Catreona's Common Bond Trivia Quiz

Answer: A jaybird

The origins of the expression "as naked as a jaybird" are unclear. All sources agree that it started in the United States, with most attributing it to the Nineteenth Century and tracing it to "as naked as a fledgling robin/jaybird". Eventually the term "fledgling", which gave the phrase its sense, dropped out and the robin flew the coop, leaving the expression as we now have it. Some sources relate the expression to the rise of the term jailbird and the treatment of inmates on intake at a prison.

According to Webster's Dictionary a jay is:
"a: a predominantly fawn-colored Old World bird (Garrulus glandarius) of the crow family with a black-and-white crest and wings marked with black, white, and blue
b: any of various usually crested and largely blue chiefly New World birds that are related to the common Old World jay and have roving habits and harsh voices"

So remember, the next time you hear that someone is naked as a jaybird, it's the baby bird that's meant, not the adult with its full and, in the case of the blue jay, cheerful plumage.

Answer: Col. Potter

M*A*S*H began life as "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" by Richard Hooker and W. C. Heinz, published in 1968. A film, "M*A*S*H", followed in 1970. Directed by Robert Altman and with a screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr., the black comedy war film starred Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen and René Auberjonois. The television series premiered in 1972.

Lt. Col. Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson) left the unit at the end of the show's third season. The new C.O. was Sherman T. Potter (played by Harry Morgan), a career Army man unlike Henry, who was a volunteer. Also considerably older than Henry, Col. Potter became a surrogate father to the unit. In "Old Soldiers", Episode 18 of Season Eight, Col. Potter mourns the passing of the last of his World War I group of friends with his new friends at the 4077th.

Answer: Marshal

The Old West was replete with sheriffs and deputies. There were probably a fair number of constables as well. But 'martial' is the only word among the four choices that can also have the meaning 'of or pertaining to the military'.

Answering a reader's question in his "Ask the Marshall" column of "True West" for January, 2020, Marshall Trimble explains marshals and sheriffs far better than I could.

A reader asked:
"What was the relationship between U.S. marshals and town marshals or county sheriffs?"

Mr. Trimble replied:
"A deputy U.S. marshal was responsible for federal crimes, and a town marshal or county sheriff had authority dealing with town or county crimes respectively. Many times, county sheriffs or town marshals were also deputized as deputy U.S. marshals. Virgil Earp is a good example as he was marshal of Tombstone and a deputy U.S. marshal.

"But being a U.S. marshal was a full-time, administrative job. A person in that position rarely made arrests. So 'Gunsmoke's' Matt Dillon being a U.S. marshal in Dodge City was bogus. The town marshal, county sheriff and their deputies would have been responsible for the day-to-day job of upholding the law."

Answer: Sinead O'Connor

Sinead Marie Bernadette O'Connor (also known as Magda Davitt and Shuhada Sadaqat) (December 8, 1966 to July 26, 2023) was born in Glenageary, County Dublin, Ireland. She was a singer-songwriter, her genres being Alternative Rock, Pop Rock and Folk Rock. Her debut album, "The Lion and the Cobra", was released in 1987 to international acclaim and garnered a nomination for the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy.

Val Doonican and Van Morrison began recording in the 1960s, with Morrison starting as a member of the group Them in the mid '60s. His first solo effort, "Brown Eyed Girl", came in 1967. Andrea Corr was part of the sibling quartet The Corrs from 1991 until she launched her solo career in 2007 with the album "Ten Feet High".

Answer: Lord Byron

George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron, widely considered one of the greatest literary figures in Britain's Romantic movement, was born on January 22, 1788. A broken family and turbulent childhood eventually led to an equally tumultuous and often self-indulgent adult life, replete with money problems and amorous scandals. Yet, Byron was a prolific poet - the edition of his works published after his death ran to seventeen volumes!.

A passionate advocate for what we would now term Human Rights, including championing Catholic Emancipation at home and the causes of both Armenia and Greece against the oppression of the Ottoman Turks, Byron was also a devoted pet owner. When his beloved Newfoundland Boatswain contracted rabies, Byron nursed him with loving care, though ultimately without success. Subsequently, he commissioned a marble funerary monument for Boatswain at his estate, Newstead Abbey, the only building work that he ever carried out there. In a will drawn up in 1811, Byron requested that he be buried with his faithful dog, though in the end this wish was not observed.

Living abroad for many years, Byron died of a fever on April 19, 1824 in Greece after having given considerable time and effort, as well as a large portion of his personal wealth, in the cause of Greek independence.

When speaking of Lord Byron one of his many amours, Lady Caroline Lamb (1785-1828), vividly and memorably described him as "Mad, bad, and dangerous to know".

Best remembered as a diarist and invaluable companion of her brother, English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth was born December 25, 1771 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England and died January 25, 1855 at Rydal Mount, Westmorland. Though she expressed disdain at the idea of "setting myself up as an author", since her death her journals have been admired and her poetry appreciated. Her observations and descriptions have been considered to be as poetic if not more so than those of her brother. And in latter years, literary scholars have studied her writing and her life for their own sake, rather than merely as adjunct and background to those of her brother.

Charles Lamb, February 10, 1775 to December 27, 1834, was an English essayist, poet and antiquarian. A Londoner by birth and temperament, he was a life long friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. A severe stutter precluded him from becoming a Church of England clergyman. Instead, he made a not altogether comfortable but steady career as a clerk at the East India Company. Though he wrote novels, plays and much multifarious poetry, Lamb is best known to adults for his essays, while generations of children have grown up with "Tales from Shakespeare", which he wrote with his sister Mary. Like Coleridge, he was a friend of William Wordsworth. Though he fell out of favor after World War II, since the 1970s there has been renewed scholarly interest in and respect for his work.

John Clare, July 13, 1793 to May 20, 1864, suffered from poor physical health and spent the last twenty years of his life in an insane asylum, owing to sometimes very severe mental instability. Born to a barely literate farm laborer and his wife in the village of Helpston in Northamptonshire, he had some formal schooling until age twelve, afterward studying with other local boys and attending night school. As a young person he tried several jobs, including agricultural laborer, potboy in a tavern and gardener at Burghley House, a stately home near Stamford in Lincolnshire.. He even spent time in the militia. Wikipedia conjectures that childhood malnutrition contributed to his short stature (He stood five feet tall) and his poor health later in life. Early on, Clare became a great reader, and it was this that led him to start writing poetry. The Poetry Foundation says of Clare, "His works gorgeously illuminate the natural world and rural life, and depict his love for his wife Patty and for his childhood sweetheart Mary Joyce." Though, sadly, his first volume of poetry, "Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery", published in 1820 was his most successful, throughout his writing life critics continued to praise the vigor and picturesqueness of his poetry and his ongoing growth as a poet. Much of Clare's work, both poetry and prose, was published after his death. As time has gone on, appreciation of that work has only increased.

Answer: Brandeis

Brandeis University, located in Waltham, was founded in 1948 as the first Jewish-sponsored nonsectarian, co-educational university in the U.S. Today Brandeis is a robust research institution, particularly strong in the theoretical and laboratory sciences, peace and social justice and various aspects of Jewish studies.

The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester is, unsurprisingly, a Roman Catholic institution. Founded as a men's college by the Jesuit order in 1843, it is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in the U.S. Holy Cross went co-ed in 1972.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, was established in 1861. According to the school's web site:

"MIT is independent, coeducational, and privately endowed. The Institute admitted its first students in 1865, four years after the approval of its founding charter, and admitted its first woman student...in 1871."

Western New England University was founded in Springfield, in 1919, as the Springfield Division of Northeastern College. Known as Springfield-Northeastern, the school was originally established to offer courses in law, business and accounting for part-time (continuing education) students. In 1951, the school was renamed Western New England College under an autonomous charter to grant and confer the degrees of Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Laws. Western New England College officially became Western New England University on July 1, 2011.

Answer: Holmes

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in the novella "A Study in Scarlet", published in November 1887 in "Beeton's Christmas Annual". Doyle published a total of fifty-six short stories, later collected in five anthologies: "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1892), "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" (1894), "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1905), "His Last Bow" (1917) and "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" (1927) as well as three further novellas:, "The Sign of the Four" (published February 1890 in "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine"), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (serialized 1901-'02 in "The Strand") and "The Valley of Fear" (serialized 1914-'15 in "The Strand").

Sherlock's elder brother Mycroft was introduced in "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", first published in September, 1893.

Besides the two book series mentioned in the question, there have been and continue to be innumerable continuations, elaborations, pastiches, spoof, radio/television/film adaptations, articles and other signs of interest in the Holmesian world.

Answer: Warren

Lawyer and diplomat Warren Minor Christopher was born October 27, 1925 in Scranton, North Dakota. He graduated from Stanford University Law School, after which he clerked for Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. He worked in private practice and served in the Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter administrations during the 1960s and '70s. In 1991, he chaired the Christopher Commission that investigated the Los Angeles Police Department after the Rodney King incident. He worked with Candidate Clinton and in the transition before becoming Secretary of State during Pres. Clinton's first term, January 20, 1993 - January 17, 1997. After his government service, he returned to private practice. Mr. Christopher died March 18, 2011 in Los Angeles.

Warren Gamaliel Harding, born November 2, 1865 in Blooming Grove, Ohio, was the 29th president of the United States. A successful small town newspaper owner, Mr. Harding entered politics in 1900 with his election to the Ohio State Senate, where he served for four years, followed by two years as lieutenant governor. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1914. A dark horse candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920, he was selected on the tenth ballot. Upon winning the race in a landslide, he became the first sitting senator to be elected president. During his administration, Pres. Harding released political prisoners jailed for their opposition to WWI and held the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-22, in which the world's major naval powers agreed on a naval limitations program that held for ten years. Pres. Harding died of a heart attack on August 2, 1923 while visiting San Francisco, California.

Warren Edward Buffett, born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska, has long been considered the most successful businessman and investor in the world. Nicknamed "the Oracle of Omaha" for his canny dealings and shrewd advice, Mr. Buffett was estimated in 2022 to have a net worth of $107.6 billion (in US dollars).

Answer: George Stevens

George Cooper Stevens was born on December 18, 1904, in Oakland, California into a theatrical family. The young George studied literature, theater and the emerging field of the motion picture. As a director, Stevens concentrated on storytelling through character and the situation of the outsider. He won a number of prestigious awards in the film world as well as the respect and admiration of his peers. George Stevens died of a heart attack on March 8, 1975, in Lancaster, California.

John Ford was born John Martin Feeney on February 1, 1894 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He made visually beautiful, emotionally rich films such as the 1941 evergreen classics "The Grapes of Wrath" and "How Green Was My Valley" and his 1953 masterpiece "The Quiet Man". It is for his Westerns, though, that this greatest of great American directors is best remembered. From 1939's "Stage Coach" to "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"", released in 1962, Ford made some of the finest Westerns ever to grace the Silver Screen. John Ford, who won an unprecedented four Academy Awards for Best Director for his feature films as well as two for documentaries while he was in the Navy during WWII, died August 31, 1973 in Palm Desert, California of stomach cancer.

Howard Winchester Hawks was born May 30, 1896 in Goshen, Indiana and died December 26, 1977 in Palm Springs, California. One of the top tier of film directors in the classic Hollywood era, Hawks directed such well-known and diverse films as "Scarface" (1932), "Bringing Up Baby" (1938), "His Girl Friday" (1940), "Sergeant York" (1941), " To Have and Have Not" (1944), "The Big Sleep" (1946), "Red River" (1948), "Monkey Business" (1952), "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953), "Rio Bravo" (1959) and " El Dorado" (1966).

Born April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, Francis Ford Coppola is one of the leading figures of the "New Hollywood" movement. With degrees from Hofstra, in Theater Arts, and UCLA, in Film, Coppola has won all the major awards in film making, a few of them more than once. Perhaps best known for "The Godfather" (1972), he is respected for his innovative approach to film-making.

Answer: Supreme Court

Established March 4, 1789 by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the federal judiciary, the third or judicial branch of government. The composition and procedures of the Supreme Court were established by the 1st Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789, supplemented and elaborated by the Judiciary Act of 1869. The court consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, all of whom have lifetime tenure. That is, they remain on the court until they die, retire, resign, or are impeached and removed from office. When a vacancy occurs, the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate (through the confirmation process), appoints a new justice. Each justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before the court.

The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." It also, more familiarly, has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal court cases as well as over state court cases that involve a point of U.S. Constitutional or federal law. Moreover, The Supreme Court holds the power of judicial review, that is the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution, as well as the ability to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. It may, however, act only in a case over which it has jurisdiction, there being by law and precedent areas beyond the court's ambit.

The Supreme Court first convened on February 1, 1790, at the Merchants' Exchange Building in New York City. When Philadelphia became the U.S. capital, the court met briefly in Independence Hall before settling in Old City Hall from 1791 until 1800. Once the government moved to Washington, D.C., the court occupied various spaces in the Capitol building until 1935, when it moved into its own purpose-built home across from the Capitol at One First Street and Maryland Avenue NE. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the Supreme Court building is a four-story, marble-clad edifice in the classical style, harmonizing with the nearby Capitol and Library of Congress. The building includes the courtroom, justices' chambers, a law library, meeting spaces, and auxiliary services.

(Q1) Lawyer, patriot and diplomat John Jay (born December 12, 1745 in New York City, British America) was the first Chief Justice of the United States. After having served in both Continental Congresses and as the first Secretary of Foreign Affairs/State, Jay was offered (and accepted) the newly created position of Chief Justice by Pres. Washington, who stated that it "must be regarded as the keystone of our political fabric". Washington nominated Jay on September 24, 1789, the same day he signed into law the Judiciary Act of 1789. The US Senate unanimously confirmed him on September 26 and the new Chief Justice swore his oath of office on October 19. He served until resigning from the Supreme Court on June 29, 1795, to take up his position as newly elected second governor of New York State. John Jay died from complications of a stroke on May 17, 1829 in Bedford, New York, U.S.

(Q2) Justice Potter Stewart, appointed by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, served from October 14, 1958 to July 3, 1981. Potter Stewart was bornJanuary 23, 1915 in Jackson, Michigan, and died December 7, 1985 in Hanover, New Hampshire.

(Q3) Chief Justice John Marshall was born September 24, 1755 in Germantown, Virginia Colony, British America. The fourth chief justice of the United States was nominated by Pres. John Adams on January 20, 1801 and confirmed by the Senate on January 27. He served under a total of four presidents over the course of thirty-four years. The longest serving and widely considered the greatest U.S. chief justice, During his tenure, Chief Justice Marshall helped establish the Supreme Court as the final authority on the meaning of the Constitution, and remains one of the Court's most honored members. He died July 6, 1835 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, Thurgood Marshall was appointed U.S. Solicitor General by Pres. Lyndon Johnson in 1965 and elevated to the High Court in 1967, the first African-American to be so honored. Justice Marshall retired October 1, 1991. He died of heart failure on January 25, 1993, at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center just outside Washington, D.C.

(Q4) Born March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman to sit on the High Court. Nominated by Pres. Ronald Reagan and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, she served from September 25, 1981 to January 31, 2006. Justice O'Connor died December 1, 2023 in Phoenix from a respiratory illness.

(Q5) Fort Collins, Colorado native Justice Byron Raymond White was the first former NFL player to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Born June 8, 1917, he was a star halfback at the University of Colorado and a star player for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Detroit Lions. In 1961, Pres. John F. Kennedy tapped him for U.S. Deputy Attorney General. The next April, Pres. Kennedy nominated him to the Supreme Court. He served from April 16, 1962 until June 28, 1993. Justice White died of pneumonia on April 15, 2002 in Denver, Colorado

(Q6) Louis Dembitz Brandeis was born on November 13, 1856 in Louisville, Kentucky to parents who had emigrated from Prague. Louis Brandeis was nominated by Pres. Woodrow Wilson to the Supreme Court on January 28, 1916. After an unprecedented four-month long confirmation process, Brandeis became the first Jewish Justice of the Supreme Court, serving from June 5, 1916 until his retirement on February 13, 1939. Justice Brandeis died October 5, 1941 in Washington, D.C.

(Q7) Oliver Wendell Holmes (March 8, 1841 to March 6, 1935) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Theodore Roosevelt nominated him to the Supreme Court, where he served from December 8, 1902 to January 12, 1932. Considered by many to be the greatest associate justice ever to have sat on the Supreme Court, Justice Holmes died in Washington, D.C.

(Q8) Fourteenth Chief Justice of the United States, Earl Warren was born on March 19, 1891 in Los Angeles, California. Pres. Dwight Eisenhower nominated him to the High Court shortly after the death of Chief Justice Fred M. Vincent. He served from October 4, 1953 to June 21, 1969. Chief Justice Warren died of congestive heart failure on July 9, 1974 at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C.

Chief Justice Warren Burger was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 17, 1907. Pres. Eisenhower appointed him Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division in 1953, and in 1955 nominated him to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he served from 1956 to 1969. Pres. Richard Nixon nominated him to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice. He served in that post from June 23, 1969 until September 26, 1986. Chief Justice Burger died from congestive heart failure at Sibley Memorial hospital in Washington D.C. on June 25, 1995.

(Q9) Appointed by Pres. Gerald Ford, Chicago born Justice John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 to July 16, 2019) served from December 19, 1975 to June 29, 2010. Justice Stevens died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from complications of a stroke.