Guild-y As Sin: Pride Trivia Quiz

Answer: An haughty spirit

It is interesting that we find here an example of 'an' being used before a word with an unstressed or silent H. This is a convention ignored by a lot of people in everyday speech. Many modern newsreaders are guilty of going out of their way to proudly show off their knowledge of this rule. You are much more likely to hear about an horrific accident than a dreadful, shocking, terrible or tragic accident.

This question was posed by QMG member patricck. Patricck prides himself on being a touch typist. It's just a pity the C on his keyboard keeps sticking.

Answer: Jim Ellis

In the movie, directed by Sunu Gonera, the year was 1973, and Jim Ellis, played by Terrence Howard, could not find a job. He converted an abandoned recreation center in the slums of Philadelphia, with the help of a local janitor, Elston, played by Bernie Mac. Jim recruited troubled teens from the streets of Philadelphia and formed the city's first African-American swim team. The team overcame racism, violence, and an unsympathetic city official to move on to compete in the state championships.

This question was posed by gk9760. gk is proud of his knowledge of geography. It was a real shame, then, when he thought he was booking a flight to Abilene, Texas, but ended up in Abilene, Kansas. That 'Dallas Cowboys' windcheater did not go down too well...

Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?
In the name of love!
What more in the name of love?"

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights activist who was shot just after 6pm on April 4, 1968 while standing on the second floor balcony of his motel.
Bono has admitted his error with the lyrics regarding King's shooting. King was killed after 6pm, and Bono will sometimes change the lyrics to "Early evening" when performing the song in concert. The words "free at last" come from his well-known speech, "I Have a Dream." On August 28, 1963, King delivered these words from the Lincoln Memorial: "Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring - when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Another line in the song supposedly references Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus, "one man betrayed with a kiss."

This question was posed by silvermoonsong, who is proud to be the keeper of the cutest blue-eyed dog in the QMG.

Answer: Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was one of the most famous of Greek philosophers, and a founder of the Western philosophical tradition. He was fascinated by virtually every subject he came across: his writings included everything from studies of ethics, to discourses on music, to his observations of dolphins.

In Book III of his great "Nichomachean Ethics", Aristotle turned his attention to pride, defining it as belonging to a man who both "deserves and claims great things". The worthiness of the man, and of his pride, is what makes pride a good thing: "Pride, then, seems to be a sort of crown of the virtues; for it makes them greater, and it is not found without them." Aristotle would agree with Dante that certain types of pride were sinful; a man who was proud without deserving to be was simply vain. But Aristotle stood apart from most Christian thinkers in his argument that humility in a good man was essentially a sin: "the unduly humble man ... robs himself of what he deserves."

This question was posed by CellarDoor, who takes pride in being the only member of the QMG who does not automatically associate the words "Duff Beer" with the name Homer.

Answer: Daily Mirror

The idea for the awards was conceived by Peter Willis, an associate editor of the Mirror. The winners in that first year included soccer player Michael Owen, who received Most Inspiring Young Sportsperson award, and Donna Marie McGillion, who was horribly injured in the 1998 Omagh bombing and received the Outstanding Bravery Award.

This question was posed by janemarple. She is proud of her knowledge of crime-solving gleaned from long studies of Agatha Christie and has frequently been mistaken for the oft mentioned but never seen wife of Lt Colombo.

Answer: Virginia McKenna

Virginia McKenna was possibly best known for her portrayal of Joy Adamson in the 1965 film, "Born Free", but it was for her performance as WWII heroine Violette Szabo that she received her only BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in 1958.

The true story of Szabo, as reported by official British documents, was a remarkable one. Widowed as a young mother of just 21 when her husband was killed in the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, she decided to do her bit for the war effort by signing up for the Special Operations Executive. As a fluent speaker of French she was a prized asset.

She completed her first mission in Nazi-occupied France in 1944 and was sent for her second, and final, mission later that year to help disrupt German communications immediately following the D-Day landings. Her mission was successful but as she attempted a retreat she was captured by German officers at a roadblock.

She initially escaped from her captors and holed up in a French farmhouse, but was soon surrounded. She valiantly attempted to fight off re-capture but her ammunition and energy were eventually spent and she was taken into custody. Szabo was tortured over a very long period but refused to submit to her tormentors. The Germans finally accepted, after eight months in captivity, that she would never talk and she was executed.

Szabo was posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1946, only the second woman to be so honored.

This question was composed by Snowman. Snowman takes great pride in his appearance. It's such a shame, though, that he has a total phobia about hairdryers.

Answer: John Ruskin

John Ruskin was an extremely influential essayist. He accused Whistler of "throwing a pot of paint in the public's face", for which Whistler sued him and won, but only got a farthing (a quarter of a pre-decimal penny) in damages. The wrong answers were all friends of Ruskin.

Quiz_Beagle is the leader of the QMG. She is proud of the many badges she has won on FunTrivia, but not as much as she is of the "Girl Most Likely To Become A Serial Axe Murderer" badge she won in the Brownies. Look out Barbados, is all I can say.

Answer: London Pride

The plant London Pride (saxifraga x urbium) was a hardy beast that grew pretty much anywhere. The fact that it was considered to be one of the first plants to grow in the areas of London bombed flat during the Blitz in WWII was one of the things that inspired Noel Coward to write the wartime song "London Pride," ("London Pride has been handed down to us. London Pride is a flower that's free ... Every Blitz, Your resistance toughening, From the Ritz To the Anchor and Crown, Nothing ever could override The pride of London Town.") The song was subsequently featured in the soundtrack to the 1944 film version of Coward's play, "This Happy Breed."

Fuller's award-winning ale London Pride was first brewed in the late 1950s as Chiswick Pride (the Fuller's brewery was in Chiswick, west London), before being renamed. The brewery also made a beer simply called Chiswick Bitter.
"London Pride, Or When The World Was Young" was an 1896 book by the prolific novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon set in the aftermath of the English Civil War. Its purple prose left no doubt as to which side Braddon's sympathies lay within that conflict: "A rabble Parliament rode roughshod over a cowed people. Gloom and sour visages prevailed, the maypoles were down, the play-houses were closed, the bear-gardens were empty, the cock-pits were desolate; and a saddened population, impoverished and depressed by the sacrifices that had been exacted and the tyranny that had been exercised in the name of Liberty, were ground under the iron heel of Cromwell's red-coats.

This question was posed by solan_goose, one of the QMG's newest recruits. S_G prides himself on being able to identify the sound of a Spitfire without even looking. A pint of Spitfire goes glug, glugg, glugg, as it passes easily down the throat.

Answer: Agamemnon

Agamemnon's wife's name was Clytemnestra. She had a hidden agenda, of course-- all she really wanted was to marry her lover Aegisthus and avenge the daughter Agamemnon had sacrificed. So it goes. Despite the potentially murderous implications, there is a hotel in the modern town of Mycenae named "Clytemnestra Rooms With Bath."

This question was posed by QMG stalwart pu2-ke-qi-ri. Residing in the centre of the known universe (Austin, Texas), pu takes pride in zipping through that old Alpha to Omega alphabet in 10 seconds flat, when in fact it's all Greek to everyone else.

Answer: Leonard Nimoy

John Fogerty wrote this song, supposedly about a paddle steamer on the Mississippi. It was a top 10 hit for CCR in 1969. The song produced many covers, including 35 in 1969 alone.

Leonard Nimoy may not seem the logical answer, but he did cover it, and had fun by singing one chorus in the style of Elmer Fudd: "Big wheel keep on toynin', Pwoud Mawy keep on boinin'..."

He also sang "If I Had a Hammer" on that 1992 album, while Shatner provided it with "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

This question was written by the quiz shepherd, darksplash. Splash prides himself on writing some great quizzes. In his dreams. With just the occasional nightmare.