Bit of This and That 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: To isolate a longevity gene

After years of research, scientists have come to the realisation that the internal organs of turtles do not become less efficient as the creatures age. Nor do they gradually deteriorate as in the case of the vast majority of other species of life on the planet, including man.

In fact, the internal organs of a very old turtles can hardly be told apart from those of much younger turtles. In N. Angier's 2012 work, "All But Ageless, Turtles Face Their Biggest Threat: Humans", Angier informs us that geneticists are now intensely studying these fascinating creatures in an attempt to isolate the longevity gene responsible for this, in the hope that it can be eventually utilised to keep the internal organs of ageing humans in a much healthier condition. So if one day your elderly grandmother begins to develop flippers, you'll know that science has once again triumphed over nature.

Answer: Healing rotten wounds

The Spaniards saw at first hand the intoxicating effects of coca leaves on the indigenous people who chewed same, and considered this the work of the devil. Physician and botanist, Nicolas Monardes described this in his work "Joyfull Newes out of the Newe Founde Worlde" by noting "When they wished to make themselves drunk and out of judgment, they chewed a mixture of tobacco and coca leaves which make them go as they were out of their wittes". However, it was the curative effects of this leaf that initially interested the Spaniards more than its intoxicating effects.

Peruvian born Padres Blas Valera (1544-1597), the son of Luis Valera, a man who was part of Pizarro's conquest of the mighty Incas, met many of those early conquerors through his father and recorded their recollections of that time in history. He noted in his works "Vocabulario" and "Historia de los Incas", both of which detailed facts about the conquest, Peru and the Incans, that "Coca protects the body from many ailments, and our doctors use it in powdered form to reduce the swelling of wounds, to strengthen broken bones, to expel cold from the body or prevent it from entering, and to cure rotten wounds or sores that are full of maggots. And if it does so much for outward ailments, will not its singular virtue have even greater effect in the entrails of those who eat it?"

Answer: One of the worst films ever made

So bad was "Robot Monster" in fact that the director and producer, Phil Tucker, tried to commit suicide after its release. The story line is that of a robot monster's mission to destroy every human on the face of the earth, only to be stopped at the last moment by an heroic boy, who, it turns out, was only having a bad dream - or was he? Costing just $16,000 to make, this film was shot in four days, they couldn't afford to make a robot costume so a gorilla costume with a helmet was used in its place, special effects scenes were copied from several other movies of the time, and the music score was written by a man who also gave the world the score for the 1953 "Cat Women of the Moon".

The stars of the film were George Nader (that was his most famous role - he plays the heroic boy), Claudia Barrett (whom nobody has heard of since - she plays a girl with whom the robot monster falls in love) and George Barrows (he plays the gorilla suit wearing robot monster). George, incidentally, made the gorilla suit himself - and used the same suit in several other movies of the time as well. The poor old producer/director ended up not being paid his share of the profits (there were profits??) and he was subsequently blacklisted by the film industry. Oddly enough, this film is so bad that, in later years, it developed somewhat of a cult following. You have no idea how much I'd love to see it.

Answer: The had to steer it with their heads above water

Oh dear, that made me laugh. At that stage in the history of the human torpedo, drivers weren't issued with breathing apparatus, so the two men had to steer their weapon with their heads bobbing merrily above the waves. Our heroic pair of likely lads certainly achieved their objective, but their heads were seen making an escape after the explosion and they were caught.

The human torpedo was a weapon initially invented by the Italians at the beginning of last century. A similar one, invented in 1909 by Commander Godfrey Herbert, was promptly rejected by the War Office for being too impractical. That's hardly to be wondered at, all things considered. Later models of this weapon eventually included breathing apparatus for their human occupants, and the human torpedo was used to some degree, but with little success, during World War II. The Italians continued to make this weapon after the war in spite of its overall ineffectiveness and, at the turn of the 21st century, were still doing so. Such tenacity.

Answer: Switching the fork from hand to hand to eat

This method is unheard of here in Australia it seems, and in other western countries, and involves the following steps. With the knife in the right hand and the fork in the left, the food is cut as normal, with the fork holding a section of food down and piercing it with the tines, and the knife slicing through.

Then however, the knife is put down, and the fork is transferred from the left hand to the right before the food is placed in the mouth. The fork is then transferred back to the left hand and the whole procedure begins again.

Answer: Norman Bel Geddes

American Norman Bel Geddes lived from 1893 until 1958. He is famous, not only for his innovative theatrical sets, but also for his startling industrial designs that were years ahead of the times, and which combined beauty, practicality and aerodynamics all in one.

His theatrical works covered small stage shows, giant operatic productions, dazzling ice shows and vast movie sets. It was his industrial designs however that were really impressive. These ranged from intimate pieces such as cocktail shakers and furniture, right up to automobiles, planes, highway design and futuristic cities of tomorrow - with many of his long ago designs now becoming a reality.

The man had an incredibly inventive mind. His two famous daughters were the writer Joan Ulanov (1916-2001), and actress Barbara Bel Geddes (1922-2005).

Answer: Poetical device of rhyming pairs of lines

Heroic couplets were and are a traditional English form of two rhyming lines of poetry, written in iambic pentameter form. An example of this form can be seen in John Cooper's poem about the Thames river, in which he writes "O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream / My great example, as it is my theme!". Perfected by the early English writer Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400), the ideal heroic couplet should be contained within each two line rhyming pair, but there are variations upon this. Iambic pentameter, for those who are unsure of the meaning of this phrase, are lines of poetry where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable in a continual pattern throughout the work.

This can be seen in the example used above as "o COULD i FLOW like THEE, and MAKE thy STREAM/ My GREAT exAMPle, AS it IS my THEME!".

Answer: A misquotation of his most famous saying

The very impressive Nelson's Column, located in Trafalgar Square, London, was erected to commemorate the glorious leadership and victory of Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It measures 169 feet from the bottom of the base to the tip of the hat on the figure of Nelson adorning its top. The four sides of the base of the column are decorated, somewhat cheekily, with material cast from captured French guns. So famous is this structure that Hitler, if his planned invasion of England had succeeded during World War II, planned to move the monument to Berlin as a kind of 169 foot tall trophy of war.

Of all things though, Nelson's famous order "England expects that every man will do his duty" is misquoted on the base of the column, and instead states that "England expects every man will do his duty". One of the most famous quotes in English history if you please, tsk. Nelson's original verbal order to his signal officer, Lieutenant John Pasco was actually "England confides (ie, is confident) that every man will do his duty" but when the lieutenant asked could he change "confides" to "expects" because the latter word was recorded in his book of signals, whereas the former would have to be sent a letter at a time, he reported later that "His Lordship replied, in haste, and with seeming satisfaction, 'That will do, Pasco, make it directly".

Answer: Glowing fireballs that rise up from the Mekong

Also known as Mekong lights, these fireballs are red-coloured, glowing, round objects which rise from the waters of the Mekong river at night, ascend to a height of some three or four hundred metres, and then suddenly disappear. There have been thousands of reported sightings of Naga fireballs, but no official confirmation of same up to the onset of the 21st century.

It is theorised, however, that they are caused by flammable phosphine gas, notable for being generated in marsh like conditions along various parts of the river.

This is not as unbelievable as it may seem, as these lights are a common occurrence in various parts of the world. In Australia, where they're known as Min Min lights, they appear regularly in outback areas of the country at night.

This is particularly so in the marshier environments of the Channel Country where various small streams make their way into our huge inland heart.

Answer: Colin Pitchfork

Born in 1960 in Leicestershire, England, Colin Pitchfork is actually a disgusting piece of work convicted of the rape and murder of two girls. Married to a social worker, peculiarly so, he already had a record of indecent exposure prior to his wedding, but seemed to have settled down to marriage and fatherhood (two sons) and put his past behind him - apart from making a nuisance of himself to any woman he worked with in a large bakery firm. In 1983 and again in 1986, two fifteen year old girls disappeared while on the way home, and to a friend's place, respectively. Their savagely beaten, raped, murdered bodies were found several days later. At that time in England, the University of Leicester had developed DNA profiling, and, using that technique on samples taken from the bodies of the victims, were able to identity that they had been murdered by the same person. 5,000 local men were subsequently called on to voluntarily to give blood or saliva samples, but no matches were found.

In 1987, however, a woman at a pub in Leicester overheard a conversation between two drunken men during which one boasted to the other that Pitchfork had paid him two hundred pounds to masquerade as him and give a blood sample. She reported this to the police, and within a few weeks, Pitchfork was arrested. Samples obtained from him revealed that he was indeed the murderer of those two young lives. He confessed to these killings, and to more than 1,000 cases of indecent exposure, a compulsion he couldn't overcome, and that two of those had led to the murder of the girls. Sentenced to 30 years jail, Pitchfork will be released from prison in 2016. Ending this quiz on a positive note however, a young man, Richard Buckland, originally arrested on suspicion of the murders, became the first man to be found innocent as a result of DNA profiling.