2. Some stuff to remember
• None of the answers in the quiz are proper
nouns or technical terms.
• Many of the answers involve multi-word
explanations.
• Below each answer, in the notes pane, are
some references and further reading.
• None of the questions are longer than 1 slide.
Some have an image in the next slide, though.
There is no buffer slide between questions
and answers.
3. • Warning: This quiz has some material which may be
unsuitable for young people:
• Sexual content: minimal
• Violence and gore: a lot. Most of them are rather
disturbing.
• Alcohol, tobacco and drug usage: present
• Frightening or intense stuff: quite a bit
• Animal cruelty: a bit
• The viewer’s discretion is advised.
Warning
4. • The Northern ‘U’ clan and the Southern ‘Y’
clan have been at loggerheads for over 800
years now. The main battlefield for the two
groups seems to be the Varadaraja Swamy
Temple in Kanchipuram (more specifically,
something in it).
• The matter often came up in courts – during
the British Raj and in Apex Courts during the
1960s. The matter even went to the Supreme
Court which delivered its decision in 1978.
• What was the main bone of contention?
• What was the Supreme Court’s verdict?
Question 1
5. • The sign on the temple
elephant’s forehead.
• The Vadakalai had the U
while the Thenkalai used the
Y-shaped namam.
• The Supreme Court asked
the two groups to alternate
the use of the sign. This
didn’t bring much cheer or
resentment since the
elephant had died in 1965,
13 years before the verdict.
Answer 1
The temple now has 2 elephants
6. • The Assignat was a currency introduced
during the French Revolutionary wars after
the confiscation of church property. Apart
from the value, revolutionary ideas and
images of the friends and enemies of the
revolution were usually printed on them.
• Why did the postmaster at Varennes, a man
named Jean-Baptiste Drouet, stop a bunch of
bourgeois-looking people heading Austria-
wards after relooking at an Assignat?
Question 2
7. • The group comprised the King, his family and
loyal advisers. King Louis XVI and his people
were trying to escape to Austria from were
Marie Antoinette hailed.
• The king was recognised by his face that
appeared on the Assignat.
Answer
8. • The Turk (next slide) or the Automaton Chess
Player was one of the finest feats of artificial
intelligence during its time. Unveiled in 1770
by its maker, Wolfgang von Kempelen, the
Turk went on to defeat some of the greatest
chess players of the 18th
century.
• Napoleon Bonaparte, the great software-
tester, purposefully made a few illegal moves
to see how the Turk would react. It got angry
and knocked over all the pieces on the board.
• Where did the Turk get its intelligence?
Hint: It did not use Alpha-Beta pruning.
Question 3
10. • From the chess grandmasters sitting and
operating it from inside.
Answer
11. • There was a war of succession in the Incan
empire at Cusco after the death of the first
king Manco Cápac.
• The eldest son of the king, Sinchi Roca,
dressed himself in an ornate robe made of
gold and wore a lot of golden ornaments.
• This greatly increased the respect and the fear
the people had in him, thereby making his
path to kingship very smooth.
• How did the attire affect his chances?
Question 4
12. • The people thought that he was the Sun God.
• Not only that, he spread rumours that he
emerged from a cave. This was significant
since the Incans believed that the Sun God,
their tribe and all great men come from a hole
in the ground.
Answer
13. • Port Arthur (now one of Australia’s most
visited World Heritage Sites) was, during the
18th
and 19th
centuries, an inescapable prison
reserved for the hardest British criminals.
• The only one perhaps to have tried escaping
from the prison was this convict called George
“Billy” Hunt who tried (in vain) to escape using
a disguise.
• What did he disguise as?
Question 5
14. • A kangaroo.
• The half-starved guards apparently tried to
hunt him down to supplement their
meagre rations.
Answer
15. • This is from the traditional accounts of the
Children’s Crusade. Jesus apparently appeared
in the dreams of a young boy and asked him
to convert Muslims to Christianity. Through a
series of miracles, the boy gained a large
following of thousands of children.
• He led the army to the Mediterranean Sea,
hoping that the sea would part. It didn’t. A
couple of merchants offered a ride to the holy
land, but the boats ended up sailing to
Tunisia.
• What happened then?Question 6
16. • The children were sold as slaves by the
merchants.
• There are other accounts though, one that
involves a gale and another involving a lot of
death due to starvation.
Answer
17. • It is believed that if there are less than 6 of
these in the Tower of London, “the Crown
would fall and Britain with it”.
• One legend attributes it to the complaints
raised by John Flamsteed. Flamsteed
requested that the creatures be removed but
Charles II refused to get rid of them
altogether. He however ordered for their
wings to be clipped.
• What was the position occupied by John
Flamsteed? About which creatures is this
about?
Question 7
18. • John Flamsteed was the Royal Astronomer.
• His work was often stolen by Edmond Halley
who gave it to Newton who promptly
published it, much to the dismay of
Flamsteed.
• Even now, there are ravens in the tower of
London.
• It is believed that ravens sat still during the
execution of Anne Boleyn (1535) and pecked
the eyes from the severed head of Lady Jane
Grey (1554).
Answer
19. • The Aztecs were known for their brilliant
methods of farming. Among the several
methods they used, was this one.
• Aztec farmers used to draw a mark on the
chest of slave.
• This slave was then placed in the middle of
the garden or the field and arrows were shot
at him.
• Why did they shoot arrows at the slave?
• Why was a mark made on his chest?
Question 8
20. • The bleeding slave was used as a sprinkler to
irrigate the field or garden. Human blood was
found to be a good fertilizer.
• The mark was to indicate where not to shoot
the arrows. If the arrow injured the heart, it
was found that slaves bled too profusely and
could not spread their blood evenly over a
large area.
Answer
21. • Sawai Madho Singh, the Rajput king is
remembered for having had about 110 wives
and as many children.
• Among his other pastimes, as suggested by
the various memorabilia found in the City
Palace museum in Jaipur, was boating.
• Though he seemed to prefer solitude while on
land, he took 6 or 7 people along with him,
(apart from his usual set of guards) when he
went boating in the lakes of Jaipur or Udaipur.
• Why did he take them along?
Question 9
22. • To balance his weight on the boat.
• Sawai Madho Singh was known to be rather
fat. His robes were about 4 feet wide.
Answer
23. • A certain person known as Agent Moses was
responsible for rescuing over 300 slaves and
helping them get to Canada (where slavery was
outlawed) during the 19th
century.
• ‘Moses’ often used strange but effective
techniques (like distraction-using-chicken). Most
of the rescue operations were during winter
when nights were long and dark. Slaves were
often rescued on Saturday since newspapers
wouldn’t print runaways until Monday.
• What was the main reason for ‘Moses’ not being
caught?
Question 10
24. • Everyone thought Agent Moses was a man;
when it was all along a woman named Harriet
Tubman. She went on to do great things after
this as well.
Answer
25. • Serving as a legionary in the Roman times was
not an enviable job. Soldiers had to hike for
over 30 km a day and had to pay for their
food.
• To make things worse, more than one Roman
emperor introduced conscription.
• Probably having taken a cue from the
Mahabharata, what did men usually do to
avoid serving in the army?
Question 11
Edit: I was joking about
the inspiration coming
from the Mahabharatha
26. • Men cut off their thumbs.
• The thumb was very important for sword
fighting and hence men without thumbs were
as good as useless.
• Since a lot of men started doing this,
recruiters began to kill anyone with no
thumbs.
Answer
27. • George IV had to wait for about 60 years to
become the King (Some people even suggest
that he was happy to hear the news of the
death of his father, George III).
• He was also often made fun of because of his
stoutness and excessive flab.
• What nickname, a play on the title given to
the heir-apparent, did he get?
This nickname made fun of him for both the
above reasons.
Question 12
28. • Prince of Whales.
• The king-in-waiting is often addressed as the
Prince of Wales.
• The Princess of Wales is not the queen-in-
waiting but the wife of the Prince of Wales.
• No female has been granted the title yet, but
if someone is, it is likely that she would still be
called the Prince of Wales (just as Queen
Elizabeth is the "Duke of Lancaster").
Answer
29. • The Veerasiromandapam is one of the
mandapams in the Srisailam temple. Built by
Anavema Reddy, an important Reddyappa
ruler, in the 14th
century, this mandapam was
the place where a group of five brothers (all of
them royal) decided to attain Shiva.
• These people were Veera Shaivites who
worshipped this [next slide] five-faced form of
Shiva.
• What did they do to become one with Shiva,
something that is a matter pride for the Reddy
community even now?
Question 13
31. • The five brothers cut off their legs, hands,
ears, tongues and heads!
• They had somebody assemble the parts onto
one body.
Answer
32. • Lions were known to have lived in Europe a
long time ago. Some early-Greek works
mention the sighting of lions.
• The European lion is believed to have become
extinct about 2000 years ago. This is also the
time when Asian Elephants disappeared from
West Asia and populations of Barbary lions
(now extinct) and Atlas bears in North Africa
fell sharply.
• What is believed to be the main reason for
their extinction?
Question 14
33. • They were captured by the Romans to be
used in fights at the coliseums and
amphitheatres.
• Gladiators proved their mettle by fighting
these animals. Over 5000 animals were killed
on the Colosseum’s opening day.
• The Roman audiences cheered these brutal
slaughters enthusiastically as a rule, but when
20 elephants were pitted against heavily
armed warriors, the screaming of these gentle
animals as they were wounded caused the
crowd to boo the emperor for his cruelty.Answer
34. • Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler’s closest
associates was also the Reich Minister of
Propaganda.
• He worked to bring culture and the Nazi
philosophy to the masses – promoting the sale
of cheap radios, staging art exhibitions in
small towns and establishing mobile cinemas
to bring the movies to every village.
• The magazines, posters and flicks he
promoted were often pretty raunchy, even by
today’s standards.
• Why?
Question 15
35. • He believed that this would inspire people to
produce more deutschblütig offspring.
• The Government also decorated mothers who
had given birth to many kids with the Cross of
Honour of the German Mother.
• Goebbels himself was the father of 6 children.
Answer
36. • On the evening of October 25th 1917,
Bolshevik Red Guards moved on government
positions around the city of Petrograd. They
then invaded the Winter Palace, where
several government ministers were resident.
• After the Russian Bolsheviks overthrew the
provisional government and stormed the
Winter Palace, their revolution was halted for
a few days.
• Why?
Question 16
37. • Most of the Bolsheviks had got ridiculously
drunk in the Winter Palace after finding the
wine stores.
Answer
38. • The author of Manimekalai (one of the 5 great
Tamil epics) was a Buddhist poet named
Sithalai Sattanar. ‘Sattanar’ was an honourific
address of his actual name - Sattan.
• Sithalai means “(one who has a) suppurated
head”. This was a reference to the occasional
ooze visible on his forehead.
• What was the reason for this?
Question 17
39. • Sattanar used to injure himself on his head
with an iron chalice whenever critics found
mistakes in his work. These wounds would
very often see the formation of pus.
Answer
40. • Genghis Khan was renowned for his great
military tactics and policies. One of his
methods was to mercilessly torture and
behead their own soldiers dressed in the garb
of the enemy just before the enemy soldiers
to frighten them.
• The soldiers selected to be beheaded were
protocol-offenders often branded as ‘traitors’
who ‘demotivated the army’ and ‘wasted
time’.
• What was their crime?
Question 18
41. • They mourned the loss of a soldier or gave
him a proper burial.
• Anyone who witnessed Genghis Khan’s own
funeral was killed.
Answer
42. • Young Chinese girls were almost always seen
wearing some sort of silk shoes (next slide).
• These would be removed, washed and be
worn again, every two days to prevent
infection.
• Little girls would often cry and scream when
they were being operated to make them more
‘beautiful’.
• But why were their toes crushed and feet
broken?
Question 19
44. • The Chinese believed that feet were
extensions of the leg and not as stands for the
body. Hence, they weren't allowed to grow
beyond 6 cm. Girls with smaller feet were
considered more beautiful. Bound feet were
also a cause for arousal among men.
• Foot binding was outlawed only in the 20th
century.
Answer
45. • Having been spotted by British planes, the captain
of the German submarine U-1206 on April 14th
1945, Karl-Adolf Schlitt, had it submerge deep into
the water.
• But one of his crew found that pushing the wrong
valve of a certain equipment could be dangerous.
The act caused all the ‘stuff’ the equipment had to
leak into the batteries, which released Chlorine
gas.
• This left the captain no choice but to resurface
after which the British promptly captured them.
• Which equipment was handled improperly?
Question 20
46. • The toilet.
• The U-boat archive has a statement of the
captain in which he says “I was in the engine
room, when, at the front of the boat, there
was a water leak.”
• “Meanwhile the batteries were covered with
sea water. Chlorine gas started to fill the
boat.”
• “We were then incapable of diving or moving.
At this point, British planes and patrols
discovered us. I let the boat sink.”
Answer
47. • Queen Dido was one of the greatest and
cleverest rulers of Carthage.
• She arrived in modern-day Tunisia with a lot
of treasure which she offered to exchange
part of the money with land she could
encompass with the skin of an ox.
• She chose a figure that produces the
maximum area given a boundary line (she
wanted the coast) and a perimeter for the
remaining sides.
• Which shape?
Question 21
49. • King Henry VIII (the guy who had 6 wives –
divorced, beheaded, died, divorced,
beheaded, survived) was not pleased when he
found out that most of the young lads serving
in the army were getting brutally injured.
• He went on to ban the cause for these
injuries, though he himself was the first owner
of something involved with it. The cause for
the injuries was banned earlier too but for
causing too much noise.
• What?
Question 22
50. • Football.
• King Henry VIII is considered to be the first
owner of football boots.
Answer
51. Two parts.
a) The court of many of Egypt’s pharaohs had a
few slaves with honey smeared all over
them.
Why?
b) Why were 300 slaves killed and buried in a
pyramid along with Ramses II?
Question 23
52. a) To attract the flies and bees; so that they
don’t irritate the pharaoh.
b) To serve him in his afterlife.
Answer
53. • The Stagg Field was a stadium at the
University of Chicago which laid neglected
since 1939 after the University discontinued
its football program.
• “A crude pile of black bricks and wooden
timbers” was used to enclose something
under the West Stand on 2 December 1942.
• Why is this place a National Historic Landmark
in the USA?
Question 24
54. • It was the site of the first (self sustaining)
Nuclear Reaction.
• Under the supervision of Enrico Fermi, the
Chicago Pile – 1 was the world's first nuclear
reactor.
Answer
55. • One of Russia’s strategies during World War II
was the anti-tank dog. Dogs were taught to
carry explosives to tanks, armored
vehicles and other military targets.
• They were intensely trained by the Soviet
army during the 1930s and were used against
the Germans during the early ‘40s.
• But they were a huge failure.
• Why?
Question 25
56. • The tanks the dogs were trained to run under
were Russian. So they ended up running
under the Russian tanks and blowing them up
instead.
Answer
57. • The Ethiopian Church calls him Saint Pontius
Pilate. Christians claim that he ordered and
implemented the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
• The Christian Bible describes him as a pitiable
character who vacillates back and forth about
the fate of Jesus and finally turns to the mob
for direction.
• He calls upon his cup-bearer who brings him a
chalice filled with water.
• What did he do next? This act of his inspired a
phrase.
Question 26
58. • He washed his hands off the whole affair.
• This meant that it was not he who was
responsible for the crucifixion, but the Jewish
mob that called for it.
Answer
59. • After Sirhan Sirhan fired the shots that went
to kill Robert F. Kennedy, he started running
away from the Ambassador hotel.
• But a certain Rosie Grier, who was bodyguard
for Kennedy’s pregnant wife, quickly caught
him. Grier pounced on him, jammed his finger
behind the trigger of the gun and tackled him.
Sirhan was quickly disarmed and left with a
broken wrist.
• What was Rosie Grier before he became a
bodyguard?
Question 27
60. • A football player.
• Not just any football player, but an American
Football sensation (Super Bowl Champion, 2
time pro-bowler, member of the Ram’s
“Fearsome Foursome,” and 5 time All Pro
defensive tackle).
Answer
61. • Peter III of Russia was considered ‘immature’
by several in his country, including his wife
and future queen, Catherine (the great).
• One day, he found that the heads of two of his
army commanders had been chewed off.
When the perpetrator was caught, he ordered
a military tribunal convened to court martial
the criminal. He himself designed the gallows
that were used to hang the criminal. The
criminal was left hanging in public for 3 days,
as an example.
• Who was the criminal?
Question 28
62. • A rat.
• In his mid 20’s, Peter III still played with
wooden toy soldiers.
• He only lasted 6 months on the throne
though, during which he instituted several
reforms to improve and modernize Russia.
Answer
63. • Two parts.
• A) US G.I.s who were programmed to see
enemies as subhuman, used to collect
something as souvenirs of war. Different parts
were used for different things; things like
necklaces and teeth. But they were mostly
seen as trophies.
• Thankfully, much of USA was outraged after a
report in Life and FDR himself refused a letter
opener made from one of the collectibles.
• What did the US army men collect?
Question 29
64. • B) After a successful operation of capturing
USS Finback, the Japanese Army officers
hosted a party for the Japanese Navy officers.
Sadly, they ran out of meat.
• That is when somebody ordered a
subordinate to get some kimo, which he did.
• Now, the Navy guys wanted to show off and
had somebody bring something. Due to the
lack of refrigeration, they didn’t have to spend
time killing. This was also added to the other
goodies on the table.
• What were they eating that night?
Question 29
65. • A) The skulls of Japanese soldiers (teeth were
used for necklaces and stuff).
• B) Live American soldiers. (Live because they
couldn’t get the refrigeration). Kimo refers to
flesh from the liver. This was from a buried US
soldier.
Answer
66. • Though there were several other instances of
similar things in the past, a lot of credit has to
be given to camouflager Jasper Maskelyne
and Victor Jones for actually using them
fruitfully.
• They had the Royal Engineers make at least
two of these per day. They were foldable and
portable. Jeeps were often surmounted by
these to make them look more formidable.
• But their most important goal was to deceive
German eyes in the sky.
• What were these things, typically made of
cardboard, or rubber?Question 30
67. • Dummy tanks and planes.
• These were only meant to confuse the Nazis
and lead them to believe that the British had
more tanks and planes than they really did.
• They were successfully able to hide and
downplay the importance of the location of
their real tanks in order to make it seem that
the invasion would occur at the Pas-de-Calais
rather than at Normandy.
Answer
68. • Many of the early stages of the Battle of
Waterloo were fought along the banks of
Kaveri (present-day district of Trichy).
• During the wars, there was a scramble to
occupy places like Srirangam, Samayapuram
and Lalgudi.
• What did these places have, that Robert Clive
and Joseph Dupleix wanted so badly?
Question 31
69. • Temples.
• Temples were almost perfect as forts.
• Most temples had multiple outer walls (lot of
prakarams). Temple Gopurams were ideal
watch towers. Temples also functioned as
granaries at that time and could feed an entire
army for days. Not only that, locals were very
fond of the temple and would protect the
temple at all costs. And for the French,
temples had precious gems which were meant
to be stolen.
Answer
70. • These shoes were called Poulaine because
they came from Poland. They became very
popular among the noblemen of Medieval
England.
• What modification was done to them because
these were quite hard to walk in?
Question 32
71. • They were curled inwards and sometimes
fastened by a chain.
Answer
72. • One of the most popular footballers of his
time, Fatty Foulke was the inspiration for
many chants and one-liners including "Who
ate all the pies“ and "Call me anything you
want, but don't call me late for dinner“.
• He landed up delaying a certain Bradford vs
Accrington Stanley match in February 1907
once at the beginning and once during the
middle of the game.
• The first one was because of the unavailability
of jerseys his size.
• What about the second delay?
Question 33
73. • He snapped the crossbar.
• One theory goes that to draw even
more attention to his size, Bradford
placed two small boys behind his
goal in an effort to distract the
opposition even more. The boys
would sometimes run and return the
ball when it went out of play, and
quite by accident, ball boys came
into being.
Answer
74. • Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 failed
miserably; for several reasons: faulty logistics,
poor discipline, disease, and not the least, the
weather.
• A major reason was how soldiers in the French
army unknowingly killed each other. One way was
how due to bad roads and poor vegetation,
soldiers at the front used up most of what
resources they could find, leaving little for those at
the rear.
• Those at the rear of the army also caused the
death of nearly a quarter of the French soldiers in
the battlefield. How?
Question 34
75. • The soldiers in the front stood in the line of fire
of those at the back.
Answer
76. • Many of the greatest rulers did not want to be
disturbed in their eternal sleep.
• Gilgamesh, Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan
had their close associates promise to do
something so that the location of their graves
would be unknown and inaccessible.
• Adi Shankara did the same when his mother
complained of having to walk a lot to have a
bath in the Poorna river. Balarama is also said
to have done something similar.
• What did the rulers want to be done with
their graves?
Question 35
77. • Have a river diverted over it.
• People believe that Genghis Khan is buried
somewhere near the Onon river in Mogolia,
where he was born.
• Several archeologists and historians have
given up their entire lives trying to find the
fabled tomb of Genghis Khan.
Answer
78. • The Cambridge University created some utterly
extraneous chairs having little or nothing to do
with the curriculum, like the Adams Professorship
of Arabic in 1666.
• While Arabic had not been included in the
university curriculum and would not be for over a
century and a half, Cambridge felt it might as well
create an Arabic position anyway rather than
turn down the money.
• The incumbents of this chair, realizing they had
no explicit duties, knew a free lunch when they
saw it, and had tons of fun just sitting on their
thumbs.
• Why did Sir Thomas Adams, after whom the
Professorship is named, give money for this?
Question 36
79. • To propagate the Christian faith "to them
who now sit in darkness“
• Things were getting on so famously that in the
early eighteenth century, they created
a second chair of Arabic studies.
• Westfall explains of the second chair, "from
the beginning, its stipend was used to
alleviate whatever distress might affect the
holder of the Adams chair."
Answer
80. • This was perhaps the largest department
under Moghul rule, the most favourite of the
king and one that required a lot of security.
• There were certain restrictions due to which
only a few people could apply for the job of
providing security to this important
department.
• Some of these people even went on to be
nobles, like Kafur Hazardinari and Khurau
Shah.
• What did a lot of men do, seeing a potential
job here (with many dying in the process)?
Question 37
81. • Castrated themselves.
• The seraglio could not have male guards and
women were forbidden to carry arms (among
other restrictions) and hence eunuchs were
the natural choice.
• More than two-thirds of the men died in the
process though.
Answer
82. • Most 19th
century US citizens worked as farmers
and lived in all sorts of places due to which it
would take most of them at least a day to arrive
at central locations. They preferred to spend
Sundays at Church and Wednesday was market
day. And hence the best two-day window came
between these two days.
• Also, they didn’t want to be bothered during
spring and summer because it was planting
season, while late summer and fall was harvest
time and they couldn’t travel during winter.
• What was decided as the best time, keeping in
mind all of these?
Question 38
83. • The election date (in USA)
• Americans, even today, vote on a Tuesday in
November
Answer
84. • Jahangir was an opiate and almost always drunk
and hence most of the ruling was done by
Nur Jahan.
• She even got Jahangir to sanction the building of
a beautiful mausoleum (next slide) over the tomb
of I'timād-ud-Daulah, her father, a man whom
Jahangir had once exiled.
• This walls of this mausoleum in Agra are
encrusted with cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx
and topaz formed into images trees and bottles.
• What name did it get because of its appearance?
Question 39
86. • The Jewel Box.
• Also accepted is Baby Taj (or a variant of that)
since this served as the draft for the Taj Mahal.
Answer
87. • Bill Richmond was a slave in America who made a
name because of his fighting skills.
• He arrived in Britain sometime in the late
eighteenth century to fight future world champion
in boxing, Tom Cribb, a man who was much
heavier than Bill.
• Bill did something during that fight, something that
the British audience was new to, something that
went on to revolutionise the sport.
• The technique he used is today known as “bob and
weave” and is often seen in bouts even today.
• What did he do?
Question 40
88. • He ducked. He also moved around a lot and
basically avoided getting hit.
• The British are said to have initially found it
ungentlemanly to avoid getting hit.
Answer
89. • When a certain Maharaja Jai Singh, a Rajput
ruler, was not respected in a Rolls Royce
showroom in England when he dressed like a
common man, he came back dressed as a king
and bought all six cars the showroom had and
brought them to India.
• Still feeling humiliated, he modified the cars and
put them to use in such a way that after a while,
the company apologised and sent him a few
more cars as gifts.
• What did he do that made Rolls Royce lose out
on a lot of business globally?
(this could be an urban legend)
Question 41
90. • He used them to clean and transport the city’s
waste.
• Rolls Royce owners worldwide were teased for
having the same car that was used for the
movement of garbage, thereby leading to
reduced sales of the company.
• The king was always slightly cranky – he is said to
have used elderly women as tiger-bait.
Answer
91. • Sometime around 500 BC, when the Greeks were
fighting the invading Persians, a young man was sent
out from Athens to Sparta to ask the Spartans for
help.
• The man, who went by the name Pheidippides,
covered the distance between Athens and Sparta,
nearly 250 kilometers in about a day and a half.
• On his way back, he is said to have met Pan who
asked him why the Athenians paid him no attention.
He told this to the Athenians who believed him.
• Just after his return to the battlefield, he was
ordered to take another message.
• What was it? What did this journey inspire?
Question 42
92. • Nikomen or “We are the winners”.
• He ran about 42 km, from Marathon to Athens.
• He inspired the modern day marathon (and the
246km Spartathlon).
Answer and the end