IITB Open Pairs Quiz 1996

[Editorial Note: More goodies from my IITB notebooks. Again, apologies for the surfeit of language and myth questions; what to do, we were like that only.]

1. At the 15th to 17th Academy Award ceremonies, the Oscar statuettes were made of plaster instead of metal. Why?

2. The Boeing 747 is nicknamed the Jumbo Jet, after a famous elephant at London Zoo named Jumbo. But what does Jumbo mean?

3. The Ryder Cup is an annual golf competition between Europe and America. What is the corresponding under-21 competition called?

4. Whose was the Immaculate Conception?

5. What word is Latin for “I shall please”?

6. “Oh Brave New World, that has such people in it”. Where is this quote, which inspired Aldous Huxley, taken from?

7. Where would you find a school newspaper called ‘The Blue and Gold’?

8. They were originally called Sotadics after their inventor, Sotades, a scurrilous Greek poet of the 3rd century BC. What?

9. What is peculiar about the dates 5-15 October, 1582?

10. “12 drops of each of the essential oils, bergamot, citron, neroli, orange and rosemary, with one dram of Malabar cardamoms and a gallon of rectified spirits, to be distilled together.” Johann Maria Farina, a German chemist, invented this recipe for… what?

11. What is the following an example of?
It was a weakness of Voltaire’s To forget to say his prayers And one which, to his shame, He never overcame.

12. What is the official motto of California state?

13. Theatre trivia: actors would hastily memorize their lines while having their faces made up. What word derives from this practice?

14. Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia and Urania are collectively known as… what?

15. Headed by the Grand Wizard, its local leaders were called Exalted Cyclops. What?

16. I was the Sailing Master on Captain Cook’s last voyage, and second-in-command to Nelson at the battle of Copenhagen. I discovered the Fiji islands, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. Who am I?

17. How do we better know Leonardo of Pisa, son of Bonaccio?

18. The Arabs called it ‘fruit from India’. What do we call it?

19. In a courtroom, what would you call the partition separating the judge, lawyers, bailiffs etc from the general public?

20. Which director’s first movie was titled ‘THX 1138’?

21. How do we better know the composer Evangelos Papathanassios?

22. Who lives at Leslie’s House, 25 Barnes Place, Colombo, Sri Lanka?

23. Domenikos Theotokopoulus was a great painter. How do we usually refer to him?

24. William Bonney committed his first murder at age 12, and before begin killed at age 21, boasted that he had killed a man for every year of his life. How do we better know him?

25. Strange and terrifying noises heard at night in wild and mountainous places were once attributed to the god Pan. Word origin?

26. We all know Aesop’s fable about a bundle of sticks being stronger than one. So, which modern word derives from the Italian for ‘a bundle of sticks’?

27. What, specifically, would you call the mark made by a batsman to indicate where to take guard?

28. Name the shield of Zeus.

29. Lemuria, Lyonesse and Mu are all examples of something. Name the most famous such example.

30. Which term used in popular music derives from the fact that Detroit was the centre of the US automobile industry?

31. It is called the Suan-Pan in China; however, its English name is from the Greek for a sand-covered tablet. It was also the name of the multiplication table invented by Pythagoras. What?

32. Which word derives from the French for “floating in the air”?

33. How does an MP resign from the House of Commons?

34. Which word is a transliteration of the Chinese phrase k’wai-tsze, meaning “the quick ones”?

35. W. C. T. Dobson, the head of the Birmingham School of Design, is supposed to have drawn the first one in 1844. The first commercial one was produced in 1846, and it immediately aroused controversy because it showed a family drinking wine. What are we talking about?

36. What are the following? Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal and Viminal.

37. What is ‘the cow with the iron tail’?

38. What is common to Juno, Judith, Rachel and Pallas? (Hint: it’s similarly common to Alexander, David, Caesar and Charlemagne)

39. During the American Civil War, the confederate POW camp of Andersonville had a line drawn around it. Any prisoner crossing this line was shot at sight. Word origin?

40. This famous road runs from Ludgate Circus to the Strand. It used to be noted for its bookshops and printing presses; now it has a different connotation. Which road?

41. The Chinese and the Japanese pioneered this technique; Sir Francis Galton wrote two books on it; Sir Edward Henry (commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police from 1903 to 1918) systematized its use. What?

42. In Roman mythology, every woman had a personal spirit or Juno (no relation to the Queen of the gods). What did every man have?

43. The Saracen leader Tarik defeated King Roderick of Spain in 711, and built a castle called Gebel al Tarik on Spanish territory. What is it called now?

44. The centre of an archery target is traditionally painted white (not gold). In English, this white circle is called the Bull’s Eye; what is it called in French?

45. Who was the son of Igraine and Uther Pendragon?

46. It was established in 1479 and terminated in 1834; its first head was Torquemada. What?

47. He has been conjectured to be the Duc de Beaufort; the son of Oliver Cromwell; and the illegitimate elder brother of Louis XIV. He was buried under the name M. de Marchioli. Who?

48. In 1872, Charles T. Russell founded the “International Bible Students” in Philadelphia. In 1931, the organization was renamed… what?

49. Rommel’s Afrika Korps devised a new kind of container for fluids. What was it called by the British?

50. In the Middle Ages, what would you call a roaming band of mercenary soldiers, willing to fight for money and maintenance, but providing their own weaponry?

51. In 10-pin bowling, what would you call the central skittle which, if knocked down, knocks down all the others?

52. In 1913, Arthur ‘Pop’ Momand started a cartoon strip in the New York Globe, about a young and successful urban couple. Name them.

53. A 12th century Mongol invasion of Japan was destroyed by a typhoon, the ‘divine wind’. What did the Japanese call it?

54. Moliere and Corneille made plays about him; Byron, Dumas pere, Balzac and Shaw wrote about him; Mozart composed an opera. Who?

55. Pinkerton’s was one of the earliest detective agencies. What was their trademark emblem?

56. One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world was a tomb. Whose?

57. Who traveled under the name Sigerson?

You can find the answers here.