Detective Dingo vs the Crime of the Millennium Quiz

Answer: A handwritten copy of 'Macbeth'

Detective Dingo: "Well Professor Tome, I know you are lying. Surely you of all people would be aware that William Shakespeare wrote his play 'Macbeth' sometime between 1603 and 1607. So, either you broke the rules and left the century you were sent to, or you never saw that manuscript. Are you lying to conceal your theft of the great treasure?"

Professor Tome: "I ... well ... ah ... I confess! I did take a side tour to the 1600s, but I value books above all else, and have no interest in your so-called treasure. For your own edification, you might be interested to know that 'Beowulf' is an epic poem, written in Old English, of which the earliest known copy dates to the year 1010. 'The Domesday Book' is somewhat of a misnomer, as it was actually created in several volumes. It is the record of a survey into the lands and holdings of the English population, ordered by William the Conqueror in 1085. 'The Tale of Genji', written in the early 11th century, is attributed to the Japanese female author Murasaki Shikibu. It is widely considered to be the first full length novel, though there are some who believe there are texts from the preceding millennium which merit that title."

Answer: Dynamite

Detective Dingo: "Miss Occident, if you are truly fascinated by the Orient, surely you know that dynamite was invented by the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel in 1867. Perhaps you were treasure hunting instead of viewing Chinese inventions?"

Miss Occident: "You have found me out. Indeed I did travel to the 1800s, but with pure intentions. I was not treasure hunting, but I assure you that if I had been seeking my fortune I would have secured myself a golden treasure."

Detective Dingo: "So did you view any of these inventions at all?"

Miss Occident: "Of course! My infatuation with China is very real. You might be surprised to know that Chinese people of the 1100s wore sunglasses made from flat pieces of smoky quartz. In fact, judges in courts sometimes wore these sunglasses to hide their reactions during proceedings. I also saw a number of people using framed bead abacuses to perform calculations. It's true that the Chinese have used abacuses since at least 190 C.E. but it was during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 C.E.) that the device was popularized in its modern framed form. I was delighted to observe a 12th century fireworks display on my time voyage as well. I've heard that there were rudimentary fireworks used in China from even earlier that the 1100s, but during that century gunpowder was added to produce more impressive effects. I need to take a seat Detective, I feel faint."

Answer: St Patrick

With a smile, Detective Dingo replied: "Monsignor Fidelis, St Patrick? I happen to know that he, the patron saint of Ireland, died in the 5th century. Were you sneaking through time on a lusty treasure hunt, or simply to meet St Patrick?"

Monsignor Fidelis: "Detective, there is no greater treasure to me than my faith. The church funded my voyage to the 1200s as a research trip, yet I was desperate to meet St Patrick as well as the men from the 13th century. St Dominic and St Francis both founded religious orders (The Dominicans and The Franciscans) which still exist. St Thomas Aquinas was himself a member of The Dominicans and wrote that masterpiece 'Summa Theologica'. It was wonderful to discuss these men's ideas with them in person, but before I began I already knew a great deal about their views. On the other hand, we have only two written works penned by St Patrick, and I have long wondered what more he could tell us. I was weak ... I slipped into the 5th century ... but the only wealth I seek is spiritual."

Answer: The Spanish Flu pandemic

Detective Dingo: "Given your strange predilections, I can believe you wanted to witness the Spanish Flu pandemic, Madame Mortis, but if you did, you must have left the 1300s. The Spanish Flu was a pandemic outbreak of influenza which spread across the world between 1918 and 1920. Since you are clearly lying, why should I believe you were not actually stealing the treasure?"

Madame Mortis: "Detective I don't like your tone! Humble detectives don't speak to respectable women like that. What if I did take a little side tour? I certainly have no interest in ancient treasure - my departed husband's estate caters for all of my desires. I began my time travel by observing the Great Famine of Europe. For over two hundred years the population of Europe had been growing steadily, but in the spring of 1315 unusually heavy and persistent rains interrupted food production and began an extended period of famine which lasted until 1317. There was widespread suffering, and approximately 10-25% of the populations of many cities and towns across Northern Europe died. Next, of course, I had to see the Black Death - what an event! This plague swept across Europe in the mid-1300s and killed close to 100 million people. Excruciating. Then there was the 100 Years' War, fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453. With the background of famines and plagues which kept rearing their ugly heads, the war added deaths in battle to burden the lives of people who already struggled in an uncertain world. It was an incredible century to visit."

Answer: Captain James Cook sighting Australia and mapping the coastline of New Zealand

Detective Dingo: "I may be a humble detective, Admiral Imperio, but I spot your untruth. Captain James Cook's first voyage of exploration, during which he visited Australia and New Zealand, left England in 1768 and returned in 1771. Did you make any other temporal side-trips that I should know about?"

Admiral Imperio: "Rules are for enlisted men! I'm sure the good Professor Platypus bears me no grudge for carefully treading to the eighteenth century for a little extra adventure? I began by joining Bartolomeu Dias and his crew as they sailed south along the coast of Africa in the years 1486 to 1488. Fortunately, as it turns out, his crew were a cantankerous bunch and insisted that they turn back shortly after having rounded the most southern point of Africa. At this time they were well out at sea, but on the return voyage they sailed closer to land and found the location of the Cape of Good Hope. This voyage inspired Vasco da Gamma, whom I accompanied as he led the first fleet of ships to sail directly from Europe to India, departing Portugal in July 1497 and arriving in India in May 1498. Then, what would a trip to the 1400s be without joining the first voyage of Christopher Columbus? How exciting to be there in 1492 as his quest to find a shorter route to Asia was rudely interrupted by grounding in the islands of the Americas! Having seen all those great voyages my blood was running hot and I couldn't help but make a detour to meet Captain Cook."

Answer: Picasso

Detective Dingo: "My dear Lady, I don't know much about art, but I know what I like, and I happen to like Picasso (one of the great twentieth-century artists). Might I infer from your prevarication that you have something to hide? Perhaps you went after the missing treasure."

Lady Louvre: "Well, this is embarrassing. I was so excited about my time-trip to see the men who became known as the Trinity of Great Masters of the Italian High Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael, that I didn't read Professor Platypus' instructions carefully and I landed in the twentieth century. Well, I made the most of it, and paid Picasso a visit, but then I proceeded to my original destination. First, I traveled to 1505 where I watched Leonardo da Vinci painting the 'Mona Lisa'. Then I visited St. Peter's in the Vatican City in 1511 and witnessed both Michelangelo and Raphael at work. Michelangelo was making good progress on his painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and Raphael was putting the finishing touches on the Stanza della Segnatura, the first of the three famous Raphael rooms to be completed there."

Answer: Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, who introduced the decimal number system to Europe

Detective Dingo: "My dear Mr. X, Fibonacci died in 1250. He introduced the decimal system to Europe, after which the Roman numeral system gradually lost favour. He also explored a problem about breeding rabbits which led to the development of the numerical sequence which has been named after him. The numbers of this sequence appear in many natural situations, such as the pattern of seeds in flowering plants. You may well have been fascinated to talk to him, but you couldn't have done this in the century you were supposed to travel to."

Mr. X: "Well Perry - ah, that is Professor Platypus - still has a few bugs to iron out of his system. I first landed in the 1200s and had to work out how to adjust the machine to get to the 1600s as I had requested. Why not drop in on Fibonacci while I was in the 1200s? After that brief stop, I was on my way to meet the three men I had planned to interview from the 1600s. I was particularly curious to discuss the controversy between Newton and Liebniz regarding the development of calculus. Both men claimed to have developed the technique independently at about the same time, but I (along with others) wondered whether Liebniz had actually seen some of Newton's private work and reproduced the ideas as his own."

Answer: The Russian Revolution

Detective Dingo: "Oh Mademoiselle, you may be referring to the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907 or the better known one of 1917 which led to the creation of the Soviet Union, but in either case you could not have witnessed it from the 1700s."

Mademoiselle Guillotine: "Oh!" She threw her face into her hands and began weeping hysterically. "I always thought the power of the people fighting for their cause would be a wonderful thing, but it was horrible! The American Revolution, 1775-1783, claimed independence from the British Crown for the people of the modern day United States of America. The French Revolution, 1789-1799, rebelled against the French monarchy and established a representative form of government. The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804, permanently abolished slavery and established Haiti as the first post-colonial government in the Caribbean. But to witness this violence was more than I could stand. I am still so shaken I barely know what is coming out of my mouth. Of course, I didn't see the Russian Revolution. Can I have a glass of water?"

Answer: Alexander Fleming discovering a substance with antibiotic properties and naming it penicillin

Detective Dingo: "Dr Hippocrates, why do you insist on deceiving me? Although we know that scientists did work on antibiotic substances prior to Alexander Fleming, Fleming is widely created with the discovery of penicillin. It was his work which produced the scientifically reproducible results that convinced the scientific community of the importance of the substance. If you witnessed his discovery, it was in 1928 and not the 1800s."

Dr Hippocrates: "I wonder, detective, whether you ought to spend more time solving crimes and less time with your nose buried in history books. Fine! I did go to 1928. Frankly, Professor Peregerine Platypus is a money-hungry capitalist! I asked for a ticket to take me from 1850 through 1950, but he said that would require two tickets. These things don't come cheap you know. I went to the twentieth century. What of it?"

Detective Dingo: "Anything else you'd like to confess?"

Dr Hippocrates: "Certainly not. I spent the rest of my time learning more about three great medical scientists of the 1800s. Did you know that Louis Pasteur was driven to conduct his investigations into germs because he was trying to find out more about the deadly disease, typhoid, which had killed two of his children? Pasteur's papers, published in 1860s, inspired Joseph Lister's work on developing antiseptic surgical procedures. In 1879 an antiseptic mouthwash, Listerine, was named after him. Wilhelm Roentgen's work gave me a most dramatic viewing. I looked on as, two weeks after his 1895 realisation that X-Rays had an effect on photographic plates, Roentgen used them to make an image of his wife's hand and discovered that this produced an image of the bones inside it."

Answer: Wicked

Detective Dingo: "You know, Ms Melody, 'Wicked', a musical based on Gregory Maguire's book which told the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from her own perspective, debuted in 2003."

Ms Melody: "I told you my memory is bad. Now that you mention it, I saw 'Wicked' before I even went on this time adventure. I did see the three other premier performances, though. I saw 'Oklahoma!' performed for the first time in 1943 and left singing 'Oh What A Beautiful Morning'. I was in the audience in 1966 when Cabaret debuted and was thoroughly taken with Joel Grey's performance of 'Willkommen'. In 1981 I went to the West End to see the very first performance of 'Cats' and danced off into the night humming 'Memory'. 'Memory, all alone in the daylight...'."

Detective Dingo: "Well, thank you Ms Melody; I believe you did forget when you saw 'Wicked'. The rest of you are all liars, but most of you have done little that I need to investigate further. Professor Platypus, I believe you have been unscrupulous in charging extremely high prices for the services you offer, but you were honest enough to report that a stunning Chinese bronze dragon had come into your possession. What none of your customers knew was that the time machine only allows them to return with the items they took with them. The system separates everything else into a special container, enabling the Professor to determine which objects should be returned to the customers. The priceless Chinese dragon which the Professor discovered this morning is undoubtedly one of the bronze zodiac sculptures looted from the Summer Palace in 1860. Until now, its whereabouts was unknown. I first suspected Miss Occident. She is fascinated with Chinese culture, and my suspicions were confirmed when she specifically mentioned that she would have taken a 'golden treasure' for herself. This statement revealed that she knew more about the missing treasure than she could have, unless she was involved with the theft. However, I also noticed that Miss Occident is a very small woman with finely manicured nails, and I doubted whether she could or would have removed and transported the treasure herself. I had reason to doubt the veracity of all of your statements, but it was Mr. X who gave himself away by calling Professor Platypus by his familiar name. The professor is always known as Peregrine professionally, but Mr. X referred to him as Perry. That wig you are wearing, Mr X, I believe it is not only to help you blend in with the high society of the 1600s, but to conceal your identity from Professor Platypus as well."

Mr X: "It's true!" exclaimed Mr X, tearing off his wig. "I was a graduate mathematics student of one of Perry Platypus' colleagues. Perry had some great ideas but could not master the calculations to make them reality. When I first heard he was offering commercial time travel I was surprised, and when I looked at the scientific publications that underpinned his work, I realized he had taken my PhD work and applied it - without giving me any credit at all! Given the prices he's charging, he could surely have afforded me my share! My sister, Miss Occident, was easily persuaded to be my accomplice when I offered her the lure of a precious Chinese treasure."

Professor Platypus: "You never would have done anything with your work without my expertise. Should I give the factory workers who manufactured the nuts and bolts of the machine a cut too?"

Mr X: "You fool ... it was never about money. I wanted credit for my contribution, not a pay day. The bronze dragon we stole would never be sale-able, it's much too identifiable and it would have to be repatriated to China. Miss Occident was to keep the treasure for her own pleasure, and I was going to mail you photographs of the bronze in her living room to show you that I had outwitted you once again! Detective - I am ready to face my punishment."