But let’s get a move on, shall we?
Q1) 10th April, 1925, saw the first publication of The Great Gatsby: by F. Scott Fitzgerald. What’s the name of the central character?
Q2) 10th April, 1971, saw relations between Communist China and the USA improve: when China was visited by a team of US what?
Q3) 10th April, 2009, saw President Josefa Iloilo provoke a constitutional crisis: by suspending his’s country’s constitution. Which country was it?
Q4) 10th April, 1904, saw the completion of The Book Of The Law: by which notorious mystic?
Q5) Finally … 10th April, 837 AD, saw Halley’s Comet make it’s closest approach to the Earth. When is it NEXT due to be visible to Earth?
Q1) 9th April saw the birth of Britain best known civil engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In which year?A1) 1806.
Q2) Which port town was Brunel born in?A2) Portsmouth. (In the Portsea area of the city: Charles Dickens was born nearby, some six years later.)
Q3) Brunel worked with his father — Marc Isambard Brunel — on a tunnel under the Thames: the first under a navigable river. Between Rotherhithe and where?A3) Wapping.
Q4) Talking of river crossings, Brunel did the original designs for the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The bridge goes over which English river?A4) The Avon.
Q5) The last bridges Brunel worked on were the Three Bridges: on Windmill Lane. In which city are those bridges?
Q6) Brunel worked on the railway that went from London to Bristol: this was the Great what Railway?A6) Great Western Railway.
Q7) The railway was originally supposed to terminate at Bristol. But eventually extended to which ‘E’?A7) Exeter.
Q8) Brunel used broad gauge on his railways. In other words, a big gap between the rails. Roughly how wide was that gap: 6 foot, 7 foot or 8 foot?A8) 7 foot. (Possibly the earliest format war in the history of modern engineering …)
Q9) Brunel was also responsible for what many call the world’s first modern ship: the first propellor powered, iron ship. What was it called?A9) The SS Great Britain.
Q10) Brunel died before seeing the launch of his last ship, the SS Great Eastern. Which US city was the Great Eastern due to go to, when Brunel died?A10) New York. (The ship itself, was double hulled: according to some documentaries I’ve seen, this design of hull could have prevented the sinking of the RMS Titanic.)
“Sometimes in your everyday life, you should say the right thing. But the wrong thing is funnier.”
Ed Byrne, born 10 April, 1972.
Interesting! :)
ReplyDelete1. Jay Gatsby
2. table tennis players
3. Fiji
4. Aleister Crowley
5. mid-2061