There is no biological distinction between plantains and bananas

Your targets this week:

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

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

The ones that got away
1) What animal gives birth to a 'farrow'?
2) What age was the youngest human known to have given birth?
3) At what age are Canadian senators obliged to step down?
4) Star Wars Round! Adjusted for inflation, which Star Wars movie made the most money at the box office?
5) Star Wars Round! By what name is Ghyslain Raza better known?
6) Star Wars Round! Who plays Storm Trooper Finn in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens?
7) 2 point question: Which band has albums titled Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, and Road to Ruin?
8) 2 point question: What was the first Martin Scorsese directed movie to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar?
9) 2 point question: To within 10%, according to icontainers.com, how many bananas can fit in a 20 foot shipping container?

The answers

1) Pig (it refers to a litter of piglets, rather than a specific offspring)
2) 5 years
3) 75 years
4) Episode IV (A New Hope)
5) Star Wars Kid
6) John Boyega
7) The Ramones
8) Raging Bull
9) 48,000 (so 43,200 to 52,800 gets you the point)

Our excuses

1) What seems like it should be an easy chestnut caught all of us off-guard. We got a bit anchored to it being a bird (presumably because 'sparrow') and were doomed from there.
2) First instinct from a team member was 6, and while someone else mooted 5, we stuck with the initial guess on the grounds that it was always going to be a guess.
3) Leaving this to the Canadians (we had no idea, obviously) they had an inkling it wasn't a round number and went with 72.
4) On retrospect this is a pretty standard form of question, and on discovering that Episode IV is the second-highest of all time (after the trivia goldmine of Gone With the Wind) I'll admit to being a touch embarrassed to miss it. (After some debate about it being either IV or I, we went with the latter.)
5) We didn't cast our nets wide enough here, getting stuck on characters from the series and ultimately opting for Jabba the Hutt.
6) Tough one, I think, although on researching for this I've discovered he's British, so maybe that was our 'in'.
7) When two members of the team both have the same first instinct it's usually a good sign. Unfortunately The Foo Fighters meant this was one of the exceptions.
8) I typically leave these questions to the rest of the team as I'm exceptionally weak on movies. My only contribution? Telling them that Raging Bull wasn't right because it came out later than our answer of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.
9) First job was working out how big a 20 foot shipping container was, and then a protracted debate about how many bananas fit in a cubic foot. We dramatically overestimate the former (thinking it was 2,000 cubic feet rather than the correct 1,172) and slightly underestimated the latter (thinking 30 per cubic foot instead of the correct 41 or so) contriving to put us well off the money.

How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more point)? Would you have helped us win (2 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!


My alternative questions
1) The theme song to the movie Babe, If I Had Words was a 1978 hit song in the UK. Its main tune is taken from the main theme of which composer's third symphony (often referred to as their Organ Sympony)?
2) Which word, from the Greek for 'month' and 'beginning', refers to the first menstrual cycle in female humans?
3) What two-word, alliterative title, describes the Queen's representative in Canada (along with some other Commonwealth nations)? This person carries out most of her constitutional and ceremonial duties, including the appointment (on the advice of the Prime Minister) of senators.
4) What is the lowest number that, when written in roman numerals, requires a numeral other than I, V or X?
5) According to Samuel L. Jackson, he made a personal request to George Lucas that his lightsaber be what colour so that his character would be easily distinguishable? 6) Which US President proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (informally known as 'Star Wars')?
7) Foo Fighters was originally formed by which drummer, following the 1994 death of which singer-songwriter guitarist? (1 point for each)
8) With Martin Scorsese directing, Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actor (winning neither, alas). For 1 point each, name them.
9) At what address did Eric Wimp (also known as Bananaman) live? You get 1 point for the number, and 1 point for the road, and as a minor hint, the number is prime and the road is named after a genus of shrubs and trees. Exciting!

The answers

1) Saint-Saëns
2) Menarche
3) Governor General
4) 40 (XL)
5) Purple
6) Ronald Reagan
7) Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain
8) The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street
9) 29 Acacia Road

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

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