Running the Gauntlet Trivia Quiz

Answer: Protection against cuts

Disregarding the archers in the early days of knights, most battles were fought hand to hand or at very close quarters. In these situations damage to the hands or the arms could render the limb useless and prove to be fatal. A degree of armour protection was therefore required or the knight could end up being armless.

Answer: Michael Jackson

Jackson first wore the glove when he performed the song "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25th Anniversary Special. It was the same night that he introduced his version of the Moonwalk dance move. The glove itself is an ordinary, cream coloured golfer's glove that has had the crystals stitched to the back of it.

It sold at an auction in 2009 for $350,000. For the record, it is a left hand glove.

Answer: Mitten

If a glove and a mitten were made from the same material you would find that the mitten will be warmer than the glove. There are two reasons for this - one is that there is less surface area on a mitten for the heat to escape through but the main reason is that fingers are likely to remain warmer when they are in contact with each other. Unlike a mitten a fingerless glove will still have sheaths for the individual fingers but these will stop either midway up the fingers or just above the knuckle.

Answer: Yes

A glove that doesn't have separate openings for the fingers to slide through, such as a boxing glove, is by definition a mitten. Boxing gloves were introduced to protect the hands and, in particular, the knuckles of the striking boxer. Some will argue that the thick padding in a boxing glove will also prevent serious damage to an opponent's face and head but there are others who will claim that because the striker's hands are now protected that he can afford to punch at his challenger even harder.

Answer: Fashion statement

If you wish to make a fashion statement you usually want to be seen. This is the last thing that a burglar would wish upon himself. Good gloves would definitely provide a burglar with excellent grip to carry things away and would also protect his/her hands when they're removing things like broken glass from entryways.

They will also ensure that they do not leave fingerprints at the scene provided that they are not silly enough to leave their gloves behind.

Answer: Baseball catcher

Baseball mitts are large gloves that have a webbing between the thumb and the first finger, which helps to make catching with one hand a lot easier. Rather than using two hands to catch the ball players are likely to catch with the gloved hand and have the second hand come in and make sure the ball stays in the glove.

This second hand, which is usually their dominant hand, is then in the perfect position to take the caught ball and throw it.

Answer: Fashion ornament

Long elegant gloves that were made of either linen or silk and stretched all the way to the elbow caused quite a stir during 13th century Europe but not everyone was happy about it. Public concerns led to laws being introduced in Bologna to prevent the wearing of such items and in Rome, whilst the ladies were allowed to wear them, they could not enhance them by spraying perfume on them.

Some 2-300 years later, when Queen Elizabeth I started wearing gloves that had some very fancy embroidery or jewels sewn into them, they became a highly fashionable accessory.

Answer: Beekeeper

Leather gloves will provide good grip and are pretty pliable so they shouldn't hinder a person's ability to work with them. However, I should think that accountants, lawyers and judges would not need to do a great deal of lifting and carrying to warrant the need to wear them. Leather gloves would also provide a good level of protection and beekeepers would certainly appreciate this protection against bee stings. I suppose that accountants, lawyers and judges could raise an argument that they are in danger of getting paper cuts but I would doubt that these would be anywhere near the priority of bee stings.

Answer: Yes

Most definitely they can and they can also be used for identification purposes. The leather used to make gloves generally comes from the skin of livestock. Just like human skin livestock skin also has its own random set of patterns and grains. As a result glove prints can be dusted for in a similar manner to fingerprints. One would think that catching criminals in this manner would be difficult, however, convictions have been made on the evidence of glove prints since 1971 in London, England. Holy latent cow prints Batman, that's amazing!

Answer: Idiot mittens

This handy (pun intended) little idea was created for use by little children who would habitually rip their mittens off and drop them on the floor. These mittens could then be either lost or discarded and became frustrating or expensive for the parents. With idiot mittens they would simply hang off the child's garment when dropped. You could almost say they're idiot proof!