Foodie thefts, lottery wins and Roman rulers – take the Thursday quiz
When the quiz master sat down at a blank page to write this week's introduction, nothing came to mind. There must be an infinite number of ways that you could introduce readers to a quiz, but not a single thought popped into his head. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Still, here the quiz is – 16 questions on topical news, popular culture, general knowledge and whatever else cropped up during the writing process, all liberally sprinkled with some jokes. There are no prizes, but you can let us know how you got on in the comments.
The Thursday quiz, No 199
If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren't attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch Close Season by Katherine Priddy and Simon Armitage instead
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The Guardian
09-05-2025
- The Guardian
Simon Armitage: ‘Our pace of life is unhelpful to nature, it's burning it up'
His new poems celebrate the extraordinary homes of the creatures tucked away, usually out of sight, within the verdant nooks and crannies of the Lost Gardens of Heligan. But during a stroll with the Guardian around the sub-tropical garden on the south coast of Cornwall, the poet laureate, Simon Armitage, explained how the pieces could also be taken as a plea for humans to slow down, think about the damage we are causing to the natural world and, hopefully, do something about it. 'When I was first shown around, my first impulse was that I needed to write something about gardens and flowers,' he said. 'But I was looking for another dimension, something a bit more secretive. It occurred to me that this location provides habitat for a lot of species of British wildlife and I think the unspoken theme is the fact that the animals I'm talking about are under stress.' In Dwell, Armitage uses elements of riddle and folklore to focus on a series of dwellings: the 'twig-and-leaf crow's-nest squat' of a squirrel's drey, a beaver lodge's 'spillikin stave church' and a hive's 'reactor core'. Newts, swallows, bats and hares make an appearance and there is a poem about Heligan's large 'bug hotel' – said to be the biggest in the UK – written as if its inhabitants had left Tripadvisor-style reviews about it: 'Would deffo recommend. Dreamland!' Armitage said he was pleased with the title of the book. 'There's definitely an invitation in the title. As well as it being about habitat and dwellings, I'm asking people to dwell on ideas and to be contemplative and to think more deeply. 'You often hear that word in relation to being told not to dwell on something. 'Don't dwell on it – move on'. I wanted to invert that because I am asking people to dwell on ideas. Maybe that's a response to this very fast-paced, short concentration span world that we're living in, the age of social media where everything is just a quick glimpse of something and then you're on to the next thing. 'I may be asking people to slow down because that pace of life is not helpful to nature, it's burning it up. I think there's, even within that word and its implications for a change of pace, there's an environmental plea.' The gardens date back to the mid-18th century but became swallowed by unchecked growth when many of its workers failed to return from the first world war. Over the last 30 years they have been carefully restored and Armitage was invited to visit and write a suite of poems about them. Armitage said: 'I thought there was something very naturally poetic about this place, not just the kind of environment, but the backstory and the idea of lostness. 'It's exotic here, it's otherworldly, and when you enter its space, you fall under its spell. I think you feel as if you're in a very contained and discreet environment. It provides tunnels, there's a jungle area down there; there are places where it's quite manicured and cared for and there are other places which seem wild and a bit out of control.' Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Three installations – a slate boulder, a 'jungle' pond and an oak wood tunnel – have appeared within the 80-hectare (200-acre) garden bearing lines from Dwell, the idea being that visitors will come across poetry stashed in the gardens. 'It's a space outside of normal time and the busy working world. You can park all that at the door and become lost here, in a good way.' Armitage said he hoped that just as the animals had their dwellings, the poems would be 'little dens and treehouses' for readers to inhabit. 'Somebody once said about me as a writer that I had a child's eye and I think they meant it as a criticism but I just took it as an enormous compliment,' he said. 'I've always felt with the writers that I like that they continue to ask questions, they continue to be spellbound, to engage in wonder rather than becoming wise and knowledgable.' Dwell is published by Faber and Armitage will appear at the inaugural Heligan Homecoming festival, from 13 to 22 June.
Telegraph
06-04-2025
- Telegraph
Poet Laureate revives axed BBC Radio 4 show as podcast
Simon Armitage is reviving his shed-based Radio 4 show on a rival platform after the BBC refused to commission another series. The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed podcast ran for three successful series, with Armitage interviewing famous guests in his garden in West Yorkshire. The King was among the show's fans, even inviting Armitage to his Welsh farmhouse to record a special edition. Other guests included JK Rowling, Johnny Marr and Sir Ian McKellen. Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, the Poet Laureate revealed the programme will return later this year. Asked if it would be back on the BBC, Armitage said: 'Confusingly and frustratingly, no. Except I had a meeting with somebody yesterday who wants to start the programme again on a different broadcaster. So there will be another series.' The show is likely to return as a podcast, rather than on a commercial radio station, he said, adding that he remained baffled by the BBC's decision to abandon it. 'We made three series for Radio 4 and they were, I think, spectacularly successful. It was incredibly satisfying to hear people say through lockdown that they really liked the programme. 'And, for reasons that I don't understand and I bellyache about, they didn't commission another series. 'I really don't understand it. It's very cheap to make. And it's regional – you can't get much more regional than me sitting in the garden. It was just me and a lawnmower.' The BBC has not given a reason for the cancellation but said last year that it sometimes had to make 'difficult decisions' about its schedule. As part of the programme, Armitage and his guest would drink a glass of sherry from the butt, which the Poet Laureate receives as reward for his duties. Over the 10-year tenure, it works out at 720 bottles. At the festival, which is sponsored by The Telegraph, Armitage said it was impossible to get through so much sherry. 'They send 70 or so bottles a year and they have been piling up in the garage. I give most of it away for people to auction it or raffle it.' His most recent poetry collection, Blossomise, is a hymn to spring blossom. But Armitage has also turned his attention to more prosaic subjects. As 'writer-in-residence in my house' during lockdown, he wrote about his immediate surroundings. 'I wrote three poems about Velux windows because they were right there next to my head,' he said. 'In fact, Velux got to hear about this and asked me to come on the Velux podcast. I had nothing else to do so I did. I spoke brilliantly about double glazing.'
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- The Guardian
Foodie thefts, lottery wins and Roman rulers – take the Thursday quiz
When the quiz master sat down at a blank page to write this week's introduction, nothing came to mind. There must be an infinite number of ways that you could introduce readers to a quiz, but not a single thought popped into his head. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Still, here the quiz is – 16 questions on topical news, popular culture, general knowledge and whatever else cropped up during the writing process, all liberally sprinkled with some jokes. There are no prizes, but you can let us know how you got on in the comments. The Thursday quiz, No 199 If you really do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers – and can show your working and are absolutely 100% positive you aren't attempting to factcheck a joke – you can complain about it in the comments below. Why not watch Close Season by Katherine Priddy and Simon Armitage instead
