Tuesday 24 April 2007

THE 6th TUESDAY QUIZ

Ever had that desire to know everything? It's an addiction, this quiz thing; go on, admit it. This week's selection includes (indeed, comprises) the following:


1. Which Italian painter, born in 1721, is best remembered for his paintings of Venice and Warsaw, the latter being considered so accurate that they were used in the reconstruction of the Polish capital after the Second World War?
2. Which fruit is known in Asia as the 'Moon of the Faithful'?
3. Which coastal town in south-western Scotland takes its name from the Gaelic for 'the fat nose'?
4. Who was the prominent gay rights campaigner who was assassinated along with the mayor of San Francisco by a former city councillor in 1978?
5. Which Pope, who reigned from 1846 to 1878, was the longest-reigning Pope since St Peter?
6. In which French city are the headquarters of Interpol?
7. What was the name of the supergroup formed in 1988 whose members included George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan?
8. Deriving from the Greek for 'indicator', what name is given to the part of the sundial that casts the shadow?
9. Who was the Bulgarian tennis player who was Monica Seles' opponent in the quarter-final in Hamburg in 1993 during which Seles was stabbed?
10. In which American state was the teen TV series 'Dawson's Creek' set?
11. What was the name of the mediaeval, Danish historian who wrote the 'Gesta Danorum' from which Shakespeare took the story of the semi-legendary Hamlet?
12. Coquille St. Jacques is the name given to a dish containing which molluscs?
13. What is the name of the Parisian cemetery at which Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf are buried?
14. Which Italian university, founded in 1088, is the oldest continually operating university in Europe?
15. Who was the Trojan priest of Apollo who, with his two sons, was crushed to death by sea serpents sent by the gods because he warned his people against accepting the Trojan horse from the Greeks?
16. Aung San Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her peaceful struggle against the repressive military regime in which country?
17. Which rhythm and blues star killed himself whilst playing Russian roulette on Christmas Day in 1954?
18. Which Russian car manufacturer created the Lada?
19. In which Gaelic sport is the All-Ireland final contested annually on the first Sunday in September?
20. What is the name of the boat aboard which the musical 'Show Boat' begins?
21. When signing a letter in place of someone else it is common to write the abbreviation 'pp' before one's signature; for which Latin phrase does the abbreviation 'pp' stand?
22. Which is the world's oldest continuously made liqueur, having first been developed by Dom Bernardo Vincelli in Normandy in 1510?
23. In which country would you find the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the world's largest operational space launch facility?
24. Which Roman Emperor of the 3rd Century AD was the father of the future Roman Emperors Geta and Caracalla?
25. Which ecumenical Christian community was founded by the Scottish clergyman Reverend George MacLeod in 1938?
26. Which police force became known as the Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale in 1971?
27. Written by John Denver, what was the only number 1 hit for Peter, Paul and Mary?
28. Which word, coined in 1976 by the biologist Richard Dawkins, refers to a "unit of cultural information" which can propagate from one mind to another in a manner similar to genes?
29. In which country did the Australian athlete John Landy become only the second man to run a sub-four minute mile in 1954?
30. Which American film star of the 1940s was known as the 'Peekaboo Girl'?


How was that? Score more than 10 and you're well on your way to quizzing distinction; score more than 15 and you should probably get out more; score more than 20 and you're scary; score more than 25 and you're probably a big, fat cheat. The answers:


1. BERNARDO BELLOTTO
2. APRICOT
3. STRANRAER
4. HARVEY MILK
5. PIUS IX
6. LYON
7. TRAVELING WILBURYS
8. GNOMON
9. MAGDALENA MALEEVA
10. MASSACHUSETTS
11. SAXO GRAMMATICUS
12. SCALLOPS
13. PERE LACHAISE
14. BOLOGNA
15. LAOCOÖN
16. BURMA (or MYANMAR)
17. JOHNNY ACE
18. AUTOVAZ
19. HURLING
20. COTTON BLOSSOM
21. PER PROCURATIONEM
22. BÉNÉDICTINE
23. KAZAKHSTAN
24. SEPTIMUS SEVERUS
25. IONA COMMUNITY
26. TONTON MACOUTES
27. LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
28. MEME
29. FINLAND
30. VERONICA LAKE

Tuesday 17 April 2007

THE 5th TUESDAY QUIZ

Hello, again!! I knew you'd be back. Couldn't stay away, could you? Need a quiz fix? Try this for size:


1. Carlo Broschi was, perhaps, the most famous castrato singer of the 18th Century; by what stage name was he better known?
2. What was the first name of Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame?
3. What is the Polynesian name given to the famous carved statues found on Easter Island?
4. Who was the 10-year old child pretender to the throne of England during the time of Henry VII who was claimed, falsely, to be the Earl of Warwick?
5. According to the Book of Revelation, which city in modern-day Israel will be the site of the Armageddon?
6. Signed in 1373, and still current today, with which country did England sign the world's longest continuous treaty of friendship?
7. Reaching number 1 in the UK charts in 1957, which was the only one of Elvis Presley's number 1 hits for which he was given a writing credit?
8. What is the common name for the species of large cattle, Bos primigenius, once prevalent in Europe, that was hunted to extinction in 1627?
9. The players of which American baseball team were banned for life in 1921 after being accused of accepting bribes to throw the 1919 World Series?
10. The Stephen Sondheim musical 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' is based on the farces of which ancient Roman playwright?
11. What is the Italian name for the painting technique, particularly associated with Leonardo da Vinci, that refers to the blending of colours or tones so subtly that there is no perceptible transition between them?
12. The cherimoya is a South American fruit that is better known in the UK by what name?
13. In terms of area, which is the world's largest landlocked country?
14. Which of the Seven Wonders of the World stood at Halicarnassus?
15. What is the name of the traditional black robe worn by Iranian women?
16. Which Egyptian pharaoh, daughter of Thutmose I, ruled in the 15th Century BC and is the world's earliest known female head of state?
17. Which song, released in August 1963, was the best selling single in the UK of the 1960s?
18. This American microbiologist invented more vaccines than any other scientist in history including those for measles, mumps, chickenpox, hepatitis and meningitis. It is estimated that his work has saved more lives than that of any other scientist. Who is this man who died in 2005?
19. Which football team were the beaten finalists in the first ever FA Cup final in 1872?
20. On which fictional island was King Kong captured in the 1933 film of the same name?
21. Which Swiss semiotician, whose best known work is 'Course on General Linguistics', is regarded as the 'father of structural linguistics'?
22. Which genus of pufferfish, containing a lethal amount of the poison tetrodotoxin, is considered a delicacy in Japan?
23. Which is the only Canadian province to have both French and English as official languages?
24. What is the name given to the popular uprising by Roman Catholics in Yorkshire led by Robert Aske in 1536?
25. In classical mythology, what was the name of the fluid, corresponding to blood, that flowed through the veins of the gods?
26. Who was the only American President to have been born on Independence Day?
27. What was the name of the American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1994 debut album 'Grace', who drowned whilst swimming in a tributary of the Mississippi River in 1997?
28. Which two wild birds are not found anywhere other than the British Isles?
29. Who was the 18th Century writer who published the first authoritative treatises on the rules of whist, backgammon, quadrille, piquet and brag?
30. What was the name of the taxi company in the American TV series 'Taxi'?


Better now? To the answers...


1. FARINELLI
2. HARLAND
3. MOAI
4. LAMBERT SIMNEL
5. MEGIDDO
6. PORTUGAL
7. ALL SHOOK UP
8. AUROCHS
9. CHICAGO WHITE SOX
10. PLAUTUS
11. SFUMATO
12. CUSTARD APPLE
13. KAZAKHSTAN
14. THE MAUSOLEUM OF MAUSSOLLOS
15. CHADOR
16. HATSHEPSUT
17. SHE LOVES YOU
18. MAURICE HILLEMAN
19. ROYAL ENGINEERS
20. SKULL ISLAND
21. FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE
22. FUGU (or TAKIFUGU)
23. NEW BRUNSWICK
24. THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE
25. ICHOR
26. CALVIN COOLIDGE
27. JEFF BUCKLEY
28. RED GROUSE and SCOTTISH CROSSBILL
29. EDMOND HOYLE
30. SUNSHINE CAB COMPANY

Tuesday 10 April 2007

THE 4th TUESDAY QUIZ

And so, here we are again - another Tuesday, another 30 questions. Enjoy.

1. Lady Charlotte Guest was an important 19th Century figure in the study of Welsh literature and is best remembered for her pioneering translation of which major mediaeval work?
2. A tajine is a heavy clay dish used for cooking in which African country?
3. The name of which American state translates from a Native American word meaning 'red people'?
4. At which Spanish port was Sir Francis Drake said to have 'singed the King of Spain's beard' by setting fire to Spanish ships in 1586?
5. In Greek mythology, who was the faithful hound of Icarius who, upon finding his master's grave, leapt off a cliff to his death, later to be placed, by Dionysus, in the sky as the dog star?
6. What was the name of the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs who was assassinated by a knifeman in a Stockholm department store in 2003?
7. In May 1953, which singer became the first person to have two UK number 1 singles when 'I'm Walking Behind You' reached the top spot in the charts?
8. What is the SI unit of magnetic flux?
9. The athletics event known as the marathon was inspired by the actions of which Ancient Athenian herald who is said to have run the 150 miles to Sparta in two days to request help when the Persians landed at Marathon in Greece?
10. Who wrote the music for the musical 'Annie'?
11. Which French post-impressionist painter was nicknamed 'La Douanier' (or the customs officer) because he once worked as a tax collector at the Customs Office in Paris?
12. What name is given to the Provençal delicacy served on toast and usually made from olives, garlic, capers and anchovy?
13. What is the name of the town in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, famous for its orange-throwing festival?
14. Who was the founder of the People's Temple church, 914 of whose members committed suicide in the jungle of Guyana in 1978?
15. Which 16th Century bishop produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English?
16. Which word, that derives ultimately from the Slavonic for 'highwayman', has been used to refer to certain types of cavalry throughout Europe since the 15th Century and is present, to this day, in the names of two British regiments?
17. Which song, released in June 1964 and with a melody taken from a traditional ballad, was the first UK number 1 single to have a playing time of over 4 minutes?
18. What name did the British chemist Sir James Lovelock give to his controversial theory that life on Earth creates a suitable environment for its own continuity through its functioning as a self-regulating single organism?
19. The Hawaiian swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, who won the 100m freestyle gold medal at the 1912 and 1920 Olympic Games, is considered the inventor of which sport?
20. What was the name of The Addams Family's pet octopus?
21. In the novel 'Gulliver's Travels' by Jonathan Swift what was Gulliver's first name?
22. In which Asian country were carrots first grown?
23. Which volcano on Tenerife is the highest mountain in Spain and the third largest volcano on Earth?
24. Who was the commander of the French army at the time of the Fall of Quebec who died of battle wounds sustained on the Plains of Abraham just one day after the death of General Wolfe?
25. According to Islam, what is the name of the bridge, narrower than a spider's thread and sharper than a sword, that good Muslims will cross on the Day of Judgement to enter Paradise?
26. Which political theorist established the Italian Communist Party and spent much of his life in jail where he wrote his most famous works called 'The Prison Notebooks'?
27. What was the title of the first record ever played on Radio 1?
28. Which huge aquatic reptile of the Jurassic period, with a name meaning 'smooth-sided tooth,' is the largest carnivore ever to have lived?
29. What were the names of the two American athletes who performed the infamous Black Power salutes during the playing of the American National anthem after each had won a medal in the 200m at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City?
30. In the 1944 film 'National Velvet', starring Elizabeth Taylor, what was the name of the horse ridden to victory in the Grand National?


That wasn't so bad this week, was it? So to the answers...


1. THE MABINOGION
2. MOROCCO
3. OKLAHOMA
4. CADIZ
5. MAERA
6. ANNA LINDH
7. EDDIE FISHER
8. WEBER
9. PHEIDIPPIDES
10. CHARLES STROUSE
11. HENRI ROUSSEAU
12. TAPENADE
13. IVREA
14. JIM JONES
15. MILES COVERDALE
16. HUSSAR
17. HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
18. GAIA HYPOTHESIS
19. SURFING
20. ARISTOTLE
21. LEMUEL
22. AFGHANISTAN
23. MOUNT TEIDE
24. LOUIS-JOSEPH DE MONTCALM
25. AL-SIRAT
26. ANTONIO GRAMSCI
27. FLOWERS IN THE RAIN
28. LIOPLEURIDON
29. TOMMIE SMITH and JOHN CARLOS
30. THE PIE

Tuesday 3 April 2007

THE 3rd TUESDAY QUIZ

Try this lot!

1. Which late 19th and early 20th Century artistic movement takes its name from the French for 'wild beasts'?
2. The date-plum and the kaki are both varieties of which edible fruit that takes its name from the Algonquian for 'dry fruit'?
3. What is the name of the table top mountain located on the border of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write 'The Lost World'?
4. Who was the 11th Century Anglo-Saxon rebel in England who led the resistance to the Norman Conquest from his base on the Isle of Ely?
5. Deriving from the Aramaic for 'skull', what name is used in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John as a name for the hill upon which Jesus was crucified?
6. Who was the controversial Dutch politician assassinated by Volkert van de Graaf in 2002?
7. Which record producer, sometimes known as 'the fifth Beatle', produced almost all of The Beatles' albums?
8. What is common name for the parasitic variety of catfish, Vandellia cirrhosa, found in the Amazon that swims into the gill cavities of other fish, erects a spine to hold itself in place, and feeds on the blood in the gills, earning it a nickname as the "vampire fish of Brazil"?
9. Which is the lightest boxing weight class used at the Olympic Games?
10. For what did the B stand in the name of the film-maker Cecil B DeMille?
11. What was the name of the literary group, founded in 1713, whose members included Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and John Gay?
12. What is the name of the thick, spicy Russian soup made with meat or fish, cucumbers, cabbage, mushrooms and cream?
13. Which is the only one of the counties of Northern Ireland not to border Lough Neagh?
14. By what nickname was the Latvian anarchist Peter Piaktow, who led the Siege of Sidney Street in 1911, better known?
15. Which is the latest date upon which Easter Sunday can fall?
16. Who was the Austrian Foreign Minister, considered Europe's most important diplomat of the time, who chaired the Congress of Vienna from 1814 to 1815?
17. Who was the first black singer to have a British number 1 single?
18. Which is the largest of the 88 recognised constellations?
19. Which footballer, best remembered for his time with Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town, retired in 1965 having scored 433 league goals, a record that stands to this day?
20. What is the name of the cabaret club at which Sally Bowles is working at the opening of the musical 'Cabaret'?
21. In poetry, which word, deriving from the Greek for ‘carrying back’, is given to the repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of several consecutive sentences or verses to emphasize an image or a concept?
22. With the seeds of which plant is the liqueur Kümmel made?
23. Which small British Overseas Dependency is the only place in the world, besides Ireland, to celebrate St Patrick’s day as a public holiday?
24. What was the name of the Spanish slave-carrying schooner upon which African slaves revolted in 1839, precipitating the abolitionist movement?
25. With a name meaning 'Good God', who was the supreme deity of pre-Christian Ireland?
26. In 1946, an organisation of former SS members, including Heinrich Himmler and Martin Bormann, was set-up to establish and facilitate secret ratlines out of Germany to South America and the Middle East to allow the escape from prosecution of those members indicted for war crimes. What was the acronymic name of this organisation?
27. Which 80s pop group took their name from that of a fictional group in the novel 'A Clockwork Orange'?
28. Who was the Greek scientist and philosopher, the pupil of Leucippus, who first proposed the existence of atoms and gave them their name?
29. The World Championships of which strange sporting event have been held in Llanwrtyd Wells in mid-Wales every August Bank Holiday since 1985?
30. Which film, released in 1989, marked Bette Davis' last film role?


You found last week's quiz a little more difficult than anticipated. I think this week's is a shade easier. Anyway, the answers...

1. FAUVISM
2. PERSIMMON
3. MOUNT RORAIMA
4. HEREWARD THE WAKE
5. GOLGOTHA
6. PIM FORTUYN
7. GEORGE MARTIN
8. CANDIRÚ (or CANERO)
9. LIGHT FLYWEIGHT
10. BLOUNT
11. SCRIBLERUS CLUB
12. SOLYANKA
13. FERMANAGH
14. PETER THE PAINTER
15. APRIL 25TH
16. KLEMENS WENZEL VON METTERNICH
17. WINIFRED ATWELL
18. HYDRA
19. ARTHUR ROWLEY
20. KIT KAT CLUB
21. ANAPHORA
22. CARAWAY
23. MONSERRAT
24. AMISTAD
25. THE DAGDA
26. O.D.E.S.S.A.
27. HEAVEN 17
28. DEMOCRITUS
29. BOG SNORKELLING
30. WICKED STEPMOTHER