Simon's Christmas Quizzes

Christmas Quiz 2019

1. Who had trouble with their O-ring in January 1986?

NASA. (A failed O-ring seal caused of the Challenger disaster.)

2. Where would you find an F-hole?

On a stringed musical instrument. (Specifically, the the violin family, archtop mandolins and archtop guitars.) [Accept violin etc.]

3. In which country might you get a stifado?

Greece [accept Cyprus]

4. An 'aficionado' originally referred to a fan of which sport?

Bullfighting

5. According to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculated Conception who was born without original sin?

Mary the mother of Jesus [Virgin Mary; BVM]

6. What is the name of the infamous herbicide and defoliant used by US forces in the Vietnam War?

Agent Orange (Super Orange)

7. Which bone connects the scapula to the sternum?

Clavicle (accept collarbone)

8. In which game might an American use a bit of English?

Pool [accept similar] [‘English’ is the American term for spin, especially side-spin.]

9. Which multi-award winning university campus was designed in the 60s by Sir Basil Spense, and includes Falmer House which is now a Grade I listed building?

University of Sussex

10. In insects, what are elytra?

Modified, hardened forewings, especially in beetles (Coleoptera).

11. What name is prophesied in the Old Testament for the Messiah?

Immanuel (accept Emmanuel)

12. What is the provocatively performed Spanish courtship dance in triple time with gradually increasing tempo, which is also one of the main folk dances in Portugal?

Fandango (not Bolero, which is not Portuguese)

13. In which 1974 film about a New York subway hostage ransom, does the police lieutenant say "The guy who's talking's got a heavy English accent. He could be a fruitcake"?

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

14. What kind of animal is Ratty in The Wind in the Willows?

Water Vole [European Water Vole; Northern Water Vole; Arvicola amphibius]

15. Why weren't the Duke of Edinburgh's three surviving sisters at his wedding in 1947?

They weren’t invited because they had all married German princes (some with Nazi connections). [None of his Germen relations were invited.]

16. Which African coutry consists of one single land mass with two distinct Atlantic coastlines?

Senegal (surrounds Gambia)

17. Who was the Irish-born C20th British figurative painter who produced nightmarish reworkings of Velázquez's 'Portrait of Pope Innocent X'?

Francis Bacon

18. The colours of the Indian flag were unofficially patterned on which other country's flag?

Ireland (because of its struggle against British imperialism)

19. The character Sweeney, representing materialism and shallowness, appears several times in which C20th poet's works?

T S Eliot

20. Kansas City, the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, is the largest city in which US state?

Missouri

21. Which French word for the untying of a knot is used in English for the unravelling of a theatrical plot?

Denouement

22. What do we call a virus that attacks bacteria?

Bacteriophage

23. Which 1973 hit was inspired by Don McLean's American Pie?

Killing Me Softly With His Song, sung by Roberta Flack

24. Santa Claus refers to Saint Nicholas who was a celebrated bishop in which modern day country?

Turkey

25. Which food crop is currently being severly affected by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa in South-East Italy?

Olive [causing ‘olive quick decline syndrome’]

26. Bourbon whiskey is required to be made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% what?

Maize [accept corn] [Zea mays]

27. Which piece of DNA does a man always inherit from his father, making it important in anthropological research?

Y chromosome [Strictly speaking, the non-pseudoautosomal regions of the Y chromosome]

28. Who believe that God's throne is near a heavenly body called Kolob?

Mormons [accept Latter Day Saint movement, which is strictly more accurate] [They have a hymn called ‘If you could hie to Kolob’ (hie=hurry).]

29. Cahors, the capital of the Lot department, is the French spiritual home of which grape variety, now more associated with South America?

Malbec

30. Who did River Song shoot three times on the shores of Lake Silencio?

Doctor Who [Series 6 episode 1, ‘The Impossible Astronaut’.]

31. What hill does St Paul's cathedral stand on?

Ludgate Hill

32. Which kind of hat, worn by Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain, takes its name from the title of a play written for Sarah Bernhardt?

Fedora

33. What was the name of the British airship that crashed on its maiden overseas voyage in 1930?

R101

34. How is "young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann" described in the title of a well known song?

The Star of the County Down

35. Which British New Wave band formed in 1977 was named after characters from Hergé's Adventures of Tintin?

Thompson Twins [Bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson]

36. Which pairs of ligaments in the body are named after the cross shape they form?

Cruciate ligaments [cruciform ligaments; particularly in the knee, but also elsewhere]

37. What kind of confectionary is known in Yorkshire and Lancashire as 'Spanish'?

Liquorice (candy)

38. Which legendary English folk musician is Eliza Carthy's mother?

Norma Waterson

39. What is the popular name for the dance near the climax of Richard Strauss' opera Salome?

The dance of the seven veils

40. Which disease became known in France as 'la maladie de Bradford', in reference to the West Yorkshire town?

Anthrax [It was spread from the imported fleeces of the wool trade.]

41. Who wrote the narrative poems known collectively as the Lays of Ancient Rome, which were standard reading in British public schools for more than a century?

Thomas Macaulay

42. What was the capital of Scotland until the mid 15th century?

Perth

43. In which famous book is Private Major Major Major promoted to Major Major Major Major?

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

44. Which chemical element derives its name from the Spanish word for silver?

Platinum

45. What caused the British car ferry Herald of Free Enterprise to sink off Zeebrugge in March 1987 with 193 deaths?

The bow doors were left open

46. Who was the prominent English nurse who emphasized the importance of palliative care, and who almost single handedly invented the hospice movement?

Dame Cicely Saunders OM DBE

47. Which grass has a tensile strength similar to that of mild steel?

Bamboo

48. What did the ancient Greeks call the vast dark void before existence?

Chaos

49. In Tennyson's Lady of Shalott, what does the lady do to unleash the curse upon herself?

She looks down to Camelot

50. What is usually quoted in kilometers per second per megaparsec?

The Hubble constant. [About 70 (km/s)/Mpc.]