Programme 11, 2017-18

Tom asked for the connection between the Prime Minister's residence, Samuel Pepys and the island of Martha's Vineyard. This was especially tough!

The man after whom Downing St is named, Sir George Downing, was a government official and one of Samuel Pepys's employers, referred to frequently in his Diary. (So far, so good.)

Downing had grown up in an area of Kent where there was a high incidence of deafness in the local population, so a great many people in that area knew deaf sign language. Downing was able to put this skill to work in recruiting deaf people as government informers - as they would be less likely to be suspected.

Many of the inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard emigrated from the same region of Kent, and to this day there is a higher than usual incidence of deafness on the island, and a strong likelihood that a resident of Martha's Vineyard will know sign language.

The Round Britain Quiz league table for 2017-18 after ten matches, going into today's contest, stands as follows - ranked according to number of outright wins.

1 WALES Played 3 Won 3 Drawn 0 Lost 0 Total points 55

2 SOUTH OF ENGLAND P4 W2 D1 L1 Pts 75

3 NORTH OF ENGLAND P3 W2 D0 L1 Pts 55

4 SCOTLAND P3 W1 D1 L1 Pts 54

5 THE MIDLANDS P4 W1 D0 L3 Pts 67

6 NORTHERN IRELAND P3 W0 D0 L3 Pts 46

Q1 (from Rob Webb) Why would Richard Briers' cat be concerned about the opening of Physical Graffiti, and the shambolic educational establishment dedicated to his saintly namesake?

Q2 If D is confidential, Soho porn hides a secret, and Peter Dinklage's recluse inhabits a railway building, who gets their 15% cut?

Q3 (from Mike Foster) Music - What connects these pieces with an ancient illumination and skerpikjot?

Q4 If the TV schedules included celebrity winter sports and repeats of The Chinese Detective, how would prairie dogs show that they might watch?

Q5 Lottie was the first to net five titles; Queenie was right on target to become the oldest gold; and Marjorie sprang to fame as the youngest gold - in which sports, and when?

Q6 Music - Where would these flourish, and which one is the protector?

Q7 (from Peter Stockdale) Why might a northern philanthropic entrepreneur and an acid-tongued General be absorbed in yesterday's news - particularly when in the company of a presenter who suffered embarrassment from depression, and Robert Donat's Oscar-winning character?

Q8 (from Ivan Whetton) The 'little gentleman in black velvet', a tributary of the Clyde, the composer who issued an Invitation to the Dance, and a literary lagomorph first encountered running... do you have the measure of them?

See if you can work this question out before the final programme of the series next week, when the answer will be revealed. It's been suggested by John Howitt.

Walt Disney, Somerset Maugham, Stafford Cripps, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Jean Cocteau - how are they connected, and why might you have been pleased to see any of them in a time of strife?