20 Questions, 20 Categories Trivia Quiz

Answer: Amoeba

Surprising to most people, the amoeba is actually a tiny single-celled animal (also called a protozoan), which can only be seen through a microscope. Amoebas eat by flowing around their food and encasing it in a food vacuole.

Answer: Raging Bull Durham

'Bull Durham', which hit theaters in 1988, is arguably the best baseball film of all time. Particularly, Susan Sarandon's performance is worth the watch. The same can be said for Robert De Niro's magnificent performance as the self-destructive Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film 'Raging Bull'.

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin had starred in 70 short films before finally making his first feature-length film (in this case, 68 minutes long) in 1921. 'The Kid' also featured Jackie Coogan, a notable child star in early Hollywood.

Answer: Matterhorn

Apparently there is a great amount of space underneath the Matterhorn, for underneath the structure can be found a half-court basketball gym!

Answer: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The two children, Claudia and her brother Jamie, find adventure and a few life-lessons in their new home away from home. A recommended read for all children, this book won the Newberry Medal in 1967.

Answer: Oklahoma!

'Oklahoma!' opened on stage in 1943, while their last collaboration, 'The Sound of Music', debuted in 1959. The first of their plays to be filmed was 'State Fair' in 1945. Apparently, though their collaborative works sparkled, they did not get along well personally.

Answer: Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is characterized by skin spots and, of course, a fever, and is transmitted via ticks. A Rocky Mountain goat is simply a species of mountain goat that, coincidentally, resides in the Rocky Mountains in North America. They are great survivalists, combining the swiftness of an antelope with the hardiness of a goat.

Answer: Constantinople

Muhammad II, a ruler of the Ottoman Empire, was said to have single-handedly saved the beautiful buildings of the city from being ravaged by his soldiers. In particular, there was supposedly an incident at the Hagia Sophia involving Muhammad II. It seems that the Sultan, standing in shock at the utter beauty of the architecture, was distracted by a soldier who was chipping away at the tiles on the floor with an axe.

When Muhammad inquired as to why the soldier defiled such a great building, the latter replied simply, 'For the faith!' Muhammad II stepped toward the man, striking him bluntly, and exclaiming, 'You've got enough by pillaging and enslaving the city! The buildings are mine!' Muhammad turned the great church into a mosque, white washing the mosaics with graven images.

In the modern era, the whitewash has been removed.

Answer: Dessert

A blancmange is a gelatinous concoction that is apparently deadly at tennis (for an explanation of that comment, watch Monty Python's Flying Circus!) Croquembouche consists of a choux pastry and some crystallized fruit set in a cone and mixed with caramel. A Knickerbocker Glory is a sort of ice cream sundae. All are deadly to dieters!

Answer: Alfred Stieglitz

Stieglitz took artistic photos at a time when the medium was still considered a novel technology, and not much of an art. He fought for recognition by the public of the aesthetic potential of photography, and thus the Pictorial Movement was born. His wife was Georgia O'Keeffe, most famous for her erotic flower paintings and her New Mexico landscapes.

Answer: A Christmas Carol

Possibly more than any other work of literature, Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' helped popularize the 'spirit of Christmas'. The term 'Scrooge' now refers to a miserly person, though by the end of the novel the title character is redeemed.

Answer: Los Angeles

Charlie, played by Tom Cruise, goes to Cincinnati in order to hear the reading of his father's will. After finding out that he received nothing, and that his autistic brother Raymond, marvelously portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, received three million dollars, Charlie decides to bring his brother to Los Angeles with him in a plan to get his 'half'. Along the way, Raymond's odd, repetitive behavioral quirks drive Charlie to distraction. Surprisingly, a loving attachment between the brothers develops towards the end of the film, and the Cruise character is ultimately redeemed.

A must see.

Answer: John Adams

'On the Transmigration of Souls' was written by Adams in 2002, and first performed on September 19th of that year. It's a 24-minute chorale piece with accompanying orchestra. Adams is considered a 'minimalist' composer, and his works also include the operas 'Nixon in China' and 'The Death of Klinghoffer'.

Answer: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc Louis XIV Napoleon Louis Pasteur Joan of Arc called herself 'la pucelle', meaning 'the maiden' or 'the virgin'. This refers to her oath to God that she would remain a virgin and do the Lord's calling...apparently she remained so by her death at 19.

Answer: Panthera

Sometimes Jesus has the name 'Ben Pantera' attached, and some speculation has arisen over the ages about what this could mean. Allegations that Jesus was born out of wedlock as a result of an illicit affair between Mary and a Roman soldier named Pantera or Panthera have surfaced as a possible explanation for the name.

Answer: Centripetal

The term 'centripetal' comes from the Latin 'centripetus', which literally means 'center seeking'. Its opposite is 'centrifugal', which not surprisingly is derived from the Latin for 'center fleeing'. The Coriolis refers to the rotation of a given mass with a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion. Catoptric relates to mirrors and reflections. Thank you to the Oxford Dictionary for helping to guide me through these tongue-twisting definitions!

Answer: Shepherds

A crook is a hooked staff, the kind carried by a shepherd. Candy canes were first made in 1670, when they were handed out by members of the clergy to happy children. Now they seem to come in all colors and flavors, but the classic red and white mint cane is still the best.

Answer: Darts

Formerly called a 'hockey line', the term 'oche' apparently comes from the Old French word 'ocher', meaning 'cut a notch in'. Rules referring to the 'oche line' may be found here: http://www.users.bigpond.com/govedarts/by_laws.htm#9

Answer: Jamie Oliver

Whomever said British food is not exciting clearly has not had the pleasure of watching Mr. Oliver work. His first televised series was called 'The Naked Chef', though I'm not sure why...he certainly doesn't cook in the nude. He went on to star in the even better 'Oliver's Twist'. Not only his Jamie popular in Britain, but also in America where he has been seen on the Food Network.

Answer: Thai

The Thai term is 'baung', which referred originally to a cylindrical wooden tube. Westerners have borrowed said item for rather shady practices indeed! I hope you have enjoyed this quiz and learned a thing or two, thank you for playing. Feel free to try my other quizzes, there are a few here and there you might enjoy.