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Legendary musician John Mayall, founder of the iconic John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, turns 81 on November 29. Reason enough for a ‘Blue’ quiz.
1 An easy start — why are the highest-valued stocks in an exchange called ‘Blue Chip’ stocks?
2 Which ungulate is the State animal of Tamil Nadu? It helps if you remember the subject of the quiz.
3 Which singer’s critically and commercially successful fourth album, which released in 1971, was titled ‘Blue’ and featured classics like A case of you and On this flight tonight ?
4 If the President of America lives in the White House, which Asian head of State lives in the Blue House?
5 The distinctive white shirts with dark blue stripes sported by Christ Church College students helped start which sporting tradition?
6 The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series, produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of Blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the Blues. Which versatile actor-director helmed the episode on Blues music based on the piano?
7 Which term, translated literally from Spanish, originally referred to the proud old families of Castille, who claimed never to have intermarried with other races?
8 Which specific group of nomadic North Africans traditionally wear a blue turban called a tagelmust, which is coloured by pounding powdered indigo into the cloth. They were originally known as the ‘Blue Men of the Sahara?’
9 Blue is a very common colour for national teams. The ‘Les Bleus’ of France, and ‘Gli Azzurri’ of Italy are some of the better-known European national teams. But which two international teams would be competing in a soccer match if the ‘La Celeste’ went up against the ‘Los Albicelestes’?
10 What was the name for the unofficial accolade for the fastest passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service. The competition encouraged the creation of faster and larger ships, and Winston Churchill once estimated that the liners created by Cunard for the competition helped shorten World War II by at least a year.
ANSWERS
1. The term comes from poker, where the blue chips are of the highest value.
2. The Nilgiri tahr or the Blue Mountain goat.
3. Joni Mitchell
4. The President of South Korea
5. ‘The Battle of the Blue Boats’ in the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race. The Oxford Crew had many students of Christ Church College in their team and adopted dark blue as their colour, while Cambridge University decided to have a light blue kit, probably because they had a lot of students from Eton.
6. Clint Eastwood
7. Blue blooded, from ‘Sangre Azul’ in Spanish.
8. Tuareg
9. Uruguay and Argentina, the ‘Sky Blues’ against the ‘Sky Blue and Whites’.
10. Blue Riband, a term borrowed from horse racing. It was easily the most prestigious competition for passenger liners.
Joy Bhattacharjyais a quiz master, Director - Kolkata Knight Riders and author of Junior Premier League — The First XI
Follow Joy on Twitter >@joybhattacharj
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