The Years of the Rats Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cell

Robert Hooke's work 'Micrographia' was the first major work published by the Royal Society of London. It included copperplate engravings of 'Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses', including the eye of a fly, a louse, and a flea. Hooke's observations of the structure of tree bark led him to describe the smallest component he could see as a 'cell', because it had walls and reminded him of a monk's cell.

Robert Hooke was part of the era of British scientists that included Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle. Hooke became curator of experiments at the newly-formed Royal Society and his work covered microscopy, astronomy, elasticity and gravitation. He also worked with Christopher Wren on plans for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire.

Answer: The Netherlands

In 1665 European powers were vying with each other for dominance of world trade. At stake were the spices of East Asia, sugar from the West Indies, furs and tobacco from North America, and new colonies in Africa. The English and Dutch had already been involved in the First Anglo-Dutch War from 1652-54 which had ended in an English victory. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was declared in 1665, a few years after the Restoration of Charles II. It included a raid by the Dutch Navy up the River Medway where it attacked the naval base at Chatham and burned several ships, the Royal Navy's biggest defeat. This war was also notable for the peace treaty signed in 1667. Despite the overall success achieved by the Dutch, they did not pursue their claim to one of their colonies which had been taken by the English in 1664. Instead the Dutch were content to continue their occupation of what is now Suriname and the island of Run. And the colony they relinquished? New Netherland and its capital, New Amsterdam - now known as New York.

As a side note, it is perhaps worth mentioning that during the 17th century, England and Scotland were still separate kingdoms, even though for much of the time they had the same king. (For a few years, neither of them had a king at all, as the English had executed him!) The two countries didn't actually become a single united kingdom until the Acts of Union, passed in England in 1706 and in Scotland in 1707, created the kingdom of Great Britain. In 1665 it was still possible therefore for England to declare war without involving Scotland.

Answer: Hudson's Bay Company

King Charles gave Pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers the sum of forty shillings per week to support them while finance was sought for their enterprise. The King asked Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who apart from the King's brother was his closest male relative in England, to get involved with the project and in addition to making an investment of his own, the prince arranged further finance and the commissioning of two ships for an expedition. After one of the ships returned to England in 1669 with a cargo of valuable furs, the King gave the company a Royal Charter and a monopoly of trade across the whole Hudson's Bay area.

The success of the Hudson's Bay Company and the development of English trade and influence were in conflict with French trading interests in the area, and when England and France were at war in Europe in the 1680s, raids on trading posts became official policy and continued into the 18th century. In 1713, the land that had previously been controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company was ceded to Great Britain and became a significant part of what we now call Canada.

Answer: In the margin of a book

Fermat contributed to areas as varied as number theory, probability, calculus, and optics. His 'Last Theorem' is called that because it was the last one to be proved. It was written in the margin of a book called Arithmetica, written by the Ancient Greek mathematician Diophantus. Fermat claimed he had a proof that was too large to fit the space but later scholars have queried this as the tools which led to the eventual solution were not available to Fermat. Over the centuries, different mathematicians managed to prove parts of Fermat's theorem but it was not until the mid-1990s that British mathematician Andrew Wiles demonstrated a final proof. Even then his first published proof contained an error which took him a further year to solve and it wasn't until 1995 that scientists agreed that Fermat's Last Theorem was proved - 358 years after Fermat wrote his notes in the margin of a book.

Answer: Unlucky for actors to wear green on stage

Moliere died while playing the lead role in his play 'La Malade Imaginaire', which is ironic as 'The Imaginary Invalid' and his role was that of a hypochondriac. He collapsed on stage at least twice during the performance and afterwards was taken home where he died a few hours later.

Answer: Girl with a Pearl Earring

The 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' has become one of Vermeer's most famous works, even more so since Tracy Chevalier's fictional account of the story behind the painting was turned into a film. The painting has been the subject of many restorations and can be seen in the Mauritshuis Gallery in The Hague.

Answer: Koh-i-Noor

The Koh-i-Noor was mined in Andhra Pradesh, in southern India. It is not known when the diamond was first found but it was certainly part of a large treasure captured in a war between two Indian kings in 1323. In 1526, Babur, the first Mughal Emperor, referred to the Koh-i-Noor in his memoirs and in due course it passed to Shah Jahan who had it placed in the ornate Peacock Throne.

The Koh-i-Noor subsequently became the property of various Indian rulers until the Maharajah of Lahore was obliged to surrender the diamond to Queen Victoria, who was Empress of India. The diamond eventually became part of the British Crown Jewels but as any man wearing the gem is supposed to be cursed, it is worn only by women. So, after Queen Victoria's death, the diamond has been worn only by Queen Consorts - Queens Alexandria, Mary, and Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Answer: Cremona

There is very little evidence to prove beyond all doubt that Stradivari was a pupil of Amati's but it would be very strange if he had not been at some point - although Cremona has since become famous for its violin-makers, at the time only the Amati family would have taken apprentices. Moreover, the label on that 1666 violin seems to prove it: "Alumnus Nicolai Amati, faciebat anno 1666" ("Pupil of Nicolai Amati, made in the year 1666"). That violin is now known as the "ex-Back" and is the property of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Stradivari made violins, harps, guitars, violas and cellos but it is his violins that brought him long-lasting fame. Stradivari reshaped the geometry of the violin, and his instruments produced a clearer tone that became the standard violin-makers have aimed for ever since.

Answer: 23

Newton's theory of gravitation shows that the apple falling from a tree in the Lincolnshire countryside was subjected to the same force as that applied to the Earth by the Moon. A key aspect of Newton's laws of gravity is that the gravitational attraction between any two bodies - the apple and the Earth, and the Earth and the Moon - is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The mathematics involved in establishing these laws led to the development of calculus and the rules for dealing with rates of change.

Because of the range of his work and discoveries in 1666, the year is sometimes referred to as Newton's 'Annus Mirabilis' - his 'wonderful year'. When Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 he was appointed a Fellow of the University, and in 1669 he was made Lucasian Professor of Physics at the age of 26.

Answer: Bakery

Thomas Farriner (sometimes spelled Farynor) was King Charles II's baker. After the Fire, Mr Farriner told the official enquiry that his ovens had definitely been extinguished before he went to bed but many historians believe that this can not be true, given that the evidence of where the Great Fire began was overwhelming.

The flames were fanned by strong winds and despite instructions from the King to destroy buildings in order to create windbreaks (a suggestion for which Samuel Pepys claimed credit in his diary) it proved difficult to control the fire as sparks crossed any gaps created. Over 13,000 houses were destroyed, as well as nearly a hundred churches and chapels, a prison, several bridges, and shops, businesses and public buildings. The fire stopped eventually when the wind changed direction and blew the flames back across ground that had already burned; once this happened it was easier for people to deal with the embers.

At the time, London was the third largest city in Europe and the growing prestige and power of England required that its capital should be rebuilt as soon as possible. In 1667 Sir Christopher Wren submitted plans for rebuilding London, and while many of his ideas were not adopted, his proposals led to the 1667 Rebuilding Act which included a number of building standards designed to make sure such a Great Fire could not happen again. By 1671, over nine thousand buildings had been erected and by 1700, London had become the largest city in Europe.