"How High The Moon"? Trivia Quiz

Answer: 252,000

The orbit of the moon around earth is elliptical rather than circular, so at times it is nearer to us than at others. When it is at the furthest point away from us it is 252,088 miles. Moon landings were all timed to take place when the moon was nearest to earth.

The Apollo 11 landings took place four days after they left earth. However, the New Horizons spaceship, which is going to Pluto, arriving some time in 2015, flew past the moon just over 8 hours after leaving earth. It was travelling at around 58,000 miles per hour.

Answer: Wiltshire

The term goes back to the days when the smuggling of French brandy and other items was rife in rural England. Wiltshire had several smugglers routes from the coast to customers further inland crossing it. The tale goes that contraband had been hidden in a village pond to keep it away from the revenue officials searching for it.

The smugglers went out at night to retrieve it, but were surprised by the revenue officials. They explained their actions by pointing to the reflection of the full moon in the water, saying they were trying to rake in the big cheese. Dismissing them as simple village idiots the officials went on their way, leaving the smugglers to retrieve their goods.

Answer: The Moon and Sixpence

"The Moon and Sixpence", published in 1919, is the story of Charles Strickland. He is an English stockbroker, who, in middle age, abandons his wife and family in order to pursue his dream to become an artist. He goes to Tahiti, has two children with a native woman, and finally dies of leprosy.

The book is loosely based on the life of Paul Gauguin.

"The Moon's A Balloon" is an autobiography by David Niven.
"How High The Moon" is a record by Les Paul and Mary Ford.
Moonshine is an illicit drink.

Answer: That's Amore

The first line of the song is "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore". It was ideal for the 1982 romantic comedy "Moonstruck", which starred Cher and Nicholas Cage.

The song first featured in the 1953 Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis comedy, "The Caddy". It was Oscar nominated for best song, but lost out to "Secret Love" from "Calamity Jane".

In the UK soccer fans have their own parody of the song, "When the ball hits your head and you're sat in row Z, that's Zamora". This is in honour of footballer Bobby Zamora. It started when he was playing for Brighton and Hove Albion and has followed him around from club to club ever since.

Answer: Pete Conrad/Alan Bean

After the successful moon landing in July 1969 NASA swiftly followed up with Apollo 12 in November the same year. The two astronauts from that flight who walked on the moon were Pete Conrad and Alan Bean. This was followed by Apollo 13, which suffered a malfunction and did not land, and there was then a gap to 1971 and Apollo 14, which saw Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell take their moon walk. John Young and Charles Duke were Apollo 16 in April 1972, and the Apollo programme ended at the end of that year with Apollo 17.

James Lovell and John Swigert were on the Apollo 13 mission so never had their chance to walk on the surface of the moon.

Answer: David Bowie

"Moon" was the first feature film directed by Duncan Jones, the son of David Bowie. He also co-wrote it. For a first film it did well, winning two British Independent Film Awards, and also a BAFTA. It stars Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell, a man nearing the end of three years mining helium on the moon.

He is on his own and starts having hallucinations. A crash of his lunar rover vehicle and an overheard conversation between the artificial intelligence installed in his base and earth leads him to discover that he is in fact a clone, one in a series.

As each clone deteriorates and dies another is activated with a memory of just starting the 3-year tour implanted in them.

Answer: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson

"Space 1999" was the last series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson as a team. Much of it came from work they had already done on a second, never made, series of UFO which was to be set on the moon.

The programme ran for two series between 1975 and 1977 and was based on the premise that a nuclear explosion on the moon knocked it out of orbit and sent it drifting off into space. The various adventures and tribulations of the moon base personnel formed each episode. The two main stars were Martin Landau and Barbara Bain with Barry Morse also being a regular.

Although the introduction of new characters to the regular cast was difficult, due to the premise that the crew of the moonbase were stranded and no-one could reach them, various guest stars made appearances in the guise of aliens who were encountered as the moon flew through space. These included Christopher Lee, Joan Collin and Peter Cushing.

Although a third season was planned it never happened, so the series was never brought to a resolution.

Answer: Cat Stevens

"Moon Shadow" was one of Cat Steven's favourite songs. It was originally released as a single in 1970, and then appeared again on the 1971 album "Teaser and the Firecat". In 2012, he wrote a musical based on his life called "Moonshadow", but unfortunately it had a very mixed reception and closed four weeks early. Cat Stevens had several well-known recordings under that name, his other most familiar one is probably "Matthew and Son". In 1977 he converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Under that name he has won several awards for his work in promoting world peace including the 2004 Man of Peace Award.

Shane Fenton became Alvin Stardust.
Paul Gadd was Gary Glitter.
Harry Webb is the birth name of Cliff Richard.

Answer: Meredith Gentry

Meredith Gentry features in a series of books by Laurel K. Hamilton. She is one of the possible heirs to the throne of the Unseelie Court, but constant assassination attempts have her hiding out in modern-day America and working as a private investigator. Her aunt, Queen Andais is constantly searching for her. Eventually she finds her, and they come to a sort of alliance. Whichever of the possible heirs, Meredith, or her cousin, the Queen's son, becomes first to produce a child, will be the heir. This puts Meredith's life in even more danger. Meredith first appeared in "A Kiss of Shadows" in 2000.

Titania and Cobweb are both from Shakespeare, and Anita Blake is the chief protagonist in the "Vampire Hunter" series, also by Ms. Hamilton.

Answer: Moonglow

"Moonglow" was written in 1933 and was first recorded by Joe Venturi and his orchestra. Originally it was written to be performed in 4/4 time, but over the years it has become almost more of a jazz standard, especially as performed by Billy Holliday and Sarah Vaughan.

Although the writers, Will Hudson, Irving Mills and Eddie DeLange are not normally regarded as being "Great American Songbook" writers, "Moonglow" has become very much an American classic standard.