Team members participated in a quiz competition with questions ranging from history, literature, science, pop culture and more. The document provides the questions and answers to the quiz. It was compiled and edited by Rajiv Rai and hosted by Nigel Jones.
3. • Abhra Das (Assam, India)
•Sebastian Klussmann (Germany)
•Geevantha Weerasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Compiled and edited by
Rajiv Rai (Quizician)
Quizmaster
Nigel Jones (Malaysia/UK)
4.
5. 1
Based on a poem of the same name by the Russian
Nicolai Necrassov, Korobeiniki is a Russian folklore
song whose melody is known worldwide due to which
first successful Russian entertainment export to the
west?
11. 3
Henry Lumsden, Lieutenant with the British army in
India, discovered this fabric a 100% cotton tawny-
colored fabric dyed with the plant extract derived from
the tea leaves.
Name the fabric.
17. 5
Yersinia pestis (formerly, Pasteurella pestis)
discovered by Pasteur in 1894 is considered the
deadliest bug ever. What disease does it cause which is
transmitted by fleas and rats?
23. 7
Which famous international brand gets its name from
the medieval French practice of the king, receiving
golden silk flags from the abbot of St. Denis before a
war?
26. 8
In the year 1881, at La Chaux de Fonds in Switzerland,
an entrepreneur named Achilles Ditesheim hired six
watch makers and opened a workshop. He named the
company after the Swiss Word for 'Always in motion'.
Name the company.
32. 10
Jack Ryan worked in the Pentagon and designed the
Hawk and Sparrow missiles. He is however, more
remembered for designing a runaway hit. What?
35. 11
Alberto Santos-Dumont, the legendary Brazilian
aviator after winning 100,000 Francs as prize in Paris
cribbed his heart out to Louis Cartier about wasting
time in having to do something.
This resulted in Cartier inventing something for him.
What?
37. Wrist watch.
Alberto cribbed about
the time wasted in
checking the time from
the pocket watch. Louis
Cartier cracked this
problem by creating the
first wrist watch.
38. 12
This clichéd phrase was first used to describe Rudolph
Valentino.
Mae West used the phrase to describe Cary Grant in
the movie “She Done Him Wrong” (1933).
The popularity of the phrase was cemented by a movie
starring Cesar Romero in 1941.
What phrase?
41. 13
The Abbott of Glastonbury at the time of the
dissolution of the monasteries sent the deeds of the
manor of Mells to King Henry VIII concealed.
The steward carrying the package knew of the
contents, extracted it and ended up owning the manor.
How is this event immortalized?
44. 14
Originally known as the Chinese gooseberry, the fruit
was renamed for marketing reasons in the mid-20th
century, first to melonette, and then to ___ fruit.
Which fruit?
46. Kiwifruit (Called yang táo in China)was introduced to
New Zealand by Isabel Fraser.
People in New Zealand thought it had a gooseberry
flavour and began to call it the Chinese gooseberry.
47. 15
After the murder of the captain of a ship 'Heartsease'
by Eskimos in 1612, a practice was born, which is
followed even today almost all over.
What practice are we talking about?
49. Flying the flag at half-mast as a mark of respect to the
deceased.
50. 16
According to German legend, this flower takes its
name from the last words of a knight, who was
drowned while trying to pick some from the riverside
for his ladies. Name the flower.
53. 17
This popular health drink was first launched in
Australia over 60 years ago, and named after the
Roman athlete, a champion at the ancient Pythian
Games.
Name it.
62. 20
The launch of Concorde on December 11, 1967 was
delayed due to a difference of opinion between the
French and the British sides on what particular
issue?
68. 22
Anna Jarvis decided to launch a campaign to celebrate
this day.
The first of its kind was held in West Virginia in 1908,
and it was celebrated with a religious service.
The second Sunday in May is the designated day to
celebrate what?
74. 24
Name this bacterial disease that takes its name from
the title of a poem, published in 1530 by Hieronymus
Fracastorius, a physician, astronomer and poet of
Verona.
79. Named after Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin & Michael
Collins
80. 26
The Chinese call it a "little mouse", Danes and Swedes
an "elephant's trunk", Germans a "spider monkey",
Italians a "snail", Israelis pronounce it "strudels" and
the Czechs say "roll mops". What is it?
86. 28
Which expression also used to describe the
fluctuations in stock markets around the world owes
its origin to the Soccer World Cup held in Mexico, 1986
?.
89. 29
Japan hosted the first Olympic Games in Asia on
October 1, 1964. What iconic form of transportation
did they introduce to coincide with the launch of the
event?
95. 31
In 1949, Alec Pompaz, a scout for the New York Giant's
baseball team recommended that the team sign this
23-year old pitcher. The team refused and this young
man went on to become famous in the world of
politics.
Who?
98. 32
The word first appeared around 1930 and was the
name for rubber eraser.
The word ____ as used by A J Hackett, is said to be
"Kiwi slang for Elastic Strap. What?
101. 33
Logo of this sporting event consists of three elements
in red, blue and green—the three colours that are most
widely represented in national flags around the world.
The motto is “the Spirit in Motion”. The name of this
sporting event derives from the Greek word for
“beside" or "alongside”.
Which sporting event?
104. 34
This game was created by the royal family of Malaysia
about 500 years ago. The name of the game comes
from the Malay and Thai word for "kick" and "ball".
Which game?
107. 35
On January 9, 2006 when Australia and South Africa
met in the first international twenty20 match to be
played in Australia, what was the strange about the
uniforms of the teams?
109. Each player's nickname appeared on the back of his
uniform rather than his name/surname.
110. 36
Which modern day sporting title was first conferred by
Tsar Nicholas II on the five great players who
participated in a competition in St. Petersburg in 1914?
116. 38
This expression derives from the world of horse racing.
When a jockey's win is totally assured, he relaxes his
grip on the reins when nearing the finish line.
Which expression?
119. 39
The United States Navy Fighter Weapons School was
established in March 1969 at NAS Miramar, California
after a United States Navy report recommended that a
graduate-level school be established to train Fleet
fighter pilots in air combat tactics to counter the
relatively poor air combat performance of Navy
aircrews over Vietnam.
By what other name do we know this school better?
122. 40
In 1686 king Louis XIV of France had a terrible
operation, he was sliced open without anesthetics but
he endured it bravely.
A group of French nuns at the cloister of Saint Cyr
celebrated this by writing a song “Dieu sauvez le roi.”
A traveler from another country heard the tune, copied
it and translated it.
What did the song become?
125. 41
This battle was fought on June 4, 1859 during the
Austro-Sardinian War, resulting in a French-Sardinian
victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under
Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. The Sardinians regard this as
a great victory, which later paved the way for Italian
unification under Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel.
How has this battle been immortalized?
127. This was the Battle of Magenta (after which the colour
takes its name).
128. 42
Captain Ridley’s shooting party commanded by
Alistair Denniston arrived at a housing site owned by
property developer Captain Hubert Faulkner in August
1939. The site was originally owned by a wealthy
London financier Sir Herbert Samuel Leon.
What happened here in the next couple of years
proved to be a game changer.
Which place?
130. Bletchley Park-The Enigma Coding Machine was
cracked here during World War II.
131. 43
This started in medieval France, when a king would
hug a new knight, placing both his arms around the
knight's neck. This tradition carries forward in the
French military custom of kissing both cheeks of a
man on whom they confer an award. In England, this
took the form of a king tapping each shoulder of a
knight with his sword.
Which English word from the French for “To Neck”
describes this practice?
134. 44
The BOAC flight between London and Johannesburg,
in May 1952 introduced not only an important
technology, but also a phrase to the English language
(based on this technology).
What phrase?
137. 45
On the 5th of March 1960, the Belgian arms transport
"La Coubre" exploded in Havana harbour, killing 136
people. A memorial service was held and among the
prominent guests were Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-
Paul Sartre. But something much more famous
happened at that memorial service which has been
reproduced millions of times ever since. What?
140. 46
This metaphoric expression originally alluded to an
unknown, was so used in a novel by Benjamin Disraeli
(The Young Duke, 1831). The expression was soon
applied to political candidates among the first of who
was James Knox Polk. He won the 1844 Democratic
presidential nomination over Martin Van Buren on the
eighth ballot and went on to win the election. What
term?
143. 47
Which medical word in Latin literally means
"straightening a deformation in children"
It actually started because the correction of curvature
of the spine in children was the main concern of
medical practitioner at that time.
Which word?
146. 48
This concept was first discovered in 1870 by John
Tyndall an English physicist, the first practical use of it
occurred in 1955 when an Indian scientist Narinder. S.
Kapany incorporated this in an endoscope, an optical
instrument used by doctors for medical
experimentation inside the human body. What?
149. 49
This was used as an identifying symbol among Belgian
freedom fighters.
It was introduced in UK by a Belgian refugee Victor de
Laveleye on the BBC during a broadcast and later
popularized by Winston Churchill. What?
152. 50
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, had a decisive role to
play in the royal politics of his day. He initially
supported the Lancastrian Edward IV and later the
Yorkist Henry VI.
As a result, he was known by a particular sobriquet,
which is also used in modern politics.
What?