Sunday Quiz Easy like Sunday morning
Queen Maria I ruled Portugal from another country for 13 years.
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Robert Schuman was prime minister of France twice and played a major role in setting up NATO. He became the first president of the European Parliamentary Assembly. On May 9, 1950, he made a speech known as the ‘Schuman Declaration’ in which he sought to pacify relations between France and West Germany. Eventually, six member countries joined and created a trans-national community. This eventually became an organisation that now celebrates May 9 as ‘Europe Day’. What organisation is this that recently lost a member under strenuous conditions?
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This now quite easily identifiable and common trait is a relatively new evolutionary development in humans. It developed about 11,000 years ago in inhabitants of Northern Europe as a response to the lack of sunlight, to enable more Vitamin D synthesis in the body. The term for this trait comes from an old French word that meant ‘colour between golden and light chestnut’. What trait is this?
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Emperor Napoleon at one time held control over much of Europe and introduced a rule that stays till date. This was brought into place for two reasons — one, because it would deter swordfighting on horseback, as the dominant hand would be on the wrong side; two, because this was exactly opposite to the rule in aristocratic Britain. The U.S. later started following the same rule just to spite the British. What rule is this?
Answer : Driving/ riding on the right side of the road (Right hand drive)
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On May 4, 1986, three Russian men — Alexei Ananenko, Valeri Bespalaov and Boris Baranov — stepped forward to undertake a mission that was considered suicidal. All they had to do was manually turn some valves in a flooded basement, which they successfully did. If they hadn’t, the result would have been a four-megaton explosion that would have rendered most of Europe uninhabitable for millennia. They miraculously survived and went on to be lauded for their efforts. In which Ukrainian city did these heroes work?
5 / 10 |
In medieval Europe, people who practiced this profession also did surgery in their establishments. Due to their mastery of using sharp cutting instruments, and the readily available bandages, they were the go-to people for amputation. Till this day in Europe their places have a red-and-white swirl pole to denote blood and bandages, though they cannot do surgery. What profession is this that was hit quite badly during the lockdowns?
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In 1951, Hugh Beaver, the managing director of a popular brewery, raised a question to his friends while out on a hunt. He wanted to know which was the fastest bird in Europe — whether it was the peregrine falcon or the golden plover. He wasn’t able to answer the question, but this discussion led to the production and publication of one of the most popular series of books. What is this book that he named after his brewery and which sought to answer such questions?
7 / 10 |
In the unusually cold winter of 1795, a certain cavalry force carried out a military manoeuvre that remains unique till this day. On the night of January 23, a regiment of horsemen led by Louis Joseph Lahure galloped across the frozen Zuiderzee bay and surrounded 14 Dutch warships that were stuck. This feat of horsemen capturing ships is very rare. The cavalry belonged to which country, falsely accused of not being very successful in wars in history?
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Between the 15th and 17th centuries, in what’s known as the Spanish Price Revolution, enormous amounts of gold and silver were brought into Spain, leading to a high rate of inflation in Western Europe as a result of the balance of payments deficit. This led to a crash in the economy across Europe. All this influx was due to the Spanish fleet raiding a certain empire that soon collapsed due to disease brought by the invaders. Which now-vanished civilisation was plundered leading to this crash?
9 / 10 |
Europeans feared eating a certain food item for 200 years, believing it to be poisonous. In fact, what was happening was that the wealthy who could afford it ate it off pewter plates; the lead from these plates would be leached out by the food item’s juices, leading to lead poisoning. What item is this, which thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, is part of an eternal debate about whether it is a fruit or a vegetable?
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In 1807, a historic event occurred when Queen Maria I of Portugal, the royal Braganza family and the entire court, in a strategic retreat, left Lisbon, sailed to another country, and for 13 years governed Portugal from there. This transfer of the Portuguese court outside the country also led to the only known instance in history where the capital of a European country was outside the European continent. Which city, known for its beaches and giant statue, was the capital of Portugal from 1808 till 1821?
