The World In Verse Trivia Quiz

Answer: Austria

The clues: Austria is in Europe. Sigmund Freud was born in Austria in Freiberg, part of the Austrian Empire. The Vienna Boys' Choir is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world, named for the capital city of Austria. Vienna sausages need no explanation, they are found in a number of countries. They are not named for the capital city though. The word 'wiener', synonymous with sausages, means 'Viennese' in German.

Austria is a republic in central Europe, bordered by the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Answer: Fiji

The clues: The Fiji archipelago consists of more than 330 islands in the South Pacific ocean. The capital city is Suva and Captain Cook was the second explorer to visit Fiji in 1774. The rugby player clue, alludes to the fact that Fiji have won the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in 1997 and 2005. A number of Fijian rugby players have also been part of the New Zealand All Black and Australian Wallaby teams through the years.

The Republic of Fiji was settled around 3500 to 1000 BC and is surrounded by the islands of New Zealand, Vanuatu, Tonga, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and the Samoas. The two main Fijian islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, populated by over 80% of the Fijian population. Suva, the capital city, sits on Viti Levu.

Answer: Nile

The clues: Two tributaries, one white and one blue. The White Nile originates from the Great Lakes region in Central Africa and the Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, they then join up to form the Nile proper. The Aswan Dam is a hydroelectric dam built across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt. The Nile is the second largest river in the world, behind the Amazon river in South America.

The Nile river stretches over eleven different countries and is 6,853 metres long. It drains into the Mediterranean Sea at the famed Nile river delta. The Aswan Low Dam was opened in 1902 and High Dam was built in 1960.

Answer: Pyrenees

The clues: The Pyrenees Mountain range forms a natural border between the countries of Spain and France that extends from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea. The Great Pyrenees or Pyrenean Mountain Dog originates in the Spain and France area too.

The Pyrenees extend over 491 km. The Great Pyrenees is a large white breed of dog, used for livestock herding. A gentle and fearless dog, they have an average lifespan of ten years.

Answer: Baikal

The clues: Lake Baikal is a rift lake found in Siberia, Russia. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world. It contains more water than the U.S. Great Lakes combined and is the deepest and considered the oldest lake in the world.

Lake Baikal is estimated to be 25 million years old and was created as a result of movement of the tectonic plates. The Rift Valley lakes and the Dead Sea are both examples of rift lakes too. Lake Baikal contains over 20% of the world's surface water and is 1,642 metres deep and is believed to be one of the clearest lakes in the world.

Answer: Uluru (Ayers Rock)

The clues: Uluru is also named Ayers Rock. It is 2,831 ft tall, made of sandstone and has a distinctive red colouration. The closest town to Uluru is Alice Springs. The Pitjantjatjara Anangu are the Aboriginal people of the area who hold it as sacred.

Uluru is not the only monolith in Australia, but it is probably the best known. It is found almost right in the centre of the country and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is estimated to be 550 million years old. The Anangu, traditional landowners, have a number of myths and legends surrounding Uluru's creation. "Uluru: An Aboriginal history of Ayers Rock" by Robert Layton, contains one of these myths:

"Uluru was built up during the creation period by two boys who played in the mud after rain. When they had finished their game they travelled south to Wiputa ... Fighting together, the two boys made their way to the table topped Mount Conner, on top of which their bodies are preserved as boulders"

Answer: Cloud forest

The clues in this limerick are slightly more cryptic. A moist, tropical forest with moss and ferns wherein which gorillas could be found. The countries mentioned in the the rhyme are not part of the clue.

There are a number of cloud forests in the world, also called water forests. They can be found all over the world, from Canada to Australia, Iran to New Zealand. The generally occur on saddles of mountains and settling clouds provide the moisture which feeds the forest. Mountain gorillas are the best known cloud forest animals, found in the Albertine Rift forests. These are cloud forests found across Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania.

Answer: Yosemite Falls

While a number of waterfalls exist in United States national parks, only one is named for a cartoon cowboy who hates Bugs Bunny.

The Yosemite Falls are found in the Yosemite National Park. They are not the tallest falls in the world, this honour belongs to the Angel Falls in Venezuela. They are one of the tallest falls in the world though at 2,424 feet. The widest falls in the world are found in Cambodia, the Khone Falls.

Yosemite Sam is an animated cowboy character from the "Merrie Melodies" and "Looney Tunes" cartoon series. He is one of Bugs Bunny's enemies and was originally voiced by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc.

Answer: San Andreas Fault

The clues here are simply that it is a famous fault line found in California, United States.

The San Andreas Fault extends for 1,200 km running through California. It is known as a transform fault and forms the boundary between the North American Plate and Pacific Plate. The shifting of these plates has been the source of a number of devastating earthquakes, not least of these the 7.9 magnitude Fort Tejon earthquake in 1857 which took two lives. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, took 3000 lives.

Answer: Ulaanbaatar

The clues: Genghis Khan was the great Khan who lived from 1162 to 1227 and the founder of the Mongol empire in 1206. Genghis Khan is known for his ruthless campaigns with which he conquered much of Eurasia.

Mongolia is found in East Asia between Russia and China and is the 18th largest country in the world. Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator) is the capital city and contains almost half of the country's population.