Q. All points on the solar surface do not rotate at the same rate. The reason? A. The sun is not a solid object; it is made up of layers of gas. Q. How do we know " Gordon Sumner " better as ? A. Sting. Q. In a few of the Tom & Jerry cartoons, Jerry is accompanied by a friend - a grey mouse, with a big mouth & is normally in diapers. What is its name ? A. The mouse had 2 names. It was initially Nibbles ( in the earlier cartoons, it was always after food ) & later on it was called Tuffy ( the tough one ). Q. Early choices for its name were " Facts ", " Briefs ", " Destiny " and " Chance ". What is it known today as ? A. The TIME magazine. Q. The bite of which creature is painless 'coz of its own anaestheric property? A. The leech. Q. Which professional sport gives its participants 87% chance of suffering from brain damage? A. Boxing. Q. Singer Phil Collins appears in a Speilberg movie as Inspector Good.What is its title? A. Hook. Q The name of which Indian dynasty is derived from an Arabic word meaning "Mongol"? A. The Mughal dynasty. Q. Which country's national anthem is the longest ? A. Greece. Q. How do we know "Montague" & "Capulet" better as ? A. Romeo & Juliet. Q. Which is the oldest letter in the English alphabet ? A. 'O'. Q. In France, it is known as "Alerte a Malibu", inVenezuela as "Guardianes de la Bahia" & in Hebrew as "Mishmartta - Mifratz". How do we know it better as ? A. "Baywatch". Q. Who would have made a film starring Princess Diana if she had not met with her tragic death? A. Kevin Costner. Q. 'Abraham's bosom' is a biblical figure of speech.What does it mean? A. Paternal care. Q. Charlie Chaplin belonged to the great era of silent movies. In which movie did he speak for the first time? A. The Great Dictator. Q. What keeps a drowning man from taking in oxygen? A. Hydrogen. Q. Who composed a piano piece that needs both hands and the nose to strike the right notes? A. Mozart. Q. Which great scientist dropped out of school when he was a teenager, at this mother's request? A. Isaac Newton. Q. Name the only animal besides humans which can get leprosy. A. Armadillo. Q. Which ageless toy was originally made from the knuckle bones of dogs & sheep? A. Dice. Q. What originated from a 12th / 13th century handball sport called 'jeu de paume' or game of the palm ' ? A. Tennis. Q. What was the star-spangled banner originally called? A. The Defence of Fort McHenry (the song was composed during a British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor). Q. In Northern France, children are given gifts on Dec. 6th.What is Dec. 6th? A. St. Nicholas' Day. Q. What is the title of Emma Lazarus' poem etched at the Statue of Liberty? A. The New Colossus. Q. What specific reason did P.G.Wodehouse attribute his popularity in U.S.A. to? A. Having a middle initial. Q. 20 years at the top is the autobiagrophy of which famous cricketer? A. Sir Gary Sobers. Q. Which country's ancient name was 'Lusitania' ? A. Portugal. Q. The collection or gathering of which fruit is known as 'Plashing' ? A. Walnut. Q. What does 'biscuit' mean in French? A. 'Twice cooked'. Q. Which comic character's original name was "Dippy Dawg" ? A. Goofy. Q. In Dishnet DSL, what does DSL stand for ? A. Digital Subscriber Line. Q. Hindu mythology - who was the first man to die ? A. Yama. Q. Lord Ayyappa was formed as result of the union of 2 Gods.Name them. A. Shiva & Vishnu in female form. Q. Name the God who cut off one of the five heads of Lord Brahma. A. Lord Shiva. Q. Why was the clock-wise direction chosen for the clock? A. Sundials ran clock-wise in the Northern Hemisphere & clocks were modelled after them. Q. "Enquire" was a program written by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, Geneva. What has it grown to ? A. The World Wide Web.Tim Berners-Lee is the creator of HTML. Q. Which was the only movie to be made twice by Alfred Hitchcock ? A. The man who knew too much. Q. Dan Hoeffler in 1971, writing in "Electronic News" described the area around Sunnyvale and San Jose in California as A. Silicon Valley. Q. Which music group was originally known as Tom & Jerry ? A. Simon & Garfunkel . Q. What does the instrument shehnai literally mean ? A. Sheh - royal , nai - flute. Q. What is the term used by miners to refer to Methane gas ? A. Firedamp. Q. Plagued by TB & an awkward stammer, he quit being a physician & forced himself to become an author.His first work was "Liza of Lanbeth". Who ? A. Somerset Maugham. Q. Which poem in English ends with the lines "Datta Dayadhavam, Danyata, Shantih, Shantih, Shantih" ? A. The wasteland. Q. Sir Humphrey Davy once remarked " is my greatest discovery".Fill in. A. Michael Faraday. Q. Connect Mossad & cricket. A. Stickometer. Q. The Nobel Prize for Economics has a speciality.What? A. It was not originally initiated. Nowadays, it is sponsored by the Swedish bank. Q. Which best-seller starts with the following words : "The great big fish moved silently in the waters." ? A. Jaws. Q. What is Spanish for "chain of mountains in the form of sawtooth" ? A. Sierra. Q. Born in1758, he graduated from Yale University. When he was 20, he joined the George Washington army. After Independence, he published a book called "American Spellings" to establish intellectual independence for England. Name this person. A. Noah Webster. Q. Born in Calcutta, I was christened Chandidas. When I was young, I loved to go & see IIM calcutta wher my brother played cricket. I fell in love with the institute & the game. I wrote CAT & failed. I was so angry I wanted to break my right hand. On the advice of my brother, I wrote CAT on the next attempt using my left hand & got thro'. My family is known to collect vintage cars. It has 57 of them. Who am I? A. Saurav Ganguly. Q. After the end of the war in Mahabharat, Lord Krishna takes Yudhishtra and requests Bheeshma to advise Yudhishtra upon the nuances of Dharma. Bheeshma then sings a hymn in praise of Lord Krishna / Vishnu having the 1000 names of Lord Krishna. Name the hymn. A. Vishnu Sahasranamam. Q. Hiram Bingham, the American explorer and archaelogist, who discovered Machu Picchu in 1912, inspired (other than further Andean exploration) a famous fictional character. Who? A. Indiana Jones. Q. Harry Potter trivia - Lord Voldemort's wand is made up of the feathers of which bird ? (the species & the name of the bird). A. Fawkes / Phoenix. Q. Construction began in 1927 & continued for 14 years, due to weather conditions & the lack of funding. A budget of $1 million was allotted and spent. The original suggested the portraits of Western heroes such as Kit Carson & John Colter. But the man building the memorial had different ideas & the memorial ended up quite differently. What? A. Mount Rushmore. Q. What famous message was sent to Amintius announcing a victory over Pharnaces, son of Mithridates at Zela in Asia Minor in 47 B.C. ? A. Vini, Vidi, Vici - I came, I saw, I conquered. Q. The ruler of Kashmir forbade the British from buying houses or land. The British resorted to something. What did this lead to ? A. Boathouses. Q. Connect "Once upon a time in West Village" , "Insomnia cafe" & "Friends like us" . A. The names originally considered for the serial "Friends" . Q. Who is the only real-life character to appear in Tintin ? A. Al Capone, the gangster. Q. What does the foll: order of senses indicate ? Sight-taste-smell-touch-hearing. A. The order in which they leave the body before death. Q. She was reported missing from her home "Styles" on the night of December 3, 1926. After a breathless public search of nearly 2 weeks, she was discovered 250 miles away, registered under the name Theresa Neele at a country hotel. Who are we talking about ? A. Agatha Christie. Q. Who according to the Guinness book of world records is the most perfectly developed human in the history of the world ? A. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Q. Complete the following famous lines : " If you want to shoot, , , ." A. Shoot, don't talk. Q. What is the full name of Jughead Jones ? A. Forsythe Peltham. Q. 80% of them are lawyers, some are soldiers, some are businessmen, some are carpenters. Who am I talking about ? A. Presidents of U.S. Q. According to Hindu legend, Lord Shiva gifts 3 magical stones to a saint to fight against the thugee cults which have risen in India. Legend has it that when the 3 stones are brought together, the diamonds in them glow. This Hindu legend is used in an Indiana Jones movie. Name the movie, the saint and the collective name of the stone. A. Indiana Jones and the temple of doom / Adi Shankara / Shankara stones. Q. During the WW II , this place served as the HQ for the Red Cross, Air Raid Precaution and The National Fire Service. Name it. A. Wimbledon. Q. The Jacobins were a political group during the French Revolution. Name the Indian ruler whose admiration for the French revolution was so great that he became a member of the Jacobin Club. A. Tipu Sultan. Q. Which 2 international cricket playing brothers play in a rock band called "Six and out " ? (CLUE: Apart from them, Gavin Robertson is in the group). A. Shane Lee & Brett Lee. Q. On October 21 1994 Heather Donahue, Joseph Leonard, Michael Willow went on a hike into Maryland's (USA) black hills forest to make a documentary / movie based upon a local legend & never returned. Name the movie. A. Blair Witch Project. Q. This fictional character is modelled upon Douglas Fairbanks Sr. His alter ego is named after Clark Gable & Kent Taylor. The city in which he operates is named after Fritz Lang's movie of the same. Name the character, the alter ego & the city. A. Superman, Clark Kent, Metropolis. Q. Connect Microsoft, Lord Byron & Charles Babbage. A. Ada Lovelace. * Charles Babbage designed the difference engine which was programmed by Ada Lovelace(incidentally, she is the world's first programmer). * Lord Byron had an equally famous daughter & that was none other than Ada Lovelace. * Microsoft had a picture of Ada Lovelace as its logo originally. Q. In NASA, what does EVA FRATERNITY mean ? A. Space walk. Q. In 1856, 2 British engineers John & William were engaged to build a railway between Karachi & Lahore. To form the foundation, they found & took 1000 or so mud bricks from a historic place. Name this important archaelogical find. (Place). A. Harappa. Q. In Greek mythology, this giant snake worked for Hera, the wife of Zeus. She ordered the snake to attack Leto, who was having an affair with Zeus. Apollo killed the creature at Delphi 'coz it was blocking access to the Delphi oracle. Name the creature. (Clue: A species of snake). A. Python. Q. Vayu wanted to blow away Mt. Meru. However, Garuda guarded Mt. Meru. Once whilst Garuda was away, Vayu blew away the top of Mt. Meru, which became a land mass / geographical entity. Name the land mass. A. Sri Lanka. Q. This mathematician published his theory in a book called "Recherches sur la probabilite des jugements en matiere criminelle et en matiere civile " . Rumor has it that he developed his theory to determine the probability of deaths in the army due to horse-kicks.Name the mathematician. A. Poisson / Poisson ratio. Q. This book by Joseph Heller was set in the backdrop of WW II . The protagonist was a pilot named Yossarian and the novel was based upon his life in an airbase in PINOSA. This novel has led to a phrase in English symbolising paradoxical situations. Name the novel or the phrase ( incidentally, both are the same ) . A. Catch 22. Q. What is Italian / Sicilian for code of silence ? ( Clue : Mario Puzo ) A. Omerta. Q. Which real life personality did Shivaji Ganesan want to portray in a movie ( unfortunately, he never got the chance ) ? A. Thanthai Periyar. Q. Name the brother of Albus Dumbledore who is imprisoned in Azkaban & why ? A. Aberforth Dumbledore / for inappropriate charms on a goat. Q. In ancient Rome, 1 out of every 10 Roman soldiers who were convicted of mutiny were executed. What English word, meaning "destroy" comes from this practice ? A. Decimate. Q. Connect Zipper, Elevator, Escalator, Yo-Yo, Cola. A. These brand names were so common that they appeared in The Oxford Dictionary. Their trademarks were taken away 'coz of this. Q. This happened due to a 5 Shilling increase in the prices of a pound of pepper proclaimed by the Dutch Profiteers. As a result, 24 British traders got together & floated a company of 125 shareholders. Name the company. A. The East India Company. Q. How do we better know the distance covered by light in vacuum in 1 / 299792458 of a second ? A. A metre. Q. Connect Achille & Krishna. A. Both were killed by being attacked in the heel. Q. James Ritty was the proprietor of a cafe saloon in Dayton & found himself plagued by petty embezzlement. On an ocean cruise, he is said to have observed a machine that recorded the rotations of the ship's propeller on a dial. This gave him the inspiration to patent a device that recorded transactions on a similar clock face. What was this device ? A. Cash register. Q. The Babylonians performed all their calculations in dust.So dust became the name for any form of calculation. What derives its name from the Baby word 'dust' ? A. Abacus. Q. Which Mughal Monument in India is dedicated to Arjumand Banu Begum ? A. The Taj Mahal. Q. " Yat Krounchamithuna dekam abadhi kamamohitham ". In these lines Krouncha is a bird and the verse means that the writer is overcome by the grief of a bird being shot by a hunter. What is the significance of these lines ? A. Starting lines of the Ramayana. Q. Name the only play written by Shakespeare to be made into a sci-fi movie ( Forbidden Planet ). A. The Tempest. Q. Who was referred to as " The walking question mark " during his student days at Yale? A. Noah Webster. Q. Why was the motto " Be Prepared " chosen for the Boy Scout Movement? A. Based on the initials BP( Baden Powell ) of its founder. Q. The publication of the Oxford Dictionary was held up for about a year in the 1930's 'coz the editors decided to include a new word.What was this word? A. Bodyline. Q. Name the only Steven Spielberg movie to have a question mark in its title. A. Who framed Roger Rabbit ? Q. What is unique about the Asterix adventure "Asterix & Cleopatra " ? A. Obelix gets to drink the magic potion only in this adventure. Q. Name the only commoner to appear on British stamps( He's an Indian ). A. Sachin Tendulkar. Q. An English clergyman who emigrated from Cambridge to New Engand, left half his fortune and his library of 300 books to the college of New Towne.This was renamed in his honour. Name the college & the person. A. John Harvard ( Harvard University ). Q. The 2 most translated works in English are The Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Name the next most translated English author. A. Agatha Christie. Q. It was invented by Earl Dickson for his accident-prone wife. Its standard size was 7.5 x 4.5 cms. when introduced. Nowadays, it comes in various sizes. What is it? A. Band-aid. Q. Whose last words were " I am dying with the help of too many physicians " ? A. Alexander the great. Q. In 1958, Dan Carney & Frank Carey of Wichita, Kansas did something to pay for their college fees. What? A. They started selling pizzas & founded 'Pizza Hut'. Q. What was described by the famous Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock as ' the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it ' ? A. Advertising. Q. The movie ' Casablanca ' was not released the moment it was ready for release. The reason ? A. Warner brothers wanted to synchronise its release with the Big Allied Conference that was to be held at Casablanca. Q. What was the name given by singer Hariharan to his style of singing, which is now widely used by the media for his style of songs? A. Urdu blues. Q. Greeks don't start an important project on Tuesdays. Why? A. 'Coz it was on Tuesday, May 29, 1543 that Constantinople fell to the Turks. Q. In F1 racing, who is referred to as the ' Lollipop man ' ? A. The man holding up the stop sign when u get to a pit stop. Q. The Spanish revolution of 1808-1814 gave a word to the English language meaning " Little war ". What word? A. Guerilla. Q. Complete this list: , Martin Alonzo Pinzar, Vincent Yanez Pinzon. A. Christopher Columbus, captain of the Santa Maria.The other 2 were captains of the Nina and the Pinta. Q. This fictional character was named for an old Robert Mitchum movie. He was born when Don Levine noticed some movable mannequins at a New York art supply store. His face was based on 23 real-life Congressional Medal Honorees. To protect his face from pirates, it was given 2 unique features: a facial scar & a misplaced thumbnail.Who is he? A. GI Joe. Q. This is an old North of England provincialism for eating or drinking outside meal-times. Anglo-Indians brought it into vogue in india. What is this term? A. Tiffin. Q. A genealogical tree commonly contains 3-line marks indicating succession. This mark resembles the shape of a crane's foot. What word comes from this? A. Pedigree from pie-di-gress(foot of a crane). Q. When Master Vithal, the hero of "Alam Ara " was sued by Sharadha Studios, Bombay for breach of contract, he was defended in the court by a famous lawyer. Who? A. Mohd.Ali Jinnah. Q. The greek word for " 10,000 " has given rise to an English word meaning an indefinitely great number. What word? A. Myriad. Q. Who were referred to as ' the baker & the baker's wife ' ? A. Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette ( ' Let them eat cake ' ). Q. The strategic defense initiative of which US President is popularly known as ' The Star Wars ' ? A. Ronald Reagan. Q. There's only 1 brick exhibited on the Great wall of China. What is its significance ? A. It was the only brick left over after the construction of the wall. Q. Lutetia is mentioned all-too-frequently in Asterix comics. How is it known today as? A. Paris. Q. Many race horses have the same official b'day irrespective of when they were born. When is it? A. First Jan of the year of their birth. Q. How is the ' Decalogue ' better known as? A. The ten commandments. Q. Maths- what is a perigon ? A. An angle of 360 degrees. Q. Which company's motto is ' The best or nothing ' ? A. Mercedes Benz. Q. Mythology- What is common to Vishnu's discuss, Shiva's trident & Karthikeya's lance? A. They were all made from fragments of Surya's rays. Q. What is unique about the Bhavnagar rly. station in Gujarat? A. The only rly. station where women work as porters. Q. Which famous actress wrote a cookbook titled ' In the kitchen with love ' in 1972 ? A. Sophia Loren. Q. This soft drink was first introduced by Charles C Grigg in Oct 1929. It was originally called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda. How is it known today as ? A. 7-up. Q. Which living being actually has blue blood? A. Lobster. Q. Which drink is referred to as ' Nelson's blood ' ? A. Rum. Q. In the ice-cream brand ' Baskin Robbins-31 ', what does 31 signify ? A. 31 flavours available at a minimum, one for each day of the month. Q. In the book 'Alice in Wonderland ', there's something unique about the Mad Hatter's watch. What is it? A. It showed the day of the month. Q. What are camel's hair-brushes made of ? A. They are made using hairs from squirrel's tails. Q. This famous English poet was an ardent skater. He was an expert at skating & could cut his name with his skates. Name him. A. William Wordsworth. Q. What word in English meaning a scornful & bitter smile, comes from this ? A. Sardonic. Q. What word originates from a 19th century Irish family which used to live in Southwark, London & was notorious for violence, rowdiness & crime ? A. Hooligan ( from Houlihan ). Q. Mary, Queen of Scots had several pages drawn from noble French families. She used them to help her play a certain game, which is said to have originated in St. Andrews, Scotland. What word is this ? A. Caddy - from the French word Cadet, which soon became Caddy. The game was golf. Q. This word was coined during WW II to mean a powerful bomb which could destroy large parts of the city. It has later on become popular in the film world. What? A. Blockbuster ( originally named 'coz these bombs could pulverize an entire city block ). Q. Which word continues this sequence for a particularly logical reason? AID GUESS DEGREE ESTATE COLUMN SENSE A. First aid, Second guess, third degree, fourth estate etc so Seventh Heaven. Q. This word originally came about as a result of the fact that many items belonging to people were collected and put together with a note carrying the name of the owner and item and was put into the register. Which word? A. The word is prop.It came from 'property'. Q. If a soldier was dismissed from the army for dishonourable conduct, he would be drummed out in a ceremony which included a description of his crime being read out and his insignia stripped from his uniform. What expression in the English language did this practise result in? A. Facing the music. Q. In medieval England, unwelcome guests were served a tasteless dish to indicate that they were no longer welcome. This practice has given rise to an English phrase, which means "To ignore". What is it? A. To give a cold shoulder.