Yesterday on Coronation Street Quest‘s Twitter we asked:

Who bought a dog called Mr. Woo in 2002?
a. Eileen Grimshaw b. Rita Sullivan c. Geena Gregory

Coronation Street Quest is a board game designed to not only test your encyclopaedic knowledge of Corrie, but also beef up what you already know.

So, did you know the answer is b. Rita Sullivan?

Maybe you did.

However, did you know this juicy morsel of Corrie trivia?

Seeking company in her old age, Rita purchased Mr.Woo from a customer at The Kabin. While Rita went away on a cruise, Emily Bishop agreed to look after the dog.

Unfortunately, Norris Cole accidentally killed Mr. Woo by feeding him too much chocolate. He bought an identical-looking replacement, only for Rita to decide to sell him to some breeders upon her return.

If you did, then congratulations; you really do know your Corrie.

If not, then don’t worry. Coronation Street Quest board game comes with a Quest Quiz book within which are all sorts of extra pieces of information to help expand your knowledge of your favourite soap.

Coronation Street Quest publishes daily Quest Quiz Questions on Twitter and is active on Facebook.

Yesterday we asked the following question on English Quest‘s Twitter:

How many Football Association Cups (FA Cup) have there been?
a. two b. three c. four

Footie fans will know that the answer is, of course, four.

However, did you know this:

The first trophy in 1892 was won by the Wanderers. This trophy was later stolen, prompting a new trophy in 1896, won by Sheffield Wednesday. In 1910 this trophy was withdrawn after the design was pirated. Messrs Fattorini and Sons of Bradford designed a new trophy, and Bradford won the first new trophy in 1911. After 80 years of wear and tear that trophy was replaced with an exact replica in 1991.

Possibly not!

And that’s where English Quest board game aims to educate as well as entertain. More info on our website!

English Quest publishes a daily Quest Quiz Question on Twitter and has a growing community of English history and heritage fans on Facebook.  Become part of it!

Which of the following did not die in a car crash?

a. Judy Mallett b. Len Fairclough c. Don Brennan

This was the question asked on yesterday’s Coronation Street Quest Twitter update.

How is your Corrie knowledge?

Sometimes we can answer a question, but we can’t remember the details surrounding the characters or circumstances described.

That’s where the Quest Quiz Book comes in so handy when playing Coronation Street Quest.

Questions with additional background information are identified by a small, black dot.

Find the relevant question in the Quest Quiz Book supplied with Coronation Street Quest and you’d get this helpful paragraph:

Which of the following did not die in a car crash?

a. Judy Mallett

Judy was involved in a minor skirmish when another motorist rammed Vera Duckworth’s car in a car park. She suffered pains in her leg for days afterwards but refused to see a doctor, and died of an embolism alone at home. It later came to light that Vera’s son Terry had sold his mother the car, knowing that it was a death trap.

It really is the best way to not only test your Corrie knowledge, but also fill in some of the gaps too.

Follow Corrie Quest on Twitter and become part of the community of Coronation Street fans on Facebook.

We all know that being a Scot is something special to be treasured.

But would you lie about being Scottish when you weren’t?

Yesterday’s question on Scottish Quest‘s Twitter feed was:

Where was the actor David Niven born?
a. London b. Lossiemouth c. Kirriemuir

This may seem like a strange question to be asked while playing the Scottish Quest board game.

But the little black dot next to the question indicates that there’s more info on the answer to be found within the pages of the Quest Quiz book.

So, for those curious about the answer to this one:

Where was the actor David Niven born?

a. London

David Niven told everyone, even his children, that he was born in Scotland in the Angus village of Kirriemuir. The truth was he was born in London as revealed in his birth certificate, which was discovered after his death.

So proud to be a Scot, even though he wasn’t!

Follow Scottish Quest on Twitter and join our clan on Facebook.

Yesterday on the Welsh Quest‘s Twitter feed we asked you a question about Mount Snowden:

How far above sea level is the peak of Mount Snowden?
a. 1085m b. 1285m c. 1485m

The answer is 1085 metres.

The Welsh Quest board game aims to be educational, as well as fun to play. To that end we endeavour to supply you with more information about some of the answers.

So, if you’d been asked this question while playing Welsh Quest, you’d have noticed a small, black dot on the question card.

That means there’s more information on the answer within the Quest Quiz Book.

Find the question in the book and you’ll learn this:

Mount Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) is the highest peak in the Snowdon range, and indeed in Wales. The name ‘Wyddfa’, first recorded circa 1284, means ‘summit cairn’. It is thought that the name Snowdon is derived from old English words ‘snaw’ (snow) and ‘dun’ (hill), with the Latinised form of the name ‘Snowdonia’ referring to a wider range of the mountains.

There you go; fun and educational, all in one package.

Follow Welsh Quest on Twitter to test your knowledge of Wales on a daily basis. Find us on Facebook too.

Yesterday  we asked on the Irish Quest Twitter feed:

Which of these is widely regarded as Ireland’s finest treasure?

a. Book of Armagh b. Book of Kells c. Book of the Dun Cow

If you’d been asked this while playing the Irish Quest board game you would be able to get additional information about the answer.

A little black dot next to the any question indicates that the Quest Quiz book has more to tell. Simply locate the question in the book to find:

Which of these is widely regarded as Ireland’s finest treasure?

b. Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript and one of the finest examples of Western calligraphy. The main content is the four versions of the Gospel in the New Testament which were translated into Latin by Celtic monks in about AD 800.

You can have a look at some of the stunning caligraphy found in the Book of Kells here.

Keep up to date with Irish Quest, and answer our daily Quest Quiz Questions, on Twitter. And be sure to join our growing community on Facebook.

As previously reported on the blog, the 100,000th copy of Scottish Quest was presented to birthday boy Eddie Gordon.

This landmark has attracted a bit of press here in the UK!

• Rutherglen Reformer reports “Cambuslang man presented with 100,000th copy of famous board game.”
• The Scotsman’s Business Pages reports “Scottish Quest – a game plan that really paid off.”

You can see more photos of Eddie and the 100,000th copy of Scottish Quest here.

Congratulations, once again to Lynne for her achievements, and to Eddie for his!

If you want to test your knowledge of Scottish history, heritage and culture, follow Scottish Quest on Twitter for daily Quest Quiz Questions and join our clan on Facebook.

Last week on the Welsh Quest Twitter page you were asked:

‘Cnapan’ or ‘knapan’ is said to be an ancient form of C which of the following?

a. rugby b. shinty c. tennis

Welsh Quest board game comes with a Quest Quiz Book designed to give you additional information about the quiz questions you’re answering.

Any questions with a black dot next to them can be located in the Quest Quiz Book, and in this case you’d learn that the answer is a. rugby.

However, you’d also pick up this gem:

Cnapan was a game played between large groups of people from different parishes in the Middle Ages with a small, hard, wooden ball (the ‘cnapan’) that had been soaked in fat to make it more slippery.

The goal in this somewhat violent game was to ensure that the ball reached the church in the team’s parish by whatever means possible!

Some of the loose rules of the game are similar to rugby football, so cnapan has a good claim to be the ancient basis of today’s modern rugby football game.

Maybe cnapan and rugby aren’t that different after all; violent men struggling to handle a oddly shaped, slippery ball.

Not too sure about the “soaked in fat” aspect, however. Unless it applies to this guy;

Get more Welsh Quest Quiz Questions every day on Twitter and become part of our family on Facebook.

This week on Scottish Quest’s Twitter page we asked:

Which indigenous Scottish bird would you associate with a popular brand of Scotch whisky?

a. osprey b. red grouse c. ptarmigan

The answer to this will be well known to any fan of Scotch whisky blended in Scotland; b. red grouse.

When you play Scottish Quest we aim to educate as you go along! To that end you’ll noticed black dots next to some of the questions on the cards.

This black dot indicates that there is additional information to flesh out the answer on the card.

So, locating the question above in the Scottish Quest Quiz Book reveals the following little gem of trivia;

The ‘Famous Grouse’ is an international best-selling blend of Scotch whisky, blended from the Glenturret single malt made in Scotland’s oldest single malt distillery, and is also very popular in Greece.

Now you can impress your friends over your next tipple of Scotch whisky with your font of knowledge, thanks to Scottish Quest.

Keep up to date with the daily Scottish Quest Quiz Questions on Twitter and join our growing clan on Facebook.

Have you joined our growing community on Facebook? We have one for each game:

• Coronation Street Quest
• English Quest
• Irish Quest
• Scottish Quest
• Welsh Quest

And if you’re partial to all of our games, then head on over to the Quest Board Games Page.

This week on the Irish Quest Twitter and Facebook we asked:

Which famous building was designed by James Hoban of County Kilkenny?

a. Buckingham Palace b. Scottish Parliament c. White House

The answer, of course, is the White House.

If you’d been asked this question while playing Irish Quest board game, you’d have noticed a small, black dot next to the answer. This tells you that there’s more information to be found in the supplied Quest Quiz Book.

Simply look up the question in the book, and here’s what you’d find:

After training as a carpenter and studying architecture in Ireland, James Hoban emigrated to Philadelphia in 1781 and in 1792 won a competition to design what later became known as the White House, the home of the USA President.

Imagine winning a competition to design the home of the most powerful man in the world!

And yet, that’s exactly what happened to Irishman James Hoban, going from his childhood in a thatched cottage on the Earl of Desart’s estate in Cuffesgrange, near Callan in Co. Kilkenny, all the way to Washington DC.

His initial design seems to have had a 3-story facade, 9 bays across (like the Charleston courthouse). Hoban amended this to a 2-story facade, 11 bays across, and, at President Washington’s insistence, the whole presidential mansion was faced with stone.

Hoban lived the rest of his life in Washington, D.C., where he worked on other public buildings and government projects, including roads and bridges.

For daily Irish Quest Quiz Questions, be sure to follow us on Twitter and become part of our community on Facebook.

On Monday we asked:

The answer supplied on the English Quest card is “6 feet”. However, the black dot on the question card indicates players can get additional information on the answer from the English Quest Quiz Book.

A large powerful yew bow was favoured by English archers. It was used to good effect in the Hundred Years War, to the point that the French removed the first two fingers from prisoners’ hands in order to stop them from being able to draw the bow.

This also explains where the “rude” two-finger gesture comes from…!

Get more questions about English history, heritage and culture from English Quest on Twitter each day and become part of our growing community on Facebook.

Yesterday we asked;

Who was charged with the murder of Tony Horrocks in 2000? a. Colin Barnes b. Vinny Sorrell c. Jez Quigley

If you’d been asked this while playing Coronation Street Quest, you’d have noticed a black dot next to the question. This means you can find additional information about the answer in the supplied Quest Quiz Book.

Simply locate the question in the book and you’ll find this piece of juicy info:

After admitting to Tony’s murder to Steve McDonald, Jez went on trial, with Steve and Tony’s mother Natalie testifying against him. They were horrified when he was acquitted and swore vengeance on Steve.

Ooer. So, the answer to the question posed yesterday was c. Jez Quigley, but the blighter only got off with it!

Get daily Coronation Street Quest Quiz Questions on Twitter and become part of our growing community of fans on Facebook.

As previously reported here on the The Quest Board Games blog, Scottish Quest’s 100,000th copy was sold recently.

And, as it turns out, it was a double celebration!

Eddie Gordon was celebrating his 50th birthday and was thrilled to receive a copy of Scottish Quest as a gift. However, what he didn’t realise was that his copy was the 100,000th copy of the game.

Entrepreneur Lynne Cadenhead, inventor of the game, presented the 100,000th copy of Scottish Quest to Eddie Gordon personally.

She visited his home in Cambuslang on Burns Night to hand over the milestone edition, which was a 50th birthday gift from his partner Elaine.  She also presented Eddie with some celebratory 100,000th balloons and a luxurious Burns Supper to mark the occasion.

Lynne Cadenhead, owner of 1745 Trading Company, launched Scottish Quest in 2004 and it is now one of Scotland’s best selling board games.

She commented; “We wanted to mark this milestone sale of the board game which set Quest on the road to success, so I’m thrilled that it was purchased by someone who is such a committed fan of all things Scottish.”

Image By Falling Sky

Eddie Gordon first played Scottish Quest during a holiday in France last year and enjoyed the game so much that he wanted a copy for himself.

It appealed to his interest in Scottish history and the outdoors.

Demand for stock was so high at the end of 2010 that the game sold out just before Christmas, so he was unable to get a copy.

After finding out from Eddie’s partner Elaine that he was celebrating a milestone birthday, Lynne Cadenhead went through her Dundee warehouse again and found what turned out to be the 100,000th edition of the game to be sold since 2004.

She commented, “I wanted to honour this exciting sale and after finding out that Eddie was such a fan and was celebrating his 50th birthday in January, I was determined to track down a spare copy in our warehouse.  Then when I inputted it to our sales records, I realised that we had hit the 100,000th mark, which was brilliant.”

Eddie Gordon said; “I was thrilled when I found out that I’d bought the 100,000th copy of Scottish Quest and for Lynne to deliver it personally made it even better. We played it several times on holiday in France last year with friends and I really enjoyed it.

It’s great fun and very educational and I’ve learned a lot about Scotland without even realising.

We’re now looking forward to sitting down as a family over our Burns Supper and giving it a go!”

Keep up to date with Scottish Quest on Facebook and receive daily Quest Quiz Questions on the Scottish Quest Twitter.

Yesterday on Scottish Quest, via Twitter, we asked

Which bridge features in Burns’ poem ‘Tam O’Shanter’?

The answer, of course, is “Brig O’ Doon.

If you’d been asked this question while playing Scottish Quest family board game, you’d have noticed a black dot next to the question.

Locating the question in the supplied Quest Book gives you more info on the answer!

This bridge features in the climax of Burn’s famous epic poem ‘Tam O’Shanter’ where Tam’s horse Meg leapt for freedom, leaving her tail in the clutches of the Cutty Sark witch. The witch was unable to cross the bridge due to the running water underneath.

Get daily Quest Quiz Questions from Scottish Quest, test your knowledge of Scotland! Follow us on Twitter and became a part of our community on Facebook.

Scottish Quest asked Douglas Martin of the Dalry Burns Club to explain to us what’s so special about Robert Burns.

Robert Burns and Dalry Burns Club

Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) was a Romantic poet born in humble circumstances in Scotland who became world-famous.  His writings on life, love and liberty have delighted and inspired not only native Scots but a worldwide audience of admirers.

Born in Alloway in Ayrshire, Burns endured a life of impoverished hardship, farming on a succession of poor steadings until he secured employment with the government Customs and Excise office.

Although his life and loves have been the subject of much research and deliberation, it is Burns’s works that have secured his place in the pantheon of great writers.

By the age of twenty-seven, his first collection of poems had been published.

The ‘Kilmarnock Edition’ confirmed the poet’s ability to write grippingly on a wide range of subjects: from nationalism to nature and from love and beauty to social deprivation.

Burns might properly be regarded as proto-Romantic in content and style and his influence is evident in the work of later Romantics, such as Wordsworth, Shelley and Coleridge.

His influence also spread to the United States, with vernacular poets such as Riley and Stanton being among his admirers.  Burns was also the poet of the people in pre-Soviet Russia, where his socialist perspective struck a chord.

A Russian translation of Burns’s work, begun in 1924, sold over 600,000 copies.

‘Tam O’Shanter’ is probably the poet’s best-known work.  An epic narrative poem, this work, full of carousing and witchcraft, ends with a warning on the adverse effects of strong drink.

Many of Burns’s poems reflect the difficult social conditions prevalent in Scotland in the eighteenth century and others rail against the unbalanced social hierarchy of the time.  Other works are more light-hearted and revel in the jollity and fulfillment to be found in genuine friendship.

Burns’s love songs are, arguably, unequalled.

Listen to ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ or ‘My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose’ and the poet’s heartfelt appreciation of true love will become apparent.  Apart from writing original lyrics, Burns set out to collect Scottish folk-songs, using his skills to refurbish many old Scots songs.

Robert Burns died in Dumfries in July, 1796 at the age of thirty-seven years.  His legacy is profound and far-reaching and his memory and works are preserved and appreciated by Caledonian Societies and Burns Clubs throughout the world.

What’s So Special About the Dalry Burns Club?

Dalry Burns Club was established in 1825 in the town’s ‘Montgomerie’s Inn’ (now the ‘Turf Inn’) when Hugh Morris and Andrew Crawford were elected Chairman and Secretary.

The first Anniversary Dinner, in January 1826, was attended by twenty local men, the majority of whom were weavers.  Since then, the Club has held an Anniversary Dinner each year, with the result that Dalry Burns Club has the longest, continuous record of dinners – or ‘Burns Suppers’ – in the world.

With such a long period of celebrating the life and works of the poet, Dalry Burns Club has established a number of traditional elements.

The Club’s membership is currently limited to 90 (there’s a waiting list for membership) and all toasts, poetry readings and musical items are delivered by Club members; no outside performers are employed.

Apart from the ‘Memory of Burns’, the most important toast of the evening is the ‘Memory of Jean Armour’, rather than the more commonly heard ‘Toast To The Lassies’.

The records and artifacts of the Club are known collectively as the ‘Cairn’.  The member who compiled the earliest archive of the Club was William Logan of Coldstream, who was Chairman in 1864.  It is thanks to William Logan that the Club has records dating back to its inception.  In 1888, the landlord of the ‘Turf Inn’ donated several items to the Club, including two toddy ladles, which had been used at anniversary dinners since the earliest days.  As a receipt for dues paid, members received a measure of whisky from the ‘Tappit Hen’ and this tradition continues to this day.

In recent years, the Club archive has been transferred, as far as possible, to the internet and the records are available on the Club’s website at www.dalryburnsclub.org.uk.

The Club is a registered Scottish Charity (No 038312) and is a member of The Burns Federation.  While the Anniversary Dinner remains an important aspect of the Club’s activities, regular Club meetings are held throughout the year and the Club also arranges visits to Burns-related sites and events, such as the ‘Holy Fair’ at Mauchline.

The Club raises funds to sponsor arts-related activities in local schools.  For many years, verse and singing competitions have been supported by the Club and, more recently, an art competition was inaugurated.

Club funds are also used to finance the expanding website: apart from the Burns Club archive, there are extensive photographic records of ‘Old Dalry’ and ‘Dalry School’ and both sections of the website attract interest and additional material from contributors.

The Club is proud to have supported the ‘First Edition’ project, which saw a replica of the printing press used for the ‘Kilmarnock Edition’ built and installed in the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock.

The Club has also raised funds to purchase a Houston painting, ‘The Turf Inn’, which was reproduced on the cover of the programme for the Centenary Dinner of 1925.  George Houston F.R.S.A. was a noted artist who was born in Dalry and was Chairman of Dalry Burns Club in 1907.  The painting now hangs in the local library.  The Club also contributed funds towards the development of the National Trust Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway.

The Club’s most recent endeavour has been the production of the Scottish Quest Robert Burns Quiz E-book.

With the encouragement and support of Lynne Cadenhead at 1745 Trading Co Ltd, over 200 questions have been amassed and published as a downloadable quiz.  Questions range from very easy to rather more difficult and the quiz is suitable for all ages.

Yesterday on Scottish Quest we asked “What was Robert Burn’s first song?” And the answer is “Handsome Nell“.

Do you have a favourite song from The Bard? Let us know in the comments.

Yesterday on Coronation Street Quest‘s Twitter feed we asked:

Who left her husband-to-be standing at the altar in 2005? a. Sarah Platt b. Cilla Brown c. Shelley Unwin

The answer is Shelly Unwin.

Now, if you’d been asked that question while playing the family board game Coronation Street Quest, you’d have noticed a black dot next to the question.

That means there’s an additional explanation to the answer to be found in the supplied Quest Book. All you need to do is find the question in the book. Here’s the explanation:

As she prepared to speak her vows to Charlie Stubbs, Shelley finally realised that her friends had been right about him all along. After accusing him of robbing her of her self-esteem, Shelley turned on her heel and fled the church.

What would a soap wedding be without a dramatic walk-out?

If you think you know Weatherfield, then be sure to check out Coronation Street Quest on Facebook and Twitter!

To mark Burns Day, we’re offering a Special Edition “Robert Burns Quiz E-Book“.

Its the ideal way to challenge those know-it-alls at your Burns Supper!

All proceeds from the E-Book are going to Dalry Burns Club (Registered Scottish Charity SC 038312) to further the club’s charitable activities to promote Scottish heritage and culture.

So, celebrate Burns Night and learn something new about the Bard into the bargain.

Keep up to date with Scottish Quest in the lead up to Burns Night on our Facebook Page and test your knowledge of all things Scottish with our daily Quest Quiz Questions on Twitter.

Yesterday on the Irish Quest Twitter stream we posed you this question:

What Was Mary McMullen Noted For?

If you’d been asked this question while playing the Irish Quest family board game, you’d have noticed a black dot next to the question.

This denotes that a further explanation to the answer is available in the the Quest Quiz Book.

Locating your question in the book provides you with a bit more detail on the answer. So, regarding Mary McMullen we learn:

Born in 1764, Mary McMullen left Ireland to go to England and became famous in the fashionable sport of the period – walking for money – becoming known as the ‘Female Pedestrian’, walking whilst dressed in full Victorian clothes. Her favourite feat was completing a walk of 148 km in under 24 hours.

We’re not sure ‘Female Pedestrian’ walking is the most boring sport in history or the most ingenious…Is it too late to get it added to the 2012 Olympics?

Get daily Quest Quiz Questions from Irish Quest on Twitter, follow us and test your knowledge of Ireland! And become part of our community on Facebook.