1. Who stood naked on the balcony of the Cock Tavern to preach a "blasphemous sermon"?
2. Why did the playwright William Wycherley have to sit by an open window every time he visited his local tavern?
3. What drink was described as "the syrop of soot and old shoes"?
(For the answers to questions 1, 2, and 3, see Covent Garden.)
4. Which of Charles II's courtiers arranged the kidnapping of an heiress?
5. Which of the king's mistresses was known for her skills with guns and swords as well as her penchant for dressing in men's clothing?
6. Which of the king's ministers was mocked for his practice of
commemorating an old Civil War injury by wearing a plaster across his
nose?
(For the answers to 4, 5, and 6, see Some of the cast of Invitation To A Funeral.)
7. Which of the women in Charles II's life took part in a mock wedding
ceremony with herself as the bride and another of the Charles's
mistresses as the groom?
(See The many loves of Charles II.)
8. Who did Charles II teach to say English swear words without telling
her what they meant?
(See The Strand.)
9. In 1678, an enterprising cutler managed to sell three thousand
commemorative daggers in one day. Whose murder did the daggers
commemorate?
(See Primrose Hill.)
10. In 17th century thieves' slang, what was a "prigger of prancers"?
(See Alsatia.)
11. What was a spinster expected to do upon entering into company?
(See London Bridge.)
12. Where did fashionable Londoners go to watch vagrants and
prostitutes being flogged?
(See Bridewell Palace.)
13. Who would pronounce the following rhyme?
Examine well yourselves; in time repent,
That you may not to eternal flames be sent.
And when St Sepulchre's Bell in the morning tolls,
The Lord above have mercy on your souls.
14. When several lighthouses were leased out to a private businessman
in the early 1660s, what was the result?
(See Deptford.)
15. Who wrote: "Are The Stars Blazing Jellies?" "Why Are Musicians
Mad?" and "What Fills Our Heads With Fairies?"
(See Gresham College.)
16. What was the price of a ticket to see the lunatics at Bedlam?
(See Bedlam.)
17. Why did London libertines visit the baths in Leather Lane?
(See Holborn.)
18. What is said to have happened when James I placed a lamb in the
lions' cage at the Tower menagerie?
(See The Tower.)
19. Every day at one o'clock, a crowd would gather on a balcony in the
Banqueting House. Why?
(See Whitehall Palace.)
20. You notice several women on their hands and knees in Babers Field
on midsummer's day. What are they doing?
(See Tottenham Court.)