You're So Spruce, Bruce! Trivia Quiz

Answer: The town of Brieux in Normandy

After years of shifting his allegiance between the Scottish earls and the English king Edward I, Robert the Bruce declared himself unambiguously for Scottish independence in 1306 and waged guerrilla war against English armies in Scotland for eight years until his decisive victory at Bannockburn. The story is told that - demoralised after an early defeat, and fled to the Irish island of Rathlin - he watched a spider in a cave refusing to admit defeat, and so committed himself to never giving up. Although Robert had Gaelic lineage on his mother's side, his father's family were from a Lowland Scottish and Norman heritage, which traced its roots to the town of Brieux in northern France.

The Scottish Gaelic words for 'spider', by the way, are 'damhan-allaidh' and 'figheadair'.

Answer: Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey plays TV reporter Bruce Nolan who thinks God (played by Morgan Freeman) isn't doing such a good job. So God gives Bruce some of his powers to try out, and of course before long Bruce realises that playing God isn't so easy after all. In the film, God contacts Bruce by pager, but a real phone number was inadvertently used in the script, resulting in hundreds of phone calls later being made by those who'd seen the film, looking for God. Among the many unfortunate recipients of these calls was the pastor of a church in North Carolina, called - you've guessed it - Bruce!

Answer: Jaws (1975)

In fact, three mechanical sharks were built for the film, whose location shots took place at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The sharks were collectively named Bruce after director Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Raimer. However, problems with the shark hydraulics, due to damage caused by corrosive salt water, resulted in the shark being seen less in the finished film than originally intended, and contributed to the nickname given to the film by the production crew - 'Flaws'.

Answer: University of Woolloomooloo

The four Bruces were played by Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman and John Cleese, with Terry Jones as the Pommie professor Michael (who they decided to call Bruce to avoid confusion!). Dressed in stereotypical khaki 'Outback' style, the academics convene a faculty meeting which rehearses the faculty rules - mainly "no pooftahs!" - before adjourning to "get some Sheilas". In the sketch, Eric Idle holds a branch of golden wattle (Australia's floral emblem) and recites:

"This here's the wattle,
The emblem of our land,
You can stick it in a bottle,
You can hold it in your hand.
Amen!"

Answer: Eric Bana

The character of Dr. Bruce Banner, who metamorphises into the Incredible Hulk, has received countless makeovers and reconstructions since first appearing as the creation of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in a 1962 Marvel Comic - most famously perhaps in the TV cult series with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. Ang Lee's film starring Eric Bana received a generally poor response from critics and the public, leading to another Marvel Studios film, 'The Incredible Hulk' (2008) starring Edward Norton.

Hugh Jackman is no stranger either to mutant transformation, having metamorphised into Wolverine in the 'X-Men' film series beginning in 2000, as well as into a werewolf in 'Van Helsing' (2004). Heath Ledger is perhaps best known for one of his last film roles alongside another Bruce, when he played The Joker, the nemesis of millionaire crime-fighting playboy Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego Batman in 'The Dark Knight' (2008).

Answer: Bruce Woodley

Bruce Woodley co-wrote 'I Am Australian' with Dobe Newton of 'The Bushwackers' in 1987, and later added two new verses in memory of the 173 people who died in the 'Black Saturday' bushfires of 2009. The song begins:

"I came from the dream time, from the dusty red soil plains,
I am the ancient heart - the keeper of the flame,
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come,
For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.
We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
We share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian."

Bruce Hornsby is an American singer who at one time was associated with the group 'Grateful Dead'. Bruce Dickinson is best known as the British vocalist of heavy metal band 'Iron Maiden'. And Bruce Springsteen is ... well ... The Boss!

Answer: Beauty salon stylist

It's hard to see how a song so blatantly poking fun at an 'effeminate' gay man could be released and reach the US Billboard Hot 100 these days, although it did just that in 1969. In the Jimmy Dean song, Big John "stood six foot six and weighed two forty-five" and "you didn't give no lip to Big John", but Big Bad Bruce weighs only "one-o five, narrow at the shoulders, narrow in the hips." Big John holds up the immense weight of a collapsed beam until his workmates can flee the mineshaft, and then he perishes. Big Bruce however dashes into the flames caused by a faulty hairdryer, to retrieve his purse "with a squeal and a shout", and is seen no more. Just in case anyone has missed the joke, the song ends: "You might say this is a big kind o' fairy tale." Okay, got that.

Answer: Bruce

Born in Melbourne, Stanley Bruce served as Prime Minister between 1923 to 1929, and was the first - and thought to be the only - Australian to be awarded a hereditary British peerage (although, as he died without heirs, the peerage became extinct upon his death in 1967).

He was a strong advocate of the 'White Australia Policy' which racially restricted immigration in Australia until 1973. As Australian High Commissioner in London during the 1930s, he served in the British government's Imperial War Cabinet during World War II.

The suburb of Bruce is home to the Canberra (formerly Bruce) Stadium, and the University of Canberra of which Bruce was the first Chancellor.

Answer: Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce's first stand-up comedy performance was in Brooklyn in 1947, and he soon became famous (and in some instances notorious) for his rapid-fire rants on social issues including religion, race, freedom of speech, patriotism, jazz and the Ku Klux Klan.

It was his unashamed use of swearing, sexual innuendo and profanity that led to many of his performances being monitored by undercover police, and to an increasing number of arrests for obscenity. In 1964 he was convicted after a performance at the Café Au Go Go club in New York's Greenwich Village and sentenced to four months, but he died from a drug overdose while on bail awaiting an appeal.

In 2003, New York governor George Pataki issued a posthumous pardon. In keeping with the Australian emphasis in this quiz, I should include that Lenny Bruce was banned from performing in Sydney, after being arrested for using a swear word in his opening remarks as he took the stage there in 1962!

Answer: Unpasteurised milk and infected meat

The source of the bacteria causing brucellosis, most frequently from cattle, sheep and goat products, was first recognised by Dr. David Bruce in 1887. The disease goes by a variety of other names including undulant fever, Maltese fever and Gibraltar fever. The main causes for humans are from drinking and eating infected animal products, but those who work closely with animals - such as vets, farmers, abattoir workers - can also catch it from contact with animal excretions. It is rarely transmitted however from human to human, although this is possible.

In 1954, the USA was the first nation to weaponise brucellosis, however stocks were destroyed when its biological weapons programme was discontinued in the 1970s. In 1995, Hillary Clinton drank fermented milk offered to her while on a visit to Mongolia, and was immediately ordered by her doctor to take a strong preventative course of antibiotics.