Open General Quiz. Researched and Conducted by Chazz and Dottoh

1. The Open General Quiz
QMs: Chazz and Dottoh

2. PRELIMS
• 30 Koschens
• Mark the starred ones as they come along
• Best Streak rule to resolve further tie-breaks
• Other standard rules apply
• The Quizmasters are human. In case you think we erred and/or
in spite of our best efforts we really did, we’ll be happy to
discuss that… but AFTER the quiz. Till then we’ll be the one
wielding the cane.

3. 1.
• A German archaeological expedition led by Jorg
Fassbinder made a startling discovery while excavating
historical sites in Uruk which made headlines in 2003.
• What was claimed to have been found after nearly five
millennia?

4. 2*.
• Gaston X was a manufacturer of curtain rods and knives
for the Austrian military and an expert in polymers as a
result of his previous business ventures.
• In 1980 he bought an injection-moulding machine to
manufacture handles and sheaths for the field knives he
was making for the Austrian army in his garage workshop.
It was within the next 2 years that he would invent an
eponymous weapon which would go one to become a
huge hit in USA, coveted by crooks and cops alike.
• Just give me X.

5. 3.
• What has the Mediterranean
Jellyfish been nicknamed because
of its rather startling similarity to
something?

6. 4.
• The December 10th, 1910 issue of the New York times ran a
story titled “FRIARS KID MR. HARRIS: Veteran Theatrical
Manager Butt of Jokes at Dinner”.
• What was it’s significance?

7. 5.
• William Rutherford was a Scottish physician and
physiologist who was Professor of Physiology at Edinburgh
University for 25 years (1874-1899), and contributed to the
development of experimental physiology.
• How has he been immortalized?

8. 6.
• Which brand of alcohol, introduced as a festive drink in
1926, was named after the Christmas star?

9. 7.
• Forrest and Leroy Raffel, owners of a restaurant equipment
business who believed there was a market opportunity for
a fast food franchise based on a food other
than hamburgers founded this company in 1964. Though
many people believe that the name stands for roast beef
it actually stands for Raffel Brothers.
• ID the company.

10. 8.
• Although they are relatively different degrees of the same
thing, but the effect they have on cooking is profound. In
simple terms, X is for slow cooking while Y is for cooking
faster and keeping certain food from sticking to each
other.
• During X, the surface tension holds while during Y the
surface tension breaks.
• Simple. Just give me X and Y.

11. 9.
• It is basically polyurethane with additional chemicals
which increases its viscosity and density. It is often referred
to as "viscoelastic" polyurethane, or low-resilience
polyurethane (LRPu). The higher-density material softens in
reaction to body heat.
• A major part of some of today’s ergonomic designs, what
is being described here?

12. 10.
• Many civilizations believed that drinking mineral waters
cured diseases, and large industries often sprang up
around hot springs.
• What was invented in an attempt to replicate the process
of mineral waters bubbling up from the Earth?

13. 11.*
• Granite from Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast of
Scotland, and the Trefor Granite Quarry in Wales are
officially (recognized by the world body) the only ones
allowed to be used to make what?

14. 12.
• The males of the frog species Trichobatrachus robustus
grows dermal papillae (hair-like growths). In addition to
that, the frog breaks its own toe bones which stick out
from the skin, as a self defense mechanism. The bones
later retract and the damaged tissue heals on its own.
• What rather apt nickname has this species thus earned?

15. 13.
• It is estimated that X grows at the rate of around 1 cm
each year. However, last month the rate plunged by 250%
(2.5 cms).
• Just give me X.

16. 14.
• A ward in the Queen Elizabeth II wing of St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital is named after which sportsperson who used to
practice medicine there?

17. • 15*. Whose statue outside
a building in Atlanta?

18. 16. This is from a 1674 article written to
the Royal Society
• "I found floating therein diverse earthy particles and some
green streaks , spirally wound serpent-wise and orderly
arranged ... Other particles had but the beginning of the
foresaid streak; but all consisted of very small green
globules joined together; and there were very many small
green globules as well ...”
• Who’s writing?

19. 17.
• In 1993 X applied for a Times of India fellowship. At the
interview he spoke of his plans to report from rural India.
When an editor asked him, "Suppose I tell you my readers
aren't interested in this stuff", X riposted, "When did you last
meet your readers to make any such claims on their
behalf?"
• He got the fellowship and covered close to 100,000 km
across India using 16 forms of transportation, including
walking 5,000 km on foot.
• X? What resulted from his journeys?

20. 18.
• A sandy-haired 21-year-old in his second year at Helsinki
University in 1991, was tinkering on his PC. He mentioned
the program to an Internet newsgroup. A member of the
newsgroup offered him space to post his program on a
university server.
• A few people downloaded the program and set to work
on it, then sent the changes back to him. Someone
dubbed it X, a play on his first name.
• X? Who’s the Finn?

21. 19.
• Not all of us may indulge in it, but chances are we
have heard someone doing it. This noise is caused
by pockets of escaping gas from something called
synovial fluid that contains nitrogen, oxygen, and
carbon dioxide gas.
• Put in an abnormal position, bubbles of these
gases are rapidly released which causes the noise.
• What is being thus explained?

22. 20.
• Carefully preserved for millennia in the temple gardens of
China, X’s are almost extinct in the wild, but they have
shown an extraordinary ability to survive the heat, the
snows, the hurricanes, the diesel fumes, and the other
charms of NYC.
• Tough, heavy Mesozoic leaves such as the dinosaurs ate,
the X family has been around since before the dinosaurs,
and its only remaining member, it is a living fossil, basically
unchanged in two hundred million years.
• X?

23. 21. This is from a letter written to Lester
Peries in 1962 GP2
• “…a domineering British title holding father, resigned once
talented mother, bird-watching philosophical brother-in-
law, brink of divorce, elder daughter and husband,
playboy son, sensitive younger daughter, eligible prosaic
bachelor suitor and an young, unemployed intellectual
stranger.”
• Who’s writing?
• What is being described?

24. 22.
• In 2006, as per a verdict released at Prague the goddess
caused a lot of strife for the underworld top boss and
amasser of wealth.
• Possible people who felt sad from beyond the grave: the
then 22-year old who was assigned the laborious task of
comparing photographic plates, an 11-year old school girl
in Oxford, and perhaps the top brass at Disney Inc.
• What is being talked about?

25. 23. On the left is a part of a list, on the
right is a logo of an organisation founded
in 1993GP 4
• 1. Denmark
• 17. United States
• 100. China
• 103. Mexico
• 174. Somalia and North
Korea
• What is the list about?
• Who releases it?

26. 24.
• In the early years of the 20th
century the 10th Precinct
Jail in Washington D.C. was
considered among the
most secured ones -
“…cells of the most
modern and approved
pattern. The doors of these
cells are steel-barred and
have the most intricate
combination locks.”
• Who escaped from here
New Year’s Day 1906?

27. 25.
• In all, some 350 million people watched it on television
worldwide; in fact the American TV audience was larger
than it was for a similar event that had taken place 15
months earlier. No fewer than 112 countries were
represented at St Paul’s. Only China refused to send an
envoy, while the Republic of Ireland chose not to
broadcast the occasion live.
• Laurence Olivier contributed to the ITV coverage, but it
was Richard Dimbleby’s commentary on the BBC that
won the most plaudits.
• What event is being talked about which completed 50
years in January?

28. 26.
• In the lobby of the factory in suburban LA is a blown-up
picture of two astronauts—one Russian, the other Asian-
American—hovering in zero gravity in the cramped
confines of the International Space Station. Why it’s
hanging there becomes clear on scrutiny: an arrow
superimposed on the photo points to a little green plastic
cap, the top of a bottle floating in the background.
[Image on next slide – you obviously won’t see the arrow
here ;-)]
• The reason: there’s a theory that space somehow dulls the
taste buds. So to ensure its astronauts enjoyed a flavourful
meal, NASA’s food sciences division began sending those
green-capped bottles into orbit a decade ago.
• What product is being talked about that sold 20 million

30. 27.
• According to a research report by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the city of Oran was decimated
in 1556 and 1678, but outbreaks after European
colonisation, in 1921 (185 cases), 1931 (76 cases), and 1944
(95 cases), were very far from the scale described in the
1947 work.
• What disease? In which country is Oran?

31. 28.. This incident is referred to in an
article that appeared in Slate in late
2003
• It all started with one Monica Besra claiming that a beam of
light emerged from a picture which she happened to have in
her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her
physician, Dr. Ranjan Mustafi, told the author that she didn't
have a cancerous tumor in the first place and that the
tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of
prescription medicine.
• “Was he interviewed by the investigators? No. (As it happens, I
myself was interviewed by them but only in the most
perfunctory way.)”
• Who’s writing?
• The name of the article was the same as that of the 1981
movie whose poster is on the next slide.
• What?

33. 29.
• It is said that when it was established in 1786 the ideas was
to include twenty people, but eventually decided on
eighteen because the word for that number had such a
fine ring - arton.
• Membership is for life. Election is by secret ballot and must
be submitted to the Patron for approval.
• Most members initially were officials. Later poets, scholars,
historians and linguists joined in the fray. The female
element has been limited: so far only seven women have
been admitted.
• What national body and what has it been responsible for
the past 114 years?
• Clue on next slide

34. 30.
• What connects the Old Norse for a person who tracks or
trails others with the Indian house gecko?
• Visual clues on next slide

36. ANSWERS

37. 1.
• A German archaeological expedition led by Jorg
Fassbinder made a startling discovery while excavating
historical sites in Uruk which made headlines in 2003.
• What was claimed to have been found after nearly five
millennia?

38. 2*.
• Gaston X was a manufacturer of curtain rods and knives
for the Austrian military and an expert in polymers as a
result of his previous business ventures.
• In 1980 he bought an injection-moulding machine to
manufacture handles and sheaths for the field knives he
was making for the Austrian army in his garage workshop.
It was within the next 2 years that he would invent an
eponymous weapon which would go one to become a
huge hit in USA, coveted by crooks and cops alike.
• Just give me X.

39. 3.
• What has the Mediterranean
Jellyfish been nicknamed because
of its rather startling similarity to
something?

40. 4.
• The December 10th, 1910 issue of the New York times ran a
story titled “FRIARS KID MR. HARRIS: Veteran Theatrical
Manager Butt of Jokes at Dinner”.
• What was it’s significance?

41. 5.
• William Rutherford was a Scottish physician and
physiologist who was Professor of Physiology at Edinburgh
University for 25 years (1874-1899), and contributed to the
development of experimental physiology.
• How has he been immortalized?

42. 6.
• Which brand of alcohol, introduced as a festive drink in
1926, was named after the Christmas star?

43. 7.
• Forrest and Leroy Raffel, owners of a restaurant equipment
business who believed there was a market opportunity for
a fast food franchise based on a food other
than hamburgers founded this company in 1964. Though
many people believe that the name stands for roast beef
it actually stands for Raffel Brothers.
• ID the company.

44. 8.
• Although they are relatively different degrees of the same
thing, but the effect they have on cooking is profound. In
simple terms, X is for slow cooking while Y is for cooking
faster and keeping certain food from sticking to each
other.
• Simple. Just give me X and Y.

45. 9.
• It is basically polyurethane with additional chemicals
which increases its viscosity and density. It is often referred
to as "viscoelastic" polyurethane, or low-resilience
polyurethane (LRPu). The higher-density material softens in
reaction to body heat.
• A major part of some of today’s ergonomic designs, what
is being described here?

46. 10.
• Many civilizations believed that drinking mineral waters
cured diseases, and large industries often sprang up
around hot springs.
• What was invented in an attempt to replicate the process
of mineral waters bubbling up from the Earth?

47. 11.*
• Granite from Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast of
Scotland, and the Trefor Granite Quarry in Wales are
officially (recognized by the world body) the only ones
allowed to be used to make what?

48. 12.
• The males of the frog species Trichobatrachus robustus
grows dermal papillae (hair-like growths). In addition to
that, the frog breaks its own toe bones which stick out
from the skin, as a self defense mechanism. The bones
later retract and the damaged tissue heals on its own.
• What rather apt nickname has this species thus earned?

49. 13.
• It is estimated that X grows at the rate of around 1 cm
each year. However, last month the rate plunged by 250%
(2.5 cms).
• Just give me X.

50. 14.
• A ward in the Queen Elizabeth II wing of St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital is named after which sportsperson who used to
practice medicine there?

51. • 15*. Whose statue outside
a building in Atlanta?

52. 16. This is from a 1674 article written to
the Royal Society
• "I found floating therein diverse earthy particles and some
green streaks , spirally wound serpent-wise and orderly
arranged ... Other particles had but the beginning of the
foresaid streak; but all consisted of very small green
globules joined together; and there were very many small
green globules as well ...”
• Who’s writing?

53. 17.
• In 1993 X applied for a Times of India fellowship. At the
interview he spoke of his plans to report from rural India.
When an editor asked him, "Suppose I tell you my readers
aren't interested in this stuff", X riposted, "When did you last
meet your readers to make any such claims on their
behalf?"
• He got the fellowship and covered close to 100,000 km
across India using 16 forms of transportation, including
walking 5,000 km on foot.
• X? What resulted from his journeys?

54. 18.
• A sandy-haired 21-year-old in his second year at Helsinki
University in 1991, was tinkering on his PC. He mentioned
the program to an Internet newsgroup. A member of the
newsgroup offered him space to post his program on a
university server.
• A few people downloaded the program and set to work
on it, then sent the changes back to him. Someone
dubbed it X, a play on his first name.
• X? Who’s the Finn?

55. 19.
• Not all of us may indulge in it, but chances are we
have heard someone doing it. This noise is caused
by pockets of escaping gas from something called
synovial fluid that contains nitrogen, oxygen, and
carbon dioxide gas.
• Put in an abnormal position, bubbles of these
gases are rapidly released which causes the noise.
• What is being thus explained?

56. 20.
• Carefully preserved for millennia in the temple gardens of
China, X’s are almost extinct in the wild, but they have
shown an extraordinary ability to survive the heat, the
snows, the hurricanes, the diesel fumes, and the other
charms of NYC.
• Tough, heavy Mesozoic leaves such as the dinosaurs ate,
the X family has been around since before the dinosaurs,
and its only remaining member, it is a living fossil, basically
unchanged in two hundred million years.
• X?

57. 21. This is from a letter written to Lester
Peries in 1962 GP2
• “…a domineering British title holding father, resigned once
talented mother, bird-watching philosophical brother-in-
law, brink of divorce, elder daughter and husband,
playboy son, sensitive younger daughter, eligible prosaic
bachelor suitor and an young, unemployed intellectual
stranger.”
• Who’s writing?
• What is being described?

58. 22.
• In 2006, as per a verdict released at Prague the goddess
caused a lot of strife for the underworld top boss and
amasser of wealth.
• Possible people who felt sad from beyond the grave: the
then 22-year old who was assigned the laborious task of
comparing photographic plates, an 11-year old school girl
in Oxford, and perhaps the top brass at Disney Inc.
• What is being talked about?

59. 23. On the left is a part of a list, on the
right is a logo of an organisation founded
in 1993GP 4
• 1. Denmark
• 17. United States
• 100. China
• 103. Mexico
• 174. Somalia and North
Korea
• What is the list about?
• Who releases it?

60. 24.
• In the early years of the 20th
century the 10th Precinct
Jail in Washington D.C. was
considered among the
most secured ones -
“…cells of the most
modern and approved
pattern. The doors of these
cells are steel-barred and
have the most intricate
combination locks.”
• Who escaped from here
New Year’s Day 1906?

61. 25.
• In all, some 350 million people watched it on television
worldwide; in fact the American TV audience was larger
than it was for a similar event that had taken place 15
months earlier. No fewer than 112 countries were
represented at St Paul’s. Only China refused to send an
envoy, while the Republic of Ireland chose not to
broadcast the occasion live.
• Laurence Olivier contributed to the ITV coverage, but it
was Richard Dimbleby’s commentary on the BBC that
won the most plaudits.
• What event is being talked about which completed 50
years in January?

62. 26.
• In the lobby of the factory in suburban LA is a blown-up
picture of two astronauts—one Russian, the other Asian-
American—hovering in zero gravity in the cramped
confines of the International Space Station. Why it’s
hanging there becomes clear on scrutiny: an arrow
superimposed on the photo points to a little green plastic
cap, the top of a bottle floating in the background.
[Image on next slide – you obviously won’t see the arrow
here ;-)]
• The reason: there’s a theory that space somehow dulls the
taste buds. So to ensure its astronauts enjoyed a flavourful
meal, NASA’s food sciences division began sending those
green-capped bottles into orbit a decade ago.
• What product is being talked about that sold 20 million

64. 27.
• According to a research report by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the city of Oran was decimated
in 1556 and 1678, but outbreaks after European
colonisation, in 1921 (185 cases), 1931 (76 cases), and 1944
(95 cases), were very far from the scale described in the
1947 work.
• What disease? In which country is Oran?

65. 28.. This incident is referred to in an
article that appeared in Slate in late
2003
• It all started with one Monica Besra claiming that a beam of
light emerged from a picture which she happened to have in
her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her
physician, Dr. Ranjan Mustafi, told the author that she didn't
have a cancerous tumor in the first place and that the
tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of
prescription medicine.
• “Was he interviewed by the investigators? No. (As it happens, I
myself was interviewed by them but only in the most
perfunctory way.)”
• Who’s writing?
• The name of the article was the same as that of the 1981
movie whose poster is on the next slide.
• What?

67. 29.
• It is said that when it was established in 1786 the ideas was
to include twenty people, but eventually decided on
eighteen because the word for that number had such a
fine ring - arton.
• Membership is for life. Election is by secret ballot and must
be submitted to the Patron for approval.
• Most members initially were officials. Later poets, scholars,
historians and linguists joined in the fray. The female
element has been limited: so far only seven women have
been admitted.
• What national body and what has it been responsible for
the past 114 years?
• Clue on next slide

69. 30.
• What connects the Old Norse for a person who tracks or
trails others with the Indian house gecko?
• Visual clues on next slide

71. ANSWERS

72. 1.
• A German archaeological expedition led by Jorg
Fassbinder made a startling discovery while excavating
historical sites in Uruk which made headlines in 2003.
• What was claimed to have been found after nearly five
millennia?

73. THE TOMB OF GILGAMESH

74. 2*.
• Gaston X was a manufacturer of curtain rods and knives
for the Austrian military and an expert in polymers as a
result of his previous business ventures.
• In 1980 he bought an injection-moulding machine to
manufacture handles and sheaths for the field knives he
was making for the Austrian army in his garage workshop.
It was within the next 2 years that he would invent an
eponymous weapon which would go one to become a
huge hit in USA, coveted by crooks and cops alike.
• Just give me X.

75. GLOCK

76. 3.
• What has the Mediterranean
Jellyfish been nicknamed because
of its rather startling similarity to
something?

77. FRIED EGG JELLYFISH

78. 4.
• The December 10th, 1910 issue of the New York times ran a
story titled “FRIARS KID MR. HARRIS: Veteran Theatrical
Manager Butt of Jokes at Dinner”.
• What was it’s significance?

79. THE FIRST DOCUMENTED ROAST

80. 5.
• William Rutherford was a
Scottish physician and
physiologist who was
Professor of Physiology
at Edinburgh University for 25
years (1874-1899), and
contributed to the
development of
experimental physiology.
• How has he been
immortalized?

81. PROFESSOR G.E. CHALLENGER

82. 6.
• Which brand of alcohol, introduced as a festive drink in
1926, was named after the Christmas star?

84. 7.
• Forrest and Leroy Raffel, owners of a restaurant equipment
business who believed there was a market opportunity for
a fast food franchise based on a food other
than hamburgers founded this company in 1964. Though
many people believe that the name stands for roast beef
it actually stands for Raffel Brothers.
• ID the company.

86. 8.
• Although they are relatively different degrees of the same
thing, but the effect they have on cooking is profound. In
simple terms, X is for slow cooking while Y is for cooking
faster and keeping certain food from sticking to each
other.
• During X, the surface tension holds while during Y the
surface tension breaks.
• Simple. Just give me X and Y.

88. 9.
• It is basically polyurethane with additional chemicals
which increases its viscosity and density. It is often referred
to as "viscoelastic" polyurethane, or low-resilience
polyurethane (LRPu). The higher-density material softens in
reaction to body heat.
• A major part of some of today’s ergonomic designs, what
is being described here?

89. MEMORY FOAM

90. 10.
• Many civilizations believed that drinking mineral waters
cured diseases, and large industries often sprang up
around hot springs.
• What was invented in an attempt to replicate the process
of mineral waters bubbling up from the Earth?

91. SODA FOUNTAIN

92. 11.*
• Granite from Ailsa Craig, an island off the Ayrshire coast of
Scotland, and the Trefor Granite Quarry in Wales are
officially (recognized by the world body) the only ones
allowed to be used to make what?

93. CURLING STONE

94. 12.
• The males of the frog species Trichobatrachus robustus
grows dermal papillae (hair-like growths). In addition to
that, the frog breaks its own toe bones which stick out
from the skin, as a self defense mechanism. The bones
later retract and the damaged tissue heals on its own.
• What rather apt nickname has this species thus earned?

95. WOLVERINE

96. 13.
• It is estimated that X grows at the rate of around 1 cm
each year. However, last month the rate plunged by 250%
(2.5 cms).
• Just give me X.

97. MT. EVEREST

98. 14.
• A ward in the Queen Elizabeth II wing of St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital is named after which sportsperson who used to
practice medicine there?

99. DR. W. G. GRACE

100. • 15*. Whose statue outside
a building in Atlanta?

101. JOHN PEMBERTON

102. 16. This is from a 1674 article written to
the Royal Society
• "I found floating therein diverse earthy particles and some
green streaks , spirally wound serpent-wise and orderly
arranged ... Other particles had but the beginning of the
foresaid streak; but all consisted of very small green
globules joined together; and there were very many small
green globules as well ...”
• Who’s writing?

103. ANTON VAN LEEUWENHOEK

104. 17.
• In 1993 X applied for a Times of India fellowship. At the
interview he spoke of his plans to report from rural India.
When an editor asked him, "Suppose I tell you my readers
aren't interested in this stuff", X riposted, "When did you last
meet your readers to make any such claims on their
behalf?"
• He got the fellowship and covered close to 100,000 km
across India using 16 forms of transportation, including
walking 5,000 km on foot.
• X? What resulted from his journeys?

106. 18.
• A sandy-haired 21-year-old in his second year at Helsinki
University in 1991, was tinkering on his PC. He mentioned
the program to an Internet newsgroup. A member of the
newsgroup offered him space to post his program on a
university server.
• A few people downloaded the program and set to work
on it, then sent the changes back to him. Someone
dubbed it X, a play on his first name.
• X? Who’s the Finn?

107. LINUS TORVALDS AND LINUX

108. 19.
• Not all of us may indulge in it, but chances are we
have heard someone doing it. This noise is caused
by pockets of escaping gas from something called
synovial fluid that contains nitrogen, oxygen, and
carbon dioxide gas.
• Put in an abnormal position, bubbles of these
gases are rapidly released which causes the noise.
• What is being thus explained?

109. Cracking knuckles

110. 20.
• Carefully preserved for millennia in the temple gardens of
China, X’s are almost extinct in the wild, but they have
shown an extraordinary ability to survive the heat, the
snows, the hurricanes, the diesel fumes, and the other
charms of NYC.
• Tough, heavy Mesozoic leaves such as the dinosaurs ate,
the X family has been around since before the dinosaurs,
and its only remaining member, it is a living fossil, basically
unchanged in two hundred million years.
• X?

111. Gingko

112. 21. This is from a letter written to Lester
Peries in 1962 GP2
• “…a domineering British title holding father, resigned once
talented mother, bird-watching philosophical brother-in-
law, brink of divorce, elder daughter and husband,
playboy son, sensitive younger daughter, eligible prosaic
bachelor suitor and an young, unemployed intellectual
stranger.”
• Who’s writing?
• What is being described?

113. X – Irving Berlin; Y – Sheikh to Sheikh;
MAD

114. 22.
• In 2006, as per a verdict released at Prague the goddess
caused a lot of strife for the underworld top boss and
amasser of wealth.
• Possible people who felt sad from beyond the grave: the
then 22-year old who was assigned the laborious task of
comparing photographic plates, an 11-year old school girl
in Oxford, and perhaps the top brass at Disney Inc.
• What is being talked about?

115. Astronomers voting for the controversial decision of demoting Pluto (because of
Eris) down to the newly created classification of ‘dwarf planet’.

116. 23. On the left is a part of a list, on the
right is a logo of an organisation founded
in 1993GP 4
• 1. Denmark
• 17. United States
• 100. China
• 103. Mexico
• 174. Somalia and North
Korea
• What is the list about?
• Who releases it?

117. Perception of corruption in public
sectors; Transparency International

118. 24.
• In the early years of the 20th
century the 10th Precinct
Jail in Washington D.C. was
considered among the
most secured ones -
“…cells of the most
modern and approved
pattern. The doors of these
cells are steel-barred and
have the most intricate
combination locks.”
• Who escaped from here
New Year’s Day 1906?

119. Harry Houdini

120. 25.
• In all, some 350 million people watched it on television
worldwide; in fact the American TV audience was larger
than it was for a similar event that had taken place 15
months earlier. No fewer than 112 countries were
represented at St Paul’s. Only China refused to send an
envoy, while the Republic of Ireland chose not to
broadcast the occasion live.
• Laurence Olivier contributed to the ITV coverage, but it
was Richard Dimbleby’s commentary on the BBC that
won the most plaudits.
• What event is being talked about which completed 50
years in January?

121. Winston Churchill’s funeral, JFK’s
funeral

122. 26.
• In the lobby of the factory in suburban LA is a blown-up
picture of two astronauts—one Russian, the other Asian-
American—hovering in zero gravity in the cramped
confines of the International Space Station. Why it’s
hanging there becomes clear on scrutiny: an arrow
superimposed on the photo points to a little green plastic
cap, the top of a bottle floating in the background.
[Image on next slide – you obviously won’t see the arrow
here ;-)]
• The reason: there’s a theory that space somehow dulls the
taste buds. So to ensure its astronauts enjoyed a flavourful
meal, NASA’s food sciences division began sending those
green-capped bottles into orbit a decade ago.
• What product is being talked about that sold 20 million

124. (Huy Fong’s) Sriracha Sauce

125. 27.
• According to a research report by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the city of Oran was decimated
in 1556 and 1678, but outbreaks after European
colonisation, in 1921 (185 cases), 1931 (76 cases), and 1944
(95 cases), were very far from the scale described in the
1947 work.
• What disease? In which country is Oran?

126. Plague; Algeria

127. 28.. This incident is referred to in an
article that appeared in Slate in late
2003
• It all started with one Monica Besra claiming that a beam of
light emerged from a picture which she happened to have in
her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her
physician, Dr. Ranjan Mustafi, told the author that she didn't
have a cancerous tumor in the first place and that the
tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of
prescription medicine.
• “Was he interviewed by the investigators? No. (As it happens, I
myself was interviewed by them but only in the most
perfunctory way.)”
• Who’s writing?
• The name of the article was the same as that of the 1981
movie whose poster is on the next slide.
• What?

129. Christopher Hitchens; Mommie
Dearest

130. 29.
• It is said that when it was established in 1786 the ideas was
to include twenty people, but eventually decided on
eighteen because the word for that number had such a
fine ring - arton.
• Membership is for life. Election is by secret ballot and must
be submitted to the Patron for approval.
• Most members initially were officials. Later poets, scholars,
historians and linguists joined in the fray. The female
element has been limited: so far only seven women have
been admitted.
• What national body and what has it been responsible for
the past 114 years?
• Clue on next slide

132. • Swedish Academy; making the annual decision on who
will be the laureate for the Nobel Prize in Literature

133. 30.
• What connects the Old Norse for a person who tracks or
trails others with the Indian house gecko?
• Visual clues on next slide

135. Sleuth – Tiktiki

136. THE FINALS
• LYRICOGNITION (WRITTEN)
• LIST IT
• BY THE CLOCK (DRY)
• CROSSROADS
• AGAINST THE CLOCK
• COLORS OF THE EMPIRE STATE (WRITTEN)

137. LYRICOGNITION
• Written Round
• 8 Koschens
• +5 for each correct answer
• Additional +10 for full house

138. 1. Song by Sufjan Stevens.
• He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people
With a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss
On the mouth

139. 2. Song by Stevie Wonder
• How a man who died for good
Could not have a day that would
Be set aside for his recognition
'Cause it should never be
Just 'cause some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
That they should make it become an illusion

140. 3. Song by Neil Young
• He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun.
On the shore lay ---------
With his coca leaves and pearls
In his halls he often wondered
With the secrets of the worlds.

141. 4. Song by Buddy Starcher
• Both were shot from behind in the head
Their successors both named Johnson
Were Southern Democrats
With seats in the Senate
Andrew Johnson was born
In eighteen hundred and eight
Lyndon Johnson was born
In nineteen hundred and eight
One hundred years apart

142. 5. Song by Chicago
• We'd love to hear you speak your mind
In plain and simple ways
Call a spade a spade
Like you did back in the day
You would play piano
Each morning walk a mile
Speak of what was going down
With honesty and style
America's calling
X Y
X you know what to do

143. 6. Song by David Bowie
• Like to take a cement fix
Be a standing cinema
Dress my friends up
just for show
See them as they really are
Put a peephole in my brain
Two New Pence to have a go
I'd like to be a gallery
Put you all inside my show

144. 7. Song by Bob Dylan
• Pistols shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out "My God they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the X
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

145. 8. Song by Leonard Cohen
• I remember you well in the X Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."

146. ANSWERS

147. 1. Song by Sufjan Stevens.
• He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He'd kill ten thousand people
With a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss
On the mouth

148. John Wayne Gacy Jr.

149. 2. Song by Stevie Wonder
• How a man who died for good
Could not have a day that would
Be set aside for his recognition
'Cause it should never be
Just 'cause some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
That they should make it become an illusion

151. 3. Song by Neil Young
• He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun.
On the shore lay ---------
With his coca leaves and pearls
In his halls he often wondered
With the secrets of the worlds.

153. 4. Song by Buddy Starcher
• Both were shot from behind in the head
Their successors both named Johnson
Were Southern Democrats
With seats in the Senate
Andrew Johnson was born
In eighteen hundred and eight
Lyndon Johnson was born
In nineteen hundred and eight
One hundred years apart

155. 5. Song by David Bowie
• Like to take a cement fix
Be a standing cinema
Dress my friends up
just for show
See them as they really are
Put a peephole in my brain
Two New Pence to have a go
I'd like to be a gallery
Put you all inside my show

156. Andy Warhol

157. 6. Song by Chicago
• We'd love to hear you speak your mind
In plain and simple ways
Call a spade a spade
Like you did back in the day
You would play piano
Each morning walk a mile
Speak of what was going down
With honesty and style
America's calling
X Y
X you know what to do

159. 7. Song by Bob Dylan
• Pistols shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out "My God they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the X
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.

160. HURRICANE (Rubin Carter)

161. 8. Song by Leonard Cohen
• I remember you well in the X Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."

163. LIST IT
• A total of 9 answers
• +2 for every correct guess
• +10 for a full house
• List is exhaustive

164. Name the chemical elements that
are named after astronomical bodies.

166. • Helium
• Mercury
• Selenium
• Palladium
• Tellurium
• Cerium
• Uranium
• Neptunium
• Plutonium

167. By The Clock
• 16 Koschens
• 3 Strikes rule applies
• +10/-5 on Pounce
• +10 flat scoring

168. 1.
• Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz,
landing a large French force and driving President Juárez
and his government into retreat. The 6,000-strong French
army attacked the much smaller and poorly equipped
Mexican army of 2,000. Yet, the Mexicans managed to
decisively crush the French army, then considered ‘the
premier army in the world’.
• How has the victory been celebrated ever since?

171. 2.
• X Y is the name of a shrine located in the Khanyaar
quarter in Downtown area of Srinagar in Kashmir. The word
X means tomb, the word Y means place, often a landing
place by a lake, hence as a whole it means "place of the
tomb.“
• XY also has a popular legend associated with it which was
popularized by the writings of Ahmadiyyat founder Mirza
Ghulam Ahmed in his book Masih Hindustan-mein.
Although there is no substantial evidence to this claim the
legend has continued to be a part of folklore.
• Two parts. Give me XY and the legend associated with it.

173. Rozabal from Rauza and Bal.
• Legend has it that Jesus’ final resting place is here.

174. 3.
• A first round match at the Central Fidelity Banks
International, 1984, saw Vicki Nelson and Jean Hepner
play the, then, longest match in professional tennis.
Though this record was broken since, that match also saw
another record being set which has remained unbroken
for more than 3 decades now.
• What other record is being talked about here?

176. Longest Rally

177. 4.
• In 1925, a severe outbreak of Diptheria threatened to wipe
out the small population of Nome, Alaska. The antitoxin
couldn’t be flown in due to blizzard conditions.
• How was the antitoxin finally delivered and what was this
event named?

179. Dog Sleds

180. 5.
• Under old English common law, the actions landowners
could take against squatters or defaulting tenants in court
were often too technical and difficult to be of any use. So
landlords would instead bring an action of ejectment on
behalf of a fictitious tenant against another fictitious
person who had allegedly evicted or ousted him.
• What practice did this allegedly lead to?

182. The use of the words John Doe and
Richard Roe as names for unidentified
people.

183. 6.
• The “over versus under” argument has been waged in
bathrooms since the time it was first invented. The scale of
the argument has been such that even Wikipedia now
sports a section dedicated to it. However, the recent
unearthing of the 124 year old original patent has,
seemingly, put to rest all the discussions.
• What am I talking about?

186. 7.
• X is a deep-fried burrito that is very
popular in Southwest American
cuisine and is usually
accompanied by a wide range of
sides.
• Legend has it that, the founder of
the restaurant "El Charro",
accidentally dropped a pastry
into the deep fat fryer. She
immediately began to utter
chingada (A Spanish cuss word),
but quickly stopped herself and
instead exclaimed X (the Spanish
equivalent of "thingamajig“).

188. Chimichanga

189. 8.
• Said to dwell in the rivers and lakes of western Africa, it has
been described as being approximately 12-feet in length,
with a squarish head, a long horn, saber-like canines –
which has resulted in its nickname the “Jungle Walrus” –
and a tail complete with a bony, dart-like appendage,
which is reputed to be able to secrete a deadly poison.
• Identify this cryptid.

191. The Dingonek

192. 9.
• In 2001, a certain Mineko Iwasaki sued X over ‘cash and
lies’ claiming $10 million for damage to her reputation. She
argued that X, who had interviewed her in 1992, had
breached their agreement of confidentiality by
acknowledging her in his work. This was later settled out of
court for an undisclosed amount.
• Just give me X and his work.

195. 10.
• Amongst the different graveyard symbols, what does a sheaf of
wheat signify?

197. • A long life, one that was harvested by the reaper when it
was due time.

198. 11.
• This is the
Nargessi, a
savory dish
from Iran.
• How does it
get’s its
name?

200. From the Narcissus Flower

201. 12.
• Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merril (SOM) it is
expected to serve more than 40 million a year. The design
concept utilizes the headhouse or the central building as
a main bright core from which concourses radiate out.
The intricate honeycomb like design carries over from the
ceiling through to the 30 odd columns that support the
central building and reminds one of an evergreen forest
canopy albeit being light in color.
• What is being described here?

204. The Chhatrapati Shivaji International
Airport

205. 13.
• Astronomically speaking, what are the GRS and GDS and
where would you find them?

207. The Great Red Spot and The Great
Dark Spot

208. 14.
• Experiments conducted by lighting researchers have
found that if a person is made to stand in a dark
environment and then is given a choice between entering
two rooms: one lit brightly and the other unlit or dimly lit, in
90% of the cases the subjects tend to enter the brightly lit
room.
• What has this behavior been aptly named?

210. The Moth Effect

211. 15.
• This airplane was featured in a few panels of the Tintin
adventure, “The Red Sea Sharks” belonging to Sheikh Bab
El Ehr. [Pic next slide] The sheikh used a fleet of these
airplanes to overthrow the Emir Ben Kalish Ezab.
• ID the airplane.

214. De Havilland DH98 Mosquito

215. 16.
• British comedians Dara Ó Briain, Rory McGrath, and Griff
Rhys Jones did a two-episode show for BBC in 2006, where
they took a wooden skiff and embarked on a journey from
Kingston to Oxford, navigating through the Thames.
• On the way, they stopped at significant places
like Bisham Abbey, Boulter's Lock in Maidenhead, Henley-
on-Thames, and Cliveden House.
• What was the name of the show?

218. CROSSROADS
• The Crosswords Round
• 16 Koschens
• +5 for every correct answer
• +10 for full house

220. 2. ACROSS
• What is the Arabic and Turkish for the word falcon?
Incidentally, the Indian peregrine falcon is also nicknamed
the same making it kind of tautological. (7)

221. 4. ACROSS
• Seltaeb was a merchandising company set up in USA in
1963 by Nicky Byrne to look after the merchandising
interests of X. The products they sold included X dolls,
scarves, mugs, bath water, wigs, badges, t-shirts, bubble
gum, licorice, empty cans of ‘X Breath', and many more
Though the company no longer exists, products licensed
by Seltaeb can be found all over the internet and at
conventions.
• Just give me X. (7)

222. 5. ACROSS
• Which element gets its name from the Latin for “from the
island of Cyprus”? (5)

223. 6. ACROSS
• By leaving their unit, organization, or place of duty, where
there has been a determined intent to not return;
• If that intent is determined to be to avoid hazardous duty
or shirk contractual obligation;
• If they enlist or accept an appointment in the same or
another branch of service without disclosing the fact that
they have not been properly separated from current
service.
• Just give me an acronym for the case that satisfies any
one of the above. (4)

224. 9.ACROSS
Russian stamp in
honour of which
non-Russki (3,5)

225. 10 ACROSS
• Sou Fujimoto Architects
built this wooden
building which they
called the Next
Generation House
(NGH) in 2008. What
was touted to be the
inspiration behind this
house? (5)

226. 11. ACROSS
• Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist was enraged
when a $104.84 billion entity opened the first of
its kind in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome.
• In 1986, he started the X Movement in a bid to
resist the threat to gastronomic individuality.
• What movement? (4,4)
• Image on next slide

228. 12. ACROSS
• Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, and
Aventine. Another name would make it an exhaustive list.
Give me the missing name. (10)

229. 13. ACROSS
• As cited in the OED (1989 edition) X, in the business
sense, is first recorded in 1976:
• 1976 Forbes 15 August issue The unfashionable
business of investing in X’s in the electronic data
processing field.
• And a year later:
• 1977 Business Week (Industry edition) 5 September
issue: An incubator for X companies, especially in
the fast-growth, high-technology fields.
• Just give me X. (7)

230. 14. ACROSS
• The popularity of the phrase gained prominence after
paratroopers during WWI were wished Hans un beinbruch.
The sentiment here is ‘Happy landings’ in English. Both
English and German pilots use the term, but the literal
translation is something more violent.
• The phrase has thereafter seeped into modern parlance,
most often used in the context of performing arts.
• What phrase? (5,1,3)

231. 15. ACROSS
• It gets its name from
the German works for
“pickaxe” and
“headgear”. Made
famous by the Russian
military in the 19th
century and later by
the likes of Otto Von
Bismarck, identify this
headgear. (11)

232. 1. DOWN
This is from a letter written in 1887 by a
Polish ophthalmologist
• "The place where I was born and spent my childhood
gave direction to all my future struggles. In Białystok the
inhabitants were divided into four distinct elements:
Russians, Poles, Germans and Jews… each of these spoke
their own language and looked on all the others as
enemies… Since at that time I thought that 'grown-ups'
were omnipotent, so I often said to myself that when I
grew up I would certainly destroy this evil.”
• How did he decide to “destroy this evil.”? (9)

233. 3. DOWN
• X is a term usually used to describe a riches to rags story,
especially in the case of women. For example, Karen
Robson and Jonathan Gershuny presented a conference
paper titled ‘The sad tale of X: the social position of British
mothers after first birth and future research with European
data - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)’
which dealt with decreasing economic well being and
social status of British women after having their first child.
• Just give me X. (10)

234. 4. DOWN
• Which term was first used to describe a strategy used by
the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War and
came into the mainstream English language after Western
media sources first utilized the term to describe the
attitudes of POWs returning from the aforementioned
engagement? (12)

235. 7. DOWN
• What term that is used to describe the narrow stretch of
the San Francisco Peninsula that is sandwiched between
the bay to the east and the Coastal Range to the west first
appeared in print in a series of articles penned by a hard-
drinking, story-chasing, gossip-mongering journalist named
Don Hoefler, who wrote for a trade rag called Electronic
News in 1971? (7,5)

236. 8. DOWN
What nomenclature is explained by Wiki
via the following image? (11)

237. ANSWERS

238. 2. ACROSS
• What is the Arabic and Turkish for the word falcon?
Incidentally, the Indian peregrine falcon is also nicknamed
the same making it kind of tautological. (7)

239. Shaheen

240. 4. ACROSS
• Seltaeb was a merchandising company set up in USA in
1963 by Nicky Byrne to look after the merchandising
interests of X. The products they sold included X dolls,
scarves, mugs, bath water, wigs, badges, t-shirts, bubble
gum, licorice, empty cans of ‘X Breath', and many more
Though the company no longer exists, products licensed
by Seltaeb can be found all over the internet and at
conventions.
• Just give me X. (7)

242. 5. ACROSS
• Which element gets its name from the Latin for “from the
island of Cyprus”? (5)

244. 6. ACROSS
• By leaving their unit, organization, or place of duty, where
there has been a determined intent to not return;
• If that intent is determined to be to avoid hazardous duty
or shirk contractual obligation;
• If they enlist or accept an appointment in the same or
another branch of service without disclosing the fact that
they have not been properly separated from current
service.
• Just give me an acronym for the case that satisfies any
one of the above. (4)

246. 9.ACROSS
Russian stamp in
honour of which
non-Russki (3,5)

247. KIM PHILBY

248. 10 ACROSS
• Sou Fujimoto Architects
built this wooden
building which they
called the Next
Generation House
(NGH) in 2008. What
was touted to be the
inspiration behind this
house? (5)

249. JENGA

250. 11. ACROSS
• Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist was enraged
when McDonalds first opened in the Piazza di
Spagna in Rome.
• In 1986, he started the X Movement in a bid to
resist the threat to gastronomic individuality.
• What movement? (4,4)
• Image on next slide

253. 12. ACROSS
• Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, and
Aventine. Another name would make it an exhaustive list.
Give me the missing name. (10)

254. CAPITOLINE

255. 13. ACROSS
• As cited in the OED (1989 edition) X, in the business
sense, is first recorded in 1976:
• 1976 Forbes 15 August issue The unfashionable
business of investing in X’s in the electronic data
processing field.
• And a year later:
• 1977 Business Week (Industry edition) 5 September
issue: An incubator for X companies, especially in
the fast-growth, high-technology fields.
• Just give me X. (7)

256. STARTUP

257. 14. ACROSS
• The popularity of the phrase gained prominence after
paratroopers during WWI were wished Hans un beinbruch.
The sentiment here is ‘Happy landings’ in English. Both
English and German pilots use the term, but the literal
translation is something more violent.
• The phrase has thereafter seeped into modern parlance,
most often used in the context of performing arts.
• What phrase? (5,1,3)

259. 15. ACROSS
• It gets its name from
the German works for
“pickaxe” and
“headgear”. Made
famous by the Russian
military in the 19th
century and later by
the likes of Otto Von
Bismarck, identify this
headgear. (11)

260. PICKELHAUBE
• Will accept PICKELHELM

261. 1. DOWN
This is from a letter written in 1887 by a
Polish ophthalmologist
• "The place where I was born and spent my childhood
gave direction to all my future struggles. In Białystok the
inhabitants were divided into four distinct elements:
Russians, Poles, Germans and Jews… each of these spoke
their own language and looked on all the others as
enemies… Since at that time I thought that 'grown-ups'
were omnipotent, so I often said to myself that when I
grew up I would certainly destroy this evil.”
• How did he decide to “destroy this evil.”? (9)

263. 3. DOWN
• X is a term usually used to describe a riches to rags story,
especially in the case of women. For example, Karen
Robson and Jonathan Gershuny presented a conference
paper titled ‘The sad tale of X: the social position of British
mothers after first birth and future research with European
data - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)’
which dealt with decreasing economic well being and
social status of British women after having their first child.
• Just give me X. (10)

265. 4. DOWN
• Which term was first used to describe a strategy used by
the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War and
came into the mainstream English language after Western
media sources first utilized the term to describe the
attitudes of POWs returning from the aforementioned
engagement? (12)

266. BRAINWASHING

267. 7. DOWN
• What term that is used to describe the narrow stretch of
the San Francisco Peninsula that is sandwiched between
the bay to the east and the Coastal Range to the west first
appeared in print in a series of articles penned by a hard-
drinking, story-chasing, gossip-mongering journalist named
Don Hoefler, who wrote for a trade rag called Electronic
News in 1971? (7,5)

269. 8. DOWN
What nomenclature is explained by Wiki
via the following image? (11)

270. HIPPOCAMPUS

271. Against The Clock
• 16 Koschens
• 3 Strikes rule applies
• +10/-5 on pounce
• +10 flat otherwise

272. 1.
• In 1985 Monsanto purchased
G.D. Searle, the chemical
company that held the patent to
X, the active ingredient of the
product on the right.
• The FDA had actually banned X
in 1980, only to have the then
Searle Chairman "call in his
markers," and get it approved.
• The Chairman would later win the
Foot in Mouth part for having
come up with the phrase “There
are known knowns” during a DoD
press conference in 2002.
• X? Chairman?
• Bigger image on next slide

273. Aspartane; Donald Rumsfeld

274. 2.
• On the afternoon before Christmas, 1976, Zaheer Abbas
spooned up an attempted pull shot in Adelaide. The
bowler dived for the catch, midwicket Alan Turner dove
simultaneously, and crashed. Neither man got up for a
while.
• When he did get up, he was ‘knocked off his pedestal’.
• Who was the bowler? How was he ‘knocked off his
pedestal’?

275. Jeff Thomson; he had
his right shoulder
bone is wrenched
five centimetres
away from the joint
and ceased to be
the fastest bowler in
the world.

276. 3.
• 46 of the 1,007 are currently classified as endangered a
nearly unprecedented level of risk, just behind the all-time
high set in 2003.
• The first time any of the entities part of the list was deleted
since 1972 was when the Omani Government
contravened operational guidelines.
• 2003 also marked the only time when an entity was added
to the list as “testimony to the tragic destruction” that had
taken place two years back.
• What is the list? Which was the deletion? Which was the
addition?

277. UNESCO
World
Heritage
Sites;
Arabian Oryx
Sanctuary;
Bamiyan
Buddhas

278. 4.
• In1982, venture capitalist Gregg Bemis bought the rights as
an investment, figuring at the time that the scrap value of
the steel, bronze, and brass was about $12 million.
• Over the past three decades he has been relentlessly
trying to prove that whatever happened on 2 o’clock in
the afternoon of May 7, 1915 off the southeastern coast of
Ireland, was because of contraband—nitrocellulose or
guncotton.
• What is being talked about?

279. The sinking of the Lusitania

280. 5.
• By the early 1930s, Herman J. Mankiewicz was a
screenwriting genius who had secretly helped construct
classic films such as Duck Soup and The Wizard of Oz.
• He was also a raging drunk who picked fights everywhere
he went and insulted everyone from studio execs to actors
in his films.
• Mankiewicz had once been friends with the self-made
multimillionaire X and attended many a party at San
Simeon, X’s infamous mansion. The relationship ended,
however, when X banned Mankiewicz after he kept trying
to get X’s mistress, Marion Davies, drunk.
• Mankiewicz soon set about to exact revenge on X. How?
• Continued on next slide

281. • So, hell bent upon revenge was Mankiewicz that he
decided that he went onto quite exceptional lengths.
• So, what was the nickname that X had bestowed upon his
aforementioned beau Marion Davies’ clitoris?

282. He began writing a script about a newspaper mogul and used everything he knew
about Hearst to humiliate him and voila Citizen Kane was born. Rosebud.

283. 6.
• Sir Harry Johnston was the veritable model of a late
nineteenth-century African explorer. A well-known linguist,
botanist, mountain climber, animal collector and colonial
administrator, Sir Harry came across some Wambutti
pygmies in 1901.
• They introduced him to what was then referred to as the
‘African Unicorn’.
• Although, it was not until 1890 that the American explorer
and writer X sent the first reports about the animal to the
Western world while being involved in somewhat of a
different pursuit.
• How do we know the ‘African Unicorn’ now? X or what

284. Okapi; H.M. Stanley; looking for David
Livingstone

285. 7.
• Krishnakumar Patil, 60, lives in a small house with his
ailing mother and sister in a slum near the 214-year-old
structure.
• Although referred to as maalak (owner) by the
localites, he has been denied a share of a vast
income.
• Who did he a lodge a case against in the Bombay
High Court?
• Or what was established by his predecessor, Lakshman
Vedu Patil?

286. Siddhivinayak Temple

287. 8.
• This was formerly also known as ‘Going to
Jerusalem’.
• In the musical Evita, Juan Perón and a group of
other military officers play this which Perón wins,
symbolising his rise to power.
• What?
• In 2012 a NYC bar hosted a version of this featuring
songs by the ‘Goddess of Pop’.
• What was the event called?

288. Musical chairs; Musical Cher

289. 9.
• Dawn Staley, American basketball hall of fame player
and coach, did this during the 1996 Olympic Torch
Relay in her native city.
• In The Simpsons episode I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can,
Lisa Simpson does this to boost her flagging
confidence.
• In a Reebok campaign, Allen Iverson, then with the
76ers, did this while dribbling a basketball.
• In a 2006 movie a bunch of people did this during the
end credits.
• What?

290. Running up the steps of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art

291. 10.
• In medieval Germany there were lords who charged
nominally illegal tolls (tolls unauthorised by the Holy Roman
Emperor) on the primitive roads crossing their lands or the
larger tolls on ships traversing the Rhine.
• In the 1970s the student body of Stanford University voted
to use the same name as the nickname for their sports
teams. However, school administrators disallowed it,
saying it was disrespectful to the school's founder, Leland
Stanford.
• What were the called?

292. Robber Baron

293. 11.
• In 1921, the guy on the next slide walked into the Chicago
sales office of a company based out of Malden,
Massachusetts in search of a job.
• He was brimming with ideas to improve the product which
he had always used himself and by the 1970s his
nickname became the nickname of the product itself and
his signature style was endorsed by a plethora of pop cult
personages like Dennis the Menace, Hunter S. Thompson
and The Rolling Stones during their Steel Wheels Tour in
1989.
• Who’s he?

295. Charles ‘Chuck’ Taylor

296. 12. These were the original dozen in
1896
• American Cotton Oil, American Sugar, American
Tobacco, Chicago Gas, Distilling & Cattle Feeding,
General Electric, Laclede Gas, National Lead, North
American, Tennessee Coal & Iron, U.S. Leather preferred,
and U.S. Rubber.
• What is being talked about?

297. Dow Jones Industrial Average

298. 13.
• Who’s the third E in the list?
• Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.
• (m. 1916, div. 1927)
• Ernest Aldrich Simpson
• (m. 1928, div. 1937)
• E
• (m. 1937, died 1972)

299. Edward VII

300. 14.
• In George Washington's days, there were no
cameras. One's image was either sculpted or
painted. Some paintings of George Washington
showed him standing behind a desk with one hand
behind his back while others showed both feet.
• Prices charged by painters were not based on how
many people were to be painted, but by how
many limbs were to be painted.
• This gave rise to which expression?

301. Cost you an arm and a leg

302. 15.
• Ella Minnow Pea is a 2001 novel by Mark Dunn. The plot is
conveyed through mail or notes sent between various
characters.
• ‘Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs’ is one such
message.
• The novel is set on the fictitious island of Nollop, off the
coast of South Carolina, and home to one Nevin Nollop.
• What did Nollop supposedly come up with which was first
seen in print The Michigan School Moderator a couple of
centuries back?

303. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
dog

304. 16.
• Gimme an expression and a word – one in French and the
other in Greek on the basis of the two pictures on the next
slides whose literal translation in English are the same
however used in quite different contexts.
• Also what is the translation?

307. Pseudopodia; Faux pas; False feet

308. Colors of The Empire
State
• Written round
• +5 for each correct answer
• Bonus +10 for all correct

309. 1.

310. 2.

311. 3.

312. 4.

313. 5.

314. 6.

315. 7.

316. 8.