Quizzes

Quiz # 37 for 3 June

11:48 am on 27 May 2016

We hope you are enjoying our quizzes. We think you'll find them tougher than others but also more rewarding.

The Quizmaster is away, so we have asked some RNZers to set a quiz. This week it is the turn of community engagement editor Megan Whelan. 

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.

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Q 1 Where might you find a gusset, a busk and coutil?

A On a corset. Coutil is a common fabric used in corset making. There are many different kinds of corsets as the fashions changed over time.

An 1891 corset by Maison Léoty

An 1891 corset by Maison Léoty Photo: The Met Museum (C.I.45.27a, b)

Q 2 How many women signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi?

A Thirteen women are believed to have signed the Treaty. Some women were refused the right to sign the document, given women's roles at that time. One of the women who signed it was Rangi Topeora, who was sometimes known as 'Queen of the South'.

Q 3 Which woman rapper recently made the cover of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people edition?

A Nicki Minaj

Minaj is the most-charted female rapper in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Kanye West has described her verse on his track Monster (probably NSFW) as "the best verse on the best hip hop album of all time."

Q 4 Who was the first woman elected to New Zealand's parliament?

A Elizabeth McCombs

In 1933, Elizabeth McCombs won a by-election in the Lyttelton seat caused by the death of her husband, James McCombs. Although women had won the vote forty years before, legislation allowing women to stand for parliament wasn't passed until 1919. Mabel Howard was New Zealand's first woman Cabinet minister. Iriaka Rātana was the first Māori woman to become an MP, and represented the Western Maori electorate from 1949 to 1969.

Q 5 Who is 'Becky with the good hair'?

  1. Rachel Roy
  2. Rachel Ray
  3. No one knows
  4. Ask Jay-Z

A No one knows

"He only want me when I'm not there / He better call Becky with the good hair" is a lyric in Beyonce's recent album Lemonade. The album reflects on relationships, and in particular, infidelity, leading to speculation Jay-Z cheated on his superstar wife. Several women have been alleged to be the subject of the lyric, but whether or not Lemonade is autobiographical is anyone's guess.

Photo:

Q 6 Who was the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal?

  1. Barbara Kendall
  2. Beatrice Faumuina
  3. Yvette Williams
  4. Nikki Jenkins

Yvette Williams won a gold medal in the long jump at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. Williams also represented New Zealand at basketball and reached South Island representative level at netball, and won four Empire Games medals. It would be another 40 years before Barbara Kendall would win the second women's gold, in boardsailing in Barcelona in 1992. Nikki Jenkins won New Zealand's first gold in an international gymnastics competition, at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland in 1990 - at 14 she was the youngest-ever New Zealand gold medallist at either the Commonwealth or Olympic Games

Q 7 In what year was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects published?

  1. 1792
  2. 1893
  3. 1925
  4. 1950

A 1792

Written by Mary Wollstonecraft, the work is a response to the prevailing theories of the time that women should only receive a domestic education. Wollstonecraft argues that women are seen merely as companions, ornaments or property, when in fact they are entitled to the same rights as men. "I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves," she wrote.

Her daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, is the author of Frankenstein, which she wrote as Mary Shelley.

Photo: Public Domain

Q 8 What flower did the New Zealand suffragists hand out to supporters?

  1. Red roses
  2. Pink orchids
  3. White camellias
  4. Kanuka flowers

A White Camellias

The suffragists handed out white camellias to their supporters to wear in their buttonholes, while their opponents wore red camellias. To commemorate 100 years of women's suffrage in 1993, camellia shrubs were planted in parliament's grounds. You can also find a white camellia on the $10 note.

Q 9 How many World Cups have the Black Ferns won?

A Four

Four is easily the most of any nation - next up is England with two. The Black Ferns have one of the best winning percentages in international rugby, with victory in close to 90 percent of their Tests prior to taking on England in 2012.

Q 10 Who wrote "I have always disliked the morning, it is too responsible a time, with the daylight demanding that it be 'faced' and (usually when I wake for I wake late) with the sun already up and in charge of the world, with little hope of anyone usurping or challenging its authority."

  1. Janet Frame
  2. Patricia Grace
  3. Katherine Mansfield
  4. Margaret Mahy

A Janet Frame

Janet Frame wrote Daughter Buffalo in 1972, her only novel set in the United States.

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The Quizmaster

Is the Quizmaster the source of all knowledge? Or do they just use the internet like eveyone else? Super search skills might not help you with these quizzes - their knowledge comes from outside of time and space. We get these quizzes via courier pigeon each Friday. Enjoy!

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