What is wattle and daub made from?
Wooden lattice daubed with a sticky mixture
The wattle normally consists of veritical wooden staves woven through with horizontal withies.
The daub mixture, typically made up of mud, dung, water and straw, is then applied to the wattle.
With 200,000 hectares under cultivation, which country grows 52% of Europe's rice?
Italy - mostly in Piemonte and Lombardy
Was the original moon landing real or fake?
Real: 100 points
Fake: -500 points
what was the average age of American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam war?
19
In which year was the Paul Hardcastle hit "19" released?
1985
What is the purpose of flying buttresses?
To take the outward force of a roof and stop the walls being pushed over. Typical of mediaeval cathedrals.
What is the name of the rock that floats?
And for an unspecified extra number of points, how is it formed?
Pumice
Pumice is a volcanic rock formed during an explosive eruption when gas-saturated magma cools rapidly. It's basically a rock sponge.
Which Apollo mission first landed on the moon?
And for an unspecified extra number of points, which was the last?
Apollo 11
Apollo 17
In what year did the misnamed "Spanish" flu peak in the early 20th century?
I had a little bird,
its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
and in-flu-enza.
1918 - the second wave in late 1918 killed up to 20 million people worldwide. The fourth wave in 1920 was the last one.
It was a version of H1N1. The next recorded outbreak was in 1976 in New Jersey and the latest in 2019 in Iran.
Margaret Attwood, a Canadian author, published a book in 1985 which, in 1990 was made into a now very well known film and in 2017, was made into a TV series. It is set in a dystopian New England. What is it called?
The Handmaid's Tale
What shows the colour of bark and has auditory clarity?
Dung
The sandstone on the beaches of Portishead and Clevedon come from which geological period?
Devonian, 416 to 359 million years ago
What is the name of the fictional "interplanetary cruise ship", destined to return to earth ever later and surrounded by a glittering ring of frozen sewage, in a TV serial written by Armando Iannucci?
Hugh Laurie plays the captain, usually.
Avenue 5
How many prime numbers are there, before 19?
7: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17
(1 is not prime, it is unique)
Who won on the 22nd of August, 1485?
Henry Tudor
Where would you find the largest non-reinforced concrete dome in the world?
The Pantheon in Rome, built in the 2nd century CE
Which rock, made of pyrite, lazurite, and calcite has been mined in northeast Afghanistan for 9000 years?
Its only practical use, that of being ground to make ultramarine pigment, was superseded in the 19th century by a synthetically made dye.
Lapis lazuli
When I was in a cot, as a baby, I had two cuddly toys hanging above me, named after the first two men to orbit the earth, in space. What were they called?
Gagarin and Teetof - cosmonauts for the USSR
If you subtract the number of children that Granmilly had, from 19, find the square root; add the number of sisters that Aly has; go up to the next prime number, add Emilia's age and then add my age.
Which family member matches that age?
19-3=16 (4); +1=5; next prime up =7; +25=32; +63=95
In 1085, William the conqueror asked for something. It was delivered in 1086. It is still referred to today. What was the product of his request?
The Doomsday Book
Of what would I like to build the walls of a house?
Straw bales
Can you name 5 gluten-free grains?
oats, quinoa, brown rice, corn, millet
(amaranth, teff, and buckwheat)
When a deliberate crash was engineered: Apollo 12 and 13's lunar modules fired at the moon, causing measurable shallow earthquakes, what was the sonic result?
For an extra unspecified number of points, what is the theorised cause of this?
It rang, like a bell. The shock waves took ages to attenuate.
The lack of any dampening effect by water which, on earth, quickly absorbs the power of the shock waves.
Grandad, me, mum and both you boys were born in the 1900s, as were Aly and Emilia.
Who is the oldest? What was the year of birth? How many Model A Fords were produced in that year (+/- 250,000)?
Grandad: 20 points
1929: 100 points
1,715,100: 500 points
How do you say 85 in Dari?
(You may ask one person but must negotiate points sharing)
hashtad o panj
هشتاد و پنج