Pauls Quiz 216

Posted in general knowledge

1. A doomsday device known as the Q-bomb plays a decisive role in which 1959 film?

2. The following are some of the most expensive paintings in the world. Who was the artist responsible for each painting?
    a. No 5, 1948
    b. Portrait of Dr. Gachet
    c. Green Car Crash

3. Which insane 'artist' once said "Any one who sees and paints a sky green and fields blue ought to be sterilized"?

4. Which Oscar winning film is based on the trials and tribulations of Harold Abraham and Eric Liddell?

5. What is the well known translation for 'River of January'?

6. Which modern means of transport now usually replaces the richly adorned but antiquated and impractical 'Sedia Gestatoria'? 

7. There are 13 official countries in the world which have a capital city beginning and ending with the same letter. Can you name six? One point for each correct answer. (names in the English language)

8. Nasty, Stig, Dirk and Barry were collectively known as what?

9. The flag pole in front of Anfield Stadium was the top mast of which colossal 19th century ship?

10. The stirring voices of Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton and Curd Jürgens were all used, albeit in different versions, to narrate what?

ANSWERS

1. The Mouse that Roared The Mouse That Roared is a 1955 novel by Irish American writer Leonard Wibberley, which launched a series of satirical books about an imaginary country in Europe called the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Wibberley goes beyond the merely comic, using that premise to make still-quoted commentaries about modern politics and world situations. Released in February 1955 by Little, Brown, the novel first appeared under the title The Day New York Was Invaded as a Saturday Evening Post serial in six consecutive weeks, from Christmas Day, 1954 through 29 January 1955. The English edition (London: Robert Hale, 1955) bore the author's original title idea, "The Wrath of Grapes", a pun on John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

2. Three answers
    a. Jackson Pollock
    b. Vincent van Gogh
    c. Andy Warhol

3. Adolf Hitler

4. Chariots of Fire Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew. The film was written by Colin Welland and directed by Hugh Hudson. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture. It is ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's list of Top 100 British films. The film's title is a reference to the line, "Bring me my chariot of fire," from the William Blake poem adapted into the hymn Jerusalem; the hymn is heard at the end of the film.

5. Rio de janeiro

6. The 'Popemobile(s)'The sedia gestatoria is a portable throne on which Popes were once carried. It consists of a richly-adorned, silk-covered armchair, fastened on a suppedaneum, on each side of which are two gilded rings; through these rings pass the long rods with which twelve footmen (palafrenieri), in red uniforms, carry the throne on their shoulders. Pope John Paul I at first declined to use the sedia gestatoria, along with the papal tiara and several other symbols of papal authority, but was eventually convinced by the Vatican staff that its use was necessary in order to allow crowds to see him. Pope John Paul II refused to use the sedia gestatoria completely; Benedict XVI has not, as of yet, restored its use. The sedia gestatoria has been functionally replaced in modern times by the motorized and secured "popemobile".

7. They are: Abuja (Nigeria), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Andorra la Vella (Andorra), Ankara (Turkey), Apia (Samoa), Asmara (Eritrea), Astana (Kazakstan), Oslo (Norway), St. George's (Grenada), St. John's (Antigua and Barbuda), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Warsaw (Poland)

8. The Rutles or The Prefab Four.

9. SS Great Eastern The SS Great Eastern was an iron sailing steam ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built on the River Thames, England. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers around the world without refuelling. Her length of 692 feet (211 m) was only surpassed in 1899 by the 705 feet (215 m) 17,274 gross ton RMS Oceanic, and her gross tonnage of 18,915 was only surpassed in 1901 by the 700 feet (210 m) and 21,035 gross ton RMS Celtic. Brunel knew her affectionately as the "Great Babe". He died in 1859 shortly after her ill-fated maiden voyage during which she was damaged by an explosion. After repairs, she plied for several years as a passenger liner between Britain and America, before being converted to a cable-laying ship and laying the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable in 1865. Finishing her life as a floating music hall in Liverpool, she was broken up in 1889. At the time of her local break up Liverpool Football Club were looking for a flag pole for their Anfield ground and consequently purchased her top mast. It still stands there today, at the Kop end.

10. Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War Of The Worlds. Burton's was used in the English version, Quinn's in the Spanish, and Jürgens' in the German.