Red Is All Around Us Trivia Quiz

Answer: Smaller and cooler

Most red dwarfs are less than half the size of our sun. They also comprise more than 70% of the stars in the known universe, but most are not visible because of their size. Their coolness, however, ensures that they will exist a lot longer than their larger and hotter brothers and sisters, as they are burning a lot more slowly.

Answer: Redback

The redback is similar to the northern hemisphere's black widow in looks, size and toxicity. It is dangerous, painful but rarely deadly. I speak from experience, having being bitten on the rear end when I was a kid.


The scarlet wrasse is a fish found in New Zealand and the Illawarra flame is a tree, noted for its brilliant red flowers. The red admiral is a butterfly that lives in most places, but NOT Australia.

Answer: Ethiopia

Yemen, Eritrea and Djibouti are the other countries that share the Red Sea. Eritrea was a state of Ethiopia, but after a series of wars it declared itself an independent country in 1993.

Answer: Red Faces

Quite often, there was an overseas celebrity on the panel as well, and most had no idea what was going on. Between the bizarreness of the acts, the caustic voice-overs of John Blackman and the loudness of Red's gong, I would imagine that many were quivering wrecks for days afterwards! They probably thought that Australians were a bunch of idiots that could be highly amused by a man wearing a tutu, playing 'Amazing Grace' with his armpit.

For the more masochistic viewers, you could buy videos of 'The Best (and Worst) of 'Red Faces''. (OK, I admit I owned a few of them.) The title of the segment was a send-up of the genuine talent show, 'New Faces'. 'Masterslime' was a trivia-based segment, where the contestant usually ended up covered in green slime. The other two incorrect options are made up.

Answer: Pinot noir

Muscat originated in Italy, Chardonnay is of French origin and Riesling comes from Germany. Pinot noir (translation 'black pine') is also of French origin, and one of the best selling reds across the world. Other popular red wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz.

Answer: One Fish, Two Fish

'One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish' is one of the best-known works by Dr Seuss. It tells the story of weird and wonderful animals- one has 11 fingers, one is a bird with a hook on its head and there is even a wump with seven humps!

There is also a kid's ride with the same name in the theme park, Islands of Adventure, in Florida.

Did you know that the Dutch translation of the title is 'Visje een visje twee visje visje in de zee.'?

Answer: Desert

The 'Red Centre' comprises several different deserts and the total area of 1.3 million square kilometres would rank it larger than 90% of the countries on Earth.

As you may imagine, it is very sparsely inhabited, but not totally deserted. The fauna includes wild camels- there are more camels in Australia than anywhere else, with many being exported to Saudi Arabia- kangaroos, dingoes, snakes, lizards and spiders.

Answer: Red River Rock

The original was called 'Red River Valley', but the origins are lost in the mists of time. It was possibly written in Canada in the 1870s, or in Nebraska a few years later. It has been recorded by many people, ranging from The Andrews Sisters to Roger Whittaker, and Tex Ritter to Johnny Ray, and even Alvin and the Chipmunks.

'Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes' was released by Elton John in 2001, Bing Crosby did 'Red Sails in the Sunset' in 1935 and 'When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along' was a big hit for Al Jolson, in 1949.

Answer: top

Road signs may differ from country to country, but the basic design of traffic lights does not. The colour schemes are virtually the same, too, with red, orange (or amber or yellow) and green lights.

Answer: 1

Iron oxide is commonly known as rust, suggesting that there may be water on the planet, now or in the past. It is much colder than Earth, being about 45 million miles further from the sun, and it is only about half the diameter of our planet.

The only planet smaller than Mars is Mercury.