Oh Dear: Overload! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Orinoco

'The Wombles' are fictional, environmentally conscious animals, created by the author Elizabeth Beresford, who live on Wimbledon Common in London. They became famous when the BBC created a children's television show based on Beresford's books in the 1970s. The programme inspired a novelty pop group, also called 'The Wombles', who performed on stage dressed up in Womble costumes. Lead vocalist and songwriter Mike Batt was responsible for composing the programme's theme tune which starts with the well-known lyrics:

"Underground, Overground, Wombling Free,
The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we."

The source of the Orinoco is close to the border between Venezuela and Brazil, from where it flows mainly through Venezuela until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. The Orange River is the longest river in South Africa, the Ohio is located in the USA and the Ob is in Russia.

Answer: Onomatopoeia

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was a soldier in the First World War and a noted war-poet. He was killed in action one week before the armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed. The fighting officially ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The majority of Owen's work was published posthumously, including some of his best-known works such as 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'. He is particularly remembered for his stark descriptions of the horrors of the war.

An oxymoron is a contradictory phrase, for example "grand simplicity" or "real fake"; overstatement is exaggerating for effect, also known as hyperbole; and orthodoxy means conforming, particularly to religious beliefs. Alliteration is the use of repeated sounds, particularly at the beginning of words. An orison is a prayer.

Answer: Owl

Hedwig, a snowy owl, was Harry Potter's pet and post-delivering companion from the time of her purchase from Eeylops Owl Emporium until her untimely death at the wand of a Death Eater in the final novel 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.

Sheffield Wednesday football (soccer) club were originally founded in 1867 and are known by the nickname 'The Owls' because their stadium, Hillsborough, is located in the Owlerton area of Sheffield. Over the years their mascots have included Ozzie the Owl, Baz the Owl, Ollie the Owl and Barney the Owl.

Answer: Ozzy

Sharon Osbourne was mainly known as a music manager before her appearances on 'The Osbournes', managing her husband's solo career alongside other acts. She is perhaps now best known as a judge on both the UK version of 'The X Factor' and the US show 'America's Got Talent', as well as for hosting her own chat show.

Ozzy and Sharon's son Jack has appeared in various TV shows including his own show 'Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie'. Their younger daughter Kelly is an actress and singer while their elder daughter Aimee, who did not appear in 'The Osbournes', has generally kept a lower profile despite publicly stating her desire for a career in the music industry.

Answer: Odo

Bishop Odo of Bayeux (also known as the Earl of Kent) was William the Conqueror's half-brother as they shared the same mother, Herleva. He fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and occasionally served as regent of England while his brother was in Normandy. Odo is believed to have commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry, which documents the Norman invasion of England. However alternative theories have attributed the responsibility to both Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror and Edith of Wessex, wife of King Edward the Confessor.

Odo of Cluny who lived from circa. 848 to 942, is one of several patron saints for rain, and one of over 10,000 named saints that have been recognised by the Roman Catholic Church.

Answer: Black Orchid

Black Orchid first appeared in a DC Comics publication in 1973. Little information on the character's background was provided until 1988 when a new three-part mini-series called 'Black Orchid' was published. This included the additional information that she was a human/plant hybrid, whose original name was Susan Linden-Thorne. 'Black Orchid' was written by Neil Gaiman, a well-known science fiction author, who wrote the screenplay for the 2007 film 'Beowulf' and has also written for the long-running British TV series 'Doctor Who'.

There are over 20,000 separate species of plant that are members of the orchid family. Therefore they are one of the most common flowering plants in the world, with known species found on every continent except Antarctica.

Answer: Ocarina

Luckily general knowledge encompasses all topics of trivia so questions about ocarinas could easily turn up somewhere in this category. An ocarina is a wind instrument, which looks a bit like a pointy egg shape with a number of finger holes cut into it. They are usually ceramic, but can be made out of many materials including bone, wood or metal. Ocarinas belong to a family of ancient instruments believed to date back over 12,000 years.

'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' was developed by Nintendo and players play as the series hero, Link, who receives the Ocarina of Time from Princess Zelda. As players progress through the game, Link uses the ocarina to play different melodies which allows them to solve puzzles and return to previously visited locations.

An oboe is a woodwind instrument, an organ is a keyboard instrument often found in churches, and an oud is a stringed instrument from the Middle East which is similar to a lute.

Answer: Oxygen

'Oxygen' starred Adrien Brody as a kidnapper known as Harry Houdini, while Maura Tierney played the detective given the job of solving the case. The film was written and directed by Richard Shepard, who won an Emmy award for directing the pilot episode of the TV series 'Ugly Betty' in 2007.

Oxygen accounts for about 21% of Earth's atmosphere (otherwise known as air!) and is vital to the survival of life on the planet due to its role in respiration. It was first discovered independently by the scientists Carl Wilhelm Scheele (in about 1773) and Joseph Priestley (in 1774) and named by Antoine Lavoisier in 1777.

Answer: Olympic

The Olympic National Park (designated as such by Franklin Roosevelt in 1938) is located on the Olympic peninsula in the far north-west of the contiguous United States of America. It has a varied landscape, including the coastline along the Pacific ocean, the Olympic mountain range with its numerous glaciers, and areas of temperate rainforest.

RMS Olympic was the slightly older and slightly smaller sister ship to RMS Titanic, the ocean liner which sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Another sister ship was the HMHS Britannic which sank in November 1916 while operating as a Royal Navy hospital ship during the First World War. The Olympic was launched in 1911 and decommissioned in 1935, thus avoiding the fate suffered by both of its sisters.

Answer: Okapi

Oh deer! - Or not in the case of the okapi, as it is actually a member of the giraffe family. Okapis are native to the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and have much shorter necks than their better known cousins. Their legs have zebra-like striped markings but the two animals are not closely related as zebras are members of the horse family.

The answers to the brain teaser clues break down into OK + a + pi. The number, pi, (approximately equal to 3.14159) is famous due to its importance in many fields of mathematics including geometry and trigonometry. In 2009 the US House of Representatives passed a resolution recognising the 14th of March as National Pi Day.