FiloCross - The answers

On Monday I set you a cross word puzzle challenge. It was based on 16 different Filofax model names. 

ACROSS

4. Transmitter
7. School
8. Cyclist
13. Lizard
15. Park
16. Cigar

DOWN
1. Viaduct
2. Old times
3. School
5. Popular
6. Museum
9. Officers
10. Travel
11. Deva
12. Square
14. Bring together

Did you get them all right?  

FiloCross Puzzle

 A little brain exercise for you today.... the answers are all Filofax model names.

ACROSS
4. Transmitter
7. School
8. Cyclist
13. Lizard
15. Park
16. Cigar

DOWN
1. Viaduct
2. Old times
3. School
5. Popular
6. Museum
9. Officers
10. Travel
11. Deva
12. Square
14. Bring together

Answers later this week. Enjoy.

Filofax Model Quiz - Answers

How did you get on? Was this too easy or too hard? 

Here are the answers. 

A - Filofax Coin Holder Insert from the 1980's

B - Belmont A5

C - Malden Pocket

D - Lockwood Zip Personal

E - Heritage Personal

F - Cuban Zip Personal

How many did you get right? 

Filofax Model Quiz

How good do you think you can recognise different Filofax Models? Let's put it to the test with six photos of different Filofax models. 

There's no prize this time, but if this proves popular, I will so something similar again with an organiser as a prize.... 

A - An Accessory

B - Back...

C 

D 

E - No Clasp

F - Zip and Chunky

Drop your answers in to the comments below. 

Answers on Thursday...

Philofaxy Christmas Crossword - 2015

So just a little bit of Christmas fun, no time limits no competition. Just enjoyment. All the answers are Philofaxy or Filofax related and an answer grid will be made available if you need one.

You can download the file here, print it out and fill it in between mince pies, glasses of wine and the odd bit of chocolate.

The Winner of the Charleston Pocket is....

Firstly thank you for all your entries. A very high success rate, sadly there can only be one winner this time.

The answers are:

1. Who was the composer of 'The Charleston' which featured in the 1923 Broadway musical 'Runnin' Wild'  - Charleston words were written by Cecil Mack and the music by James P Johnson although I was a little flexible on this if you only put one name not both 
2. In which state is the City of Charleston located?  Charleston (where the dance originated) is in South Carolina
3. What size rings are fitted to the Charleston pocket reviewed - The organiser has 15mm rings.

And the winner is: Kate Ellis

I will get the pocket in the post as soon as I can. Again thank you everyone. 

Metropol Quiz Winner

So the answers to the final quiz in this series. It seems a few of you got caught out by question number 2...

So here are the answers.

1. The only lake in Scotland is Lake of Menteith, the others are all Lochs.

2. Nan was originally known as Inky, Philofaxer was the original founder and Nan then came along to help him out.

3. Denise Barnes is the author of From Bad to Wurst

And the winner of the Filofax Metropol is Gail from Gloucester, congratulations.

And if you missed out, sorry, but I only had the one organiser to give away, they are available from Filofax UK.

Quiz - Win a Filofax Metropol

Would you like to win a Filofax Metropol personal organiser?

To win this prize please answer the following questions:

1. Which is the only lake in Scotland to be actually called a lake?
2. What nickname did Nan originally use on Philofaxy when she first joined?
3. Which author used her Filofax notes to help her write her book 'From Bad to Wurst'? 

Send your answers in to philofaxy at gmail dot com  with the Subject 'Metropol' Please include your name and mailing address as well as your answer.

Closing date is 21 July at 15:00 UK British Summer Time. The winner will be announced shortly afterwards.

And the winner of the Filofax Domino was Jo Rogers.....and the correct answers to the questions were:

1.  Exeter
2. 168
3. 23rd June 2009 although my first post was the 25 June 2009

Quiz - Win a Filofax Domino

Would you like to win a Filofax Domino personal organiser?

To win this prize answer all of the following questions:

1. St Davids, St Thomas and St James Park are all railway stations in which English city?
2. In a normal 'Double Six set of Dominos there are 28 tiles, how many pips are there in total? 
3. On what date did Steve join Philofaxy as a contributor?

Send your answers to all questions in to philofaxy at gmail dot com  with the Subject 'Domino' Please include your name and mailing address as well as your answer. 

Please do not post the answer in the comments.....

Closing date is 19 July at 18:00 UK British Summer Time. The winner will be announced on Friday 20th July.

This quiz is open to all Philofaxy readers, where ever you are in the world. 

And the winning entry pulled out of the hat for the Swift in Sage was...Sally.   and the answer was of course Anglesey in North Wales, thank you for all your entries, over 100 entries were received before the closing time.

Quiz - Win the Filofax Swift

Would you like to win a Filofax Swift personal organiser?

To win this prize answer the following question:

Which island is separated from the British mainland by the Menai Straits?

Send your answers in to philofaxy at gmail dot com  with the Subject 'Swift' Please include your name and mailing address as well as your answer.


Closing date is 17 July at 15:00 UK British Summer Time. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 18th July. 

Filofax Aston Competition Answers

There's more car buffs out there than I thought there was... thank you to everyone that took part. 

So we asked you three questions....

Q1. What is the name of the new luxury city car launched by Aston Martin in the last year?
A1. The Aston Martin Cygnet

Q2. Which car is it based on?
A2. The Aston Martin Cygnet is based on the Toyota IQ - The answer from Wikipedia

Q3. In this years Le Mans 24 hour race, Aston Martin are entering two cars in the LMP1 catergory. Name the two British drivers that will be driving the cars.

A3. The two British Drivers racing for Aston Martin in the LMP1 Class in the 2011 Le Mans 24 hour race are Darren Turner and Andy Meyrick. The answer was in the official entry list

Sadly I only have the one Filofax Aston to give-away and the lucky person is.......... Saffy who's lucky number came out of the hat at 12 noon....

Again thank you to every one who took part, over 30 correct entries were received, and only a few incorrect entries.

Filofax Aston Competition

So you have read the review about the new Filofax Aston, now you can have the chance to win the review sample kindly supplied by Filofax UK.

But being Philofaxy, we just don't get you to put your name in the comments box and we pick out the lucky winner out of a hat... nope we expect you to work a little bit for your prize.

In the review I mentioned how the design and quality of the Filofax Aston reminded me of cars. Aston Martin is a UK luxury car maker known world wide, in the same way that Filofax is known for producing luxury leather goods. 

But not everyone can afford an Aston Martin, or can they?

So to enter the competition please answer all of the following questions:

1. What is the name of the new luxury city car launched by Aston Martin in the last year?
   
2. Which car is it based on?
   
3. In this years Le Mans 24 hour race, Aston Martin are entering two cars in the LMP1 catergory. Name the two British drivers that will be driving the cars.

To enter, answer all of the questions above and send them in an email to philofaxy at gmail dot com marking the subject of your Email 'Aston'   The closing date/time for entries is Noon (French time) on Saturday 11th June

The winner will be announced at 15:00 (French time) on Saturday 11th June, which is the start of the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race. The answers to the questions will also be made public at the same time.

Good luck to everyone.

The rules:

• You must provide Philofaxy with your name and postal address if you wish to enter this competition.
  
• Philofaxy will only ever use your personal details for the purposes of administering this competition, and will not publish them or provide them to anyone without your permission.
  
• Only one entry will be accepted per person.
  
• The deadline for receiving entries for the competition is final. No entries received after the given date will be considered.
  
• The judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  
• The winner will be contacted personally.
  
• The prize must be taken as stated. There will be no cash alternatives.
  
• Philofaxy does not accept any responsibility for late or lost entries due to the Internet. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.
  
• No responsibility is accepted for ineligible entries or entries made fraudulently.
  
• Philofaxy reserves the right to cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.
  
• Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition.

End of Term Exams - Answers

Thank you to all of you who have returned their exam papers. Overall you all scored very highly in your end of term exams. 

So here are the answers....


Q1. What is the name of the manager at the Conduit Street Filofax Store and what is the phone number of the store?
A1. Her name is Brigitte and Laurie met her in April 2010  and the phone number is 0207 499 0457 You have it on speed dial don't you? 

Q2. Where will you find the largest range of Filofax products in Scotland? And name the reader that works there?
A2. We believe it is The Pen Shop in Jenners Department Store in Edinburgh and Craig is 'Mr Filofax' there! 

Q3. What was the title of the 500th post on Philofaxy, and who wrote it?
A3. A Very Special Free For All Friday No. 79 written by Lauri. And we are rapidly approaching the 1000th post!

Q4. Which Guest Poster used a Filofax Travel Pack to organise their trip to St. Petersburg and which model/size did they use?
A4. It was Helen and she used a Pocket Urban.

Q5. How many items in total does Steve carry in his 'man bag' including his pocket Filofax, and what was the make of the bag?
A5. In the photo you will see 8 items  Pen, Car key, torch, house keys, mobile phone, magnifier, reading glasses, Pocket Filofax or 9 items if you add the compact camera mentioned in the post.  There was a little variation on the answers to this question, but I've not been too strict with taking marks away from people on this question. And the bag is a 'Caselogic'

Q6. What brand of wax polish did Steve use to restore his wife's 1980's Personal Filofax? Which by the way she now uses every day!
A6. Kiwi polish

Q7. In the past 12 months which charity has Philofaxy donated to, through the commission earned on sales of Filofax goods?
A7. Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign with over £120 raised in the last 12 months.

Q8. What unusual course did Philofaxy readers have between Main and Desert when they met in London in November?
A8. Filofax - At the March meeting it was before the starters!!

Q9. Who is the author of the book Filofax Facts? and in what year was it published?
A9. Ian Sinclair  1988

Q10, Who did Philofaxy send along to the Champagne Launch of the Gourmet Gift Box set, and what gift did she choose?
A10. Oni of course and she came away with a Scanda Personal

Q11. What model and colour is Steve's first Filofax Mini?
A11. A Mini Finchley in red

Q12. Who travelled the furthest to attend the Philofaxy meet up in March was it Thomas or Steve?
A12. Slight trick question this one... Thomas had travelled from Bonn, I had travelled from Misse in France, although on the day I only travelled from Pembury, Kent. But if you take worst case... Thomas travelled approximately 515km, and Steve 503 km !!!

Q13. In terms of Philofaxy units what is the value of an A5 Filofax in Philofaxy units?
A13. It is 0.5 Philofaxy or Philo's for short!

Q14. How many pages are there in the 2010 Philofaxy Yearbook in pdf format?
A14 617 pages... Caution don't press the print icon !!!

Certificates will be emailed to you in the next few days.

Again many thanks for everyone who took part.

End of Term Exams

If you have any young adults in your home you know that at this time of year they will be busy revising for their end of year exams. Well it's now your turn to revise and also sit your exams at the end of year Philofaxy University where you have been studying Filofax, life the universe and anything else we can think of!

Little did you know that when you started reading the Philofaxy blog that it was part of your continued professional development, thinly disguised as an excuse to lead you in to financial ruin! No, we want you to expand your horizons and bring your Filofax in to all parts of your daily life both in your professional life and your home life.

So the exam papers have been set, but to help you the questions are based on posts on the blog from April 2010 to March 2011. You will obviously not need to hide your revision notes up your sleeve or write them on the inside of your pencil case.... no this is a fully open exam which you can take at your own leisure, no need to watch the clock, but we would like your answers in by the end of the first week in May so a calendar rather than clock might be more appropriate. 

So here are your questions. Please answer as many as you can, the details on where to how to submit your answers are at the end of the question papers. Good luck and try your best. Don't forget to put your name at the top of your answers.


Q1. What is the name of the manager at the Conduit Street Filofax Store and what is the phone number of the store?

Q2. Where will you find the largest range of Filofax products in Scotland? And name the reader that works there?

Q3. What was the title of the 500th post on Philofaxy, and who wrote it?

Q4. Which Guest Poster used a Filofax Travel Pack to organise their trip to St. Petersburg and which model/size did they use?

Q5. How many items in total does Steve carry in his 'man bag' including his pocket Filofax, and what was the make of the bag?

Q6. What brand of wax polish did Steve use to restore his wife's 1980's Personal Filofax? Which by the way she now uses every day!

Q7. In the past 12 months which charity has Philofaxy donated to, through the commission earned on sales of Filofax goods?

Q8. What unusual course did Philofaxy readers have between Main and Desert when they met in London in November?

Q9. Who is the author of the book Filofax Facts? and in what year was it published?

Q10, Who did Philofaxy send along to the Champagne Launch of the Gourmet Gift Box set, and what gift did she choose?

Q11. What model and colour is Steve's first Filofax Mini?

Q12. Who travelled the furthest to attend the Philofaxy meet up in March was it Thomas or Steve?

Q13. In terms of Philofaxy units what is the value of an A5 Filofax in Philofaxy units?

Q14. How many pages are there in the 2010 Philofaxy Yearbook in pdf format?


To enter your answers to the questions above, email them to philofaxy at gmail dot com and mark the email with the subject 2011 Exam Quiz.

Sadly there are no prizes this time but certificates will be awarded at the University Degree Ceromony by the University Vice Chancellor.

Good luck!

Giveaway: Gourmet Society Membership Card

I am moving out of the UK in 4 weeks so I won't be able to use my Gourmet Society membership card that came in the Gourmet Gift Box.  I'm keeping the Filofax, the pen and the City Dweller insert pack, because I do use all of those.  But the Gourmet Society membership card is good all the way through the end of December of this year, and it would be a shame for it to go to waste.

Click here for the Filofax UK page with information about the Gourmet Gift Box.  Scroll down on that page and, if you can stand to watch the video of me, I explain how the Gourmet Society membership card works and how to use the website to find participating restaurants.  The membership is for the entire UK, but depending on where you live there may be more or fewer participating restaurants near you.

The catch, of course, is that the membership is good only in the UK, so this giveaway is only for UK people.  Sorry to everyone else!

To win the Gourmet Society membership card, all you have to do is be the first person to post a comment on this post with the correct answer to this question:

What was my (Laurie's) very first real Filofax?

Good luck everyone! :)

Philofaxy Quiz - The Answers

Well we had a great response to the quiz, it was wonderful to hear from people both new and old to the blog.

So the Answers...

Question 1: In the beginning what did Philofaxer allow to gather dust.

The clue here was 'In the beginning' which was the title of the very first post on the blog, where you would have found the answer 'The Device'  

Question 2. Where did Nan buy her first Filofax using a gift certificate?

This question stumped a few people, the answer wasn't obvious and even using Google you might not have found it. But the answer is in the top half of the 'About' page. Where the answer is Ann Taylor

Question 3. In 2010 GMax sent in a Guest Post about what type of rare Filofax Organisers? 

A search on GMax would find the answer to this one or using Guest Post, the specific post was about Duplex Binders

Question 4: Who submitted the design for the Vintage Leather Change Holder to Filofax, which they then put in to full production? 

This was mentioned in my recent review of the Filofax Facts book. And the answer was of course Diane Keaton

Question 5: When was the first Philofaxy round-table discussion Skype?

This you could find by searching or using the label Round-table and the answer is in the post about the announcement of the first one.  The answer being 25th April 2010.

Question 6: Which city in Southern England gave its name to one of the most sought after vintage Filofax Organisers?  

A look through the tag cloud for English city names, you should have spotted Winchester

Question 7: Where did Steve meet Laurie in April 2010?

A quick look at the posts in April 2010 you would have found the post about Philofaxy London Meet and the answer was of course Waterloo Station

Question 8: Which of our readers under the spot light had recently bought the latest 'Lady Gaga's' album?

You could have looked through all of the Readers tagged posts, or searched for Lady Gagas and the answer was Sharon

Question 9: What is the hole spacing on an A4 Filofax Organiser?

The answer to this one was in two posts, just to be on the safe side I put links in both of them! The answer was of course 8cm or 80mm

Your final question: Retrace your steps as to how you got to here...... Who loves Filofax

Now I was very cheeky/crafty I suppose with this, you might not have noticed it, but when you got to Question 2, you were in fact on a web page not on the blog, the file name was http://www.philofaxy.com/P.html this would have been displayed in your address field/bar of your browser, Question 3 was http://www.philofaxy.com/h.html Q4 i.html etc... so retracing your steps you would have spelt out the word

P h i l o f a x y

Which was of course the word I was looking for!!! The majority of people spotted the trend, although I think some people might have guessed the correct answer because of the header in the blog 'Philofaxy for the love of Filofax'

However you arrived at the correct answer doesn't really matter.

I hope you enjoyed the quiz, it was fun for me setting the questions, which I did try out on my wife Alison before the quiz went live. We will certainly have another one sometime in the future.

So the winners... sadly I don't have prizes for everyone who got the correct answer, I will be contacting the people I will be sending prizes too in the next few days and their prizes big and small will be in the post to them soon.

I'm very grateful to Filofax UK, Stacey at  Stay at Home Mummy, Chris at Pens'n'Paper for their prize donations. I've also had a dig through my stock drawer too and donated a few small prizes too.

Again thank you for all being such good sports and for taking part.

Philofaxy Valentines Quiz 2011

So a quiz to test your Philofaxy knowledge... not quite Mastermind, or University Challenge.

I hope you will be able to find your way through my maze of questions until you get to the end of the Yellow Brick Road and you get to answer the final question and submit your entry to us so you can register your entry for the prize giveaway.

So how do you take part? It is simple.... you need to find the answer to the first question below, when you find the answer to that question you will find a link to the next question, and so on and so on.

As a hint each link is the word or words that is the answer to the question with * * each side of the link so you know you have found the right one.

There are 10 questions in total, some easy, some hard, but all of the answers are contained within the Philofaxy blog. To find the answers you can use the labels cloud or the Google search box, or the archive index.

If you want to try and solve the answers with other readers on the site, then you are open to share your thoughts, clues, hints in the comments to this thread. However, the arrival of the final answer emails will determine who will be a prize winner or not... so the further you get through the questions.. you might not want to share the answers quite as freely....

The quiz will remain on line all week, the winner will not be declared until 14 February. A league table of finishers will be published on the blog, along with the answers to each of the questions with links to the posts which had the hidden the links in them.

So the starter question:

Question 1: In the beginning what did Philofaxer allow to gather dust. 

So good luck with your quest and most of all enjoy the quiz....

Song Quiz...

As far as I'm aware there aren't any songs with Filofax in their title? So how about 'Calendar', 'Planner', 'Diary'

To get you started....

• The Diary of Horace Wimp - ELO
• Nobody's Diary - Alison Moyet
• Diary - Bread

So what other songs can you come up with with Filofax/Planner terms in their titles. 

To save you some time... you can cheat if you have your music collection in iTunes, just type the words in to the search box!!

Spot the Filofax... now with answers...

I was taking some pictures of our office with my new compact camera this evening, which as you know I carry around in my bag now. When I looked at the pictures I thought ah, we haven't had one of these for a few weeks.

So how many Filofax organisers are there in the picture? Also for a second question how many computers can you see?  And yes they all work! Yes I make the most of the space I have!!!

When I announce the result I will put a tagged picture on Flickr to help you confirm if you did spotted them all or not.

Enjoy....

How many Filofax Organisers? And how many computers?

So I won't prolong this one too much!! So here are the answers and the locations....

Some of you spotted a few things that I hadn't noticed myself!! I'm not sure if the smart phone comment was aimed at the Nokia 7110 or not... it's fairly ancient but I like it because it has a nice large display! If you click on the picture you will see the larger version which I have labelled what everything is.

Yes it is a bit sneaky in a few areas the PowerMac is sort of hidden behind the paper recycling bin, but it's monitor and keyboard is shown.  Does the Psion count as a computer? I won't get in to a debate on that one, but it is programmable and it does have a reasonably full suite of software on it. 

Again thank you for everyone who took part.