Jitendra Gaglani: 2016

LANDMARK QUIZ 2016
Prelims

0. Video: In the clip that you saw…
A. Name the ship.
B. Bajaj made this video because a two wheeler made by it contains metal from the ship.
Name the vehicle

Ans. INS Vikrant / Invincible

1. Name these two women who played a supporting role in the freedom struggle
First names will do

Ans. Manu Ben and Abha Gandhi

2. What cultural phenomenon caused this spike in Google searches for “miles to kilometres” especially in the US in July 2016?

Ans. Pokemon GO

3. This celebrated figure was aptly described thus in 1973 by Mortimer Wheeler: “She’s about fifteen years old I should think, not more, but she stands there with bangles all the way up her arm and nothing else on. A girl perfectly, for the moment, perfectly confident of herself and the world. There’s nothing like her, I think, in the world.”
She has captivated us since Ernest Mackay encountered her in 1926.
Who was described in such glowing terms?

Ans. Dancing girl of Mohenjo Daro

4. The phrase “al fresco” is borrowed from Italian for “in the fresh air”, but Italians don’t use it to refer to dining outside – as we understand it. Instead, Italians use the phrases “fuori” or “all’ perto” for an outdoors lunch.
Where would one be if one was taking in the “fresh air” in Italy (or Spain)?

Ans. In Jail

5. This word means “age” in Sanskrit and is commonly used as a blessing. It is also the name of a central government ministry that initially started in 1995 as a department that oversaw Indian systems of health.
What is this name?

Ans. Ayush (Ayurveda Yoga & Naturopathy Unani Siddha Homeopathy)

6. Only 10% of all humans have this trait but this number is a significant 23% amongst Wimbledon winners since the open era (22 winners), around 30% of Test cricket batsmen and about one third of elite fencers.
What sinister trait is this?

Ans. Left handedness

7. Which former dictator tried to sue the makers of Call of Duty for using his likeness?

Ans. Manuel Noriega (of Panama)

8. Name this lady and Padma Shri awardee who is the cofounder and current chair of Dastkar – an Indian NGO founded in 1981 that works with craftspeople across India, for promotion and revival of traditional crafts of India.

Ans. Laila Tyabji

9. Ecuador may be the smallest Andean country, but it has four distinct and contrasting regions. The Costa, or coastal plain, grows enough bananas to make the country the world’s largest exporter of the fruit. The Sierra, or Andean uplands, offers productive farmland, Oil from the Oriente, jungles east of the Andes, enriches the country.
What is the fourth region that is volcanic in origin and brings in tourism revenue?

Ans. Galapagos

10. What common 2-word term would describe these object/s?
- Impact tolerance of 3,400 Gs
- Fire resistance of 1100 degree C/ 30 minutes
- Resistance to water pressure up to 20,000 feet
- Locator beacon with a six-year shelf life and 30-day operation capability

Ans. Black boxes – FDR / CVR

STAR QUESTIONS

11. This historical site and a war memorial at the Esplanade Park is located at Connaught Drive in downtown Singapore. It commemorates the “Unknown Warrior.” The words inscribed on the war memorial are – Unity (Ittefaq), Faith (Etmad) and Sacrifice (Kurbani).
This is a memorial to….?

Ans. INA (Indian National Army)

12. This lady’s specialisation in X Ray crystallography techniques resulted in photographs taken in 1951-52 (visual) that were described by the scientist JD Bernal as “the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken.”

Name the scientist whose path-breaking work went unrewarded in 1962 as she died of cancer in 1958.

What molecule did she photograph? The suggestive photograph might provide a clue for you to decode!

Ans. Rosalind Franklin / DNA

13. The name, meaning “I roll” in Latin was originally registered in 1911 by the company SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB: Swedish ___ _______ Factory AB) to name certain products they made. This idea was only briefly used with SKF later deciding to simple use “SKF” for these products.
In 1924, an SKF sales manager and engineer colleague took over the original name for an internationally famous brand.
What was the Latin word?
What product was this name used for initially (FITB)?

Ans. Volvo / ball bearings

14. Penguin books first came out in two genres with distinctive colour codes for the books – Contemporary Fiction (orange covers) and Biography (dark blue).
The popularity of which genre motivated Penguin in 1935 to start a new series with its own unique colour code – green?

And. Crime fiction

15. The Indian Constitution borrowed the idea of a nominal Head of State from the unwritten British Constitution (the role of the King/Queen of England).
Apart from naming this position “President of India” what other aspect pertaining to this position was borrowed from the Constitution of the United States of America?

Ans. Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces

16. Karsten Solheim named his putter “__ __ __ __” because of the sound it makes

upon contact with a golf ball.

Ans. Ping

17. “_____ is a source of energy, source of life. Life begins here, attains infinity here.” So said this artist about his lifelong fascination with a certain geometric figure. The story goes that when he was 9, his teacher Nandlal Jharia drew a _____ on a white wall and made him stare at it to check his restlessness which he said “awakened a latent energy inside me.”
FITB

Ans. Bindu (Syed Haider Raza)

18. The Indian word for broken wheat (commonly cooked as a porridge or an “upma”) originates from a Sanskrit word meaning divided, split, or broken.
The same Sanskrit word is also the origin of a socio-cultural word perhaps first coined by Mahatma Phule in the 19^th century. Although the “other” Mahatma preferred a more passive religious term Phule’s more direct descriptive word says it as it is, and is the word used today.
What related words are these?

Ans. Dalia / Dalit

19. This unusual antelope roams the Horn of Africa, (Djibouti, Eritria, Ethiopia and Somalia). It has a small head, long neck, and a short tail ending in a tuft of black hair, and feeds on the tender leaves of high branches by standing on its hind legs and stretching its long neck.
Also known as Waller’s gazelle what is the more common Somalian name of this antelope?
This name is because of the similarity in appearance of a certain part of its anatomy to another animal of Africa. Which other animal?

Ans. Gerenuk meaning “giraffe-necked”

20. This font was used for the poster of Titanic and in the titles and captions for The West Wing book.

Ans. Trajan

21. This visual shorthand first appeared on US maps in a 1976 NBC election broadcast. Varying and sometimes contradictory systems subsequently featured but all are agreed that the present standardisation first appeared in the 2000 Bush/Gore battle on a Today show of NBC.
In this context what term describes the battleground swing states?

Ans. Purple States

22. In April 2016 NASA tweeted and released this stunning photo of the Crab Nebula whose structure is shaped around a supernova remnant – a star that burnt bright and then died young. The image was made up by combining images from NASA’s own Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory.
What was the occasion?

Ans. The death of Prince

23. On Friday February 20, 1942 President Roosevelt asked Americans to get something before one of his Fireside Chats the following Monday. Over the weekend booksellers witnessed an unprecedented rush of business, oil companies gave this away free at gas stations, department stores advertised sales of this in the papers, newspapers published this on the Monday of FDR’s address, and movie theatres projected it onscreen while broadcasting the President’s message which the New York Times later described as FDR’s best speech of his career.
What was this?

Ans. World map / atlas

24. First aired on October 3^rd, 2014 which programme has become a major source of revenue for the All India Radio? While the usual ad slots sold for Rs 500 per 10 seconds, a 10-second ad slot for this programme cost Rs 2 lakh!

Ans. Mann ki Baat

25. FITB (two words) of this famous quote from a memoir of a struggling, young expatriate journalist and writer in Paris.
“If you are lucky to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a _______ ____.”

Ans. A Moveable Feast

26. This incident in a classic is considered a farcical allegory of Irish mathematician William Hamilton’s quaternion theory in algebra.
In the scene the title character meets characters who could be said to represent three terms of a quaternion, in which the all-important fourth character/term is missing. Without it, we are told, the characters are stuck at a certain location and constantly have to move around in search of clean tableware.
Which novel is this?
Who is the missing fourth character who is responsible for this situation?

Ans. Alice in Wonderland (The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party) Time

27. These two characters in the Simpson universe are a parody of Batman and Robin. The superhero is Radioactive Man who acquires his powers after surviving an atomic explosion. The kid’s name also references the consequences of such an event.
What is the name of his sidekick – a role Bart Simpson often fantasises about taking on??

Ans. Fall Out Boy

28. VIDEO: Name the singer appearing in this ad for a “118 118” directory enquiry service in UK, singing a version of song made famous by him in a 1984 cult comedy. The film was remade and gender – swapped in 2016.

Ans. Ray Parker Jr.

29. The most famous painting “The Nightwatch” is by __________?

Ans. Rembrandt

30. This publication by Wisden is a quarterly collection of essays currently in its 14^th edition. The publication is named after a role played by a non – batsman in a Test match.
Its name?

Ans. The Nightwatchman

31. Originally called “Reversi” the modern version of this 19^th century board game was patented in 1971 by Satoshi Hasegawa, a salesman. The goal is to fence in your opponent (discs of one colour – black or white) with discs of your colour and flipping your opponent’s trapped discs to display your colour. The winner is the one left with the most discs.
The name of this version references a famous jealousy. The board’s colour denotes the underlying “green – eyed monster.” The black discs represent a tragic character while the white ones either stand for his innocent wife or his villain. Name the game.

Ans. Othello

32. VIDEO: This scene of a play from a 1963 film Ratha Thilagam stars Sivaji Ganesan and Savithri and is set in the backdrop of the Sino – Indian war. In this scene Shivaji and Savithri are playing characters in a famous tragedy.
Which two theatre legends lent their voices for this scene?

Ans. Utpal Dutt and Jennifer Kendall
The landmark 2-in-1 ROUND

33. ID the clan’s sigil and its real-life inspiration.

Ans. Lannister / Lancaster

34. A A

Ans. Alcoholics Anonymous

35. N N – A close finish

Ans. Neck and neck

36. D D

Ans. Delhi Durbar (of 1911)

37. M M – A lost opportunity

Ans. M&Ms

38. WW2 Anti – Aircraft guns named after the spelling alphabet used for radio transmission of the letters “AA”