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Quiz about Bearing folk Witness by a Show of Hands
Quiz about Bearing folk Witness by a Show of Hands

Bearing folk Witness by a Show of Hands Quiz

The duo Show of Hands was formed in 1991, by two members of the English folk scene. In 2006 they released the album "Witness". Hopefully this explains the odd looking capitalisation of the title. This quiz is about the songs on the album.

A multiple-choice quiz by paper_aero. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
paper_aero
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
296,947
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
114
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Question 1 of 10
1. In "The Bet", an everyday story of money laundering, our protagonist finds a large sum of money close beside a crashed car. To account for this money he spends the next few weeks 'wandering through West Country towns' and placing bets at the bookmakers. Which of the following is not a town mentioned? Hint


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Question 2 of 10
2. In the "Innocents Song", who is the "laughing stranger with his hair as white as gin"? Hint


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Question 3 of 10
3. The song "Roots" bewails the apparent suppression of English heritage and tradition whilst all other cultures and traditions are supported and encouraged. Part of the song refers to a speech by a government minister in which he refers to his vision of hell as being certain elements of English tradition. Which government minister made this speech? Hint


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Question 4 of 10
4. In "The Bet" the hero of the song is down to £500 of his ill-gotten gains to launder and goes the festival at Cheltenham. He finds himself next to an Irishman putting £2,000 on a 20-1 outsider so he backs the same horse. What is the name of this long shot? Hint


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Question 5 of 10
5. In the song "Roots" which of the following forms part of the minister's "vision of hell"? Hint


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Question 6 of 10
6. The song "The Undertow" begins with the story of a young couple's dreams of upping sticks and emigrating from England. Which of the following does not form part of their hopes and aspirations? Hint


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Question 7 of 10
7. There was a film released in 1970 entitled "The Man Who Haunted Himself". That phrase would be an apt description of which of the following songs from the album? Hint


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Question 8 of 10
8. Most of the songs on the album are written by one (or both) of the duo, or are traditional and arranged by one (or both) of them. "The Innocents Song" is one exception to this general rule, the other exception on this album is "If I needed Someone" which is credited as being written by whom? Hint


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Question 9 of 10
9. The second half of the song "The Undertow" takes a darker turn when the narrator's best friend steals a car, goes for a joyride and then torches it. The car's owners take exception to this and inflict some summary justice. In fact he is left for dead. Based on the car number plates which part of England do the assailants inhabit? Hint


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Question 10 of 10
10. According to the song "Haul away Joe", what spoiled the constitution of King Louis of France? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In "The Bet", an everyday story of money laundering, our protagonist finds a large sum of money close beside a crashed car. To account for this money he spends the next few weeks 'wandering through West Country towns' and placing bets at the bookmakers. Which of the following is not a town mentioned?

Answer: Copthorne

 Copthorne is a village in Sussex in the south east of England. Many of the songs that Show of Hands have written, are filled with geographic references to the south west of England; other towns visited by the hero in the course of this song include Axminster, Bridgewater and Cheltenham.
2. In the "Innocents Song", who is the "laughing stranger with his hair as white as gin"?

Answer: Herod

 Having revealed the stranger's identity, the question in the lyrics, "What is he doing with the children?" becomes more worrying. This is one of the few songs on the album not written by either (or both) of Steve Knightley or Phil Beer. The words are taken from a poem by Charles Causley and the tune is by Johnny Copin.
3. The song "Roots" bewails the apparent suppression of English heritage and tradition whilst all other cultures and traditions are supported and encouraged. Part of the song refers to a speech by a government minister in which he refers to his vision of hell as being certain elements of English tradition. Which government minister made this speech?

Answer: Kim Howells

 Kim Howells was Culture Minister at the time he made the speech. Although he is Welsh he was at the time in the British government and his words upset some of those who enjoy English traditions. This song is one songwriter's response.
4. In "The Bet" the hero of the song is down to £500 of his ill-gotten gains to launder and goes the festival at Cheltenham. He finds himself next to an Irishman putting £2,000 on a 20-1 outsider so he backs the same horse. What is the name of this long shot?

Answer: Galway Bay

 The Irishman in question is the subject of the "The Galway Farmer", another Show of Hands song but from a different album. But in the song in question our hero walks away with £10,000. Then comes the sting in the tail (and in the tale,) of the song.
5. In the song "Roots" which of the following forms part of the minister's "vision of hell"?

Answer: Three folk singers in a pub near Wells

 The "minister" in question was a real government minister. The singer's retort is of his own vision of hell, which includes urban sprawl, pubs with people not singing at all, but staring at television screens displaying "overpaid soccer stars, prancing teens, Australian soaps, American rap".

The theme of the song is that all life, peoples and cultures need their roots to enable them to grow, and that includes the English.
6. The song "The Undertow" begins with the story of a young couple's dreams of upping sticks and emigrating from England. Which of the following does not form part of their hopes and aspirations?

Answer: Sunbathing in the Bahamas

 The song starts with the couple's desperation to avoid having to spend another winter in the English rain. Having decided that they need skills to avoid ending up even worse off, the plot seems to be heading in a positive direction. Things do not go so well in the second half of the song and the story takes a darker turn but that is the subject of a different question.
7. There was a film released in 1970 entitled "The Man Who Haunted Himself". That phrase would be an apt description of which of the following songs from the album?

Answer: Ink Devil

 The narrator's double, (the 'Ink Devil' of the title) seems to have a great life. Spending the night with the singer's ex girlfriend, selling the singer's clothes and records and being caught on camera doing the singer's job. "There I am on CCTV, doing my job much better than me." The other options are also songs on the album.
8. Most of the songs on the album are written by one (or both) of the duo, or are traditional and arranged by one (or both) of them. "The Innocents Song" is one exception to this general rule, the other exception on this album is "If I needed Someone" which is credited as being written by whom?

Answer: George Harrison

 Despite being considered part of the folk scene Show of Hands have recorded songs by all of these. It is probably not surprising in the case of Ralph McTell who is a very respected singer-songwriter on the folk scene in his own right. One example they have recorded of Ralph's work is "The Setting" on the CD "As You Were - Live on Tour 2004". They have also recorded "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" by Billy Joel on the album (appropriately enough) "Covers" and Kelly Joe Phelp's "Tommy" on the CD "Country Life".
9. The second half of the song "The Undertow" takes a darker turn when the narrator's best friend steals a car, goes for a joyride and then torches it. The car's owners take exception to this and inflict some summary justice. In fact he is left for dead. Based on the car number plates which part of England do the assailants inhabit?

Answer: London

 The offenders are not strictly identified but the lyrics do state that "...if he had seen the London plates, he never would have forced the locks." How they have identified the thief so fast is not revealed, a bit of a shame really as the police in this country could do with some hints to speed up apprehension of criminals.
The moral of this story is of course, don't mess with "southern softies".
10. According to the song "Haul away Joe", what spoiled the constitution of King Louis of France?

Answer: Decapitation

 To be precise the song states that he "got his head cut off", which is enough to upset the constitution of anyone. Since the preceding stanza tells us that he was "king of France until the revolution" we can deduce that this is a reference to King Louis XVI and his method of demise.
Source: Author paper_aero

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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Referenced Topics
Television   Music   General   People   English   Government   Vocabulary   England   Criminals   Albums   Cultures   Horse   Billy Joel   The Police   Show of Hands   George Harrison   1970s Country Music   Steve Knightley   Ralph McTell  

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