Friday, October 28, 2005

The Antaragni General Quiz

Kiritee and myself conducted a general quiz at this year's Antaragni - IIT Kanpur's cultural festival. Although the quiz started more than an hour late and went on until late in the night, participants were happy with most of the questions and said that the quiz was very enjoyable.

Here is my half of the quiz.

Prelims
1.With which sport would you associate the following teams?

# Appleby Arrows
# Ballycastle Bats
# Caerphilly Catapults
# Chudley Cannons
# Falmouth Falcons
# Holyhead Harpies
# Kenmare Kestrels
# Montrose Magpies
# Pride of Portree
# Puddlemere United
# Tutshill Tornados
# Wigtown Wanderers
# Wimbourne Wasps

2. (starred)The Asiatic Society of Bombay houses
several rare books, but perhaps none rarer than this.
There are only two surviving copies of the first draft
of this book, written in the 14th century AD. One of
them was given to the Society by Mountstuart
Elphinstone, governor of Bombay and President of the
Society from 1819-1827 and bears his signature. In
1930, the Italian government under Mussolini offered
the society one million pounds, calling the book a
national treasure. Mussolini believed that the offer
could not be refused, but to his shock, the Society
turned down his request stating that it was donated by
an ex-member of the Society and hence it was their
property. A visit to the Society by the Italian
Minister of Culture in 2002 confirmed that it was in a
much better condition than its other survivor which is
currently in Milan. Which book?

3. Fill in the blanks:

(All blanks are identical)

The original version of this oath is:

"...and I shall shed my light over dark evil.
For the dark things cannot stand the light,
The light of the _____ _______!"

However, the most popular version of this oath is:
"In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, _____ _______'s light! "

Another, more informal version is:
"You who are wicked,evil and mean
I'm the nastiest creep you've ever seen!
Come one, come all, put up a fight
I'll pound your butts with _____ _______'s light!
Yowza. "

4. In 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi who was the director of
the astronomical observatory of Palermo, in Sicily
discovered a new star-like object in the Taurus
constellation. He followed the displacement of this
object during several nights, but subsequently lost
sight of it. Astronomers around the world tried to
rediscover this object in the night sky, but failed. A
relatively unknown mathematician named Karl Freidrich
Gauss then announced that he had calculated the
position at which it could be found again.

Subsequently, the object was rediscovered by Franz
Xaver von Zach on December 31, 1801 in Gotha, and one
day later by Heinrich Olbers in Bremen at the exact
position predicted by Gauss. Zach noted that "without
the intelligent work and calculations of Doctor Gauss
we might not have found ______ again." The discovery
made Gauss an instant celebrity throughout Europe and
inspired him to write his "Theory of Celestial
Movement", considered one of the seminal works in
astronomical computation.

What was the celestial object? (Give a specific
answer)

5. Where would you find the poem “The New Colossus” by
Emma Lazarus?
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

6. Identify A-F

A is considered one of the greatest rock songs ever
written. It was written by B to declare his love for
C, who was the wife of D, who also happened to be one
of B's best friends. C soon left D to marry B, but
later divorced B as well. E was another member of D's
band. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, E
famously said "That's what happens when you become
famous - you get shot". The rights to the music of E's
band are held by F, who is also a famous singer.

7. _____ ____ (1674–1740) was an English agricultural
pioneer who was born in Basildon, Berkshire. He is
considered to be one of the early proponents of a
scientific approach to agriculture. He helped
transform agricultural practices by inventing or
improving numerous implements, the most notable being
the seed drill, which he invented in 1708. A
progressive metal band named itself after him. Which
band?

8. Identify this river (name blanked
out) which gives rise to 2 famous phrases - one
historical and the other contemporary.

9. Connect the 3 pics shown to "The Marriage of Figaro" - a piece by Mozart.





10. In Greek myth, what was the curse given by Zeus to mankind for
receiving the knowledge of fire from Prometheus?

Finals
1. Egg PLC is a bank originally established as
Prudential Banking PLC, a division of Prudential PLC,
the UK life assurance company. It has grown steadily
since its inception in 1998, and today has over 3.6
million customers. It won the Best Credit Card
Provider in Personal Finance Magazine's 2005 Awards.
It is now the largest bank of its kind in the world.
What is unique about this bank?

2. Jeffrey Katzenberg was named the head of the
Feature Animation unit at the Walt Disney Company in
1984. Under him, Disney produced several top-rated
animated movies including Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the
Beast (1991, the first animated feature to be
nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture),
Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). In 1994,
Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney refused to promote
him after his superior died. Frustrated, Katzenberg
quit Disney, to start his own company. In this
venture, he had two partners - one of whom was David
Geffen (founder of Geffen Records). Who was his other
partner?

3. The U.S. FBI kept a 1,427 page file on his
activities and recommended that X be barred from
immigrating to the United States under the Alien
Exclusion Act, alleging that X "believes in, advises,
advocates, or teaches a doctrine which, in a legal
sense, as held by the courts in other cases, 'would
allow anarchy to stalk in unmolested' and result in
'government in name only'", among other charges. They
also alleged that X "was a member, sponsor, or
affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between
1937-1954" and "also served as honorary chairman for
three communist organizations." Identify X.

4.



This panel is an example of a series of Batman
comics in the 1950's and 60's which suggested
that Batman and Robin might be involved in a homosexual
relationship. In 1954, the book "Seduction of the Innocent"
by psychologist Fredric Wertham used Batman and Robin,
among several examples, as evidence that the comic book
medium corrupted the morals of the young.
There was massive public outcry at these suggestions
and this resulted in two significant developments. One was
the establishment of the Comics Code Authority (CCA) -
an organization founded in 1954 to act as a de facto censor
for American comic books.

What was the other?

5. A came from a distinguished family of
intellectuals. His grandfather, B was a renowned
biologist, a Fellow of the Royal Society and specially
known for his passionate support for the ideas of C (B
was nicknamed "C's Bulldog" for his spirited public
defense of C. One of A's brothers was the first
director of UNESCO and his half-brother was a Nobel
Laureate in Medicine. A is most widely admired in
critical circles for his book D and in popular culture
for another book, E, which gave H their name. When A
taught French for a short while at Eton, one of his
students there was F, who later became a famous writer
himself and wrote G. D and G are considered to be the
greatest novels of a particular genre. Identify A-H.

6. The following are all taken from Norse mythology:


Yggdrasil is "world tree", thought to connect the nine worlds of Norse mythology.

Valkyries (meaning choosers of the slain) are minor female servants of Odin.


Valhalla is the "warrior heaven". All warriors slain gloriously
in battle are taken to Valhalla where they are welcomed by the
Valkyries.


The Aesir are the principal gods of the Norse pantheon.

Apart from the Norse myth connection, all these names are connected in
a specific manner. What? Clue: Think computer games.

7. What are these 6 pictures examples of?
(There is atleast one more example which is extremely
famous and therefore not shown here :) )









Hexa Connect:

The answers to these 6 questions (all personalities) are connected by a
common theme.

1. These were the contenders:

Katharine Hepburn, Norma Shearer, Bette Davis, Barbara
Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Susan Hayward,
Carole Lombard, Paulette Goddard, Irene Dunne, Merle
Oberon, Ida Lupino, Joan Fontaine, Loretta Young,
Miriam Hopkins, Jean Arthur, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan
Bennett, Frances Dee, and Lucille Ball.

Finally, the selected candidate was an unknown actress
whom producer David O. Selznick had seen in a film
called "A Yank at Oxford". The decision to cast her
was seen as a wild gamble, but it paid off handsomely
in the end. Who was the actress and what was the role?
(No part points)

2. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge where he
became an admirer of Communism. In 1965, he became the
first Englishman to be awarded the Order of the Red
Banner, one of the highest awards of the Soviet Union.
He is featured in many novels and movies, notably in
Frederick Forsyth's book "The Fourth Protocol". He was
also a close friend of author Graham Greene. Identify.

3. He considered such possible pseudonyms as "Kenneth
Miles" and "H. Lewis Allways" before settling on a
name that stressed his lifelong affection for the
English tradition and countryside - a combination of
the patron saint of England and the river _____ in
Suffolk, one of his favourite countryside spots. He
also thought that having a surname starting with the
letter he chose would position his books optimally on
a librarian's bookshelf. Identify.

4. In 1928, aged sixteen, he encountered Albert
Einstein's work; not only did he grasp it, but he
extrapolated Einstein's questioning of Newton's laws
of motion from a text in which this was never made
explicit. He worked in such diverse fields as
computability, cryptanalysis and mathematical biology.
He was also a world-class runner, whose personal best
in the marathon was 2 hours, 46 minutes, 3 seconds,
only 11 minutes slower than the winner in the 1948
Olympic Games. In 1952, be admitted to being a
homosexual at a time when homosexuality was illegal in
Britain. He was arrested and forced to undergo
hornmonal treatment. He died of cyanide poisoning
eating a poisoned apple in 1954, but some believe that
his death was suicide due to this persecution. It is
also (falsely) believed that the logo of Apple
Computers (the half-bitten apple) is a tribute to him.
Identify.

5. This former assistant editor and overseas
corespondent from Allahabad for The Pioneer, has his
wrtings inscribed on the entrance to Centre ourt,
Wimbledon. In 1899, he wrote the following poem:

Take up the _____ ____ ______ —

Send forth the best ye breed —

Go, bind your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need;

To wait, in heavy harness,

On fluttered folk and wild —

Your new-caught sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child.

The phrase coined in this poem became extremely famous
and used in popular culture at the time (For example, in this ad
for Pears soap - the phrase has been blanked out)



Who was the poet and what was the phrase? (Connect clue: poet)

6. This Wisden cricketer of the year for 1928, once
famously and aptly described cricket as:"Cricket is
battle and service and sport and art." Who?

** End of Hexa Connect. So, what's the connection?

Special Topics:

(Olympics)

1. In the 1972 Munich Games, the terrorist group Black
September kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes and held them
hostage for 3 days. As a result, all sporting events
were suspended for 3 days. What significance does this
break have for Indian sport in the 1990s?

2. The Olympic Rings were designed by Baron Pierre De
Coubertin in 1913. However, the symbol did not gain
significant popularity until more than two decades
later. It was discovered that a similar symbol was
carved into a stone altar at the ancient Greek city of
Delphi, spawning the myth that they were a symbol
dating back more than two millennia.

In addition to the the interest caused by this
discovery, the rings became the center of a massive
media campaign and ultimately came to be identified
with the Olympics in public consciousness. What was
the reason for this campaign?

(Trials & Lawsuits)
1. Connect:

"And, so that you will be more cautious in future, and
an example for others to abstain from delinquencies of
this sort, we order that the book Dialogue of _______
be prohibited by public edict. We condemn you to
formal imprisonment in this Holy Office at our
pleasure.

As a salutary penance we impose on you to recite the
seven penitential psalms once a week for the next
three years. And we reserve to ourselves the power of
moderating, commuting, or taking off, the whole or
part of the said penalties and penances.

This we say, pronounce, sentence, declare, order and
reserve by this or any other better manner or form
that we reasonably can or shall think of. So we the
undersigned Cardinals pronounce."

and

"_______ sensed the presence of the Creator who,
stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him,
anticipating and assisting his intuitions. _______, a
sincere believer, showed himself to be more perceptive
in this regard [the relation of scientific and
Biblical truths] than the theologians who opposed
him."


2. K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra was a 1959
Indian court case involving Naval Commander Kawas
Manekshaw Nanavati, who was tried for shooting dead
Prem Ahuja, his wife Sylvia's lover.

The incident both shocked and riveted the entire
country. Such a crime of passion, as it was termed,
was unusual, especially by a highly decorated Naval
officer. The entire Parsi community was up in arms and
several public demonstrations were held in Nanavati's
support.

The trial itself was dramatic. The Greater Bombay
Sessions court found Nanavati guilty of culpable
homicide. The prosecution appealed to the The Bombay
High court which then overruled this judgement and
ordered a fresh trial. This time, he was found guilty
yet again and sentenced to life in prison. The Supreme
Court upheld the judgement in 1961.

The incident was later adopted by Bollywood in 1963's
"Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke" starring Sunil Dutt and
1973's "Achanak", starring Vinod Khanna.

This case is particularly significant to the Indian
Judicial system - a fundamental change was brought in
directly because of this case. What?

(Names Of Rock Bands)

1. This alternative rock band takes its name from the specific
implements used to crucify Jesus Christ. Identify.

2. A and B are both legendary rockers. A was the pioneer of
"Shock Rock" and is cited as an inspiration by many modern rockers,
including KISS, Judas Priest, U2, Guns N' Roses, Michael Jackson,
Megadeth and "B". A took his strange name after he apparently discovered
during a seance that he was the re-incarnation of a 17th-century witch.

B claims to be one of A's biggest fans and modeled his act after A.
B even took a strange name as a tribute to A. B's name is derived from
the names of a Hollywood movie star and an infamous serial killer.

Incidentally, A quipped about B:
"He has a woman's name and wears makeup. How original."

Identify A and B.

Whew! That took me all of 2 months to upload.
I'll put up the answers in another couple!
Happy Quizzing!