Oh No! That'll Take Forever Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gone with the Wind

"Gone with the Wind" was written by Margaret Mitchell over a period of ten years from 1926 to 1936. Set mainly in Atlanta, Georgia, it traces the life of a young girl, Scarlett O' Hara through the War and her ability to cope with various tragedies that befall her family.

The movie starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland in the lead roles was nominated for 13 Academy Awards winning ten of them including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress.

Answer: Notre Dame

The original cathedral of Paris, Saint Etienne (Saint Stephen), was considered inadequate for the city due to its growing importance among the royalty of Europe. As a result, the then Bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully, ordered the demolishing of the cathedral and designed a new, larger one in its place. While the High Altar was consecrated in 1182, construction on the rest of the façade continued until 1345 when the church was finally completed. Situated on the banks of the River Seine, the cathedral is perceived to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.

The cathedral is used as the setting for Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and the subsequent musical and movie based on the book.

Answer: Shah Jahan

The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz, who died while giving birth to their 14th child. Built out of white marble and encrusted with numerous precious and semi-precious stones, the Taj is regarded as a masterpiece of Mughal architecture. The entire mausoleum complex including the main tomb, a mosque and the surrounding gardens was completed over the course of twenty years.

Of course, compared to the two hundred years in the making Notre Dame cathedral, the Taj does seem like a bit of a rush job.

Answer: Khufu

The Great Pyramid of Giza is estimated to have been built between 2560-2540 B.C. as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu (also called Cheops). With a height of 480.6 feet (146.5 meters), it held the title of the world's tallest man-made structure for over 3800 years.

Answer: China

Chinese historian Sima Qian described the construction of the mausoleum in his famous work 'Shiji'. According to him, work began in 246 B.C. immediately after Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China ascended the throne at the young age of thirteen and continued up to his death in 210-209 B.C. Various estimates put the number of artifacts at over 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses.

Answer: The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien began writing the book as a sequel to his earlier children's novel, "The Hobbit". The basic plot follows the battle for the Ring of Power, a weapon created by the Dark Lord Sauron to rule the Middle Earth. While Tolkien completed the trilogy in 1949, it was another five years before the first volume was published in 1954.

Answer: Emperor Jahangir

When Salim, son of Emperor Akbar and heir to the Mughal Empire falls in love with a courtesan, Anarkali, all hell breaks loose. Even though the young lovers try hard to be together, the class barriers prove to be too high for them. Popular Indian actors Dilip Kumar and Madhubala played the young couple with veteran actor Prithviraj Kapoor playing Emperor Akbar. Lavish sets were constructed to mimic the opulence of the Mughal courts. For the battle scenes in the film, 2000 camels, 4000 horses and 8000 troops (largely on loan from the Indian Army) were used.

Answer: Michelangelo

In 1505 Michelangelo was commissioned to build an elaborate tomb for the newly elected Pope Julius II. Unfortunately, work on the tomb kept getting interrupted as Michelangelo was simultaneously asked to complete various other projects. His famous painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that took four years to complete was done during this period.

A possible lack of funds led to the tomb finally being completed on a much smaller scale than earlier envisaged. In addition, it was placed in the lesser known church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome rather than St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo's famous sculpture of Moses was one among the many statues that were originally created for the tomb.

Answer: Mona Lisa

Now on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, the Mona Lisa was created by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century. It is believed that da Vinci began work on the painting in 1503-04 and completed it only in 1519. Da Vinci didn't work on the painting continuously for the entire period though.

He is thought to have left it unfinished after working on it for four years and then years later worked on it for three more years, completing it a little before he died.

Answer: Egypt

The Abu Simbel temples, located in southern Egypt, were built by the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century B.C. Forgotten over the years and covered by sand, the temples were rediscovered by Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in the early 19th century. Later in the 1960s, the entire temple complex was relocated on an artificially created hill to protect the structure from the waters of the Nile.