Quiz, Trivia, Interesting Facts, not a newspaper from Dublin

Friday, March 09, 2007

Answers - Baker's Dozen (revival)

No new quiz this week, but I am reviving an old post of mine from Quiznet, all the way back from April 2001. This one got 50 replies and some of the answers, as sampled below, makes interesting reading/ viewing.


1) What common vocation connects Pope Pius XI, Mao Tse Tung and Casanova?

A] Librarians

2) The first cooking demo on TV demoed what?

A] Making an omelette. Some guys said making an egg (which would be rather difficult for humans!) have been awarded 0.5 points.

3) Give me the names of the missing two members of this family: alpaca, guanaco, llama, vicuna.
A] Dromedary & Bactrian (Single and double humped camels). I have not awarded points for Camel as all the animals mentioned above belong to the Camel family.

4) What was the name of AA Milne's son?

A] Christopher Robin (He never forgave his father for having used his name!)

5) Which film director's home town is Nelliyatil?

A] Manoj "Night" Shyamalan. Ravi Verma writes - "Nelliyatil sounds quite Malayalee. But I remember reading somewhere that Manoj Shyamalan was born in Podicherry and his middle name Nelliyatil means Night in Malayalam. Since he grew up in the US he opted to literally translate his tongue twisting middle name to English. Could you please check to make sure that Nelliyatil is indeed his home town?"

6) Which city served as the capital of Portugal between 1807 and 1822?

A] Rio de Janeiro. Subhendu Roy writes - "When Napoleon's forces invaded Portugal in 1807, the king of Portugal, John VI, fled to Brazil, and on his arrival (1808) in Rio de Janeiro that city became the capital of the Portuguese Empire"

7) Which precious stone is named after a country?

A] Turquoise from Old French for Turkey. I am in a way delighted with the question, which sounds like a chestnut but was cracked only by Tathagata Chatterjee. However, Shardul Deo points out that that there are only 4 precious stones (Diamond, Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire), in which case I should have used the word "gem".

8) Which acid is named after the Latin for "ant"?

A] Formic Acid. Ants live in Formicary. Quite a few answered (in jest I hope!) "Antacid."

9) On hearing what news did Jack Warner say, "Its our fault. We should have given him better parts."?

A] Reagan on being elected governor of California. Quite a few confused it for his presidential election (0.5 points) which happened after Warner's death (he died in 1978).

10) To what profession did Ellen Church and the other early air hostesses hired by United Airlines belong to?

A] Nurses. Lot of people wrote in with "Prostitutes" - giving a whole new meaning to the phrase - "fasten your seatbelts - it is going to be a bumpy ride"

11) Which was the first ship to use the SOS signal?

A] RMS Titanic. Arvind Lakshmikumar points out (supported by Sreeram) that SS Arapahoe was really the first to do it.

12) At Wimbledon, what should not be longer than 3/16th of an inch?

A] Grass. Few of you hoped that it was the ladies' skirts!

13) What was dubbed "Explosion in a shingle factory"?

A] Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase". Subhendu Roy has send me a gif (which I have attached - it is not the painting in question, but what the heck, it's interesting!). Some of you wrote in with "Pokhran Blast!"

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