The Joy Of Knowledge 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Virginia

The Blue Ridge Mountains are located in eastern America and extend between West Virginia into northern Georgia. They also are located in parts of Virginia and North Carolina and are part of the Appalachian Mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains were made famous in the song 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine' sang by Laurel and Hardy in the movie 'Way Out West' in 1937.
'In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
on the trail of the lonesome pine
in the pale moonshine our hearts entwine
where she carves her name and I carve mine
Oh June, like the mountains are blue
like the pine, I'm so lonesome for you.'
(This was the second verse of 'Trail of the Lonesome Pine' by H Carroll and B MacDonald)

Answer: Killed by the Indian police

Sitting Bull (1831-90) was born in Grand River in South Dakota. His characteristics were those of generosity, fortitude, wisdom and bravery, all of which were greatly admired by the Sioux Indians. Just like Crazy Horse, he resisted surrending land and mining rights in the Black Hills during the mid 1870s when gold was discovered there.

A new religion called the 'Ghost Dance' was formed by native followers who believed this Indian Messiah would remove whites and return their land to its rightful owners.

Whilst Sitting Bull was arrested, as a precautionary measure because of this new religion, a shot was fired which hit one of the Indian Police. It is alleged they retaliated and Sitting Bull was killed in the shooting that followed. He was buried just outside Fort Yates in North Dakota.

Answer: Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Rothschild Parker (1893-1967) was an American short-story writer and poet who was born in West End, New Jersey. She was a drama critic for 'Vanity Fair' (1916-17) and her first volume of poetry was called 'Enough Rope'(1926). Dorothy was famous for her ironic humour and once said "If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised."

Answer: Her father has an OBE

St Paul's is not usually available for non-royal weddings but comedian Jasper Carrott is the father of Lucy Davis and was made an OBE in the New Year's Honours in 2002.

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (Fingal O'Flahertie Wills) (1854-1900) was born in Dublin, Ireland. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin then at Oxford. He became noted for his wit and his flamboyant manner. His only novel was 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1891). He married Constance Lloyd between 1858 to 1898 and fathered two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan, for whom he naturally wrote classic fairy stories. Oscar once said, "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the trains." This was a quote from his comic play 'The Importance of Being Earnest'(1895).

Answer: Blue moon

Having a second full moon occurring in the same calendar month is very unusual. The moon rarely has a bluish tint. This unusual phenomenon could possibly have derived the expression 'once in a blue moon'. When the moon is more than half but less than fully illuminated, this is called a gibbous moon. A harvest moon is present when the full moon occurs nearest to the autumnal equinox.

Answer: dumb

A dumbbell is an exercising weight consisting of a single bar with a disc at either end. In dog training it is a small wooden object which is shaped so a dog can retrieve it with ease. The term dumbbell is also used in American and Canadian slang for a fool.
Dumbfound is to astonish or to amaze someone.
Dumbstruck is to be temporarily deprived of speech via shock or surprise.
A dumbwaiter in Britain is not Manuel in 'Fawlty Towers'! It is a lift for carrying food or rubbish between floors.

Answer: Ken Dodd

Kenneth Arthur Dodd was born November 8, 1927 and is a Liverpudlian comedian. He created the imaginary Diddymen who live in Knotty Ash, near Liverpool. As a family entertainer he created the Diddymen for the younger members of the audience. Ken is actually one of the most successful entertainers in British theatre. Both Ken Dodd and Lester Piggott have had problems with tax evasion. Ken Dodd also said, "My Dad knew I was going to be a comedian, when I was a baby he said, this is a joke." He's also quoted as saying, "If music be the food of love, then play us a tune on your jam buttie."

Answer: Bermuda

Bermuda is approximately twenty square miles in area and was named after a Spanish explorer called Juan de Bermudez who first sighted the uninhabited islands in 1503. The shape of the main island resembles a fish hook. The eye of the hook is St George's harbour at the northeast end and the Great Sound forms the loop of the hook.

Answer: The striking set of 'Citizen Kane'

'Citizen Kane' was a controversial biographical movie which was produced, directed, co-written and starred Orson Welles. This American actor-director opened a few critical eyes when he experimented with camera angle and deep focus. With blatant disregard to following conventional medium methods, he broke all the film-making rules and completed this highly rated movie at the age of only twenty-five years old.

The movie premiered on 1 May 1941 in New York City. It recreated the life of millionaire newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, and his rise to power in the form of the character Charles Foster Kane played by Welles himself. Portraying scenes of intimidation, discrediting, blackmail and newspaper smears, infuriated Hearst so intensely that he almost succeeded in preventing the movie's release by using his vast influence. To add insult to injury, Welles also drew unflattering, uncomplimentary parallels to the real life of the character portrayed by talentless Susan Alexander Kane to that of American silent screen comedienne, Marion Davies.

Although Hearst often tried to promote her career, this was completely overshadowed by her relationship with the married media mogul.

Answer: SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is a Nickelodeon animated television series. SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea in the fictional city of Bikini Bottom. His best friend is Patrick Star who is a loyal but slow-witted starfish. SpongeBob's beloved pet snail is called Gary who thinks he's a cat as he meows.

The Krusty Krab is where SpongeBob works as a fry cook and is the home of Krabby Patty. Squidward Tentacles is SpongeBob's miserable neighbour who works with him as a cashier although he doesn't like SpongeBob. Let's hope this horrid cephalod mollusc gets caught with his tentacle in the till! (According to the list of addresses of fictional characters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Donald Duck's home address is 1313 Webfoot Walk, Duckberry, Calisota.

Answer: Within the Kremlin walls

Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin (1934-1968) was the son of a carpenter and was the first human to travel in space. He grew up on a collective farm, west of Moscow, in Saratov which was later renamed Gagarin City. In 1957 he graduated with honours and became a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force at the young age of twenty-three.

He orbited the earth at 18,000 miles per hour which lasted 108 minutes in Vostok 1, on 12 April 1961. Tragedy occurred when he took off on a training flight in a Mig-15 aircraft when both his co-pilot and himself were killed, possibly trying to avoid another aeroplane.

He left a wife and two daughters and was buried with full honours in the Kremlin wall alongside other Russian heroes.

Answer: Mark Twain

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910) was famous for his classic books of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876) and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (1885). This American wag also compiled numerous famous quotations, many of which were hilarious.

Here are a couple of examples. 1) "Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." 2) "To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did. I ought to know, I've done it a thousand times."

Answer: Mockingbird

The mockingbird is a long streamlined grey bird which is about seven inches in length. The male and female look very similar. They are said to imitate approximately forty different sounds which include the noise of a squeaky gate, a piano, a siren and even that of a barking dog.

Their habitat includes open, grassy areas for feeding on ants, grasshoppers, spiders and beetles. During the mating season these birds become very territorial and their skill at mimicking can assist in keeping intruders away.

A frogmouth is similar to the nightjar. It is a nocturnal, insectivorous bird of southeast Asia and Australia. The nutcracker is a North American bird with a speckled plumage and feeds, as its name implies, on nuts and seeds.

Answer: Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American novelist born in Portland, Maine in 1947. Donald King, Stephen's father, was a vacuum cleaner salesman who left the family home to go for a packet of cigarettes but never returned. Stephen was only two years old at the time and was raised later by his mother along with his elder brother, David. After graduating in 1970 from the University of Maine, he became an English teacher between 1971 to 1973. He wrote 'Carrie' in 1974; this was his first novel and its success lead him to become a full-time writer. Many of his books have been made into movies which include 'Salem's Lot'(1979) and 'The Shining' (1980).

Hope you enjoyed the quiz and learnt something new.