Category: Pursuit of the Trivial

The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below. I have included the question simply for your information.

1. Willem van Ruytenburch, dressed in yellow, is depicted in a 1642 Rembrandt painting titled similarly to a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. What two words which form the novel’s title are also present in the painting’s title?
   • Night Watch—Rembrandt’s The Night Watch depicts a civic guard company, while Terry Pratchett’s novel follows Sir Samuel Vimes and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.

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2. One was the Bond girl Solitaire, and the other was Henry VIII’s third wife. What was their shared name, first and last?
   • Jane Seymour—Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, died of postnatal complications after giving birth to Edward VI. Jane Seymour, born Joyce Frankenberg, is a British actress known for roles in film and television. A Bond girl, she played psychic Solitaire in Live and Let Die (1973).

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3. What crow is also the name of a Tchaikovsky ballet?
   • Nutcracker—The nutcracker genus, Nucifraga, comprises four species of passerine birds in the Corvidae family. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet, The Nutcracker, is based on Alexandre Dumas’s short story and features a nutcracker doll. The ballet’s score, particularly its use of the celesta, has become famous and is widely performed.

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4. What name links a London gunmaker, which is over 200-years old, and a character in The New Avengers, a British television series from the 1970s?
   • Purdey—James Purdey & Sons, a British gunmaker based in London, specialises in high-end bespoke sporting shotguns and rifles. The company holds Royal Warrants of appointment as gun and rifle makers to the British and other European royal families. Purdey, played by Joanna Lumley, was a spy working for British Intelligence in The New Avengers, a British television series in the seventies.

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5. The Royal Guardsmen’s song “_ vs. the Red Baron” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1966. The fictional character missing from the song title became a mascot for aerospace safety in 1969 and has often since been associated with NASA. Can you name the character?
   • Snoopy—The Royal Guardsmen are an American band with several snoopy related hits. Snoopy has been associated with NASA since the Apollo era, inspiring generations to dream big about space exploration. During Artemis I, Snoopy will serve as the zero-gravity indicator, symbolising the journey to the Moon. This partnership continues to promote STEM education and excitement about space exploration. (Snoopy/NASA)

Today’s trivia features a variety of questions without multiple-choice options, requiring you to come up with the answers yourself.

1. Willem van Ruytenburch, dressed in yellow, is depicted in a 1642 Rembrandt painting titled similarly to a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. What two words, which form the novel’s title, are also present in the painting’s title?
2. One was the Bond girl Solitaire, and the other was Henry VIII’s third wife. What was their shared name, first and last?
3. What crow is also the name of a Tchaikovsky ballet?
4. What name links a London gunmaker, which is over 200-years old, and a character in The New Avengers, a British television series from the 1970s?
5. The Royal Guardsmen’s song “_ vs. the Red Baron” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1966. The fictional character missing from the song title became a mascot for aerospace safety in 1969 and has often since been associated with NASA. Can you name the character?