Mad Quiz and Answers

Quiz I

1. Which sort of poisoning of hat-maker is a popular explanation of the phrase, "Mad as a hatter"?
2. Which Hollywood film actress, a star from the late 1930s to the 1950s, was famous for her inventions which included technology that paved the way for modern Wi-Fi?
3. Native to the Caribbean, what sort of animal is the mountain chicken?
4. Singer Johnny Cash had an addiction to painkillers after being attacked by which sort of animal that he kept on his farm?
5. Which breakfast food dish was the working title of the Beatles' song Yesterday?
6. Which phrase does Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, have inscribed on his tombstone?
7. What is fukalite?
8. 1 is 189, 2 is 33, 3 is 80; what are we talking about?
9. What links the sports of fishing, hockey, badminton, discus and the hammer?
10. What is a Turdus maximus?
11. In the film world, which fictional character had the last name 'Rockatansky'?
12. After which disease did fun loving acting legend Errol Flynn name his house?
13. Which event was won by the City of London Police team at the 1908 London Summer Olympics?
14. What seasonal name do the Chinese put before the word 'festival' to call the celebration we know as Chinese New Year?
15. How many whacks did Lizzie Borden give her father?
16. The term "computer bug" gets its name from what sort of insect found causing an error inside Grace Hooper's electromechanical computer in 1946?
17. The Tent is an artwork created by Tracey Emin bearing 102 names stitched to its inside walls - what are the significance of these name?
18. What is a stinking bishop?

Answers:

1. Mercury poisoning (it was used in the production of hats)
2. Hedy Lamarr
3. Frog
4. An ostrich
5. Scrambled Eggs
6. That's All Folks
7. It's a mineral
8. Motorway lengths, i.e. M1 is 189 miles long.
9. They all use nets but have no balls
10. It's a species of bird (blackbird found in the Himalayas)
11. Mad Max
12. Cirrhosis. It was named 'Cirrhosis by the Sea'.
13. Tug-of-War
14. Spring Festival
15. 41 whacks
16. A moth
17. All the names of the people she had slept with up to the time of its creation in 1995
18. It's a type of cheese

Quiz II

1. During World War II what nickname was given to the British women who worked felling trees and in sawmills?
2. Which is the longest British month?
3. Which artist once said: "There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad."?
4. Which swimming stroke did Captain Matthew Webb use to become the first recorded person to swim the English Channel in 1875?
5. What is Lord Hereford's Knob?
6. General Custer and native American war leader Crazy Horse shared the same nickname as children because of their hair; what was the nickname?
7. By UK law, ice cream vans are banned from playing their tunes after which time: (a)7pm, (b)8pm, or (c)9pm?
8. Complete the name of the post-punk band: "Half Man Half..."?
9. Which actor and TV personality, often just referred to by just his last name, was married to Australian actress Beatrice Norbury from 1971 to 1974?
10. Which actor of eleven Carry On Films, was also nominated for an Academy Award for writing the lyrics to the song 'Georgy Girl'?
11. The Nutty Narrows Bridge in Washington, USA, is a bridge for the safety and protection of what?
12. "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley", is a funny quote from which film?
13. Which word describing leggings that are made to look like skin-tight denim jeans entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011?
14. Who came up with the fun advertising slogans 'Naughty but Nice' for cream cakes and 'That'll do nicely' for American Express? (Hint: the answer is a person not a company)
15. A 'snood' is an erectile, funny looking fleshy protuberance on the head of which animal?
16. What fun name was originally proposed in an online poll to name the research vessel that was eventually called RRS Sir David Attenborough?

Answers:

1. Lumberjills
2. October (31 days and 1 hour because the clocks go back)
3. Salvador Dali
4. Breaststroke
5. A mountain (in south-east Wales)





6. Curly
7. 7pm
8. Biscuit (Half Man Half Biscuit)
9. Christopher Biggins
10. Jim Dale
11. Squirrels
12. Airplane!
13. Jeggings
14. Salman Rushdie (whilst working as an adverting copywriter)
15. A turkey
16. Boaty McBoatface