An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part II | Answers

Freesia. Wikipedia
  1. (F) Freesia—Freesia is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants native to eastern southern Africa. Cultivated hybrids of Freesia species are commonly known as “freesias” and grown as ornamental plants.
  2. (G) Golden Cap—Golden Cap, a hill and cliff in Dorset, England, is the highest point near the south coast of Great Britain. It is owned by the National Trust and part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site.
    H.G. Wells by George Charles Beresford, 1920. Wikipedia
  3. (H) H.G. WellsHalf a Sixpence is a 1963 musical comedy based on H.G. Wells’s novel Kipps. The show, tailored for Tommy Steele, follows Arthur Kipps, an orphan who inherits a fortune and learns that money can’t buy happiness.
  4. (I) Ireland—In May 1915, the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner, was sunk by the German submarine U-20, 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. This tragic event resulted in the loss of 1,197 lives, including passengers, crew, and stowaways. The sinking significantly boosted American support for entering World War I.
  5. (J) J. Alfred PrufrockThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is T. S. Eliot’s first published poem, reflecting the title character’s thoughts in stream-of-consciousness style. Initially considered outlandish, it is now seen as a landmark in the shift from Romanticism to Modernism in poetry.
    Regarding the wrong alternative answers: J. Bruce Ismay was the chairman of the White Star Line, the owners of the Titanic. He faced criticism and was branded a coward after surviving the sinking. J. Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the FBI. He served in that role in the predecessor organisation, the BOI, and the FBI for a total of 48 years.
RMS Lusitania. See #4 above. Wikipedia

An A to Z Cornucopia of Trivia. Part II

Some trivia related to the letters F to J.

See question 2. Image Wikipedia
  1. (F) Named after a German botanist, what is a flowering plant of the iris family?
    • Foxglove
    • Freesia
    • Fuchsia
  2. (G) Which hill, on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, is the highest point on England’s south coast?
    • Golden Cap
    • Golden Law
    • Golden Tor
  3. (H) Half a Sixpence, the musical, was adapted from the 1905 novel Kipps. Who wrote this novel?(I)
    • H.E. Bates
    • H. Rider Haggard
    • H.G. Wells
  4. (I) In 1915, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed 11 miles (18 km) off the coast of which country?
    • Iceland
    • Ireland
    • Ivory Coast
  5. (J) What T.S. Eliot character says, “I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;”?
    • J. Alfred Prufrock
    • J. Bruce Ismay
    • J. Edgar Hoover
T.S. Eliot. Wikipedia

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Spaghetti Tree | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below..

Duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), Scottsdale, TAS, Australia. Wikipedia
  1. True—Male platypuses have spurs on their hind feet that deliver painful venom making them one of only a few species of venomous mammals.
    Harriet Beecher Stowe by Alanson Fisher (1807 – 1884).
    Google Art Project/Wikipedia
  2. False—Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. Stowe, an American writer and philanthropist, is best known for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which significantly impacted public opinion against slavery and is considered a contributing factor to the American Civil War. Growing up in a family of intellectuals and abolitionists, Stowe’s experiences in Cincinnati, Ohio, and her interactions with fugitive slaves deeply influenced her writing.
    Yogi Bear. Hanna-Barbera Productions/Wikipedia
  3. False—Yogi first appeared on Hanna-Barbera’s The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958.
    Jewish girls during Bat Mitzva in Alexandria, Egypt (before 1967).
    Nebi Daniel Association/Wikipedia
  4. True—a bat mitzvah is a solemn ceremony held in some synagogues where a girl of 12 to 13 years of age is formally accepted as an adult member of the Jewish community. It is equivalent to a boy’s bar mitzvah.
    Roadrunner. Wikipedia
  5. True—Roadrunners, or chaparral birds, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos found in deserts across the southwestern and south-central United States, Mexico and Central America. The roadrunner, popularised by Warner Bros. cartoons, is depicted as faster than coyotes, but in reality, coyotes are twice as fast. The cartoons also perpetuate the misconception that roadrunners say “meep, meep”.

    The Simpson-Reed Grove of coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) on US Route 199, California, USA. Wikipedia
  6. FalseSequoia is a genus of redwood coniferous trees. Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, is a large, hairy mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America. It holds significant cultural importance in American and Canadian folklore.

Spaghetti tree

Why Spaghetti Tree? The BBC’s 1957 April Fools’ Day hoax, broadcast on the current-affairs programme Panorama, featured a convincing three-minute segment showcasing a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from “spaghetti trees”. The report, which claimed the eradication of the dreaded spaghetti weevil had resulted in a bumper crop, was given credibility by being voiced by respected journalist Richard Dimbleby. At the time, spaghetti was relatively unfamiliar to the British public, prompting many viewers to contact the BBC for tips on cultivating their own spaghetti trees. This cleverly executed prank has since been hailed by CNN as

“undoubtedly the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled.”

—CNN.

The Spaghetti tree hoax on BBC’s Panorama current-affairs programme was voiced by respected journalist Richard Dimbleby. Wikipedia

Spaghetti Tree

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner in Zoom and Bored, 1957. Wikipedia

April 1. Some of these may be true, indeed they may all be, but on the other hand they may, some or all, be false. Don’t be fooled!

  1. True or false: a platypus, aka a duck-billed platypus, is a venomous mammal.
  2. True or false: novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama?
  3. True or false: Yogi Bear made his television debut in The Bugs Bunny Show.
  4. True or False: A bat mitzvah is a coming-of-age ritual in Judaism.
  5. True or false: The roadrunner is one of two species of fast-running ground cuckoos.
  6. True or false: Sequoia is another name for Bigfoot, the legendary creature from the forests of North America’s Pacific Northwest.

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Mysteries and Meanings: A Trivial Journey Through Golf-Lima | Answers

The answers to my earlier post are shown in bold below.

Cairn marking the first Open Championship, Prestwick Golf Club.
  1. Prestwick—The first Open Championship, held in 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club, marked the beginning of modern golfing history. Willie Park won the inaugural event, beating Old Tom Morris by two strokes. Prestwick hosted the first 12 Open Championships and a total of 24, second only to St Andrews.
  2. Lily and James—James and Lily Potter, parents of Harry, were members of the Order of the Phoenix. James was an Animagus and co-author of the Marauder’s Map, while Lily was a Muggle-born witch. Both were killed by Voldemort.
    The station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Wikipedia
  3. 23 countries—Astronauts/cosmonauts from the following countries have visited the ISS; the number of visits by each nation is also shown. (Information obtained from NASA at 15:15GMT 30 March 2025). United States (168 visitors), Russia (62), Japan (11), Canada (9), Italy (6), France (4,), Germany (4), Saudi Arabia (2), Sweden (2), United Arab Emirates (2), Belarus (1), Belgium (1), Brazil (1), Denmark (1), Great Britain (1), Israel (1), Kazakhstan (1), Malaysia (1), Netherlands (1), South Africa (1), South Korea (1), Spain (1), Turkey (1).
    Jabberwocky. Wikipedia
  4. Animal—the jabberwock is depicted as a dragon-like monster with various features, including a serpentine neck, rabbit-like teeth, spidery talons and bat-like wings.
    Koala distribution in Australia. Wikipedia
  5. South Australia—The koala’s range spans 1,000,000 km2 across eastern and southeastern Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
  6. City of Kings—Named Ciudad de los Reyes by the Spanish under Francisco Pizarro, the name was chosen of the feast of the Epiphany, the coming of the Magi—the three
In 1540, five years after the city of Lima was founded, the first church built by Francisco Pizarro was inaugurated. Wikipedia

Mysteries and Meanings: A Trivial Journey Through Golf–Lima

Willie Park Sr., the first “Champion Golfer of the Year”, wearing the Challenge Belt, the winner’s prize at The Open until 1870. Wikipedia
  1. G is for golf. The first Open Championship played at St Andrews in 1873, was actually the 13th championship in the competition’s history. Where had the first twelve Open Championships taken place?
    • Carnoustie, Angus
    • Musselburgh, East Lothian
    • Prestwick, Ayrshire
  2. H is for Harry. In the books by J.K. Rowling, who were Harry Potter’s parents?
    • Molly and Arthur
    • Lily and James
    • Rose and Hugo
  3. I is for International Space Station (ISS). By March 2025, individuals from how many countries had visited the ISS?
    • 9 countries
    • 16 countries
    • 23 countries
  4. J is for Jabberwocky. Jabberwocky is a nonsense poem included in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, the follow-up to Alice in Wonderland. What word best describes a jabberwock?
  5. K is for koala. In what parts of Australia are koalas native in the 21st century?
    • Northern Territory
    • South Australia
    • Western Australia
  6. L is for Lima. The Spanish founded the city now known as Lima, the capital city of Peru, in 1535 but their chosen name quickly fell into disuse. What, in English, was this chosen name?
    • City of Emeralds
    • City of Kings
    • Çity of the Sun

Good luck! I will post the answers later today.

Confused to Start With | Answers

J. M. Flagg’s recruiting poster, 1917
Wikipedia
  1. Luc means—is an anagram of Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam, a national personification of the United States, represents the federal government and is a symbol of patriotic emotion. The character, popularised by a 1917 recruiting poster, originated during the War of 1812 and is distinct from Columbia, representing the nation, and Brother Jonathan, representing the populace.
    Lonesome George.
    Wikipedia
  2. Pinta—Pinta Island tortoise, a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise, was hunted to near extinction by the end of the 19th century. A single male, Lonesome George, was discovered in 1971 but died in 2012, leading to the subspecies’ presumed extinction.
  3. YesterdayYesterday was the only “solo” Beatles Track.

    “He [McCartney] played it to John, George and Ringo, who approved but didn’t think it required them to play on it. Yesterday would be a Beatles song with only one Beatle on it.”

    The Sunday Times, 23 March 2025 © Ian Leslie 2025. Extracted from John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs.

  4. AA Milne—Heffalumps and Woozles appear in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories
  5. Galahad—Sir Galahad, a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot and Lady Elaine. He is renowned for his gallantry and purity, replacing Percival as the hero in the quest for the Holy Grail.
  6. Arachnophobia—fear of spiders. Shelob is a spider featured in The Lord of the Rings. Emetophobia is the fear of vomiting and pogonophobia is having an extreme dislike of beards.
Piglet dreams of the Heffalump. E. H. Shepard’s original illustration, from Winnie-the-Pooh.
Wikipedia

Confused to Start With


Nothing to do with today’s date just a selection of questions.

Flag of the US
Wikipedia
  1. Which one of the following can become a personification of the US government?
    • Clean Sue
    • Muscleman
    • Luc means
  2. Lonesome George, the last of his subspecies, died in 2012. His subspecies, now extinct, was named…
    • Niña Island tortoise
    • Pinta Island tortoise
    • Santa Maria Island tortoise
  3. The only Beatles song featuring just one Beatle was…
    • If I Fell
    • This Boy
    • Yesterday
  4. Heffalumps and Woozles appear in books by…
    • AA Milne
    • CS Lewis
    • JRR Tolkien
  5. One of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table; the son of Sir Lancelot du Lac and Lady Elaine of Corbenic; renowned for his gallantry and purity as the most perfect of all knights, is…
    • Bedivere
    • Galahad
    • Percival
  6. An irrational fear of the fictional Shelob is…
    • Arachnophobia
    • Emetophobia
    • Pogonophobia
The Arming and Departure of the Knights,
one of the Holy Grail tapestries, 1890s, figures by Edward Burne-Jones
Wikipedia

Good luck! The answers will be posted later.

Mysteries and Meanings: A Trivial Journey Through Alfa-Foxtrot—Answers

Aardwolf at Buffalo Springs NP, Kenya
Wikipedia
  1. A is for Aardwolf. African wild dog—is NOT an another name for the Aardwolf. The other two maanhaar-jackal and termite-eating hyena are such alternatives.
  2. B is for Bacchus. Dionysus—is the Greek god of wine making
  3. C is for the Chrysanthemum Throne. Naruhito—is the current emperor of Japan. In a metonymic sense, the “Chrysanthemum Throne” also rhetorically refers to the head of state and the Japanese monarchy itself.
  4. D is for Drouthy. Thirsty—the line “And drouthy neibors, neibors, meet;” translates to “And thirsty neighbours, neighbours meet;”
  5. E is for Elephant. Mahout—a mahout is a trainer, keeper or rider of an elephant. A howdah is related; it is a seat for carrying people on the back of an elephant or camel. Burlak was the occupation of a person who manually hauled river boats or barges in the Russian Empire.
  6. F is for the Fortingall Yew. Pontius Pilate—An article in the New York Times on 15 January 1899 explored the possibility of Pontius Pilate having Scottish origins. It suggested that during the period between the Romans’ initial and later invasions of Britain, Caesar Augustus sent envoys to establish relations with British and Caledonian chieftains, including Metellanus of Glen Lyon. A Roman envoy fathered a child with a Caledonian woman, who later returned to Rome with him and was raised as Pilate. Although there is no definitive record of Pilate’s birth or parentage, this story is as plausible as other theories suggesting he was born in Tarragona, Spain, or Forchheim, Germany. If true, Pilate would be one of many Scots who have historically achieved high positions in foreign empires.
One trunk of the Fortingall Yew. The original size of the trunk is marked by the wooden poles.
Wikipedia

Mysteries and Meanings: A Trivial Journey Through Alfa-Foxtrot

Chrysanthemum
Wikipedia
  1. A is for Aardwolf. Which of these is NOT an alternative name for an aardwolf?
    • African wild dog
    • Maanhaar-jackal
    • Termite-eating hyena
  2. B is for Bacchus. Commonly known as Bacchus by the Greeks—a name later adopted by the Romans—for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia, who is the Greek god of wine-making?
    • Dionysus
    • Marsyas
    • Uranus
  3. C is for the Chrysanthemum Throne. Who currently sits on the Chrysanthemum Throne?
    • Akihito
    • Fumihito
    • Naruhito
  4. D is for Drouthy. What does the word “drouthy” mean in this line from Robert Burns’s Tam o’Shanter? “And drouthy neibors, neibors, meet;”
    • Testy
    • Thirsty
    • Trusty
  5. E is for Elephant. Which of these is a trainer, keeper or rider of an elephant?
    • Burlak
    • Howdah
    • Mahout
  6. F is for the Fortingall Yew. Estimates place the age of this tree in Perthshire, Scotland between 2,000 and 5,000 years. Which biblical figure does local legend say was born in its shadow?
    • Andrew the Apostle
    • Herod Agrippa
    • Pontius Pilate
Fortingall Yew
Wikipedia

Good luck! The answers will be posted later today.