Trivia Quiz

1. What is the largest hydroelectric project in Africa, created as a result of the damming of the Zambezi River to form a reservoir 230 km/144 mi long in western Mozambique?
a) Cahora Bassa
b) Samora Machel
c) Renamo
d) Beira Corridor

3. Who said `Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.`?
a) William Beveridge
b) Stanley Baldwin
c) Franklin D Roosevelt
d) Nelson Mandela

4. The largest lake of Central America is a freshwater lake that contains fish, such as tuna and sharks, usually found only in salt water, because it was once part of the Caribbean Sea until landmasses rose around it in prehistoric times. What is its name?
a) Lake Managua
b) Lake Chapala
c) Lake Izabal
d) Lake Nicaragua

5. Who wrote the words `When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.`?
a) George Orwell
b) H L Mencken
c) Dorothy Parker
d) George Bernard Shaw

6. In 1850 he became secretary of the newly established American Express Company, having previously worked with Henry Wells. Who was he?
a) William George Fargo
b) Lord Rees-Mogg
c) George Soros
d) Tim Powell

7. Which international crisis 27 Aug-27 Sept 1923 marked the first assertion of power in foreign affairs by the Italian Fascist government?
a) Sicily incident
b) Aegean incident
c) Corfu incident
d) Cyprus incident

8. In the Anglo-Zulu War, what was the Zulu victory over British forces which took place on 22 Jan 1879 about 160 km/100 mi north of Durban?
a) Battle of Imphal
b) Battle of Inkerman
c) Battle of Isandhlwana
d) Battle of Hohenlinden

9. Who wrote the words `Winter is icummen in, Lhude sing Goddamm, Raineth drop and staineth slop, And how the wind doth ramm! Sing: Goddamm.`?
a) Noël Coward
b) Dorothy Parker
c) H L Mencken
d) Ezra Pound

10. What administrative body was created by the British mandate power in Palestine 1929 to oversee the Jewish population and immigration?
a) Jewish Syndicate
b) Jewish Agency
c) Jewish Quorum
d) Jewish Alliance

11. Who said `The costume of woman ... should conduce at once to her health, comfort, and usefulness ... while it should not fail also to conduce to her personal adornment, it should make that end of secondary importance.`?
a) Florence Nightingale
b) Mary Wollstonecraft
c) Amelia Jenks Bloomer
d) Queen Victoria

12. In World War I, which inconclusive battle was fought between French and German forces Sept 20-30 1914 as part of the German `race to the sea`?
a) Battle of Hastings
b) Battle of the sea
c) Battle of Albert
d) Battle of the Somme

13. Which former world record holder and Olympic gold medallist became the elected Conservative MP for Falmouth and Cambourne in 1992?
a) Jeffery Archer
b) Sebastian Coe
c) Steve Cram
d) Sally Gunnell

14. Who wrote the words `You're thinking, you're no better than you should be, Polly, and that's good enough for me. Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?`?
a) Wynford Vaughan Thomas
b) George Bernard Shaw
c) Caryl Churchill
d) Dylan Thomas

15. Who landed at Botany Bay in Australia in 1770 and thought that the coastline resembled the Welsh coast, so he called it New Wales?
a) Captain Cook
b) Captain Hook
c) Captain Bligh
d) Captain Ahab

16. What is the name for a word made up from the initial letters of other words, like SCUBA ( S elf C ontained U nderwater B reathing A pparatus)?
a) Acronym
b) Anagram
c) Acrostic
d) Monogram

17. Who said `It is always the best policy to speak the truth - unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.`?
a) Richard M Nixon
b) Jerome K Jerome
c) Harold Wilson
d) P G Wodehouse

18. Which Asian country comprises over 1,000 islands of which the four largest are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku?
a) Japan
b) Malaysia
c) Thailand
d) Indonesia

19. Which island off the Northwest coast of Burma (now Myanmar) was used by the Japanese, who built several airfields there, in World War II ?
a) Mali Kyun
b) Sitwe Akyab Island
c) Cheduba Island
d) Ramree Island

20. If you ask any British person to quote a famous date in history, they will most likely answer `1066`. What happened in 1066?
a) King Canute got his feet wet
b) Francis Drake sailed round the world
c) The Spanish Armada was defeated
d) The battle of Hastings

21. Which long, narrow South American country, with a cold-sounding name, stretches down the coast, wedged between the Pacific and the Andes?
a) Ecuador
b) Venezuela
c) Brazil
d) Chile

22. What is the name for a prehistoric monument in the form of a chamber built of large stone slabs, roofed over by a flat stone?
a) Menhir
b) Dolmen
c) Barrow
d) Fogou

23. What is the name for the chasing of hares by greyhounds, not by scent but by sight, as a sport and as a test of the greyhound's speed?
a) Dressing
b) Coursing
c) Casting
d) Chasing

24. What competitive sport has a best possible score of 2,880, which can be obtained over four distances of 90, 70, 50, and 30 metres?
a) Javelin
b) Pentathlon
c) Decathlon
d) Archery

25. As vice president in 1963, which Texan Democrat immediately became 36th US president on the assassination of John F Kennedy?
a) Lyndon Johnson
b) Ronald Reagan
c) Jimmy Carter
d) Richard Nixon

26. Which novel was Daniel Defoe inspired to write when Alexander Selkirk was shipwrecked on a Pacific island from 1704-09?
a) The Incredible Journey
b) Robinson Crusoe
c) The Adventures of Tintin
d) Treasure Island

27. What was the legislation passed in 1858, 1919, and 1939 which formed the basis of British rule in India until independence 1947?
a) Imperial Acts
b) Colonies Acts
c) India Acts
d) Indian Law

28. What armed British merchant ship of World War II was sunk by the German battleship Admiral Scheer while protecting a convoy of merchant ships in the North Atlantic Nov 1940?
a) Jervis Bay
b) Cassini
c) Belgrano
d) Bismarck

29. What is the term for property or money given by the bride's family to the groom or his family as part of the marriage agreement?
a) Endowment
b) Bridewealth
c) Purse
d) Dowry

30. Who wrote the words `The sea of faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd; But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.`?
a) Robert Southey
b) Matthew Arnold
c) William Blake
d) Gerard Manley Hopkins

31. Which capital city, home of the Acropolis and the Parthenon, has less green space than any other European capital, and is one of the most polluted cities in Europe?
a) Athens
b) Budapest
c) Rome
d) Madrid

32. Which company withdrew from motor sport for more than 30 years after a crash involving one of its cars killed 80 spectators at Le Mans?
a) Daimler
b) Peugeot
c) Mercedes-Benz
d) Porsche

33. It's an opulent type of car, but was originally a rough cloak worn by shepherds in a former French province. What is it?
a) Sedan
b) Cadillac
c) Limousine
d) Pontiac

34. What is the name of the Turkish internment camp in Armenia, where during World War I, many of the British prisoners captured after the fall of Kut al-Imara 1916 were held?
a) Baghche
b) Yozgat
c) Sivas
d) Zara

35. Which sport is played on the largest field of any game, in teams of four, with each player having a long-handled mallet to hit the ball?
a) Croquet
b) Baseball
c) Lacrosse
d) Polo

36. In which Middle-Eastern town was the Church of the Nativity built over a grotto said to be the birthplace of Jesus?
a) Mecca
b) Bethlehem
c) Medina
d) Nazareth