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an answer I require
Jon Carroll's annual Xmas quiz and the answers.
I knew the simple geographical questions, 3, 12, and 13, off the top of my head. (Bolivians are likely to steam at being called "poor baby" for lacking a seacoast; they had one until they lost it in a war with Chile in the late 19th century.) Also 15, because I read about it in the news.
It took a moment to think through it in my head, but I got both parts of 9. It's a pity that Carroll probably didn't have the space to discuss a couple of near misses: if John C. Calhoun hadn't resigned two months before the end of his term to take a Senate seat (this was part of the answer to a question in last year's quiz), he would have been the second of two consecutive full-two-term Vice Presidents along with his eminently forgettable predecessor, Daniel D. Tompkins, in 1817-33. Almost as near a miss was the tiny part of FDR's fourth term that Harry Truman didn't serve as President, which along with Ike's two-term presidential service made them a near miss in 1945-61. Quick: what's the greatest number of Presidents & VPs that we've had during one standard four-year term of national office, and when was it?
I'm terrible with word-manipulation questions, but I already knew the first part of the answer to 2. Also knew parts but not all of 6 and 7; I did not know Edwina's middle names! Suddenly remembered, incorrectly (I had "Noonan" rather than "Noone"), the answer to 5 several hours after reading the question.
At one time I might have known 10, but not now. I do classical music but not opera; they really are separate fields of knowledge (and of appreciation). Nevertheless I am embarrassed at almost getting a pop music question but not this.
Guessed correctly on 8, incorrectly on 16.
11 was a stumper. I noticed that each city was in a different county, but not what they all had. I was, in any case, looking for something they had in common that other California cities don't. If it's not a complete list within its field, then "they're towns in California" (Boonville isn't an incorporated city) is a perfectly legitimate answer. The best I could come up for something distinctive was that three of the cities have had their names used as brand names or in advertising slogans.
No idea on 1, 4, or 14. Delaney & Bonnie may be "reasonably well-known" but not to me. And not only does the name Vinko Bogataj also mean nothing to me even after the answer is explained, I'm not that confident on who Muhammad Ali is, either. A boxer, I think, unless he's the 19th-century ruler of Egypt; the question doesn't make clear which one is meant.
I knew the simple geographical questions, 3, 12, and 13, off the top of my head. (Bolivians are likely to steam at being called "poor baby" for lacking a seacoast; they had one until they lost it in a war with Chile in the late 19th century.) Also 15, because I read about it in the news.
It took a moment to think through it in my head, but I got both parts of 9. It's a pity that Carroll probably didn't have the space to discuss a couple of near misses: if John C. Calhoun hadn't resigned two months before the end of his term to take a Senate seat (this was part of the answer to a question in last year's quiz), he would have been the second of two consecutive full-two-term Vice Presidents along with his eminently forgettable predecessor, Daniel D. Tompkins, in 1817-33. Almost as near a miss was the tiny part of FDR's fourth term that Harry Truman didn't serve as President, which along with Ike's two-term presidential service made them a near miss in 1945-61. Quick: what's the greatest number of Presidents & VPs that we've had during one standard four-year term of national office, and when was it?
I'm terrible with word-manipulation questions, but I already knew the first part of the answer to 2. Also knew parts but not all of 6 and 7; I did not know Edwina's middle names! Suddenly remembered, incorrectly (I had "Noonan" rather than "Noone"), the answer to 5 several hours after reading the question.
At one time I might have known 10, but not now. I do classical music but not opera; they really are separate fields of knowledge (and of appreciation). Nevertheless I am embarrassed at almost getting a pop music question but not this.
Guessed correctly on 8, incorrectly on 16.
11 was a stumper. I noticed that each city was in a different county, but not what they all had. I was, in any case, looking for something they had in common that other California cities don't. If it's not a complete list within its field, then "they're towns in California" (Boonville isn't an incorporated city) is a perfectly legitimate answer. The best I could come up for something distinctive was that three of the cities have had their names used as brand names or in advertising slogans.
No idea on 1, 4, or 14. Delaney & Bonnie may be "reasonably well-known" but not to me. And not only does the name Vinko Bogataj also mean nothing to me even after the answer is explained, I'm not that confident on who Muhammad Ali is, either. A boxer, I think, unless he's the 19th-century ruler of Egypt; the question doesn't make clear which one is meant.
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- In Great Britain, Pinkerton is F.B. Pinkerton, not B. F. I believe this is because B.F. = bloody fool or something like that.
- The ship is called the Abramo Lincoln in the libretto.
- The opera was revised a couple of times before settling into the currently-performed version, but NY City Opera has performed the first version in a few seasons.
- The very first performance, in Brescia in 1906, was scandalous, because the soprano singing Cio-Cio-San, Rosina Storchio, was know to have had an affair and an out-of-wedlock child with Arturo Toscanini. So the appearance of Trouble in the last act resulted in cries of "Il piccolo Toscanini!" from the audience.
- A famous 20th century film and theater personage's first theatrical appearance was as Trouble. Who was this?
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