I apologize for the low quality of some of the pics. I tried to include topics from all over the world and my only concern is that our German friends will acuse me of beeing NON eurocentric which (although I tried my best to be
) I'm not. I expect Rambuchan to score high on this quiz!
Fear not if you do not know some of the questions for I intend to put up clues for any unsolved question during the next week until at least 2/3 of the total points go to the winner. Of course if anyone manages to solve a question I will leave that advantage to him so this should stimulate you all to post all that you know from the beginning I hope. Well here it goes:
1. These pictures point out to one person. Who? (10p) 2 extra points for each connection to a picture.
2. What is this? (10p) When was it in fashion and who first made one? (10p)
3. When did the
Battle of Colenso took place and between whom? (10p) What was remarkable about it? (10p)
4. Who is this guy? (10p) Where did he live? (6p)
5. These are three sets of quotations from three countrymen. Who? (12p each correct author and title)
a. The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
......................................................
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
b. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it!
.............................................
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't.
c. And he nas nat right fat, I undertake,
But looked holwe, and therto sobrely.
Ful thredbare was his overeste courtepy,
. . .
For hym was levere have at his beddes heed
Twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed,
Of Aristotle and his philosophie
Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay sautrie.
Ful semyly hir wympul pynched was,
Hir nose tretys, hir eyen greye as glas,
Hir mouth ful smal, and therto softe and reed.
But sikerly she hadde a fair forheed;
. . .
Ful fetys was hir cloke, as I was war.
Of smal coral aboute hire arm she bar
A peire of bedes, gauded al with grene. . .
6. Please link the following Romanian personalities to a picture, life period and ocupation (e.g. 1-a-A-I). 6p for each correct line, 3p for one mistake and 1p for 2 mistakes. One does not belong with the others. Who and why (what did the other four have in common) (5p)?
1. Emil Cioran
2. George Enescu
3. Mihai Hohenzollern
4. Eugen Ionescu
5. Constantin Brancusi
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
A.composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher, preeminent musician of the 20th century, one of the greatest interpreters of his time.
B.King of Romania from July 20, 1927 to June 8, 1930, and again from September 6, 1940 until deposed on December 30, 1947, when he was exiled.
C.writer, philosopher and essayist, some of his works include "A Short History of Decay", "The Temptation to Exist" and "History and Utopia" (all of them in French).
D.one of the greatest modern sculptors, pupil of Auguste Rodin, he was one of the first to experiment with abstract art in his works.
E.one of the foremost playwrights of the theatre of the absurd. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, his plays depict in a tangible way the solitude of humans and the insignificance of one's existence.
I. 1911-1995
II. 1921-
III. 1876-1957
IV. 1881-1955
V. 1909-1994
Use of deductive guessing is highly allowed!
. I think it would be fair to say that I had a lot of luck in this quiz, especially with questions 6 and 11. Some "musical" questions I also owe to my family or to lucky guesses.
! I actually included the Carthaginian habit of child sacrifice in my mod
. As far as I know about this however, it was more of a means of Roman propaganda. It seems very few children were actually sacrificed and only in critical times. Like the beginning of the Third Punic War
. It was a great reason though, along with others, to include the concept of sacrifice.
I will correct it immediately.
. Besides you might like it...
