The Sparrer's Quiz

Not The Archers
101

Winner got 5.3.

  1. Which of these is not the title of a translation into Chinese by Lin Shu? [Biography of the Cursed Knight] [Biography of the Filial Daughter Nell] [Biography of the Wastrel Son Bertie] [Past Stories of the Camellia-woman of Paris]
  2. Colossal Cave Adventure (aka Adventure and ADVENT, 1976) was one of the first interactive fiction games. In what language was it written? [ALGOL] [C] [FORTRAN] [INTERCAL]
  3. From what sort of living thing was the earliest known personal adornment made?
  4. When was the first British patent granted for a board game? [1597] [1735] [1801] [1904]
  5. The aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo, used as a base for Argentine air strikes during the Falklands War, was scrapped in 1999. When was it launched? [1943] [1951] [1969] [1974]
  6. What was the first computer game to depict individual combat? [Boot Hill] [The Oregon Trail] [Western Gun] [Wild Gunman]
  7. Alexander Courage’s theme music for Star Trek (original series) has lyrics by Gene Roddenberry, but they have never been heard on air. Why did he write them?
  8. What was the first vehicle to reach a speed of 100 mph? [Aeroplane] [Bobsleigh] [Motor car] [Railway locomotive]
  9. When did the Vatican abolish its Index of Prohibited Books? [1917] [1940] [1966] [1978]
  10. How many people have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics? [122] [163] [219] [294]
4 Likes
102

Um. Confident of 9. Sorry, for the sake of clarity, ‘of #9’.
[despairing grinnity]

3 Likes
103

Sparrerly Quizzes are not for the faint-hearted. (Incidentally to clarify #1 those are his Chinese titles translated reasonably literally back into English.)

4 Likes
104

well, my heart is v faint but I am also reasonably confident of #2. [stamps foot, tantrums]
Oh, and also #3, but I could argue the toss about that one.

4 Likes
105

I know #2 (and have no idea why I should) #4 (misspent youth) and #5 (I had a friend who fought in the Falklands). #9 I can guess because I remember my mother giggling about it.

If #3 isn’t The Moose (everything is as a rule) it’s probably cowrie shells.

4 Likes
106

Or nut shells

5 Likes
107

Since we are not being given the answers, we’ll never know, will we.

1 Like
108

Standard 24 hour delay like all the quizzes I post here.

4 Likes
109

Didn’t know that. Why? To give us all time to scour the internet (or not bother to)?

2 Likes
110

Sometimes on the non-Sparrer quizzes with answers I go ‘dunno’ or leap on a wrong answer and then realise that if I’d thought about it a bit more I’d have come up with the correct answer.
That doesn’t appear to be working this time round, I admit;- )

4 Likes
111

Also not everyone is checking in during all their waking hours. Or indeed operating on standard UK waking hours. (Hides “SWAG” sack under bed. Someone else’s bed, obvs.)

5 Likes
112
1. Which of these is not the title of a translation into Chinese by Lin Shu?

Biography of the Wastrel Son Bertie (the others being Don Quixote, The Old Curiosity Shop, and La Dame aux Camellias.)

2. Colossal Cave Adventure (aka Adventure and ADVENT, 1976) was one of the first interactive fiction games. In what language was it written?

FORTRAN (A dialect very specific to the PDP-10; it was ported to C in 1977.)

3. From what sort of living thing was the earliest known personal adornment made?

Whelk (Specifically Nassarius gibbosulus, ca. 100,000 years before present.)

4. When was the first British patent granted for a board game?

1801 (Anne (Gunn) Young’s ‘Musical Games’, a series of six games to teach music theory to children.)

5. The aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo, used as a base for Argentine air strikes during the Falklands War, was scrapped in 1999. When was it launched?

1943 (as the Colossus-class aircraft carrier HMS Venerable; sold to the Netherlands as HNLMS Karel Doorman (1948-1968).)

6. What was the first computer game to depict individual combat?

Western Gun (known as Gun Fight in the USA)

7. Alexander Courage's theme music for Star Trek (original series) has lyrics by Gene Roddenberry, but they have never been heard on air. Why did he write them?

So that he would get half the performance royalties.

8. What was the first vehicle to reach a speed of 100 mph?

Railway locomotive (though there’s some question as to whether it was No. 999 in the US, City of Truro in the UK, or an electric train in Berlin)

9. When did the Vatican abolish its Index of Prohibited Books?

1966 (Cardinal Ottaviani stated in April 1966 that there was too much contemporary literature and the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith could not keep up with it.)

10. How many people have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics?

219

4 Likes
113

Whelk, cowrie, what’s the odds?

4 Likes
114

I was giving half points for “shellfish”.

5 Likes
115

Four and a half, then.

3 Likes
116

Snap.
I bet the daisy-chain preceded the whelk, but, yeah, ‘known’…

5 Likes
117

Probably an Rellie.

5 Likes
118

“Oh no, we never mention him.”

First adornment was mud. Then berry juice. Then daisy-chains or local equivalent. And then they came for my relatives…

Gastropod Pride! Our stripes might not be colourful, but some are persistent and shiny. Or, like me own scrape, just persistent.

I am greatly cheered that Waley thought Lin Shu’s Dickens superior in some ways to the original.
‘every point that Dickens spoils by uncontrolled exuberance, Lin Shu makes quietly and efficiently’
Emboldment mine.
ETA: Oviously. I can’t help meself. Hmm.
Pot & kettle.

5 Likes
119
  1. Where in London is the only statue of a royal mistress? [Chelsea] [Embankment] [Parliament Square] [St James’s Park]
  2. The 2009 book “Where Heaven and Earth Meet” introduced a neutral term for the area variously known as the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, or Al-Aqsa Mosque. What was it? [God Street] [Holy Hill] [Plateau of the Book] [Sacred Esplanade]
  3. As of 2023, what currency has the highest value per base unit? [Bahraini Dinar] [Kuwaiti Dinar] [Pound Sterling] [Omani Rial]
  4. What was the unique thing about the flag of Libya from 1977 to 2011?
  5. Who are the only brothers both to have received acting nominations at the Academy Awards?
  6. As of 2023, how many novels are in the Shannara series (began in 1977)? [3] [12] [18] [42]
  7. What is zeism? [medical condition caused by excess dietary corn] [modern worship of Zeus] [a preference for gender-neutral pronouns] [a theory of changes of state with no visible cause]
  8. In whose bedroom did Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa briefly hang? [Napoleon Bonaparte] [Lucrezia Borgia] [Giuliano de’Medici] [Vincenzo Peruggia]
  9. what is the current full-time use of the buildings that were constructed in Málaga to be the sets for the BBC soap opera disaster Eldorado (1992-1993)? [Airsoft arena] [Brothel] [Emergency COVID hospital] [Hotel]
  10. As of 2023, who was the last British prime minister to leave office as the result of a General Election?
3 Likes
120
1. Where in London is the only statue of a royal mistress?

Chelsea (outside Nell Gwynn House in Sloane Avenue)

2. The 2009 book "Where Heaven and Earth Meet" introduced a neutral term for the area variously known as the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, or Al-Aqsa Mosque. What was it?

Sacred Esplanade

3. As of 2023, what currency has the highest value per base unit?

Kuwaiti Dinar (currently worth about £2.97 or US$3.20.)

4. What was the unique thing about the flag of Libya from 1977 to 2011?

it was the only national flag to consist entirely of one colour.

5. Who are the only brothers both to have received acting nominations at the Academy Awards?

River and Joaquin Phoenix (River in 1988; Joaquin in 2000, 2005 and 2012.)

6. As of 2023, how many novels are in the Shannara series (began in 1977)?

42

7. What is zeism?

medical condition caused by excess dietary corn

8. In whose bedroom did Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa briefly hang?

Napoleon Bonaparte

9. what is the current full-time use of the buildings that were constructed in Málaga to be the sets for the BBC soap opera disaster Eldorado (1992-1993)?

Airsoft arena

10. As of 2023, who was the last British prime minister to leave office as the result of a General Election?

Gordon Brown (In 2010.)

4 Likes