General Miscellany at Your Service Quiz

Answer: Caesar salad

The base of a Caesar salad is romaine lettuce and croutons, dressed with Parmesan cheese and a sauce containing raw egg, lemon juice, olive oil and Worcestershire sauce. Several variations on the original recipe are commonly found both in restaurants and in supermarkets, which often involve topping the salad with a source of protein such as chicken or seafood to make it a more complete meal. Caesar dressing is often sold pre-made in bottles for ease of consumption at home.

Caesar Cardini was born in 1896 and travelled to North America at the age of just 17, arriving in New York via Ellis Island in 1913. He owned restaurants both in the United States and in Mexico, where he was able to avoid Prohibition.

Answer: Basketball

Teresa Edwards, Lisa Leslie and Tamika Catchings all played basketball for the United States, the country that has dominated women's basketball at the Olympic Games since it was introduced in 1976 in Montreal, winning the majority of the available gold medals.

Lisa Leslie played at every Olympic Games between Atlanta 1996 and Beijing 2008, where the United States routinely won gold. Tamika Catchings experienced a similarly golden 12 years, winning four from four between Athens 2004 and Rio 2016 inclusive, before retiring from international basketball. Teresa Edwards competed in five games between Los Angeles 1984 and Sydney 2000, winning four golds and one bronze; the Unified Team of the majority of the former Soviet republics won gold at Barcelona 1992 after a narrow 79-73 victory over the United States in the semi-final.

Answer: Ziggurat

Ziggurats are typically very large structures built in the shape of a stepped pyramid. They were prevalent across a range of Mesopotamian cultures, including the Akkadian, Assyrian and Sumerian and generally formed the central part of a religious complex, surrounded by other small buildings.

Several examples of ziggurats can still be seen today, notably the Great Ziggurat of Ur, located in modern-day Iraq and thought to have been built in the 21st Century BCE by the Neo-Sumerian Empire. It served as a shrine to the patron deity of the city, the moon god Nanna.

Answer: Baldr

While Baldr is thought to be a major god in the Norse mythological pantheon, relatively little detail is recorded about his life, mainly due to the fact that the majority of Norse mythology comes from just two books, the 'Poetic' and 'Prose' eddas. He is described as the second son of Odin in 'Gylfaginning', a book contained within the 'Prose Edda'.

Baldr is perhaps best known for the story of his death, and how it is often seen as a harbinger of the great battle of Ragnarok in which many gods (including Odin, Thor and Loki) will die. The story goes that after a dream foretelling his own death, Baldr told his mother Frigg, who made every object promise not to hurt him. Supposedly, mistletoe escaped this oath as it was deemed nonthreatening, prompting Loki to fashion a mistletoe spear that was ultimately used to kill Baldr.

Answer: Molière

Molière wrote the majority of his plays as comedies, penning such classics as 'Tartuffe', 'The Misanthrope' and 'The Imaginary Invalid'. He gained great popularity with both aristocracy and royalty, earning his troupe a royal pension and the title of "The King's Troupe".

Of the three incorrect answers, all three are also French playwrights. Along with Molière, Racine and Corneille are considered two of the three great dramatists of the 17th Century. Racine is best known for his tragedies, including the classically-inspired 'Phèdre', 'Andromaque' and 'Athalie'. Corneille was also a tragedian, and his best known work is 'Le Cid', based on the legend of the Spanish warrior El Cid. Jean Anouilh lived the entirety of his life in the 20th Century, and his most famous work is the 1943 play 'Antigone', often seen as a criticism of the Vichy government at the time.

Answer: Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence's performance as Joy Mongano earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2016 Academy Awards. Unfortunately for her, the award was won by Brie Larson for her work in 'Room' - it was a tough year! 'Joy' marked Lawrence's fourth Oscar nod, having previously won an award for 'Silver Linings Playbook' and been nominated for 'Winter's Bone' and 'American Hustle'.

All three of 'Silver Linings Playbook', 'American Hustle' and 'Joy' were directed by the American writer and director David O. Russell, also known for his earlier films 'I Heart Huckabees' and 'The Fighter'. All three of those films also starred Bradley Cooper, demonstrating how certain actors and directors like to stick together, particularly when they're creating great cinema.

Answer: Iodine

While it is the densest non-metallic element, with a density almost five times that of water at room temperature, iodine is still less dense than the majority of the metals in the periodic table due to the tightly packed structure of most metallic lattices.

Of the incorrect answers, oxygen is by far the least dense at room temperature as it is a gas. Sodium is one of the least dense metals (second only to lithium), and will simultaneously float on and react with water if introduced to a water-containing vessel. Tungsten is one of the densest elements in the table, with a density more than 19 times that of water. The densest elements are osmium and iridium, both of which are more than 22 times denser than water.

Answer: Chrysanthemum

Despite the name coming from the Greek 'chrysos' and 'anthemon', the plants now widely known as chrysanthemums are actually native to Asia and Northeastern Europe. They are perennial, meaning that they can grow in the wild for more than two years.

Perhaps stemming from their popularity, there are an enormous diversity of chrysanthemum cultivars available, with the majority originating in East Asia. The chrysanthemum is regarded as one of the 'Four Gentlemen' or 'Four Noble Ones' of Chinese art, along with the plum blossom, the orchid and bamboo. They have been widely used in Chinese visual art since the turn of the second millennium AD.

Answer: Qashqai

While 'Qashqai' is the main name for the compact Nissan SUV in question, it has also been sold under several other names. The first generation was known as 'Dualis' in Japan, a name that continued in the Australian market as Nissan were concerned that 'Qashqai' would be mispronounced 'cash cow' and thus experience negative press. The second generation Qashqai was named 'Rogue Sport' in the United States.

The Qashqai are a nomadic Turkic people, comprising many tribes that total some 1.5 million people. However, the population of Iran is over 80 million people and they thus make up less than 2% of the population. They are predominantly found around the cities of Shiraz and Firuzubad in the South West of the country.

Answer: Rum

With a name that literally translates as 'strained pineapple', the pina colada is a relatively simple cocktail consisting of one part white rum, one part coconut milk and three parts pineapple juice. The ingredients are then blended with crushed ice until smooth and the drink is served with a garnish of either pineapple or cherry depending on where you buy it.

The history of the pina colada is somewhat hazy (no surprise there!), with some accounts suggesting that it was first made as early as the 1820s. However, credit is generally given to the barman Ramon Marrero who claims to have created the drink at the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. In 1978 the pina colada became the national drink of Puerto Rico.