Each week, quiz obsessives and Only Connect champions
Jamie Karran (@NoDrNo) and Michael Wallace (@statacake) take on the pub quizzes of the world.
Find out every Friday if you could have helped with the questions they got wrong.
Thursday, 11 September 2014
In 1652 a doorway was cut through da Vinci's The last Supper
Your targets this week:
1+ out of 6: Well done, you beat us! 4+ 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
Question 1
1) Name the band pictured. 2) To be classified as a serial killer, at least how many murders must an individual commit over a period of at least 30 days? 3) The Caribbean island of Aruba belongs to which country? 4) Which musical instrument did Mark Twain refer to as the "stomach Steinway"? 5) In da Vinci's The Last Supper, what is Judas depicted knocking over to symbolize his treachery? 6) Which baseball position does Kevin Costner's character Crash Davis play in the 1988 movie Bull Durham?
The answers
1) Led Zeppelin 2) Three 3) The Netherlands 4) The accordion 5) Salt (fourth from the left here) 6) Catcher
Our excuses
1) Considering that the doctor has been frequently compared to at least three of the four members of this band for many years it's verging on the impressive that we missed this. Led Zeppelin crossed our minds but was dismissed in a "surely we'd recognize them" manner. We put T. Rex which for us on a question like this is actually quite a good guess (at least they're a band from the correct era). 2) Slightly weird one, this, and obviously it depends somewhat on who you ask (the FBI apparently go with "two or more"). The doctor had, however, read about this very definition fairly recently but with numbers being very much my part of the quizzing bargain his memory of four was unsurprisingly off the mark. 3) On retrospect putting down the UK for this was probably a bit foolish, as I really should have had confidence in my knowledge of the things we own. As for the question itself, I'm not convinced that 'belongs to' is quite the correct phrase, as Aruba is apparently one of the four "constituent countries" that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands (along with Curaçao, Sint Maarten and, of course, the Netherlands). I wonder if that's been an Only Connect question yet... 4) With 'Steinway' pointing towards pianos both my and the doctor's first instinct was accordion. Unfortunately we then both simultaneously second-guessed ourselves and proposed bagpipes instead (mistakenly supposing the bag is made of an animal's stomach - clearly we shouldn't be let near haggis). Predictably, attempting to verify this quote has proven tricky, with most Google results returning someone asking the same question. 5) For such a famous painting I was surprised we had so little idea, going for the relatively blind guess of wine. Still, it's an excellent excuse (if, like me, you haven't before) to read up on the various symbolism and structure of the piece. 6) Despite this being ranked the greatest sports movie of all time by Sports Illustrated, it nevertheless does not seem to have had much impact outside of North America. As such we were left to educated guessing which was immediately doomed to failure as catcher was the one position we ruled out: "you wouldn't be able to see his face!".
How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (4 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) When the German Zeppelin Hindenburg was destroyed by fire it was mercifully only carrying half its full capacity of passengers. Its return flight, however, was fully booked, with many of those would-be passengers planning to attend festivities surrounding whose coronation the following week? 2)Serial Thrilla is a song on the 1997 album The Fat of the Land by which British electronic music group? As well as the band's first two UK number one singles, the album also featured a track whose mere title was banned from use on BBC Radio 1. 3) What flavour is Curaçao liqueur? It comes from the peel of a fruit grown there whose flesh is all but inedible thanks to the island's nutrient-poor soil. 4) Samuel Clemens claimed his pen name came from his life on the Mississippi. The riverboatman's cry of "mark twain!" - twain being an archaic word for two - indicated the water was two units of what distance deep and therefore safe to navigate? 5) On which day do Christians traditionally commemorate the Last Supper? 6) Who's missing from the baseball team pictured? (As always, you can click to get a bigger version.)
The answers
1) King George VI (the Hindenburg disaster took place on May 6, 1937) 2) The Prodigy (and if you hadn't guessed, that other single is this one) 3) Orange (the laraha citrus fruit was developed from the Valencia orange transplanted there by Spanish explorers) 4) Fathoms (and don't forget, 1 fathom = 6 feet) 5) Maundy Thursday (although 'Maundy' refers to the foot washing Jesus is said to have carried out after the meal) 6) The first baseman should be labelled 'Who' - these are the named players from Abbot and Costello's "Who's on first?" comedy routine. Note that the right fielder isn't identified in the routine (and if you answered this question with a simple "Yes" you get both the point and my respect).
How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!
1) When the German Zeppelin Hindenburg was destroyed by fire it was mercifully only carrying half its full capacity of passengers. Its return flight, however, was fully booked, with many of those would-be passengers planning to attend festivities surrounding whose coronation the following week?
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