Thursday 31 December 2015

2016 has been designated as the International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 12: Well done, you beat us!
3+ out of 12: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor

The ones that got away
1) What is the first name of (Canadian Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau's wife?
2) Who directed Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back? (Hint: it's not George Lucas)
3) By area, what is the second-largest lake in the world?
4) What song's second verse begins "It's always tease tease tease. You're happy when I'm on my knees."? (You just need the song, not the band.)
5) Harrison Ford's second-biggest grossing film is now Star Wars: The Force Awakens. What movie did it relegate to second?
6) Introduced in September, who is the current principal of South Park Elementary School?
7) What country did the Romans refer to as Hibernia?
8) As of December 30, 2015, which singer is the most-followed person on Twitter? They overtook Justin Bieber for the honour.
9) 2 point question: Which (American) football team plays at Lambeau Field?
10) 2 point question: The international airport serving Budapest, Hungary, is named after which composer?

The answers


My excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more point)? Would you have helped us win (3 or more points)? Let the world know with the poll below!



(No alternative questions this week as we've been too busy being festive, sorry!)

Thursday 17 December 2015

Bonus Question: Christmas Advent Connection Quiz!

It's a Ones That Got Away Christmas special! The numbers have fallen off my advent calendar, can you match up the pictures with the answers to these 24 mildly festive questions? For bonus fun, the 24 answers form 6 connected groups of 4, like a slightly enlarged Only Connect connecting wall (phwoar).

The calendar is below the questions, and you can find a big PDF version of the whole thing here (and as a PNG here)! Don't forget you can click on images to make them bigger!

The Questions 
Question 5
1) What does a Cockney need to have a butcher's hook at something?
2) In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the third ghost to visit Scrooge is the Ghost of Christmas...what?
3) One Major League Baseball team contains the same word twice in its name: once in English and once in Spanish. What (English) word?
4) On what piece of equipment can you compete in Winter Olympic sports including parallel, cross, and slopestyle?
5) Pictured are the (slightly festivized) heads of the two main types of what animal?
6) A traditional term in the Royal Navy for the first lieutenant on board a ship, what two-word phrase is commonly used by Star Trek Captain Jean-Luc Picard to refer to his first officer William Riker?
Question 15
7) What is the Roman counterpart of the brother of the figure depicted on the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus?
8) Despite eventually having almost nothing in common with the original, Disney's Frozen was first intended to be based on which Hans Christian Andersen story?
9) What is both Maverick's Radar Intercept Officer in Top Gun *and* a word, according to urbandictionary.com, meaning "A verb, which means to grab someone between their butt cheeks and to squeeze, almost with an intent to hurt, although it is often done in a joking, playful manner between friends"?
10) What three letters appear in the middle of five-letter words meaning a high temperature, a component of a video game, and the middle name of a Beckham?
11) What type of object may be described informally as an 'icy dirtball', 'deep fried ice cream', or a 'dirty snowball'?
Question 19
12) Familiar to many in the name of a high street sandwich chain, what is the French word for 'eat'?
13) What is the (English) name of the only Serbian football team to have won the European Cup?
14) Most famous for its three Olympic-class ocean liners, how was the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company better known?
15) Oh no! Someone has festivized some ladies. What first name do they all share?
16) Removing the last 2 letters of the third-oldest National Park in England and Wales gives the name of what mountain?
17) Two national flags consist solely of red and white and feature a crescent moon with a single star. One is Tunisia, what's the other?
18) What name links an Orwellian pig and 5 Simpsonian cats?
19) What food is being represented here?
20) Despite being predominantly a different colour, what is the name of the third-highest award for valo(u)r in the United States Armed Forces?
Question 23
21) What word describes Maid Marian in a 1973 Disney animated feature, Krystal from the Star Fox universe in video games, and the nickname of ITV's newest Chaser?
22) What term describes a kebab made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie?
23) What is the title of the upcoming album set to be released on this festivized singer's 69th birthday?
24) What name is shared by: a Russian leader widely regarded as responsible for millions of deaths, a prominent Nazi, and (at birth) Kevin Keegan?

The Calendar


(You may want to click on this to get a larger version.)

The Answers

You can find the full answers, with groups, here!

How did you do? Let the world know with the poll below! (1 point per correct answer - you don't need to worry about identifying all the groups, but it might help with solving.)


Thursday 10 December 2015

Swing states in the US are also known as 'purple states'

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 8: Well done, you beat us!
2+ out of 8: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The secret German
4) The metallurgist
5) The rich-person otherkin

The ones that got away
1) The game Jenga takes its name from the Swahili word for what?
2) Which of these is not a real type of owl? Barking; Elf; Pole; Laughing; Powerful.
3) Which actress, who received her first Oscar nomination for her role in Rachel Getting Married, recently(ish) announced her pregnancy?
4) Which 2-word phrase, a metaphor for the early Internet, was designated the US Dialect Society's 'Word of the Year' in 1993?
5) What was the US Dialect Society's Word of the 20th Century? Hint: it contains 2 'z's.
6) The words 'cyber', 'e-', 'millennium bug', and 'web' were all US Dialect Society Words of the Year in the 1990s. Which was Word of the Year earliest?
7) ...and which was Word of the Year latest?
8) The words 'app', 'bailout', 'subprime', and 'tweet' were all US Dialect Society Words of the Year in the 2000s. Which was Word of the Year earliest?

The answers


My excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 point or more)? Would you have helped us win (2 points or more)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions
Question 2
1) The Disney character 'Simba' takes his name from the Swahili word for what?
2) In comics, the Court of Owls is an organized crime group - specializing in the kidnap of child circus performers - based in which fictional city?
3) Like many quizzers, I only really know about Anne Hathaway (the actress) because of questions about Anne Hathaway (the wife of William Shakespeare). With that in mind, the stage name of which actress, known for her roles in Live and Let Die and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, is shared with that of the third wife of another famous 16th Century figure?
4) What 8-letter, German-inspired alternative to 'information superhighway' was coined around the same time?
Question 7
5) Commonly encountered in jazz, what colour describes a note that is sung or played at a slightly different pitch than standard?
6) Word of the Year questions are fun, so here's another. What puzzle was Oxford Dictionaries UK Word of the Year in 2005?
7) Earlier this year, the Royal Mail produced a stamp set to celebrate British innovations. What invention does this (slightly censored) stamp commemorate?
8) Let's pretend that the word 'subprime' means 'whole numbers that are equal to a prime number minus 1'. So for example, since 17 is prime, 16 is 'subprime'. Defined this way, how many subprimes are also prime?

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 3 December 2015

In Japan, Ronald McDonald is called Donald McDonald

Your targets this week:

 We won this week, but could you have done even better?

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The secret German
4) The metallurgist
5) The rich-person otherkin
6) The meteorologist

Question 4
The ones that got away
1) The highest ranked food services company on the Fortune 500 is McDonald's. What's the second?
2) What word, co-opted by JK Rowling, was originally slang for a marijuana cigarette?
3) In cents, how much money is '2 bits'?
4) Who is being played by Sigourney Weaver here?
5) Which 3 of the following 8 animals are nocturnal? Honey badger, Koala, Lynx, Moose, Red fox, Komodo Dragon, Ostrich, Tortoise. You need all 3 for the point.

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


Our alternative questions
Question 1
1) In 2012 a Nebraska woman sold a Chicken McNugget (pictured) for over $8,000. Why was it so expensive?
2) We asked a question about Harry Potter last week, so here's an HP question instead. According to Heinz.co.uk, what is the most prevalent ingredient in a bottle of HP (brown) sauce? (Hint: it's not vinegar.)
3) In Disney's Tron, 'programs' are associated with 'bits' which are capable of saying only two words: which two?
4) Along with her research on gorillas, Fossey undertook many anti-poaching efforts. But what (pictured below) is, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the world's most illegally traded animal?
5) Have another animal question. What is the common name of the only marsupial native to the USA? One of these creatures was voiced by William Shatner in the movie Over the Hedge, bringing his unique style to a rather overacted 'death' scene.

Question 4

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 26 November 2015

In Star Wars, the name AT-AT stands for All Terrain Armored Transport

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 14: Well done, you beat us!
4+ out of 14: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The metallurgist
4) The secret German
5) The rich-person otherkin

The ones that got away
1) To within 50 centimetres, how tall was the tallest ever sunflower?
2) In Casper the Friendly Ghost, what are the three main uncle ghosts called? (You need all three for the point.)
3) Which of these is not a real professional baseball team in the Philippines? Alpha Aces, Blackwater Elite, Manila OJ Drinkers, Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, Talk N' Text Tropang Texters.
4) Which WWE wrestler's gimmick is that they are followed around by a party, with supports called 'rosebuds'?
5) 3 point question: "Never send a human to do a machine's job" - for two points, name the movie this quote is from, for a third point, name the character who said it.
6) 3 point question: "Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - for two points, name the movie this quote is from, for a third point, name the character who said it.
7) 2 point question: What is the most abundant element in pewter?
8) 2 point question: Which singer, born with the surname Sarkisian, is usually known simply by an abbreviation of her first name?

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more points)? Would you have helped us win (4 or more points)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


Our alternative questions
1) According to Guinness World Records, the longest-standing unsolved maths problem is Goldbach's Conjecture from 1742, which states that every positive even number (except for 2) can be written as the sum of two of what type of number?
2) Fatso is the 'proper' name of a cat who features in a viral Internet meme appearing to play what type of instrument, after which the cat is more commonly known?
3) Despite being the 12th most populous country in the world, the Philippines are yet to claim a gold medal at any Olympic Games. There is one country more populous who hasn't won any Olympic medal - which?
4) For 1 point each, name the two four-letter body parts that describe, respectively, a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy' in professional wrestling.
5) By a shocking coincidence, main character 'Neo' in the Matrix has a name which is an anagram of 'one', because he is 'the one', or something. Here are three anagrams from a famous (terrible) book by Dan Brown. For 1 point each, provide the intended solution to the (somewhat related) anagrams:
(a) O, Draconian devil!
(b) Oh, lame saint!
(c) So dark the con of Man
6) John Williams won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for his work ont he first Star Wars movie. For 1 point each, give the three other movies for which he won either a Best Original Score or Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar. (And just to avoid frustration, he won neither for Fiddler on the Roof.)
7) In the Harry Potter novels, first year students are instructed to bring what piece of equipment, specified as "pewter, standard size 2"?
8) Identifying celebrities from their real names is seldom fun, so I'm spicing it up with some Pokemon. For 1 point each:
Question 8: (a) on the left and (b) on the right
(a) Born Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, how is this musician better known? His name sounds like that of the first Pokemon pictured.
(b) Born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, how is this musician better known? To get his name combine the (slightly slurred) name of the second Pokemon with a colour.

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 19 November 2015

The Starbucks logo features (maybe) a melusine

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 6: Well done, you beat us and we'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The left-fielder
4) The rich-person otherkin


The ones that got away
1) Until recently, the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte didn't contain any pumpkin, but did contain what three autumn spices instead? You need all three for the point.
2) In A Song Of Ice And Fire (Game of Thrones), which vile family is in charge of The Twins, two castles that span a river crossing?
3) Which actor plays both Winklevoss twins in the movie The Social Network? (Surname suffices.)
4) The four primary ingredients of beer are water, hops, malt, and what?
5) Which actor plays the title character in The Man with the Golden Gun? (Again, surname suffices.)
6) The letters in SACRAMENTO can be rearranged to form two words which are synonyms of one another. what are the two words? (You have at most about 5 minutes for this question.)

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us and helped us win (1 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


Our alternative questions
1) Equal to its size in (US) fluid ounces, the Starbucks coffee size 'venti' comes from the Italian for what number?
2) What word links the star sign bridging May and June, NASA's second human spaceflight program (between Mercury and Apollo) and, with one letter changed, the UK's 2003 Eurovision Song Contest entry?
3) Twitter recently caused a minor online furore by changing its star-shaped 'Favorite' button into a Facebook-like, er, 'Like'. Raising concerns about professionalism, sexual harassment, and even sexuality, what shape did they choose for the new button?
4) Which beer brand is marketed under a three-letter abbreviated name in most European Union countries owing to an ongoing trademark dispute with a Czech beer maker?
5) Christopher Lee played Frankenstein a lot, and before you get arsey about Frankenstein being the name of the scientist, Wikipedia says common use has made it ok. Anyway, what biblical name did Shelley use to refer to Dr Frankenstein's creation?
6) If you take California's 2-letter state abbreviation and follow it by its capital, you get CA Sacramento, which isn't really anything. However, with which state can you follow this process and end up with the title of an OutKast song? As a bonus hint, the city is also mentioned in the lyrics of Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk.

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 12 November 2015

No-one knows exactly why Babe Ruth is called Babe Ruth

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 6: Well done, you beat us!
3+ out of 6: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The rich-person otherkin
4) The secret German
5) The metallurgist

The ones that got away
1) How tall was Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest ever man? (Margin of error of +/-3in or +/-10cm)
2) How many walking legs does a lobster have?
3) Not counting movies explicitly about/focused around swearing, such as Swearnet (it's Canadian, don't worry about it, but you get the idea - The Editor), which Scorsese movie posesses the highest "fuck count", i.e. most uses of the word?
4) Spot the fake from this list of historic Major League Baseball teams: Brooklyn Bridegrooms, Chicago Orphans, Houston Colt 45s, NY Highlanders, Philadelphia Widowers
5) 2 point question! What does the ancient Greek letter "eta" look like in upper case?

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 point or more)? Would you have helped us win (3 points or more)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions
1) The tallest (note: not necessarily highest) statue in the world depicts which person or deity?
2) The oxygen-containing organic compound in lobster blood is haemocyanin rather than haemoglobin. Haemoglobin contains iron, making human blood red, haemocyanin contains what metallic element, giving lobster blood its distinctive blue colour?
3) Gadzooks is a somewhat archaic example of a "minced oath" (like saying "sugar" instead of "shit"... everyone knows what you meant and now everyone thinks you're a loser as well as short-tempered). The phrase it's trying to obscure is "God's Hooks". But to what biblical items did this refer?
4) Meaning "a convenient way of resolving a plot issue" (especially in a theatrical context) give an alternate translation of the phrase Apò mēkhanês Theós in either English or Latin.
5) The nicknames of two current Major League Baseball teams contain words from the NATO phonetic alphabet. For one point each, name the word (or the team).

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 5 November 2015

A sumo wrestler automatically loses if his belt becomes completely undone

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 10: Well done, you beat us!
4+ out of 10: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The metallurgist
4) The secret German
5) The rich-person otherkin

The ones that got away
1) Vodka, Galliano and orange juice are the ingredients of what classic cocktail?
2) In Japan it is supposedly good luck to have sumo wrestlers do what to your baby?
3) During the 1800s in Britain what drug, known as 'quietness', was given to children?
4) In days, how long does a cat usually stay in heat?
5) Who was the first non-human to testify before the US Congress, doing so in defence of music education programs?
6) What is the most shoplifted item in the United States?
7) 2 point question: What was bubble wrap's original intended purpose?
8) 2 point question: The designer of the current United States flag submitted it as an assignment at school. What letter grade did they receive for it?

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more points)? Would you have helped us win (4 or more points)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


Our alternative questions
Question 6
1) Clearly the only way to make cocktail questions even vaguely not terrible is to include a cryptic clue alongside the ingredients, so what cocktail of vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice might make you doubly happy?
2) The Street Fighter videogames feature a sumo wrestler with the first name Edomondo (Edmond) and a surname which is shared by a Japanese automobile company. Give that name.
3) "[blank] is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." - For one point, fill in the blank. For a second point, name the author of the original German.
4) Since 2006, Heat Magazine has run an annual poll to find the nation's 'oddest celebrity crush'. The first three winners of this dubious accolade were the hosts of what TV show?
Question 8
5) To within 4 inches or 10 centimetres, how big (tall) is Big Bird?
6) If the Ones That Got Away had a chocolate bar, and its logo was made entirely of other chocolate logos, it might look like this. For 1 point name 3 of the chocolate products whose letters I have 'borrowed', for 2 points, name all 4.
7) The Taiwanese drink bubble tea typically features chewy balls made of either jelly or what cassava root extract?
8) Getting the public to submit designs is a common strategy when a country wants a new flag. Which nation's competition saw these two entries alongisde more reasonable contenders?

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 29 October 2015

The Clash only had one UK top ten single

Your targets this week:

We won this week, but could you have done even better?
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The secret German
4) The metallurgist
5) The rich-person otherkin
6) The ringer

The ones that got away
1) The Clash song Rock the Casbah was inspired by the post-1979 ban on Western music in what country?
2) The building 'Blok P' was reportedly home to over 1% of the population in what autonomous country?
3) The animal Ursus arctos horribilis is better known by what name?
4) 2 point question: On January 25th, 1979, Robert William became the first person in history to be killed by what?
5) 2 point question: Excluding any spaces or punctuation, name country with exactly 14 letters in its name (and to simulate the quiz experience, you should only allow yourself a maximum of 5 minutes).

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (3 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


Our alternative questions
1) 2 point question: Here are the first lines of two books purportedly banned in Iran. For 1 point each, name the novel:
a) "Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery."
b) "'To be born again,' sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, 'first you have to die."
2) Greenland may be considered the least densely populated country in the world, but what Asian country is the least densely populated UN member state?
3) 2 point question: Which fictional bear's name derives from that of a Canadian provincial capital? For a second point, name any other Canadian provincial capital.
4) Robert William's death on January 25th coincided with the day of celebration of what other Robert?
5) What 'constitutional union' of 14 letters long would have been another bad answer to this question, as it ceased to exist 97 years ago?

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 22 October 2015

McCain (the frozen chip company) was founded in Canada

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 11: Well done, you beat us!
5+ out of 11: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor

The ones that got away
1) What is the only animal that does not have a nervous system?
2) What is the SI unit of magnetic field strength?
3) ...and what is the full form of this unit in SI base units?
4) What is ergophobia the fear of?
5) What is the fear of numbers called?
6) Is metrophobia the fear of subway cars, cities, poetry or measurements?
7) Who said "China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.": Richard Nixon, Charles de Gaulle, John Diefenbaker, or Francisco Franco?
8) Who said "We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.": George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, or John McCain?
9) Who said "Mr McCain fought in Vietnam. I think that he has enough blood of peaceful citizens on his hands. It must be impossible for him to live without these disgusting scenes anymore. Anyone [in his place] would go nuts.": Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar al-Assad, Vladimir Putin, or Hassan Rouhani?
10) Who said "I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman.": Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachmann, or Sarah Palin?
11) Who said "I would lean towards the idea, for myself, that you are born a pedophile, and it’s actually a problem that we do not know yet how to treat this pathology.": Nicolas Sarkozy, David Cameron, Viktor Orbán, or Alexis Tsipras?

The answers


The doctor's excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (5 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


Our alternative questions
Question 2
1) What three word phrase, attributed to Sir Alex Ferguson, can describe the nervous final minutes of a sporting event?
2) Which country's (slightly censored) 100 dinar banknote is pictured here?
3) If the magnetic flux through a surface is 100 webers and the surface is 10 square meters, what is the resulting magnetic flux density in Teslas? (As a hint, consult the picture in the previous question!)
4) Which 17th century philosopher came up with the proposition "je pense, donc je suis"?
5) Roman numerals were widely used in Europe until around the 14th century AD, at which point they began to be replaced by numerals bearing which demonym?

Question 6
6) Which city's subway system (the busiest in the world) uses this logo?
7) The First Republic of France was founded in 1792 during the French Revolution. Which numbered republic of France did de Gaulle found in 1958?
8) Who added to his growing list of controversial remarks by commenting on John McCain with "He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured? I like people who weren’t captured."?
9) According to World Health Organization figures, approximately how many people in Africa died of AIDS-related disease in 2012? If you're within 25% of the WHO estimate you get the point.
10) Schwarzenegger went AWOL from the Austrian army so that he could participate in the Junior Mr. Europe bodybuilding competition and was punished by time in military prison. What does AWOL stand for?
11) The president of France also holds the title (along with the Bishop of Urgell) of Co-Prince of which European microstate?

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Friday 16 October 2015

No blog today :(

Sorry all, spent most of yesterday barely able to get out of bed, so no blog funtimes this week :(

Thursday 8 October 2015

The longest-titled James Bond film is George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The doctor and I are teaming up this week: the excuses are solely his doing, while the alternative questions are a combination of our attempts at trivia funtimes!

We won this week, but could you have done even better?

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The rich-person otherkin
4) The secret German
5) The metallurgist

The ones that got away
1) To what genus of birds does the Kestrel belong? Hint: It shares its name with a US sports team.
2) Which country recently re-elected its centre-right prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho? It is the first European country to have done so since the start of the global financial crisis in 2009.
3) Name the two mobile telephones announced by Google at a September 2015 event in San Francisco.
4) In what year did the first James Bond movie Dr No. come out?
5) October is the 10th month, despite have the prefix "Oct" meaning Eighth in its name. Which two months were added to cause this?
6) Name all 10 events in the Men's decathlon. All 10 needed for the point.
7) Name all 10 members of the Wu-Tang Clan, both deceased and not. All 10 needed for the point.

The answers


Our excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more point)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions
Question 1
1) Pictured is the logo of a Toronto NBA team - what is their name? (Hint: it's also a word for a type of bird.)
2) Portugal is one of only two European Union members to share the same time zone as the UK. What's the other?
3) Versions of Google's mobile operating system Android are released under confectionery-themed names, such as Cupcake, Donut, and Eclair. For 1 point each, can you identify the two versions with the pictured logos? As a hint, they begin with I (on the left) and J (on the right).
4) Dr. No dies (spoilers!) in a reactor coolant tank filled with heavy water. What subatomic particle is the key difference between heavy water and regular water?
Question 3
5) The key difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars is in when leap years occur. While they happened once every four years in the Julian calendar, under the Gregorian system they happen in years that are divisible by 4, except that years divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years. Simple, eh? For 1 point each, when was the last year that would have been a leap year under the Julian system, but wasn't under the Gregorian system, and when will the next such year occur?
6) What total height do you get if you add together the current men's world records (as defined by the International Association of Athletics Federations) in long jump, high jump and pole vault? If you're within a metre you get the point.
7) The last four letters of the Wu Tang Clan song C.R.E.A.M. stand for 'Rules Everything Around Me'. What does the 'C' stand for?

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

Thursday 1 October 2015

The US title of Murder on the Orient Express was Murder in the Calais Coach

It's another Ones That Got Away special brought to you by the doctor! I'm currently swamped with work so you're getting the occasional treat of his take on things. Good luck!

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 6: Well done, you beat us!
3+ out of 6: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor

The ones that got away
1) Which European country drinks more coffee per capita than anywhere else in the world?
2) In what decade was Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express set?
3) Which TV show introduced The Simpsons?
4) What sport was once contested with a spadroon?
5) What is the world's highest capital city?
6) Which South African city is overlooked by Table Mountain?

The answers


Our excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (3 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!



My alternative questions
1) In 1906, Finland became the second country in the world to practice universal suffrage. Which island nation (coincidentally one of the first to popularise the Flat White coffee) was the first to do so, in 1893?
2) The Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None, takes its title from the final line of which children's rhyme about the varying fates of a number of small native Americans?
3) Published weekly between 1977-2012, what is the name of Matt Groening's comic strip about the darkly comedic lives of a group of rabbits?
4) With a name literally translated as "sword way" what Japanese martial art, in which practitioners endeavour to strike one another with wooden or bamboo swords, is similar to fencing but way cooler?
5) La Paz's full name is 'Nuestra Señora de La Paz', meaning 'Our Lady of...' what?
6) Which 2004 animated movie contains an extended diatribe by superhero fashion designer Edna Mode, about the significant safety hazards presented by capes?

The answers


How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!