November Open Quiz Prelims

24-Nov 2013

A General Quiz for teams of 4 or less by

VIVEK KARTHIKEYAN and VENKATESH SRINIVASAN

Conducted at KQA on 24-Nov 2013

16 teams took part

Cut-off was 16 with 3*

Answers Follow.

1. What post, which they held at some point in their careers, is common to two of the three scientists who have been awarded the Bharat Ratna?

The Answer is….

Director of the Indian Institute of Science

Sir CV RamanCNR Rao

2. Five actresses who were honoured as Panchakanyasin the recent Kolkata Intl. Film Festival. Identify the two on the right

The Answer is….

Moushumi ChatterjeeKoel Mallick

3. Identify this house and where it’s located – it is a tourist attraction in this city

The Answer is….

Anand BhawanAllahabad

4. Identify the artist and the subject of this 1930s work

The Answer is….

Amrita ShergillAmrita Shergill

*5. A New Yorker cover from July 2013. Who/what are featured on the cover? What landmark event in the US is this cover about?

The Answer is….

Bert and Ernie (from Sesame Street)Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage / Defense of Marriage Act

6. There are two precedents from post-Independent Indian history where a city was operated as common capital for two states. One is Chandigarh – for Punjab and Haryana.

Name the other city and the two states for which it served as a common capital from 1971 to 1972.

The Answer is….

Shillong – Assam and Meghalaya

7. The organization whose logo you see awards an annual prize named after the person whose picture you see. The first winner was George Dantzig in 1975 and another notable winner was John Nash in 1978.

Name the organization (or) the prize

The Answer is….

• Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

• John Von Neumann Theory Prize

8. Complete this descending order list for England. Who was the most recent entrant to this list?

• ____ _________• Graham Gooch• David Gower• Mike Atherton• Colin Cowdrey• Geoffrey Boycott• Ian Botham• Andrew Strauss, Graham Thorpe

The Answer is….

• Alec Stewart• Kevin Pietersen

100 or more Test appearances for England

9. This is the post announcing a recent much-hyped launch of an app to go along with an album. Name the album and the singer

"Altering the human experience with social media, we bring Xculture into Y in a reverse Warholian expedition.

Exploring ____’s existence as a cultural interface, the user will share in the 'adrenaline of fame; as they build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as XY explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once on November 11, our 'BIG BANG!' On this day, HAUS OF ____ venges with forte to bring the music industry into a new age: an age where X drives Y, and the artist once again is in control of the 'icon'."

The Answer is….

• ARTPOP by Lady Gaga

*10. This was a 1320-km narrow gauge railway built to originally connect Constantinople to Mecca. The railroad was funded entirely by subscriptions starting in 1901 from Muslims throughout the world. However, the rail was only laid as far as Medina, as Bedouin tribes would not provide access to the remaining region. It is also famous for being the target of a British archaeologist and army officer who repeatedly tried to blow up sections of it. Name it.

The Answer is….

• Hejaz Railway

11. March 2014 will see the revival of the detective character Philip Marlowe through a new book. Who is the author who created Philip Marlowe?Which Irish Booker-prize-winning author is writing under the pseudonym Benjamin Black? (pic below)

The Answer is….

• Raymond Chandler• John Banville

12. Given out by the APA, this award has categories like Fiction, Non-Fiction, History, Humour, Fantasy, Science Fiction and more.Identify the award

The Answer is….

• Audies

For the best audiobooks in each category

13. The X consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile cycling leg and a 26.2 mile marathon, while the Y involves a 6.2 mile swim, a 261.4 mile cycle ride and a 52.4 mile run.

What are X and Y?

The Answer is….

• X – Ironman• Y – Ultraman

14. Dear Mr. X,We have been carrying out our usual summer house-cleaning of the manuscripts on our anxious bench and in the file, and among them I find the three papers which you have shown me as samples of your work. I am sincerely sorry that no one of them seems to us well adapted for our purpose. Both the account of the bombing of Dresden and your article, “What’s a Fair Price for Golden Eggs?” have drawn commendation although neither one is quite compelling enough for final acceptance.

Who received this rejection letter from The Atlantic Monthly in 1949?

The Answer is….

• Kurt Vonnegut

*15. Which former colony is this book about? It possiblytakes its name from the moon-shaped bend of the Ganges river bank here and was unified with India on May 2, 1950

The Answer is….

• Chandernagore/ Chandannagore / Chandannagar

16. In Hindu mythology, who has the following alternate names?

“Son of Vishrava”, Vaisravana“Son of Ilavila”, Ailavila"one who has one yellow eye“, Ekaksipingala"king of kings" Rajaraja"king of Yakshas" Yaksharajan"king of men" Nararaja"Lord of the hidden” Guhyadhipa

The Answer is….

• Kubera

17. The treaty that created this geo-political Economic Union was signed in 1960 and then replaced with a new legal framework in 2008. Identify

The Answer is….

• Benelux

18. Identify the film and the music director

The Answer is….

• Mississipi Masala• L Subramaniam

19. In 1932, the American psychologist Walter Pitkin published a self-help book where he stated: ____ ______ __ _____. This is the revolutionary outcome of our New Era. Today it is half a truth. Tomorrow it will be an axiom.

Pitkin’s book was the cause of which phrase becoming part of the language, said as an encouragement to those reaching middle age?

The Answer is….

Life Begins at Forty

*20. The Westinghouse logo is clearly visible just under her arm, and the badge on her shirt collar is the badge employees wore on the plant floor, including an employee number. She is not identified by name. That came later in Norman Rockwell’s May 29, 1943 cover for the Saturday Evening Post.

What J. Howard Miller creation is being described?

The Answer is….

21.

What word variously means:

- The sound of a hound on the scent- A horse of moderate reddish colour- Small Mediterranean evergreen tree with small

blackish berries- To utter in deep prolonged tones

The Answer is….

Bay

22.

Moneylife is a print magazine and website edited by Debashis Basu and his wife Sucheta Dalal.

Ms. Dalal received the Femina Woman of Substance Award in 1993. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2006.

For what events that came to light in 1992 is she noted for?

The Answer is….

Sucheta Dalal was the first to bring to light the Harshad Mehta scam

23.

If “Heir Apparent” is someone who will definitely inherit if (s)he survives the one whose property is to be inherited, what is the term for someone who will inherit only if no better choice for an heir is born?

The Answer is….

Heir Presumptive

A person who expects to inherit but whose right can be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative

24.

His movie set designs heavily inspired cinema theater architecture in the late 1930s through 1950s. Among the more classic examples are the Loma Theater in San Diego and The Crest in Long Beach and Fresno.

Who is this winner of 11 Academy Awards for Art Direction, second only to Walt Disney?

The Answer is….

Cedric Gibbons

The man who is credited with designing the Oscar statue

*25.

There is a story related by Socrates of the daughter of Aeolus the wind god, who was widowed and she threw herself into the sea.

She was transformed into a bird. Alkyonideshemerai is a term that has come to mean a particular short period around the winter solstice.

How do we know this period better, one that was made so the bird could breed without trouble?

The Answer is….

Halcyon – that we know as a term for peace and calmness

The bird was believed to be the Kingfisher (genus Halcyon)

Aeolus’s daughter was Alcyone

26.

The Persian word lahzward refers to the Afghan province Badakhstan, which in ancient times was the main source of a precious stone known for its intense colour. The word was adopted into French, and the initial consonant ‘l’ was taken as an article and the colour became l’_____.

Tell us what colour came about thus, and the name of the precious stone.

The Answer is….

Lahzward became l’azure and gives us ‘Azure’

The stone is Lapis Lazuli

27.

Phil Ramone is the archetypal Man with the Golden Ears and he has produced several outstanding rock records in a career spanning six decades.

In 1962, his steady hands were at the mixing console in Washington D.C., capturing what celebratory rendition, for which jazz pianist Hank Jones was the accompanist?

The Answer is….

“Happy Birthday, Mr. President”

Marilyn Monroe singing to John F Kennedy (JFK)

28.

This ninth century structure was built by the Pope after the sack of Rome of 846 by Saracen invaders -the only time that Rome has been sacked by Muslims. It encloses the rione* of Borgo.

Named after the Pope, what is this structure, and what else will you find within it?

* rione: a subdivision like ‘municipality’

The Answer is….

Leonine Wall after Pope Leo IV

The Vatican is located within the wall.

29.

It's cricket's answer to Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen stadium, with a journey to this ground truly representing a trip to hell for Test sides across the world for the last 25 years. So much so that the game’s lovers Down Under refer to it with a portmanteau that includes a building where animals are butchered. The Aussie record here is Tests 52, Won 32, Lost 8 Tied 1, Drawn 11

Don’t need the name of the ground, but give the term that the locals use.

The Answer is….

Gabbatoir

*30.

Compiled by a Local Studies librarian in Croydon, it is a database culled from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. Every entry is given a number. Others have attempted similar collections in the past. But they were tiny compared to this one. Francis Child for example made a set of 305 songs in the 19th century.

The Gypsy Laddie is #1, "Bonnie Annie" or "The Banks Of Green Willow” is #172 and so on.

What are we talking about?

The Answer is….

The Roud Folk Song Index, a database of nearly 200,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs

31.

It was his last studio album, but he died before completing it. The name of the album was derived from a style of vocal-based R&B music of the 1940s, and a type of jazz originating in the 1940s and characterized by complex harmony and rhythms.

Who and what was the name of the album?

The Answer is….

Miles Davis

Doo-Bop from Doo-Wop and Bebop

32.

What’s the connection between all these animals (non-exhaustive):

Atlas bear, Bali tiger, Caribbean monk seal, Carolina parakeet, Haast's eagle, labrador duck, Schomburgk's deer, Steller's sea cow

The Answer is….

All are Extinct

33.

It was announced recently that an unreleased black-and-white set by the late Helmut Newton will be used next year. Originally intended for the 1986 issue it was never published due to a production error. It features three models cavorting around Monte Carlo and Tuscany, albeit with clothes on.

What is celebrating 50 years in 2014?

The Answer is….

The Pirelli Calendar

34.

Cody Wilson runs a non-profit organization promoting so-called “Wiki Weapons”. This guy is named in a list of 15 of most dangerous people in the world, by Wired magazine, a list list includes nice men like Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the don of Ciudad Juarez.

What does Mr. Wilson do?

The Answer is….

His company Defense Distributed develops and publishes open source gun designs suitable for

3D printing

*35.

It is a type of biscuit which is traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. It is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word _____), a result of the fat inhibiting the formation of long gluten strands.

What is it called?

The Answer is….

Shortbread

36.

Whose autobiography?

The Answer is….

Pete Townshend

Good Luck! Prelims Results in Progress