Xanthic Hues Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brazil

Established in 1914, the Brazilian national soccer team is officially known as Selecão Brasileira de Futebol, or simply "Selecão". It also has a number of nicknames that reference the bright yellow colour of the players' jerseys: "Canarinho" (canary, shown in the photo), "Amarelinha " ("little yellow one"), "Verde-Amarela" (green-yellow), and "Esquadrão de Ouro" (The Golden Squad). This legendary team has amassed an impressive amount of records and awards: at the time of writing, it has won the FIFA World Cup five times, and the now-defunct FIFA Confederation Cup four times. It has also won two Olympic gold medals, and has participated in every edition of the FIFA World Cup since its inception in 1930.

For the first 36 years of its history, the Brazilian team wore white jerseys with blue trim, and white or blue shorts. However, in the early 1950s the kits were changed to incorporate the colours of the Brazilian flag: yellow jerseys with green trim, blue shorts, and white socks. Blue and white are still used as the team's second colours.

Answer: aspen

Aspen trees are native to the northern or mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where summers are cool and winters are cold and snowy. They are slender trees that can grow to heights of over 30 m (98 ft), with leaves that tremble in the wind - hence the binomial name of two of the most common species, Populus tremula (the Eurasian aspen) and Populus tremuloides (the quaking aspen of northern and western North America, shown in the photo). Aspens have glossy green leaves with a toothed edge, which turn a beautiful golden-yellow in autumn.

The quaking aspen is the state tree of Utah, where these trees grown abundantly, forming clonal colonies - one of which, named Pando (Latin for "I spread"), is one of the largest and heaviest living organisms in the world. The famous ski resort of Aspen in Colorado was named after the plentiful aspen groves found in the area.

Answer: Arles

Vincent Van Gogh painted "The Yellow House" (also known as "The Street") in September 1888. In May of the same year he had rented four rooms in the right wing of the house, located in 2 Place Lamartine in Arles, in the historic French region of Provence; his friend and fellow painter, Paul Gauguin, was a guest in the house for nine weeks later in the same year. The pink building on the left edge of the painting is the restaurant where Van Gogh often took his meals. The work is characterized by the contrast between the vivid, cobalt-blue sky and the yellow house with its green shutters. The painting, which is the property of the Van Gogh Foundation, is on permanent loan at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Sadly, the Yellow House does not exist any longer: badly damaged by bombs during WWII, it was eventually demolished.

The three cities listed as wrong answers are all located in the northern half of France.

Answer: New Orleans

Yellow fever is an infectious disease caused by a virus (Flavovirus, meaning "yellow virus") spread by the bite of the mosquito Aedes aegypti. In mild cases, yellow fever lasts three to six days, and has symptoms similar to those of a bad case of the flu. In about 15% of cases people infected by the disease enter a second, much more dangerous phase, in which the virus causes jaundice due to liver damage (hence the "yellow" name), as well as extensive internal bleeding. In such cases, the fatality rate can be as high as 50%; surviving a bout of yellow fever, however, gives lifelong immunity.

The virus is believed to have originated in Africa, and was brought to the Americas through the slave trade. Endemic in the West Indies, yellow fever spread to the US, and devastating outbreaks occurred even in cities with a cooler climate: in 1793, a yellow fever epidemic caused the death of 9% of the population of Philadelphia, at the time the capital of the newly-formed country. However, it was in New Orleans - with its long, hot summers and pervasive humidity - that the disease struck with particular virulence during the 19th century. The headstone in the photo, found in New Orleans' Lafayette Cemetery, commemorates people who died during the 1878 epidemic, the unfortunate result of an unusually wet year in the Mississippi River Valley.

Sadly, after a long time in which the spread of yellow fever in Africa and Central and South America seemed under control, the virus is spreading again because climate change is creating favourable conditions for the mosquitoes to breed and multiply.

Answer: yellowtail

The common name "yellowtail" may refer to various species of fish. The one in the photo is a specimen of yellowtail amberjack, or yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi), a large predatory fish mostly found in the Southern Pacific Ocean. A similar species, the Japanese amberjack (Seriola quinqueradiata), is found in the North Pacific Ocean, off the coasts of Japan and Korea. The latter species (called "hamachi" in Japanese) is highly prized as an ingredient of sushi and sashimi, and widely farmed in Japan. These fishes' common name stems from the characteristic coloration of their sickle-shaped tail.

The yellowhammer is a small bird of the bunting family, while the yellowlegs is a shorebird; the yellowjacket, on the other hand, is a wasp.

Answer: Vietnam

A marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, the Yellow Sea lies between mainland China (the provinces of Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, and Jiangsu, as well as the Tianjin Municipality) and the Korean Peninsula. The East China Sea lies to the south of the Yellow Sea, while two large bays - the Bohai Sea and Korea Bay - form its northwestern and northeastern parts. Some major rivers of East Asia (notably the Huang He, or Yellow River, the Liao, the Hai, and the Yalu) flow into the Yellow Sea, depositing large amounts of sand and silt, which account for the yellowish tint of the sea's waters.

The coasts of the Yellow Sea are among the world's most densely populated areas, and house some of the world's busiest container ports - such as Tianjin, Dalian, and Qingdao in China, and Incheon in South Korea. Unfortunately, this thriving economic activity has been detrimental to the environment, which is severely endangered by widespread pollution, overfishing, and unchecked coastal development.

Answer: plum

Also known as cherry plums, mirabelle plums (Prunus domestica var. syriaca) are small plums with sweet, flavourful flesh; though their usual colour when ripe is dark yellow, some varieties have reddish-orange skin. Although these fruits are also grown in other parts of Europe (and also in the Canadian province of Québec), the two main mirabelle cultivars are named after the historic cities of Nancy and Metz in Lorraine; Metz in particular holds a popular Mirabelle Festival during the month of August. Mirabelle plums are harvested from July to mid-September: they can be enjoyed fresh, or used to make desserts, preserves, and alcoholic drinks (brandy and liqueur).

In 1996, mirabelle plums from Lorraine were awarded the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) by the European Union. This status means that only the fruits produced in the French region can be exported.

Answer: Aubrey Beardsley

"The Yellow Book" was a quarterly periodical published in London between 1894 and 1897. Though its name and distinctive yellow cover evoked more than a whiff of scandal, the literary content was not particularly controversial; Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations, however, provided the shock value suggested by the title. The periodical is linked to the final decade of the 19th century - nicknamed the "Gay Nineties" (or also "Yellow Nineties" after the journal itself) - and the artistic and literary movement known as Aestheticism or Decadence, whose attitudes sharply contrasted with Victorian reserve and prudery. Oscar Wilde, the best-known writer of the time, never published anything in "The Yellow Book", but is associated with it because of his collaboration with Beardsley (who illustrated Wilde's play "Salome") and his friendship with many of the journal's contributors. On the other hand, a number of eminent British writers of the turn of the 20th century contributed to the journal: among them, W.B. Yeats, H.G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, and Henry James.

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), known for his black-and-white drawings, inspired by Japanese art, and often erotically charged, was dismissed as art director of "The Yellow Book" shortly after Wilde's arrest in 1895. He died of tuberculosis in 1898, the year after the journal ceased publication. The three artists mentioned as wrong answers were also active in the late 19th century, but none of them was associated with "The Yellow Book".

Answer: ruby

Like sapphire, ruby is a variety of corundum, the second-hardest mineral in the Mohs scale. However, while sapphire occurs in a variety of colours besides blue (including yellow), ruby only comes in red - as suggested by its name, from the Latin "ruber" ("red"). Different colours are due to trace elements in the main mineral: rubies owe their red colour to the presence of chromium, while the colour yellow is mainly due to iron, or nitrogen in the case of diamonds.

Fancy yellow diamonds are highly prized. The photo shows the Golden Eye, a flawless, deep yellow diamond weighing 43.51 carats (8.702 grams), believed to have been mined in Kimberley (South Africa). In 2011, this magnificent gem was sold at an online auction for nearly $3 million. Topaz also occurs in a wide range of colours, the most common of which is yellow.

Answer: White House

The Yellow Oval Room (here shown as decorated by Sister Parish and Stéphane Boudin during the administration of John F. Kennedy) is located on the second floor of the White House in Washington DC. Originally used as a drawing room by the John Adams administration (1797-1801), the room was first decorated in yellow damask by Dolley Madison in 1809. The room overlooks the South Lawn and the park known as the Ellipse; one of its windows leads to the Truman Balcony, built in 1948 to provide shade to the first floor portico. Throughout the years, the Yellow Oval Room has been used as a reception room, a library, and a study; Franklin D. Roosevelt was working there when, on 7th December 1941, he received the news of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The Yellow Oval Room was redecorated on various occasions throughout the years. It is now chiefly used to host small formal receptions, and to greet visiting heads of state before a State Dinner.