FunTrivia Blockbusters: I'll Have an 'M' Quiz

Answer: Minnow

Minnows are small fish that sometimes gather in large shoals.

Their usual habitats include freshwater streams, rivers and lakes. They feed on insects, molluscs, plant debris and fish eggs.

Minnows are often caught by anglers for use as bait for other, larger fishes.

Answer: Mug

Mug could mean a large cup you drink coffee from; someone who falls for a trick; or a violent attack on a person in which something is stolen. (Usually in British English "to mug" or "a mugging".) ((Yes, I do know that there is no law of "mugging", it is robbery.))

Answer: Phil McGraw

Phillip Calvin McGraw was born on September 1st, 1950 in Vinita, Oklahoma.

The "doctor" comes from his Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology at the University of North Texas.

On graduating, he entered practise with his father, also a psychologist, and they later joined with Texas businesswoman Thelma Box in presenting experience-based training seminars.

That brought him to the attention of Oprah Winfrey, and a regular spot on her shows.

In 2002, McGraw launched his own daily television show, "Dr. Phil". Each show enables him to advise on the troubles brought by guests.

"Forbes" magazine listed Dr Phil at fourth in their list of the highest earning celebrities worldwide in 2016. His earnings were placed at $88m.

Answer: Marcel Marceau

Marcel Mangel was born on March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, France, and died on September 22, 2007 in Lot, France. The family adopted the name Marceau.

Marceau was member of the French Resistance during World War Two.

At the end of the war, he began a career in drama. At a much younger age he had been impressed by the characters of Charlie Chaplin, and made mime his speciality.

He created the alter-ego 'Bip the Clown'. He first toured North America in the 1950s and went on to become recognised world-wide.

As well as his stage show, Marceau appeared in several movies. He also established a school of mime.

Answer: Magpie

Let's sing:
"One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
And four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told..."

This is an old British song that was also the them for "Magpie", a children's television programme of the 1970s.

Answer: Melissa

As well as being the name of a nymph, Melissa is Greek for bee.

In English-speaking countries, Melissa first appeared in the 18th Century.

Famous Melissas include the actors Melissa McCarthy, Melissa Joan Hart and Melissa Rauch; the singer Melissa Manchester; and the model Melissa Baker.

Answer: Madagascar

Madagascar is located off the east coast of the African content and lies in the Indian Ocean.

Its area of 587,041 km2 (226,658 sq mi) makes it the fourth largest island in the world. At the 2016 Census, it had a population of about 25,000,000.

Export revenue is mainly from the textiles industry, fish and shellfish, and foods such as vanilla and cloves.

Madagascar has many as yet unexploited mineral reserves.

Answer: Battle of Moscow

An estimated 1.6 million casualties occurred during the Battle of Moscow.

'Operation Typhoon', as the Germans called it, commenced in October 1941 with an attack on Moscow. The Red Army counter-attacked against the Germans to enable them to withdraw from Moscow when the offensive ceased.

By the time the battle ended in January 1942, there were estimated casualties of 174,000 to 400,000 for Germany and 650,000 to 1.2 million casualties for the Red Army.

It is generally considered to be a success for the Russians and a tactical failure for the Germans.

The bloodiest battle of all in WW2 was the Battle of Stalingrad. That led to about two million casualties - civilian as well as military - from Russian and Axis forces.

Answer: Metz

Metz flashguns were prized for their power and reliability.

The original Metz company was established in 1938 and initially made electronic devices for the camera company Carl Zeiss.

Among its other products, the 'hammer head' flashguns became a favourite of professional photographers. By 1985, the company had made more than five million of all types.

The company also diversified into other electronic equipment, including televisions. Although it went into liquidation in 2014, the brand name was later revived.

Answer: Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian, 1872-1944, was initially a landscape painter, but became a pioneer of the abstract arts.

He developed an abstract style he called Neo-Plasticism. It was restricted to the three primary colours, and to a grid of black vertical and horizontal lines on a white ground.

In 2015, a Mondrian was sold at a New York auction for $50.6m (£32.1m at the time.) The 1929 piece, 'Composition No III, with Red, Blue, Yellow and Black', established a new record for a Mondrian original.

Answer: George R. R. Martin

Unless you have been living in a cave in Ulan Bator for the past 20 years, you will have picked up some knowledge, at least by osmosis, of George R. R. Martin's most famous works, "A Song of Ice and Fire" in literature and televised as "Game of Thrones".

"A Game of Thrones" was published in 1996 and was the first part of what Martin envisaged as being a grand epic under the overarching title "A Song of Ice and Fire".

The televised version "Game of Thrones" first aired in 2011, and at one point had caught up with the novels that Martin had written.

There is not enough room in a few sentences of II to adequately cover either the books or the TV show. However, really interesting information is that darksplash has two cousins who starred in the TV show. (OK, OK, they were extras in battle scenes but still...)

Answer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

MGM was founded in 1924 when the separate companies of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures were all acquired by a new owner, Marcus Loew.

As well as the lion, the crest contained the motto "Ars Gratia Artis", a Latin phrase meaning "Art for art's sake".

MGM was behind everything from cartoons to blockbuster movies.

Famous MGM movies include "It's a Wonderful World", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind", all made in 1939.

Answer: Maybellene

Chuck Berry was a rock and roll pioneer.

Some of the song he wrote in the late 1950s became classics: songs like "Maybellene", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Too Much Monkey Business", "You Can't Catch Me", "School Day (Ring Ring Goes the Bell)", "Rock and Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Johnny B. Goode".

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born on October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri, and died on March 18, 2017 in Wentzville, Missouri.

Elvis Presley may have been "the king", but Chuck Berry was first, and even Presley recorded Chuck Berry songs.

"Maybellene" has been described as "the first rock and roll song". The guitar Berry named "Maybellene" was a Gibson ES-350T semi-acoustic.

Answer: Bat Masterson

William Barclay Masterson was born on November 26, 1853 near Quebec, Canada.

In his early working career he was a buffalo hunter and army scout. In the 1870s until his death he was a sheriff, saloon keeper and gambler.

In 1876, Masterson was wounded in a barroom shoot-out. When he recovered, Masterson returned to Dodge City, Kansas, where he became a lawman along with friend Wyatt Earp. In July, 1877, Masterson became under-sheriff of Ford County.

After losing an election as sheriff, Masterson turned to gold prospecting. A varied life followed and he spent time working as a bodyguard and as a newspaper reporter.

Masterson died on October 25, 1921 of a heart attack while working at his newspaper desk and penning his final column for the 'New York Morning Telegraph'.

Was he a bad man? He sued for libel when someone accused him of being a mass killer. In cross-examination, he denied reports that he had killed 28 men, and estimated that the total was three.

Answer: Mathurin

Mathurin, aka St. Maturinus, is also patron saint of plumbers.

Saint Mathurin was a French exorcist and missionary. He is first mentioned in writing in 875AD, but is believed to have died in about 300AD.

He was born into a pagan family, but was baptised at the age of 12 and became a priest at the age of 20.

He died and was buried in Rome but is said to have climbed out of the grave to return to his old home at Larchant, France.

Answer: Manganese

Manganese has an Atomic Number of 25.

It is one of the most abundant metals in soils, and its main mining areas are South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Gabon and Australia.

As well as its use in making iron and steel, Manganese is essential for humans to survive, but too much could be prejudicial to good health, or even kill.

Answer: Mendoza Line

In terms of home runs, to say he was "no Babe Ruth" would be an understatement.

His poor batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting - a cutoff point of .200.

When a batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be "below the Mendoza Line".

To put Mendozza's average of .215 into perspective, Ty Cobb topped the list at the time this quiz was written with a BA of .367.

Now, since I know nothing about calculating batting averages, I will quote from MLB.com:

"One of the oldest and most universal tools to measure a hitter's success at the plate, batting average is determined by dividing a player's hits by his total at-bats for a number between zero (shown as .000) and one (1.000). In recent years, the league-wide batting average has typically hovered around .260."

Everybody clear on that?

Answer: Monk

In a comedy-drama show, Adrian Monk was a San Francisco detective whose whole life was shattered when his wife was murdered.

He became a recluse and during his time shut away from the world picked up a phobia around personal cleanliness. He hated touching things that were dirty.

Of course, when he was persuaded back out into the wild world and got to investigate cases again, he encountered his phobias in full force.

Tony Shalhoub played Adrian Monk in eight seasons between 2002 and 2009.

Answer: Mario

Mario was a initially an unnamed character in the arcade game "Donkey Kong" in 1981.

Donkey Kong kidnapped the character's girlfriend, and game players had to use him in an unfolding storyline to get her back.

Over the years since 1981, the franchise has developed, with Mario getting into ever more desperate circumstances.

Answer: Missouri

The USS Missouri -"Mighty Mo" as she was nicknamed - was an Iowa class battleship commissioned in June 1944.

Her main armament comprised nine 16inch guns, with a variety of secondary and anti-aircraft armaments.

Missouri served on the Pacific theatre, including supporting the landings on Iwo Jima.

Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and the documents were formally signed onboard Missouri in Tokyo Bay September 2, 1945.

In 1988, 'Mighty Mo' became a museum ship and was moored at Pearl Harbor.