These are not date-related but there is a theme at the End of the Line.
One
What word means “an explanation of the history of a particular word”?
Two
This Skoda compact SUV, named after a cryptozoological creature, was superseded by both the Karoq and the Kamiq?
Three
The Kabul River originates in the Hindu Kush mountains and flows 700 kilometres to empty into the … What is the watery destination missing from the end of the above statement?
Four
This fictional Great Dane first graced our screens in 1969 and continues to be a beloved figure on television and in both live-action and animated films. Who is this remarkable dog?
Five
Peter Cullen, Tesshō Genda and others have voiced which character from a media franchise that started with toys in the 1980s and has since spawned at least a dozen films?
Tomb of the unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile, Paris. Image Wikimedia Commons
Today’s questions are not date-related. Hopefully, you’ll be saying ‘aargh’ before it is finished.
One
An eternal flame burns in Paris to honour unidentified casualties from both world wars. Where is it located?
Answer: Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile (aka Arc de Triomphe).
Beneath the Arc lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. Buried on Armistice Day 1920, an eternal flame honours the unidentified dead (now from both world wars). In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy honoured the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier alongside President Charles de Gaulle. Following the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy recalled the eternal flame at the Arc de Triomphe and asked for a similar flame beside her husband’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Two
Jesus and the Apostles are believed to have spoken … — Encyclopædia Britannica
What language completes the above sentence from Encyclopædia Britannica?
Answer: Aramaic.
Aramaic, a Semitic language linked to Hebrew, Syriac and Phoenician, spread from the Aramaeans via Assyrians and Babylonians, becoming the Achaemenian official language before Greek replaced it. It replaced Hebrew among Jews, appears in Daniel, Ezra and the Talmuds, was spoken by Jesus and the Apostles, and lasted until Arabic displaced it around 650 CE.
Three
A US group released Blitzkrieg Bop as their first single in 1976, while Baby, I Love You became their most successful UK track. What is the band’s name?
Answer: Ramones.
Released in February 1976, Blitzkrieg Bop is the Ramones’ debut single and opening track on their first album. Written by Tommy and Dee Dee Ramone, its chant became a global rallying cry. Baby, I Love You was first recorded by the Ronettes in 1963. Phil Spector produced the Ramones cover version of the song which appeared on their album, End of the Century (1980). The single reached number eight in the UK Singles Chart in 1980, their biggest UK top-ten hit.
Four
What 1992 film starring Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon depicts two days in the lives of four real-estate salesmen?
Answer: Glengarry Glen Ross.
Directed by James Foley and written by David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross follows four salesmen facing dismissal threats from Blake. Critically acclaimed, Jack Lemmon won the Volpi Cup and Al Pacino received award nominations, but the film grossed $10.7 million against a $12.5 million budget.
Five
Before the 1947 partition created India and Pakistan, what historic Persian-derived name was commonly used for the Indian subcontinent—especially its northern regions—and is still sometimes used as a poetic or cultural name for India today?
Answer: Hindustan.
The name Hindustan comes from the Persian word Hind (India) combined with the suffix -stan, meaning “land.” Although it once referred broadly to much of northern India or the Indian subcontinent, today it is mainly used in historical, literary, and cultural contexts rather than as India’s official name.
Aargh
The post title is an exclamation ‘used as an expression of anguish, horror, rage, or other strong emotion, often with humorous intent’. It is used here to provide the initial letters of the answers
Today’s questions are not date-related. Hopefully, you’ll be saying ‘aargh’ before it is finished.
One
An eternal flame burns in Paris to honour unidentified casualties from both world wars. Where is it located?
Two
Jesus and the Apostles are believed to have spoken … — Encyclopædia Britannica
What language completes the above sentence from Encyclopædia Britannica?
Three
A US group released Blitzkrieg Bop as their first single in 1976, while Baby, I Love You became their most successful UK track. What is the band’s name?
Four
What 1992 film starring Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon depicts two days in the lives of four real-estate salesmen?
Five
Before the 1947 partition created India and Pakistan, what historic Persian-derived name was commonly used for the Indian subcontinent—especially its northern regions—and is still sometimes used as a poetic or cultural name for India today?
Jaws film poster, 1975 (cropped). See question one. Image Wikimedia Commons
Today’s questions are not date-related but the answers are consistant with the title.
One
Who wrote the book Jaws, which gave great white sharks such a bad reputation?
Answer: Peter Benchley.
Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel Jaws, commissioned by Doubleday, depicts a great white shark attacking a Long Island town and three men hunting it. A marketing campaign drove success, though reviews were mixed. Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown bought film rights; Steven Spielberg directed the 1975 adaptation, which became the first summer blockbuster. Three sequels followed.
Two
In the human body, what is produced from the sudoriferous (or sudoriparous) glands?
Answer: Perspiration.
The human body has two types of sudoriferous glands: Eccrine glands across much of the body secrete watery sweat for thermoregulation via evaporation, reaching up to 2–4 litres per hour in adults. Apocrine glands in limited areas, mainly the axillae (armpits) and perineal area, produce oily secretions that gain odour from bacteria.
Three
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, 70% of a species of big cat live in Amazonia. This cat’s binomial name fits into today’s theme: what is that binomial name and what is its normal English name?
Answer: Panthera onca; Jaguar.
The jaguar is the Americas’ largest cat, a solitary apex predator with a powerful bite. Its range spans from the Southwestern United States to northern Argentina. Listed as Near Threatened since 2002, it faces habitat loss and poaching; conservation focuses on 51 Jaguar Conservation Units.
Four
Erle Stanley Gardner wrote more than 80 novels based on what character?
Answer: Perry Mason
Perry Mason, devised by Erle Stanley Gardner and drawing on Earl Rogers, is a fictional attorney featured in 82 novels and four short stories who exonerates clients accused of murder. Adaptations span films, radio, television with Raymond Burr and Monte Markham’s series, 30 television films, and HBO with Matthew Rhys.
Five
Who was ‘the Gardener’s Daughter’ on Elvis Presley’s album Frankie and Johnny?
Answer: Petunia.
Released in April 1966, Elvis Presley’s twelfth soundtrack album Frankie and Johnny features Dixieland and ragtime styles. Recorded in Hollywood in May 1965, it reached number 20 and was certified Gold and Platinum in 2004.
Can I have a ‘P’ please, Bob?
This relates to the television quiz programme Blockbusters, where contestants would ask the host Bob Holness for a letter.
The phrasing that contestants would use to ask for a letter has entered the language and is frequently heard to this day. It is also the source of a pun – “Can I have a ‘P’ please, Bob?”; ‘having a pee’ being slang for urinating. — Wikipedia
Jaws film poster, 1975 (cropped). See question one. Image Wikimedia Commons
Today’s questions are not date-related but the answers are consistant with the title.
One
Who wrote the book Jaws, which gave great white sharks such a bad reputation?
Two
In the human body, what is produced from the sudoriferous (or sudoriparous) glands?
Three
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, 70% of a species of big cat live in Amazonia. This cat’s binomial name fits into today’s theme: what is that binomial name and what is its normal English name?
Four
Erle Stanley Gardner wrote more than 80 novels based on what character?
Five
Who was ‘the Gardener’s Daughter’ on Elvis Presley’s album Frankie and Johnny?
Five random questions today, neither date-related nor themed.
One
In the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien, who are said to be the inhabitants of Bree?
Answer: Big Folk and Hobbits.
Bree, east of the Shire, is the only Hobbit and Man settlement in Bree-land, inspired by the English village of Brill and Tolkien’s linguistics. The Prancing Pony in Bree is where Frodo’s use of the ring brings him to the attention of Aragorn and the Black Riders.
Two
What is the world’s longest snake?
Answer: Reticulated Python.
The reticulated python is the only snake with verified human consumption, prompting a 2015 US import ban later partially rescinded. Documented fatalities and consumption of humans are recorded from 1638 to 2026, these are mainly in Indonesia.
Three
What is the nearest star to our Sun?
Answer: Proxima Centauri.
Proxima Centauri, discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes, is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun, located 4.25 light-years away in Centaurus. A red dwarf which will remain a main-sequence star for four trillion years. Proxima Centauri has two confirmed exoplanets: Proxima Centauri b and Proxima Centauri d.
Four
In Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Wednesday is revealed to be an incarnation of what God?
Answer: Odin.
Neil Gaiman’s 2001 fantasy novel American Gods centres on Shadow and won Hugo and Nebula awards. A 2011 expanded edition, audio versions and a 2017 Folio Society edition followed. It was adapted for television in 2017 with Gaiman as executive producer.
Five
Which character from television’s Friends is also a moon of the planet Saturn?
Answer: Phoebe.
Phoebe Buffay is a main character in Friends, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and played by Lisa Kudrow. Phoebe, Saturn’s largest irregular satellite, was discovered photographically by William Henry Pickering in 1899. Cassini’s 2004 flyby enabled detailed study. Its retrograde orbit places it in the Norse group.
The first question relates to today’s date, 21 July. The remainder are neither date-related nor themed.
One
The ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’, which came to a conclusion on 21 July 1925 centred on whether a high school teacher had violated a state law by teaching what scientific theory?
Answer: The theory of evolution by natural selection.
The Scopes Trial took place in Dayton, Tennessee, after teacher John T. Scopes was accused of violating the state’s Butler Act, which prohibited teaching human evolution in public schools. Although Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 (a conviction later overturned on ##a technicality), the trial became an international symbol of the clash between modern science and religious fundamentalism. It also featured a celebrated courtroom confrontation between prosecutor William Jennings Bryan and defence attorney Clarence Darrow.
Two
What was the first man-made object to reach the surface of the Moon, and in what year did it do so?
Answer: Luna 2; 1959.
The Soviet Union’s Luna 2 launched on 12 September 1959 became the following day the first spacecraft to impact the Moon, depositing Soviet emblems and detecting no magnetic field or radiation belts. Nikita S. Khrushchev gave a replica pennant to Dwight D. Eisenhower; it is held in his Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas.
Three
A fish found off East Africa in 1938 was of a species which had existed from more than 410 million years ago until it was believed to have become extinct around 66 million years ago. What is this fish?
Answer: Coelacanth.
Coelacanths are an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia. As sarcopterygians, they are more closely related to lungfish and tetrapods (the terrestrial vertebrates including living amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) than to ray-finned fish. There is only a single living genus, Latimeria, with two described species. The name coelacanth originates from the Permian genus Coelacanthus. Thought extinct 66 million years ago, Latimeria chalumnae was found in 1938, and Latimeria menadoensis in the late 1990s. Despite being called ‘living fossils’, fossil studies show diverse ancient forms, challenging this status.
Four
Mel Gibson’s title character fights a motorcycle gang led by Toecutter in which 1979 film?
Answer: Mad Max.
In a near-future Australia, oil shortages and ecocide undermine order. Nightrider kills a Main Force Patrol officer and escapes in a Pursuit Special until Max Rockatansky forces a fatal crash, killing Nightrider and his girlfriend.
Five
What is the northernmost geographic location in the United States?
Answer: Point Barrow.
Point Barrow, or Nuvuk, is Alaska and the U.S.’S northernmost point. It is at 71°23′20″N 156°28′45″W and is 9 miles northeast of Utqiagvik and 1,122 nautical miles south of the North Pole. It separates the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
The first question relates to today’s date, 21 July. The remainder are neither date-related nor themed.
One
The ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’, which came to a conclusion on 21 July 1925 centred on whether a high school teacher had violated a state law by teaching what scientific theory?
Two
What was the first man-made object to reach the surface of the Moon, and in what year did it do so?
Three
A fish found off East Africa in 1938 was of a species which had existed from more than 410 million years ago until it was believed to have become extinct around 66 million years ago. What is this fish?
Four
Mel Gibson’s title character fights a motorcycle gang led by Toecutter in which 1979 film?
Five
What is the northernmost geographic location in the United States?
Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11, 20 July 1969. Image ABC News
The first question relates to today’s date, 20 July. The remainder, which are not date-related, follow on a theme from the first.
One
I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way. — Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 on the Lunar surface, 20 July 1969
Why did Buzz Aldrin choose not to mention over the radio that he was taking Holy Communion on the Moon before the first moonwalk?
Answer: NASA was avoiding public religious broadcasts
After controversy surrounding the Apollo 8 crew’s reading from the Book of Genesis, NASA was avoiding public religious broadcasts. Aldrin Consequently observed Communion privately without mentioning it on air; instead, prior to taking Communion, Aldrin invited everyone listening to ‘pause for a moment’ and ‘give thanks in his or her own way’. His Communion kit was prepared by his pastor at Webster Presbyterian Church in Texas, which still commemorates the event using the chalice which was used on the Moon each year on the Sunday closest to 20 July.
Two
The god Khnum was once regarded as the guardian of the source of which river?
Answer: River Nile.
Khnum, an early Egyptian deity from Upper Egypt, was linked to the Nile cataract and responsible for its annual inundation. Known as the creator of human bodies and the life force ka, he used a potter’s wheel. Worshipped from the First Dynasty, his main cult centre was Herwer, later Elephantine. Khnum, depicted with ram horns symbolising fertility and rebirth, evolved from horizontally spiralled to down-turned horns in the New Kingdom. His imagery includes a crocodile head, representing Nile dominion, and he wears the atef crown or the white crown of Upper Egypt.
Three
The Rehat Maryada is a code of conduct in which religion, founded in the late 15th century?
Answer: Sikhism.
Originating in the 15th century within the Punjab region, Sikhism is a monotheistic faith shaped by Guru Nanak and nine subsequent leaders. The tradition highlights belief in one creator, equality, selfless service, and honest behaviour. Since 1699, Sikhs have regarded the Guru Granth Sahib as their eternal guide.
Four
In ancient myth, what God was the father of Heracles?
Answer: Zeus.
Heracles, a divine Greek hero and son of Zeus, was the greatest of Greek heroes and ancestor of the Heracleidae. Known as Hercules in Rome, he championed the Olympian order against monsters. Roman emperors like Commodus and Maximian identified with him, and his cult was adapted to Rome.
Five
William and Catherine Booth established an organisation in 1865 that functions as both a Methodist Christian church and an international charity. What is this organisation, and what is its motto?
Answer: Salvation Army; Blood and Fire.
The Salvation Army, founded in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth, is a Methodist Christian church and international charity with over 1.7 million members in 133 countries. It provides physical and spiritual aid, operates charity shops, shelters, and disaster relief. General Lyndon Buckingham leads as of 2023.
Quizology.Online 
