement is a plastic-composite.
Plastic
CORRECT The statue of Florence Nightingale on the north terrace of St. Thomas’ Hospital is an oddity, the bronze original was stolen in 1970 and has never been recovered. Its replacement is a plastic-composite.
Marble
WRONG The statue of Florence Nightingale on the north terrace of St. Thomas’ Hospital is an oddity, the bronze original was stolen in 1970 and has never been recovered. Its replacement is a plastic-composite.
3. Why was Ben Jonson buried standing up?
To use less space
CORRECT Approaching death in considerably reduced circumstances, Ben Jonson managed to bag a place at Westminster Abbey in Poet’s Corner, by having a plot of only 18in square. Paying just eighteen pence for the inscription the stonemason misspelt his name: O Rare Ben Johnson. I guess you get what you pay for.
He said he would never lie down to die
WRONG Approaching death in considerably reduced circumstances, Ben Jonson managed to bag a place at Westminster Abbey in Poet’s Corner, by having a plot of only 18in square. Paying just eighteen pence for the inscription the stonemason misspelt his name: O Rare Ben Johnson. I guess you get what you pay for.
They couldn’t find a casket long enough
WRONG Approaching death in considerably reduced circumstances, Ben Jonson managed to bag a place at Westminster Abbey in Poet’s Corner, by having a plot of only 18in square. Paying just eighteen pence for the inscription the stonemason misspelt his name: O Rare Ben Johnson. I guess you get what you pay for.
4. Who has the most equestrian statues in London?
Queen Victoria
WRONG Arthur Wellesley, otherwise known as the 1st Duke of Wellington, can be admired in two public statues, both equestrian. One stands in front of the Royal Exchange above Bank station, the other lurks close to his former home of Apsley House on Hyde Park Corner. Once an enormous equestrian statue stood on top of Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, hated by the public it has long since moved to Aldershot Barracks. Queen Victoria has, at more than 10, the most statues in London, but none seated on a horse. Churchill has three, one of which is sitting, not on a horse but on a bench with Theodore Roosevelt.
Winston Churchill
WRONG Arthur Wellesley, otherwise known as the 1st Duke of Wellington, can be admired in two public statues, both equestrian. One stands in front of the Royal Exchange above Bank station, the other lurks close to his former home of Apsley House on Hyde Park Corner. Once an enormous equestrian statue stood on top of Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, hated by the public it has long since moved to Aldershot Barracks. Queen Victoria has, at more than 10, the most statues in London, but none seated on a horse. Churchill has three, one of which is sitting, not on a horse but on a bench with Theodore Roosevelt.
Arthur Wellesley
CORRECT Arthur Wellesley, otherwise known as the 1st Duke of Wellington, can be admired in two public statues, both equestrian. One stands in front of the Royal Exchange above Bank station, the other lurks close to his former home of Apsley House on Hyde Park Corner. Once an enormous equestrian statue stood on top of Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner, hated by the public it has long since moved to Aldershot Barracks. Queen Victoria has, at more than 10, the most statues in London, but none seated on a horse. Churchill has three, one of which is sitting, not on a horse but on a bench with Theodore Roosevelt.
5. Sir Sidney Waterlow’s statue can claim a first. What is it?
He holds an umbrella
CORRECT In Waterlow Park off Highgate Hill the statue of Sir Sidney Waterlow Bt, MP is almost certainly the first statue ever to depict a man with an umbrella. He also holds a key, signifying his generosity in giving the eponymous park to the people.
He holds a key
WRONG In Waterlow Park off Highgate Hill the statue of Sir Sidney Waterlow Bt, MP is almost certainly the first statue ever to depict a man with an umbrella. He also holds a key, signifying his generosity in giving the eponymous park to the people.
He holds some scales
WRONG In Waterlow Park off Highgate Hill the statue of Sir Sidney Waterlow Bt, MP is almost certainly the first statue ever to depict a man with an umbrella. He also holds a key, signifying his generosity in giving the eponymous park to the people.
6. A carving of St Matthew in Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey could be a world’s first. Why?
Jesus is looking over his shoulder
WRONG St. Matthew is reading a book wearing a pair of glasses.
He is wearing spectacles
CORRECT St. Matthew is reading a book wearing a pair of glasses.
The Devil is under his foot
WRONG St. Matthew is reading a book wearing a pair of glasses.
7. William Huskisson has what claim to fame?
He opposed female emancipation
WRONG In Pimlico Gardens stands a toga-wearing William Huskisson, a man whose sole distinction was to be the first man ever to be knocked down and killed by a train, dubbed ‘Boredom rising from the Bath’.
His statue celebrates the freedom to wear one’s choice of clothing
WRONG In Pimlico Gardens stands a toga-wearing William Huskisson, a man whose sole distinction was to be the first man ever to be knocked down and killed by a train, dubbed ‘Boredom rising from the Bath’.
He was killed by a train
CORRECT In Pimlico Gardens stands a toga-wearing William Huskisson, a man whose sole distinction was to be the first man ever to be knocked down and killed by a train, dubbed ‘Boredom rising from the Bath’.
8. John Wilkes has a life-sized statue on Fetter Lane, what is unique about it?
He has an extra finger
WRONG Once given the accolade as ’the ugliest man in England’ John Wilkes’ statue on Fetter Lane faithfully reproduces his likeness and is thought to be the only cross-eyed statue to be found in London, his other attributes: protruding jaw, dropsically ugliness, a pug-jawed appearance are to be found, but his spectacular drunkenness has not been reproduced standing upon his plinth striking a frankly rather camp pose.
He has one ear
WRONG Once given the accolade as ’the ugliest man in England’ John Wilkes’ statue on Fetter Lane faithfully reproduces his likeness and is thought to be the only cross-eyed statue to be found in London, his other attributes: protruding jaw, dropsically ugliness, a pug-jawed appearance are to be found, but his spectacular drunkenness has not been reproduced standing upon his plinth striking a frankly rather camp pose.
He has a squint
CORRECT Once given the accolade as ’the ugliest man in England’ John Wilkes’ statue on Fetter Lane faithfully reproduces his likeness and is thought to be the only cross-eyed statue to be found in London, his other attributes: protruding jaw, dropsically ugliness, a pug-jawed appearance are to be found, but his spectacular drunkenness has not been reproduced standing upon his plinth striking a frankly rather camp pose.
9. Fred Peters has what unique inscription on his memorial plaque?
A Braille inscription
CORRECT Written in Braille, a memorial tablet is affixed to the railings of St. John’s in Hackney. It is in memory of ‘Blind Fred’, apparently a cheery match seller who for many years had his pitch on this spot.
A map
WRONG Written in Braille, a memorial tablet is affixed to the railings of St. John’s in Hackney. It is in memory of ‘Blind Fred’, apparently a cheery match seller who for many years had his pitch on this spot.
His poem
WRONG Written in Braille, a memorial tablet is affixed to the railings of St. John’s in Hackney. It is in memory of ‘Blind Fred’, apparently a cheery match seller who for many years had his pitch on this spot.
10. The Achilles statue on Park Lane has had what addition?
A sword
WRONG Nude and originally anatomically correct, if you get my drift, but after the women who had paid for its erection realised that all parts of a man’s anatomy scale up in size proportionately, a fig leaf was added later to save blushes. The addition has been chipped off twice – in 1870 and 1961, probably to see what’s underneath.
A fig leaf
CORRECT Nude and originally anatomically correct, if you get my drift, but after the women who had paid for its erection realised that all parts of a man’s anatomy scale up in size proportionately, a fig leaf was added later to save blushes. The addition has been chipped off twice – in 1870 and 1961, probably to see what’s underneath.
A shield
WRONG Nude and originally anatomically correct, if you get my drift, but after the women who had paid for its erection realised that all parts of a man’s anatomy scale up in size proportionately, a fig leaf was added later to save blushes. The addition has been chipped off twice – in 1870 and 1961, probably to see what’s underneath.
CabbieBlog 