The O-Boats Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Oberon is a character who has appeared in many works of medieval and renaissance literature, serving as king of the fairies. The character (as Auberon) first appeared in a 13th century French epic poem, "Les Prouesses et faitz du noble Huon de Bordeaux", as an elf man of the forest encountered by the hero, Huon de Bordeaux.

In 1540, the poem was translated by John Bourchier. It was from this translation that William Shakespeare came across the character, who was incorporated into "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which was written in around 1595 or 1596, as the fairy king, who is in dispute with his queen, Titania. Oberon has been played in adaptations of the play by actors including Ian Richardson and Rupert Everett.

Answer: Spear

Odin is a god from the mythologies of a number of northern European, particularly Germanic, civilisations, but is perhaps most associated with Norse mythology. In depictions of Odin, he is usually shown carrying a spear, which is referred to as Gungnir.

The origin of Gungnir is detailed in "Skáldskaparmál", the second part of the "Prose Edda", an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland in the 13th century. Fashioned by the Sons of Ivaldi, dwarf artisans who produced many magical items, the spear was obtained from them by Loki, the god of mischief as reparation for Loki's having cut off the hair of the goddess Sif.

Answer: Jacques Offenbach

"Orpheus in the Underworld" is an opera with music by Jacques Offenbach. Originally written as a two-act comic opera that opened in October 1858, it was heavily revised as a four-act piece that premiered in 1874. The work is a retelling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, with Orpheus cast as a violin teacher who is glad when his wife, Eurydice, is abducted by Pluto, god of the underworld, and has to be bullied into attempting to rescue her.

The reworking broke box-office records at the Théâtre de la Gaîté where it was originally staged, becoming one of Offenbach's most famous works, while the music from its final section, the "galop infernal", was adopted by the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergčre to accompany the can-can dance, with which it has been associated ever since.

Answer: Shepherd's crook

Osiris is the god of fertility and agriculture in Egyptian mythology. Traditionally regarded as the brother of Set and Isis (who was also his wife), Osiris is generally depicted as being green-skinned, with a pharaoh's beard, carrying a shepherd's crook and flail, and partially mummy wrapped at the legs.

The shepherd's crook associated with Osiris became a symbol of Egyptian kingship, while the flail was a symbol of fertility, with the belief that the two together symbolise the ruler as a benevolent shepherd tempered by the might that they personally wield.

The presence of these two symbols in representations of Osiris have led to a theory that Osiris was a living ruler, possibly a shepherd around the 5th millennium BC, whose beneficial rule led to his being revered as a god.

Answer: Poseidon

The Aloadae were two giants, Otus and Ephialtes, born to Iphimedeia as the sons of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. The two were strong and aggressive, and grew quickly, becoming nine fathoms tall by the age of nine. When they grew, the two made a plan to storm Mount Olympus and carry off the goddesses Artemis and Hera, which they did by building a pile of mountains, atop which they would confront the gods.

The plan failed, and Otus and Ephialtes were killed, when a deer jumped between them that they both attempted to catch by throwing their spears, with which they hit each other.

In some versions of the story, the deer was Artemis, who had transformed to escape. Despite their end, the Aloadae were venerated in some areas as teachers and bringers of culture.

Answer: South America

The marine otter is one of two otter species that live exclusively in sea water. Generally found in the littoral (meaning close to shore) areas along the Pacific coast of South America between northern Peru and the southern tip of Argentina it has been seen as far away as the Falkland Islands.

The marine otter is one of the smallest otter species, and is also the smallest marine mammal, measuring 87 to 115 cm from nose to tail, and weighing between 3 and 5kg. Marine otters are endangered, having been extensively hunted in the past, and are now protected under the laws of the three countries their habitat passes through.

Answer: Virginia

The Virginia opossum, also known as the North American opossum, and colloquially referred to as simply a possum, is the world's northernmost marsupial, and the only opossum species whose range extends north of Mexico. The ancestors of the Virginia opossum originally evolved in South America, but spread northwards during the period known as the "Great American Interchange", when the Panamanian isthmus connected North and South America. Omnivorous with a varied diet, Virginia opossums are a noted aid to the prevention of tick-borne diseases such as lyme disease, as they eat up to 95% of the ticks they encounter. One of the species' defence mechanisms is to feign death in the presence of a threat, which has given rise to the phrase "playing possum".

Answer: Leopard

The ocelot is the largest of eight species belonging to the genus Leopardus. The genus name was originally proposed in 1842 by John Edward Gray, who noted similarities between two spotted cat skins from Central America and two from India in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London. All of the species in Leopardus range across South America, and have spotted fur (hence the genus name).

The ocelot is native to the south-western United States, Mexico, Central America and the northern half of South America, generally preying on small mammals. Ocelots have been associated with humans since the Inca and Aztec periods, with both depicting the species in their art and mythology.

Answer: Chalcedony

Onyx is the term used for pieces of chalcedony with parallel banding. However, the word has also been used for similarly banded pieces of other minerals, such as marble and obsidian. Most commonly found in black and white varieties, sardonyx is a variety where, instead of black bands, it features bands coloured sard, which is a shade of red.

The word onyx is derived from the Greek word ὄνυξ, which means "claw" or "fingernail", as flesh and white banded varieties can resemble a fingernail. Onyx is a material that has traditionally been used in hardstone carving and jewellery making, going back as far as the Second Dynasty in Egypt, around the 29th century BC.

Answer: Aegean

Mount Olympus is the highest part of the Olympus massif, which forms part of the Olympus range near the Thermaic Gulf on the east coast of Greece. Mount Olympus itself has a total of 52 separate peaks, with the highest of these, Mytikas, rising to just under 3000 metres.

The mountain formed part of the boundary between the ancient kingdoms of Macedon and Thessaly, while during the Ottoman occupation of Greece it became the hiding place for the anti-Ottoman armatoloi and klepht rebels. As an area noted for its biodiversity, the region around Mount Olympus was designated as Greece's first National Park in 1938, and was named as part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 1981.