MANY CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FANTASTIC WINNER! Well done Wayne from Hertford for his brilliant entry – here are the answers in full:
ANSWERS TO STANLEY JOHNSON & FAMILY QUIZ
1) What is Stanley Johnson’s greatest political achievement?
A. He was MEP for the Isle of Wight.
2) What is the name and nationality of Stanley’s grandfather?
A. Ali Kemal Bey, Turkish journalist.
3) When asked what was the source of the Johnson family’s sense of humour, what did Stanley reply?
A. b) Their blond hair.
4) What long established tradition was Rachel Johnson responsible for abolishing when she was at Ashdown School?
A. Corporal punishment. Rachel was discovered having a midnight feast and was given the option of losing two half holidays or being beaten. She chose the beating. The Head, realising he could not beat a girl, abolished the punishment for the whole school.
5) From this list of famous people: Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Benjamin Disraeli, William Wilberforce and Pericles, select the hero of : a) Stanley Johnson b) Boris Johnson.
A. Stanley’s hero is Winston Churchill. Boris’s hero is Pericles.
6) What sport do Stanley and Boris play together?
A. Squash. (They also play tennis).
7) What literary award did Rachel Johnson win?
A. The annual Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Fiction Award for Shire Hell . See the report here .
8) From this list of famous films, select the favourite of (a) Stanley and (b) Boris.
A. (a) Stanley’s favourite film is “Chariots of Fire”. (b) Boris’s favourite film is “Jaws” and this has given rise to one of his most hilarious jokes. When first running for Mayor of London, Boris declared that another of his heroes was the Mayor of Amity.
9) Stanley Johnson has always firmly believed in the value of a classical education. Could you therefore give an example of praeteritio, using Boris Johnson’s speeches on the website http://boris-johnson.com/ as evidence.
A. “…Praeteritio is a common tool of persuasive speech. A skilled practitioner can ruin an opponent’s reputation while seeming reluctant to do so…”
Praeteritio is a form of irony. It means saying one thing, but meaning another.
A fuller explanation of the term is given in the link below.
http://www.tocquevillian.com/articles/0008.html
Articles by Boris that make use of praeteritio are “MPs’ expenses” “Ayatollah Khomeini” and “Simon Heffer” amongst others.
10) How did Boris Johnson come to be called Boris?
A. Boris is named after Boris Litwin, a White Russian whom Stanley and Charlotte Johnson met in Mexico City. Boris Litwin gave the Johnsons two first class tickets to New York, so that Charlotte, who was 8 months pregnant, could avoid a long and uncomfortable bus journey. In gratitude, Stanley named his first born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
*You can meet Stanley Johnson at the Windsor Festival on Friday 2nd October when he is giving a talk and signing books*
See you at the Festival! It will be the funniest event they have
Wayne, you are an intellectual Colossus! This was not an easy quiz. You have triumphed where others fell by the wayside and a crown of laurel leaves should be yours.
Having recovered from the shock of winning – thanks to Boris & Co for setting the quiz.
Got to confess I almost gave up several times, some of the questions were near impossible to answer, but it became fun in my determination to complete all of them.
I was worried my guess (incorrect) on Stanley’s favourite film would dent my chances – would love to know where that little gem of information is online…
Pleased as punch and glad I persevered over many weeks. Stanley Johnson has led an interesting & fascinating life, as I’ve learned!
Thanks very much and I look forward to the next quiz.
Wayne from Hertford
What a great picture of Stanley Johnson (he looks so handsome) and of Boris. (Aaaaah!)
Wayne there were a couple of questions in the quiz that entrants were supposed to use their knowledge of the characters of Stanley and Boris to guess what their favourites would be. These were questions 3 and 8. Well, we said it was a hard quiz!
well done buddy
Some might consider this piece to be too self-congratulatory, but rather than criticise we should dwell instead the achievements of the Johnson family.
Tiresias, it’s not self-congratulatory, because no-one from the Johnson family wrote it! It was compiled by the Editor and aides.
Well done Wayne!!!
Hey there, Wayne my old chap! Proud as punch – well done you. Hey everyone, I know him. Isn’t he clever? I think the prize should be tea with Boris. If you get invited, you can take me as your guest. WELL DONE, WAYNE.
I like your twitter account Wayne of Hertford!
Boris has obviously gained another fan in Lorraine, a lovely lady I know from twitter! (Army family background, staunch Tory, has had a very exciting career herself…..)
Quite a twitter community here – Lorraine what is your @ …..
Hi there Melissa. Thanks Angela for that wonderful introduction. We all sound such luvvies don’t we! My account on Twitter is @lorryholly. Hope to get to know you on there. Make sure you tell me it’s you as I block most new followers.
Don’t you think we ought to have a little ‘get to know you’ do? We could all take tea with Boris and have a luvvies love fest!
Hi Angela, how clever to include questions 3 & 8, blonde hair was logically guessable, Q8 really had me stumped. I’d wager Where Eagles Dare was Stanley’s favourite film pre Chariots of Fire release!
Thanks Angela as one of the first ‘real people’ I met on Twitter – you’ve introduced me to everything Boris (our future MP)& more in my case lol!
Cheers hammeruk14 – and also Lorraine (aka @Lorryholly on Twitter – Boris is far too busy for tea & cakes??)for kind comments.
A final thanks to Melissa for running the site and organising the quiz, I’ll certainly contribute as much as possible on forums in future…it’s refreshing to use more than 140 characters engaging with like-minded people!
Respect to Boris, for being Boris Johnson!
Wayne from Hertford
Wayne, the idea was not to have a quiz that you could just look up all the answers on the internet. Hence the questions where you had to use imagination to guess the fave movie of SJ and BJ, and what Stanley’s answer would be to the question about the family sense of humour. (If I had not known the answer, I would have plumped for the raw fish theory.)
It’s hard to get your head round the concept of praeteritio, but once you do, it is amazing to discover how often this form of irony is used by politicians, some more subtly than others.
Once Boris was asked what advice he would give anyone in life, and his advice was “Never give up”. You certainly didn’t.
Hi tweet friends lorry, wayne and angela!
I would love a tea fest and it would be wonderful to achieve that one day
xxx
Even the Windsor Festival is following the twend
@windsorfestival
http://twitter.com/WindsorFestival
Really look forward to it. xxx
Hello. I am a young blogger writing pieces on domestic and international current-affairs. I write from a right-of-centre standpoint and offer insightful, original and at times, controversial commentary on contemporary political developments. Please do have a read if you get the opportunity on my blog, ‘A Right Perspective’:
http://ddtaylor88.wordpress.com/
Good site Dan!
Many thanks for the book Melissa, arrived this morning! Looking forward to reading….
Oh oh, Mr. Genius! He will be charging for us to speak to him on twitter…….
Hi Wayne
Am so so happy you got the book! I wanted you to have it before the Windsor Festival but will ask Stanley for a special personal message for you and will send that under separate cover.
Congratulations to you and your wife on your amazing achievement in answering so many answers correctly. Angela – he must be a genius, as so many are on twitter. Twemendous
Recently conservative MP Ann Widdecombe wrote an article about Boris Johnson’s remark that non-Muslims might like to fast for a day at Ramadan.
http://bit.ly/4jvpLK
One sentence said “I am a great fan of the London Mayor and some of his gaffes have given me a good laugh.”
Is this an example of praeteritio?
catherine
>One sentence said “I am a great fan of the London Mayor and some of his gaffes have given me a good laugh.”
Is this an example of praeteritio?
Yes, she is highlighting a good point about the Mayor in one breath and then slamming him down at the next.
Melissa, exactly! No-one can say we don’t learn from these pages!
Miss Widdecombe must have forgotten that David Cameron, went to live with a Muslim family for a week to better understand the culture when he first became party leader. This is behaviour that Miss Widdecombe described in her article as “patronising”.
Far from being stupid, the Mayor has shown himself to be spiritually aware, tolerant and also in line with the thinking of President Obama, who would certainly agree wholeheartedly with his statement. Is it Miss Widdecombe who is behind the times and on the wrong track here?