I was invited to a virtual pub quiz on SKYPE on Sunday. Everyone was British except one American Anglophile and the questions were weighted accordingly.
We all had to find and ask the others ten questions. These were mine.
If you want to do the quiz please do so and please don't Google. I'll give the answers in 24 hours.
I tried to make them about as hard as University Challenge in 1984 but was told they are harder. The others scored pretty badly on my round. I scored badly on theirs which asked questions like who was in Oasis. Only the American asked civilised University Challenge type questions. Quizes have become more democratic since 1984, like Jermyn St, Savile Row and, I am told, handbags.
I remember Bamber Gascoigne telling me that general knowledge was a very narrow field but I think it has morphed and is less about kings and Greek gods than in 1984. Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni, as we used to say on University Challenge when Mrs Thatcher was Prime Minister consule Planco.
We all had to find and ask the others ten questions. These were mine.
If you want to do the quiz please do so and please don't Google. I'll give the answers in 24 hours.
1. What is the only word in the English language of Lithuanian origin?
2. When the painter Whistler was told that he and Velasquez were the two greatest painters in history, what was his reply?
3. Which American general advised always be polite, be professional and have a plan for killing everybody in the room?
4. Which three British prime ministers have written and published novels?
5. What do Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan), Bela Lugosi (Dracula) and Edward G Robinson have in common, apart from being Hollywood film stars from long ago?
6. Which famous world leader deflowered Zsa Zsa Gabor, so she said?
7. Prince Charles is the second oldest heir to the throne in English history. Which heir to the throne was older than he is now?
8. Had Napoleon invaded England who would have commanded the British army that confronted him - and who would have been second in command?
9. Who was the last British king to lead troops into battle?
10. Who was the last European king to lead troops into battle?
I tried to make them about as hard as University Challenge in 1984 but was told they are harder. The others scored pretty badly on my round. I scored badly on theirs which asked questions like who was in Oasis. Only the American asked civilised University Challenge type questions. Quizes have become more democratic since 1984, like Jermyn St, Savile Row and, I am told, handbags.
I remember Bamber Gascoigne telling me that general knowledge was a very narrow field but I think it has morphed and is less about kings and Greek gods than in 1984. Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni, as we used to say on University Challenge when Mrs Thatcher was Prime Minister consule Planco.
3. "mad dog" something, a contemporary, I think he was defense secretary in one of President Trump's governments.
ReplyDelete5. Weissmuller and Lugosi were born on the territory of today's Romania. I don't know who Edward G Robinson is.
7. I'm just guessing: Edward VII?
10. Napoleon III was present at Sedan, 1870. I don't know if he lead the troops. I think there is no later candidate date. I think Carol I of Romania didn't participate in the War of Independence of 1878 and technically he wasn't yet a king. Earlier, maybe 1860 or 1865, there were Vittorio Emmanuele, Napoleon III and Francis Joseph at the battle of Solferino. I don't know if they lead the troops. Earlier than that I can think only of the Napoleonic Wars.
9. That's a very tough one. My guess is that it happened in Britain, maybe during Cromwell's wars (Charles I?). I don't think it happened on the Continent. Later than Cromwell there were the wars of Spanish and Austrian succession, but I don't think that British kings moved on the Continent on those occasions. As far as I know they didn't fight in the Napoleonic Wars and there were no other wars in Europe with British involvement until the World Wars.
I don't know the answer of the 1st question but it is highly intriguing.
https://adevarul.ro/locale/suceava/batalia-laplevna-lupta-decisiva-independenta-romaniei-i-au-salvat-romanii-perusi-infrangere-1_57c697575ab6550cb83eac34/index.html
ReplyDeletehttps://evz.ro/140-de-ani-de-independenta-a-romaniei-carol-i-a-condus-personal.html
ReplyDeleteAnswers
ReplyDelete1. What is the only word in the English language that comes from Lithuanian? Talk.
2. When the American painter Whistler was told that he and Velasquez were the 2 greatest painters in history what was his reply? Why bring Velasquez into it?
3. Which American general advised always be polite be professional and have a plan for killing everybody in the room? Mad Dog Mattis.
4. Which three British prime ministers have written and published novels? Disraeli Churchill + Boris Johnson.
5. What have Johnny Weismuller, Edward G Robinson and Bela Lugosi have in common? Born in [what is now] Romania.
6. Which famous world leader deflowered Zsa Zsa Gabor? Kemal Attaturk, at least so she said.
7. Prince Charles is the second oldest heir to the English throne in English history. Which heir to the throne was older than he is now? Electress Sophia of Hanover who died after running from a shower of rain 4 weeks before Queen Anne.
8. Had Napoleon invaded England who would have commanded the British army that confronted him and who would have been second in command? King George III and 'Prinny', the Prince of Wales, future Prince Regent and future King George IV.
9. Who was the last British Monarch to lead troops into battle? King George II.
10. Who was the last European king to lead troops into battle? King Carol I of Romania.
Edward G Robinson was Jewish and left Bucharest aged three.
ReplyDeleteWho was the last British king to lead troops into battle?
ReplyDeleteWasn't that George II? Was it the Battle of Dettingen? 1743 or thereabouts.
I'm ashamed to say that's the only question I can even attempt with googling.
Obviously Disraeli is one of the three novel-writing prime ministers but I'd just be guessing about the others.
You score 2. Please see answers above.
DeleteI am extremely skeptical about the Lithuanian etymology of talk. Generally such basic concepts (which include body parts, numbers, etc) come from the language's root language - that's one of the reasons English is a Germanic language. Talk seems to come from a pretty well established proto-Germanic root.
ReplyDeleteI read it in a book by Christopher Hollis. I once looked up the etymology in a dictionary and it said it came from an early Baltic language.
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