Easy General Knowledge 40 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brian Epstein

Brian Epstein was born into an orthodox Jewish family and was the person who discovered the Beatles and made them famous internationally. Alas he became easily bored and was depressed over his turmoil of his homosexuality. On 27th August 1967, he died of a drug overdose, aged 32 years old.

Answer: St Catherine

St Catherine of Alexandria was tortured on a spiked wheel (Catherine wheel) which was designed to maim and kill. Emperor Maxentius was anti-Christianity and challenged her to debate over her faith with his best fifty philosophers but they failed to make her change her mind.

It was alleged that when Catherine was strapped on the Catherine wheel, it flew apart killing several bystanders. According to legend, Catherine was then beheaded and milk flowed from her veins. The Catherine wheel firework is named after her as a reminder of her persecution and death.

Answer: Dusty

Khaki is a yellowish-brown colour and is also a material used for 20th-century military uniforms. British troops in India first used khaki uniforms in a battle in the late 19th century utilising their camouflage effect because of increasing accuracy and range of rifles.

Answer: HMS Pinafore

HMS Pinafore had the subtitle 'The Lass that Loved a Sailor'.

Answer: His eyesight got too bad

Samuel Pepys was a naval administrator who kept a diary for nine years about life in the 1660s until his eyesight got too bad. He mentioned the Plague in 1663 and the Great Fire of London in 1666. His diary was written in a system of shorthand and not until 1826 was a deciphered version published by the Rev. John Smith. Having held an important post in the Navy Office, his diary shows him to be cultivated and ambitious as well as lecherous. Scriveners' Palsy is a technical term for writer's cramp.

Answer: Uncontrollable swearing

One symptom of Tourette Syndrome is the use of uncontrollable words or phrases which are socially inappropriate and unacceptable words. I have no problem with this as many of our politicians have been using these for years! Unsophisticated optimism is to be starry-eyed or gullible.
Tourette's syndrome can give rise to tics and sometimes noises which are not necessarily swear words.

The main symptom of Tourette Syndrome is uncontrollable ticks/movement with only 10% of Tourette's sufferers having uncontrollable swearing.

Answer: Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong (1900-71) was a black American jazz trumpeter who began to make records around 1925. He became one of the most popular entertainers in the world and was well remembered for his improvisation and his gravelly voice. His records include 'Hello Dolly', 'What A Wonderful World' and 'We Have All The Time In The World' which was the theme tune to the Bond Movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969).

Answer: Used to flatten crops to form corn circles

Often called stalk stompers these are mechanical means by which human hoaxers have tried to fool the public into thinking time travellers or extraterrestrial life form may have already landed. People have suggested using stalk stompers, marking posts, surveyor's tapes and construction diagrams that corn circles can be constructed.

However as more corn circles appear and become more elaborate and more complicated, one has to have an open mind about such matters. In time someone will definitely separate the wheat from the chaff.

Answer: 345

The code is 4 times the previous number then take 11 away (4x - 11)
For example: 4 x 5 (first number in sequence) (- 11) = 20 - 11 = 9
4 x 9 (second number in sequence)(- 11) = 36 - 11 = 25
4 x 25 (third number in sequence)(- 11) = 100 - 11 = 89
therefore 4 x 89 (- 11) = 356 - 11 = 345

Answer: George Orwell

George Orwell (1903-50) was born in India and his real name was Eric Blair. 'Down and Out in Paris and London'(1933) was a book about poverty he experienced after leaving Burma. His more noted novels were 'Animal Farm' (1945) and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949).

Answer: African spurred tortoise

A carapace is a bony, hard shield that covers part of the body of tortoises, crabs or lobsters. This variety of tortoise is said to grow up to three feet in length and weigh the size of a small fridge. The African Spurred tortoise is the largest tortoise in mainland Africa.

The females can grow up to 26 inches in length whereas the males can grow up to a massive 35 inches in length. Although they are inactive when temperatures are very hot or very cold they are able to run a bit especially when they sense it is going to rain.

The shoebill is a large wading bird, the Arabian Oryx is a large African antelope and the bushmaster is a large, highly venomous snake.

Answer: Philip

He was born on 26th July 1943 in Dartford, Kent in England and named Michael Philip Jagger. He was knighted on 4th June 2002 for his vast contribution to the music industry much to the annoyance of his fellow bandmember, Keith Richard, who thought he had lost his rebellious tendency.

Answer: Mrs Lovett

Mrs Lovett is a fictional character and partner in crime to Sweeney Todd, who bakes his victims into her meat pies. Sweeney Todd first appeared in an issue of a Penny Dreadful which was a cheap and often sensational book or magazine. The story goes that London barber, Sweeney Todd, was sent to prison in Australia by unethical Judge Turpin who rapes Todd's wife whilst he is away. Years later Todd returns to London but fails to kill the judge. Using a flat above Mrs Lovett's pie shop his frustration and insanity boils over and cuts client's throats at random.

Answer: Both died in the toilet

Elvis Presley died on 16th August 1977, aged 42, of a heart attack due to drug abuse and passed out on the seat of Graceland toilet. Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) stumbled whilst drunk and smashed his head against the toilet bowl. His novels include 'Decline and Fall' (1928), 'Vile Bodies' (1930) and 'Scoop' (1938).

Answer: Eric Knight

In the original movie version of 1943, the male collie was called Pal. The movie 'Lassie Come Home'(1943) had Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowall among its cast list and was a tearjerker penned by Eric Mowbray Knight about a poor family having to sell their beloved dog.

Answer: Women and children go first

HM Troopship Birkenhead struck a sunken rock off the coast of South Africa on 26th February 1852 and was a wreck within twenty minutes. Procedures that women and children leave safely first on lifeboats as a means of escape was called the Birkenhead Drill.

Answer: Deputy Dawg

Vincent Van Gopher (Vince) and Muskie the Muskrat appeared with the dimwitted canine law officer called Deputy Dawg out in the old West. 'Just a cotton picking moment' was one of Deputy Dawg's catchphrases.

Answer: Eugene Cernan

Eugene Cernan was the Commander of Apollo 17 which was the last manned mission to land on the moon. These were the words spoken on the moon by Eugene Cernan on 11th December 1972.

Answer: Between 8 and 13

This variety of starfish, like all starfish, has the ability to push their stomach outside their body and use their stomach acid to digest their prey whilst holding onto their intended victim with their many arms.

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

The quotation comes from the 1911 poem by Rudyard Kipling called 'The Female of the Species' and has 13 verses.
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Answer: Patrick Bronte

Patrick Bronte was the curate at Haworth, a village on the wild Yorkshire moors in England, and outlived all his children. His son, Branwell, was a writer and painter who became an alcoholic and opium addict and died in 1848. Patrick Bronte's wife, Maria, died in 1821 when her six children were very young. Charlotte Bronte married in 1854 but died during pregnancy. Her elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, died of tuberculosis.
Charlotte lived between 1816-55, Emily 1818-48 and Anne 1820-49.

Answer: Alcoholic drinks

A tantalus is a type of locked case holding bottles whose contents are tantalizingly visible. It was probably derived from king Tantalus in Greek mythology who was punished by Hades by standing in water that lowered when he tried to drink it and standing under fruit which moved away whilst he tried to reach for it.

Answer: Devil

The movie, 'The Devil and Miss Jones', is a classic comedy about a tycoon who takes a job in his own department store as he masquerades as a clerk to investigate employee grievances and starred Robert Cummings (1908-1990) who was an ever-smiling American actor. Being a great admirer of the comedy show 'Rising Damp' starring Leonard Rossiter as conniving landlord, Rigsby, I couldn't resist a mention of spinster Miss (Ruth) Jones played by Frances de la Tour who was forever lusted after by sleeveless cardigan wearer, Rupert Rigsby. One of the tenants, Alan, played by Richard Beckinsale, had very long hair.

When Rigsby had a go at him about his long hair he defended himself saying, 'Jesus had long hair' to which Rigsby replied 'Yes, but I bet he never had a hairdrier.'

Answer: George Best

George Best was born in 1946 in Northern Ireland and played football for Manchester United and Fulham in the English League. He was the European footballer of the year in 1968 and played internationally for Northern Ireland.

Answer: mother in law

My mother-in-law is marvellous for her age. She doesn't need glasses, drinks straight from the bottle. I was going to ask a question about Larry Laprise, the man who composed the Hokey Cokey (aka Hokey Pokey), who died peacefully in his sleep. The upsetting part for his family was getting him in the coffin. First they put his left leg in, left leg out .... and then the fun started. Hope you enjoyed the challenge and learnt something new.