A Cornucopia Of Mixed Trivia Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1839

Vulcanization was invented by Charles Goodyear in 1839 when he accidentally dropped some Indian rubber mixed with sulfur onto a hot stove. He was only able solidify his patent rights in the U.S. in 1852. His process was routinely infringed in Europe, the other main source of rubber products at the time.

The process is named after the god, Vulcan, who was the god of fire. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is named after Charles Goodyear, although he actually had nothing to do with the company at all. Goodyear himself died impoverished, with a debt of over {$200,000.00} US in 1860.

Answer: Duck-Billed Platypus

The Platypus is a monotreme, a prehistioric subclass of the Prototheria. Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), are one of the most remarkable of all mammals with a ducklike 'bill', webbed feet, and a flattened beaverlike tail. The platypus is found in eastern Australia.

Answer: Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio

Caravaggio was believed to have been born in Milan in 1571 and died on July 18, 1610 in Port'Ercole, Tuscany. Caravaggio also went by the name of Michelangelo Merisi. Caravaggio's painting techniques were revolutionary, it was he who introduced tenebrism, or dramatic, selective illumination of form out of deep shadow, which became a hallmark of Baroque painting. Scorning the traditional idealized interpretation of religious subjects, he took his models from the streets and painted them realistically.

His three paintings of St. Matthew (c. 1597-1602) caused a sensation and were followed by such masterpieces as 'The Supper at Emmaus' (1596-98) and 'Death of the Virgin' (1605-06). 'The Supper at Emmaus' is kept in the National Gallery in London, England.

Answer: Uruguay

The World Cup orginally started out as the Fifa World Cup, in association football (soccer), a trophy which symbolizes the world championship. The first competition for the cup was organized in 1930 by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and was won by Uruguay.

Held every four years since that time, except during World War II, the competition consists of international tournaments leading to an event made up of 16 national teams. The trophy cup awarded from 1930 to 1970 was the Jules Rimet Trophy, named for the Frenchman who proposed the tournament.

This cup was permanently awarded in 1970 to three-time winner Brazil (1958, 1962, and 1970), and a new trophy called the FIFA World Cup was put up for competition.

Answer: 553.33m

Defining the Toronto skyline, the CN Tower is one of Canada's most recognizable and celebrated icons. At a height of 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches), it is the World's Tallest Building and Free Standing Structure, an important telecommunications hub, and a centre of tourism in Toronto. Each year, approximately 2 million people visit the CN Tower to take in the breath-taking view.

The CN Tower was built in 1976 by Canadian National (CN)(a railway company) who wanted to demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry by building a tower taller than any other in the world.

Other than wanting the tallest tower, the decision to build the tower also has origins firmly rooted in practicality. The construction boom in Toronto in the 1960's transformed the skyline characterized by relatively low buildings into one dotted with skyscrapers.

These new buildings caused serious communication problems. With its microwave receptors at 338 m (1,109 ft.) and 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches) antenna, the CN Tower swiftly solved the communication problems.

As a result people living in the Toronto area now enjoy some of the clearest reception in North America.

Answer: Bob Dylan

Dylan started as an American folksinger who moved from folk to rock music in the 1960s, infusing the lyrics of rock and roll, theretofore concerned mostly with boy-girl romantic innuendo, with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry. Dylan sold more than 58 million albums, wrote more than 500 songs recorded by more than 2,000 artists, performed all over the world, and set the standard for lyric writing.

He grew up in the northeastern Minnesota mining town of Hibbing, where his father co-owned Zimmerman Furniture and Appliance Co. Taken with the music of Hank Williams, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Ray, he acquired his first guitar in 1955 at age 14 and later, as a high school student, played in a series of rock and roll bands.

While attending the University of Minnesota, he discovered the bohemian section of Minneapolis known as Dinkytown. Fascinated by Beat poetry and folksinger Woody Guthrie, he began performing folk music in coffeehouses, adopting the last name Dylan (after the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas).

Answer: Yew Tree

The yew tree has long been regarded as the tree of life. What isn't usually known is that yew trees are some of the oldest trees and pre-date Christianity. Some are over 2,000 years old and it is thought that some might be as old as 4,000 years old. They were originally used by pagans as an assembly point for rituals. Churches were often built on the site to encourage familiarity and immerse the pagan culture into Christianity, so in many cases the yew tree pre-dates the church and not vice versa. Sir Walter Scott, in a footnote in Ivanhoe, mentions that King Edward I decreed that yew trees should be planted in all English churchyards, in order that there would be a plentiful supply of wood for longbows. Tree ages of course dispel this myth as Edward I ruled 1272-1307, and many churchyard Yew trees have been determined to have been planted at least 200 years earlier.

It appears however, that it was common practice to plant yew trees in English churchyards from the beginning of Christianity in the British Isles.

Answer: Mel Gibson

The movie is about two fleet-footed young Australians who are aspiring runners shortly before they enlist in World War I, which then evolves into an extraordinarily moving antiwar film that examines the disastrous WWI invasion of Gallipoli by the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps.

The Director is Peter Weir (who also directed Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Year of Living Dangerously and Dead Poets Society). Along with cinematographer Russell Boyd, they recreate the invasion and battle with action that is stunning, but what really makes Gallipoli such an affecting film is its intimate presentation of the friendship between Archy and Frank (wonderfully essayed by Mark Lee and Gibson). Weir uses the first part of the film to establish the vibrant optimism of their lives down under, then he demonstrates how quickly and pointlessly such young lives can be snuffed out.

The movie is not easy to watch because of its graphic portrayal of death, but Gallipoli is both a fitting testimony to the courage of the thousands of Australians and New Zealanders who died fighting for their country and one of the most powerful cinematic examinations of the futility and tragic cost of war.

Answer: H.L. Hunley

The H.L. Hunley was a Confederate invention operating between 1863 to 1864 during the American Civil War. The Hunley was designed and built at Mobile, Alabama, and named for its chief financial backer, Horace L. Hunley. It was a small vessel, being less than 40 feet (12 m) long.

It could hold nine crewmen, eight of whom propelled the vessel by hand-cranking a single screw, while its commander controlled steering and depth. The Hunley was taken in 1863 to Charleston, S.C., where it was swamped by a wave from a passing paddle steamer, with only the commander, Lt. John Payne, surviving. Two further attempts to use the Hunley occurred in October, 1863, but it sank both times, the second time taking the life of Hunley himself.

It was finally raised again and after several launches in search of Union blockaders, it successfully attacked the Union sloop Housatonic, on Feb. 17, 1864, with a spar torpedo, sinking the vessel.

The Hunley, however, was lost in the attack, along with Lieutenant George Dixon (the commander, who was one of the submarine's builders) and its other crewmen.

The decision was made to leave it where it lay. The wreckage was raised on Tuesday, August 8, 2000 from the floor of the Atlantic.

Answer: Dickens

A Pecksniff is defined as 'unctuous hypocrite talking much of benevolence {etc.;} hence Pecksniffian (character in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit)'. This definition comes from the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Answer: Romulus and Remus

In appearance, Ares was handsome and cruel. He is often depicted carrying a bloodstained spear. His throne on Mount Olympus was said to be covered in human skin. The Roman god Mars, with whom Ares was identified, was the father of Romulus and Remus, the mythological founders of Rome. Mars was far more important to the Romans than Ares was to the Greeks, being second only to Jupiter himself, the greatest Roman god.

He was also more dignified than Ares, who was depicted as being disliked by man and god alike. Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of exiled king Numitor of Alba Longa, who had been impregnated by Mars. Numitor had been deposed by his younger brother Amulius, who forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin (and thereby vow chastity) in order to prevent her from giving birth to potential claimants to the throne. Nevertheless, Rhea bore the war god Mars the twins. Amulius ordered the infants drowned in the Tiber, but the trough in which they were placed floated down the river and came to rest at the site of the future Rome.

There a she-wolf and a woodpecker (both sacred to Mars) suckled them until they were discovered and reared by a herdsman and his wife. Eventually they overthrew their uncle, restored their grandfather and founded Rome.

Answer: France

On July 10, 1985, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was due to sail to Moruroa Atoll to protest French atmospheric nuclear-weapons tests there, was sunk by two bomb explosions while berthed in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand. Subsequent revelations that French intelligence agents had planted the bombs caused a major international scandal and led to the resignation of France's minister of defense and the dismissal of the head of its intelligence service.

Answer: Charles Starkweather

Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate (his girlfriend) set out on a killing spree across the United States in 1957-58. It all started on December 1, 1957, and ended in early 1958 with a death toll of 11 people, including Caril's father, mother, and baby half-sister.

The couple first killed Caril's parents and then stayed in the her parent's house for over a week with the bodies stuffed in the outhouse and hencoop. The couple then drove away from Lincoln, Nebraska (their home town) and drove around a few miles out of town killing three more people.

A short time later they then doubled back to Lincoln and forced their way into the home of a local wealthy industrialist, killing him, his wife and their housekeeper. Killing the industrialist proved to be their biggest mistake, because he was a good friend of the Governor, who even called out the National Guard to hunt them down when he discovered his friend's death.

While trying to flee, the couple attempted to change getaway cars. While Charles tried to hijack a young man's car, a police officer turned up. Caril ran to the police officer saying that she needed protection from Charlie, who she claimed was trying to kill her and th young man with the car. Charlie escaped, however, broke through a police barricade a little way away and was pursued by the police in a high speed chase.

When the police shot out the back window of Charlie's car he stopped and surrendered. The broken window had nicked his ear and he thought he was bleeding to death. Starkweather was sent to the electric chair on June 25, 1959, Fugate received a life sentence and was released in 1976.

Answer: The Gates of Hell

Rodin was an extremely controversial French Sculptor and writer who was born on November 12, 1840 in Paris and died on November 17, 1917 in Meudon, France. Often requested to sculpt eternal figures representing famous and historical French characters, Rodin would do so in a manner completely at odds with his benefactors. Rodin was commissioned to portray 'The Burghers of Calais' (who had been condemned to death in the 15th Century for holding out against the English) and instead of sculpting heroic figures he produced very moving, yet very downtrodden and defeated characters.

He was also asked to do a portrait of Balzac, and instead of a grand pose, sculpted a naked Balzac rapped in a long sheet (Balzac was NOT a skinny man). His most famous and most reproduced figure, however, was 'The Thinker', which was a figure originally from his 'Gates of Hell', who sits at the top of the gate and ponders the scene below him.

The Gates of Hell can be found at the Philadelphia Rodin Museum, one of the largest collections of original Rodin pieces in the world.

Answer: St. Ansgar

Ansgar was born of a noble family near Amiens in France. After becoming a monk and living in France and Germany, he accompanied King Harold of Denmark when the exiled King returned to his native land and engaged in missionary work there. Ansgar's success caused King Bjorn of Sweden to invite him to that country, and he built the first Christian Church in Sweden.

He became Abbot of New Corbie and first Archbishop of Hamburg about 831, and Pope Gregory IV appointed him Legate to the Scandinavian countries.

He labored at his missionary works for the next fourteen years but saw all he had accomplished destroyed when invading pagan Northmen in 845 destroyed Hamburg and overran the Scandinavian countries, which lapsed into paganism. Ansgar again returned to Denmark and Sweden in 854 and resumed his missionary activities, converting Erik, King of Jutland. Though called 'the Apostle of the North' and the first Christian missionary in Scandinavia, the whole area lapsed into paganism again after his death at Bremen on February 3rd, which is also his feast day.

His name can also be spelled Anskar.

Answer: Shirley Temple

Among the people on the cover of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' are Stuart Sutcliffe (one of the Beatles' early band members), Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Karl Marx, boxer Sonny Liston, Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce and Shirley Temple. Shirley had visited the Beatles in their dressing room backstage at a San Francisco concert in 1964.

It is said when the Beatles requested her permission to use her image on the cover of the album, she was the only celebrity who insisted upon hearing the disc before granting permission.

Answer: Canada

Located in Ontario, Canada, Yonge Street (pronounced 'young') starts in downtown Toronto and then runs through Ontario to the town of Rainy River on the Ontario-Minnesota border. The street was originally the brainchild of John Graves Simcoe, the first Governor of Upper Canada (and ostensibly the founder of Toronto, as it was his decision to build Fort York at its present location, from which Toronto sprung up). Simcoe felt, and publicly touted, that the street was one of the many civilized features present in the Canadas in an attempt to encourage new immigrants to join the colony.

Answer: Lake Havasu City, Arizona

A granite bridge was constructed over the Thames River in London, England in 1831, replacing a stone bridge that had stood at the site since 1176, which in turn had replaced an earlier wooden bridge that had been there from the 10th Century. The stone bridge was built by Peter, a priest of St. Mary's Church at one end of the bridge and was the first great stone arch bridge built in England.

It narrowed the Thames to one quarter of its original size and created very fast currents under the bridge. Travelling under the bridge by boat became known as 'Shooting the Bridge' and was quite risky.

The bridge became quite a commercial centre and houses were built on top of the bridge, but the weight of the houses and erosion led to constant problems with the bridge.

It was also severly weakened by the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the state of its disrepair led to the creation of the children's nursery rhyme 'London Bridge is Falling Down'. By the early-1800's it was clear a new bridge was needed and New London bridge was built in 1831.

By the late 1960's the bridge was unable to cope with the increasing amount of traffic it was experiencing, so it was put up for auction and Robert McCulloch, founder of both McCulloch Oil Corporation and Lake Havasu City won the bid at {$2,460,000.} In 1968 the bridge was dismantled and moved to Lake Havasu City, Arizona where it was reconstructed and opened by the Lord Mayor of London on October 10, 1971. A new concrete bridge replaced it in London.

Answer: It contains a split infinitive

The infinitive form of a verb consists of the word 'to' followed by the base of the form of the verb, for example 'to serve' or 'to chop'. Inserting a word between the TO and the VERB creates what is known as a split infinitive, for example 'to BOLDLY go'. Traditionally the split infinitive is an incorrect usage of grammar, although it has now become generally acceptable.

Answer: Sympathy for the Devil

The line appears at the end of the third verse which reads 'I stuck around St. Petersburg, When I saw it was a time for a change, Killed the czar and his ministers, Anastasia screamed in vain'. The Rolling Stones have released 38 albums and took their name from a song by Muddy Waters.

The 'Rolling Stones' formed generally in and around 1962, the name appeared in the newspapers for the first time on July 11, 1962.