This week’s quiz is all about walks, long and short, peaceful and not-so-peaceful.

1 Which organisation has started a member’s club for its customers called ‘The Striding Man Society’?

2 Literary walking tours are now extremely popular and well-attended in the UK. Which author’s fans are likely to go for a walking tour to the city of Bath, the site of two of her better-known novels?

3 What did Mark Twain famously describe as “a good walk spoiled,” though variations of this quote preceded him by a couple of centuries?

4 One of the most tragic incidents of World War II took place in April 1942 when the Japanese army forced almost 80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war into a gruelling 80km march. More than 20,000 soldiers were believed to have died during the walk. By what name is this incident known?

5 Which 18th-century scientist became interested in his chosen field during the long walks he took with his father in the village of Rashult in southern Sweden?

6 Who was the first Pandava brother to perish on their final walk across the country to Mount Sumeru?

7 Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ is regarded a classic in punk music and was released in the album ‘Transformer.’ Which well-known musician produced the song?

8 Which three-word phrase is used to announce that a prisoner on death row is being taken for execution?

9 Which physical activity, also a sport, is performed with specially designed walking poles similar to ski poles and is known for exercising more muscles in the upper body than regular walking?

10 Which widely acclaimed and successful book by Bruce Chatwin, relating his experiences while retracing aboriginal walks across Australia, was nominated for Thomas Cook award for the best travel writing, but withdrawn by the author as he claimed a lot of it was fictional?

Answers

1. Johnnie Walker scotch, currently owned by Diageo

2. Jane Austen; the novels were Northanger Abbey and Persuasion

3. The game of golf, banned by King James in the 15th century as it distracted his archers

4. The Bataan Death March. The general who ordered the march, Masaharu Homma was arrested for war crimes in 1945 and executed in 1946

5. Carolus Linnaeus, who developed the biological naming scheme for plants and animals based on the specimens he encountered in his walks

6. Sahadeva, as he suffered the vice of pride. The first to actually die was Draupadi as she favoured Arjuna among her husbands

7. David Bowie; given the risqué lyrics, an edited version was originally released in the UK

8. ‘Dead Man Walking.’ It is also the title of a 1995 film starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon

9. Nordic Walking

10. The Songlines

Joy Bhattacharjyais a quizmaster and Project Director, FIFA U-17 World Cup

Follow Joy on Twitter @joybhattacharj

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