Quiz #8 - We're off to see the wizard...
We hope you are enjoying our quizzes. We think you'll find them tougher than others but also more rewarding.
Click on each question to reveal the answer, or click on the 'Show all the answers' link to see how you went and to learn more. Let us know any suggestions you have for improving the quiz by emailing quizmaster@radionz.co.nz.
Q 1 Which song was nearly dropped from the movie The Wizard of Oz?
A Over The Rainbow.
Today it is almost incomprehensible that Over The Rainbow, composed by Harold Arlen, would be removed. But Louis B. Mayer (MGM chief executive) and Mervyn LeRoy (producer) wanted to because they felt it slowed the film down.
Judy Garland's vocal coach and the associate producer for the film convinced them to retain it. Garland adopted it as her signature song, and sang it exactly as she did in the movie for 30 years until her death in 1969.
Q 2 What is the bar between numbers in a fraction called?
A Vinculum
They probably did not teach you that in school. Unless you took advanced maths.
For future reference:
Variorum - an edition of a single author's works having notes by various editors or commentators.
Venogram - an image produced by venography, which is the process of injecting dye into veins and x-raying the result.
Vitellus - the contents or substance of the ovum, that is, the yolk.
Q 3 Which explorer led the first round the world expedition?
A Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who lived from 1480 to 1521. His expedition from 1519 to 1522 to the West Indies resulted in the first circumnavigation of the earth. He was killed on 27 April 1521, and the remaining crew completed the voyage.
Q 4 What do the thirteen stripes on the US flag represent?
A The thirteen colonies that formed the first union.
Thirteen stripes have been a feature on US flags since 1775, and stars were first used the following year.
USHistory.org has a great timeline of flags from 1775 up to the present day.
Q 5 Who is on the NZ$50 note
A Sir Apirana Ngata
The $50 note was introduced in 1983 with Queen Elizabeth II on the front and a Morepork on the back. The fifth issue of NZ banknotes in 1991 replaced this with Sir Apirana on the front and a forest scene on the back.
Q 6 What is dental amalgam made from ?
A Mercury, silver, tin and copper.
Dental Amalgam is 50% mercury, between 22 and 31% silver, about 14% tin and about 8% copper. In 656 AD Su Kung documented amalgams made from tin and silver.
In 1845 the American Society of Dental Surgeons deemed its use as "unfit for dental purposes and use of it malpractice", however the society was replaced by the American Dental Association in 1959. The ADA strongly defended its use.
This question was inspired by the Quizmaster's recent visit to the dentist. No amalgam was used.
Q 7 When facing the front (bow) of a boat is starboard on the left of right?
A Right
If you are facing the stern it is on your left, so port (or starboard) is always on the same side of the boat. An easy way to remember them is that port has the same number of letters as the word left.
Q 8 When was the first petrol/electric hybrid car built?
A 1901
The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid was created by Ferdinand Porsche in 1901. It seems odd that they did not catch on until 1997 when the Toyota Prius was released.
Q 9 How many books in The Protestant Bible?
A 66
39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. There are 73 books in the Catholic Bible, where the Old Testament has an additional seven books. The specific books included in a version of The Bible is know as the canon. Wikipedia has the following to say about the canon of various Christian traditions:
Full dogmatic articulations of the canons were not made until the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox.
Q 10 Who was the first man to walk in space?
