Hold that Gold Trivia Quiz

Answer: Golden bamboo

Golden bamboo is a species of plant native to China, but it is also the most widely cultivated bamboo in the United States. It is used for ornamental purposes, hedges and in the manufacture of bamboo pipes. It is surprising that various forms of furniture isn't listed among its uses, but perhaps another type of bamboo is used for that.

Answer: Goldenrod

Also known as solidago, there are almost 120 different species of goldenrod. It is mostly found in North America, with occasional appearances in South America and Asia. It is pollinated not only by insects but also by the wind, and can create allergic reactions in some people.

Herbal tea and honey can be made from this plant, and the leaves can be eaten, but preferably when young only. Practitioners of herbal medicine use goldenrod to ease sore throats and clear up kidney infections. Amazingly, the leaves of this plant also contain natural rubber and this led Thomas Edison to try the production of same from it.

The tires on his ford motor vehicle, for example, were made from its rubber. He also produced fuel from peanuts and a light weight car with a soybean body, which is rather astonishing. One wonders why more isn't made of this today.

Answer: Lemur

The golden bamboo lemur can be found in Madagascar in its natural habitat. It now lives in a government park there to protect the little endangered species. Sadly, because of habitat loss elsewhere in this country, the golden bamboo lemur is in danger of extinction.

There are only 1,000 left in the world. It's enough to make you weep, isn't it? It is known as the golden bamboo lemur, not because of its resemblance to that plant, but because it feeds on that and other grasses.

Answer: Goldfish

First domesticated in China more than a thousand years ago, goldfish were raised at that time for food rather than for their beauty and display as such. Watching a goldfish is like watching floating poetry, so it isn't surprising that eventually this little fish came to be prized far more for its grace- and serenity-evoking qualities. Goldfish once came only in the colour of silver, but when a natural mutated gene eventually produced the gold, these were bred in large qualities. Then of course, what do you think happened? Only members of the royal Chinese families were permitted to keep them because gold was considered to be an imperial colour only.

When goldfish made their way to Europe, they were considered a good luck symbol there, and it was once common for men to give their wives one on a first wedding anniversary. Skinflints? Not really. The fish was to symbolise a prosperous marriage for years to come. One hopes however that a box of chocolates at least accompanied this gift. Did you know the reason for the rather firm guidelines for feeding goldfish? It's because they don't have a little gene that tells them to stop eating when full, and will simply keep on eating until it endangers their health. You can tell your fish have been overfed if they begin swimming along with strings of little black poo dangling from their behinds.

Answer: Nero

Nero lived from 37-68 AD. He was Roman emperor for the last fourteen years of his life, and, though he is known more for his many executions, including that of his own mother, Nero's reign also included the expansion of diplomacy, trade, culture and sport, all of which benefited the empire immensely.

The Golden House was a large incredibly lovely villa of 300 rooms, built in the centre of Rome after the great fire which swept through the city in 64 AD. It was the most luxurious and extravagant of buildings, lavishly adorned throughout in gold leaf, precious jewels and ivory. Nero was blamed for that great fire that consumed Rome, in order to build his Golden House, and is said to have played his fiddle as the flames devoured his capital. The fiddle though wasn't invented until the 10th century. Whatever Nero played as Rome burned, or even if he played anything at all, we will never know. What we do know is that, because this led to his denouncement as a public enemy, Nero committed suicide some four years later.

Answer: Mathematics

I have to quote an encyclopaedia for this explanation: A golden ratio in mathematics is when the ratio of two quantities "is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities". Did you understand that? Well done if so, because I didn't. What it means is that if you added the amounts of A + B together, that answer's ratio to the larger of the two amounts is the same as A's ratio is to B. Oh my head.

This ratio is used by many artists and architects though to give lovely balanced perspectives to their works - and it is also why many modern buildings today look as though they've been constructed from a child's lego or Cuisenaire sets.

They're perfectly proportioned and perfectly straight - just like a new set of dentures.

Answer: One that can outvote all other shares

This applies in certain circumstances only though. Otherwise, there'd be no point in buying shares at all. A golden share is described as a share, often a government one, that can be used whenever any government organisation is about to be privatised into a stock-based company.

It gives the government the right to outvote all other shares but only to prevent stake building over a certain level. It can only be applied during the sale of the organisation under normal circumstances, but has a specified time limit in which it can be used.

It can also be activated in matters of national interests or security. Finally, it can be ruled illegal in very rare instances as well if it comes to a court challenge.

Answer: A golden parachute

A golden parachute is an agreement that has been reached between a company and a high ranking executive under contract in that company, if his or her employment is terminated before the expiry date of that contract. That executive almost drives away on gold-plated tyres, with a simply enormous cheque held tightly in hot little paw.

This smacks of corruption on a corporate level. A severance pay, should it occur before the expiry date of a contract of fixed employment, should be a proportion of the fixed salary amount of the entire term of employment. Lesser employees are given a pink slip, a cup of coffee, and a slice of store-bought cake if lucky. And people wonder at the rise of the unions.

The same benefit should apply to alley cats as to fat cats.

Answer: Opium

Also known as the Golden Crescent, the Golden Triangle is an area in Asia once comprising Laos, Vietnam and Thailand in which enormous quantities of the illegal drugs opium and heroin are produced. The major part of this production by 2015 had moved to Myanmar and Afghanistan as well. People are never going to learn if fast and easy money is to be made, and unfortunately, in these areas, the trade continues because many government officials are greening their fingers with the profits. Huge areas of land, instead of being used to cultivate food products, are being used to produce these mind-altering substances instead. From there - to the international markets - into the homes of everyday people worldwide, the trade from the golden triangle continues in spite of all attempts to block its flow. And families are destroyed and hearts will continue to break until it is stopped.

Answer: The Golden Ass

Written towards the end of the 2nd century AD, this work was given its far less flattering name by St Augustine himself - who wasn't too impressed by the sometimes bawdy tales within. Apuleius was a writer from Numidia, and the "Metamorphoses" is his most famous work.

It relates the adventures of a man named Lucius who longs to be able to practice and perfect the art of magic, but while attempting to transform himself into a bird, ends up in the form of a donkey instead. And off he goes on a long journey of many individual tales and adventures until finally cured by the goddess, Isis.