Quiz #3 - If it weren't for your gumboots, where would you be?
Welcome to quiz number three. We think you'll find it tougher than others but also more rewarding.
Click on each question to reveal the answer, or click on the 'Show all the answers' link to see how you went and to learn more. Let us know any suggestions you have for improving the quiz by emailing quizmaster@radionz.co.nz.
Q 1 In what year was daylight saving (Summer Time) introduced in New Zealand?
A 1927
Debate around Summer Time began in 1895, and multiple attempts were made to bring it into law. This eventually succeeded and clocks were advanced one hour between 6 November 1927 and 4 March 1928. This was reduced to 30 minutes the following year and made permanent in 1946.
Summer Time was trialled in 1974/75, and after a positive public response the period of daylight saving was set as starting on the last Sunday in October and ending on the first Sunday in March.
The DIA website has a brief history of Summer Time.
For pedants: there is no 's' on the end of daylight saving.
Q 2 Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
A Marie Curie
Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize (for Physics, in 1903). This was for her work on radiation and was shared with her husband Pierre, and Henri Becquerel. In 1911 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to her "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element." Wow.
That makes her the only woman with two Nobel prizes. As of last year, 46 women had won a Nobel prize from a total of 889. Linus Pauling is the only other person to win two Nobel Prizes.
Q 3 NASA thinks there is water on Mars. Who said, "The chances against anything manlike on Mars are a million to one"?
A Ogilvy the astronomer, in The War of the Worlds.
The H.G. Wells classic was published as a novel in 1898, having first been serialised in the UK and US.
The story has been made into a radio play and a film.
The book has been out of copyright for years and is available in text format from Project Gutenberg.
A slightly different version of this quote was used in Jeff Wayne's 1978 concept album of the same name: "The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one". Wayne reimagined the album in 2012 with new personnel.
Q 4 How many sonnets did Shakespeare write?
A 154
The collection of sonnets was first published in 1609 and has been translated into every major language.
Here are a few that are well-known:
You can listen to all of them on our Shakespeare 450 page.
Q 5 How many colours are there in the fourth Doctor Who's famous scarf?
It really depends what season you're talking about, but the original had seven colours, red, green, gold, tan, brown, purple and grey. Legend has it that the scarf was never meant to be so long but the woman who knitted it, Begonia Pope, used all the yarn she was given and Tom Baker liked it, so he incorporated it into his character.
The scarf stretched even further, was patched several times and replaced a couple of times. There was even a stunt scarf.
Q 6 Which of these is NOT a duck?
A Duck
Daffy Duck is a Warner Brothers cartoon character, voiced by Mel Blanc from 1937 to 1989.
Ping is Chinese duck who got lost on the Yangtze River.
Howard the Duck started life as a Marvel Comics character, and later had a shot at film.
Duck, also known as Montague, is a pannier tank engine. He helps Thomas the Tank Engine with his goods traffic. As a good tank engine should.
Q 7 Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch on 9 September 2015, replacing Queen Victoria in the top spot. Who is now third?
A George III of the United Kingdom
He reigned from 1760 to 1820.
The American War of Independence occurred during that period. The Victorian author George Trevelyan, in his History of the American Revolution (published in 1905), suggested that the King was unable "to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal".
The war ended in 1783 with the signing of the The Treaty of Paris.
Q 8 American Football is also known as Gridiron. Why?
A The field was originally marked with a grid pattern before being replaced by the simpler five yard markings we see today.
In the US and Canada the term usually refers to the field, but in countries where rugby union is played it refers to the game itself.
New Zealanders and Australians seem to be as perplexed by American Football as North Americans are for our love of Vegemite.
Q 9 What was the name of Peter Jackson's first feature film?
A Bad Taste
Released in 1987, Bad Taste was made by Jackson and a small group of friends. He went on to make some other well-known films, including a couple of trilogies based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The film was apparently cut and then banned in Queensland, Australia.
Q 10 The New Zealand town Taihape has a large gumboot at its entrance. Who created it?
A Jeff Thomson
Thomson creates artworks out of corrugated iron, and is known for the Holden HQ that can be seen at Te Papa in Wellington.
In 1985 Taihape held its first Gumboot Day as part of a campaign to promote the town. The gumboot was commissioned by Gumboot Country Promotions and installed in 2000. The idea for using gumboots was inspired by Fred Dagg.
Nine to Noon interviewed Jeff Thomson in 2013 (audio and gallery).
The corrugated sculptures at Tirau were created by another artist, Steven Clothier.
If it weren't for your gumboots, where would you be?