Answers: The Archers
Introduction
The Village Voice was a spoof broadsheet on The Archers, that everyday story of country folk. The main intent was to allow teams to find the Archery Tavern in Bathurst Street [5]. The theme hinted strongly at archery, and this was also substantiated by two quiz questions whose answers were Robin Hood and William Tell. The address, Bathurst Street, was hinted at in the Football section on page 2 with the completely fictitious story about Borchester Rovers.
Most articles contained genuine information culled from books and the genuine Ambridge Village Voice published for members of the "Archers Addicts" club. Yes, in the interests of the ATH, Dave took out membership for a year. If you want to join, then call up http://www.archers-addicts.com or drop them a line on [email protected]. The layout of the ATH Village Voice owes a lot to this real broadsheet.
Some details for interest. The article on the Berrow Estate was drawn from Archers research except for the 'haywain' picture which was a graphic supplied with CorelDraw. The Midsummer Night's Dream article was included due to the enjoyment of listening to the episodes during the summer as rehearsals preceded the real event in September. The cricketing article shows Dave’s predilection for sport and highlighted the usual debate about family vs sport. The Boules story, Remember September 1981 and the Silage article are all fictionally real (oxymoron). The Eddie Grundy snippet was a spoof from a similar one seen in an issue of Village Voice and was included to insert the Good Yarn reference.
The photo of the Am and Lyttleton Bridge was genuine and seemed the most obvious way of getting Ambridge into the broadsheet. Its donation by Usha Gupta was made up. The drawing of The Bull was stolen from a book as was the recipe for Sussex Pond Pudding which I hope no one tried as it looks disgusting. The Curious Facts were culled from various sources. The RATS section pinpointed the dates to be at The Archery Tavern as well as highlighting beers that could be tasted as the Hunt progressed. The RATS acronym owes its place to a notice in a pub in St Ives that Dave visited on holiday this year.
Forward References
There were forward references to Stage 2 and 3 pubs and themes. The Good Yarn was referenced in Eddie Grundy’s piece [10] and The Oxford Blue was hinted at when Richard Snell was given an unearned distinction in the cricket article [13].
Sir John Falstaff, a Stage 3 theme, makes an appearance as the answer to question 10 in the quiz.
The "Coming Soon" section referenced Sherlock Holmes, Read your Stars (Astrology) and a trip to Windsor (Old Windsor is where the Oxford Blue is located) [11].
Most of the rest of the material was padding, on the principle that the best place to hide a leaf is in a forest.
Christmas Quiz
1. The Sony Gold Award is normally given to individuals, What was the first exception? In 1987 the award was presented to The Archers for its outstanding contribution to broadcasting [5].
2. Why did Anna Ford have to issue an apology during 1997? Ms Ford quaintly described Simon Pemberton from The Archers as a "shit" which prompted those reserved Radio 4 listeners to inundate the BBC with calls of complaint. Gentle persuasion resulted in Anna’s subsequent apology [3].
3. What links Richard Greene, Errol Flynn and Kevin Cosner? They have all played that most famous archer of all - Robin Hood. Those of my advanced years remembers Richard Greene nostalgically for his performances on TV in the 1950s [1].
4. When Prince Charles was accused of dallying with Camilla, who was suspected of dallying with Dolly Treadgold? Eddie Grundy from The Archers [6].
5. The Radio Times always devotes its front cover to an event in the future. What was the exception? The Radio Times cover carried pictures from the wedding of Shula Archer to Mark Hebden. These were taken by Lord Lichfield. The wedding had taken place in a broadcast from the previous week [7].
6. Friday 29th May 1989 was franked on every letter in the land by the Royal Mail. What was the occasion? The 10000th episode of The Archers [9].
7. What tune has been claimed to have been heard 48 times during the 24 hours as the Earth turns? In the heyday of the World Service it was estimated that Barwick Green, the theme tune to The Archers, was heard this often [3].
8. On January 1st 1986, Glenys Kinnock proposed the toast. Who replied? Nelson Gabriel. The Kinnocks are avid fans of The Archers [7].
9. How did Princess Margaret and the Duke of Westminster promote the NSPCC cause on June 22nd 1984? By appearing on The Archers, of course [4].
10. Who, disguised as Herne the Hunter, suggested that the sky could thunder to the tune of Greensleeves? Sir John Falstaff, the hero of Stage 3 of the ATH, greeted Mistress Ford in Windsor Park with the following lines:
"My doe with the black scut! Let the sky rain potatoes. Let it thunder to the tune of ‘Greensleeves’, hail kissing-comfits, and snow eringoes. Let there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here."
As he was standing dressed as Herne the Hunter with a buck’s head upon him, you may conclude that he was under the influence - unless you can make better sense of such dialogue. This action takes place in the Merry Wives of Windsor so providing some pointers to Windsor and Sir John [4].
11. Who played The Merry Widow Waltz to his weaners? Neil Carter’s passion was never more demonstrated than when he played music to his piglets. The mention of "Merry Widow" may have helped with the previous question but no one got this one right [14].
12. The band Ruth performed their single I Don't Know on the National Lottery live this year. The band was named after "the most beautiful voice on radio", Whose? The band is named after Ruth Archer, played by Felicity Finch [2].
13. Thursday 22 September 1955 saw the launch of ITV. This was overshadowed by an event to which The War Cry devoted its entire front page. What was it? The death of Grace Archer. One enterprising team actually has a copy of the edition extracted from the War Cry archives [1].
14. What work opens on the shores of Lake Lucerne with a triple wedding celebration? Guillaume Tell by Rossini. This question was inspired by another 1950s TV series about a well-known archer [7].
15. Can you connect Elvis, Madonna and Marilyn? In the Spring of 1993, a peacock appeared at The Bull in Ambridge. It was christened Eccles by Sid Perks. Sid and Kathy were so enamoured that when Eccles disappeared they arranged to get three more from Lower Loxley. These were named Elvis, Madonna and Marilyn. All three came to sad ends: two were found in the village pond and the third was run over after a rowdy night at the Bull. Eccles reappeared and took up residence again [8].
16. What links Richard Derrington, Terry Molloy and Alison Dowling? (apologies for the misspelling - blame my handwriting). The obvious link is that they have all appeared in The Archers. The less obvious one is that they also all appeared in Jupiter Moon, an old BSB science fiction series produced by a former producer of The Archers [11].
Who Were They?
The private detective was LEW ARCHER from The Moving Target (and others) by Ross MacDonald [6]
The person rescued by her aunt Mrs Touchett was ISABEL ARCHER from The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James [4].
The schoolteacher was LIND ARCHER from Wild Geese by Martha Ostenso [11].
The Crossword
Correct, or nearly-correct solutions scored [4].
Other Answers