Final Jeopardy: Dystopian Authors (12-15-15)
The Final Jeopardy question (12/15/2015) in the category “Dystopian Authors” was:
The author of his own dystopian classic in 1932, this man taught a young George Orwell at Eton.
New champ Sam McLinn won $12,500 yesterday. Today he is up against these two challengers: Rami Fakhouri, originally from Cockeysville, MD; and Tiombi Prince, from East Point, GA.
Round 1: Rami found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “It Was The 60s” under the $800 clue, the 4th clue chosen. He was in the lead with $800, double Sam’s second place score. He bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
An Oct. 13, 1960 New York Times headline read that this world leader “”Bangs his Shoe on Desk”. show
Rami finished in the lead with $7,000. Tiombi was second with $5,200 and Sam was last, in the hole for $800. After the break, Sam was credited with $2,000 for an answer previously judged wrong. So he went into the second round with $1,200.
Round 2: Sam found the first Daily Double in “Diaries & Journals” under the $1,600 clue. He was in third place with $3,600, $12,000 less than Tiombi’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and thought it was Daniel DeFoe. That was WRONG.
A 1666 entry in his diary read “The churches, houses, and all on fire, and flaming at once.” show
Two clues later, Sam found the last Daily Double in “Sea ‘B’s” under the $1,600. He was now in the hole for $2,000 (having missed the $2K in-between clue). He bet the $2,000 allowance and and thought it was the Tasman Sea. That was WRONG.
From the mid 1880s to 1914, this sea east of New Guinea was under German control. show
Tiombi finished in the lead with a runaway $15,600. Rami was next with $4,200 and Sam was in third place with $800.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“Aldous Huxley taught George Orwell at Eton…. this means that the future author of one of the great dystopian novels of the twentieth century taught the future author of one of the other great dystopian novels of the twentieth century. (He was Orwell’s French teacher.) The interesting author connections don’t end there. In 1930, Huxley was one of only ten mourners who attended the funeral of D. H. Lawrence.” (Five Fascinating Facts about Aldous Huxley)
Sam didn’t have an answer. He bet and lost it all.
Rami got it right. He bet $2,400 and finished with $6,600.
Tiombi thought it was H.G. Wells. She only lost $1,400. Her winning total dropped to $14,200.
Glad that was cleared up: This was the $1,000 clue in “Carols” that Sam was first called wrong on: “This song title precedes “bearing gifts we traverse afar.” Sam responded “We Three Kings” but Alex said “No.” Neither Tiombi or Rami rang in and Alex said “It’s “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Classical Music”
“Royal March of the Lion”, “The Aquarium” & “The Aviary” are thematically related 1886 works from this man. show
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I believe Eric Blair was at Eton and Oxford for a time, and Huxley did briefly teach him French at the latter; although, I suspect Blair already knew some French from his mother’s side of the family. However, for financial reasons he had to throw it up and became a policeman in Burma. I’ll have to re-read his “Burmese Days” one of these days. I doubt if his nom de plume George Orwell ever became legal. A British banker from Barclays once told me that Blair always endorsed his checks with “Eric Blair”. Anyhow, his tombstone in Oxfordshire is definitely inscribed “Eric Arthur Blair”. I once sang a part of “We Three Kings” in a Christmas pageant in a rural grammar school in New Hampshire during the 1940s. I forget if I sang of gold, frankincense, or myrrh — but it may have been
frankincense, which to me sounded a lot like Frankenstein at the time. Anyway, I wasn’t asked again. I understand it’s now illegal for schools to have Christmas pageants. What a shame. Does anyone remember Beethoven’s birthday anymore?
LOL…. frankincense, Frankenstein. That’s funny. I think it’s the first “gift” verse. I have always been highly in favor of only singing the first verse of most carols..
I wish Alex would stop making comments at the beginning of the games like the one he made today. Why did he have to put Sam on the spot like that? Just shut up, Alex!
If Raven-Symone watches Jeopardy, she’s probably having an issue with Tiombi’s name.
She did say “Scroos” —maybe because the category was “Bad Grammer?”
IIRC, Schopenhauer made an appearance. 🙂
Yeah, idk what is up with Trebek and some of the stuff he comes out with in the beginning of the show.
Well, the character in the musical was Scrooge. And, for me, that answer being accepted made me madder than I already was about Rob Russell and that foliage DD. There was more leeway there, imo.
Thanks for pointing Schopenhauer out. I didn’t hear that entire clue. So I gotta put that in. Two bingos in two days. :):) Cool beans.
LOL! (your rant). But I totally agree with you on the foliage DD, so unfair…and now Scroos is kosher with J!
BTW, wasn’t it around this time last year that there was a discussion here about Grinch, where Scrooge came up? Not important, it’s just that Scrooge rings a bell, with Tom, specially.
yes, it was on 12/23 (the night before the night before Christmas. LOL)
That a helluva memory you’ve got there :):)
Thanks! :):)
And speaking of Christmas, last night I heard on The Voice for the first time a X-mas song called “Mary Did You Know.” Nobody that I know ever heard of the song. Have you?
(They are about to announce the winner of The Voice in 5 minutes. If my guy doesn’t win, I’ll never watch the show again.)
no, I never heard that before, Cece. It’s pretty. So…. was Jordan Smith the one you wanted to win?
“Mary, Did You Know” has been around for quite a while. I have heard many BEAUTIFUL renditions of it. Surprised you hadn’t heard it before. Granted, it gets very little radio “air time” but is a popular Christian Christmas song.
@VJ, Yes, I was rooting for Jordan Smith and am thrilled he won. 🙂
@SG, what’s one of your favorite rendition of Mary Did You Know? I’ve purchased Jordan’s on iTunes, but would like to get a different version as well. 🙂
Yea!!! Tiombi won!!!
39/55
I was glad when they reversed that “We Three Kings” response. But I was also expecting Tiombi to get dinged because I could swear she said “Ebenezer Scroos” not “Scrooge” on this “Bad Grammer” clue:
$800 Kelsey scared his daughter the first time she saw him in makeup as this character in “A Christmas Carol: The Musical”
(going by my ears, not closed caption)
I never expected Sam in the red for $4,000 after being credited with a correct response just before the DJ!
I could have sworn I heard her say “Ebenezer Scroos”, too.
We’re not the only ones — a bunch of tweeters heard it too. here’s one
“Ebenezer Screws was in the XXX version of A Christmas Carol #jeopardy”
That’s cute, thanks, VJ. So it’s not just us, then.