One of These Things... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ave Maria

While all of the options listed are prayers that are often associated with Catholic mass, only the Ave Maria is also known as the Angelic Salutation or Hail Mary. For Roman Catholics, it is a central part of the Rosary prayers. This prayer has been set to music by many different composers through the years; one of the better-known versions was written by the famous composer Franz Schubert.

Answer: Tea

Originally from China, tea started out as medicinal drink; not long after, tea began to be used as a mild stimulant. Although the Portuguese brought some back to Europe in the 16th century, it wasn't until the 17th century that the British made tea-drinking fashionable for the western world.

There are, generally speaking, six categories of tea (dependent on how it is processed); these six have almost limitless variety in their confines. Some of the more well-known varieties include Earl Grey, Pekoe, and Darjeeling.

Answer: Nazi Party

Pretty much everything that can be said about the Nazi Party - from their rise to power through Hitler, to the atrocities committed in the name of racial 'purity', to the fall of the much-hyped Third Reich, has been said. The other three options are/were real political parties as well - the German Worker's Party was the predecessor to the Nazis; the National Socialist Women's League (Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft in German, and abbreviated NSF) was a branch of the Nazi Party specifically for women.

The Social Democratic Party (in German, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or SPD) was still a rather strong force in German politics into the early part of the 21st century.

Answer: Nixon

Richard Nixon was the 37th President of the United States; in addition, he had previously served in the Navy, as a House Representative from California, a Californian Senator, and the Vice President of the United State. The actress referred to in the question was Marni Nixon (born Margaret Nixon McEathron); besides the roles mentioned above, she also provided the singing voice for Deborah Kerr's character in "An Affair to Remember", the high notes for Natalie Wood in "Gypsy", and Sophia Loren in "Boy on a Dolphin".

Answer: Asteraceae

Not only is the family Asteraceae geographically wide-spread, it is also quite varied in appearance - after all, an artichoke, dandelion, starthistle, marigold, zinnia, and Echinacea (or coneflower) have little to nothing in common at first glance! They are, however, all members of this family; in addition to the official name, this group is also commonly known as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family.

Answer: 16

In addition to being the smallest number with exactly five divisors (one, two, four, eight, and sixteen), sixteen is also a composite and a square number. It is the first number to be aliquot sum of a smaller number - in this case, twelve - and is the base of the hexadecimal system of numbers, which is widely used in computer science.

Answer: Salzburg

While all of the options are cities in Austria, Mozart was born in Salzburg. The name of the town comes from two Latin words meaning 'Salt Fortress/Castle'; the city was formerly an important stop along the salt distribution routes. As for Mozart, pretty much everything that can be said about the man has been - he was born in 1756, died in 1791, and in the interim he contributed some beautiful music that has stood the test of time to the world.

Answer: They all used/featured marionettes

While it is unclear exactly when marionettes were first invented, there is evidence to suggest they were being used as early as 2000 B.C. in Egypt! The word marionette, is much younger though - it comes from French, and means 'little Mary'. If you are unfamiliar with one or more of the examples in the question, here's how they relate to the answer: in 'Pinocchio', the title character is a marionette who dreams of becoming a 'real boy';'Howdy Doody' was the titular character of an American TV show. 'Thunderbirds' was a futuristic TV series about a group - the International Rescue, or IR - and their humanitarian/rescue adventures; they were aided in these by some very advanced machines - the Thunderbirds.

Answer: 20th Century Fox

While all of the options listed are considered major U.S. film production houses, only 20th Century Fox fits all of the criteria given - they were formed on May 31st, 1935, as a result of a merger between Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures.

They also share part of their name with such entities as Fox Sports Network (FSN), Fox Business Network (FBN), and Fox News Channel (FNC), as well as others.

Answer: The Sound of Music

Christopher Plummer plays Captain Georg von Trapp in this film adaptation of the Broadway musical, which is in turn based - somewhat loosely - on the book "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" by Maria von Trapp. In case you're wondering how the other nine questions and answers relate to this movie, here it goes: Captain von Trapp lives in Salzburg (question 7) during the height of Nazi (3) reign. Being a widower, he needs a governess for his seven children; he writes to the local convent - where sister Sophia, played by Marnie Nixon (4), is one of the nuns; Ave Maria (1) is one of the prayers/hymns that would be sung there, and Maria is the name of the young woman who becomes the governess. Being a 20th Century Fox (9) musical, there are many songs of note, but a few include "Do-Re-Mi", which includes the line "tea, a drink with jam and bread" (2); "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" (6); "The Lonely Goatherd", which is presented with marionettes (8); and "Edelweiss", a flower that is a member of the Asteraceae (5) family.