Trivia Question of the Day

[Karearea]

Re 3033.

I was interested in your use of the word "stave".

I cannot remember hearing the word used in that context before but my OED (Oxford English Dictionary for the heathens among us) tells me that it is an acceptible use.

One learns something new every day.

Not mine, but Charles Dickens' - that is what he called the "chapters" of the story.

[Hydromet]

Hydro.

If you know the theme of it, you may guess when it was written.

Mrs Ex.

Not Grey's anatomy.

Early-ish 20th Century, if it helps.

I knew the context and therefore an approximate date, but I googled to check if one of my authors was correct. Neither were, and I wouldn't have ever guessed the correct answer.

[talmacapt]

I suspect one of your authors may have a christian name beginning with W and the other's christian and surname begin with the same letter.

And therein lies a clue.

[talmacapt]

I have, unintentionaly, misled you.

I had thought my man was a contemporary of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, both WW1 poets.

Looking him up, I see that he was of WW2.

The poet's name is Henry Reed.

"The naming of parts" was my introduction to English literature, in 1958, and was a particular favorite of the English master.

It is part of a collection which, to my mind, emphasises the futility of war.

It is one of those things that stays with one for life.

I suggest that Hydromet picks up the baton.

[Hydromet]

Thank you, Talmacapt. WO & SS were my two possibilities. I didn't check the year and also assumed it was WW I.

OK, on a similar theme, who graffiti'd the wall when he heard that Britain had declared war on Germany? Bonus point - what wall.

[talmacapt]

Total guess, Oswald Moseley or one of his followers?

[talmacapt]

The wall.

Maybe the Palace of Westmister, aka the houses of parliament, but, perhaps, it is more mundane than that and is 10 Downing Street.

[talmacapt]

If not Moseley, maybe one of the Sitwells.

[Hydromet]

Not Moseley or a follower. The Graffiti was not malicious, and the location, whilst 'stately', was less so than Westminster or Downing Street. The graffiti is still there.

[Hydromet]

Going quiet, so a clue. He was painting the wall at the time.

[Groundgripper]

Churchill At Chartwell?

GG

[Hydromet]

Not Churchill, but I see where you're coming from.

The location is now a National Trust house, SW of London, and the wall is an interior one.

[Hydromet]

All gone quiet. If it's not answered in four hours I'll post the answer and declare open house.

[Hydromet]

Okay, time's up. The graffitist was Rex Whistler, who was painting a trompe l'oeil wall at Mottisfont House when he heard that war had been declared. He made a note of the event on the wall.

Highlights of the house

Tucked high in one wall of the Whistler Room is a poignant, secret message from the artist, painted just before he left for active service, where he was killed in the Second World War.

Open house is declared.

[Ex-Ascot]

Gone a bit quiet. What is a hectogon?

[llondel]

I would assume a shape with a hundred sides. Same root as hectare.

[Ex-Ascot]

I would assume a shape with a hundred sides. Same root as hectare.

Llondel in the chair.

[llondel]

OK, a bit of US history. Trump is attempting to become the second person to have two non-consecutive terms as President of the US, which would be #45 and #47.

Who was the first, and what were his numbers?

[PHXPhlyer]

Grover Cleveland
#+2

PP

[llondel]

OK, to keep things moving, yes, it is Grover Cleveland, 22 and 24.

PHXPhlyer in the chair.