Spare Tyre

Conducted by:
Debasish Bhattacharjee

 Walter and Tom Davies of Llanelli, Wales,
invented the ____ ____ in 1904.
 At the time, motor cars were made without
____ ____.
 Their company, X Iron Mongers, had agents
distributing through the United States,
Belgium, France, and Italy.
 The word X is sometimes used interchangeably
in India with ____ ____.
 What is X?

X: Stepney
The blanks are “spare tyre”

 In the earliest days of cricket, batsmen were
expected to leave the bat at the crease on being
dismissed so that the batsman coming in next
could use it.
 This practice leads to the coinage of a three
word phrase, that refers to a commendable feat
on the part of the batsman.
 Which phrase?

 This phrase, an obsolete one, except in India,
used to be of significance during the British
Rule.
 The East India Company used to post its
officers to particular “______s”. When they
used to be away from their duty ______s, the
officers used to be referred to as “____ __
_______”.
 Which three word phrase? (The first two
blanks are the same as the third word in the
phrase)

 Scene (next slide) from the movie “Todo Sobre mi
Madre”, where the poster depicts a play which
plays a significant part in the movie.
 This play is a Spanish version of a famous English
play of the 1940s, which was later made into an
Oscar winning movie.
 The line “Whoever you are.. I have always
depended on the kindness of strangers” said by
the character Huma Rojo in the Spanish movie, is
actually a repeat of a famous line from the original
play.
 Name the play.

 X was a Seventh-Day Adventist, a branch of
Protestant Christianity that promotes a vegetarian
diet among its followers.
 X became a health guru, opening a health resort in
his home town of Battle Creek, Michigan where he
advocated a lifestyle of vegetarianism and exercise
for good health and moral fiber.
 It was at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where X and
his younger brother, Will, accidentally invented
_______ _______by leaving some boiled wheat
lying around for a little too long.
 Either ID X or his invention.

 John Harvey Kellogg; Breakfast Cereal

 The Large Blue butterfly and the red ant called
Myrmica — have a unique relationship.
 The caterpillar fools the ant into thinking that it is
a misplaced grub from the ant’s own nest. It does
this by mimicking the posture of an ant larvae and
chemically cloaking itself in a scent that seems like
the ant.
 Once the caterpillar has been "returned" to the
nest, it starts clucking. This ensures that the ants
will leave it alone when it starts munching the
nest’s own larvae.
 Why does the caterpillar cluck?

 The sound imitates the queen ant.
 The ants themselves use their larvae as a food
source when times are tough, so for their
queenly guest to behave like a cannibal may
not strike them as all that abhorrent.

 The elytra is a hard case that plays no role in
the flight.
 The hind wings are where flight originates.
 These wings, or alae, are four times the size of
the X itself and can move independently of
each other.
 Each of these alae can move up and down,
forward and backward. The alae are inter-laced
with veins, which the wings fold along when
packed up inside of the elytra.
 What is X?

 BBC broadcasters alerted authorities about the
issue after the start of the program BBC Radio 4
every night proved to be an indication to the
problem.
 The error amounts to 6 seconds and technicians
tend to correct this by stacking pennies on the
affected object.
 In 1947 a flock of starlings caused a delay of 4.5
minutes.
 What is being talked about?

 Slowing down of the Big Ben

 In the late 1980s, the Indian government
announced a plan to release specially bred flesh-
eating turtles for a specific purpose.
 Some 25,000 flesh-hungry turtles later, the plan
was a failure.
 “It was plagued by corruption and
mismanagement, and though plenty of
forethought was put into raising the turtles, not so
much attention was paid to seeing that they
survived in the wild after their release, and as a
result, they were poached and killed in large
numbers”.
 Why were these turtles bred?

 To be released into the Ganges to “clean up”
the river of partially burned corpses

 Initially only 50,000 copies of the Guinness
book was printed.
 The copies even had waterproof covers.
 What was the practical reason for this
waterproofing?

 To protect them from the inevitable spills at
pubs, where the books were most likely to be
used

 What connects the following books?

 These children’s books use “gentle hypnosis”
through cues and dialogues in the book to
induce a certain desired behavior

 Originally invented in 1868, X (two words) was given its modern
form by Joseph Glidden’s improvements in 1874.
 Prior to this, farmers often used Osage Orange, a small thorny
tree found in Texas.
 Nicknamed “Devil’s Rope” by Native Americans, the X proved
highly effective on cattle, but also destructive against an entire
ecosystem. One notable example: By impeding the American
buffalo’s access to grazing land and water, it became a major
factor in the near-extinction of the once-prominent creature.
 This small museum (pic in next slide) in Texas details the history
of X.
 What is X?

 X’s debut novel starts with the line “Things
started to fall apart at home…” which was a
nod to Y, who she idolized.
 X actually grew up in the same house that was
once occupied by Y, in the university town of
Nsukka.
 After X’s debut novel was published, Y left a
message hinting that he was impressed and
that X could call him.
 X was still too shy to call up Y.
 ID X or Y.

 Fear of X is referred to as pediophobia.
 Some X makers blame Hollywood films for the
creepy X stigma, and there’s no doubt that
moviemakers have used X to great effect.
 Before Hollywood, “The Sandman” is a case study
in the uncanny. The story, published in 1816,
involves a traumatized young man who discovers
that the object of his affection is in fact a clever X,
the work of a sinister alchemist who may or may
not have murdered the young man’s father; it
drives him mad.
 What is X?

 This extraordinary attraction in Parma, Italy is the
brainchild of Italian art collector, bibliophile and art
magazine publisher Franco Maria Ricci.
 In 1998, he sold his publishing house and invested the
money, hoping to create a destination that would inspire
wonder and curiosity, among other emotions.
 The inspiration for creating the X came from Ricci’s long-
time friendship and collaboration with the late Argentinean
writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Ricci admired Borges’
work, and the writer frequently contributed to his
magazines. One evening in 1977, Borges was staying at
Ricci’s country home when the conversation turned to how
X are a metaphor for the human condition-a favorite theme
in Borges’ writings.
 What is this, the largest of its kind in the world?

 “Some said that I was a spook, but I
just knew a few,” he told the
Guardian in 2001 – but an extract
from his memoir in the Sunday
Times reveals how in late 1968 a
“member of the Firm” - MI6 – called
Ronnie sought him out.
 The Nigeria-Biafra conflict had been
ongoing for 15 months, and Ronnie
needed “an asset deep inside the
Biafran enclave, what he termed
‘someone in on the ground”.
 Who finally confessed to having
worked as an MI6 agent in addition
to have been an RAF pilot?

 These were introduced in
the UK in 2007 for low-
value transactions. More
of these transactions took
place during 2014 than the
previous six years
combined.
 More than £2.5bn was
transacted in the first half
of this year.
 What is being talked
about?

 Contactless card transactions

 The menu was saved by
Abraham Lincoln Salomon
and is signed on the back by
Isaac Gerald Frauenthal from
New York who probably had
eaten lunch with Salomon that
day.
 The menu also included
corned beef; mashed, fried and
baked jacket potatoes; a buffet
of fish, ham and beef; an apple
meringue pastry; and a
selection of eight cheeses.
 Where was this menu served?

 The harbor of the town of
Odense, Denmark has a huge
painting of a tuna fish and a
cormorant.
 In 1994 the local football team
OB beat Real Madrid to qualify
for the Uefa Cup quarter-finals
in a fairy tale run. It’s probably
the team’s most memorable
victory. A lot of people in the
city remember the match,
especially if they see OB’s old
away yellow and black jersey.
 But who is the most famous
person to have hailed from this
town?

 Originally named The Poet
(French: Le Poète), it was initially
a figure in a large commission,
begun in 1880, for a doorway
surround called The Gates of
Hell. It was based on The Divine
Comedy of Dante, and most of
the many figures in the work
represented the main characters
in the epic poem.
 Some critics believe that X, at the
centre of the composition over the
doorway and at about 70 cm high
larger than most other figures,
was originally intended to depict
Dante at the gates of Hell,
pondering his great poem.
 What is X?

 Disguising him in fancy dress
 Hop across the Kensington rooftops to a
helipad, or get lost in the crowds in Harrods
 Appoint him Ecuador’s representative to the
UN and move him out in an official car under
the protection of diplomatic immunity
 What were these ideas for?

 Smuggling Julian Assange out of the
Ecuadorean embassy in London

 What has been depicted in the pic in reference
to the year 1665?

 Deaths owing to the Plague of London

 “For heaven’s sake, it’s a
movie. When I got the
script, it was typed in
black on paper of the
deepest red so you
couldn’t photocopy it. I
got a hangover just
reading it.”
 He was censured by the
studio recently for
mentioning on Twitter a
fellow actor.
 Either ID him or mention
his greatest claim to fame.

 Anthony Daniels, most famously known for
playing C3PO

 To maintain their sacred status, these are rigorously
policed: regulations state they must hang from a wall
with nothing else on it – no other decorations are
allowed – in a prominent and central position in the
room.
 Frames must also be hung high up, so that no one can
stand higher.
 The only rooms that are exempt from these rules are in
hotels.
 If dust is found on them, you’re subject to pay a fine –
the thicker the dust is the more you have to pay.
 What are we talking about?

 Portraits of the two Kims in North Korea

 A controversial sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor, on display
in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles has been vandalized
quite a few times in the past few months.
 Officially known as “Dirty Corner”, the sculpture comprises a
huge steel funnel, which the 61-year-old British-Indian artist
has described as “very sexual”.
 What is the informal and possibly the more “popular” name
of this sculpture?

 A study in The Lancet
Psychiatry shows that if a child
is a committed X, he is three
times more likely to self-harm
than other teenagers.
 Xs come in various forms but
the Oxford Dictionary
definition is: “A member of a
subculture favouring black
clothing, white and black make-
up, and X music.”
 What is X? (a word that can be
connected to Asterix adventures
and also architecture)

 There is the oft-spun yarn that he earned his
nickname as an infant when Harry Houdini, no
less, saw him fall down the stairs and
exclaimed: “That was a real _____!”
 More outlandishly, he and his parents claimed
that aged just 20 months old, he was sucked
out of his bedroom window by a tornado, spun
and deposited, unharmed, in a nearby field.
 Who is X, for whom it was almost second
nature to “land like a cat”?

 This means that you, like all the descendants of Ibn
Rushd, Muslim, Christian, atheist or Jew, are also
partly of the jinn. The jinni part, being far more
powerful than the human part, is very strong in you
all, and that is what made it possible for you to survive
the otherness in there; for you are Other too.
 “Vow,” he cried, reeling. “It isn’t bad enough being a
brown dude in America, you’re telling me I’m half
fucking goblin as well.”
 Excerpt from which book that also includes walk-on
parts for Isaac Newton, Henry Ford, Mother Teresa
and Harry Potter?

 Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight
Nights by Salman Rushdie

 Recent pics show migrants
waiting to be registered by the
police after arriving at the port
of X.
 Homer refers to the island as
"Macaros edos", the seat of
Macar. Hittite records from the
Late Bronze Age name the
island Lazpa and must have
considered its population
significant enough to allow the
Hittites to "borrow their gods"
(presumably idols) to cure their
king when the local gods were
not forthcoming.
 What is X, also a tourist
destination for a certain group
of people.

 Lesbos; the island which gives its name to
lesbianism and is frequented by many of the
ilk.

 Two "hidden" images formed by the horse appear
in X.
 A human skull overlays the horse's body.
 A bull appears to gore the horse from underneath.
The bull's head is formed mainly by the horse's
entire front leg which has the knee on the ground.
The leg's knee cap forms the head's nose. A horn
appears within the horse's breast.
 The bull's tail forms the image of a flame with
smoke rising from it, seemingly appearing in a
window created by the lighter shade of gray
surrounding it.
 What is X?

Spare Tyre

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