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, 7 January 2016
Despite looking like one, the BB in BB-8 maybe doesn't stand for basketball
Your targets this week:
We won this week, but could you have done even better?
The attendees 1) The statistician 2) The doctor
The ones that got away 1) What disease has killed more people in human history than any other? 2) Name the 3 main leaders of the Axis Powers for the majority of World War 2. You need all 3 for the point. 3) Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is thought to be a portrait of who? 4) Last month, Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke the record for opening weekend sales. Which movie did it overtake? 5) Meaning 'attendant' or 'sexton', what is the name of the extra light in a Menorah typically set higher than the other eight? 6) In order, name the top 4 all-time points scorers in the National Hockey League. You need all 4, in the correct order, for the points.
The answers
1) Smallpox (although I haven't found a source for this) 2) Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito 3) Lisa Gherardini (although 'la Giocondo' was also accepted) 4) Jurassic World 5) Shamash 6) (From 1st to 4th) Gretzky, Messier, Howe, Jágr
My excuses
1) Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia doesn't have a list of diseases ordered by "number of deaths in the entirety of human history", and some cursory extra-credit googling would seem to indicate that this whole question is... complicated, to put it charitably. Malaria is a pretty savage disease if left untreated and unlike smallpox, has not been eradicated yet. If you're asked about modern diseases, ischaemic heart disease (one of my suggestions for this question) is currently Top Gun in terms of people killed recently. 2) Evidence once again that we don't leave out the embarrassing ones. There is no excuse. You don't get through GCSE history (or, indeed, life) in the UK without knowing this stuff. It's basic. Our only defence is festive spirit (by which I mean, beer). Take our embarrassment as a cautionary tale in double-checking! 3) We actually knew that this painting was sometimes referred to as "La Giaconda" (it's the Italian name for it) but didn't think this likely to be good enough, as the QM kept banging on about how they wanted "the specific name" of the portraitee (or something like that). Anyway, we just sort of pulled Andrea of Perugia out of nowhere on a vague feeling. 4) We had seem Jurassic World quite recently (though a long time after it was in cinemas) and agreed that it was "a bit pants". As such, we didn't even really consider it. We put Avatar, since we knew that made a boatload of cash (that is not meant to be a Titanic reference... iceberg). 5) We'd both looked at the Wikipedia page of the humble menorah in preparation for festive questions of this nature. Unfortunately apparently looking was all we did, as clearly neither of us read any of it. 6) This seems oddly familiar... [VIDEO] (At least we remembered Wayne Gretzky this time.) Bonus fact: this question was actually worth 8 points on the night, but since we won anyway the statistician couldn't be bothered to add an extra 8 options to the poll.
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 2 (click for a bigger version!)
1) Essential quizzing knowledge to start. The word 'malaria' derives from the Medieval Italian for what two-word phrase, describing quite literally what was originally thought to cause the disease? 2) Very few countries remained neutral throughout World War II, with those that did highlighted in grey on this map. Most of these were either European nations or their colonies, along with the (unrecognized) state of Tibet and the former Kingdom of Yemen. Which Asian nation (highlighted) also maintained neutrality?
Question 4
3) What da Vinci drawing is based on the work of an ancient Roman architect? 4) This (very) minor character in the latest Star Wars installment went a little bit viral. It was later discovered (from one of the books, no less) their official designation was FN-2199, but the Internet initially gave them the name TR-8R because they utter what word? 5) What is the interior angle of a regular hexagon? If you can't remember the formula from school, you could try sketching a Star of David and make use of each 'point' being an equilateral triangle.
Question 6
6) Which Premier League football club were left red-faced earlier this season, after presenting Wayne 'The Great One' Gretzky with this mis-spelled shirt? (If you think you have no idea, a closer look at the picture may reveal a clue or two.)
The answers
1) Bad air (if you have something similar I'll trust you to judge whether it's 'close enough') 2) Afghanistan 3)Vitruvian Man 4) Traitor 5) 120 degrees 6)Tottenham Hotspur
How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!
Huh, good point. Although I suspect most quizmasters (as this one did), would be expecting the Hirohito answer. (As always with OTGA, I can't speak for the quizmaster in question!)
The last question (6) is incorrect unless the quizmaster specified "retired" hockey players, number four is the still active Jaromir Jagr, Francis is 5th. smileyface.
Surely Tojo was de facto leader of Japan?
ReplyDeleteHuh, good point. Although I suspect most quizmasters (as this one did), would be expecting the Hirohito answer. (As always with OTGA, I can't speak for the quizmaster in question!)
DeleteThe last question (6) is incorrect unless the quizmaster specified "retired" hockey players, number four is the still active Jaromir Jagr, Francis is 5th. smileyface.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks. It's possible that was my mistake (my notes are scruffy), so I've updated it :)
Delete