A Gaggle of 'G's Trivia Quiz

Answer: Goose

'The Cry of the Wild Goose' reached number one in the United States in 1950 for the singer and actor Frankie Laine. At that time, Billboard magazine produced three weekly charts and Laine's rendition of the song claimed the top spot on the 'Most Played by Jockeys' chart for two weeks in March - indicating that it must have been a regular fixture on radio playlists that month. While Laine was the first person to have chart success with this song, it was actually written by Terry Gilkyson, who is much better-known for writing another animal-related song - 'The Bare Necessities' from Disney's 'The Jungle Book' film. Tennessee Ernie Ford also recorded a version of the song, which appeared on his 1960 album 'Sixteen Tons'.

The lyrics of 'The Cry of the Wild Goose' don't make it clear which of the many species belonging to the three genera of geese - Anser, Branta and Chen - that the song is referring to.

Answer: Gladiators

The 'Gladiators' TV show involved a series of hopeful contestants lining up to attempt to defeat the show's resident sportsmen and women - the titular Gladiators - in a series of tough, physical events. The contestants would then compete against each other in the final 'Eliminator' event with the winner going through to the next round; the rounds culminated in a Grand Final where the series champion would be crowned. The programme first aired in the United States in 1989 under the title 'American Gladiators' but quickly became popular around the world with versions developed for the UK, Australia, South Africa, Sweden and several other countries. Several Olympic athletes have appeared as Gladiators over the years, including the UK's Sharron Davies (a silver medallist in swimming at the 1980 Games), Jennifer Stoute (a bronze medallist in the 4x400 metre sprint relay event in Barcelona in 1992) and Du'aine Ladejo (who won bronze and silver in the same event in 1992 and 1996 respectively) as well the Australian Tatiana Grigorieva who won a silver medal in the pole vault at Sydney 2000.

Roman gladiators competed in games held in arenas such as Rome's Colosseum where they were often forced to fight to the death. While some competitions saw gladiators fighting each other, they would also fight animals or criminals who had been sentenced to death. The 2000 film 'Gladiator' starring Russell Crowe gave modern audiences a reasonable approximation of what a Roman audience might have expected to see in the name of entertainment.

Gladiator meant "swordsman" in Latin and gladii is the Latin for "swords". Gladioli are sword-like plants of the iris family. Gladstones are leather bags named after a 19th century British prime minister.

Answer: Giacomo

Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa took the much snappier name of Benedict when he was elected Pope in September 1914. He held the position for over seven years until his death from pneumonia in January 1922. His time as pontiff was marred by the First World War but he was noted for his multiple attempts to broker peace as well as humanitarian efforts, such as the distribution of food to civilians and providing help to prisoners of war and wounded servicemen. He was also responsible for the publication of the Catholic church's first Code of Canon Law in 1917.

Giacomo the racehorse was born in Kentucky in 2002 and won the world famous Kentucky Derby three years later - a fact that should come as no surprise given that the race is only open to three-year-old horses! On that day he was a 50-1 outsider, ridden by jockey Mike E. Smith (who went on to complete the Triple Crown in 2018) and trained by John Shirreff.

Giovanni was the original first name of Pope Paul VI and many other earlier popes. Pope Pius X was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto and his predecessor Pope Leo XIII was originally named Gioacchino.

Answer: Garfield

President James A. Garfield was shot at a railroad station in Washington D.C. on July 2nd, 1881 and succumbed to his injuries nearly three months later. Although he was shot twice, in the back and in the arm, it is likely that neither injury would have been fatal if modern medical techniques had been available or if basic hygiene and sterilisation methods had been applied. His assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, was arrested at the scene, convicted of murder and hanged in June 1882.

Garfield the cat was the creation of Jim Davis and first appeared in a newspaper comic strip in 1978. Storylines often revolve around (the rather overweight) Garfield's love of Italian food - particularly lasagne and pizza. Other key characters are Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, and his fellow pet, a dog named Odie.

Garfield was named after Jim Davis's grandfather, James Garfield Davis, who in turn had been named after the assassinated president.

Answer: Godot

'Waiting for Godot' was written by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and originally performed in French, under the title 'En attendant Godot', in 1953. The English version first appeared on stage in London in 1955 and although initially controversial, has gone on to be listed as one of the best plays of the 20th century. It centres on two men named Estragon and Vladimir who spend the entire play waiting for a mysterious character called Godot who never turns up.

The video game Godot is a prosecutor in 'Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations', a series of games where the player aims to help the title character defend his clients in court. The English language version of the game was first released in 2007 for the Nintendo DS console.

'Waiting for God' was a 1990s UK TV sitcom set in a retirement home. Jules Grevy was a 19th century French President and Gellert Grindelwald was an evil wizard in J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series.

Answer: Guinea

There are plenty of countries in West Africa whose names begin with the letter 'G' (Gabon, Gambia, Ghana), but only two share their name (or part of their name) with a former British coin - Guinea and Guinea-Bissau - and only Guinea can claim Conakry as its capital city. Guinea was a French colony until it gained its independence in 1958 and it uses the Guinean Franc as its currency. The country also has a large mining industry and is a major source of gold, which in the 17th and 18th centuries was exported to Britain in large quantities and used there in the creation of the gold coins that became known as guineas.

The British gold guinea was first minted in 1663 during the reign of King Charles II and its value was finally set at 21 shillings in 1717. The coins were eventually withdrawn in 1816, however racehorses and some farm animals have continued to be nominally sold in guineas right through into the 21st century - using a conversion rate of 1 guinea being equivalent to £1.05.

Answer: Gray

The SI derived unit of the absorbed dose of ionising radiation is named after the British scientist Louis Harold Gray who was noted for his work to assess the impact of x-ray radiation on the human body. One gray is equivalent to one joule of radiation energy being absorbed into one kilogram of matter. The unit allows doctors to measure the impact of the use of radiation for various medical treatments - radiation therapy for cancer can involve doses of up to 80 grays, while a CT scan generates around 5-15 grays and a standard x-ray something like 0.0005 grays.

Gray (or grey, depending on where you live) is generated by mixing black and white together, with, unsurprisingly, more black resulting in a darker shade of gray. Technically it could be said that it is not really a 'colour' as black, white and all shades in between are defined as 'achromatic' colours or 'without colour'. In case you're wondering, gamboge is a particular shade of deep yellow that is used to dye the robes of Theravada Buddhist monks.

Answer: Gandalf

J.R.R. Tolkien's magical world of Middle Earth, that forms the setting for his famous books 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', is full of wizards, dwarves, elves, hobbits, orcs and other mythological creatures. It should therefore not come as too much of a surprise that he borrowed or based the names for some of his characters on those from various mythologies. However, while Gandalf was a dwarf that appeared in the 'Edda' (a 13th century book of Norse mythology), the name 'Gandalf' itself is derived from the Old Norse for 'elf' and 'magic staff' - a description that many 'Lord of the Rings' film fans would be able to connect to the character of Gandalf the Grey (later Gandalf the White) as portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen.

The three 'Lord of the Rings' films were made in New Zealand and directed by George Lucas and were released annually between 2001 and 2003. The final part of the trilogy, 'The Return of the King', won all 11 of the Academy Awards for which it was nominated.

Gimli was the dwarf who was a member of the Fellowship in the first instalment of 'Lord of the Rings'; Gollum was the former ringbearer noted for calling the One Ring "My Precious-sss"; and Galadriel was a leader of the elves of Lothlorien.

Answer: George

Enid Blyton's 'Famous Five' novels are about the adventures of three siblings - Julian, Dick and Anne - and their cousin Georgina who prefers to be known as George. The fifth member of the five is George's beloved dog Timmy. In total she wrote 21 books featuring this particular group of daring and brave children between 1942 and 1962.

King George I of Greece was the second son of King Christian IX of Denmark and was named Prince William on his birth in 1845. He was elected King of Greece when he was 17, after the Greek National Assembly sought a replacement for the unpopular king that they had just deposed. Despite not having any obvious Greek ancestry, George reigned over the country for nearly 50 years and was assassinated less than two weeks before celebrating his golden jubilee. His assassin, Alexandros Schinas, had no clear political motive for his actions and died in police custody a few weeks later.

Answer: Gina Gershon

Gina Gershon first rose to prominence with her role in the 1988 film 'Cocktail' and went on to appear in a string of films in the 1990s and 2000s. These included 1995's 'Showgirls' (for which she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry award for Worst Supporting Actress), 'Bound' in 1996 and the 1997 film 'Face/Off' (where she appeared alongside John Travolta and Nicolas Cage). Her later film roles include appearances in 2007's 'P.S. I Love You' and the 2017 drama '9/11'.

Gershon has also had frequent television roles and appeared on Broadway - where she took on the role of Sally Bowles in 'Cabaret' in 1998.