Bit of This and That No 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Western black rhinoceros

And another one bites the dust. Despite widespread searches to locate any of these beautiful animals in 2011, none could be found. They were then declared extinct. The reason for this great loss to the world is poaching by man - and that's a terrible thing. Just as atrocious was the failure of the courts to penalise any poachers for this crime against nature.

Answer: Took off and landed back on a ship

How amazing was that, when the history of flight in a powered aircraft was just a couple of years old? The American Ely (1886-1911) seemed to be a bit of a daredevil. Before flight took his fancy, he was noted for his automobile racing. In 1910, he offered to fly a plane recently purchased by his employer - and promptly crashed it. Unprepared for flight and with no training, he took to the air (temporarily) thinking that flying would be like driving. He subsequently bought the wrecked plane from his employer, repaired it, and learned to fly properly.

In October 1910 he obtained his pilot's licence. That same month he met an officer in the US navy who was looking into whether planes could be utilised at sea. One month later Ely successfully took off from a hastily erected platform which had been built onto a cruiser. The plane plunged down and its wheels went under the water - but Ely managed to pull it back up. Two months following this, he landed a plane successfully back on the deck of a second cruiser. Late that same year during a flying exhibition, this pioneer of flight who had achieved such an extraordinary feat, was killed when his plane didn't pull out of a dive in time. Astonishingly so, he jumped out of the wreck and began to walk away. However, he had broken his neck in the crash, and within minutes had died.

Answer: God's only mistake

Disraeli was of Jewish descent, although he sometimes claimed to be Portuguese. Born in 1804, he served as PM of England from February-December 1868, and again from 1874-1880. Queen Victoria grew to greatly admire this conservative politician. Disraeli had commenced his political career as a Radical but by 1837 he was well and truly a Tory (Conservative). Victoria awarded him the titles of the Earl of Beaconsfield and Viscount Hughenden in 1876. William Gladstone (born 1809) was a Liberal politician who had originally been a Tory.

He served as PM of England from 1880-1885, February-July 1886 and 1892-1894. Queen Victoria was not very fond of him at all and said of him that "He always addresses me as if I were a public meeting". Disraeli died in 1881. Gladstone, who was 84 when he finally resigned as Prime Minister, died in 1898.

Answer: A stuffed dumpling

These boiled, baked or fried dumplings are made of unleavened dough and were originally found in central European countries. They eventually made their way to the US and there they are made into square or half-moon shapes. They can be stuffed with any food really, but the preferred choice seems to be potato, minced meat, cheese or fruit - or perhaps even all combined.

There are various spellings of the dish, such as perogi, pyrogy or pierogi etc, but the dish remains the same. They sound delicious and most awfully fattening.

Answer: Han

The Ming Dynasty was in place in China from 1368 until 1644. The country developed and prospered under its rule. Some of the advances associated with this dynasty included the setting up of a huge navy, an army that numbered more than one million soldiers, and the Forbidden City.

The Grand Canal and the Great Wall were also repaired and restored. As well as this, China was opened up to world wide trade with other countries. This brought great wealth into the land. The vibrant Ming Dynasty began to lose its power in its last ten years of rule because of the collapse of the economy.

In 2011, the Han people of China comprised 92% of that country's population. Their history is one of incredible advancement in all the arts, technologies and sciences.

Answer: A very large photograph

Andreas Gursky (born 1955) is noted for taking large photographs of various objects or scenery. This particular photograph that sold for such a large amount was of the Rhine river. It's called "Rhein II" and is part of a set of six photographs. He edited out a factory and people walking their dogs. Just the river, the sky, and a flat green expanse is left.

The photograph measures 73 x 143 inches - or 190 x 360 cm if you prefer. As at the date of its sale, it's the most expensive photograph ever sold. I should hope so, and can promise you I'd never pay $4.3 million dollars for a photo of a river. That's disgraceful.

Answer: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Templesman had first read out one of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's favourite poems "Ithaka" about a long journey to a beautiful destination. Born in 1929, this lovely woman was the wife of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

They had been married for ten years. Five years after his death, she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. They were married from 1968 until his death in 1975. From the middle of the 1970s until her tragic death from cancer in 1994, Maurice Templesman was her long time companion. Words forever associated with this First Lady are style, dignity, beauty, elegance, charm and grace.

She epitomised them all.

Answer: Under his aunt's skirts

Charles VI, who suffered from periodic attacks of insanity, ruled France from 1380 to 1422. Such was the extent of these attacks that the entrances to one of his residences had to be walled up to keep him safe inside. During one of his episodes, which lasted some time, the poor man became convinced that he was made of glass.

Another bout saw him refusing to change his clothing or bathe for several months. He has gone down in history as Charles the Mad, but was also known as Charles the Beloved by others. Four of his fellow "wild men" died from their burns because of this wedding celebration gone wrong.

His aunt, ten years younger than Charles, was only fourteen at the time of the incident.

Answer: The Babbling Brooke

Frances had affairs with several powerful men of her time. Edward VII was King of England from 1901-1910. Whilst his mistress, she was deeply in love with Lord Beresford, with whom she was also having an affair. This led to a falling out between the two men. Frances was more of a courtesan than a common floosie however.

The original meaning of that word was that of a courtier in the halls of a country's leader, or other extremely powerful personage. Indeed, it was almost considered a position of honour, and was usually held by well-educated, beautiful and intelligent women. Today however it's just come to mean that poor little floosie. Frances "Daisy" Greville lived from 1861 to 1938. Such was her fame that a very popular song from the music hall era was written in her honour.

This was the well-known number "Daisy, Daisy".

Answer: Lord Byron

Lord Byron (1788-1824) was known not only for his creative works, but also for his wild and reckless behaviour. He ran up debts everywhere, had numerous affairs, and went to extremes in all he did. Ada Lovelace, his only legitimate child, barely knew her father. Her parents marriage proved to be short and bitter and ended in acrimony. She was brought up by a mother who was filled with anger and resentment towards Byron. When Ada was fourteen, she became paralysed after suffering an attack of measles. She spent a year in bed, and for a few years afterwards, walked with the aid of crutches. During that time she studied intensely and became more than brilliant at mathematics.

In 1883 she met Charles Babbage, and following this, they kept up a regular correspondence. She subsequently spent nine months translating a French work dealing with his notes on a proposed forerunner to the computer. To this she added her own extensive notes on calculating "a sequence of Bernoulli numbers" for his design. When this was manufactured more than a hundred years later, it worked perfectly. This creation of hers, her algorithmic steps for creating a computing function, has today earned Ada Lovelace the title of the world's "First Computer Programmer". She even had the foresight at that time to see that Babbage's proposed machine would one day go far beyond the mere ability to work out calculations. My computer just murmured "Yes, dear great-great-great grandma certainly was one amazing woman".