Generalia I Trivia Quiz

Answer: 8848 metres

That's right, Mt Everest is 29,028 feet high. That's quite a way up. As an aside, did you know Mt Everest had no native name? It seems that the Sherpas were surrounded by so many huge mountains that Everest was nothing special to them. The Tibetans to the north had a number of names but they are quite involved so as to defy simple translation into English.

Answer: Collect coins

Numismatists are engaged in numismatics. The word derives from the Latin word "numisma" meaning coin. The Latin word comes, in turn, from the Greek word "nomizo" meaning current coin.

Answer: Alaric

By this time, the Emperor's residence of the Western Roman Empire was not in Rome, but in Ravenna. Ravenna was located in swampland that proved impossible for Alaric to move his troops through so instead he besieged Rome. He did this on 3 occasions. On the first 2 occasions he withdrew after obtaining concessions from the Western Emperor, Flavius Honorius. On the third occasion, however, Alaric did not receive what he wanted.

He had allies inside Rome who opened the city gates for him and his troops spent 3 days sacking the city. Thus came about the end of an era.

Answer: Occiput

The occiput is made up of four different bones fused together in the skull. These bones are the supraoccipital, the basioccipital and a pair of exoccipitals.

Answer: Collin Tarrant

Inspector Monroe was sadly killed in an explosion during race riots on the show. The character was a regular on "The Bill" between September 1989 and April 2002. Collin Tarrant was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company after graduating in English and Drama.

He then made the move to television at the BBC where "The Bill" was his second series. The other actors named played different past characters. Ben Roberts played Chief Inspector Derek Conway. Tony O'Callaghan played Sergeant Matthew Boydon. Andrew Paul played Constable Dave Quinnan.

Answer: St Thomas Aquinas

St Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 of noble stock near Naples and died a Benedictine preacher 49 years later in 1274. After his death, he is attributed with a mircale of restoring the sight of a member of the monastery where he died. Also, he was exhumed seven months after being buried, for fear that his body had been stolen.

His corpse purportedly smelled of sweet spices rather than a seven month old corpse. This supposedly happened again 14 years later.

Answer: Wilkins Micawber

Once in Australia, Mr Micawber becomes a Magistrate and writes regularly for the local newspaper. He is responsible for exposing Uriah Heep's duplicitous nature towards Mr Wickfield, the solicitor, in the novel. Micawber is constantly in and out of prison for being unable to pay his debts.

Answer: Persian Empire

Zoroastrianism dates back to 1000-1500 BCE, at least according to historians and religious scholars. Some conservative Zoroastrians believe it is more like 6000BCE. Zoroaster preached a monotheistic belief in Persia (modern day Iran) in what was a polytheistic culture at the time.

He was persecuted for this but eventually won royal support. Consequently, Zoroastrianism became the official religion of Persia until Arab invaders brought Islam with them in 650 CE. At this time, some Zoroastrians fled to India which has the most concentrated Zoroastrian population today. Zoroastrianism preaches the belief in one all-powerful god called Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda is opposed by Angra Mainyu, an evil spirit of death, violence and conflict.

Answer: Boris Karloff

The movie is about a medical hypnotist (Karloff) who develops a means of controlling people's minds over great distances. He and his wife test it on an unsuspecting young London rebel and find they can also experience any sensations the young man feels.

The Professor's wife sends him on something of a crime spree - stealing a fur coat, speeding on a motorbike and brutally killing 2 young women - before the movie ends in a fiery car crash. Karloff died only 2 years later in 1969 after appearing (credited and uncredited) in more than 170 films.

Answer: 2

Napoleon and Josephine had actually divorced before this. Josephine had been unable to bear Napoleon a child. Fearing his own death without an heir he divorced her. His speech during the divorce, however, contained a declaration of his love for her.

He then remarried; to the nineteen year old daughter of the Emperor of Austria. Upon learning of Josephine's death, however, he was inconsolable for 2 days. By this time he was in exile on the island of Elba.