Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Questions from the May Quiz

Q. Kamboja was one of the countries of ancient Indian history. The country is listed as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas or great nations in ancient Buddhist texts, and was located in the Uttarapatha in extreme north-west of the Indian sub-continent, contiguous to the kingdom of Gandhara. This region was also very famous for its horses. The residents of this country were known by the same name as the country. Supposed to be a peace loving nation, they were constantly harangued by the Muslim invaders and unable to bear this onslaught, the Kamboja race decided to leave the Indian subcontinent forever never to return. What resulted?

A. The Kamboja race migrated towards south east asia and founded the country of Kampuchea( Cambodia)

Q. It is believed that in Medieval France, upon gaining employment a workman would carry his implements in a bag made of sheepskin or leather and carry it to work on the first day. Upon completing the days work, he would deposit this bag with his employer for safe keeping as it would be quite cumbersome to carry the bag to work everyday. This practice has given rise to a phrase in the English language. What phrase?

A. A bag is called a “Sac” in French. This is origin of the term getting the sack.

Q. The original settlers of the Pitcairn group of islands(Ducie, Henderson, Oeno and Pitcairn) were supposed to be the Polynesians. Some of the islands were discovered by a Portuguese sailor, while Pitcairn Island itself was discovered on July 3, 1767 by the crew of a British ship.
The island became a British colony in 1838. There has been a history of a flawed sex ratio on this island and there are allegations of a long history and tradition of sexual abuse of girls as young as 7, which culminated in 2004 in the charging of seven men living on Pitcairn, and another six now living abroad, with sex-related offences, including rape. On October 25, 2004, six men were convicted, including Steve _______, the island's mayor at the time. The British government has decided to set up a prison for only the island, and spend an annual budget of $950,000, after the six men lost their final appeal.
The question is how has this island been immortalised in literature?

A. Pitcairn Island is where the mutineers from the story “Mutiny on the HMS Bounty” are supposed to have settled. The mayor was called Steve Christian and is supposed to be a descendent of Fletcher Christian, the original mutineer.

Q. This was described by its “creator” as :
“It tells in poetic terms of a lady’s quest for spiritual perfection. She is a paradigm of Spencer’s Faerie Queen, Robert Graves’ White Goddess and every other Celtic heroine – the Lady of the Lake, Morgan Le Fay, Diana of the Fields Greene, Rhiannon”
Many people say that it was inspired by Spence’s “Magic Arts in Britain”. What?

A. Led Zepellin’s “Stairway to Heaven”

Q. What has just happened here ?


A. The assasination of Martin Luther King. You can see his body at the bottom and people pointing towards where the bullet came from

Q. This album cover is a tribute to which famous album cover?


A. The Rolling Stones " Stick Fingers" album cover which looks like this:


Q. What did this guy inspire in the world of comics?


A. Calvin's dad in the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. This is Bill Watterson and he based the character upon himself!

Q. A Time magazine cover. Who is the artist and who is the subject?


A. Roy Lichtenstein's painting of Robert Kennedy

Q. ID the 2 gentlemen


A. Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov

Q. What does the red line depict?


A. Captain Cook's voyage.

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