I Spy with my Little 'I' Trivia Quiz

Answer: India

India was part of the British Empire until 1947; independence was achieved at great cost involving much bloodshed when the country was partitioned into two countries broadly along religious lines, Hindu and Muslim. India and Pakistan were the result.
Israel was created in 1948, and Indonesia declared its independence from the Netherlands in 1945.
The Italy we know today is a result of the unification of many small states by Garibaldi in 1848.

Answer: Miguel Indurain

The Spanish cyclist Miguel Indurain won the Tour de France five times between 1991 and 1995.

Ignacio Zaragoza was a general in the Mexican Army in the 1860s.
Isidro Garcia is a Mexican boxer, born in 1976.
Raul Ibanez has played baseball for the Seattle Mariners, the Kansas City Royals, the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees.

Answer: Indium

Indium's symbol is 'In', and its atomic number is 49.
Iridium's is 'Ir', atomic number 77.
Iron is 'Fe', atomic number 26.
Iodine is 'I', atomic number 53.

The periodic table was compiled by the Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869.

Answer: Ichneumon

The ichneumonidae are a parasitic wasp family comprising more than 80,000 species.
The impala is an African antelope.
Iguanas are lizards found in Central and South America, and in the Caribbean.
The European Ibex is a wild goat found in European Alps; there is also a Nubian Ibex found in desert areas such as Jordan, Israel, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Answer: Iris

Iris was the messenger between the Gods and personified the rainbow. She was said to be the handmaid of the Goddess Hera. This is opposed to Mercury/Hermes who was the messenger between the Gods and mortals.
Icarus was the son of the inventor Daedalus, who made him wings of wax and feathers. Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted, causing him to fall into the sea and drown.
Ianthe's name appears more than once in mythology, but probably the best known version was as one of the 3000 children of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.
'Iolanthe' is the title of a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, written in 1882. Iolanthe was the Mistress of Fairy Revels and committed the capital crime of marrying a mortal.

Answer: Incitatus

'Incitatus' was the favourite race horse of the Roman Emperor Caligula. Caligula reigned with dramatic cruelty from 37 to 41AD and is said to have appointed Incitatus to the Senate as a Consul. It's not clear whether Caligula was serious or whether this was just an elaborate joke.

'Iroquois' was the first American horse to win the Epsom Derby. This was in 1881.
'Isinglass' was a British thoroughbred that won many classic races in the 1880s and 90s.
'Irish Elegance' was another British horse that won many races. His racing life was during the First World war.

Answer: Inkermann

The Battle of Inkerman took place in 1854, during the Crimean War. The engine's name is spelled incorrectly.

'Ivanhoe' was built in 1855 and named after the book by Sir Walter Scott. It was an 'Abbot' class locomotive.
'Iago' was built in 1852 and named after a character in Shakespeare's 'Othello'. It was a 'Banking' Class locomotive.
'Iron Duke' was built in 1847 and named after the Duke of Wellington (his nickname). Both 'Iron Duke' and 'Inkermann' were 'Iron Duke' Class.

All of these engines belonged to the Great Western Railway. The names of some of them were subsequently re-used.

Answer: Compacted snow and ice

An igloo is made out of shaped blocks of frozen snow. Dome shaped, with a hole left in the very top as a chimney, it is surprisingly warm. Traditionally used by the Inuit people of northern Canada as a winter home, it has the advantage of being able to be built anywhere there is deep snow. It can be quickly constructed, and once built will not disappear until the thaw comes.

Answer: The Inklings

The Inklings met at the Eagle and Child regularly during the 1930s and 40s. It was an informal literary discussion group that included only men.
The pub still exists and there is a small display of Inklings memorabilia.

Answer: Ilium

The verses about Helen come from Marlowe's 'Dr Faustus':

'Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?'

The story of the siege of Troy is told in Homer's 'Iliad'. In the 1860s a wealthy German named Schliemann began excavations in Anatolia and uncovered a series of ancient cities built one on top of the other, believed to be ancient Troy.

Ischia is an island not far from Naples.
Illyria is the ancient name for an area in the Balkans.
Ionia was an ancient area of Anatolia, now in modern Turkey.