Mix Me Up No 7 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Surgical sutures

Sheep are really interesting creatures to read about. Not only is their fleece and meat of prime economic importance in many countries, every part of their body can be utilised in making various products such as clothing, buttons, candles, and lanolin for cosmetics. Believe it or not, even their droppings can be used to make paper. That's one amazing little goldmine running around bleating in the meadows of canny farmers.

Answer: From 2012, women would be allowed to vote

This was wonderful news. Forgetting the past and its restrictions on women, this was a great progressive move forward in their journey towards equal rights. While one must be careful not to impose one's own society's values on another culture, this was a giant step forward for Saudi women indeed.

Answer: To torture prisoners

Christopher Cerf and several other composers were aghast to find their works were being used in the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo and in Baghdad. Most of the music used was heavy rock (that's torture at the best of times), but Cerf's light-hearted and happy children's songs were also being used as well. Being a devotee of most forms of music, and a closet devotee of "Sesame Street", I think that's really terrible. What next? The Wiggles?

Answer: Benito Mussolini

That's so funny! The sculptor had to agree to alter the statue's face before it was finally approved. Even funnier still: some time after its unveiling, it was seriously suggested that two long pins be inserted on either side of the statue's head so that the birds could perch on these, instead of on the statue's noble dome.

As if the birds would know the difference. But wait - there's more! In 2000, a protester stuck a strip of grass on the statue's head, so that it appeared as though the great world leader had a Mohawk hairstyle. If the facial changes hadn't been made, if the pins had been inserted and if the Mohawk remained, Churchill would now look like a mix of an Italian Fascist dictator, a punk rocker, and St Francis of Assisi.

Answer: Pianos

There's no doubt that prolific inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931) was a brilliant and far-sighted man. He was years ahead of his time in the concept of concrete housing, but at the time his idea wasn't economically viable - so he gave the patents away instead. Before he did so, however, his concrete was used in the building of the 1921 Yankee Stadium, and several concrete houses still in use in 2011. Edison couldn't stand waste and the waste sand products from his mining business irked him.

But a concrete piano? Oh, happy thought indeed. One presumes it was to be used for heavy rock music.

Answer: Yes

Surprisingly, horns on the giraffe are used to identify the sex of the animal. The female grows hair on the top of her horns, but the male, whose horns are a little larger, tends to be bald on the top of his. How cute is that? Just like ma and pa.

Answer: W.C. Fields

Born in 1880, Fields passed away in 1946. The comic persona he usually presented to laughing audience all over the world was a hard drinking, women, children and dog hating old sot. But he was hilarious at it and kept people entertained for years. In real life, though he was estranged from his wife, he got along well with women and loved his son and grandchildren dearly.

In a clear case of life imitating art however, though Fields was a non-drinker for the better part of his life, he began to drink heavily towards its close - out of boredom following the long, lonely nights on the road with his career.

The tears of a clown indeed.

Answer: Malawi

The Justice Minister, George Chaponda, made this highly amusing announcement in January of that year. He stated that air fouling legislation would be enacted to make "public farting illegal in his country". You can imagine, I'm sure, the hilarity this gave rise to in the public media, and fast and furious blew (pardon the pun) the comical remarks relating to it.

As a result, the silly goose eventually withdrew his statement, but too late to prevent himself becoming a laughing stock. (Oops, pardon me.)

Answer: Fuel for future space missions

Wow! Those of us who love the various "Star Trek" series are absolutely delighted with this news. The antimatter belt is in the region of the earth magnetosphere. This discovery was made in 2011 by a satellite instrument known as the "Payload for Antimatter/Matter Exploration and Light Nuclei Astrophysics", or PAMELA. And to think people say women are no good at science! Scientists are hoping that the combination of the anti-matter and the matter constantly reacting against each other will create enough energy to fuel ships for long distance space travel.

It's just so exciting, isn't it?

Answer: Poke out its tongue

That's some consolation when you're being eaten, I'm sure. At least the creature didn't stick its tongue out at you first. This is because the anatomy of the crocodile is such that its tongue is fixed firmly in place by a tight membrane which prevents most of the tongue's movement.

The muscles that control the opening of a crocodile's jaws are also not very strong. Defenceless they're most definitely not, however, because their bite down is an enormous 5,000 lbs per square inch. How frightening is that? So never smile at a crocodile. Poke your tongue out instead and then run for your life!