A Holiday Quiz - Answers

Here are the answers to the Quiz I set before Xmas. A few people, I think, took up the challenge and I do hope that they found it diverting.

Numbers and Letters Quiz

Answers

1. Colours of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
2. Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, etc.
3. Value of π or Pi.
4. Months of the year: January, February, March, April, etc.
5. Roger Bannister’s time in the first four minute mile: 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.
6. Order of Monarchs of England from 1066 conquest: William I, William II, Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, Richard I, John, etc.
7. Squares of the cardinal numbers: 1 =1 x 1, 4 =2 x 2, 9 =3 x 3, etc.
8. Order of books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, etc.
9. Order of States joining the United States of America: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, etc.
10. Order of numbers on a dart board, from the bottom sector working clockwise.
11. Order (heading upstream) of road bridges in London over the Thames: Tower, London, Southwark, Blackfriars, Waterloo, Westminster, Lambeth, Vauxhall, etc.
12. The Fibonacci sequence of numbers.
13. Planets in the Solar System in order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.
14. Progression of weights in avoirdupois system: 16 drams = 1 ounce, 16 ounces = 1 pound, 14 pounds = 1 stone, 8 stones = 1 hundredweight, 20 hundredweights = 1 ton.
15. The order of the periodic table of elements: Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, etc.
16. The probability of choosing six correct numbers in the UK National Lottery.
17. Internal angles of regular polygons: triangle = 60, square = 90, pentagon = 108, hexagon = 120, heptagon = 128.57, octagon = 135, etc.
18. Number of times FA Cup won by most successful teams: 11by Manchester United, 10 by Arsenal, 8 by Tottenham Hotspur, 7 by Aston Villa, 7 by Liverpool, etc.
19. Order of precedence for the City of London Livery Companies (eg, the order they take in the Lord Mayor’s Show). The order is: Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths. The next position is more complicated because Merchant Tailors and Skinners share positions 6 and 7 and have alternated in precedence since 1484. This was decided upon by the then Lord Mayor as a way of settling a dispute between them. It is possible that the phrase “all at sixes and sevens” derives from this peculiar arrangement.
20. Frequencies (in Hertz) of musical notes: middle C, D, E, F, G, A, B, etc.
21. Initials of Poets Laureates from current one and working back in time: Carol Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion, Ted Hughes, John Betjeman, Cecil Day-Lewis, John Masefield, etc.
22. Costs of buying the properties that are for sale round the Monopoly Board: Old Kent Road, Whitechapel Road, King’s Cross Station, The Angel Islington, Euston Road, Pentonville Road, Pall Mall, Electric Company, etc.
23. The registration number for James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger.
24. The geographical co-ordinates of where the SS Titanic sank.
25. Cities where the Olympics were held from its re-establishment in 1896: Athens, Paris, Saint Louis, London, Stockholm, Antwerp, etc.
26. The record best bowling match analysis in first class cricket. Jim Laker for England v Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. 68 overs, 27 maidens, 90 runs, 19 wickets.
27. The Seven Deadly Sins in order as given by Pope Gregory I (but in English rather than Latin of course): lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, wrath, envy, pride.
28. Frequencies (FM Bands) of Radios 1, 2, 3 & 4.
29. Binary numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.
30. Signs of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, etc.
31. Euler’s number (or Napier’s constant), a mathematical constant and the base of natural logarithms – usually called ‘e’.
32. Weather Areas in order transmitted by BBC: Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, etc.
33. Paper sizes in millimetres: A1=841 x 594, A2=594 x 420, A3= 420 x 297, A4 =297 x 210, A5 =210 x 148, etc.
34. Perfume strengths by percentage concentration: Parfum is 15% to 30%, Eau de Parfum is 8% to 15%, Eau de Toilette is 4% to 8%, Eau de Cologne is 3% to 5%.
35. Order of the Harry Potter books: Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows.
36. The pseudonym that Oscar Wilde used for his poem ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’. It stands for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3.
37. Order of Presidents of the USA: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, etc.
38. The Cardinal Numbers: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, etc.
39. The Beatles’ albums in order of release in the UK: Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles for Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, etc.
40. Numbers on a (European) roulette wheel in clockwise order.
41. James Bond novels in order of publication: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, Doctor No, Goldfinger, etc.
42. Six wives of Henry VIII: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Kathryn Howard, Katherine Parr.
43. Beaufort Scale with speeds in mph: light air is 1-3mph, light breeze is 4-7, gentle breeze is 8-12, moderate breeze 13-17, fresh breeze is 18-24, strong breeze is 25-30, etc.
44. The nine Muses of Greek Mythology as given in the Theogony of Hesiod: Cleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania, Calliope.
45. Order of the stories as told in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: Knight’s Tale, Miller’s, Reeve’s, Cook’s, Man of Law’s, Wife of Bath’s, Friar’s, etc.
46. Current UK banknotes and persons depicted on them: £5 – Elizabeth Fry, £10 – Charles Darwin, £20 – Adam Smith, £50 – James Watt/Matthew Boulton.
47. Actors who have played Doctor Who on TV: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, etc.
48. Formula for deriving The Golden Ratio or φ (phi).
49. List of artists having Number 1 records in the UK charts: Elvis Presley 21, Beatles 17, Cliff Richard 14, Westlife 14, Madonna 13, Take That 11, etc.
50. Characters who might be suspects in the board game Cluedo: Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Reverend Green, Mrs. Peacock, Professor Plum.
51. Standard electrical fuses in use in the UK: by amps and colour.
52. Managers of the England football team from 1946: Walter Winterbottom, Alf Ramsey, Joe Mercer, Don Revie, Ron Greenwood, Bobby Robson, Graham Taylor, Terry Venables, etc.
53. Bottle sizes for champagne and other wines: 1 Standard (Single), 2 Magnum, 4 Jeroboam, 6 Rehoboam, 8 Methuselah, 12 Salmanazar, 16 Balthazar, 20 Nebuchadnezzar, 24 Melchior, etc.
54. Tube stations on the Central Underground line in London (heading west from Liverpool Street): Liverpool Street, Bank, St. Paul’s, Chancery Lane, Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus, etc.
55. Names given to Beethoven’s symphonies: third is Eroica, sixth is Pastoral, seventh is Apotheosis of Dance, eighth is The Little Symphony, ninth is Choral.
56. ‘The names of the principal actors in all these plays’, as given in ‘The First Folio’ of Shakespeare’s plays (1623): William Shakespeare, Richard Burbadge, John Hemmings, Augustine Phillips, William Kempt, Thomas Poope, George Bryan, Henry Condell, etc.
57. The five MPs that Charles I tried to have arrested at the Houses of parliament in January 1642, an incident which contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War later that year: Arthur Haselrig, John Pym, John Hampden, Denzil Holles and William Strode.
58. The Magnificent Seven – actor names, in order of recruitment: Yul Brynner, Brad Dexter, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Horst Bucholz.
59. The original line-up of the Rolling Stones at their first gig on 12th July 1962 at the Marquee Club: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, along with Ian Stewart on piano, Dick Taylor on bass and Tony Chapman on drums.
60. The number of possible distributions of cards in a hand of contract bridge.
61. The most recent winners of BBC Sports Personality of the Year. From 2010, working back: Tony McCoy, Ryan Giggs, Chris Hoy, Joe Calzaghe, Zara Phillips, Andrew Flintoff, Kelly Holmes, Jonny Wilkinson, etc.
62. The ‘big four’ railway companies which were nationalised in 1948 to form British Railways: Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and Southern Railway.
63. The line of emperors of Ancient Rome by year of accession: 27BCE Augustus, 14AD Tiberius, 37AD Caligula, 41AD Claudius, 54AD Nero, etc.
64. The Marx Brothers from eldest to youngest (NB Gummo/Milton did not appear in any of their films): Chico (Leonard), Harpo (Adolph), Groucho (Julius Henry), Gummo (Milton), Zeppo (Herbert Manfred).
65. The companions on that ‘ghostly ride’ to Widdecombe Fair: Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawk and old uncle Tom Cobley.
66. Possibly the most famous quote from English Literature: To be or not to be, that is the question, etc.
67. Postal districts of East London: E1 is Stepney (properly the East Head District), E2 is Bethnal Green, E3 is Bow, E4 is Chingford, E5 is Clapton, E6 is East Ham, E7 is Forest Gate, etc.
68. The five men who reached the South Pole on 18th Jan 1912 but who died on the return journey: Henry Robertson Bowers, Edgar Evans, Lawrence Edward Grace Oates, Robert Falcon Scott, Edward Adrian Wilson.
69. The (current) telephone number of Hotel Pennsylvania in New York, made famous by the Glenn Miller tune Pennsylvania 6-5000.
70. Countries that made up the former republic of Yugoslavia: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro (NB Kosovo is not recognised as an independent state by the UN).
71. The Oscar winner for best film from 2010 and working back in time: The King’s Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Departed, Crash, etc.
72. The length of a light year in miles: 1 light year = 5.87849981 × 10¹² miles
73. The counting/divination game and nursery rhyme sometimes called ‘Cherry Stones’: tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief.
74. Points awarded for finishing in Grand Prix in descending order from 1st .
75. The reindeer names as given in the 1823 poem by Clement Clarke Moore, ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen (Dunder and Blixem in the original, Donder later became Donner in the 1930s song).