Anatomy of a Quizzer-The General Quiz
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Transcript of Anatomy of a Quizzer-The General Quiz
Anatomy Of a QuizzerThe General Quiz
Venue: A.C. Dutta Bhavan, Cotton College.Date: 25th Dec, 2016
QM: Bibhuti Handique
PrelimsHighest 25.5/30
Cut-Off 18.5/30
1Every year, ‘Canada Postal Office’ employs eleven thousand volunteers at multiple locations across Canada. The job of the volunteers is to answer a million letters one by one that are addressed to the Special Postal Code -‘H0H0H0’ from around the world towards the end of the year. While answering the letters, the volunteers must pretend to be “someone” and they should answer each letter in the same language in which it was originally written. In 1982, Canada Post rolled out an initiative across Canada and pledged that every letter sent in would receive a reply.On whose behalf do these volunteers need to answer these letters?
Answer
Santa Claus!
2“The Sad Adventures of Big and Little Willie” was a popular comic strip written by William Haselden that ran in the Daily Mirror in 1915. It poked fun at Kaiser Wilhelm (Big Willie) and his son, the Crown Prince (Little Willie) and was so popular that the strips were made into a book. Inspired by this comic strip, something iconic that was invented in the autumn of 1915 was named as “Little Willie” in order to get the public interested in this new advancement. The generic name adopted by the British for this iconic invention was a security measure to conceal their original purpose. What was thus being created that can been seen today at a museum in Bovington, Dorset?
Answer
The First Tank!
3Which food item is said to have been brought to Medieval India as a part of the Muslim trade by the Persian-speaking invaders that is still known by the name ‘zoolabiya’ or ‘zulubiya’ in Iran and ‘Jeri’ in Nepal till date?However we Indians, often associate it with festivals and we know it with a different name that is a slight variation from the original Persian name.
AnswerJalebi
4“Going Solo” is the second volume of a two-part memoir by a British writer. It tells about the writer’s voyage to Africa, describing the various strange people he meets. He eventually joined the war as a squadron pilot in the Royal Air Force and was one of the last Allied pilots to withdraw from Greece during the German invasion, taking part in the air Battle of Athens on 20 April 1941. After Greece fell to the Nazis, he went to the Middle East to fight French pilots after staying for a brief time in Alexandria, Egypt.Who was the eminent writer of ‘Going Solo’?
AnswerRoald Dahl
5There are many conflicting reports of the possible source of its origin. Some say that it originated in medieval times with the etiquette of knights, others say it appeared later in the courts of British nobles in colonial times. Still others say it dates to the Romans who would approach each other and would do this to make sure that the other man was not carrying any weapon.
The Egyptian hieroglyphic that depicts this represents the verb ‘to give’. It represented the legend of the handing over of power from a god to an earthly ruler. What am I rambling about?
Answer
Handshakes!
6“Love Me” is a 1984 released music album sang by a Canto-pop and Mando-pop star. Born in Hong-Kong, the singer has released 11 studio albums, nine compilation albums receiving Japan’s Best Foreign Singer Award in 1984. However according to him, the proud moment in his life came only last month when he became the first from his community to achieve a certain distinction. Just identify the singer.
Answer
Jackie Chan!
7‘Extremadura’ is an autonomous community of western Spain. One of the major pillars of economy for this community is a cheap, low quality product produced annually in large quantities since the year 1945 that has been in great demand in spite of its relatively bad texture compared to similar products from other communities. The Government of Spain and the European Union pays due importance to this product as it has greatly helped to boost Extremadura’seconomy and in the growth of the region.
Using the given information as clue, tell me what special product is catered to by the ‘Extremadura’ community?
AnswerTomatoes used in ‘La Tomatina’
Festival
8In the mid-1930s several plain looking jars were discovered near Baghdad, Iraq. Wilhelm König, an assistant at the National Museum of Iraq authored a paper offering the hypothesis that these jars might served a unique purpose so far their appearance and their contents were concerned. These jars are claimed to be the predecessors of which modern day device that we often encounter in our daily lives?
Answer
Batteries. The jars were known as the Baghdad batteries
9The Chilkur Balaji Temple is an ancient Hindu temple near Hyderabad. Sri Venkateswara Balaji deity is worshiped here and it has more than one lakh devotees paying a visit every week. However after a number of incidents of people praying to the deity including several students who applied for US universities for getting ‘something’ and their wishes coming true, this temple became famously known by another name.
What is the more popular nick-name of the Chilkur Balaji Temple?
Answer
Visa Temple
10These came into being only in the 1930s when Swedish inventor Gideon Sundback was trying to come up with a modern and quicker alternative to an everyday activity.
The tool came to be named after a comment made by an owner of a clothing company who said, “What we need is an action word, something that will dramatize the way the thing ____, so why not call it a _____?”
What commonly used tool, that now bears the acronym of a Japanese company which has a monopoly on its production?
Answer
Zipper
11This asana in Yoga requires the performer to raise like a horizontal stick holding the floor with both palms while the body is supported by the elbows. Performing this asana not only tones up the abdominal portion of the body but also strengthens the fore arms, wrists and elbows. What is the name of this asana that gets its name from something in the ‘animal’ world?
Answer
Mayurasana
12It is a clinical sign in which areas of darkened and thickened skin are seen on the lower thighs and elbows. It occurs in smokers with longstanding severe ’chronic obstructive pulmonary disease’. The sign occurs because patients with COPD tend to sit forwards with their arms resting on their thighs, leading to chronic erythema of the skin at the points of contact. Over time, haemosiderin released from red blood cells trapped in the skin is released causing a brown discolouration of the skin.What is this sign called?
AnswerThe Thinker’s sign
13V. G. Siddhartha is an Indian businessman
from Karnataka who was awarded Entrepreneur of the year title in 2003 by The Economic Times for "crafting a successful pan Indian brand for a commodity business and giving Indian consumers a new lifestyle experience that is within reach of the common man". His famous brainchild had its first outlet set up on July 11, 1996, at Brigade Road, Bengaluru. In 2012, the logo was changed to the current logo, which the company stated was to showcase it as a place to talk. What am I rambling about?
Answer
14"Heart" is a song recorded by Pet Shop Boys which reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in April 1988.
In the Indian context, this song is special because it inspired the background music of a famous Bollywood song from a 1992 movie.Which bollywood song? Also name the Bollywood singer
Answer
Saat Samundar Paar; Sadhana Sargam
15An English natural philosopher, scientist and polymath, he was at one time the curator of experiments of the Royal Society and a Surveyor of the City of London in the aftermath of the Great Fire. However, he is best remembered for making a landmark discovery in the world of biology in the year 1666 which he named as “something” due to its resemblance to small rooms inhabited by Christian monks in a monastery.
What did this gentleman discover way back in 1666?
AnswerCell, He is Robert Hooke.
16The Beatles were never invited to play in Soviet Russia, and their albums were considered as “capitalist pollution” by the Soviet government. In spite of this ban, the state music company was producing recordings by the Beatles on real vinyl discs at the expense of a huge sum of money. As vinyl was scarce and expensive, student teenagers sought alternatives until they discovered that music could be etched onto something which were sheet-like, transparent, similar to vinyl in thickness and were easy to press upon. Thus, the discarded ones were collected and the music was pressed onto them using a modified record player. Fans called the albums "music on the ______".What did those Soviet teenagers decide to use in lieu of vinyl?
AnswerX-ray papers
17Between December 1968 and October 1969, the San Francisco Bay Area Press received a series of twenty letters which included four cryptograms. Of the four cryptograms, only one has been solved till date.One of the letters started with the salutation “Dear Editor this is the ________ speaking” (where he revealed his name for the first time)Who was this notorious murdered whose crimes, letters and cryptograms to police and newspapers inspired many movies, novels and television productions including a 2007 American mystery-thriller film directed by David Fincher?
AnswerThe Zodiac Killer
18Phan Thi Kim Phuc is a 53 year old Vietnamese-Canadian woman who was named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1994. In the year 1997, she established the first Kim Phúc Foundation in the U.S. in the year 1997, with the aim of providing medical and psychological assistance to child victims of war. How is Phan Thi Kim Phuc better known?
Answer
Napalm Girl
19Shown in the next slide is a defensive fortification in the Roman province of Britannia. The largest Roman artefact anywhere, it runs a total of 73 miles in northern England. It was built by Emperor Hadrian in the north of Britain in 122 AD to keep the barbarians (known these days as the Scottish) out of the realm. Regarded as a British cultural icon, it is one of Britain's major ancient tourist attractions and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. According to American novelist and short story writer “X”, this structure directly inspired him to create one of the most important elements in his most famous creation.Solve for “X” and the element.
AnswerX- George RR Martin, The Wall In Games Of Thrones
20
20He was a notable writer of Assamese literature, from the village of Nahoroni in Golaghat. His first fiction novel titled ‘La Sa Gu’ appeared in installments in the pages of the monthly magazine ‘Banhi’ in 1945-46. A president of Assam Sahitya Sabha, he won the Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 1972. Name him and the work for which he won the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Answer
Syed Abdul Malik“Aghori Atmar Kahini”
21Batul the Great is a popular Bengali comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. With an aura of invincibility, Batul is able to take on tanks, airplanes and missiles. By Debnath’s admission, he thought up the idea of the superhero while returning from College Street, Calcutta. He has remarked that the character of Batul was influenced by one of his close friends.Who was this close friend of Narayan Debnath that inspired the character of Batul?
Answer
Manohar Aich
22India was scheduled to play the second test with Pakistan in Delhi in February 1999. However, hours before the match, the pitch was dug up by Shiv Sena as a mark of protest. The ground officials raced against time to get the pitch green lit for the match. Little did anyone know that the digging of the pitch became the cause of a historic feat on the fifth day of the test.What was the feat?
Answer
23‘Massacre in Korea’ is a expressionistic painting by Pablo Picasso which is seen as a criticism of American intervention in the Korean War. It depicts the 1950 Sinchon Massacre, a mass killing carried out in the county of Sinchon, North Korea. This work of Picasso is directly drawn from another famous work of the year 1814 which shows Napoleon's soldiers executing Spanish civilians under the orders of Joachim Murat.Identify the original painting and the painter.
Answer
The Third of May 1808 By Francisco Goya
24The famous fur coats, hats and white shirts made by British costume designer Phyllis Dalton was worn by a Hollywood star in a 1965 Hollywood film. The costumes later inspired a certain look (which has the same name as that of the film) motivating designers to use fur trimmed collar and cuffs on their winter coats again that the Hollywood star actually wore on-screen for the 1965 epic romantic drama film.
What name is give to such kind of look?
AnswerThe ‘Zhivago’ Look
25This is the structure of a graphite molecule that was synthesized by the Royal Society of Chemistry and IBM Research Zurich in the year 2012 in tribute to something. With a 1.2 nanometre width, about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair, the scientists claimed it to be the smallest possible structure of something. Scientists at IBM Zurich made use of a complex technique known as noncontact atomic force microscopy to build this structure.Now the question is it could be the smallest possible structure of what?
Answer Olympic Rings’Olympicene’ molecule
26A feudal custom recorded in the early 19th century England regulated the use of firewood from royal forests by peasants. The peasants would be allowed to take as much deadwood as they could pull down and cut with ease using these two devices.What phrase is supposed to trace its origin to this custom?
Answer
27In 1964, “X” told Filmfare during an interview about her journey from Burma,
"we trekked alternately through wilderness and hundreds of villages, surviving on the generosity of people, for we were penniless, with no food and few clothes. Occasionally, we met British soldiers who provided us with transport, found us refuge and treated our blistered feet and bruised bodies and fed us. By the time we reached Dibrugarh in Assam, our group had been reduced to half. Some had fallen ill and been left behind, some had died of starvation and disease. My mother miscarried along the way. The survivors were admitted to the Dibrugarh hospital for treatment. Mother and I had been virtually reduced to skeletons and my brother's condition was critical. We spent two months in hospital. When we recovered, we moved to Calcutta“
Who is this lady “X”?
Answer
Helen!
28This is a Christian Rock band from Mizoram which was formed in the year 2005. It is considered one of the premier north east Indian bands. After the great success of their first album, the gospel band has released its self titled second album comprising of 10 different tracks. According to the lead singer of the band, the name of the band comes from a figure in Christianity who, according to the Bible, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers. She is said to have witnessed Jesus' crucifixion and the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection.Just name the band.
AnswerMagdalene, named after ‘Mary Magdalene’
29Capt. Francis Jenkins was the commissioner of Assam from 1834 to 1861. He was the first British official to send a dispatch to the "Government of India" in 1834 for "taking some active measures to provide instruction for the Assamese youth" and recommended the establishment of schools "to impart English education in four sadar stations — Gauhati, Derange, Nowgong and Bishwanath. In 1834, the approval of the "Government of India", run by the East India Company, came and the school was established in the same year with 58 students on its rolls with the name ‘Gauhati Seminary’. By what name is ‘Gauhati Seminary’ known to us now?
Answer
30In Iranian mythology, he is the most celebrated legendary hero best known for his tragic fight with Esfandiar, the other legendary Iranian hero. He is always represented as the mightiest of Iranian holy warriors. In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, he is the champion of champions and is involved in numerous stories, constituting some of the most popular parts of the Shahnameh.However, in Indian context, his name is famous as it is used to describe any man with concealed abilities which are comparable to those of this legendary hero. This in turn has given birth to a very popular Hindi phrase to describe such a man.Either identify this legendary hero or give me the Hindi phrase.
Answer
Rustam
