Chronologics Trivia Quiz

Answer: Beginning

The first trio is about geological periods on Earth. A period is the third longest geologic time unit after eons and eras. There are 22 such defined periods extending over six eras with the last three eras effectively spanning complex life on Earth.

The first period in the Paleozoic Era is the Cambrian Period, which occurred between 539 million and 485 million years ago. This period marked a rapid increase in the diversity of animals.

Answer: Middle

Marking the start of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic Period ran from 252 million to 201 million years ago. It starts in the aftermath of the Permian Extinction event (or the Great Dying) which occurred about 251.9 million years ago. It was the biggest of the five mass extinction events of the Phanerozoic Eon.

Answer: Ending

The Quaternary Period covers from 2.6 million years ago to the present and is the most recent of the three periods in the Cenozoic Era. This period is defined by the cyclic growth and decay of glaciers. We are presently in an inter-glacial time known as the Holocene Epoch.

Answer: Beginning

The second trio consists of hit songs from British singer-song writer David Bowie who had a career covering the period from 1962 to 2016. His first hit single was "Space Oddity" from 1969. This was rushed out to coincide with Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, being released five days before the launch.

It became his first US hit in 1972 and his first British chart topper in 1975. This song also marks the first appearance of Major Tom, who also gets referenced in "Ashes to Ashes" (1980), "Hallo Spaceboy" (1995) and "Blackstar" (2015).

The character is sometimes seen as an autobiographical reference.

Answer: Middle

On to 1983 and "Let's Dance". This was both the lead single and the name of the album. The single ran to more than seven minutes in length. It marked a transition from RCA Records to EMI for Bowie as well as a new, more commercial sound. Blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, then an unknown, also contributed some guitar towards the end of the song.

Answer: Ending

David Bowie's last album was "Blackstar" (2016) and his twenty-sixth. "Lazarus" was the second single from the album and his first to reach the top 40 of the "Billboard Hot 100" song for more than 28 years. Bowie was to die two days after the release of the album.

He had been receiving treatment for liver cancer. The song title perhaps referred to an expected jump in popularity following his death. The lyrics themselves could be considered a self-epitaph.

Answer: Beginning

Next up is the original "Star Wars" science fiction film trilogy. Prequels, sequels and spin-offs have followed. The first in the series was the 1977 "Star Wars", later renamed as "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" but for the purposes of this quiz referred to as "A New Hope".

In the film, the tyrannical Galactic Empire was being challenged by the Rebel Alliance resistance movement, who were seeking to deal with the threat posed by the Death Star weapon. The film won six Oscars.

Answer: Middle

Following the unexpected success of the original "Star Wars" film, a sequel was quickly commissioned, replacing the low-budget sequel that George Lucas had contracted for (later released as the 1978 novel "Splinter of the Mind's Eye"). The big-budget 1980 film sequel "The Empire Strikes Back" started with an $8 million dollar budget, which was more than tripled by the end of the project.

This was the fifth chronological part of the "Skywalker Saga", the name that Lucasfilm gave to Episodes I to IX.

In this episode, Luke Skywalker was training up to face the Emperor's powerful disciple. The award-winning film had a darker feel to it.

Answer: Ending

The final film in this trilogy was the 1983 "Return of the Jedi", a sequel to "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980). With the 1980 film also being successful, the third instalment was quickly in process. While Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were contracted for the two sequels, Harrison Ford was not and this was the reason given for why his character Hans Solo ended up frozen in carbonite in "The Empire Strikes Back". Ford however did sign up for "Return of the Jedi" and so Han Solo was rescued in the film and took part in later actions.

Answer: Beginning

The final trilogy is a selection from the novels of British writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley who spent his last decades living in Los Angeles. Huxley wrote nearly 50 books including non-fiction, essays and poems. His first novel published in 1921 was "Chrome Yellow", a satirical look at various types of people of that era's society through the medium of a gathering at a country house.

Some of the characters have recognisable real-world counterparts.

Answer: Middle

Perhaps Huxley's most famous novel, "Brave New World" (1932) is a dystopian novel set in a futuristic society whose citizens have been manipulated into a social hierarchy based on intelligence. Anticipated by the novel are scientific advances in reproductive technology and sleep learning, amongst others. He was to spend much of his writing career developing such ideas further.

Answer: Ending

Huxley's final novel "Island" was published in 1962, a year before his death. This gave his vision of a utopia, an alternative to the dystopia of "Brave New World". It largely followed the ideas he set out in a foreword written in 1946 for a new edition of "Brave New World".

In the "Island", a journalist deliberately wrecked his boat on the island of Pala as a way of gaining entry which was otherwise forbidden. Many of the themes appearing in "Brave New World" reappear in "Island" but with constructive uses rather than the oppressive "Brave New World" uses.