Quizzes & Puzzles 20

Some new problems with which to exercise the brain. But first a look at answers and solutions to Quizzes & Puzzles 19. New problems below the image (cartoon).

Answer to Quiz 19:1

How many chemical elements are liquid in room temperature?

In room temperature, there are only two: Mercury and Bromine.

Answer to Quiz 19:2

How many wives had Henry VIII of England? Extra point if you can name some of them.

He had six wives, and the story of Henry VIII and his six wives is a relatively common theme in literature and film.

The six wives were (years of marriage within parentheses):

• Catherine of Aragon (1509-1533)

• Anne Boleyn (1533-1536

• Jane Seymour (1536-1537)

• Anne of Cleves (1540-1540)

• Catherine Howard (1540-1542)

• Catherine Parr (1543 to Henry's death)

(Above: portrait of Henry VIII, from 1537. Painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Public Domain. Original at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.)

The marriages with Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves ended with annulment; Jane Seymour died a natural dead; Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were beheaded (on the grounds of treason, which meant adultery); and Catherine Parr survived Henry.

There were important historical consequences of Henry's first two marriages, since he found it necessary to break his marriage with Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn, in whom he was infatuated. Further, Catherine had failed in giving him a son and male heir. When he asked Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage, the pope did not agree. As a direct consequence of that, Henry VIII reformed the Anglican Church, and made himself its head. Then he could do as he wanted. Thus the Reformation in England was a direct result of Henry's personal wish to dissolve his marriage.

Catherine, however, had a daughter, Mary, who later would become the first queen regnant in English history. She is sometimes remembered as “Bloody Mary”, although she was not more “bloody” and violent than most other 16th century monarchs.

Anne Boleyn also had a daughter, and she would become one of the most important monarchs in English history. Her name was Elizabeth, and as Elizabeth I she ruled from 1558 to 1603, a time that came to be called the Elizabethan era. The period laid the foundation for what England would become the centuries that would follow.

(Above: an anonymous painting from around 1575, showing Elizabeth I. Public Domain. Original at National Portrait Gallery, London.)

Answer to Quiz 19:3

How many seats has the Swedish Academy, the body appointing the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature? I ask for seats, not members, because seats are sometimes vacant – so another way to ask the same would be to say: how many members do they have if no seat is vacant?

The Swedish Academy, which was founded in 1796 by the Swedish King Gustaf III, has 18 seats.

(Above: Gustaf III of Sweden. Painting from 1777 by Lorens Pasch the Younger. Public Domain. Original at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.)

Answer to Quiz 19:4

How many were the initial Knights Templar, according to legend?

According to Guillaume de Tyre (William of Tyre) there were only nine knights the first nine years the order existed – and during that time they did not accept new candidates. This is not true, they evidently admitted new candidates. Yet this has become an integrated part of Templar legend. The association of Templars with number nine appears to be a later invention. Read more in The Knights Templar & The Circular Number Nine.

Answer to Quiz 19:5

How many were the Muses of Greek mythology?

They were nine:

• Calliope: Muse of epic poetry

• Clio: Muse of history

• Erato: Muse of love and lyrical poetry

• Euterpe: Muse of music

• Melpomene: Muse of tragedy

• Polyhymnia: Muse of sacred poetry and eloquence

• Terpsichore: Muse of dance

• Thalia: Muse of comedy

• Urania: Muse of astronomy

Answer to Quiz 19:6

In poker, how many different combinations of “full hand” are possible?

There are 3744 possible hands of Full Hand.

If you want to read more about playing cards, read Playing Cards - Origin, History, Legends & Oddities.

Answer to Quiz 19:7

How many steps are there between life and death, according to old Egyptian lore?

Thirteen steps.

You can read more about number 13 in Why are Number 13 & Friday the 13th Associated with Bad Luck?

Answer to Quiz 19:8

Only a handful countries have been world-champions in football (soccer). How many?

Extra follow-up question: which ones?

Only 8 countries have been world-champions: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and England.

@Aimure knew this.

“I once cried because I had no shoes to play soccer, but one day, I met a man who had no feet.”

(Zinedine Zidane)

And now some new exercises for brain & memory...

Quiz 20:1

Who wrote this and from which Victorian novel is it taken?

"It was spacious, and I dare say it had once been handsome, but every discernible thing in it was covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces. The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it, as if a feast had been in preparation when the house and the clocks all stopped together. An epergne, or centerpiece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; and, as I looked along the yellow expanse out of which I remember its seeming to grow, like a black fungus, I saw speckled legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstance of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community.

I heard the mice too, rattling behind the panels, as if the same occurrence were important to their interests. But the blackbeetles took no notice of the agitation, and groped about the hearth in a ponderous elderly way, as if they were short-sighted and hard of hearing, and not on terms with one another."

The author is one of the greatest English novelists. If you aspire to become an author in English, this is one of the old authors whose use of written language you ought to study.

Quiz 20:2

Which country is considered the world's oldest still existing republic?

Quiz 20:3

Speaking of republics, do you know that England has been a republic? It lasted only 11 years, before it became a monarchy again. When it was implemented, the king was executed; which king was that, and to which family (dynasty) did he belong?

Quiz 20:4

If you suffer from Bromodosis, what's wrong with you then?

Quiz 20:5

In Japanese art, what is Bijinga?

Quiz 20:6

An animal, or organism, eating mainly meat or animal flesh, is called a “carnivore”.

But what is it called if it eats plant material?

And what is it called if it eats as well animal as plant material?

You'll find answers and solutions in the next “Quizzes & Puzzles”.

Quizzes & Puzzles has its own label in my Index, where all issues of the series can be found.

In my INDEX, you can find all my writings on Read.Cash, sorted by topic.

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(Cartoon by Christian Dorn/Pixabay, CC0/Public Domain.)