I Am Still Curious, Orange Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vietnam War

Agent Orange was one of the 'Rainbow Herbicides', a group of herbicides named after different colours, that was used in the Vietnam War as a defoliant. In other words, it caused trees to shed their leaves, resulting in massive damage to the environment and the local animal population.

It was also highly toxic to humans, with an estimated four million people in Vietnam - soldiers and civilians alike - being exposed to it, three million of whom fell ill as a result. It also led to babies being born with birth defects such as cleft palates, or being born without eyes, and mothers even excreted it in breast milk. Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange and suffered health problems as a result, such as cancer, filed for compensation, though only a handful were successful.

Answer: The bells of St Clement's

As the line goes: 'Orange and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's'. The rhyme makes reference to several church bells in London, such as St Clement Eastcheap in Candlewick Ward (in an area where merchants brought citrus fruits), St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Dunstan's in Stepney.

A lesser-known alternative version also has lines such as 'brickbats and tiles, say the bells of St Giles' and 'Old Father Baldpate, say the slow bells at Aldgate'. The rhyme ends with the line 'here is a candle to light you to bed, and here comes a chopper to chop off your head'.

A singing game for the rhyme involves pairs of players walking under an arch made by two players holding hands; in the last line, the arch comes down and the players have to make a run for it.

The origins of the rhyme are unclear; child sacrifice, the life of King Henry VIII and public executions have all been suggested as possible meanings.

Answer: T-Mobile

Orange's slogan was 'the future's bright, the future's Orange'. The Orange GMS (Global System for Mobile Communications) service was officially launched on 28th April 1994. While Vodafone did attempt a hostile takeover of Orange in 1999, T-Mobile - originally known as Mercury One2One - was the company that actually merged with Orange, after talks between the parent companies of France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom. Orange and T-Mobile stores continued to trade on the British high street, but the phase-out of Orange began in 2015, with existing customers having to switch to EE if they wished to upgrade.

In 2019, Orange mobile services ended for good when Orange users were told to switch to an EE plan by March, or their service would be terminated.

Answer: The Netherlands

These orange tulips are from the Keukenhof, an enormous garden in Lisse in the Netherlands, and they're a fitting colour as 'Oranje' is also the nickname of the Dutch national team. Marco van Basten, Ronald Koeman and Ruud Gullit were among the legendary players who wore the orange kit when representing their country in the '80s, and both van Basten and Koeman went on to manage the national team (in 2004-2008 and 2018-2020 respectively).

When the Netherlands play in tournaments, the stands are filled with a sea of orange.

The association with the colour orange comes from the House of Orange-Nassau, the reigning house of the Dutch royal family (although the historic principality of Orange was actually in France).

Answer: Vodka

A Harvey Wallbanger is made with orange juice, vodka and Galliano, a sweet Italian herbal liqueur. It is garnished with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry, though an olive can be used as an alternative. The Harvey Wallbanger is said to have been invented by mixologist Donato 'Duke' Antone in 1952, in honour of a drunken surfer called Tom Harvey who kept banging into walls, though culinary historians are sceptical as to the veracity of this story.

The other theory is that Antone invented the cocktail while working as a corporate mixologist, making drinks containing Galliano; it was originally known as a Duke's Screwdriver, but George Bednar, a marketing executive at McKesson (who sold Galliano) came up with the new name, and encouraged bartenders on the West Coast to sell the cocktail, even commissioning an artist to come up with a 'Harvey Wallbanger' surfer mascot character.

Answer: Stewart Lee and Richard Herring

The show in question was 'This Morning with Richard Not Judy' (a play on 'This Morning with Richard and Judy', a daytime TV programme on ITV), and the presenters were Stewart Lee and Richard Herring (hence the picture). Stewart Lee is a huge fan of The Fall, and the Curious Orange character (who inspired the name of this quiz) is a reference to the Fall song 'I Am Kurious Oranj'.

The Curious Orange was played by Paul Putner and was a giant talking orange who was, naturally, curious about everything; he was later revealed to be Richard Herring's illegitimate son and was 'juiced', but was brought back to life by a mad scientist.

He was temporarily replaced by the Curious Alien, due to Putner having other commitments. The Curious Orange became increasingly evil and ended up turning into a parody of Davros, the evil Dalek leader from 'Doctor Who'.

Answer: Joanne Harris

'Five Quarters of the Orange', like many of Joanne Harris' books, is set in France and features food as a major subject. Framboise Simon, a widow, runs a cafe in the village of Les Laveuses and is trying to escape her past as the daughter of Mirabelle Dartigen, a woman who was treated as an outcast by the rest of the village and blamed for the deaths of several villagers at the hands of occupying German soldiers.

The present-day storyline is interspersed with the story of Framboise's childhood in occupied France, and how she and her older siblings befriended Tomas Leibnitz, a German soldier, who later drowns while helping Framboise catch a pike, which in turn triggers a revenge massacre by the Germans.

The title is a reference to the oranges which Framboise hides around the house to make her mother think she has a migraine (she smells oranges when a migraine is coming on), and which were scarce in wartime.

Answer: Advent/Christmas

A Christingle consists of an orange with a candle stuck in it (modern variants use glowsticks), a red ribbon or ruff tied around it and four cocktail sticks stuck in it, each covered with sweets such as jelly tots (pictured here). The orange represents the world, the candle represents Jesus as the 'light of the world', the ribbon represents the blood of Christ, and the cocktail sticks represent the four seasons.

It was originally a candle with a red ruff, and originated in the Moravian Church (a Protestant church from the historic region of Bohemia); however, the more modern version dates back to 1968 and was conceived by John Pensom as a means of raising money for the Children's Society. (Traditional Moravians disapprove of the practice of fundraising as they feel Christingles should be given freely, like G-d's love.) Children would donate money and receive an orange with a candle in it in return.

Some Christian schools have a Christingle service at the end of the winter term.

Answer: Naruto Uzumaki

Although all four of these characters wear orange (Charlie Brown's orange and black t-shirt, Velma's baggy orange sweater and Goku's orange gi), Naruto is the one with the orange tracksuit. He is a mischievous ninja and the teenage hero of the best-selling shounen manga 'Naruto', created by Masashi Kishimoto, which ran in 'Weekly Shounen Jump' from 1999 to 2014.

In the earlier era of the manga, Naruto wore a blue, white and orange tracksuit; after the three-year in-universe timeskip, he swapped it for a black and orange one. Ramen is Naruto's trademark favourite food, and the fish cakes in bowls of ramen with the spiral pattern - like the one pictured here - are known as 'Narutomaki', a reference to the whirlpools of the Naruto Strait in Japan.

Answer: REM

'Orange Crush' is the first single from REM's sixth album, 'Green', released in 1988. The title is not just a reference to the drink, as mistakenly believed by TV presenter Simon Parkin ("'Orange Crush' - particularly nice on a hot day!"), but also a reference to Agent Orange. Bassist Mike Mills said that it was a protest song, but a subtle one, and explained how the title referred to both a fizzy drink and a lethal bioweapon: "Yes, there was some irony in the sweet deliciousness of the pop drink versus the horrible effects of this chemical.

The ironic juxtaposition of those two terms was no accident." Singer Michael Stipe, whose father served in Vietnam, would introduce the song on the 'Green' tour by singing 'Be all you can be in the Army'.

It was the first song REM performed on 'Top of the Pops' in the UK, where the song peaked at Number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. (The snake pictured here is a sidewinder, a reference to the REM song 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight'.)