Mixed-Bag Quiz - 1

Friends,

This was one of my earliest quizzes on the yahoogroups. Please find the answers in the comments section.

1) An easy one: Why was Yuri Gagarin mobbed by scared villagers when he returned back to Earth from his historic journey to space?


2) Which famous tennis player’s grandmother was Susan Billington- The last woman to serve underarm, mother who played junior Wimbledon and a grandfather who reached the 3rd round of Wimbledon in 1948? (Clue: Wimbledon!)

3) What was the name given to Italian directed/financed westerns, which became popular in the 1960’s? One of the most famous movies of this kind is Sergio Leone’s “A fistful of dollars” which made a star of Clint Eastwood.

4) Give me the meaning of the following words: (Do not refer to your dictionaries)

a) Ullage

b) Hallux

c) Chad

5) When Shane Warne taunted this South African batsman by saying “I’ve been waiting for two years to have another bowl at you”, the batsman replied “Looks like you spent most of it eating”. Who is this guy? (I do not know in which year this incident took place)

6) In which island do people greet each other by saying “A Kent’annos”, meaning “To 100 years” because of the huge population ratio of old people there (more than 3 times the world average)?

7) Which famous comedian remarked: “We use only 10% of our brains. Imagine how much we could accomplish if we use the other 60%”? (She also was the centre square for a week in the show “Hollywood Squares”, one of my favourite game shows, and has her own comedy show)

8) John Walker, in 1826, mixed Antimony Sulphide and Potassium Chlorate. He found that this mixture stuck to the stick he used to mix them. When he tried to scrape it off on a stone hearth, the mixture burst into flames. He, hence, sold the first Friction Matches under what name? (Not under the name of “Match Sticks” atleast; the mane was a very catchy phrase)

9) What word, mainly used by Americans while jumping, traces its origin to 1940, when a US army paratrooper Aubrey Eberhardt shouted this word during a jump to prove that he wasn’t scared? He was inspired by a movie (having the same name as the word) about fierce 10th century Red Indian Leader of the same name.

10) Connect: The book “Playboy”, Paul Allen, George Soros, Bill Gates, Andrew McKelvey, Charles Schwab, Steven Spielberg, Martha Stewart, Abraham Abdullah and Michael Fabozzi (I want a specific answer!)

11) In which TV series would one find a Coffee Bar called ‘Central Perk’ as a favourite meeting spot for the characters? (A Sitter!!)

12) Which famous comedian, host of “The Tonight Show” remarked “I looked at the word POLITICS in the dictionary. It’s actually a combination of two words- POLI meaning ‘many’ and TICS meaning ‘blood-suckers’?

Name the people who made the following comments (fairly guessable)

13) Whether you are a man or not comes from your heart, not how much hair you have on your head (Hint: A Hollywood actor, not Sean Connery)

14) An army marches on its stomach (Hint: A famous dictator)

15) It’s great to be a blonde. With low expectations, it’s very easy to surprise people. (Hint: A ‘voluptuous’ blonde)

Ciao

Varun Reddy.