Today’s questions have a musical connection and each answer features at least one musical instrument or musician.
Landscape with Swagman (also known as The swagman’s camp by a billabong), Gordon Coutts, 1889. Image Wikipedia
One
Spider Murphy played the …, Little Joe was blowin’ on the …. The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang, The whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.
Which two musical instruments are missing from this excerpt of Jailhouse Rock?
Two
What musical instrument features in the title of a musical film starring Roy Orbison: The Fastest … Alive?
Three
Charlie, a young English actress, is the title character of which John le Carré novel?
Four
What was the title of Elton John’s first number one album on the UK Albums Chart?
Five
Who composed Waltzing Matilda, the song widely regarded as Australia’s unofficial national anthem?
In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a Hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
What one word has been omitted from the above opening lines which were first published in 1937?
Answer: Hobbit
The openings words from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937).
Two
The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
The second book of an unusual trilogy begins with the above lines. What is the title of this book? How many books did the creator of this work write in the ‘trilogy’?
Answer: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Five (books)
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a ‘trilogy of five books’ by Douglas Adams with a sixth book written by Eoin Colfer.
Three
It was a pleasure to …
In Ray Bradbury’ Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, the protagonist, was responsible for the opening sentence. What four-letter word completes it?
Answer: Burn
Montag is a fireman. In the world depicted in Fahrenheit 451 firemen are employed to burn books which are illegal to own. Disillusioned with his role as a censor and destroyer of knowledge, Montag eventually quits his job and dedicates himself to preserving literary and cultural writings.
Four
Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.
Who was the subject of this opening sentence (the name has been removed from the above quote) from Ulysses by James Joyce?
Answer: Buck Mulligan
Ulysses by James Joyce, follows the lives of three Dubliners over a single day, 16 June 1904, now celebrated annually as Bloomsday by its fans.
LOG ENTRY: SOL 6 I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion. Fucked. — The Martian by Andy Weir
The opening lines of The Martian are displayed above. Who was the American astronaut writing this log entry?
Answer: Mark Watney
Andy Weir’s 2011 science fiction debut, ‘The Martian’, began as a serialised blog post before Crown Publishing Group acquired and re-released it in 2014. The novel follows Mark Watney, an American astronaut stranded alone on Mars in 2035, who must use his ingenuity to survive. Ridley Scott’s 2015 film adaptation, starring Matt Damon, is based on the novel. Drew Goddard wrote the screenplay, and 20th Century Fox distributed it. Both the novel and film depict the astronaut’s struggle for survival and NASA’s rescue mission.
Here are five questions about the opening lines of books.
One
In a hole in the ground there lived a …. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a …-hole, and that means comfort.
What one word has been omitted from the above opening lines which were first published in 1937?
Two
The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
The second book of an unusual trilogy begins with the above lines. What is the title of this book? How many books did the creator of this work write in the ‘trilogy’?
Three
It was a pleasure to …
In Ray Bradbury’ Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag, the protagonist, was responsible for the opening sentence. What four-letter word completes it?
Four
Stately, plump … came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.
Who was the subject of this opening sentence (the name has been removed from the above quote) from Ulysses by James Joyce?
Five
LOG ENTRY: SOL 6 I’m pretty much fucked. That’s my considered opinion. Fucked. — The Martian by Andy Weir
The opening lines of The Martian are displayed above. Who was the American astronaut writing this log entry?
The person known as the Man in the Iron Mask was an unidentified prisoner of state during Louis XIV’s reign. His imprisonment was kept secret, leading to a long-lasting legend about his identity. Warranted for arrest on 19 July 1669 as ‘Eustache Dauger’, he was apprehended near Calais on 28 July, incarcerated on 24 August, and held for 34 years in four successive French prisons, including the Bastille. He died there on 19 November 1703, and his burial certificate bore the name of ‘Marchioly’, leading historians to conclude he was Italian diplomat Ercole Antonio Mattioli.
Two
Complete this Nevil Shute novel’s title: On the …?
Answer: Beach
Nevil Shute’s 1957 apocalyptic novel On the Beach follows a diverse group of people in Melbourne as they brace for the arrival of deadly radiation from the Northern Hemisphere. This radiation follows a nuclear war that occurred some years earlier. As the radiation draws nearer each character grapples with their impending death in their own unique way.
Three
In what story did John Le Carre first introduce the character of George Smiley?
Answer: Call for the Dead
John le Carré’s first novel, Call for the Dead (1961), introduces George Smiley and the fictional ‘Circus‘ based on MI6.
Four
What author was accused of obscenity after the 1915 publication of The Rainbow?
Answer: D.H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence’s novel The Rainbow, first published by Methuen & Co. in 1915, explores three generations of the Brangwen family in Nottinghamshire. It delves into their individual struggles for growth and fulfilment within the constraints of English social life. Lawrence’s Women in Love (1920) is the sequel and continues the story of the Brangwen family.
Five
TRUE! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?
Who wrote the short story which opens with the above sentence?
Answer: Edgar Allan Poe
TRUE! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story. — First paragraph of The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe, 1843. Poe Stories
The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story about a narrator who murders an old man with a “vulture-eye” and hides the body. The narrator’s sanity is questioned as they hear a thumping sound, believing it to be the dead man’s beating heart.
Thomas Hart Benton’s 1948 painting Poker Night depicts a scene from which Tennessee Williams play?
Answer: A Streetcar Named Desire
Two
What skill can be called funambulism?
Answer: Tightrope walking
Three
A ribauldequin was a type of musical instrument. Is this true or false?
Answer: False
It was a type of multiple barrelled gun
Four
The Taj Mahal is located on the south bank of what river?
Answer: Yamuna
The Taj Mahal, an ivory-white marble mausoleum in Agra, India, was commissioned by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1631 to house the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Five
Who is the world’s best-selling fiction writer?
Answer: Agatha Christie
The world’s best-selling fiction writer is the late Dame Agatha Christie (née Miller, later Lady Mallowan, 1890–1976), whose 78 crime novels have sold an estimated 2 billion copies in 44 languages. Agatha Christie (UK) also wrote 19 plays and, under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, six romantic novels. Royalty earnings are estimated to be worth millions per year.
An alphabetical list begins with the numbers 2, 6 and 21. The surname “2” starts with “A” and includes “John” somewhere in the name. What is the subject of this list and which names (their full names as commonly known) are associated with these three numbers in this context?
Answer: Presidents of the US. John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Chester A. Arthur
The second, sixth and twenty-first presidents of the US listed alphabetically by their surnames, ie, Adams, Adams and Arthur.
Two
Tanner, Bob, Florin and … were names for various coins used in pre-decimal currency in the UK. The fourth coin in this ascending list is missing but it’s the sum of two already listed. Can you name it and give the face value in old pence (d) for each of the four coins?
Answer: Half-crown. 6d, 12d, 24d and 30d
Tanner (aka sixpence) 6d (2.5p) Bob (shilling) 12d (5p) Florin (two bob or two shillings) 24d (10p) Half-crown (two shillings and sixpence or 2/6 (pronounced ’2 and 6’)) 30d (12.5p) Old British currency was known as pounds, shillings and pence or ’l.s.d.’ from Latin librae ( ‘pounds’), solidi, denarii (both denoting Roman coins).
Three
Arrange these capital cities by latitude from north to south: Baku, Azerbaijan; Beijing, China; London, UK; Ottawa, Canada; and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Answer: London, UK; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Ottawa, Canada; Baku, Azerbaijan and Beijing, China
London Coordinates: 51°30′26″N Ulaanbaatar Coordinates: 47°55′19″N Ottawa Coordinates: 45°25′29″N Baku Coordinates: 40°23′43″N Beijing Coordinates 39°54′24″N
Four
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Gosford Park; and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers These films were all nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award but none of them won it. Put them in chronological order of the year of their release?
Answer: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Gosford Park, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released 2000; Gosford Park, 2001 and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2002.
An alphabetical list begins with the numbers 2, 6 and 21. The surname “2” starts with “A” and includes “John” somewhere in the name. What is the subject of this list and which names (their full names as commonly known) are associated with these three numbers in this context?
Two
Tanner, Bob, Florin and … were names for various coins used in pre-decimal currency in the UK. The fourth coin in this ascending list is missing but it’s the sum of two already listed. Can you name it and give the face value in old pence (d) for each of the four coins?
Three
Arrange these capital cities by latitude from north to south: Baku, Azerbaijan; Beijing, China; London, UK; Ottawa, Canada; and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Four
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Gosford Park; and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. These films were all nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award but none of them won it. Put them in chronological order of the year of their release?
Today there are five questions relating to various lists.
Taylor Swift Eras Tour – Arlington Texas, US. Image Wikipedia
One
Here’s a chronological list of studio albums released since 2017: Reputation, Lover, … Evermore. Who released these and which album is missing?
Answer: Taylor Swift and Folklore
Swift released the studio album Folklore in 2020.
Two
…, Aconcagua, Denali. This is the second and third items in a list of seven. What’s the first?
Answer: Everest
It is a list of the highest peaks the on seven continents: Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, Mount Wilhelm. There are variations to this list depending on definition used but the first five peaks remain the same regardless of definition.
Three
Which film follows in this list from an ‘official’ film series: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice? Secondly, who played the main protagonist in this film?
Answer: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and George Lazenby
This was Lazenby’s only outing as Bond.
Four
Out of the 193 member states of the United Nations, nine follow Oman and precede Qatar in alphabetical order. Can you name as many of these nine as you can?
Answer: Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland and Portugal
The Rolling Stones in July 1963. From left: Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Keith Richards. Image Wikipedia
Five
The Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia agree on the first stable lineup of this group. Listed alphabetically by surname, they are Mick Jagger, …, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman. Who is missing from second place in this list?
Answer: Brian Jones
Formed in London as an alliance between Jagger, Richards, and multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones along with Watts and bassist Bill Wyman, the Stones began as a grubby conclave of students and bohemians playing a then-esoteric music based on Chicago blues in pubs and clubs in and around West London. Their potential for mass-market success seemed negligible at first, but by 1965 they were second to the Beatles in the collective affection of teenage Britain. — Encyclopædia Britannica
