View my previous blog here: http://bazzablog-uk.blogspot.com

I reply to all comments except spam, no matter how old!

Please ignore any email address displayed here! My email is shamp123 AT sky.com


Sunday 19 February 2012

Quiz Questions (19): Numbers in Titles

Oskar Werner and Julie Christie in François Truffaut 's film, Fahrenheit 451
(1) In Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, what is the significance of the number '451'?

(2) In the Elizabeth Taylor film Butterfield Eight, to what does the title refer?

(3) Of which great novel is this a brief summary of the plot?:
A poorly-trained American soldier is captured and held prisoner, after the Battle of the Bulge, in an underground location in Dresden Germany. He and his guards thus survive the British fire-bombing and destruction of Dresden.
As a consequence  our hero becomes "unstuck in time" and begins to experience events out of their time-sequence.
The title of the book is derived from the place he is held prisoner in Dresden.


(4) Of which excellent film is this a brief summary of the plot:
A former child-prodigy classical pianist works on an oil-field and spends most of his time in bowling-alleys and drinking beer. When he goes to see his dying father he reluctantly takes his dim-witted waitress girlfriend (played by the excellent Karen Black) along and they get into a row when a waitress refuses to take his special order and they get thrown out.
Eventually, when his girl-friend goes in somewhere to get coffee, he abandons her and hitches a ride off into the distance.


Answers are now in the comments section!! 

9 comments:

joanne fox said...

A hand flies into the air for the first one! Me, me, me! I think Fahrenheit 451 refers to the temperature at which something burns - must be books or paper, since I think that is the subject of the novel.

But I don't know the others. (Doh!)

bazza said...

Hi Joanne. My policy these days is not to comment on the correctness of any answers until I give all them all. I have made this a bit harder than usual but I will say that you are hot, hot, hot!

John said...

Hi baaza,
I think the first one is the temperature (in farenheit) that paper slf ignites?
Second one I think is the numbers 288 of a phone number or something?
The third I have no idea.
The fourth is Five Easy Pieces.
J
Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

David said...

Dear bazza,
Farenheit 451 must refer to the temperature at which paper burns, as as joanne states the subject of the Ray Bradbury novel and the Truffaut film is the burning of books.
Number two, I have no idea.
Number three, I'll take a crack at Kurt Vonnegut's novel, "Slaughterhouse 5".
And number four is definitely Bob Rafelson's brilliant film, "Five Easy Pieces".
Well, three out of four ain't bad, bazza!
Very Best Wishes,
Dvaid.

bazza said...

Hi John: Thank you for your answers. No comment for now!

bazza said...

Hello David: I forgot that you are a film buff. I refer you to my previous answer!

S Simmonds said...

Hi Bazza,

Without looking at Wikipedia or the other comments, my best effort is:
1) The temperature at which paper combusts.
2) dunno
3) Slaughterhouse 5, of course. Two science fiction books so far - easy!
4) Five Easy Pieces. Took me a moment to recollect.

Now, your best guess at my mystery picture is construction of a hamster house.

I'll need a couple more guesses before I come clean. Maybe your audience can help.

bazza said...

Hi Stephen: Number Two seems to be the difficult one. I promise you my next quiz will be really hard!
Nice to hear from you.

bazza said...

Well you all did pretty well in this difficult quiz.
Number Two seemed to stump most people although John touched on it.
Here are the definitive answers:
(1) Yes, Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites.
(2) Butterfield Eight is part of a phone number. It's actually the exchange number.
(3) Kurt Vonnegut's superb novel Slaughterhouse Five takes it's name from the underground slaughterhouse where the protagonist was held prisoner.
(4) Jack Nicholson cast the mould for his archetypal career-spanning persona in a gem of a low-budget film called Five Easy Pieces.