Cloak & Dagger Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fires

Aeschylus in "Agamemnon" tells us that a watchman, on the roof of the royal palace at Argos, spied a beacon flashing: this was the prearranged signal announcing the fall of Troy to the Greek armies. He immediately rushed to Queen Clytemnestra with the great news.

Answer: To tattoo a message on his scalp

From Herodotus we learn that Histaieus, governor of Miletus, urged Aristagoras and the Ionians to join him in a revolt against the Persian Darius in 499 B.C.
After tattooing the message on the spy's scalp, they had to wait for his hair to grow back and hide it. Not recommended for urgent communications!

Answer: Mary Queen of Scots

The Catholic Mary was plotting to overthrow her cousin, the protestant Elizabeth I, and take her place on the throne of England. While imprisoned in a castle, Mary became involved in the Babington plot against Elizabeth. Some of her messages in code, hidden in beer barrels, were intercepted and deciphered. Put on trial and found guilty, Mary was beheaded in 1587.

Answer: Flags

In 1805 before the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson ordered the message to be transmitted to the fleet. His original message began, 'England confides ...' but his signal officer tactfully suggested 'England expects ...' instead.
Nelson won a resounding victory in the battle against the French and the Spanish, but lost his life. At this time, before radio or Morse communication, the British were especially good at signaling with flags.

There were about 30 different flags, but they could convey a great number of messages, depending on what mast they were hoisted on, or at what position they were raised. A "flag lieutenant" was responsible for transmitting the flag orders received from the admiral.

Answer: First hydrogen bomb detonated by the U.S.

On October 31, 1952, a bomb with the code name "Mike" was successfully exploded at Eniwetok in the Pacific. How to announce the news secretly to the nervous scientists at Los Alamos, N.M., who had developed the bomb, and were 6,000 miles away? The seemingly innocent and prearranged message: "It's a boy!" accomplished the task.

Answer: Pigeons, dogs and horses

This special medal was created in 1943 by Maria Dickin to honor animals who had displayed "conspicuous gallantry" in the service of their country. The medal is commonly known as "the animals' Victoria Cross" and is inscribed with the words "We also serve".

Aver five dozen of them have been awarded so far to different animals, but the most gallant of them seem to be the carrier pigeons, who were very active in relaying messages in WWII. Other recipients are dogs, horses and even a cat. In 1982 the remains of a carrier pigeon were found in a chimney in Surrey, England.
The secret message in code from WWII was still attached to its leg.

Answer: Navajos

Realizing that even sophisticated written codes such as Enigma could be broken, the Americans devised an absolutely foolproof method of secret verbal communication. A group of Navajo soldiers was trained in a language based on their native dialect, but new military terms had to be devised, such as aircraft carrier, tank, etc.

The Navajo language was chosen because it is one of the most difficult and least known. It was used mostly in the Pacific theater, and was extremely successful.

Answer: Blinking his eyes

Appearing on television to "confess" his criminal actions, Denton spoke the words that were forced on him. He looked haggard and kept blinking his eyes, as if bothered by the lights, but in reality he was transmitting a signal in Morse code with his eyes: T-O-R-T-U-R-E.

Answer: Verlaine

During the war the BBC had transmitted innumerable specific messages to the French, instructing them for example to cut the phone lines ("The dice are on the table") - or to sabotage the railroad ("It's hot in Suez"). To advise them that the Normandy invasion was imminent, they chose the first line of a poem by Verlaine "Chanson d'autumne".

This was sent on June 1st, 1944: "Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne" (The long sobs of the violins of autumn). The second line of the poem was sent on June 5th: "Blessant mon coeur d'une langueur monotone" (Wounding my heart with a monotonous languor). The invasion was on!

Answer: Napoleon

When Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1814, he told his followers: "I will return in the season of the violets". After that he became known as Corporal Violet among his sympathizers, who were waiting eagerly for his return. In order to recognize one another, they wore violets in their lapels, purple clothing, or jewelry in the shape of violets.

Before Waterloo, a print appeared depicting a bunch of violets, in which were hidden the profiles of Napoleon, his wife Marie Louise and their son, the king of Rome. The print is online, if you want to try to find the three profiles camouflaged within the flowers and leaves of the bouquet.