Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 1
Geography
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answer
1/ The oldest US national park and home to the Old Faithful geyser, Yellowstone National Park is located predominantly in which state of the USA?
Wyoming
2. The marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean lying between Australia and New Zealand is named after which 17th-century Dutch explorer?
Abel Tasman
3./ Slightly smaller in area than Hispaniola, which island is known in Japanese as Karafuto and Chinese as Kuye? Its European name is likely a misinterpretation of the Manchu for ‘craggy rock at the mouth of the Amur River’.
Sakhalin
4/Located at the western end of the Gulf of Tadjoura and touching the Dikhil region, Lake Assal is a saline lake which lies 509 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point on land in Africa. In which country in the Horn of Africa is it located?
Djibouti
5/ Of the successor states that resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, which is the most southerly?
North Macedonia
6./ Known as the ‘Roof of the World’ since Victorian times, which Central Asian mountain range is situated at the junction of the Himalayas with Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun and Hindu Kush ranges? It lies mostly within the Gorno-Badakhshan province of Tajikistan.
The Pamirs
7/ Which major European city, third largest in its country, lies on the River Iser?
Munich
8/ The Australian Capital Territory, which includes the federal capital of Canberra, is completely surrounded by which state?
New South Wales
9/ Which small Arabic monarchy is linked to its larger neighbour Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway?
Bahrain
10/ Unrecognized by any United Nations members, the self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria lies on the border between Ukraine and which other country
Moldova
11/ Featuring the images of four US Presidents carved into rock, in which US state is the Mount Rushmore National Memorial located?
South Dakota
12/ Named after an ancient Indo-European people, which arm of the Mediterranean Sea indenting the northwestern Italian coast and lying between the Italian Rivera and the island of Corsica?
Ligurian Sea
13/ Also known as the Great Indian Desert, which large arid region in the northwestern Indian subcontinent forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan? 85% of it is in India, of with nine-tenths is in the state of Rajasthan.
Thar Desert
14/ Other than Russia and Iran, the Caspian Sea is bordered by three countries that were former Soviet republics. name them.
Kazakhstan
Azerbaijan
Turkmenistan
15/ Named after the English navigator who was the first to visit it during his search for the Northwest Passage in 1576, what is the name of the large inlet of the Labrador Sea in the southeastern corner of Baffin Island? Iqaluit (the capital of Nunavut) lies near its innermost end.
Frobisher Bay
16/ A narrow neck that connects the Malay peninsula to the Asian mainland, the Isthmus of Kra is shared by which two countries?
Thailand and Myanmar
17/ The second longest in India after the Ganges, which 1465km river starts in the Western Ghats in the state of Maharashtra and flows east across the Deccan Plateau to empty into the Bay of Bengal? The Pushkaram festival/ fair is celebrated on its banks every 12 years.
Godavari River.
18/ Named after an Italian explorer of North America, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects Staten Island to which other borough of New York City?
Brooklyn
19/ Standing on the Ob River on the West Siberian Plains and north of the Priobskoye Plateau, which city of around 1.4 million people (from a 2010 census) is the third most populous in Russia, after Moscow and St. Petersburg?
Novosibirsk
20/ Named after an ace naval pilot, O’Hare International Airport is located in which US city?
Chicago
21/ A subrange of the Appalachians, the Great Smoky Mountain rises along the border between North Carolina and which other state?
Tennessee
22/ The 16th-century Portuguese explorer Lourenco Marques gave his name to an African capital city now known by what name? It had been expected to be renamed Can Phumo, after a Shangaan chief, upon independence but was given its current name instead.
Maputo
23/ Named after a Native American tribe which translates as ‘People of the South Wind’, which US state is surrounded by Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado on it sides?
Kansas
24/ Located near the foothills of the Sivalik range of the Himalayas, which city in northern India serves as the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana? One of the early planned cities in post-independence India, its masterplan was prepared by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier.
Chandigarth
25/ Rising from the Blue Ridge Mountains and flowing southeastward across northern Virginia to Chesapeake Bay, which river was the centre of a major theatre of battle in the American Civil War, and effectively functioned as the boundary between the North and South?
Rappahannock River
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 2
Mind your P's and Q's
Set by Maya Davis
Mind your P’s and Q’s
With all sorts of extra conventions in place nowadays, we all have to be aware of the new rules of polite conduct.
All answers or questions are linked to words beginning with either P or Q.
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For the answer
1/ In which novel does a character called Queequeg appear?
Moby Dick
2/ What was the name and nickname of Charlemagne’s father?
Pepin the Short
3/ Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, a Russian explorer who travelled extensively in Mongolia in the 19th century, had what creature named after the Polish spelling of his name? Some captive specimens of this creature were bred in Woburn Safari Park to save the species from extinction.
A Wild Horse
4/In which series of novels, derived from a comic strip, do we meet the teacher Mr Quelch?
Billy Bunter
5/ According to Ovid, in which city did Pyramus and Thisbe live?
Babylon
6./ Which birds have species which include Gentoo, Jackass and Macaroni?
Penguins
7/ Who spoke the ancient language Quechua?
The Incas
8/ What is the name of the bird-catcher in Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute?
Papageno
9/ What was the nationality of the Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling?
Norwegian
10/ Which presenter of music programmes on BBC radio shares a name with that of a saint celebrated in the UK on 4th June?
Petroc Trelawney
11/ What name is given to the traditional style of Icelandic vocal music in which the two singers remain a fifth apart?
Quintsong
12/ The subtitle of which Shakespeare play could be translated into Latin by the word quodlibet used in roughly the same sense as that term when applied to a piece of music
Twelfth Night or ‘What you Will’ and quodlibet means ‘whatever you like.’
13/ Which cartoon character, created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appeared in 1929?
Popeye the Sailor
14/ Which British author and literary critic was generally known as ‘Q’?
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
15/ Which Roman leader was deified under the name Quirinus?
Romulus, first king of Rome
16/ In Tudor times, the name ‘quartan fever’ was given to which disease, whose symptoms recurred every fourth day?
Malaria
17/ Which bird has the scientific name Puffinus puffinus?
Manx Shearwater
18/ Which part of the human body is affected by periodontal disease?
The Gum
19/ Which nocturnal marsupial is the only mammal native to Rottnest Island?
Quokka – a type of wallaby
20/ What is the modern name of the Italian city wrongly alleged by some ancient authors to have been founded under the name Parthenope?
Naples
21/ In what work would you find the characters Ping, Pang and Pong?
In Puccini’s opera Turandot
22/ The Roman coin known as the quadrans was one-quarter of the value of which other Roman coin?
The as
23/ With what specific weapon would you use a quarrel?
Crossbow -it’s a square-headed arrow
24/ Which chocolate assortment shares its name with the title of a play first produced in London in 1902 after it flopped on Broadway in 1901?
Quality Street; the play was by J. M. Barrie
25/ In Greek mythology, where did Apollo defeat the serpent Python?
Delphi
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 3
Music
Set by Mel Kinsey
Click Below
For the answers
1/ Which American singer/songwriter was been nominated for an Academy awards 15 times before he finally won for writing the song “If I Didn’t Have You” for the movie Monsters, Inc.?
Randy Newman
2/ Which 1989 music video of Madonna attracted criticism for showing images like her making love to Saint Martin de Porres, use of Catholic iconography including a scene where she develops stigmata as well as cross burning?
“Like a Prayer”
3/ Which collection of orchestral movements were composed by George Frideric Handel in 1717 at the request of King George I? These are also his best known work.
The Water Music
4/ Which controversial 1992 song by the punk band Body Count was co-written by the group's vocalist Ice-T and provoked a national debate about freedom of speech in the US?
“Cop Killer”
5/ Whose posthumous compilation album Legend (1984) is the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more than 12 million copies?
Bob Marley (1945-1981)
6./ The first album by the rock group Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) was named after a chapter in which children's classic?
The Wind in the Willows
7/ According to Opera America, what ‘flutters’ to the no.1 spot in the list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America?
Madame Butterfly
8/ The 1967 film The Graduate features the songs of which duo as the director Mike Nichols had become obsessed with their music while shooting the film?
Simon & Garfunkle
9/ Name the only two non-US/UK bands to achieve a #1 hit in both the UK and the US?
Men at Work for “Down Under” (1982) and ABBA for “Dancing Queen” (1976)
10/ What is the better known name of the English singer Yusuf Islam who converted to Islam in 1977 at the height of his fame?
Cat Stevens
11/ About which manager of his group did Paul McCartney say “If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was ___ ___.”
Brian Epstein
12/ By his own request, which Austrian composer was buried next to Beethoven in 1828?
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
13/ ‘The Doors’ generated a controversy with the single “Hello, I Love You” in 1968 when the press pointed out it’s resemblance to the 1965 hit “All Day and All of the Night” of which band?
The Kinks
14/ What musical work, the only one in that genre by an all-time great, tells the story of Leonore rescuing her husband Florestan from death in a prison?
The opera Fidelio by Beethoven
15/ Which rock group’s name comes from the UK Social Security form for unemployment benefit?
UB40 (UB40 = Unemployment Benefit, Form 40)
16/ Which iconic opera stereotype plays in the background as helicopters swoop in to annihilate a village in one of the opening scenes of the movie Apoalypse Now?
“Ride of the Valkyries”
17/ The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time was a special issue of Rolling Stone published in 2003 which had Jimi Hendrix at no.1. Which American Southern Rock band was the most represented with 4 of its guitarists making the list?
Allman Brothers Band
18/ What is the title of Led Zeppelin’s concert film that was taken from a song on their album Houses of the Holy?
The Song Remains the Same
19/ Presidency of the United States is important. In Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, who are the only two people mentioned twice?
John F Kennedy & Richard Nixon
20/ Which set of 30 keyboard techniques were written by Johann Sebastian Bach to reportedly cure insomnia?
“The Goldberg Variations” published in 1741
21/ In the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai what was the tune whistled by Colonel Nicholson and his men?
“Colonel Bogie’s March”
22/ What song was written and performed by Billy Joel to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island?.”
“The Downeaster Alexa”
23/ The Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete catalog of the compositions of whom?
Mozart (1756-91)
24/ A famous remark often attributed to Brian Eno is that while only a few thousand people bought a record of this band, almost every single one of the purchasers was inspired to start their own band. Which influential rock band was Eno referring to?
Velvet Underground
25/ Jimi Hendrix presented the broken parts of the guitar that he destroyed on-stage at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival to whom? Not sure if the recipient named it Moon Unit.
Frank Zappa
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 4
Ancient Cities
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answers
1/ For nearly a thousand years, it was the largest and most important native city in the Andean world, and was located between Lake Titicaca and Mount Illimani.
Tiwanaku/ Tiahuanaco
2/ This city was known as "Waset" to ancient Egyptians and its site included the great temples of Karnak and Luxor. Not to be confused with the Greek city of the same name where Oedipus ruled.
Thebes
3/ Just like Carthage, Thugga or Dougga are in which modern-day country. Its ruins are better preserved than those of Carthage due to its location in the countryside.
Tunisia
4/ Palmyra, an important Silk Road location, was ruled by which queen during the 3rd century? She achieved renown for defying the Roman Empire and who is a symbol of patriotism in Syria to this day.
Zenobia
5/ A classic city of the Maya lowlands, it is home to the finest architecture of that civilization and was ruled by Pacal the Great in the 7th century AD for a record period of 68 years.
Palenque
6./:In legend, the Phoenician city-state of Carthage was founded by this sister of Pygmalion who was fleeing Tyre.
Queen Dido (or Alyssa)
7/ This city between the Dead Sea and Mt. Nebo had irrigation from the Jordan River and is among the oldest continually occupied places in the world with settlements dating to 9,000 BC. Was called the “city of palm trees” in the Bible.
Jericho
8/ Uruk was an important ancient Sumer city and this legendary king who was friends with Enkidu ruled there in the vicinity of 27th century BC
Gilgamesh
9/ A 2007 study concluded that this magnificent city, also known as Yasodharapura, was the largest pre-industrial city in the world. A landmark construction that takes the name of the city itself is featured prominently on its country’s flag.
Angkor (Cambodia)
10/ The Temple of Kukulcán dominates the layout of this Mayan city in the Yucatan and is a day trip for hordes of tourists from cruise ships.
Chichen Itza
11/ Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa were important ancient cities in this island country.
Sri Lanka
12/Along with Byblos, these two cities are in the title of a 2016 book by that is subtitled “The History of the Three Most Important Ancient Phoenician Cities in the Levant”.
Sidon & Tyre
13/ Founded in 500 BC by Darius I, it served as the principal residence of the kings of Achaemenid dynasty. Was destroyed in 331 BC by Alexander the Great purportedly at the prompting of the hetaira (prostitute) Thais. Gave its title to an award-winning graphic novel of Marjane Satrapi that was also made into an acclaimed movie.
Persepolis
14/ Called “Pompeii of the East”, the Jordanian city that was prominent during both Greek and Roman times now hosts a namesake cultural festival that was started by Queen Noor in 1981.
Jerash/ Gerasa
15/ Located in present-day Illinois, it was likely North America’s biggest pre-Colombian city. Having become a major population hub around in the 11th century, it was abandoned by mid-14th century for reasons still unknown.
Cahokia
16/ The existence of this legendary city is still in doubt – many say it is the site of Hisarlik in Turkey where the 19th-century German archaeologist Henrich Schliemann performed his excavations.
Troy
17/ Nimrud was an ancient Assyrian city near present-day Mosul, Iraq and its excavations were studied by archaeologist Max Mallowan who was married to this more famous person.
Agatha Christie
18/ This once-magnificent city now in Turkmenistan was a major hub on the Silk Road and offered weary travelers a welcome break from the bleakness of Karakum desert. It was home to several dynasties during the course of time and faced a devastating Mongol onslaught during the 13th century from which it never recovered.
Merv
19/ The cliff-carved Petra in Jordan as shown in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is known by every quiz kid. Can you name the civilization/culture responsible for its construction?
Nabataeans
20/ The UNESCO recognized Mosque City of Bagerhat home to 50 Islamic monuments and the Sixty Pillar Mosque is in this Asian country.
Banglasdesh
21/ This South Indian city was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire that existed from the 14th to the 17th centuries and which is regarded as the last Hindu kingdom of India.
Hampi
22/ When you hear the words “city in Morocco” and “Roman Empire”, only this name should come to mind. It also served as the capital during the 8th century under Idris I who is regarded as the founder of Morocco.
Volubillis
25/ Likely the most extraordinary urban phenomenon in Pre-Columbian America, this metropolis in Central Mexico was/is home to the Avenue of the Dead, the Pyramid of the Sun, and the Pyramid of the Moon. The ethnicity of its inhabitants is still he subject of debate.
Teotihuacan
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 5
Satellites of Planets
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answers
1/ Of the five satellites of Pluto, Charon, named for the boatman, is well-known. Can you name the other four named for: (a) The Mother of Charon and the goddess of darkness
(b) The Serpent that guards the underworld
(c) The Dog
(d) The River
a) Nix
(b) Hydra
(c) Kerberos
(d) Styx
2/ Both Phobos (“fear”) and Deimos (“dread”) of Mars were discovered by this American astronomer in 1877.
They were named after these beings that helped Mars.
Asaph Hall; The horses that pulled his chariot
3/ Other than Pluto, the Solar System has four other prominent dwarf planets and of these, Ceres in the asteroid belt has no moons. Can you name the others from the names of their moons and other clues?
(a) Its moon is Dysnomia and it is named after the goddess of strife in Greek myth
(b) Its moon is nicknamed MK2 and its repeating name is from the creator of humanity in the myth of the people of Easter Island
(c) Its two moons are Namaka and Hi'iaka and it is named after the goddess of fertility in Hawaiian myth
(a) Eris (b) MakeMake (c) Haumea
4/ Because Mimas the moon of Saturn contains a very noticeable crater (Herschel), it is jocularly compared to this super weapon of a certain movie franchise.
Death Star
5/
The three moons of Uranus named after characters in Pope's The Rape of the Lock are?
(a) Also a character in The Tempest and the spirit who helps Prospero
(b) Suggests a shadow
(c) First name of the lead singer of the Go-Go's
(a) Ariel (b) Umbriel (c) Belinda
6./ The third-largest moon of Saturn is unusual in having one hemisphere brighter than the other first observed by its discoverer Giovanni Cassini. It is also the name of a large ancient ocean in Earth's history which in turn was named for the father of Atlas in Greek myth.
Lapetus
7/ Moons that use their gravity to “collect” various debris and help in keeping the form of a planet’s ring are called these. Some examples are: Amalthea, Metis, Adrastea, and Thebe of Jupiter; Prometheus, Daphnis, and Pan of Saturn; Ophelia and Cordelia of Uranus.
Shepard Moons
8/ The seven largest satellites in the Solar System (those bigger than 2,500 km across) in order are Jupiter’s Galilean moons (Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa), Saturn’s Titan THIS ONE and Neptune’s Triton.
Earth’s Moon
9/ This German astronomer who had a lot to say about how planets move coined the word “satellite” from the Latin satelles meaning companion/attendant.
Johannes Kepler
10/Saturn’s largest moon is full of watery bodies made of methane and other hydrocarbons and because of the presence of these organic materials, it is a candidate for the possibility of life. NASA’s proposed Dragonfly mission is planned to visit it in 2034.
Titan
11/ The largest moon of the Solar System, this orbiter of Jupiter has a magnetic field, a very thin oxygen atmosphere and an ocean said to contain more water than all of Earth’s oceans combined. In mythology, he was carried away by the gods for his physical beauty and became their cupbearer. The word “catamite”, meaning a boy kept for homosexual practices, comes from his name.
Ganymede
12/ Till date, though none have been discovered (owing to the difficulty of observing them with present-day technology), in September 2019, it was reported that the observed fluctuations in the brightness of Tabby’s Star in the constellation Cygnus might have been caused by one of these. Given the context of the quiz, can you guess what they are?
Exomoon (satellite of an exoplanet)
13/ This satellite of Neptune is the largest irregularly shaped moon and takes its name from the shape-changing sea god of Greek mythology.
Proteus
14/ European Space Agency’s mission, whose name is also the nickname of O.J. Simpson, that is currently slated for a 2022 launch and which will study Jupiter’s moons.
Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)
15/ Discovered in 1995 by the Galileo probe, Dactyl is an unusual moon for this reason
It orbits Ida, an asteroid
16/ Smallest of the four Galilean moons, it is named after the Phoenician mother of King Minos of Crete and lover of Zeus and contains the smoothest surface of any solid object in the Solar System.
Europa
17/ Uranus’s largest moons that are named for characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Titania and Oberon
18/ The surface of this second largest moon of Jupiter is said to be the oldest in the Solar System and it has been suggested for future use as a human base to study the Jovian system. In Greek myth, she was the hunting companion of Artemis and bore the son of Zeus who was named Arcus, the eponymous hero of Arcadia.
Callisto
19/ Rhea and Iapetus were given their names based on a suggestion of John Herschel (son of William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus) as they were these siblings of Cronus (Saturn) in Greek myth
Titans
20/ This satellite of Saturn has a surface covered mostly with ice with a likely ocean underneath and is also known to contain geysers. For this reason, it is high on the list of places that are probed for the possibility of life.
Enceladus
21/ With over 400 active volcanoes, this moon of Jupiter is the most geologically active place in the Solar System and it is believed to be because of the influence of the mother planet and its other moons.
Io
24/ The largest moon of Neptune, it is mostly frozen nitrogen, and its crust is made of water ice, and it has an icy mantle. The only mission to visit it was Voyager 2 in 1989. It is also the only large moon with a retrograde orbit (circles its planet in a direction opposite to the planet’s rotation). Name comes from the son of the sea god Poseidon in Greek myth, and the name is also a generic term for a merman.
Triton
23/ In 2005, when this lander successfully touched down on Titan, it became the farthest landing from Earth a spacecraft has ever made. Appropriately it was named for the Dutch astronomer and polymath who discovered the moon in 1655.
Huygens
24/ Of all the moons that orbit Saturn, Epimetheus and this other “two-faced” moon have nearly the same orbit. They never crash into each other because of complex interplay of their mutual gravitational attraction
Janus
25/ Which moon of Saturn shares its name with a Titan God and the winner of the 1933 Epsom Derby
Hyperion
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 6
Jazz Greats
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answers
1/ Came to fame with his 1938 recording of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine” and was a rival to Benny Goodman through his prime. Also known for his colorful private life that included marriages to Lana Turner and Ava Gardner.
Artie Shaw
2/ Nicknamed "The First Lady of Song", "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" was the first hit for this woman honored by the NEA as the first vocal jazz master. Appeared in many tv commercials and endorsed brands like Memorex and KFC.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/ Jazz pianist whose album The Köln Concert (1975) is the best-selling piano recording in history.
Keith Jarrett
4/ Double bassist known for his talent and his fearsome temper as Piththe nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz" indicates. Noted for his albums Ecanthropus Erectus and Epitaph, he wrote the elegy "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" for the saxophonist in Question 9
Charlie Mingus
5/ Pianist whose best-known compositions "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man", "Maiden Voyage", and "Chameleon" are now jazz standards. Known for his hit singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit", his 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album to do. Practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism.
Herbie Hancock
6./ Trumpeter whose Blood on the Fields became the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer for Music. His brother Branford is also an accomplished saxophonist.
Wynton Marsalis
7/ Nicknamed “Satchmo” and “Pops”, this trumpeter and Hot Five bandleader was called “the first superstar of jazz”. Ventured into films and was seen High Society(1956) and Hello, Dolly among others. An urban legend says that he invented scat signing when he missed the lyric sheet for “Heebie Jeebies”. Son of New Orleans which named its airport for him, he signed his letters with “Red beans and ricely yours…” referring to the city’s traditional dish.
Shepard Moons
Louis Armstrong
8/ Nicknamed “Sassy” for her personality and “The Divine One” for her voice.
Sarah Vaughan
9/ Nicknamed “Prez”, this saxophonist was originally a member of Count Basie’s orchestra. The jazz standard “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” was written as an elegy to him. He gave the evocative nickname “Lady Day” to Billy Holiday.
Lester Young
10/ When you hear the words “Ethio-jazz”, only this name should pop.
Mulatu Astatke
11/ Founded the genre of free jazz with his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation and his “Broadway Blues” and “Lonely Woman” have become genre standards. Won the 2007 music Pulitzer for the album Sound Grammar.
Ornette Coleman
12/ This trumpeter who along with Charlie Parker was responsible for the development of bebop got his nickname because of his zany stage antics.
Dizzy Gillespie
13/ Nicknamed “Jumbo” and “The Round Mound of Sound” for his girth, he had a friendly rivalry with Pete Fountain. Adapted Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” as a theme for the tv show The Green Hornet and had his biggest hit with “Java”.
Al Hirt
14/ This bandleader got his name from a radio announcer who thought he was a jazz aristocrat like Duke Ellington. Formed his own orchestra in 1935 and lead it for 50 years and “One O’Clock Jump” became the theme of his band. Even made a cameo appearance in Mel Brooks’ 1974 film Blazing Saddles.
Count Basie
15/ This pianist composed the now standard “Waltz for Debby”.
Bill Evans
16/ This icon and most-recorded jazz composer came to attention for his radio broadcasts from Harlem’s Cotton Club. After his death in 1974, his son Mercer took over his band. Collaborated with James Stewart on Anatomy of a Murder. Some of his iconic songs include “Mood Indigo”, “Satin Doll”, “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”, “Chelsea Bridge” and “Take the ‘A’ Train”.
Duke Ellington
17/ Called “the Maharaja of the Keyboard” by Duke Ellington, he is considered one of the all-time great jazz pianists and was frequently compared to Art Tatum.
Oscar Peterson
18/ Synonymous with New Orleans jazz for decades, this clarinetist brought it to a national audience with his frequent television appearances especially on The Lawrence Welk Show and Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show.
Pete Fountain
19/ This pianist nicknamed “High Priest of Bebop” is the second-most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington. Some of his hits are “Round Midnight”, “Blue Monk”, “Straight, No Chaser”, “Ruby, My Dear”, “In Walked Bud”, and “Well, You Needn’t”. He had his share of critics as not everyone was into his style of playing.
Thelonius Monk
20/ Known for his song “Minnie the Moocher” featuring the catchy scat “Hi-de-ho”, he was the first African American musician to sell a million records from a single. One of his songs was the origin of the jitterbug swing dance.
Cab Calloway
21/ Saxophonist who collaborated with other greats through his career and whose albums A Love Supreme (1965) and Ascension (1966) are jazz classics. The song “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music became his theme and he is also known for his complex harmonics on “Giant Steps”.
John Coltrane
24/ His best known compositions are “Ain’t Misbehavin” from the 1929 Broadway musical Hot Chocolates and “Honeysuckle Rose” which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Fats Waller
23/ Clarinetist and bandleader with several nicknames including “King of Swing”, “Patriarch of the Clarinet”, “The Professor” and “Swing’s Senior Statesman”. His 1938 Carnegie Hall concert was described as “the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history”.
Benny Goodman
24/ One of the greatest jazz trumpeters ever, he originated the genre of cool jazz and his 1959 album Kind of Blue is often called the greatest jazz album of all time. Battled various forms of addictions throughout his life and had an on-and-off relationship with actress Cicely Tyson.
Miles Davis
25/ Though this pianist is associated with the classic “Take Five” from Time Out, it was composed by his long-time musical partner Paul Desmond. Other noted compositions of his include “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “The Duke”.
Dave Brubeck
26/ This jazz singer nicknamed “The Velvet Fog” composed music for the classic “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”). Multi-talented, he wrote many books including The Other Side Of The Rainbow, an account of his time as musical adviser for Judy Garland.
Mel Torme
27/ Saxophonist who brought bossa nova to America with his 1964 hit “he Girl from Ipanema”.
Stan Getz
28/ Saxophonist with a “soaring” nickname who invented bebop.
Charlie “Bird” Parker
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 7
General Knowledge
Set by Mel Kinsey
Move Cursor Here
For the answer
Wynton Marsalis
Bermuda
1/ A 2003 book by Gian J. Quasar subtitled Pursuing the Truth Behind the World’s Greatest Mystery focuses on a region with vertices at Florida, Puerto Rico and what other island?
Bermuda
2/ What architectural term originated from the 16th century after Renaissance revived Classical construction and created a perception of past styles as a product of barbarous tribal ctures?
Gothic
3/ Who is the 1st century BC Roman architect who wrote that the figure of a man can be inscribed both in a circle and a square in his best known work De architectura?
Vitruvius
4/ In 19th century Britain, the poet Keats and the writer Charles Lamb chastised a painter for inserting this person into one of his paintings by claiming this person “… had destroyed all the poetry of the rainbow …” Which person?
Isaac Newton
5/ Which tradition, whose first pick was Charles Lindbergh, began in 1927 with some magazine editors contemplating newsworthy stories during a slow week?
Time Person of the Year
6/ Boustrophedon is a style of bi-directional text where every other line of writing is reversed. It literally means the turning of an ox in Greek referring to what activity?
Plowing of a field
7/ In Rainbow Gatherings, the communities of bohemian/counter-culture folks, what old city’s name is typically used to refer to mainstream society as a representation of everything unhealthy and unsustainable?
Babylon
8/ Before he became famous for another work, who sculpted the monumental The Lion of Belfort in 1880 to symbolize French resistance of a Prussian assault?
Frédéric Bartholdi, best known for the Statue of Liberty
9/ Once Neil deGrasse Tyson was talking to someone and pointed that in the key scenes of his movie, which was otherwise noted for its high attention to detail, the star alignment in the sky was completely wrong. That person sarcastically replied that his film grossed over a billion and he couldn’t imagine how much more it would have made had he gotten the night sky correct. Who?
James Cameron (Titanic)
10/ Since doctors are meant to ‘cure-all’, the first line of the Hippocratic oath appropriately mentions what other goddess along with Apollo, Aesculapius, and Hygeia?
Panacea
11/ Travis Tygart was chiefly instrumental in leading the expose of whom, now a fallen hero, in 2012?
Lance Armstrong
12/ The key attribute of what distinctive ethnic group has one possible explanation as the low ultraviolet light levels in rainforests hindering the production of vitamin D and limiting calcium uptake for bone growth?
Pygmies
13/ Albert Bigelow who as the skipper of Golden Rule achieved renown in the 1950s as the first person to disrupt a nuclear test. He later inspired the tactics of a Vancouver-based group called Don’t Make a Wave Committee which ultimately became what organization?
Greenpeace
14/ A Blue Flag certification is given by the Foundation for Environmental Education as an endorsement of cleanliness to what type of places?
Beaches
15/ In September 2014, a news anchor in India’s public service broadcaster was disciplined after reading which visiting dignitary’s name as President Eleven?
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s
16/ The nymph Caïssa created in a 16th century poem has come to be regarded as the goddess for which popular pastime?
Chess
17/ Bicycle mechanic Charlie Taylor is best known for his collaboration with which two gentlemen in the early part of the 20th century?
The Wright Brothers
18/ Didier Delsalle who wrote the following words confirming his May 14, 2005 achievement became the first person to land a helicopter where?
“No, nobody went out of the helicopter as I was alone and quite busy to stabilize the helicopter on this windy … The terrain characteristics prevent any full landing on the … as you can see on the videos and only a hover landing…”
The summit of Mt. Everest
19/ In his 2013 book Serve to Win, a certain European personality wrote about his experiences of watching an F-117 bomber drop laser guided bombs as a child. He also wrote that he looks back on his childhood positively because he could skip school and practice what?
Tennis (Novak Djokovic)
20/ Once when he was fishing on his boat Pilar, he and his friend caught a giant marlin. To prevent sharks from getting to it, he used a machine gun to gun them down but it proved detrimental as the blood attracted even more sharks which ate away half of the caught fish. Who is the person in question?
Ernest Hemingway
21/ What annual observation started in 1889 by members of Second International who wanted to commemorate the Haymarket Riot in Chicago (1886)?
International Workers’ Day (or) May Day
22 / What organization that operates with the slogan “The Opinion and The Other Opinion” started in 1996 with a loan of 500 million Qatari riyals?
Al Jazeera
23/ The much-hated help icon that used be part of Microsoft’s Office Suite was shaped like what workplace product?
Paperclip
24/ Photographer Walter Iooss who also shoots swimsuit models among others is known for his contributions to which magazine?
Sports Illustrated
25/ A memorable phrase in the annals of American polity, who was called a ‘bloviating ignoramus’ by columnist George Will in 2012?
Donald Trump