Friday 16 August 2013

Mastermind - Heat 2 - Wiki Challenge

I’m indebted to Daniel’s “Quiz Addict” blog for printing this week’s Mastermind specialist subjects. They are : -
Catherine Howard
The Green Lantern Comics
Robert Hooke
British Summer Olympic Medallists 1960 – 2012


Being as it’s still the summer holidays from work I decided that I should definitely have a go at the wiki challenge. For new readers, or those who might have forgotten, the wiki challenge works like this. You take a look at the list of subjects taken by contenders in the next Mastermind show. You pick one or more of the subjects, and then go to the relevant page of Wikipedia for the subject. Using only the page for reference, try to digest as much of its information as possible, and see how many specialist subject questions this allows you to answer correctly.

When I do it, I find it helps me to make up a set of questions from the information on the page. This week I decided upon two of the subjects. I took Summer Olympic Games as my very first specialist subject in my unsuccessful tilt at the crown in 2006, so I want to try and answer this one on my own merits. Being realistic, I thought that the wiki pages on Catherine Howard and Robert Hooke would be more useful than that on the Green Lantern, so I opted for these two. Mind you, this is not to say that I have anything against the Green Lantern -
In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil’s might
Beware my power – Green Lantern’s light!

etc. etc. Enough of such chaff. Here’s my question sets for the two subjects – 20 questions each

Catherine Howard

1. Which floral nickname did Henry VIII sometimes use for Catherine?
2. Catherine’s birth in about 1523 is usually believed to have taken place in which part of London?
3. Where did Catherine marry Henry VIII on 28th July, 1540?
4. Catherine was a daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and whom?
5. Who was Catherine’s paternal grandfather?
6. In 1531 her father Edmund was appointed to which post?
7. In which house belonging to her paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, near Horsham did Catherine spend much of her time following the death of her mother in 1531?
8. What was the name of Catherine’s music teacher with whom she had a sexual relationship when she was 13 years old, who would go on to give evidence at her trial for adultery?
9. What position was held in the Dowager Duchess’ household by Francis Dereham, who became Catherine’s lover, and whom she would address as husband?
10. Catherine was first appointed to court as a lady in waiting for whom?
11. With which courtier did Catherine become romantically attached after marrying the king?
12. Which relative of Catherine’s by marriage arranged her meetings with Culpeper?
13. Which protestant reformer learned of Catherine’s infidelity through his sister, Mary Hall, a member of the Duchess’ household?
14. When sent to question her in November 1741, Thomas Cranmer ordered objects be removed from her rooms. For what reason?
15. When stripped of her title as queen, where was Catherine imprisoned on 23rd November 1541?
16. Which of Catherine’s lovers was hanged, drawn and quartered on 10th December 1541?
17. Which bill, passed on 7th February 1542, made it a treasonable offence for a queen consort to reveal details of her sexual history to the king within 20 days of their marriage?
18. At what time of day on the 13th February 1641 was Catherine’s execution scheduled?
19. To which chapel was Catherine’s body taken for burial immediately after her execution?
20. Who painted the miniature which is accepted to be the only painting from life we have of Catherine made in the short period she was queen?

Answers

1. Rose without a thorn
2. Lambeth
3. Oatlands Palace, Surrey
4. Joyce Culpeper
5. Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfol
6. Controller of Calais
7. Chesworth House
8. Henry Mannox
9. Secretary
10. Anne of Cleeves
11. Thomas Culpeper
12. Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford
13. John Lascelles
14. He was afraid that she might attempt to commit suicide
15. Syon House
16. Francis Dereham
17. Act of Attainder
18. 7 am
19. St. Peter ad Vincula
20. Hans Holbein

Robert Hooke

1. Where on the Isle of Wight was Hooke born in 1635?
2. What was the profession of Hooke’s father , John?
3. Although Hooke went to London to study with Cowper and Lely, he became a pupil at which school?
4. Whose 14 volume “Early Science in Oxford” devotes 5 volumes to Hooke?
5. During the Protectorate, Hooke studied at which Oxford college?
6. Who headed Wadham College, and was a huge influence on Boyle during his time there? 7. During his time at Oxford, for whom did Hooke build vacuum pumps for his gas law experiments?
8. Hooke’s vacuum pump was based on whose earlier pump, which Hooke considered ‘too gross to perform any great matter’? 9. Who referenced Hooke’s incomplete autobiography for his “The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke”?
10. On 12th November 1661, Hooke was appointed to which position within the Royal Society?
11. Hooke is believed to have developed what, 15 years before Huygens, who is credited with the invention?
12. To which position did Hooke succeed Arthur Dacres in 1664?
13. What was the name of the lab assistant with whom Hooke would often take tea? 14. Where was Hooke buried following his death in 1703?
15. By which other name is Hooke’s Law of 1660 also known?
16. In which work of 1665 did Hooke argue for a principle of gravitation?
17. Which biological term was first coined by Hooke in the Micrographia?
18. For which free standing doric column in the City of London did Hooke collaborate with Wren on the design?
19. In a 1682 lecture, Hooke put forward a model for which aspect of a human being?
20. In which position was Hook a chief assistant to Sir Christopher Wren?

Answers

1. Freshwater
2. Church of England clergyman
3. Westminster
4. Robert Gunther
5. Wadham College
6. John Wilkins
7. Robert Boyle
8. Ralph Greatorex
9. Richard Waller
10. Curator
11. Balance Spring
12. Gresham Professor of Geometry
13. Harry Hunt
14. St. Helen’s Bishopsgate
15. The Law of Elasticity
16. Micrographia
17. Cell
18. The Monument to the Great Fire of London
19. Memory
20. Surveyor to the City of London

They won’t all come up, of course, but it will be interesting to see if they make a difference. On a subject like Catherine Howard, History being one of my better subjects I would expect to get between 5 – 8 on an unprepared round. On a subject like Robert Hooke it’s more like 1 – 3. So I’ll let you know what my scores were after, and we’ll see whether it made a difference in this case.

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