Mix Me Up No 10 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Black Death

The Black Death was at its most savage in the Middle Ages and killed up to sixty percent of the population of Europe. And why would scientists wish to reconstruct the DNA of this terrible disease? Because they're afraid, should there be a reoccurrence of it, that the plague will be resistant to modern drugs.

This has already happened in one case in Madagascar in 1995. If you thought the plague had died out completely, you'd be as wrong as I was. From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, ten million people died in India alone from the Black Death. Even more frightening, in 1993, over three hundred cases of the plague were recorded in the United States.

Answer: Breasts

Mata Hari (1864-1917) was born in Holland. After an unsuccessful early marriage, she left her bullying husband. By 1905 she was working as an exotic dancer, a role that would earn her international fame. Along the way she also became a much sought-after courtesan and mistress of many high ranking men in several countries.

It was this which brought her under suspicion. The French needed a scapegoat to divert attention away from other issues. Therefore, despite her claims of innocence, Mata Hari was executed on 15 October 1917. Sixty-eight years later, when secret files on her were opened, it was revealed that she was indeed innocent of the charges of spying. Beautiful and exotic, this fascinating woman never allowed herself to be photographed without wearing some sort of pretty and brief top.

This was because of her shyness about the size of her breasts. They just look like normal old breasts to me, but her feet - now they were a different matter entirely. They were really quite startlingly large.

Answer: Marked sticks used to record number and quantities

Notches marked along the length of pieces of wood, ivory or bones etc have been found by archeologists in excavations dating back thousands of years. These sticks were used by mankind to mark down various amounts or dates that needed recording. They were still being used in England's Parliament in 1826 but fast growing out of style. By 1834, a pile of old tally sticks no longer being used by the Treasury there were ordered to be destroyed. The fire that was lit in a stove on the premises led to the Houses of Parliament being destroyed as well when the fire got out of control. The following is a description from that period of one use for tally sticks:

"The manner of cutting is as follows. At the top of the tally a cut is made, the thickness of the palm of the hand, to represent a thousand pounds; then a hundred pounds by a cut the breadth of a thumb; twenty pounds the breadth of the little finger; a single pound the width of a swollen barleycorn; a shilling rather narrower than a penny is marked by a single cut without removing any wood".

Answer: The first person to be executed by guillotine

After he was finally caught, long time criminal Pelletier was to be executed for various crimes he had carried out. However, he had to wait in jail for three months before the sentence could be carried out. This was because France's National Assembly took that long to pass legislation making death by the new state of the art guillotine legal. Public executions were seen as great entertainment by the masses in many countries in those days. Tickets were sold for the best seats, mementos and food were sold as well, mothers brought their children along for the fun - and so on.

This new form of execution displeased the crowd on that day though, because it was too quick. They preferred the older and slower forms of execution instead and registered their disapproval by shouting "Bring back our wooden gallows!" Believe it or not, death by guillotine remained France's official lights out method of execution until 1981. Amputated frogs, squashed snails, guillotined heads - I really must give France a miss as a vacation spot.

Answer: SpongeBob SquarePants

It's hard to believe people with scientific minds could name a newly discovered fungi after that idiotic cartoon character, but that's unfortunately the case. S.Squarepantsii is a member of the Boletaceae branch of mushrooms and considered safe for human consumption.

It was found in Malaysia and so named because of its resemblance to SpongeBob SquarePants. I tremble for the future of the scientific community.

Answer: Leisure

Neulinger (1924-1991) was a Professor of Psychology in New York. His concept of a society based on leisure required two strands. The first was that human beings would perceive they were free citizens - and with the freedom to choose any form of leisure they wished. If either of these two concepts weren't present, then it would be considered non-leisure.

His future world would also be a place where nobody would have to work for a living. If one chose to work however, it would be work of their choice.

Therefore that work would be considered an enjoyable form of leisure. It sounds ideal in theory. I imagine though that more people than one would think would choose to work at a job they enjoyed, rather than kicking around without any real goals in mind.

Answer: Alfonso the Wise

Every so often a great ruler comes along. Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284), also known as Alfonso the Wise, was one such ruler. He headed his country from 1252 until his death. His skills included astronomy, writing, lawmaking, diplomacy and economics.

In addition to this he was a fine and brave warrior. He made this dangerous remark when studying Ptolemy's design of the universe. Now that was really asking for it in such a religious time and in such a religious country. He was immediately penalised by the church until he retracted his statements.

He eventually did so, but only after several of his assistants were killed by a bolt of lightning. Wow! Was that a bolt from the blue - or a bolt from the Creator? After all, nobody likes a critic.

Answer: Orgasmic ability

Excuse me while I snort. This peculiar study was carried out by one Stuart Brodie from the University of West Scotland. His findings were that "female gait reflects orgasmic ability". What piffle. But just in case: all together now, girls, left, right, left, right. Get your gait straight up there in the front!

Answer: Whiskey on the rocks

Whiskey class was the name given to this class of submarine by the west. This was because the Soviet Union operated under such secrecy that the submarine's correct name was not known to the outside world. Therefore, a flippant west nicknamed them accordingly.

The Soviet submarine was in Swedish territorial waters near their main naval base at the time it ran aground. It wasn't supposed to be there at all, and this created an international incident. The Soviets sent a fleet of ships to recover their vessel, but the fleet foolishly sailed way too close to Swedish territorial waters. Sweden immediately went into war mode. Fortunately this tense situation resolved itself when the Soviet fleet backed off. And people wonder why the Baby Boomers are nervous wrecks.

These are the sorts of incidents we constantly lived with.

Answer: In shipping containers

The Christchurch earthquake struck on 22nd February 2011. It measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. This quake followed another larger one that had occurred six months earlier in the same area. Massive damage was experienced in the second earthquake to buildings that were already weakened by the first quake and which were still awaiting repairs. Sadly, the beautiful Christchurch cathedral was one of the causalities of New Zealand's second quake.

The shipping containers were only a temporary measure of course, and not in preparation for a quick getaway should there be another national disaster. Tragedy struck again in 2011 when Christchurch experienced a second series of quakes in December of that year.