Two Truths, One Lie

[ChrisJ]

ChrisJ got it straight off the bat. I did do trampolining lessons, but only got as far as my level 1 certificate, not level 5. Level 1 trampolining involves doing tuck jumps, pike jumps, straddle jumps, and being able to drop to the mat a variety of ways and bounce back up (e.g. bounce on knees, bounce sitting, or land flat on your front and bounce back up).

The other two facts are disturbingly true.

ChrisJ's turn to give two truths, one lie.

I've seen someone do the recorder thing so I knew that was possible. Given the extreme nature of your other adventures, the whole eyeball thing seemed scarily plausible.

My three:

1. I became a teacher because the buses to Cheltenham were better than the buses to Worcester.
2. Despite being a county swimmer, I failed my Gold survival badge because I talked so much I didn't finish the long swim within the time limit.
3. I have been expelled from cub scouts, primary school and secondary school.

[elguapo4]

Number 3

[lambers]

I'll say 1. It was probably the buses being the other way round

[Femme Folle]

Number 1 is the lie.

[Patrick Thistle]

Number 3 - I don't think Chris was expelled from cubs.

[Femme Folle]

This game is going to take a while if we have to wait for the winner of each person's round to be announced.

[ChrisJ]

This game is going to take a while if we have to wait for the winner of each person's round to be announced.

Well, I wanted to give other people a go! However, elguapo4 got it first try. I wasn't expelled from primary school. (Sorry Pat.)

[Sporting]

This game is going to take a while if we have to wait for the winner of each person's round to be announced.

If the answer is given too soon, we miss the opportunity for (un)informed speculation and sundry tangential asides.

[elguapo4]

Two truths and one lie ( listed by age when they happened )

1) aged 11-12 I sang boy soprano in Opera Ireland productions of Carmen, La Boheme and Tosca, and a review in the Irish Independent praised the "delightful interpretation ".

2) Aged 15 I finished 7th out of 30 in the Javelin at the Leinster schools championships. I had never thrown the Javelin before, and haven't since.

3) aged 19, myself and a friend were sitting in the bar of a North Dublin hotel, waiting for the nightclub to open . Three guys came in and asked could they share the table. They said that they were in a band,and had just got a record deal. That is how I ended up spending the night with Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton, I've no idea where Larry Mullen was.

[Sporting]

No. 1 sounds dubious to me.

[Etienne]

No.3

(number 2 basically happened to my wife if you substitute Cheshire for Leinster and Hammer for Javelin)

[Patrick Thistle]

By default I'll suggest number 2 is the lie. I imagine elguapo4 was quite the track and field enthusiast as a kid but he never competed in javelin.

[Balderdasha]

I've seen someone do the recorder thing so I knew that was possible. Given the extreme nature of your other adventures, the whole eyeball thing seemed scarily plausible.

My three:

1. I became a teacher because the buses to Cheltenham were better than the buses to Worcester.
2. Despite being a county swimmer, I failed my Gold survival badge because I talked so much I didn't finish the long swim within the time limit.
3. I have been expelled from cub scouts, primary school and secondary school.

Tell us more about number 1. Did the buses affect which university you went to / which course you studied? Or if not, how did they result in you becoming a teacher?

[Sporting]

Number 3 - I don't think Chris was expelled from cubs.

So why was he?

[ad hoc]

Yes, I reckon number 3. The Larry Mullen bit is a nice touch though. I applaud this level of commitment to the lie

[Balderdasha]

So why was he?

He wasn't. Number 3 was the lie.

Edit: ChrisJ was not expelled from cubs as far as we know. Getting a bit confusing with all the different lies!

[Balderdasha]

I'm suspicious of the "delightful interpretation" in elguapo4's first statement.

[Etienne]

He wasn't. Number 3 was the lie.

Edit: ChrisJ was not expelled from cubs as far as we know. Getting a bit confusing with all the different lies!

Given that Chris specified in his response that he wasn't expelled from primary school it seemed to imply he probably was expelled from cubs and secondary school.

[Patrick Thistle]

Yes, I read it the same way as Etienne

It's probably something like not going to church for cub parade sunday or something. (I don't know. I never went to cubs.)

[elguapo4]

I'm on my lunch break at 1pm GMT, I'll reveal the truth then.

[Benjm]

If 1 and 3 were both true, surely we'd have read an interview with Bono about how, in the early days of U2, he was almost relegated to keys and extra percussion after they met this young lad with the voice of an angel in a bar in North Dublin. They offered this fellow the frontman position but he knocked them back to pursue his own dream of running the PA at Bohemians. So Bono kept his spot and the rest is history. I just don't think that they'd have kept it so quiet.

So 1. Or 3. But not 2.

[elguapo4]

Ok, the truth

1) My mother was a decent singer in the local music society, and my primary school teacher was on the committee of the opera board,so he rounded up the 10 best singers to appear in the spring and Christmas seasons for two years. We had a great time doing it, I got to belt out one solo line in La Boheme, the positive review came from our performance of Avec La Garde Montante from Carmen, so TRUE.

2) Sports at our school always depended on the enthusiasm of one or other of our teachers. At this time, one of them started an Athletic team. For the Leinster championships, each school was allowed to enter two people into each event. I was the odd man out, and as we had only one Javelin thrower I went along as spare man. I remember fouling two of my throws and getting it right once, my teammate finished 4th. TRUE.

3) The only time I've ever seen Bono and the boys is on a stage, but that story exactly as told happened to my brother. So FALSE ( but true)

You're up Etienne

[ChrisJ]

Tell us more about number 1. Did the buses affect which university you went to / which course you studied?

Yes, pretty much.

Sorry all, having left a space for a few guesses, I wanted to put up the answer but didn't have time for explanations, so it was probably all a bit unclear.

1. It was 1985, I was fed up with being unemployed so decided to get a vocational degree. (In the '80s, that was a better bet than now.) The nearest opportunities were social work in Worcester or education in Cheltenham. I lived in Tewkesbury, so both were options and my then wife was a social worker. But the buses to Cheltenham were more frequent and cheaper. Which is the only way to pick a career IMO.

2. I wasted so much time floating on my back, chatting to the lifeguard, diving down to pillock about on the pool-bottom, I completely forgot the relatively modest distance (800m?) had a time limit. By the time I remembered, it was too late.

3. I was told not to come back to cubs after I reacted badly to certain members of my Six always turning up late, scruffy and forever losing us the opportunity to win the weekly Best Six competition. I was expelled from secondary school after a drunken rooftop demonstration. I was always perfectly behaved at primary school.

Anyway, back to elguapo. I've had my go, but I'm suspicious of the javelin. I reckon he won it.

Edit - cross post. Bah!

[Patrick Thistle]

. I was expelled from secondary school after a drunken rooftop demonstration. I was always perfectly behaved at primary school.

Did you go to Grange Hill?

[Etienne]

My life has been hugely unremarkable.

1. Aged 9 my dad decided to drop me a couple of miles away from my home on the Long Mynd to see if I could find my way home.

2. I missed my chance to play international korfball by refusing to play for the coach again after being an unused sub on my first call up.

3. The first swear words I remember hearing was my school teacher shouting "what the fuck was that" after an earthquake.