Can You Guess? Skulduggery At The Beckindale Horticultural Show, 1983...

There was trouble at the Beckindale Horticultural Show in 1983 when Skipdale Co-op price tags were found on one of the competitors' cauliflowers...

Who do you think the miscreant was?

A) Judy Westrop

B) Seth Armstrong

C) Jackie Merrick

D) Henry Wilks

E) Walter

F) Amos Brearly

G) Sam Pearson

The '80s Emmerdale Easter Quiz

One of my favourite times of year, Easter. And so, as you gronff your way through a mound of hot cross buns and chocolate eggs, and maybe even attend a church service or two, here's the Emmerdale '80s Easter Quiz. Some of the answers are a teensy bit difficult (a few can be found on this blog), some are easy-peasy. Can you answer all twenty questions?

1) Who was the landlord of Beckindale’s “other” hostelry, The Malt Shovel?

2) Two actresses portrayed Seth Armstrong’s wife, Meg, in the 1980s. Can you name them both?

3) Which character left England bound for France in 1983?

4) Who murdered Harry Mowlam in 1986?

5) What was the name of Sandie Merrick’s daughter?

6) Al Dixon’s version of the Woolpack’s silent regular, Walter, debuted in September 1980 and was last seen on screen just before Christmas 1985. The actor was ill and unable to continue in the role, although it was at first hoped he would return to it. What was the reason given for Walter’s departure from Beckindale in January 1986?

7) Pat, Sandie and Jackie Merrick briefly rented accommodation from NY Estates in the early ‘80s. What was it?

8) What was the name of Alan Turner’s son, who turned up in Beckindale in 1985?

9) The Rev Donald Hinton had a daughter who arrived at the Vicarage fleeing from marital problems in 1983. Name her.

10) Archie Brooks stated that everything would be all right once he’d solved his financial problem in 1985. What was his financial problem?

11) Evenin’ All! Which long-serving Beckindale bobby began pounding the village
beat in 1980?

12) And who played him?

13) When Amos Brearly went “upwardly mobile” in 1983 and took up golf, he met The Major, a fiercesome local bully and snob. The actor behind The Major became the terror of a well known fictitious school later in the decade. Can you name him?

14) In which year was Samuel David Skilbeck born?

15) Seth Armstrong ended up in hospital in 1986. Why?

16) Who played Kathy Bates/Merrick?

17) And who played her mother?

18) Henry Wilks suddenly manifested symptoms of a seasonal ailment he’d never suffered from before in 1989. What was it?

19) Name the two actors who played Tom Merrick in the 1980s.

20) For her birthday in 1986, Matt surprised Dolly with a holiday. Where was it?

ANSWERS

1) Ernie Shuttleworth; 2)Ursula Camm and Ruth Holden. 3) Joe Sugden; 4) Derek Warner; 5) Louise; 6) He went to visit his sister. 7) A caravan. 8) Terence; 9) Barbara Peters; 10) He hadn't got any money. 11) Sergeant Ian MacArthur; 12) Martin Dale; 13) Michael Sheard; 14) 1982; 15) He was beaten up by badger baiters. 16) Malandra Burrows; 17) Diana Davies; 18) Hayfever; 19) Edward Peel and Jack Carr. 20) Bridlington

Walter Walks Out...

Thank you very much indeed to those who have sent e-mails regarding the Emmerdale '80s quizzes. It's good to know they were enjoyed and there will certainly be more to come. And to take you into 2008, here's a little something to ponder: why did faithful customer Walter (Al Dixon) leave the Woolpack in utter disgust in 1983, the last of Amos and Mr Wilks' regulars to desert the bar?

The answer will follow - in 2008!

UPDATE - 1/1/2008 - The Answer!

This was how things were...

Amos was being his usual difficult self. He wanted to get the Woolpack a glowing review from the Hotten Courier, and he wanted to quell the NY Estates workers, who were in dispute with Alan Turner. They held rather a loud meeting about their industrial strife at the Woolpack and Amos stuck his nose in, siding firmly with Alan. So the NY lads boycotted the Woolpack and other regulars followed suit.

But Walter remained.

Until the night when Amos set peanuts out on the bar (to impress any visiting hostelry reviewers from the Courier) and told Walter they were not for him. He graciously conceded that Walter could have one, and told him off quite fiercely when he caught him taking more.

Walter mulled the situation over, rapped on the bar sharply with his pint pot, and walked out.

"Walter! You can't!" said an aghast Amos. But he could. And he did.

It took a little while for Amos to discover he might be at fault, but an unpleasant experience at the local golf club, where he'd been taken by Alan Turner, set Amos thinking. Slagged off by a frightfully posh Major, who was positively fawned over by Alan, Amos realised that currying favour with this set was not worth it. And he realised who his true friends were.

Amos apologised to the NY Estates men and they returned to the Woolpack...

... as did Walter.

And the Woolpack was restored to its old peculiar normality.

The Emmerdale '80s Quiz Part 2

Here we go again, folks. Chuck away that ipod and fancy computer, get out your Nik Kershaw cassettes, your Walkman, your ZX Spectrum, your Rubik's Cube and your brick mobile, gel your hair, slam on your shoulder pads, and you're ready for the Emmerdale '80s Quiz, round 2!

1) The opening scenes of this 1989 episode showed an apparently deserted road vehicle (with the radio belting out the Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield's hit What Have I Done To Deserve This?), and a pair of feet. What on earth was going on?

2) Here's Eric Pollard making mischief in the '80s. In which year did he arrive?






3) Seth and pal. Name that donkey!





4) Al Dixon was hugely popular as the Woolpack's silent regular Walter in the early-to-mid 1980s. But Walter wasn't Mr Dixon's first silent role in the show. What was it?




5) 1987: gale force winds wreaked havoc, Nokia released its first hand-held mobile phone - the Cityman, and the yuppie dream came unstuck as the Stock Market crashed. The spirit of protest was so strong in Beckindale in 1987 that Jack Sugden got himself arrested! What was going on?

6) All sorts of news in 1989, including the Fall of the Berlin Wall. In Beckindale, this poor woman had a wandering husband that year. What was her name and what was the name of her husband's lover?


7) What was the occasion being celebrated here?




8) Amos Brearly founded a short-lived local newspaper in 1981. What was it called?




9) The Reverend Donald Hinton's daughter had an affair with Joe Sugden in 1983. What was the character's name?


10) Jackie Merrick married Kathy Bates in which year?


11) Yes, it's Ross Kemp pre-Grant Mitchell, playing a role in Emmerdale Farm. What was his character's name - and why was he interested in Dolly?


12) In which year did Mrs Bates begin work as Alan Turner's secretary?


13) Who played Doreen the barmaid?











14) A young Emmerdale Farm actor of the '80s pictured in 1987. Who is he, and which character did he play?


15) Joe Sugden's pal and much more to Sandie Merrick. Name the character and the actor.






ANSWERS

1) Jackie Merrick, waiting to shoot a troublesome fox for a bet, had accidentally shot and killed himself. 2) 1986 3) Jenny 4) He appeared in a props photograph as Jacob Sugden, (alongside Sheila Mercier as Annie Sugden). The photograph stood on the farmhouse mantelpiece in the show’s early days. 5) Protests against a proposed nuclear dump near Beckindale. 6) Lynn Whiteley/Rachel Hughes 7) The show’s tenth anniversary in 1982. 8) “The Beckindale Bugle” 9) Barbara Peters 10) 1988 11) Graham Lodsworth - he was Dolly’s son. 12) 1984 13) Sandra Gough 14) Cy Chadwick who played Nick Bates. 15) Phil Pearce, played by Peter Alexander.

The Emmerdale '80s Quiz Part 1

Stuffed full of turkey, mince pies and nuts? Filled with Christmas cheer or having an attack of the "bah humbugs"? Whatever your state this festive season, whether you've celebrated too much, just enough, or not at all, the first of my Emmerdale '80s quiz sessions is just the breath of good olde English air - from the glorious county of Yorkshire - that you need to shake off that festive fatigue! No prizes, this is just for fun.

1) 1983 - drop that ghetto blaster, stop gawping at the unveiling of the first hand-held mobile phone and answer me this: why was Seth Armstrong demanding money from silent Walter this year?

2) 1982 - deelyboppers, leggings and pixie boots were the fashions, the ZX Spectrum arrived and a long-awaited baby for Matt and Dolly Skilbeck. Can you name him?

3) Annabelle the goat wreaked havoc in 1983 - she even ate Amos' cap. Which central character of the time did she belong to?

4) The World Wide Web, which brought the Internet into all our homes in the 1990s, was invented by Tim Berners Lee in 1989, and over at Emmerdale Farm the man pictured on the right caused a lot of trouble for the Sugdens. Can you name him and the actor who played him?

5) Drama at the vicarage as the Reverend Donald Hinton is held captive by a man with a shotgun. What was the name of the character with the gun?



6) Amos Brearly's new hobby set the village buzzing in 1985. What was it?

7) Meg Armstrong, wife of the legendary Seth, had a pet name for him. What?




8) In which year did Mr Turner first appear?







9) 1985 was the year of the first mobile phone call in England, indeed the whole of Britain, and Eammon Andrews claimed a This Is Your Life victim down on the farm. Who was the person in the limelight?



10) Sam Pearson won a competition prize in 1983 which he shared with his daughter Annie. What was it?





ANSWERS

1) Seth left his spectacles on the bar and Walter put his pint pot down on them - smashing them. Seth demanded recompense! 2) Samuel David Skilbeck 3) Pat Sugden 4) Denis Rigg, played by Richard K Franklin. 5) Derek Warner 6) Bee keeping 7) “Poppet” 8) 1982 9) Sheila Mercier 10) A luxury cruise.