Answers: Christmas Reading
Introduction
The Christmas Reading theme was Orange which naturally led, by devious means, to The Orange Brewery in Pimlico [5]. The date and time to turn up at this pub are shown as the dates of the 'book signing sessions' on the cover. The elephants that were used as buttons in the web version of the clues did not have any significance (they do not appear in the printed version), but one team suggested that this indicated that these clues were a "white elephant".
The fictional books were previewed by Gavin Hadder (anagram for Dave Harding) and Sambo Cloup (anagram for Paul Coombs). It should have been no surprise to find the authors' names were also anagrams. The titles given were spoofs on the real titles. In three cases, pictures of the authors were included - the exception being Anthony Burgess where the book cover was used as an obvious clue.
The Books
A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore [3] (a.k.a A Season’s Charm by Doreen Humnel). The Christmas Reading cover was taken directly from the paperback version of this novel. The book was the first winner of the Orange prize for fiction in 1996. The 'review' had references to SW1 and SW2 which are both beers brewed in the Orange Brewery in Pimlico, and Pimlico was also mentioned in the review.
Accordion Crimes by E Annie Proulx [3] (a.k.a. Bandoneon Felonies by Roxanne Peuli). This came second in this year’s Orange prize behind Fugitive Pieces but Dave felt it deserved to win so included it as the reference. The Gavin Hadder review contained a forward reference to Stage 2 pub, The Good Yarn [11].
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson [1] (a.k.a. Nell Gwynn’s Motto by Nanette Jo Westiner). The book attributes the phrase to Nell Gwynn.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess [1] (a.k.a. Metronomic Mandarin by Anton Burghessy).
The Pubs
The non-fiction review of pubs was based on the Evening Standard London Pub Guide 1997 by Angus Gill. The picture of The Sherlock Holmes is from its front cover and this was too good an opportunity to miss a link to the next stage of the Hunt [10]. The review of The Thomas Waring was a pr�cis of the Guide’s review of The Archery Tavern (see The Archers section) -Thomas Waring is the chap drawing his bow on The Archery pub sign [5]. The review of The Bacchus Head was taken from the Guide’s comments on The Orange Brewery. This pub has a head of Bacchus looking down from the arch over the corner doorway [5].
The Zodiac and The King Henry are loose references to themes in the subsequent stages in Hunt, astrology and Falstaff respectively [9], Falstaff of course, appears in Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V.
The Literary Quiz
Several of the answers had 'orange' references...
1. How can you win a "Bessie"? The winner of the Orange Prize for fiction wins �30,000 and a trophy called a Bessie [8]. There seem to be all sort of other awards so named, including one for services to the Canadian advertising industry, but this was the one we were looking for.
2. Which Canadian poet won the Commonwealth Prize for the Americas, and with what collection of work in 1986? Anne Michaels, who won the 1997 Orange Prize with Fugitive Pieces, won the Commonwealth Prize for Americas in 1986 with The Weight of Oranges [7].
3. What linked Margaret Atwood, Deidre Madden and Jane Mendelsohn in 1997? All were shortlisted for the Orange Prize: Margaret Atwood for Alias Grace, Deidre Madden for One by One In The Darkness and Jane Mendelson for I Was Amelia Earhart [4].
4. In what did Miss Jenkyns and Miss Maddy indulge when withdrawing to the privacy of their own room? Eating oranges [3]. This useless piece of information can be found in Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell - the novel which played a major role in the 1994 Armchair Treasure Hunt. Dave had to find some use for the copy that he bought then.
5. What is the difference between the male and female editions of the Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic? According to Pablo, his is an excellent pseudo-history of a mythical peoples, along with their legends and folklore. There is one paragraph different on page 293 of the paperback edition [4] following the sentence "And he gave me a few of the Xeroxed sheets of paper lying on the table in front of him."
FEMALE
"As he passed them to me, his thumb brushed mine and I trembled from the touch. I had the sensation that our past and our future were in our fingers and that they had touched. And so, when I began to read the proffered pages, I at one moment lost the train of thought in text and drowned in my own feelings. In these seconds of absence and self-oblivion, centuries passed with every read but uncomprehended and unabsorbed line, and when, after a few moments, I came to and re-established contact with the text, I knew that the reader who returns from the open seas of his feelings is no longer the same reader who embarked on that sea only a short while ago. I gained and learned more by not reading than by reading those pages, and when I asked Dr. Muawja where he had got them he said something that astonished me even more. "
MALE
"And he gave me a few of the Xeroxed sheets of paper lying on the table in front of him. I could have pulled the trigger then and there. There wouldn’t be a better moment. There was only one lone witness present in the garden – and he was a child. But that’s not what happened. I reached out and took those exciting sheets of paper, which I enclose in this letter. Taking them instead of firing my gun, I looked at those Saracen fingers with their nails like hazelnuts and I thought of the tree Halevi mentions in his book on the Khazars. I thought of how each and every one of us is just such a tree the taller we grow toward the sky, through the wind and rain toward God, the deeper we must sink our roots through the mud and subterranean waters toward hell. With these thoughts in my mind, I read the pages given me by the green-eyed Saracen. They shattered me, and in disbelief I asked Dr Muawja where he got them."
According to a review found by one team "The difference does inflect the narrative, adding the issue of gender to its critical meditation on the place of the reader in the practise of writing". Couldn't have put it better myself.
6. What began "Miss Tasso Polk at 10.10 alighted from the elevator onto the olive tiles of the 19th floor only slightly nagged by the sense of something being wrong"? This was the opening paragraph to the whodunnit, Murder Makes the Magazine [4]. The paragraph was penned by John Updike. From the beginning of August 1997, and lasting for 45 days, wannabe writers contributed subsequent paragraphs, which could not be more than 300 words, to an Amazon web site. There was a rolling prize of $1,000 for each best continuation with a final $100,000 prize awarded randomly to the contributors. Updike then penned the final paragraph although at this point the Internet site could not be accessed due to demand. It was estimated that over 16,000 people entered the competition each day.
Again no connection to themes but a reminder that the ATH is now more readily solved through the use of the Web and perhaps one day we will organise a contributing ATH.
7. What comes next in the sequence In a Free State, G, The Siege of Krishnapur? The Conservationist and Holiday come next as joint winners of the Booker prize in 1974 [3].
8. Who lodged at the Garter Inn, Windsor? Sir John Falstaff and his pals in The Merry Wives of Windsor [3]. A forward reference to Stage 3.
9. An unknown rustic, Spedegue is taken to Lords to win a famous victory over Australia. Who wrote this story and where can it be found? The tale can be found in The Maracot Deep and Other Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle [9]. This piece of information came from a review by Frank Keating of a new biography of Arthur Conan Doyle by Martin Booth. It appears that Sir Arthur was cricket mad - even appearing in matches with W G Grace. There is a theory that Sir Arthur loosely named his great detective after the Nottinghamshire bowler F J Shacklock (1883-93, 360 wickets at 18 average) and the sleuth’s brother after Derbyshire’s W Mycroft (1873-86, 534 wickets at 11). This was a link to the next stage of the Hunt.
10. Which Earl's father was satirised in the character of Polonius, and what is his family crest? Edward de Vere was the 17th Earl of Oxford. His father-in-law, William Cecil, was allegedly satirised as Polonius in Hamlet. The Oxford family crest was a blue boar. The question was supposed to hint at the Oxford Blue (Windsor), the relevant pub in Stage 3 [8].
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