Blaugust 19/31: Wednesday Quiz - Name that...

This post is part 19 of a proposed 31 part-treatise on the habits of the domestic Australian Homo Sapiens for that most arch of scientific journals, Blaugust East.

By long-standing tradition, the Wednesday Quiz is a no-holds barred general knowledge quiz with answers supplied to the comments section from the depths of the craniums of the Leaflocker readers, without outside help and with a spirit of adventure and shamelessness.

Thanks as always to our sponsor, Wikipedia, the theme this week is the much anticipated blockbuster...

Name that Monk, Eh?

 

1. People have been punching each other for fun and profit for at least three-thousand years. Nevertheless, pugilist historians usually date modern boxing to the match organised by Christopher Monck between his butler and his butcher in 1681. Which man won?

2. Recognised today as the patron saint of Europe, St. Benedict of Nursia is considered the founding "father" of Western Christian monasticism. Because I never can resist a Pope question, how many Popes Benedict have there been that are still acknowledged by the Catholic church?

3. Monks is the nom de plume of a character in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist who was cruelly cut from the musical versions of Oliver! What relation was Monks to the title character?

4. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is inarguably the world's most famous living monk. How many Dalai Lamas have gone before him?

5. Monk, Wizard, Witch Doctor and Demon Hunter are four of the five default character classes in the popular action RPG game Diablo III. What is the other?

6. Rafiki, the wisened old counsellor, is a character in the Lion King and its sequels. Addressing his most famous line, "Esante sana, squashed banana" to Swahili speakers unfamiliar with the films generally leaves them confused, as they generally like being thanked but do not like being called a fruit. Anyways... what type of monkey is Rafiki?

7. Written by Neil Diamond, I'm a Believer was a hit for the Monkees in 1966, but reappeared on the charts as part of the soundtrack for the movie Shrek. Which US-based rock band performed this cover?

8. The Monk Islands, believed to have been first discovered by Norwegian sailors, form part of the South Orkney Islands. Which body of water are the Monk Islands situated in?

9. Though the definition may differ, monks feature in Christianity, Buddhism, Vaishnavism, and which other world religion, a transtheistic Indian religion whose devotees take vows of nonviolence, not lying, not stealing, chastity, and non-attachment?

 

10. Monk, one of the many police procedural dramas of the noughties, featured a main character who solved crimes despite (or perhaps because of) crippling obsessive compulsive personality disorder. Name the actor who plays the eponymous main character whose other credits include roles in Men in Black and Galaxy Quest.

11. The genus Monachus contains two endangered species of tropical pinniped known as the Hawaiian and Mediterranean varieties. What type of creature are we talking about here?

 

Last week's answers:

1. An Abecedary teaches the latin alphabet. The clue is cleverly hidden in the name.
2. The Prime rate is the interest rate used by banks for their favoured clientele. Mates rates, if you will.
3. The Prime Directive prohibits federation intervention in the internal development of alien civilisations.
4. The Legend of Zorro outperformed Prime, despite Merryl Streep.
5. Prime followed Lauds. It took place in the first hour of daylight.
6. ' is the Rubik's notation for 'inverted', it generally makes counter-clockwise turns.
7. In Australia, there were 4 Metroid games prior to Prime, but I'd have accepted 3, as Metroid Fusion was weird, man.
8. Prime sources its material from the Seven network.
9. Robert Walpole was the first Prime Minister. I'll give Horace half-points, as I'm feeling generous tonight.
10. As that excellent logician John worked out, the first pair of co-primes, or numbers that have no common factors other than 1, are 4 and 9.
11. The International date line takes a trip to the East to avoid Kiribati
12. Primary beams, whether lasers or not, come from E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series.
13. I'm afraid the first to use large print was William Caxton. The other prominent early printer.

Which mean that winner this week was John, with 4.5 correct answers and a bonus point for an impressively detailed response on the nature of the armaments of the Lensman universe. 

Think you can do better, then remember to put your answers in on time! You have to be in it to win it, people.