Potpourri Number Four Trivia Quiz

Answer: American Society of Plastics Surgeons

Considered one of the most famous sculptures of Ancient Greece, the Venus de Milo is thought to represent the goddess Aphrodite. Created sometime between 130-100 BC, this statue, which stands at 6 foot 8 inches, was lost for centuries until unearthed on the island of Milos in 1820. One wonders though that if, instead of a woman, a young male was the model for this work.

Her face and body rather suggest that gender, particularly so the trunk. It doesn't curve in far enough at the waist and its almost as if she has ripples of muscles on her upper abdomen.

The face, too, appears to be rather masculine in appearance. Damaged when she was found, with parts of both arms missing and a broken nose, that nose was the inspiration behind her choice for the official seal once used by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Particularly so for a "Before and After" effect.

Answer: The backs of necks

"Knackers" first appeared in the Scandinavia tongue around the beginning of the 19th century. Spelled as "hnakki" there, it meant the back of the neck, with a derivative of the word "hnakkur" meaning saddle. Over time, however, once it made its way into the English language, it evolved to mean a slaughterhouse where old worn out horses were sent to be killed.

Their body parts were then used either as animal food, fertiliser, hides or glue. Such an ungrateful end to a hard working animal. Other meanings of this word are "knackered", in the UK and Australia - meaning tired and exhausted; "knacker", in Ireland - meaning a low income thug; and "knackers" in Britain and Australia - meaning the male testes.

Answer: A politician at the end of his or her term

Lame ducks, in the world of politics, describe politicians, usually extremely powerful ones at the top of the tree - Presidents and Prime Ministers, for example. When these people are approaching the end of their time in office, are unlikely to be voted in again, have chosen to retire, or their term of office has legally expired.

Although they may wish to start work on, or push through, a new piece of legislation of some kind, they now lack the ability, the power, and the influence to do this. Their time is up and they must waddle out of the barnyard.

Answer: A slashed face

A Glasgow smile is a horrible expression which means that someone's face has been deliberately slashed in order to make it appear as though that person is perpetually smiling. It is carried out by criminals either in the heat of a brawl or as retribution for some perceived offence.

This disfiguring wound is usually inflicted by a knife, but pieces of broken glass have also been used as well. Scottish actor, Tommy Flanagan, is an example of someone with a Glasgow smile. While working as a DJ at a local club as a young man, he was attacked by thugs and had his face slashed as he left to walk home one night.

His face, in spite of his beard and moustache, still bore those scars in 2016.

Answer: To honour Queen Victoria

The Admiralty Arch in London can be found at the end of Trafalgar Square and has often been likened to a gateway to Buckingham Palace. Completed in 1912, It is a six-sided structure incorporating five arches into its design, the middle one of which is only used on ceremonial occasions. Of the other four, two are used daily for vehicles, with two other smaller ones set aside for pedestrians. This very impressive structure once served as the official residence of the Royal Navy's First sea lord; the Royal Navy headquarters were located nearby; and it was used by the Admiralty for a time, hence the name by which it is known today. Up until 2011, it housed several government offices as well. The Arch, though, was not built as a tribute to the Admiralty. Instead, it was originally commissioned by King Edward VII and the British government at that time, as a memorial to Queen Victoria. A translated Latin inscribed plaque over one of the arches states "In the tenth year of the reign of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria from a grateful nation, 1910".

Oh my stars, you won't believe this! In 2012, the British government leased this elegant monument to the nation's past to a property developer for 125 years. This developer has been granted further permission to restore the Arch, and then turn it into a private residence, a private members' club - and a large one hundred room hotel. A private member's club if you please. That is basically just a glorified pub for snoots - and now there's going to be a one with an official plaque over its entrance, right outside Buckingham Palace, to honour an historically famous British Queen. One hardly thinks a "grateful nation", or Queen Victoria herself, would be terribly amused by this.

Answer: Herbert Hoover

Well he certainly had that right for many parts of our dry and hot inland, so we'll forgive the insult. The rest of our country is beautiful, though. Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was President of the United States from 1929 until 1933. As the leader of that great nation during this era, he unfortunately had to deal, none too successfully, with the Great Depression and all that meant for the country, instead of instigating all his other objectives. This disaster resulted in Hoover and the Republican Party losing in the next American election, to be replaced by the Democrat Party headed by Franklin Roosevelt.

When Herbert Hoover was a young man he entered Stanford University in 1891 on its first year of operations (claiming to be its very first student), but initially failed the entrance exams and had to try again. He graduated in 1895 as a geologist. This eventually resulted in his gaining employment with a gold mining venture based in Western Australia. Several of the sites at which he worked, which once had thriving settlements in the nearby areas, are now ghost towns. Only one continues to thrive. Herbert was definitely not impressed with Australia's inland climate however. Who could blame him? This huge inland, largely desert or exceptionally dry areas of our nation, really can be a place of sticky, smothering heat, shimmering, treeless plains, red soil and those ghastly black flies which fly straight into your mouth the moment you open it.

Answer: An idiot

"Boofhead" is Australian slang for some one who is considered a dim-witted idiot and who, more often than not, carries out various foolish or stupid deeds thinking he's done something witty and amusing instead. This word can also be applied to anyone whose head is somewhat larger than normal.

Interestingly, there exist small female tortoises inhabiting the northern waters of Australia that carry this same insulting name. That is because, as the female of the species becomes older, her head begins to grow out of proportion to the rest of her body.

The term "boofhead", referring to a silly idiot, arose in the 1940s in Australia, where Boofhead was a recurring character in one of the Sydney newspapers of the time. "Boofhead" was drawn by Australian artist, Bob Clark (1910-1970), for over thirty years and was much loved by its readers.

Answer: Blow up the coronation chair

The English Suffragettes (from the late 19th and early 20th century) were women who had banded together in an organisation determined to fight for women's right to vote and take their equal place beside men at that time in history. Initially acting within the realm of the law, long years of resistance to their claim for political franchise saw these women becoming more and more militant in their actions from 1912 onward. Accordingly they began chaining themselves to railings in protest, setting fire to mail boxes, throwing stones through glass windows as a matter of course, and astonishingly, even detonating several bombs. By the year 1914, with still no equality in sight, these suffragettes had also either set several churches on fire or attempted to blow them up. One of these centres of worship was the iconic several centuries old Westminster Abbey. And they almost succeeded. Their target was not the Abbey itself though, but the seat on which English monarchs were crowned.

Late in the afternoon of the 11th June that year, a bomb was thrown at that famous Coronation Chair. Its detonation rattled the walls of the Abbey considerably, and was loud enough to be heard in the nearby Houses of Parliament. But it did no harm to the seventy people within the Abbey at the time, and almost missed its intended target altogether. Only one corner of the Coronation Chair was damaged, but this was soon restored to its ante-bomb condition. Thank goodness the UK's King George V wasn't enjoying a nice cucumber sandwich whilst sitting on the Chair at the time.

Answer: A small bunch of flowers in a nosegay

A nosegay, also known as a tussie-mussie or a posy, is a small bunch of sweetly scented flowers given as a gift, usually to women. Dating right back to medieval times, nosegays were worn by the ladies either in their hair to enhance the beauty of their faces, or tucked demurely into their bodices. The word itself was a combination of nose - for the appeal the scent of these flowers had to that organ; and gay - which, at that time, meant an ornament of some kind.

Severely centuries later, during the reign of Britain's Queen Victoria (1819-1901), nosegays began to be known as tussie-mussies. By that time, these were being worn as a fashion enhancement, and, because the language of flowers was particularly popular at this time in history, many of those small arrangements of flowers had secret floral messages set out in their arrangements. A small red rose placed within the posy, when presented to its recipient, meant passionate and ardent love, for example. If the lady answered in a nosegay of equal ardour, could we perhaps describe her as a naughty little tussie-mussie hussy?

Answer: The Virgin Mary

Mary, the mother of Jesus, has always played an important role in the belief system associated with those in the Catholic faith, but perhaps a little more so in the past than today. Of course we all know her to have given birth to the baby Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago, and she plays just as important role in that, and several other Irish Christmas traditions of the modern age. The nightly candle placed in the window of Irish homes to welcome weary travellers, for example, is usually lit by a girl called Mary - and should only ever be extinguished by her at the close of the day. The tradition of placing rings of holly on the front door of the home - believed to have started in Ireland as a way of allowing poorer families to adorn their homes at Christmas - is one more tradition in which a Mary takes part. Later, when Christmas decorations are taken down on "Little Christmas" day - always the 6th of January and not before, or you risk bad luck - a Mary must take a role in this as well. One suspects that a lot of Marys are temporarily loaned out to other homes at Christmas in the lovely land of the green.

And that's the close of another quiz. "Nollaig Shona duit" my friends. That means "Happy Christmas to you".