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