Quiz questions and answers for winning laurels in online quiz competitions

In which country is Geneva gin made?

Holland

Cognac can be made only in a specific area of France. Where can brandy be made?

Anywhere in the world

What do the letters VSOP on a bottle of brandy stand for?

Very Special Old Pale

Between 1740 and 1970 British sailors received a daily ration of grog. What is grog?

A mixture of rum and water

Where did the American whiskey ''Bourbon'' get its name?

It was first made in Bourbon County, Kentucky

A popular Yorkshire liqueur flavoured with herbs is named after the Bronte sisters. On which spirit is it based?

Brandy

What is added to gin to make pink gin?

Angostura bitters

Which drink has been known as 'Dutch courage' and 'Mother's ruin'?

Gin

The fermented molasses left over from the sugar-refining process is used in the manufacture of which spirit?

Rum

What is the meaning of the Dutch word 'brandewijn' from which we take the word brandy?

Burnt wine

Gourmand

You can tell a _______ by just reading it. Famous tagline. Which brand?

Sunkist oranges

On discovering something in 1668, a blind priest exclaimed: Oh, come quickly. I am drinking the stars. What was he

drinking?

Champagne

Which is the most widely eaten fish in the world?

Salmon

Laws forbidding the sale of sodas on Sunday prompted William Garwood to invent what in Evanston, Illinois in 1875?

Ice-cream sundae

Who introduced noodles to Italy after a trip to China?

Marco Polo

In 1847, Hanson Gregory, a 15 year old baker's apprentice knocked the soggy parts off a fried confectionery, thus

creating what?

The first ring donuts

The Mai Tai cocktail was created in 1945 by Victor Bergeron (Trader Vic). It got its name when he served it to two

Tahitian friends who exclaimed "Maitai roa ae!" What does it mean?

Out of this world

What is traditionally made from the root of the blue agave cactus?

Tequila

In the New Testament, St. John the Baptist survives on what foods while in the desert?

Locusts and honey

What new fad did the brand Wonder Bread introduce in 1930?

Sliced bread

What is the essential difference between apple juice and apple cider?

Apple juice is pasteurised and cider is not

Shoot a Waco was the original name of what product

Dr Pepper

The hamburger, invented in 1900 by Louis Lassen is called so because

It was invented in Hamburg

Natural vanilla flavouring comes from

Orchids

In the Middle East, what is called the poor man.s food?

Figs

In 1853 in Saratoga Springs a chef George Crum retaliated to a patron.s complaint that his French fries were too

thick. How?

He invented Potato chips

The first product to have a UPC bar code on its packaging was a food product. Which?

Wrigley's

The Ladakhi gur-gur chai gets its name because

The tea is churned in pipes and makes a gur-gur sound

Which product gets its name from a Roman soldier who was a great wrestler during the Ancient Olympic Games?

Milon

In an open competition to select a name for this brand, a name was chosen which loosely translated from Latin as

Strength of Man. Which brand?

Hovis Bread

After his tomato crop failed, a certain gentleman dabbled in something else. It gave rise to a product which takes

its name from an American Indian word that means 'a place with fertile and humid soil'. Which brand?

Tabasco

Name the Japanese fish considered a delicacy, which if not cleaned carefully can prove fatal.

Fugu

A Napoli baker designed the first pizza in the shape of the Italian flag using tomato, cheese and parsley. He

dedicated it to the visiting King Philip.s wife, thus naming the first ever pizza. The name?

Margharita

What.s the name of the McDonald.s clown?

Ronald

What.s the name of the dimpled cheese traditionally shown in cartoon strips/films?

Gouda

What range of products are Messrs. Mahashiyan di hatti famous for?

Masala

Why is the drink Punch called so?

Traditionally has 5 (paanch) ingredients

Topic : trivia

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys never did this because he feared that: “Fire might come out – or gas—or snakes—or,

most terrifyingly of all, nothing at all.” What?

Taking a shower

This person created a written script for the Cherokee Indians. Who?

Sequoia

Every man of the Confederate Army had to carry this book, because its leader, Robert E. Lee. believed that it

espoused their cause. Which book?

Les Miserables

The smash-hit “Dude Looks Like a Lady” by Aerosmith was addressed to?

Vince Neal

Which company had its origins in a chartered train journey from Leicester to Loughborough, UK, in 1841?

Thomas Cook

According to Greek mythology, this creature was a she-goat with a lion’s head, goat’s body and serpent’s tail. It

is:

Chimaera

“Sometimes I think that the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is in the universe is that none of

it has tried to contact us.” Whose words?

Calvin

“Beelzebub” is another name for the devil. What does it translate to?

“Lord of the flies”

A special material was used to clothe the kings of France. It literally means “clothing of kings”. Which of the

following?

Corduroy

Which organisation’s slogan is this: I WILL STRIVE TO LIVE, WITH LOVE AND CARE, UPON THE LEVEL, BY THE SQUARE

Freemasons

Topic : Innovations

The 'Lucifer' match-sticks devised by Frenchmen Charles Suria in 1830 came to be widely used. Name the igniting

substance used by these 'Lucifers'.

White Phosphorus

Ladislao Biro, a Hungarian artist and Journalist developed the ball-point pen in the 30's with his brother Georg,

a chemist. However, he had to flee Budapest at the outbreak of world war II. From which city did the Biro brothers

oversee the manufacture of ball-pens for the Allied Air forces?

Buenos Aires

Georges De Mestral, a Swiss engineer observed burrs sticking to his woollen socks. This natural occurrence

prompted him to look at burrs under a microscope and he used the Hook and loop arrangement with woven Nylon to

develop Velcro. The name Velcro was derived from two words. One was 'Velours' and the other is _____________.

Crochet

Micro-encapsulisaton is a process used in manufacturing perfumed paper. Which U.S. based dcorporation poularized

this method in the 60's?

3M

The 'Hookers 2' designed by Swedish engineer Gideon Sundback in 1913, is exactly what?

The zip-fastener

The non-stick finish on modern kitchenware PTFE was developed after an accidental discovery by Dr. Roy Plunkett in

1938. Under what trademark did Du Pont market PTFE?

Teflon

Elisha Graves Otis installed the world's first passenger lift in New York. Which building saw this implementation?

V. Haughwout & Co's China Store

This one's a little vague. Sonora, in Mexico is a quality production centre for which input in everyday industry?

Graphite

A certain adhesive was rejected during research on a 'Superglue' in a laboratory in St. Paul, Minnesota since it's

sticking power was negligible. However, Art Fry an employee used the disposed adhesive to make bookmarks for his

hymn book. Which conventional office stationery did he initiate with this?

Post-it Notes

The conception of the Voltaic cell by Allessandro Volta of Pavia University in 1800 was initiated by an experiment

using copper hooks, an iron hail and certain creatures hanging on them. Which creatures?

Frogs

Specimens of Bombyx Mori are involved in the manufacture of which fiber?

Silk

Which ingredient is conventionally used to whiten a toothpaste?

Titanium Oxide

Which nation issued a plastic currency note in 1988 to mark it's bicentenary?

Australia

The disposable crown cork was the invention of __________.

William Painter

Experiments with alloys in order to build stronger gun-barrels led British Metallurgist Harry Brearley to discover

what in 1913?

Stainless Steel

'Blue Plains' is the location for the advance sewage plant serving which city in the U..S.?

Washington D.C.

The Raytheon Company based in U.S. brought about the use of which domestic appliance in the 1950's?

Microwave Oven

If USA's National Meteorological centre is situated in Wshington D.C. then where is Britian's Meteorological

Office located?

Berknell

A certain book took 50 years for the compilation of its' 12 volumes with 252,259 entries before it's first

publication. Which book?

The Oxford English Dictionary

James Harrison,a Scottish immigrant in Australia devised refigeration using ether to cool down metallic

containers. He used the principle for the first time in a building in Bendigo, Victoria during the Gold Rush in

1851. What did the building function as?

Brewery

Paul Neal Adair (Red Adair) the legendary firefighter(born 1915) has never failed in putting out a fire,whether it

lasted a few seconds or several months. His real-life story inspired a Hollywood film 'Hellfighters' in 1968. Who

played the lead part?

John Wayne

The Cullinan Diamond, discovered by a miner near Pretoria, South Africa was successfully cleaved by Joseph Asscher

on Feb. 10,1908. In which city was this commendable task performed?

Amsterdam

The power-suply for coal mining operations in the Rhine Valley is mainly generated in a pressurized water reactor

at which German town since 1963?

Biblis

The expansion and contraction of a rock is generally measured by a simple instrument which is laid out in the form

of thin ducts. Identify the instrument.

Strainmeter

Dr. Denis Gabor is credited with the first successful demonstration of which process in 1947?

Holography

Early Bird, the world's first communication satellite was launched under the aegis of which organisation?

INTELSAT

The first completely synthetic material was developed in 1907 by using Carbolic Acid, Formaldehyde gas and

Celluloid. Which momentous product is being referred to? The inventor's name would be a give-away.

Bakelite

The first artificial satellite to employ solar cells in 1958 was _________.

Vanguard

In 1851, British Photographic pioneer W.H. Fox Talbot attached a copy of The Times newspaper to a wheel, rotated

it rapidly and succeeded in taking a clear picture by illuminating the wheel very briefly with an intense spark of

light. Recent verifications have put the exposure-period for this experiment at what duration?

1/1,00,000th of a second

Which man-made fibre was invented by Wallace Carothers in 1935?

Nylon

Topic : trivia

What orchestra chose "Moonlight Serenade" as their theme?

Glenn Miller Orchestra

What nationality is former tennis pro Vitas Gerulaitis?

American

Which group of sports participants had the highest Internet usage rate in 1999?

Tennis players

What's a capon?

A castrated rooster

Who was the first non-American to win the Masters golf tournament?

Gary Player

Infamous writer Clifford Irving was imprisoned for faking who's autobiography?

Howard Hughes

Name the science fiction writer who imagined "The Invisible Man" and "The Time Machine"?

H. G. Wells

What did the initials T.S. stand for in author T.S. Eliot's name?

Thomas Stearns

In what city was presidential candidate Robert Kennedy assassinated?

Los Angeles

What sweetener was discovered by Ira Remsen in 1879?

Saccharin

What American author was portrayed on-stage by actor Hal Holbrook in a one-man show?

Mark Twain

What is the height of the goal net used in soccer?

8 feet

Name the astronaut that remained in the command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon?

Mike Collins

What sort of animal is a mandrill?

Forest Baboon

Christopher Jones captained what well known ship?

Mayflower

Entire families may be developing asthma thanks to the smog around this city, called the nation's smog capital by

the Associated Press?

Houston

Can you name the actress who is actor Warren Beatty's sister?

Shirley MacLaine

To what royal house did England's King Henry VIII belong?

Tudor

Native American Pocahontas acted as a guide to the settlers of the Jamestown colony. Along what river is she

buried?

Thames

Name the actor who took best actor honors at the 1955 Oscars for the title role in "Marty"?

Ernest Borgnine

How many double centuries did Bradman score in his Test career?

12

The kaliyug is associated with which Hindu Text ?

Tantra

Which of these cars in India has Korean Technology?

Hyundai Santro

In Greek mythology what do Castor and Pollux represent ?

The twins in the Gemini Constellation

Why was the clockwise direction chosen for the clock ?

Sundials ran clockwise in the northern hemisphere

Kohinoor Diamond was taken away by?

Nadir Shah

Which insect is the cause of most human diseases ?

Housefly

Name the king who was commonly known as Raj Pithora, and is celebrated in several Indian ballads and poems?

Prithviraj Chouhan

Which of these is the correct chronological order?

The Gupta dynasty, The Chalukya dynasty, The Chola Dynasty

Which star is also known as the Dog Star?

Sirius

What algorithm (as yet undiscovered) is called “God’s Algorithm”?

The shortest general solution of the Rubik’s cube from any configuration

What is the Nipper the dog’s claim to fame?

He is the dog from the HMV logo

This Greek goddess can run and fly at great speed. She is the daughter of Pallas and Styx and the sister of

Cratos, Bia, and Zelus. She was represented as a woman with wings, dressed in a billowing robe with a wreath or

staff.

Nike

Which member of the Apollo 10 crew wore his Mickey Mouse watch into space?

Eugene Cernan

Whose middle name is “Fauntleroy”?

Donald Duck

Which of the following movies is named after a story by William Burroughs?

Blade Runner

This term, coined by Washington Irving in 1809, means a native of New York. Which?

Knickerbocker

Actor Tony Curtis said kissing what female co-star was "like kissing Hitler"?

Marilyn Monroe

Whose words are these: “Old soldiers never die. They just fade away”?

Douglas McArthur

Which of the following is true of Wrigley’s chewing gum?

First product to have a bar code

This word literally means “talking to women”. Which word?

Ghazal

Born in India, she won two Academy Awards (1940 & 1952). Who?

Vivien Leigh

What is Occam’s Razor?

A rule of thumb that states that the better scientific theory is the simpler one

Something silly to end with. Whose words are these: "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."

Mark Twain

Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel called “Gadsby”. What is its claim to fame?

Not a single word contained the letter ‘E’

On whose epitaph would you find: S = k log W.

Ludwig Boltzmann

According to legend, the Gordian knot was an intricate knot, tied by Gordius, king of Phyrgia. Whoever cut it was

destined to rule all of Asia. Who supposedly cut it?

Alexander the Great

In Australian cricket slang, what is a 'Coughie'?

A bad umpiring decision

Who is the only Asura to have been spared by Lord Vishnu?

Mahabali

During the design stage, the length of the compact disc was changed from 60 minutes to 74 minutes at the

insistence of the head of the design team. Why?

Seventy-four minutes is the length of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

Topic: Archeology

Of the genus Phaseolus, and with ancestor Vicia Faba, it was important to man from the beginning of food

production. What?

Beans

What is the capital of the Khmer Empire in Cambodia?

Angkor

This island is referred to in Mesopotamian as “Dilmun”. What?

Bahrain

Hjortspring, Sutton-Hoo, Triremes, and Carracks are all types of what?

Boats

This place first reached prominence under Hammurabi. It was the ancient capital of Mesopotamia. Which place?

Babylon

The religious writings of Essenes, a sect who dwelled in a monastery at Qumran has texts called what?

Dead Sea Scrolls

What is the Egyptian hieroglyph for “life”?

Ankh

Which was the last of the Barbarian tribes to enter the Valley of Mexico after the collapse of the Toltec

Civilisation?

The Aztecs

What is the name given to the single humped camels of Arabia?

Dromedary

What resulted when two races settled in the Ebbe Weser region of England after the breakdown of the Roman rule?

Anglo-Saxons

Assur, Nineveh, and Nimrud are all ancient capitals of which place?

Assyria

What is the study of fossil remains of animals called?

Palaeontology

Sir Arthur Evans named the people of Bronze Age Crete after their legendary leader. What did he call them?

Minoans

Who was the God of the Sun and the city of Heliopolis?

Ra

Known as “The Holy Island”, after the Celtic Church acknowledged the supremacy of Rome, it was the center of a

cultural Renaissance in North Umbria in 700 A.D. Which place?

Lindisfarne

This figure is represented by the crook and flail, the uraeus and other symbols of authority. Crowns include the

White Crown, Red Crown and Blue Crown. Who?

Pharaoh

Which ancient Egyptian God of death is represented as a Mummy?

Osiris

What term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851 to cover the story of man’s development before the appearance of

writing?

Pre-history

What were the mudbrick superstructures over tombs in early Egypt, originally intended to copy the house of the

living called?

Mastabas

Topic : gentrivia

It’s ancestor is the guanaco, found in the Andes and it is related to the camel but lacks a hump. What?

Llama

Capra hircus aegagrus, found in S.West Asia was the ancestor of what?

Goat

76 miles is it’s running length from Tyne to Solway to defend the Northern frontier of Roman Britain. What?

Hadrian’s Wall

What is the cemetery region on the West Bank of the Nile opposite modern Cairo called?

Giza

The falcon God of Hieraconpolis in Egypt, believed to be the son of Isis and Osiris is believed to have

incarnation in the Pharaoh. Who?

Horus

What is the name given to the circular ritual monuments found only in the British Isles?

Henges

What is the name given in Mexico to any manuscript printed before the Spanish Conquest or written in the native

manner during the Early Spanish Period?

Codex

Who was the Sumerian equivalent of Venus, with jurisdiction over love and procreation?

Ishtar

A group of Quechua speaking tribes from the Cuzcoara of the S. Peruvian Andes whose ruler is called “Son of the

Sun” are better known as what?

Incas

Two of these confronting each other constitute a “T’ao t’ieh”. What?

Dragons

Connect John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, apart from their all being Presidents of the USA

All died on the 4th of July

Which city is the backdrop of the shows “the Practice” and “Ally McBeal”?

Boston

Born in Peru, he lives in England at Windsor Gardens, 32, London. He has two birthdays, in December and June. He’s

appeared on a Japanese credit card and on a 1998 Gibraltar coin. Who?

Paddington Bear

The Maori fisherman have a legend that God’s fishing hook was placed in the sky and remained forever as something.

What?

Scorpio

He played 2130 consecutive baseball games, and was nicknamed the “Iron Horse”. Later in his life, he suffered from

a debilitating disease to which he lends his name. Who?

Lou Gehrig

Why were Donald Duck comics nearly banned in Finland?

Because he doesn’t wear pants

What well known work was created by Sarah Josepha Hale?

The child’s poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

With respect to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, what was “the sacred cow”?

His presidential aircraft

Before he was “stuck” with the then little-known Arnold Schwarzenegger, who did James Cameron want to play the

lead role in the first Terminator movie?

O.J. Simpson

The teary folliculitis disease is caused by:

Wearing tight jeans

Topic : General

Myra Gale Brown was 13 years old when she married her 3rd cousin in 1958. The marriage happened 2 weeks before his

final divorce from his first wife. The scandal affected his career so badly that it was several years before he

could make a comeback. Name him.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Which famous architect described a house as "a machine for living in"?

Le Corbusier

Helen Gurley Brown became famous as the publisher of a certain magazine and was also loosely portrayed in the 1964

movie ‘Sex and the Single Girl’ by Natalie Wood. Name the magazine.

Cosmopolitan

In 1893, there was a case before the United States Supreme Court about importing this foodstuff from the West

Indies as fruits could be imported tax-free while vegetables couldn't. Since it was eaten with main dishes, and

not as or with desserts, the Court ruled it to be a vegetable. Name it.

Tomato

In Christian terminology, what is a ‘Lady Chapel’?

A chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary

What is the claim to fame of St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City?

Largest church in the world

The name of the main block in this prison was ‘Broadway’ and the other 2 corridors were named ‘Michigan Boulevard’

and ‘Seedy Street’. Name it.

Alcatraz

In a pack of cards, which one is a copyright?

Ace of Spades

Featured in Joel Chandler Harris’s ‘Tales of Uncle Remus’, his voice was provide by Johnny Lee in the 1946 Disney

film ‘Song of the South’. Name him.

Br’er Rabbit

He was a tailor who dared to look at Lady Godiva as she rode through Coventry. In 1040, Lady Godiva's husband,

Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry, agreed to rescind a tax on the town if Lady Godiva rode naked

through the streets. Godiva asked everyone to observe custody of the eyes - and everyone did, except him. This

gave rise to a phrase. Name it.

Peeping Tom

Topic : trivia

In which part of your body would you find a ‘gluteus maximus’?

Ans: Buttocks

Previously the governor of Georgia, he was the only US president to ever report a UFO sighting in October 1969.

Name him.

Ans: James Earl Carter

Medically speaking, anosmia is the loss of which of the five senses?

Ans: Smell

The first LP by a solo artist to sell over a million copies was a 1965 album called Calypso. Name the artist.

Ans: Harry Belafonte

This band originally called itself the ______ Transit Authority after the transit company of a particular place,

until they were sued by the company. Name it.

Ans: Chicago

‘The Cardinal’s Mistress’, written in 1909, was the only novel ever written by this person. Name him.

Ans: Mussolini

Dale Arden is the girlfriend of which famous comic character?

Ans: Flash Gordon

Fianchetto, j’adoube and zugzwang are all terms in which game?

Ans: Chess

In golf, what is a ‘waggle’?

Ans: To-and-fro movement of the golf stick before the swing

In June, 1978, a tropical storm was detected and named Bud. What was so unique about this?

Ans: First storm to be named after a male

Quinchua was a language spoken by which ancient civilisation?

Ans: Incas

Which famous astrological term was coined by Fred Hoyle?

Ans: Big Bang

His autobiography was titled ‘Memoirs of a Mangy Lover’. Name him.

Ans: Groucho Marx

Name the oldest national airline in the world.

Ans: KLM

He was an autodidact, and could not read music but almost everything he wrote was a success. He only played on the

set of black keys. He had a special piano built with pedals that could change the set from F sharp into other

keys. Name him.

Ans: Irving Berlin