Answers to QHIZ sent out on 4th January

Dear Blogger

Answers to the quiz sent out on 4th January.

General Knowledge

 

1. Specifically the bell that sounds the hour in the clocktower of the Palace of Westminster - renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth 11.
2. The Giant Panda lives in the forests of a few mountain ranges in Sichuan, China.
3. Quercus robur is known as the English or European Oak.
4. Neither Mercury or our moon revolve but orbit with the same side always facing the same way.
5. KLM or Royal Dutch Airlines. Interestingly the first KLM flight was in May 1920 to Amsterdam from Croydon Airport.
6. Spencer Percival in May 1812. He remains the only Solicitor General or Attorney General ever to become Prime Minister.
7. Irn-Bru or Iron Brew introduced in 1901.
8. 1991 - although they were encouraged previously and cars made prior to this date are not required to fit them.
9. The Mongoose - found in Europe, Africa, Asia and notably India has developed a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that inhibits snake venom's toxicity.
10. The Lutine Bell - this came from a British (formerly French) frigate that sank in 1799 carrying a consignment   of gold. The rescued bell sounded once whenever a ship was overdue but rung twice if it made it safely back to harbour. Due to a crack it is now only sounded upon the death of a member of the Royal Family.

 

The Arts

 

1. El Greco (1541-1614)
2. The Venus de Milo thought to have been created between 130 and 100 BC and believed to represent Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of Love. Found in several pieces the statue would have originally had arms
3. Andy Warhol was born in Pittsburg in 1928 as Andrew Warhola.
4. Bubbles by Sir John Everett Millais - originally titled A Child's World (1886) it featured the painter's grandson but was later adapted to promote Pears Soap. A&F Pears was later acquired by rival Lever Bros and is on display at the Lady Lever Gallery at Port Sunlight in 2006.
5. Salvador Dali.
6. Bayreuth - inaugurated in 1876
7. Vaslav Nijinsky was born in Kiev in 1889 to Polish parents. He was celebrated as a virtuoso dancer who could dance en pointe and make seemingly gravity defying leaps. He joined the Ballets Russes founded by Sergei Diaghilev which became internationally famous for its avant-garde works.
8. Tosca which premiered in Rome - in which the opera is set - in 1900. The dramatic historical plot is about a singer caught up in political intrigue, jealousy and treachery who finally kills herself in one of the most theatrical ways imaginable.
9. Benjamin Britten - first name Edward - born 22 November 1913.
10. Sir Malcolm Sargent (first name Harold) acquired the nickname as a result of his debonair style of dress.

 

Geography

 

1. Lerwick on the Shetland Islands. Stornaway is on the Hebrides and lies parallel with the west coast of Scotland.
2. Lizard Point on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. Lands End is the most westerly point in the UK.
3. County Down in Northern Island - Strangford Lough is the largest inlet in the British Isles.
4. Geologically the Old Harry Rocks on the Isle of Purbeck originally extended to the Isle of Wight via The Needles.
5. Peru - 50 miles northwest of Cuzco.
6. Colorado river in Arizona
7. Southern. Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. Though it has not rained for 2 million years, 80% of the world's freshwater reserves are stored there.
8. Lake Victoria is the largest African lake by area and the second largest fresh water lake in the world after Lake Superior in North America.
9. Agra in India - it was commissioned in 1632 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
10.  Bucharest.

History

 

1. William 1V - Great Britain's last Hanoverian king and penultimate monarch ( reign 1830-1827 )
2. Canute (also Cnut) was king of Denmark, England and Norway (1016-1035). Contrary to popular folklore   Canute used this example to rebuke fawning courtiers.
3. King John lost his French lands to Phillip 11 resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empire. The Magna  Carta was sealed at Runnymede and was a major plank of the constitution of the United Kingdom.
4. Queen Anne.
5. Napoleon Bonaparte
6. Spanish Armada
7. Assassinated Archduke Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire which triggered WW1
8. Alcock & Brown made the historic flight from St John's Newfoundland to County Galway in Ireland nearly a  decade before Charles Lindbergh's solo flight.
9. The SS Normandie. Winner of the Blue Riband her first class dining room was the largest afloat and had illuminated glass pillars and chandeliers created by Lalique.
10.  Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969

 

Classic Cars

 

1. Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer
2. Riley of Coventry. The Alpine was a formal six-cylinder saloon, while the Imp and Sprite spots cars predated   the later rear-engined Hillman Imp and the small BMC Austin-Healey Sprite
3. Walter Owen; Adrian; Gabriel; Gottlieb
4. Donald Healey was responsible for these glamorous pre-war Triumph models.
5. Wolseley - due to its illuminated badge.
6. Armstrong Siddeley
7. Renault
8. Rudolf; Billy; Tazio; Raymond; Achille
9. Camargue
10. Ash