Once They Were Famous Trivia Quiz

Answer: Liverpool

Fame or infamy? Slavery in its various forms has been part of mankind for millennia. During the 18th century Liverpool and Bristol set up the 'triangular trade' where ships left the Britain for Africa with goods which were exchanged for slaves. The slaves were taken to the Caribbean and sugar and rum brought back on the return leg. Towards the end of the 18th century, 80% of the country's and 40% of the world's slave trading ships passed through Liverpool.

Slavery was outlawed throughout most of the British Empire by the UK Parliament in 1833.

Answer: Asbestos, Quebec

The word 'asbestos' comes from the ancient Greek for 'unquenchable'. The negative health effects of asbestos had been known for some time. However, with the help of a laboratory compromised by industry funding, the company operating the mine at Asbestos chose to dismiss claims concerning the effects on its workers. It took a visiting South African scientist turned whistle-blower in 1949 to bring the laboratory results out in the open. The mine has since closed. The open-cast mine at Asbestos is about two kilometres wide.

Wittenoom was Australia's blue asbestos town and was shut down in 1966 due to health concerns. Radium Hot Springs takes its name after the presence of the radioactive element radium; a half hour dip in the hot springs will apparently do no lasting harm. Although Melphalan is carcinogenic, I have not found a place with that name.

Answer: Nauru

Fossilised guano (sea bird droppings) is rich in phosphorus and is valuable for a variety of uses including fertilisers, drugs and plastics. Mining of phosphate (or bird poop) started in 1906. However, the Nauruans did not take control of this until 1967. The resulting wealth took its toll. The land was effectively decimated. Western diets took over from traditional diets and chronic diseases took hold. Diabetes was rampant. The guano ran out, the wealth evaporated and Nauru is now amongst the world's poorer nations. The land is still decimated.

Answer: Bedlam

According to Wiktionary, 'Bedlam' means 'a place or situation of chaotic uproar, and where confusion prevails.' Bedlam Hospital, as it was once known, became infamous for the brutality with which patients were treated. Violent patients were often chained to a floor or wall and conditions were terrible. For several centuries, visitors paid a fee to view the antics of the inmates. Long sticks were permitted with which to prod the unfortunates.

The original site is now part of Liverpool Street Station in London.

Answer: Alexandria

The lighthouse was built during the 3rd century BC and is said to have been over 100 metres tall. It reportedly operated as a lighthouse for more than 1,000 years. Earthquakes in 956, 1303 and 1323 AD damaged and ultimately destroyed the lighthouse. The ruins now lie at the bottom of Alexandria's eastern harbour although some of the stone was used in the building of a mediaeval fort built on the same site. The island Pharos is the source of the Greek and Latin-derived words for 'lighthouse'; for example, 'phare' in French means 'lighthouse'.

Athens, capital of Greece, has its own ancient wonders. The site of Carthage forms part of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, and Egypt's capital Cairo is about 180 km inland from Alexandria.

Answer: France

Mururoa and Fangataufa Atoll in French Polynesia were the sites of over 180 mostly-underground nuclear bomb tests in the 30 years up to 1996. Is that fame or infamy? France has denied claims that the tests have caused cancers and deaths in the local population, although French courts have accepted a cancer claim from a French serviceman. There are also still concerns that Mururoa atoll will collapse releasing significant amounts of radioactive materials into the surrounding waters.

The French foreign intelligence service DGSE sank the 'Rainbow Warrior' in Auckland, New Zealand with one death resulting. Two of the six agents involved were arrested while attempting to leave the country and served two years of a ten-year sentence. France initially denied involvement and then threatened an economic embargo of New Zealand in order to encourage early release of the agents.

Answer: Makassar

The oil used to leave a mess on the furniture and so a washable cloth was used to protect the furniture. These started being called antimacassars from about 1850 and could be quite elaborate crocheted or embroidered items. The oil was originally made from the fruit of the bado nut tree. Makassar used to be the dominant trading centre for eastern Indonesia. These days Makassar has a predominately service-sector oriented economy.

Answer: Nuclear meltdown

The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power station led to this city of 49,000 being abandoned. The city, about five kilometres from the plant, was built in 1970 to house workers for the plant. Upwards of 500,000 people were involved in the clean-up.

It was originally proposed to build the plant just 25 kilometres outside Kiev, a city with a 2011 population of 2.6 million. In the end it was built 100 kilometres away and fortunately for that city the winds blew the fallout in the opposite direction.

Others were less fortunate. The effects will be felt for a long time to come.

Answer: Coal mining

Despite only being 15 acres in size, the island was a major coal mining resource for Japan. The coal seam on the surface of the island went deep underground. Nearly 30 kilometres offshore, it was easier to build accommodation for the miners and their families rather than transport them daily. Space was at a premium so buildings went upwards and underground tunnels connected them.

The world's preference for petrol over coal led to the closure of the mine.

Answer: Manchester

The 19th century was the peak period for Manchester cotton mills. There was much money to be made and the number of mills in the city peaked at 108 in 1853. After this the mills moved out to the surrounding area and Manchester, after the building of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, turned itself into a port and world trading centre for cotton for another 60 years or so.

The two Premier League soccer teams are Manchester United and Manchester City. Leeds is in Yorkshire, Glasgow is in Strathclyde, Scotland and Liverpool used to be part of Lancashire but is now part of the Merseyside.