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Quiz about McAuslan in the Rough  George MacDonald Fraser
Quiz about McAuslan in the Rough  George MacDonald Fraser

"McAuslan in the Rough" - George MacDonald Fraser Quiz


This is the second book from 'The Complete McAuslan', again dealing with the wonderful characters in a Highland regiment just after the Second World War. I hope that you enjoy it.

A multiple-choice quiz by Quiz_Beagle. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
Quiz_Beagle
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
269,034
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
204
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. In 'Bo Geesty', Dand MacNeill was anxious to get back to his first independent command at Fort Yarhuna, as second lieutenant Keith had been left in charge. Keith was only twenty years old and heaven knew what 'youthful folly he might commit' without Dand's greater age and judgement. How old and what rank was Dand? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. When the Highlanders got to Fort Yarhuna, it was a real 'Beau Geste' fort in North Africa, a fact that was not lost on McAuslan, who was evidently a great fan of the Gary Cooper film. What was the reaction of Dand (nicknamed Darkie) to McAuslan's remark 'Hey, mebbe Darkie'll prop up wir deid bodies like that ( ) o' a sergeant in the pictur'? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. In 'Johnnie Cope in the Morning', Dand described his recruit training, when he was woken from a sound sleep at 5.30 by a villainous orderly sergeant and made to scrub a six-foot wooden table with cold water. He used to contrast his ordeal with that of Louis XIV, who was woken by a velvet-soled shoed valet drawing the curtains back and whispering 'It is my humble duty and profound honour to inform your majesty that it is eight-thirty of the clock'. Dand used to dream of the orderly sergeant being transported back to old Versailles. What did he think would happen then? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. According to 'Johnnie Cope in the Morning', what was an effect of 'Johnnie Cope' played at six a.m. from approximately six feet away, through a thin shutter, full blast, 'with twenty pipers tearing their lungs out and a dozen side-drums crashing into the thunderous rhythm' on a 'refined and highly-strung subaltern' who was 'dreaming of Rita Hayworth'? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. 'General Knowledge, Private Information' told of the story of an inter-battalion quiz. Dand was apparently a fund of esoteric knowledge. What was not something he quoted as knowing? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. In 'General Knowledge, Private Information', Dand was asked 'What were the names of the five seventeenth-century statesmen whose initials made up the word "Cabal"?'. In a magnificent effort he got four of them. What was the one he missed? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. In 'Parfit Gentil Knight, But' the unsavoury McAuslan was smitten with the beautiful Ellen Ramsay, a colonel's daughter, after rescuing her from ruffians in the Old Suk. What was not a description of McAuslan from this story? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. In 'Fly Men', Dand had to round up 800 soldiers from an Arab town on a Saturday night with the threat of a smallpox epidemic, and mused on the strange things he'd had to do. What was not a duty Dand had been previously been detailed for in his brief army career as a subaltern? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The new Colonel of the battalion organised a golf match against the Royals - and McAuslan was a caddy. What was not something McAuslan did during the match? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. In 'His Majesty Says Good-Day' Dand and McAuslan were returned to civilian life. What did Dand say would be served at the War Office?

Answer: (One Word. French drink - suitable for celebration.)

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In 'Bo Geesty', Dand MacNeill was anxious to get back to his first independent command at Fort Yarhuna, as second lieutenant Keith had been left in charge. Keith was only twenty years old and heaven knew what 'youthful folly he might commit' without Dand's greater age and judgement. How old and what rank was Dand?

Answer: Twenty-one and a first lieutenant

'Keith was a mere pink-chipped one-pipper of twenty years,' whereas Dand 'had reached the grizzled maturity of twenty-one' and his 'second star'.
2. When the Highlanders got to Fort Yarhuna, it was a real 'Beau Geste' fort in North Africa, a fact that was not lost on McAuslan, who was evidently a great fan of the Gary Cooper film. What was the reaction of Dand (nicknamed Darkie) to McAuslan's remark 'Hey, mebbe Darkie'll prop up wir deid bodies like that ( ) o' a sergeant in the pictur'?

Answer: He thought 'I'll wear gloves if I prop you up'

McAuslan is notoriously dirty - probably the dirtiest soldier in the world. 'Bo Geesty' is a wonderful story about a buried treasure of over one million pre-war Italian lire and 'ghosts in the fort'. Note: For non-Scottish readers, there is a glossary to the book to explain some of the more obscure dialect words used. McAuslan actually said 'Hey, maybe Darkie'll prop up our dead bodies like that ( ) of a sergeant in the picture'.
3. In 'Johnnie Cope in the Morning', Dand described his recruit training, when he was woken from a sound sleep at 5.30 by a villainous orderly sergeant and made to scrub a six-foot wooden table with cold water. He used to contrast his ordeal with that of Louis XIV, who was woken by a velvet-soled shoed valet drawing the curtains back and whispering 'It is my humble duty and profound honour to inform your majesty that it is eight-thirty of the clock'. Dand used to dream of the orderly sergeant being transported back to old Versailles. What did he think would happen then?

Answer: All of these

Dand dreamed of the sergeant clumping 'into the Sun King's bedroom in tackety boots at 5.30, guffawing obscenely, thrashing the fire-irons against the fender, and bawling: 'Levez-vous donc, Jean Crapaud! Wake-eye, wake-eye! Getcher froid pieds on the chaud terre! I can see yer, you frog-eating chancer! Har! Har!' - a French version of what he went through. I believe this sort of training is now known as psychological and physical bullying, but it made some very fine soldiers.
4. According to 'Johnnie Cope in the Morning', what was an effect of 'Johnnie Cope' played at six a.m. from approximately six feet away, through a thin shutter, full blast, 'with twenty pipers tearing their lungs out and a dozen side-drums crashing into the thunderous rhythm' on a 'refined and highly-strung subaltern' who was 'dreaming of Rita Hayworth'?

Answer: Brought the sleeper out of bed like a galvanised ferret, blankets and all

'Johnnie Cope' is a fabulous pipe tune (yes, there is such a thing!) which commemorates the victory of the Highlanders in 1745 over the Hanoverian army, led by Sir John Cope - sometimes described as 'Bonnie Prince Charlie's finest hour'. The pipe band used to wake up the subalterns by playing this. Thanks to Lieutenant Mackenzie, this is stopped, and they all realise how much they miss it.

At the end of the story, the narrator says how sad he is that he will never again hear 'Johnnie Cope' in the morning.
5. 'General Knowledge, Private Information' told of the story of an inter-battalion quiz. Dand was apparently a fund of esoteric knowledge. What was not something he quoted as knowing?

Answer: How to dissect an adverbial clause

As Dand explains, his knowledge was all useless - other children knew such things as how to dissect an adverbial clause and 'the subjective of moneo'. This story was probably what made me a quizzer - the knowledge that I wasn't the only person with a head full of trivia. Apparently Casanova, Charlemagne and Hans Andersen were all born on 2 April.
6. In 'General Knowledge, Private Information', Dand was asked 'What were the names of the five seventeenth-century statesmen whose initials made up the word "Cabal"?'. In a magnificent effort he got four of them. What was the one he missed?

Answer: A - Arlington

Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington and Laurieston. Dand was very upset not to get Arlingon, as it was apparently 'the name of a private baths in the West End of Glasgow - if you can't remember that sort of thing, what can you remember?'. A sentence in this story makes me smile. Published in 1974, it says 'There are no such general knowledge quizzes nowadays'.

This was before 'Trivial Pursuit', pub quizzes and even funtrivia.com.
7. In 'Parfit Gentil Knight, But' the unsavoury McAuslan was smitten with the beautiful Ellen Ramsay, a colonel's daughter, after rescuing her from ruffians in the Old Suk. What was not a description of McAuslan from this story?

Answer: Tartan Caliban

McAuslan actually asks Ellen to marry him and is refused. He gets roaring drunk and spills his soul out to Dand in an extremely harrowing scene. McAuslan was described as a 'Tartan Caliban', but not in this story.
8. In 'Fly Men', Dand had to round up 800 soldiers from an Arab town on a Saturday night with the threat of a smallpox epidemic, and mused on the strange things he'd had to do. What was not a duty Dand had been previously been detailed for in his brief army career as a subaltern?

Answer: Deliver a sermon in Finnish

Dand had led an extremely varied existence, and comments that had he been asked to redecorate the Sistine Chapel or deliver a sermon in Finnish, he would hardly have batted an eyelid before running to the Regimental Sergeant Major (R.S.M.) for help. 'This was in the days when the British Army was still spread all around the globe, acting as sentry, policeman, nurse and diplomat in the wake of the Second World War, and getting no thanks for it at all'.

In the light of Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia et al, has anything much changed?
9. The new Colonel of the battalion organised a golf match against the Royals - and McAuslan was a caddy. What was not something McAuslan did during the match?

Answer: Gave the R.S.M. a number 9 iron in the bunker, with which he hit the ball right to the lip of the hole

McAuslan was illiterate, and couldn't read the club numbers. He actually gave the R.S.M. a number 2 club, a driving iron - totally unsuitable for playing out of a bunker. But the R.S.M. played a magnificent shot with it and tells McAuslan to get a pint of beer from the sergeant's mess (the back door!) and thanks McAuslan for being his caddy!
10. In 'His Majesty Says Good-Day' Dand and McAuslan were returned to civilian life. What did Dand say would be served at the War Office?

Answer: Champagne

The end of the story suggests that even when Dand had no further responsibility for McAuslan ('He was free, white (well, greyish) and twenty-one') he still felt for him. I hope you've enjoyed the quiz - I commend the books to you, and look out for the other two quizzes ('The General Danced at Dawn' and 'The Sheikh and the Dustbin').
Source: Author Quiz_Beagle

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