General Knowledge Quiz

[OhNoAPacer]

Ian

No not Ian.

I will tell people that Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine is a fictional character.

 

[randyrippley]

Joe

 

[BigDog]

Joe

90?

 

[randyrippley]

90?

exactly

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Joe

Is the correct answer.

As stated he is the adoptive father of Joe McCkaine aka Joe 90.

So pop on your glasses and set the next question please.

 

[randyrippley]

The designer of Project Babylon was assassinated in 1990. What was it, and what was his name?

 

[yoyothehobo]

The designer of Project Babylon was assassinated in 1990. What was it, and what was his name?

I guess the name Project Babylon and 1990 suggests Iraq is involved somehow. But beyond that i dont know

 

[Gloster]

Was it the ‘Super Gun’ which had, I think, an Austrian designer, but his I have forgotten?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Was the gun in question one that was intended to fire objects into space?

 

[BigDog]

I know it was Iraq and Sadam, don't know the name of the designer though.

 

[randyrippley]

Yes it was the Iraqi supergun(s)
But who was the designer ? (he was Canadian, and also behind the American Project HARP)

 

[randyrippley]

Looks like no-one is going to get this
He was Gerald Bull, assassinated (probably by the Israelis) in Belgium

Gerald Bull - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Project Babylon was the Iraqi supergun, Gloster was the first to ID this so I hand the target over to him

 

[Gloster]

That his first name was Gerald or Gerard wandered into my brain sometime in the night, but not his surname..

Regrettably, although I do not like doing so, I will have to declare ’open floor’ as important matters have come up in the last day.

 

[Calthrop]

I'll offer one, if I may. One of Frederick Forsyth's most-acclaimed thrillers, The Fist Of God, is about the 1990/91 Gulf War, including the matter of Project Babylon. A rather lesser-known such work by this author, involves a tense stand-off between the USSR and the Western powers (with -- perhaps "prophetically half a century-odd, from publication date", Russia-versus-Ukraine doings), plus "environmental terrorism". Please give the name of this novel.

 

[DaleCooper]

Looks like no-one is going to get this
He was Gerald Bull, assassinated (probably by the Israelis) in Belgium

Gerald Bull - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Project Babylon was the Iraqi supergun, Gloster was the first to ID this so I hand the target over to him

Didn't they have some parts of it at IWM Duxford?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'll offer one, if I may. One of Frederick Forsyth's most-acclaimed thrillers, The Fist Of God, is about the 1990/91 Gulf War, including the matter of Project Babylon. A rather lesser-known such work by this author, involves a tense stand-off between the USSR and the Western powers (with -- perhaps "prophetically half a century-odd, from population date", Russia-versus-Ukraine doings), plus "environmental terrorism". Please give the name of this novel.

I remember reading one of his novels called "Icon" that tells of a Russian political party organisation with strong views that would threaten the West, but I am sure that I am off-track to the clues in the raised question.

 

[Donny Dave]

Is it The Odessa File?

 

[Calthrop]

Although the book prominently features things Russian / Soviet; I'm afraid it's it's neither Icon nor The Odessa File.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The only other Forsyth novel that I recall was made into a film of the same name called "The Fourth Protocol" in which Anton Rogers played the part of a naive patriot who was handing secret documentation information to a South African when the Apartheid regime was in power in the belief that South Africa were sworn enemies of the USSR, whereas the truth was the South African was a Russian agent.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It's on a shelf right behind me as I type this.

The Devil's Alternative.

 

[Calthrop]

The only other Forsyth novel that I recall was made into a film of the same name called "The Fourth Protocol" in which Anton Rogers played the part of a naive patriot who was handing secret documentation information to a South African when the Apartheid regime was in power in the belief that South Africa were sworn enemies of the USSR, whereas the truth was the South African was a Russian agent.

Not that one, I fear.

 

[Calthrop]

It's on a shelf right behind me as I type this.

The Devil's Alternative.

That's it -- one of my favourites by this author -- quality of his output variable, in my opinion.

Your turn to scare / fascinate the readership.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Thank you.

Remaining with the subject of Frederick Forsyth's novels - one in particular has long been rumoured to have been based closely on the real actions of a powerful businessman trying ( and failing ) to do something very audacious in order to boost his business.

We don't need a discussion on who the businessman may or may not have been, but we do need the title of the novel concerned...

 

[MotCO]

Thank you.

Remaining with the subject of Frederick Forsyth's novels - one in particular has long been rumoured to have been based closely on the real actions of a powerful businessman trying ( and failing ) to do something very audacious in order to boost his business.

We don't need a discussion on who the businessman may or may not have been, but we do need the title of the novel concerned...

Is it on the shelf behind you?

 

[Calthrop]

Thank you.

Remaining with the subject of Frederick Forsyth's novels - one in particular has long been rumoured to have been based closely on the real actions of a powerful businessman trying ( and failing ) to do something very audacious in order to boost his business.

We don't need a discussion on who the businessman may or may not have been, but we do need the title of the novel concerned...

The Dogs Of War -- enterprising gent concerned, wishes to take over for his benefit, a hapless African country; but those whom he hires to implement his plan, turn out to have other ideas...

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The Dogs Of War -- enterprising gent concerned, wishes to take over for his benefit, a hapless African country; but those whom he hires to implement his plan, turn out to have other ideas...

That's the one... you'd better pen us a new question.

@MotCO - it is actually...

 

[Calthrop]

That's the one... you'd better pen us a new question.

Thank you.

What -- and obtaining where in the world -- is the largest and heaviest form of currency that there has, so far as is known, ever been?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When I was researching artifacts from the Micronesian Islands in the South Pacific region many years ago, I came across a rather strange form of stone currency in the Yap (?) Islands which was a circular block of stone almost two metres in height when stood on end, with a small hole in the middle, reminiscent of a giant Polo Mint. It was said this stone currency was not from the islands in question, but were ferried on large rafts.

 

[Calthrop]

@Xenophon PCDGS -- as often, you prove to know more about the matter concerned; than I the setter, do ! "Short version" -- the Yap island region in the Pacific (a US territory, I believe) is indeed where the relevant unwieldy currency obtains, or did.

I'd better not break into pidgin-English -- that would probably be reckoned non-PC nowadays -- will just say: it's your go.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Killimooin is in the title of one of a series of books by a well-known author. Who was the author?