Season 4 - Week 4

Question 1

Pointillism is a painting technique in which distinct dots of pure colours are blended in the eyes of the viewer. The technique is best-known from which large-scale work by Georges Seurat [SUH-RAH], now at the Art Institute of Chicago, which depicts wealthy Parisians enjoying themselves on the right-bank of the Seine? Another of Seurat’s best-known works using this style, Une Baignade, Asnières (Bathers at Asnieres), depicts working-class Parisians on the river’s opposite bank.

Answer 1

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte or A Sunday Afternoon or La Grande Jatte or Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte or Dimanche d’été à la Grande Jatte

Question 2

Which work of literature, written between 1008 and 1010 CE, recounts the birth of the children of the Empress Shōshi from the perspective of a lady-in-waiting? It is also notable for its depictions of other literary figures from the era such as Akazome Emon.

Answer 2

Murasaki Shikibu Nikki or The Diary of Lady Murasaki or The Journal of Lady Murasaki (do not accept or prompt on The Tale of Genji or Genji monogatari)

Question 3

The Russian port of Arkhangelsk is located on which body of water, an inlet of the Barents Sea surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast?

Answer 3

White Sea

Question 4

The Australian soprano Joan Sutherland is perhaps most associated with the title role in which opera by Gaetano Donizetti based on a novel by Walter Scott? Her performance of ‘Il dolce suono’, commonly referred to as ‘the Mad Scene’, once earned her a twelve-minute ovation at the Metropolitan Opera.

Answer 4

Lucia di Lammermoor (prompt on The Bride of Lammermoor)

Question 5

While it represents the speed of light in Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2, the letter ‘c’ represents the speed of which other waves in the Newton-Laplace Equation? At a temperature of 20 °C the speed of these waves in air is approximately 343 metres per second.

Answer 5

sound waves or acoustic waves

Question 6

What name, from the Rapa Nui for ‘statue’, is given to the large human figures with massive, oversized heads that were carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island between approximately 1250 and 1500?

Answer 6

moai [MOH-eye]

Question 7

Following the October Revolution, which revolutionary and political theorist served as People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, directing the Soviet delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? Following Lenin’s death, this man was expelled from the Soviet Union by Stalin and was assassinated while living in exile.

Answer 7

Leon Trotsky or Lev Davidovich Bronstein

Question 8

The Art of War is the English title given to both an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period and to a 1521 Italian military treatise originally entitled Dell’arte della guerra. Name either of the authors of these books.

Answer 8

Sun Tzu (or Sunzi or Sun Wu or Changqing or Bing Sheng) or Niccolò Machiavelli

Question 9

In crystallography, the word ‘structure’ describes the ordered arrangement of atoms in a crystalline material. The specific atoms, molecules, or ions that make up a particular crystal are known as its ‘basis’, but what word is used to describe an infinite regular arrangement of points or sites that describes the ordering of the basis?

Answer 9

lattice

Question 10

In 1653, a fortification was built by Dutch settlers in Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam) to repel an expected English invasion. The structure no longer exists but gives its name to which well-known narrow and short street that extends only about seven blocks?

Answer 10

Wall Street

Question 11

Although better-known in the New World as a sacred symbol of the Maya, and the national tree of Guatemala, Ceiba pentandra - the silk-cotton tree or kapok - appears on the coat of arms at the centre of the flag of which West African country? Between 1973 and 1979, under the regime of Francisco Nguema, the coat-of-arms had instead displayed a sword, tools, and a cockerel.

Answer 11

Equatorial Guinea (do not accept or prompt on Guinea or Guinea-Bissau)

Question 12

Which family of African mammals comprises four living species: the aardwolf, plus the brown [BLANK], the spotted [BLANK], and the striped [BLANK], the latter of which also lives in Asia? Although belonging to the Feliformia or “cat-like” suborder of the Carnivora, they have many traits more similar to canids.

Answer 12

hyena or Hyaenidae

Question 13

The ‘Arab Spring’ of the early 2010s began in which North African country? This country’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’ saw the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

Answer 13

Tunisia

Question 14

In 1952, a young Joan Sutherland appeared as Clotilde in which opera by Vincenzo Bellini alongside Maria Callas playing the title druid priestess? Sutherland went on to perform the title role many times and earned acclaim for her rendition of its ‘Casta Diva’ aria.

Answer 14

Norma

Question 15

Confessiones is an autobiographical work written in Latin between 397 and 400 CE that tells of the early life of its Algerian-born Berber author and his subsequent conversion to Christianity. Les Confessions is an autobiographical work written in 1769, and published posthumously in 1782, that tells of the first 53-years in the life of its author, a Genevan-born philosopher. Name either of the thinkers who authored these books, both of which are known in English as Confessions.

Answer 15

Saint Augustine of Hippo (or Augustinus) or Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Question 16

Many Hindus choose to fast during various festivals, such as Navaratri, a nine- or ten-day festival observed in the honour of which goddess, an aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi or force Shakti? She is often depicted as riding a tiger and fighting evils such as the buffalo demon Mahishasura.

Answer 16

Durga

Question 17

Which contemporary artist has given his name to a series of “spot paintings”, which display rows of randomly coloured dots? Although he has ostensibly created many of these paintings, this artist has revealed that all but five of the paintings were actually made by his assistants because he “couldn’t be f**** arsed doing it”.

Answer 17

Damien Hirst

Question 18

Sugarcane, a coconut palm, and a bunch of bananas all appear on the coat-of-arms that can be seen in the centre of the fly half of the national flag of which country? In 2016, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama [bye-nih-mah-RAH-mah] abandoned plans to replace both the coat-of-arms and the Union Jack on this country’s flag.

Answer 18

Fiji

Question 19

The 1926 novel Das Schloss (The Castle) tells the story of ‘K.’ who repeatedly attempts to access the titular building to meet with the elusive Klamm. It is the final, unfinished novel by which Prague-born author?

Answer 19

Franz Kafka

Question 20

When two brothers set out to build their new city, one of them began to build a wall on a hill, which his brother decided to jump over. Angered by his sibling’s contemptuous action, the first brother killed him. According to the legend, all this took place in 754 BCE. Name the two brothers involved.

Answer 20

Romulus and Remus

Question 21

Murasaki Shikibu and her fellow ladies-in-waiting Akazome Emon and Izumi Shikibu wrote poems in what genre of poetry, sometimes considered synonymous with waka? This genre, with a name meaning “short poem”, consists of five lines and 31 syllabic units.

Answer 21

tanka

Question 22

What name, that can be translated as ‘cow passage’, is given to the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara?

Answer 22

Bosporus or Bosphorus (prompt on Istanbul Strait)

Question 23

What name is given to the explosive noise associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound?

Answer 23

sonic boom

Question 24

La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Mexican state of Tabasco that is best-known for its enormous basalt heads carved by which early Mesoamerican civilisation?

Answer 24

Olmecs

Question 25

What unlikely and edible substance, containing the organic component amylopectin, was, when mixed with slaked lime, used as a substitute for mortar in numerous sections of the Great Wall of China? Amylopectin is still used in textile making and in engineering adhesives.

Answer 25

rice or rice flour or rice powder or sticky rice soup

Question 26

A major fasting period for Eastern Orthodox Christians takes place during a two-week period starting on 1 August. This fasting period commemorates which event, which is affirmed by sacred tradition, even if not mentioned in scripture?

Answer 26

Dormition of Mary or Dormition of the Mother of God

Question 27

In 1903, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party split into two factions following a dispute over party organisation. Trotsky angered Lenin by siding with Julius Martov’s Mensheviks against which faction led by Lenin?

Answer 27

Bolsheviks

Question 28

What two-word term is used to define the smallest repeating section of a crystal that contains its full symmetry, such that it is possible to build up the entire crystal by translation of this constituent part?

Answer 28

unit cell (accept either primitive cell or conventional cell)

Question 29

Ali Abdullah Saleh was overthrown as President of which country in February 2012 during the Arab Spring? In May 2015, he declared his support for the Houthis during his county’s civil war but was assassinated at his home in 2017 after withdrawing that support.

Answer 29

Yemen

Question 30

The northwesternmost and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea is which marginal sea largely enclosed by the Chinese provinces of Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, and Shandong? The Yellow River empties into this body of water near the city of Dongying.

Answer 30

Bohai Sea

Question 31

Which Japanese contemporary artist has often incorporated polka dots into her work since she first found fame in the late 1960s when she organised happenings in which polka dots were painted on the skin of naked participants?

Answer 31

Yayoi Kusama

Question 32

Named after a Moravian-born Austrian physicist, which ‘number’ represents the ratio of the speed of a body to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium? This number is greater than 1 for supersonic velocities.

Answer 32

Mach number (prompt on ‘M’ or ‘Ma’)

Question 33

The pinnipeds, or seals, are divided into three families. The walrus makes up one of these, the so-called true seals make up another, while the third comprises sea lions and fur seals. This latter group is also known by a name referencing the fact that a certain body part is more prominent on them than on the true seals; which body part?

Answer 33

ear or external ear or outer ear or pinna or auricle

Question 34

Meditations is the English title of a series of 12 books written in Koine Greek (original title: Ta eis heauton) between 161 and 180 CE in which its author, a Roman emperor, recorded his thoughts on Stoic philosophy. It is also a title commonly used in English for a book published in Latin in 1641 as Meditationes de Prima Philosophia, which presents the metaphysical system employed by its French author. Name either author.

Answer 34

Marcus Aurelius or René Descartes

Question 35

Josef K is the name Kafka gives to the protagonist of both his short story Ein Traum (A Dream) and of which major novel? In this novel, Josef K is accused of an unknown crime by an inaccessible legal system.

Answer 35

The Trial or Der Process

Question 36

Murasaki Shikibu’s diary contains an unflattering portrayal of which author of Makura no Sōshi (The Pillow Book)? This bitter rival of Murasaki was also a lady-in-waiting of the imperial court and is credited with developing the literary genre of zuihitsu [zwee-it-zoo], a genre of personal essays with a name roughly translating as “follow-the-brush”.

Answer 36

Sei Shōnagon (accept Kiyohara no Nagiko) or Qing Shao Nayan

Question 37

Until 2010, the national flag of which country displayed a blue canton containing an ear of paddy, symbolising the country’s rice producers? The paddy was surrounded by 14 white stars standing for the 14 member states of the union, but, since 2010, only a single central star has appeared on the national flag.

Answer 37

Myanmar or Burma

Question 38

Now on display at the British Museum, the Bronze Head of Ife [ee-FAY] is a large copper-alloy sculpture from the 14th or 15th century. It depicts the head of a king of which West African ethnic group found primarily in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo?

Answer 38

Yoruba

Question 39

The Booker Prize-winning novel Life & Times of Michael K contains many references to Kafka and the title character is thought to have been named in Kafka’s honour. The novel is among the best-known of which South African Nobel Prize-winning author whose other works include the 1999 novel Disgrace? Disgrace also won the Booker Prize making this man the first author to win the award twice.

Answer 39

J(ohn) M(axwell) Coetzee

Question 40

Another major work of zuihitsu [zwee-it-zoo] is which essay by the monk Kamo no Chōmei in which he considers the Buddhist concept of mujō, or impermanence, while describing a series of natural disasters that have befallen Tokyo? The title of this work refers to the small building in which its ascetic author was living at the time of writing.

Answer 40

Hōjōki or Record of a Ten-Foot-Square Hut or An Account of My Hut

Question 41

In 1908, Trotsky joined the editorial staff of which social democratic newspaper for Russian workers? In 1912, the Bolsheviks angered Trotsky by taking the same name for a newspaper that became the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Answer 41

Pravda

Question 42

Which name is commonly used for three species in the Canidae family: the black-backed [BLANK], the side-striped [BLANK] (both in the genus Lupulella), and the golden [BLANK] in the genus Canis? The animal now commonly known as the African golden wolf was also once considered one of these. Native to Africa and Eurasia, these predators and scavengers are most active at dawn and dusk and fill a similar ecological niche to that filled by coyotes in North America.

Answer 42

jackals

Question 43

Joan Sutherland’s first starring role was in which opera by Giuseppe Verdi? She took the role of Amelia, who is in love with her husband’s friend, Gustavo, the King of Sweden. Another performance of this opera saw Marian Anderson cast as Ulrica to become the first African-American opera singer to perform with the Metropolitan Opera.

Answer 43

Un ballo in Maschera or A Masked Ball

Question 44

Separating Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa, which strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden has a name derived from the Arabic for ‘Gate of Lamentation’?

Answer 44

Bab-el-Mandeb or Bab-el-Mandab

Question 45

Major protests in which African country during the Arab Spring led to President Omar al-Bashir announcing he would not seek a further term past 2015? However, al-Bashir was not true to his word, remaining President until 2019 when he was ousted in a military coup d’état.

Answer 45

Sudan (do not accept or prompt on “South Sudan”)

Question 46

Vectors and planes within a crystal lattice are typically described using what notation, named after a British crystallographer? In this notation, a set of lattice planes is denoted by three integers typically labelled h, k and l [ell], which are related to the basis translation vectors of the lattice.

Answer 46

Miller index or Miller indices

Question 47

In his best-known works, Roy Lichtenstein commonly used an exaggerated form of a printing technique in which small, coloured dots are variously spaced and combined to create colour and shading. The ‘dots’ used in this technique are given what name after the illustrator who created the process in 1879?

Answer 47

Ben-Day dots or Ben-Day process

Question 48

One of the annual fast days in Judaism commemorates the destruction of two temples: Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians, and the Second Temple by the Romans. Over 500 years separates these disasters, but they are held to have occurred on the same date of the year, the ninth, or “tisha”, of which month of the Hebrew calendar? We want the name, not number, of the month.

Answer 48

Av or Ab

Question 49

While speeds above Mach 1 are commonly referred to as supersonic, speeds of above Mach 5 are known by what name?

Answer 49

hypersonic

Question 50

In the solid state, crystal lattices typically exhibit discrete translational symmetry. What name, after a French physicist, is given to this type of lattice? In 3-dimensional space there are 14 possible types of this lattice, including “body-centred cubic”, or “primitive triclinic”.

Answer 50

Bravais lattice

Question 51

The genus Procyon in the order Carnivora comprises three species, all native to the Americas: the common [BLANK], which is by far the best-known, the crab-eating [BLANK], and the Cozumel [BLANK]. Other animals of the same family include olingos, kinkajous, and coatis. What is the common name given to members of the genus Procyon?

Answer 51

raccoons

Question 52

Which author’s 1999 novel Supūtoniku no Koibito (Sputnik Sweetheart) is narrated by a schoolteacher known only as ‘K’? The name is thought to have been chosen in honour of Kafka, who is honoured much more directly in the title of this author’s novel Umibe no Kafuka (Kafka on the Shore).

Answer 52

Haruki Murakami

Question 53

Essais (Essays) is the title of three books published between 1580 and 1595 by a French philosopher who is credited with popularising the essay as a literary genre. Essays is also the title given to a book published in 1597 by an English philosopher who made important contributions to the advancement of empiricism and the scientific method and who, according to some reports, died of pneumonia contracted while studying the effects of freezing on meat preservation. Name either author.

Answer 53

Michel de Montaigne or Francis Bacon

Question 54

The famous double line of the Theodosian Walls built in the 5th century protected which city for some 14 centuries, staving off successive invasions and proving to be formidable fortifications even against gunpowder and cannons?

Answer 54

Constantinople or Istanbul (accept Byzantium)

Question 55

Grenada produces one-third of the world’s supply of which spice? A clove of the spice in question is depicted on the hoist side of the country’s flag.

Answer 55

nutmeg

Question 56

Which village in Nigeria’s Kaduna State gives its name to a civilisation or culture that appeared in around 1500 BCE before vanishing mysteriously in about 500 CE? This civilisation is remembered for its large number of terracotta sculptures, many of which take the form of nearly life-sized heads.

Answer 56

Nok

Question 57

Which Arabic term, translating approximately as “of the dawn”, is used for the meal consumed by Muslims in the morning before fasting starts during Ramadan?

Answer 57

Suhur or Sahur or Sahari or Sahri or Sehri

Question 58

Yemen is one of two countries to have seen two governments overthrown during the Arab Spring and its aftermath. The other is which country in which a long-serving President was overthrown in February 2011 and his eventual replacement, an Islamist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, was himself removed from office by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi?

Answer 58

Egypt

Question 59

In August 1940, Trotsky was murdered by the Soviet NKVD agent Ramón Mercader while in exile in which capital city?

Answer 59

Mexico City or Ciudad de México

Question 60

Joan Sutherland’s last full-length performance in an opera was as Marguerite de Valois in which opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer about the French Wars of Religion? Sutherland and her husband, the conductor Richard Bonynge [BONN-ing] were responsible for the revival of the popularity of this opera in the twentieth century.

Answer 60

Les Huguenots or The Huguenots