Merry Christmas to all our readers. I had planned to do some posts earlier in the week, but at rather short notice I had to prepare the index for one of my forthcoming books. I fear the excitement of it all rather engrossed me. Anyway, watch this space for posts on peers’ expenses and the costs of the House of Lords (the two are not synonymous) and the fact that 2010 is not the start of a new decade. (I write as one who got the Government to concede that 2000 was not the start of the new millennium.) In the meantime, here’s the promised bumper Christmas quiz. As a festive incentive, the first three readers to submit the correct answers will be the winners.
1,. Which peer regularly submits the most parliamentary questions for written answer?
2. Which peer is noted for collecting political cartoons and has published cartoon histories of prime ministers and monarchs?
3. The front page of the guide to business in the House carries a picture of the chamber. There are three peers sat in wheelchairs behind the Clerks’ chairs. Can you name two of them?
4. Which former law lord, now a Justice of the Supreme Court, is married to a member of the Court of Appeal?
5. Which baroneses on the Conservative benches have husbands sitting in the House of Commons?
6. Which cross-bench peer is a Commander of the Order of the Lion (Finland), Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Sweden) and Knight of the Order of Dannebrog (Denmark)?
Please tell me the excitement was over the new book(s) and not the preparation of the index!!
1) Lord laird
2) Baker of Dorking
3) Masham of Ilton/Countess of Swinton, not sure on the others
4) lord mance
5) Bottomley of Nettlestone, Lady Hogg/Viscountess Hailsham.
6) lord Williamson of Horton has the Polar Star among many foreign orders so I’ll take a punt!
2. Lord Baker of Dorking
4. Lord Mance
5. Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone
Viscountess Hailsham (Baroness Hogg)
1) Lord Laird
2) Lord Baker of Dorking
3) I’m going to hazard a very uncertain Baroness Masham of Ilton and Viscount Ingleby
4) Lord Mance, to Lady Justice Arden
5) Baroness Hogg, married to Douglas Hogg MP; Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, to Peter Bottomley MP
6) Lord Williamson of Horton? Can’t find anyone else to be awarded the Order of the Polar Star, but perhaps I’m not looking hard enough.
Merry Christmas, Lord Norton!
I wonder if I could change my answer to number 6 to Baroness D’Souza? I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a convenor of the cross-bench thing, and the only source I have says that Lord Williamson of Horton got a different degree of the order…
It’s a tough one! This is what I’ve come up with so far:
1. Lord Laird
2. Lord Baker of Dorking
3. Baroness Masham of Ilton,
4. Lord Mance
5. Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, Baroness Hogg
6. Viscount Craigavon
One answer is missing for Q3 and I’m also uncertain about one or two of the others. I’ll keep looking until the answers are announced!
1. Lord Laird
2. Lord Baker of Dorking
3. Lord Ashley of Stoke and Baroness Masham of Ilton
4. Lord Mance
5. Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone and Baroness Hogg
6. Viscount Craigavon
I’m sure this will be far too late – and wrong as well …
1. Lord Laird
2. Baron Baker of Dorking
3. Baroness Masham of Ilton in the middle I think & I am guessing that one of the men is Viscount Ingleby who died in 2008
4. Lord Mance is married to Lady Justice Arden
5. Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Peter Bottomley); Viscountess Hailsham, The Baroness Hogg; (Viscount Hailsham, Douglas Hogg); Baroness Maddock (Sir Alan Beith); Baroness Paisley of St George’s (Ian Paisley) – I hope that’s all
6. Viscount Craigavon
Lord Norton:
Thank you for the invitation to tea as a winner of three quizzes. Unfortunately, although I would very much like to meet you, I am rather farther away than my email address indicates, and for this reason it will not be possible for me to take it up.
Jana
I am rather farther away than my email address indicates, and for this reason it will not be possible for me to take it up….Jana.
I think you should make a special journey, rather than let Lord Norton get away with such tricky brain teasers.
I got Lord Craigavon straight away, but the others left me stuck as to where to find the info, or in three cases how to remember what I have known for so long, that I had forgotten.
I say! The HofL must be like that; you are reborn (in to a second childhood?) and you have forgotten everything you ever knew. That is why noble peers use the expression “In a former incarnation!”
Interesting how many have got Danneborg Orders.
What do ‘disenfranchised’/’disbarred’ young peers do about their title these days? Just call themselves Mr. Jones, and leave the nomenclature ‘Lord’ to septa/octo members and non-democratic cabinet ministers?
I know what Jana, will you choose me as your proxy? I am so mean that a coffee and a biscuit in the Tea Room would go a long way!
Happy New Year Gareth
“… will you choose me as your proxy?”
I’m not sure the prizes are transferable, and in any case I have no doubt you can win it without any help.
Jana
1) Lord Laird
2) Lord Baker of Dorking
3) Baroness Darcy de Knayth; Lord Morris of Manchester
4) Lord Mance
5) Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone; Viscountess Hailsham (Baroness Hogg);
6) Viscount Craigavon
Croft: Perhaps I should have put excited in inverted commas. The clues were in the words (a) short-notice and (b) index. I could have added Christmas.
Jana: Thanks for letting me know. You are not our only overseas grand prize-winner. I am delighted that we have such an international audience.
As to the quiz, it was clearly a challenging one. The answers are:
1. Lord Laird. He is way ahead of everyone else in the House in terms of the number of questions he tables.
2. Lord Baker of Dorking.
3. Any two of Lord Ashley of Stoke, Baroness Masham of Ilton, and Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior.
4. Lord Mance, married to Lady Justice Arden.
5. Baroness Hogg (or, as Chris K. notes, Viscountess Hogg), married to Douglas Hogg MP (Viscount Hailsham), and Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, married to Peter Bottomley MP. The question related solely to Baronesses on the Conservative benches.
6. Lord Craigavon.
Questions 3 and 6 were clearly the ones that foxed most contestants. As a result, we have one prize-winner only this week. Congratulations to Michael, who answered all the questions correctly.
1) Lord Laird
2) Lord Baker of Dorking
3) Baroness Darcy de Knayth; Lord Morris of Manchester
4) Lord Mance…
1) Lord Laird
2) Lord Baker of Dorking
3) Baroness Darcy de Knayth; Lord Morris of Manchester
4) Lord Mance