Anything Goes Number Twelve Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marriage

Talk about brainwashing young girls into having the only aim in life of marrying and reproducing, this rather cruel manipulation of dreams was all very well for girls who did end up marrying etc, but if instead they remain unmarried and unwanted for all their lives, was a constant reminder to them of the failure of this "highly desirable" achievement.

In each glory box, articles were carefully accumulated over time for the future wedding (gloves, garter, veil etc); the home (sheets, towels, doilies and so on); and babies (nappies, booties and baptismal gowns etc). All that was needed was a husband, but in truth, this almost took second place in the catalogue of dreams that were supposed to come true in the happily ever after.

Answer: Thief

Most prevalent during the Middle Ages when people were known to carry their purses externally, tied with a strap onto their belts, a cutpurse was an audacious thief who, with lightning speed, stole a purse from an unwary victim by slicing through the strap holding the purse and making off with it - sometimes without the victim even being aware the crime had taken place.

Answer: Salamanders

There are ten different families of salamanders throughout the world, with over 700 different species, the largest group of which can be found in North America - and, to the horror of this writer, some of these creepy looking creatures can grow to lengths of six feet.

However, repulsive looking as they may be to some, salamanders have a truly remarkable ability to regenerate various damaged parts of their bodies, including internal organs, missing limbs and parts of the spinal cord. This truly astonishing gift by nature has seen scientists striving for years to capture this process in salamanders in the hope of treating human beings with damaged spinal cords, and even brains, to regenerate same.

Answer: Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis, also known as "pink eye", is a common infection of the eye where the whites of those orbs become pink and inflamed looking, sometimes itch, and most ghastly looking of all, usually produces a discharge that hardens overnight during sleep and, for children in particular, very often sticks their eyelids together.

It is REALLY not advisable to try this "treatment" for yourself at home, as this heliotrope, though lovely to look at, features a delightful vanilla perfume, and is excellent for attracting pollinators to your garden, is also highly toxic for both animals and humans. The juice from the leaves of the lovely heliotrope, which normally displays pretty purple flowers, was also once widely used for the treatment of various wounds, ulcers and boils. Because heliotrope loves the full sun, the myth that sprang up around it tells of the water nymph Clytie who was in love with the sun god Helios, but was rejected by him. This saw her wasting away in sorrow, turning eventually into the plant, which, still loving the sun, always displays her flowers longingly turned towards it every day.

Answer: Refused to drink from it

St Peter's Anglican church in Sudbury, England, with a fascinating history dating back to 1180, no longer is used as a place of worship today, but as an arts centre instead. That seems almost sacrilegious somehow, but perhaps that decision was delivered by people with no souls. Whatever the case may be, the original 1180 structure no longer exists, but was built upon, extended and renovated many times over the next 400 years until what you see today actually dates to the 15th century instead.

According to church records, at some time in the 17th century, when it was decided to replace the 15th century font with a newer model, the font was taken outside and shamefully put to one side to be used as a horse trough. However, the horses for whom the trough was destined, being of a more religious frame of mind than the church's administrators, fascinatingly and absolutely refused to drink from it - and so the font was put back into the church once more. One would hope so! Horse trough, indeed.

Answer: Removing its droppings from sight

This tidy little creature, which is related to the much untidier house mouse, is also known as the Western Mediterranean mouse. It has a shorter tail than the house mouse, and is covered in brown fur, apart from its little white fluffy belly. Its normal range is south-west Europe, particularly most of Portugal and Northern Spain.

The sweet little creature is known as a devoted and caring parent, and particularly for keeping its habitat tidy by removing its droppings from its living quarters, either by carrying them away in its mouth, or pushing them away with its snout. I wonder if their DNA can be genetically mixed with that of teenagers?

Answer: Norman Lindsay

Norman Lindsay (1879-1969) was one of Australia's most famous and popular artists. He was also known as a sculptor, writer, cartoonist and novelist, and, I might add with a disapproving "Hmm", with images of erotic pagan creatures ravishing young women often permeating his work. Yet, this old hypocrite refused to illustrate the beautiful poems of love and passion by the now sadly neglected but once highly popular Australian writer, Zora Cross (1890-1964). He did eventually relent a little and illustrate the cover only, but the reason he gave for refusing to touch the rest of her lovely work was that women couldn't write love poems as their spinal column wasn't connected to their reproductive apparatus. Of all the nonsensical rubbish ever written about women, that takes the cake. An example of one of Zora's beautiful love poems, taken from sonnet 29, follows, to allow you to judge for yourself:

"Oh Love... Love... Love Dearer than God to me
Earth of the earth are we and light of light.
God-born, God-breathing all our scented souls
In death will glow, gladdening eternity.
So give me love... all love... this perfect night
As round our naked limbs its full fire rolls"

Answer: Cataract removal

Various form of syringes have been created by man as far back as the first century, and perhaps earlier, but were first recorded in "De Medicina", a work by Roman writer Aulus Cornelius Celsus. On the American continent, though, pre-Columbian indigenous people were making early syringes from the tiny hollow bones of birds (for the needle) and used animal bladders to hold the contents - and using them to remove cataracts from eyes of those inflicted with this condition. Smaller forms of these early syringes were used to inject medicine, clean out wounds and flush out ear wax - while larger designed syringes were used to give enemas. Hopefully these were never confused.

Answer: Seated on a bench but hanging over a rope

During the Victorian era in England, and as a result of the heartless common-land enclosures that had been ongoing since earlier eras (1600s-1914), desperate people had flocked to the cities seeking employment - but this had created mass crime waves, destitution and homelessness instead. It included 30,000 children alone. The Historic UK magazine, November 2023 edition tells readers that, for anyone who could scrape up a couple of pennies a day, and didn't wish to sleep outside in the bitter cold, there were three choices of overnight accommodation in stark and empty halls. Sometimes a few scraps of food were provided, but often this was not the case.

A penny sit-up got you a seat all night long on a wooden bench - but you weren't allowed to fall asleep. This was often monitored. Four or five pennies got you a choice out of row upon row of very narrow, wooden, coffin shaped boxes in which to sleep - with an oilcloth or leather covering. The two penny hangover gave you a cramped seat on a bench, with a rope stretched right along in front of you, over which you were allowed to hang and go to sleep.The rope was cut every morning at five or six a.m to jerk the customers awake - and order them back out onto the streets.

Answer: Very high insteps on both feet

Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) was born in Russia, and lived a major part of her life touring the world (the first ballerina to do so) with her own ballet company, introducing that beautiful art form and its lovely music to appreciative audiences everywhere. She spent the latter part of her life in England, where she eventually passed away. Pavlova's bodily shape was slender and ethereal, with her feet displaying very highly arched insteps, a phenomenon which, far from enhancing her dancing ability, hindered it greatly, requiring her to have specially adapted pointe shoes made. This was evidenced most particularly in her exquisite presentation of Camille Saint-Saens' "The Dying Swan", choreographed by Michel Fokine, the majority of which she performed en pointe (on tips of toes).

That ballet routine is heartbreaking and moves me to tears every time I see it, as the beautiful dying swan struggles to rise and fly away once more, but cannot, finally sinking to the ground in sorrow and despair.