Quizology.Online

“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.”

— Bertrand Russell

Tag: publishing

  • A Billion Here, A Billion There — Answers

    Bill Gates House, “Xanadu 2.0”. See question two.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    Today’s Answers

    The first question today is related to the date, 29 September. The remainder are not date-related but follow-on from number one.

    One

    On this day newspapers proclaimed the world’s first billionaire. Who was this billionaire and in what year were these stories published?

    Answers: John D. Rockefeller; 1916.

    In 1916, John D. Rockefeller was reported as the world’s first billionaire. Yet the claim remained uncertain. A sudden rise in the value of his oil holdings the day before seemed to push his wealth beyond $1 billion. Newspapers tracked his fortune like a baseball box score, though no exact count existed. Reporters had to estimate his assets and their value, making the billion-dollar figure an informed guess.

    Two

    Tech billionaire Bill Gates had a lakeside mansion built in Medina, Washington. A Wikipedia article about the house refers to it as follows:

    Some news articles call the house Xanadu 2.0, a reference to the motion picture …, which was itself a reference to the opening lines of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem …

    — Wikipedia

    What 1941 movie and poem published in 1816 are missing from this quote?

    Answers: Citizen Kane; Kubla Khan.

    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

    A stately pleasure-dome decree:

    — Kubla Khan. Poetry Foundation

    Newsreel Narrator: [at beginning of newsreel on Charles Foster Kane’s death] In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree.

    — Citizen Kane. IMDb

    Three

    Which is the nearest planet to the Sun whose average orbital distance is more than one billion miles? This planet has only been explored by one spacecraft (in 1986): what spacecraft?

    Answer: Uranus; Voyager 2.

    Uranus is the third largest planet in our solar system. It’s about four times wider than Earth, and has an equatorial diameter of about 31,763 miles (51,118 kilometres). Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, orbiting at an average distance of 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometres). It’s about 19 times farther from the Sun than Earth. The exploration of Uranus has been limited to telescopes and a single flyby by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1986. During this mission, the spacecraft discovered 10 new moons and two new rings, studied the planet’s atmosphere, and imaged its five largest moons.

    Four

    What now deceased billionaire bought the island of Skorpios in the Ionian Sea in 1963; and who did this billionaire marry on the island in 1968?

    Answers: Aristotle Onassis; Jacqueline Kennedy.

    Skorpios, a private Ionian island bought by Aristotle Onassis in 1963, hosts three residences and hosted his 1968 wedding to Jacqueline Kennedy, former First Lady of the United States. After Onassis’s death, ownership passed to Christina and then Athina Onassis.

    Five

    In January 2025, an American tech company saw the largest one-day loss in market capitalisation for a U.S. company in history. What company and how much was that loss?

    Answers: Nvidia; $600 billion.

    By 7 January 2025, Nvidia’s $3.66 trillion market cap exceeded double the combined value of AMD, ARM, Broadcom and Intel. That month, DeepSeek’s V3 model caused Nvidia’s record $600 billion one-day loss; its AI assistant overtook ChatGPT on Apple’s App Store.

  • A Billion Here, A Billion There

    Bill Gates House, “Xanadu 2.0”. See question two.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    The first question today is related to the date, 29 September. The remainder are not date-related but follow-on from number one.

    One

    On this day newspapers proclaimed the world’s first billionaire. Who was this billionaire and in what year were these stories published?

    Two

    Tech billionaire Bill Gates had a lakeside mansion built in Medina, Washington. A Wikipedia article about the house refers to it as follows:

    Some news articles call the house Xanadu 2.0, a reference to the motion picture …, which was itself a reference to the opening lines of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem …

    — Wikipedia

    What 1941 movie and poem published in 1816 are missing from this quote?

    Three

    Which is the nearest planet to the Sun whose average orbital distance is more than one billion miles? This planet has only been explored by one spacecraft (in 1986): what spacecraft?

    Four

    What now deceased billionaire bought the island of Skorpios in the Ionian Sea in 1963; and who did this billionaire marry on the island in 1968?

    Five

    In January 2025, an American tech company saw the largest one-day loss in market capitalisation for a U.S. company in history. What company and how much was that loss?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • It Puzzles the Will — Answers

    Here are the answers to today’s questions.

    The unaltered title page from 1609 edition of Shake-Speares Sonnets.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    The first question concerns an event that happened on May 20th and, like the others, is connected to ‘Shakespeare’. 

    One

    On this day, Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published. In what town or city, and in which century, was this?

    Answer: London; 17th century.

    In London on 20 May 1609, Thomas Thorpe produced the first publication of Shakespeare’s Sonnets — with the hyphen in the name. It’s unclear whether Thorpe used an authorised manuscript of Shakespeare as his source or an unauthorised copy. This publication is the primary source of the sonnets and contains 154 sonnets and the poem A Lover’s Complaint. The sonnets explore themes like time, love, and mortality, with the first 126 addressed to a young man and the last 28 to a woman.

    Two

    Who portrayed Elizabeth I in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love?

    Answer: Judi Dench.

    Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 romantic comedy film about a fictional love affair between William Shakespeare and Viola de Lesseps during the writing of Romeo and Juliet. The film received critical acclaim, grossed $289 million, and won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.

    Three

    Falstaff is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play … and scenes from Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, by William Shakespeare. 

    This quote from the text of the Wikipedia article about Verdi’s Falstaff has had a Shakespeare play removed from it. What play?

    Answer: The Merry Wives of Windsor.

    Falstaff is a comic opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based on Shakespeare’s works. Though not as popular as his earlier operas, it is now part of the standard repertory, championed by conductors like Toscanini, Karajan, Solti, and Bernstein.

    Four

    In Julie Taymor’s 2010 film adaptation of which Shakespeare play did Helen Mirren play Prospera, Duchess of Milan?

    Answer: The Tempest.

    The Tempest (2010) is a fantasy comedy-drama film based on Shakespeare’s 1611 play. Written and directed by Julie Taymor, who deviates from the original by changing the main character, Prospero, into a female, Prospera, played by Helen Mirren.

    Five

    The port-city of Messina is the setting for a Shakespeare comedy. What comedy, and on what island is the port-city of Messina?

    Answers: Much Ado About Nothing; Sicily.

    Much Ado About Nothing, a Shakespearean comedy, centres on two Messina romances. Claudio and Hero’s love faces challenges from Don John, while Benedick and Beatrice’s witty banter drives the humour.

    It Puzzles the Will

    It Puzzles the Will.
    — Hamlet

    The title seemed fitting as it’s a Shakespearean quote for a Will-themed puzzle.

  • It Puzzles the Will

    The amended title page from first edition of Shake-Speares Sonnets.
    Image Wikimedia Commons

    The first question concerns an event that happened on May 20th and, like the others, is connected to ‘Shakespeare’. 

    One

    On this day, Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published. In what town or city, and in which century, was this?

    Two

    Who portrayed Elizabeth I in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love?

    Three

    Falstaff is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play … and scenes from Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, by William Shakespeare. 

    This quote from the text of the Wikipedia article about Verdi’s Falstaff has had a Shakespeare play removed from it. What play?

    Four

    In Julie Taymor’s 2010 film adaptation of which Shakespeare play did Helen Mirren play Prospera, Duchess of Milan?

    Five

    The port-city of Messina is the setting for a Shakespeare comedy. What comedy, and on what island is the port-city of Messina?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • Picture This — Answers

    Images from an Exhibition at Lahore.
    The Illustrated London News, 1864.
    Image Victoria & Albert Museum.

    These are all connected to today’s date, May 14th.

    One

    1842 saw the first publication of an illustrated weekly news magazine, named The Illustrated … News. The image is from a later edition. What city completed the name of this periodical?

    Answer: London. The Illustrated London News

    Founded by Herbert Ingram, The Illustrated London News debuted on 14 May 1842 as the first illustrated weekly news magazine. It published weekly until 1971, then less frequently, ceasing in 2003. The company, now Illustrated London News Ltd, remains a publishing and digital agency in London, preserving its archives.

    Two

    The United States’ first space station was launched on this date. In what year was this, and what was it called?

    Answers: 1973; Skylab.

    Skylab, the US’s first space station, was occupied for 24 weeks in 1973-1974. It was constructed from a repurposed Saturn V third stage and included an orbital workshop, solar observatory, and Earth observation capabilities. Skylab’s orbit eventually decayed and it disintegrated in the atmosphere on July 11, 1979 scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

    Three

    In 2004, the then Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark married Mary Donaldson at Copenhagen Cathedral. The couple are now the king and queen of Denmark. On what island was the bride born?

    Answer: Tasmania.

    Mary, born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson in 1972 at Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, is the Queen of Denmark and wife of King Frederik X. They met at the 2000 Olympics and married in 2004, having four children together. Mary is a patron of over 30 charities and founded the Mary Foundation in 2007.

    Four

    The practice of holding a two-minute silence to remember the dead from the First World War began on 14 May 1918. In what port city of the then British Empire did it begin?

    Answer: Cape Town, South Africa.

    The Remembrance Day two-minute silence began in Cape Town in 1918, when Mayor Sir Harry Hands introduced a daily pause after the death of his son in the First World War. Organised with councillor Robert Rutherford Brydone, the ceremony halted traffic while buglers played the ‘Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’. The practice spread across the British Empire after Sir Percy FitzPatrick promoted it to King George V, who officially adopted the two-minute Armistice Day silence in 1919.

    Five

    Born Catherine Élise today in 1969 in Victoria. This actress won an award for her role as Katharine Hepburn and later played KGB agent Irina Spalko. Who is she?

    Answer: Cate Blanchett.

    Cate Blanchett, an Australian actress born Catherine Élise Blanchett on 14 May 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, is 56 years old. Known for her multidimensional characters and wide range of roles, her breakthrough came playing a young Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998). She later appeared in The Lord of the Rings series, The Aviator (2004), and Blue Jasmine (2013). Blanchett won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator and another for her performance in Blue Jasmine. She also portrayed Irina Spalko, the main antagonist in the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.

  • Picture This

    Images from an Exhibition at Lahore (cropped).
    The Illustrated … News, 1864.
    Image Victoria & Albert Museum.

    These are all connected to today’s date, May 14th.

    One

    1842 saw the first publication of an illustrated weekly news magazine, named The Illustrated … News. The image above is from a later edition. What city completed the name of this periodical?

    Two

    The United States’ first space station was launched on this date. In what year was this, and what was it called?

    Three

    In 2004, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark married Mary Donaldson at Copenhagen Cathedral. The couple are now the king and queen of Denmark. On what island was the bride born?

    Four

    The practice of holding a two-minute silence to remember the dead from the First World War began on 14 May 1918. In what port city of the then British Empire did it begin?

    Five

    Born Catherine Élise today in 1969 in Victoria. This actress won an award for her role as Katharine Hepburn and later played KGB agent Irina Spalko. Who is she?

    Good luck! I’ll post the answers later.

  • Peanuts—Answer


    Last Comic Strip of Peanuts. February 13, 2000.
    PEANUTS © 2005, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
    [Image from Wikipedia]

    C. 17,897

    The final Peanuts strip, as illustrated here, was published on 13 February 2000, the night after Charles M. Schulz succumbed to a heart attack.

  • Peanuts

    Snoopy World War I Flying Ace on his Sopwith Camel doghouse
    [Image from Wikipedia]

    When the final Peanuts strip ran on 13 February 2000 how many strips had been published in total?

    A. 11,231

    B. 14,564

    C. 17,897

    The answer will be posted later today.