Eider Down or Up! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Australia

The banksia, named for Botanist Joseph Banks, is found across Australia. This particular one is native to the state of a Western Australia. There has been, for some time, a program aimed at preserving the Feather-leaved Banksia, and it seems that there has been a degree of success. Seeds have been successfully collected and propagated, and several plants established.

Not surprisingly, it has been found to survive well in the California, USA climate.

Answer: Emily Dickinson

This short poem by Emily Dickson is lovely. It expresses the comfort hope can bring - the thing that often keeps us going when things seem bleak. Hope also 'sings without stopping', according to Dickinson. I especially like the line: '(Hope) sings the tune-without the words'; for me, hope is sometimes like that, it's there, deep, unable to be expressed in words, just - there.

'Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune-without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.'

Answer: True

Turner's version was: 'Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together', and dates from around 1545. The version pretty much as we know it now, 'birdes of a feather will flocke togither', was first seen in 1599 in a Spanish and English dictionary compiled by John Minsheu.

Answer: Mahiole

The mahiole and its companion the ʻahuʻula (a cape) were worn by the chiefs and men of highest rank in Hawaiian society. Captain James Cook, upon his first arrival in Hawaii, was greeted as a high chief and presented with a mahiole and ʻahuʻula. He collected a number of these during his travels.

The red feathers from which the helmet is traditionally constructed come from the Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper.

Answer: Robbing Crusaders

King Richard I made this decree in 1189, in an attempt to stop the outrageous theft of crusaders' property during voyages to the Holy Land. Tarring and feathering was used as a form of humiliation, a bit like the stocks.

Rather than bitumen with which we associate the word tar in this era, pine tar, an extract from pine trees and commonly utilised at the time for water-proofing boats, was used. Therefore the damage done, while unpleasant, was not as excruciating as we might imagine.

Answer: The Marx Brothers

Typical of a Marx brothers' movie, the plot of 'Horse Feathers' consisted of a comedy of errors. Thinking he was hiring professional footballers, Coach Wagstaff of Huxley College recruited the wrong gents. When the rival team, Darwin, hired the real stars, Wagstaff employed the no-hopers to kidnap them. It all went wrong, of course, and the football match was a debacle.

The term 'horse-feathers' is a euphemism meaning rubbish or nonsense.

Answer: Edward, the Black Prince

Edward was born at Woodstock Palace, and is said to have won the appellation 'Black Price' at the battle of Crecy, where he was given the van to command. The enemy was defeated, and Edward adopted the name of the Black Prince because of the black armour he wore that day.

The motto of the Prince of Wales, appearing on the Prince of Wales's feathers, is 'Ich Dien' (I serve). The badge has three white feathers surrounded by a jewel-studded gold coronet.

Answer: 57.0 kg (126 lbs)

A flyweight boxer is 50.8 kg (112 lbs); 66.7 kg (147 lbs)is the maximum weight in the welterweight classification; and a light heavyweight boxer can't tip the scale at more than 79.4 kg (175 lbs). The term featherweight does not only apply to boxing, but also to some martial arts and in Greco-Roman wrestling.

One of Australia's most famous featherweight boxers is Jeff Fenech, also known as the Marrickville Mauler, though he also boxed in several other weight divisions at various stages of his career.

Answer: Cape

The lucky acquirer of the feather gives the possessor the gold cape, which allows him to jump about twice as high as normal. More than that, he does an aerial pirouette for added style! It's possible to find this power up only in 'Super Mario Kart'.

Answer: Ray Charles

Jake and Murph are unsure of the quality of the electric piano they want to 'buy', so Ray Charles gives them a demonstration, singing 'Shake a Tail Feather'. The performance takes place in Ray's Music Exchange, with a large group of dancers outside as well. Once they have established the action of the piano is undamaged, the Blues Brothers agree to take it...and Ray knows he'll have to take an I.O.U.