# Botticelli October 2011

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437>\
**Category:** Thread Games\
**Created:** [October 3, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437 "2011-10-03T15:23:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 10

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/181 "2011-10-17T13:44:02Z")

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Well, I throw in the towel, personally. I don’t even have a good guess.

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**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/182 "2011-10-18T13:21:59Z")

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None of my guesses would fit all the answers. I give in.

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/183 "2011-10-18T17:14:07Z")

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OK, then. I’m everyone’s most-hated Grand Moff, Wilhuff Tarkin, of _Star Wars: A New Hope._

> **[Wilhuff Tarkin](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wilhuff_Tarkin)**
>
> Wilhuff Tarkin was a male human Eriaduan bureaucrat, military officer, and politician whose career spanned from the final years of the Galactic Republic into the reign of its successor state, the Galactic Empire. Tarkin, a member of the Tarkin...

I’ve looked at all of our Botticelli threads going back to May, BTW, and the only letters we haven’t done yet since then are C, E, N, O, Q, U, V, X, Y and Z (we did S three times, all last month!).

Our next letter is E.

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/184 "2011-10-18T18:31:05Z")

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Sigh… I tried to think of every possible bad guy in “Star Wars,” but I never knew Takin had a first name, let alone what it was.

Oh well…

Is it too much to hope the next letter will actually start a name we’ve heard of?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/185 "2011-10-18T18:33:17Z")

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Did you first come to proiminence playing the organ for soul singer P.P. Arnold?  
Did you take time out from your Congresdional career to record an unlikely spoken-word hit single called “Gallant Men”?  
Did you appear regularly on your daughter’s TV detective show, and eventually reveal that you were the title character’s father?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/186 "2011-10-18T19:00:03Z")

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> [@astorian](#):
>
> …Is it too much to hope the next letter will actually start a name we’ve heard of?

No.

> [@astorian](#):
>
> Did you first come to proiminence playing the organ for soul singer P.P. Arnold?
> 
> Did you take time out from your Congresdional career to record an unlikely spoken-word hit single called “Gallant Men”?
> 
> Did you appear regularly on your daughter’s TV detective show, and eventually reveal that you were the title character’s father?

Dunno as to the first two (the only Congressional recording artists I know are Orrin Hatch and Robert Byrd), so take two DQs. As to the third, no, I’m not… Efram Zimbalist, dad of Stephanie, star of _Remington Steele_?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/187 "2011-10-18T19:15:13Z")

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Efrem Zimbalist Jr. is absolutely correct- good guessing (IF it was just a guess).

PP Arnold’s backup band was called the Nice. Their organist was Keith Emerson (later the E in Emerson, Lake & Palmer)

And Senator Everett Dirksen recorded “Gallant Men.”  
DQ1: Male?

DQ2: Real person?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/188 "2011-10-18T19:19:10Z")

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Were you the first black athlete to win the Heisman Trophy?  
Did David Niven write of you, “You can count on \_\_\_ ; he will ALWAYS let you down”?  
Did you fail repeatedly in your efforts to fix up your friend Harriet with a rich, well-connected husband?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/189 "2011-10-18T19:45:31Z")

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Zimbalist was an educated guess, not a wildass guess.

> [@astorian](#):
>
> Were you the first black athlete to win the Heisman Trophy?
> 
> Did David Niven write of you, “You can count on \_\_\_ ; he will ALWAYS let you down”?
> 
> Did you fail repeatedly in your efforts to fix up your friend Harriet with a rich, well-connected husband?

No, I’m not Emmett Smith. Dunno about the other two - DQs.

E.

1. Female
2. Real person

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/190 "2011-10-18T19:59:41Z")

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The first black man to win the Heisman Trophy was Ernie Davis of Syracuse (he died of brain cancer before he could play in the NFL)

David Niven wrote "You can count on Errol Flynn- he will ALWAYS let you down (The movie \*\*\*My Favorite Year \*\*\*starred Peter O’Toole as Allan Swann, a thinly disguised Errol Flynn; they use that line about him).

Emma Woodhouse, protagonist of Jane Austen’s _ **Emma,** _ was the world’s worst matchmaker.  
DQ1: American?

DQ2: Bon in the 20th Century?

DQ3: Last name start with “E”?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/191 "2011-10-18T20:03:31Z")

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E.

1. Female
2. Real person
3. American
4. Not born in the 20th C.
5. First name starts with “E”

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**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/192 "2011-10-18T20:37:54Z")

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IQ: Are you a fictitious poet created by Anthony Burgess?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/193 "2011-10-18T20:46:16Z")

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Can most of your best know works be sung to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”?  
Were you the last actress to play Catwoman in the campty Sixties TV series _ **Batman** _?  
Were you a soulful saxophone player whose name was “stolen” by a the piano player in his band?

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**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/194 "2011-10-18T22:01:56Z")

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IQ: Is your best known work an opera based on a fairy tale?

IQ: Did one of your first big-screen appearances feature you battling a giant spider?

IQ: Did you write a song frequently covered by Van Halen as the closing number of their concerts in the David Lee Roth era?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/195 "2011-10-19T01:04:43Z")

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> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#):
>
> IQ: Are you a fictitious poet created by Anthony Burgess?

Dunno this - from _A Clockwork Orange_? Take a DQ.

> [@astorian](#):
>
> Can most of your best know works be sung to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”?
> 
> Were you the last actress to play Catwoman in the campty Sixties TV series _ **Batman** _?
> 
> Were you a soulful saxophone player whose name was “stolen” by a the piano player in his band?

I’m neither Emily Dickinson, Eartha Kitt nor Duke Ellington.

> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#):
>
> IQ: Is your best known work an opera based on a fairy tale?
> 
> IQ: Did one of your first big-screen appearances feature you battling a giant spider?
> 
> IQ: Did you write a song frequently covered by Van Halen as the closing number of their concerts in the David Lee Roth era?

I’m not Engelbert Humperdinck. Dunno about the other two; take DQs.

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**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/196 "2011-10-19T01:14:21Z")

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> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#):
>
> IQ: Is your best known work an opera based on a fairy tale?
> 
> IQ: Did one of your first big-screen appearances feature you battling a giant spider?
> 
> IQ: Did you write a song frequently covered by Van Halen as the closing number of their concerts in the David Lee Roth era?

> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I’m not Engelbert Humperdinck. Dunno about the other two; take DQs.

You are not Clint Eastwood, who played a fighter pilot who dropped napalm on the titular monster at the end of _Tarantula_

You are not Dale Evans, who wrote “Happy Trails”, which was covered by Van Halen on their _Diver Down_ album, and was often sang as the last song of the final encore.

DQ: Are you known for any artistic achievement?

I’ll wait for the answer before I ask my second DQ.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/197 "2011-10-19T02:51:53Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Originally Posted by **Le Ministre de l’au-delà**  
> IQ: Are you a fictitious poet created by Anthony Burgess?

> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Dunno this - from _A Clockwork Orange_? Take a DQ.

**Francis Xavier Enderby** is the protagonist of 4 Anthony Burgess novels - Inside Mr. Enderby, Enderby Outside, The Clockwork Testament and Enderby’s Dark Lady. Inside Mr. Enderby was first published under the pen name of Joseph Kells, and Burgess got fired from his newspaper post for writing a review of his own novel.

DQ: Were you born in the 19th century?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/198 "2011-10-19T03:13:44Z")

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Emily Dickinson was right, and so was Eartha Kitt.

But the soulful sax player was Elton Dean. He and young pianist Reginald Dwight were in Long John Baldry’s soul band band Bluesology. Reg liked their names better than his own, so he combined them to become Elton John.

My DQ: Were you a writer/poet/playwright?

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/199 "2011-10-19T03:20:37Z")

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Are you the first black man to win the American League MVP award?  
Is your painting “The Barque of Dante” hanging in the Louvre?  
Do people turn into large horned animals in your best known work?

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**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/botticelli-october-2011/598437/200 "2011-10-19T10:26:32Z")

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If Wilhuff Tarkin was Darth Vader’s gray-haired chief lieutenant, I would have guessed him, if I knew his name, had I earned a guess.

E, now…

IQ: Were you dropped from the “Mrs. Robinson” lyrics in favor of Mrs. Robinson?

IQ: Suffrage-wise, were you considered the real brains to Susan B. Anthony’s face?

IQ: Are you a poet who shares a surname with a Reuben award winner?

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