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General Knowledge Quiz

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SteveM70

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11 Jul 2018
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She didn't exist.

Indeed she didn’t. Had a clue been required, I was going to reword the question as “who wasn’t Lillian Virginia Mountweazel.

She was invented for the 1975 edition of the New Columbia Encyclopaedia as a trap for plagiarists, and her name has become the term by which such things are often known.


All yours…..
 

Peterthegreat

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Oops. Sorry for the delay. Hopefully an easy one to start the day.
What connects:-
1) a town in southern France
2) a manufacturer of sports equipment
3) a famous British warship.
 

341o2

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Highest fall without a parachute and survived. The plane was blown up by a bomb in an item of baggage in the hold
 

DaleCooper

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Highest fall without a parachute and survived. The plane was blown up by a bomb in an item of baggage in the hold
Correct although in my opinion It wasn't really the highest fall without a parachute as she was still in (a part of) the plane when it hit the ground so I think she actually survived a plane crash. Your turn...
 

Trackman

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Correct although in my opinion It wasn't really the highest fall without a parachute as she was still in (a part of) the plane when it hit the ground so I think she actually survived a plane crash. Your turn...
Yes, I would have said Luke Aikans 25,000ft
 

341o2

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That explains why she wasn't pulped on hitting the ground. Reminds me of a WW2 parody of John Brown's body, where a rookie airman gets it wrong and his parachute fails to deploy.

Next question, what is the UK's oldest tree? There are three contenders, all of the same species. One will suffice
 

Gloster

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Up the creek
Or Nicholas Alkemade, who fell 18,000 feet involuntarily and without preparation.

Unlike the song above, he didn’t, ‘land on the tarmac like a lump of strawberry jam’.
 

xotGD

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I am thinking yew, but that's as far as I get....

"The Great Yew"
 

341o2

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I am thinking yew, but that's as far as I get....

"The Great Yew"
Right species of tree. The oldest oak is estimated at 1,000 years +, whereas these yews are an estimated minimum of 2,000, claims made up to 5,000 years old
 
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341o2

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All three contenders are churchyard yews, the one referred to is the Crowhurst Yew, Surrey. Sometime during the 19th century, it was hollowed out and a door fitted. During this operation, a cannonball was found, reckoned to be fired during the Civil War.

The other two are the Fortingall Yew, Perthshire, and St Cynog's Yew Defynnog.

Link to more ancient trees ancient trees

Passing the floor to TheEdge
 
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TheEdge

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Norwich
Well, I'd best open the door and leave the toxic tree and set a question.

What links London, Leeds, Edinburgh, Dundee, Bangalore, Lincoln, Andover MA, Ontario and Carlsbad CA?
 

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