Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
I have a rare treat in store for those of you who can attend this evening’s Pub Quiz. The flamenco guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Aaron Gilmartin will be performing a song during the intermission of tonight’s Quiz, and then a few more songs while I am grading your answers. I have known Aaron for about 40 years, and have been impressed with his work as a musician in recent years, much of which can be enjoyed online. As you can find out at http://www.aarongilmartin.com, Aaron is supremely talented and accomplished.
In addition to grading essays and seeing films with my wife Kate, I spent much of this weekend reviewing European and American history flash cards with my daughter, Geneva, a sophomore (for another week) at Davis Senior High School. At one point Geneva expressed surprise at my understanding of former French President Charles de Gaulle. Little did she know that during World War II, de Gaulle lived at 99 Frognal in Hampstead, about a mile from where I first met Kate (at 45 England’s Lane). Without regard to the years between us, de Gaulle was my former neighbor! Despite England offering him a friendly location for his temporary exile from France during the war, de Gaulle didn’t always feel obliged to return the favor to Britain, as we see in this paragraph from his Time Magazine obituary in 1970:
“Like most crusaders, de Gaulle was extraordinarily farsighted but sometimes, maddeningly, his imperious manner and fragile sensibilities infuriated his nation’s closest allies. In a vain effort to force French leadership on Europe, he twice vetoed Britain’s entry into the continent’s first economic cooperative, the Common Market. At home, he stinted on public welfare in the form of new roads, telephones and a thousand other needed improvements, to pay for symbolically important but ultimately hollow shows of prestige, like the nuclear Force de Frappe.”
De Gaulle also featured prominently in an Adam Gopnik essay in this week’s New Yorker titled “What de Gaulle Won on D-Day,” in which we discover the difference between self-congratulation, and self-regard. Our weekend discussions of American and European conflicts reminded me that I needed to write something about our weekly Monday evening competition, the one that we enjoy on Monday evenings. I look forward to seeing you tonight, and to enjoying the free concert by Aaron Gilmartin. Invite some new friends to join us, and I will see you at the Quiz!
Oh, did you want some hints? Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on wizards, an odd mix of celebrities (Arnaz, Freeman, Griffith and Quinto), universities, instruments, things that are big and little, world capitals, Dublin, repeat assignments, suspected antagonists, U.S. Presidents, drowned emus, pot-smokers, France, the triumph of the good, The Rolling Stones, preemptive apologies, nuclear physics, the portrayal of villains, burdens, famous Italians, unexpected dancers, the daunted and undaunted, award-winning retirees, bacteria and mold, ice, WebMD, Palm Springs, Soviets, Smogtown, commodities, Ray Charles, cord-cutting, liberty, prosperity, and Shakespeare. Tonight we also welcome back one of my favorite teams, In Vino Veritas.
Your Quizmaster
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Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Mottos and Slogans. “Is It In You?” is the slogan of a beverage currently manufactured by PepsiCo and distributed in over 80 countries. Name the beverage.
- Internet Culture. According to this morning’s Apple developers’ conference keynote, which iOS app is used the most often on the iPhone?
- Pop Culture – Music. According to the American Film Institute, what is the most important song sung in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?
- Four for Four: Megalodon Edition. Which of the following assertions about the giant extinct shark, the Megalodon, are true? Megalodon had the most powerful bite of any creature that ever lived; Megalodon ate mostly prehistoric krill; Megalodon’s closest living relative is the Great White Shark; Megalodon’s teeth were up to 20 inches long.
- Sports. Born in 1941, what living baseball player made 17 All-Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B, & 1B)?