2022 LL Championship Questions Recap
10-Question Mini Recap of the 2022 Learned League Championship
I was at SporcleCon in DC this weekend, so no Jeopardy! recap this week. Instead, here is a recap of ten questions from the recent LL (Learned League) Championship.
1. Après la tempête, a circa-1876 marble sculpture currently housed in Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts, is a work by what person, better remembered for acting?
2. The price of what commodity, currently trading at roughly $20/oz., had its largest single-day drop on March 27, 1980, a result of market manipulation perpetrated by three US businessmen known as the Hunt Brothers?
3. A connection between Heaven and Earth described in Genesis 28 gives its name to a Billboard Hot 100 #1 in 1987 and a psychological thriller from 1990. What is that name?
4. The best-selling book written by an Australian author is what 1977 novel, which was adapted into a popular miniseries (the second-highest rated of all time behind Roots) that aired in the US in March 1983?
5. Since December 1998, a custom-made teapot resembling a 30-second time clock is the prize for winning an episode of what British game show?
6. What is the colorful player ID of Canadian Sasha Hostyn, the StarCraft II player who is currently the world's highest-career-earning female pro gamer?
7. Despite being the first Ukrainian to win an Olympic gold medal while representing that country, what athlete's 1994 performance is arguably overshadowed, at least in the US, by those of the competition's silver medalist and eighth-place finisher?
8. Though it was largely a compilation of hits from the 1960s, the soundtrack to what 1987 film won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording as a result of its inclusion of several short monologues from the movie?
9. A ventriloquist dummy used by Grand Ole Opry comedian Rod Brasfield is the source of what nickname bestowed by Hank Williams upon his then-infant son?
10. What 1997 Anita Diamant novel, set in Biblical times, helped inspire (and name) a movement whereby women congregate (often monthly) to provide one another with mutual support and sympathy?
1. Après la tempête, a circa-1876 marble sculpture currently housed in Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts, is a work by what person, better remembered for acting?
SARAH BERNHARDT
“Après la tempête” is a French phrase meaning “after the storm.” The sculpture depicts a Breton peasant woman cradling the body of her grandson who had been caught in a fisherman’s nets. A different LL Championship question required knowing that the Breton language is severely endangered with under 250K native speakers and is the only living Celtic language whose first-language speaker communities are primarily in mainland Europe.
Sarah Bernhardt was born Henriette-Rosine Bernard and was nicknamed “The Divine Sarah.” She was one of the best French actresses of the late 19th century and was one of the first women to have performed the title role in Hamlet. After injuring her knee and getting gangrene, her right leg had to be amputated, but she continued to act while seated. She was often depicted travelling around with a coffin and sleeping in it.
2. The price of what commodity, currently trading at roughly $20/oz., had its largest single-day drop on March 27, 1980, a result of market manipulation perpetrated by three US businessmen known as the Hunt Brothers?
SILVER
In the late 1970s, the three Hunt Brothers (but mainly just William Herbert and Nelson Bunker) became worried that their paper money would soon be worthless. They decided to borrow some money and accumulate a bunch of silver, which was then about $5 per ounce. The Hunt Brothers created a silver shortage, which caused the price to skyrocket to about $50 per ounce. Eventually, the Hunt brothers faced expensive margin calls and ran out of money to pay their debts. March 27, 1980 was nicknamed Silver Thursday, which is when the price of silver plunged to around $10 per ounce.
The third Hunt brother, Lamar Hunt, is perhaps better known for owning the Kansas City Chiefs, coining the term Super Bowl, and founding both MLS (Major League Soccer) and the AFL (American Football League). These three Hunt Brothers are not related to the four Hunt Brothers who name a pizza chain whose ~8,000 locations are often in convenience stores in rural areas.
3. A connection between Heaven and Earth described in Genesis 28 gives its name to a Billboard Hot 100 #1 in 1987 and a psychological thriller from 1990. What is that name?
JACOB'S LADDER
Jacob is a figure from the Old Testament who is Esau's younger fraternal twin brother. Jacob trades some pottage to a famished Esau for his birthright. Later, Jacob wears some goatskins to disguise himself as his hairy brother Esau in order to receive a blessing from their dying father, Isaac. While fleeing his angry brother, Jacob dreams of a ladder with angels ascending and descending on it.
“Jacob’s Ladder,” which opens the album Fore!, was the third number-one single for Huey Lewis and the News (their first two were “The Power of Love” and “Stuck with You”). The song “Jacob’s Ladder” rejects proselytizing evangelists and has the chorus “Step by step, one by one / Higher and higher / Step by step, rung by rung / Climbing Jacob's ladder.” In 2018, Huey Lewis announced that he has Ménière's [main-YAIR'z] disease, which causes near-complete hearing loss and basically prevents him from performing.
The movie Jacob’s Ladder stars Tim Robbins as a Vietnam War veteran who is haunted by bizarre hallucinations. The movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars and wrote that it left him “reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair,” but in a good way, I guess. A different LL Championship question required knowing that Roger Ebert was from Chicago, often gave films either a thumbs up or thumbs down, and that the last movie he rated was 2012’s To the Wonder.
4. The best-selling book written by an Australian author is what 1977 novel, which was adapted into a popular miniseries (the second-highest rated of all time behind Roots) that aired in the US in March 1983?
THE THORN BIRDS
The novel The Thorn Birds was written by Colleen McCullough while she was conducting neurophysiological researcher at Yale. The theme of the book is that the best things in life come at the cost of great pain, as exemplified by the thorn bird, which sings most sweetly after impaling itself on a sharp thorn. The book centers on the thwarted love affair between the ambitious Catholic priest Ralph de Bricassart and a much younger female, Meghann "Meggie" Cleary, who resides on the sheep station Drogheda in the Australian Outback. New York Jets offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson was named for the priest, of course.
5. Since December 1998, a custom-made teapot resembling a 30-second time clock is the prize for winning an episode of what British game show?
COUNTDOWN
The game show Countdown is based on the French show Des chiffres et des lettres, whose name means “number and letters.” The show has aired over 7,000 episodes since premiering in 1982. The three game types on the show involve
making the longest possible word from nine random letters
using math to reach a random target number from six other numbers
solving a nine-letter anagram as quickly as possible (“The Conundrum”)
I’d imagine fans of the NY Times Spelling Bee would enjoy the words-based portions of the show. If you’re looking for some British quiz shows to watch, I’d recommend Only Connect, Mastermind, and University Challenge.
6. What is the colorful player ID of Canadian Sasha Hostyn, the StarCraft II player who is currently the world's highest-career-earning female pro gamer?
SCARLETT
Sasha’s other nicknames include “Korean Kryptonite” and “The Queen of Blades,” the latter of which is a reference to a heroine turned villain in the StarCraft universe named Sarah Kerrigan. StarCraft is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed and published by Blizzard Entertain (which is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft is currently trying to buy). The three main species in the original StarCraft game from 1998 include the Terrans (humans), Zerg (insectoid aliens, preferred by Scarlett ), and Protoss (humanoids with psionic abilities). The world’s highest-career-earning male pro gamer is Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, who has won over $7 million, mainly by playing Dota 2.
7. Despite being the first Ukrainian to win an Olympic gold medal while representing that country, what athlete's 1994 performance is arguably overshadowed, at least in the US, by those of the competition's silver medalist and eighth-place finisher?
OKSANA BAIUL
The 1994 Winter Olympics were held in and around Lillehammer [LIL-eh-HAM-mer], Norway. Oksana Baiul [ox-SAH-nah by-OOL] was ranked number one in the free skating program and number two in the short program. Nancy Kerrigan was ranked number two in the free skating program and number one in the short program. The free skating program matters twice as much though, so Baiul won the gold and Kerrigan won the silver medal. Chen Lu won the bronze medal, and Tonya Harding finished in eighth place overall. Less than two months before the Olympics, Kerrigan was attacked in Detroit with a baton by Shane Stant, who was hired by Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly.
8. Though it was largely a compilation of hits from the 1960s, the soundtrack to what 1987 film won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording as a result of its inclusion of several short monologues from the movie?
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM
The movie stars Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer, an air force radio DJ who is transferred to Vietnam during the war. The movie was directed by Barry Levinson, who won an Oscar for Best Director for the 1988 movie Rain Man. The movie Good Morning, Vietnam popularized Louis Armstrong's “What a Wonderful World.” Pat Sajak hosted the same radio show in Vietnam as the real-life Adrian Cronauer.
9. A ventriloquist dummy used by Grand Ole Opry comedian Rod Brasfield is the source of what nickname bestowed by Hank Williams upon his then-infant son?
BOCEPHUS
Songs by Hanks Williams Jr. include 1984’s “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” a version of which was used as the theme to Monday Night Football from 1989 to 2011. The theme song featured Williams Jr. asking “are you ready for some football?” ESPN dropped the song after Williams Jr. compared Obama and Biden golfing with John Boehner and John Kasich to “Hitler playing golf with (Israeli PM Benjamin) Netanyahu.”
10. What 1997 Anita Diamant novel, set in Biblical times, helped inspire (and name) a movement whereby women congregate (often monthly) to provide one another with mutual support and sympathy?
THE RED TENT
The novel The Red Tent is a modern interpretation of the story of Dinah, who was a relatively minor character in the Bible and the only daughter of Jacob (remember him?). The titular red tent is occupied by Dinah and the women of her tribe during their time of menstruation. In the Book of Genesis, Dinah is raped by Shechem, who then wants to marry her. Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, agree to the marriage request if all the men in Shechem’s city get circumcised. While all the men are weakened from getting circumcised, Simeon and Levi attack the city and kill all the males in retribution. A miniseries based on the book The Red Tent aired on Lifetime in 2014 and starred Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson as Dinah.