Chambers has twopence as pre-decimal and two pence as decimal currency. We remember calling it a tuppenny piece or tuppence but Chambers has them down as informal forms! We were never ones for formality even in those days obviously.

Twopence historic? Well I suppose pennies are too on that basis.

I’m a firm believer in not wasting time teaching dolphins to swim.

Thanks. The original comes from Burns’s poem ‘To a Mouse’ (on turning up her nest with a plough). He writes ‘The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley’.

For the whole very charming poem see http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/6/messages/668.html

We now see what we missed in 1ac. We have heard the relevant quote but as we are not Steinbeck fans it certainly passed us by.

Thanks also to Tees for pointing out the other meaning of ‘mental’ that we missed. It was in our online Chambers which we did check but it was hidden right at the bottom of the page!

I’ve just looked in on this one so apologies for kibbitzing..

Re 1a – as PaulB says ‘dust off your Steinbeck’ – and of course your Robert Burns.

PaulB Hope this doesn’t sound too motherly!

For some reason, I did remember Sharon Gless was Cagney even though I was not a fan of the show. In fact, a few months ago I was descending an escalator on the London underground and saw posters for two separate plays in the West End, one starring Gless, and one starring Tyne Daly who played Lacey.