Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Fall and Alan Titchmarsh bend sinister

Chalk this one up to bizarre. The Gardeners' World website has a weekly competition for assorted garden-related goodies. It is usually a multiple choice question that does not tackle either the brain or Google. For example, which of these is found in the soil - branches, leaves or roots? That's maybe a bit easier than the usual standard, but you get the idea. This week's competition is a bit more interesting, though. It is a competition to win an Alan Titchmarsh Wild Bird Collection (a collection of food for wild birds, rather than the birds themselves). Here is the question:
Which of the following is not the name of a bird commonly seen in the UK:
  • Blackbird
  • Bournemouth runner
  • Song thrush 
OK, the answer is the second one, but what is a Bournemouth runner? The only place I know it from is the title of a track by The Fall on their Bend Sinister album. According to this site it was the story of someone who stole the band's backdrop and then did a runner. I gave it three pages of Google and could not find another meaning of Bournemouth Runner suggested. Clearly there is a sub somewhere in the Gardeners' World empire with a more than passing interest in the cheeky vocal stylings of Mark E Smith. Good work, sir, we salute you. Next week, try and sneak in The Birmingham School of Business School.

Below is a screenshot, for when the page fades into the dust: