2009 Anniversaries Trivia Quiz

Answer: From Oxford to Cambridge

The University of Oxford is the oldest in the English-speaking world, having been founded sometime in the late eleventh century (no specific date is known, though records show that teaching at Oxford was taking place in 1096).

The tale of the establishment of the University of Cambridge comes from the historical record of Roger of Wendover, a thirteenth century chronicler. The flight of the scholars from Oxford to Cambridge was prompted by the conviction and subsequent hanging of two scholars in the city. In protest, many scholars left the city to pursue their academic careers elsewhere. The greatest congregation of scholars occurred at Cambridge where a new university was set up. By 1226 a Chancellor had been appointed and, in 1231, King Henry III established a charter for the University that protected the students from the townspeople and conveyed royal privileges upon its graduates. The first college, St. Peter's, was founded in 1284.

Answer: Henry VIII

Henry VII claimed the throne with victory over Richard III in the Wars of the Roses. His claim to the throne had been, at best, tenuous. His mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, was a descendant of Edward III but the line of descent was an illegitimate one. Her great grandfather, John of Gaunt, and mother, Katherine Swynford, were unmarried at the time of her grandfather's birth. Although, the Beauforts had been legitimised through an Act of Parliament in 1407, this had been accompanied by a ban from succession to the throne by Henry IV.

Though Henry VIII is known as the instigator of the Church of England's separation from Rome, he had, a decade previously, been named "Defender of the Faith" by Pope Leo X for his defence of Catholicism against the Protestant reforms of Martin Luther, in the book "Assertio Septem Sacramentorum". Pope Paul III, Leo's successor, rescinded the title after England's break from Rome, but Parliament restored the title as recognition of the king's role in defending the church of England against Catholicism in 1544.

The Tudor dynasty came to an end with the death of the last of Henry VIII's children, Queen Elizabeth I in 1603.

Answer: Alexander Selkirk

The Juan Fernandez islands, which are situated off the west coast of Chile, consist of several small islands. The largest two of these islands are now known as Robinson Crusoe island (the island where Selkirk was stranded) and Alexander Selkirk island (the westernmost island of the group that Selkirk was unlikely to have visited).

Selkirk's solitude on the island had been of his own making. He was a privateer on the galley, "Cinque Ports", which moored on his island to gather supplies. Selkirk, who was reported to have a fiery temper, had argued with his captain that the "Cinque Ports" was unseaworthy and so the two of them decided that Selkirk could remain on the island in anticipation of another ship coming along to rescue him shortly afterwards. He attempted to persuade other crew members to join him but none did.

When he was rescued, according the journal of his rescuer, Woodes Rogers, "he had with him his clothes and bedding, with a firelock, some powder, bullets and tobacco, a hatchet, a knife, a kettle, a Bible and books." Much of what he had, he had fashioned himself using carpentry tools that he had taken onto the island with him. Rogers was a friend of the author Daniel Defoe who, ten years after Selkirk's rescue, wrote "Robinson Crusoe", the story of a mariner stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Venezuela.

Answer: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Though there has been a garden at Kew since at least the 1660s, it was in 1759 that the botanic gardens were founded. Princess Augusta, Princess of Wales, established the garden in nine acres of land following the plans laid down by her father, Prince Frederick, who had died in 1751.

The development of the gardens as a place of botanic study came with the appointment of Joseph Banks to run the gardens, at the behest of King George III. Banks had accompanied Captain James Cook on his first great voyage, during which he became the first Westerner to describe the eucalyptus and the acacia. During his tenure at Kew, Banks sent his collectors around the world to bring back plants of scientific interest.

When Banks died in 1820, only a few months after George III, the gardens at Kew fell into disrepair. It wasn't until 1840, when the gardens were taken into trust for the nation that they began to return to their position of pre-eminence.

UNESCO, in inscribing Kew as a World Heritage Site in 2003, described the gardens as illustrating "significant periods of the art of gardens from the 18th to the 20th centuries. [They] have made a significant and uninterrupted contribution to the study of plant diversity and economic botany."

Answer: Big Ben

At 2.2m high and 2.7m in diameter, Big Ben is certainly worthy of the first part of its popular moniker. Who the Ben is that it is named after, is less clear. The prime candidate would appear to be Sir Benjamin Hall, the politician who commissioned its construction and whose name is inscribed on the bell.

One story suggests that in the long parliamentary debate that Hall led to establish the name of the bell, one exasperated MP shouted, "Why not call him Big Ben and have done with it?" However, there is no documentary support for this story. Furthermore, "The Times" newspaper had been referring to the "Big Ben of Westminster" since 1856, three years prior to the debate. This has given rise to the suggestion that the name came from a champion boxer of the time, Ben Caunt, nicknamed "Big Ben".

Big Ben was commissioned in 1844 as part of the refurbishment of the Palaces of Westminster following the fire that had partially destroyed it in 1834. The bell was completed in 1854 but the Clock Tower was not completed until 1859, at which point the bell was raised into position. Big Ben was first struck on May 31st and went into full-time service on July 11th. In September, the bell cracked, due to the clockmaker having built the hammer that struck it at twice the size of the original plans. The crack was filled and a metal plate added to strengthen the bell. It is these repairs that have given the bell its distinctive sound, slightly off the pure tone of E that it was designed to have.

Answer: Oxford English Dictionary

The idea for the dictionary was originally conceived by the Philological Society in London as a registry of all words in the English language that had been "forgotten" by existing dictionaries. Less than a year into the project, the Society realised that the number of missing words was greater than those included in most dictionaries, so the project became one of cataloguing the entire language.

The publication of the first section (A-Ant) in February 1884 under the title, "A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society" was followed by another ten sections over the next ten years covering the whole of A to E. The last of the 125 sections was published to complete the A to Z in 1928. Five years later, the whole dictionary was published in 12 volumes with a one-volume supplement of new words.

Four more supplements were produced between 1957 and 1986 before the whole dictionary was computerised, allowing for the publication of the second edition of the OED in 1989.

Answer: Louis Bleriot

Frenchman Bleriot was one of three aviators to attempt to claim the prize in July 1909. The first, Hubert Latham, achieved his own aviation first when he landed his plane on the sea, six miles short of reaching Dover. It was the first successful sea landing of a plane. Six days later, Bleriot completed the 22-mile journey from Calais to Dover. A memorial marks the spot in Dover where his plane landed, somewhat heavily, in wet and windy weather shortly after 5am on the morning of July 25th.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first successful solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. Jean Pierre-Blanchard was the first person, along with John Jeffries, to cross the English Channel by air, in a balloon in 1785. Thomas Selfridge was the first person to be killed as a result of the crash of a heavier-than-air powered plane in 1908.

Answer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams was a contemporary of, and influence on, Gustav Holst when they were at the Royal College of Music together in the late nineteenth century. Vaughan Williams, though older than Holst, was to live on for another 24 years, writing five symphonies in that time, in addition to the four he wrote in Holst's lifetime.

Holst is best known for "The Planet Suite" which was first performed in 1916. Other major works include "Choral Fantasia" (1930) and "Egdon Heath" (1927) which was written in tribute to the novelist, Thomas Hardy.

Elgar's most often performed piece is "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1", better known as "Land of Hope and Glory" after the words written by A.C. Benson at Elgar's request. Possibly his most respected work is his "Cello Concerto in E minor", made famous by Jacqueline du Pré's marvellous interpretation.

Born in Yorkshire of German parents, Frederick Delius was never at home in England. He spent most of his adult life outside of the country but was nevertheless considered a quintessentially English composer. He has been described as both a romantic composer (by Sir Thomas Beecham) and an impressionist one, despite musical impressionism being seen as a reaction against romanticism. His works were notably different from those of his contemporaries, including "Koanga", an opera featuring black central characters, and an atheist "Requiem".

Answer: Mini

The Mini was born in a time of fuel rationing in the UK following the Suez Crisis of 1956. Alec Issigonis, an engineer and former racing driver, was briefed to create a small, efficient and comfortable four-seater car that would suit the difficult economic times. Issigonis's idea was to build a front-wheel-drive car with the engine turned 90 degrees from its normal position to reduced the bonnet size and leave the underside of the car to accommodate the exhaust system only. From the sketches that Issigonis produced, some of them on the back of cigarette packets, his team of engineers set to work producing the car. The revolutionary design meant a lot of developmental headaches, not least the production of a new size of tyre, never before used.

From the launch of the car in 1959, 5.5 million cars were produced before the line was discontinued in 1999. At its peak, more than 300,000 Minis were produced per year. When the BMW Mini was launched in 2003, it was an instant success; within six years, the millionth car had rolled off the production line.

Answer: Brighton

When the Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for the blast they delivered a chilling message that resonates with all anti-terrorist authorities;

"Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always."

Five people were killed in the blast, including the wife of John Wakeham, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. At the insistence of PM Margaret Thatcher, the conference continued as planned later that day, with Thatcher delivering the keynote speech.

In 1986, Provisional IRA member Patrick Magee was convicted for the bombing and given eight life sentences with a recommendation of minimum time served of 35 years. As part of the early release scheme outlined in the Good Friday Agreement, signed by the British and Irish governments, Magee was freed from prison in 1999.