Sunday, January 19, 2014

Weekend Workout 01 (week starting January 19, 2014)


What's In A Name?

1.
A conspiracy in 1787 against the Portuguese, led by the Goan priests Fr. Caetano Vitorino de Faria; Fr. Caetano Francisco do Couto; Fr. Jose Antonio Gonsalves; and one other person, is generally referred to by what clan name of the main conspirators?
A. The Pinto conspiracy. 
The 'other person' left unnamed in the question was José Custódio de Faria, better known as Abbé Faria.

2. In 1960-61, which real-life person did Alec Guinness play in Terence Rattigan's 'Ross', which controversially explored the sexual ambiguity of that person?
A. T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia)
After the end of the First World War, quite famous and in a senior position by then, Lawrence was put in various high advisory positions. But he longed for action, and re-enlisted in the Royal Air Force under the false name John Hume Ross. Forced out of the RAF on being found out, he joined the Royal Tank Corps using the name T.E. Shaw. 
His sexuality has always been a mystery, and there were many rumours – but no evidence – surrounding his relationship with an Arab companion whom he worked with during pre-war days.

3. The name of which region means 'Beyond the _____ river', the river in question being the one in the photo, whose name is Dutch for 'drab' or 'dull', referring to its muddy colour?
A. Transvaal

4. It was introduced into India in the 11th century by al-Biruni, who wrote extensively about it and who claims to have composed two works on it in Sanskrit verse. The manufacture of the first local one commenced at Delhi in the latter half of the 14th century under Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq. Though several of them are said to have been constructed, all that remains of the endeavour is a manual in Sanskrit composed by Mahendra Suri in 1370, in which it is referred to as Yantraraja, meaning 'king of instruments'. What device is this?
A. The astrolabe



5. The Religious Society of Friends developed out of a movement of people who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity in England in the 17th century, and wished to return to a way of life based on their interpretations of early Christian communities. In 1650, when George Fox, one of the Society's early leaders, was brought to trial on a charge of blasphemy, he admonished the gathering in court and "bid them tremble at the word of God". What mocking name given by the judge to the group as a result of this incident eventually came to be a term commonly used for them, even by themselves?
A. Quakers

6. Born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve and served a six-month tour of duty as a gunnery officer in Korea following the Korean War. Later, in the 1970s, he became the first person to win Emmy Awards for acting, writing and directing for the same TV series. What stage name, derived in a complicated way from his real name, do we know him better by?
A. Alan Alda (the surname came from parts of his real first and last names)



7. In 1929, a Czech entrepreneur named František Janeček bought over the motorcycle division of the German transport company Wanderer, and formed a company to manufacture motorcycles. The name he devised for the company (from a combination of his name and that of the original German motorcycle manufacturer) became well-known in India due to a Mysore-based company which licensed the right to manufacture the vehicles in India. What name?
A. Jawa



8. To evoke the batting burden he bore for the West Indies at the time, what nickname did C.B. Fry famously bestow on George Headley?
A. Atlas

9. In addition to the traditional Petrarchan and Elizabethan, John Milton is considered to have created a new sonnet form, the Miltonic, with his sonnet number 19, “When I Consider How my Light is Spent”. What is the subject of this poem?
A. Milton's blindness

10. The name of which type of pasta is Italian for 'little twines'?
A. Spaghetti (from 'spago', meaning 'twine')

3 comments:

  1. 1. Pinto
    2. Alan Turing
    3. Transvaal
    4. Sitar
    5. Quakers
    6. Alan Alda
    7. Jawa
    8. Atlas
    9. The Sun
    10. Spaghetti

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. Pinto
    2. Alan Turing
    3. Mekong
    4. Printing press
    5. Anglicans
    6.
    7. Java
    8.
    9. Blindness
    10. Pena

    ReplyDelete