Shades of Black Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chocolate

Black Magic is a box of filled dark chocolates made by Nestle and, for a not too expensive treat, they are delicious. There are many other kinds of food called black - black pudding is one. It is a savoury sausage and has blood as one of its main ingredients. It is loved or hated but seldom just tolerated. Then there are black beans and blackcurrants and black tea and black coffee, none of which feature in the rest of this quiz.

Answer: After that date they belong to the devil

It is said that, when St Michael ejected Satan from Heaven, he landed in a bramble bush. In his anger he cursed the bush, its prickles and its berries. This happened at the end of September, so after that date each year, the blackberries are said to belong to him.

Answer: a little black dress

The fashion designer Coco Chanel is said to have invented the fashion in the 1920s. They are supposed to be the "go anywhere" dress. You can dress them down for use in the office and then dress them up to go out during the evening. The original ones were very simple in shape, but as the years have gone by they have become more elaborate, although always predominantly black.

The ones that really follow the trend are always very well cut.

Answer: Black mark

It was all too easy to make a blot--or black mark--with pen and ink; that would mean that the teacher would register a black mark against your name. Too many black marks would mean punishment. And a copy book? Well one way of learning to spell or to memorize facts was to copy them out repeatedly in, yes, a copy book. Good pupils would have a perfectly clean book at the end of term.

Others (like me) tended have have smudges and black marks all over.

Answer: Bagheera

One of my favourite characters of all time was this grumpy black panther with a heart of gold. Baloo was the bear who was Mowgli's teacher. Shere Khan was the tiger, dangerous and frightening. Kaa was the huge rock python whose favourite food was monkey.

Answer: Sable

A sable is a member of the marten family that is found in Japan and Siberia. Its fur is a beautiful, thick, very dark brown. While in no way could I condone the killing of an animal just in order to wear its skin, I do envy the wonderful coat this creature has.

Answer: Anna Sewell

Black Beauty had a life full of trials before finding happiness at the end. Anna Sewell wrote it to highlight the cruelties that were performed on horses in the early days of cars and trains. It is a classic of children's literature and many a girl and boy has gone to sleep in tears after reading about him at bedtime. It is harrowing, but compelling reading.

Answer: Indian ink

Indian ink is made of fine soot mixed with water and gelatine or shallac to increase its durability when it has dried. It is sold in the bottle, or, occasionally in a solid block. The name Indian came about because it was shipped from China to the west through India. It is also used extensively in the art of tattooing.

Answer: A smithy

Blacksmiths make horse shoes and wrought iron gates and ornamental tables. Theirs is a skilled craft creating beautiful things.
Goldsmiths and silversmiths work on a much smaller scale creating delicate objects from valuable metals.

Answer: A black hole

A black hole is a place where the gravity is so great that anything in the neighbourhood is drawn in and can never escape. This idea was first proposed in the eighteenth century by John Mitchell, and, independently by Pierre Simon Laplace. When studying the laws of gravity, they both hypothesized that such a place could exist and John Archibald Wheeler named the phenomenon in 1967.

It is believed that there may be many black holes in the universe including one at the centre of the Milky Way. And I still believe there is one in my washing machine, especially as it broke down when I was writing this question!