On 24 December, we posted our annual end of year quiz mainly based upon events in law and religion that featured in our posts during 2016. Here are the answers:

 1. Link the following consistory court judgments with the appropriate music:

(a) Re St Andrew Castle Coombe [2016] ECC Bri 2 and Re St. Peter East Bridgford [2016] ECC S&N 4; (b) Re St. Bartholomew Wick [2016] ECC Bri 3 (c) Re St. Bartholomew Leigh [2016] ECC Swk 4.

i] Thomas the Tank Engine theme; ii] La ci darem la mano; iii] This is the Record of John.

(a) and iii]. These were two consistory court judgments for which, unusually, the answer to the first “Duffield question” [“Would the proposals, if implemented, result in harm to the significance of the church as a building of special architectural or historic interest?”] was “No”.

(b) and i]. The least obscure of the three pairings; in Re St. Bartholomew Wick the Chancellor refused to grant a faculty for the inclusion of a coloured picture of Thomas the Tank Engine above the inscription.

(c) and ii]. The judgment in Re St. Bartholomew Leigh concerned the felling of a Giant Redwood tree, segue to the Monty Python “The Lumberjack Song” [introduced with a reference to the giant redwood] the tune of which is similar to “La ci darem la mano” in Don Giovanni.

2. What have the following in common: Liverpool Cathedral; the Angel of the North; and the Arcelor Mittal Orbit sculpture commissioned for the London Olympics?

They are all included in the redesigned UK passport, released in November 2015.

3. Who was “three times a lady” and how did she influence the governance of English cathedrals?

The Cathedrals Measure 1999 resulted from the work of the Archbishops’ Commission on Cathedrals, chaired by Lady Howe of Aberavon (as she then was), which reported in 1994.

• When her husband, Geoffrey Howe QC MP, was knighted, she became known as Lady Howe [1992-1999].
• When her husband was raised to the peerage, she became known as The Rt Hon. The Lady Howe of Aberavon [1999-2001].
• When she herself was raised to the peerage suo jure, she became known as The Rt Hon. The Baroness Howe of Idlicote [2001-].

4. Where and why did a pagoda replace the swastika?

In Japan it was decided that the swastika symbols would be dropped from its tourist maps; the symbol, which was used to denote Buddhist temples, was considered as confusing.

5. Who was buried in a coffee pot?

Italy’s “coffee pot king”, Sig. Renato Bialetti, was buried in the appliance that made him famous, albeit a larger version than the two-cup model.

6. What links a recent development in New Zealand marriage law to In dulci jubilo and the Boar’s Head carol?

Pasta. Our post on 24 April reported that the world’s first Pastafarian wedding had been held in New Zealand, where the Government approved the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to conduct legal marriages in 2015. In dulci jubilo and the Boar’s Head carol are examples of macaronic verse, i.e. “text using a mixture of languages, particularly bilingual puns or situations in which the languages are otherwise used in the same context (rather than simply discrete segments of a text being in different languages)”.

7. This year why were 15 March and 16 October of importance to Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu?

They were the consistory date and date of canonization of Teresa of Calcutta, (nee Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu).

8. Complete the sequence: Rufus of England, Munich, Wilberforce, Humphrey, Sybil …

Larry. These were the names of cats at No 10 Downing Street. But not the animal at the centre of the “Catgate“, an early example of an myth perpetuated by the then Home Secretary Theresa May, “to trash human rights”. Senior Immigration Judge Gleeson redacted the name of the cat from the decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (IA/14578/2008),1 December 2008.

9. If 0=a; 1=g; and 2=f, what letters equate to 3, 4, 5, and 6, and why was this important during 2016?

In March this year there was further discussion on setting the date of Easter. The calculation used by the Church of England here is based upon the calculation of the Sunday Letter and the Golden Number.

10. Why should the UK Supreme Court have considered the importance of the Dangerous Dogs Act?

In (Miller and others) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2016] EWHC 2768 (Admin), Lord Pannick argued it was “quite extraordinary” that the 1972 European Communities Act, whereby Britain joined the bloc, “could be set at nought by the actions of a minister” acting without parliamentary authority but using royal prerogative — residual powers once held by the monarch to make and unmake treaties. If the government is right in its submissions, the European Communities Act would have a “lesser status than the Dangerous Dogs Act”.

11. What have the following in common:
(a) A bottle of whisky, a cigar and a “favourite pen”; and part of the proceeds of the Hatton Garden heist?
(b) A saturno (cappello romano); coprophagics; and a self-absorbed, Promethean neo-Pelagian?
(c) The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Hale of Richmond D.B.E; Eccles (the blogger); the Chancellor of the Leeds Diocese; and twelve angry men?

(a) These are all items associated with the author Tom Sharpe, and were buried without authority, with some of his ashes in the churchyard of St Aidan, Thockrington. See: Tom Sharpe burial no longer “Blott on the (ecclesiastical) Landscape”.

(b) Items and types of people disliked by Pope Francis. See: The Pope Francis Little Book of Insults.

(c) These are all linked by Magna Carta. Lady Hale and Eccles used a quotation from the “Twelve Angry Men” episode of Hancock’s Half Hour: “Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain? That brave Hungarian peasant girl who forced King John to sign the pledge at Runnymede and close the boozers at half past ten? Is all this to be forgotten?” Mark Hill QC edited the book Magna Carta, Religion and the Rule of Law with Robin Griffith-Jones.

12. Who wanted green dandelions, and why?

The petitioner in Re St. Maughold Maughold who unsuccessfully sought, in advance of his death, approval for memorial in the shape of a Buddhist stupa which included the inscription: ‘He wanted green dandelions’ – a Buddhist ‘koan‘ – an illogical statement designed to aid meditation.

13. Who said to Boris Johnson “you have an unusually long history of wild exaggerations and frankly outright lies”: (a) Emily Thornberry, Shadow Foreign Secretary; (b) Michael Gove; (c) Marina Wheeler QC; or (d) 22. Gardiner Harris, of the New York Times

At a Press Conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry in July, Gardiner Harris of the New York Times asked Johnson: “I understand you don’t want to revisit the past, but you have an unusually long history of wild exaggerations and frankly outright lies, which I think few foreign secretaries have prior to this job.

Incidentally, on 26 October, Marina Wheeler QC, (a.k.a. Mrs Boris Johnson) gave evidence to the Joint Select Committee inquiry on The human rights implications of Brexit.

14. What is the connection between James, Charlie, Danny, Henry & George?

On “Roald Dahl Day”, 13 September, the ONS announced that these Roald Dahl characters all appear in the top 100 baby names in England & Wales. The tenuous link with “law and religion” is Roald Dahl’s Blue Plaque at 11 High Street Llandaff, which is opposite St Michael’s College, well-known to all LLM (Canon Law) students.

15. On what occasion might you hear the following words, and what do they mean: contumacious (adj); weet (v); and porrect (v)?

As part of the confirmation of the election of a diocesan bishop. [With thanks to Chancellor Tim Briden, Vicar General, ELS Lecture “Confirmation of Episcopal Elections”].

16. Suggest the correct pronunciation for “De Keyser”.

De K-eye-ser [Lord Pannick]; De K-ee-zer [Lady Hale]; De K-ay-ser [L&RUK suggestion]

17. In which church is: (a) An eight-sided, mirrored font; (b) A font described by a Deputy Chancellor as “more like a toilet than a font”?

(a) Church of St Christopher, Norris Green; (b) St. Bartholomew Kirby Muxloe

[With thanks to Michael Ainsworth]

18. If there are 38 provinces including England how could Archbishop Welby invite 39 primates to Primates 2016 in Lambeth Palace?

Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia have three co-primates and two of the three indicated that they would attend. (i.e., 38 – 1 = 37 + 2 = 39) [With thanks to Anglican Ink]

19. Clarify how a troublesome priest made a long overdue return (in part) to England in 2016?

A relic of St Thomas Becket returned to England from Hungary for the first time in more than 800 years in May

20. Complete the sequences: I] Green, Orange, Blue, Red … ii] Aqua, Blue, Gold, Grey, Jade …

I] Gold: The Colours of the covers of sequential books in OUP’s series, Carols for Choirs, 1,2,3,4 and 5.

ii] Lime, Navy, Pink, Plum, Rose, Ruby, Teal: Colours used in the UK Millionaire Raffle.

21. What do the following have in common?  Lord Carey, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Michael Howard.

Their “static portraits” from the “wall of fame” of alumni at the entrance to King’s College, London, were removed following a review into the university’s “window display policy”.