How’s your Ancient Egyptian?

Last Saturday Jenny, my techno-whizz 16 year-old, and myself hosted a Quiz Night at the local tennis club.

The tennis club is a bit of a family affair as my Dad (who clocks in at the grand age of 88) is the treasurer and, over the years, all the junior Gordon-Smiths have been to the Saturday morning tennis lessons.  Jenny’s techno-wizardry came into its own as, thanks to her, we were able to play a round of Historical Voices, recorded from t’internet.  It’s interesting see people’s faces; you announce that we’re going to hear recordings from the past and everyone looks apprehensive and slightly glum.  Play a bit of Winston Churchill (“This was their finest hour”) and a clip of the 1966 World Cup Final (“They think it’s all over – it is now!”) spiced up with Apollo 13 (“Huston, we’ve got a problem”) and John (“You cannot be serious!”) McEnroe carrying on and everyone starts laughing again.  The trick to having a successful quiz, I think, is to think about the questions so everyone there can have a stab at answering most of them.  In order to get a winner, ask subsidiary questions, such as “What year is it?” and so on.  One round was "Missing Worlds".  The idea is to read three words, all of which can be prefaced by another word to make a new word.  For example, Wall, Brigade and Ball can be prefaced by "Fire".

See how you do with these.  Answers at the bottom of the page!

Ship

Yard

Martial

Room

Take

Bill

Fishing

Blown

Paper

Land

Spring

Sail

And, if you’re in the quiz mood, here’s some questions.  Again, answers are at the bottom of the page.

1) What sport am I describing? The competition is a timed race and the fastest wins.

The competitors start their race from a single point but have different finishing lines.

Races are generally between 62 and 621 miles but in the United States races of up to 1,118 miles have been recorded.

During the race, the competitors face the real danger of death from being attacked by wild predators.

To compete in a race, the competitor must wear a permanent, unique numbered ring or band that is attached to their leg when they are about 5 days old.

2)   To the nearest thousand (!) how many islands make up Great Britain?  This does not include Ireland.

3)   What was the Ancient Egyptian word for cat?  (Go on!  Have a guess!)

Answers:

Missing Words:  1)Court  2) Double  3) Fly  4)Main

General Knowledge:  1) Pigeon Racing   2) 6,000. Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has a total 6,289 islands, mostly in Scotland. Of these, 803 are large enough to have been 'digitised' with a coastline by map-makers.   3) The Egyptian hieroglyphics spell out the syllables Mee-ee-ow!