Big River

1. [Multiple choice]

In this song, when the singer was young were the streets

(Cobblestones were formerly used to make streets before being replaced by asphalt and paving slabs.)

Answers for Quiz [1].

• 1. paved?
• 2. cobbled? (correct)

2. [Multiple choice]

Were the children he alludes to in the first line

(They were all skin and bone – a phrase meaning they were scrawny, or thin. Scrawny = adj – unpleasantly thin, often with bones showing. A chicken can be scrawny, or someone who has lost a lot of weight after being ill.)

Answers for Quiz [2].

• 1. poor and thin? (correct)
• 2. strong and healthy?

3. [Multiple choice]

How old a boy was Jimmy Nail in this song?

(He was a boy of 10. This is a way of giving someone’s age. She is a woman of 50 = she is a 50-year-old woman.)

Answers for Quiz [3].

• 1. 5
• 2. 8
• 3. 10 (correct)
• 4. 12
• 5. 15

4. [Multiple choice]

Who or what is described as being ‘king’ at the time?

(Coal was king – because everything was driven by coal.)

Answers for Quiz [4].

• 1. his father
• 2. shipbuilding
• 3. the Tyne bridges
• 4. coal (correct)
• 5. mining
• 6. the Tyne river

5. [Multiple choice]

Where did his father work?

(We can’t tell what job he actually did.)

Answers for Quiz [5].

• 1. down a mine
• 2. on the railway
• 3. in a shipyard (correct)
• 4. on the trams
• 5. on a ferry

6. [Multiple choice]

Was he a member of a Shipbuilding Trade Union?

(- “he picked up a union card from the Neptune yard”. The Neptune yard was one of the shipyards belonging to Swan Hunter shipbuilders on the Tyne.
)

Answers for Quiz [6].

• 1. Yes (correct)
• 2. No

7. [Multiple choice]

What line from the song tells you Jimmy Nail’s father had to earn a living?

Answers for Quiz [7].

• 1. He had mouths to feed and bills to pay. (correct)
• 2. He had to cross the river every day
• 3. He earned our living with his hands
• 4. There came a time for him to sail across the seas / And far away

8. [Multiple choice]

Did his father fight in the war?

(This would be the Second World War (1939 – 1945 – although for many the war did not actually end then.))

Answers for Quiz [8].

• 1. Yes (correct)
• 2. No

9. [Multiple choice]

Is the river Tyne described as a great river?

(– but this is actually the sentiment behind the word ‘big’. Big and large are used of size, but sometimes ‘big’ can also mean great, as here.)

Answers for Quiz [9].

• 1. Yes
• 2. No (correct)

10. [Multiple choice]

How did the singer find out that the Neptune shipyard had closed?

(The Tyne shipyards closed over some years – but the Neptune yard closed around 1993 and was demolished in 2006.)

Answers for Quiz [10].

• 1. in the newspaper
• 2. friends told him so
• 3. his father told him
• 4. on the radio (correct)
• 5. on TV

11. [Text]

What line conveys the idea that people seemed indifferent about this closure?

Answers for Quiz [11].

• 1. ‘And then they played the latest number one’ (correct)

12. [Multiple choice]

How many lines convey the effect of unemployment on the shipyard workers?

(But what do they do all day?
And what are they supposed to say?
What does a father tell his son?
)

Answers for Quiz [12].

• 1. 1
• 2. 2
• 3. 3 (correct)
• 4. 4

13. [Multiple choice]

The singer seems

(There are several expressions of pride about the Tyne’s industry given in the song:
This was a big river!
Hold on to what we had.
We built them strong, we built to last. If you want something to be very robust and serviceable you build it to last.
This is a mighty town / Built upon solid ground
I want you all to know that I’m (so) very proud

)

Answers for Quiz [13].

• 1. romantic about the Tyne’s past.
• 2. proud of his past. (correct)
• 3. angry about life having changed.

14. [Multiple choice]

Does he believe this is the end of the river’s greatness?

(– ‘the river will rise again’.)

Answers for Quiz [14].

• 1. Yes
• 2. No (correct)
• 3. Probably