Tag: literature

W is for… | Answers

Dastardly and Muttley.
Image Pinterest

One

In what television programme did the above characters first appear?

Answer: Wacky Races

Dick Dastardly is a fictional character and the main antagonist in various animated series by Hanna-Barbera Productions Wacky Races and its spin-off Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. The first appearance was in 1969. He is known for his catchphrases ’Muttley, do something!‘; ‘Curses, foiled again!’; ‘Drat, and double drat!’; or even ‘Triple dat!’.

Wellington, New Zealand.
Image Wikipedia

Two

41°17′20″S is the latitude of the World’s windiest city. What is the city?

Answer: Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, the world’s windiest city, by average wind speed—it is also the world’s southernmost capital. It is a cultural hub with a diverse, youth-driven culture, known for its film industry, financial services and livability. The city’s economy is service-based, with a focus on finance, business, government and technology.

Kate Bush, 1985.
Image Wikipedia

Three

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy

The quote above is a line in the chorus of what song?

Answer: Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is Kate Bush’s debut single, released in 1978. It spent four weeks at number one in the UK and was the first number-one single by a female artist to be entirely self-written. Kate Bush wrote in a few hours after seeing the 1967 BBC adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, which she had not read. Subsequently reading the novel she discovered she shared her birthday with Emily Brontë.
Lyrics are shown at the end of the post.

Tungsten (Wolfram).
Image Wikipedia

Four

The chemical element Tungsten has the symbol ‘W’. What word does this symbol represent?

Answer: Wolfram

Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. It is known for its high melting and boiling points, density, and hardness, making it useful in various applications such as light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes and tungsten carbide. Tungsten is also found in some biomolecules, though it can be toxic to most animal life.

Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
Watercolour by Alfred Jacob Miller, c 1858-1860.
Image Wikipedia

Five

This US State has a northern border with Montana and a southern border with Colorado. What state is it?

Answer: Wyoming

Wyoming is a landlocked state in the Mountain West, bordered by several states including Montana to the north and Colorado to the south. It is the least populous state despite being the 10th largest, with a semi-arid to continental climate and a significant portion of its land owned by the federal government.

Wuthering Heights

Kate Bush

Out on the wily, windy moors
We’d roll and fall in green
You had a temper like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy
How could you leave me
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you. I loved you, too

Bad dreams in the night
They told me I was going to lose the fight
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Ooh, it gets dark! It gets lonely
On the other side from you
I pine a lot. I find the lot
Falls through without you
I’m coming back, love
Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream
My only master

Too long I roam in the night
I’m coming back to his side, to put it right
I’m coming home to wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Ooh! Let me have it
Let me grab your soul away
Ooh! Let me have it
Let me grab your soul away
You know, it’s me – Cathy

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home. I’m so cold

– AZ Lyrics

W is for…

Continuing the alphabet theme and all today’s answers begin with the letter ‘W’.

Image Pinterest

One

In what television programme did the above characters first appear?

Two

41°17′20″S is the latitude of the World’s windiest city. What is the city?

Three

Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy

The quote above is a line in the chorus of what song?

Four

The chemical element Tungsten has the symbol ‘W’. What word does this symbol represent?

Five

This US State has a northern border with Montana and a southern border with Colorado. What state is it?


Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

V is for… | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown highlighted below.

Valentina Tereshkova, 1963.
Image Wikipedia

One

The first female to travel in space was…

Answer: Valentina Tereshkova

Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian engineer and former Soviet cosmonaut, was the first woman in space, completing a solo mission on Vostok 6 in 1963. She later became a prominent member of the Communist Party and a State Duma member.

Valentina Tereshkova, 2024.
Image Wikipedia
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone.
Image Screenrant.com

Two

A fictional patriarch who founded the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company was…

Answer: Vito Corleone

Vito Corleone, a fictional character in Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather and the subsequent film trilogy by Francis Ford Coppola, is an Italian immigrant to America who builds a Mafia empire. He is known for his strict moral code of loyalty and respect, and is succeeded by his son Michael as Don of the Corleone crime family.

Venus de Milo in the Louvre.
Image Wikipedia

Three

What sculpture in the Louvre Museum was discovered on the Greek island of Milos in 1820?

Answer: Venus de Milo

The Venus de Milo, a Parian marble statue of a Greek goddess, is likely Aphrodite. It stands over 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and is missing both arms, the left foot and earlobes. Discovered in 1820 by a Greek farmer on the island of Milos, the discovery was witnessed by a French sailor, Olivier Voutier, who encouraged further excavation. It has been in the Louvre since 1821.

Amerigo Vespucci upon his arrival on his first voyage to the New World, 1497.
Vespucci is offered native women, notice hammocks in the background. As described in Vespucci’s Letter to Soderini. description (uncertain location, prob. Central America, around Honduras or Yucatan; alternatively poss. Gulf of Paria in Venezuela).
Engraving from c.1592 by Theodor de Bry (Flemish, 1528-1598).
Image Wikipedia

Four

America is named after Amerigo who?

Answer: Vespucci (Amerigo Vespucci)

Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer and navigator, participated in voyages between 1497 and 1504, claiming to have discovered the New World in 1501. His accounts, though disputed, popularised the discoveries and led to the continent being named ‘America’ in his honour.

A Vogon guard, as seen in the 1981 TV series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
Image Hitchhikers Fandom

Five

At the start of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a ____ Constructor Fleet arrives to destroy Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass? What word is missing?

Answer: Vogon (Constructor Fleet)

The ships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet were described as ‘impossibly huge yellow somethings,’ resembling the bulldozers that demolish Arthur’s house. They appeared to have been congealed rather than constructed and hung in the air in a peculiar manner, similar to bricks. Radar was said to be unable to detect them, and they were capable of travelling through hyperspace.

V is for…

Continuing the alphabet theme and all today’s answers begin with the letter ‘V’.

Vostok 6.
Image Wikipedia

One

The first female to travel in space was…

Two

A fictional patriarch who founded the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company was…

Three

What sculpture in the Louvre Museum was discovered on the Greek island of Milos in 1820?

Four

America is named after Amerigo who?

Five

At the start of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a ___ Constructor Fleet arrives to destroy Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass? What word is missing?

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

U is for… | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown highlighted below.

The remains of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 (s/n 56-6693, msn 360) are now on display in the Central Armed Forces Museum, Moscow, Russia.
Image Wikipedia

One

On 1 May 1960, an aircraft flown by American pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory. By what short name is the aircraft commonly known?

Answer: U-2

On 1 May 1960, a US Lockheed U-2 spy plane, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Powers, was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance inside Soviet territory. The aircraft had taken off from Peshawar, Pakistan, and crashed near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) after being hit by a surface-to-air missile. Powers parachuted to the ground and was subsequently captured.

U Thant Island, in East River, New York City, in front of the UN Building.
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Two

Belmont Island, located in front of the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York City, was, in 1982, officially renamed in with a UN connection. What name was it given?

Answer: U Thant Island

U Thant Island, formerly Belmont Island, is a small artificial island in New York City’s East River. It’s the smallest island in Manhattan and is home to a colony of double-crested cormorants. Belmont Island was renamed U Thant Island on October 7, 1982, in honour of the late U Thant, a former Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Frodo Baggins.
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Three

What one word answers all of these?

  • An alias the main protagonist is told to use in The Fellowship of the Ring
  • The first human settlement on Mars in Kim Stanley Robinson‘s novel Red Mars
  • A fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin‘s short story The Rule of Names

Answer: Underhill

Underhill answered all three points in the question.

  • In JRR Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring Frodo Baggins was told by Gandalf to use the alias Mr Underhill from when he left Hobbiton and until they met up at The Prancing Pony in Bree.
  • Red Mars follows the first hundred colonists on their journey to Mars, their first settlemet, Underhill; their efforts to terraform the planet, and their struggle for independence from Earth’s control. Led by differing ideologies, the colonists debate terraforming and Mars’ relationship with Earth, ultimately leading to a revolution against Earth’s influence.
  • The Rule of Names is a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, introducing the Earthsea realm and its magic system. It features the dragon Yevaud and explains the significance of true names in Earthsea. A resident wizard is nicknamed Underhill because he lives in a cave below a hill.
Gandantegchinlen Monastery, Bayangol, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
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Four

With an average annual temperature of 0.2 °C (32.4 °F), and coldest January temperatures dropping to between −36 and −40 °C (−32.8 and −40.0 °F), which capital city holds the distinction of being the coldest in the world?

Answer: Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is the coldest capital city in the world with an average annual temperature of 0.2 °C or 32.4 °F. It was founded in 1639 as a Buddhist monastic centre and became the country’s capital in 1924, now serving as its cultural, industrial and financial hub.

The Vasari Corridor’s bridge from the Palazzo Vecchio to Uffizi.
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Five

Florence’s Vasari Corridor is a long, raised passageway that connects Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria to Palazzo Pitti. What gallery is found along its route?

Answer: Uffizi

The Vasari Corridor in Florence connects the Palazzo Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti, passing through the Uffizi Gallery. Stretching approximately one kilometre, it crosses the Arno River at Ponte Vecchio and winds through the Oltrarno district.

Vasari Corridor
Image

U is for…

Continuing the alphabet theme, today all answers begin with the letter ‘U’.

Image

One

On 1 May 1960, an aircraft flown by American pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory. By what short name is the aircraft commonly known?

Two

Belmont Island, located in front of the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York City, was, in 1982, officially renamed in with a UN connection. What name was it given?

Three

What one word answers all of these?

  • An alias the main protagonist is told to use in The Fellowship of the Ring
  • The first human settlement on Mars in Kim Stanley Robinson‘s novel Red Mars
  • A fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin‘s short story The Rule of Names

Four

With an average annual temperature of 0.2 °C (32.4 °F), and coldest January temperatures dropping to between −36 and −40 °C (−32.8 and −40.0 °F), which capital city holds the distinction of being the coldest in the world?

Five

Florence’s Vasari Corridor is a long, raised passageway that connects Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria to Palazzo Pitti. What gallery is found along its route?

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

T is for… | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown highlighted below.

The Tagus River and the Roman bridge at Alcántara, in Extremadura, Spain, built between 104 and 106 CE by an order of the Roman emperor Trajan.
Image Wikipedia

One

The 1,900-year-old Alcantara Bridge spans a river that rises in Spain’s Albarracín Mountains before travelling 626 miles (1,007 km) to empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Can you name the river?

Answer: Tagus

The Tagus, the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula, flows from its source in Spain to the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon in Portugal. The Alcántara Bridge, built between 104 and 106 CE, is a Roman stone arch bridge. It was commissioned by Emperor Trajan.

Fred Perry, on the right, with Pat Hughes in 1934.
Image Wikipedia

Two

In what sport did Fred Perry become the 1929 World Champion?

Answer: Table tennis

Frederick John Perry was a British tennis and table tennis player. His first love was table tennis, and he was World Champion in 1929. In tennis, he won ten Majors, including eight Grand Slam singles titles. He was the first player to win a ‘Career Grand Slam’ and the last British player to win a men’s singles Grand Slam title until Andy Murray in 2012.

Cover of the score for The Mikado, 1895.
Image Wikipedia

Three

Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo and Yum-Yum are characters in which Gilbert and Sullivan operetta?

Answer: The Mikado

The Mikado is a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, satirising late 19th-century British institutions and politics through a fantasy Japanese setting. It premiered in London in 1885 and quickly became a global hit, with over 150 productions by the end of the year.

Porto Bello Gold
by Arthur D. Howden Smith.
Image Project Gutenberg

Four

Porto Bello Gold (1924) by Arthur D. Howden Smith is a prequel to which 1883 Robert Louis Stevenson novel?

Answer: Treasure Island

Arthur D. Howden Smith was a great admirer of Robert Louis Stevenson. In Porto Bello Gold (1924), a prequel to Treasure Island – written with the permission of Robert Louis Stevenson’s executor, Lloyd Osbourne – Harry Ormerod’s son Robert goes to sea in the company of such famous pirates as Captain Flint, Long John Silver and Billy Bones and takes part in capturing the treasure which would be recovered in Stevenson’s book. 
– Wikipedia, Arthur D. Howden Smith

Transjordan, c1946.
Image Wikipedia

Five

Jordan assumed its present name in 1949, what was it called immediately prior to that?

Answer: Transjordan

Transjordan, also known as the East Bank or the Transjordanian Highlands, is the region east of the Jordan River in the Southern Levant. Primarily located in present-day Jordan, it is a semi-arid region. Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with a population of 11.5 million, mostly Sunni Muslim. Since 1948, Jordan has accepted refugees from neighbouring countries, including 2.1 million Palestinians and 1.4 million Syrians as of 2015. Despite a skilled workforce and tourism industry, economic growth is hindered by a lack of natural resources, refugee influx, and regional instability.

T is for…

Continuing the alphabet theme and all today’s answers begin with the letter… ‘T’.

The Roman bridge at Alcántara, in Extremadura, Spain built between 104 and 106 CE by order of the Roman emperor Trajan.
Image Wikipedia

One

The 1,900-year-old Alcantara Bridge spans a river that rises in Spain’s Albarracín Mountains before travelling 626 miles (1,007 km) to empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Can you name the river?

Two

In what sport did Fred Perry become the 1929 World Champion?

Three

Pitti-Sing, Peep-Bo and Yum-Yum are characters in which Gilbert and Sullivan operetta?

Four

Porto Bello Gold (1924) by Arthur D. Howden Smith is a prequel to which 1883 Robert Louis Stevenson novel?

Five

Jordan assumed its present name in 1949, what was it called immediately prior to that?

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

S is for… | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown highlighted below.

Dark Shadows (2012)

One

In 2012, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer starred in the American Gothic fantasy film, Dark …

Answer: (Dark) Shadows

Tim Burton’s 2012 film Dark Shadows is a Gothic dark fantasy based on the earlier television soap opera. The film stars Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer, with a cameo from Jonathan Frid, the original television series star. Christopher Lee also has a small role, marking his 200th film appearance.

Gandalf and Shadowfax.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Image Pinterest

Two

In The Lord of the Rings, when King Théoden instructed Gandalf to take any horse and depart, which one did he choose?

Answer: Shadowfax

Shadowfax, a Meara horse, was Gandalf’s steed from his escape from Orthanc. He was instrumental in battles, transporting Gandalf and others, and was present at the final battle before the Black Gate. Shadowfax accompanied Gandalf on his return journey to the North.

k.d. lang, 2006. Image Wikipedia

Three

What is the title of k.d. lang’s debut solo album, released in 1988?

Answer: Shadowland

k.d. lang’s debut solo album, Shadowland, was released in 1988 and featured a collaboration with Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee.

Shiloh, film poser 1996. The Movie Database

Four

Released in 1997, this film follows Marty, a young boy, and an abused Beagle pup. Veteran actor Rod Steiger plays Doc Wallace. What is the name of the eponymous dog?

Answer: Shiloh

Shiloh is a 1996 American film based on the book of the same name by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. The film’s general release was in 1997; it has two sequels. Marty rescues an abused Beagle puppy named Shiloh from his cruel owner after witnessing its mistreatment. Marty hides Shiloh but is forced to return him. When the owner refuses to sell Shiloh, Marty and his father fight to keep him, ultimately leading to the release of Shiloh back to Marty.

Shadowcat aka Kitty Pryde.
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Five

Katherine ‘Kitty’ Pryde from the X-Men universe chose what name when she matured from a girl into a young woman?

Answer: Shadowcat

Kitty Pryde, a Jewish mutant from Illinois, joined the X-Men as Sprite and later became Shadowcat. After Krakoa’s fall, she returned to Illinois, where she met Trista Marshall and embraced her original name, Kitty.

S is for…

The alphabet theme continues with some questions where all the answers begin with ‘S’.

Dark…
See question one.

One

In 2012, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer starred in the American Gothic fantasy film, Dark …

Two

In The Lord of the Rings, when King Théoden instructed Gandalf to take any horse and depart, which one did he choose?

Three

What is the title of k.d. lang’s debut solo album, released in 1988?

Four

Released in 1997, this film follows Marty, a young boy, and an abused Beagle pup. Veteran actor Rod Steiger plays Doc Wallace. What is the name of the eponymous dog?

Five

Katherine ‘Kitty’ Pryde from the X-Men universe chose what name when she matured from a girl into a young woman?

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.