Here Comes the Sun Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sam Phillips

Sam Phillips has been honoured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and the Blues Hall of Fame. To some degree this reflects the fact that these musical genres were not as divergent then as they are now, but even after taking that into consideration, one still realizes that Sam Phillips was a towering figure who really made a difference in the history of popular music.

Sam Peckinpah was a Hollywood movie producer of the same era. Sam Maguire was an Irish activist for whom the Sam Maguire cup in Gaelic football is named. Sam Worthington is an Australian actor.

Answer: watts per square metre

"Solar constant" is something of a misnomer -- it actually fluctuates quite a bit. There are long-term fluctuations related to the sun's 11-year cycle, and also short-term fluctuations. 1366 watts/metre^2 is an average value.

Answer: Nationalist Party

The Nationalist Party was also known as the Kuomintang. If you answered "Communist Party," you're pretty close to correct. (Not close enough for 10 points, though..:-) In the last few years before his death, Sun was working on merging the Nationalist Party with the Communist Party, and the Communists had actively begun re-organizing the Kuomintang. The Kuomintang had originally advocated an American-style federal republic, but Sun's political ideas became distinctly more socialistic as time went on. After Sun's death, Chiang Kai-shek expelled the communists, and the Kuomintang moved to the political "right," resulting in civil war with the communists.

Sun Yat-sen is revered both in Communist China and in Nationalist China (Taiwan). It is interesting to speculate what might have happened if he had lived longer. Perhaps China might never have become partitioned.

Answer: London

The Sun is sold everywhere in Great Britain as well as Ireland. Its printing facilities have been decentralized to several different towns, but the editorial headquarters remains in Wapping, a district of London. With a paid circulation over 3 million and an estimated readership of almost 8 million, it is the worlds leading newspaper.

Of the wrong answers, only Adelaide has any significance: it was the original home of Rupert Murdoch's NEWS Corporation, which indirectly owns the Sun.

Answer: January

The Earth's orbit is close to circular, but like all orbits it is not a true circle but an ellipse. It therefore has a point of closest approach (periapsis or perihelion) and a point of greatest distance (apapsis or apohelion.)

Answer: Amun

Amun (the "hidden one") was originally just the elemental god of wind. However, he had the good fortune to be the patron of the city of Thebes, and as Thebes became more powerful Amun did also. When the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt and the eighteenth dynasty rose to power, Amun reached his zenith. He was first merged with the fertility god Min, becoming Amun-Min, and then with the sun god Ra, becoming Amun-Ra.

Ra was the dominant Egyptian sun god until being absorbed by Amun. Besides being god of the mid-day sun, he was also king of the gods and creator of mankind.

Aten was the god of the visible sun disc. Seen as the "house where Ra lives," Aten was definitely a minor deity except during the reign of Akhnaten, who briefly elevated Aten to cheif god, and even tried to make him the only god.

Nefertum was the god of the sunrise, and the son of Atum. Atum had been the first sun god and originally father of all the gods, but was eventually demoted to being god of the sunset. Horus, god of the sky, was also sometimes considered the god of the sun. Auf, Fetket, Mehen, and Montu were also minor sun gods, bringing the total to ten different gods who were worshipped as the sun at one time or another in Egypt.

Answer: Java

Java marked a turning point for SUN Microsystems. Although it has always been involved in many different areas of both software and hardware, before Java, the bulk of SUN's income came from making workstations and other high-end hardware. Since Java, it has become steadily more entrenched in software, especially consumer-level software that did not previously form a big part of its operations.

Answer: Louis XIV

Louis XIV ruled France from 1643 to 1715. The 72-year reign was the longest of any French monarch and one of the most spectacular. France gained territory, and became the dominant power in Europe not only politically but also culturally. For all these reasons Louis was called "the Sun King" or "the Grand Monarch."

While the power and prestige of the French crown grew, the underlying economy suffered. Louis' absolutist government was highly centralised and bureaucratic, levying high taxes and strictly regulating economic life. The damage done by this burden did not become apparant until after his reign.

Answer: Wu

Helu was king of Wu during Sun Tzu's life (approximately 500 BC.) He hired Sun Tzu as his military advisor, and with his advice was able to defeat the Kingdom of Chu. Wu also defeated the kingdom of Yue, although not until long after Sun was gone. The Zhou dynasty were the nominal overlords of China during this period, although by this time they had no real power.

There is a kingdom called the Eastern Wu which appeared during the Three Kingdoms period (around 300 AD.) The similarity in names is coincidental, and there is no geographical or historical link between the 5th century BC Kingdom of Wu and the 3rd century AD Kingdom of Wu. Interestingly, what little connection there is may be provided by Sun Tzu himself: Sun Quan, founder of the Eastern Wu, was considered a descendant of Sun Tzu.

Answer: John

John Lennon was still recovering from his injuries while "Here Comes the Sun" was being recorded. George Harrison, who wrote the song, played not only acoustic guitar but also the Moog synthesizer; Paul and Ringo were on their usual instruments. "Here Comes the Sun" is one of the most cheerful songs ever recorded by the Beatles, and certainly the most cheerful song written by the often-melancholy Harrison.