User:KF/General quizzes

On this page you will find four quizzes mainly, but by no means exclusively, for newcomers to Wikipedia. They are in three grades: easy, advanced, and difficult (the last two). The idea is to practise getting hold of all the relevant information available on Wikipedia. For the easy quiz, the (wikified) answers can be found at the bottom of this page. No solution has been posted anywhere for the advanced and difficult levels, so if you want to make sure you've got it right or if you've got a question, drop me a line.

1
The author who wrote the screenplays for The Tall Guy and Four Weddings and a Funeral also wrote the script for another romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. What is its title?



2
This picture has been taken from the highest spire in the world. Where can it be found, and what is the name of the river that can be seen flowing through the city?

3
What is the name of the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Monaco?

4
What do Speedy Gonzalez, Bianca and Roquefort have in common?

5
From a Wikipedia article:

In the most general sense, a ….. is a place, often hidden, for holding valuable items. This term may be used, for example, in the context of hidden treasures, stored food for later consumption by animals, or weapons placed by an army during war for later use.

In computer science, a ..... is a collection of duplicate data, where the original data is expensive to fetch or compute (usually in terms of access time) relative to the ...... Future accesses to the data can be made by accessing the .....d copy rather than refetching or recomputing the original data, so that the perceived average access time is lower.

What is the word that has been deleted here?



6
Who are the two men?

7
What driver is a cocktail as well as a tool?

8
Between 1980 and 1990, who was the only performer to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice? What country did they represent? What are the titles of the two songs?

9
Who was the last Hohenzollern monarch?

10
Who won the 1500 m speed skating for women at the 1964 Winter Olympics?

11
Noel Coward wrote a play which was filmed a decade later by David Lean and remade another 30 years later starring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren.

Where is Coward's play exclusively set?



12
What is the name of this monument? tajmahal

13
"Get your kicks on ….."

Well, where?

14
Who was the walrus?

15
From a plot outline:

[…] Back in the village, she politely but firmly resists Gaston's proposal of marriage. She is astonished later to find her father's horse without its master. She traces her way to the castle with her father's horse. Once there, she offers to take the place of her father as a prisoner; her offer is accepted, and Maurice is sent back. He tries to tell people back in the town what has happened to his daughter, but the villagers, including Gaston, think him insane and rebuff him. […]

What is the title of this story (which has been turned into a movie)?



16
What is the name of the river highlighted here?

17
Ios, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros and Santorini belong to (a) which group of islands and (b) which country?

18
What is a Baedeker?



19
In which city will you find trams like this one?

20
It is a confection, in most cases ice cream, containing a variety of chopped and usually candied fruits. Today, it may also refer to an artificially created flavoring simulating the combined flavor of many different fruits, for example in chewing gums and children's toothpaste.

What is it called?

1
How do you call a phenomenon of the nervous system connected to the ear which is characterized by perception of a ringing or beating sound, with no external source?



2
What is the name of this President of the United States, and how and when did he die?

3
There is an opera which tells the story of an Ethiopian princess captured into slavery in Egypt. A military commander, Radames, struggles to choose between his love for her, his loyalty to the Pharaoh, and his love for the Pharaoh's daughter.

What is the title of the opera, who was the composer, and in what year was it first performed?

4
What do Helen, Marsha, Swanee, Tristram and Washington (and, if we include fiction, also Deirdre) have in common?

5
Why did the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize not take part in the ceremony in Oslo?

6
Bald (German) and bald (English) are false friends. What is the meaning of the German word bald?

Similarly, what do the following mean? Gift (German), main (French), Mist (German), pain (French), Smoking (German).

7
What do Rudolf Nureyev, Denholm Elliott, Michel Foucault and Esteban De Jesus have in common?

8
What is the object in the picture below called?

9
Maimiti and her husband settled on a sparsely populated island. There, Maimiti gave birth to their son. What was his name, who was his father, what made the latter famous, and what is the name of the island?

10
Who claimed that "property is theft"?

11
"A third of the 2,000 million people in the developing countries are starving or suffering from malnutrition. Twenty-five per cent of their children die before their fifth birthday […] Less than 10 per cent of the 15 million children who died this year had been vaccinated against the six most common and dangerous children's diseases. Vaccinating every child costs £3 per child. But not doing so costs us five million lives a year. These are classic examples of …"

Well, of what?



12
What made this cow famous?

13
Where is the connection between Willy Russell and Galatea?

14
What is the title of Carl Hiaasen's only novel for young adult readers?

15
If someone tells you you are just a dustbin lid and you can't join them going down the rub-a-dub-dub for a tumble down the sink, what are they talking about? How is that kind of language called?

16
 What is the name of the country highlighted here? What is the name of the people who lived there from the 9th century?

17
What does CH3-CH2-CH2-COO-CH2-CH3 (with one oxygen having a double bond) smell of?

18
What brand of car is this, and where was the licence plate issued?



19
Who wrote the song "Always True to You in My Fashion", and in what musical does it belong?

20
What is the meaning of Mundus vult decipi? What form of the verb is decipi?



1
What is the title of this woman's first novel?

2
Who was German Ambassador to Turkey in 1943?

3
What song opens with the line, "I hate to see that evenin' sun go down"?

4
What is the name of the ecumenical community located in Burgundy and headed until August 2005 by Frère Roger?

5
Who is Martin Lynch-Gibbon?



6
Who is the man in the picture?

7
From a Wikipedia article:

[…] The synod constituted a milestone in the history of the church in Britain, since delegates from the North and the South came together to debate the future of the church in Northumbria. The actual matters in dispute were fairly minor, the main controversies being over how to calculate the date of Easter, and what style of tonsure clerics should wear. However, whichever side was acknowledged as having authority to rule on these matters would also decide whether the Celtic or the Roman church would have ascendency over the whole North of England. […]

Where and when was that synod held?

8
What kind of vehicle is abbreviated ULF in Vienna, Austria?

9
What is the complete title of the book about the practical aspects of polyamory, A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities?

10
What do Barcelona, Glasgow and Greifswald have in common?



11
What is the name of the machine depicted here?

12
In which U.S. state will you find Turkey (pop. 494)?

13
What do Pim Fortuyn, Anton Cermak and Anna Lindh have in common?

14
On what coin first issued in 2002 can you see two flying swans?

15
Who wrote the question "Rettebs, I flahd noces, eh?", and what does it mean?

16
She studied architecture, married a German, worked for Stalin, revolutionized interior design, and was imprisoned in Bavaria. Who was she?

17
What is the name of the "town of books" in Wales, quite close to the English border?

18
What is the complete title: ''….. Cowboys Go America''

19
From a Wikipedia biography:

He was born of an ancient Genoese family. Orphaned at an early age, he became a soldier of fortune, serving first in the papal guard and then under various Italian princes. In 1503 he was fighting in Corsica in the service of Genoa, at that time under French vassalage, and he took part in the rising of Genoa against the French, whom he compelled to evacuate the city. From that time onwards, he became famous as a naval commander. For several years he scoured the Mediterranean in command of the Genoese fleet, waging war on the Turks and the Barbary pirates.

Who was he? What was named after him?

20
Who are the two men in this picture?

1
He is the epitome of a competent and effective private detective. He always dresses in a Sherlock Holmes-style green plaid overcoat and cap, and always smokes a pipe. He is not extraordinarily physically strong (although he keeps in good shape, like any of his self-respecting compatriots) and does not possess fancy gadgets, but his mental capabilities, such as his power of deduction, his memory and knowledge of various topics, are incredibly good. He was once able to pinpoint his location after being thrown tied and blindfolded into the back of a van, thanks to memorising the entire map of the city and feeling the van's momentum with his body when turning corners.

What is his name?

2

 * Would you sin
 * With ..........
 * On a tiger skin
 * Or perhaps you'd prefer
 * To err with her
 * On some other fur?

Who is the lady someone could imagine sinning with? When she used the word It, what did she mean?

3
What is the title of the illustrated encyclopedia of fictional musical groups and musicians as seen in movies and on television which was released in November 2004?

4
A poem written on the death of a poet includes the line “The day of his death was a dark cold day”. Who wrote the poem, and what is its title?

5
In 1969 a literary hoax perpetrated by several well-known writers and critics became publicly known. A well-known columnist had recruited an all-male team of fellow hoaxers to collaborate on a sexually explicit novel with no literary or social value whatsoever. Writing under a pseudonym, the group wrote the book as a deliberately inconsistent and mediocre hodge-podge, with each chapter written by a different author. Some of the chapters had to be heavily edited, because they were originally too well-written.

In the novel, a suburban housewife named Gillian Blake becomes angry at her unfaithful husband, and plans to have sex with every married man in her neighborhood.

The book was wildly successful; however, as sales continued to increase, many of the co-authors felt guilty about the large amounts of money they were earning, and went public. What was the title of the book?

6
What is the name of the object which can be seen in the foreground?

7
What do Mrs Calloway, Grace and Maggie have in common? Which Austrian actress can be connected with Mrs Calloway, and in what way?

8
One sister wrote novels about the English upper class in the interwar years. Another sister was married to a fascist. A third sister spent the final years of her life with a bullet in her head.

What was their maiden name?

9
What is the all encompassing term for literature produced by people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender or literature involving characters, plot lines or themes concerning that community?

10
Consider this list of books:


 * Hawthorne Abendsen: The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
 * T. S. Garp: Ellen
 * Emmanuel Goldstein: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
 * Sebastian Moran: Three Months in the Jungle
 * Margot Tenenbaum: Nakedness Tonight

What do these books have in common?

11
How often does the title appear in the lyrics of “You’re the Top”? Who wrote the song?

12
What role does a short story by Saki play in a novel by Raymond Postgate?

13
What is The Missionary Position?

14

 * ................ took an axe
 * And gave her mother forty whacks.
 * And when she saw what she had done
 * She gave her father forty-one.

Who did those awful things? In what way is Jack Beeson connected with her?

15
It is the inauthentic state of social relations said to arise in complex capitalist market systems, where people mistake social relationships for things. It has also been defined as an illusion arising from the central role that private property plays in capitalism's social processes.

What term is described here?

16
What do T. C. Boyle's latest novel and Bill Condon's latest film have in common?

17
A left-wing intellectual from earliest youth, he had an uncle who was a musicologist, wrote mystery novels, was a jazz enthusiast, made films, wrote a book about patriarchy, taught at several universities, lived part of his life in a farmhouse in Austria, and committed suicide at the age of 80.

In what city was he born? Under what pseudonym did he publish his first novel?

18
Who is Bertha Ley? What can be said about the men in her life?

19
This is the emblem of an organisation whose members "use .......... to relax our consciousness and allow our subconscious to reach a state of meditation thus allowing us to improve as human beings and enhance our understanding of the essence of the living universe." They accept all who declare their sincerity in their belief "that .......... is a Sacred Herb and you can confirm that you use the Herb religiously, either as part of your meditation or prayer or to achieve a relaxed mental balance to carry out any aspect of your chosen religion."

What is the name of this group? What is their web address?

20
What does BCE stand for in a phrase such as “in 333 BCE”? On what grounds do some people object to the use of this abbreviation?

Solution to the kiddie quiz:

(1) Notting Hill.

(2) Ulm Münster, Ulm (List of tallest churches); Danube.

(3) Grimaldi.

(4) They are mice. (List of fictional mice and rats)

(5) Cache.

(6) A Jewish traveller and the Good Samaritan.

(7) A screwdriver / Screwdriver.

(8) Johnny Logan, Ireland; "What's Another Year" (1980), "Hold Me Now" (1987) (Eurovision Song Contest).

(9) Wilhelm II of Germany.

(10) Lidia Skoblikova, Soviet Union (Speed skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics).

(11) In the refreshment room of a railway station (the fictional Milford Junction) (Brief Encounter).

(12) Taj Mahal.

(13) Route 66.

(14) John Lennon ("I Am the Walrus").

(15) Beauty and the Beast (1991 film).

(16) Danube.

(17) The Cyclades, Greece.

(18) A travel guide.

(19) Vienna (tram).

(20) Tutti frutti.