Friday, January 21, 2011

Winter Puzzle





It's too frigging cold for most of us to sail this weekend, so to pass the time here's a photo quiz that combines sailing and cold.

All you need to do is tell me what these two pictures depict. Give me as much information as possible - when, what, who, where...

Then tell me what the connection between these two scenes is.

Good luck!

If you know the full answer please send it via email to me. If you are just making a wild ass guess by all means use the comments.

Update: I already have one completely correct solution via email so perhaps this quiz isn't as hard as I thought. On the other hand my correspondent does reveal that he has met the individual who links the two pictures. Ooops that's a clue, I guess.

Update 2: We have a second winner, the unparalleled O Docker, fresh from his podium place on Sweet Bluesette's Winter Doldrums Contest. And he didn't even meet the "missing link" person. I'll wait a little longer to see if anyone else gets it before revealing the answer.

Update 3: OK, three people have emailed me with the correct answer now. You guys are so smart.

The first photo is of the O-Jolle Class racing in the 1936 Olympics at Kiel in Germany.

The second photo is of the Scott Polar Expedition taken shortly after reaching the South Pole on January 17, 1912 and discovering that Amundsen had beaten them there. On the return trip, Scott and his four companions all died of starvation and extreme cold.

The winner of the bronze medal in the O-Jolle class at the 1936 Olympics, sailing for Britain, was Peter Scott, perhaps more famous in later years as an ornithologist, conservationist and painter. Peter Scott was the son of Robert Scott, the leader of the Antarctic expedition in the other photo.


9 comments:

Joe said...

I think I'll pass since it's nice and sunny outside. Oh look, there's a girl in a bikini lying in the park. Got to go.

P.S. Drink hot coco and stay warm.

Baydog said...

A fleet of Oprah class dinghies somewhere in Australia last week.

The Scott Party
1912
South Pole

Tillerman said...

Close Baydog.

The second photo is indeed of the Scott Polar Expedition taken shortly after reaching the South Pole on January 17, 1912 and discovering that Amundsen had beaten them there. On the return trip, Scott and his four companions all died of starvation and extreme cold.

Unfortunately the boats in the other photo are not the class you mention (of which I had not heard before.) Nor was it taken in Australia. And certainly not last week.

Baydog said...

A first rate tragedy it was.

Tjrinas said...

There's something quite touching about this. Scott was seen as a great British hero at the time but has since been vilified. One suspects that the son was a gentler soul who tried to live up to his father.

Pandabonium said...

That was over so fast I'm kind of relieved. No need to compete.

Tillerman said...

Interesting point Tjrinas.

(Interesting name too!)

Imagine having to try to live up to the example of a dead father of mythical status like that. The noble and brave hero who died in a failed gallant attempt to win a "first" for his country.

Of course I read the Scott story as a boy but there always seemed something a bit "off" to me about revering a man who led his whole team to death.

O Docker said...

Puzzling over this puzzle, I came across some theories about why Scott's story was so celebrated in Britain.

His paying the ultimate price 'for country' played perfectly for those rallying support on the home front when Britain entered the First World War just two years later.

Some think that helped to cement his place in British history and to divert a more objective evaluation of the expedition and of his motives until much later.

Tillerman said...

That's probably part of the reason for the Scott mystique O Docker. God knows the British government needed plenty of role models of dead heroes to inspire their young men to similar sacrifice from 1914-1918.

But growing up in Britain a couple of generations later as we were losing our Empire and pre-eminent role on the world stage, it seemed like we were still being encouraged to glorify the gallant losers of our "glorious" history. We weren't winners any more but we sure had the most romantic and noble losers.

I guess I was a bit cynical even at an early age and I never really bought the myth. I preferred the heroes who lived to achieve their goals like Hillary and Knox-Johnston.

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