Quizzing Christmas

I'm committed to preparing a Christmas Day quiz for a bunch of people whose knowledge and interests are impossibly diverse. Oldies who love history and classical music and read newspapers; teens and pre-teens whose world is Pokemon and YouTube and Gen X/Millennials who are into 80s music, TV shows and the internet. Where's the common interest?

How to set quiz questions to suit all tastes and knowledge is not easy. I could try to devise questions which cover all those topics but that would mean every question is unanswerable by somebody. I want to keep everyone involved 100% of the time. That may be impossible.

Maybe I should go for puzzles: everyone loves an anagram. Except for the dyslexics. Oh. Geography: everyone has seen an atlas at some time in their lives. We may not know Uganda's colonial back story but we know where it is. Tick. Maths puzzles: yep that's pretty much universal, there'll be someone on each team who can use more than five fingers. Tick. Politics: even the kids will be voting at sometime soon in their lives, so it's their civic duty to know something. Tick.

That's all a bit limiting though. Maybe I'll just go for football. Everyone loves that don't they?

I also have to bear in mind that there will be those who love a good argument, so my research has to be watertight. I've learned that in the past. I'll have yellow and red cards ready to punish bad behaviour. Three strikes and you're OUT.

Smart phones and watches will be collected at the door. Wish me luck.

Quiz Night answers

First, last night:

-Mastermind specialist subjects:

• The playing career of Sunil Gavaskar
• The Hunger Games
• Leonard Bernstein
• Edvard Munch

-Only Connect from the Sequences round - what comes next?

North: Air - East: Kisser - South: Dumps - ?

Now for the answers you all have been waiting for...

Connections round:

• 14
• 39
• 50
• 55

Answer: The start years of 20th century wars:

1914 WW1

1939 WW2

1950 Korean War

1955 Vietnam War

The connecting wall round gives you 16 words and you have to group them correctly in four groups of four. Example:

• maroon, volume, horse, desert
• count, vanilla, strand, weight
• dump, chocolate, age, standard
• measure, matter, plain, normal

Answer:

(Taken from yesterday's NYTimes app, which is similar)

That's it for quizzing for a while, you'll be pleased to know!

Quiz Night

I love quizzes. To be fair, you wouldn't want me on your pub quiz team because I know next to nothing about the staple diet of those - popular music, soap operas, celebrities. Although there's always a bit of sport where I might be able to contribute. 

But Monday night is Quiz Night on BBC2. Mastermind at 7:30 followed by Only Connect and finally University Challenge.

When I was a teacher at Chetham's School, as Head of Sixth Form I organised a team to compete in the Manchester Schools' Challenge. I got my good friend who was the physics teacher to build the electronics required to enable the buzzers and we had a lot of fun. I don't think we won anything (musicians don't know much about normal life) and one of the teaching staff, a dour Scottish Presbyterian, denounced us as "prostituting our knowledge", which I found difficult to answer because (a) I was shocked and (b) I didn't know what that meant.

At home when the kids got older, University Challenge was a regular watch (it's been going for over 60 years, only one year less than Coronation Street) and involved a cushion.

Anyway, back to tonight's quizzes. Mastermind is my least favourite because half of the questions are unanswerable except in very specific circumstances, i.e. you actually need to know something about the specialist subjects chosen. Here are those from the most recent three episodes:

• Stage plays of Sir Tom Stoppard
• The music of Led Zeppelin
• Penguins
• The Empire State Building 
• The Glorious Revolution
• The career of Novak Djokovic 
• Caravaggio
• Premier League Darts
• Inside No. 9
• Grace Hopper

See what I mean? Esoteric doesn't come close. The contestants also answer a general knowledge round, which starts with a very easy question and gets progressively harder. Which is OK for me as I'll get a few. Of course for the contestants it's much more difficult because there is clock pressure.

Then there's Only Connect, probably the most difficult quiz show around. You have to work out the link between four apparently unrelated clues (or sometimes three and you have to guess what's coming next). Pure inductive reasoning, of the type used for solving cryptic crossword clues. They're often deliberately misleading. Try this:

• 14
• 39
• 50
• 55

The connecting wall round gives you 16 words and you have to group them correctly in four groups of four. Example:

• maroon, volume, horse, desert
• count, vanilla, strand, weight
• dump, chocolate, age, standard
• measure, matter, plain, normal

It's fiendishly difficult (contestants are on the clock too) but fascinates me. Answers tomorrow!

Finally, University Challenge is basically a pub quiz for nerds. I guess that's me. 

I'm the archetypal couch potato.

Geography quiz

I was given Prisoners of Geography: the Quiz Book. Subtitled "How much do you really know about the world?". That's your challenge for today. All questions are multiple choice. Results in a week. I'll trust you to not use an atlas, Google or ChatGPT.

1. Which country in Europe has the longest coastline?

a) Norway 

b) Russia 

c) Greece 

d) UK

2. Which of these sequences correctly describes how the Rhine River flows from its source?

a) Slovenia, Austria, Czechia, Germany, Belgium, France

b) Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands

c) Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark

3. The size of the continent of Africa is roughly equivalent to which of these?

a) Greenland

b) The USA, Canada and Europe

c) India and China

d) Russia

4. Can you name the US President who first declared a "War on Drugs", targeting the movement of narcotics from Central and South America?

a) Woodrow Wilson

b) John F. Kennedy

c) Richard Nixon

d) Bill Clinton

5. When did humans last set foot on the Moon?

a) 1969

b) 1972

c) 1975

d) 1979

6. Approximately how many languages are said to be a spoken across the whole of the continent of Africa?

a) Between two and three hundred

b) Around five hundred

c) Just under a thousand

d) As many as two thousand

7. What notable event occurred in New Zealand in 2022 for the first time since records began in the 1850s?

a) The sheep-to-human ratio dropped to lower than five to one

b) Fossil fuels generated 0% of New Zealand's energy

c) Military spending was less than 5% of GDP

d) A species of indigenous land snake was discovered

8. Which resource makes Tibet so important to China?

a) Coal

b) Gold

c) Water

d) Lithium

9. Which US state is the largest by population?

a) California

b) New York

c) Texas

d) Florida

10. Can you name the Indo-European language that is the official language of Iran but with variants spoken in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, among others?

a) Pashto

b) Farsi

c) Balochi

d) Armenian

Another Shot in the Dark Answers

1. How many Brussels sprouts are sold in UK supermarkets each year at Christmas time? 750 million

2. In what month was the famous Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street first released in cinemas? May

3. What percentage of British adults aged 25-49 say that they make a list of presents that they ask for at Christmas? 26%

4. True or false: if you ate your Christmas tree, you would become seriously ill? False

5. What percentage of women say they prefer giving rather than receiving Christmas presents? 72%

6. What profession are most likely to have to work on Christmas Day? Priests

7. If Santa has a mince pie and a 200 ml glass of milk at each house (s)he visits to deliver presents, how many calories would (s)he eat on Christmas Eve? 150 billion

8. Of those cooking on Christmas Day, how long does the average Brit spend preparing Christmas dinner? 4 hours 16 minutes

9. In degrees Celsius, what is the highest temperature ever recorded at the North Pole? 13 degrees C

10. In Poland, which of the following is a common Christmas tree decoration: (a) Polish sausage (B) turnips (C) spider webs or (D) a rabbit foot? Spider webs

Another Shot in the Dark

1. How many Brussels sprouts are sold in UK supermarkets each year at Christmas time?

2. In what month was the famous Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street first released in cinemas?

3. What percentage of British adults aged 25-49 say that they make a list of presents that they ask for at Christmas?

4. True or false: if you ate your Christmas tree, you would become seriously ill?

5. What percentage of women say they prefer giving rather than receiving Christmas presents?

6. What profession are most likely to have to work on Christmas Day?

7. If Santa has a mince pie and a 200 ml glass of milk at each house (s)he visits to deliver presents, how many calories would (s)he eat on Christmas Eve?

8. Of those cooking on Christmas Day, how long does the average Brit spend preparing Christmas dinner?

9. In degrees Celsius, what is the highest temperature ever recorded at the North Pole?

10. In Poland, which of the following is a common Christmas tree decoration: (a) Polish sausage (B) turnips (C) spider webs or (D) a rabbit foot?

Answers in the Comments below, please.

Answers will appear on 28 March.

Acknowledgement to @ShotintheDarkGames (FB) shotinthedarkgame.co.uk

Nicknames and a Quiz

I've written before about the esoteric names of football clubs - the Go Ahead Eagles and the Stuttgarter Kickers. But today is about nicknames. I don't know how or by whom these names came into being but Arsenal (originally Woolwich Arsenal) are the Gunners, Wycombe (home of the Windsor chair) Wanderers are the Chair Boys, Ipswich (home of Ransomes) Town the Tractor Boys.

I'm not sure whether their womens' teams are the Chair Girls and the Tractor Girls [Ed: actually the latter: Yes]; sounds like a good name for a movie. According to CNN, a 20-year-old woman nicknamed "Chair Girl" was filmed hurling a chair onto a freeway from the balcony of a high-rise building in downtown Toronto. Someone called Patrick Walsh has an album called Tractor Girls. In the interests of rigour, I got my researcher to listen to track 2 Girls With Tractors; he said it sounds like every other country and western song that's ever been written.

Moving on, my interest in nicknames has been re-stimulated by watching the (mens) African Cup of Nations. Today was Nigeria (the Super Eagles) vs Egypt (the Pharaohs). Yesterday I watched Morocco (the Lions de l'Atlas - Atlas Lions) vs Ghana (the Black Stars).

By and large the names of animals predominate. I challenge my readers to guess which countries are represented by (NO CHEATING):

• the Desert Foxes
• the Eagles of Carthage
• the Lions of Teranga
• the Falcons of Jediane
• the Elephants
• the Lions of Chinguetti
• the Scorpions
• the Blue Sharks

That morphed into a Geography quiz I think. Answers in two days' time. I'm expecting a plethora of 100% correct answers from my erudite audience.

I'm looking forward to the commentators' attempts when Comoros (wherever that is) play: they are The Coelacanths.

Frankly these are all deeply unoriginal, if authentic. Much better, the Ethiopian team is known as the Walias, which are "on the sweeter side of Ethiopian beers with tones of fruits and honey. It’s very light and golden in colour and retains its head much better than some of its competitors" according to youngpioneertours.com I'll have one of those please!

I know, it's a brand name. But so are Red Bull Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen. 

Shot In The Dark Answers

Brief answers. For more detail, buy the game from @ShotintheDarkGames (FB) shotinthedarkgame.co.uk

Q1. How many Olympic-sized swimming pools can be filled with the beer that is consumed on the UK over the Christmas period? 57

Q2. How many medium-sized baubles are needed to decorate an average six foot Christmas tree? 81

Q3. How much would it have cost to buy 100g of gold, frankincense and myrrh on Christmas Day 2019? £3,733

Q4. In 2019, what was the world record for eating the most Brussels sprouts in 60 seconds? 33

Q5. In Greenland, what Christmas delicacy is supposed to taste like fresh coconut:

• A. blubber wrapped in whale skin A
• B. eels cooked in milk
• C. polar bear tongue OR
• D. boiled penguin beak? 

Q6. What is the length of the biggest Christmas cracker ever made? 63.1 metres

Q7. In what year was the first Christmas tree decorated and by whom? 1536 by Martin Luther

Q8. In the 1940s what was most commonly used as fake snow in films? Cornflakes painted white

Q9. On what date does the average Brit eat their first mince pie of the year? 2 December

Q10. During a Christmas feast hosted by King Richard II of England in 1377, how many sheep and oxen were consumed in total? 328

Let me know your score!

Shot In The Dark

My friend Tony doesn't like card games so, when he was given one for Christmas, he passed it on to me. It's called Shot In The Dark Xmas. [As a child I was taught to regard Xmas as an unacceptable, perhaps even evil, abbreviation but let's move on from that]

I am an inveterate and highly competitive gamer but, since I won't have the opportunity to play this one for another 11¾ months, I thought I should try some of the questions on you people. Brains at the ready! Some leeway will be allowed; bonus points for exactly correct answers.

Q1. How many Olympic-sized swimming pools can be filled with the beer that is consumed on the UK over the Christmas period?

Q2. How many medium-sized baubles are needed to decorate an average six foot Christmas tree?

Q3. How much would it have cost to buy 100g of gold, frankincense and myrrh on Christmas Day 2019?

Q4. In 2019, what was the world record for eating the most Brussels sprouts in 60 seconds?

Q5. In Greenland, what Christmas delicacy is supposed to taste like fresh coconut:

• A. blubber wrapped in whale skin
• B. eels cooked in milk
• C. polar bear tongue OR
• D. boiled penguin beak?

Q6. What is the length of the biggest Christmas cracker ever made?

Q7. In what year was the first Christmas tree decorated and by whom?

Q8. In the 1940s what was most commonly used as fake snow in films?

Q9. On what date does the average Brit eat their first mince pie of the year?

Q10. During a Christmas feast hosted by King Richard II of England in 1377, how many sheep and oxen were consumed in total?

Answers will appear on 9 January.

Acknowledgement to @ShotintheDarkGames (FB) shotinthedarkgame.co.uk

Terms of Venery Quiz #1 Answers

I suspect there will be a number of correct answers, probably with justifications. I'm giving those that appear in the book, with some acceptable alternates.

1. A Shock of Corn. 'Sheaf' not acceptable; that applies to Wheat.

2. A Murder of Crows.

3. A True Love of Turtle Doves. 'Pitying' an acceptable alternate.

4. A Murmuration of Starlings.

5. An Ostentation  of Peacocks. 'Muster' acceptable.

6. A Trip of Goats.

7. A Sloth of Bears.

8. A Mutation of Thrushes.

9. A Swarm of Eels.

10. A Deceit of Lapwings.

Terms of Venery Quiz #1

Following my post about An Exaltation of Larks, here is the first quiz. All these terms of venery originated centuries ago, so no modern examples from the 'game of venery'. We start with some animals. Let me know how many you know or can guess correctly. Answers in a week.

1. A ..... of Corn [the number of dots does not necessarily equate to the number of letters in the word]

2. A ..... of Crows

3. A ..... of Turtle Doves

4. A ..... of Starlings

5. A ..... of Peacocks

6. A ..... of Goats

7. A ..... of Bears

8. A ..... of Thrushes

9. A ..... of Eels

10. A ..... of Lapwings

Good luck.

Dynastic mini quiz answers

Q1. Who was Kublai Khan's grandfather? Genghis Khan

Q2. Who was the great grandmother of Sophie of Württemberg, Queen of the Netherlands? Catherine The Great

Q3. How many great grandchildren did Queen Victoria have? 87

Q4. What relation is a great great grandchild with another of different great grandparentage? Third cousin

Q5. What relation is Abraham Lincoln to George Clooney? Half-first cousin five times removed

Dynastic mini quiz

Q1. Who was Kublai Khan's grandfather?

Q2. Who was the great grandmother of Sophie of Württemberg, Queen of the Netherlands?

Q3. How many great grandchildren did Queen Victoria have?

Q4. What relation is a great great grandchild with another of different great grandparentage?

Q5. What relation is Abraham Lincoln to George Clooney?

Initials quiz - answers

IKB Isambard Kingdom Brunel

HRC Hillary Rodham Clinton

LBJ Lyndon Baines Johnson

DLG David Lloyd George

ALW Andrew Lloyd Webber

CZJ Catherine Zeta Jones

EAP Edgar Allan Poe

GBS George Bernard Shaw

MLK Martin Luther King

UBL (or OBL) Usama (Osama) bin Laden

We are known by our initials

Everyone who is anyone now refers to Her Excellency Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission, as VDL. Apparently. You heard it first here (I pick up these titbits hanging around Brussels in these heady days).

There are numerous examples of famous people commonly referred to by their initials. Among those most well-known are US Presidents FDR and JFK.

Less familiar, perhaps, is Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince MBS - Mohammed bin Salman.

Personally, I often thought of myself as NFG. Not so famous, obv.

I thought it might be time for another quiz. It's been a while. So how many of these can you identify? I'll give you one clue: their most familiar names include a middle name (hence three initials). I suppose that's obvious but a little help goes a long way. Some middle names are maiden names. It's possible some should technically be hyphenated.

Answers in the Comments, please (even those who rarely comment - I'm begging here). There is no prize, other than the honour of seeing your winning name in lights.

IKB

HRC

LBJ

DLG

ALW

CZJ

EAP

GBS

MLK

UBL (or OBL)

I'll post answers in a week - unless someone has the lot, in which case I'll just congratulate you and move on.

Quiz #8 answers

Q1. Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows E'en, the day before the Christian All Saints Day. Which Pope inaugurated that Day? Pope Boniface IV or Pope Gregory III, depending on definitions

Q2. Halloween incorporated traditions of the Samhain festival - such as wearing costumes to ward off ghosts - of what religion/culture? Celtic

Q3. There are longstanding connections between Halloween and witches. What animal is most associated with witches? Black cat (half a mark for bats, toads and pretty much anything else, with a negative mark for "fairies") 

Q4. The most recent witch trial worldwide was where and when? Salem, Massachusetts, USA in 1692

Q5. Which artist painted the most famous depiction of a Witches' Sabbath? Goya

Q6. What unusual brass instrument did Hector Berlioz use in the final movement of his Symphonie Fantastique - "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath)? ophicleide

Q7.  What do witches use their broomsticks for? Post your answer as a comment

Q8. What is the correct, government covid-approved response to scary trick-or-treaters at your front door? Post your answer as a comment

Weekly quiz #8

What to challenge my readers with this week? We've done quotations (twice), geography, two letter words, portraits, Shakespearean mini-synopses and 'guess the year'.

We bloggers like being topical so I'm going for a Halloween quiz this week.

Your score for questions 7 and 8 will be determined by your answers posted as comments.

Q1. Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows E'en, the day before the Christian All Saints Day. Which Pope inaugurated that Day?

Q2. Halloween incorporated traditions of the Samhain festival - such as wearing costumes to ward off ghosts - of what religion/culture?

Q3. There are longstanding connections between Halloween and witches. What animal is most associated with witches?

Q4. The most recent witch trial worldwide was where and when?

Q5. Which artist painted the most famous depiction of a Witches' Sabbath?

Q6. What unusual brass instrument did Hector Berlioz use in the final movement of his Symphonie Fantastique - "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of a Witches' Sabbath)?

Q7.  What do witches use their broomsticks for?

Q8. What is the correct, government covid-approved response to scary trick-or-treaters at your front door?

Quiz #7 answers

Q1. "Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare." John Major

Q2. "Diplomats were invented simply to waste time." David Lloyd George

Q3. "One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex." Margaret Thatcher

Q4. "We best avoid wars by taking even physical action to stop small ones." Anthony Eden

Q5. “Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.” Winston Churchill

Q6. "Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there." Harold MacMillan

Q7. "Thank you very much... doooo doooo doo doo, right.... good." David Cameron

Q8. "We spend more on cows than the poor." Gordon Brown

Weekly quiz #7

This week it's quotations - specifically by British Prime Ministers. Who said the following? Even if you don't recognise them, I hope you will find the quotes interesting and perhaps worthy of family debate - maybe at lockdown Christmas?

We have had 55 Prime Ministers but you'll be relieved to know there aren't 55 questions - although I might set myself that task one day.

The longest serving PM was Robert Walpole at 20 years, 314 days; the shortest George Canning at 119 days. Gladstone served four separate terms as PM, more than anyone else.

Q1. "Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare."

Q2. "Diplomats were invented simply to waste time."

Q3. "One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex."

Q4. "We best avoid wars by taking even physical action to stop small ones."

Q5. “Mr. President, with the greatest respect, I would prefer the American eagle's neck to be on a swivel so that it could face the olive branches or the arrows, as the occasion might demand.”

Q6. "Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there."

Q7. "Thank you very much... doooo doooo doo doo, right.... good"

Q8. "We spend more on cows than the poor."

Quiz #6 answers

Q1. What is the 9th letter of the Welsh alphabet?

ff

Q2. What area is designated by UK postcode IM?

Isle Of Man

Q3. ISO 3166-1 includes code SG for which country?

Singapore

Q4. Which British territory has the internet domain name io?

British Indian Ocean Territory

Q5. Name a two letter Japanese board game.

GO

Q6. What does the Spanish verb ir mean in English?

To go

Q7. Boris III of Bulgaria had a son Simeon with what regnal number?

II

Q8. In the periodic table of elements, which element is abbreviated as Hg?

Mercury