Questions from a quiz I conducted in Bangalore in March 2015. Feel free to reuse the ones that you like!

1. Quiz Families
March 2015

3. East Africa
• The East Africa side in the 1975 world cup
comprised players from four countries. Two of
the countries were Tanzania and Kenya. Name
the other two

4. First ball
• Who bowled the first ball/over in the history
of world cup cricket?

5. Thank this for all the fun, maybe too
much of it…
• There were four major innovations in the
playing conditions in the 1992 World Cup -
coloured clothing, floodlights, use of two
white balls from each end and which other?

6. This Sultan didn’t get much respect
• In the 1996 world cup, Sultan Zarawani of the
UAE bravely went to face this bowler without
a helmet and was hit on the head. He
continued without a helmet, but was
dismissed for a duck shortly. He was then
taken to the hospital. Which bowler hit him on
the head?

7. Horses for courses
This company is the largest vaccine manufacturer in India,
and the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume.
Name this company

8. Potions
Kashyap Samhita is the only available source book on the
branch of Ayurveda called Kaumarbrhitya, believed to be the
compilations of the teachings of Acharya Kashyap by his
disciple Vriddha Jivaka. What branch of medicine does
Kaumarbhrithya deal with?

9. Wildflowers
Which Indian company founded in the 1960s is named after
this flower

10. Ragam Pallavi
• In Hindu mythology, the vigorous divine dance
of Shiva is called the Tandava. What is the
word for the dance performed by Parvati, in
which the movements are gentler, more
graceful and. She is believed to have danced it
in response to Shiva’s Tandava.

11. Clever, eh?
What connects Kalaburagi, Davanagere, Hubli-Dharwad,
Mysore, Belagavi, Mangalore. Why is Bangalore not in this list?

12. Indian connection
The process to distill this element was known in India for centuries, and till
the 18th century, India was the only significant producer. William Champion
after six years of trial and error finally developed a repeatable process to
distill this element, and was granted a patent for it in 1738. What
element/metal?

13. Sort of Legal
Forms of this include Sahyog, Darshani, Muddati, Nam-jog,
Jawabi, Furman-jog among others. The first three are the most
common.

14. Not the singer KK
• Keeleri Kunhikannan was a martial arts trainer and Gymnast
and is generally considered to be the Father of the Indian
______. He started a school at Chirakkara near Thalassery to
get more people into this profession, the first of its kind in
Kerala and at that time, only the 2nd such in India. Many of his
pupils became international stars, and Kerala soon came to be
known as the cradle of this profession in India. What
profession/industry was KK associated with?

15. Short, but not sweet
In August 1896, Britain and this Sultanate (which was a British
protectorate) fought a 38 minute war, the shortest in recorded
history, caused by a succession dispute following the death of
the then Sultan, Sultan Hamad Bin Thuwaini. This Sultanate was
granted independence in 1963 by the UK and become a
constitutional monarchy. Following a coup in 1964, this was
united with another neighbouring sovereign state and changed
its name to ________________. Name the Sultanate and the
country it is part of now

16. Father Father
The Franciscan Friar Luca Bartolomeo Pacioli is generally
referred to as the Father of this profession, for the first
published description of __________________, a system we
use to this day.

17. Landmark journal
The cover of the first issue of this still active and significant
journal was titled as follows. Name this journal, and who
publishes it. When was the first issue published?

18. Shh….
• In the secret service, who/what is called the
Silent Service?

19. • The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched a project
called Project Tycho at the University of Pittsburgh, an
enormous undertaking to store data from 1888 to the present
on mortality statistics over a 125 year period. What is the key
objective of this study currently, partly driven in response
against a recent worrying trend in the West?

20. Big fellow
The English biologist, Sir Richard Owen was an outstanding
naturalist and a great opponent of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
by Natural Selection. However, in the popular press today, he is
best remembered for coining a particular word. What word did
he coin?

21. Flat tyre
This theory is a method of understanding change in complex
social systems. It suggests that most social systems exist in an
extended period of stasis, with periods of sudden shifts and
radical change. This theory was largely inspired from an
evolutionary biological theory of the same name, developed by
paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould. What is
this theory called?

22. My hands are tied
This term/idea is believed to have been coined by Herbert Simon
in his writings. In his book “Models of man”, Simon points out that
most people are only partly ________, and are _____________ in
the remaining part of their actions. In another work, he states,
____________ agents experience limits in formulating and solving
complex problems and in processing (receiving, storing, retrieving,
transmitting) information". What idea/term?

23. Stoned a bit much
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was in the news last year. The
magazine “Science” chose a scientific achievement associated
with this as the “scientific breakthrough of the year 2014”. Why
was this in the news?

24. I heard he was popular this week
An early Mormon fundamentalist, Nathaniel Baldwin was
unexpectedly trending on Twitter this week, thanks to a contest
run by Reliance Digital with the hashtag #Digitallytuned, about an
invention he made in 1910. He made these by hand in his kitchen,
and sold it to the US Navy. Despite the Navy’s suggestion, he never
patented it because he considered their invention trivial. What did
he invent?

25. 15 minutes of fame
• An unknown Scottish singer Caitlin
McNeill, guitarist and singer for the
folk band Canach hit the headlines
and achieved her 15 minutes of
worldwide fame/notoriety over the
past couple of weeks by doing
something quite innocuous. What
did she do?

26. Connect

27. The grand old lady of…
The British actress Geraldine McEwan who died in January this year had a long
career in theatre and Television, but in recent years was most famous for
playing a particular fictional character in a British iTV series. She played this
character from the first to third series before retiring from the role. What
character did she play?

28. The man with the Harry Potter glasses, kind of a
wizard I suppose

29. Bad Economics
• Identify this famous economist of the 20th century? His ideas suddenly
gained currency during the 2007-08 financial crisis, as one of the most
plausible accounts of why it happened. The term “_______ moment”
describes one important aspect of his “financial instability hypothesis” and
was originally coined during the 1998 Russian crisis. His hypothesis was
that lending goes through three stages – Hedge, Speculative and
___________ (named after the fellow on the right)

30. Clever fellow
This word was coined by the US activist Ralph Nader in the
1970s to avoid the negative connotations found in other words
such as “snitches” and “informers”. What word?

31. Should have stuck to aeroplanes
In the 1960s, Robert Propst, an inventor and artist who had
patents in heart valves and aeroplane parts was asked by
Herman Miller to find problems outside the furniture industry
that could be solved with design. His ideas culminated in
something called the Action Office 2. This was adopted in a
modified form subsequently and became close to ubiquitous in
some time, horrifying Propst. What unexpected horror did he
create?

32. No chatting without this…
This was first available on the Samsung Omnia II running
Windows Mobile. The company of the same name which
created it was acquired by Nuance communication, which
continued its development and implemented its speech
recognition algorithm, Dragon Dictation. I am totally dependent
on it 

33. B.F. Skinner is considered the father of “radical behaviourism”.
What is radical behaviourism?
Skinner the sadist?

34. Far from religious
The first of these was established on January 2nd, 1882 in the US.
It was designed to persuade rivals to give up control of their
companies in return for a guaranteed income and an easy life. In
the words of its creator “The _______ was an angel of mercy
reaching down from the sky and saying Get Into the Ark. Put in
your old junk. We will take all the risks”. These became much
harder to post 1890, because of an Act of the Congress. What are
we talking about? What act?

35. Identify the person commemorated in
this 2008 stamp

36. And this person commemorated in
2007

37. A true Mahatma
Identify this social reformer – the original “Mahatma”. He was bestowed this
title in 1888 by a contemporary social reformer. He is also credited with coining
this term, which was later popularized in the 1970s and is now an integral part
of our political and social vocabulary. What term did he introduce?

38. Look within
What did the person commemorated in these stamps invent? His famous
pamphlet, _____________ Reform: its importance and practicability was
privately circulated in 1837 and subsequently presented to the government. It
was initially denounced, but merchants, traders and bankers began to advocate
his ideas and pushed for its adoption. What did he invent?

39. Connect

40. Luddites
On May 10, 1992, the activists Keith Kjoller and Peter Lumsdaine snuck into a
Rockwell International facility in Seal Beach, California. They used wood-
splitting axes to break into two clean rooms containing nine _________ being
built for the U.S. government. Lumsdaine took his axe to one of the _________,
hitting it over 60 times.
They were arrested and faced up to 10 years in prison for destroying federal
government property, causing an estimated $2 million in damage. Ultimately,
they took guilty pleas and were sentenced to 18 months and two years in prison
respectively for an act of civil disobedience they named "The Harriet Tubman-
Sarah Connor Brigade."
What were they targeting and why did they call themselves so?

41. Once upon a time
She is one of the world’s best selling artists of all time, having
sold over 75 million albums worldwide, and the only female
artist in history to have three consecutive albums certified
“Diamond” by the RIAA. She has received 5 Grammy awards in
her career. This week she announced her final tour, also her first
tour in more than 10 years. Name this artist

42. All time classic
In 1831, ____________ and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French
government to study the American prison system. In his later letters
__________indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a
pretext to study American society instead.
After they returned to France in February 1932, they submitted their report on
the prison system. __________ subsequently published this book in two
volumes, one in 1835 and the next in 1840. It had a profound impact on the
French population, and is uniformly considered a classic work of political
science, social science and history. Some consider it the best book written on
this subject. Name the book and the author

43. Easy-peasy
Which instrument was invented and named after Antoine-
Joseph ____ in 1846?

44. Mispronounced
• This word came to English from Yiddish in the
1890s and means impudence or audacity. It
was popularized in a popular Hindu movie last
year, though it was mispronounced in the
movie. Name the word and the movie

45. Cat person?
• What is the collective noun for a group of
cats?

46. Hard to find, hard to name
• This term refers to any fictional, extremely rare or impossible
material needed to fulfill a given application. In 1956, the
Washington Post reported that “The metal is so hard to come
by that the scientists have devised a lugubriously-humorous
name for it. They call it ______”. The name’s been in use for
sometime and even showed up in the movie Avatar, but was
officially added to the OED in December 2014 update.

47. • The fist known instance of the use of this word
is in 1961 and till the 80s it was primarily an
aerospace jargon. It began to be used in the
computing industry in the 1980s and is now a
fairly common term, usually used when
someone’s asked to overcome some technical
challenge. In recent years, it’s also used in
non-technical contexts. It was officially added
to the OED in September 2014. What word?

48. Early Art
This cave art originally discovered in the 1950s was thought to be about 10,000 years old
originally. But in an analysis done by researchers last year, they dated at least a few of the
rock art paintings (such as the one below) to be over 39,000 years old, almost as old as
the oldest rock art and sculpture found elsewhere. This has led to archeologists rethinking
the origins of art in human history. Where was this rock art discovered?

49. Artist, hmm…
This untitled 1979 oil-
on-canvas holds the
record for the highest
price ever paid for an
Indian art work. This
weird work of modern
art fetched $3.7 million
in a Christie’s auction at
Mumbai, in December
2013. Who is the artist?

50. This term was coined by art critics in the 1880s to ridicule the works of some
artists who were branching out from the then popular Impressionist style of
painting. Some famous examples of works done using this technique include the
following by Georges Seurat (who along with Paul Signac largely developed this
style) and Vincent Van Gogh. What is this technique called? The term hasn’t
changed but it is no longer used with any mocking connotation.

51. Genius
Harry Beck was an English technical draftsman best known for
creating this in 1931, and it is still used in largely the same form he
envisaged. He created this in his spare time while working as an
engineering draftsman. He came up with this idea while at work
drawing an electrical circuit diagram. He first submitted this idea in
1931, but it was considered too radical. However, Beck persisted
and by 1933, it was adopted as the standard. In 2006, it was voted
by the viewers of the BBC’s Culture show as the 2nd favourite British
design of the 20th century after the Concorde. What lasting classic
did he create?

52. What’s special about this and what
does it convey?

53. Brooks Brothers? Not really
Some prints of the British 18th century ship “Brooks” were published in 1788 in Plymouth by the
Plymouth chapter of this organization. It became an iconic image and helped gather significant
support for the objectives of this organization. What was this engraving all about?

54. Well, maybe not the greatest…

55. Technical Voodoo
• This set of graphs called Anscombe’s quartet were designed by Anscombe
to demonstrate the importance of visualizing data via graphs. What’s so
special about them?

56. I took this road for 5 years
• He was one of India’s earliest test pilots and was part of the
team that tested the first aircraft designed by HAL, the HT-2,
which was launched in 1951. He travelled around the world
testing aircraft and advising the Indian Government on which
models to purchase. He was killed in 1970, during a flight test,
following which a road was renamed in Bangalore in his
honour. Which road and name this road

57. Not my part of town
• This area in Bangalore is named after this person. He served
as the Diwan of Mysore for 18 years, commissioned the
Sivanasamudram Hydro-electric project, established the Kolar
Gold fields and the Victoria hospital in Bangalore. Name the
person/area?

58. Easy
• What are these places “Harrenhall”, “Casterly
Rock”, “Winterfell”, “Eyrie”, “Storm’s end”,
“Highgarden” and “Dorne”, and where can you
find them?

59. Strictly speaking, not really
• Where in India can you find this sculpture and
what does it signify?

60. This is a double track rail and road bridge across the strait between these two countries. It is
the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe. In 2002, it received the IABSE
Outstanding Architecture award. Strictly speaking, it is part bridge and part tunnel. The tube
tunnel is made from 20 prefabricated reinforced concrete segments – the largest in the world
at 55,000 tonnes each – interconnected in a trench dug in the seabed. Two tubes carry
railway tracks, two carry roads, and a small fifth tube is for emergencies. What is this bridge
called and which two countries does it connect?

61. You will not laugh here
• What’s the claim to fame of Lasalgaon, a
village in Nashik?

62. No Average Joe
• He was the Surveyor General of India from 1840 to 1843. He
purchased the Park Estate at Mussoorie in 1833 and spent
many years living in Mussoorie before retiring to England.
After his retirement, the Survey of India continued to work
under his assistant Andrew Scott Waugh, who proposed
naming something in his honor. What was named after him,
that’s helped immortalize him in a way?

63. Quite amazing
• This landmark/monument is situated in the village of
Abhaneri, about 95 kms from Jaipur. It was constructed
between 800 AD and 900 AD by a king of the Nikumbha
dynasty. It’s been a popular filming location, and has been
featured in movies such as The Dark Knight Rises. What is this
landmark called?

64. Map of which fictional place

65. As good a claim as any, I suppose

66. Waiting time, counting time
• This is one of seven islands that make up an archipelago in the Tyrrhenian sea,
about 60 km from the coast of this country (to which it belongs). It’s an
uninhabited island shrouded with mysteries and many legends. It is a nature
reserve and until 2008, no one was allowed to visit the island. Today, though it’s
been opened up for tourism, the government only allows up to 1000 visitors
annually, and the average waiting time for approval to visit is 3 years. Priority is
given to scientific expeditions, associations and schools. Most of us know this
island. What island is this?

67. Where am I?

68. On and On
This poster in the Wimbledon museum commemorates the longest ever match
in tennis history, nearly twice as long as the 2nd longest match. It lasted 11 hours
and 5 minutes and was spread over 3 days. Just the 5th set was longer than any
previous match played. Who played each other in this match?

69. A different sort of anthem
• This song written and composed by David
Rudder was released in 1988 and many years
later, was adopted as the anthem of this
cricket team. It’s played in the world cup
before each of their matches. Which team?
• The original song also has a reference to one
particular cricketer/legend in the lyrics. Which
cricketer?

70. Only in India
• The toss in the final of the 2011 world cup had
to be done twice. Why?