Double Number Fun Trivia Quiz

The armistice ending WWI was signed in the morning of the 11th of November 1918 and came into effect on the 11th hour. This led to a cessation of hostilities but the war didn't formally end until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on the 28th of June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

During WWII many countries changed the name of Armistice Day; the UK and its Commonwealth changed it to Remembrance Day and these countries observe a 1 or 2 minute silence at 11.00 am. Memorial services are also held at cenotaphs around the world with people wearing red poppies to commemorate those who died in the wars.

"Catch-22" was first published in 1961 and is set from 1942 - 1944 during WWII. The majority of the novel is set at a US Army Air Squadron in the Mediterranean Sea. The book is written by at least 50 different characters with the main 'anti-hero' being Captain John Yossarian, a B-25 bombardier. Heller makes the point throughout that the war has no heroes just victims.

The squadron's Colonel keeps pushing the number of missions a soldier must fly in order to return home so they can never reach it. Yossarian begins to fear him more than the Germans, stating, "The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on, and that includes Colonel Cathcart."

A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations. It is used throughout the novel but the most notable is what the army psychiatrist explained to Yossarian. Requesting a mental evaluation for insanity so you don't have to fly and thus escape dangerous missions shows that you are actually perfectly sane because only insane people would choose dangerous missions and they wouldn't request an evaluation.

The Newton Scale was devised by Isaac Newton in 1701. The scale was developed for practical purposes not for any interest in thermodynamics itself. He also didn't use the word 'temperature', he classified them as 'degrees of heat' but he did devise a thermometer.

With the knowledge that most things expand when heated he used a container of linseed oil and measured its change in volume against various substances. His determination was that melting snow was at 0 degrees and 33 was boiling water.

Later he used red hot irons exposed to the wind and worked out when various metals melted and resolidified. This became known as Newton's law of convective heat transfer.

Forty-four candles are needed for every menorah that you light. Menorahs have eight spots for each of the eight nights plus the Shamash holder that is usually in the middle and higher than the others. The candles are placed from right to left but are lit from left to right.

In Ashkenazi communities, the Shamash candle is the first one lit and it is used to light the other candles. The Sephardi use an extra candle to light the candles that represent the nights, then the Shamash is lit last and the extra candle used for lighting them is blown out.

On the first night one candle and the Shamash are lit, the second night has two candles and the Shamash and this continues until the eighth night when all nine are lit. This leads to: 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 +7 + 8 + 9 = 44.

Modern packs often have 45 in case one breaks.

"55 Days at Peking" was a 1963 movie starring Charlton Heston, David Niven and Ava Gardner. An epic historical war movie, it was set in Peking (modern day Beijing) during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Heston, a US marine, and Niven, a British consul, worked together to keep rebels out of the foreign compounds until reinforcements could arrive.

Filming was unable to be done in China so they created a sixty acre replication of Peking in Spain. They also needed hundreds of Chinese extras and these were recruited from throughout Europe. They actually closed down nearly every Chinese restaurant for the duration as the workers and owners were offered more money to work on the movie.

US Route 66 was established in 1926 and began in Chicago before crossing the rest of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California terminating in Santa Monica.

It was the main route for people migrating west, particularly during the Great Depression and the ensuing Dust Bowl. Steinbeck wrote about it in his 1939 novel "The Grapes of Wrath" referring it to both an escape and hope for a new beginning.

The route was officially removed from the Highway System in 1985 but has remained immortalized by the 1946 song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" which has been performed by many artists.

"77 Sunset Strip" was an American private detective series that premiered in 1958 and ran for seven seasons. The show featured two different private investigators and ran for one hour each week.

The character of Stuart (Stu) Bailey was created in a 1946 novel by Roy Huggins and a subsequent movie. He was a former WWII Office of Strategic Services secret agent. The other investigator was Jeff Spencer, an attorney and former government agent.

The pair had offices in Suites 101 and 102 on Sunset Boulevard which was known as Sunset Strip. Suite 103 housed the building's switchboard operator, Suzanne Fabray, who occasionally helped with their cases.

The typical format was for the two detectives to switch leads each week and focus on one of their cases, although they did sometimes work together.

Bingo callers in Britain have a specific list of nicknames, known as 'Bingo Lingo,' for each number they call all the way from 1 to 90. Apart from it adding a lot of fun to the event its main purpose is for the called numbers to be heard clearly in a noisy bingo hall.

The majority of them are some form of rhyming slang but there are others that are based on books or popular culture. It is also common practice for the caller to read the number and the players to call out a set phrase or visa versa.

Number 8 is referenced by the number looking like a fat lady. So it is 'one fat lady', 81 is 'fat lady with a walking stick' and 88 'two fat ladies.' Players will often call out "Wobble, wobble!"

Other favourites include 11 - Legs 11 accompanied with a wolf whistle from the players.
16 - Never been kissed from the song of the same name.
17 is the age of the Dancing Queen from Abba's famous song
22 - Ducks on a pond with a response of "Quack, quack, quack."
53 - Here comes Herbie, from the number of the Lovebug car. Response is "Beep, beep."
56 - Was she worth it? This is an oldie dated back to the predecimal cost of a marriage license being 5/6d. The correct response was "Every Penny!"

The original song in German is called "99 Luftballons" which translates to "99 Air Balloons" but the English version in 1984 changed the title to "99 Red Balloons". The lyrics themselves are also not strict translations which changes the meaning of the original.

The German version was inspired by the band's guitarist while he was at a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin. Noticing that balloons were being released he watched them moving across the sky and wondered what would happen if they floated over the wall into East German territory.

He let this led him to the story behind the song. That the 99 balloons were mistaken for UFOs which led to the Soviets flying to investigate; they used firepower to get rid of them which led to other countries responding to a perceived attack and sending their defense craft to attack them which eventually leads to a large scale war with no winners.

The score is named after Lord Nelson, famous English naval commander of the 18th/19th centuries although reasons why differ. Some say it was referring to his three major victories - won, won, won while others believe it stems from 'one eye, one arm and one leg' although that is incorrect. He was blinded in one eye but did not lose it and never lost a leg.

It is a highly superstitious number in cricket where people believe bad things happen. It's believed this may be because it represents the three wickets without their bails and consequently the player being out.

The number can refer to a single batsman or an entire team's score and it carries into the multiples - 222 is called a double Nelson, 333 is a triple Nelson and so on.