Mar 31, 2021
For this month's bonus episode we bring you the audio from our
recent live stream 'Around The World In 80 Fails' as we visit the
eight major cities from Jules Verne's novel and dispense ten facts
for each as well as setting a treasure hunt for you to crack! The
clues are below, followed by the answers and explanations if you
want to have a go at it yourself with the prize being mere pride
and smugness and not, as in Phileas Fogg's case, £20,000. To solve
them, use a mix of what we say in the podcast, some judicious
internet research and a bit of Google Maps! Each clue’s answer is
found in the city in which it is given in and each answer is a 1 or
2 digit number which help solve the final clue.
CLUES:
1 - LONDON: Inside a triangle between Fogg’s home, Doyle’s detective’s domicile, and the bronze memorial to Verne’s translation topper, find a circular quadrilateral and the blue plaque at the residence of a premier liberal.
2 - SUEZ: From the octagonal beacon, move towards Nemo’s sub’s nuclear namesake’s pole. Running east to west above the Friends-y café you’ll find a Fat Fucker’s revolutionary street. Add the digits.
3 - MUMBAI: Across the Back from the formerly cardboard arch lies a Babylonian Wonder. Walk its southern path to the stone shelter and find the blue Zone opposite.
4 - KOLKATA: Just over halfway between the Bollywood Godfather’s place of worship and the Vidyasagar Setu, get out of this world then look just south for a holy seat and count the apostle’s supposed epistles.
5 - HONG KONG: Follow the aim of the midday munition just across the water to a stellar street. At its eastern-most end pick the eastern-most spot by a Melville-inspired coffeehouse where The cinematic Dragon stands and take the first digit of his age at time of death.
6 - YOKOHAMA: From the former foremost ferris, follow the road eastwards, over the bridge - then south of the pachyderm’s nose to an arena. Add the individual digits in the left or right corner of the scoreboard.
7 - SAN FRANCISCO: From where The Rock Islanders played, fly south-ish - but before Archimedes’ exclamation pause at the Vanessa Cardui, and visit the park with shades of Davy Crockett. Find the most storey-ed building on its western side, add the second and third digits and multiply by half the first digit.
8 - NEW YORK: From the island of Elizabeth Jane Cochran’s asylum, follow Paul and Art’s cantilever northwest to the fountain of her circumnavigatory sponsor. Its adjacent avenue is your final number.
FINAL CLUE: Translate these numbers.
Your team name is the final clue and final answer.
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ANSWERS:
1: 20
As mentioned in '80 Fails', Fogg lives at 7 Savile Row. Doyle's
Detective's Domicile is 221b Baker Street (home of Arthurs Conan
Doyle's Sherlock Holmes), and Barry also mentioned that Jules Verne
is the second-most translated writer on Earth after Agatha
Christie, who has a memorial in Leicester Square. If you draw a
triangle between these 3 points, in the middle of this triangle is
Cavendish Square - a rather circular square - where there is a blue
plaque on Number 20 which is the home of Herbert Asquith, the
former Liberal Prime Minister.
2: 5
Ben told us about the lighthouse
in Port Said, which is octagonal. 'Towards Nemo's sub's nuclear
namesake's pole' requires a bit of Googling. Captain Nemo is a
Jules Verne character whose submarine was called the Nautilus.
There was a real-life nuclear submarine called the Nautilus which
was the first to travel under the North Pole. Travelling north from
the lighthouse in Port Said you come to a café called Central Perk
(like the café in Friends) which is on an east-to-west street
called 23rd July St. 23rd July was the date of the Egyptian coup in
1952 as part of Operation 'Fat Fucker', the CIA's plan to eject
King Farouk. Add 2 and 3 and you get 5!
3: 1
Ben mentioned that Mumbai's 'Gateway to India' wasn't ready when a
royal visit took place in 1911 and so a cardboard replica stood in
its place. Looking at Google Maps of Mumbai, the bay just to the
west of where the Gateway stands is called Back Bay and on the
other side of the bay from the Gateway is a park called Hanging
Gardens (the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the 7 Ancient
Wonders of the World). If you go into street view and walk along
the southern path of the park, in the southeastern corner is a
stone shelter which has a blue sign reading Zone 1 across from
it.
4: 13
Barry talked about Amitabh Bachchan, the famed Bollywood actor
whose roles included the title figure of Sarkar in the Bollywood
version of The Godfather. Barry also mentioned that Bachchan is
worshipped in a temple in Kolkata (which is located in the All
Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans' Association building). The Vidyasagar
Setu is the name of the Second Hooghly Bridge. Draw a line from the
temple towards the bridge and just over halfway you come to a
planetarium ("out of this world") - south of which is St. Paul's
Cathedral, the seat of the Anglican diocese of Kolkata. St Paul the
apostle is supposed to have written 13 epistles in the New
Testament.
5:
3
Ben told us about the Noon Day Gun in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The
photos of it all show that it points straight out across the bay,
just on the other side of which is Avenue Of Stars. At the eastern
end of the avenue is a Starbucks - and any of you who recently
heard of Coffee episode will know that Herman Melville's 'Moby
Dick' includes the character of Starbuck. The Dragon was film star
Bruce Lee's name and sure enough he has a statue standing just
outside that Starbucks. He died aged 3, so take the 3 from his
age.
6: 12
Barry talked about Cosmo Clock 21, at one point the world's tallest
Ferris wheel at 107m. Follow the road on Google maps east from
there and it crosses a bridge by Elephant Nose Park. Look south
from there and you find Yokohama Stadium. Into street view, you can
look at the scoreboard where the bottom corners both show 10.29.
Add the individual digits: 1+2+9 = 12!
7: 21
Ben talked about Al Capone's time playing in an Alcatraz inmate
band called the Rock Islanders. Quite a way south of there is an
area called Eureka Valley - Archimedes famously shouted Eureka! in
his bath. Before you get there you can find a series of buildings
called The Painted Ladies - painted lady is a type of butterfly
whose Latin name is Vanessa Cardui. Just beside these buildings on
the map is Alama Park, and Davy Crockett famously died in the
Battle of the Alamo. On the west side of the park - Scott Street -
the tallest building is a white apartment block, number 625. 2+5
(the second and third digits) = 7, multiplied by 3 (half the first
digit) = 21.
8: 5
Right at the start of the podcast,
Barry mentioned the pioneering journalist Nellie Bly, whose real
name was Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She spent time undercover in an
asylum on Blackwell Island - which has since been renamed Roosevelt
Island, the very first stop on our NYC tour! Paul (Simon) and Art
(Garfunkel) sang about the 59th Street Bridge, the other name of
the Ed Koch Queensboro, a cantilever bridge running northwest off
Roosevelt Island. Continue along 59th Street and you come to the
southeastern corner of Central Park where the Pulitzer Fountain
sits - Joseph Pulitzer sponsored Nellie Bly's trip around the
world. It is adjacent to 5th Avenue.
FINAL CLUE ANSWER: TEAM CLUE
This is a straightforward enough clue that you have a number-letter
cipher - turn the 8 numbers into letters of the alphabet and you
have your final answer: TEAM CLUE.