Anything Goes Number One Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fifty-two

Isn't that interesting? One for every card in a standard pack of playing cards. The four different suits in a deck of cards are said to represent the four different seasons of the year as well, with the thirteen cards in each suit representing the lunar months of the year.

The Ace is said to represent alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. This is quite fitting as the Ace can either be used to replace the number one, or be placed at the end of a suit to become the highest card in that suit. Cards have been around since at least the ninth century. Ancient packs of the same have been discovered in China.

By the 15th century, when they had been established in Europe for some time and following their introduction from China, the faces on the cards had come to represent members of royalty, with various famous rulers from history being honoured accordingly.

The joker found its way into a standard deck by those young American whipper-snappers shortly after the American Revolution. They used it to trump all other cards in a deck, including the Aces and Kings. Hopefully it wasn't meant to represent their President!

Answer: Alternative names suggested for the Seven Dwarfs

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was produced by Walt Disney in 1937. Based on the fairy story by the Grimm Brothers, it was Disney's first full-length animated film. It's a lovely but somewhat frightening story about a little princess, Snow White, and her wicked stepmother the queen, who was jealous of the girl's beauty. Following an abandoned attempt on her life by the queen's reasonably sympathetic huntsman, Snow White flees deep into the forest where she finds haven and affection from a group of seven small miners--until the wicked queen locates her again, that is. That's the frightening part. I was almost scared out of my wits when I first saw that movie as a child.

When Walt Disney was initially discussing the production of this beautiful movie with his team, some fifty names were put up as possible monikers for the dwarfs. These included not only the ones listed above, but also Jumpy, Dizzy, Wheezy, Baldy, Tubby, Shorty and Burpy. What a shame they didn't include the last one. It would have been very comical. Indeed, the movie on the discussion table was originally going to be a lot funnier than was finally presented in the version that hit our screens. Mr Disney vetoed much of this humour as he believed that too much comedy would detract from the plausibility of the story. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is plausible?

Apparently only three people out of one hundred can remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs correctly. Now who could resist a challenge like that. Can you?

Answer: Bridges

People who suffer from this phobia experience dizziness, trembling, sweating, a racing heart and sheer overwhelming terror at the thought of crossing a bridge. This is classified under the overall term of Panic Disorders, which include similar reactions to various objects, situations or events by different people. Such phobias are not to be laughed at or mocked, as these fears are very real to those who experience same. Now, here's a really thoughtful piece of information for you: In the United States, authorities have very kindly set up organisations to help those with gephyrophobia across three bridges in particular.

These are the Tappan Zee Bridge which spans the Hudson River where it is widest, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which is almost five miles long, and the Mackinac Bridge which crosses the Straits of Mackinac. With advance notice given, these organisations will arrange for someone to drive vehicles across these three bridges if the owners of those vehicles simply cannot face the prospect of crossing them on their own.

This wouldn't actually remove the underlying fear of course, and perhaps would be frowned upon by some who see this as catering to foolish whims. However, at least it gets the job done, and quite possibly prevents the occurrence of a dreadful motor vehicle accident taking place on the bridges should drivers, attempting to cross on their own, suddenly experience a full blown panic attack.

Answer: Silvio Berlusconi

How could he make such a blunder? Yet he did. This comment made headlines in London's "Telegraph" newspaper at the time it took place, and outraged Italians everywhere for its sheer thoughtlessness. Born in 1936, Berlusconi began his career as a singer on a cruise ship. He made this comment during a state visit to Russia when he announced he would try to intervene in relations between Russia and the USA to "try to smooth things out". Not like that he wouldn't. He was likening himself to Mr Obama (born in 1961) as being "handsome, young and also suntanned".

Silvio Berlusconi was noted for odd statements he made during interviews and public speeches. Another such gem occurred in 2006 when, describing the concept of fidelity, he remarked, "I am pretty often faithful". He put his foot in his mouth prior in 2002 when speaking of the Danish Prime Minister, with his comment that Anders Fogh Rasmussen was "so good looking, I'm even thinking of introducing him to my wife". Right up there as well with his gaffe about President Obama was his remark about the Finnish President Tarja Halonen when he was there on a visit to try to convince that country's President to host a large European wide public event. "I had to use all my playboy tactics (on her)" was the Italian leader's comment. This provoked a diplomatic reaction and the Italian ambassador was called in by the authorities In Helsinki to please explain what was inferred.

Copy of this article can be found on this the "Telegraph" (UK) website.

Answer: They actually stole the house

Yes, believe it or not, that hard-working group of men were a bunch of thieves who saw their opportunity and stole an entire house! This was reported in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal on September 12th, 1971. What is even more comical about this tale is the fact that Mrs Cameron stated she didn't become suspicious of the eager beavers at all - until they worked through their tea break.

It was then she decided to make a call to her local police. By the time members of that worthy establishment arrived, however, the men - and the house - had disappeared.

Answer: Pickpockets did a roaring trade at these events

Public executions were considered great events for a day's entertainment back in those terrible old days when life was valued so lightly. Entire families flocked to see the writhing of the criminal as he dangled from the gallows, food stands were set up and even, by the very enterprising, mementos of the event were sold on the day. It wouldn't be until the 1960s that this particular form of punishment for criminal offences was abolished, and many groups in the UK have been calling for its reinstatement ever since, depending on the severity of the crime.

A pickpocket could be looked upon as a superbly trained craftsman in his trade. This skill required swift and accurate fingers, coupled with the ability to distract one's victim so that his attention was directed elsewhere while his goods were being lifted off his person. The top of the range pickpocket even achieved a kind of hero-worship, with his exploits reported in the daily papers. One such was George Barrington who lived from 1755-1804. He began stealing at a young age, ran away from school, and joined an acting company. Many of his prime pickings were scored during productions of same. The most valuable item George managed to pocket was a snuff box valued at an incredible thirty thousand pounds from a visiting Russian noble. Eventually caught in the act, the naughty Mr Barrington was transported to Australia. On the voyage over, he overheard his fellow prisoners plotting to take the ship, and dobbed them in to the captain. This resulted in his being set free as soon as they landed in the land down under, and George set out to work for the authorities instead, rising to become, of all things, a high ranking constable. He branched out from this trade into writing poems and books about Australia, and eventually died in that country, a comfortably off and well respected member of society. Who said that crime doesn't pay?

Answer: He fell back in again as the plane continued its loop

How amazing is that? As reported to the authorities at the time, when Donald's plane was at the height of its loop, his seat belt gave way. He fell straight out and began plummeting down to the earth below. However, as the plane continued its loop, he miraculously landed on one of its wings on his way down, hung on like grim death, and scrambled back into the pilot's seat. As he struggled to regain that seat, however, he accidentally grabbed hold of the control stick and the plane began to go into another loop. This saw the unfortunate trainee dangling out of his plane once again and still trying to regain control of the craft. In doing this he pushed the control stick forward with one of his frantically waving legs and, with just a couple of hundred feet to spare, managed to climb back into his seat and land the little Sopwith Camel safely.

Puzzled, he climbed out of his seat, looking round to where everyone had been when he first took off. It was then he found out, as they all emerged from various spots of safety, that when he pushed the control stick forward with his leg, he'd also accidentally pressed both triggers of the plane as well - and sprayed the airfield below with bullets.

Grahame Donald went on to reach one of the highest positions possible in the air-force, and during that career was awarded a Knight Commander of the Order of Bath, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Force Cross for his services. Born in 1891, he died in 1976 after a long and distinguished career in the air-force, and as a politician, inventor and writer. He was very obviously meant to make his mark on the world after that miraculous escape.

Answer: No

The silly goose didn't allow for the velocity and force of a ball falling down from that height. He did indeed manage to get one into his glove on the fifth drop, but such was the power behind it, that it slammed his glove hand back into his face, knocked out half a dozen of his teeth, knocked him out as well, fractured his jaw, and saw him admitted to hospital for a painful and embarrassing stay. To add insult to injury, he also dropped the ball, missed out on his record attempt, and found himself being used as an example of failing to calculate kinematic equations properly in the textbook "Fundamentals of Physics" by the authors Halliday, Resnick and Walker.

This work, in 2013, was on its ninth edition.

Answer: Hercules

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, Elton John was brought up in a fairly restrictive family environment. Perhaps that explains his early penchant for colourful and fancy outfits on stage, particularly so in the early stages of his career. He was gifted on the piano from a very early age, displaying such ability as being able to play Handel pieces of music by memory after hearing them only the one time. He attended the Royal Academy of Music for some years, where he developed a love for Chopin, Bach and singing, so his grounding in these performance skills was thorough. By the time he was in his teens, he was already composing some of the songs which would later on make him so famous. 1967 saw him performing publicly as Elton John, a name chosen by him as a tribute to saxophonist Elton Dean and blues singer Long John Baldry. Why he chose Hercules as well no one knows.

Elton Hercules John had sold more than 250 million records and is being hailed as one of the most successful artists of all time. He was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II in 1996, and a follow up Knighthood in 1998 for his services to the world of music and for his outstanding services to charity, so it seems, all things considered, that Elton John really is an Hercules after all.

Answer: Crime

Amazingly so, this is true. The world's smallest country in the world had one of the highest crime rates in the world. These figures were an astonishing twenty times than the country of Italy, its surrounding neighbour. Most crimes were petty theft carried out by purse snatchers. Next on the list were embezzlement, fraud, and insulting police officers and public servants.

In 2002, and with only a populations of 500 at the time, Vatican City reported 397 civil offences, which works out as a crime rate of 87.2%, and 608 criminal offences, which translates to a 133.6% crime rate figure.

The bottom line in this is that the Vatican City doesn't possess any prisons, and of the few cases that proceed to prosecution stage (only 10%), the offenders have to be placed in Italian jails if found guilty, with the Vatican having to foot the bill to keep them there.