It's More Than You Think Trivia Quiz

Answer: 5.28 inches

The rules of golf specify that the diameter of a golf ball not be less than 1.68 inches (42.67mm). By multiplying this number by pi we get 5.28 inches, so in fact a roll is much longer than than the average player believes.

Answer: 37,000 feet

A Rüppell's Griffon vulture collided with a commercial aircraft at 37,000 feet over Abijan, Ivory Coast, in western Africa. The pilot noted the altitude as the impact caused the one of the engines to fail. After landing safely, the remains of the bird were found. These were sufficient to allow the bird to be identified as G. rueppellii by comparing the feathers with specimens held in U.S. National Museum of Natural History. It is unusual for these vultures to be seen over 20,000 feet.

Answer: Mumbai

The 27 storey home was built for the family of Mukesh Amban, India's richest man, in Antilla, Mumbai at a cost of over a billion dollars, making it by far the most expensive in the world. Among its amazing features are three helipads, a six storey garage and a series of floating gardens.

In spite of its lavish fittings, expensive artworks, theatres, gynasiums, pools and other facilities the family has not moved in. It is rumoured that they believe that it does not conform to the principles of vastu shastra, Indian feng shui, and it they live there they will have bad luck.

Answer: Switzerland

In February, 2011, at St Gallen in Switzerland, Peter Colat achieved this incredible time, beating the previous record, held by the Italian, Nicola Putignano, by 19 seconds. Colat said that he did the first twelve minutes without effort. Special techniques are used to achieve these times. First the diver hyperventilates, inhaling 100% oxygen, for as much as ten minutes to decrease the level of carbon dioxide in his blood.

It is carbon dioxide that triggers the impulse to inhale. Then he must plunge into a tank of cold water which sets off the 'diving reflex' which directs circulation to the heart and the brain allowing oxygen to be conserved.

It is not known what long term effects that this behaviour has on the brain.

Answer: Sixty-nine

The Guinness Book of World Records gives the record to the un-named wife of Feodor Vassilyev, a Russian peasant, who lived from 1707 to 1782. She supposedly had 69 children including 16 sets of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets for a total of twenty seven births. This information was published in journals in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It is known that he had a second wife and this may explain the unbelievable number. Personally, I think he must have had several wives.

Answer: Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie wrote sixty six mystery novels and 15 books of short stories, the most popular of these featuring Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. She also wrote romances under the pen-name Mary Westmacott. Her plays are still very popular. "The Mousetrap" opened in the West End of London in 1952 and has been running continuously since. Her books have been made into films, television series and even video games.

The only English writer to approach her sales figues is William Shakespeare.

Answer: Sixteen

In a low earth orbit the occupants of a manned satellite will see the sun rise and set every 90 minutes. This lack of a normal day/night cycle has an unsettling effect on the crew. The ground adminstration ensures that they keep to a twenty-four hour cycle which is aligned to GMT, about halfway between Houston and Moscow time.

Answer: Soviet Union

There are various estimates of how many Soviet citizens were killed during WWII, but the number was certainly over 20 million. Wikipedia gives the following totals:

Troops 8,800,000 to 10,700,000
Civilians 12,700,000 to 14,600,000
Total 23,400,000

This means that between 1939 and 1945 the population was reduced by 13.9%

The population of Poland was reduced by approximately five million, which was over 16% of the pre-war population. Most of those were civilians. This was the greatest percentage loss suffered by any country.

Answer: Portugal

Garrett McNamara surfed a record-breaking giant wave of 78 feet in the Nazare Canyon off Portugal. Monster waves are common there as the 1,000ft deep and three-mile-wide underwater canyon, 105 miles long, acts likes a funnel for incoming Atlantic swells and creates huge waves. Andrew Cotton, a Devon surfer, used a jetski to tow him into the massive swell and bring him back to shore.

Answer: Valeri Polyakov

Valeri Polyakov spent 437.7 days (14 months) on the Mir Space Station between 8th January, 1994 and 22nd March, 1995. That's a long time to go without a shower! He orbited the earth over 7,000 times and traveled 400,000,000 km.
Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. He completed one orbit, taking 89.3 minutes. Eugene Cernan was one of the three fastest men in space when the Apollo 10 reached 28,547 statute miles (45,941 kilometers) per hour. Nikita Krushev was the Soviet Premier at the time when the USSR initiated space flight.