Less Filling! Tastes Great! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Beer

Making its appearance in the market place in 1973, Miller Lite was the first mainstream light beer. The advertising campaign involved different Miller Lite drinkers getting into all sorts of disputes over whether its best feature was the fact that it was less filling or that it tasted great. Over time the ads expanded and began to feature famous athletes and celebrities.

In 2006 "Advertising Age" magazine ran a feature called "Top 100 Advertising Campaigns". This Miller Lite campaign placed at number eight.

Answer: Joseph Heller

The catch-22 in Heller's novel refers to combat pilots who wish to be declared insane so that they will be grounded. To be found unfit to fly they need an evaluation by a doctor. They must request this evaluation themselves which automatically means that they are sane because only insane people would want to fly dangerous combat missions in which they are likely to die. These pilots want to fly so can never be declared insane because they will not request an evaluation.

In short the catch-22 states that all combat pilots must fly whether they are insane or not as none of them can be grounded.

The other three authors all wrote WWII novels dealing with human nature under combat conditions. Pynchon wrote "Gravity's Rainbow", Shaw authored "The Young Lions" and "Vessel of Sadness" was by Woodruff.

Answer: Hayley Mills

"Pollyanna" is a 1913 novel written by Eleanor H. Porter that tells the tale of the young orphaned Pollyanna who is sent to live with her strict Aunt Polly. Pollyanna lives her life according to 'the glad game,' taught to her by her optimistic father, which involves finding something to be glad about in every situation regardless of how bad it may seem.

Hayley Mills is an English actress - daughter of actor John Mills and playwright Mary Hayley Bell and sister of actress Juliet Mills. "Pollyanna" was her second movie which led to a contract with Disney and for which she received the Academy Juvenile Award.

Answer: Oedipus Rex

"Oedipus" is full of oracles and prophecies which suggest predetermination is definitely at play. His parents, and later Oedipus himself, are all warned that he will kill his father and marry his mother. All three of them then make choices that they believe will prevent this from happening but which, in fact, ensures that it does indeed come true.

It seems to suggest that Sophocles believed in both fate and free will - that destiny will prevail in the end but the journey one takes to reach it is based entirely on man's own choices.

The other three options are all works of other ancient Greek playwrights. "The Eumenides" - Aeschylus; "The Trojan Women" - Euripides and "The Fall of Miletus" - Phrynichus

Answer: Schrödinger's

Edwin Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist famous for his 1935 theoretical experiment illustrating the quantum theory of superposition. This is now called "Schrödinger's cat thought experiment". Due to space constraints (and the probability of multiple correction notes from people much smarter than me) I will not attempt to clarify this phenomenon beyond the very simplistic explanation of the fact that a living cat is placed inside a closed box along with certain variables that could kill it. According to quantum law the cat is simultaneously alive and dead until the box is opened.

Ivan Pavlov is famous for his conditioning experiments with dogs. Dian Fossey spent 18 years studying gorillas and Harry Harlow worked extensively with rhesus monkeys.

Answer: Lovey

'Lovey' was played by Natalie Schafer. Her character was that of a spoilt, although kind, socialite married to millionaire Thurston Howell III. Apart from two isolated occasions everyone except her husband refers to her as Mrs Howell.

And as for the answer to the wholesome, girl next door, farm girl Mary Ann versus the sexy, glamorous Hollywood movie star Ginger? All polls taken by the producers of the show always proved the winner to be Mary Ann.

Answer: Labor or Liberal

Although Australia has three major political parties - the Australian Labor Party, The Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia - it operates as a two-party system due to a permanent coalition between the Liberal and National parties.

In a very simplistic model the Labor Party are social democrats representing the working classes. The Liberals represent the business and middle classes with their centre-right politics while the Nationals are conservatives representing the country people and their interests.

The other options belong to:
UK: Whigs (Liberal Democrats) and Tories (Conservatives)
Russia: United (United Russia) and Communist (Communist Party of the Russian Federation)
USA: Republican and Democrat

Answer: Chris Rock

"Madagascar" is a 2005 animated movie about four animals who escape from the Central Park Zoo in New York and end up being put on a boat to be taken back to and released into Africa. Due to a shipwreck they end up stranded in Madagascar and have to learn to survive on their own.

Ben Stiller provides the voice for Alex the lion, David Schwimmer is Melman the giraffe while Gloria the hippo is voiced by Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Whether black on white or white on black zebra stripes are used very effectively for protection in three main ways. The first is simple camouflage - the lines all blend in with the lines of the tall grass they stand in. The colouring is immaterial as their main predator, the lion, is colourblind.

The second method works when the herd moves as a whole. By staying close to one another all their stripes blend in together which makes it hard for the lion to see an individual animal in a large moving striped mass.

The third method involves repelling the blood-sucking tsetse and horseflies which are attracted to polarised light. Experiments have shown that the stripe disrupts this signal and thus protects the zebra from these pests.

Answer: The Tempest

"The Tempest" was originally classed as one of Shakespeare's comedies but was reclassed in the 19th century as a romance or a tragicomedy depending on the scholar.

Prospero, who is the rightful Duke of Milan, had been deposed by his brother and set adrift into the sea with his daughter Miranda. They have been stranded on an island for 12 years with Ariel a spirit whom Prospero rescued. The only other human inhabitant is Caliban who is the son of a witch and a devil.

Caliban is a deformed monster who was adopted and taught by Prospero and Miranda. After Caliban attempts to rape Miranda, showing his instinctive nature, he is enslaved by Prospero.

Answer: The Beagle

Darwin spent five years on The Beagle from 1831 - 1836 while it charted the coastline of South America. He collected multiple specimens and kept a precise journal of his findings. He spent two years on his return home investigating these findings and conceived his theory of natural selection in 1838.

It would take another twenty-one years of extensive research and writing before he published his theory in 1859 with his most famous work "On the Origin of Species".