I'm All Ears Trivia Quiz

Answer: Marc Antony

The full name of the play is "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" and it was first performed in 1599. It tells the tale of Brutus joining a conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar to prevent him from becoming a tyrant. Marc Antony then stirs up a hornet's nest when he delivers a eulogy for Caesar, which opens with "Gentle Romans. Gentle Romans, hear me. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him".

He then uses the rest of the speech to cleverly turn the crowd against the conspirators which, then plunges Rome into a civil war.

Answer: Alice Bowie

Appearing on "Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album" (1974), the skit opens with Chong, as a teenage boy waking up and listening to a track by Alice Bowie - a character based on a combination of Alice Cooper and Ziggy Stardust (Bowie). The teen's father (Cheech) storms into the room, yelling at his son to turn the noise down and get ready for school. He then scratches the record as he removes the needle from the disc. The teen complains about an earache to which the father replies "Earache my eye, how would you like a butt-ache?"

The surprise for the duo was that their Alice Bowie song, written by Gaye Delorme, became well known for its staggering guitar riff and received enough airplay to become a bona-fide hit. The song has since been covered by a number of artists, including the likes of Soundgarden, Korn and Widespread Panic.

Answer: Narcissus

Echo was a mountain nymph who got on well with Zeus, the king of the gods. Zeus, for his part, enjoyed the company of the nymphs a little too much. His wife Hera had a jealous streak and started following him, determined to uncover his infidelity. She'd be frustrated by Echo who would interrupt her and then delay her with long conversations. Eventually Hera figured out what was happening and placed a curse on Echo so that she could only repeat the last words that someone else had spoken.

Sometime after this she came across Narcissus in the woods and, instantly, fell in love with him. The problem was, she couldn't talk to him. When Narcissus yelled out "Is there anyone there", all he heard back was "... anyone there". When he called "Let's come together" Echo rushed to him but he rejected her and Echo became despondent. Then, the craziest thing... Narcissus saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it. He was so deeply in love with his reflection that he couldn't tear his eyes away. So, there he stayed until he passed away. The heartbroken Echo then faded away until all that was left of her was her voice.

Answer: Abalone

Abalone are sea snails that vary in size from 20 millimetres (0.8 inches) to 300 millimetres (12 inches). Their flesh is edible and desirable and can be eaten raw or cooked. Their outer shells, which are made of mother of pearl (nacre), are prized as a source of decoration and use in making jewellery.

The reason being is that it is highly iridescent and subject to colour change. As a result of this the species has been the subject of over-fishing and is now endangered.

Answer: Nominal Rate (NR)

The effective annual rate shows you what your "real" return is on your investment or, if you're paying off a loan, what the "real" rate of interest is. It does this by taking into account the effects of compounding over a period of time. The nominal rate does not take the compounding into consideration nor will it consider the fees that you may encounter along the way.

This is important when comparing investments or loan facilities. Here's an example: Bank A Limited is offering a nominal rate of 10% on its investment product compounding monthly over twelve months. Bank B Limited offers the same product with a higher nominal rate of 10.10% but compounding semi-annually. Bank B is offering a higher nominal rate, but is it a better investment? The answer is no and this is how we figure it out. The formula to calculate the EAR is (1 + (nominal rate / number of compounding periods)) ^ (number of compounding periods) - 1.
Using that equation Bank A's EAR will be 10.47% (1 + (10% / 12)) ^ 12 - 1
while Bank B's comes out at 10.36% (1 + (10.1% / 2)) ^ 2 - 1

Answer: Spain

The records are not clear, but it is believed that the gate was built during either the eleventh or twelfth centuries. It did not provide any defensive qualities and, legends indicate, it got its name from the practice of hanging the ears of criminals on it. Over the years it came to be known by a series of other names, and these include Arc of the Ears, Bib-Arrambla Gate, Gate of the Hands, Gate of the Pesos, Gate of the Horse, and Gate of the Sandland. Controversy over the gate erupted in the late nineteenth century when the gate fell into disrepair.

Many considered it a ruin and a hinderance to the city's prosperity and called for its destruction. The opponents to its demolition included the President of the First Republic who decreed "it would be a shame for Granada and a disgrace to the Republic, since the monuments of Granada are the heritage of the human race." He would declare it a national monument in an effort to prevent its dismantling.

This did not endear him to Granada's residents and when cholera became prevalent in 1884, the people declared that the gate had become a danger to the public's health and had it dismantled.

Answer: Evander Holyfield

This fight, billed as the "Sound and the Fury", took place on June 28, 1997 and, at stake, was the WBA Heavyweight Championship. The prelude to the bout occurred seven months beforehand when Holyfield, a long odds underdog, defeated Tyson in the eleventh round of their bout. In the re-match Holyfield had won the first two rounds. With forty seconds remaining in the third round the boxers found themselves in a clinch. Tyson leaned into Holyfield's shoulder and bit off a piece of his opponents ear. The fight was stopped as the referees figured out what to do. They eventually allowed the fight to resume when Tyson tried to bite Holyfield's other ear. The referee stopped the fight and Tyson was disqualified.

In what was to become the "Bite Fight", Tyson's camp claimed that the bite was a retaliation for Holyfield's head butt on Tyson while his opponents camp claimed the bite was a deliberate attempt to get disqualified to avoid a defeat by knock-out. Along with the disqualification Tyson also had to endure the loss of his boxing licence for a period of time.

Answer: Horus

The name Harpocrates is an adaptation of an Egyptian name that translates to "Horus the child". The Egyptians created statues of Horus, depicting him as a naked child with his finger to his lips. This gesture symbolised childhood to the Egyptians but the Greeks mistook this as a gesture that meant "be silent", hence Harpocrates became the god of silence.

There are other legends attributed to Harpocrates but one that rises regularly is that of Aphrodite giving a rose to Eros, her son and the god of love. Eros passed the rose onto Harpocrates on the understanding that he would keep any of his mother's indiscretions a secret. Hence the rose became a symbol of Harpocrates as well as silence and secrets which, in turn, gave rise to the term "sub rosa" (under the rose).

Answer: Queens of the Stone Age

Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) was formed by Josh Homme in California in 1996. It was more of an ever-changing collective rather than a band with its founder being the only ever-present member of it. On this album, the band's third studio release, it added an enormous amount of muscle to its sound by enticing one of the world's best rock drummers (Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame) and Ween's founding member Michael Melchiondo Jr., better known as Dean Ween adding guitar on a number of tracks.

With strong singles such as "No-one Knows" and "Go With the Flow", the album achieved great critical and commercial success, reaching gold status sales in the States and selling a million copies in Europe to be certified platinum.

Answer: Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is Dave, a deaf man who owns a concession shop. Richard Pryor is his friend Wally, a blind man. A man is killed in Dave's shop. As he doesn't hear the shot, Dave doesn't realise that there's been a murder, until he trips over the body. Wally, who's in the store, thought he heard something but didn't see anything. When the police arrive they find Dave and Wally near the body and Dave is holding the gun that the killer had left behind. What Dave and Wally don't realise is that the victim had planted something in their shop that the killer (and her partner) will soon find out is missing. Pretty soon Wally and Dave are trying to elude both the police and the killers.

This film is the third (of four) that Pryor and Wilder would make together but it would be their last to make money at the box office. Their other films together were "The Silver Streak" (1976), "Stir Crazy" (1980) and the poorly received "Another You" (1991).