Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Mighty Indeed

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  • Sue,

    my is was a mighty night, and day as well :)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 527 posts Report Reply

  • Rochelle Hume,

    Okay, I'm a sucker for a multi-choice - here's my guess:

    1c
    2b
    3c
    4a
    5d
    6d

    Warkworth • Since Sep 2007 • 34 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Pinot Punks. The site of Russell and others quietly quaffing a glass of wine to the beats of the heroes of their youth was ... retiring.

    Great night though and Blam Blam Blam are like a fine cheese.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    The thing I'm most impressed with is that everyone is able to get up so early the next day!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    I've only answered the ones I (think) I know. I've also added two "bonus" questions of my own at the bottom, should anyone wish to answer them: one politics, one culture.

    POLITICS

    The 1975 election was also remarkable for the fact that a Maori candidate was elected to a general seat for the first time since 1893. In fact, there were two. Name me at least one of them.

    Ben Couch - MP for Waiarapa.

    What, by legend, was found in the briefcase stupidly left by an SIS operative on a journalist's fence?

    A pie and a copy of Penthouse.

    One of the 'Double Standard' billboards popular in Wellington during the Muldoon era read 'Rooting Pig Shot in Ngaio'. What were the last two words of the Billboard?

    "PM safe".

    ---

    CULTURE

    Scribe, Che Fu and Nesian Mystik's Feleti Strickson-Pua are all, of course, local rap artists. But what did their fathers have in common in the late 70s?

    Were they all deported as "over-stayers" ?

    If you had been at an event in the company of 75,000 other New Zealanders over Auckland anniversary weekend in 1979, where would you have been?

    Either Nambassa or Sweetwaters?

    Which two actors starred in both Goodbye Pork Pie and Utu?

    Kelly Johnson and...,er, the other dude.

    What was a Blue Lady, as immortalised in the Hello Sailor song, 'Blue Lady'?

    A heroin needle.

    MULTI-CHOICE

    1. What was the top tax rate in New Zealand in 1983?

    (a) 50%
    (b) 56%
    (c) 66%
    (d)70%

    C

    2. In the 1981 general election, Mana Motuhake and the Values Party finished fourth and fifth respectively in the popular vote. Which of the following parties came in sixth?

    (a) The Wizard Party
    (b) The Socialist Unity Party
    (c) Economic Euthenics
    (d) No Confidence.

    A

    5. Which of the following was not the acronym of a interest group active in the 1970s?

    (a) SPCS
    (b) SPUC
    (c) SPCA
    (d) SPCL

    D

    6. Of whom did Muldoon say: 'He can stew in his own juice.'?

    (a) Derek Quigley
    (b) Abraham Ordia
    c) John Minto
    (d) David Lange

    A

    Grant's bonus questions:

    Q1: The first game of the 1981 Springbok tour was against which team in which city?

    Q2: Which of the following punk / post-punk bands did NOT have a top 20 pop hit in NZ in the early '80s?

    A)The Fall
    B) Public Image Limited
    C)Joy Division
    D)Dead Kennedys

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    How 'bout a naming contest for Graeme, in the vein of Yellow Peril? Or is it considered a deeply personal choice? If he posts as Legal Eagle I'll puke.

    The site of Russell ....

    Is this an eggcorn?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Well some of us HAD to be up early & feel the worse for it.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Goodness me. I would probably just barely pass the cultural section, and most of the rest is a complete mystery. Even if I was born in 1974 and lived in splendid isolation in Mairangi Bay for the entire Muldoon era, there's really no excuse, is there? I am a failure as a New Zealander.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    oh, Ben, pick me...

    "This is The Edge"

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Yes, it was a great night. My head AND my feet are sore.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    That's more like it. I imagine Graeme's already got some pet names that play on his real one...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    Just in: Graham Henry retained as All Blacks coach! This will reverberate for a while. Can we look forward to a Robbie Deans v Graham Henry World Cup Final in 2011?

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    POLITICS

    For a bonus: Three years later, another Maori was elected to a general seat. Who was that? Win Peters

    In 1978, the Westland MP Paddy Blanchfield retired and made his farewell speech in Parliament. What was unusual about the speech? He was drunk/singing/irish??

    For a bonus: In 2002, one MP's maiden speech included the performance of a version of a song that was a hit in the early 1980s. Who was the MP and what was the song? Kulcha ???

    What, by legend, was found in the briefcase stupidly left by an SIS operative on a journalist's fence? A pie and a copy of Penthouse.

    For a bonus: What was really in there? A pie and a copy of The Anarchists Cookbook.

    The plastic Rob Muldoon piggy bank had a unique feature -- what was it? cigarette burns in the eyes
    ---

    CULTURE

    Scribe, Che Fu and Nesian Mystik's Feleti Strickson-Pua are all, of course, local rap artists. But what did their fathers have in common in the late 70s? Brown Panthers

    If in the early 1980s you have been a member of the 1480 Kroozers, what would you have been? Radio Hauraki's Gay Audience

    If you had been at an event in the company of 75,000 other New Zealanders over Auckland anniversary weekend in 1979, where would you have been? Sweetwaters

    What, in late 1970s, was the Sportronic? Electronic gamebox to play Pong or Thorn Colour TV??

    Who did Tineke Bouchier replace in the televised version of 'It's In the Bag'? that radio woman as old as Selwyn Toogood

    MULTI-CHOICE

    5. Which of the following was not the acronym of a interest group active in the 1970s?

    (b) SPUC

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • InternationalObserver,

    Can we look forward to a Robbie Deans v Graham Henry World Cup Final in 2011?

    For us non-rugby fans ... YES!

    For the rest of you ... not so sure.

    The scrapping/second guessing should start right about ... 5 minutes ago.

    Since Jun 2007 • 909 posts Report Reply

  • Nick Bryant,

    "Public sector productivity..." I love it, tears rolling down my face; still hillarious after all these years!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    He'll start as soon as we've knocked up a masthead for him.

    And there was me thinking I'd start when I'd actually written my inaugural post :-)

    If he posts as Legal Eagle I'll puke

    Nothing quite so pretentious.

    When Keith moved from Poll Dancer to OnPoint, his first post, at the time of the police rape trials, was on the admissibility of prior convictions in criminal proceedings. He interviewed a lawyer - a Legal Beagle. That person was me.

    The name wasn't pretentious, and I quite liked it, so I stuck with it.

    My next 'blogging gig (no-one tell Che Tibby) was as LBJ (Legal Beagle Junior - cos it works better as initials) on Sir Humphrey's.

    [As an aside, at a Great Blend a couple of years ago I was introduced by Danyl to a friend of his, who asked where I blogged, and the look of actual disgust that persisted until Danyl quickly explained my role on SH was pretty damn funny.]

    I'm really proud of some of those posts (still available at the Intenet archive WABAC machine), and saw an opportunity to revive the name again - with a suitable promotion - for PA.

    Plus, I couldn't immediately think of anything else.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    If in the early 1980s you have been a member of the 1480 Kroozers, what would you have been?

    A skateboarder.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Terence Wood,

    The name wasn't pretentious, and I quite liked it, so I stuck with it.

    But if you need an alternative please consider: 'Postcards from the Edge'

    [shuffles off]

    Since Nov 2006 • 148 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    IntOb said..

    5. Which of the following was not the acronym of a interest group active in the 1970s?

    (b) SPUC

    I'm pretty sure the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child were fairly prominently opposing abortion around then?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    There were in fact two pies in the famous SIS briefcase.

    One of the reporters who was involved in the story, the late Fraser Folster, confessed to another journo, just before he died earlier this year, that one of the pies was still warm and he was hungry.

    I have a horrible feeling the 1980s song sung in 2002 was 'Ebony and Ivory'.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    if you need an alternative please consider: 'Postcards from the Edge'

    Well I certainly still need taglines - like 'Fiona Rae from the couch' or 'The irony is not lost on Keith Ng', so if you want to keep them coming...

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • DPF,

    The trophy is safe Russell. :-)

    And well done for a damn good night.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 78 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Q1: The first game of the 1981 Springbok tour was against which team in which city?

    Gisborne if I remember - against Poverty Bay - the next game was in Hamilton against HART and was called

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    OMFG, that was a good night. I managed to meet most of the rogue Wellingtonistas I hadn't met yet, as well as a few people who were like "Ah, Robyn, I'm a stalker! Uh, I mean, I've been reading your blog for ages."

    The quiz was fun - I totally pwned my table by knowing what the 1480 Kroozers were and the bonus question with that one.

    Plus it was so good seeing the Blams playing again. I reckon I had more fun last night then I did at their King's Arms gig earlier in the year, and the "There is no depression in NZ' finale was magical.

    Now I am going to enjoy the fruits of the capital.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The trophy is safe Russell. :-)

    Jolly good -- we'll work out a way to get it back to Che. You did look great with it though. And thanks for being such an able contestant at such short notice.

    And well done for a damn good night.

    It was bloody good, wasn't it? I have this mental image of the Blams finishing off with 'There is No Depression in New Zealand' and the front of the room just being jammed with leaping bodies in various states of repair.

    And happily, I don't actually feel too shabby this morning.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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