General Knowledge Quiz

[Xenophon PCDGS]

No, think of what I said before about many of these machines being in a large room. I surely cannot give any more hints.

 

[Welshman]

Is it something to do with the spinning machines in a cotton-spinning shed?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

No, nothing to do with cotton spinning.

Remember the word "loom" was mentioned earlier in the quiz

 

[Golghar]

I tried looking it up but got bogged down in the technicalities of textile machinery. However I located this clip on youtube that shows a wheel that controls a shuttle. Could that be a pick-wheel? Of course I'm not taking any credit for the answer.

 

[Buttsy]

Is it the wheel that moves the shuttle?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I think that we are moving away from the point. What type of machinery uses the pick wheel. Look back over the last few answers that I have given.

 

[Buttsy]

Jacquard loom?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Again, just visualise what I said before about a large room with many of these machines. Remember "those dark Satanic mills" referred to in the hymn "Jerusalem". I was sure that the mention of many looms in a large room would have given the game away.

I will now give the answer....
The looms that you would be looking at are Lancashire looms that wove millions of yards of cotton cloth which the majority of which was exported. The pick wheel governed the number of picks per inch in the woven cotton cloth produced in the weaving process.

Obviously, I will now have to say...open floor.

 

[Golghar]

Margaret Thatcher was the first woman appointed Head of Government in a European country. Which country in Europe was second in this respect? An extra point goes for the name of the Prime Minister in question.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I will put forward two candidates....

President Vigdis Finnbogadottir, Iceland, 1980-1996

Dr. Maria de Lourdes Ruivo de Silva Pintasilgo, Portugal, 1979-1980 (unsure of her exact title at that time)

 

[Golghar]

Portugal and Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo are the correct answers. Over to you now, Paul!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What is the most westerly part of the USA and what notable event occured there ?

 

[Oswyntail]

What is the most westerly part of the USA and what notable event occured there ?

hawaii, where Obama was born?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

In the article that I was reading written by an American historian, it appears that he states that the area in question was in a different zone of the Pacific Ocean and that that this question that I set was used by him in a campus quiz at his university, so I trust what he said is true.

 

[martinsh]

In the article that I was reading written by an American historian, it appears that he states that the area in question was in a different zone of the Pacific Ocean and that that this question that I set was used by him in a campus quiz at his university, so I trust what he said is true.

is it not one of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska ? Don't know about the notable event though ...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

is it not one of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska ? Don't know about the notable event though ...

Indeed it is. Attu Island is the most westerly of these Aleutian Islands and was notable for being invaded by the Japanese during World War II in an attempt to place a strategic bulwark between Russia and America.

Please set the next one.

 

[martinsh]

Open Floor - unless you want to wait until after 10pm tonight !

 

[Meridian richard]

I'll have a go if that's ok

Who wrote a song about the surveyors of a dividing line between four US states

And what was the song called

 

[Welshman]

Mark Knopfler's "Sailing to Philadelphia"
Song about Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason
The Mason-Dixon line.

 

[Meridian richard]

Correct in all respects

 

[Welshman]

What do the following characters have in common?

Stephano
Archdeacon Grantly
Georgie Pillson.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Characters played by Nigel Hawthorne : -

The Tempest
Barchester Towers
Mapp and Lucia

 

[Welshman]

Yes - correct.
I was going to add "Sir Humphrey Appleby" if a clue were needed, but in the event, it wasn't.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Because I am not really up to much medically at present, I will call...open floor.

 

[Mvann]

What was the title of the first fighting fantasy book and who wrote it?

 

[Heinz57]

Being Jordan - Katie Price

 

[Mvann]

Being Jordan - Katie Price

Incorrect. Didn't think she was that old.

 

[Seacook]

I think the author was Ian Livingstone, but I can't recall the title. It will bubble up eventually.

Wizard of Firetop Mountain just came up from my somewhere. That could be it.

 

[Mvann]

Nearly correct. There were actually two names as authors. There is sometimes some confusion over the other person.

 

[Seacook]

Nearly correct. There were actually two names as authors. There is sometimes some confusion over the other person.

The other would be Steve Jackson (of Games Workshop), not to be confused with the American Steve Jackson of Steve Jackson Games.