The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-18 00:00:00

Professor Anderson's Conundrum Contes

This " event" came off at the Mechanics' Hall,
Nottingham, on Friday evening, before a crowded
audience and under the patronage of Sir Robert and
Lady Clifton, who honoured the entertainment with
their presence. The first part of the programme
was confined to the Professor's performances of
legerdemain (several new and astonishing tricks
being introduced), and to an exhibition of Miss
Anderson's wonderful powers of memory. The
second part was devoted• to the adjudication of the
prizes for the best and the worst conundrum. Ac-
cording to the conditions of this contest, a jury of
thirteen was selected by the audience, and after the
gentlemen had taken their seats the Professor put
it to them whether any of them were authors of, or
interested in, competing conundrums. A solemn-
looking man, in a wide-awake hat, who had caused
considerable merriment by his pertinacity to form
one of the jury, and who founded his claim to the
position upon the ground that he was the " represen-
tative of the working classes," hereupon said that he
was " slightly interested." The Professor accordingly
requested him to retire; but so anxious was the repre-
sentative of the working classes to take part in the deci-
sion of the prizes that he at once offered to retract
his statement, which, of course, he was not allowed
to do, and he was declared disqualified. Before
descending the platform, however, he was led by a
singular freak of anomaly to make a short speech to
the effect that he was convinced that truth would
always prevail, and in order to show, as he said,
that he bore no animosity towards his fellow jury-
men, he shook hands with them all round. The
working classes having found another and a less
eccentric representative, Mr. Belk, one of the jury,
proposed that Mr. Steegman should be foreman,
and the motion, having been seconded by a gentle-
man in a white apron neatly rolled round his waist,
was duly carried. Miss Anderson then read the list
of selected conundrums, which the professor had
divided into the following sections :—Anderson and
Association-al Conundrums ; section B.—Bad
Conundrums ; section C.—Cliftonian Conundrums;
section D.—Doubtful Conundrums ; section E.
—Excruciating Conundrums ; section F.—Funny
Conundrums ; section G.—Good Conundrums. At
the conclusion, Mr. Anderson intimated that it was
open to any one who had sent in a conundrum which
had not been • read to request that his or her
composition might be submitted to the jury,
whereupon a number of gentlemen, who evidently
considered that " The Brains of Nottingham" was
an incomplete work, rose and propounded divers
queries, which to our mind certainly came within
the jurisdiction of section E, " the excruciating." At
last the jury were enabled to retire to consider their
verdict ; in the meantime Miss Flora Anderson
sang " Macgregor's Gathering," the solemn-looking
representative of the working classes above-men-
tioned diverted the audience with a singular speech
from the platform, and Mr. Wardle gave a comic
disquisition upon music. In about three-quarters
of an hour the jury re-appeared, looking as grave as
if their deliberations had been one of life or death,
and amid a silence as breathless as that which pre-
vails when a criminal is about to be condemned to
the full penalty of the law, the foreman announced
that it had been decided that conundrum No. 105
was the best. It was as follows ;—Why does Not-
tingham show more partiality for the rifle than any
other town? Because it has an Enfield for the
Town Clerk, and a Ball for the Mayor. The
author, however, it was found on the vouchers
being produced, had not complied with the con-
ditions by omitting to send his name ; and
the jury had to make another selection.
The second verdict was in favour of No.
170 :—Why is the Corporation of Nottingham
better armed than any other corporation in Eng-
land ?—Because it's got a " Ball" for its Mayor,
and an "Enfield" for its Town Clerk. The jury
had, in the first instance, decided that the worst
conundrum was No. 9 :—Why is a swallow like
a German stove ?—When it's a crooked flue (flew) ;
and the author of it was announced to be Sir Robert
Clifton ; but the manuscript it was discovered was
in the handwriting of Miss Anderson, and it did not
bear the name of the hon. baronet. Miss Ander-

son explained that the original was accidentally
destroyed ; but the audience was unanimous in de-

Glaring that it ought to be rejected, and rejected it
The jury had, therefore, a second time to
asider their fiat, which was ultimately pronounced
:or No. 5 :—When is a conundrum not a conun-

drum ?—When it is not. The winners were Mr.

Grundy, Sneiton (the best), and Mrs. Smith, Bruns-
wick-villas (the worst) ; but neither of the indivi-
duals in question were in attendance, and Mr.
Anderson, in accordance with his declared intention

n such caso, handed the prizes to the foreman to be

realised for the benefit of the local charities, which,
perhaps, was about the best result that the " sand-
papering" of the brains of Nottingham could have

Produced. The entertainment did not conclude till
midnight.—Notlinghani Guardian.