Anything Goes Number Fifteen Trivia Quiz

Answer: A roll of tobacco

A pigtail was the name once given to a long rope-like roll of tobacco that looked just like the main part of a tail on an oinker - and web pictures of these rolls are rather revolting. However, those tobacco pigtails were once a common sight in most countries, especially among sailors, who carried the rolls with them, and simply cut off a chunk, whenever the need arose, to either chew, or poke down into a pipe to smoke.

Answer: A foot race

Organised by the people of Elis in the western area of Greece's Peloponnese Peninsula in 776 BCE, the first Olympic Games were part of a religious festival dedicated to the god Zeus, and were held, after the yearly harvest, in a sanctuary there in Olympia. The only event at this festival was a foot race, with the only competitors allowed being sons of Greek parents who were born free.

This, however, is questionable, as the first recorded winner was a cook, so it would appear the race wasn't limited to members of the aristocracy only. Widely attended by a large crowd, it was later decided, after the first 13 annual events proved to be so popular, that it would be held every four years. Eventually, other sports, such as wrestling, discus, long jump, boxing, javelin and so on were added - and the Games were on the way.

Answer: Cauterising the sores with burning Banksia cones

The Banksia dentata, a species of Australian tree, produces flowers which attract nectar loving birds, various insects and sugar gliders. The long cones on this tree are covered in very sharp spikes which can pierce the skin, but these eventually develop into absolutely lovely flowers.

Indigenous Australians seldom wore clothing before the arrival of Europeans, except when they wore animal skins in the colder southern areas of the country. They possessed a vast knowledge of their land and its plants - and the cures for various illnesses obtained from these plants. One of those treatments for leprosy, for example, was to cauterise the sores on a sufferer's skin with a burning flower spike from a cone of the Banksia tree.

Answer: Sahara Desert

Entrepreneur Donald Mackenzie proposed his 1877 idea for this inland "Sahara Sea" be put in place by cutting a channel from Cape Juby in Morocco, down through Mauritania and Mali, to the El Djouf plain - which was a broad and shallow basin section of the Sahara Desert under sea level.

He believed the sea would then bring humid air and rain to the area, thereby creating an agricultural lifestyle. This proposal, and other follow up ideas by other entrepreneurs, never came to fruition unfortunately, when it was revealed that the proposed area for the sea was not, as originally believed, under sea level at all.

Answer: Having white hairs in armpits

The Lilac rabbit is a medium sized little bunny that was developed in the UK in the early 20th century. However, it is more of a pink colour rather than lilac - and the eyes have to be the same colour as the fur. Penalties, when being exhibited in shows, include the somewhat comical white hairs in the armpits, or a nose that is the wrong shade.

Answer: Six feet and four inches

Charlemagne, born in Francia in the year 748, died in Germany in 814. He was a strong and fearless warrior who managed to unite most of Europe after the fall of the western Roman Empire. He thus became the first emperor ruling from the west. His reign included many reforms in various aspects of European life, many of which remained in play for centuries after his death.

When his tomb was opened in 1861 by scientists, and based on his skeleton, this amazing ruler was estimated to be well over six feet tall - six foot, four inches in fact. He is usually portrayed as having a long curly beard, married four times and had well over 20 children. One of his wives was said to dislike red wine stains in his beard, and insisted that he only drink white wine instead. What a brave woman - and, to reinforce this ruling, she is believed to have insisted in only planting white grape vines in their vineyards.

Answer: It makes no mention of Harding at all

The Stone Mountain Memorial coin, worth 50 cents, was minted in Philadelphia in 1925. It was designed by Gutzon Borglum (yes, the Mount Rushmore Borglum) and its main purpose was to raise funds for the Confederate Associate Stone Mountain Memorial in Georgia.

Although the coin is said to have been minted as a tribute to the memory of recently deceased US President Warren Harding (1865-1923), his name or image appears nowhere on the coin at all. Instead images of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson feature on one side and the words "Memorial to the Valor of the Soldier of the South" feature on the other - so it would seem, at least, that the south won that particular US war.

Answer: With hovering helicopters

In the lengthy process of wine making, harvest time is said to be the most important time - and, in addition to the state of the grapes, this very much depends on the weather. Too hot, bad hail, too much rain or even frost can damage the grapes, or cause assorted diseases, so those in the business of wine making have to be hyper alert at this time. Obviously, dry plump grapes are the ideal, so in the region of Pomerol in Bordeaux, France, whenever it has rained heavily at harvest time, which can result in grey rot in the vines, some winery owners hire helicopters to hover over their ripe grapes and vines in order for the swirling blades of the choppers to dry them out - so cheers to that fine piece of creative thinking.

Answer: Competitive eating

Born in 1985, the gobbling down Pete, who suffered from anorexia nervosa as a child, but found a new life and recuperation in the sport of body building, has a slow digestion in his normal life and has to eat nine balanced meals a day - but put a tray of unlikely foods in front of him in any food eating competition, and his slow digestion well and truly takes a back seat.

Some of Pete's world shattering records include eating a raw onion in 45 seconds, 15 burgers in ten minutes - and 17 bananas in 2 minutes. Quite frankly, this quiz writer thinks this sport is rather disgusting - but it all depends on what peels your banana, I guess.

Answer: Prairie Madness

For various early settlers to the Great Plains of the United States in the 1800s, this sorrowful condition was the result of the terrible isolation European newcomers to the area experienced while being so far apart from one another; from the much more populated areas of the States; from other voices and faces; from the bustle of towns and villages; and from the awful overwhelming stillness and silence of prairie life. As more and more settlers came to the area over time, this eventually made life more bearable for those brave but lonely trail blazers.