JAQR - October 15, 2023
Flags of countries in Oceania, Virginia Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own, Christchurch, New Zealand, Gail Borden, and much more...
Thank you for reading another issue of the Jeopardy Answer & Question Recap, or JAQR [“jacker”] for short. This recap includes two clues from each episode of Jeopardy! between Monday 10/9 and Friday 10/13. The recap will include Daily Doubles, Final Jeopardy clues, 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
I WROTE THAT LINE (name the author)
"The men upon the floor were going about their work. Neither squeals of hogs nor tears of visitors made any difference to them"
DAILY DOULBE #2
OTHER RED, WHITE & BLUE FLAGS
Samoa's flag includes stars that represent this constellation
DAILY DOUBLE #3
LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES
Ouagadougou, the capital of this country, is about 500 miles from the seacoast
FINAL JEOPARDY #1
WOMEN AUTHORS
In "A Room of One’s Own", the "four famous names" are Austen, 2 Brontës & this author who died closest to Virginia Woolf’s own time
FINAL JEOPARDY #2
NEW ZEALAND
Christchurch is the largest city in this New Zealand region that shares its name with an English city known for a church begun in the 6th century
FINAL JEOPARDY #3
FINE ART
An early owner of this 1889 painting full of blue & green noted how well the artist "understood the exquisite nature of flowers!"
FINAL JEOPARDY #4
ROYALTY
Before his death in 2005, he said he was "probably the last head of state to be able to recognize all his compatriots in the street"
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
TRAVEL TEXAS
On Crickets Avenue in Lubbock, a visual arts center with a guitar-shaped gallery honors the life & legacy of this early rocker
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
GOT MILK?
In 1856 Gail Borden received a patent for his process to do this to milk
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
HAPPIER MOVIE ENDINGS
"Forget it, Jake, it's... hold on--Evelyn's okay. The bullets missed her in the car. She's fine & the cops are letting her go"
BONUS CLUE #1
I'D LIKE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE
On this game show 2 contestants revealed a rebus picture puzzle by matching pairs of prizes & then had to solve the puzzle
BONUS CLUE #2
BRANDO (given the role, name the film)
Rebellious naval Lt. Fletcher Christian
BONUS CLUE #3
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
This "SNL" character who is most definitely his own thing starred in a Halloween special in 2017; any questions?!
DAILY DOUBLE #1
I WROTE THAT LINE (name the author)
"The men upon the floor were going about their work. Neither squeals of hogs nor tears of visitors made any difference to them"
***UPTON SINCLAIR***
American author Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) was sent undercover by the left-wing political newspaper The Appeal to Reason to investigate conditions in the Chicago stockyards and meatpacking plants. His investigation ultimately resulted in the 1906 muckraking novel The Jungle, which includes the line “They use everything about the hog except the squeal.” He wrote about how workers who fell into the vats ended up as lard. The work helped to bring about food-inspection laws (e.g. the Pure Food and Drug Act) and improved conditions in slaughterhouses (thanks to the Meat Inspection Act).
The novel is set in Chicago’s Packingtown neighborhood and centers on Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus, who is in search of the American Dream, but only finds terrible working conditions instead. Jurgis's son Antanas dies after drowning in a mud puddle. Another character in the novel, a boy named Stanislovas, gets locked in an oil factory overnight and is killed by rats who eat him. The reaction to the novel prompted the author to say “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” He used proceeds from the work to open the cooperative-living venture Helicon Hall.
Upton Sinclair’s other works include 1917’s King Coal, about poor working conditions in the mining industry, and 1927’s Oil!, which was based on the Teapot Dome scandal and loosely served as the basis of the movie There Will Be Blood. His 1937 book about Henry Ford was titled The Flivver King (flivver means a cheap car in bad condition). He ran for governor of California in 1926, 1930, and 1934, but lost each time. His End Poverty in California (EPIC) socialist reform movement helped inspire FDR’s New Deal. He won a Pulitzer for his 1942 novel Dragon's Teeth, which was part of his eleven-novel Lanny Budd series (name for an anti-fascist hero who witnesses several WWII events).
DAILY DOULBE #2
OTHER RED, WHITE & BLUE FLAGS
Samoa's flag includes stars that represent this constellation
***SOUTHERN CROSS***
The Southern Cross, also known as Crux (the Latin word for “cross”), is a constellation with four bright stars (and a fifth that is sometimes included in depictions). It is the smallest constellation and can't be seen in most of the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Cross appears on the flags of three other countries in Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. The Southern Cross is also on Brazil’s flag, which includes several other stars and constellations, including Spica and Canis Major.
Here is some info about the flags of other countries in Oceania:
Fiji - has a blue background representing the Pacific Ocean along with the Union Jack and Fiji's coat of arms (which features a lion holding a coconut, the cross of Saint George, some sugarcane, a palm tree, a banana bunch, and a dove)
Vanuatu (pictured below) - a band of red on top, green on the bottom, and a black triangle on the left that includes a boar's tusk encircling two fern fronds; the yellow 'Y' is a reference to the collective shape of the islands that comprise the country
DAILY DOUBLE #3
LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES
Ouagadougou, the capital of this country, is about 500 miles from the seacoast
***BURKINA FASO***
Burkina Faso (meaning “Land of Incorruptible People”) is a landlocked country in western Africa. It is bordered by Mali to the west and north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest. Its capital is Ouagadougou [wah-guh-DOO-goo]. A person from the country is a Burkinabe, and its largest ethnic group is the Mossi people. An architect from the country, Diébédo Francis Kéré, won the Pritzker Prize in 2022. The country’s three main rivers are the Black Volta, Red Volta, and White Volta. The country gained independence from France in 1960.
The country changed its name from Upper Volta while led by Thomas Sankara (nicknamed “Africa's Che Guevara”). The country's longest serving president is Blaise Compaoré [kom-pow-ray], who led a coup against Sankara and ruled from 1987-2014. The country experienced two coups last year. The first one overthrew Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, who ruled from 2015 to 2022. The second coup led to Ibrahim Traoré becoming president. He is currently the youngest world leader.
FINAL JEOPARDY #1
WOMEN AUTHORS
In "A Room of One’s Own", the "four famous names" are Austen, 2 Brontës & this author who died closest to Virginia Woolf’s own time
***GEORGE ELIOT***
Virginia Woolf wrote the 1929 essay A Room of One's Own. In the long essay, Woolf argues that a woman must have money and the title space in order to write. Woolf imagines that William Shakespeare had an extraordinarily gifted sister named Judith who wasn’t sent to school, had to perform domestic duties instead of being able to read books, and eventually killed herself.
The “four famous names” and some of their works include:
Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility (1811) and Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Charlotte Brontë (used the pen name Currer Bell) - Jane Eyre (1847)
Emily Brontë - (used the pen name Ellis Bell) - Wuthering Heights (1847)
George Eliot - (pen name of Mary Ann Evans, pictured below) - Middlemarch (1872)
FINAL JEOPARDY #2
NEW ZEALAND
Christchurch is the largest city in this New Zealand region that shares its name with an English city known for a church begun in the 6th century
***CANTERBURY***
New Zealand, known as Aotearoa in Māori, is comprised of two main islands: the North island (which includes the capital, Wellington, and the most populous city, Auckland) and the South Island (home to Christchurch and the Southern Alps). The Avon River flows through Christchurch, which is part of the Canterbury Plains region of the country. The city is named for one of Oxford’s colleges (Christ Church) and is the world's southernmost city with more than 250,000 people. The city was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010 and a 6.3 aftershock in 2011 that injured thousands. The ChristChurch Cathedral was damaged and has been temporarily replaced by the Cardboard Cathedral (pictured below) designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. The area of Christchurch was the site of two mosque shootings that were carried out (and livestreamed) by an Australian white supremacist in March of 2019. Most semi-automatic weapons were banned in the country afterwards.
FINAL JEOPARDY #3
FINE ART
An early owner of this 1889 painting full of blue & green noted how well the artist "understood the exquisite nature of flowers!"
***IRISES***
Irises in an 1889 painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It was created while he was in an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France and was influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Van Gogh called the work "the lightning conductor for my illness" since he believed that he could prevent his insanity by continuing to paint. In 1987, the work became the most expensive painting ever sold ($53.9 million), although the record has since been broken many times. The painting is currently in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
FINAL JEOPARDY #4
ROYALTY
Before his death in 2005, he said he was "probably the last head of state to be able to recognize all his compatriots in the street"
***PRINCE RAINIER***
Rainier III ruled the Principality of Monaco from 1949 until his death in 2005. Monaco, whose population is around 35,000 people, is a city-state located along the Mediterranean Sea near Nice, France. It is home to the Monte Carlo Casino and the Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco has (mostly) been ruled by the Grimaldi royal family since 1297. Rainier III succeeded his grandfather Louis II, who ruled from 1922 to 1949. Rainier III’s mother Charlotte ceded her succession rights. Rainier III was succeeded by his son Albert II, who has ruled since 2005. Before becoming ruler, Albert competed in the bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympics (1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002). Rainier III married American actress Grace Kelly, who starred in the Hitchcock movies Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief before retiring from Hollywood in 1956. Their wedding reception was on the yacht of Aristotle Onassis. Grace Kelly died from a car accident in 1982 after suffering a stroke while behind the wheel.
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
TRAVEL TEXAS
On Crickets Avenue in Lubbock, a visual arts center with a guitar-shaped gallery honors the life & legacy of this early rocker
***BUDDY HOLLY***
Lubbock-born musician Buddy Holly (1936-1959), known for his horn-rimmed glasses, formed the rock and roll band The Crickets. Their recordings were produced by Norman Petty, who was also their manager. Their first single was 1957’s “That’ll Be the Day” (video below), whose title was inspired by a line repeatedly spoken by John Wayne in The Searchers. It sold millions of copies, but Norman Petty kept the royalty checks for himself. That song was on the group’s album The "Chirping" Crickets, which also included "Oh, Boy!" Another popular song recorded by the group (but credited to only Holly) was “Peggy Sue” (named for the girlfriend of the band’s drummer Jerry Allison).
Desperate for money, Holly went on the “Winter Dance Party” tour and died in a 1959 plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa along with Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson (aka the Big Bopper). Buddy Holly inspired the name of the British rock group The Hollies, which at one point included Graham Nash, and whose hits included “Bus Stop” and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." Gary Busey played the musician in the 1978 movie The Buddy Holly Story. He was part of the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. "Buddy Holly" is a 1994 song by Weezer from their Blue Album.
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
GOT MILK?
In 1856 Gail Borden received a patent for his process to do this to milk
***CONDENSE***
Gail Borden (1801-1874) is the namesake of the Borden Dairy company and developer of the first commercial method of condensing milk. After reading about the Donner Party, he was inspired to create a biscuit made of dehydrated meat and flour (commercially unsuccessful) and condensed milk (successful). Borden Dairy's mascot is Elsie the Cow. The company Borden used to also make consumer products, such as Elmer's Glue (spun off in 1999), whose mascot is Elmer the Bull. Gail Borden was a distant cousin of Fall River, Massachusetts resident Lizzie Borden, who was accused (and acquitted) of murdering her stepmother and father in 1892. According to a famous rhyme, “Lizzie Borden took an axe / and gave her mother forty whacks. / When she saw what she had done, / she gave her father forty-one.”
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
HAPPIER MOVIE ENDINGS
"Forget it, Jake, it's... hold on--Evelyn's okay. The bullets missed her in the car. She's fine & the cops are letting her go"
***CHINATOWN***
Chinatown was a 1974 movie directed by Roman Polanski that starred Jack Nicholson (as the private investigator Jake), Faye Dunaway (as Evelyn), and John Huston (as the antagonist Noah Cross). The film noir is set in 1937 and was inspired by the California water wars. Spoiler alert: the daughter of Faye Dunaway's character is also her sister. The movie ends with the memorable line "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." The movie was written by Robert Towne, whose other movies include several with Tom Cruise, including Days of Thunder, The Firm, and Mission: Impossible. The movie was scored by Jerry Goldsmith, whose other movies include Hoosiers, Air Force One, and The Mummy. A less acclaimed 1990 sequel was titled The Two Jakes.
BONUS CLUE #1
I'D LIKE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE
On this game show 2 contestants revealed a rebus picture puzzle by matching pairs of prizes & then had to solve the puzzle
***CONCENTRATION***
Check out Triple Stumper #2 from this previous recap for more about a classical game show: https://jaqr.substack.com/p/jaqr-december-30-2022
BONUS CLUE #2
BRANDO (given the role, name the film)
Rebellious naval Lt. Fletcher Christian
***MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY***
Check out Final Jeopardy #3 from this previous recap for more about a historical event that is seemingly the show’s favorite to ask about: https://jaqr.substack.com/p/jaqr-january-6-2023
BONUS CLUE #3
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
This "SNL" character who is most definitely his own thing starred in a Halloween special in 2017; any questions?!
***DAVID S. PUMPKINS***
One of the greatest sketches in SNL history can be viewed below: