1. Invented in 1937, this item nearly failed to catch on because men found it emasculating and women found it demeaning. The item is now ubiquitous, found by the thousands in every city and town in most of the world. What is it?
It is indeed that shopping cart/shopping trolley. Point for Dodos!
Fun Facts: Despite that the shopping trolley was almost a failure, the inventor (Sylvan Goldman) died with a next worth of more than US$400 million. So, you know, never give up. He also invented that baggage cart you see at airports.
2. What is the chief historical flaw in Monty Python's 'Spanish Inquisition' sketch?
EVERYONE expected the Spanish Inquisition. Point for Valkyrie!
Fun Facts: The Spanish Inquisition always gave people 30 days notice to prepare a defense. The Papal Inquisition, on the other hand, would snatch you off the bog mid-shite.
3. How long did it take Churchill to escape after he was captured by the Nazis in WWII?
Took him a little less than a month. He was then recaptured and was released about six months later. A half point each for Val (for being to first to suss out that there was more than one person called 'Churchill' in WWII) and Steel Curtain (for being much more right than wrong).
Fun Facts: 'Mad' Jack Churchill is also the only man known to have killed at least one enemy with a longbow during World War II, was concussed by a grenade while playing bagpipes during a military operation, and lamented the US entry into the war ('If it wasn't for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years!').
4. Based solely on the way he is dressed, what is this man's profession?
[Image: https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/t.../image.jpg]
He is indeed an actor. A well-spotted point for Val!
Fun Facts: How do we know he's an actor? He's wearing black in the picture, and it's broad daylight (he would have been most likely to have been wearing blue). There is also no historical evidence for ninjas wearing masks.
5. Apart from being in the entertainment field, what do Jayne Mansfield, Kermit the Frog, Tim Burton and the cast of Dad's Army have in common?
They all (among many, many others) switched on the Blackpool Illuminations. The point goes to Steel for being firstest with the mostest!
Fun Facts: The first of the Illuminations (1879) consisted of just eight carbon arc lamps. Now, they have considerably more.
6. Name three 20th century authors who died on the same date (same month, day and year).
Lewis, Huxley, Kennedy. Steel again gets the point!
Fun Fact: Even though Huxley's death was known the day it happened, it didn't make the press for three days. I suppose the news cycle was rather full.
7. Who was the last British monarch to be murdered?
George V in 1936. Point for Brian!
Fun Facts: I'm calling this a 'murder', as Lord Dawson (the king's physician) failed to consult with anyone before administering morphine and cocaine to the dying king. In his diary, not found until 50 years later, Dawson says he didn't because he wanted the king's death to be reported in the morning papers, as he considered the evening ones more disreputable.
8. How far can you go on one cup of coffee (no cream, no sugar)?
On average, 10-12m. No points awarded.
Fun Fact: If a person of average size and using a normal walking gate carries a cup of coffee, fluid dynamics will have sloshed all of the coffee out of the cup at the above mentioned distance.
9. What is the relationship between the chemical compound oxyphenylbutazone and the number 1178?
It is the word with the highest potential points in a game of Scrabble. Brian gets the point and a bonus half point for correcting my typo.
Fun Fact: Oxyphenylbutazone was, by all accounts, a cracking good painkiller, but was withdrawn in the 1980s due to the side effect of suppressing white blood cell production.
10. What is the environmental connection between Eyjafjallajökull and Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan?
The lowering of carbon emissions. Another point for Steel!
Fun Facts: When Eyjafjallajökull blew its stack in 2010, it belched about 300 000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. However, the number of flights cancelled or delayed due to the eruption prevented the emission of as much as 2.8 million tonnes of carbon.
The Mongol expansion of Genghis is estimated to have killed between 40 and 60 million people (most of them in China). Farmlands, with no one to work them, reforested and scrubbed about 700 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
The Results
Dodo: 1 point.
Brian and Val: A tie at 2.5 points.
Steel Curtain: Our big winner at 3.5 points!!
Thanks for playing.
Boru
It is indeed that shopping cart/shopping trolley. Point for Dodos!
Fun Facts: Despite that the shopping trolley was almost a failure, the inventor (Sylvan Goldman) died with a next worth of more than US$400 million. So, you know, never give up. He also invented that baggage cart you see at airports.
2. What is the chief historical flaw in Monty Python's 'Spanish Inquisition' sketch?
EVERYONE expected the Spanish Inquisition. Point for Valkyrie!
Fun Facts: The Spanish Inquisition always gave people 30 days notice to prepare a defense. The Papal Inquisition, on the other hand, would snatch you off the bog mid-shite.
3. How long did it take Churchill to escape after he was captured by the Nazis in WWII?
Took him a little less than a month. He was then recaptured and was released about six months later. A half point each for Val (for being to first to suss out that there was more than one person called 'Churchill' in WWII) and Steel Curtain (for being much more right than wrong).
Fun Facts: 'Mad' Jack Churchill is also the only man known to have killed at least one enemy with a longbow during World War II, was concussed by a grenade while playing bagpipes during a military operation, and lamented the US entry into the war ('If it wasn't for those damn Yanks, we could have kept the war going another 10 years!').
4. Based solely on the way he is dressed, what is this man's profession?
[Image: https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/t.../image.jpg]
He is indeed an actor. A well-spotted point for Val!
Fun Facts: How do we know he's an actor? He's wearing black in the picture, and it's broad daylight (he would have been most likely to have been wearing blue). There is also no historical evidence for ninjas wearing masks.
5. Apart from being in the entertainment field, what do Jayne Mansfield, Kermit the Frog, Tim Burton and the cast of Dad's Army have in common?
They all (among many, many others) switched on the Blackpool Illuminations. The point goes to Steel for being firstest with the mostest!
Fun Facts: The first of the Illuminations (1879) consisted of just eight carbon arc lamps. Now, they have considerably more.
6. Name three 20th century authors who died on the same date (same month, day and year).
Lewis, Huxley, Kennedy. Steel again gets the point!
Fun Fact: Even though Huxley's death was known the day it happened, it didn't make the press for three days. I suppose the news cycle was rather full.
7. Who was the last British monarch to be murdered?
George V in 1936. Point for Brian!
Fun Facts: I'm calling this a 'murder', as Lord Dawson (the king's physician) failed to consult with anyone before administering morphine and cocaine to the dying king. In his diary, not found until 50 years later, Dawson says he didn't because he wanted the king's death to be reported in the morning papers, as he considered the evening ones more disreputable.
8. How far can you go on one cup of coffee (no cream, no sugar)?
On average, 10-12m. No points awarded.
Fun Fact: If a person of average size and using a normal walking gate carries a cup of coffee, fluid dynamics will have sloshed all of the coffee out of the cup at the above mentioned distance.
9. What is the relationship between the chemical compound oxyphenylbutazone and the number 1178?
It is the word with the highest potential points in a game of Scrabble. Brian gets the point and a bonus half point for correcting my typo.
Fun Fact: Oxyphenylbutazone was, by all accounts, a cracking good painkiller, but was withdrawn in the 1980s due to the side effect of suppressing white blood cell production.
10. What is the environmental connection between Eyjafjallajökull and Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan?
The lowering of carbon emissions. Another point for Steel!
Fun Facts: When Eyjafjallajökull blew its stack in 2010, it belched about 300 000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. However, the number of flights cancelled or delayed due to the eruption prevented the emission of as much as 2.8 million tonnes of carbon.
The Mongol expansion of Genghis is estimated to have killed between 40 and 60 million people (most of them in China). Farmlands, with no one to work them, reforested and scrubbed about 700 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.
The Results
Dodo: 1 point.
Brian and Val: A tie at 2.5 points.
Steel Curtain: Our big winner at 3.5 points!!
Thanks for playing.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
