A previous book game
1) The Adventures of Dougal, by Eric Thompson (Bloomsbury, 1998)
My introduction
The original Magic Roundabout children’s TV programme of the 1970s, narrated by Eric Thompson (the father of actress Emma Thompson), was a cult classic of its time. Thompson took the original five-minute animated films of La Manége Enchanté by French director Serge Danot and wrote new scripts from scratch, paying little attention to the original French storyline – see for instance one typically bizarre script here.
The four books that Thompson wrote based on the characters from the series allowed his imagination to roam unconstrained by the limits set by Danot’s animation. The 1998 compilation The Adventures of Dougal amalgamates Dougal’s Adventures (1971), Dougal’s Scottish Holiday (1971), The Misadventures of Dougal (1972), and Dougal Round The World (1972), and features the characteristically surreal escapades of Dougal (a dog) and his friends Brian (a snail), Ermintrude (a rather luvvy cow), Dylan (a permanently stoned rabbit), the magical Zebedee, and the relatively human Florence, Mr. Rusty (who maintained the Magic Roundabout) and Mr MacHenry (who looked after the Magic Garden where the adventures mostly take place).
Proposed first lines, with votes (correct answer in bold)
1. Dougal was in bed thinking about not being in bed. Correct answer; got 5 votes.
2. Dougal was just waking up as he saw Brian approaching. 0 votes
3. Dougal whistled as he skipped down the road. 0 votes (by someone who had never actually seen the programme)
4. “Go away, wretched mollusc”, said Dougal. 1 vote
5. It was on a fine Tuesday morning that Dougal, while digging unter the plum trees, found a bone that he swore was the left thigh-bone of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. 1 vote, despite mis-spelling “under” and being utterly out of character.
6. Normally Dougal hated adventures, but now he had his deerstalker and haversack on, he felt ready for anything. 0 votes.
2) The Dodo, The Auk and the Oryx: Vanished and Vanishing Creatures, by Robert Silverberg (Puffin, 1973; originally The Auk, the Dodo and the Oryx: Vanished and Vanishing Creatures, pub. 1967)
My introduction
From back of the book: “The world is a treasure house full of an astonishing variety of birds and animals: beautiful, grotesque, graceful, comic or bizarre. Yet over the last few centuries many species have been thoughtlessly exterminated by man, and are now lost for ever. But as our sense of responsibility has grown, we have managed to snatch back some species from the brink of extinction, and there are others which are on the borderline today. This book tells the story of some of these victims of progress.” I think the sub-editor was running out of steam towards the end. Silverberg is of course best known as a science fiction writer, but has occasionally made forays into non-fiction and this is one of them.
Proposed first lines, with votes (correct answer in bold)
1. By 1681, 83 years after its discovery by man, the Dodo was extinct. 1 vote
2. I know that I will never see a real, live dodo. 2 votes
3. Since 1500, humankind has been directly responsible for the extinction of over 10,000 different species of birds, fish, insects and mammals. 1 vote
4. The famous British scientist J.B.S. Haldane, on being asked what, during his life’s work in biology, he had discovered of God’s nature, remarked, “an inordinate fondness for beetles”. 2 votes
5. The first visitors to Mauritius record great flocks of Dodos waddling towards them with an air of unconcerned curiosity. 1 vote
6. The whitened bones of strange creatures line the galleries of our museums. 1 vote
7. Travellers and mariners of old have always known that there are far stranger creatures to be met in the corner of their maps marked “Here be dragons” than is generally believed.” 0 votes
3) Judgement of Jupiter, by “Richard A. Tilms” (John Sladek), New English Library, 1980
My introduction
From the blurb: “Using a unique blend of astronomy, astrology, meteorology, myth, political history, numerology and hard scientific fact, Richard A. Tilms here proves that the great disasters of the past – and the future- are a direct result of the terrific forces born of the conjunction of two or more planets, the most catastrophic involving Jupiter. The 1980s will see a record number of conjunctions, many of them featuring that fateful planet…”
This book, which goes into great pseudoscientific detail about the awful disasters due in the next ten years (ie from 1980 to 1990) is actually a hoax by science fiction writer John Sladek, mainly taking the piss out of The Jupiter Effect, a book published in 1974 making much the same predictions by John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann, astrophysicists who should really have known better.
Proposed first lines, with votes correct answer in bold)
1. An astrologer to the court of Nineveh put it like this: “When Mars approaches Jupiter, there will be great devastation in the land.” 1 vote.
2. From the Biblical story of the Great Flood to the cataclysmic eruption of Vesuvius in the first century AD, ancient accounts of terrible disasters have included references to omens and strange phenomena in the sky. 1 vote.
3. It wasn’t a meteor that killed off the dinosaurs. 0 votes.
4. Man has long feared the ability of the heavens to influence the destiny of this planet. 3 votes.
5. The Ancients have always known that numbers hold secrets. 0 votes
6. The stars hold our fate. 0 votes
7. What do the Black Death, the Great Fire of London, the eruption of Krakatoa and the end of the last Ice Age all have in common? 1 vote
4) Roadcraft: The Police Drivers’ Manual (HMSO, 1977)
My introduction
From the blurb: “Roadcraft is the Police Drivers’ Manual. It has been prepared by police drivers who over many years have gained considerable knowledge and expertise applying these driving techniques under all conditions. It is aimed at all road users to raise standards of driving, increase the margin of safety on the roads and cut down the unacceptable figures of death and injury resulting from road accidents.”
I would normally put the author’s name but there isn’t one; copyright seems to rest with the Home Office. This book is the basis for the Advanced Driver’s Test run by the Institute of Advanced Motorists in the UK which has lots of members who like to get together and drive their cars around the country, very very carefully.
Proposed first lines, with votes (correct answer in bold)
1. Due to the increasing number of drivers on the roads, even a simple trip across town has become an adventure. 0 votes
2. Many motorists believe that the fact that they have passed their driving test makes them a “good driver”. 1 vote
3. Motoring fatalities are the biggest killers in Britain today after heart disease yet, as with heart disease, there are some simple steps that we can all take to prevent these everday tragedies. 1 vote
4. The prevention of road accidents has been a matter for public concern ever since vehicles first appeared. 3 votes
5. This manual has been prepared to assist readers in facilitating driving skills optimised for safety. 0 votes
6. Your ability to control the vehicle you are driving, under all circumstances, will contribute greatly to your own and others’ safety and could save your life. 2 votes
5) Earthsearch II: Death Ship by James Follett (BBC 1982), based on a justly forgotten radio series of 1981-82.
My introduction
Publisher’s blurb: “Four million years ago the crew of the starship Challenger abandoned the search for their home Earth – the birthplace of their grandparents – and settled on the third planet of a solar system on the fringe of the galaxy, leaving Angel One and Angel Two, the Challenger‘s control computers, to continue the search in the starship.
“The four settlers called their new home Paradise. With seven-tenths of its surface covered in water, deep blue skies, and an abundance of lakes, rivers and lush forests, the planet is unlike the Earth that the four settlers used to study in the Challenger‘s vast hologram and video library. But after four years, they are learning to accept its differences… It is home…”
Proposed first lines, with votes (correct answer in bold)
1. “Angel One to away-team, come in away-team.” 0 votes
2. “Hurry it up Torved, we need those boxes inside quickly.” 2 votes
3. Nothing stirred in the mighty ship as it swung sunwards across the solar system – its titanic bulk eclipsing the background myriads of stars of the galaxy. 1 vote
4. Senki pored over the controls, every crease on her brow showing the pressure she was feeling. 3 votes
The winner wrote round 1 line 6, round 2 line 1, round 3 line 4, and round 5 line 2; and voted for the right answer in rounds 1, 2, and 3, thus getting 9 points.
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