Things You Learn At A Quiz Night: 2009 version

As I've mentioned before, my Bestie runs a charity. Last year the quiz night was a great success and lots of fun but we only came 4th. THIS year we had Himself, AFM and Dr O'C , Kindergarten Friend and his beautiful partner The Railway Girl, The Bestie's Mum and Dad and The Gay American (yes, he does have a name but several times at the Quiz Night the MC (Mumford) referred to him as The Gay American and so he shall be). The Baby Angel and Small Boy also added their expertise and believe me there were times we needed it! The net result? SECOND!!!!!!

I am so excited about this because part way through the night we were coming a very sorry middle of the pack indeed!.

So what did I learn THIS time? (Get ready trivia buffs...)

The dingo was the first non-native animal introduced to Australia.

Our Deputy Prime-Minister's partner is a hairdresser!

The four faces on Mt Rushmore are: Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt (Teddy)
(Thanks AFM and GTA)

The faunal emblem of South Australia is the Hairy Nosed Wombat

There are 5 verses in the Australian National Anthem. (who knew???)
(Thanks TGA)

The first overseas flight of Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service) was to Singapore.

The first drive in bottle shop in Australia opened in 1953!!

The No 1 song of the Hottest 100 Hits for 2009 was...The Kings of Leon: Sex on Fire.
(Thanks BA)

Australia has 115 species of venomous snakes.

Tenzin Gyatso is otherwise known as The Delai Lama. (Thanks again TGA)

Our former Prime Minister Paul Keating once managed a rock band known as The Ram Rods.

So, lots of new information there! There were a couple of disputed questions however. To begin with they asked where the three major Australian railways met up and gave the answer as 'Quorn'. Now our table had specified 'Port Augusta' with a fair degree of confidence and, since some of us had lived in Quorn in the past, we (they) were a little surprised at the result.

Bestie's Dad was adamant that the trains had not run into Quorn since 1985 and Railway Girl, who works for said railways, assured us that the National Office for something or other was being built at Port Augusta precisely because all three railway lines met there!!Well apparently we weren't the only table to be surprised and a little skeptical at the answer. So many people disputed the call that there was some quick wireless googling (I assume) and the answer was revised to Port Augusta or Crystal Brook! Apparently there's more than one place where the railways meet today! Good result anyway. One more point for us.

Not so satisfactory was the outcome on the disputed name of the eldest member of The Jacksons! Having been a really saddo fan of the Jackson Five circa 1973, I very quickly supplied the answer to this question. Of course, Jackie was the eldest member of the Jacksons, the others being Jermain, Tito, Marlon and Michael. Our table seemed a little suspicious of my answer. Perhaps 'Jackie' seemed a little too obvious? Regardless; I knew I was right. I mean, a fan is a fan and I had read plenty of those hideous fan magazines which detailed every known fact about each member of the group from their star sign to their favourite colour and shoe size. Jackie it is!

Imagine my surprise, nay horror, as they announced that the eldest member of the Jacksons was Jerome!!!!!!!!! Jerome?????????? Who the f*** is Jerome?????????????

Now I had to admit here that somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that Jackie's real name was not actually Jackie, in the same way that Tito's was actually 'Toriano', but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was. Maybe it was Jerome? Regardless, he was well known as Jackie and if it came to choosing the correct member of the group I was certain I had done that! Imagine my outrage then when our answer sheet came back marked incorrect!!

Down to the judging table I marched but to no avail. According to the judges 'he now calls himself Jerome' and that was all that mattered. No points baby!! By now my whole table were in mocking mode. 'Jackie' bwahahahah! As IF!!!!!!

You know that white hot knot of fury and injustice that burns when you KNOW you are right and no-one will listen? It's a feeling I remember distinctly from my childhood and the flavour has not improved with age and 'maturity', hem hem.

Back at home I was immediately onto Google. Was my childhood an illusion? Had Jackie Jackson existed only in my age demented imagination??

By the first hit I was exonerated! But we all know that Wikipedia is anything but reliable so I tried a few other sources.....

HA!!!!

Not ONLY was Jackie definitely the oldest member of the Jacksons, but his given name was NOT Jerome...it was Sigmund!!!!!! In fact, Googling Jerome Jackson gave me some little known jazz crooner who had absolutely nothing to do with the famous Jackson Five family!!!!!

Sweet moral high ground.

OK so the extra point would not have made any difference to the final score but at least I was vindicated. You bet I emailed all the links to everyone who was on our table. :-D


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
By the way: A belated happy Birthday shout out to my Bestie's Beloved, Mr Mumford! Was great to see everybody there on Saturday, celebrating you. :-)

image credits

quiz night

indian pacific

jackie jackson