7 questions on landmarks for sale
Continue reading the main storyInfo
Admiralty Arch is up for sale for a reported £75m. The Grade-I listed building has a prime position in central London and the neighbours include the Queen. How much do you know about landmarks which have been put on the market?
1.) Multiple Choice Question
The Arch was commissioned by Edward VII in memory of his mother. Many visitors have noticed a strange protrusion in the northernmost arch. What part of the body does it resemble?
- Mouth
- Ear
- Nose
2.) Multiple Choice Question
It is often said that when London Bridge was sold to American Robert McCulloch in 1968, he thought he was getting the more impressive Tower Bridge. But in which US state was the bridge rebuilt?
- Arizona
- Utah
- Nevada
3.) Multiple Choice Question
The iconic Hollywood town sign has graced LA's Santa Monica mountains since the 1920s. In the 1970s, the original letters were replaced and sold. Where are they now?
- In a studio being turned into artwork
- In a theme park
- In the home of a Bollywood director
4.) Multiple Choice Question
In the 1980s, the restaurant on the first level of the Eiffel Tower was dismantled and bought by a French businessman. It was then traded with another businessman in a different country and reassembled where?
- Montreal
- New Orleans
- Brussels
5.) Multiple Choice Question
Peaches O'Day, a trickster in a 1930s film, successfully sold a landmark bridge to a gullible fool. The plot was based on real stories of con men attempting to sell the bridge. Which one?
- Brooklyn Bridge, New York
- O'Connell Bridge, Dublin
- Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney
Info
Another trickster was William McCloundy, also known as IOU O'Brien, who "sold" the bridge in 1901, according to Carl Sifakis's Hoaxes and Scams: A Compendium of Deceptions, Ruses and Swindles. The phrase that goes along the lines of, "if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you," harks back to such scams.
6.) Multiple Choice Question
Brighton Pier can be bought for a rumoured £30m. It has featured in many films, television shows and documentaries. But which Woody Allen film did it appear in?
- Match Point
- Cassandra's Dream
- Scoop
7.) Multiple Choice Question
Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast, is home to 36,000 pairs of gannets. It lies halfway between Glasgow and Belfast and was put up for sale in May. What's its nickname?
- Paddy's point
- Paddy's rock
- Paddy's milestone
Answers
- It's a "nose-shaped" moulding. A few months ago, London's Evening Standard identified the man thought to have put it there in 1997 - artist Rick Buckley. About 35 noses have been fixed by Buckley to landmarks in protest at what he said was the rise of the Big Brother society.
- The bridge was reconstructed at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and rededicated on 10 October 1971. It is now a major tourist attraction.
- They are being turned into pieces of art. They were bought by American artist Bill Mack in 2007 for $450,000 (£288,700) in an online auction. Since then, he has been using metal sheets from the original signs to paint portraits of past Hollywood stars.
- It was New Orleans. Some 11,000 pieces of steel and glass were traded to a barter company in New York. The pieces were sent to New Orleans and reassembled as Le Restaurant de la Tour Eiffel. It was later renamed the Cricket Club.
- It's the Brooklyn Bridge - and the film was Every Day's a Holiday starring Mae West. George C Parker, a confidence trickster, "sold" the bridge to unsuspecting businessmen who believed they could set up and operate tolls.
- It was Cassandra's Dream, which was released in 2007 and starred Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell. Brighton Pier has also appeared in Quadrophenia, Mona Lisa and End of the Affair.
- It's Paddy's milestone. It was given the name because it was a landmark for thousands of Irish emigrants going to Scotland for work.
Your Score
0 - 2 : Blot on the landscape
3 - 5 : Worth a visit
6 - 7 : Historic
For past quizzes including our weekly news quiz, 7 days 7 questions, expand the grey drop-down below - also available on the Magazine page (and scroll down).
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~33~RS~)

Giant Oklahoma tornado kills dozens
Smarter future
Light relief
In pictures
Echoes of revolution
A leaf from nature's book
Click