20 Questions - Game 190

[Hominidae]

Good job Spartaculous. I had a feeling that was right when I saw the guess.

[Spartaculous]

I've convinced myself it's Mark Sykes, so I will guess him.

How the HELL did you get that??? That is CORRECT!!! There were so many others to choose from (ministers, opposition leaders, other diplomats, colonial administrators ...)

I thought for sure I would stump you with this one. Quite obscure as himself, but famous for the Sykes-Picot Agreement that drew the lines of the current Middle East; negotiator of the Balfour Agreement that put the Palestinians in the parts of the Middle East where they are today; and designer of the Palestine flag.

Absolutely fantastic, Spartaculous. Well done!

PS: When copying and pasting to start the next game, note that I neglected to put my name in as winner of the last game. I did, however, include that win in the Leaderboard if you decide to keep that up.

Again, well done.

Thank you! As for how I got it: we knew that he was a Tory politician, but one who hadn't been PM, Chancellor [of the Exchequer], or Home Secretary. So, next up were the Foreign Secretaries, but just about all of them (at least the Tory ones I was looking at) went on to hold one of the three previously mentioned offices or eventually ended up in the House of Lords (or both).

At this point (and after a brief consideration of the War Office), I started to suspect that it was someone whose fame occurred outside of holding these offices. The Balfour Declaration got stuck in my head, but then I'm like, no, Balfour was PM. But I could just barely remember that there was some random person involved in the whole thing, and so I just had to figure out who that was. Once I got Sykes, I could see that all of the biographical details fell into place. And the whole thing felt very similar to your former pick of Butterfield (a random political functionary who ended up playing a major role in some huge event)... I feel like we consume the same historical media.

[cdngooner]

And the whole thing felt very similar to your former pick of Butterfield (a random political functionary who ended up playing a major role in some huge event)... I feel like we consume the same historical media.

That is an awesome story. Thank you.

[Jamiet99uk]

Interesting subject.

I do think the military answer was slightly misleading. He was for a time the commanding officer of the 5th Battalion of the Green Howards, and then moved to a central position in the War Office (still technically holding the rank of Lt. Colonel).

However, I would not have guessed this correctly, I don't think, even if a different answer had been given on that one, so I'm not protesting.

[cdngooner]

I thought the answer to the military question was spot on. Generous even. The question was whether he was a "prominent military figure."

Mark Sykes Wikipedia page describes him as an "English traveller, Conservative Party politician, and diplomatic advisor" (no mention of military prominence). While he did command a militia unit at the start of the War, he "did not lead it into battle."

The answer was:

No. The word "prominent" is subjective, but I'm satisfied the answer is no. To be transparent, he did spend some time in the army, navy or air force, but that is not what he is famous for.

[Spartaculous]

I thought the answer to the military question was spot on. Generous even. The question was whether he was a "prominent military figure."

Mark Sykes Wikipedia page describes him as an "English traveller, Conservative Party politician, and diplomatic advisor" (no mention of military prominence). While he did command a militia unit at the start of the War, he "did not lead it into battle."

The answer was:

No. The word "prominent" is subjective, but I'm satisfied the answer is no. To be transparent, he did spend some time in the army, navy or air force, but that is not what he is famous for.

I'll just say that, as I was checking Sykes's biographical details before guessing him, I thought that the answer about his military service matched very well with Sykes's biography.