Here are some of the questions I have been asked infrequentl.

What is a double animal? It’s an animal made up of the name of two animals, named after another animal for its characteristics - like a rhinocerous beetle, a catfish, a whaleshark, a bullfrog, etc.

Got it? So these are owl monkeys at Bristol Zoo. You can also have a tiger moth, Bull shark, Camel spider, Spider monkey, Dogfish, leopard shark, Bull finch, Bull frog, Dogfish, Lion seal, Bull finch, Bull dog, Parrot fish, Sparrow hawk, Tiger prawn, Elephant seal, mole rats, Stag beetle. I don’t have a favourite. Well maybe a spider monkey.

How many words are there that end in “-monger”? I think it’s 15: costermonger, cheesemonger, fashionmonger, fellmonger, fishmonger, gossipmonger, hatemonger, ironmonger, newsmonger, phrasemonger, rumormonger (sadly not rumourmonger), scandalmonger, scaremonger, warmonger, whoremonger, wordmonger. My favourite is cheesemonger, though I am trying to push the word “Quizmonger” out there.

Can the Great Wall of China be seen from space? No no no no no no. By the same rationale, a long piece of string can be seen miles away because it is long. It cannot - it is thin. So even if the GWoC is 5500 miles long, sadly as it is only ten metres wide, it is invisible from miles upwards.

Are you Father Christmas? No. He lives in the North pole. I did fill in for him in the Christmas period (or early November to December) in 2002, which got some great reviews. I was a little unnerved by some of the haircuts of the kids on the Kings Road, boys with long long hair, though I took great pleasure in asking them “Have you been a good girl this year?”.

Have you been a good girl this year? No.

Stephen! Just Coming.

Can I read some of your book? Yes. Why isn’t this a FQ? Have a look here and you’ll find a chapter. Let me know what you think.

What are your favourite films? Obligatory to give you Shawshank Redemption as number one, then in no particular order, The Fugitive, Amelie,  American History X, Airplane, In the Line of Fire, Dangerous Liaisons, Million Dollar Baby, Heartbreak Ridge, The Usual Suspects, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Blue Brothers, Gladiator, and of course, Where Eagles Dare.

The cathedral in Düsseldorf is on the North of the square? Strange, I seem to remember.. the cathedral was on the other side of the square.

What are your favourite films with monkeys and apes in? Ah, good question. The Jungle Book. Every which way but loose. Raiders of the Lost Ark. Gorillas in the Mist. Outbreak. Am I missing any good ones?

Can you tell the difference between Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand? Not at all. Fortunately I’ve never really had to. I only know of one other person to ever get them confused.

As with the FQs - if you have more questions, just keep asking ‘em, and I’ll keep answering ‘em.