It's a Small, Small World... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Disneyland

"It's a Small World" is both a song and a ride at Disneyland. The song appears to have no end as it plays on a continuous loop throughout a 15-minute boat ride which features 'animatronic' dolls in various national costumes, singing the song in a variety of languages. The song was written by Robert and Richard Sherman.

Answer: Kansas

"Smallville" first aired in 2001 and depicts the life of Clark Kent as a teenager attending Smallville High School. The character of Clark Kent was played by Tom Welling. According to the television show, Smallville was in Kansas, however, in the original "Superboy" comics, the location was never specified.

Answer: Itchycoo Park

The Small Faces were formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1969. The foundation members were Steve Marriott, Jimmy Winston, Kenney Jones, and Ronnie Lane. Some of their memorable hits included "Tin Soldier", "All or Nothing", and "Lazy Sunday".

Answer: Little penguins

Little penguins are also known as Fairy penguins, Blue penguins or Little Blue penguins. They are mostly found in southern Australia and New Zealand and they only grow to about 16 inches (43 cm) in height. Traditionally they were known as fairy penguins but the name was changed as it was believed to be offensive to the gay community.

The official reason is that Little Penguin is a more accurate translation of their scientific name Eudyptula minor, which means "good little diver".

Answer: Gulliver's Travels

Lilliput was an imaginary island featured in "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. The people who inhabited the island, the Lilliputians, were less than 6 inches (15 cm) tall. "Gulliver's Travels" is a satire and Lilliput represented Britain as it was at the time that Swift wrote the novel (1726).

Answer: louse

Robbie Burns is one of the best known Scottish poets. He wrote "To a Louse", or, to give the poem its full title, "To a Louse, on Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church". The theme of the poem is self-awareness and the desirable ability to see ourselves as others see us.

He also wrote a poem dedicated to another small creature - "To a Mouse" - but perhaps his most famous composition is "Auld Lang Syne".

Answer: Antonij van Leeuwenhoek

Antonij Van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutchman, often referred to as the "Father of Microbiology" as he was the first person to see bacteria using lenses that he crafted himself. Many sources describe his occupation as a lens-maker but he actually trained as a draper and held a variety of jobs including surveyor, bailiff, and beer and wine inspector. Experimenting with lenses and microscopes was his hobby.

Answer: electron

Bacteria were first observed by Antonij van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutchman, in 1676. Bacteria can be seen under an optical or light microscope, but viruses cannot. You need an electron microscope to see a virus. Viruses were not discovered until 1898. The first one to be discovered was the tobacco mosaic virus which was damaging the tobacco crops.

It was discovered by Martinus Beijerinck, another Dutchman.

Answer: Namibia

Thiomargarita namibiensis is about the size of the punctuation mark at the end of this sentence. Its name means "sulphur pearl of Namibia", a name which reflects its appearance. It was found in samples of sediment found off the coast of Namibia. According to the journal 'Science', comparing the size of this species of bacterium to regular bacteria is like comparing a blue whale to a newborn mouse.

Answer: to distinguish it from syphilis, also called the pox

The name of the disease was coined in the early 1500s. Smallpox was called "small" to distinguish it from the "great" pox, which was syphilis. Although smallpox was a nasty disease, syphilis was considered to be worse. In reality, smallpox was much more deadly.

However, the popular method of treatment for syphilis was mercury which caused some very unpleasant side effects such a metallic taste in the mouth, discolouration of the skin, loss of teeth, spongy gums, and liver failure. Hence the perception that syphilis was worse or "greater" than smallpox.