Quiz Fiend's Birmingham Debut

Yes, you did read that correctly. This post marks my first outing outside my home county, and whilst it wasn't spectacular, it was serviceable and hopefully the first of many. However, pressure of time means that I won't be able to do my usual research on each question. This will probably be the case for quite some time, as you wouldn't believe the amount of time that I (often accidentally) spend on this blog. Without further ado then, here are my first ever Birmingham failures. Could you have helped us onto the leaderboard?

Venue: The Duck and Scholar (or at least nearby)              Team: Me + 5 others
Score: 44/61 (4th)                           Money: No

I am happy to hear that the Mighty Ducks have reportedly stormed Bar Wars back home. Sadly I can't say the same for us. Let's begin:

Questions

First of all, identify these notable ducks:

1)                                                                                   2)

                                                      













3)                                                                                                           4)

                                                                                                                                               








5) The Lion King became the most successful musical of all time this week, taking over $6.2 billion dollars. Which musical did it overtake?

6) How much did India's Mars Orbiter Mission cost? a) $74 million    b) $45 million  c) 135 million

7) Who topped the leaderboard on Strictly Come Dancing this week? Bonus point for the name of the partner.

8) How much does the average Birmingham student spend on nights out/drinking per week?

9) Which city in J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings is based on Birmingham University campus?

10) In the third round of the Capital One Cup (or League Cup), Manchester City put 7 goals past Sheffield Wednesday this week. But what did all the goals have in common?

11) Also in the League Cup, how many end of match penalties were racked up between Liverpool and Middlesbrough on Tuesday - 25, 30 or 35?

12) Elvis Presley was a black belt in karate. True or false?

13) Rubies and sapphires are chemically the same substance. True or false?

14) Baby hedgehogs are called kittens. True or false?

There were a couple more questions, but they are sadly not replicable over the blog. How did you do?

Answers

1) Bean the Dynamite
2) Howard the Duck
3) Darkwing Duck
4) Wade Duck
5) The Phantom of the Opera
6) Disputed - See below
7) Frankie Bridge (and Kevin Clifton)
8) £68
9) Isengard
10) They were all scored in the same half
11) 30
12) True
13) True
14) False (Hoglets)

Post Match Analysis

As I mentioned before, I'll have to be brief this week.

1) Apparently he is from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, which I guessed from the photo. I'm not a total stranger to Sonic, but I would never have guessed the correct answer (though we did actually put 'Dynamite' noting his bomb. He is part of a team known as the 'Hooligans'.

2) We lost out on this one, as we put down 'Harold the Duck' despite my protestations. Not that I knew anything about him. Howard is a Marvel creation, but earned notoriety thanks to a 1986 live action film. According to Wikipedia, it is generally acknowledged as one of the worst films ever made, so I don't feel too bad about missing out on this film.

3) I assumed that Darkwing Duck was a contemporary of Daffy, but he is actually a Disney creation. Assisted by Launchpad McQuack, Darkwing Duck is a parody of the superhero genre and mainly a spoof of Batman. The series ran from 1991 to 1992.

4) We correctly identified him as a Jim Davis creation, but I had never seen him in anything Garfield related. Wade is a hypochondriac, and constantly wears an inner tube to prevent him from drowning.

5) The Phantom of the Opera was masterminded by Andrew Lloyd Webber with assistance from Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe and premiered in 1986. It is based on the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux. Though the Lion King has earned more money, 'Phantom' is still thought to have been seen by many more people - over 130 million. It is the longest running show ever on Broadway.

6) The answer was given as $45 million but this must have been a mix up when compiling the questions. All news organisations I can see give the figure as $74 million, meaning we were robbed of a crucial point. $74 million is still incredibly cheap when compared to NASA's $74 million MAVEN spacecraft, which also reached Mars this week.

7) Bridge, (born Francesca Sandford in 1989) is one of the 5 members of girl band The Saturdays. When she was younger she was also a member of the S Club 7 off shoot, S Club Juniors. Bridge's Waltz earned her 30 out of 40 points, pipping Eastender Jake Wood's tango by 2 points.

8) We guessed in the right area, but we decided to cut our losses fairly quickly. I don't know where they got their figures, but I imagine they're fairly authoritative.

'Old Joe'

Orthanc

9) Walking around the campus today, I suddenly realised how obvious this was. Isengard was home to Gandalf's wizarding acquaintance (and superior) Saruman, who is won over to the Dark Lord Sauron's forces. Isengard is situated close to the Forest of Fangorn and its most recognisable landmark is the ominous Tower of Orthanc, which is presumably based on the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower.



10) I had no idea. My best guess was that they were all scored by the same player, but my teammates nearly got this. You can read more here.

11) Obviously I didn't know again. Liverpool eventually won with 14 penalties to 13. The winning goal was scored by Mario Balotelli.

12) I knew Elvis Presley practised karate, but I didn't know he was a black belt. Apparently he developed an enthusiasm for it whilst on military service and achieved his first degree black belt in 1960 (the year of his first comeback). He always carried the certificate with him in his wallet.

13) We were surprised to hear this, as we assumed colour indicated that the two must be distinct, but it turns out that they are both types of corundum. In wedding anniversaries, ruby is the traditional gift for a 40th anniversary and sapphire for the 45th. Corundum is the second hardest mineral after diamond.

14) I was in two minds, but I really wanted this to be true. Unfortunately, I should have trusted instinct. Hoglets is still a great name.


How did you do? Let me know, (either comment or tweet to @MPRTaylor ) and hopefully I'll be back with another quiz this Thursday/Friday. See you soon.