Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:


Q1. Lord's Seat


Q2. Petty France or possibly Little Britain (aka little Brittany) 


внимание друзья! for question 2, things get more than a little tricky, the poet John Milton lived at several addresses in London, ie Bread Street, Fleet Street, Aldersgate Street, Jewin Street, Artillery Walk (now Bunhill Row), Duck Lane, Little Britain and Little Britain. The Eastender is taking a punt on the answer being Little Britain, as it is listed as a street and was named after the dukes of Brittany or Robert le Bretoun and may fit with the clue about a small sounding version of France. There appears to be a Duck Lane in Soho, right next to one of the studios where the Beatle's 'White Album' was recorded, so would be too close for a distance of five miles from the studios. Things may be further complicated because some of the streets may also have been destroyed in the great fire of London. From some of the comments, Petty France (York Street) looks like a very good candidate also.

Very tricky this week, many false leads to follow regarding the poet's address but the initial clues seem to place us at Drum Castle, in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire. The fortress appears to be part medieval in origin, looks like it has a square tower, with subsequent modifications carried out by Jacobites and Victorians. It does have a historic rose garden, which the National Trust for Scotland's web site claims, was opened circa 1991.

Next to Ealing, where a novelist called Nevil Shute Norway was born, circa 17th January 1899. To call this guy a novelist, is to seriously understate his skillset. From reading some of his biographies, he appears to have been a polymath and entrepreneur, who designed and built aircraft and airships, as well as serving in various branches of the armed forces. Shute Norway published a novel called 'Pied Piper' c 1942, which is about an English teacher trying to smuggle a group of children out of Nazi occupied France, he is assisted in this endeavour, by a German officer who wanted to keep his niece out of the clutches of the Gestapo.

At five hundred and fifty two metres or one thousand, eight hundred and eleven feet in height, a fell called, 'Lord's Seat' lies next to the Whinlatter pass, in the lake district. Thence south east back to London and the Bank of England, which is allegedly known as 'The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street', due to being haunted by the ghost of Sarah Whithead, the Black Nun (who was said to be almost as 'orrible as the 'Blue Nun' from back in the seventies). The Bank of England was opened for business circa 1694 and has been operating from Threadneedle street since 1734. The ghost was scared off by the fierce Morlocks who run the place now.

South east of that position, would likely bring us to Maidstone, the county town of Kent and travelling west from there, on roughly the same lattitude, would bring us to the Bishop's palace at Wells, in Somerset. Apparently, the swans there, have been trained to pull a rope attached to a bell, which summons forth the staff to give them some bread. "Contes de ma mère l’Oye" translates to "Tales of Mother Goose" and Mother Goose, according to some sources, is buried in the church of St Olave's, Hart Street in London. The city of Sheffield's assay office once had the crown as it's mark but now has a rose.

This is where things become a little tricky. The song 'Blackbird' is from the Beatle's 'White Album' and the White Album was according to some of the references I checked, recorded at Abbey Road studios and Trident Studios, 17 St Anne's Court in SOHO (right next to Duck Lane). The poet John Milton was known as the 'Lady of Christ's' and seems to have lived in several addresses in London, ie, Bread Street, Fleet Street, Aldersgate Street, Jewin Street, Artillery Walk (now Bunhill Row), Duck Lane, Little Britain and Little Britain.  None of these look like they are five miles south east of Abbey road or Trident Studios but the one which could fit with a French connection and smaller version of France clue, is Little Britain (allegedly named after the dukes of Brittany or Robert le Bretoun and is described as a street in some sources). From reading some of the comments, Milton seems to have lived in an area called Petty France(York Street), which is a road in London and a much better fit for a very tricky question two...

The poet William Wordsworth (born c 1770) lived in Dove Cottage, Grasmere, in the Lake District for a time and one of the Designers of Tower Bridge in London (famed for its bascules and opened c 1894) was solicitor's son, Sir Horace Jones (born c 1819)