THINK TANK-1(WITH ANSWERS)

1. His first-class career lasted from 1900 to 1907. In all he played 10 matches for MCC – 18 innings, 6 not-outs, 231 runs, highest score 43, average 19.25. He also took one wicket for 50 runs. Identify him.
   Answer: Arthur Conan Doyle. His only wicket in first class cricket was W G Grace.
   3. Born in Austria in 1955, he graduated from Vienna’s

2. School of
   Graphic Arts in 1975 and worked for the Austrian National Bank until 1998. He became famous after certain designs of his, created on a Power Macintosh PC using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Freehand software were selected ahead of 300 other competitors. Identify him and what did he design?
   Answer: Robert Kalina, who designed the Euro Banknotes. One side of each bill depicts open windows and portals, as symbols of access and transparency. The other side depicts composite bridges reflecting various architectural periods viz., E5 – Classical, E10 – Romanesque, E20 – Gothic, E50 – Renaissance, E100 – Baroque & Rococo, E200 – Age of Iron and E500 – Modern.4. The 1893 World Fair was held in Chicago to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in
3. America. The Chicago Fair organizers wanted something that would rival the
4. Eiffel
   Tower since Gustave Eiffel had built the tower for the Paris World Fair of 1889, which honored the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Architect Daniel H. Burnham, who was in charge of selecting the project for the Fair, complained at an engineer’s banquet in about having found nothing that “met the expectations of the people”. Among the audience was George Washington Gale _______ Jr., owner of a firm that tested iron and steel. He had an inspiration and scribbled a design on a napkin during the dinner. What did he come up with?
   Answer: Ferris Wheel. The person’s surname was Ferris. It was considered an engineering wonder: Two 140-foot steel towers supported the wheel; they were connected by a 45-foot axle. The wheel section had a diameter of 250 feet and a circumference of 825 feet. Two 1000-horsepower reversible engines powered it. 36 wooden cars held up to sixty riders each. The ride cost fifty cents and made $726,805.50 during the World Fair. The original Ferris Wheel was destroyed in 1906.
   5. In the 1920s, the US Patent Office would only trademark emblems of manufacturers and merchants. Service companies were not permitted to trademark their emblem. This firm made a case to the US Copyright Office, arguing that its coat of arms was of unique artistic quality. It won and ‘Truth Well Told’ was copyrighted in 1926, making it the first emblem of a service company to be afforded government protection. Identify the firm.
   Answer: McCann-Erickson
   6.Since their heydays, this song written by Ennio Morricone (for a movie) has been used by the band as an intro to their shows. Identify the song and the movie.
   Answer: ‘Ecstasy of Gold’ from the Clint Eastwood movie ‘The Good, The Bad And The Ugly’
   7. On August 8, 1992, the band was opening for Guns n Roses at
   Montreal’s Olympic Stadium when their pyrotechnics went bad. James didn’t know where he was supposed to be on the stage and wound up walking into a wall of flames. He suffered serious burns and one of the band’s roadies played the Rhythm Guitar. Who?
   Answer: John Marshall
   8. The band saw a poster advertise in the lead singer’s room about the Inspiral Carpets playing at a club called ‘_____’. The band also learned that the Beatles had once played there. Hence, they chose that name.
   Answer: Oasis
   9. In 1989, the State of California designated the Addison Avenue Garage as a California Historical Landmark and called it ‘The birthplace of
   Silicon Valley’. Which company was founded in this garage?
   Answer: Hewlett-Packard
   10. Which corporate logo was designed by George Dexter?
   Answer: The Golden Arches of McDonald’s11. David McConnell used to sell books door-to-door in
5. Brooklyn and used tiny perfume samples to capture the interest of the homemakers. He quickly realised that the people were more interested in his perfumes. So, in 1887 he founded the California Perfume Company. How do we know this company as?
   Answer: Avon Cosmetics Limited (The name change took place in 1928)12. In 1907, Rolls Royce unveiled a car that was officially called 40/50. What did it come to be known as?
   Answer: Silver Ghost.
   Because of the silver-gray colour and it was so free of engine noise, that it ran as quietly as a ghost.13. In 1952, this company decided to celebrate its 75th anniversary by awarding five shares of common stock to any employee who had a baby on October 15th. Name this company.
   Answer: General Electric.
   The company’s guess that 13 GE babies would be born amounted to gross underestimation, since no less than 189 new GE babies were born that day.

6. 14. “A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one, the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Coke’s are the same, and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.” To which artist is this quote attributed?
   Answer: Andy Warhol
   He made as effective use of the Coca-Cola bottle in his art as he did of the
   Campbell’s soup can.
7. 15. James Ritty was the proprietor of a ‘café saloon’ in
8. Dayton and found himself plagued by petty embezzlement. On an ocean cruise, he is said to have observed a machine that recorded the rotations of the ship’s propeller on a dial. This gave him the inspiration to patent a device that recorded transactions on a similar clock face. What was this device?
   Answer: The Cash-Register
   16. Michael Dudok de Wit received an Oscar in 2001 for the Best Animated Short Film. He also won a high definition TV set. For what reason?
   Answer: For making the shortest acceptance speech of 18 seconds.
   A side anecdote: Julia Roberts was jabbering away after receiving the Oscar and when prompted to keep her speech short, in the midst of her speech she retorted, “I already have a TV.”
   17. Name this painter (famous for his moustache), whose paintings usually contained watches bent in mysterious ways.
   Answer:
   Salvador Dali18. Connect: Percy Shelley, Sylvia Plath, Uranus and ‘The Tempest’.
   Answer: The connection is Ariel.
   Percy Shelley died in the boat ‘Ariel’.
   It was the name of a 1965 volume of poetry published by Sylvia Plath.
   Ariel is one of the moons of Uranus.
   The name of the principal spirit in ‘The Tempest’ was Ariel.
   19. It is considered to be the musical equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It was started in 1992 by the late Stig Anderson, the manager of ABBA. In 2001, the honour went to Burt Bacharach, an American songwriter. What is this award called?
   Answer: The Polar Music Prize
   Former winners include
   Ravi Shankar and Elton John.
9. 20. In 1988, Ajjay B. joined his family business, the Amritsar Transport Corporation. Alongside ATC, his family ran another business, which was doing abysmally. Ajjay’s father gave him Rs. 40 lakhs to turnaround the business, which he managed to do in two year’s time. To expand his business, he formed a JV with an Australian company in 1995. Identify the company.
   Answer: PVR
10. 21. Founded in December 1998 by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, it was initially a service for users to send money via PDAs. The company is supposed to have devised the Captcha system of making the user enter numbers from a blurry picture. Currently owned by eBay, its domain name is www.x.com. Identify.
    Answer: PayPal
    22. Identify the company.
    Maximum capital to be raised – $2718281828 (reference to Napier’s constant e = 2.718281828)
    Shares floated during IPO – 14142135 (reference to Square Root of 2 = 1.4142135)
    Shares floated during secondary offering – 14159265 (reference to Pi = 3.14159265)
    Answer: Google
11. 23. After serving as an Electrical engineer in US Steel Corporation, Ramchandra Galla founded this company in 1985. An original equipment supplier to Maruti and Hyundai, this company unveiled its new logo in 2001, a Yin and Yang symbol in green and black. Identify the company.
    Answer: Amara Raja24. A London-based design firm named AID was entrusted with designing the new logo for a particular company. Terry Moore of AID removed the letters LM from the old logo and used the Frutiger font. The new logo unveiled in 1982 was initially humorously referred to as “The Three Sausages”. Which company?
    Answer: Ericsson25. When asked whether he knew that the laser pointer was broken, the person replied, “I am a collector of broken laser pointers.” What is the significance?
    Answer: First-ever purchase on e-bay
    26. This company was founded during the Second World War to construct runways. In response to the mass exodus after Partition, the company built
    India’s largest refugee camp at Dubulia. It has also built the world’s largest integrated leather complex at
    Calcutta. Identify the current owner of the company.
    Answer: Jagmohan Dalmiya27. (***) On 31st January, 1954 David Sarnoff exclaimed – “I didn’t kill Armstrong.” Who / what was he referring to?
    Answer: Edwin Armstrong. Before Edwin had invented FM, the standard for radio waves was AM and RCA was the foremost company in radio. This led to a fight between Sarnoff and Armstrong, resulting in breaking up of Edwin’s marriage and on January 31, 1954 Armstrong committed suicide.

12. 28. His stint with advertising began in 1987, with Allwyn’s Trendy Watch campaign. He went on to compose more than 300 ad films – Boost with Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar, MRF Tyres, Premier Pressure cooker, Asian Paints, Hero Puch, etc. He owns Panchathan Record Inn, one of
13. India’s most advanced studios. Who?
    Answer: A R Rahman29. Inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan on June 7, 2006 it is the first of its kind in
14. India. It enables people to exchange money on the internet and all one must have is a valid e-mail id. What is this and which company introduced it?
    Answer: wallet365.com; Times Group27. The founder of this company is a graduate in International Affairs from
    Princeton
    University and a PhD in International Affairs from
15. University of
    Denver. Founded in 1978 as a one man artisan workshop, it was only in 1990 that he got serious about his hobby, setting up a factory near his house at
    Pondicherry. Identify the person and the company.
    Answer: Dilip Kapur; HiDesign30. (***) The Marketing Department of this company wanted to gift something to their top
16. UK clients. Terence Donovan came up with an idea in 1963. The company commissioned Robert Freeman and the first one appeared in 1964. What?
    Answer: Pirelli Calendar31. In what way was a person named Shehnaz Sani the first in Indian Corporate history?Answer: The first succesful appeal for sexual harassment at the workplace. (Saudi Arabian Airlines)

17. 32. It was created in 1958 by a Southern Californian artist, Oliver Weismuller, who was hired to give ‘a face lift’. A special committee meets each June to select the honorees for the following year and the actual ceremony is hosted by Johnny Grant, Honorary Mayor of the city. In 2005, companies became eligible for the honour and
18. Disneyland was the first recipient. What?
    Answer:
    Hollywood Walk Of Fame33. He was born in Bhatlapenumarru, near Masulipatnam. He worked as a railway guard, then as a government employee at Bellary and later moved to
    Lahore to join the Anglo-Vedic college to study Urdu and Japanese. From 1906 to 1911, he spent most of his time researching staple varieties of crops and came up with a study on a special variety called Cambodia Cotton. However, he is most well-known for a certain contribution to
    India. Identify him and his creation.
    Answer: Pingali Venkayya; Indian Flag
    34. (Could not resist) Identify the team.
    ___ 116 def Angola 48; ___ 103 def Croatia 70; ___ 111 def Germany 68; ___ 127 def Brazil 83; ___ 122 def Spain 81; ___ 115 def Puerto Rico 77; ___ 127 def Lithuania 76; ___ 117 def Croatia 85.
    Answer:
    US ‘92 Basketball Dream Team35. It is actually based on a 19th century guitar work named “Gran Vals” by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. It was originally named “Grande Valse” but was changed to ____. What am i referring to..?The ringtone “Nokia tune”.36. A tech trivia to start with… Why did Bill Gates took everyone into a submarine, during the launch of Windows 95…???
    Ans: Because Bill G wanted to show everyone, how the world would be without windows. (That’s why he took them into a submarine during the Windows 95 release.)
    37. By 1861, this product produced in USA, enjoyed higher sales abroad than in the
    USA. In
    Africa salesman had to customise the machine because the tribesmen wanted it to be noisier, because they believed ‘good iron made more noise’. Mahatma Gandhi described it as ‘One of the few useful things ever invented. What am I talking about..?? Ans: The Singer sewing machine.10) A sitter to end with….Dimensions:
    Overall length 3335 mm
    Overall width 1440 mm
    Overall height 1405 mm
    Wheelbase 2175 mm
    Minimum turning radius 4.4 m
    Ground clearance 170 mm
    Seating Capacity 4 personsWhat am i referring to here…??
    Ans: It’s the tech spec of a Maruti 800.38. The Architecture of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in
    Dubai is unique in a way, i.e the structure/layout of the building represents something. What..?

19. Ans: When viewed from the top, the building represents
    Dubai written in Arabic.
    39. Ofcourse it’s Air Deccan’s logo… Who designed this logo and gimme the funda of it’s name..?Ans: R.K.Lakshman’s common man.

20. 40. She started her career with Prahlad Kakkar in Genesis Advertising & is the brand ambassador for Pantene in
    Sri Lanka. Was responsible for introducing a fashion lexicon during a sports event. Name her. Ans- Mandira Bedi
    QUESTION: “Which company makes Macintosh computers?”ANSWER: Apple (Computers)QUESTION: In 1977, this Silicon Valley garage startup sold its computers for $666.66. In late 1997, it became a Fortune 500 company led by one of its two founding Steves, hoping that the public would “Think different” and buy more of “The computer for the rest of us.”. For ten points, name this company which in 1984 introduced the Macintosh and now sells its popular iPod.ANSWER: Apple (Computer)QUESTION: This American author was an ambulance driver in World War I. His experiences in the war, including a hospitalization where he fell in love with a nurse, gave inspiration to his novels such as A Farewell to Arms. Name this author of For Whom the Bell Tolls who won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.ANSWER: Ernest HemingwayBONUS: Given the title of an Irving Stone biography, identify the subject.Lust for Life The Passions of the Mind Greek Treasure Origin The Agony and the Ecstasy ANSWERS:(Vincent) VAN GOGH (Sigmund) FREUD (Heinrich) SCHLIEMANN (Charles)
    DARWIN MICHELANGELO (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) [alt: Buonarroti]