Can you Name these Red Objects? Quiz

Answer: Rose

There are 100 different types of roses in the world. How wonderful is that? All those absolutely perfectly designed flowers for our enjoyment. Some time, when you have a few moments to spare, just stop and study a rose for a few minutes. Each petal is folded, like a hug, around the petal that came before it. It's a beautiful sight to see.

Roses come in all different shapes, sizes and colours. Most of them, you'll be interested to know, originally came from the continent of Asia. They've been around for thousands of years. In the language of flowers, giving someone a red rose means that you are saying "I love you" to that person. So think twice before giving anyone a red rose - just in case you change your mind.

Answer: Hydrant

In the United States, fire hydrants are also referred to as fire plugs or Johnny pumps. What a cute name! Hydrants provide a quick and accessible source of water, so that fire fighters can screw their giant hoses into them, turn on the valve and let her rip. A large and constant stream of water then pumps continually through the hose. In the olden days whenever there was a fire, and there were a lot of fires in the old wooden houses back then, people had to form a chain and pass buckets of water along the line to each other to help put it out. Not too effective I'm afraid. A bit like spitting on the flames.

The fire hydrant is believed to have been invented in 1801 in Philadelphia by Frederick Graff Senior. Oh dear, you won't believe this now. Mr Graff held a patent for his invention, and this patent was safely filed away in the Patent Office in Washington DC. Guess what happened next? This, kids, is known as irony. The place protecting the ownership papers for the idea of a fire hydrant to help put out fires, was ironically burned to the ground by a fire in 1836.

Answer: Rudolph

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer first appeared in a story written in 1936 by Robert May. He is sometimes referred to as the 9th reindeer that pulls the sleigh of Santa Claus. I bet you can't recite the other eight reindeer names. Try it and see. They're listed down below if you can't. The story of poor old Rudolph having such a brightly glowing red nose that the others teased him about was that, one snowy wintry evening, Santa Claus hitched Rudolph to the front of the sleigh. All through that long, cold night then, Rudolph's nose glowed brightly and led everyone safely through the storm. Rudolph then became a hero instead of a joke. A song was also made out of this story and became number one on the music charts for several weeks in 1949.

The other reindeer names, which, I might add, I had to look up, are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. These were the names chosen as the reindeer names in the 1823 poem "A Visit from St Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore, and people have used those names ever since.

Answer: Dorothy

There were several movies made about the Wizard of Oz but the most popular was the 1939 version. This starred Judy Garland as the girl, Dorothy Gale, who lives in Kansas with her Aunt Em and her Uncle Henry. One day a huge tornado sweeps Dorothy and her house high up into the air and far away until it lands, with a thud, in the wonderful land of Oz. That doesn't mean Australia, by the way. We don't have tornadoes here, only politicians and a cyclone or two. While in Oz then, Dorthy, her little dog Toto, and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Cowardly Lion all go through a series of wonderful and enchanting adventures as Dorothy tries to make her way home again.

Toto, you may be interested to hear, was not a male dog at all in this film. She was a female in real life but given the male name of Terry. How confusing for the little thing. She appeared in fifteen movies during her career, and in the "Wizard of Oz" had a salary that was higher than most of the other members of the huge cast. She was born in 1933, and died of old age in 1945, after living a long and happy life.

Answer: Hospital

Eeww, I think I'm going to be ill. A blood transfusion, which is what this bag represents, is a means of transfusing blood into a person who needs their supply of this precious fluid boosting. This is usually as a result of loss of blood of some sort, whether by accident or illness. The blood being transfused is tested to make sure it is safe, and that it matches the patient's own blood type.

A small hollow steel needle is then inserted into a patient's arm and secured thoroughly. This links via a plastic tube to a bag of blood hanging up above the patient. A small gauge on the bag determines the amount of blood within a given time that drips down into the patient's veins. Occasionally seen in other medical facilities as well, this is more often than not seen in a hospital setting. If you see one of these at a department store, hairdresser or church buildings next to where you'll be sitting, run for your life!

Answer: Ladybird

Known as a ladybug as well, this beautiful little insect is a beetle. It's also called a God's cow in some parts of the world which seems odd, don't you think? It looks nothing like a cow. Either that, or they have some rather strange looking cows there.

These pretty little creatures work on behalf of plants. They keep pests that destroy them out of your gardens and elsewhere. They consume the tiny aphids or scales that develop on some plants that kill the plants off eventually. So, not only do ladybirds look exquisite, they're hard workers as well.

Answer: Cardinal

A cardinal is a senior member of the Catholic faith. If the steps leading up to the position of Pope were like a ladder, cardinals would be on the second top rung, just below the Pope himself. The Pope, when a new one is elected to that lonely job at the very top of this religion, comes from their ranks.

He is elected by them. Cardinals are also in charge of large areas of the church's congregations world wide. They can be identified by the scarlet robes and headwear that they wear. I met a cardinal once and absent-mindedly asked him if he had any children.

He gave me a very strange look. That was a very silly thing for me to do, even though it wasn't deliberate. Church leaders of this faith do not marry, and most definitely, do not have children.

They devote their lives to the service of God instead.

Answer: Robin

The little robin, known for its lovely songs, and the blue eggs it lays, is found in many parts of the world. It is a migratory bird. This means that, depending on the season, it flies long distances to a different hemisphere of the the world each year for breeding and living purposes.

The robin's diet consists of grubs, worms, fruits and berries. If you look closely at this photograph, that's a rather unfortunate earthworm the little bird is tugging out of the ground. It's about to do lunch from the wrong end of the plate.

Answer: Canada

The national flag of Canada features a maple leaf in its centre. Pretty, don't you think? This is because the maple tree, the national symbol of Canada, grows prolifically in that country. This flag was first flown officially in Canada on the 15 February, 1965.

It replaced another flag that was more symbolic of the early settlement of that country with one that was more pertinent to the times. The leaf in the centre has eleven points. These have no significance at all. They were simply chosen because, when testing out various styles of leaves in the centre of the flag, the eleven pointed one proved to show up the clearest under windy conditions. How disappointing that they didn't make something more significant out of the points that just having your hat blown off on a windy day.

Answer: Winnie

Winnie-the-Pooh is a chubby little bear overly fond of honey. This lands him in a lot of scrapes, from which his owner, Christopher Robin, is always having to save him. Christopher Robin was the son of the writer of these delightful stories. Winnie first appeared in a series of stories written by A. A. Milne, in 1926. Winnie is not a very masculine name for a male bear is it? That's because the real Christopher Robin named his teddy bear after a bear called Winnie that he saw in a zoo.

The real Winnie was a female bear. She lived from 1914 until 1934. She was named by a Canadian solider who was in the first world war. He was based in London and left Winnie at the zoo when he went to war elsewhere. He called her Winnie after Winnipeg, a city back in Canada. This is all very confusing to a stuffed toy however, and I'm quite sure Winnie-the-pooh sometimes frowned at himself in the mirror and said, "You're really a boy bear, Winnie".