General Knowledge Quiz

[martinsh]

Akhenaten

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Correct....over to you

 

[martinsh]

The stamps of which country featured a bulls head prominently on most of them.

 

[johnnychips]

Without going to the internet, how about Hungary - thinking of course of Bull's Blood wine?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Romania is one such country that issued its earliest postage stamps with such a symbol, but I feel the animal may have been that of an auroch, the extinct wild bull. (Moldova used that particular emblem)

 

[martinsh]

Neither of those are correct. The question said most stamps of the country in question.

Clue : the country ceased to exist over 100 years ago

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Neither of those are correct. The question said most stamps of the country in question.

Clue : the country ceased to exist over 100 years ago

I have two more thoughts on the matter.....

1)... Moldavia issued postage stamps from 1858 and the bulls head was the sole central image on all those stamps.

2)...Moldo-Wallachia issued postage stamps from 1862 and the bulls head was one of two central image symbols on all those stamps.

 

[martinsh]

I have two more thoughts on the matter.....

Moldavia issued postage stamps from 1858 and the bulls head was the sole central image on all those stamps.

OK, I'll give you that one, although it wasn't the one I was thinking of. The answer I was looking for was Mecklenburg-Schwerin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Mecklenburg

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

OK, I'll give you that one, although it wasn't the one I was thinking of. The answer I was looking for was Mecklenburg-Schwerin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Mecklenburg

I still have my treasured copy hard-back bound copy of Stanley Gibbons priced catalogue of Stamps of the Whole Word 1927 edition, 1216pp plus addendum sheets, price 15/- net which has the British Commonwealth in the front half and the rest of the world in the second half. It really is extremely well detailed. There is an embossed figure of "1113" on the bottom right hand of the back cover, next to the spine. I found the issue of Mecklenburg-Schwerin amongst the section "German States".

I will set the next conundrum...

John Falkner had three novels published. Can you name all three of them?

 

[t_star2001uk]

The Lost Stradivarius
Moonfleet
The Nebuly Coat

Open Floor if correct......

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

You are correct on all three counts.

I see that you have declared OPEN FLOOR.

 

[CarltonA]

What did Jo grumble, lying on the rug?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents"

I see that someone else has read "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott

 

[CarltonA]

There's no foxing you Paul S. Indeed you are correct.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Which monarch perished at Sauchieburn?

Which of his relatives was killed by an explosion of a bombard that his forces were using?

 

[deltic1989]

I have to admit that the phrasing of this question has somewhat foxed me.
The natural answer would be King James III of Scotland. As he died at Sauchieburn in 1488. However it was said that he died after falling from his horse.

His Father King James II of Scotland was killed by an exploding cannon at Roxburgh in 1460, which could be the bombard to which you refer in the second part of your conundrum.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I award the correct answer on both counts to you and ask you to set the next conundrum.

I had unfortunately missed out part of the wording of the second part of my conundrum which should have referred to the father/son relationship.

 

[deltic1989]

A bit of a morbid one from me, please forgive me I have watched a few crime and punishment documentaries this evening.

Before being decommissioned where were the last working gallows in the UK located?
When were they decommissioned? and where are they located now?

 

[CarltonA]

H M P Wandsworth.
1993.
Gallery of Justice, Nottingham. (Since 2004).

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

A bit of a morbid one from me, please forgive me I have watched a few crime and punishment documentaries this evening.

Before being decommissioned where were the last working gallows in the UK located?
When were they decommissioned? and where are they located now?

1)....HMP Wandsworth

2)....1994, when up to then, there was still theoretically the death penalty for the crime of High Treason against the Monarchy.

3)....Gallery of Justice, Lace Market, Nottingham.

 

[deltic1989]

I award this one to Paul as he was correct in all respects.
The Gallows at HMP Wandsworth was maintained in a working condition until 1994, where as Paul correctly states High Treason and also Piracy on the High Seas remained in theory at least capital crimes. They were tested every 6 months until 1992.
I have seen the trap door in place at the Galleries of Justice, a facinating museum.
anyhow enough of my waffle, take it away Paul

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Which Dominican-born writer published nothing at all in the long period from 1939 to 1966, when she wrote a prequel to Jane Eyre?

 

[Welshman]

Jean Rhys, with her "Wide Sargosso Sea"

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Correct....over to you.

 

[Welshman]

Apart from a small village in Powys with a castle, who, or what, is Beguildy?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Was it what once was described as a Church Settlement?

 

[Welshman]

I honestly don't know.
The only Church Settlement I know about is the Elizabethan Settlement.

The answer I had in mind has nothing to do with history, but I'm keen to be educated if you can elucidate a little, please?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Beguildy in medieval times, as stated in the Clwyd and Powys Archaological Trust historical survey of Radnorshire, was described to be best known as a Church Settlement. It was from the information contained that document that I took the opportunity to make the posting that I did.

 

[Welshman]

In which case, I credit you with the answer, and have learned something new!

[I see now that my question was too vague - I had in mind the folk duo consisting of Janie Mitchell and Annemarie Summers which has taken that name].

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The actress Theodora became the wife of which Byzantine Emperor?