QUIZZING: Everything You Always Wanted to Know, but Didn’t Know Where to Look
The Ultimate Trivia Book
Ranjit Thomas
Smashwords Edition
All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2000 Ranjit Thomas
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Hundreds of questions on a variety of topics – art, business, discoveries, films, literature, mathematics, music, mythology, sports, war, and lots of others; things you knew, didn’t know (and thought you knew but didn’t!) You’ll never have a dull moment with this extraordinary compendium of fascinating facts, interesting information and tantalizing trivia.
Why were women not permitted to watch the ancient Olympics?
How did the misconception that spinach contains a lot of iron arise?
Why did the founders of Hewlett-Packard price their first product at $54.40?
Which mathematical concept owes its origin to soldiers dying of mule kicks in the Prussian army?
Why do people say ‘Cheers’ before drinking?
What is keraunothnetophobia?
Whose screen-test result read: “Cute as a fox”?
If you’re even remotely interested in quiz shows, this book will transport you to exhilarating heights. But you don’t have to be a quiz buff to take pleasure from it. If you are one that marvels at the remarkable world around us, then you are sure to enjoy going through the pages of this mind-bending eye-opener.
To James Daly
Table
of Contents
What is Quizzing?
How Does One Become a Good Quizzer?
What is a “Good” Question?
Trivial Pursuit
Art for Art’s Sake
Men of Letters
Going Places
In Good Company
Comic Opera
Quotable Quotes
The Living World
Who is it?
Games People Play
Scientific Sense
Times Gone by
What’s the Good Word?
Something New
Mathematical Games
The Medium is the Message
Mythological Matters
What’s in a Name?
Nobel Men and Women
Musically Yours
Leading Edge
In Capitals
The Written Word
Holy Hollywood
War Clouds
Citius, Altius, Fortius
Terminological Exactitudes
Eureka
Searching for a Label
Pot-Pourri
Parting Shots
The A to Z of Quizzing
Afterword
WHAT IS QUIZZING?
As a hobby that cuts across all barriers of age, region and sex, nothing compares to quizzing. It definitely isn’t the king of hobbies or the hobby of kings – they probably wouldn’t be very good at it anyway, given their cramped lifestyles! But in terms of sheer excitement and gratification, it would be difficult to find anything to match it. Above all, if you become a good quizzer, your knowledge about this world will become so vast and intensive, that you will be able to hold your own in any conversation or interview.
What is a quiz anyway? In its simplest form, it is an event in which a quizmaster asks a set of questions, which participants attempt to answer. The queries can be on any topic under the sun, and that is what makes it so challenging. Depending on the format, it could be individuals competing against each other (as in the TV show Jeopardy), or teams pitted against one another. In buzzer rounds, the team or individual that first presses the buzzer gets a crack at the answer, so instinct and fast recall play an important part in doing well. Another format that has been popularized by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, involves an individual participant attempting to answer questions that become increasingly more difficult.
Contrary to popular perception, a good memory is not a precondition for this pastime. Quizzing is not about the bland recollection of facts, which unfortunately, it has been reduced to in many quizzes. Rather, quizzing is about building an extensive knowledge base, and using that to work out the answer to questions. The questions themselves, should ideally be ones that have a certain charm about them – interesting and thought provoking.
HOW DOES ONE BECOME A GOOD QUIZZER?
The first step towards becoming a good quizzer, is to be knowledgeable, and anything that can contribute to this end would be useful. Reading – newspapers, magazines, books, etc. – would be the single most important thing that one can do. Listening to music, watching television and traveling will also help. Keeping one’s eyes and ears open all the time is the key. In addition, attending and participating in quizzes provide valuable experience.
Listening to, or reading a question carefully, and connecting it to your knowledge is important. It is unlikely that you would have come across a question in exactly the same form in which it is presented. Attempting to figure out things and making intelligent guesses will take you a long way. Even the most innocuous words can sometimes give valuable clues. Take the following question, for example, which has been split up into its component parts for the purpose of illustration.
This sport developed in Scotland about a thousand years ago from a Roman game called Paganica, which was played with a bent stick and a rubber ball stuffed with feathers.
King James II banned it in 1457 because its popularity threatened the practice of archery, which was needed for the defense of the nation.
It, however, survived and was even played on the moon in February 1971 by Alan Shepard, the commander of the Apollo XIV spacecraft.
Which evergreen sport is this?
From the first clue, it is clear that the game is probably still played with a stick and a ball. Could it be hockey, or croquet, perhaps? It isn’t quite clear. The second clue tells us that it wasn’t a particularly useful pastime! The third sentence, on close inspection is revealing. If an astronaut could play it on the moon, it obviously isn’t a team game, and neither is it a sport that is played between two people, like tennis or squash. If you still haven’t been able to work out what it is, go on to the last clue. Why has the word “evergreen” been inserted there? Is it because the sport has always been popular, or is there something more to it? Perhaps, “green” has something to do with the answer. Why, the sport has to be golf, of course! A quick check shows that it is in agreement with the other clues. Remember, if you had known that golf had evolved from Paganica, that it had been banned by some monarch in medieval times, or that it had been played on the moon, that alone would have been sufficient to get you to the answer. Nevertheless, even without that knowledge, just logical thinking could have sufficed.
Many quiz shows require participation in teams of 2-4 members. Here, more than individual brilliance, it is the constituents of the team complementing each other that is the key to doing well. Overlap between members can spell disaster for a team whose individual members may be very good.
WHAT IS A “GOOD” QUESTION?
A good quiz question is one that you’d rack your brains to try and figure out the answer to, and finally when you hear it, say, “Hey, that’s interesting!” Or it could be something that’s contrary to what you had expected, prompting a “I didn’t know that!” A good question does not test your memory, rather it tests your knowledge. The answer should preferably be something or someone well known. Everything obscure should be contained within the question itself, to act as a clue. Obviously, this means that asking for dates and the like is a strict no.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT
There’s nothing like trivia to satiate one’s appetite for fascinating facts. If you’re one of this kind, then delve into the following questions.
One night in about 1780, James Daly, a manager of a theater in Dublin, laid a wager that he would introduce into the language within twenty-four hours, a new word with a new meaning. Accordingly, on every accessible wall, he chalked up four mystic letters, and the next morning all Dublin was inquiring what they meant. What were those four letters that he inscribed on the walls of the city?
Spinach is supposed to contain a lot of iron – a reason given by many mothers to make their kids gulp down that last spoonful. However, it actually has only a tenth of the iron it was originally thought to have. How did this misconception arise?
One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Francis Hopkinson, was a notorious doodler. One day, while toying with the year 1776, he came up with an idea, which he submitted to the United States Congress, which liked and approved it. What was his concept, which has been used ever since?
The longest word that can be formed using only the top row of a typewriter is “rupturewort,” the name of a plant. What is the second longest word that can be thus formed?
What is a bobblogesture? Clue: If you’re a student, you should know!
What does Dr. Thomas Harvey, a former Princeton pathologist, have in a jar of formaldehyde?
What peculiarity is referred to as “Caesar’s last breath”?
You must be quite familiar with Archimedes’ Law – the one whose discovery prompted the person concerned to jump out of his bathtub and run naked through the streets. However, do you know what its modern day version, the New Archimedes’ Law, is?
This pattern was invented in 1873 and modeled on the wings of the American Golden Eagle, symbolizing freedom. Which pattern is this, which many people like to have behind them?
The shortest correspondence on record is that between Victor Hugo and his publisher Hurst and Blackett in 1862. Hugo was on holiday and wanted to know how his new novel Les Miserables was selling. He wrote “?” What was his publisher’s reply?
Shortly after x-rays were discovered, some hucksters (economic opportunists operating on the streets) brought out a product, which made them a quick fortune. What was it?
Why do people say “Cheers” before drinking?
The film Silent Movie directed by Mel Brooks has the shortest dialogue script ever. The only spoken word in the film is the French word “Non.” Who was it uttered by?
Whenever we think of Santa Claus, we imagine him to be a jolly, rotund, red-suited, white whiskered person. However, in earlier times, Santa Claus was pictured by artists in red or green, or dressed in animal furs, and sometimes even with horns. The modern look of Santa Claus was conceived by a Swedish commercial artist named Harry Sundblom, working in Chicago, who created an advertisement with Santa Claus, to promote a certain product. What was this product?
ANSWERS
QUIZ. The story is apocryphal, but it makes a good beginning for a quiz book!
When the scientists who first conducted the studies to find out the amount of iron in spinach published their findings, they put the decimal point in the wrong place!
Hopkinson added the figures 1,7,7, and 6 and found that they totaled twenty-one. He thus got the idea for a twenty-one gun salute for Presidents, which is now used all over the world.
Typewriter, itself!
The classroom activity of not knowing the answer to the question posed by the teacher, but still raising one’s hand so as not to appear dumb. This is done after determining that a sufficient number of others have also raised their hands, so the likelihood of one being asked to give the answer is low.
Albert Einstein’s brain!
By a unique coincidence, the number of molecules of air in one lungful is equal to the number of lung equivalents of air in the world. From the time of Caesar’s last gasp, all the molecules exhaled would have been dispersed uniformly. Hence, every breath you take is likely to contain one molecule from Caesar’s last breath!
If a body is partially or fully immersed in water, the telephone rings!
The arcuate, the design on the back pocket of Levi’s jeans.
“!”
X-ray proof underwear. Soon after the sensational discovery of the penetrating power of the rays, many people were afraid of their modesty being outraged by unscrupulous adventurers!
We have five sense organs – skin, nose, tongue, eyes and ears. While drinking, the lips touch the drink, the nose smells it, the tongue tastes it and the eyes see it. The ear doesn’t play any part, so to involve this fifth sense, the practice of saying “Cheers” before drinking originated.
Marcel Marceau, the great mime artiste!
Coca-Cola. Sundblom chose red with white trimmings, because those were the Coca-Cola colors. Santa Claus was portrayed as jolly and good-natured because it was a device to encourage people to drink Coke all year round.
ART FOR ART’S SAKE
From the earliest times, painting has been one of man’s greatest arts. It has come a long way since he first drew figures and events on the walls of caves. Today, paintings sell for millions and are bought not just to admire and display, but also as an investment. The quiz that follows is on artists and their metier.
He failed at West Point, mainly because of chemistry. Later in life, after becoming a successful painter, he remarked: “How strange is fate. If silicon had been a gas, then I would have been a General.” Who was this man?
Somerset Maugham’s novel The Moon and Sixpence was based on the life of which painter?
She was born in 1913 in Budapest to a Hungarian mother and Sikh father. Her works, which gave a new light to Indian painting, are admired for their depth and innovative skills. Who was this artist, to whom goes the credit for modernizing art in India?
Which famous tapestry was made to celebrate the Norman Conquest of England in 1066?
The world may never have known this great artist due to a nearly fatal misjudgment at his birth. The midwife thought he was stillborn and abandoned him on a table. His uncle, a cigar smoking physician, however saved the day by reviving the baby with a blast of air into his lungs. Who was this lucky man?
Which member of the surrealist movement was expelled from the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1923?
Remembered above all for his sculptures and paintings, he was also one of the Renaissance period’s finest architects and a talented poet. He was the first artist to have his biography published during his lifetime. Who was this man, thought of as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of art?
Which painter was born on Good Friday in 1483 and died on Good Friday in 1520?
He was one of the best early American portrait painters and would have been remembered as a painter, had he not devised a famous code named after him. Can you figure out who he was?
This French painter won 100,000 francs in the state lottery in 1891. With this newfound financial independence, he could do what he wanted to, and wandered about painting the French countryside. He experimented with painting outside, which was a new idea at the time. In 1874, he helped organize an exhibition at which he showcased his picture Impression: Sunrise. It was this painting that gave the Impressionist movement its name, and he became one of its leading members. Who was he?
This method of producing colored designs on textiles by applying wax to the parts to be left uncolored was originally used in Java and derives its name from the Malay word for “war painting.” What is it?
As a young man, he had several jobs, none of which satisfied him. Eventually, he joined a missionary society and began preaching to coal miners in Belgium, but was dismissed and spent the next few years living in great poverty. He began painting the vegetation and countryside around the town of Arles, where he lived. Troubled by bouts of depression and anxiety, he even cut off his ear in 1889 after a quarrel with Gauguin. The following year, he shot himself in the cornfield which had been the subject of his last painting Cornfield with Flight of Birds? Who was this temperamental artist?
What is the claim to fame of Henri Matisse’s Le Bateau, which was exhibited in New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1961?
Which painting would you find on the wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan?
ANSWERS
James McNeil Whistler.
Paul Gauguin.
Amrita Shergill.
The Bayeux Tapestry.
Pablo Picasso.
Salvador Dali.
Michelangelo Buanarotti.
Raphael.
Samuel Morse, who invented the Morse code.
Claude Monet.
Batik.
Vincent Van Gogh.
This was the painting that was shown for forty-seven days before a visitor noticed it was upside down. More than 100,000 people had seen it before the mistake was noted!
Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
MEN OF LETTERS
While accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, John Steinbeck said: “The ancient commission of the author has not changed. He is charged with exposing our many grievous faults and failures, with dredging up to the light of our dark and dangerous dreams for the purpose of improvement. Furthermore, the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man’s proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit – for gallantry in defeat – for courage, compassion and love.” That about sums up the work of the people on whom the quiz that follows is based.
With no previous experience as an author, he wrote and sold his first novel – A Princess of Mars – in 1912. In the ensuing thirty-eight years until his death in 1950, he wrote ninety-one books and a host of short stories. His prolific pen ranged from the American West to primitive Africa and on to romantic adventures on the moon, the planets and even beyond the furthest star. However, he is remembered for a certain character he created. Whom are we talking about?
He was born in 1920 in Luton, England, where he attended school, then worked as an office boy and clerk. Aged 19 at the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force to become a pilot. In 1947, he emigrated to Canada where he was successively a real-estate salesman, business magazine editor and a sales executive, before becoming a full-time author in 1956 following the overnight success of his television play Flight Into Danger. Who is he?
He was a well-known screenwriter who wrote the screenplay for The Great Escape and To Sir With Love, which he also directed and produced. However, he is better known to us as an author of some epic novels. Who?
In 1977, he wrote a book called Our Struggle, in which he exhorted the Arabs to unite to divide the western nations, using their dependence on Arab oil. Whom are we talking about?
This playwright was expelled from Princeton University for throwing a beer bottle through the college President’s window. He later became Charlie Chaplin’s father-in-law. Who was he?
Apart from all being authors, what is common to Arthur Conan Doyle, Somerset Maugham, AJ Cronin and Anton Chekhov?
In 1973, this author charged $50 a couple to attend his 50th birthday celebrations, the money to go towards establishing a democratic secret police. Who was he?
Which curious writer wrote his magazine articles on pink paper, poetry on yellow and novels on blue paper?
He was born in Russia near Smolensk in 1920 and brought to the United States by his parents three years later. Prolific by any standards, he wrote highly successful detective mystery stories, a four volume Guide to the Bible, a biographical dictionary, encyclopaedias, textbooks, books on many aspects of science, as well as two volumes of an autobiography. Nevertheless, it was his writing in a particular genre that won him worldwide fame and critical acclaim. Who was this eclectic writer?