A Pretty Kettle of Fish Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dragon's Den

In "Shark Tank", which started in 2009, budding entrepreneurs pitched to successful business people - the "sharks" - to get investment and partnership in their business ideas. The process could be heated and confrontational. Sharks included Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. The show was a franchised version of the UK "Dragon's Den" and the Japanese original, "The Tigers of Money", which started in 2001.

Sharks are found all over the world. There are over 500 species of this apex predator with a cartilaginous skeleton. A popular dish in China is sharks fin soup.

The picture shows a dragon on Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Answer: Canada

Salmon Arm is in British Columbia, western Canada. Tourism is an important part of its economy, with its waterside location and beaches, water-based activities and camping grounds. It is notable for its long wooden wharf, which stretches into Shuswap Lake. The lake is the source of the South Thompson River, and home to Chinook, Sockeye and Coho salmon.

Many wild salmon have a complicated life cycle. They hatch from eggs in fresh water rivers, and migrate to the oceans where they grow and become sexually mature, before returning to their home rivers to spawn. Salmon are prized fish for fishermen, and their culinary versatility has meant that salmon farming has become a very big business. The Nordic dish, Gravlax, is made from cured salmon.

The photograph is of Canadian maple syrup, albeit from Quebec, a long way to the east of Salmon Arm.

Answer: True

Catfishing is when a person pretends to be someone else to trick somebody on social networking sites. The term originated in a 2010 film called "Catfish" in which a woman impersonated two of her daughters on Facebook and built online relationships with an unsuspecting man. The film was presented as a documentary, but some have suggested it was scripted. In the movie, they describe the historic practice, when shipping live cod from Asia to North America, of putting catfish in with the cod to keep them active and improve their flesh.

Catfish are found in every continent except Antarctica. Their name comes from their long barbels near their mouths, which look like cats' whiskers. Catfish are very popular for food worldwide, and Ronald Reagan established June 25 as US National Catfish Day.

Hopefully the diagrammatic representation of a network helped.

Answer: Scotland

The Scottish Parliament was set up in 1999, after a 1997 referendum in favour of devolving powers away from the UK Parliament. Nicola Sturgeon became a Member of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, representing the Scottish Nationalist Party. She became deputy leader of the party in 2004, when Alex Salmond became leader. The SNP formed an administration in 2007, and Sturgeon played a prominent role in the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, on the losing side. Salmond resigned as leader after the defeat, and Nicola Sturgeon became leader of her party and First Minister without any opposing candidate.

Sturgeons are very large fish with a wide range in the Northern Hemisphere. They are prized for their roe, which is cured to make the luxury dish caviar. Because of over exploitation, most species of sturgeon are critically endangered.

The photograph is of a kilt.

Answer: Jeffrey Archer

"Twelve Red Herrings" was published in 1994. Its 12 short stories all had a "red herring" to wrongfoot the reader. One story, "One Man's Meat...", was given four alternate endings. Jeffrey Archer was one of the most colourful figures in British public life, with many ups and downs and tall stories. An MP who was financially ruined by fraudsters, he reinvented himself as a novelist. Books such as "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less" (1974), and "Kane and Abel" (1979) were huge successes. His society parties serving shepherd's pie to the great and the good became legendary, and he served as a Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. He went to prison in 2001, after committing perjury. His time behind bars inspired a diary and informed a collection of short stories. He later reinvented himself as a podcaster.

Herring are oily fish found in shoals, mainly in the north of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, that have been useful for food for centuries. Ways of preparing them include smoking and pickling.

The picture is a Greek plate from around 500 BC showing an archer.

Answer: swimming

Eric Moussambani represented Equatorial Guinea at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. His event was the 100m freestyle swimming. Despite never having seen a full size Olympic swimming pool before, he set a personal best and national record in winning his heat. This wasn't as good as that sounds. The other two swimmers in his heat were disqualified, and he set the slowest time in Olympic history for the event. Moussambani's determination to finish captured the imagination, and he acquired the nickname "Eric the Eel". He improved his times substantially in future years and became a national swimming coach.

Eels are long, thin, and bony. In Europe they were a mystery - fishermen caught adult eels but never found what looked like juveniles. Spontaneous generation was mooted. It turned out that the adult eels migrated thousands of miles to the Sargasso Sea, without eating, to spawn, and the tiny elvers made the return journey to their parents' home rivers. American eels were found to travel there as well. Eels are popular worldwide for eating. Jellied eels are a delicacy in London, England.

The picture is a swimming pool in Portugal.

Answer: The Anarchy

Henry I was the fourth son of William the Conqueror. When his brother, William II, died in a freak hunting accident, Henry seized the throne in 1100. He was skilled and effective as a monarch, and retained the throne despite many challenges. His son and heir, William Adelin, died along with many other members of the royal family and nobility when The White Ship sank in 1120. Henry named his daughter Matilda as heir. After he died in 1135, allegedly from gorging himself on lampreys against doctor's orders, the throne was seized by his nephew, Stephen of Blois. This led to a series of battles and civil war between Stephen's and Matilda's supporters, which ran from 1138 to 1153, and became known as The Anarchy. The matter was resolved by the Treaty of Wallingford, which meant Stephen retained the throne, and Matilda's son would be his heir, becoming Henry II.

Lampreys are primitive fish that lack a jaw. They feed by sucking. Some bore into the flesh of other fish to feed on their blood. Lampreys have been popular for food for centuries. The Romans prized them, and a lamprey pie was baked for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

The picture shows the international anarchy symbol.

Answer: Richard Brautigan

Richard Brautigan was born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1935. His work was notable for its brevity, and off-beat, surreal humour. He published ten novels, including "Sombrero Fallout", "Willard and His Bowling Trophies", and "The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western". "Trout Fishing in America" was the first novel he wrote, but it was published second, in 1967. It is short, really a novella, and Brautigan plays with words, using "Trout Fishing in America" to mean several different things, such as a book, a person, or just the act of fishing. Sample quote: "Now it was close to sunset and the earth was beginning to cool off in the manner of eternity and office girls were returning like penguins from Montgomery Street."

Trout are freshwater fish, related to salmon, that are prized by fly fishermen as game fish, and by cooks for their culinary uses. A popular recipe is trout with almonds.

The picture is a portrait of Richard III from the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Answer: straying

Stingrays, like sharks, are cartilaginous fish. Over 200 species of stingray live in tropical and subtropical oceans. They move by using their pectoral fins, which is unusual for fish. Stingrays are edible and eaten in Malaysia and India. "Stingray" was a 1960s UK television programme created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, about a submarine whose crew encountered strange underwater creatures and races.

A stray dog is one that is straying - away from an owner, perhaps lost. A person can be said to be straying if they commit a sin, perhaps being unfaithful to a partner.

The photograph shows a stray dog in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Answer: SpongeBob SquarePants

In the TV show "SpongeBob SquarePants", which started in 1999, the title character loved his job cooking at the Krusty Krab restaurant. He was very knowledgeable about how to drive a boat, but kept panicking when he got into one, being taught by Mrs Puff. He regularly crashed, which caused the nervous driving teacher to puff up in shock.

Pufferfish are mainly found in seas, although some go to fresh water. They have a remarkable defence mechanism, of inflating themselves by filling their stomachs with water, so they become much bigger. They also have spikes, so they become very difficult and dangerous for predators to attempt to swallow. Many pufferfish are highly poisonous, and Japanese chefs have to be extensively trained in the art of preparation of what they call fugu, to avoid poisoning their diners.

The photograph shows a natural sponge that has been prepared for using in bathing.