All Things Red Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kazakhstan

"The Red Flag" is traditionally sung at the close of the annual Labour Party conferences in Britain. When he was elected as party leader in 2010, Ed Milliband was immediately dubbed "Red Ed" by the media, who assumed (rightly, as it has turned out) that he would move the party leftwards out of the centre ground it had occupied successfully during the Blair years.

The flag of the Republic of Kazakhstan (pictured) was adopted in 1992 to replace the flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. That previous flag was essentially the red Soviet 'hammer and sickle' flag with a pale blue horizontal stripe near the bottom.

The new Kazakh flag has a pale blue background, a colour of religious significance for the Turkic people. In the centre of the flag is a 32-ray golden sun above a golden steppe eagle. Along the hoist edge of the flag is a golden ornamental pattern known as 'the horns of the ram'. Flags of Kazzkh tribes have for centuries featured eagles on them to represent freedom. The other three options all have at least some red in their flags.

Answer: Prince

The song was "Little Red Corvette". The single reached number six in the Billboard 100 chart and number two in the UK singles chart in 1983. Just a year later, Prince (real name Prince Roger Nelson) would top the U.S. chart with consecutive singles, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" from his next album. Perhaps remarkably, though, the song which has become the artist's signature song, the title track from the "Purple Rain" album, reached only number two in the U.S. and stalled at number 16 in the U.K. The Corvette pictured in the photograph is a 1953 C1, the very first Chevrolet Corvette made.

The corvette was dubbed "America's Sports Car".

Answer: Lancashire

The Wars of the Roses, fought sporadically between 1455 and 1487, pitted the two branches of the Royal House of Plantagenet, Lancashire and Yorkshire, against each other. Victory went to the red rose of Lancaster in the form of Henry Tudor, whose victory over the last Yorkist king, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth Field ushered in 120 years of Tudor rule. Curiously, when he became king, as Henry VII then married the daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, thus re-uniting the two branches of the family once again. It really makes you wonder why they bothered, doesn't it?

The traditional emblem of Yorkshire is, of course, the white rose. The red poppy is the emblem of Norfolk (and Essex), whilst the cowslip is the emblem of Worcestershire (as well as Surrey and Northamptonshire).

Answer: Ten Days That Shook the World

Sorry about the photograph, but an earthquake was the best visual representation of 'shaking the world' that I could come up with. Not only that, but the photograph taken during the 1906 San Francisco mega-earthquake is also worth a viewing. Warren Beatty starred as John Reed (shame about that extra 'e') upon whose book, "Ten Days That Shook the World", the film was based.

The all-star cast also included Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and M. Emmet Walsh. In addition to Stapleton, who won, Beatty, Keaton and Nicholson were all nominated for Oscars in their respective acting categories -- the last time that a film was nominated for all four acting awards in over 30 years (until 2012). Beatty also won the Best Director Oscar.

Answer: Red Admiral

"Admiral of the Red" was, at one time, the Royal Navy's highest rank, although the rank has since been re-named as Admiral of the Fleet.

Our winged friend, 'Vanessa atalanta', is a colorful butterfly found in temperate Europe, Asia and North America and commonly called a Red Admiral.

He has two close relative: 'Vanessa gonerilla', commonly called the New Zealand Red Admiral and also known by a Mâori name, 'kahukura', meaning "red cloud"; 'Vanessa indica', known as either the Asian Admiral or the Indian Red Admiral. You can probably work out where in the world each of these other sub-species can be found.
The Indian sub-species is also closely related to the similar-looking 'Vanessa cardui' (aka "Painted Lady" or "Cosmopolitan"). This is a migratory species and can therefore sometimes be seen in temperate zones, when it is often confused for a Red Admiral.

Answer: Red Handed

The winner provides a whole host of "Red Trivia" for us... Red Handed was bred in New Zealand in 1962. His mother was a Kiwi dam named Red Might, who was out of a British dam called Red Mars. (Just a couple more -- her dam was Irish-born Red Garter, whose dam was Red Leg, born in Britain way back in 1923.)

Poor old Red Handed didn't get off to the best of starts as he was born with a club foot and was kicked in the head by another horse as a yearling, giving him a paralyzed ear. It is no wonder, then, that he was sold for a relative song: just 870 guineas.

Come the 1967 Melbourne Cup, he was leading down the final straight under jockey Roy Higgins but was overtaken by, yes, wait for it, Red Crest (enough, already, they cried) before battling back to win. This victory was the third consecutive Melbourne Cup win for trainer Bart Cummings who, in 2008, won the race for a record twelfth time.

Of the alternatives, most people will remember the heroic Red Rum, who won the Grand National an amazing three times, in 1973, 1974 and 1977. Red Alligator won in 1968, ridden by Brian Fletcher who was also on board for Red Rum's first two triumphs. Our final 'Red Winner' was the 33/1 outsider Red Marauder, who was ridden to victory in the 2001 National by Richard Guest.

Answer: Kate Bush

Released in November 1993, "Red Shoes" was the seventh studio album from English singer/musician Kate Bush. Despite reaching number two on the UK album chart, this was Bush's last album before she took a 12-year break from the music industry. Three singles were released from the album, with "Rubberband Girl" reaching number 12 in the UK singles chart.

The 1948 film "The Red Shoes" was based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairly tale of the same name. The film starred internationally renowned British ballet dancer Moira Shearer as Victoria Page. In 1950, Shearer married journalist and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy, and thus later becoming Lady Kennedy. Shearer hosted the 1972 Eurovision Song Contests when it was held in Edinburgh.

Of the alternatives, British rock band T'Pau released "Red", their fourth studio album in 1998. "Red" was also the title of country-pop singer Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, released in 2012. The title track also reached number two in the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart when it was released as a single in 2013. Progressive rock band King Crimson's seventh studio album was also called "Red". Released in 1974, it was the band's final studio recording of the 1970s.

Answer: Red-eyed Tree Frog

This colorful creature has a vibrant green body with yellow and blue vertical stripes on its sides, with red or orange feet and toes. It's most distinctive characteristic, though, are the deep red eyes with narrow vertical pupils and these earn him his name, the red-eyed tree frog.

Excellent jumpers, they can leap from one tree to another quite easily. They are not poisonous, though, and rely on camouflage to protect themselves: they close their eyes, cover their sides with their legs and tuck their feet underneath themselves and virtually blend right into whatever leaf or branch they are lying on.

Answer: Detroit Red Wings

Founded in 1926 as the Detroit Cougars, the team played four seasons under that name before becoming the Detroit Falcons in 1930 and, finally, the Detroit Red Wings in 1932. They won their first Stanley Cup in the 1935-36 season and repeated the following year. After winning again in 1942, 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955, the franchise then endured a lean spell of more than four decades without a championship. Indeed, it would not be until 1988 that they would even win their division again. The Stanley Cup again returned to Detroit in 1997, and they quickly added further titles in 1998, 2002 and 2008. With eleven championship wins, the Detroit Red Wings are comfortably the most successful of the "Red Teams" in the major U.S. sports.

Fans of the Boston Red Sox went through one of the longest streaks imaginable without a championship -- 86 years, Having won five World Series titles between 1903 and 1918, the Sox were then smitten with "The Curse of the Bambino" after selling Babe Ruth to the hated Yankees. Not until 2004, when the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 in the 100th anniversary World Series was the curse put to rest. Further titles in 2007 and 2013 brought the franchise total to eight.
The Cincinnati Reds were known as "The Big Red Machine" in the days of Pete Rose and Johnny Bench and manager Sparky Anderson in the early 1970s. Founded in 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were baseball's first all-professional team. Titles, though, have been few and far between: 1919, 1940, 1975, 1976 and 1990 are the only five World Series victories for the men from southern Ohio.

Of course, any NFL team is at a distinct disadvantage as the first Superbowl was only held in 1965. The Washington Redskins are actually one of the league's more successful franchises, with three titles: they beat the Dolphins to win Superbowl XVII at the end of the 1982 season, routed the Broncos in Superbowl XXII, and handed the Bills their third consecutive Superbowl loss at the end of the 1991 season. In the 25 years since that third title, though, the Redskins have not returned to the Superbowl and have only won their division twice, in 1999 and 2012.

Answer: Nine of Diamonds

There are numerous reasons given as to why the nine of diamonds is known as the Curse (or Scourge) of Scotland. One story has it that the Duke of Cumberland scribbled the order that "no quarter should be given" on the nine of diamonds prior to the Battle of Culloden. Another has it that the Earl of Starr somehow authorized the Glencoe Massacre using the nine of diamonds. A third reason is that the Scottish people were once taxed to replace nine diamonds stolen from the Crown of Scotland.
The six of hearts is known as "Grace's Card". This too, is because of a message (this one to King James II of England) was written on the six of hearts. (One has to wonder, but didn't they have ordinary paper in those days?)

The king of hearts is known as "Charlemagne" or "Charles". It is also sometimes called "The Suicide King" because he appears to be sticking the sword into his own head. The king of hearts is also the only king lacking a mustache.
The jack of diamonds is sometimes known as "Hector", which dates back the days when the picture cards in French decks were all said represent historical or mythological personage. Hector in this case refers to the mythological hero of the "Iliad". It is also sometimes known as "Bryce Courtenay", after the South African author, whose last novel was entitled "Jack of Diamonds".