I Read it on a Candy Wrapper so it Must be True Quiz

Answer: Golf

I'd accepted this one at face value for ages - let's face it, who's going to count? However, a little research enlightened me that most golf balls have around 250 to 450 dimples. There is no set regulation amount.

It may come in handy to know that a regulation golf ball can weigh no more than 1.62 ounces and be no more than 1.68 inches in diameter.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Unfortunately, there is only anecdotal evidence for this theory. Winston Churchill was indeed born at Blenheim Palace, but it is unlikely that he was born in a cloakroom. The story goes that his mother danced at the ball and started experiencing labour pains. She was rushed from the ballroom and attempted to reach her own bedroom. However, she didn't make it and was taken to a small room which had been converted to a cloakroom for the occasion (the ball, not the birth). Some eight hours later, she gave birth to Winston.

This does not have the ring of truth about it. There is no shortage of rooms at Blenheim Palace and there would have been plenty of servants around. Would it have been so difficult to assist Lady Churchill to a more comfortable spot, especially given that the labour apparently lasted eight hours? What would have happened when the ladies attending the ball wanted their outer garments returned? If Winston was born after eight hours of labour, then the ball would have been over and so it could not be said that he was born during the ball.

A slightly more likely story is that Lady Churchill was out with a shooting party and fell, bringing on labour. A rapid and bumpy cart ride back to the house hastened the process, and there was no time to take her to her own quarters. Instead, she gave birth in a small room on the ground floor.

I have my own theory about this. Winston's parents were married on 15 April 1874, and Winston was born on 30 November 1874. Normally in those times a child born nearly two months prematurely would have had scant chance of survival, but young Winston seems to have been a bonny baby with no particular health problems. Childbirth is generally a more protracted and less dramatic process than shown on soap operas and films. Could it be likely that Lady Churchill was full term and experiencing mild contractions? To save face and explain the birth of a baby after only seven months of marriage, she could have deliberately done something physically strenuous such as falling during a shoot, or dancing, and then used this as a cover for the 'premature' birth?

Answer: Philosophy and Psychology

Isaac Asimov was a prolific writer, having over 500 books published. He was still in his teens when he began to have his work published. He was born in the USSR either late in 1919 or early in 1920. The date is uncertain because lack of records, and the difference between the Gregorian and Hebrew calenders.

His family emigrated to the USA in the early 1920s. Despite his Russian heritage, Asimov never learnt to speak Russian, as his family conversed either in English or Yiddish.

Answer: Neither of these

It is also said that if the horse has all four hooves on the floor then the rider died of natural causes. This simply isn't true. For example, the first Duke of Wellington died of natural causes at the age of 83. His equestrian statue at Aldershot shows his horse with all four hooves on the floor. However, his statue in Edinburgh shows the horse with both front legs in the air.

Of course there may be statues which fit the "legs" criteria, but this is more by coincidence than design.

Answer: Sitatunga

Sitatunga favour a swampy environment and are found in central Africa. They are undoubtedly at home in the water and are good swimmers. They have been known to hide underwater from predators, lying submerged with only their nostrils above the water.

However, it is likely that if they dozed off like this, they would wake up with a start as their nostrils submerged, so they can't truthfully be said to sleep underwater.

Answer: She was christened Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor

The child was born to one Daisy Hammond. Perhaps because of the rather startling circumstances of the birth, Daisy didn't have the consideration or foresight to give her child the initials 'TUBE' and the baby was named Mary Ashfield Eleanor. However, the press of the day didn't let Mrs Hammond's lack of imagination stand in the way of a neat story, and promptly published as a fact that the mite HAD been given the name of Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor. This myth took hold and it was only in 2000 that Mary was traced for a television interview and another great trivia question bit the dust!

Mary has the distinction of being the only person to have been born on a London tube train in the twentieth century. During World War II tube stations were used as air raid shelters and there must have been several 'underground' births, but there are no records of any other births that actually occurred on a train.

Answer: Bats

There is no evidence to support this. Not all bats live in caves anyway! Bats rely on echolocation to navigate and seek prey, so where they go when they leave the cave depends on the site of possible prey and any obstacles they may encounter. It is possible that in a particular cave the bats always seem to exit to the left. This may well be because there are obstacles to the right, or perhaps a richer food source to the left.

Answer: Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette is famously said to have uttered this remark in response to the fact that the people of Paris were starving because they had no bread. There is no written record that she ever said these words. They first appeared in Jean-Jacque Rousseau's "Confessions" as follows: "I recalled the worse recourse of a great princess to whom one said that the peasants had no bread, and who responded: "Let them eat brioche".

Though first published in 1782 "Confessions" was an autobiographical account of Rousseau's life up until 1765 and was completed in 1769. Marie Antoinette was born in Vienna in 1755 and arrived in France at the age of 14 in 1770, so it isn't likely that she was the "Great Princess" who said these words. Indeed, it is highly possibly that Rousseau invented the phrase himself to illustrate the callousness of the upper classes.

Answer: None of these

I was rather thrilled when I first read that the plane involved in "The Day That Music Died" crash was called American Pie. It all seemed rather neat and explained something about the somewhat confusing title of a song that I liked. However, I dug a little deeper and found no evidence that this was the case at all.

The plane was a Beechcraft Bonanza B35, but it had no name, only an FAA registration number. Don McLean, composer and singer of the song "American Pie" issued a press statement in 1990s debunking the plane name myth.

Answer: Minorca

The Battle of Port Mahon took place between French and English forces in 1756.

There are several versions of the origin of the word Mayonnaise. In 1589 the Duke of Mayenne allegedly refused to take part in the Battle of Arques until he had finished his meal of cold chicken and sauce. The old French word for an egg yolk is moyeu and it is possible that the name Mayonnaise is derived from this.

I hope you've enjoyed this quiz. Please don't start any punch ups at your next quiz night - remember the correct answer is the one that the Question Master has on his piece of paper!