General 130514

General 130514 is a selection of 10 questions. General 130514 is the filename to differentiate it from other general knowledge quizzes. Feel free to use any of these questions and answers for your own quizzes. Just keep in mind that you cannot republish them in any format.

1   Which London Underground line is coloured black on the network map?
A   Northern Line – despite its name, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the Underground, though it does serve the southernmost station

2   Name the four sections of an orchestra.
A   the strings, the woodwinds, the brass and the percussion

3   Which publication carried stories about ‘Lord Snooty’ and his pals?
A   The Beano – a wealthy Eton schoolboy named Marmaduke

4   How many will be saved by putting a stitch in?
A   Nine (a stitch in time saves nine)

5   Who in Greek mythology is the winged goddess of victory, a name that has since found fame in the sporting world?
A   Nike (The correct way to pronounce “Nike” is so that it rhymes with “spiky”)

6   What word describes making beautiful with ornaments, decorations, or adornments?
A   Embellish (or to make a story more interesting by adding detail)

7   What is a tallboy?
A   A piece of furniture (derived from a corruption of the French bois (“wood”) and became common in English in the late 1600s)

8   How many standard time zones are there in the world?
A   24 (however, there are currently 40 world time zones; the standard ones and 16 areas of the world that that use time zones divided into 15-30-45-minute increments – France has 12 time zones ranging from UTC-10 to UTC+12. This unusual span is due to France’s scattered national territories)

9   Which make of car used the slogan “tested by dummies, driven by the intelligent”?
A   Volvo

10   What, according to the proverbial saying, ‘butter no parsnips’?
A   Fine words (or regionally ‘kind’ (meaning that fine words count for nothing and that action means more than flattery or promises)