BH156: 30+13/12*
= Massive Quiz Fun/Brain Trauma
*UK dating order: month-date (even if the written questions completely contradict this)
To mark a certain age landmark and the day upon which it fell like a ton of ancient, possibly terracotta bricks last week, I've compiled a rather big (in wordage terms) number & date-related quiz with some questions you won't even bother to read because they are, truth be verily told, rewritten encyclopaedia entries with a question mark slapped on the end. Frankly, I don't blame you. You want to keep your eyes in decent working order.
But you know, there's just some stuff I cannot bear to leave out. Which means the question swells. And swells. Until I finally - though to be honest still riven with the lingering feeling of worry that another four lines of additional info wouldn't go amiss - stop, apply the question mark and move on to the next one. So I should reiterate: this isn't really for your entertainment (though if you are entertained, good for you, you nutter). It's more for my education, as it was once before and is again. I can't brook no compromise, man. This is my house! Sorry. A funny, loud and hectoring tone of voice was invading my head - sounding kinda like Bernie Mac (RIP). (Note: the date December 13 will be repeated on quite a regular basis, and where it is absent and not replaced with the number 30, I left it out when it should really be there to justify the 'theme' - it being a person's birthday or deathday - because I thought you might get a little sick of it. Because I certainly was. If I ever see my b****day again ... ooooo ... I dunno really)
BH156
1 30AD was the year 2363 in which Asian country's lunisolar calendar? The Gregorian calendar was officially adopted in 1895, though the biggest and most important festival remains Seollal, the first day of its traditional New Year, while other important festivals include Dano - the spring festival.
2 Born according to his own statement (in the book III prologue) on the Pierian Mountain in Macedonia, which Roman fabulist and possible Thracian slave (c.15BC - c.50AD) translated Aesop's Fables in the year 30, as well as composing some of his own, and is recognised as the first writer to Latinize entire books of fables, using the iambic metre Greek prose of the Aesop tales, and was brought to trial and punished by Tiberius's minister Sejanus due to supposed allusions in his work?
3 Born in 30AD, the Roman emperor Nerva was assassinated in a palace conspiracy involving the Praetorian Guard and several of his freedmen on September 18, 96 in which gardens that were named after the Roman historian who developed them in the 1st century BC using wealth he extorted as governor of the province of Africa Nova (the newly conquered Numidia)?
4 Named after the mathematician Giuseppe _____, which composite numbers relate to his conjecture on primality; the sequence beginning 30, 858, 1722, 66198 ...?
5 Which metal has the atomic no. 30, and in nonscientific context is sometimes called spelter; its most important ore being sphalerite, with others including smithsonite, hemimorphite and franklinite?
6 Messier object M30 is a magnitude 8.5 globular cluster in which northern sky constellation, whose named stars, derived from Arabic, include Markab ('the saddle'), Scheat ('the leg') and Algenib ('the flank')?
7 30 is the code for international direct dial phone calls to which country, whose current constitution (for the "Third Republic") was adopted in 1975?
8 Which Nobel Laureate wrote in one of his key works that the age of 30 is a crucial period in the life of a man, for at that age he gains a new awareness of the meaning of time?
9 Which literary character wakes up on the morning of his 30th birthday to find himself under arrest for an unspecified crime and dies on the eve of his 31st birthday?
10 The California Angels retired the number 30 in honour of which player on June 16, 1992; the man in question being the only major league baseball player to have his number retired by three different teams?
11 '30 Minutes' was a single from which pop duo's debut English-language album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane (2002)?
12 The year 30BC has been cited as the first possible date for the invention of which device in history, as the 5th century Book of Later Han stated that the wife of the once poor and youthful imperial censor Bao Xuan of the said Chinese dynasty helped him push a lu che back to his village during their feeble wedding ceremony in c.30BC?
13 30 is the smallest of what type of positive integer - deriving its name from the Old Greek word for 'wedge' - which is the product of three distinct prime numbers (the first few going 30, 42, 66, 70, 102...)?
14 Which Ivy League college was founded by the Congregationalist minister, Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, on December 13, 1769, with a Royal Charter from King George III on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth?
15 Named after a Virginia city located 50 miles south of Washington DC, which December 11-15, 1862 battle saw Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia defeat the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside in one of the most one-sided battles of the US Civil War, with the latter's forces suffering terrible casualties due to a number of futile frontal assaults he launched on the 13th?
16 Born Pietro Angelerio (aka Pietro da Morrone), who was elected Pope by the 1292-94 papal election - the last non-conclave in the history of the Roman Catholic Church - and began his papacy on July 7, 1294, only to abdicate it on December 13 in the hope he could return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit?
17 On December 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony organised three militia regiments to defend the colony - this organisation being recognised today as the founding of the United States National Guard - against which Native American tribal nation, who inhabited much of modern day Connecticut?
18 Which captain of the German Deutschland class cruiser pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, engaged with the Royal Navy cruisers HMSs Exeter, Ajax and HMNZS Achilles on December 13, 1939 in the Battle of the River Plate?
19 Born Mihail Christodoulu Mouskos, who became the first president of Cyprus on December 13, 1959?
20 Margaret Roberts married Denis Thatcher at which church on December 13, 1951?
21 Which Commonwealth country became a republic on December 13, 1974?
22 Which general declared martial law in Poland on December 13, 1981 to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity?
23 Which French king, whose birthday was December 13, was sometimes called le Vert galant ('The Green Gallant') due to his constant womanising?
BIG QUESTION BREAK STARTS
24 What surname was shared by the Venetian literary brothers Gasparo (1713-1786), who married poet Luise Bergalli, managed the theatre of Sant'Angelo, Venice and wrote Osservatore Veneto periodico (1761 - modelled on the contemporary English publication, The Spectator); Il Mondo morale (1760 - a personification of human passions interwoven with dialogues in the style of Lucian), and Giudizio degli antichi poeti sopra la moderna censura di Dante (1755 - a defence of the titular poet against the attacks of Bettinelli); and Carlo (b. Dec 13, 1720-1806), author of the satirical poem La tartana degli influssi per l'anno 1756 and a series of dramatic pieces - much praised by the likes of Goethe and Madame de Stael - that included Turandot or Re Turandote, which was translated by Schiller?
BIG QUESTION BREAK ENDS
25 Known for one-sided infatuations with his cousins Amalie and Therese that later inspired him to write some of his loveliest lyrics (as seen in Buch der Lieder/Book of Songs (1827)), which German's poem Allnachtlich in Traume from the said book was set to music by Schumann and Mendelssohn: the first lines of which have been (non-literally) translated as "Nightly I see you in dreams - you speak,/ With kindliness sincerest,/ I throw myself, weeping aloud and weak/ At your sweet feet, my dearest"?
26 Which First Lady of the United States was born in Lexington, Kentucky on December 13, 1818?
27 Housing an art museum and part of Munich's Kunstareal ("art area"), which building was constructed as a Florentine-style villa for an eponymous painter between 1887-1891, who set out for Italy in 1858 and produced such works as A Peasant seeking Shelter from Bad Weather (1855), The Goatherd (1860; Schack Gallery, Munich) and The Arch of Titus (Palfy collection, Budapest) as a result of his first journey there?
28 Born on December 13, 1816, whose surname was adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance?
29 It was at the instigation of French actor Lucien Germain Guitry (b. December 13, 1860 - 1925), whilst he was appearing in St Petersburg, that Tchaikovsky wrote which Shakespeare-inspired work (Op. 67a) in 1888 and the Incidental Music to the Shakespeare play (op. 67b) in 1891?
30 Heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and described by the Canadian Encyclopedia as a "Canadian icon", which artist and writer (b. Dec 13, 1871 - 1945) and subject of the 1997 Mascall Dance piece The Brutal Telling has a 'House' at 207 Government Street, Victoria, British Columbia named after her and claimed that the Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island's west coast had nicknamed her Klee Wyck ("the laughing one") and gave her name to a book about her experiences with the natives that won the Governor General's Award in 1941, while she was an exceptionally late bloomer in terms of her artistic exploits, starting the work for which she is best known (e.g. the painting Odds and Ends (c.1937)) at the age of 57?
31 He said of John von Neumann "He was the only student that ever scared me" and called his field of study "the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment". Which Hungarian mathematician (b. Dec 13, 1887-1985) wrote the 1945 book How to Solve It, a small volume describing general heuristics for solving problems of all kinds and not just maths ones; suggesting four basic steps: 1. First, you have to understand the problem 2. After understanding, then make a plan. 3. Carry out the plan 4. Look back on your work. How could it be better?
32 Producing a general theoretical system for the analysis of society that came to be called structural functionalism, which American sociologist rose to prominence with the publication of The Structure of Social Action (1937): his first grand synthesis, combining the ideas of Durkheim, Weber, Pareto and others?
33 Born into a gypsy family on December 13, 1903, Carlos Montoya found fame as what type of musician?
34 Godparent of Prince William, which author's books A Far Off Place and A Story Like the Wind was adapted into a 1993 film (called A Far Off Place) starring Reece Witherspoon as Nonnie Parker, one of two survivors of a massacre perpertrated on a gamekeeper's family in the south African savanna?
35 Born with the real first name Emmett on December 13, 1908, which American actor, who played opposite Katharine Hepburn and Joseph Cotten in The Philadelphia Story on Broadway, won an Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the 1942 film Johnny Eager and has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for his motion picture work, the other for TV?
36 In 1952, which boxer became World Light Heavyweight Champion after beating Joey Maxim, 16 years after embarking on his professional career?
37 Played on film in 1966 and 1975 by Paul Newman, which creation of hardboiled crime writer Ross Macdonald first appeared in The Moving Target (1945) - the follow-up The Drowning Pool (1950) also being adapted for the silver screen?
38 Sharing his surname with a French city, which charming WW2 flying ace (b. Dec 13, 1919) was nicknamed the "Star of Africa" and destroyed more Western Allied aircraft than any other Luftwaffe pliot while flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 his entire career? He was killed in a flying accident in 1942 caused by engine failure.
39 Dick Van Dyke (b. on guess what date in 1925) played which comedy writer in his eponymous sitcom from 1961-1966?
40 The athlete George Rhoden won two Olympic gold medals (400m - in a close fought race with compatriot Herb McKenley - and 4x400m relay) at the 1952 Helsinki Games representing which country?
41 Christopher Plummer (b. Dec 13, 1929 with the name Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer) was the first ever winner in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role category for playing Sherlock Holmes in the 1979 film Murder by Decree at which Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television awards?
42 Shah Karim al-Hussayni (b.1936), former husband of English fashion model Sally Croker-Poole and an Olympic skier with Turkey and then Iran in 1960 and 1964, is the 49th and current Imam of which Islamic group?
43 Abbreviated M.E.V., which live acoustic/electronic improv group was formed in Rome in 1966 by American composer-musicians Alvin Curran (known for his Songs and Views of the Magnetic Garden (1975/93)), Richard Teitelbaum and Frederic Rzewski, and have produced such recordings as Spacecraft (rec. in Cologne in 1967) and Unified Patchwork Theory (rec. in Zurich in 1990)?
44 Known for such hits as Hey Capello (1970); Carneval in Rio (1972) and Bier,Bier,Bier (1980) German folk singer Heino, born Heinz Georg Kramm on Dec 13, 1938, always wears sunglasses due to what medical condition, caused by a bulging of the eye anteriorly out of the orbit?
45 Gosta Winbergh (d.2002), Jussi Bjorling (d.1960) and Nicolai Gedda are often mentioned as being Sweden's and arguably some of the world's finest examples of what?
46 Nicknamed "Silver fox" (the name of his most popular movie character), which Korean martial artist and film actor (b.1944) played 'Thunderleg' or 'Thunderfoot' opposite Jackie Chan in Drunken Master and starred opposite him again in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (both 1978)?
47 Known for his pro-hunting, pro-conservation and Second Amendment activism, which 60-year-old Detroit-born hard rock guitarist-singer and NRA Board of Directors member orginally gained fame as lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, sold five million copies of the 1990 self-titled album released by his supergroup Damn Yankees and released the critically acclaimed record Spirit of the Wild in 1995? His nicknames include "The Motor City Madman".
48 Appointed an ambassador for the UN's F.A.O. on World Food Day (October 16) 2001, which Lebanese singer-soprano (b. 13/12/56) began her career in the early 1970s when she took part in the TV talent show Studio El Fan and released her first single, the Said Akl/Elias Al Rahbani song 'I Dream of You, O'Lebanon'/3am be7lamak Ya 7ilm Ya Libnan? Her musical version of the Nizar poem Kalimat/Words was a huge 1991 hit in the Middle East (and was also the name of the album from which it was taken) and she duetted with Jose Carreras on the song 'Light The Way' at the opening of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, whilst her other LPs include And The Children (1983), Rasayel (1996) and E'tazalt El Gharam (2006)?
49 Which cult US actor's first appearance was playing an AIDS victim called Nick in the 1986 film Parting Glances?
50 French businessman Jean-Marie Messier was Chairman and Chief Executive of which multinational media conglomerate - originally founded as the water company Compagnie generale des eaux (CGE) on December 14, 1853 by an imperial decree of Napoleon III - until he was forced to resign in 2002 due to multi-billion euro losses?
51 A former model, New Zealander Ross Burden (b.13/12/66) is famous for being what type of TV personality/book publisher?
52 Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 1989 (fourth round, 74th overall), which Washington Capitals ice hockey player passed Alexander Mogilny on October 25, 2008 to set the record for most goals by a Russian-born NHL player, scoring his 475th goal?
53 Born in Blackpool and raised in Munich where he trained classically as a pianist and double bassist at the city's Conservatory, amateur mathematician Nicholas McCarthy (b.13/12/74) is a member of which band that was formed in Glasgow in 2002?
54 Current Ultimate Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion, B.J. Penn became the first American-born winner of which martial art's world championship in the black belt category in 2000?
55 One of the most recognisable players in world rugby due to his lack of physical size, which 5ft 7in, 70kg Munster scrum half made his debut for Ireland v. Scotland in the Six Nations Championship in February 2000 and has since racked up 82 caps and 30 points in internationals?
56 Amy Lynn Hartzler aka Amy Lee (b.13/12/78) is the co-founder and lead vocalist of which alternative metal band?
57 Which 19-year-old American country pop musician made her debut on the Billboard country charts with her debut single 'Tim McGraw' in 2006; her second studio album Fearless debuting at no.1 on the Billboard Album Chart in November 2008?
58 Between 1415 and 1426, which artist - who died on December 13, 1466 - created five statues for the campanile of Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore (aka the Duomo): the Beardless Prophet; Bearded Prophet; the Sacrifice of Isaac; Habbakuk; and Jeremiah?
59 The son of a furrier killed at the 1531 Battle of Kappel, which Swiss bibliographer and naturalist's five-volume Historiae animalium (1551-58) is considered the beginning of modern zoology?
60 Described as a transitional figure who helped bring his country's literature from Romanticism to Realism and introduce the historical novel form, which Croatian writer penned more than 10 novels, among them Zlatarovo zlato/Goldsmith's gold (1871); Cuvaj se senjske ruke/Pirates of Senj (1876) and Diogenes (1878), and was also the lyricist for the patriotic song 'Zivila Hrvatska' ('Long live Croatia')?
61 Born in 1756 or 1760 in Serpukhov, Russia, this "Wonderworker" died on either December 13 or November 15, 1837 on Spruce Island, Alaska, and was one of the first Eastern Orthodox missionaries to the New World. Who was the first saint from America to be canonised by the Orthodox Church and is therefore regarded as the patron saint of the Americas by Orthodox Christians?
62 Which German poet and dramatist (1813-13/12/1863) published his first tragedy, Judith, in 1841, the same year he finished a comedy Der Diamant, and wrote his "fine tragedy of common life" Maria Magdalene (1844) during his stay in Paris? His magnificently conceived trilogy Die Nibelungen (1862) was his last work and won him the Schiller Prize.
Tolstoy's Bicycle Break
63 Originally written for the American opera singer Claramae Turner, who often used it as an encore, which song that became far more popular due to the actions of Ralph Sharon, the accompanist of its most famous exponent, was written by 30-year-old composer George Cory and lyricist Douglas Cross in 1954?
64 Which 30-year-old became editor of the New York Tribune in 1841?
65 Who film legend first established himself as a 'tough guy' actor in March 1931 when he smashed Norma Shearer in the face in A Free Soul?
66 Who published his first book of poems, Tulips and Chimneys, in 1924 at the age of 30?
67 One of the two people who had brought the sonnet to England, which Earl was executed in 1547 for incorporating the king's symbols into his own coat of arms?
68 Which Jewish Hungarian-born sociologist, who died in London in 1947, wrote On the Interpretations of "Weltanschauung" in 1923?
69 After a four-and-a-half year engagement, who married the 25-year-old Martha Bernays in 1886 having repressed his intense desire for her, as his career and financial problems had previously made wedlock impossible?
70 Regarded by many as his best work, Principia ethica (1903) established which English philosopher's reputation? He is known today for his defence of ethical non-naturalism, his emphasis on common sense in philosophical method and the paradox that bears his name and which stemmed from a remark he made once in a lecture on the absurdity in saying something like: "It's raining outside but I don't believe that it is".
71 Dogen Zenji, who retired to a small temple in 1230 to begin his writings, is credited as the founder of which Buddhist sect in Japan?
72 Having declined a second proposal of marriage the previous year, who wrote in her diary in 1850: "Today I am 30 - the age Christ began his mission. Now no more childish things. No more love. No more marriage. Now Lord let me think only of Thy Will, what thou willest me to do. Oh Lord, Thy Will, Thy Will."?
73 How many tons of coal did Alexei Stakhanov allegedly dig out in one night in 1935, thus becoming the first "Stakhanovite" of the Soviet Union?
74 Having appeared in such movies as The Serpent (1916); Camille (1917); Salome and The She Devil (both 1918), which silent film star was released from her contract with the Fox studio in 1920 and was never seen in another film?
75 Found on June 14, 1962, 55-year-old Anna E. Slesers is believed to have been the first victim of which serial murderer?
76 In 1979, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim to Florida from which islands, doing 89 miles in 27 1/2 hours?
BACK TO THE OBITS BIT
77 The cowboy hat-wearing Canadian rock musician and lead guitarist Zal Yanovsky, who died in 2002, founded which band with John Sebastian in 1964, who had their first US top ten single with "Do You Believe in Magic" - taken from the namesake debut album?
78 The shortstop Andre Rodgers, who played for the NY/San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates (1957-67), was the first person from which country to play in baseball's major leagues?
79 Also known as Katia Lamara, which French novelist died in a car crash on December 13, 1993 aged only 21, having created a stir in France with a combination of her youth and beauty and her BDSM novel Le lien/The Ties that Bind, based on her experiences as a slave?
80 The collector Louis J. Caldor discovered whose paintings in a Hoosick Falls, New York drugstore window in 1938, leading to her work being exhibited by art dealer Otto Kallir in his Galerie Saint-Etienne in New York the following year? Her works include The Old Checkered Inn in Summer.
81 Author of the theoretical works Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911) and Point and Line to Plane, who was successful enough in his chosen academic studies and impending career teaching law and economics to be offered a professorshiip - Chair of Roman Law - at the University of Dorpat (otherwise known as Estonia's University of Tartu), but gave it up and started painting studies at the age of 30 in 1896 when he enrolled in art school in Munich?
82 Regarded as the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet (beloved by the public and well-respected by critics), which Romanian poet and essayist made his editorial debut with the poetry book Sensul iubirii/The Aim of Love in 1960 and published his last volume of verse in his lifetime - Noduri si semne/Knots and Signs - in 1982, the year before he died of hepatitis at the age of 50? His key poems include O viziune a sentimentelor/'A Vision of Feelings'; Dreptul la timp/'The Right to Time'; Necuvintele/'The Unwords'; Un pamant numit Romania/'A Land Called Romania'; and Epica Magna.
83 Which French social scientist and amateur physicist is best known for works that put forward his theories on herd behaviour and crowd psychology, having his first great success with Les Lois psychologiques de l'evolution des peuples/The Psychology of Peoples (1894); a publication that hit upon a popularising style that would secure his reputation and lead on to his greatest-selling work La psychologie des foules/The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896)?
BIG QUESTION BREAK STARTS
84 Described by George Sarton, the father of the history of science, as "one of the very greatest scientists of Islam, and, all considered, one of the greatest of all times", which Persian polymath scholar (973-1048) was the first Muslim scholar to study India and has been called the father of geodesy, "the first anthropologist" and was one of the earliest leading exponents of experimental scientific method? Born in what is now Khiva in Uzbekistan and buried in Ghazni, Afghanistan, his works number 146 in total, including 35 books on astronomy (one of these being the extensive encyclopaedia he finished in 1031 - Kitab al-Qanun al-Mas'udi or Canon Mas'udicus), 15 on maths, 9 on geography, 5 on chronology and 4 on history. Extant works include Critical study of what India says, whether accepted by reason or refused; The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (his comparative study of different cultures and civilisations); Pharmacy (about drugs and medicines) and Understanding Astrology.
BIG QUESTION BREAK ENDS
85 Deriving his surname from his native town on the Mosel in Germany, which abbot (born Johann Heidenberg in 1462) is best known for his three-volume work Steganographia (written c.1499, pub. 1606, placed on the Index in 1609), a book that appears to be about magic and using spirits to communicate over long distances, but, since the 1606 publication of the decryption key to the first two volumes, is now known to be really concerned with cryptography and steganography (the work lending its name to the modern academic field of the latter)?
86 During the reign of which Portuguese king and successor to John II, did Vasco de Gama find the maritime route to India (1498); Cabral discover Brazil (1500); Francisco de Almeida become the first viceroy of India (1505); and admiral Alfonso de Albuquerque secure the monopoly of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf maritime routes (1503-1515)?
87 Excommunicated twice and called the Antichrist by Gregory IX due to his constant warring with the Papal States, which Holy Roman Emperor (reign 1220-1250) and patron of the Sicilian School of poetry was known in his own time as "Stupor mundi" ("wonder of the world") and was said to speak six languages (Latin, Sicilian, German, French, Greek & Arabic)?
88 Which English author wrote Life of Mr Richard Savage (1744), a "moving" tribute to his eponymous friend which, according to 20th century American critic/biographer Walter Jackson Bate "remains one of the innovative works in the history of biography"? It was published the year after the subject - the troubled poet who wrote the satirical The Author to be Let; The Bastard (1728); and The Wanderer (1729) - died having been committed to debtors' prison.
89 Constantinos Volanakis, Georgios Jakobides, Nikolaus Gysis and Nikiphoros Lytras were associated with what Greek Art movement of academic realism, considered the most important in 19th century Greece and which was strongly influenced by a German city's 'Royal Academy of Fine Arts' from which it took its name?
90 Harry Barris, Al Rinker and Bing Crosby were members of which early 1930s singing trio that was Crosby's entry into showbusiness?
91 Hagiography tells us that which saint (284-304) - whose feast day is observed on December 13 in Scandinavia, parts of the US and southern Europe - was a Christian during the Diocletian persecution who consecrated her virginity to God, refused to marry a pagan and had her dowry given to the poor before she was denounced to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily and stabbed to death after guards were, miraculously, unable to move her or burn her?
92 Which goddess-personification of the Earth was worshipped in a December 13 Roman festival held in the district Carinae at the Esquiline Hill?
93 Born near Tewkesbury in 1905, what was the nom de plume of English author Henry Vincent Yorke, whose pithily-titled novels included Blindness; Caught; Back; Concluding; Nothing; and Doting?
94 Birthplace of the mathematician Abraham Wald, what name do we most commonly give to the city known in German as Klausenberg; in Hungarian as Kolozsvar; in Yiddish as Kloiznburg, and which was called such Latin names as Claudiopolis?
95 While on an extensive lecture tour at the invitation of the Indian government, Abraham Wald and his wife died in a 1950 airplane crash in which range of mountains in the Western Ghats, located in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu at the junction of Karnataka and Kerala, and whose name means "Blue Mountains" in Tamil?
96 The Russian painter Nicholas Roerich and his wife Helena were co-founders of which form of spiritual teaching, whose followers believe it (17 volumes of which have been translated into English) was given to their family and their associates from 1920 by Master Morya, the guru of Theosophy founder Helena Blavatsky? Known by a Sanskrit name, it is also referred to as the Teaching of Living Ethics, the Teaching of Light, or simply "The Teaching".
97 The Mexican actress Lupe Velez married which former Olympic champion in 1933, though the tumultuous marriage lasted only five years?
98 Alexander von Humboldt said of the author and his masterwork: "For as long as palms are named and known, the name of _______ will be famous". Which German botanist wrote Historia naturalis palmarum: opus tripartitum (1823-1850), a highly illustrated, three-volume book of palms (Arecaceae) written in Latin and based on his 1817-1820 travels in Brazil and Peru with zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix; an expedition sponsored by Maximilian I, King of Bavaria and one which saw them become the first non-Portuguese Europeans to obtain permission to visit the Brazilian Amazon?
99 On December 13, 1945, who became the youngest woman to die judicially under English law in the 20th century?
100 Nicknamed "Bluejay", which 17-year-old American composer and prodigy, described by CBS News as perhaps "the greatest musical genius to come along in 200 years", is probably best known for his 2002 work Overture to 9/11 and writing five symphonies by the time he was aged 13?
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Answers to BH156
1 Korea 2 Phaedrus 3 Gardens of Sallust/Horti Sallustiani 4 Giuga number 5 Zinc 6 Pegasus 7 Greece 8 Albert Camus in 'The Myth of Sisyphus' 9 Josef K in The Trial 10 Nolan Ryan 11 t.A.T.u 12 Wheelbarrow 13 Sphenic number 14 Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) 15 Battle of Fredericksburg 16 St. Celestine V 17 Pequot Indians 18 Hans Langsdorff 19 Archbishop Makarios III 20 City Methodist, London 21 Malta 22 Wojciech Jaruzelski 23 Henri IV 24 Gozzi 25 Heinrich Heine 26 Mary Ann Todd Lincoln 27 Lenbachhaus (named after Franz von Lenbach b. Dec 13, 1836 - 1904) 28 Ernst Werner von Siemens 29 Hamlet Overture-Fantasy 30 Emily Carr 31 George Polya/Polya Gyorgy 32 Talcott Parsons 33 Flamenco guitarist 34 Laurens Van der Post 35 Van Heflin (b, Emmett Evan Heflin, Jr) 36 Archie Moore 37 Lew Archer who became "Harper" on film 38 Hans-Joachim Marseille 39 Rob Petrie 40 Jamaica 41 Genie Awards 42 Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslims (he is His Highness Aga Khan IV (1957-) 43 Musica Elettronica Viva 44 Exophthalmos 45 Tenors 46 Hwang Jang-Lee or Wong Cheng Lee 47 Ted Nugent (Theodore Anthony Nugent) 48 Majida El Roumi 49 Steve Buscemi 50 Vivendi SA (formerly Vivendi Universal) 51 (Celebrity) chef 52 Sergei (Viktorovich) Federov 53 Franz Ferdinand 54 Jiu-Jitsu 55 Peter Stringer 56 Evanescence 57 Taylor Swift 58 Donatello (Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi) 59 Konrad Gessner 60 August Senoa 61 St Herman of Alaska 62 Christian Friedrich Hebbel 63 "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" 64 Horace Greeley 65 Clark Gable 66 e e cummings 67 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey 68 Karl Mannheim 69 Sigmund Freud 70 G.E. Moore (Gordon Edward) 71 Soto Zen 72 Florence Nightingale 73 102 74 Theda Bara (b. Theodosia Burr Goodman) 75 "The Boston Strangler" (Albert DeSalvo, maybe) 76 Bahamas 77 The Lovin' Spoonful 78 Bahamas 79 Vanessa Duries 80 Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson) 81 Wassily Kandinsky 82 Nichita Stanescu (b. Nichita Hristea Stanescu) 83 Gustave Le Bon 84 Al-Biruni or Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni or Abu Rayhan Biruni 85 Johannes Trithemius (from the town of Trittenheim) 86 Manuel I 87 Frederick II 88 Samuel Johnson 89 The Munich School 90 The Rhythm Boys 91 St. Lucy or St. Lucia 92 Tellus or Terra Mater 93 Henry Green 94 Cluj or Cluj-Napoca (3rd largest city in Romania) 95 The Nilgiri 96 Agni Yoga Society (Agni meaning "fire" as well as the name of fire-god in the Vedic pantheon) 97 Johnny Weissmuller 98 Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius 99 (22-year-old Bergen-Belsen Nazi guard) Irma Grese 100 Jay Greenberg
*UK dating order: month-date (even if the written questions completely contradict this)
To mark a certain age landmark and the day upon which it fell like a ton of ancient, possibly terracotta bricks last week, I've compiled a rather big (in wordage terms) number & date-related quiz with some questions you won't even bother to read because they are, truth be verily told, rewritten encyclopaedia entries with a question mark slapped on the end. Frankly, I don't blame you. You want to keep your eyes in decent working order.
But you know, there's just some stuff I cannot bear to leave out. Which means the question swells. And swells. Until I finally - though to be honest still riven with the lingering feeling of worry that another four lines of additional info wouldn't go amiss - stop, apply the question mark and move on to the next one. So I should reiterate: this isn't really for your entertainment (though if you are entertained, good for you, you nutter). It's more for my education, as it was once before and is again. I can't brook no compromise, man. This is my house! Sorry. A funny, loud and hectoring tone of voice was invading my head - sounding kinda like Bernie Mac (RIP). (Note: the date December 13 will be repeated on quite a regular basis, and where it is absent and not replaced with the number 30, I left it out when it should really be there to justify the 'theme' - it being a person's birthday or deathday - because I thought you might get a little sick of it. Because I certainly was. If I ever see my b****day again ... ooooo ... I dunno really)
BH156
1 30AD was the year 2363 in which Asian country's lunisolar calendar? The Gregorian calendar was officially adopted in 1895, though the biggest and most important festival remains Seollal, the first day of its traditional New Year, while other important festivals include Dano - the spring festival.
2 Born according to his own statement (in the book III prologue) on the Pierian Mountain in Macedonia, which Roman fabulist and possible Thracian slave (c.15BC - c.50AD) translated Aesop's Fables in the year 30, as well as composing some of his own, and is recognised as the first writer to Latinize entire books of fables, using the iambic metre Greek prose of the Aesop tales, and was brought to trial and punished by Tiberius's minister Sejanus due to supposed allusions in his work?
3 Born in 30AD, the Roman emperor Nerva was assassinated in a palace conspiracy involving the Praetorian Guard and several of his freedmen on September 18, 96 in which gardens that were named after the Roman historian who developed them in the 1st century BC using wealth he extorted as governor of the province of Africa Nova (the newly conquered Numidia)?
4 Named after the mathematician Giuseppe _____, which composite numbers relate to his conjecture on primality; the sequence beginning 30, 858, 1722, 66198 ...?
5 Which metal has the atomic no. 30, and in nonscientific context is sometimes called spelter; its most important ore being sphalerite, with others including smithsonite, hemimorphite and franklinite?
6 Messier object M30 is a magnitude 8.5 globular cluster in which northern sky constellation, whose named stars, derived from Arabic, include Markab ('the saddle'), Scheat ('the leg') and Algenib ('the flank')?
7 30 is the code for international direct dial phone calls to which country, whose current constitution (for the "Third Republic") was adopted in 1975?
8 Which Nobel Laureate wrote in one of his key works that the age of 30 is a crucial period in the life of a man, for at that age he gains a new awareness of the meaning of time?
9 Which literary character wakes up on the morning of his 30th birthday to find himself under arrest for an unspecified crime and dies on the eve of his 31st birthday?
10 The California Angels retired the number 30 in honour of which player on June 16, 1992; the man in question being the only major league baseball player to have his number retired by three different teams?
11 '30 Minutes' was a single from which pop duo's debut English-language album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane (2002)?
12 The year 30BC has been cited as the first possible date for the invention of which device in history, as the 5th century Book of Later Han stated that the wife of the once poor and youthful imperial censor Bao Xuan of the said Chinese dynasty helped him push a lu che back to his village during their feeble wedding ceremony in c.30BC?
13 30 is the smallest of what type of positive integer - deriving its name from the Old Greek word for 'wedge' - which is the product of three distinct prime numbers (the first few going 30, 42, 66, 70, 102...)?
14 Which Ivy League college was founded by the Congregationalist minister, Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, on December 13, 1769, with a Royal Charter from King George III on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth?
15 Named after a Virginia city located 50 miles south of Washington DC, which December 11-15, 1862 battle saw Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia defeat the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside in one of the most one-sided battles of the US Civil War, with the latter's forces suffering terrible casualties due to a number of futile frontal assaults he launched on the 13th?
16 Born Pietro Angelerio (aka Pietro da Morrone), who was elected Pope by the 1292-94 papal election - the last non-conclave in the history of the Roman Catholic Church - and began his papacy on July 7, 1294, only to abdicate it on December 13 in the hope he could return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit?
17 On December 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony organised three militia regiments to defend the colony - this organisation being recognised today as the founding of the United States National Guard - against which Native American tribal nation, who inhabited much of modern day Connecticut?
18 Which captain of the German Deutschland class cruiser pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, engaged with the Royal Navy cruisers HMSs Exeter, Ajax and HMNZS Achilles on December 13, 1939 in the Battle of the River Plate?
19 Born Mihail Christodoulu Mouskos, who became the first president of Cyprus on December 13, 1959?
20 Margaret Roberts married Denis Thatcher at which church on December 13, 1951?
21 Which Commonwealth country became a republic on December 13, 1974?
22 Which general declared martial law in Poland on December 13, 1981 to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity?
23 Which French king, whose birthday was December 13, was sometimes called le Vert galant ('The Green Gallant') due to his constant womanising?
BIG QUESTION BREAK STARTS
24 What surname was shared by the Venetian literary brothers Gasparo (1713-1786), who married poet Luise Bergalli, managed the theatre of Sant'Angelo, Venice and wrote Osservatore Veneto periodico (1761 - modelled on the contemporary English publication, The Spectator); Il Mondo morale (1760 - a personification of human passions interwoven with dialogues in the style of Lucian), and Giudizio degli antichi poeti sopra la moderna censura di Dante (1755 - a defence of the titular poet against the attacks of Bettinelli); and Carlo (b. Dec 13, 1720-1806), author of the satirical poem La tartana degli influssi per l'anno 1756 and a series of dramatic pieces - much praised by the likes of Goethe and Madame de Stael - that included Turandot or Re Turandote, which was translated by Schiller?
BIG QUESTION BREAK ENDS
25 Known for one-sided infatuations with his cousins Amalie and Therese that later inspired him to write some of his loveliest lyrics (as seen in Buch der Lieder/Book of Songs (1827)), which German's poem Allnachtlich in Traume from the said book was set to music by Schumann and Mendelssohn: the first lines of which have been (non-literally) translated as "Nightly I see you in dreams - you speak,/ With kindliness sincerest,/ I throw myself, weeping aloud and weak/ At your sweet feet, my dearest"?
26 Which First Lady of the United States was born in Lexington, Kentucky on December 13, 1818?
27 Housing an art museum and part of Munich's Kunstareal ("art area"), which building was constructed as a Florentine-style villa for an eponymous painter between 1887-1891, who set out for Italy in 1858 and produced such works as A Peasant seeking Shelter from Bad Weather (1855), The Goatherd (1860; Schack Gallery, Munich) and The Arch of Titus (Palfy collection, Budapest) as a result of his first journey there?
28 Born on December 13, 1816, whose surname was adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance?
29 It was at the instigation of French actor Lucien Germain Guitry (b. December 13, 1860 - 1925), whilst he was appearing in St Petersburg, that Tchaikovsky wrote which Shakespeare-inspired work (Op. 67a) in 1888 and the Incidental Music to the Shakespeare play (op. 67b) in 1891?
30 Heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and described by the Canadian Encyclopedia as a "Canadian icon", which artist and writer (b. Dec 13, 1871 - 1945) and subject of the 1997 Mascall Dance piece The Brutal Telling has a 'House' at 207 Government Street, Victoria, British Columbia named after her and claimed that the Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island's west coast had nicknamed her Klee Wyck ("the laughing one") and gave her name to a book about her experiences with the natives that won the Governor General's Award in 1941, while she was an exceptionally late bloomer in terms of her artistic exploits, starting the work for which she is best known (e.g. the painting Odds and Ends (c.1937)) at the age of 57?
31 He said of John von Neumann "He was the only student that ever scared me" and called his field of study "the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment". Which Hungarian mathematician (b. Dec 13, 1887-1985) wrote the 1945 book How to Solve It, a small volume describing general heuristics for solving problems of all kinds and not just maths ones; suggesting four basic steps: 1. First, you have to understand the problem 2. After understanding, then make a plan. 3. Carry out the plan 4. Look back on your work. How could it be better?
32 Producing a general theoretical system for the analysis of society that came to be called structural functionalism, which American sociologist rose to prominence with the publication of The Structure of Social Action (1937): his first grand synthesis, combining the ideas of Durkheim, Weber, Pareto and others?
33 Born into a gypsy family on December 13, 1903, Carlos Montoya found fame as what type of musician?
34 Godparent of Prince William, which author's books A Far Off Place and A Story Like the Wind was adapted into a 1993 film (called A Far Off Place) starring Reece Witherspoon as Nonnie Parker, one of two survivors of a massacre perpertrated on a gamekeeper's family in the south African savanna?
35 Born with the real first name Emmett on December 13, 1908, which American actor, who played opposite Katharine Hepburn and Joseph Cotten in The Philadelphia Story on Broadway, won an Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the 1942 film Johnny Eager and has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for his motion picture work, the other for TV?
36 In 1952, which boxer became World Light Heavyweight Champion after beating Joey Maxim, 16 years after embarking on his professional career?
37 Played on film in 1966 and 1975 by Paul Newman, which creation of hardboiled crime writer Ross Macdonald first appeared in The Moving Target (1945) - the follow-up The Drowning Pool (1950) also being adapted for the silver screen?
38 Sharing his surname with a French city, which charming WW2 flying ace (b. Dec 13, 1919) was nicknamed the "Star of Africa" and destroyed more Western Allied aircraft than any other Luftwaffe pliot while flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109 his entire career? He was killed in a flying accident in 1942 caused by engine failure.
39 Dick Van Dyke (b. on guess what date in 1925) played which comedy writer in his eponymous sitcom from 1961-1966?
40 The athlete George Rhoden won two Olympic gold medals (400m - in a close fought race with compatriot Herb McKenley - and 4x400m relay) at the 1952 Helsinki Games representing which country?
41 Christopher Plummer (b. Dec 13, 1929 with the name Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer) was the first ever winner in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role category for playing Sherlock Holmes in the 1979 film Murder by Decree at which Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television awards?
42 Shah Karim al-Hussayni (b.1936), former husband of English fashion model Sally Croker-Poole and an Olympic skier with Turkey and then Iran in 1960 and 1964, is the 49th and current Imam of which Islamic group?
43 Abbreviated M.E.V., which live acoustic/electronic improv group was formed in Rome in 1966 by American composer-musicians Alvin Curran (known for his Songs and Views of the Magnetic Garden (1975/93)), Richard Teitelbaum and Frederic Rzewski, and have produced such recordings as Spacecraft (rec. in Cologne in 1967) and Unified Patchwork Theory (rec. in Zurich in 1990)?
44 Known for such hits as Hey Capello (1970); Carneval in Rio (1972) and Bier,Bier,Bier (1980) German folk singer Heino, born Heinz Georg Kramm on Dec 13, 1938, always wears sunglasses due to what medical condition, caused by a bulging of the eye anteriorly out of the orbit?
45 Gosta Winbergh (d.2002), Jussi Bjorling (d.1960) and Nicolai Gedda are often mentioned as being Sweden's and arguably some of the world's finest examples of what?
46 Nicknamed "Silver fox" (the name of his most popular movie character), which Korean martial artist and film actor (b.1944) played 'Thunderleg' or 'Thunderfoot' opposite Jackie Chan in Drunken Master and starred opposite him again in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (both 1978)?
47 Known for his pro-hunting, pro-conservation and Second Amendment activism, which 60-year-old Detroit-born hard rock guitarist-singer and NRA Board of Directors member orginally gained fame as lead guitarist of The Amboy Dukes, sold five million copies of the 1990 self-titled album released by his supergroup Damn Yankees and released the critically acclaimed record Spirit of the Wild in 1995? His nicknames include "The Motor City Madman".
48 Appointed an ambassador for the UN's F.A.O. on World Food Day (October 16) 2001, which Lebanese singer-soprano (b. 13/12/56) began her career in the early 1970s when she took part in the TV talent show Studio El Fan and released her first single, the Said Akl/Elias Al Rahbani song 'I Dream of You, O'Lebanon'/3am be7lamak Ya 7ilm Ya Libnan? Her musical version of the Nizar poem Kalimat/Words was a huge 1991 hit in the Middle East (and was also the name of the album from which it was taken) and she duetted with Jose Carreras on the song 'Light The Way' at the opening of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, whilst her other LPs include And The Children (1983), Rasayel (1996) and E'tazalt El Gharam (2006)?
49 Which cult US actor's first appearance was playing an AIDS victim called Nick in the 1986 film Parting Glances?
50 French businessman Jean-Marie Messier was Chairman and Chief Executive of which multinational media conglomerate - originally founded as the water company Compagnie generale des eaux (CGE) on December 14, 1853 by an imperial decree of Napoleon III - until he was forced to resign in 2002 due to multi-billion euro losses?
51 A former model, New Zealander Ross Burden (b.13/12/66) is famous for being what type of TV personality/book publisher?
52 Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 1989 (fourth round, 74th overall), which Washington Capitals ice hockey player passed Alexander Mogilny on October 25, 2008 to set the record for most goals by a Russian-born NHL player, scoring his 475th goal?
53 Born in Blackpool and raised in Munich where he trained classically as a pianist and double bassist at the city's Conservatory, amateur mathematician Nicholas McCarthy (b.13/12/74) is a member of which band that was formed in Glasgow in 2002?
54 Current Ultimate Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion, B.J. Penn became the first American-born winner of which martial art's world championship in the black belt category in 2000?
55 One of the most recognisable players in world rugby due to his lack of physical size, which 5ft 7in, 70kg Munster scrum half made his debut for Ireland v. Scotland in the Six Nations Championship in February 2000 and has since racked up 82 caps and 30 points in internationals?
56 Amy Lynn Hartzler aka Amy Lee (b.13/12/78) is the co-founder and lead vocalist of which alternative metal band?
57 Which 19-year-old American country pop musician made her debut on the Billboard country charts with her debut single 'Tim McGraw' in 2006; her second studio album Fearless debuting at no.1 on the Billboard Album Chart in November 2008?
58 Between 1415 and 1426, which artist - who died on December 13, 1466 - created five statues for the campanile of Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore (aka the Duomo): the Beardless Prophet; Bearded Prophet; the Sacrifice of Isaac; Habbakuk; and Jeremiah?
59 The son of a furrier killed at the 1531 Battle of Kappel, which Swiss bibliographer and naturalist's five-volume Historiae animalium (1551-58) is considered the beginning of modern zoology?
60 Described as a transitional figure who helped bring his country's literature from Romanticism to Realism and introduce the historical novel form, which Croatian writer penned more than 10 novels, among them Zlatarovo zlato/Goldsmith's gold (1871); Cuvaj se senjske ruke/Pirates of Senj (1876) and Diogenes (1878), and was also the lyricist for the patriotic song 'Zivila Hrvatska' ('Long live Croatia')?
61 Born in 1756 or 1760 in Serpukhov, Russia, this "Wonderworker" died on either December 13 or November 15, 1837 on Spruce Island, Alaska, and was one of the first Eastern Orthodox missionaries to the New World. Who was the first saint from America to be canonised by the Orthodox Church and is therefore regarded as the patron saint of the Americas by Orthodox Christians?
62 Which German poet and dramatist (1813-13/12/1863) published his first tragedy, Judith, in 1841, the same year he finished a comedy Der Diamant, and wrote his "fine tragedy of common life" Maria Magdalene (1844) during his stay in Paris? His magnificently conceived trilogy Die Nibelungen (1862) was his last work and won him the Schiller Prize.
Tolstoy's Bicycle Break
63 Originally written for the American opera singer Claramae Turner, who often used it as an encore, which song that became far more popular due to the actions of Ralph Sharon, the accompanist of its most famous exponent, was written by 30-year-old composer George Cory and lyricist Douglas Cross in 1954?
64 Which 30-year-old became editor of the New York Tribune in 1841?
65 Who film legend first established himself as a 'tough guy' actor in March 1931 when he smashed Norma Shearer in the face in A Free Soul?
66 Who published his first book of poems, Tulips and Chimneys, in 1924 at the age of 30?
67 One of the two people who had brought the sonnet to England, which Earl was executed in 1547 for incorporating the king's symbols into his own coat of arms?
68 Which Jewish Hungarian-born sociologist, who died in London in 1947, wrote On the Interpretations of "Weltanschauung" in 1923?
69 After a four-and-a-half year engagement, who married the 25-year-old Martha Bernays in 1886 having repressed his intense desire for her, as his career and financial problems had previously made wedlock impossible?
70 Regarded by many as his best work, Principia ethica (1903) established which English philosopher's reputation? He is known today for his defence of ethical non-naturalism, his emphasis on common sense in philosophical method and the paradox that bears his name and which stemmed from a remark he made once in a lecture on the absurdity in saying something like: "It's raining outside but I don't believe that it is".
71 Dogen Zenji, who retired to a small temple in 1230 to begin his writings, is credited as the founder of which Buddhist sect in Japan?
72 Having declined a second proposal of marriage the previous year, who wrote in her diary in 1850: "Today I am 30 - the age Christ began his mission. Now no more childish things. No more love. No more marriage. Now Lord let me think only of Thy Will, what thou willest me to do. Oh Lord, Thy Will, Thy Will."?
73 How many tons of coal did Alexei Stakhanov allegedly dig out in one night in 1935, thus becoming the first "Stakhanovite" of the Soviet Union?
74 Having appeared in such movies as The Serpent (1916); Camille (1917); Salome and The She Devil (both 1918), which silent film star was released from her contract with the Fox studio in 1920 and was never seen in another film?
75 Found on June 14, 1962, 55-year-old Anna E. Slesers is believed to have been the first victim of which serial murderer?
76 In 1979, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim to Florida from which islands, doing 89 miles in 27 1/2 hours?
BACK TO THE OBITS BIT
77 The cowboy hat-wearing Canadian rock musician and lead guitarist Zal Yanovsky, who died in 2002, founded which band with John Sebastian in 1964, who had their first US top ten single with "Do You Believe in Magic" - taken from the namesake debut album?
78 The shortstop Andre Rodgers, who played for the NY/San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates (1957-67), was the first person from which country to play in baseball's major leagues?
79 Also known as Katia Lamara, which French novelist died in a car crash on December 13, 1993 aged only 21, having created a stir in France with a combination of her youth and beauty and her BDSM novel Le lien/The Ties that Bind, based on her experiences as a slave?
80 The collector Louis J. Caldor discovered whose paintings in a Hoosick Falls, New York drugstore window in 1938, leading to her work being exhibited by art dealer Otto Kallir in his Galerie Saint-Etienne in New York the following year? Her works include The Old Checkered Inn in Summer.
81 Author of the theoretical works Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911) and Point and Line to Plane, who was successful enough in his chosen academic studies and impending career teaching law and economics to be offered a professorshiip - Chair of Roman Law - at the University of Dorpat (otherwise known as Estonia's University of Tartu), but gave it up and started painting studies at the age of 30 in 1896 when he enrolled in art school in Munich?
82 Regarded as the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet (beloved by the public and well-respected by critics), which Romanian poet and essayist made his editorial debut with the poetry book Sensul iubirii/The Aim of Love in 1960 and published his last volume of verse in his lifetime - Noduri si semne/Knots and Signs - in 1982, the year before he died of hepatitis at the age of 50? His key poems include O viziune a sentimentelor/'A Vision of Feelings'; Dreptul la timp/'The Right to Time'; Necuvintele/'The Unwords'; Un pamant numit Romania/'A Land Called Romania'; and Epica Magna.
83 Which French social scientist and amateur physicist is best known for works that put forward his theories on herd behaviour and crowd psychology, having his first great success with Les Lois psychologiques de l'evolution des peuples/The Psychology of Peoples (1894); a publication that hit upon a popularising style that would secure his reputation and lead on to his greatest-selling work La psychologie des foules/The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896)?
BIG QUESTION BREAK STARTS
84 Described by George Sarton, the father of the history of science, as "one of the very greatest scientists of Islam, and, all considered, one of the greatest of all times", which Persian polymath scholar (973-1048) was the first Muslim scholar to study India and has been called the father of geodesy, "the first anthropologist" and was one of the earliest leading exponents of experimental scientific method? Born in what is now Khiva in Uzbekistan and buried in Ghazni, Afghanistan, his works number 146 in total, including 35 books on astronomy (one of these being the extensive encyclopaedia he finished in 1031 - Kitab al-Qanun al-Mas'udi or Canon Mas'udicus), 15 on maths, 9 on geography, 5 on chronology and 4 on history. Extant works include Critical study of what India says, whether accepted by reason or refused; The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (his comparative study of different cultures and civilisations); Pharmacy (about drugs and medicines) and Understanding Astrology.
BIG QUESTION BREAK ENDS
85 Deriving his surname from his native town on the Mosel in Germany, which abbot (born Johann Heidenberg in 1462) is best known for his three-volume work Steganographia (written c.1499, pub. 1606, placed on the Index in 1609), a book that appears to be about magic and using spirits to communicate over long distances, but, since the 1606 publication of the decryption key to the first two volumes, is now known to be really concerned with cryptography and steganography (the work lending its name to the modern academic field of the latter)?
86 During the reign of which Portuguese king and successor to John II, did Vasco de Gama find the maritime route to India (1498); Cabral discover Brazil (1500); Francisco de Almeida become the first viceroy of India (1505); and admiral Alfonso de Albuquerque secure the monopoly of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf maritime routes (1503-1515)?
87 Excommunicated twice and called the Antichrist by Gregory IX due to his constant warring with the Papal States, which Holy Roman Emperor (reign 1220-1250) and patron of the Sicilian School of poetry was known in his own time as "Stupor mundi" ("wonder of the world") and was said to speak six languages (Latin, Sicilian, German, French, Greek & Arabic)?
88 Which English author wrote Life of Mr Richard Savage (1744), a "moving" tribute to his eponymous friend which, according to 20th century American critic/biographer Walter Jackson Bate "remains one of the innovative works in the history of biography"? It was published the year after the subject - the troubled poet who wrote the satirical The Author to be Let; The Bastard (1728); and The Wanderer (1729) - died having been committed to debtors' prison.
89 Constantinos Volanakis, Georgios Jakobides, Nikolaus Gysis and Nikiphoros Lytras were associated with what Greek Art movement of academic realism, considered the most important in 19th century Greece and which was strongly influenced by a German city's 'Royal Academy of Fine Arts' from which it took its name?
90 Harry Barris, Al Rinker and Bing Crosby were members of which early 1930s singing trio that was Crosby's entry into showbusiness?
91 Hagiography tells us that which saint (284-304) - whose feast day is observed on December 13 in Scandinavia, parts of the US and southern Europe - was a Christian during the Diocletian persecution who consecrated her virginity to God, refused to marry a pagan and had her dowry given to the poor before she was denounced to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily and stabbed to death after guards were, miraculously, unable to move her or burn her?
92 Which goddess-personification of the Earth was worshipped in a December 13 Roman festival held in the district Carinae at the Esquiline Hill?
93 Born near Tewkesbury in 1905, what was the nom de plume of English author Henry Vincent Yorke, whose pithily-titled novels included Blindness; Caught; Back; Concluding; Nothing; and Doting?
94 Birthplace of the mathematician Abraham Wald, what name do we most commonly give to the city known in German as Klausenberg; in Hungarian as Kolozsvar; in Yiddish as Kloiznburg, and which was called such Latin names as Claudiopolis?
95 While on an extensive lecture tour at the invitation of the Indian government, Abraham Wald and his wife died in a 1950 airplane crash in which range of mountains in the Western Ghats, located in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu at the junction of Karnataka and Kerala, and whose name means "Blue Mountains" in Tamil?
96 The Russian painter Nicholas Roerich and his wife Helena were co-founders of which form of spiritual teaching, whose followers believe it (17 volumes of which have been translated into English) was given to their family and their associates from 1920 by Master Morya, the guru of Theosophy founder Helena Blavatsky? Known by a Sanskrit name, it is also referred to as the Teaching of Living Ethics, the Teaching of Light, or simply "The Teaching".
97 The Mexican actress Lupe Velez married which former Olympic champion in 1933, though the tumultuous marriage lasted only five years?
98 Alexander von Humboldt said of the author and his masterwork: "For as long as palms are named and known, the name of _______ will be famous". Which German botanist wrote Historia naturalis palmarum: opus tripartitum (1823-1850), a highly illustrated, three-volume book of palms (Arecaceae) written in Latin and based on his 1817-1820 travels in Brazil and Peru with zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix; an expedition sponsored by Maximilian I, King of Bavaria and one which saw them become the first non-Portuguese Europeans to obtain permission to visit the Brazilian Amazon?
99 On December 13, 1945, who became the youngest woman to die judicially under English law in the 20th century?
100 Nicknamed "Bluejay", which 17-year-old American composer and prodigy, described by CBS News as perhaps "the greatest musical genius to come along in 200 years", is probably best known for his 2002 work Overture to 9/11 and writing five symphonies by the time he was aged 13?
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Answers to BH156
1 Korea 2 Phaedrus 3 Gardens of Sallust/Horti Sallustiani 4 Giuga number 5 Zinc 6 Pegasus 7 Greece 8 Albert Camus in 'The Myth of Sisyphus' 9 Josef K in The Trial 10 Nolan Ryan 11 t.A.T.u 12 Wheelbarrow 13 Sphenic number 14 Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) 15 Battle of Fredericksburg 16 St. Celestine V 17 Pequot Indians 18 Hans Langsdorff 19 Archbishop Makarios III 20 City Methodist, London 21 Malta 22 Wojciech Jaruzelski 23 Henri IV 24 Gozzi 25 Heinrich Heine 26 Mary Ann Todd Lincoln 27 Lenbachhaus (named after Franz von Lenbach b. Dec 13, 1836 - 1904) 28 Ernst Werner von Siemens 29 Hamlet Overture-Fantasy 30 Emily Carr 31 George Polya/Polya Gyorgy 32 Talcott Parsons 33 Flamenco guitarist 34 Laurens Van der Post 35 Van Heflin (b, Emmett Evan Heflin, Jr) 36 Archie Moore 37 Lew Archer who became "Harper" on film 38 Hans-Joachim Marseille 39 Rob Petrie 40 Jamaica 41 Genie Awards 42 Nizari Ismaili Shia Muslims (he is His Highness Aga Khan IV (1957-) 43 Musica Elettronica Viva 44 Exophthalmos 45 Tenors 46 Hwang Jang-Lee or Wong Cheng Lee 47 Ted Nugent (Theodore Anthony Nugent) 48 Majida El Roumi 49 Steve Buscemi 50 Vivendi SA (formerly Vivendi Universal) 51 (Celebrity) chef 52 Sergei (Viktorovich) Federov 53 Franz Ferdinand 54 Jiu-Jitsu 55 Peter Stringer 56 Evanescence 57 Taylor Swift 58 Donatello (Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi) 59 Konrad Gessner 60 August Senoa 61 St Herman of Alaska 62 Christian Friedrich Hebbel 63 "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" 64 Horace Greeley 65 Clark Gable 66 e e cummings 67 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey 68 Karl Mannheim 69 Sigmund Freud 70 G.E. Moore (Gordon Edward) 71 Soto Zen 72 Florence Nightingale 73 102 74 Theda Bara (b. Theodosia Burr Goodman) 75 "The Boston Strangler" (Albert DeSalvo, maybe) 76 Bahamas 77 The Lovin' Spoonful 78 Bahamas 79 Vanessa Duries 80 Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson) 81 Wassily Kandinsky 82 Nichita Stanescu (b. Nichita Hristea Stanescu) 83 Gustave Le Bon 84 Al-Biruni or Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni or Abu Rayhan Biruni 85 Johannes Trithemius (from the town of Trittenheim) 86 Manuel I 87 Frederick II 88 Samuel Johnson 89 The Munich School 90 The Rhythm Boys 91 St. Lucy or St. Lucia 92 Tellus or Terra Mater 93 Henry Green 94 Cluj or Cluj-Napoca (3rd largest city in Romania) 95 The Nilgiri 96 Agni Yoga Society (Agni meaning "fire" as well as the name of fire-god in the Vedic pantheon) 97 Johnny Weissmuller 98 Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius 99 (22-year-old Bergen-Belsen Nazi guard) Irma Grese 100 Jay Greenberg
posted by That Quiz Guy at 4:25 AM
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