1 John Lennon got a letter from a student in his old school saying that they were analysing the lyrics of songs by the Beatles in their English classes. Quite amused by this, Lennon went on to pen one of the most bizarre songs ever done, just to defy analysis. The title was inspired by a Lewis Carroll poem about two characters. But the character named in the song title was actually the villain of the poem. After whom did Lennon later admit the song should have been titled?
2 Apparently cheesemakers in a particular county in England used to make moulds for their cheese in the shape of a grinning cat (because, you know, dairy farms = lots of mice = happy cats). They used to slice the cheese from the tail end till the last remaining piece was just the face. Which county was this?
3 Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym adopted by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Unfortunately he had a stammer, which caused him great annoyance when introducing himself. This might have led to him identifying with a sad animal which makes a rare literary appearance in his seminal book Alice in Wonderland (AIW). What animal?
4 Carroll loved word games and devised one called ‘Syzygies’ where one word slowly becomes another through related changes through different words. From which field, of which he was also a fan, did he borrow this concept?
5 In AIW, Alice falls into a hole and wonders if the hole goes all the way through to the other side of Earth. If so, she would have come out at what is known as the ‘antipode’. What is India’s antipode? (Or if you tunnelled straight down in India, where will you come out?)
6 Johnny Depp played the part of the Mad Hatter in the 2010 Tim Burton AIW movie. He had his hair coloured bright orange as a testament to the actual hatters who were literally driven mad by a disease called ‘Mad Hatters Disease’. This orange colour in the original hatters came from what source used for what purpose?
7 In 1895, Carroll wrote an allegorical dialogue for a philosophical journal in which a tortoise challenges a person to use the force of logic to make him accept the conclusion of a simple deductive argument. Unfortunately, the person fails, being tricked into an infinite regression. The same duo also make an appearance in Greek philosopher Zeno’s Paradox, where the person again fails, this time, to overtake the tortoise. Who is this unfortunate human who otherwise is known for being almost invincible?
8 There is an evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against ever-evolving opposing organisms in an ever-changing environment. This is named after an AIW character’s quote that goes “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” What is the hypothesis called?
9 Grace Slick of the band Jefferson Airplane wanted to write a song meant to be a warning to parents who read out books such as AIW where the girl drinks a strange liquid and changes sizes and then later chastise those children for taking hallucinogenic drugs. This cult song is named after the character who starts off the whole adventure. What is the name of the song?
10 Micropsia and macropsia are brain conditions which affect the way objects are perceived by the mind. Also known as ‘Alice In Wonderland Syndrome’, what particular perception does it affect?
Answers
1 ‘I am the Carpenter’. As opposed to ‘I am the Walrus’ as the song from Magical Mystery Tour goes.
2 Cheshire. Hence the Cheshire Cat.
3 Dodo-Dodgson
4 Algebra in mathematics, Hilbert’s syzygy theorem to be precise.
5 In the Pacific Ocean, 2,000 kilometres west of Bolivia. Hope you know how to swim!
6 An orange solution of Mercuric Nitrate was used to separate fur from the skins of animals which caused mercuric poisoning and eventually, Mad Hatters Disease.
7 What the Tortoise said to Achilles
8 The Red Queen Hypothesis
9 White Rabbit
10 Perception of size.
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a drink, kaapi is an emotion’.
