Nonsense! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Harare was called Salisbury in 1980.

Zimbabwe is situated in southern Africa, bordered by Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, and South Africa. Harare is the country's largest city as well as its capital; it was originally named Fort Salisbury after the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, that is Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, who was then Prime Minister of the UK. This name was later shortened to Salisbury, which would be the name until 1982, when it was renamed on the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence to Harare.

Canaan Banana became the first president upon independence in 1980, while Robert Mugabe was Prime Minister; Mugabe took over as president in 1987. Lions can certainly be found in Zimbabwe, along with the other members of the "Big Five": elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros, and leopard. Shona is a Bantu language that is one of Zimbabwe's official languages, and is spoken by a majority of the population.

Answer: George C. Scott was his birth name, not a stage name.

George Campbell Scott was an actor indeed born with that name, in Virginia, USA, in 1927. An aspiring author, he taught English literature while he served in the US Marines, and later graduated from the University of Missouri in journalism. His best-known role is probably that of General George Patton in the film "Patton" (1970), for which he won many awards including the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor. However, he was also known for his stage work, including his role as Richard III in the Shakespeare play of the same name; it was called the "angriest" performance of the character ever, and well fitted Scott's personality, as some fellow actors were scared of him. According to director Mike Nichols, "everyone is scared of George C. Scott".

Scott was married five times; actress Colleen Dewhurst was his second wife and the mother of his actor son Campbell. He was still married to actress Trish Van Devere at the time of his death of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1999.

Answer: The owl is Athena's symbol, not Artemis's.

Artemis, whose Roman equivalent is the goddess Diana, is the goddess of various things, such as the moon, the hunt, and virginity. She was born to Zeus and Leto, along with her twin brother Apollo; some sources believe that Artemis was born first, and then aided with her brother's birth, hence she sometimes is equated with the role of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth.

Although animals in general are a symbol of hers as the huntress, the owl in particular is the symbol of wisdom and the goddess Athena. Specific symbols of Artemis include the deer and the cypress tree.

Answer: "La tasse" is not an animal.

The capital of France, Paris is the country's most populous city. It has various zoos and aquaria to visit, including the Parc Zoologique de Paris, Aquarium de Paris, and Jardin des Plantes; here you could see "le singe" ("monkey") and "le loup" ("wolf"); you probably would also see "la tasse", but as it's a cup, it's not an animal name!

Orly Airport is located about eight miles (13 km) from the center of Paris, in the suburb of Orly, and is an international airport. Charles de Gaulle Airport, also in Paris, is the most busy for international flights in France, but Orly ranks second. Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region, and it has actually changed hands between France and Germany numerous times, most recently returning to French territory following World War II.

Answer: The Italian bryophyte is extinct.

Botany is a very diverse subject, concerning plants, trees, as well as fungi and algae. A surprising number of plants can be poisonous, including the apparently innocuous daffodil, and some foodstuffs such as apple, rhubarb, and potatoes along with the more well-known poisons like hemlock. The jellyfish tree is actually endemic to one island of the Seychelles, Mahé. Named for the shape of its flowers, it was previously classified as extinct until rediscovered in the 1970s. The Italian bryophyte, however, has not been seen since the 1930s and is therefore classified as extinct.

Plants can be used symbolically, for example in various mythologies. Laurels were used in Ancient Rome to symbolize victory, and the elm tree came to denote revolution and liberty due to the Liberty Tree, which was an elm tree that became a gathering place in Boston, Massachusetts, preceding the American Revolution.

Answer: "And Justice For All" was by another band.

The Rolling Stones formed in the 1960s, and along with many other British bands at the time they became successful in the USA. In the 1970s, they had planned a Tour of the Americas to take place in both North and South America, but ended up only playing dates in the USA and Canada. Its announcement has become famous in its own right; under the guise of a press conference, the band played to a gathered group on a flatbed truck while driving down Broadway in New York City.

Charlie Watts is indeed the band's drummer, with Keith Richards and Brian Jones on guitar, Mick Jagger on vocals, and Bill Wyman on bass for most of their career (he left the band in 1993). In 1989, the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When Jagger was knighted in 2003 for his services to music, reception was mixed, with some fans and bandmate Richards resenting it, as it did not seem to support the band's image of anarchy and anti-establishment.

"And Justice For All" is actually a Metallica album, released in 1988.

Answer: Tegucigalpa is a Central American capital.

There are twelve countries in South America, and Tegucigalpa's country, Honduras, is not one of them; Honduras is actually located in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Paramaribo is indeed Suriname's capital, and is nicknamed Par'bo; more than half of Suriname's population lives in and around the city. Dutch is the official language of Suriname, as the country was colonized by the Dutch; it was previously named Dutch Guiana.

Lima is the largest and capital city of Peru; its metropolitan area stretches out along the Pacific coastline. The city is a melting pot of the Americas, famous also for its cuisine which amalgamates the many cultures of the city together. Home to the oldest university in the Americas, the National University of San Marcos, Lima also offers many museums, such as the Museo Nacional de Arqueología.

Answer: John Flamsteed thought it was a star, not a planet.

Of the eight planets in our solar system, Uranus is quite a strange one. It is virtually featureless, and is a pale white-blue color. Along with Neptune, it is regarded as an ice giant. In contrast to the other planets, Uranus orbits the sun while tilted onto its side, and this means that the poles receive more sunlight than the equatorial region; however, to make things stranger, the equatorial region is still hotter than the poles! While Uranus does have a ring system like Saturn, its rings are much smaller and more narrow, with only two being prominently visible. Thirteen are currently known.

In 1781, William Herschel discovered Uranus as a planet; however, astronomers had seen it many times previously, but had mistaken it for a star, for example John Flamsteed. Its moons are mostly named for Shakespearean characters (three are after Alexander Pope characters), and the largest is Titania. Queen Mab is mentioned in "Romeo and Juliet" by the character Mercutio.

Answer: Uzbekistan does not border the Caspian Sea.

Uzbekistan is an Asian country, bordering Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Its capital Tashkent ("stone city") is home to many museums, and also monuments from the Soviet era. The Uzbek language is Turkic, and spoken by about 25 million native speakers in Uzbekistan and the surrounding area. The language has been influenced by Russian (due to Soviet rule) and Arabic (due to the spread of Islam). The vast majority of Uzbek people are Muslim, with minorities of Russian Orthodox Christianity and a very small Jewish community.

Uzbekistan does not border the Caspian Sea, but its border countries of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan do. However, Karakalpakstan, the autonomous region of western Uzbekistan, borders the Aral Sea, which has shrunk rapidly within the last decades.

Answer: Roland Deschain is in "The Dark Tower" series.

Stephen King is one of the most successful novelists in the world, who has written and published over fifty novels. He frequently uses his home state of Maine as settings for his books. "The Dark Tower" series is usually regarded as his magnum opus, an eight-part series following the gunslinger Roland Deschain in his quest to find the Dark Tower.

King's books are well known, and many have been adapted for the screen, such as "It", "The Green Mile", and also "The Body", which was released as a film under the name "Stand By Me" in 1986. King's nonfiction work includes "Danse Macabre" (1981), which talks about the horror genre within popular culture, and "On Writing" (2000), which is a memoir based on his life and career as a novelist.