Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.
Language
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, but in this context, bald doesn’t mean hairless. The bald part of the bird’s name comes from an Old English word meaning what?
What is the study of mushrooms called?
Where would you find together a verso and a recto?
In medieval times armies had a simple yet effective weapon to impede the advance of enemy cavalry or infantry. It was typically made of metal and had four sharp points arranged so that one point always faced upward when thrown on the ground. What was it called?
“Width”, “wagon”, “stand” and “leader” can all follow which word to make new words?
Which commonly used word in the English language originates from the religious saying, God be with ye?
Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
Medicine
What is dermatophobia the fear of? Skin disease
How many teeth do adult humans have? 32
In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used? Sweden
An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being? It means the human is a female. The presence of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene is the specific factor which leads to maleness in mammals
In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones? Neck
First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952? Poliomyelitis
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
This year our Ten Things column each month is alternating between composers and artists a century at a time from pre-1500 to 20th century. As always, there’s no guarantee you will have heard of them all!
Ten Artists Born Before 1500
Albrecht Durer
Leonardo da Vinci
Fra Angelico
Jan van Eyck
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch Detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights
Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.
Medicine
What is dermatophobia the fear of?
How many teeth do adult humans have?
In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used?
An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being?
In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones?
First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952?
Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
General Knowledge (1)
What type of clothing is a Glengarry? Hat or bonnet
Which country features a shipwreck on its national flag? Bermuda
Which two months of the year are named for mortal men? July and August
Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire is famous for which two foods? Stilton Cheese, Melton Mowbray Pork Pie
Name the type of rigid airship, first flown commercially in 1910, and carrying many thousands of fare-paying passengers before WWI? Zeppelin
Benjamin Disraeli once described William Ewart Gladstone as “A sophistical rhetorician, _____ with the exuberance of his own verbosity”. What is the missing word? Inebriated
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
This year our Ten Things column each month is alternating between composers and artists a century at a time from pre-1500 to 20th century. As always, there’s no guarantee you will have heard of them all!
Ten Composers Born Before 1500
Nicholas Ludford
Robert Fayrfax
Johannes Ockeghem
Guillaume Du Fay
Gilles Binchois
Josquin des Prez
John Taverner
Robert Carver
Robert Carver
Guillaume de Machaut
Antoine Busnois
Eccentric looks at life through the thoughts of a retired working thinker
