I See Red! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Split Enz

The innovative new wave band Split Enz was formed originally in 1972 as an acoustic folk group by Phil Judd and Tim Finn (and later joined by Tim's brother Neil). They played a wide variety of musical styles ranging from pop to swing and punk. The band was always visually striking, with bizarre outfits and strange haircuts (strange even for the late 1970s and early '80s!).

The band's biggest success came with the single 'I Got You' in 1980. After nine studio and three live albums and a plethora of line-up changes, the band called it quits in 1984.

However, reunion tours continued regularly over the next two decades. They were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2005. The highly successful band Crowded House featured several Split Enz alumni including the Finn brothers and drummer Paul Hester.

Answer: Australia

Based on a true story and adapted from the novel by Louis de Bernieres, 'Red Dog' tells the story of a (red colored) dog's desperate attempts to find his adopted master, bus driver John (Josh Lucas). Tragically John had been killed in a motorcycle accident.

The dog, a kelpie/cattle dog cross, searches for John across much of north-western Australia and eventually returns to his starting point in Dampier in the heart of the Hamersley iron region and finds John's ex-fiance Nancy (Rachael Taylor). Without spoiling the wonderful story that continues to unfold, the townsfolk of Dampier end up erecting a statue in remembrance of the loyalty and exploits of 'Red Dog'.

Answer: Large, cyclonic storm on Jupiter

This red feature is the 'Giant Red Spot', which stretches for tens of thousands of kilometers in all directions in the southern equatorial zone of the gas giant, Jupiter. Although this strange feature was described by Italian astronomer, mathematician and astrologer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1665 (and noted even earlier in 1635), the cause of the red coloration has long been under discussion. Based on spectroscopic evidence, the counter-clockwise rotating cloud changes in size and is perhaps made of red phosphorus or a sulfur-based molecule. The origin of the redness is definitely not similar to the iron oxide which gives Mars its red appearance.

The atmosphere of Uranus is blue-green, Neptune is bright blue while Venus appears yellow-white.

Answer: Ulan Bator

Ulan Bator (or Ulaanbaatar) is the capital city of Mongolia, a large, landlocked country lying between Russia and China. Founded as a movable settlement in 1639, the modern site for the capital was chosen in 1778 and has had a wide variety of names in several languages. The surrounding regions contain royal tombs dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries and paleolithic evidence (e.g. tools) indicates settlements dating from 10,000 to 300,000 years ago.

By the early 18th century the settlement, then known as Urga, was a focal point of Siberian trade (including cloth, tea and furs) between Russia and China. Over the next two centuries, Russian influence increased to the point where there was a Russian consulate and church. By 1911, during the far away deterioration of the Qing Dynasty in China, local Mongols decided to break away from Chinese rule. Then followed a decade of unrest and fighting, culminating in firstly a joint White Russian/Mongolian force in 1921 expelling the Chinese. The Mongols then took control of the city. However a month later, a second force, this time led by the Soviets and Communist Mongols, ousted the supporters of the local Mongol leader, the Bogd Khan. The modern name 'Ulan Bator' meaning Red Hero was chosen by the local Soviet representative in 1924.

Answer: Electromagnetic Radiation

The common link is that all three are related to electromagnetic radiation, which includes visible light. 'Red shift' (sometimes redshift) refers to the shift towards longer wavelengths (the red end of the spectrum) as the light source moves away from the observer.

This is the same type of Doppler shift as a train whistler sounding at a lower pitch as the train moves away from the observer. The red shift phenomenon is used extensively in astronomy. Infra-red radiation is at slightly longer wavelengths (lower energy) than the red wavelengths in the visible spectrum.

Infra-red radiation is associated with heat, including warming of surface layers of water bodies. The 'red-eye' effect refers to the appearance of red pupils in images created using flash photography.

The flash is so fast that the pupil doesn't have time to adjust and close. Hence the light reflects back to the camera off the retina. The dominant red color is due to the blood at the back of the eye.

Answer: The French Revolution

Although commonly seen as the symbol of communism during the twentieth century (e.g. as depicted in the flags of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China), the link between revolution and the color red dates back much further, to the early days of the French Revolution (1789-1799).

The left-wing demonstrators and anti-royalists adopted the red color, along with blue and white, representing the French tricolor. Red represented Saint Denis, the patron saint of Paris. This color was carried into the wearing of the soft felt or wool red Phrygian caps (of liberty) by the revolutionaries.

The linking of red with revolution continued through the major uprisings in Europe and South America in the late 1840s. The first association of red with communism was at the Paris Commune of 1871.

Answer: Seedier

An anagram is a rearrangement of the given letters to form a new word. 'Seedier' comes from 'seedy', which has a range of meanings from unwell (used in the context of this answer) to sleazy, unkempt and disreputable. Seedier is known as a comparative adjective as it provides information from a comparison. Such constructs usually include the word 'than'; in this case, seedier than last night.

Answer: Manchester United

Manchester United Football Club, known as the Red Devils, was founded as Newton Heath Football Club in 1878 and changed to its present name in 1902. Throughout its history, the club has experienced the greatest heights in terms of national and European titles but also the greatest of tragedies.

After manager Matt Busby's young team had won the English League title in both 1956 and 57, they were striving for their third win in 1958. However after playing a European Cup game in Belgrade, their plane crashed in Munich during a refuelling stop. Of the 44 people on board, 23 died--including nine players.

At the other end of the spectrum, the 27 years from 1986 to 2013, corresponding to the managerial tenure of Sir Alec Ferguson, saw United win 38 major trophies including 13 league titles, five FA Cups and two (European) Champions League titles. Ferguson was one of the initial inductees into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Answer: Mao Zedong

'Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung' (or Mao Zedong) was released through the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution in that country. The most popular version was reproduced on a small scale so that it could be kept in a pocket. Coupled with the color of the cover, it quickly became known as the 'Little Red Book'. Chairman Mao was one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from its inception in 1949 until his death at the age of 82 in 1976.

Answer: Read

Homophones are words that sounds the same when spoken. Hence read, which rhymes with bread and is the past tense of the verb to read, is the homophone of red. The present tense of that verb, also read (rhyming with seed), is not a homophone of red. Crimson is a synonym for the color red; rage is a red herring(!) although does reflect the same emotion as seeing red; and 'erd' is not a word in English although it is similar to Erde which means 'earth' in German." If it did exist, erd would be an anagram of red.