All Along The Watchtower Quiz | World Sites

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Once the tallest structure in France, the Eiffel Tower became one of that nation's most iconic constructions and one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world. In 1968, it was painted a new colour. Of which was it a shade?

Answer: Brown

Specifically that bronze colour is "Eiffel Tower Brown", a shade that was adopted in 1968. Originally it had been a reddish brown. The tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair. It was not universally popular at the time: some aesthetes hated it.

The wrought iron lattice tower is 324 metres (1,063ft) tall. It became the tallest construction in Paris and was for 41 years after its opening the tallest man-made structure in the world.
It has several viewing platforms and restaurants.

Did I mention that some people hated it? Well one of them, Guy de Maupassant, got into the habit of eating lunch in the restaurant every day saying it was the one place in all of Paris from where he could not see the tower.

2. In 2010, the Tokyo Skytree became the tallest structure in Japan. Which of these was not one of its core functions?

Answer: Clock tower

To the tip of its antennae spire, the Skytower is 634m (2,080ft) tall.
It was principally built to house television and radio broadcasters, but also had observation decks at 340m, 345m, and 350m. The restaurant was on the first of the observation decks.

3. Once the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, the 'Space Needle' allows breathtaking views out across a wide area of a north westerly state of the United States. In which city is it located?

Answer: Seattle, Washington

Built for the World's Fair of 1962, the Space Needle rises to 605ft (184m) .
It has an observation deck at 520ft (160m) and a rotating restaurant at 500feet (150m).

Several lifts serve the restaurant and observation tower. The journey takes take 41 seconds. If you are a bit uneasy about lifts, you could try walking up the 800-odd steps.

4. In the 15th century, by an act of Parliament, watchtowers were built in England to provide warning of invasion. Who were the invaders that the Parliamentarians feared?

Answer: Scots

Peel Towers were built in the 1430s across the north of England to warn of invasion from Scotland. Each had an iron basket at the top in which a fire could be lit to give a warning.

The term 'tower' has a specific definition (see quiz conclusion) and while Peel Towers sometimes differed from it - some also provided a home for the local landed gentry - they were built for the purposes of watching and warning of danger.

5. The Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognisable structures in the world. Symbolically, it welcomes people to liberty in a new world. From what material was its highest elevations constructed?

Answer: Copper

Rising to 305 feet above Liberty Island in New York City, the statue was often the first thing many people fleeing poverty or persecution in Europe saw of their new world.
The statue was a gift to the United States by the people of France. It was designed by Fr�d�ric Auguste Bartholdi, built by Gustave Eiffel, and dedicated on October 28, 1886. Raised on a stonework plinth, the statue was designed to resemble Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tablet of the law.

An internal staircase allows visitors to ascend to the viewing platform in the statue's crown. Only 240 people a day are allowed to ascend, and tickets often need to be reserved a year in advance.

6. In the 1960s, a fortified border was constructed that divided a city and isolated a huge part of it from its ideologically different hinterland. Along its length more than 300 watchtowers were constructed. What was this boundary familiarly known as?

Answer: Berlin Wall

The "anti-fascist protection wall" stretched for some 87 miles, 140 km. It cut East Berlin off from West Berlin and West Berlin from the surrounding East German countryside. While presented as a defence against invasion from the west, the real intent was to stop people fleeing from East to West. Construction began in 1961.

Initially, much of the wall was in fact a metal fence. In the city concrete walls topped by an unclimbable circular pipe were constructed. (There were four 'generations' of wall, each more sophisticated than the previous.) Prior to the reunification of Germany, demolition of the wall started in 1990.

7. In 2015, the city of Perth, Australia, erected several watchtowers at Cottesloe Beach. What were they designed to help spot?

Answer: Shark attacks

As watchtowers go, they were not all that tall, but they provided lifeguards with a vital height advantage.

"It gets us above umbrellas, it gets above the people on the beach. We have a broad view of what's happening on the beach, but we can also see what's happening on the waters, we can see over the top of the surf line," one of the beach lifeguards told ABC News.

8. Desolation Peak is one example of the many hundreds of watchtowers that were built in the USA to provide lookout points against forest fires. Probably the most noteworthy fact is that it was brought to fame in the writings of a beat generation author. Who was he?

Answer: Jack Kerouac

Desolation Peak is in the in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area of Washington state.

In the summer of 1956, Kerouac spent 63 days working there as as a fire lookout. He recounted his time there in three books "Lonesome Traveler", "The Dharma Bums" and "Desolation Angels."

9. Sitting on a plane waiting to take off, you are going nowhere until the control tower gives the pilots permission. In 2005, the new tower at Suvarnabhumi International Airport set a new record for the tallest control tower of any international airport. Where is it?

Answer: Thailand

The tower stands 132.2m (434ft) and gives the controllers a 360-degree view of the airport. It cost $18m. The airport has two runways and handles more than 70 aircraft an hour.

10. Until it was demolished in 1990, a security checkpoint guarded by high watchtowers was located at Strabane, Co Tyrone, on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. What was it called?

Answer: The Camel's Hump

In fact, the name "Camel's Hump" pre-dated by many years the first construction of an army/police checkpoint. It probably started off as a colloquialism. The 'hump' was the shape of the road between Strabane in Co Tyrone and Lifford in Co Donegal as it was raised above the Great Northern Railway.

With the coming of terrorist violence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, vehicles and pedestrians crossing between the two towns - particularly into Strabane - were often subject to bing stopped and searched.

The military installation was demolished and no trace remains. Although the railway, the checkpoint and the old raised road have long gone, the name Camel's Hump remains.

(Darksplash cannot claim to have been there when the Berlin Wall came down, but was there the day the Camel's Hump was demolished.)

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

All Along The Watchtower Trivia Quiz

In this quiz, "watchtower" is defined as a construction built for the specific purposes of observation, or which became noted for the views it provided. The quiz is part of 'FT Setlist 3' in the Quiz Authors Lounge.

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