Exit10's Last Common Bond Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hilton

Zsa Zsa Gabor married Conrad Hilton of Hilton Hotel fame on 10 April 1942. They produced one daughter Constance Francesca who was born on 10 March 1947. Gabor and Hilton divorced in 1947. Prior to that Conrad Hilton had married Mary Adelaide Barron in 1925 and they had three children, Conrad (Nicky) Jnr, William Barron and Eric Michael.

That made her a half-sister of Conrad Hilton Jnr who married Elizabeth Taylor in 1950. The twist in this tale is that Francesca had a small part in the 1995 film "Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story".

Answer: Wildings

A wilding is any plant which is uncultivated and has grown wild with particular regard to apples and crab apples. The translation is that of John Dryden.

Answer: Mary Todd Lincoln

Mary Todd was born in Kentucky and as such had mixed loyalties when it came to the Civil War. She was one of seven children (three girls and three boys - one who didn't survive childhood) and when her mother passed away her father remarried and she inherited another nine half-siblings (another one didn't survive infancy). One brother and half-brother fought in the war for the Confederates and three of her half-brothers were either killed or wounded. One of her half-sister's husbands was also killed. All of the family were ardent Confederacy supporters.

Mary for her part supported her husband Abraham and his Republican policies and it was not uncommon to see families fighting against each other. She worked as a volunteer nurse in the Union hospitals during the Civil War.

Answer: The Fisher King

The legend of The Fisher King has many versions none of which can be verified. One version of the Fisher King (or Wounded King) in Arthurian legend outlines a man who is injured in the legs and cannot walk/move. He is forced to spend his life sitting in his boat fishing, but because he is tied to the land, all around his castle becomes dry and barren. He is also charged with guardianship of the Holy Grail and in order to be cured someone must ask a series of questions. Enter Sir Percival a young inexperienced knight who attended the king for dinner one evening. A procession of a sword with a drop of blood, a candelabra and a chalice (the Grail) went by and Sir Percival decided he shouldn't say anything for fear of offending the king. Had he asked the pertinent questions then the Fisher King would have been cured and the land would have become green again.

As I have mentioned, there are many versions of this legend (including Sir Galahad) and a dozen different correction notes will all be correct in any event. The only commonality is that the legend states the Holy Grail was looked after for a time by the Fisher King.

Answer: Burton

Knickers are a slang term for women's underpants. As Burton is a menswear retailer, you are unlikely to find them there. Burton has been in operation since 1903.

Answer: Poor Richard's Almanack

Poor Richard's Almanack was a salmagundi comprising the weather forecasts, astrology, household hints and other bits and pieces but mainly proverbs and quotations. It also included serialised stories so written that the reader wanted to buy the next year's copy thus ensuring its loyalty and longevity. Maxims such as 'Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today' and 'A penny saved is a penny earned' are attributed to him.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was penned by Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was by Edward Gibbon and Tristram Shandy was by Laurence Sterne.

Answer: Warner Brothers

Mel Blanc performed most of the voices of the cartoon characters, the most famous being Bugs Bunny. It has been widely mentioned that in fact he was allergic to carrots, something that Bugs was not. Not true. According to
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2820/did-mel-blanc-hate-carrots

"The sound of Bugs chomping on a carrot while delivering a wisecrack was a key element from the beginning, but a technical problem soon became apparent: after taking a noisy bite of carrot, Blanc would have to chew for a while before he could swallow enough of it to deliver his next line. Other crunchy but more easily chewed foods (apples, celery) were tried, but the resulting sounds were deemed insufficiently carrotlike. The simplest and best solution, it turned out, was for Blanc to briefly chew on an actual carrot, then spit it out and go on with the voiceover. Ultimately a spittoon became a fixture in Mel's recording-studio setup.

The fact that Blanc didn't consume any of the carrot used during Bugs sessions gave rise to the mistaken notion that he was either allergic to carrots or hated their taste. In his 1988 autobiography, he concedes that he wasn't particularly fond of carrots ("at least not raw") but makes clear that the big problem was the impossibility of chewing and swallowing them quickly."

Answer: Cyclone Larry

Cyclone Larry was so severe and inflicted so much damage that it was decided by the Bureau of Meteorology to retire it permanently in December 2006. As a result of the banana crop being destroyed prices escalated up to over 400%.

Because of Australia's strict quarantine laws very few fresh fruit and vegetables are permitted entry.

Answer: Winter

All things considered equal in terms of how green your thumb is, the best time of year is in winter where temperatures need to be between 10-20 degrees Celsius or lower. This is notwithstanding countries that are very very cold or very very hot however hopefully the picture would have led you to the right answer.

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

All of the clues were husbands/significant others of Elizabeth Taylor.
Q1 Conrad (Nicky) HILTON Jr (1950-51; divorced)
Q2 Michael WILDING (1952-57; divorced)
Q3 Mike TODD (1957-58; widow)
Q4 Eddie FISHER (1959-64; divorced)
Q5 Richard BURTON (1964-74; divorced)
Q7 John WARNER (1976-82; divorced)
Q6 RICHARD Burton (1975-76; divorced)
Q8 LARRY Fortensky (1991-96; divorced)
Q9 Jason WINTERS long time partner prior to her death in 2011.