Masterful Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joe Friday

"This is the city, Los Angeles, California.. I work here.. I'm a cop."

were the opening lines for the cop show, 'Dragnet'. The main character was Joe Friday and he always sought the facts, "just the facts" and the criminals had no hope. The show started life as a radio series, but was hugely successful on the small screen. Jack Webb wrote and starred in the original television series that ran from 1951-59- it was subtitled 'Badge 714'. The number came from the badge of LAPD Sergeant Dan Cooke, who was a technical adviser on the series.

Answer: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

The atmosphere in this poem by Lord Byron (published between 1812 and 1818) is generated through the world weariness of its protagonist, a young man who is disillusioned with life and seeks distractions in foreign lands to get himself revitalised. This is seen as a somewhat autobiographical work and one of the first examples of the "Byronic" hero. Note: the word "childe" in the title does not imply a doll like figure but is a medieval title for a young man who is a possible candidate for a knighthood.

Lord Byron, a nobleman and a noted poet was considered one of the leading figures of the Romantic Movement.

Answer: The Oresteia

The Oresteia' was written over 2,500 years ago, and is a trilogy telling the story of four murders, the subsequent trial and the societal and political ramifications involved. The first play is 'Agamemnon', and details the title character's murder by his wife, Clytemnestra, due to an atmosphere of jealousy and suspicion. His concubine, Cassandra, was also stabbed to death. Part II is entitled 'The Libation Bearers ' and is a story of revenge. Agamemnon's son Orestes and his sister, Electra, kill Clytemnestra and her boyfriend, Aegisthus. Volume III is 'The Eumenides', which portrays the trial of Orestes, for matricide. The jury is divided but eventually his life is spared.

The complete series is one of the oldest Greek tragedies known, and Aeschylus is often credited as being 'the father of tragedy'. The play won the major prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC; I guess it was a predecessor of the Academy Awards!

Answer: Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy

Born 1584, Hu Zhengyan, was a Chinese painter and a printmaker. His work in seal-carving and embossing techniques is has inspired artist and workers in many fields including calligraphers and card makers. His most notable work "Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy" was published in 1633 and remained in print for over 200 years.

It is an anthology of 320 prints by thirty artists.

Answer: Las Meninas

Born in Seville, Spain in 1599, Velazquez was the favourite painter of King Philip IV and is well known for his many portraits of Spanish royalty. He is considered one of the most important painters of what is seen as Spain's "Golden" period in art. "Las Meninas" is an oil painting from 1656 that shows a number of figures from the Spanish royal court in a large hall.

In the midst of these is the young Margaret Theresa, looking like an ornament, surrounded by her maids of honour, two dwarfs, a dog, her chaperone and bodyguard It has been praised for its complexity and illusionary qualities.

Answer: Yosemite National Park

One of the most influential and esteemed photographers of the twentieth century, Ansell Adams was born in 1902 in San Francisco. Whilst he is well known for his environmental work he is best remembered for his black and white images that he captured of the American West, in particular the views of Yosemite Park. Think you haven't seen this, check out some old calendars, they have been used for them so often. See El Capitain, the Moon and Half Dome, the lakes, the lumber... need I go on.

Answer: cryptocurrency

David Lee Chaum, born 1955, came to prominence with his paper "Untraceable Electronic Mail, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms" in 1982 which then led to his creation of ecash, an anonymous cryptographic electronic money. He then added to the need for privacy in society by implementing his ecash through a system called Digicash.

A very early form of cryptographic electronic payments.

Answer: Mildred Hayes

Frances McDormand was awarded a Best Actress Award for her role as Mildred Hayes in the movie 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' in 2017. She was born Cynthia Ann Smith in Illinois and has blonde hair and almond-shaped blue eyes. She made her film debut in Blood Simple in 1984, and played Dot in 'Raising Arizona' in 1987.

Answer: Penultimate Anglo-Saxon king of England

Edward the Confessor was known as such for his piety. Indeed, he was so devout that he was content to leave the engine room of governance to his wife and son. He is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry. He named his cousin Harold as his success, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, which he himself had ordered erected by Benedictine monks.

Answer: Married to Henry, Duke of Orléans, at age 14

Catherine de Medici was arguably one of the most influential princess in the history of France. While through her husband's reign, she was excluded from politics, but made up for that during the reigns of her three sons. Instrumental in setting up persecution of the Huguenots (even though initially sympathetic) she presided over horrific persecutions of non-Catholics.

She died at the age of 69 and was interred in the Saint-Denis basilica in Paris, though her bones were disturbed by a revolutionary mob in 1793.