The Great British Pie Quiz!

2. In January 1662, Samuel Pepys dined at a friend’s house and was served some pies. The number of pies on the table had significance. Did it represent:

A: The number of years since the end of the English Civil War (11)
B: The number of years the hosts had been married (18)
C: The maximum number of pies they could make with the resources available in the kitchen at that particular time (7)

3. It’s nearly Easter! What’s the Italian name for their Easter Pie, that’s literally (not literally) bursting with ham, eggs and cheese?

A: Torta Pasqualina
B: Piesqualina
C: Pie Jesu

4. In celebration of National Pie Week, the Slimming World Twitter account is currently touting an “Easy Chicken Ham And Mushroom Pie”. But how do they get around the whole “pastry being largely incompatible with slimming” issue?

A: The pie only has a lid and no bottom
B: The pie has thin strips of pastry laid on top
C: There’s no pastry in the pie whatsoever. It’s pastry-less. No pastry!

5: Peter The Great, former Tsar of Russia, was a mischievous soul who enjoyed entertaining his guests by having something burst out of a gigantic pie. Was it:

A: A “man”
B: Four and twenty blackbirds
C: A naked dwarf

6: According to John Lennon, the Beatles were given their name by something else that emerged from a “flaming pie”. Was it:

A: A “man”
B: Four and twenty blackbirds
C: A naked dwarf

7: In the second series of BBC comedy Blackadder, the main characters are fond of popping down to Mrs Miggins’ Pie Shop. In how many episodes do we see said Pie Shop?

A: Four
B: Two
C: None

8. In August 2014, Legges of Bromyard, a Herefordshire butcher, produced a “Celebrity Pie” and put it on sale for £5.50 to commemorate what?

A: The death of Oscar-winning actor and director Richard Attenborough
B: John Craven filming an episode of Countryfile down the road
C: The launch of Celebrity Big Brother 14

9: In 2013, footballer Gareth Bale was sold to Real Madrid for around £80m. How does that compare to the amount the British spend on pies each year? Would it buy:

A: Half a Gareth Bale
B: Two Gareth Bales
C: Twelve Gareth Bales

10: Which popular music artist has NOT sung a song about a pie?

A: J-Lo
B: Bob Dylan
C: Led Zeppelin

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Answers!

1: A. Frankly, “Topped with a layer of chips” is an underused phrase in the food world.

2: B. This is all about the anniversaries. A few weeks later Pepys went to another house and was served three pies because they’d been married for three years. Evidently it was a thing in the 17th century. They should bring it back.

3: A. I made up B, and C was a weak joke.

4: B. It couldn’t be C. You can’t have a pastryless pie. That would be ridiculous. That’s like a breadless sandwich. Oh, hang on.

5: C. Peter The Great was very fond of dwarves in general, apparently.

6: A. It was “a man” who appeared from a flaming pie and said “from this day on, you are The Beatles with an A”. I suspect the truth is more mundane than that, but that’s what Lennon said, so it’s in the quiz.

7: C. None! Mrs Miggins makes numerous appearances in series 3, but by then she’s running a coffee shop, with her pies a distant memory.

8: B. John Craven. Effectively a John Craven pie! Amazing.

9: C. Twelve! Yes, we spend nigh on a billion pounds a year on pie. Tuck in.

10: Trick question: they’ve all done songs about pies – Cherry, Country and Custard respectively. My favourite pie related song is Steve Winwoods “Pie Of Love” (“Bake me a pie of love / It's that pie of love that I've been thinking of”) but I might have misheard it.

@Rhodri

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