General Knowledge Quiz

[randyrippley]

A couple more clues
He died 1617 in Surat, India.
Generally regarded as the originator of the "grand tour" of Europe after walking to Venice and back

 

[randyrippley]

Another clue
He was a member of the "Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen" drinking club at the Mermaid Tavern in London, along with Ben Jonson, John Donne and other literary notables

 

[Strat-tastic]

Dave Lister (Red Dwarf episode Lemons)

 

[randyrippley]

Dave Lister (Red Dwarf episode Lemons)

Nope

 

[randyrippley]

Looks like this is going nowhere. I'll give it till 7pm and then give the answer if no-one's got it by then.

 

[randyrippley]

It's a guy named Thomas Coryat (or Coryate)
Member of Prince Henry's court, walked to Venice and back in the hope of getting recognition. Wrote a couple of travelogues about the trip, then followed up by walking from Jerusalem to India - where he died.

A backpacker in the age of Shakespeare: Thomas Coryate at the court of the Mughal emperor | Folger Shakespeare Library

Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the ultimate resource for exploring Shakespeare and his world. Shakespeare belongs to you. His world is vast. Come explore. Join us online, on the road, or in Washington, DC.

www.folger.edu

Thomas Coryat - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I. The First Tourist (1611) - Thomas Coryat | Osher Map Library

Wiki entry for the first book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coryat's_Crudities
Full name was
"Coryat's crudities : hastily gobled up in five moneths travells in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia commonly called the Grisons country, Helvetia alias Switzerland, some parts of high Germany and the Netherlands : newly digested in the hungry aire of Odcombe in the county of Somerset, and now dispersed to the nourishment of the travelling members of this kingdome"
Still the longest English book title

Online versions of the first book are at

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi3g9/topics/city_empire_myth/contemporary_representations/coryatscrudities01coryuoft.pdf

Full text of "Coryat's crudities : hastily gobled up in five moneths travells in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia commonly called the Grisons country, Helvetia alias Switzerland, some parts of high Germany and the Netherlands : newly digested in the hung

Some of his later letters got back from India, and were published separately but I've never been able to find them online

..................................................................................................

OK, I'm obviously useless at setting interesting questions, so OPEN HOUSE

 

[MasterSpenny]

Due to you saying open house:

What are the dimensions of an A4 size paper?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What are the dimensions of an A4 size paper?

Something like 210 mm x 297 mm ?

Unless you're after the paper's thickness as well!

 

[DaleCooper]

Due to you saying open house:

What are the dimensions of an A4 size paper?

297 x 210mm

 

[Chrysalis]

Isn't it more like 240 x 297 mm?

 

[MasterSpenny]

Something like 210 mm x 297 mm ?

Unless you're after the paper's thickness as well!

I’m not after a specific thickness. You are correct though.

297 x 210mm

Correct

Isn't it more like 240 x 297 mm?

Nope, not this length.

@Mcr Warrior - since you got the correct answer first it’s over to you now.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Which is the third largest island (in terms of its area) in Scotland?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Which is the third largest island (in terms of its area) in Scotland?

Clue:

The answer we're looking for is NOT Lewis and Harris.

 

[Peterthegreat]

Shetland (Main Island)?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Shetland (Main Island)?

Is the correct answer.

After Lewis and Harris, the Isle of Skye is then the second largest Scottish island, and Mainland (Shetland) is the third biggest. Mull comes in as the fourth largest.

@Peterthegreat. Your turn to set the next question...

 

[Peterthegreat]

Thank you.
Which novel begins:-
"All children, except one, grow up"?

 

[MotCO]

Peter Pan - AM Barrie

 

[Peterthegreat]

Peter Pan - AM Barrie

Peter Pan is correct (although being pedantic ) the author was JM Barrie).

Please enchant us with the next question.

 

[MotCO]

Continuing the literary theme which book has the opening lines:
"When he was nearly 13, my brother Jem got his elbow badly broken at the elbow"?

 

[Calthrop]

I'm going to guess, To Kill A Mockingbird.

 

[MotCO]

I'm going to guess, To Kill A Mockingbird.

It was indeed. Please assume the position of Head Librarian.

 

[Calthrop]

Or, as per the kid's howler -- "I am now the School Liberian" -- thanks.

Staying with American avifauna: a certain rather spectacular North American bird species is of note for having been reckoned throughout the past three-quarters of a century or so, as probably extinct; but this, not totally for sure -- the occasional putative sighting having been reported. The plot is thickened by there being another species of the same ornithological family, with a fairly great similarity in appearance: still definitely extant, and quite common -- much misidentification-fodder.

Please name the, as above, probably extinct species; and the not extinct semi-look-alike one.

 

[DaleCooper]

Or, as per the kid's howler -- "I am now the School Liberian" -- thanks.

Staying with American avifauna: a certain rather spectacular North American bird species is of note for having been reckoned throughout the past three-quarters of a century or so, as probably extinct; but this, not totally for sure -- the occasional putative sighting having been reported. The plot is thickened by there being another species of the same ornithological family, with a fairly great similarity in appearance: still definitely extant, and quite common -- much misidentification-fodder.

Please name the, as above, probably extinct species; and the not extinct semi-look-alike one.

Extinct - Gop Crow
Extant - Magapie

 

[Calthrop]

Extinct - Gop Crow
Extant - Magapie

Feel that in a sense, you've Trumped my ace; but these are not the answers, although maybe they should be.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is the disappeared bird the "Passenger pigeon"?

 

[Calthrop]

Is the disappeared bird the "Passenger pigeon"?

No -- subject bird was around for certain, for some three decades later than the greatly lamented passenger pigeon.

 

[DaleCooper]

No -- subject bird was around for certain, for some three decades later than the greatly lamented passenger pigeon.

Bald Eagle
Hairy Eagle

 

[randyrippley]

It's a woodpecker
Can't recall the exact name - "Pileated woodpecker" or something like?

 

[Calthrop]

Bald Eagle
Hairy Eagle

Again -- imaginative but, sadly, wrong.

 

[Calthrop]

It's a woodpecker
Can't recall the exact name - "Pileated woodpecker" or something like?

I'm going to give it you, for this. Our hero is the ivory-billed woodpecker: a large and handsome black / white / red specimen of the family. I perceive it as a name more familiar to folk overall, than the pileated woodpecker as, adroitly, named by you: which is similar in appearance, but smaller and less exciting, and still around in fair abundance. People often spot a pileated woodpecker and -- scenario of "seeing what one wants to see" -- misidentify it as an ivorybill.

Please proceed with noisy drumming on trees in the Singer Tract in Louisiana: the last spot where ivorybills were encountered for certain, some eighty years ago.