A Plethora of 'P's Trivia Quiz

Answer: Penguin

Penguins are flightless aquatic birds, chiefly associated with the Antarctic but actually found across the southern hemisphere. Their (generally) black and white plumage and waddling gait when on land projects a comic appearance that belies their elegance and skill when underwater. About six species of penguin are found in Antarctica but the emperor penguin is the only one that stays to breed during the Antarctic winter.

Penguin Books is a British publishing company, founded in 1935, and perhaps best-known for mass producing low-cost paperback editions of classic literature. 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' was first published in 1928 but was banned in many countries worldwide due to both its subject matter and strong language. In Britain, the first widely available uncensored edition of the novel was published by Penguin Books in 1960, and swiftly resulted in the company being prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, 1959. However, they won the case, and dedicated their second edition of the work to the 12 members of the jury that had acquitted them.

Penguin Books published children's literature under the name 'Puffin' and educational books under the name 'Pelican'. Puffins, pelicans and (most species of) parrot are capable of flight.

Answer: Parallel

'Sliders' featured a group of characters travelling (or 'sliding') between a variety of parallel universes, and follows the difficulties they encounter as they hunt for a way back to their original universe. Parallel universes are a standard concept in science fiction, they are often portrayed as worlds similar to our own but where certain things have evolved differently. For example, in one 'Sliders' episode the group find themselves in a world made different by the fact that the British won the American Wars of Independence.

Most household wiring systems are 'parallel circuits', where different components are wired on separate branches within the circuit rather than one after another on the same wire (in 'series'). The key benefit of this is that if one component fails (such as a blown light bulb) then the remaining ones continue to work - which would not happen if they were all wired in series. Clearly it would be incredibly inconvenient to have to stumble around your house in the pitch black trying every light bulb in turn to find the broken one - the amount of time wasted worldwide might even be a significant enough event to generate a parallel universe!

In physics, a particle can be defined a sub-atomic constituent of matter. A positron is the antiparticle of the electron (having a positive charge) and a proton is a positively charged particle found in atomic nuclei.

Answer: Pittsburgh

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham was British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1768. He is often referred to as William Pitt the Elder to differentiate him from his son and fellow former prime minister, William Pitt the Younger. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was named after Pitt in 1758 when he held the post of Secretary of State for the Southern Department - which at that time came with responsibility for the American colonies.

The Pittsburgh Penguins joined the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1967/68 season, and won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 1991. In 2000, they adopted a logo depicting a penguin playing ice hockey in front of a gold triangle, a reference to the downtown area of the city known as the 'Golden Triangle'. The Phoenix Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers are both NHL teams while the Portland Pirates (from Portland, Maine) play in the American Hockey League (AHL). Portland, Maine is named after the Isle of Portland in England, not the Duke of Portland (who had two terms as British Prime Minister, firstly in 1783 and then again from 1807 to 1809).

Answer: Prince of Persia

'One Thousand and One Nights' is probably better known in English as 'The Arabian Nights' and is primarily a collection of Asian folk tales. The earliest mentions of the collection date back to the 9th century although the first translation into a European language was a French version published in 1704.

Qamar al-Aqmar's ebony horse allowed him to travel vast distances as it took only one day to traverse distances that would normally take one year to cover. The 'horse' was actually a flying machine and the story is therefore considered to be an early example of the science fiction genre.

The 'Prince of Persia' video games series was created by Jordan Mechner and spawned a film adaption in 2010 with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the title role.

Answer: Po

The TV show 'Teletubbies' originally aired on the BBC between 1997 and 2001. It was aimed at pre-school age children and featured four brightly coloured Teletubby creatures (Po was the small, red one), each with a different shaped antenna on their head, and a TV screen over their stomach area. They lived in a bright grassy land known as 'Teletubbyland' and communicated via a simplistic language, their most famous phrase probably being "Eh-oh!". The song 'Teletubbies say "Eh-Oh!"' was number one on the UK singles chart in December 1997, narrowly missing out on the coveted Christmas number one slot to the Spice Girls!

The Pecos River flows through the south-west US and is a tributary of the Rio Grande; the Pechora River is in Russia and flows from the Ural Mountains to the Barents Sea. Pingu is an animated penguin in the children's TV show of the same name.

Answer: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

The musical 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' is based on the similarly named Australian film 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert', which was first released in 1994. The musical debuted in Sydney in 2006, before moving to London's West End in 2009 and Broadway in 2011. The titular Priscilla is not, however, a thrill-seeking member of royalty or even a lookalike of the former wife of Elvis Presley - she is a purple tour bus!

Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu (or Wagner) in 1967 and they were together for five years before separating and finally divorcing in 1973. Priscilla went on to become an actress, appearing in films such as the 'Naked Gun' series and as Jenna Wade on the TV show 'Dallas'.

'Billy Elliot the Musical', 'Hello, Dolly!' and 'Mary Poppins' are all musical stage shows that have appeared on Broadway.

Answer: Pirates of the Caribbean

The 2003 film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl', introduced the character Captain Jack Sparrow, who was played by Johnny Depp. Its success was slightly unexpected but having made over $650 million at worldwide box offices it went on to spawn a string of sequels including 'Dead Man's Chest', 'At World's End' and 'On Stranger Tides'.

The first version of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride opened at Disneyland in 1967 and was one of the last attractions where Walt Disney was involved in the design process - he died three months before the ride opened.

Pixie Hollow was an attraction at Disneyland, California and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. It was an area where visitors could meet Tinker Bell from 'Peter Pan'. Phantom Manor is a haunted house style ride at Disneyland Paris and Primeval Whirl is a rollercoaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom at the World Resort in Florida.

Answer: Pathfinder

Maury started his career as a midshipman in the US Navy but became best known for his work mapping ocean currents and meteorology. He was from Virginia, so resigned from the US Navy in 1861 to join the Confederacy. He played an important international role for the Confederacy, visiting Europe to obtain ships and supplies whilst trying to persuade those nations to intervene in the war in the hope of obtaining peace. In 1930 a bust of Maury was included in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in New York.

The 'Pathfinder' role-playing game is a fantasy game which builds on the famous 'Dungeons and Dragons' series. It was first published in 2009 and proved successful, going on to become one of the top-selling role-playing games.

Answer: Pride

The seven deadly sins (or cardinal sins) are used in Christianity to define the key types of sin to which humans are likely to fall prey. Generally the seven are defined as lust, gluttony, greed, sloth (that is laziness, not the slow-moving and often very hairy mammal), wrath, envy and or course, pride.

'Pride (In the Name of Love)' is from the U2 album 'The Unforgettable Fire' and reached number three on the UK singles chart. It is about the civil rights movement and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Answer: Prestonpans

Prestonpans is located about 10 miles east of Edinburgh on the southern coast of the Firth of Forth. The 1745 Jacobite Rising was the last significant attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender), and his son Charles Edward Stuart (the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie), to take the throne from the Hanoverian monarchs.

The Old Pretender was the son of James II and his Catholic second wife, Mary of Modena. Being baptised and brought up Catholic meant that the government considered him an unsuitable heir to the throne. His father remained king for only six months after his birth, when he was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution and replaced by his nephew and daughter, King William III and Queen Mary II.

Although Bonnie Prince Charlie led his forces to victory at Prestonpans in September 1745, his rebellion was crushed at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 - the last pitched battle to be fought in Britain.