The Sparrer's Quiz

Not The Archers
61

My thoughts exactly, Dunnock… :wink:

Backs away slowly

Carinthia.xx

3 Likes
62

‘I wish there were a lyke button.’ Oh, wakey-wakey, there is…

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63

(Winners got 6/10.)

  1. What was the special gift given by the yard to the first commander of HMS Speedy (the Royal Navy’s first, and so far only, hydrofoil)? [A helium balloon] [A life jacket] [A very small pot of paint] [A weight loss guide]
  2. Who said: “I have in this War a burning private grudge – which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.” [Roger Lancelyn Green] [Edward Tangye Lean] [C. S. Lewis] [J. R. R. Tolkien]
  3. In what decade was Pluto first photographed? [1890s] [1900s] [1910s] [1920s] [1930s]
  4. Where was Santeria first recorded? [Antigua] [Cuba] [Dominica] [Haiti]
  5. What is the longest river in Europe? [Danube] [Dneiper] [Ural] [Volga]
  6. Three acts have had three consecutive Christmas number one singles in the UK. The Beatles (1963-1965) are one. Name either of the others.
  7. What is the title of the Harry Potter fanfic that replaces all the magic with American-Evangelical prayer? [Angelic Beasts and Where to Find Them] [Harry Potter and the Lost Ark] [Hogwarts School of Prayer and Miracles] [Prayer Warriors Against the Dark Arts]
  8. What 1989 video game was the source of the line “ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US”? [Cosmic Wars] [Space Manbow] [Universe 3] [Zero Wing]
  9. whose tombstone reads (as well as his name) “S = k . log W”? [Ludwig Boltzmann] [Hermann von Helmholtz] [Wolfgang Pauli] [William Rankine]
  10. Who is the only member of the Nazi Party to be buried on Mount Zion?
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64

Mope not a single clue

The odd educated guess

And how do you play on your computer - I cannot see what button to push - but I am blinder than a bat!

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65

No buttons. I’ll give the answers tonight.

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66
1. What was the special gift given by the yard to the first commander of HMS Speedy (the Royal Navy's first, and so far only, hydrofoil)?

A very small pot of paint

2. Who said: "I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light."

J. R. R. Tolkien

3. In what decade was Pluto first photographed?

1900s (21 years before its official discovery.)

4. Where was Santería first recorded?

Cuba (originating among Yoruba-speaking slaves imported to work on the sugar plantations)

5. What is the longest river in Europe?

Volga (3,645km from the Valdai Hills north-west of Moscow to Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea.)

6. Three acts have had three consecutive Christmas number one singles in the UK. The Beatles (1963-1965) are one. Name either of the others.

Spice Girls (1996-1998) and LadBaby (2018-2020). (LadBaby’s only three singles, in fact…)

7. What is the title of the Harry Potter fanfic that replaces all the magic with American-Evangelical prayer?

Hogwarts School of Prayer and Miracles (…and it’s still not clear whether or not it’s a parody.)

8. What 1989 video game was the source of the line "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US"?

Zero Wing

9. whose tombstone reads (as well as his name) "S = k . log W"?

Ludwig Boltzmann (His formula for the entropy of a system)

10. Who is the only member of the Nazi Party to be buried on Mount Zion?

Oskar Schindler

3 Likes
67

Oof
Just managed 5, but that was with an awful lot of Pondering…

Carinthia.xx

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68

Five here too. Kicking self about two of the others.

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69

I managed five guesses too

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70

The thing I like about #10 is that if that particular bloke is part of your mental landscape you can say “well, it’s obviously him”, but otherwise it’s quite hard to work out who it might be.

Of the people who got #6 right so far, they’ve all got the earlier one. That’s probably the sort of people I know, though does anyone really care about Christmas number ones these days except for the accountants?

4 Likes
71
  1. the first USS Maine sank in Havana harbour, contributing to the start of the Spanish-American War. Altogether, how many USS Maines have seen service? [2] [3] [4] [5]
  2. Who was the only female redshirt to die in Star Trek: The Original Series?
  3. What is the shortest British motorway (i.e. with its own M-number)? [M181 in Lincolnshire] [M602 in Greater Manchester] [M621 in West Yorkshire] [M898 in Renfrewshire]
  4. how many people were executed for war crimes committed in the American Civil War? [0] [2] [6] [8]
  5. what song has spent the most weeks at number 1 in the UK charts, ahead of “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”, “One Dance” and “Love Is All Around”?
  6. Only two nuclear weapons tests combined the warhead with an operational missile. One was an AIR-2 Genie in 1957. When was the other? [1957] [1962] [1967] [1972]
  7. Who was the first to use the term “Big Bang” in reference to the origin of the Universe? [Alexander Friedmann] [Fred Hoyle] [Edwin Hubble] [Georges Lemaître]
  8. The world’s smallest insect averages 186µm body length. What sort of insect is it? [Ant] [Louse] [Mite] [Wasp]
  9. Two actors have been nominated for Academy Awards eight times, but never won. Name either.
3 Likes
72

Bloomin’ 'eck. Not even confident about (7), but it’s definitely one or other ovvem. USS Maine is an all-purpose answer, not a question. Love is all around. Ought to be a mite but will be a bastarding wasp, wunnit? Probably a thespian.
Glurk.

4 Likes
73

I’m guessing at being able to get 3 right

I’m in my not working brain mode today

There’s an Irish dancing competition on here and the participants have huge towering erections on their heads
Wigs that would be more at home in the court of Louis XV

With tararas of cloth and rhinestones nailed down on them

They look weird

2 Likes
74
1. the first USS Maine sank in Havana harbour, contributing to the start of the Spanish-American War. Altogether, how many USS Maines have seen service?

4 (The current one is an Ohio-class SSBN.)

2. Who was the only female redshirt to die in _Star Trek: The Original Series_?

(Leslie) Thompson (played by Julie Cobb, in By Any Other Name)

3. What is the shortest British motorway (i.e. with its own M-number)?

M898 in Renfrewshire (Half a mile from M8 J30 towards the Erskine Bridge)

4. how many people were executed for war crimes committed in the American Civil War?

2 (Henry Wirz, commandant of the Fort Sumter POW camp, and Champ Ferguson, who attacked wounded prisoners and civilians as a Confederate guerrilla. Four others were executed for spying, and two more for guerrilla warfare without explicit war crimes.)

5. what song has spent the most weeks at number 1 in the UK charts, ahead of "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", "One Dance" and "Love Is All Around"?

“I Believe”, Frankie Laine, 18 weeks in 1953

6. Only two nuclear weapons tests combined the warhead with an operational missile. One was an AIR-2 Genie in 1957. When was the other?

1962 (Frigate Bird, a Polaris A-2 missile with 600kt warhead fired from USS Ethan Allen.)

7. Who was the first to use the term "Big Bang" in reference to the origin of the Universe?

Fred Hoyle (in a March 1949 BBC radio broadcast)

8. The world's smallest insect averages 186µm body length. What sort of insect is it?

Wasp (Dicopomorpha echmepterygis (male); males mate and die without leaving the egg)

9. Two actors have been nominated for Academy Awards eight times, but never won. Name either.

Glenn Close, Peter O’Toole

2 Likes
75

Renfrewshire? RENFREWSHIRE?!!
Bah!

But it was a wopse, so that’s all right.

Lazy gits

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76
  1. What was the original name of the character who would become Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation? [Macha Hernandez] [Tora Mayweather] [Shooty McBangBang] [Cassandra Sturgeon]
  2. Where was the dough-production process (that now underlies about 80% of the bread produced in the United Kingdom) developed in 1961? [Amersham] [Chorleywood] [Heronsgate] [Kings Langley]
  3. What was the Brown Dog Affair about (in 1906)? [bestiality] [food standards] [vivisection] [working animals]
  4. How many female characters have speaking parts in the original Star Wars trilogy?
  5. What was the chemical released in the Bhopal disaster (1984)? [fluoroacetone] [methyl isocyanate] [methyl vinyl ketone] [tetranitromethane]
  6. under which ruler did the Russian Empire reach its greatest area? [Alexander II] [Catherine II] [Nikolai I] [Paul I]
  7. What links Malcolm McDowell and Sadiq al-Mahdi (former Prime Minister of Sudan)?
  8. What links Jeanne Sauvé, Cécile La Grenade, Catherine Tizard and Quentin Bryce?
  9. Who was the last person convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1735? [Helen Duncan] [Doris Stokes] [Ena Twigg] [Jane Yorke]
  10. The snake with the most toxic venom is the Inland Taipan (in Australia, of course). How many confirmed human deaths has it caused since its discovery in 1879? [0-10] [11-100] [101-1000]
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77

I dunno exactly, but I want one. Here, snakey-snakey.
I shall revisit the questions later. Ta.
Gx
I am hoping against hope for the largest number, but 101 ain’t exactly writhing masses, after all. Meh. Slackers in the main, yer venomous snakes

4 Likes
78
1. What was the original name of the character who would become Tasha Yar in _Star Trek: The Next Generation?_

Macha Hernandez

2. Where was the dough-production process (that now underlies about 80% of the bread produced in the United Kingdom) developed in 1961?

Chorleywood

3. What was the Brown Dog Affair about (in 1906)?

vivisection

4. How many female characters have speaking parts in the original _Star Wars_ trilogy?

4
(Leia; Aunt Beru; unnamed Rebel officer on Hoth; Mon Mothma)

5. What was the chemical released in the Bhopal disaster (1984)?

methyl isocyanate

6. under which ruler did the Russian Empire reach its greatest area?

Nikolai I

7. What links Malcolm McDowell and Sadiq al-Mahdi (former Prime Minister of Sudan)?

Sadiq’s brother Tahir El Mahdi married McDowell’s sister Gloria Taylor; their son is Alexander Siddig.

8. What links Jeanne Sauvé, Cécile La Grenade, Catherine Tizard and Quentin Bryce?

first female governors-general of their respective countries (Canada, Grenada, New Zealand, Australia)

9. Who was the last person convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1735?

Jane Yorke

10. The snake with the most toxic venom is the Inland Taipan (in Australia, of course). How many confirmed human deaths has it caused since its discovery in 1879?

0-10

In fact, none at all – it lives in remote places, it tends to flee rather than attack, and the only people known to have been bitten by it were herpetologists who had the counteragent readily to hand.

4 Likes
79

Facts can be so disappointing… 6/10

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80

5/10

Just…

Carinthia.xx

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