1. David Meadows from Derby was the inaugural winner 25 years ago of a competition organised by the Guardian and Cutty Sark that basically involved solving anagrams, crosswords, and word puzzles, etc. What word, meaning “addicted to word puzzles” was coined for the event?
2. What was the rather appropriate surname (to an Englishman) of the Frenchman who was sentenced to 6 years penal servitude on Devil’s Island for setting fire to an army tent while delirious from sunstroke? He attempted to escape in 1913,1917,1926,and 1931,each of these abortive attempts adding years to his sentence.
Well, I was all ready to cheat, and started poking around on Google, and I still can’t find the answers to these. Then again, I’m really, really tired right now, and not thinking as clearly as I might otherwise.
The names René Belbenoit, Henri Charrière or Mandat mean anything to anyone…? What do they mean in English?
BTW, questions come from a 100 question research quiz I do every month (for fun…!?!). These are the last two which I can’t find answers for.
Searching is not cheating…its helping. I’ve been looking for a while and can’t turn up anything. The guy who sets the quiz doesn’t make it easy, that’s for sure.
Jean Valjean was a character in Les Miserables. He was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, but, in the end, served many times that because he kept trying to escape.
I haven’t read Les Miserables in the original French, but I’m wondering if maybe the name “Valjean” only appears in the English translations and that maybe in French the main character’s name is different.
Apparently, you’re not the only one looking for the answer to #1. Here’s a Google thread where someone asks the same question. Another poster suggested an answer, but that word is not found in the m-w.com dictionary.
I agree with Terminus Est. The question read appropriate surname (to an Englishman)–in other words, the name sounds like an English word related to the crime (setting fire).
No, that’s not it. Henri Charrière (Papillion) was sent to Devil’s Island after being convicted of murdering a prostitute in 1931. The prisoner mentioned in the clue was on Devil’s Island as early as 1913, and made his last escape attempt in 1931.
I found it! I wasn’t even looking for it, but I was leafing through t e Book of Lists, and I came across the name of the gent who set fire to a tent and wound up in Devil’s Island.
The name was…
CHARLOT PAIN.
In French, “pain” means bread, but in English, the name is very appropriate for a guy suffering torment in a penal colony.
