QUIZ IX - THE RESULTS

Yep. the deadline's up and the results are in.

As always, the standard of answering was exceptional and, as a result, just one question went unanswered (André Bloch, anybody? No? Nobody?! OK then). There was one 'solo' to announce:

28 NO GUN RI MASSACRE - Olav Bjortomt

Well played Olav.

Anyways, to the results:

1. OLAV BJORTOMT 158
2. PAT GIBSON 147
3. TERO KALLIOLEVO 140
4. BARRY SIMMONS 135
5=. THOMAS KOLÅSÆTER 131
5=. SEAN CAREY 131
7=. HOLGER WALDENBERGER 127
7=. PETER EDISS 127
9. ERIC WILDSMITH 121
10. HARALD AASTORP 118
11. JAMIE DODDING 117
12. DIDIER BRUYERE 115
13=. SCOTT DAWSON 113
13=. TORE DAHL 113
15. DAVID STAINER 112
16. MARK GRANT 110
17. OLE MARTIN HALCK 107
18. ANNE HEGERTY 106
19. LARS HEGGLAND 104
20. NIC PAUL 103
21. ALAN MORGAN 102
22. ISSA SCHULTZ 99.5
23. PAUL SINHA 96
24. DARREN MARTIN 95.5
25. QUENTIN HOLT 94.5
26. DIANE HALLAGAN 93.5
27. MARK COOPER 89
28. BOB THOMPSON 88.5
29. PETE SMITH 86.5
30. KNUT HEGGLAND 82
31. DOM TAIT 81
32=. ØYSTEIN AADNEVIK 80
32=. DAVE BILL 80
32=. KEVIN COSTELLO 80
35. WILL JONES 76
36. GEIR H. KRISTIANSEN 75
37. PAUL DAVIS 74
38. JON INGE KOLDEN 70
39. AUDREY DOYLE 68
40=. KAREN SKJÅNES 67
40=. ALAN BOWELL 67
42. NEIL MACASKILL 65
43. WILLIAM BARRETT 63
44. INGRID SANDE LARSEN 59
45. SAM ROBERTS 55
46. MARTE STANG MIDTTUN 48
47=. MYRON MEYER 47.5
47=. PAUL PHILPOT 47.5
49. ANNE NYHUS 47
50. DAVE JONES 44
51. TORIL OPSAHL 36
52. LESLEY SAUNDERS-DAVIES 21

Many thanks to all who took part.

QUIZ VIII - RESULTS

OK. Results are in. 60 people took part this time - many thanks to all of you. As usual, some great answers. 3 questions, however, went unanswered; nobody knew (perhaps understandably!) of the Maya theatrical play Rabinal Achí, that Makobo Constance Modjadji VI was the last holder of the title Rain Queen, or that 'The Red Detachment of Women' was the name of the Chinese ballet watched by Richard Nixon.

There were, as always, a number of solos:

44 - ABERDARE RANGE - Eric Wildsmith
105 - SALLY MANN - Lars Heggland
130 - LAKE ATITLAN - Gary Grant
135 - YUNGAY - David Stainer
143 - ADITI - Barry Simmons
169 - LACRIMAL BONE - Issa Schultz

Well done to all those with solos.

Now, to the results:

1. Olav Bjortomt 144.5
2. Eric Wildsmith 138
3. Barry Simmons 133
4. Pat Gibson 131.5
5. Tero Kalliolevo 124
6. Ian Bayley 114
7. David Stainer 111
8. Scott Dawson 108
9. Mark Grant 107
10. Sean Carey 106.5
11. Thomas Kolåsæter 106
12=. Alan Morgan 101
12=.Issa Schultz 101
14. Peter Smith 97.5
15. Ole Martin Halck 97
16. Anne Hegarty 95
17. Tore Dahl 94.5
18. Jamie Dodding 93.5
19. Keith Andrew 93
20=.Peter Ediss 92
20=.Lars Heggland 92
22. Harald Aastorp 89
23. Paul Sinha 88.5
24=. Chris Jones 87
24=. Nic Paul 87
26. Darren Martin 85.5
27. Iwan Thomas 84.5
28. Quentin Holt 82.5
29. Chris Quin 82
30=. Dom Tait 81
30=. Bob Thompson 81
32. Gary Grant 78.5
33. Roger Eldegard 77.5
34. Dave Bill 75
35. Will Jones 67
36. Audrey Doyle 66
37. John Harrison 64
38. Knut Heggland 63
39. Myron Meyer 62
40. Øystein Aadnevik 59.5
41. Karen Skjånes 56
42. Bjørn Revil 51
43. Paul Davis 49
44=. Paul Reeve 45
44=. Ivar Areklett 45
46. Jayakanthan Ranganathan 44.5
47. Paul Philpot 44
48=. Tor Carlsen 43
48=. Ingrid Sande Larsen 43
50. Marte Stang Midttun 41
51. Brian Pendreigh 40
52. Dave Jones 38.5
53. Lars André Gundersen 36.5
54=. Anne Nyhus 36
54=. Toril Opsahl 36
56. Eskil Åsmul 33.5
57. Calvin Kelly 32
58. Vegard Eikemo Sande 24
59=. Anlaug Frydenlund 12
59=. Lesley Saunders-Davies 12


Congratulations to Olav for a terrific score and many thanks, once again, to everyone who took part. Quiz IX to follow...

Rob's Quiz VIII

As some of you will know, 'Rob's Quiz VIII', the latest installment in my series, is currently available.

The deadline is 11.59pm on Sunday 2ns May 2010.

There are no prizes (it's just a bit of fun) and, obviously therefore, no charge for entering.

Rules are simple: you have 105 minutes to complete the 200 questions without using friends, Google or any point of reference other than what's already in your head.

If anyone who has not already received a copy would like to have a go at it then please e-mail me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com

Once completed, the answers should be e-mailed back to me.

ROB'S QUIZ VII - RESULTS

Results are up.

As always, some great answers from all concerned.

There were three questions that went unanswered; no-one knew that the Spanish sport involving knocking down a wooden marro is called 'Calva', that the world's third most popular social networking website is called 'Hi5', or that the hat traditionally worn by Nigerian men is called a 'Kufi'. There were, however, a number of 'solos':

40. EKIDEN - Tero Kalliolevo
150. SA'ADI - Olav Bjortomt
159. BOCCACCIO '70 - Peter Smith
164. SHANNON-HARTLEY THEOREM - Peter Ediss
165. POLARKRIES 18 - Thomas Kolåsæter
170. LIGHTS OF NEW YORK - Phil Duffy
180. ST. CLAIRE'S DEFEAT - Chris Jones
192. DIPROTODON - Tore Dahl

Great answers all!!!

To the results:

1. Olav Bjortomt 153
2. Pat Gibson 149
3. Barry Simmons 143.5
4. Eric Wildsmith 139
5. Tero Kalliolevo 128
6. Ian Bayley 122
7. Mark Grant 114
8. David Stainer 113
9. Scott Dawson 112.5
10. Thomas Kolåsæter 110
11. Nick Mills 107
12. Jamie Dodding 105
13. Phil Duffy 102.5
14. Pete Smith 98.5
15=. Nic Paul 96
15=. Ole Martin Halck 96
15=. William De’Ath 96
18. Tore Dahl 94.5
19=. Gary Grant 94
19=. Diane Hallagan 94
21. Peter Ediss 93.5
22. Chris Quinn 93
23. Kathryn Johnson 92
24. Paul Sinha 91.5
25. Chris Jones 87
26. Mark Kerr 86.5
27. Darren Martin 85.5
28. Alan Morgan 85
29. Lars Heggland 81
30. Bob Thompson 77.5
31=. Dom Tait 75.5
31=. Dave Bill 75.5
33. John Harrison 75
34. Audrey Doyle 73
35. Jon Inge Kolden 72.5
36. Petter Kjær 72
37=. Øystein Aadnevik 67.5
37=. William Barrett 67.5
39=. Knut Heggland 61
39=. Paul Davis 61
41. Geir Kristiansen 59
42. Will Jones 58
43. Karen Skjånes 57
44. Paul Reeve 56
45. Sam Roberts 55
46. Jarle Kvåle 51.5
47. Barry Scott 48
48. Jone Frafjord 47
49. Bjørn Revil 46.5
50. Dave Jones 45.5
51. Paul Philpot 44
52. Tor Carlsen 40.5
53. Ivar Areklett 35
54. Anne Nyhus 30.5
55. Anne Lau Revil 19
56. Lesley Saunders-Davies 17


Many thanks to all who took part. I hope you all enjoyed it!!

RESULTS - ROB'S QUIZ VI

The moment you've all been waiting for (perhaps).

Many thanks to all who took part in Rob's Quiz VI. The standard was, as always, amazing. 198 of the 200 questions were answered correctly. No-one knew that Brer Rabbit was based, in part, on an Ojibwa god called Nanabozho or that Ingmar Bergman's only gothic horror film was entitled 'Hour of the Wolf'. After all that, only one solo emerged:

Q 49: Repo! The Genetic Opera - Michael McPartland

Well done, Michael!!

The final scores are below - if you happened to send me your answers within about an hour of the deadline then please check your score as I'd already, by then, drunk most of a bottle of wine. Thank you. The scores:

1. Pat Gibson 158
2. Olav Bjortomt 153
3. Barry Simmons 147
4. Shanker Menon 145
5. Ian Bayley 135
6. Mark Grant 128
7. David Stainer 120.5
8. Tero Kalliovelo 120
9. Nick Mills 117
10. Chris Quinn 115
11. William De Ath 113
12. Thomas Kolåsæter 111
13. Ole Martin Halck 110
14. David Lea 108
15=. Scott Dawson 106
15=. Kathryn Johnson 106
17. Michael McPartland 105.5
18. Jamie Dodding 103
19. Diane Hallagan 101.5
20. Nic Paul 100
21. Chris Jones 96
22. Tore Dahl 94
23. Quentin Holt 91
24. Harald Aastorp 90
25. Darren Martin 89
26. Keith Andrew 88.5
27=. Lars Heggland 86.5
27=. Gary Grant 86.5
29. Mark Kerr 86
30. Paul Sinha 80
31. Alan Morgan 79
32. Dave Bill 78
33. John Harrison 77
34. Peter Ediss 75
35. William Barrett 74.5
36. Dom Tait 73
37. Øystein Aadnevik 70
38. Knut Heggland 68
39=. Alan Bowell 65.5
39=. Issa Schultz 65.5
41. Bob Thompson 65
42. Iwan Thomas 62
43. Will Jones 60
44. Bjørn Revil 53
45. Paul Davis 51.5
46. Truls Flatberg 51
47. Paul Philpot 50
48. Christian Thorn 47
49. Jon Strøm 46
50. Tor Carlsen 44
51. Sam Roberts 42
52. Ian Dalziel 41
53. Karen Skjånes 40
54=. Lars Andre Gundersen 39
54=. Paul Reeve 39
56. Rob Jones 36
57. Ivar Areklett 35
58. Dave Jones 15
59. Lesley Saunders-Davies 14


Many thanks to all who took part.

ROB'S QUIZ VI

My new 200 question quiz is out. The deadline is 7th June 2009. If you would like a copy then please mail me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com

Where are all the quizzes?

You will no doubt have noticed that I have not been posting quizzes here for quite some time. I began this blog at a time when I had just got into quiz and was writing tonnes of questions and had nowhere to put them. This blog, therefore, I used as a repository for my efforts (albeit, the desire to show off was, no doubt, also a contributing factor!). Now that I have my regular 200-question quizzes and am writing for leagues, pubs, etc. I have several appropriate outlets into which my questions can be inserted.

I will continue to post questions here but such postings will, I imagine, be less frequent than once was the case. But, they will come - I assure you!

Those of you who know me well may be aware that many years ago I was pursuing a 'career' as a poet. I think I had almost forgotten this 'past life' of mine but, yesterday, for the first time in several years, I receieved some 'fan mail' from a young Canadian boy who had read some poems I'd written that have, I'm told, found their way into a Canadian anthology of some description. The boy was particularly gushing about a couple of poems I wrote entitled 'If I Were Blind' and 'One Day'. I strongly doubt that the boy will ever read this blog (he will almost certainly be moping in a dark room listening to My Chemical Romance) but, if he ever does, I'd like him to know that he made me smile today. A smile is not much but it does help to make life that little more bearable, and I thank him.

This incident led me to rereading some of the stuff I wrote all those years ago. 'Blind' is a poem that, on reflection, could only have been written by a teenager - I must have been 17 or 18 when I wrote it. It is sincere to the point of insincerity, emotional to the point of triteness and the narrator's massively evident insecurity grates a little. It is also clunky in parts. But there is something to it - it is more than just an angst-ridden goth boy's histrionics. Something. I could easily dismiss the work as a trite, oh so knowingly self-loathing piece of juvenilia but maturity is all too harsh a critic. I'm prepared to be generous. 'One Day' probably falls into a similar bracket as 'Blind' but is more honest and a little less whiney. Its construction leaves an awful lot to be desired but it does feel less insincere (as, indeed, I suspect it was).

I neither feel inclined nor able to produce any poetry at all these days but a quick, nostalgic peek at more fecund times has brought a smile to my face. Today has been a good day - I learned a little more about myself.


If I Were Blind

If I were blind
Would you scold me for turning my head at the sight of unlawfulness and destruction?
Would you berate me for perceiving not the difference between black and white?
Or would you comfort me and be my eyes?

If I were deaf
Would you blame me for ignoring the screams of the pitiably oppressed?
Would you reproach me for discerning not the difference between a tongue and a tear?
Or would you soothe me and be my ears?

If I were mute
Would you rebuke me for failing to speak out against tyranny and cruelty?
Would you censure me for knowing not the difference between the right terms and the wrong?
Or would you reassure me and be my words?

If I were lame
Would you reprehend me for declining to rush to the aid of the dying man?
Would you reprove me for feeling not the difference between the concrete and the pillow?
Or would you console me and be my feet?

But now I am lonely
Why do you lecture me for turning away from the underprivileged and the needy?
Why do you upbraid me for detecting not greater pain than my own?
Why don't you cheer me and be my friend?

Rob Hannah - 1999


One Day

Yesterday
I looked at my lover's feet
As they padded nervously through crowded streets,
Quickening with each hunted thought and haunting memory.
Feet, ceaselessly retreating from a broken city with broken morals
And manufactured tolerance. And the
Fractured cobblestones are built from jagged rock and on flat lies.
Feet, never having travelled, but fled.
Only ever feeling part of a person upon arrival at their destination,
Until which they are the gettaway car,
The hounded quarry, the unsounded scream.

Yesterday
I looked at my lover's hands
As they fumbled along the boundaries of a pale society
And felt the baleful pain of rejection and abject shame.
Hands, shaking upon greeting others for fear that they should incriminate
With a clumsy flap or trembling flutter.
Hands, leading to cramped knuckles and tired wrists
No longer ready to shield eyes from accusing fingers
Nor to mask a face from public view.
Hands, for once not to feel
But instead to soften the pain with
A soothing touch and a clenched fist.

Yesterday
I looked at my lover's ears
As they absorbed the frenzied thoughts of a million mouths,
Each mimicking the words of a million more,
Each miming and mouthing
And regurgitating phrases and fables made true through time and repetition.
Ears, ignoring the words but unable to escape the voices
Of those men and women behind the lies.
Ears, twitching at every noise
And standing upright and alert,
Collecting each scrap of sound with which
To create maps of minds through second-hand bigotry
And a faint hope of survival.

One day
I will look into my lover's eyes.

Rob Hannah - 1998

ROB'S QUIZ V RESULTS

The deadline is up and the results are in.

There were some really terrific scores this time and, amazingly, all 200 questions were answered. Indeed, 199 of them were answered by more than one person. Therefore, the only 'solo' this time was:

115. Mossos d'Esquadra - David Lea

A great answer from David.

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to enter and I hope you enjoyed it.


The final positions:


1. Phil O’Day 169
2. Pat Gibson 154
3. Olav Bjortomt 153.5
4. Barry Simmons 151.5
5. Shanker Menon 136
6. Ian Bayley 132.5
7. David Stainer 127.5
8. Harald Aastorp 126.5
9. Scott Dawson 125.5
10. Mark Grant 125
11. Thomas Kolåsæter 116
12. David Lea 114.5
13. Tore Dahl 113
14. Nic Paul 109.5
15. Jamie Dodding 107
16. Alan Morgan 105
17. Ole Martin Halck 103.5
18. Peter Ediss 97.5
19. Michael McPartland 97
20. Chris Jones 96.5
21=. Mark Kerr 91
21=. Lars Heggland 91
23. Keith Andrew 90.5
24=. John Harrison 89.5
24=. Jenny Ryan 89.5
26. Paul Sinha 85
27. Darren Martin 83.5
28. Dom Tait 81.5
29. Quentin Holt 80
30. Knut Heggland 78.5
31. William Barrett 74
32. Alan Bowell 73
33. Ian Dalziel 72.5
34. Dave Bill 72
35. Gareth Kingston 71.5
36=. CJ de Mooi 63
36=. Bjørn Revil 63
38. Will Jones 61.5
39. Issa Schultz 59.5
40. Øystein Aadnevik 58
41. Karen Skjånes 55.5
42. Jon Strøm 52
43. Paul Reeve 50.5
44. Jone Frafjord 47
45. Tor Carlsen 46.5
46. Toril Opsahl 43
47. Ivar Areklett 35
48. Tom Waddell 28
49. Christian Grindvold 25.5
50. Lesley Saunders-Davies 25

NEW QUIZ

My new 200 question quiz is out. The deadline is 1st March 2009. If you would like a copy then please mail me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com

THE 69th QUIZ

Just a short one.

1. Which man, who died in 2004, served as chairman of the Arts Coucil of Great Britain and the advisory council of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a director of the Royal Opera House, a trustee of Glyndebourne, a member of the National Art Collections Fund committee, and treasurer of the Historic Churches Preservation Trust was made a life peer of Penn's Rocks in East Sussex in 1975?
PATRICK GIBSON
2. Who is the current manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC?
MICK McCARTHY
3. And which footballer scored on his Wolverhampton Wanderers debut in January 2008, having been signed by McCarthy from Luton Town for £675,000?
DAVID EDWARDS
4. Which Scottish actress is best known for playing Tina Hunter in the popular BBC Scotland soap opera ‘River City’ and has also played Michelle in ‘Dear Green Place’?
JENNY RYAN
5. Who captained the Mayflower on its transatlantic voyage that established the Plymouth Colony settlement in Massachusetts in 1620?
CHRIS JONES
6. Which Scottish international footballer scored Derby County’s winning goal as Derby ran out 1–0 winners over West Bromwich Albion in the 2007 Championship playoff final?
STEPHEN PEARSON
7. What was the real name of Anthony Burgess, the author of ‘A Clockwork Orange’?
JOHN WILSON
8. Also the first British flag officer to become a pilot, who was commander of the Greek Navy at the outbreak of World War I?
MARK KERR

ROB'S QUIZ IV - THE RESULTS

The deadline is up and the results have been counted.

For the first time in one of my quizzes, a score of over 75% has been attained.

The quality of answers was such that just 2 questions went unanswered. Nobody guessed that a British hit single must have a running time of 40 minutes or under, or that the penaque is the only genus of fish to survive largely by eating wood.

A particularly notable score was attained by Michael McPartland who, on his first attempt at one of my quizzers, managed to come 5th. Amazingly, 98% of the answers he gave were correct. I don't believe I've ever seen that before. I've invited him to attend a future a GP. If this score is anything to go by, he should do very well.

There were, as always, several correct answers that were given by just one person. They were:

Q. 19 - Christchurch - Dom Tait
Q. 29 - Vigo & La Coruña - Lars Heggland (several people got one or other but only Lars named both cities).
Q. 104 - Kappa Sigma - Michael McPartland
Q. 110 - Naraka - Shanker Menon
Q. 170 - Kinderwhore - Michael McPartland
Q. 184 - Holden - Mark Grant
Q. 189 - Isabela - Keith Andrew


And to the results:

1. Pat Gibson 151
2. Olav Bjortomt 144.5
3. Barry Simmons 129.5
4. Mark Grant 125
5=. Michael McPartland 121.5
5=. Scott Dawson 121.5
7. David Stainer 114.5
8. Shanker Menon 114
9. Jamie Dodding 109
10. Chris Quinn 106.5
11. Harald Aastorp 101.5
12. Chris Jones 100.5
13. John Harrison 93.5
14. Nic Paul 90.5
15=. Diane Hallagan 90
15=. Mark Kerr 90
17. Derek Heyes 89
18. Lars Heggland 88.5
19=. Dom Tait 85.5
19=. Peter Ediss 85.5
19=. Keith Andrew 85.5
22. Dave Bill 85
23=. Pete Smith 81
23=. Quentin Holt 81
25. Paul Sinha 80.5
26. Audrey Doyle 77
27=. Darren Martin 76.5
27=. William Barrett 76.5
29. Alan Bowell 73.5
30. Will Jones 66.5
31. Ian Dalziel 64.5
32. Myron Meyer 60
33. Rob Jones 58
34. Sam Roberts 46
35. Ivar Areklett 41.5
36. Lesley Saunders-Davies 32


Congratulations to Pat on an extraordinary score. And many thanks to all those who took the time to enter.

ROB'S QUIZ 4

My 4th quiz is currently available. The deadline is 16th November 2008. If you haven't yet received a copy but would like to, then please e-mail me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com

The rules are the same as normal. But there are pictures with this one too.

THE 68th QUIZ

Hello, once again. 25 questions for you with a bit of an emphasis on early English history. Due to several requests (or, indeed, constant nagging) I've put the answers directly after the questions.


1. Who was the commander of the Viking force that was defeated by Alfred the Great at the Battle of Edington?
GUTHRUM
2. With 31, who holds the record for winning the most Grammy Awards?
GEORG SALTI
3. What was the name of the English King upon which Shakespeare based his play 'Cymbeline'?
CUNOBELINUS
4. Which famous poet took boxing lessons from the celebrated pugilist John Jackson, better known as Gentleman Jackson?
LORD BYRON
5. What was the name of the brother of Edward the Confessor who was murdered by followers of Harold Harefoot in 1036?
ALFRED
6. Found in South Africa, which is the world's second highest waterfall?
TUGELA
7. What was the name of the husband of Boudicca?
KING PRASUTAGUS
8. Prior to the publication of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', which 1939 novel had been the world's best-selling fictional work of the 20th Century?
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (by AGATHA CHRISTIE)
9. As a child Alfred the Great was sent on a mission to Rome to meet with which Pope?
LEO IV
10. What name did Tacitus give to the unidentified Scottish mountain upon the slopes of which 10,000 Caledonians were slaughtered by the Roman army in 79AD?
MONS GRAUPIUS
11. Who was the first person to win two Academy Awards for Best Actress?
LUISE RAINER
12. In 927AD, who became the first King to be officially crowned as 'King of England'?
AETHELSTAN
13. After Harvard, which is the USA's next oldest university?
COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY (in Virginia)
14. What is the literal meaning of the word 'Pict'?
PAINTED ONE
15. Which Australian middle and long distance runner set 17 world records during the 1960s but never won an Olympic gold medal?
RON CLARKE
16. Who was the father of King Cnut?
SWEYN I
17. After Canada, which country has the next longest coastline?
INDONESIA
18. Which English village, then an important city, was known to the Romans as Viriconium?
WROXETER
19. After the USA and Israel, which country has the next largest Jewish population?
FRANCE
20. What name was given to any of the 30 defensive forts built by Alfred the Great in order to keep the Vikings out of Wessex after the Battle of Edington?
BURH
21. Which is Africa's largest landlocked country?
NIGER
22. At which castle is Catherine of Aragon buried?
PETERBOROURGH
23. Which King of East Anglia is thought to have been the king who was laid in the Viking longboat discovered at Sutton Hoo?
RAEDWALD
24. Who won an Oscar in 1944 for her performance as Cary Grant's mother in 'None But the Lonely Heart'?
ETHEL BARRYMORE
25. At 2,190 metres deep, the Voronya or Krubera Cave is the world's deepest. In which country is it found?
GEORGIA

THE 67th QUIZ

Because my attention has been concentrated on other projects recently, I have posted very infrequently on this blog of late. From today, the quizzes will be posted more regularly. Here are 20 questions for you:

1. Which British track and field athlete lit the Olympic flame at the 1948 London Olympics?
2. With a name meaning 'corpse shore', what is the name of the place in Hel where Níðhöggr lives and sucks corpses?
3. What is the name of the monumental gateway that serves as the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens that now gives its name to any monumental gateway?
4. Who did Andy Murray defeat to win the final of the Cincinatti Masters in August 2008?
5. Which 17th Century Italian baroque painter, whose works include 'Baptism of Christ' and 'Venus and Amor', is known as 'The Anacreon of Painters'?
6. Who was the morganatic wife of Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland who is usually credited as the first professional actress on the English stage? Her first performance was on December 8 1660, in a production of Shakespeare's play 'Othello', when she played the role of Desdemona.
7. Which American football team play their homes games at Heinz Field?
8. Said to have been founded by a sister of Diomede and the birthplace of Democritus and Protagoras, which maritime city in Thrace is said to have become so overrun with rats that is was abandoned by its inhabitants who relocated to Macedonia?
9. Which American athlete was the first man to run the 100m in under 10 seconds?
10. According to Islamic belief, 40 of the 70 Abdals always live in which country?
11. Named after its ineffectiveness, which English Parliament of 1614 lasted no more than eight weeks and failed to resolve the conflict between King James I and the House of Commons?
12. Which horse won the 2008 Kentucky Derby? And which horse had to be put down after finishing second in the same race? *
13. Based on the stories in 'The Arabian Nights', 'Tales of the Genii' is the best remembered work of which English author?
14. First appearing in 1883, which catcher, playing for Toledo, became the first black major league baseballer?
15. What is the name of the boar of Norse mythology that was created by Eitri and Brokkr as a gift to Freyr?
16. Which English river was once known as the river Abus?
17. 'Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter', 'The Prime of Life', 'Force of Circumstance' and 'All Said and Done' are the four volumes of the autobiography of which French author?
18. In reference to seven Alexandrian poets and tragedians of the 3rd century B.C., what collective name was given to a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf?
19. Which city in Jiangsu Province in China, known for its gardens and silk industry, is nicknamed 'the Venice of the East'?
20. In the Bible, upon which mountain did Aaron die?

*Thanks to Myron for spotting the not very deliberate mistake in the original question here. The original question stated that Big Brown both won the 2008 Kentucky Derby and was put down afterwards. I can state with confidence that Big Brown did win the race but it was, in fact, Eight Belles who was 'euthanized' (yes, I hate that word too). Big Brown is not dead - at least he wasn't until he read my quiz, at which point the shock of finding that he had been pronounced dead on such an authoritative blog as this one caused catastrophic heart failure. R.I.P. Big Brown. And Eight Belles.


And the answers:


1. JOHN MARK
2. NÁSTRÖND
3. PROPYLAEA
4. NOVAK DJOKOVIC
5. FRANCESCO ALBANI
6. MARGARET HUGHES
7. PITTSBURGH STEELERS
8. ABDERA
9. JIM HINES
10. SYRIA
11. ADDLED PARLIAMENT
12. BIG BROWN & EIGHT BELLES
13. JAMES RIDLEY
14. MOSES FLEETWOOD WALKER
15. GULLINBURSTI
16. HUMBER
17. SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR
18. LA PLEIADE
19. SUZHOU
20. MOUNT HOR

RESULTS OF ROB'S QUIZ III

The deadline is up and the votes have been counted. Well, the answers have been counted.

Perhaps the most pleasing aspect was that the quality of answers was so high that, of the 200 questions, only 5 went unanswered.

Special mentions go to the following, who were the only person, in each case, to give the correct answer to that question:

Q. 15 - SAVED BY THE BELL: THE NEW CLASS - Olav Bjortomt (although plenty were awarded half a mark for 'Saved By the Bell')
Q. 55 - BAHUVRIHI - Shanker Menon
Q. 64 - SHED - Peter Ediss
Q. 90 - GIRLICIOUS - Roger Eldegard
Q. 124 - STEPHEN KUMALO - William Barrett
Q. 153 - BABY FACE NELSON - Olav Bjortomt
Q. 175 - QUERY - Olav Bjortomt
Q. 190 - CANIS MAJOR - Thomas Kolåsæter

Well done to all the above.

And now to the important bit. The scores are:


1. Mark Bytheway 144
2. Olav Bjortomt 142
3. Pat Gibson 132
4. Barry Simmons 114
5. Mark Grant 113
6. Scott Dawson 108
7. David Stainer 107.5
8. Shanker Menon 106.5
9. Jamie Dodding 103
10. Thomas Kolåsæter 102
11. Martin Riley 95
12=. Nic Paul 92
12=. Mark Kerr 92
14. Diane Hallagan 90.5
15. Darren Martin 90
16. Harald Aastorp 89
17=. Chris Quinn 88
17=. Ole Martin Halck 88
17=. Tore Dahl 88
20=. Quentin Holt 84
20=. Lars Heggland 84
22. Chris Jones 83.5
23. Keith Andrew 83
24. Phil Duffy 81
25=. Dom Tait 74.5
25=. Peter Ediss 74.5
27. Will Jones 73
28. David Bill 70
29. Alan Bowell 67
30. William Barrett 55.5
31. Jayakanthan Ranganathan 55
32=. CJ de Mooi 52.5
32=. Rob Jones 52.5
34=. Myron Meyer 50
34=. Paul Davis 50
36. Karen Skjånes 46.5
37. Elliot Selby 46
38. Jan Gunnar Fredriksen 45.5
39. Roger Eldegard 40.5
40. Tor Carlsen 40
41. Ivar Areklett 36
42. Thomas Iversen 30
43. Toril Opsahl 25.5
44. Christian Grindvold 23.5
45. Lesley Saunders-Davies 19


Congratulations to Mark for a great score. Also, many congratulations to both Olav and Pat for fantastic scores of their own. Many thanks to all who took part with particular thanks to the band of intrepid Norwegians who decided to sit the quiz together under test conditions.

I hope you enjoyed answering it as much as I did writing in. Rob's Quiz IV draws inexorably nearer.

QUIZ RESULTS

The deadline has closed and the results are in.

34 people have taken part (although 2 people - who assure me they have completed the quiz - have been given special dispensation to furnish me with their answers at a later date).

Many thanks to all those who took part and congratulations to all those who scored over 100 on what was, it appears, a slightly harder quiz than last time. Further congratulations to the winner, who fared rather better with my questions than I usually do with his.

As with my last quiz, I would like to give a special mention to three people who were, in each case, the only person (out of the 34) to give a correct answer to a particular question. They are:

Question 24 - Sarabande - DIANE HALLAGAN
Question 104 - Dysnomia - QUENTIN HOLT
Question 130 - Chukwa - NIC PAUL

And to the results:

1 Olav Bjortomt 139.5
2 Pat Gibson 128
3 Sean Carey 116.5
4 Mark Grant 111.5
5= Barry Simmons 105
5= Ian Bayley 105
7= Scott Dawson 100.5
7= William De Ath 100.5
9 Mark Kerr 98.5
10 Chris Quinn 90.5
11 Chris Jones 90
12 Nic Paul 85.5
13= Shanker Menon 83.5
13= Dom Tait 83.5
15 Darren Martin 83
16 Thomas Kolåsæter 79.5
17 Diane Hallagan 78.5
18 Keith Andrew 77.5
19 Jamie Dodding 77
20 Chris Curtis 75
21= Quentin Holt 74
21= William Barrett 74
23 Matt Barr 64.5
24 Peter Ediss 62
25= Will Jones 60.5
25= Alan Bowell 60.5
27 Audrey Doyle 60
28 CJ de Mooi 56.5
29 Paul Davis 49
30 Ian Dalziel 48
31 Myron Meyer 47.5
32 Tom Waddell 42
33 Jayakanthan R. 41.5
34 Sam Roberts 40.5
35 Lesley Saunders-Davies 25

THE 66th QUIZ

1. They were discovered in 1743 and called Cyrpiniformes. Shortly afterwards, another discovery led to them being given the name by which we know them today. What name?
2. What name is given to any of a group of biennial Old World thistles in the genus Arctium, family Asteraceae, that is used in Japanese cuisine and said to have medicinal qualities?
3. Which poet, born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1910, served as the rector of the Black Mountain College from 1951 until 1956 and left 'The Maximus Poems' unfinished at his death in 1970?
4. Aishwarya Rai starred alongside Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley in which 2007 film based on a novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi?
5. At 5' 5", which international is the shortest footballer to be on the books of a Premiership club?
6. Who was the Dutch scientist who, in 1676, became the first person to observe bacteria?
7. What was the name of the father of Rameses II who, for a time, ruled jointly with his son?
8. By what name was British Airways known when it was founded in 1924?
9. In which year were both Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington born?
10. The word ‘cheetah’ is derived from a Sanskrit name meaning what?
11. What was the name of the Queen of the Netherlands who abdicated in 1948 due to ill health?
12. KT Tunstall was born in which Scottish town on 23 June 1975?
13. In Graham Greene's novel 'Brighton Rock', what is Pinkie's surname?
14. Which former President was enrolled as the first Medicare beneficiary and presented with the first Medicare card?
15. What is the name of the founder of the Peruvian rebel group Shining Path?
16. What name was given to the rigidly organized military regiments commanded by Shaka Zulu?
17. How much did James Whistler receive after successfully suing the art critic John Ruskin for libel?
18. Which alternative rock group recorded the song ‘California’ that is used as the theme to ‘The O.C.’?
19. In April 2003, which American news website accidentally published premature draft obituaries of several public figures, using the Queen Mother and Ronald Reagan as draft templates? Dick Cheney was described as the 'UK's favorite grandmother', Pope John Paul II was said to have had a 'love of racing' and Fidel Castro was described as a 'lifeguard, athlete and movie star'.
20. In which country is the style of music known as zaffa traditionally used at wedding ceremonies?

And the answers:


1. ELECTRIC EELS
2. BURDOCK
3. CHARLES OLSON
4. THE LAST LEGION
5. AARON LENNON
6. ANTONIE VAN LEEUWENHOEK
7. SETI I
8. IMPERIAL AIRWAYS
9. 1769
10. VARIEGATED BODY
11. WILHELMINA
12. ST ANDREWS
13. BROWN
14. HARRY TRUMAN
15. ABIMAEL GUZMAN
16. IMPI
17. ONE FARTHING
18. PHANTOM PLANET
19. CNN
20. EGYPT

200 QUESTION QUIZ UPDATE

Due to a large number of requests to do so, I'm extending the deadline for my quiz until Sunday 20th April.

It's only an hour and a half you need to find!!! Come on, peeps!

200 QUESTION QUIZ

I wanted to bring your attention to a typographical error in my new 200 question quiz. The date in Question 132 should read 1773 rather than 1793. I must have read through the quiz 100 times without ever noticing it. Many thanks to Keith for bringing it to my attention.

12 completed quizzes have been submitted so far - still plenty of time left to enter if you haven't done so already.

THE 65th QUIZ - USA & CANADA

Quizzes for your consumption:

1. Which small, uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea, an unorganized unincorporated territory of the United States, which administers it through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is also claimed by Haiti?
2. Washington DC is located on land donated by which American state?
3. Bryce Canyon, a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, is to be found in which US State?
4. Deriving from the French for ‘towards Arkansas’, what name is given to the physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States, covering much of the south half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northern Arkansas as well as parts of Oklahoma and Kansas?
5. Which river, perhaps named for the tannic acid it contains, separates the Adirondack Mountains from the Tug Hill Plateau in New York state before emptying into Lake Ontario?
6. With a maximum depth of 594 metres, which lake in Oregon is the deepest lake in the USA?
7. Theodore Roosevelt National Park consists of 110 square miles of badlands in which American state?
8. What is the name given to the historically significant one square mile tract of land along the border between Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the ownership of which was disputed from the 17th Century until Delaware’s ownership was confirmed by Pennsylvania in 1921?
9. In 1791, which became the 14th American state and the first admitted to the Union since the original 13 colonies declared independence from Britain?
10. Signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795, establishing intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain, its full title was Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation Between Spain and the United States and it was also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid. However, the name by which it is best remembered today is that of the American statesman who negotiated the treaty for the United States. What name?
11. Taking place from 1795 to 1803, the Yazoo Land Scandal is the name given to the massive fraud perpetrated by several governors of which state by selling large tracts of land to insiders at ridiculously low prices?
12. Taking its name from a suburb of what is now Mexico City, what name is given to the treaty, signed in February 1848, that ended the Mexican-American War?
13. The land bought from Mexico in 1853 for $10 million in what is known as the Gadsden Purchase is now located in which two states?
14. Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa are three of the better known unincorporated territories of the Unites States. Which atoll in the Northern Pacific Ocean is the USA’s only incorporated territory?
15. What was the name of the chief of the Wampanoag Indians who led his people in the bloody war against the English colonists that would become known as King Philip’s War (1675-76)?
16. Which American jurist, statesman, and revolutionary leader from Connecticut served as a delegate to the Continental Congress where he signed the Declaration of Independence and later as the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled?
17. Although his very existence has never been proven, Tom the Tinker was the name given to the leader of which insurrection in Pennsylvania in 1794 caused by the introduction of a hated tax three years earlier?
18. In which city was George Washington inaugurated as the first US President in April 1789?
19. In 1959, Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as the 49th and 50th states. Admitted in 1912, which was the 48th state?
20. Shay’s Rebellion, led by small farmers angered by crushing debt and taxes in the immediate aftermath of the War of American Independence, was an armed uprising that occurred in which state from 1786-87?


1. NAVASSA ISLAND
2. MARYLAND
3. UTAH
4. OZARKS
5. BLACK RIVER
6. CRATER LAKE
7. NORTH DAKOTA
8. THE WEDGE
9. VERMONT
10. PINCKNEY’S TREATY
11. GEORGIA
12. TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO
13. ARIZONA & NEW MEXICO
14. PALMYRA ATOLL
15. METACOMET (or METACOM)
16. SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
17. WHISKEY REBELLION
18. NEW YORK
19. ARIZONA
20. MASSACHUSETTS



1. Which American doctrine proclaimed, in December 1823, that European powers should no longer colonize or interfere with the affairs of the newly independent nations of the Americas.
2. The Louisiana Purchase occurred under which American President?
3. Containing approximately 80 islands, which lake between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York is drained northward by the Richelieu River into the St. Lawrence River near Montreal and fed by Otter Creek, the Winooski, Missisquoi, and Lamoille Rivers in Vermont, and the Ausable, Chazy, Boquet, and Saranac Rivers in New York?
4. Named after a disparaging phrase used by John Adams to describe agents of Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, what name is given to the diplomatic episode of 1797 that worsened relations between France and the United States and led to the undeclared Quasi-War of 1798?
5. What was the name given to the two wars fought by the United States of America against the independent Sultanate of Morocco, and the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli from 1801 to 1815?
6. Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in the USA, is to be found in which Alaskan National Park and Preserve, the name of which means "the great one" in the native Athabaskan language and refers to the mountain itself?
7. Who led the American forces against the British fleet, under the command of Sir Alexander Cochrane, at the Battle of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812?
8. The Era of Good Feelings is a much-used phrase coined by the journalist Benjamin Russell to describe a period of American history under which President?
9. In April 2007, a strong storm caused a 300 yard breach between Martha’s Vineyard and which smaller island off its eastern end that had previously been connected to the main island?
10. Sometimes known in the South as the Battle of Sharpsburg, which battle, fought in Maryland on September 17, 1862, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil and was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with almost 23,000 casualties?
11. What is the name of the historic village in Viriginia where the surrender of the Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee to Union commander Ulysses S. Grant took place on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the American Civil War?
12. With a population of a little over 11,500, which Floridian city is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the USA, and the oldest port in the continental United States?
13. It is traditionally held that the American Civil War began when which Confederate General opened fire upon Fort Sumter in South Carolina?
14. In 1848, the former Democratic President Martin van Buren was again nominated for Presidency by which short-lived political party that was active during the 1848 and 1852 elections before being largely absorbed by the Republican Party in 1854?
15. Devils Tower in Wyoming gained its name during an 1875 expedition led by Col. Richard Irving Dodge when his interpreter misinterpreted the Lakota name ‘Mato Tipila’ to mean Bad God's Tower, later to be shortened to its present name. What is the correct translation?
16. Named after an American slave who was later hanged, what name was given to the slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia during August 31 during which over 50 people were killed?
17. What was the name of the American Commodore who compelled the opening of the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854?
18. The Pocono Mountains region is a popular tourist destination located in the northeastern part of which state?
19. Taking its name from the response expected from its members when asked about their involvement with the party, what was the popular name given to the movement that originated in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party that was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants?
20. Kolob Arch, the second longest natural arch in the world, can be found in which National Park in Utah?


1. MONROE DOCTRINE
2. THOMAS JEFFERSON
3. LAKE CHAMPLAIN
4. XYZ AFFAIR
5. BARBARY WARS
6. DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE
7. ANDREW JACKSON
8. JAMES MONROE
9. CHAPPAQUIDDICK ISLAND
10. BATTLE OF ANTIETAM
11. APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE
12. ST AUGUSTINE
13. PIERRE BEAUREGARD
14. FREE SOIL PARTY
15. BEAR TOWER
16. NAT TURNER’S REBELLION
17. MATTHEW PERRY
18. PENNSYLVANIA
19. KNOW-NOTHING (PARTY or MOVEMENT)
20. ZION NATIONAL PARK



1. The name Canada is taken from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning what?
2. The capital of Upper Canada from 1797 - 1841, by what name was Toronto known prior to 1834?
3. Which city in Newfoundland and Labrador is the oldest English-founded city in North America and received the first wireless trans-Atlantic message in 1901?
4. Celebrated annually on July 1st, by what name was Canada Day known prior to 1982?
5. Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608 under the sponsorship of which French King?
6. Lucy Maude Montgomery's character, Anne of Green Gables was born in which Canadian province?
7. Who was the colonist and soldier of New France who led a French militia, allied with Huron Indians, against a much larger Iroquois army at the Battle of Long Sault in 1660?
8. Who was the Canadian-born French colonial governor who, in 1755, became the last governor of New France before it was ceded to Britain after the Seven Years’ War?
9. Canada shares its only land border with the United States. However, it shares marine borders with which two countries?
10. According to Canadian legend "Push on, brave York Volunteers" were the last words of which British Major-General, nicknamed ‘The Hero of Upper America’, who was killed at the Battle of Queenston Heights in 1812?
11. Which Canadian heroine of the War of 1812, after becoming aware of plans for a surprise attack on troops led by British Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon at Beaver Dams, is said to have walked, perhaps barefoot, approximately 32 km from present day Queenston to Fitzgibbon's headquarters to warn him of the attack?
12. Which easily recognizable twin peaked mountain with two flat-topped cylindrical rock towers, separated by a saddle, in Auyuittuq National Park in Nunavut appeared in the opening sequence of the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me?
13. The Red River Rebellion is the name given to the events surrounding the actions of a provisional government established by Métis leader Louis Riel in 1869 at the Red River Settlement that led to the creation of which Canadian province?
14. One of the most notorious incidents in the history of early 20th century exclusion laws in Canada designed to keep out immigrants of Asian origin, what was the name of the Japanese steam liner that sailed from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1914, carrying 376 passengers from the Punjab, that was not allowed to land in Canada and was forced to return to India?
15. The only known nesting site of whooping cranes, which national park, located in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, is the largest national park in Canada at 44,807 km²?
16. What was the name of the Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 72 victories, the highest number for a British Empire pilot?
17. What was the name of the French munitions ship that exploded off the coast of Nova Scotia in December 1917, after colliding with the Belgian relief ship Imo, destroying most of the city of Halifax?
18. Located where the foothills of the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the prairie near Fort McLeod in Alberta, which UNESCO World Heritage Site and museum of Native culture has, perhaps, the most unusual name of all World Heritage Sites?
19. What name is given to the formal and ceremonial uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police?
20. What is the English name for the comedy festival Juste Pour Rire held each July in Montreal, the largest festival of its kind in the world?


1. VILLAGE (or SETTLEMENT)
2. YORK
3. ST. JOHN’S
4. DOMINION DAY
5. HENRY IV
6. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
7. DOLLARD DES ORMEAUX
8. PIERRE FRANÇOIS DE RIGAUD, MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL-CAVAGNAL
9. DENMARK (GREENLAND) & FRANCE (SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON)
10. ISAAC BROCK
11. LAURA SECORD
12. MOUNT ASGARD
13. MANITOBA
14. KOMAGATA MARU
15. WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK
16. BILLY BISHOP
17. MONT-BLANC
18. HEAD-SMASHED-IN BUFFALO JUMP
19. RED SERGE
20. JUST FOR LAUGHS



1. Which previously independent Dominion joined the Canadian Confederation in 1948 after a bitterly fought referendum that often descended into a slanging match between Protestants and Catholics?
2. Sharing its name with a Greek goddess, which body of water separates the Queen Charlotte Islands from the mainland of British Columbia in Canada?
3. What was the name of the Belarussian cipher clerk who defected to Canada in September 1945, with 109 documents on Soviet espionage activities in the West exposing Joseph Stalin's efforts to steal nuclear secrets, and the then-unknown technique of planting sleeper agents?
4. Which is the longest river in Canada?
5. Which Polish-born Communist politician and trade union organizer became, in 1947, the only Member of the Canadian Parliament ever convicted of spying for a foreign country?
6. Which is the only Canadian province to have both French and English as official languages?
7. Which Canadian statesman, diplomat and future Prime Minister was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his role in defusing the Suez Crisis through the United Nations?
8. Which small, uninhabited barren knoll measuring 1.3 km², located in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait that separates Ellesmere Island from northern Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with the Lincoln Sea is claimed by both Canada and Denmark?
9. Named after a Canadian Prime Minister, what was the name of Constable Benton Fraser’s canine sidekick in the award-winning Canadian television police drama Due South?
10. Canada’s Four Corners point, located near Kasba Lake, is a point at which four political subdivisions meet, namely the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and which two provinces?
11. What was the name of the Minister of Quebec who was kidnapped and murdered by members of the terrorist group The Front de Libération du Québec during the October Crisis of 1970?
12. Cape Columbia is the northernmost point of land of Canada and is located on which island?
13. What was the name of the one-legged cancer patient who became a national celebrity after he undertook the cross-Canada run known as the Marathon of Hope in 1980?
14. Sharing its name with a now defunct American rock group, what is the name of the highest mountain in the Northwest Territories, first climbed in July 1965 by Bill Buckingham and Lew Surdam?
15. What was the name of the gunman who killed 14 women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal on December 6 1989, his actions leading Parliament to officially designate December 6 as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women?
16. In 2005, which Haitian-born broadcaster and film-maker became the first black person to serve as Governor General of Canada, a post she currently still occupies?
17. What name has been given to the international fishing dispute of 1995 between Canada and the European Union which ended in the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans boarding a Spanish fishing trawler, the Estai, in international waters and arresting its crew?
18. Formerly known as Frobisher Bay, what is the capital and largest town of Nunavut?
19. Canada is the world’s largest producer of which two important metallic elements?
20. What is Canada’s official national summer sport?


1. NEWFOUNDLAND
2. HECATE STRAIT
3. IGOR GOUZENKO
4. MACKENZIE RIVER
5. FRED ROSE
6. NEW BRUNSWICK
7. LESTER B. PEARSON
8. HANS ISLAND
9. DIEFENBAKER
10. MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN
11. PIERRE LAPORTE
12. ELLESMERE ISLAND
13. TERRY FOX
14. MOUNT NIRVANA
15. MARC LÉPINE
16. MICHAËLLE JEAN
17. TURBOT WAR
18. IQALUIT
19. ZINC & URANIUM
20. LACROSSE

NEW 200 QUESTION QUIZ

I have written another 200 question quiz and am offering it free to anyone and everyone (because I'm kind like that). If you'd like to have a go than please e-mail me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com.


Rules are simple:


You have 90 minutes to complete the 200 questions.
No Googling or reference books allowed and all that kind of stuff.
I’m sure you know what to do - just answer the questions as best you can.

When you’ve finished, please e-mail your completed quiz to me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com by Sunday 13th April 2008.

Please feel free to pass it on to anyone you feel might enjoy taking part.

THE 63rd QUIZ - MORE RANDOM STUFF

SPANISH AUTONOMOUS REGIONS

1. What is the capital of the Spanish autonomous community of Aragon?
2. What is the capital of the Spanish autonomous community of Navarre?
3. What is the capital of the Spanish autonomous community of Asturias?
4. What is the capital of the Spanish autonomous community of Cantabria?



1. ZARAGOZA
2. PAMPLONA
3. OVIEDO
4. SANTANDER



ACADEMY AWARDS

1. Who was nominated for successive Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles in An Unmarried Woman (1978) and Starting Over (1979)?
2. Who was nominated for successive Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles in Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957) and Separate Tables (1958)?
3. Who was nominated for successive Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles in Caged (1950) and Detective Story (1951)?
4. Who was nominated for successive Academy Awards for Best Actress for her roles in Country (1984) and Sweet Dreams (1985)?



1. JILL CLAYBURG
2. DEBORAH KERR
3. ELEANOR PARKER
4. JESSICA LANGE



PAINTINGS

1. Which title, referring to episode in the legendary history of early Rome, is shared by paintings by Nicolas Poussin, Peter Paul Rubens and Pablo Picasso?
2. Which title, the name of a Biblical King, is shared by sculptures by Donatello, Andrea del Verrocchio and Gian Lorenzo Bernini?
3. Which title, referring to an important Roman Catholic scene, is shared by paintings by Antonio da Correggio and Anabale Carracci?
4. Which title, referring to a story from Greek mythology, is shared by paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Alexandre Cabanel and Sandro Botticelli?



1. RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN
2. DAVID
3. ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY
4. THE BIRTH OF VENUS



ELEMENTS

1. Which scientist is credited as the discoverer of xenon, neon, krypton and (with Lord Raleigh) argon?
2. Which scientist is credited as the discoverer of rhodium and palladium?
3. Which scientist is credited as the discoverer of uranium, zirconium, strontium, titanium and (with others) cerium?
4. Which scientist is credited as the discoverer of americium, curium and (with others) plutonium, berkelium and californium?



1. WILLIAM RAMSAY
2. WILLIAM HYDE WOLLASTON
3. MARTIN HEINRICH KLAPROTH
4. GLENN T SEABORG



TENNIS PLAYERS

1. Losing in 1997, who was the last Frenchman to reach the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final?
2. Losing in 1973, who was the last Soviet to reach the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final?
3. Losing in 2002, who was the last Argentinian to reach the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final?
4. Losing in 1985, who was the last South African to reach the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final?



1. CÉDRIC PIOLINE
2. ALEX METREVELI
3. DAVID NALBANDIAN
4. KEVIN CURREN



NOVELS

1. Although never published and now lost, The Poor Man and the Lady (1867) was the first novel written by which author?
2. Although only published posthumously, The Professor (1840s) was the first novel written by which author?
3. Although he was frustrated by its misinterpretation, Almayer’s Folly (1895) was the first novel written by which author?
4. Although he virtually disowned the book in later life, Watch and Ward (1871) was the first novel written by which author?



1. THOMAS HARDY
2. CHARLOTTE BRONTE
3. JOSEPH CONRAD
4. HENRY JAMES



ASSASSINATIONS

1. Who was assassinated by Mohammed Bouyeri in November 2004?
2. Who was assassinated by François Ravaillac in May 1610?
3. Who was assassinated by Mijailo Mijailović in September 2003?
4. Who was assassinated by Dimitri Tsafendas in September 1966?



1. THEO VAN GOGH
2. KING HENRI IV OF FRANCE
3. ANNA LINDH
4. HENDRIK VERWOERD



FIRST TOP TENS

1. Released in 1965, ‘I Can’t Explain’ was which group’s first top 10 hit?
2. Released in 1970, ‘Black Night’ was which group’s first top 10 hit?
3. Released in 1985, ‘Johnny Come Home’ was which group’s first top 10 hit?
4. Released in 1996, ‘Sandstorm’ was which group’s first top 10 hit?



1. THE WHO
2. DEEP PURPLE
3. FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
4. CAST



PILLARS OF ISLAM

1. Which of the Five Pillars of Islam requires a Muslim to pray five times a day at fixed time?
2. Which of the Five Pillars of Islam requires a Muslim to testify that there is no god but Allah?
3. Which of the Five Pillars of Islam requires a Muslim to fast?
4. Which of the Five Pillars of Islam requires a Muslim to give alms?



1. SALAT
2. SHAHADAH
3. SAWM
4. ZAKAT



PHOBIAS

1. Of what is paraskavedekatriaphobia the fear?
2. Of what is tokophobia the fear?
3. Of what is lalophobia the fear?
4. Of what is coulrophobia the fear?



1. FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH
2. CHILDBIRTH
3. SPEAKING
4. CLOWNS



EUROPEAN CITIES

1. Helsinki is the largest city in Finland. What is the second largest?
2. Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia. What is the second largest?
3. Tirana is the largest city in Albania. What is the second largest?
4. Budapest is the largest city in Hungary. What is the second largest?



1. ESPOO
2. KOSICE
3. DURRES
4. DEBRECEN

THE 62nd QUIZ - RANDOM STUFF

Here are some random questions:


FLAGS

1. What species of tree appears on the flag of Lebanon?
2. What species of bird appears on the flag of Uganda?
3. Which mammal appears on the flag of Wyoming?
4. Two examples of which mammal appear on the flag of Belize?



1. LEBANESE CEDAR
2. RED CRESTED CRANE
3. AMERICAN BISON (BUFFALO)
4. HUMAN



ACADEMY AWARDS

1. For his role in which 1987 film did Michael Douglas win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Gordon Gecko?
2. For his role in which 1995 film did Nicholas Cage win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ben Sanderson?
3. For his role in which 1985 film did William Hurt win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Luis Molina?
4. For his role in which 1997 film did Jack Nicholson win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Melvin Udall?



1. WALL STREET
2. LEAVING LAS VEGAS
3. KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
4. AS GOOD AS IT GETS



ART MOVEMENTS

1. Its name coined by Ezra Pound, the painters Wyndham Lewis, David Bomberg and Lawrence Atkinson are associated with which artistic movement?
2. Its name coined by Guillaume Apollinaire, the painters Robert Delaunay, Sonia Terk and Frantisek Kupka are associated with which artistic movement?
3. Its name coined by Naum Gabo, the painters Alexander Rodchenko, Liubov Popova and Varvara Stepanova are associated with which artistic movement?
4. Its name coined by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the painters Umberto Boccione, Carlo Carra and Luigi Russolo are associated with which artistic movement?




1. VORTICISM
2. ORPHISM
3. CONSTRUCTIVISM
4. FUTURISM



ADVERTISING SLOGANS

1. What is the missing brand name in this famous advertising slogan? “Did you … your teeth today”.
2. What is the missing brand name in this famous advertising slogan? “… guards against night starvation”.
3. What is the missing brand name in this famous advertising slogan? “… - made to make your mouth water”.
4. What is the missing brand name in this famous advertising slogan? “… puts the ‘T’ in Britain”.




1. MACLEAN
2. HORLICKS
3. OPAL FRUITS
4. TYPHOO



ELEMENTS

1. Which of the transition metals takes its name from the Persian for ‘gold-like’?
2. Which of the halogens takes its name from the Greek for ‘unstable’?
3. Which of the transition metals takes its name from the Swedish for ‘heavy stone’?
4. Which of the poor metals takes its name from the German for ‘white mass’?



1. ZIRCONIUM
2. ASTATINE *
3. TUNGSTEN
4. BISMUTH



FOOTBALLERS

1. Which Premiership footballer made his competitive debut for Welling United in 1993 and played for Birmingham City, Notts County and Fulham before joining his current club in 2003?
2. Which Premiership footballer made his competitive debut for Cardiff City in 1998 and played for Greenock Morton, West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City before joining his current club in 2007?
3. Which Premiership footballer made his competitive debut for Nottingham Forest in 1998 and played for FC Haka, Ipswich Town and West Ham United before joining his current club in 2007?
4. Which Premiership footballer made his competitive debut for Crewe Alexandra in 1994 and played for Liverpool, Charlton Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur before joining his current club in 2007?



1. STEVE FINNAN
2. ROBERT EARNSHAW
3. MARLON HAREWOOD
4. DANNY MURPHY



SYMPHONIES

1. The Schoolmaster and The Palindrome are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer?
2. The First of May and Leningrad are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer?
3. Spring and Rhenish are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer?
4. Italian and Reformation are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer?



1. JOSEPH HAYDN
2. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
3. ROBERT SCHUMANN
4. FELIX MENDELSSOHN



NOVELS

1. The duplicitous Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter, is the protagonist of which 1831 novel?
2. Dr Primrose, whose seemingly idyllic life is rocked by sudden impoverishment, is the protagonist of which 1765 novel?
3. Harry Haller, who struggles to reconcile his noble aspirations with his baser instincts, is the protagonist of which 1927 novel?
4. Isabel Archer, a beautiful young American in Europe, is the protagonist of which 1881 novel?



1. LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR
2. THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD
3. STEPPENWOLF
4. THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY



PRIME MINISTERS

1. Who was British Prime Minister at the time of the Boston Tea Party?
2. Who was British Prime Minister at the time of the Peterloo Massacre?
3. Who was British Prime Minister at the time of Victoria’s ascension to the throne?
4. Who was British Prime Minister at the time of the Easter Rising?



1. LORD NORTH
2. EARL OF LIVERPOOL
3. VISCOUNT MELBOURNE
4. HERBERT ASQUITH



NUMBER 1S

1. “I, I love the colourful clothes she wears and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair” is the opening line of which UK number 1 hit of 1966?
2. “Friday night and the lights are low, looking out for the place to go” is the opening line of which UK number 1 hit of 1976?
3. “When I die and they lay me to rest, gonna go to the place that's the best” is the opening line of which UK number 1 hit of 1986?
4. “Slip inside the eye of your mind, don’t you know you might find a better place to play” is the opening line of which UK number 1 hit of 1996?



1. GOOD VIBRATIONS
2. DANCING QUEEN
3. SPIRIT IN THE SKY
4. DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER



PRIMORDIAL GREEK DEITIES

1. In Greek mythology, who was the primordial god of the heavens?
2. In Greek mythology, who was the primordial god of the upper air?
3. In Greek mythology, who was the primordial god of eternal time?
4. In Greek mythology, who was the primordial goddess of the Earth?



1. URANUS
2. AETHER
3. CHRONOS
4. GAIA



ENGLISH LOAN WORDS

1. From which European language did we take the words ‘coach’ and ‘sabre’?
2. From which European language did we take the words ‘galore’ and ‘bard’?
3. From which European language did we take the words ‘gauntlet’ and ‘mink’?
4. From which European language have we taken the words ‘buoy’ and ‘easel’?



1. HUNGARIAN
2. IRISH
3. SWEDISH
4. DUTCH



THE SIMPSONS

1. In ‘The Simpsons’ what is the name of the family’s doctor?
2. In ‘The Simpsons’, what is the name of the reverend of the First Church of Springfield?
3. In ‘The Simpsons’, what is the name of the school bus driver?
4. In ‘The Simpsons’, what is the name of the news anchorman for KBBL-TV Channel 6?



1. DR JULIUS HIBBERT
2. REV. TIM LOVEJOY
3. OTTO MANN
4. KENT BROCKMAN



BABY ANIMALS

1. What name is given to the young of an alligator?
2. What name is given to the young of a platypus?
3. What name is given to the young of a jellyfish?
4. What name is given to the young of a hedgehog?



1. HATCHLING
2. PUGGLE
3. EPHYRA
4. HOGLET



AMERICAN STATES

1. Charlotte is the largest city in the Tar Heel state. Which state?
2. Wilmington is the largest city in the Blue Hen state. Which state?
3. Bridgeport is the largest city in the Nutmeg state. Which state?
4. Manchester is the largest city in the Granite state. Which state?



1. NORTH CAROLINA
2. DELAWARE
3. CONNECTICUT
4. NEW HAMPSHIRE


* Many thanks to Chris for spotting the mistake - I had said actinium, which, incidentally, takes its name from the Greek for 'ray' or 'beam'.

THE 61st QUIZ - PAINTINGS

1. In David’s 1801 painting ‘Napoleon at the Great St. Bernard Pass’ (or ‘Napoleon Crossing the Alps’), the names of which two historical figures are etched into the rocks at the foreground of the painting along with that of Napoleon?
2. Popular with the Mannerists and Baroque artists, and particularly associated with Jacob van Ruisdael, Paolo Veronese and Peter Paul Rubens, what name is given to an object, such as a tree, along either side of the foreground of a painting, that directs the viewer's eye into the composition by bracketing the edge?
3. According to the inscription found at the top right-hand corner of Frans Hals’ ‘Laughing Cavalier’, how old was the sitter at the time of the portrait?
4. Which work, painted between 1472 and 1475 and housed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, depicts a scene containing the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary and is thought to be Leonardo da Vinci’s earliest completed painting?
5. The dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby of Cedar Rapids, Iowa was immortalised in which 1930 painting?
6. What is the title of Henri Mattise’s painting that was left hanging upside down for 46 days at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1961 before anyone noticed?
7. The value of which of Van Gogh’s paintings is said to have rocketed after the 1956 film ‘Lust For Life’ (erroneously) portrayed it as the painting Van Gogh was working on at the time of his suicide?
8. With what is Christ grappling in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous oil painting ‘The Virgin and Child with St Anne’?
9. The full title of Henry Raeburn’s painting that is better known by the truncated title ‘The Skating Minister’ includes the name of the loch upon which The Reverend Robert Walker is shown to be skating. Which loch?
10. In painting, a remarque is the addition of a small personalized drawing or symbol near the signature of the artist and was first used by Whistler. What was Whistler’s remarque?
11. The crushing foot used by Terry Gilliam in the animated opening of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ was taken from a detail of the 1545 painting ‘Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time’ by which Florentine artist?
12. Théodore Géricault’s ‘Raft of the Medusa’ depicts the survivors of the French frigate Medusa, after it had been wrecked on the Bank of Arguin off the coast of which African country in 1816?
13. Which animal muses over the sleeping body of a woman below a moonlit night sky in Henri Rousseau’s ‘The Sleeping Gypsy’?
14. In which painting of 1866 can you view a close-up of the genitalia of Joanna Hiffernan, the lover of James McNeill Whistler?
15. Born in 1641, Titus was the only child who survived into adulthood of which painter, who used his son as a model in several of his paintings?
16. Which artistic term, deriving from the Italian for ‘scratched’, refers, in painting, to the practice of laying one colour over another and scratching the paint so that the colour underneath shows through?
17. If the first is ‘The Heir’ and the second is ‘The Levée’, then what is the third?
18. In which very famous painting of 1882 can a pair of green feet, belonging to a trapeze artist, be seen in the extreme top left hand corner of the canvas?
19. In which famous painting of 1656 can the Italian dwarf Nicolas Pertusato be seen waking a sleeping mastiff with his foot whilst the achondroplastic German, Maribarbola, looks on?
20. The snow-topped Mount Chimborazo is the highest peak in Ecuador. Its summit is also often said to be the spot on the surface farthest from the center of the Earth. Its appears, most famously, in art in a popular 1859 painting by which American artist?


The answers:


1. HANNIBAL & KAROLUS MAGNUS (CHARLEMAGNE)
2. REPOUSSOIR
3. 26
4. ANNUNCIATION
5. AMERICAN GOTHIC (by GRANT WOOD)
6. LE BATEAU
7. WHEAT FIELD WITH CROWS
8. A LAMB
9. DUDDINGSTON LOCH
10. A BUTTERFLY
11. AGNOLO BRONZINO
12. SENEGAL
13. A LION
14. L’ORIGINE DU MONDE (or THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD) by GUSTAVE COURBET
15. REMBRANDT
16. SGRAFFITO
17. THE ORGY (from A RAKE’S PROGRESS by WILLIAM HOGARTH)
18. A BAR AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE (by ÉDOUARD MANET)
19. LAS MENINAS (by DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ)
20. FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (THE HEART OF THE ANDES)

THE 60th QUIZ - HORROR FILMS

1. Played by Bill Moseley in the 1986 big-budget sequel 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2', what is the name of Leatherface’s older brother?
2. The 1978 film 'Halloween' is set in the fictional town of Haddonfield in which American state?
3. Featuring prominently in the plot of a horror movie of 1984, what is the Cantonese word for 'evil spirit'?
4. The American film score composer Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for 18 Academy Awards. His only win, however, came for his score for which 1976 film?
5. Sharing its name with a coastal town in the north-west of England, in which city in North Carolina was the 1997 film 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' both shot and set?
6. When released in 2004, which horror film, directed by Edgar Wright, described itself as a 'rom zom com' - standing for 'romantic zombie comedy'?
7. Which short story, originally published in 1839, was adapted into two horror films of 1928? One of the films was directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber and starred Webber, Herbert Stern and Hildegarde Watson. The other was directed by Jean Epstein and starred Marguerite Gance, Jean Debucourt and Charles Lamy.
8. What was the surname of the title character in Roman Polanski’s 1968 film 'Rosemary’s Baby'?
9. What was the name of Captain Quint’s boat, upon which Quint, Martin Brody and Matt Hooper battle with the great white shark in the 1975 film 'Jaws'?
10. Released in 2004, and starring Jennifer Tilly, what name was given to the fifth entry in the 'Child’s Play' series of films that follows on from the events of 'Bride of Chucky'?
11. Who played Norman Bates in the 1998 Gus Van Sant remake of Hitchcock’s 'Psycho'?
12. What is the name of the inn at which Sergeant Howie stays in the 1973 film 'The Wicker Man'?
13. The 1922 film 'Nosferatu' was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 'Dracula'. However, as the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel, what name was given to Max Schreck’s Count?
14. What is the name of the demon who possesses Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film 'The Exorcist'?
15. How is the monstrous killer Daniel Robitaille known in the title of a 1992 horror film directed by Bernard Rose?
16. Which horror film was set in the Maryland town of Burkittsville? The town was previously known by another name that features in the title of the film.
17. For what name is Carrie a shortened form in the 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek?
18. Which 1954 novel by Richard Matheson has been adapted for three horror films, namely 'The Last Man on Earth' (1964), 'The Omega Man' (1971) and a 2007 film that shares the same name as the book?
19. The 2007 horror film 'Grindhouse' is a double feature film co-written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The film consists of the Rodriguez-directed 'Planet Terror' and which feature by Tarantino?
20. What is the name of Bernard Herrmann’s screeching string composition that plays during the infamous shower scene in Hitchcock’s 'Psycho'?


The answers:


1. CHOP TOP
2. ILLINOIS
3. MOGWAI
4. THE OMEN
5. SOUTHPORT
6. SHAUN OF THE DEAD
7. FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
8. WOODHOUSE
9. ORCA
10. SEED OF CHUCKY
11. VINCE VAUGHAN
12. THE GREEN MAN
13. COUNT ORLOK
14. PAZAZU
15. CANDYMAN
16. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
17. CARIETTA
18. I AM LEGEND
19. DEATH PROOF
20. THE MURDER

QUIZ RESULTS

The results are now in for the 200-question quiz. The answers have been e-mailed to all those who took part.

Firstly, many thanks to the 29 brave souls who took the time to take part. I hope you found the quiz both enjoyable and challenging.

The results are posted below. However, I also wanted to draw attention to a few answers. When you have a field of the quality that competed in this quiz then getting a question right that nobody else gets is an achievement well worthy of praise. There were just 5 such questions and shared by two quizzers. They were:

Q. 118. TU BISHVAT - Barry Simmons
Q. 122. KENNING - Barry Simmons
Q. 173. BABY PUSS - Chris Curtis
Q. 175. PONTIAC FEVER - Chris Curtis
Q. 188. DIOGO CÃO (or CAM)- Barry Simmons

Much respect to Barry and Chris for those answers.

Scores:

1. Mark Bytheway 132
2. Pat Gibson 128.5
3. Barry Simmons 124.5
4. Ian Bayley 120
5. Scott Dawson 110.5
6. Mark Kerr 109.5
7. David Stainer 108.5
8. Chris Jones 104
9=. Phil Duffy 99.5
9=. Darren Martin 99.5
11=. Chris Quinn 98.5
11=. Nic Paul 98.5
13. Diane Hallagan 96
14. Keith Andrew 89
15. Shanker Menon 85.5
16. Gareth Kingston 84.5
17. Martin Riley 83
18. Chris Curtis 81.5
19. Peter Ediss 80
20. Alan Bowell 69
21. William Barrett 67
22. Will Jones 64.5
23. Keith Pointon 61.5
24. Audrey Doyle 60
25. Paul Davis 56
26. Myron Meyer 55
27. CJ de Mooi 51.5
28. Craig Element 33
29. Lesley Saunders-Davies 27

QUIZ

You may have noticed that I haven't posted here for a while. This is because I'm currently writing a 200-question competition quiz (that will not be published here) that I will be sending out to various quiz freaks around the country. It's totally free to enter (and therefore no prizes, I'm afraid) and if you'd like to get a copy of the quiz then e-mail me at pantscat69er@hotmail.com and I'll send out a copy as soon as it's ready (in the next few days hopefully). Rules are simple - you have two hours to complete the quiz and when you've finished, send the answers back and I'll publish the scores here (probably early next month to give you some time to complete it). Please feel free to send a copy to anyone who you think may be interested in entering. Ta.

P.S. It won't be quite as tough as some of the quizzes on here but it's by no means easy.

THE 59th QUIZ - REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS

1. Roughly translating as ‘scaly’, which order, that includes lizards and snakes, is, with approximately 7,900 species, the largest order of extant reptiles?
2. During which geological period during the Palaeozoic Era did the first amphibians develop from fish similar to the modern coelacanth?
3. Tomistoma schlegelii is a fresh-water reptile, resembling a crocodile with a very thin and elongated snout. Although it had long been classed in the family Crocodylidae, recent immunological studies have meant it has been reclassed in the family Gavialidae. It is native to Sumatra and Malaysia and is also found in Borneo, Java, Vietnam and Thailand. What is its common name?
4. Many members of the families Bombinatoridae, Discoglossidae, Pelobatidae, Rhinophrynidae, Scaphiopodidae, and some species from the Microhylidae family are commonly, but erroneously, called ‘toads’. According to scientists, all true toads belong to which family, the only one that is exclusively given the common name ‘toad’?
5. The two species of reptiles of the genus tuatara (from which they get their common name), Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri are the only surviving members of the order Sphenodontia. They are found in the wild in just one country. Which one?
6. Extant amphibians fall into one of three orders - the Anura (frogs and toads), the Caudata or Urodela (salamanders and newts), and the Gymnophiona or Apoda. Found throughout Africa, Asia and South America, what is the common name given to the limbless, snake-like amphibians that comprise this last order?
7. The villain Tokka from the 1991 film ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze’ was a mutated variety of which species of turtle, Macrochelys temminckii, found throughout the watershed of the Mississippi River from Florida to South Dakota, and notable as the largest species of freshwater turtle in North America?
8. It is the only species in the genus Proteus and the only European species of the family Proteidae. Also known as the proteus, what is the common name for the amphibian Proteus anguinu, notable for its blindness, caused by adaptation to a life of complete darkness in its underground habitat, that is native to the subterranean waters of the Dinaric karst that flow through the Soča river basin near Trieste in Italy, through to southern Slovenia, southwestern Croatia, and Herzegovina?
9. Which alcoholic beverage indigenous to and unique to Okinawa in Japan is alternatively known as Habu sake because of the practice of placing a venomous habu snake in it, which, it is claimed, increases its potency?
10. Recent scientific evidence put forward by East Carolina University has shown that the increasing rarity of the Rio Santiago Poison Frog can be explained by the slowing of its reproduction rates. The university researchers believe that this decrease in reproduction rates is linked to an increase in what?
11. Its common name taken from the group of islands in the Pacific Ocean where it is found but also known as Guichenot's Giant Gecko or Eyelash Gecko, which species of gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus, had long been thought extinct until it was ‘rediscovered’ in 1994?
12. Which labyrinthodont amphibian, of the extinct order Temnospondyli, whose fossil remains are known from the Permian of the South African Karoo Basin, has a name meaning ‘nose crocodile’ and was depicted as a crocodile-like creature in the 2005 BBC series ‘Walking With Monsters?’
13. Deriving from the Ancient Greek χελώνα, meaning ‘tortoise’, what word is popular among veterinarians, scientists, and conservationists as a catch-all name for any member of the order Testudines, that comprises tortoises, turtles and terrapins?
14. Found almost exclusively in the Western Hemisphere, Plethodontid salamanders are unique amongst salamanders because of their lack of which bodily organs?
15. Sharing its name with a Marvel Comics supervillain, which snake, native to sub-Saharan African, is the only extant species in the genus Dispholidus and has a name meaning ‘tree snake’ in both Dutch and Afrikaans?
16. What was the common name of Lithobates fisheri, a frog species that was last recorded in 1942 and thought to have been the only North American amphibian to have become extinct in the 20th Century?
17. There are only two species of alligator. Each is native to just one country and each takes its common name from that of the country in which in lives. What are the common names of these two species?
18. Which North American aquatic salamander, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, has been given the vernacular names ‘devil dog’ and ‘Allegheny alligator’ because folklore claims that it smears fishing lines with slime, drives game fish away, and inflicts a painful, poisonous bite? Its common name also reflects this misguided fear of an entirely harmless species.
19. This North American lizard is well known for its ability to run on its hind legs, looking like a small dinosaur. It has been recorded running in this way at speeds of up to 16 mph. It is the state reptile of Oklahoma, in which state it is often known as the Mountain Boomer. By what name is it commonly known elsewhere?
20. Cnemidophorus vanzoi is a whiptail - a species of lizard in the Teiidae family - that is found exclusively on which 239 square mile island nation of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea?


Answers:


1. SQUAMATA
2. DEVONIAN
3. FALSE GHARIAL (or MALAYAN GHARIAL)
4. BUFONIDAE
5. NEW ZEALAND
6. CAECILIANS
7. ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE
8. OLM
9. AWAMORI
10. HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
11. NEW CALEDONIAN CRESTED GECKO
12. RHINESUCHUS
13. CHELONIAN
14. LUNGS
15. BOOMSLANG
16. VEGAS VALLEY LEOPARD FROG
17. AMERICAN ALLIGATOR and CHINESE ALLIGATOR
18. HELLBENDER
19. COLLARED LIZARD
20. ST LUCIA

THE 58th QUIZ - LINGUISTICS

1. Which phrase was coined by the Polish/Austrian anthropologist Bronisław Kasper Malinowski in the 1923 work ‘The Problem of Meaning in Primitive Languages’ to describe any expression whose only function is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information? Examples include saying ‘hello’ when meeting someone, or ‘bless you’ after a person sneezes.
2. One of the earliest known masters of linguistic ‘word play’, who was the Greek poet of the 5th Century BC who wrote an epic poem of 24 books, each book entirely omitting a different letter of the Greek alphabet?
3. Which language, with a name meaning ‘being silent’, spoken by the Aboriginal Lardil and Yangkaal tribes of the Wesley Island group in the Gulf of Carpentaria, is the only click language (ie a language that regularly uses clicks instead of consonants in words) known to have existed outside Africa?
4. With a name deriving from the Polish for ‘little tail’, what name is given to the diacritic hook placed under the lower right corner of a vowel in the Latin alphabet used in several eastern European and Native American languages? Examples from Polish include ą and ę.
5. Coined by the theologian Frederic William Farrar in 1879, what is the linguistic term, sometimes also called ‘speaking in tongues’, for the fluent speech-like but unintelligible utterances that are often used as part of religious practice?
6. Arguing that other artificial languages are unnecessary as Latin is already established as the world's international language, which Italian mathematician invented the auxiliary language Latino sine flexione, essentially a simplified form of Latin?
7. There has been controversy in the method one should use to distinguish between languages and dialects since the study of language began. Perhaps the most famous distinction between the two is the Latvian-American linguist Max Weinreich’s humorous aphorism that “a language is a dialect with…” what?
8. Of what, linguistically speaking, is cherology the study?
9. Tmesis is the name given, by linguists, to the inclusion of a word within another word. But what name is given to the inclusion of sounds (or phonemes) within a word? It is divided into two types: excrescence (if the sound added is a consonant) and anaptyxis (if the sound added is a vowel).
10. Deriving from the Greek for ‘turning like oxen in ploughing’ because the hand of the writer goes back and forth like an ox drawing a plough across a field and turning at the end of each row to return in the opposite direction, what name is given to the ancient method of inscription in which, rather than going from left to right as in modern English, or right to left as in Arabic, alternate lines must be read in opposite directions?
11. Named after the American linguists who first postulated it in the early 20th Century, what name is given to the hypothesis that postulates that a particular language's nature influences the habitual thoughts of its speakers and thus different language patterns yield different patterns of thought?
12. In the 5th Century BC, Protagoras of Abdera compiled what is thought to be the world’s first glossary. It contained definitions of unfamiliar words that were to be found where?
13. From the Greek for ‘said only once’, what name is given to a word that occurs only once in the written record of a language? It can also refer to a word that appears only once in the works of an author, or in a single text.
14. Which autonomous province in northern Serbia, capital Novi Sad, is the only place outside of Romania and Moldova in which the Romanian language has official status?
15. Named after the German neurologist who discovered it in 1874, what name is given to the impairment of language comprehension and speech that results in a natural-sounding rhythm and a relatively normal syntax, but otherwise has no recognisable meaning, that results from damage to the posterior part of Brodmann area 22 in the left hemisphere of the brain where the specialized language skill areas can be found?
16. The leading Soviet linguist of the early 20th Century, Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, named his most famous and controversial theory, that the Kartvelian languages of the Caucasus area were related to the Semitic languages of the Middle East, after which Biblical character? This theory was officially discredited as a misrepresentation of Marxist theory in an article written by Josef Stalin in 1950.
17. A phoneme is the smallest unit of speech that distinguishes meaning in spoken language. What name is given to the smallest unit of “speech” that distinguishes meaning in body language (such as a facial expression or a hand gesture)?
18. Which Sami language that was spoken in the villages of A´kkel and Ču´kksuâl, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia is the most recent language to have been classified as extinct, the last native speaker, Marja Sergina, dying on 29th December 2003?
19. Which British linguist coined the terms ‘U’ and ‘non-U’ in 1954 referring to the language usage of the upper classes (U) and the rest of the populace (non-U)?
20. One of the twenty two national languages of India and the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, which is - with approximately 76 million native speakers - the world’s most widely spoken Dravidian language and the third most spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali?


The answers:


1. PHATIC COMMUNION
2. TRYPHIODORUS
3. DALMIN
4. OGONEK
5. GLOSSOLALIA
6. GIUSEPPE PEANO
7. AN ARMY AND A NAVY
8. SIGN LANGUAGE
9. EPENTHESIS
10. BOUSTROPHEDON
11. SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS
12. IN THE WORKS OF HOMER
13. HAPAX LEGOMENON
14. VOJVODINA
15. WERNICKE’S APHASIA
16. JAPHETH (JAPHETIC THEORY)
17. KINEME
18. AKKALA SAMI
19. ALAN ROSS
20. TEGULU

THE 57th QUIZ - TENNIS

1. Housed in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, ‘The Death of Hyacinth’ (1752-1753) contains what is considered to be the first pictorial representation of tennis, containing a stringed raquet and three tennis balls. Which Venetian artist painted it?
2. James Van Alen, who died in 1991, founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum at the Newport Casino, Rhode Island, the largest tennis museum in the world, but is best remembered for introducing which rule change into the game?
3. Who was the Norwegian-born American tennis player who won a bronze medal for the women’s singles at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and is, to date, the only person to have won 8 US Open (then known as US Championship) singles titles?
4. Jaroslav Drobný, who won three Grand Slam singles titles between 1951 and 1954, including his defeat of Ken Rosewall in the final at Wimbledon in 1954, also represented his native Czechoslovakia in which team sport?
5. In 1988, the Australian Open moved from the grass courts at Kooyong to a new Rebound Ace hardcourt venue called Flinders Park (now Melbourne Park). Who is the only person to have won Australian Open singles titles at both venues?
6. The centre court at Roland Garros is named after Philippe Chatrier, a former head of the French Tennis Federation. After which female tennis player, nicknamed ‘La Divine’ by the French press and the winner of 31 Grand Slam titles between 1914 and 1926, is the secondary court named?
7. Which Bostonian won each of the first seven US Open men’s singles titles from 1881 to 1887, not dropping a single set in the entirety of his first three championships, and after his retirement from lawn tennis became the US real tennis champion in 1892?
8. Which Ecuadorian tennis-player of the 1940s and 1950s, born in 1921 and remembered for his bow-legged stance, a result of childhood rickets, was one of the few successful male tennis players to have used a two-handed forehand, a shot that his rival Jack Kramer later claimed was "the greatest single shot ever produced in tennis"?
9. What is the name of the tennis club in Forest Hills, Queens that was home to the US Open from 1915 until it moved to its current home at Flushing Meadows in 1978?
10. Which doubles specialist was the oldest of the ‘Four Musketeers’ who led France to six successive Davis Cup triumphs between 1927 and 1932 and the only one of the four never to win a Grand Slam singles title?
11. Who was John McEnroe’s partner when he won his only mixed-doubles grand slam title at the French Open in 1977?
12. Which sportsman won the Australian Open Mixed Doubles title with fellow Australian Samantha Stosur in 2005 and went on to win his first professional golf title in February this year when he triumphed at the New South Wales PGA Championship on the Von Nida Tour?
13. Fred Perry is famously is the last British player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title in 1936, but which player, who reached the final the following year before losing to Don Budge, was the last British player to compete in a Wimbledon men’s singles final?
14. What is the name of the Hampshire-based company that developed the Hawk-Eye ball tracking technology, used in tennis and other ball sports, in 2001?
15. Only two qualifiers have ever reached the semi-final stage in the men’s singles at Wimbledon. The first was John McEnroe in 1977. Which Belarusian, who had won the Wimbledon Juniors title in 1996, became the second person to do so in 2000 before losing to the eventual winner, Pete Sampras?
16. Won by Tomáš Berdych in 2007, the Gerry Weber Open is considered one of the most important warm up tournaments in the run-up to Wimbledon. In which German town is it contested?
17. The only person to represent Nazi Germany in a Grand Slam final, which male tennis player was the losing finalist in three successive Wimbledon tournaments between 1935 and 1937, but was jailed in 1938 after being found guilty of a homosexual relationship with a young Jewish actor and singer?
18. What was the name assumed by the professional tennis player Richard Raskind after undergoing a sex change operation in 1975? As a woman she reached the ladies’ doubles final at the US Open in 1977 with Betty Ann Stuart.
19. Although he never reached the Wimbledon men’s singles final, Tim Henman did compete in the final of the warm-up competition, the Queen’s Club Championships, on three occasions. He was defeated by Pete Sampras in the 1999 final and by which player in both the 2001 and 2002 finals?
20. Prior to Mary Pierce in 2000, which Algerian-born tennis player, who defeated the Australian Lesley Turner Bowrey in the 1967 final, was the last person representing France to win the ladies’ singles title at the French Open?


The answers:


1. GIOVANNI BATTISTA TIEPOLO
2. THE TIE BREAKER
3. MOLLA MALLORY
4. ICE HOCKEY
5. MATS WILANDER
6. SUZANNE LENGLEN
7. RICHARD SEARS
8. PANCHO SEGUERA
9. WEST SIDE TENNIS CLUB
10. JACQUES BRUGNON
11. MARY CARILLO
12. SCOTT DRAPER
13. HENRY ‘BUNNY’ AUSTIN
14. ROKE MANOR RESEARCH LIMITED
15. VLADIMIR VOLTCHKOV
16. HALLE
17. GOTTFRIED VON CRAMM
18. RENÉE RICHARDS
19. LLEYTON HEWITT
20. FRANÇOISE DURR

THE 56th QUIZ - ANCIENT ROME

1. Upon his death in 133BC, Attilus III bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Empire in an attempt to avoid dynastic disputes between his heirs. However, Rome was slow to claim the kingdom and the pretender Aristonicus, the brother of Attilus, claimed the throne as Eumenes III. He was eventually defeated and captured in 129 BC by a Roman force under Marcus Perperna and executed. What was the name of this Greek kingdom that was subsequently absorbed into the Roman Republic?
2. Fought in November of 82 BC and named after the landmark near which it was fought, what was the name of the final battle at which Sulla secured control of Rome by routing the Samnites led by Pontius Telesinus?
3. Regularly appearing in the Asterix comics, what was the name, perhaps meaning ‘Superior warrior King’, of the chieftain of the Arverni who led the Gauls in their ultimately unsuccessful war against Roman rule under Julius Caesar, being executed some five years after his defeat at the Battle of Alesia?
4. ‘Odysseia’, a Latin version of Homer's ‘Odyssey’, is the best-known work of which Greco-Roman dramatist and poet, regarded as the father of Roman drama and epic poetry?
5. Meaning ‘Greatest Sewer’, what was the Latin name given to the early sewage system of Ancient Rome that was, according to tradition, constructed around 600 BC under the orders of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus?
6. The period following the death of Nero in 68AD is known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Who, on 8th June 68AD, was proclaimed the first of those Emperors?
7. After Emperor Tiberius withdrew to Capri in 26AD, he left which soldier and commander of the Praetorian Guard in control of the state as the de facto ruler of the Empire until his arrest and execution in 31AD on charges of conspiracy against the Emperor?
8. With a name deriving from the Germanic for 'watchful of wealth', who was the Roman general and the first barbarian King of Italy, who deposed the Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476AD?
9. In Ancient Rome, what name was given to the amulet, often made from cotton, leather or gold or silver depending on the wealth of the family, that was given to newborn children to wear around the neck to protect against evil spirits?
10. The popular Roman board game Tabula was played on a board almost identical to that of which modern game, and is therefore considered its direct ancestor?
11. The Pontifex Maximus was the title given to the high priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs. Originally very much a religious position it was gradually subsumed into the Imperial office and was last held by which Christian Emperor (who came to power in 367AD) who refused to wear its insignia, which he saw as a sign of paganism?
12. According to Suetonius in ‘Lives of the Twelve Caesars’, the Roman Emperor Caligula, best remembered for his mental instability, possibly brought about by encephalitis, once ordered his soldiers to invade Britain in order to fight which Roman god?
13. Who was the Emperor of Rome when the famous eruption of Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79AD?
14. What was the name of the Jewish leader who led the eponymous revolt against the Roman Empire under Hadrian in 132AD and established a Jewish state of Israel before it was conquered by the Romans three years later?
15. First used by Constantine I, what name was given to the Roman military standard that displayed the Greek letters χ (chi) and ρ (rho), the first two letters of the name of Christ in Greek?
16. Ben Jonson and Henrik Ibsen both wrote plays about which politician of the Roman Republic, best remembered for the conspiracy that bears his name?
17. What was the name of the edict issued by the Roman Emperor Caracalla in 212AD that granted full Roman citizenship to all free men in the Empire, thus removing the long-standing legal distinction between Italians and those from the provinces?
18. Signed in 85BC by Lucius Cornelius Sulla of Rome and the King of Pontus, the Treaty of Dardanos brought which war to an end?
19. Upon finding his body after his death at the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC, the Parthians are said to have poured molten gold down the throat of which Roman general and politician, supposedly symbolising his unhealthy obsession with money?
20. Which son of Marcus Aurelius became Roman Emperor in 180AD making him the first direct successor in a century, breaking the scheme of adoptive successors that had served Rome so well during the period known as the Five Good Emperors?


The answers:


1. PERGAMON
2. BATTLE OF THE COLLINE GATE
3. VERCINGETORIX
4. LIVIUS ANDRONICUS
5. CLOACA MAXIMA
6. GALBA
7. SEJANUS
8. ODOACER (or ODOVACAR)
9. BULLA
10. BACKGAMMON
11. GRATIAN
12. NEPTUNE
13. TITUS
14. SIMON BAR KOKHBA
15. LABARUM
16. CATALINE (or CATALINA)
17. CONSTITUTIO ANTONINIA
18. FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR
19. CRASSUS
20. COMMODUS