Finals

Quizzing Tuesdays (!)

Rules

• Infinite Rebounds• If no team answers, next question to same

team• Quizmaster(s) are your masters. Obey them

without question.

• Radhanath Sickdhar was an Indian mathematician who, among many other things, calculated the height of Peak XV in the Himalaya (using trigonometric calculations) and showed it to be the tallest mountain above sea level . Peak XV was later named Mount Everest.

• An official announcement that Peak XV was the highest was delayed for several years as the calculations were repeatedly verified.

• However, for the public declaration, 2 feet were added to Peak XV’s height.

• Why? (Put fundae)

Answer follows

• The height was calculated as 29,000 ft. exactly.• It was announced as 29,002 ft. to make it

seem like a “precise” calculation, and not just an “approximation”

• Although the actual reason for this strange adornment remains a mystery, some people claim it is because the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality. Others say that it is because pineapples were a symbol of status and wealth in the late 19th century.

• A spokesperson for the ______museum offered the explanation that it could date back to the tradition where captains in the British navy coming back from sea put a pineapple on the gateposts of their home.

• However, none of these explanations have anything to do with the reason why the trophy is given.

• What trophy ?

Answer follows

• Wimbledon

• This system of numerical classification for library titles was created by X. Y, a prominent educationist of his era, was invited to Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk for the creation of the new Turkish alphabet. X is often mistaken for Y, and vice-versa, because they share the same surname. Identify X and Y.

Answer follows

• X- Melville Dewey Y- John Dewey

• This famous personality was given a hero’s welcome by the residents of Manchester in 1962 after the achievement that made him famous the world over.

• Coming at a year when his nation was feared and hated in the west, his small stature, amiable personality and humble nature made him a favorite of audiences the world over.

• Who was this man, and what was his out-of-the-world achievement?

Answer follows

• Yuri Gargarin

• This Bangalore jeweler has gained the exclusive right to use the emblem of the royal family that it worked for as a logo, which is superficially similar to the crest of arms of the Romanov dynasty in Russia.

• Name the Jeweler and the kingdom that it used to belong to.

Answer follows

• Ganjam Jewellers

• This movie villain was ranked as 3rd in the American Movie Institute’s list of the greatest movie villains in history. Known for his towering stature and deep voice, he surprised movie audiences worldwide when he was revealed to be the hero’s father.

• He has come to be seen as a symbol of power and evil in modern America and his statue serves as a gargoyle on top of the Washington National Cathedral.

• Who?

Answer follows

• Darth Vader

• In 2006, MIT scientists succeeded in the wireless transmission of electrical energy between two coils using a phenomenon known as Magnetic Resonance, without the usage of any electromagnetic radiation.

• This, however, had reportedly been conducted between two coils at a distance of 26 kilometers by a Serbian scientist and inventor who reportedly spoke to a pigeon with laser eyes.

• Who was this mad genius?

Answer follows

• Nikola Tesla

• X and Y were two giant ocean liners named after two races of Gods in Greek Mythology. While Y proceeded to go on into legend in the most disastrous way possible, X had a long and distinguished career which led her being nicknamed “Old Reliable”.

• X, coincidentally, shares her name with a very famous periodic series of games, the latest edition of which has been marred due to a connection with one of the world’s worst industrial disasters in 1984.

• Give me X and Y.

Answer follows

• Olympic and Titanic. The 2012 Olympic Games are in controversy due to Dow Chemicals-Union Carbide.

• This particular breed of dog was bred among the emperors of the Chinese Han dynasty as a lap dog. Particularly auspicious dogs were those who had markings on their forehead resembling the Chinese characters for “King” or “Prince”. One of these dogs was famous for saving the life of Dutch ruler William of Orange, and yet another, ironically named Fortune, belonged to Empress Josephine, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. These dogs were highly desirable pets in British high society during the Victoria era and Edward VIII, who famously abdicated the British throne in 1936 to marry Wallace Spencer, owned several.

• In present-day India, they are rarely known by name but are referred to by the name of a company that featured the breed very prominently in its advertisements.

• Which breed?

Answer follows

• Pug

• X was an eminent biologist of the 19th century and is now widely recognized as having been a major influence on Charles Darwin, who used X’s observations in coming to his conclusions.

• In addition to his interests in biology, X wrote a treatise on the use of currency that so inspired the economist Irving Fisher that the latter dedicated a book to him. And in honor of X, the boundary demarcating Asian and Australian fauna was named the X line.

• Identify X.

Answer follows

• Alfred Russel Wallace

• As a fallout of India’s nuclear tests, the Islamic Bomb was a hot subject at the 2nd Islamic Summit Conference of the OIC held in Lahore in 1974.Abu Minyar (may his soul rest in peace) gave a rousing speech in favour of Pakistan's right to pursue nuclear weapons.

• What did the grateful hosts do as a token of appreciation?

Answer follows

• Named the Lahore Stadium “Gaddafi Stadium” in his honour

• Identify the author of this book, which was released in June 2012, (she is on the cover).

Answer follows

• Michelle Obama

• _________ is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement.

• The term “________" is also used to describe public relations activities aimed at "falsely creating the impression of independent, popular support by means of an orchestrated and disguised public relations exercise....designed to give the impression of spontaneous support for an idea/product/company/service,"

Answer follows

• Astroturfing

• Two sports have seen similar controversies in recent times. Both caused by near-identical innovations. These innovations share a primary objective, that of making the sports better viewed on television. One of these sports has even changed the colour of the its ball to a colour close to what is used in the other sport.

• Both changes have had players and coaches cry foul.

• Which sports, and what's the change?

Answer follows

• The sports are hockey and tennis, and the innovation is playing on a blue surface.

• With respect to first class cricket, what is common to Zaheer Abbas, Don Bradman, Viv Richards and Glenn Turner?

Answer follows

• All non-english players to have scored 100 first class hundreds

2. Identify

Answer follows

• Kabir Bedi

• Identify this American entrepreneur, investor, stock broker, motivational speaker, author, and philanthropist .

Answer follows

• Chris Gardner (Pursuit of Happyness)

Neerja Bhanot. She was a flight attendant for Pan Am airlines, based in Bombay, India, and died on board the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 on September 5, 1986. What is her claim to fame?

Answer follows

• Youngest recipient of Ashok Chakra

Question

• Identify this great doctor and the freedom fighter in whose honour Doctor’s day is celebrated in India.

Answer follows

• Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.

Question

Identify this electrical engineer, a professor at MIT and also a famous entrepreneur.

Answer follows

• Amar Bose – (Bose Speakers)

Round Reversal

Audience

• To his surprise, this English footballer found his likeness on the backs of cigarette packs in India, as part of a new set of mandatory warnings against smoking (it showed a man with blackened lungs). After his lawyers threatened to sue, the Indian health ministry withdrew the image, though they insisted "the picture could be of any man".

• This only adds to the personal and professional turbulence faced by the footballer in the last twelve months.

• Which footballer?

• John Terry

• This person was considered one of the most famous Polo players of his regiment.

He fought wars in Sudan, Cuba, India and South Africa.

Identify.

Answer follows

• Winston Churchill

• Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, this player played American football(collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.

Answer follows

• Jim Thorpe (won olympic gold medals for Pentathlon and Decathlon in 1912 Stockholm Olympics)

• This 4th recipient of Bharat Ratna was the founder Central Hindu School with Annie Besant. This school later merged with Benaras Hindu University. He was also the founder of Kashi Vidyapeeth and authored more than 30 books on Hindi and Sanskrit. Identify

Answer follows

• Bhagwan Das

• Born as Farukh Bulsara in Zanzibar on Sep 5,1946,his parents were Parsi migrants from India. He attended the St.Peter’s Boarding school near Mumbai, where he learnt the piano. In 1964, his family fled to England, and he had a Diploma in Art and Design. He was also a singer for bands like Ibex and Sour MilkSea. In 1970 he formed this band along with Brian Mayand Roger Taylor, and he also designed the band’s logo. Along with his work for the band, he also produced two solo albums Mr Bad Guy and Barcelona. Name the singer and the band.

Answer follows

• FREDDY MERCURY, QUEEN

• The son of a carpet seller in Jaipur, he initially worked as a voice artist at the All India Radio there. On the advice of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, he joined the FTII in Pune, and passed out in 1967. Initially appearing in a couple of Gujarati movies, his first Hindi movie was Umang. Along with Harish Patel, Dinesh Hingoo he also formed a small Gujarati film production company and also sang his own songs in movie Alaap. Name him.

Answer follows

ASRANI

• During the freedom struggle, she created, an organization of young Indian boys and girls, as the children's wing of the Indian National Congress known as the Vanar Sena. Who?

Answer follows

• Indira Gandhi

Question

• Identify the movie

Answer follows

• Wimbledon

What is their connection and who is missing?

Question

Answer follows

• MRF Ambassadors. Sachin Tendulkar

Question

• This town under the British Raj, was the headquarters of the Hazara District during British rule of India. It was named after Major James _____ who founded the town and district in January 1853 after the annexation of Punjab. He remained the first Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara district from 1849 until April 1853.

In the early 20th century, this town became an important military cantonment and sanatorium, serving as the headquarters of a brigade in the Second Division of the Northern Army Corps.

This town came into limelight again in 2011. Which town are we talking about ?

Answer follows

• Abbotabad

Question

• This brand is India’s second largest in its category. It is manufactured by J.K. Ansell (JKAL), which is a 50:50 joint venture between Raymond Group India’s largest worsted fabric and branded apparel company, and Ansell Limited. The company has a manufacturing unit in Aurangabad in the state with a manufacturing capacity of 400 million pieces per annum.

Answer follows

• Kamasutra Condom

Question

• Also nicknamed ‘The Experiment’ he is universally considered the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time. He won gold medals at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.

After going 13 years undefeated in international competition and six years without giving up a point, he had an upset loss to American Rulon Gardner in the gold-medal match at the Sydney Olympics. He retired immediately. Who??

Answer follows

• Alexander Karelin

• X in India (the first in Asia, too) was conceived primarily to improve the availability of cotton to British textile merchants, after the 1846 failure of the American crop. What?

Answer follows

• Indian Railways

• Why is this photo of American President Obama, taken during a visit to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, in the US, significant? (the visit was in April 2012)

• Of this, he said:• I just sat there for a moment and pondered the courage and tenacity that is part of our very

recent history, but is also a part of that long line of folks -- sometimes nameless, oftentimes didn't make the history books -- but who constantly insisted on their dignity, their stake in the American Dream.

Answer follows

• The bus he is sitting in is an integral part of the civil rights movement in the USA. In 1955 (when blacks were segregated from whites and given lesser status), a lady named Rosa Parks refused to vacate her seat in this bus for a white passenger. This act inspired many others in their struggle.

Answer follows

• Rupee to dollar to exchange rate

• The Department of Motor Vehicles in Nevada recently granted a license to a Toyota Prius car. Ordinarily, this would have been a routine affair, but not in this case. This car was given the license plate number of "001". The license plate will be in red and sport the lemniscate symbol used to indicate "infinity".If you see this car whizzing past you, who would be driving it?

Answer follows

• No one. This is the first ever driver-less car granted a license. Built by Google, this is an experimental car with a mounted camera and lots of artificial intelligence software.

• Yerzhan Kazykhanov is the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan. In April of 2012, during a session of the Kazakh Parliament, he mentioned that a certain creative event from a few years ago had directly resulted in a tenfold increase in the number of visas (mostly tourists) to Kazakhstan. He also expressed his gratitude for the same to the person responsible.

• Who did he thank?

Answer follows

• Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen)

• The following is an excerpt from a company's "About Us" webpage.

• When we were kids we loved playing around with cameras - we loved how all the old Polaroid cameras marketed themselves as '_____' (something we take for granted today). We also felt that the snapshots people were taking were kind of like _____ in that they got sent over the wire to others - so we figured why not combine the two?

Answer follows

• Instant, Telegrams• Instagram

• In 1958 he wrote in his “Anti-Matter Manifesto”: “In the Surrealist period, I wanted to create the iconography of the interior world and the world of the marvelous, of my father Freud. Today, the exterior world and that of physics has transcended the one of psychology. My father today is Dr. Heisenberg.”

• The guy who said this redid one of his masterpieces to fit his new style of thinking.

• Who is the guy and what master piece did he redo as what ?

Answer follows

• The guy is Salvador Dali and the two paintings are “The Persistence of Memory” before and “The Disentegration of the Persistence of Memory” after

• The fountain is located at the Warner Ranch at 401 N. Hollywood Way, about half a mile from the Studio in Burbank, California. In the center of the fountain four large fish surround the base of the platform, their tails soaring upward as to hold the large circular dish from which the water squirts out skyward.

• The fountain was also used prominently in the finale of the Charlton Heston classic, The Omega Man, and in the film version of the Broadway musical, 1776.

• The opening scene was shot at about 4:00 a.m. while it was particularly cold for a Burbank morning.

• Which fountain is being referred to here?

Answer follows

• The One in Friends

That’s All Folks !