Question time

Here's a little quiz for you...

Which Asian country is known as the thunder dragon kingdom?

What linked the following on September 28, 1996: Wall Street, Diffident, Mark of Esteem, Decorated Hero, Fatefully, Lochangel and Fujiyama Crest?

Don't worry, I'll give you the answers at the end.

They were just two of a whole series of questions that had my friend Steve and I scratching our heads when we went to Stroud's Crown and Sceptre for a lunchtime pint today.

It wasn't an official pub quiz. One of the regulars was wrestling with a newspaper's 20 questions, plus a rather tricky crossword, and he recruited us in his search for answers.

He was a lorry driver who takes 40-tonne trucks all over the country while listening to Radio 4 and stopping off to read the Guardian. I'm not sure why he asked me to help - he seemed to have a lot more brain cells than yours truly has these days.

Anyway, it ended up being an extremely pleasant and sociable occasion involving four or five of us by the end.

Steve and I came away thinking how good it felt to have been included by the locals - as if we had been visiting the pub for years.

I came across a quote that seemed very appropriate. It went something like this: 'Civilization is the process by which one gradually increases the number of people included in the term 'we' or 'us'.'


Anyway, back to the quiz:

1. Bhutan is the thunder dragon kingdom
2. Frankie Dettori famously rode seven winners in seven races that day (the list comprises the horses' names).