Quizlings – Quizician for Teenagers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Quizlings/

April 1 to 15, 2015

Transcribed by Ramesh Athreya

If Mentalplex was the first, which is the latest?

Pacman

When he returned to his home country in 1767, his personal fortune was valued at GBP (Pounds) 234,000 (a billionaire by today's terms), which made him the richest self-made man in Europe. Yet, he committed suicide barely 7 years later in 1774, either by slitting his own throat with a paperknife or by an overdose of opium (details were suppressed).who?

ans: Robert Clive

Events of the past two days have failed to live up to his first name.Who is the person on the left? (April 2015)

ans: Goodluck Jonathan..who just lost to Muhammad Buhari (on right) in Nigeria..

According to the latest Marvel comic book series, what is the secret identity of Ms. Marvel?

Kamala Khan

Which famous painting does this panel in 'Asterix in Belgium' reference?..and name the painter

ans: The Peasant Wedding by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

From a French word meaning 'pricked', this move in Ballet shares its name with the surname of a famous footballer and member of a World Cup winning team.name the move and the person in question.

ans: Pique / Gerard Pique

Edelweiss Open 2015

This city became the permanent capital of the country from

1866 onwards and by the 1920s it was called the Pearl of

Asia due to its beautiful buildings and location by the

confluence of a lake and river.

By 1975 the population of the city was 2.5 million. And then,

disaster struck. Between April 17, 1975 and January 7, 1979,

the population of the city was reduced to near zero.

Since then, the city has gradually recovered, and today the

population is 2.2 million.

Which city? What befell it during those three years, eight

months and twenty days?

Phnom Penh. Khmer Rouge

Amaravati (or is it Amaravathi?) will be the third capital of the modern state of Andhra Pradesh. Which was the first?

Kurnool is correct. This was before the state reorganisation of 1956 took place. There was some hope that madras would be given to Andhra, so the temporary choice of kurnool. Once madras allotted to TN, Hyderabad was quickly made the capital

Tris Prior (played by Shailene Woodley on screen) didn't fit into any of these - Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, Abnegation and Candor. She was ___________FITB

ans: Divergent ..in the series by Veronica Roth

He is often called the highest selling artist alive. Who is this?

Jeff Koons

Commentary about a photograph by Jack Cardiff, 1956. “She had a perfect face and her ballet training made her walk with sleek grace. She radiated elegance. It was a joy to work with her on War and Peace.” Whose iconic photograph?

audrey hepburn

Who playing whom?

kirk douglas lust for life

Playing Vincent van Gogh

Id the 2 and on the sets of which film?

Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel on the set of Reservoir Dogs

Qn 10 - worm from which film?

Nightmare on the elm street

Here is qn 9: Id on the sets of which film and give us the source of the screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. It is a modified film adaptation of which 1968 novel?

Blade Runner is a 1982 American neo-noir dystopian science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is a modified film adaptation of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

Here is qn 6 - Identify the relatively old man ( not the man with the cigar)

Charles Addams meeting the Addams Family: he was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters. Some of the recurring characters, who became known as The Addams Family, have been the basis for spin-offs in several other forms of media.The Addams Family television series began after David Levy,a television producer, approached Addams with an offer to create it with a little help from the humorist. All Addams had to do was give his characters names and more characteristics for the actors to use in portrayals. The series ran on ABC for two seasons, from 1964 to 1966.

Here is qn 8 - Film about whose live?

In the 1950s, Wood made a number of low-budget science fiction, horror and cowboy genre films, intercutting stock footage. In the 1960s and 1970s, he made sexploitation movies and wrote over 80 pulp crime, horror and sex novels. In 1980, he was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award as Worst Director of All Time, renewing public interest in his work. Wood's career and camp approach has earned him and his films a cult following.

Following the publication of Rudolph Grey's 1992 oral biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Wood's life and work have undergone a public rehabilitation of sorts, leading up to director Tim Burton's biopic of Wood's life, Ed Wood (1994), a critically acclaimed film starring Johnny Depp as Wood and earned two Academy Awards.

The series of the next 10 questions is called " On the sets of which flick - you have to identify the flick...Here is qn 1 - movie?

A Clockwork Orange

His parents sold the rights to his grandfather's invention and had no share in the corporation. Shortly before the 1929 stock market crash, they sold their stock for $200,000 (equivalent to approximately $2,746,899 in today's funds) He subsequently made appearances in a number of other films and videos, such as David Blair's Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees, an elliptic story about the first Gulf War in which he plays a beekeeper, and Decoder by Klaus Maeck. He played an aging junkie priest in Gus Van Sant's 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy. He also appears briefly at the beginning of Van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (based on the Tom Robbins novel), in which he is seen crossing a city street; as the noise of the city rises around him he pauses in the middle of the intersection and speaks the single word "ominous". Van Sant's short film "Thanksgiving Prayer" features him reading the poem "Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986", from Tornado Alley, intercut with a collage of black and white images.Name him and his grandpa's invention.

William Burroughs and Arithmetic machine

Burroughs' parents sold the rights to his grandfather's invention and had no share in the Burroughs Corporation. Shortly before the 1929 stock market crash, they sold their stock for $200,000 (equivalent to approximately $2,746,899 in today's funds

Brothers in arms - name the bearded one and on location of which flick

Martin Scorcese – Taxi Driver

The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Windmills of Your Mind" and had another version in 1999 - Identify film and the 3 actors in the pic

Thomas crown affair

steve Mcqueen, faye dunaway

Which sport made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Games in Atlanta as an Olympic event for women only? (no longer in the Olympics line-up)

ans: Softball

What word means both of thesea) official permission or an approval to do somethingb) a series of punitive measures usually against an offending nation

ans: Sanction

Its roots may go back to the 6th century BC but which important and large city in Italy means 'new city' in Greek?

ans: Naples (Neo + Polis)

Here is qn 2 - movie?Movie and the pair in action.

Grace Jones and Conan The Destroyer is correct. During her acting career, Jones hasn’t always got on with her lead-man -Arnold Schwarzenegger supposedly complained Grace was ‘too tough’ during filming of Conan The Destroyer, and Roger Moore commented he had a genuine dislike of Jones during filming of the Bond film A View To A Kill.

Here is qn 3 - movie and director?

fear and loathing in las vegas, terry gilliam

Identify both these stalwarts making their appearances on The Muppet Show

harry belafonte, vincent price

Here is qn 5 : Movie and man in the black tee

Guillermo del Toro

Pan's Labyrinth

S Dhillon, Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism and Archaeology and Museums Departments has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Transport and Civil Aviation Department in place of Avtar Singh who has been posted as Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department in Haryana,Ram Niwas, Additional Chief Secretary, Health Department has been given the additional charge of Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education and Research Department.So, who has been given given the dual charge of Secretary and Director General, Archaeology and Museums department relieving R.S. Kharb of the charge?

Ashok Khemka

Some more : Location of which film and name the 3 doyens

Akira Kurosawa, George Lucas and Francis Coppola. The film is Kagemusha!

Which actor who got his second acting nomination for an Oscar this year has two additional nominations for screenwriting? (he hasnt won any Oscars though)

Ethan Hawke?

Fill in the two blanks.

Pujara; Yorkshire

Movie - precise answer please

Star Wars : New Hope

Identify this leather jacketed hot rod and connect it to the video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycva18lb6FE

Leonard Nimoy

What is the capital city of Greenland ?

ans: Nuuk

Here is qn 4 : Who is the man in the pink shirt?

Peter Jackson

If this is the side-view of a famous scene, Fill in the dialogue.

Here's Johnny" scene from "The Shining"

Who was famously given the death sentence for these (paraphrased and seemingly harmless) charges?1. undermining authority2. tax evasion and3. self-proclamation of monarchy

Jesus Christ

A music album where all the tracks are linked to an overall theme or story is called a _______ _____ (X)The 1966 album ___ ______ ( Y ) by 'The Beach Boys' was probably the album that popularised this type of music publishing, though it was not the first one (there are examples going back to 1940)___ ______ ( Y ) heavily influenced the making of the 1967 Beatles classic album ___ _______ ______ ______ ____ ____ (Z)give me X, Y and Z

ans: X - concept album : Y - Pet Sounds ; Z- Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

What do you call this kind of feature purposely added to a racing track to slow down cars and to create opportunities for trailing cars to catch up and pass?

ans: Chicane

The name of which flower, also used as a first name for girls worldwide, derives from Old Persian and means "Gift from God?"

ans: Jasmine

Identify both A and B - both major cities of their respective countries.

Kinshasa (A), the capital of DR Congo, and Brazzaville (B), the capital of Congo Republic, face each other across the Congo River at the point where it runs into the Pool Malebo (Stanley Pool).

He founded the city of Thebes and legend says that he adapted the Phoenician alphabet to make the Greek alphabet.How has Chemistry chosen to honor him?

ans: Cadium (through an ore ,,not directly),,,from Cadmus

Here is qn 7 - On the sets of which cult flick?

Rocky Horror Picture Show

What abbreviated term is blanked off at the top of this official document?

UB40 - a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The name "UB40" was selected in reference to the signing-on document issued to people claiming unemployment benefit from the UK government's Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) at the time of the band's formation.

In the 1985 European Cup Final, Juventus beat Liverpool 1–0 . Many felt that this match should never have taken place. Why?

ans: This was the Heysel stadium disaster

This poetic travelogue, which dates back to 1694 is considered to be one of the greatest works of classical Japanese literature.How would you otherwise know its title?

ans: the title of "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Richard Flanagan is derived from here

Though we mainly use it to mean a partner in marriage (especially royal couples), which word has many meanings including "a vessel or ship accompanying another?"

Ans: ???

What two-word term in astronomy, named after the 19th-century scientist shown here, is illustrated by the schematic diagram?

The Roche limit, sometimes referred to as the Roche radius, is the distance within which a celestial body, held together only by its own gravity, will disintegrate due to a second celestial body's tidal forces exceeding the first body's gravitational self-attraction. Inside the Roche limit, orbiting material disperses and forms rings whereas outside the limit material tends to coalesce. The term is named after Édouard Roche, who is the French astronomer who first calculated this theoretical limit in 1848.

A linkage quiz (sort of....)If Picture (1) is 39, Picture (2) is 33, Picture (3) is 2 and 6, what is Picture (4)?

The link is indeed US Presidents. And the answer is 7.

(1) John Carter (played by Noah Wyle) from 'ER'. Jimmy Carter was the 39th US President.(2) 'The Truman Show'. Harry S. Truman was 33rd US President.(3) Bryan Adams sang 'Everything I Do I Do It For You' from 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'. John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams were the 2nd and 6th US presidents respectively.(4) Hence the Jackson Five points to Andrew Jackson, the 7th US President.

Why classic play was this film loosely adapted from?

ans: The Taming of the Shrew

Having the largest economy by GDP in Latin America and Southern Hemisphere, this is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere. This is also the most populous city of a nation that has hosted the Fifa World cup (and its predecessor) two times till now. Identify the city and the country

ans: Saa Paulo / Brazil

On the sets of which film?

2001: A Space Odyssey

What expression, previously coined in the 18th century at the London Stock Exchange to describe stockbrokers who couldn't pay off their debts, is now primarily applied to equally forlorn individuals in a different pursuit?The first known mention of the term in writing was made by Horace Walpole, in a letter of 1761: "Do you know what a Bull and a Bear and __________ are?"

Answer: Lame duck

The figure shown here is an important character in which novel of the 19th century?

Miss Havisham from Dickens' 'Great Expectations'. Defrauded by a man named Compeyson on her wedding day, she never changed out of her wedding dress and lived alone with Estella (her adopted daughter) in Satis House, her decaying mansion.

Which constellation is this ? (though in the sky the constellation trace a sort of W)

ans: Cassiopea

Can you name the artist whose painting is reproduced here in humorous fashion?

'The Marriage of the Virgin' by Raphael created around 1504.

What comes next on this list -Jordan, Midland, Spyker?

Force India

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time and Neville Cardus described him as "the Midsummer night's dream of cricket". Unorthodox in technique and with fast reactions, he brought a new style to batting and revolutionised the game. Also, he represented India at the League Of Nations.Who?

ans: Ranjitsinhji

Google Earth is a veritable treasure trove of quiz questions. For this one, you need to identify the river (brownish) which winds its way diagonally across this photograph.

the Potomac is correct. You can see the Pentagon

This little cutie is the mascot of which company?

Mittu, Xiaomi's mascot

A cartoon about which individual in the news recently?

Singapore's founding PM who passed away on 23rd March.

Identify this always in the news man

Subhramaniam Swamy

What is this kind of fishing net called?

ans: Purse-Seine net

Which professional football club is no longer playing its home matches home matches at their home stadium Donbass Arena? and why

ans: Shakhtar Donetsk; its home stadium is in Eastern Ukraine where a civil war is being waged

What connects these creatures (not a full list) –Lizards, salamanders, Flat worms, Sharks, Spiders, Sponges, Starfish?

Poikilotherms

who wrote this poem..and what is the missing word?The Lord in His wisdom made the ___,And then forgot to tell us why.

The Fly - Ogden Nash

What do the following countries have in common? (P.S. this is not an exhaustive list).Please refrain from posting answers that, while technically correct, are obviously not what I am looking for (e.g. they all have rivers/ airports, their populations are all more than x etc). You know what I mean.And in the event that you have a credible answer that is not what I am after, I beg your indulgence for insisting on sticking to the answer on my virtual card, so to speak.

name of capitals starts and ends with the same letter

Accra, Abuja, Oslo, Ankara, Warsaw

Who is supposed to have founded the original Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi after having a vision of Hanuman at that spot?

ans: Tulsidas

Why is a research paper titled "A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) " in the news ?

Brontosaurus after many decades will be considered as a separate species and doesn't have to share taxonomic space with the Stupid Apatosaurus

Which talented rapper was killed at age 25 in a drive-by shooting in 1996?

Tupac Shakur

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non-resident Indian Day), is celebrated in India on 9 January each year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India. What is the significance of January 9th?

ans: Gandhiji returned from South Africa on that date

Maria Irudayam, two-time world champion and nine-time national champion, is the only Indian to win the Arjuna Award for which sport?

ans: Carroms

Catapult and a ski-ramp are alternative means to do what?

ans: Taking off from the Aircraft carrier

Their first film was “___ _________: This is us”In October 2014 they released,“___ _________: Where we are – The Concert Film”

who?

ans: One Direction

Once recognised as "Distinguished Alumnus of IIM Calcutta," why was Malli Mastan Babu of Andhra Pradesh in the news recently?

Died climbing a mountain in South America

This 4 feet 100 pound sculpture was surreptitiously installed in a New York park only to be removed by the authorities later. Whose bust?

ans: Edward Snowden

The reptile labelled (1) has a name meaning ‘peaks on the back’ in the native language. Although resembling most lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage. To which country are they endemic?

the tuatara, endemic to New Zealand.

Who said"I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever."

Einstein

The individual depicted by this statue is associated with an historical event which gives its name to a work of literature almost half a millennium later. Name both the individual and the title of the literary work.

Girolamo Savonarola, the Florentine preacher and the 1497 bonfire of the vanities in which thousands of objects such as cosmetics, art, and books were publicly burned. In 1987, Tom Wolfe wrote 'The Bonfire of the Vanities', subsequently adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith.

One of the key highlights of PM Modi's stop in France this week would be a boat ride with President Francois Hollande on River Siene.“It's a sort of '....... .... ..........',” said foreign Secretary Jaishankar, a nod to the PM's initiative to connect with the voters during the 2014 elections.FITB

ans: Naav pe Charcha

Of which sovereign state are these two individuals the co-rulers?

Andorra is correct. Created under a charter in A.D. 988, the present Principality was formed in A.D. 1278. It is known as a principality as it is a monarchy headed by two Co-Princes – the Spanish/Roman Catholic Bishop of Urgell and the President of France

Under its official website, the White House has set up a page to explain the Iran nuclear deal to the public at largeIncluded in the page is this graphicWhat is the reason for the use of this specific graphic, other than the fact that it is being for illustrative purposes

ans: White House trolling Benjamin Netanyahu

Who wrote the original story on which this film was based?

ans: F Scott Fitzgerald (famous for The Great Gatsby and other works)

The name of this TV character's club is Verdant which means 'bright green colour' which is a subtle nod to his own identityWho?

ans: Oliver Queen aka Green arrow

A is an 18th-century writer and politician; B is a 19th-century writer and journalist.They both gave their names to words, which (separately or combined) gained prominence due to a recent work of fiction.What are the two words, and which work of fiction?

A - Marquis de Sade. B - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Sadism and Masochism. 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. All there is to add is that the phrases were coined by Richard von Krafft-Ebing.

On which island would you find this?

It is Borobudur, the 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia.

'The monument consists of six square platforms topped by three circular platforms and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues each of which is seated inside a perforated stupa. It is the world’s largest Buddhist temple, as well as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world.' -Wikipedia

19th-century English aristocrats rivaled one another to become the first to cultivate rare non-native plant species. In 1849, the individual shown here became the first to bring to flower this South American aquatic plant, when he was working as gardener to the Duke of Devonshire.The plant's ribbed undersurface and leaves veining "like transverse girders and supports' subsequently inspired him to design something else. What?

The Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition of 1851, and destroyed by fire in 1936.

'Joseph Paxton... developed his techniques with the Chatsworth Lily House, which featured a flat-roof version of the ridge-and-furrow glazing, and a curtain wall system that allowed the hanging of vertical bays of glass from cantilevered beams. The Lily House was built specifically to house the giant Victoria amazonica waterlily which had only recently been discovered by European botanists; the first specimen to reach England was originally kept at Kew Gardens, but it did not do well. Paxton's reputation as a gardener was so high by that time that he was invited to take the lily to Chatsworth; it thrived under his care and in 1849 he caused a sensation in the horticultural world when he succeeded in producing the first amazonica flowers to be grown in England (his daughter Alice was famously drawn for the newspapers, standing on one of leaves). The lily and its house led directly to Paxton's design for the Crystal Palace and he later cited the huge ribbed floating leaves as a key inspiration.' - Wikipedia

There is a story that he loved the Cornwall area in the UK so much ( from his stint as Nazi Ambassador to Britain) that the Luftwaffe seldom bombed this area during the Second World war. He apparently also planned to have his retirement home there once the Nazi had conquered Britain!One of the key figures in the Nazi establishment, he was eventually hanged at Nuremberg.Who?

ans: Joachim von Ribbentrop (Foreign Minister)

Why is American Baseball now expecting an influx of talented players into the MLB?

ans: Cuban sanctions are expected to be lifted soon

Connecta) a 19th century inventor best known for the invention that bears his name and who disappeared mysteriously from a ship enroute Britainb) a denim fashion label that has since branched out into other luxury goodsc) An actor whose first significant starring role was in in the film "Saving Private Ryan"

ans: Diesel (Rudolf Diesel; Diesel; Vin Diesel)

This cartoon is a parody of a painting, which in turn was inspired by a speech.Who is the painter of the original painting, and who gave that inspirational speech?

Norman Rockwell is the correct answer. Inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'Four Freedoms' State of the Union address in 1941, Rockwell painted his 'Four Freedom' series of paintings in 1943. The Simpson's parody is that of 'Freedom From Want'

Hormonal changes in both boys and girls at puberty is atttributed to this anatomical part that prodigiously changes bu 90 Degrees in boys and up to 120 Degrees in girls. What?

ans: Adam's Apple

Director One was visiting Director Two on the sets of the latter’s film, before his own film came out. They ended up arguing which movie would do better — each arguing for each other's films. To settle the argument a deal was made - each Director would give the other 2.5% of their respective stakes in their own film, if it was the most successful.As a consequence of this deal, Director Two has ended up making some USD 40 million so far, without having to do anything with the production of Director One’s filmName both DirectorsName both films

Director 1: George LucasDirector 2: Steven SpielbergFilm 1: Close Encounters of the third kindFilm 2: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

What distinguishes these breeds of cat - Manx, Cymric, American Bobtail, Japanese Bobtail, Kurilian Bobtail?

ans: Tail-less cats

What is the common name for Proboscideans from the genus Mammut?

ans: MASTODON

Which is the only sea on earth without a land border?

ans: Sargasso Sea

Thelma, a 6m long (20 ft) python that lives in Louisville zoo, laid over 61 eggs, producing six healthy babies. Each of her offspring contained two copies of half her chromosomes. They were half-clones of Thelma. What is special about Thelma's babies?

ans: Thelma had become the first reticulated python in the world known to have had a real-life virgin birth (Parthenogenesis) . She’d made eggs that contained all the genetic information required to make a daughter; without the need for a father, his sperm or DNA. She’d done it fusing her eggs with a by-product of her dividing cells, called a polar body. This object played the same role as sperm would normally, triggering the egg to develop into an embryo

In her career she had four Grand Slam singles titles and was ranked No 1 at times. Her career earnings topped $60 million but it was revealed in 2012 that she was actually in debt to Spanish tax authorities as her parents had 'lost' most of her moneyWhich Tennis star is this?

ans: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario

starting at 01:56 in this trailer is a snippet of q famous poem. Evidently the poet's father was going blind when he wrote this poem and the phrase "The dying of the light" is a reference to darkness and being blind.Who is the poet?

ans: Dylan Thomas ..Do not go Gentle into the Night

The actor who played this DEA agent in a classic 1990-1991 TV series played a leading role in another hit 1990's TV series, this time as a FBI agentName the actorName both serials.

ans: David Duchovny ....Twin Peaks..the other serial is 'The X Files"

What is remarkable about the outcome of this test? considering that Test cricket has been played for over 100 years, it is perhaps surprising that this happened for the first time in Tests only in 2013

ans: suffering an Innings defeat after declaring the first innings

With which disease would you associate the man shown in the picture, as well as the map next to it?

Cholera is the right answer

Dr John Snow (pictured) was a believer in the germ theory of cholera, as opposed to the then-dominant miasma theory. He first publicised his theory in an essay On the Mode of Communication of Cholera in 1849. In 1855 a second edition was published, with a much more elaborate investigation of the effect of the water-supply in the Soho, London epidemic of 1854.

By talking to local residents he identified the cause of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street), and it was disabled by removing the pump handle. Snow later used a spot map to illustrate how cases of cholera were centred around the pump. He also made a solid use of statistics to illustrate the connection between the quality of the source of water and cholera cases. He showed that companies taking water from sewage-polluted sections of the Thames delivered water to homes with an increased incidents of cholera. Snow's study was a major event in the history of public health, and can be regarded as the founding event of the science of epidemiology.

Which founder of the Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA) is now a Member of the Indian Parliament?

ans: Rajeev Gowda .

Featured in this trailer (starting 01:19 and intermittently then on) is a song that was made famous for its use in a 1986 film that made Tom Cruise (also Val Kilmer) into a star.Which film?who is performing the song?

ans: Top Gun / Kenny Loggins

Actress Monica Belluci is playing Cleopatra here in a 2002 adaptation of which work of 'literature?'

ans: The film was ASTERIX: MISSION CLEOPATRA. adapted from ASTERIX AND CLEOPATRA

The cover of which novel is shown here, and what is the phrase, part of which I have obscured?

'Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death' (1969) is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier named Billy Pilgrim. It is generally recognized as Vonnegut's most influential and popular work. Vonnegut's use of the firebombing of Dresden as a central event makes the novel semi-autobiographical, as he was present during the bombing.The story continually employs the refrain "So it goes" when death, dying, and mortality occur, as a narrative transition to another subject, as a memento mori, as comic relief, and to explain the unexplained. It appears 106 times.' - Wikipedia

Between 1945-46, the British tried Indian National Army (INA) for war crimes. The three most famous ones, tried at the Red Fort, were colonels Prem Sahgal and Gurbaksh Dhillion, and Major General Shahnawaz Khan.Bhulabhai Desai and Asaf Ali were two of the three lawyers who defended them. Who was the third?

ans: Jawaharlal Nehru

One of the first so-called 'Spaghetti Westerns,' this 1964 film was actually an unauthorised version of which 1961 film?

ans: Yojimbo (from Akira Kurosawa)

Constructed near the end of the 12th century, it gives its name to an event that happened almost eight centuries later. Today it is better known by the name of a foreigner, rather than its original name in the native language. Who is this foreigner?

'The Marco Polo Bridge or Lugouqiao is a famous stone bridge located 15 km southwest of the Beijing city center in the Fengtai District. It bridges the Yongding River—a major tributary of Hai River. The Marco Polo Bridge is well-known because it was highly praised by the Venetian traveler Marco Polo during his visit to China in the 13th century (leading the bridge to become known in Europe simply as the Marco Polo Bridge), and for the 20th century Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).' - Wikipedia

Freckleface Strawberry, Freckleface Strawberry Best Friends Forever, Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodge ball Bully are a series of children's books written by a Oscar winning star.Who?

ans: Julianne Moore

Who is the first recipient of the Khel Ratna Award?

ans: V Anand

Goblins are known to be greedy and like to hoard gold and jewelry. How does J K Rowling make a nod to this in her Harry Potter series?

ans: they are the bankers at Gringotts

Why was the role of Moroccan actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni (playing the role of Satan) in a History channel series called "The Bible" cut from a shorter version of the drama called 'Son of God?'

ans: He looked like Obama

Who made a bizzare entry into heavyweight boxing in 2012 and after a win over Richard Dawson (shown here) quit the sport, after just one bout?

ans: Andrew Flintoff

Shown in this illustration carrying bales of hay, these fictional beings are portrayed by the author who created them as rather filthy and nasty creatures. He'll be surprised that a few centuries on, we generally associate their name with a rather more positive connotation.What is their name?

A Yahoo is a legendary being in the novel 'Gulliver's Travels' (1726) by Jonathan Swift.

Swift describes them as being filthy and with unpleasant habits, resembling human beings far too closely for the liking of protagonist Lemuel Gulliver, who finds the calm and rational society of intelligent horses, the Houyhnhnms, greatly preferable. The Yahoos are primitive creatures obsessed with "pretty stones" they find by digging in mud, thus representing the distasteful materialism and ignorant elitism Swift encountered in Britain. Hence the term "yahoo" has come to mean "a crude, brutish or obscenely coarse person"

The Internet company Yahoo!, created in 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Yang apparently stands for '"Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle" or "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle".

The first apparently happened in 1854, when he was on-board a horse-drawn London bus, whose rocking motion may have lulled him into a state of reverie.The second, more definitive episode, happened in the winter of 1861-62, as he dozed in front of a warm fireplace in Ghent, where he held an academic post at its university.In 1886, a humorous depiction appeared in the 'Berichte der Durstigen Chemischen Gesellschaft' with illustrations involving different creatures from the second episode, but seeking to explain the same thing.Who is the individual in question, and the discovery of what am I describing?

Kekule's dream about the ouroboros and the inference of the structure of benzene.

The magazine article illustrated the same cyclic structure with monkeys holding each other's tails.

Which is the only Railway station to be listed as an UNESCO World Heritage site?

Chatrapati Sivaji Railway Terminus,Mumbai

The name of this company derives from a line from a 12th-century poem 'Green Jade Table in The Lantern Festival': 'hundreds and thousands of times, for her I searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, and there she stood.'When asked about it, the company's founder said, 'The poem compares the search for a retreating beauty amid chaotic glamour with the search for one's dream while confronted by life's many obstacles...., whose literal meaning is hundreds of times, represents persistent search for the ideal.'Which company?

Baidu

John Surratt,Mary Surratt,David Herold,George AzterodtDr. Samuel Mudd,Samuel Arnold,Michael O'Laughlen,Edmund Spangler,Lewis PowellWho is missing from this list?

ans: John Wilkes Booth.These are the co - conspirators.Mary Surratt became the first woman executed by the United States

How does the visual below connect to this video?http://www.nospoiler.com/y/-M2jSzLBzK4

ans: Thin Lizzy, a band named for the 'Tin Lizzy' (the Ford Model T nickname)

Which Christian legend is this 5,137 m peak associated with? (it has two cones, one of which is visible here)

ans: Noah's Ark came to rest at Mt. Ararat..

Who is the person in the suit, associated with the Snowden leaks and named amongst the top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013?nospoiler.com - youtube videos sans comments

ans: Glenn Greenwald

He has a short stint in International cricket, featuring as a fast bowler in the 1980's in the Pakistan cricket team but what was remarkable about the cricketer shown here? (post his playing days, he has had much success as a coach)

ans: Azeem Hafeez..was missing two fingers on his right hand (non-bowling hand though)

According to legend, who guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes?

ans: Sphinx

what is common (not an exhaustive list) to these gentlemen(extra points for naming them)

ans:1 - Andrew Carnegie 2 - Ezra Cornell 3 - King Saud 4 - Leland Stanford. All these folks founded universities - CMU, Cornell, King Saud and Stanford - and those institutions still carry their names

What is a Chemoautotrophic organism or a Chemotrop? (please dont complicate)

ans: Organisms that live of chemicals and that don't require light to survive

One of the reasons that this member of the the minnow family (Danio rerio) interests researchers so much is that its embryo grows outside the mother and goes from one cell to almost a full fish in something like 72 hours. Which 'model' organism?

Zebra Fish, it's a model organism well because its transparent, you can see the internal organs and what's happening inside

it was first discovered in a tributary of the Ganga...

This 17th century statesman shares his real-name with which South African cricketer, still active on the cricket circuit?

ans: Faf du Plessis - Cardinal Richelieu was born Armand Jean du Plessis

Which capital city, one of the oldest continuously

inhabited cities in the world, is believed to have been founded by Shem, one of the sons of Noah?

ans: Sana'a...

Researchers studying water from a deep mine near Ontario determined that the sample was some 2.6 billion years.old based on the Helium in the water. How does Helium provide a clue to the age of the water?

ans: naturally occurring Uranium decays over time to Helium..that can help calculate the age of the sample

A cropped section of a famous painting. Who is the painter?

Raft of the Medusa' by Theodore Gericault. Completed in 1819, depicting a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816.

The Nazi SS had its own military force which fought alongside the regular German army in World war II. What was it called?and what single word (not to be confused with a tragic Punjabi lover of popular lore) was used for the regular German army of that time?

ans: Waffen SS ; Heer

In 1857, Cambridge Greek scholar Richard Shilleto complained in the London Times - "the rightly constructed word 'telegrapheme'? I do not want it, but ... I protest against such a barbarism as '________.'What is the missing word?

ans: Telegram..apparently the correct construction is telepgrapheme

What is the distinction of Ghum railway station, which is located on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway?

ans: at 2,258 metres the highest Railway station in India

What is the joke here?

ans: That is the famous crossing featured on the 'Abbey Road' album cover (The Beatles)...and that is something designed to look like the Yellow Submarine! (Yellow Submarine is a song and movie by the Beatles)

In the case of an emergency like an earthquake or a terrorist bombing which brings in an overwhelming number of casualties into a hospital, doctors have no choice but to allocate resources and decide who to treat, often deciding to abandon those who have little chance of survival. What is this process of deciding who to treat in such an emergency called?

ans: Triage