Tuesday 12 June 2007

THE 13th TUESDAY QUIZ

Hello, once again. Changes afoot this week. As you may have gathered by now, one of my primary reasons for writing this blog is to consolidate otherwise transient information in my mind through the medium of quiz. I am writing so many questions at the moment (100s a day) that I cannot continue to justify the 30-question limit per weekly quiz. Therefore, from this week onwards, you lucky people shall be treated to 50 (yes, that's 50!) quiz questions. Here we go:


1. Which English composer was appointed the first Master of the King's Musick in 1625?
2. Which sub-tropical citrus fruit was developed in the 18th Century as a cross between a pomelo and an orange?
3. Which island nation is, in terms of area, the world's smallest republic?
4. In which modern-day capital city was Mother Teresa born?
5. Who was the son of Odysseus who, when his father had not returned after twenty years, went in search of him and was reunited with Odysseus on Ithaca after being told of his father's homecoming by King Menelaus?
6. During the 20th Century, only two leaders of the Conservative Party failed to become Prime Minister; one was William Hague, who was the other?
7. What is the real first name of the soul singer Smokey Robinson?
8. Also known as the monkey bread trees, the Adansonia are a genus of trees native to Madagascar, Central and Southern Africa and Australia. Occurring only in arid areas they are noted for their capacity to store up to 120,000 litres of water within their trunks. By what name are they commonly known?
9. Which country has appeared in the most football World Cup qualifying campaigns without ever qualifying?
10. Which 1966 film, starring Kirk Douglas and Angie Dickinson, told the story of Colonel David Marcus' attempt to establish the state of Israel in 1948?
11. Published in 1908, 'The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp' was the autobiography of which Welsh poet?
12. What is the name of the paste, used in Middle Eastern cuisine, that is made from ground sesame seeds and is a major ingredient of hummus?
13. In which Devonian fishing port would you find a replica of Francis Drake's ship The Golden Hind?
14. Which African-American abolitionist, who died in 1913, was known as 'The Moses of Her People'?
15. In the Bible, who was the son of King David who was slain in the boughs of an oak tree?
16. Which British author and historian was sentenced to three years in prison in Austria in February 2006 for denying the Holocaust?
17. To what did the pop group The B52s change their name when they released their 1994 top 5 hit 'Meet the Flintstones' taken from the film 'The Flinstones' starring John Goodman?
18. Derived from the Latin for ‘white’, what name is given to the proportion of light or radiation reflected by the surface of a planet or moon?
19. In 1972, she became the youngest ever female Olympic high jump gold medallist and in 1984 she became the oldest ever female Olympic high jump gold medallist; who was this German athlete?
20. What is the name of the animator who created 'Beavis and Butthead' and 'King of the Hill'?
21. In the play by Christopher Marlowe, how many years of happiness is Dr Faustus promised by the Devil?
22. Considered a delicacy, tomalley is a soft, green paste that is extracted from the innards of which creature?
23. La Tomatina is a tomato-throwing festival that takes place annually in which town on the outskirts of Valencia in Spain?
24. From the 14th to the 19th Centuries, what name was given to the infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguard?
25. According to Norse mythology, who was the first human who, with his wife Embla, was created from trees?
26. Elected by Congress in 1781 as President of the Continental Congress, who was the first person to use the title President of the United States?
27. How many copies of a single need to be sold in the UK to be awarded a gold disc?
28. Named after a French novelist, which syndrome is a psychosomatic illness that causes its sufferer to become dizzy and confused when exposed to works of art?
29. Which 19th Century English flat race jockey was Champion Jockey for 13 consecutive years before his suicide in 1886 at the age of 29?
30. In the 1941 film 'Citizen Kane', what is the name of the huge Floridian estate of Charles Foster Kane?
31. Carl Andre's famous sculpture entitled 'Equivalent VIII' is made from which material?
32. Which tropical fruit, native to the Malay Archipelago and related to the lychee, has a name meaning 'hairy' in Malay?
33. Which island off the south-west coast of Iceland, the name of which means 'Fire Island' in Icelandic, is home to the world's largest gannet colony and was the last home of the great auk before it was hunted to extinction in 1844?
34. Who was the Provost of Paris who built the Bastille in the 14th Century and promptly became the first person to be confined there after he was placed on trial for heresy?
35. By which English name is the Jewish festival of Shavuot commonly known?
36. What name is given to the US President's official helicopter?
37. Which jazz singer was arrested in the USA in 1978 for tax evasion, having refused to pay tax in protest at the Vietnam War?
38. Although it sounds as though it should refer to the puffin, Puffinus puffinus is, in fact, the Latin name for which bird?
39. Which Scottish international footballer scored nine goals in an FA Cup match for Bournemouth in an 11-0 win over Margate in 1971?
40. What is the name of the British television producer who founded Ragdoll Productions in 1984 and has created 'Rosie and Jim', 'Roland Rat' and 'The Teletubbies'?
41. Which Greek philosopher founded the Cynic school?
42. Located in Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands, which is Britain's most northerly operational whisky distillery?
43. The Oregon Trail linked Oregon to which southern US state?
44. 'De Medicina' is the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopaedia written by which Roman encyclopaedist?
45. A torii is the name given to a traditional red gate found at the entrance to shrines of which religion?
46. In which year were the Corn Laws repealed?
47. Which group did Ronnie Wood leave to join the Rolling Stones?
48. The domestic horse is descended from which species of wild horse, the last example of which died in captivity in Ukraine in 1918?
49. Which British world champion boxer was charged with the attempted murder of his promoter, Frank Warren, in 1987?
50. In which fictional Birmingham suburb was the soap opera 'Crossroads' set?


Hopefully that first 50 didn't turn out too badly for you. The answers:

1. NICHOLAS LANIER
2. GRAPEFRUIT
3. NAURU
4. SKOPJE
5. TELEMACHUS
6. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN
7. WILLIAM
8. BAOBAB
9. LUXEMBOURG
10. CAST A GIANT SHADOW
11. WH DAVIES
12. TAHINI
13. BRIXHAM
14. HARRIET TUBMAN
15. ABSALOM
16. DAVID IRVING
17. BC52s
18. ALBEDO
19. ULRIKE MEYFARTH
20. MIKE JUDGE
21. 24
22. LOBSTER
23. BUÑOL
24. JANISSARIES
25. ASK
26. JOHN HANSON
27. 500,000
28. STENDHAL SYNDROME
29. FRED ARCHER
30. XANADU
31. FIRE BRICKS
32. RAMBUTAN
33. ELDEY
34. HUGUES AUBRIOT
35. FESTIVAL OF WEEKS
36. MARINE ONE
37. NINA SIMONE
38. MANX SHEARWATER
39. TED MacDOUGALL
40. ANNE WOOD
41. ANTISTHENES
42. HIGHLAND PARK
43. MISSOURI
44. AULUS CORNELIUS CELSUS
45. SHINTO
46. 1846
47. THE FACES
48. TARPAN
49. TERRY MARSH
50. KING'S OAK

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