Oscar Awards Quiz

1. Which was the first colour movie to win the Best Picture Oscar ?
2. Who holds the record of winning the Best Director award most no.of times ?
3. Which art director designed the Oscar statuette ?
4. Who was the first to win an Oscar for Best Actress for a role in a foreign language film ?
5. Which Oscar winning movie was a film adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play, Pygmalion ?
6. Who directed the Oscar winning film The Last Emperor, based on the life of Chinese emperor Pu-Yi ?
7. Who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her 8 minutes long role in 1998 film Shakespeare in Love ?
8. Which two actors share the distinction of being nominated for Oscar 7 times without a single win ?
9. For the performance in which film, did Marlon Brando win his first Oscar ?
10. Who became the youngest to win a Best Actor Oscar in 2002 ?
11. The Oscar winning film Braveheart is based on the life of which English king ?
12. Which actor won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of boxer Jake La Motta ?
13. Which film by William Wyler based on Bible won a record 11 Oscars in 1959 ?
14. In which name the Oscar winning actor Krishna Bhanji became popular ?
15. Which 1985 Spielberg film was nominated for 11 Oscars, without winning a single award ?
16. Who was the director of 1976 film Dersu Uzala that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film ?
17. Who is the only woman to have won a Best Director Oscar ?
18. Which musical won 8 Oscars in 1958 ?
19. Who was the first to win the Best Actress Oscar in 1928 ?
20. The Oscar nominated film The Miracle Worker tells the story of which famous teacher and student ?

Answers

1. Gone With the Wind, 1939
2. John Ford, 4 times
3. Cedric Gibbons
4. Sophia Loren, Two Women
5. My Fair Lady, 1964
6. Bernardo Bertolucci
7. Judi Dench
8. Peter O' Toole and Richard Burton
9. On the Waterfront, 1954
10. Adrien Brody
11. William Wallace
12. Robert De Niro, Raging Bull in 1980
13. Ben-Hur
14. Ben Kingsley
15. The Colour Purple
16. Akira Kurasowa
17. Katheryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
18. Gigi
19. Janet Gaynor
20. Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller

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Cricket Quiz 1

This is the first edition of Cricket Quiz. Only Men's Cricket has been reffered to here.

Questions

1. In which year the International Cricket Council was founded ?
2. Who was the first bowler to take a hat-trick in Test Cricket ?
3. Who holds the record for highest individual score in the World Cup ?
4. Who was the first player to be declared out by the third umpire in an international match ?
5. Sunil Gavaskar has taken only one wicket in Test Cricket. Who was his victim ?
6. Which player was known as Black Bradman ?
7. Which player scored century in his debut match, debut match as capain and the final match in Test Cricket ?
8. Who is the only player to have hit 6 sixes in an over in ODI ?
9. 'Straight from the Heart' is the autobiography of which Cricketer ?
10. Which company sponsored the first three world cup trophies ?
11. Who was the Player of the Tournament in 1999 World Cup ?
12. Which is the largest Cricket stadium in the world ?
13. Which Cricketer was called Big Cat ?
14. Which was the first country to win by 10 wickets in a One-day match ?
15. Which English king banned Cricket in 1365 ?
16. Who is the only player to have won 4 consecutive Man of the Match awards in ODIs ?
17. Which country holds the record for highest team total in both Test and ODI Cricket ?
18. Who scored the fastest double hundred in Test Cricket ?
19. Which umpire is known for his 'slow death' style of indicating a batsman is out ?
20. Which stadium hosted the first international Day-Night match ?

Answers

1. 1909
2. S R Spolforth
3. Gary Kirsten, 188* v/s UAE, 1996
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Zaheer Abbas, Pakistan
6. George Headley
7. Greg Chappel
8. Herschelle Gibbs, v/s Netherlands
9. Kapildev
10. Prudential Insurance
11. Lance Klusner, South Africa
12. Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia
13. Clive Lloyd
14. India, in 1975 v/s East Africa
15. Edward III
16. Sourav Ganguly
17. Sri Lanka
18. Adam Gilchrist
19. Rudi Koertzen, South Africa
20. Sydney Cricket Ground

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Music Quiz 1

1. Who is considered the father of Orchestra ?
   
2. Which music band has won the most number of Grammy awards till date ?


3. Who was the first Indian musician to do a symphony ?


4. Who composed the ballet Swans in the Lake ?


5. Who edited the book The Pelican History of Music ?


6. Which musical instrument was invented by Italian Bartolommeo Christofori ?


7. Which musician scored for the film Chariots of Fire to win an Oscar ?


8. Who are known as the trinity of Carnatic Music ?


9. Singer Harry Rodger Webb became popular in what name ?


10. Bouzouki is a string instrument from where ?


11. The song "Horst-Wessel-Lied" was the anthem of which infamous political party ?


12. Which instrument is known as the King of Orchestra ?


13. The word Music was formed from the Greek for Muses' Art. Who are the Muses ?


14. Whom did Ringo Starr replace to join the Beatles ?


15. Which jazz trumpeter was called the 'Prince of Darkness' ?


16. Which Beethoven symphony was a tribute to Nepoleon Bonaparte ?


17. Graceland was the home of which Rock N Roll legend ?


18. Which Pink Floyd song was banned by the South African government during apartheid ?


19. Who composed the background score of the Satyajit Ray film Pather Panchali ?


20. The Salzburg Music Festival commommorates which music legend ?

Answers

1. Joseph Haydn
2. U2
3. Ilaiyaraja
4. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
5. Alec Robertson and Denis Stevens
6. Piano
7. Vangelis
8. Thyagaraja Swamikal, Mutthuswami Dikshithar and Shyama Shastrikal
9. Cliff Richard
10. Greece
11. Nazi Party
12. Violin
13. Muses are the 9 sons of Greek god Zeus
14. Pete Best
15. Miles Davis
16. Eroica
17. Elvis Presley
18. Another Brick in the Wall
19. Pandit Ravishankar
20. Wolfgang Mozart

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United Nations Specialised Agencies

Agency, Founding Year and Headquarters

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO] - 1946 - Paris

United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund [UNICEF] - 1946 - New York

United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] - 1972 - New York

United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] - 1972 - Nairobi

United Nations Fund for Population Activities [UNFPA] - 1969 - New York

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] - 1950 - Geneva

United Nations Industrial Development Organisation [UNIDO] - 1967 - Vienna

United Nations Institute for Training and Research [UNITAR] - 1965 - New York

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD] - 1964 - Geneva

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East [UNRWA] - 1949 - New York

International Labour Organisation [ILO] - 1919 - Geneva

International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] - 1957 - Vienna

Food and Agriculture Organisation [FAO] - 1945 - Rome

World Health Organisation [WHO] - 1948 - Geneva

World Meteorological Organisation [WMO] - 1950 - Geneva

International Maritime Organisation [IMO] - 1948 - London

International Development Association [IDA] - 1960 - Washington DC

International Finance Corporation [IFC] - 1956 - Washington DC

International Civil Aviation Organisation [ICAO] - 1947 - Montreal

Universal Postal Union [UPU] - 1875 - Berne

International Telecommunication Union [ITU] - 1932 - Geneva

International Fund for Agricultural Development [IFAD] - 1977 - Rome

World Intellectual Property Organisation [WIPO] - 1970 - Geneva

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International Mother Language Day: History and Facts

The International Mother Language Day is observed annually on 21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The observation was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999.
International Mother Language Day observation was inspired from the Language Movement Day commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952.

History

On 21 March 1948, Pakistan Governor General Mohammed Ali Jinnah declared Urdu as the only official language for both West and East Pakistan. The people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ) started to protest against this as Bangla was their mother tongue. As a part of protest, students in Dhaka called for a provincial strike on 21 February 1952. The government declared a curfew at the place. But the students did not withdraw the strike but continued peacefully. The Pakistani police fired on the students despite these peaceful protests and 4 students were killed. The Mother Language Day commommorates this incident.

Other Facts

United Nations declared 2008 as the International Year of Languages to recognise the Mother Language Day movement.

The Linguapax Institute of Spain awards Linguapax Prize on every Mother Language Day to linguists, researchers, professors and members of the civil society 'in acknowledgement of their outstanding work in the field linguistic diversity or multilingual education'. The award was instituted in 2002.

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Wildlife Quiz 1

1. What is the colour of Hippoppotamus sweat ?
2. The extinct bird Dodo had lived in which country ?
3. What is Ornithology a study of ?
4. What type of creature is a Bombay Duck ?
5. Which is the first National Park in the world ?
6. Which are the two egg laying mammals ?
7. Which is the only animal with chlorophyll ?
8. Which is the smallest flightless bird ?
9. Name the only kind of apes found in India.
10. In which country the bird Kiwi is found ?
11. In which class of deers both male and female have horns ?
12. Which is the largest fish in the world ?
13. Which Indian National Park is famous for One Horned Rhinos ?
14. Which type of Turtles have the longest lifespan ?
15. Where are the headquarters of World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) ?
16. What is the meaning of the word Dinausur ?
17. Expand IUCN.
18. Which is the largest carnivore living on the land ?
19. Which bird can fly backwards ?
20. What is the scientific name of Peacock ?

Answers

1. Red
2. Mauritius
3. Birds
4. Fish
5. Yellowstone National Park, Canada
6. Platypus and Echidna
7. Euglena
8. Island Rail
9. Gibbon
10. New Zealand
11. Reindeer
12. Whale Shark
13. Kaziranga National Park, Asom
14. Galapagos Turtles
15. Gland in Switzerland
16. Giant Lizard
17. International Union for Conservation of Nature
18. Polar Bear
19. Bee Humming Bird
20. Pavo Christatus

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History Quiz 1

1. Who is called the Father of History ?
2. Who is the first Pharao king to be reffered in Bible ?
3. Twelve Tables was the first book on the law system of which empire ?
4. Which British Prime Minister presented the Act of Union in Parliament in 1800 that recommanded a common parliament for Britain and Ireland ?
5. In what name the aids of Garibaldi, who led the Italian unification in 1800s, were known as ?
6. Who named Greenland, the largest island in the world ?
7. Who led the drafting of the Declaration of American Independence ?
8. Which peace treaty ended the First World War ?
9. The Pacific War during 1879-84 was fought between which Latinamerican countries ?
10. Who was the first Secretary General of United Nations ?
11. Which fascist leader used to be called El Cadillo ?
12. After which liberator is Bolivia named ?
13. Which dynasty was overthrown in the Chinese revolution in 1912
14. Who was the only British king who never talked English ?
15. Which nation was formed on 14 May, 1948 ?
16. Whose followers are called Rastafarians ?
17. Who is known as the founder of Modern Turkey ?
18. Whose assassination by Gavrilo Princip triggered the First World War ?
19. Who was the first Republican president of USA ?
20. The Battle of Waterloo was what determined the fall of Napoleon. Where is Waterloo ?

Answers

1. Herodotus
2. Necko
3. Roman empire
4. William Pitt
5. Red Shirts
6. Erik the Red
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. Versailes Treaty
9. Chile and Bolivia
10. Trigvey Li of Norway
11. General Franco of Spain
12. Simon Bolivar
13. Manchu dynasty
14. King George I
15. Israel
16. Haile Selassie, former Ethiopian ruler
17. Mustafa Kamal Pasha Attaturk
18. Duke Ferdinand of Serbia
19. Abraham Lincoln
20. Belgium

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Literature Quiz 1

1. 'Frailty, thy name is woman.' in which Shakespeare play do these words appear ?
2. Who was the first African writer to win a Literature Nobel ?
3. How do we better know Charles Dodgson ?
4. Who was the first winner of Jnanpith Award, India's most prestigious literary honor ?
5. Who was the author of The Godfather ?
6. 'Call me Ishmael', which classic novel begins with this line ?
7. Which famous poet wrote the preface to Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali ?
8. What is the other name of Geethagovindam by Jayadeva ?
9. Sir Nigel and The White Company are the lesser known romance novels by which author ?
10. Who is the only person to have won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar Award ?
11. What is the real name of the character who people know as the 'hunchback of Notre Dame' ?
12. Who created the character Lolita ?
13. Lago is the antagonist of which famous literary work ?
14. On whose novel of the same title is the Oscar winning film The English Patient based ?
15. Which literature Nobel laureate was once the Mexican ambassador to India ?
16. Which famous novel ends with the line 'After all, tomorrow is another day' ?
17. Whose autobiography is titled The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian ?
18. Which author played a village girl in the film Massey Saahib ?
19. Which Soviet author had to reject the Nobel prize in 1958 due to the government pressure ?
20. The Hugo Award for detective fiction is named after whom ?

Answers

1. Hamlet
2. Wole Soyinka
3. Lewis Caroll, author of Alice in Wonderland
4. G Shankarakkurup, Malayalam poet
5. Mario Puzo
6. Mobydick by Herman Melville
7. WB Yeats
8. Ashtapadi
9. Arthur Conan Doyle
10. George Bernard Shaw
11. Quasimodo
12. Vladimir Nabokov
13. Othello
14. Michael Ondaatje
15. Octavio Paz
16. Gone With the Wind
17. Nirad C Chaudhari
18. Arundhati Roy
19. Boris Pasternak
20. Hugo Gernsbach

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Tweek : India's first tablet magazine

Times Internet Limited (TIL) has launched 'Tweek', India's first tablet magazine. The magazine can be accessed on the iPad and is to be launched on the iPhone and Android soon.
Times CEO Rishi Khiani said that Times is intending to pioneer the 'tablet magazine' arena in India. Tweek will have the latest stories in all categories like business, entertainment and sports from across the globe.

The Tweek application for the tablet was developed by TIL and the cloud-based mobile publishing company GENWI.
The magazine lets the reader to watch and listen to the story apart from just reading. Owing to the interactive format, the readers can share the contents through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The readers can connect directly with the writers of Tweek and give the feedback about the stories they read or watched.

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