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?
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reticulated python is the only snake with verified human consumption, prompting a 2015 US import ban later partially rescinded.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?
The Mary Rose as depicted in the Anthony Roll of the 1540s. Image Wikimedia Commons
The first question relates to today’s date. The others aren’t date-related but build on the theme established in the first.
One
This English carrack-type warship, built for the king’s navy and involved in a battle with the French that resulted in its sinking in the Solent on 19 July 1545, had its wreck rediscovered by salvagers in 1971, ultimately leading to the opening of a museum dedicated to its history at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2013. What is the warship’s name and for what king’s navy was it built?
Answers: Mary Rose; Henry VIII.
On this day in 1545, Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, sank during the Battle of the Solent. A sudden gust of wind flooded seawater through its open gunports, tragically resulting in the loss of over 400 crew members. Centuries later, the remarkably preserved wreck was rediscovered in the English Channel. It has since become one of the world’s most significant underwater archaeological finds.
Two
Although not the first such instance the action of soldiers and sailors during the 1852 sinking of HMS Birkenhead made which maritime protocol more prominent?
Answer: Women and children first.
‘Women and children first’ is an unofficial code prioritising their safety in life-threatening situations, like shipwrecks, due to limited resources. Celebrated as a chivalric ideal in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was notably invoked during the HMS Birkenhead evacuation, SS Central America sinking, and Titanic disaster, though unevenly applied. The protocol is sometimes described as ‘Birkenhead Drill’.
Three
What 1960 musical and 1964 musical film told the story of a woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic?
Answer: The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It originated as a 1960 musical with music and lyrics by Meredith Willson and a book by Richard Morris. In 1964, it was adapted into an American Western musical comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Debbie Reynolds, filmed in Panavision. The screenplay by Helen Deutsch is based on the musical’s book, and the song score was composed by Meredith Willson. Reynolds received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of Brown.
Four
What ship did Ernest Shackleton and his Trans-Antarctic Expedition lose in 1915 when it was crushed by ice and sank?
Answer: Endurance.
Endurance, originally Polaris, was a three-masted barquentine used by Ernest Shackleton for the 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Built in 1912, it sank in 1915 after being trapped in ice. All crew survived. The wreck was found in 2022 at a depth of 3,008 metres and is a protected historic site.
Five
Which US state’s name completes this: the 1864 Battle of Cherbourg is also known as the Sinking of CSS…?
Answer: Alabama.
The CSS Alabama, a Confederate sloop-of-war built in 1862, was a successful commerce raider under Captain Raphael Semmes. It captured or sank 68 Union ships in just 22 months across the Atlantic, West Indies, and East Indies. On June 19, 1864, the USS Kearsarge sank the Alabama during the Battle of Cherbourg, France.
That Sinking Feeling.
The post title is an idiom meaning a feeling that something bad is going to happen. In today’s post, it is simply a play on words regarding the ‘sinking’ theme of the questions.
The ? as depicted in the Anthony Roll of the 1540s. See question one. Image Wikimedia Commons
The first question relates to today’s date. The others aren’t date-related but build on the theme established in the first.
One
This English carrack-type warship, built for the king’s navy and involved in a battle with the French that resulted in its sinking in the Solent on 19 July 1545, had its wreck rediscovered by salvagers in 1971, ultimately leading to the opening of a museum dedicated to its history at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2013. What is the warship’s name and for what king’s navy was it built?
Two
Although not the first such instance the action of soldiers and sailors during the 1852 sinking of HMS Birkenhead made which maritime protocol more prominent?
Three
What 1960 musical and 1964 musical film told the story of a woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic?
Four
What ship did Ernest Shackleton and his Trans-Antarctic Expedition lose in 1915 when it was crushed by ice and sank?
Five
Which US state’s name completes this: the 1864 Battle of Cherbourg is also known as the Sinking of CSS…?
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. See question three. Image Lucasfilm
Today’s answers are all fictional places
One
In the 2000 film, in what fictional town did Billy Elliot live?
Answer: Everington.
In 1984, 11-year-old Billy Elliot from the fictional town of Everington in County Durham secretly pursues ballet despite his father’s disapproval. With support from his dance teacher and community, Billy auditions for the Royal Ballet School. Accepted in 1985, he later performs Swan Lake, watched proudly by his family.
Two
Where is home to all of these fictional characters Magrat Garlick, Corporal Buggy Swires and Professor A.A. Dinwiddie?
Answer: Discworld.
The witch Magrat Garlick was the original Maiden in the Lancre coven with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. She is a gentle parody of New Age pagans, believing in crystals and folk wisdom. Corporal Buggy Swires, a gnome with a tough personality, leads the Ankh-Morpork City Watch’s Airborne Section. He uses birds for reconnaissance and messaging. Professor Dinwiddie, a quiet and reserved individual, became the Unseen University’s Bursar due to his affinity for numbers and less competition for the role.
Three
At the start of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana meets singer Willie Scott in a nightclub which is named after a character from another Harrison Ford franchise, although not his character. What is its name?
Answer: Club Obi Wan.
Club Obi Wan, a Shanghai hideaway for the wealthy, was a nightclub, brothel, and gaming establishment. It featured fine furnishings, decorations, and entertainment and was the headquarters of Lao Che’s criminal enterprises. It was named after Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Four
In Tolkien’s Middle-Earth Ered Luin, also known as Ered Lindon or Mountains of Lune, became the new home for Durin’s Folk who were exiled by Smaug the Dragon. What two-word term, which includes a primary colour, is Ered Luin known as in English?
Answer: Blue Mountains.
After the Two Lamps fell, the Blue Mountains formed Arda’s western wall. Dwarven Fathers founded Nogrod and Belegost under Mount Dolmed. In the First Age, they separated Eriador from Beleriand. Ruined in the War of Wrath, the mountains split, forming the Gulf of Lune. Dwarves later settled in the east. Exiled from Erebor by Smaug, Durin’s Folk found refuge under the Blue Mountains. King Thráin II established a throne there, succeeded by his son Thorin. Prosperous during Thorin’s reign, many Longbeards joined. Erebor was retaken in T.A. 2941, likely prompting most of Durin’s Folk to return.
Five
What is the fictional prison in the Harry Potter films and where is it located?
Answer: Azkeban; (somewhere in the) North Sea.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Azkaban is located ‘somewhere in the North Sea’. It serves as a prison for British and Irish wizarding criminals, guarded by Dementors who cause inmates to lose happiness and often starve. Sirius Black was the first person to escape. After Voldemort, Kingsley Shacklebolt abolishes the Dementors at Azkaban.
Everywhere to Anywhere
The post title was a bit of a hint to the answers going from Everywhere (E) to Anywhere (A) — the first five letters of the alphabet in reverse: E, D, C, B and A.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. See question three. Image Lucasfilm
Today’s answers are all fictional places
One
In the 2000 film, in what fictional town did Billy Elliot live?
Two
Where is home to all of these fictional characters Magrat Garlick, Corporal Buggy Swires and Professor A.A. Dinwiddie?
Three
At the start of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana meets singer Willie Scott in a nightclub which is named after a character from another Harrison Ford franchise, although not his character. What is its name?
Four
In Tolkien’s Middle-Earth Ered Luin, also known as Ered Lindon or Mountains of Lune, became the new home for Durin’s Folk who were exiled by Smaug the Dragon. What two-word term, which includes a primary colour, is Ered Luin known as in English?
Five
What is the fictional prison in the Harry Potter films and where is it located?
