Party Animals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bull Moose Party

The Progressive Party split from the Republicans following disagreements between President Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, the Progressive Party candidate in the 1912 election, was shot in the chest by John Schrank as he was on his way to make a campaign speech.

The bullet apparently was significantly slowed by the folded speech and an eyeglass case, and Roosevelt declared that he was fine; in fact, he was "fit as a bull moose". He proceeded to deliver the planned speech, bleeding but not seriously injured, and the reporter's story led to the use of the name Bull Moose Party to refer to the Progressive Party until its demise in 1917.

The term is still often used to distinguish them from later groups calling themselves the Progressive Party.

Answer: Rhinoceros

Just because they're a joke party, don't think they aren't making some serious political statements! The Parti Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros Party in English) was officially established in 1963, with a platform based on a guarantee that they wouldn't keep any of their promises (a platform that they argued was stolen by the major parties), followed by a whole range of preposterous propositions.

They ceased to exist in 1993, when new electoral regulations meant they could only remain a registered party if they registered candidates in at least 50 electoral districts, at a cost of $1,000 each.

In 2007, after the law was changed to require only a single candidate, the party was resurrected by Francois Gourd, one of those involved in the original party. Cornelius the First was listed as the original leader of the party, and retains his position as its mascot, despite having been traded to the San Diego zoo for a giraffe.

Answer: Bald eagle

It is a bald eagle, the official bird of the United States (despite Ben Franklin's arguments on behalf of the wild turkey), which appears on the Constitution Party logo. This party, founded in 1992 as the U.S. Taxpayer's Party and becoming the Constitution Party in 1999, has a number of regional affiliated parties with a variety of names. All fit under the general category of paleo-conservative parties, a term coined in the 1980s by Paul Gottfried to describe a political orientation stressing traditional values, limited government, and usually a strong sense of religious and national identity.

The eagle has been used as a national symbol many times in history. It is associated with power, speed, and decisive action, along with sharp vision that allows it to see the truth.

Answer: Lion

The Konservativ Ungdom (KU), associated with the Conservative People's Party of Denmark, is the oldest youth political party in the world, having been founded in 1904 by Carl F. Herman von Rosen. A number of significant Danish politicians started their careers working for the KU, including former prime minister Poul Schluter.

The lion has been used as a symbol in heraldry for courage, strength and royalty.

Answer: Wyvern

The Wessex Regionalist Party is a minor party that seeks increased home rule for a region roughly corresponding to the county of Wessex. They were established in 1974, and unsuccessfully fielded candidates in a number of UK general elections during the balance of the 20th century.

A wyvern is a winged reptile with a dragon's head, the body of a lizard (sometimes described as a snake with legs), and a barbed tail. The wyvern appears frequently (often misidentified as a dragon, which is another common emblem) in British heraldry and as a commercial logo and team mascot. The wyvern was the symbol of the Kingdom of Wessex before the development of a single English state during the 10th century.

Answer: Prohibition Party

The Prohibition Party, founded in 1869, is best known for its opposition to the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks, although it has a platform that addresses many more wide-ranging issues than that. It had its heyday of influence in the first part of the 20th century, culminating in the passage of the 18th amendment to the US Constitution in 1919, which heralded the beginning of Prohibition in the US. It was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933, having failed to achieve its goal. The party became relatively insignificant after World War II, but continued to run a presidential candidate every four years. The 2008 candidate received 643 votes.

Thomas Nast, the man responsible for the Democrats' donkey and the Republicans' elephant, bestowed a camel on the Prohibition Party. According to the party website, "Nast chose the camel to represent the Prohibition Party because, like Prohibitionists generally, camels don't drink very often, and, when they do drink, they drink only water. Originally a dromedary, the symbol was later changed to the Bactrian camel in order not to be associated with the camel logo on Camel Cigarettes".

Answer: Nepal

The Nepalese Constituent Assembly was selected from candidates representing political parties with some intriguing logos! The animals in the list were a cow (Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal), a fish (Nepal Samata Party), an elephant (Rastriya Bikas Party), a horse (Lig Nepal Shanti Ekata Party), a peacock (Nepal Jansangh Party), a rhino (Rastriya Jan Prajatantrik Party), a tiger (Liberal Samajbadi Party), a pigeon (Rastrabadi Ekata Party), a pair of bulls (Terai-Madesh Loktantrik Party), and a rooster (Mangol National Organization). Many of the inanimate logos were clearly symbolic of national traditions (plough, woven basket, madal) or standard political rhetoric (tree, light in hand, ladder); some leave me baffled, although they may well have had resonance in their time and place, such as the (empty) glass and the comb. A full list of the parties and their symbols can be found at http://www.election.gov.np/EN/voterinfo/list.php.

The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), whose symbol was a hammer and sickle, was the party that received the most votes in the election, garnering 38% of the seats in the Constitutional Assembly.

Answer: Modern Whig Party

In American history, various parties with the word 'Whig' in their names have appeared over the years. The American Whigs was the name given to those who rebelled against British rule in 1776; the Whig party in the first half of the 19th century included such illustrious members as Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln (before its dissolution in 1856) and three presidents - William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor were both elected, and Millard Fillmore became president after Taylor's death. The word 'Whig' is intended to connote a fight against tyranny. The 2007 revival, with the name Modern Whig Party, specifically intends to maintain the push for congressional rather than presidential dominance that was central to the 19th century incarnation.

The owl has long been seen as representing wisdom, making it a suitable symbol for a party which claims to be in favor of common-sense political decision-making, independent of the major party political system. Their owl has a blue head and upper half of its body, with a row of four white stars forming a 'belt'; the lower half and the branch it perches on are red.

Answer: Ireland

The DUP is a political party based in Northern Ireland. It was originally founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley (amongst others) to fight for retaining union with Great Britain, and oppose the unification of Ireland as a single political entity. The lion is presumably intended to evoke a connection with the seven lions to be seen on the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

Answer: Rock 'n' Roll Loony Party

The Rock 'n' Roll Loony Party split from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 2001, and was de-registered in 2007. In several elections its candidates polled more votes than those from parties considered more 'serious' and 'mainstream'. As has been the case for the original MRLP and other splinter groups, they campaigned for ostensibly silly propositions in order to highlight serious issues. None of the other parties listed is defunct, although some might consider them a joke. That would be in line with the RNRLP philosophy!

The leopard in the logo is presumably a reference to the Laughing Leopard pub in Cannock, Staffordshire, where the party was originally based.