Half the Answers are True... Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

Each ear of corn typically contains 400-600 kernels and every one of them has a corresponding silk which fertilised it. Each kernel starts life one of approximately 1,000 ovules. The silks emerge from the husk early in the development of the cob and they gather pollen. Pollen then moves along the silk to the ovule where fertilisation occurs and production of the kernel begins. If pollination hasn't occurred in the first few days after the silks have become available, production of kernels is greatly reduced no matter how much pollination occurs after that.

Answer: True

Headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, Nintendo co., Ltd began life by hand-making hanafuda cards in 1889. Hanafuda refers to both the cards and one of the games that can be played with them. Unlike Western cards, there are no numbers on them, just images. The game set up in the picture is called Koi-koi.

Successful almost immediately, the company's fortunes waxed and waned over the decades. In the 1960s, the company expanded into other ventures including hotels and taxis, but the only truly successful one was the production of toys. The 1970s saw the production of the first electronic game and Nintendo has flourished ever since.

Answer: False

Sir Richard Attenborough (1923-2014) was born in Cambridge, UK. He underwent pilot training for the war but was seconded to the RAF Film Unit. He flew in several missions during which his role was to film the outcome of bombing sorties. His acting career began during the war and he played RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett ('X') in the 1963 movie 'The Great Escape'. The 1950s saw him delve into the world of producing and directing movies, something which saw him earn two Oscars for 'Gandhi' in 1982. He produced and directed the epic movie.

Donald Pleasence (1919-1995) was born in Nottinghamshire, UK, and was working with a repertory theatre company when WWII broke out. Though opposed to fighting initially, he joined the Royal Air Force. While serving with 166 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, his plane was shot down in 1944. Pleasence became a prisoner-of-war in Stalag Luft I. He wasn't idle as a POW as he produced and acted in plays in the Stalag. His acting career resumed after the war, playing memorable characters such as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in 'You Only Live Twice' (1967) and RAF Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in 'The Great Escape'.

During the making of 'The Great Escape', Donald tried to suggest a few things which would make the film more authentic to the director John Sturges, but he was rebuffed. Sturges only began listening to him after another cast member told him of Donald's wartime experience.

The photo depicts a representation on the ground of the tunnel used by escapees in the real 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III 1944. Many tunnels were constructed in part but the tunnel used to escape was called Harry. The tunnels in construction were named Tom, Dick and Harry.

Answer: False

The heart has two ventricles, the left and right. These are the main pumping chambers which propel blood through your body. The brain has four ventricles but they aren't used to pump anything. Instead, they are the site of manufacture and passageway for cerebrospinal fluid which flows around the brain and spinal cord.

There are other ventricles in the body including in other parts of the brain and the larynx.

Answer: True

An instantly recognisable building, the Sydney Opera House was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Opened in 1973, the building stands proudly on the harbour foreshore close to another famous Sydney structure, the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The tiles on the roof came from a Swedish company and while looking all white, they are in two colours: glossy white and matte cream. Together they form a chevron pattern on the roof, all 1,056,006 of them.

Answer: True

When transporting pistachios over long distances, there are rules to follow to prevent fires and explosions. They must be kept in conditions which prevent the breakdown of the natural fats in the nuts. This process gives off heat and gases, and if enough accumulate, the oil in the nuts can catch on fire, sometimes exploding.

Cargo ships should keep pistachios at a temperature between 0 and 25C, and they shouldn't be stored near any sources of heat such as engines. They mustn't be too densely packed and there should be some airflow in the storage unit.

Other types of foods (such as sunflower seeds and cashews) can also spontaneously combust, as can other materials such as coal, haystacks and manure heaps.

Answer: False

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born and educated in Stratford-upon-Avon. His plays and sonnets have delighted audiences for hundreds of years. Popular in his own lifetime, you might have expected his burial in Westminster Abbey along with Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord, Alfred Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling and Samuel Johnson. Instead, he is buried in his home town in chancel of The Collegiate Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Above his grave is a tablet inscribed with:

"Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be man spares thes stones,
And cvrst be he moves my bones.

(Modern spelling: Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.)"
[Info courtesy of Wikipedia]

There is also an effigy of Shakespeare within the church, installed a few years after his death. Westminster Abbey does have a memorial to Shakespeare, as it does for many people who aren't buried there. Those with memorials in the Abbey include the Brontë sisters, Benjamin Britten, Lord Byron, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Francis Drake, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde.

The photo depicts part of Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. Shakespeare's memorial is in the centre of the picture.

Answer: True

Benjamin Franklin's accomplishments include being a printer, political theorist, scientist and inventor, philanthropist and diplomat. He led a vibrant and successful life but he's not often remembered today for his advocacy of swimming. He learnt to swim whilst very young and by the age of eleven, he'd produced flippers for his hands. They helped propel him through the water much as flippers on the feet do. Each pallet was about ten by six inches and was held onto the hand by placing a thumb through a hole. He also tried to develop flippers for his feet but these were less successful. The hand flippers, while they did work, tired Franklin's wrists quite quickly.

Franklin often promoted swimming as a way of keeping healthy and in 1968, the International Swimming Hall of Fame inducted him into its collection of notable swimmers, divers, synchronised swimmers, water polo players and coaches.

The International Swimming Hall of Fame is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Run privately as a centre for the study of swimming and as a museum, the hall is recognised by FINA, swimming's governing body.

Answer: False

Júzcar in Andalusia, southern Spain, was one of the traditional White Towns of Andalusia. These towns have whitewashed walls topped with red or brown roofs. Things changed for Júzcar in 2011 when Sony asked if the town could be painted blue to promote the movie 'The Smurfs'. Almost everything, including a granite church and its gravestones, became blue.

This resulted in such a tourist boom for the tiny town that when Sony offered to restore the village's white walls, the town declined. Used to seeing fewer than a thousand tourists a year, there were over 80,000 visitors to the town in the six months after the movie's release.

Answer: False

Sequoia sempervirens trees are better known as California, coastal or coast redwoods. Famous for their stature, many of them soar over 300 ft (90m) while Hyperion, the record holder in 2015, has grown to 379.3 feet (115.61m). Hyperion isn't the heaviest tree though. That title belongs to the Lost Monarch tree which has a greater trunk measurement. Hyperion is approximately 750 years old, a whippersnapper compared to other sequoias which live well past their 1000th birthdays, even living until they reach 1,800 years old.

The Statue of Liberty on the other hand, while having an impressive stature, only reaches 305 ft, 1 in (93m) from ground level to the tip of the torch. Shorty, indeed, compared to the redwoods. Her other statistics are impressive though. The statue without the pedestal measures 151' 1' (46m), her index finger is 8'1" (2.44m) long and her nose is 4' 6" (1.48m) long. The tablet she's holding measures 23' 7" x 13' 7" x 2' (7.19 x 4.14 x 0.61m). Made with 250,000 pounds (113.4 tonnes) of steel, she's dressed in copper sheeting, all 60,000 pounds of it (27.22 tonnes).