JAQR - December 30, 2022
Neptune's moon Triton, South Africa's capitals, King Richard III, and more...
Thank you for reading another issue of the Jeopardy Answer & Question Recap, or JAQR [“jacker”] for short. This recap focuses on the recent week (Monday 12/26 - Friday 12/30) of Jeopardy! episodes. It will include some Daily Doubles, Final Jeopardys, and Triple Stumpers. The first half of the recap will include just the clues so you can quiz yourself if you want. The second half will give you some (hopefully) interesting information about the clues and/or some related info.
DAILY DOUBLE #1
SCIENCE
Neptune's moon Triton is the only big moon in our solar system that orbits in this 10-letter way, meaning backwards
DAILY DOUBLE #2
WORLD CAPITALS
Of South Africa's 3 capitals, this judicial one is alphabetically first
DAILY DOUBLE #3
THE HOUSE OF POWER
Shakespeare's Richard III mentions "the clouds that lour'd upon our house"--this ruling house with a white rose symbol
DAILY DOUBLE #4
U.S. TERRITORIES
In 1927 the U.S. granted citizenship to residents of this territory in the West Indies whose 3 main islands all bear saintly names
FINAL JEOPARDY #1
TV FINALES
In a reunion over 40 years in the making, Dolly Parton appeared as an angel named Agnes in the final episode of this comedy in 2022
FINAL JEOPARDY #2
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Its title character is told "By the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off... your eyes drop out & you get... shabby"
FINAL JEOPARDY #3
GODS & GODDESSES
Each morning she began her ride in her chariot across the sky ahead of her brother Sol, or Helios
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
STAGE MUSICALS BY SONG LYRICS
"There is a sucker born every minute, each time the second hand sweeps to the top like dandelions up they pop"
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
IT HAD TO BE HUGH
Hugh Downs was the longtime host of this game show; Alex Trebek later hosted a Classic version
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
THE FIRST FEATURE THEY DIRECTED
2020: "One Night in Miami..."
DAILY DOUBLE #1
SCIENCE
Neptune's moon Triton is the only big moon in our solar system that orbits in this 10-letter way, meaning backwards
***RETROGRADE***
Triton is the largest moon of Neptune, and it was discovered by William Lassell in 1846. It has a retrograde orbit (meaning that it rotates in the opposite direction compared to Neptune), which suggests it may have originated in the Kuiper belt. Cryovolcanism is present on Triton, whose terrain is said to resemble the outside of a cantaloupe. The surface of Triton is mostly covered in frozen nitrogen. Neptune has 14 moons in total, all of which are named for minor water deities (e.g. Proteus and Nereid).
DAILY DOUBLE #2
WORLD CAPITALS
Of South Africa's 3 capitals, this judicial one is alphabetically first
***BLOEMFONTEIN***
South Africa has three capitals. Bloemfontein [BLOHM-fon-TAYN] is the judicial capital. It was the birthplace of J. R. R. Tolkien, and has an Afrikaans name meaning "fountain of flowers." Bloemfontein is also the capital of the Free State province (formerly called the Orange Free State).
Cape Town is the legislative capital. It is overlooked by Table Mountain and is located north of the Cape of Good Hope. It is often called the “mother city” since it was the site of the first European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town is currently the capital of the Western Cape province. Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned) is about 4 miles off the coast of Cape Town. Africa’s only nuclear power plant (Koeberg Nuclear Power Station) is near Cape Town, which nearly ran out of water in 2018. The movie District 9 was inspired by events in Cape Town’s District 6 during the period of apartheid.
Pretoria is the executive (or administrative) capital. It is located in the Gauteng province (South Africa’s smallest of nine provinces by size, but largest by population), whose capital is Johannesburg. It was the capital of a former province called Transvaal (which was separated from the Orange Free State by the Vaal River). The city is named for the Boer statesman Andries Pretorius, who led the Voortrekkers (3 wounded) to victory over the Zulu Kingdom (3,000 killed) at the 1838 Battle of Blood River (named because the Ncome River was red from the blood of Zulu warriors). Winston Churchill went to South Africa in 1899 during the Second Boer War as a journalist. He was captured and interned in a POW camp in Pretoria, but managed to escaped. Anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko died in Pretoria in 1977 from injuries suffered while in police custody.
DAILY DOUBLE #3
THE HOUSE OF POWER
Shakespeare's Richard III mentions "the clouds that lour'd upon our house"--this ruling house with a white rose symbol
***YORK***
William Shakespeare’s play Richard III opens with the title hunchbacked character (who was known as the Duke of Gloucester before he became king) stating “Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York; / And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house / In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.” In his soliloquy that opens the play, he also states “Since I cannot prove a lover … I am determined to prove a villain.” He sets out to kill anyone who stands in between him and the English throne. He has his young nephews (King Edward V, who hasn’t been coronated yet, and the Duke of York) murdered in the Tower of London. He orders the death of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, who is stabbed and drowned in wine. Richard III is visited by the ghosts of several of his victims who tell him “despair, and die!”
The play ends at the 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field, which was the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. The war was fought between the House of York (symbolized by a white rose) and the House of Lancaster (symbolized by a red rose), which were two branches of the House of Plantagenet. At the battle, Richard III is forced to fight on foot after his horse is slain, which leads him to exclaim "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" Richard III is slain at the battle by the Earl of Richmond, who succeeds him and becomes Henry VII, the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
DAILY DOUBLE #4
U.S. TERRITORIES
In 1927 the U.S. granted citizenship to residents of this territory in the West Indies whose 3 main islands all bear saintly names
****U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS***
The U.S. Virgin Islands are in the Caribbean, around 40 miles east of Puerto Rico. All of the islets and cays surrounding the three main islands led Christopher Columbus to call the islands Saint Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins (a legendary woman and her followers who were martyred in Cologne by the Huns in the 4th century). The islands were sold to the U.S. by Denmark in 1917 for 25 million dollars. A small island in the USVI called Little Saint James was owned by Jeffrey Epstein. The three main/largest islands are:
St. Croix [kroy]- named for the Holy Cross, it is the largest of the Virgin Islands
St. John - only four miles from the island of Tortola, which is the largest member of the British Virgins Islands (whose capital is Road Town)
St. Thomas - birthplace of the Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro, and home to the capital, Charlotte Amalie [ah-MAH-lee], which was named for the wife of Danish king Christian V, but was originally called Taphus, which is Danish for "beer house"
FINAL JEOPARDY #1
TV FINALES
In a reunion over 40 years in the making, Dolly Parton appeared as an angel named Agnes in the final episode of this comedy in 2022
***GRACE AND FRANKIE***
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin played the title enemies-turned-friends on the Netflix show Grace and Frankie (2015-2022). In the first episode, the husbands of the title characters (played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) come out as gay to their wives and leave them for each other. Fonda, Tomlin, and Dolly Parton starred in the 1980 comedy 9 to 5 as co-workers who get even with their sexist boss.
Jane Fonda is the daughter of Henry Fonda, who played Tom Joad in the 1940 movie The Grapes of Wrath. Her brother Peter Fonda starred in the 1969 movie Easy Rider. Her niece Bridget Fonda (daughter of Peter) was in the 1990 movie The Godfather Part III. Jane Fonda has been married to French film director Roger Vadim (1965-1973), political activist, member of the Chicago Seven, and Port Huron Statement co-author Tom Hayden (1973-1990), and CNN co-founder Ted Turner (1991-2001). She was nicknamed "Hanoi Jane" after a controversial 1972 visit to North Vietnam, where she sat in an anti-aircraft gun. Fonda appeared in an aerobics exercise video that was a top-selling VHS tape in the 1980s.
Jane Fonda won the Oscar for Best Actress twice for her roles as a call girl in Klute (1971) and the wife of a Vietnam War soldier / V.A. hospital volunteer in Coming Home (1978). Her other film roles include:
The title character in the 1965 western comedy Cat Ballou, who is a schoolteacher but becomes an outlaw after townspeople refuse to bring the gunslinger who killed her father to justice
A free-spirit in the 1967 movie Barefoot in the Park (based on a Neil Simon play), who is married to an uptight husband played by Robert Redford
The title character in the 1968 sci-fi movie Barbarella (directed by her first husband), who seeks out the scientist Durand Durand (namesake of the band Duran Duran)
A participant in a Depression-era dance marathon in the 1969 movie They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
The author Lillian Hellman in the 1977 movie Julia, in which Vanessa Redgrave played the title anti-Nazi activist
A television reporter in the 1979 movie The China Syndrome who helps uncover hazards at a nuclear power plant
The daughter of a curmudgeon, played by her dad Henry Fonda, in the 1980 movie On Golden Pond
The title character in the 2005 movie Monster-in-Law, who tries to destroy the relationship between her son and his fiancée, played by Jennifer Lopez
FINAL JEOPARDY #2
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Its title character is told "By the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off... your eyes drop out & you get... shabby"
***THE VELVETEEN RABBIT***
The Velveteen Rabbit is a 1922 children’s book by English-born American author Margery Williams. The book is subtitled "How Toys Become Real," and was illustrated by William Nicholson. The book concerns the title stuffed rabbit, who is a present for a boy. A toy referred to as The Skin Horse tells the rabbit all about being “Real.” The title rabbit has to be burned after the boy gets scarlet fever. This causes a tear to trickle down the rabbit’s nose. A flower grows out of the ground where the tear fell. A fairy emerges from the flower after it blossoms. The fairy turns the toy rabbit into a "Real" to every one else rabbit (as opposed to just “Real” to the boy).
FINAL JEOPARDY #3
GODS & GODDESSES
Each morning she began her ride in her chariot across the sky ahead of her brother Sol, or Helios
***AURORA or EOS***
Aurora was the Roman goddess of dawn, and her Greek equivalent was Eos. The siblings Helios, Eos, and Selene (the moon goddess) were the children of Hyperion and Theia (both of whom were Titans). Eos was married to Astraeus [ah-STREE-us], and their children included the wind gods Boreas (north), Notus (south), Eurus (east), and Zephyrus (west). Aphrodite cursed Eos with an insatiable lust for mortal men as a punishment for Eos sleeping with Aphrodite’s beau, Ares. The lovers of Eos included Tithonus, who was given the gift of immortality by Zeus. However, he did not have eternal youth, so he grew old and weak but couldn't die. The most common epithet for Eos in the works of Homer is "rosy-fingered."
Sol (Latin for “sun”) was the Roman sun god, and his Greek equivalent was Helios. Elagabalus (Roman emperor who reigned from 218-222) built a temple to Sol Invictus (Latin for "Unconquered Sun") and tried to make the worship of him Rome’s main religion. Constantine the Great (who reigned from 306-337) was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, and by 380, Christianity was the official state religion (a mere ~300 years after Nero used the burning carcasses of Christians as torches).
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
STAGE MUSICALS BY SONG LYRICS
"There is a sucker born every minute, each time the second hand sweeps to the top like dandelions up they pop"
***BARNUM***
P(hineas) T(aylor) Barnum was a 19th century American showman. The saying "There's a sucker born every minute" is often attributed to him. He launched his career in the mid 1830s by exhibiting Joice Heth, who Barnum claimed was 161 years old and was formerly George Washington's nursemaid. Barnum's American Museum in New York City included the fake “Feejee Mermaid,” General Tom Thumb (hired at the age of five years old when he was 25 inches tall), the conjoined twins (or “Siamese twins”) Chang and Eng, and a sign reading "This Way to the Egress" (fancy word for exit, so that people would leave and have to buy another ticket to get back in).
Barnum brought Swedish soprano Jenny Lind to the U.S. and nicknamed her "The Swedish Nightingale" during their nine-month concert tour in 1850. He partnered with James A. Bailey in 1871 to create a popular circus nicknamed the "Greatest Show on Earth," which eventually included the elephant Jumbo. Barnum gave himself the nicknamed “Prince of Humbugs,” and he lived in a mansion called Iranistan. He served as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut in the mid 1870s. In psychology, the Barnum effect refers to people's gullibility when reading descriptions of themselves and their personalities. Barnum was played by his spitting image Hugh Jackman in the 2017 musical film The Greatest Showman.
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
IT HAD TO BE HUGH
Hugh Downs was the longtime host of this game show; Alex Trebek later hosted a Classic version
***CONCENTRATION***
The game show Concentration involved two contestants competing to solve a hidden rebus-like puzzle. Pieces of the puzzle were revealed if the contestants picked two numbers whose associated-prize matched (by either being lucky or having a good memory). Hugh Downs was the first host of the show from 1958-1969, before he anchored the newsmagazine show 20/20 (from 1978-1999). A remake of the game show (see video below) called Classic Concentration was hosted by Alex Trebek from 1987-1991. At one point in 1991, Trebek was the host of three different game shows (Classic Concentration, Jeopardy!, and To Tell the Truth).
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
THE FIRST FEATURE THEY DIRECTED
2020: "One Night in Miami..."
***REGINA KING***
The 2020 movie One Night in Miami... concerns a 1964 gathering of four famous Black men: boxer Cassius Clay (later called Muhammad Ali and played by Eli Goree), activist Malcolm X (played Kingsley Ben-Adir), musician Sam Cooke (played by Leslie Odom Jr.) and football player Jim Brown (played by Aldis Hodge). The Amazon Studios movie was based on a play by Kemp Powers, who wrote and co-directed the Pixar movie Soul and will direct the upcoming Miles Morales Spider-Man movies subtitled "Across the Spider-Verse" and "Beyond the Spider-Verse."
Regina King’s first three film roles were in movies Boyz n the Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), and Higher Learning (1995), all of which were directed by John Singleton (who was the first Black director to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar and is also the youngest Best Director Oscar nominee). She played the wife of an Arizona Cardinals wide receiver (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, and the wife of Will Smith’s character in the 1998 movie Enemy of the State. She voiced the Black boys Huey and Riley Freeman (who live with their grandfather) on the Adult Swim show The Boondocks, which premiered in 2005 and was based on an Aaron McGruder comic strip. She played an LAPD officer on the NBC/TNT crime drama Southland (2010-2013).
Regina King won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the 2018 movie If Beale Street Could Talk, which was directed by Barry Jenkins and based on a James Baldwin novel. She has won Emmys for her roles on American Crime (ABC anthology series), Seven Seconds (Netflix show about a Black boy who is run over by a white policeman, who tries to cover it up), and Watchmen (great HBO show based on an Alan Moore comic). Regina King, who typically appears in dramas, is not to be confused with fellow Black actress Regina Hall, who typically appears in comedies.
