Useful Useless Trivia: Part 5 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Three

The brothers were Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson with their cousin Mike Love and a friend Al Jardine. They had a number of number one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 with "I Get Around", "Good Vibrations" and "Help Me, Rhonda".

Answer: George Sand

Amandine Lucile Aurore Dupin (1804-1876) was a French novelist and socialist. She wrote under the pen name of George Sand. Her home was purchased by the French government in 1952 and it is now a writer's house museum. During her lifetime she had a number of affairs with prominent people including the Polish composer Frederic Chopin. She wrote a number of pastoral novels by drawing on her childhood experiences in the countryside.

George Elliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880) who was an English novelist, poet and journalist. Most of her novels were set in provincial England. Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American novelist and poet who wrote "Little Women" (1868). Early in her career when she wrote novels for adults she used the pen name A. M. Bernard. J.K. Rowling the British novelist who rose to fame with her Harry Potter series has also written a number of books under the name of Robert Galbraith.

Answer: Sicily

Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish. It is a cooked vegetable salad with chopped up eggplant, celery and various spices which is then fried.

Sardinia is famous for its seafood dishes and Capri also for seafood but also Caprese Salad. If you go to Elba you must try the Risotto with squid ink. Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba in 1814-15.

Answer: They are all Scottish

Armando Iannucci was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1963 to Italian parents. He is a writer, satirist, Director and radio producer. Jack Vettriano was born Jack Hoggan in 1951 in Methil, Fife, Scotland. He has exhibited his paintings in London and New York and his 1992 painting "The Singing Butler" sold in 2004 for £(GPD) 744,800. Nicola Benedetti is a classical violist and was born in 1987 in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland. Her father is Italian and her mother Scottish. She has performed as a solo artist in London and Paris.

Answer: Woodwind

A flageolet is a member of the fipple flute family and is a woodwind instrument. Flageolets have varied considerably over the past 400 years with the French and English having different finger holes being four and six respectively. The flageolet is rarely played today in an orchestra.

Answer: Suez Canal (Egypt)

The Great Bitter Lake is a saltwater lake in Egypt which connects the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal.

The Panama Canal connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through the country of Panama, in Central America. The Grand Canal of China is the longest canal in the world at 1,776km; parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC. The Keil Canal is only 95km in length but links the North Sea to the Baltic Sea through the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Answer: Shark

The shark is classified as a fish whereas the other three are mammals. Mammals feed their young on milk.

Answer: Arabian Sea

Mumbai is the most populated city in India and sits on the west coast of the country facing the Arabian Sea. The Arabian Sea is a region of the northern Indian Ocean.

The Bay of Bengal is lies to the east coast of India and the Laccadive Sea is a body of water that borders India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Answer: Beef knot

The beer knot is used in rock climbing and is a bend to join tubular webbing as in a sling. The thief knot resembles the reef knot but the free ends are on opposite sides. The grief knot combines the features of a granny knot and a thief knot. Also known as a "what knot".

Answer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer who also composed "Swan Lake" (1875), "Sleeping Beauty" (1890) and "The Nutcracker" (1892).

Adolphe Adam (1803-1856) was a French composer of operas and ballets. His best known ballet is "Giselle" (1841). Ludwig Minkus (1826-1917) was an Austrian composer who is best known for "Don Quixote" (1869) and "La Bayadere" (1877). Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1957) was a Russian composer who is known for the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" which premiered in 1938.