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General Knowledge Quiz

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theageofthetra

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Is it that bit of Italy that has Trieste in it? - The only access to the sea for the old Aust-Hungarian empire was near there so was strategically very important.

I guess after WW1 the countries involved would be Italy and whatever Slovenia/Yugoslavia was called then.

Oddly enough I was at a wedding the other week with someone from that region and his older relatives speak a dialect closer to Slovenian than Italian.
 
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Cowley

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Having just been there and reading that it had a complicated history, was it Croatia and specifically the area around Rijeka?
 
martinsh

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theageofthetra said:
Is it that bit of Italy that has Trieste in it? - The only access to the sea for the old Aust-Hungarian empire was near there so was strategically very important.

I guess after WW1 the countries involved would be Italy and whatever Slovenia/Yugoslavia was called then.

Oddly enough I was at a wedding the other week with someone from that region and his older relatives speak a dialect closer to Slovenian than Italian.
Click to expand...

Not Italy or Yugoslavia
 
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Calthrop

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martinsh said:
Clue : one of the two countries involved was a participant in WW1, the other wasn't
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"Drawing a bow at a venture" -- would this concern the Aland Islands: located between Sweden and Finland (which latter counts as involved in WW1, it having been under the rule of Tsarist Russia); always Finnish territory since Finland's becoming independent from Russia after WW1, but nearly all the islands' inhabitants being Swedish-speakers?
 
martinsh

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Calthrop said:
"Drawing a bow at a venture" -- would this concern the Aland Islands: located between Sweden and Finland (which latter counts as involved in WW1, it having been under the rule of Tsarist Russia); always Finnish territory since Finland's becoming independent from Russia after WW1, but nearly all the islands' inhabitants being Swedish-speakers?
Click to expand...

This is the most geographically incorrect guess so far !
 
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Calthrop

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fowler9 said:
I'll have a guess, Switzerland and Germany?
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But hasn't the setter said that Germany is not involved?

Either my historical knowledge is poor; or the list of eligible countries is getting decidedly short. Somewhat desperate guess: France and Spain??? -- something to do with disaffected Basques / Navarrese / Catalans / whoever?
 
ComUtoR

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Gonna take a small stab. Andorra (used as a smuggling route iirc) or that other small tiny place. Luxembourg.
 
fowler9

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Calthrop said:
But hasn't the setter said that Germany is not involved?

Either my historical knowledge is poor; or the list of eligible countries is getting decidedly short. Somewhat desperate guess: France and Spain??? -- something to do with disaffected Basques / Navarrese / Catalans / whoever?
Click to expand...

Silly me. :D
 
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EbbwJunction1

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Can I take this with a three part question on different subjects, please?

On this day (28th September) in when did the following take place:

1. The original Marathon was run

2. The Radio Times was first published

3. Harpo Marx died

I'm looking for three different years, of course!
 
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EbbwJunction1

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EbbwJunction1 said:
Can I take this with a three part question on different subjects, please?

On this day (28th September) in when did the following take place:

1. The original Marathon was run

490BC

2. The Radio Times was first published

1923

3. Harpo Marx died

1964

I'm looking for three different years, of course!
Click to expand...

So, no guesses, then? I've inserted the answers in italics above, and will declare an open calendar!
 
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Calthrop

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With the floor open -- here's a historical-type question.

Two figures in eighteenth-century history, whose life-spans overlapped by a matter of several decades; were called by their respective enemies in different conflicts in which they played prominent parts -- "Stinking Billy", and "The Burner of Towns".

Who were the two men; and who were their opponents who applied to them, the uncomplimentary names cited?
 
krus_aragon

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Calthrop said:
With the floor open -- here's a historical-type question.

Two figures in eighteenth-century history, whose life-spans overlapped by a matter of several decades; were called by their respective enemies in different conflicts in which they played prominent parts -- "Stinking Billy", and "The Burner of Towns".

Who were the two men; and who were their opponents who applied to them, the uncomplimentary names cited?
Click to expand...

As a sheer stab in the dark, might Stinking Billy have been selling sulphurous coal for heating homes?
 
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Calthrop

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theageofthetra said:
Is it anything to do with William Augustus and the Jacobites?
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Indeed -- "Stinking Billy" was Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, third and youngest son of George II (so -- unfortunately for krus_aragon's ingenious idea -- he'd have had only disdain for even honest coal merchants dealing in high-quality product: they'd have been "in trade" and thus beyond the pale).

Cumberland's ruthlessness as a military commander, toward the defeated enemy; and toward the non-combatant population of the Scottish Highlands; in the aftermath of his 1746 victory over the Jacobite rebels at Culloden -- caused controversy. Those who approved of his policies lauded him, and called him "Sweet William" (like the flower). To the defeated Jacobites -- and a fair few loyal Britons who were nonetheless unhappy about his methods -- he was "Butcher Cumberland" or "Stinking Billy".

theageofthetra, you've got this one. Now, how about the Burner of Towns?
 
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Calthrop

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Hint re the urban incendiarist: in his town-burning role, he was acting as a military commander in the service of his own country; he's more famous for being prominent later on, in a secessionist faction against said country. Who was he; and who were the adversaries whom he upset by his in-earlier-career destructive activities?
 
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Calthrop

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martinsh said:
George Washington ? No idea why though ...
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You're right with George W. Can anyone furnish the owners of the burnt towns, and the reason for the hostilities concerned? (Who sets the next question, could end up as a matter for negotiation !)
 
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