Ordering a Rainbow Trivia Quiz

Infrared waves are invisible to the human eye although they can be felt as warmth. They were discovered by William Herschel in 1800 when he noticed the increased temperature beyond the normal colour of red.

Infrared waves are what changes the channels in remote controls and are also used in ovens to cook food. Although the naked eye can't see them, infrared goggles and thermal imaging cameras can detect the heat emanating from people and animals. The cameras are particularly useful when searching for missing people or pets.

Vulpes vulpes is the scientific name of the red fox, which is widespread across Europe, Asia and North America. The fox has adapted well to living alongside humans and is frequently seen wandering the streets of towns at night.

Red is located at the higher range of the wavelength at round 625 to 750 nanometres. It is the first colour mentioned in the aids most of use to remember the colours of the rainbow. In the UK, Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain is common while Americans prefer ROY G. BIV.

It always feels as if the name of Blenheim Orange for an apple species is designed to catch out the unwary. The fruit was originally known as Kempster's Pippin but acquired the alternative name as it was native to the village of Blenheim in Oxfordshire, near Blenheim Palace. It's not the only apple variety with orange in the name - there is also Cox's Orange Pippin.

As a colour, orange takes its name from the fruit and lies between red and yellow, It is classed as a secondary colour in traditional sources and as a tertiary colour using the RGB system. It can be created by mixing the two colours which surround it.

China's Huanghe River is commonly referred to in English as the Yellow River, so called due to the colour of its water. This is caused by the silt it picks up during its long journey - it is the second longest river of China after the Yangtze River. Its course takes it from the Bayan Har Mountains of north west China to meet the Wei River before reaching the Bohai Sea, the northern part of the Yellow Sea.

Yellow lies next to orange in the rainbow and was one of the earliest colours used by humans to create paintings. It was created from the clay called ochre which has various shades depending upon the other constituent parts of the soil. Yellow has a wavelength of between 575 - 585 nanometres.

'How Green Was My Valley' told the story of a mining family in south Wales. Llewellyn claimed it was based on his own family but, after his death, this was exposed as a lie. He had actually carried out research to obtain the details. The story was convincing, though, and the novel was popular, and even more so when it was used for the basis of a John Ford-directed film in 1941. The film won the Best Film Oscar and others, including Best Director for Ford.

Green is one of the basic colours used in the RGB system, along with red and blue. These three colours are used to produce all other shades. It lies between yellow and blue and mixing these two colours together produces green.

George Gershwin wrote 'Rhapsody in Blue' in 1924, combining classical elements with jazz. The piece is written to be played by a pianist accompanied by a band. Gershwin himself played the piano part during its first performance.

Blue is the fifth colour of the rainbow, among the seven identified by Isaac Newton in the 1670s. Modern versions are more likely to use cyan to identify this colour of the rainbow.

Indigo, as a colour, derives its name from the dye of that name which originated in India. It was derived from plant leaves, although synthetic dyes have now taken over. Indigo dyes, or pigments, are especially used for colouring denim, from which jeans are made.

Indigo, in Newton's terminology, lies between blue and violet. There is debate around the exact shades Newton meant by his classification, with some sources saying that, to him, indigo meant blue and that the blue he referred to is more like the present day cyan, i.e. a blue-green shade.

'Downton Abbey' was a popular television programme which originally appeared for six series in the UK from 2010 until 2015. It featured the wealthy Crawley family and the servants who worked for them in various capacities. Maggie Smith, who died in 2024, played the role of Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, mother of the current Earl, portrayed by Hugh Bonneville.

Violet is the seventh colour of the traditional rainbow shades, the last one named by Newton. It is in the shorter wavelength of the spectrum with its name derived from the Viola genus of flowers, commonly called violet. It is a shade of purple.

Ultraviolet light cannot be seen by humans, although it is believed that some animals, birds and insects are able to see it. Humans can certainly feel it, though, as ultraviolet (UV) light is what causes the skin to burn, particularly for people with lower levels of melanin, or acquire a tan. Creams to guard against sunburn are designed to give protection against UV light. A certain amount is needed to help the body to produce Vitamin D.

UV light is generally said to begin at around 400 nanometres and go down to ten or so, but this is not a hard and fast rule. German scientist Johann Ritter first identified UV light in the very early nineteenth century.

Clive Sinclair was a pioneer in electronics in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was responsible for an early electric vehicle, called the Sinclair C5, for example. Sinclair's main success came with electronics and early computers of which the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was the most successful. It competed with the Commodore 64 and the BBC's Micro. The Spectrum helped popularise home computers, and the associated games. It ceased production in 1992.

The spectrum originally referred to the colours visible when light passes through a prism - the seven colours normally associated with the rainbow. It is now used to refer to the whole range of lights, so ending the quiz with spectrum pulls all the other colours discussed together.