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Queen's 'Simple Facts Of Life' Quiz

Listening to Queen's albums, I realised how diverse the subjects they use for their songs really are. Here are a few 'simple facts of life', based on some of the profound things Freddie Mercury sang. Enjoy, and good luck!

A multiple-choice quiz by Flynn_17. Estimated time: 8 mins.

Author
Flynn_17

Time
8 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
204,286

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
9 / 15

Plays
431

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. From the song 'I Think I'm Going Slightly Mad'. 'I'm all out at sea. The kettle is boiling over. I think I'm a banana tree...'
The lyrics of this song claim that Freddie 'thinks he is a banana tree'. What poet, famous for writing haikus, had a name that actually meant 'banana tree'? Hint

Basho

Koi Nagata

Soji

Pepys

NEXT>

Question 2 of 15

2. From the song 'I Want To Break Free'. 'I want to break free from your lies, you're so self satisfied, I don't need you'.
What is the name given to the campaign and the non party-political organisation which seeks to help all prisoners of the Irish conflicts to 'break free' from their sentences? Hint

Patronymy

Freedom

Saoirse

Sinn Fein

NEXT>

Question 3 of 15

3. From the song 'Breakthru'. 'If I could only reach you, if I could make you smile, if I could only reach you, that would really be a breakthru.' It was announced on March 18, 2005, that the plasma of a common farm animal could be used in the treatment of the crippling disease Multiple Sclerosis. Which animal does this miraculous plasma come from?

Answer: (One word - These animals are famous for eating anything and everything, but are actually very picky)

NEXT>

Question 4 of 15

4. From the song 'Live Forever'. 'Who wants to live forever, forever is our today, who waits forever anyway?'
Nobody can live forever, but in the Bible, some people gave it a good go! If this man's existence were proven, then he would be the oldest person who ever lived. Who am I talking about? Hint

Methuselah

Abel

Samson

Moses

NEXT>

Question 5 of 15

5. From the song 'Loverboy'. 'Hey boy where did you go? I learned my passion in the good old fashioned school of loverboys.'
In this song, a 'good, old fashioned school' is mentioned. Which 'good, old fashioned school' did Prince William attend to take his degree in Art History? Hint

King's College London

Sandhurst

St Andrew's University

Eton

NEXT>

Question 6 of 15

6. From the song 'Foolin' Around'. 'Foxy lady, you really are the greatest show in town. You want to play, you wanna eat your cake and have it your way.'
Speaking of cake, what kind of cake sports a checkerboard pattern of yellow and pink (which is made by placing pink and yellow fingers of sponge in a square and holding them together with apricot jam)? It is always surrounded by marzipan, is usually rectangular in shape, and sounds German in origin. Hint

Bavarian Cream Pie

Battenberg

Black Forest Gateau

Kiel Kake

NEXT>

Question 7 of 15

7. From the song 'Love Kills'. 'Ruining your heart line, won't let you go. Love kills, drills you through your heart. Love kills.'
There you have it, love kills. While we're on the subject of hearts, which of these four parts of the body is related to the heart? Hint

Amygdala

Cecum

Aorta

Jejunum

NEXT>

Question 8 of 15

8. From the song 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'. 'Get on my tracks, take a back seat, hitch-hike, and take a long ride on my motor bike.'
Which comedy writer penned the inaccurately named 'trilogy of five' that is 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy', along with 'The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul', part of the 'Dirk Gently' series? Hint

Jeffrey Archer

Tom Holt

Douglas Adams

Terry Pratchett

NEXT>

Question 9 of 15

9. From the song 'Killer Queen'. 'Caviar and cigarettes, well versed in etiquette, extraordinarily nice.'
Caviar. That's fish eggs, isn't it? A popular Greek dip made out of fish eggs is taramasalata, which usually uses cod roe. Can you name the type of fish that produces caviar, though?

Answer: (One word - This fish sounds like someone you would find in a hospital)

NEXT>

Question 10 of 15

10. From the song 'Barcelona'. 'And shake the foundations from the skies, shaking all our lives. Barcelona, such a beautiful horizon, Barcelona!' Barcelona is the largest city in Spain, and is located on the eastern coast of the country. What was the name of the artist who designed the famous church in Barcelona, 'Sagrada la Familia'? Hint

Cezanne

Dali

Gaudi

Picasso

NEXT>

Question 11 of 15

11. From the song 'Don't Stop Me Now'. 'I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars, on a collision course. I am a satellite, I'm out of control.'
This reminds me of when they were trying to land a Russian space station into the Pacific Ocean. It actually hit the water on March 23, 2001, but what was the name given to the space station?

Answer: (One word, three letters)

NEXT>

Question 12 of 15

12. From the song 'Innuendo'. 'While we live according to race, colour or creed, while we rule by blind madness and pure greed. Our lives dictated by tradition, superstition, false religion.'
During the 2001 census in the UK, many people chose to put down which fictional, or false, religion in the section entitled 'religion observed'? Hint

Jainism

ZZ9 Plural Z alpha

Farrokhism

Jedi Knight

NEXT>

Question 13 of 15

13. From the song 'The Show Must Go On'. 'Empty spaces - what are we living for abandoned places - I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for...'
On the subject of abandoned places, what is the name of the city in the Turkish half of Cyprus that has been completely deserted since the end of the British rule? Hint

Dhekelia

Nicosia

Famagusta

Akrotiri

NEXT>

Question 14 of 15

14. From the song 'Under Pressure'. 'Pressure pushing down on me, pressing down on you no man ask for. Under pressure - that burns a building down.'
This song was originally recorded by David Bowie and Queen, but David Bowie collaborated with another artist when he re-recorded it to put on the 'Shrek 2' soundtrack. Who? Hint

Lisa Loeb

Sarah McLachlan

Butterfly Boucher

Jann Arden

NEXT>

Question 15 of 15

15. So far, we've managed to almost completely avoid Queen's musical career. But if you're a big Queen fan, you may have noticed that I took the title of this quiz from a Queen lyric. Which Queen song contains the lyric 'It's a simple fact of life...'? Hint

'Bohemian Rhapsody'

'It's a Hard Life'

'Fat-Bottomed Girls'

'Bicycle Race'

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. From the song 'I Think I'm Going Slightly Mad'. 'I'm all out at sea. The kettle is boiling over. I think I'm a banana tree...' The lyrics of this song claim that Freddie 'thinks he is a banana tree'. What poet, famous for writing haikus, had a name that actually meant 'banana tree'?

Answer: Basho

Basho was the pseudonym of Matsuo Munefusa, a Japanese poet of the seventeenth century. He was born into a samurai family, but rejected this culture and became a wanderer, studying Zen, history, and Chinese poetry.

2. From the song 'I Want To Break Free'. 'I want to break free from your lies, you're so self satisfied, I don't need you'. What is the name given to the campaign and the non party-political organisation which seeks to help all prisoners of the Irish conflicts to 'break free' from their sentences?

Answer: Saoirse

Slogans used by the members of the Saoirse campaign include 'Saoirse do na Cim� Polaiti�la', meaning 'Release the political prisoners'. Examples of how Saoirse are trying to help include republican prisoners is in Maghaberry Jail, where eight republican women are being held, and 15 republican prisoners being held in English jails.

Answer: Goat

The goats used in the study were specially treated to produce the plasma which was then used in the experiments. Multiple Sclerosis is a progressive nervous disorder in which the nerves begin to lose their conductivity. Symptoms include temporary paralysis, temporary blindness, difficulty walking and bending, and eventually, dependence on a wheelchair.

4. From the song 'Live Forever'. 'Who wants to live forever, forever is our today, who waits forever anyway?' Nobody can live forever, but in the Bible, some people gave it a good go! If this man's existence were proven, then he would be the oldest person who ever lived. Who am I talking about?

Answer: Methuselah

According to the Bible, Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Until August 4 1997, the oldest proven age for a human was 122 for Jeanne Louise Calment. She was born in Arles, France on February 21.

5. From the song 'Loverboy'. 'Hey boy where did you go? I learned my passion in the good old fashioned school of loverboys.' In this song, a 'good, old fashioned school' is mentioned. Which 'good, old fashioned school' did Prince William attend to take his degree in Art History?

Answer: St Andrew's University

St Andrew's was the first university built in Scotland, in 1413, and is also the third oldest university in the UK. The buildings themselves are located in Fife, and St Andrew's was awarded 'The Best University In Scotland' award 2003/2004.

6. From the song 'Foolin' Around'. 'Foxy lady, you really are the greatest show in town. You want to play, you wanna eat your cake and have it your way.' Speaking of cake, what kind of cake sports a checkerboard pattern of yellow and pink (which is made by placing pink and yellow fingers of sponge in a square and holding them together with apricot jam)? It is always surrounded by marzipan, is usually rectangular in shape, and sounds German in origin.

Answer: Battenberg

Battenberg cakes are very popular in the UK, where they are often sold miniaturised by the 'Mr Kipling' cake and snack company. They are named after the Duke of Battenberg.

7. From the song 'Love Kills'. 'Ruining your heart line, won't let you go. Love kills, drills you through your heart. Love kills.' There you have it, love kills. While we're on the subject of hearts, which of these four parts of the body is related to the heart?

Answer: Aorta

The cecum and jejumun are both parts of the intestine, while the amygdala is part of the brain. The word amygdala is actually Latin for 'almond', and the brain component is called this because of its shape.

8. From the song 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'. 'Get on my tracks, take a back seat, hitch-hike, and take a long ride on my motor bike.' Which comedy writer penned the inaccurately named 'trilogy of five' that is 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy', along with 'The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul', part of the 'Dirk Gently' series?

Answer: Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams died suddenly of a heart attack in California, on May 11, 2001. He lived with his wife and daughter in Santa Barbara, California, although he was originally from Cambridge, in the UK.

9. From the song 'Killer Queen'. 'Caviar and cigarettes, well versed in etiquette, extraordinarily nice.' Caviar. That's fish eggs, isn't it? A popular Greek dip made out of fish eggs is taramasalata, which usually uses cod roe. Can you name the type of fish that produces caviar, though?

Answer: sturgeon

Both sturgeon and lumpfish produce roe that can be called caviar, but the sturgeon roe is of much higher quality. Sturgeon are large fish found in cold waters in places such as Alaska and Russia. They can reach great lengths, and must be over 46 inches long before they can legally be caught and eaten. Much of the caviar eaten today comes from sturgeon caught in the Caspian Sea.

Although the beluga whale shares its name with beluga caviar, the whale does not produce the caviar. It is in fact the roe of beluga sturgeon fish. Beluga caviar ranges in colour from light blue to black, and as the lighter coloured caviar is harvested from the older fish, it is more valuable.

Answer: Gaudi

There are many Gaudi buildings and memorials in Barcelona, including 'Parc Guell'. There are also cities called Barcelona in Mexico and Venezuela.

11. From the song 'Don't Stop Me Now'. 'I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars, on a collision course. I am a satellite, I'm out of control.' This reminds me of when they were trying to land a Russian space station into the Pacific Ocean. It actually hit the water on March 23, 2001, but what was the name given to the space station?

Answer: Mir

A similar incident occurred when an Italian space station, BeppoSAX, was in a state or disrepair. The Italian space programme decided to crash the satellite into the ocean, and started a controlled descent in April 2002. BeppoSAX did not hit the water until April 29, 2003, but there were concerns.

The satellite passed over Indonesia, one of the most populous countries in the world. If it had crashed in this area, there could have been a large death toll.

12. From the song 'Innuendo'. 'While we live according to race, colour or creed, while we rule by blind madness and pure greed. Our lives dictated by tradition, superstition, false religion.' During the 2001 census in the UK, many people chose to put down which fictional, or false, religion in the section entitled 'religion observed'?

Answer: Jedi Knight

'Farrokhism' is not a real religion. 'Farrokh' was Freddie Mercury's real first name. Jainism is a religion also known as Jain Dharma. It is mainly observed in western India, and celebrates the work of Jina.

13. From the song 'The Show Must Go On'. 'Empty spaces - what are we living for abandoned places - I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for...' On the subject of abandoned places, what is the name of the city in the Turkish half of Cyprus that has been completely deserted since the end of the British rule?

Answer: Famagusta

Famagusta was once the capital of Cyprus, but when Turkey claimed the northern half of Cyprus and Greece the southern, the capital reverted to Nicosia (as it was before Famagusta became the capital in 1489). Akrotiri and Dhekelia are the names of two British air bases in the Greek half of Cyprus.

14. From the song 'Under Pressure'. 'Pressure pushing down on me, pressing down on you no man ask for. Under pressure - that burns a building down.' This song was originally recorded by David Bowie and Queen, but David Bowie collaborated with another artist when he re-recorded it to put on the 'Shrek 2' soundtrack. Who?

Answer: Butterfly Boucher

Butterfly Boucher is an Australian born artist, and her song 'Life is Short' was used as the theme for the American show 'The Days'. She also toured with Sarah McLachlan throughout 2004, and has an album called 'Flutterby'.

Answer: 'It's a Hard Life'

Since Freddie's death, the rest of the members of Queen have reproduced songs with other singers, such as George Michael. Electric 6 even covered 'Radio Gaga'. That was Queen's 'simple facts of life', and thank you for playing!

Source: Author Flynn_17

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Exit10 before going online.
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