Mixed Bag (4) Trivia Quiz

Answer: table

Table tennis is a racket sport competed at many levels including the Olympics. The table top playing surface lends itself to an indoor setting. It emerged in Victorian Britain and was widely called ping-pong until a manufacturer trademarked the name. Enforcement action resulted in a general switch to the 'table tennis' name.

The celluloid hollow ball and the stippled rubber surface on rackets (or paddles) emerged around 1901. In the 1950s the addition of a sponge layer under the stippled rubber allowed much great spin and speed. Speed glue in the early 1980s increased the effect even more. Speed glue has been banned from the Olympics since 2012.

Answer: table

This is a reference to the famed table around which King Arthur and his knights would sit. Known as the Round Table, one theory is that its shape was chosen so that it could be said all the sitters were of equal status. First described in the 12th century, it came to mean the chivalric order associated with the Arthurian knights. During the Middle Ages, a Round Table was a festival event with jousting feasting and dancing, in imitation of King Arthur's court. These were sponsored by various English kings but also occurred in mainland Europe during this time.

Answer: table

Overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa, Table Mountain tops out at about 1,080 m (3,281 ft) and is part of a national park. It is a level plateau roughly 3 km (2 mi) on a side and surrounded by cliffs or steep ground. If you don't fancy walking, a cable car can take you to the western end of the plateau. The Back Table area also once supplied Cape Town's water with five reservoirs built around the turn of the 20th century but the demand now far surpasses the capacity of the reservoirs.

Answer: table

Dmitri Mendeleev is credited with creating in 1869 the first generally-accepted periodic table of chemical elements. This visual representation arranged elements by increasing atomic weight and in groups with a pattern of recurring chemical and physical properties. Mendeleev left gaps where he believed there were undiscovered elements with his table allowing him to predict their properties. These elements were subsequently discovered by other chemists, the elements being gallium, scandium and germanium.

Answer: light

Daylight can mean dawn, daytime or even just sunlight. If you start applying statutory definitions to it, time can move about depending on the season. Daylight saving time is usually to allow for a better use of daylight hours by people regulated by work hours. About a third of the world's countries starting using some form of daylight saving from the early 20th century. Ancient societies tended to do it differently, having twelve periods of daylight regardless of season. So, for example, the Romans had water clocks with different scales for different months with the third hour from sunrise lasting 44 minutes at the winter solstice and 75 minutes at the summer solstice.

Answer: light

Released in 1967, "Light My Fire" by American rock band the Doors is an early example of psychedelic rock. The lyrics "girl, we couldn't get much higher" caused a falling out with the producers of "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1967. Sponsors of the show were uncomfortable with what they saw as a reference to drugs.

This did not stop General Motors wishing to use a modified version to sell Buick cars, however lead singer Jim Morrison quashed that. Various other artists have had charting cover versions over the years.

Answer: light

If you watch boxing matches, you might be familiar with the various weight classes. Light heavyweight is one of the 'original eight' categories in the 'glamour' division. The weight range permitted for this category runs between 76.2 and 79.4 kg (168-175 lb). It wasn't until 1985 that a light heavyweight champion successfully challenged for the heavyweight title. This was American boxer Michael Spinks.

Answer: light

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote the 1854 narrative poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade". This tells the story of an ill-fated cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava (1854) in the Crimean War. The cavalry charge was by British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against a much larger Russian force including 30 cannon. It took place as a result of a misunderstood order and resulted in heavy casualties. Tennyson dubbed the ride as through "the valley of Death". Of the 607 who took part, 198 returned from action.

Answer: train

A common meaning of the verb form of the word is to teach or prepare someone such as yourself for an activity. The activity might be a sport like rugby football or a job like piloting an aircraft. The training may well include both mental and physical exercise.

Answer: train

The reference here is to the piece of fabric which trails behind the main body of a wedding dress. Trains may also be used on other formal occasions, being part of evening dresses and royal outfits for example. They have Mediaeval origins and were more about a display of wealth than having any practical function. "Bridal Train", a 2004 song by Australian folk-rock band The Waifs, is about a different kind of 'wedding train'. These were train services run to transport war brides to Australian ports for embarkment to the United States during 1945 and 1946.

Answer: train

The Great Train Robbery involved the theft of £2.61 million (about £47 million in 2025 money, according to the Bank of England inflation calculator) from a Royal Mail train travelling through Buckinghamshire, England in 1963. A gang of 15 were involved and most were subsequently caught and jailed after a Monopoly board game with fingerprints was found at a farm used as a hideout. Most of the money remains unrecovered, probably as a result of being quickly distributed and spent.

Answer: train

The Ghan is the name of an Australian train service linking the northern and southern coasts of Australia. These days it is focussed on the tourist market. It was originally established in 1929, running on the now-dismantled Central Australian Railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs.

It now runs between Adelaide in the south and Darwin on the north coast. Both versions of the Ghan have had TV coverage. The name comes from an old nickname, The Afghan Express, and may have a connection to the Afghan camel drivers brought into the country in the late 19th century or a derogatory reference to the unreliability of a fortnightly precursor steam train service in the 1920s.