Doctor Skaro — Answers

Here are the answers to today’s questions.

Today’s questions follow a theme. The post’s title, which can reveal in part a relevant literary character, serves as a starting point.

One

Air Burkina’s primary base is located at the airport of which African capital city?

Answer: Ouagadougou.

Air Burkina SA, Burkina Faso’s national airline, operates from Ouagadougou Airport to domestic and regional destinations. It is currently government-owned, with a new investor being sought.

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Two

Which Thomas Keneally book was adapted into a film that won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director in 1994?

Answer: Schindler’s Ark.

Schindler’s Ark is a biographical novel by Thomas Keneally about Oskar Schindler, a Nazi who saved 1,200 Jews. It won the 1982 Booker Prize, gained fame through Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film Schindler’s List, and was featured on the 2022 ‘Big Jubilee Read’ list.

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Three

What was the name of the balsa-wood raft used by Thor Heyerdahl to cross the Pacific in 1947?

Answer: Kon-Tiki.

The Kon-Tiki expedition, led by Thor Heyerdahl in 1947, was a raft journey from South America to Polynesia. Funded by private loans and U.S. Army equipment, Heyerdahl and five companions sailed 6,900 km on a balsa log raft, landing safely at Raroia after 101 days, inspiring a book and films.

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Four

The flag shown above is from an archipelago of nine major islands, which is an autonomous region of a European country. It is named for the northern goshawk, although it is thought unlikely that the bird nested or hunted there, as there were no prey animals until sheep were introduced. What is the name of the archipelago?

Answer: Azores.

The Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, consists of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. Known for its mild climate, the region’s economy relies on agriculture, dairy farming, livestock, fishing, and tourism. Mount Pico is Portugal’s highest point. The Azores are seismically active at the Azores triple junction where the Eurasian, Nubian and North American tectonic plates meet.

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Five

In an Alfred Hitchcock film starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, Stewart’s character is confined to a wheelchair. What is the film?

Answer: Rear Window.

Rear Window, shot almost entirely from one room, is considered one of Hitchcock’s best films and one of the greatest ever made. Confined to his apartment, photojournalist Jeff (James Stewart) observes his neighbours, including Thorwald, who he suspects of murdering his wife. Jeff enlists the help of his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) and girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) to investigate. It received four Academy Award nominations and was added to the United States National Film Registry.

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Doctor Skaro

Doctor Skaro is, I confess, a bit misleading. Skaro is the home planet of the Daleks, the highly xenophobic, violent, merciless, and pitiless cyborg aliens from the long-running BBC television programme Doctor Who, but neither the title nor the theme has anything to do with their home planet or the Doctor. Doctor Skaro is cryptic. If you ‘doctor’ the word ‘Skaro’, that is, treat it as an anagram and rearrange the letters, you’ll find ‘in part a relevant literary character’: Oskar from question two, Oskar Schindler. Today’s answers begin with the letters O, S, K, A, R.

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