South African (Off-Topic) Quiz

[+GlobalRat]

Fish river?

 

Namibia?

 

Assuming you referring to the Great Fish River...

 

Nope, they were considerably further into their journey

 

But speaking of the Great Fish River. The name is translated from Khoikhoi Tkautkai, meaning 'fish river'. The Great referred to the large amount of carp to be found there. The river was also known as Rio do Infante. It played an important role in South African history as the border between the colonists and the Xhosa.

[+Carbon Hunter]

Umgeni?

[+the pooks]

kei river?

[+Carbon Hunter]

Tugela / Thukela?

[+GlobalRat]

Nope,

 

Some further trivia

 

Umgeni = Name taken from Sweet thorn tree or the verb ngena, 'to enter'. The river is said to enter the earth at several waterfalls.

 

Kei = Khoikhoi for Sand

 

Thukela = the awesome one, and of course home to world's second highest waterfall at 947m

 

Clues:

 

1. It's source is near an international boundary

2. For about 35km of it's course it forms a provincial boundary

3. It's the largest of it's kind in South Africa

 

[+Carbon Hunter]

Umzinvubu at Port St Johns?

[+GlobalRat]

Umzinvubu at Port St Johns?

 

You're it!

 

Umzinvubu, now Mzimvubu means 'home of the hippopotamus' (remember sea cow kraal river ). Was also known as St Johns river which is the english translation of Sao Joao, which the Portugues renamed it in 1552 after the galleon of the same name was wrecked near the mouth of the Mtamvuna (formerly Umtamvuna) River. Why they didn't rename that river...who knows.

 

It's South Africa's largest undeveloped river.

[+Carbon Hunter]

OK - seeing that we are on the pitch with the Aussies right now in Perth.

 

Where in the world was the TV Umpire used for the first time in an offical cricket test match. And who was the first batsmen out in that test (not necessiraly by the TV umpire)?

[+Carbon Hunter]

Clue required - it was an Indian!

[+GlobalRat]

mmm... I know that the first person declared out by a TV Umpire was Sachin Tendulkar (an infamous record amongst his other performances) and the first time it was used was at Kingsmead. Whether he was the first person out or whether this decision took place there, I've no idea

[+cincol]

SA - I think it was Kingsmead. Perhaps Tendulkar or Azhuraddin? Anyway it would have been one of the openers obviously!

[+Carbon Hunter]

GR - speedy answer there - you're it!

 

I thought that would be a bit or a harder Q to answer

[+cincol]

oops - looks as though there is a time delay here in the Middle East today!

[+GlobalRat]

oops - looks as though there is a time delay here in the Middle East today!

 

Sand in your keyboard

[+GlobalRat]

Nice easy one.

 

Sticking with cricket. When and where was the first woman's cricket test match played in South Africa?

[+cincol]

Gotta be Durbs me thinks! Sometime in the 60's? cannot remember her name off hand, but one of my Phys Ed lecturers at Wits in the early 70's was a member of that team as well. Short thichset woman that could bowl a mean leg-break!!

[+GlobalRat]

Gotta be Durbs me thinks! Sometime in the 60's? cannot remember her name off hand, but one of my Phys Ed lecturers at Wits in the early 70's was a member of that team as well. Short thichset woman that could bowl a mean leg-break!!

 

Right decade, wrong place

[+cincol]

A bit further south at St Georges' or Buffalo Park perhaps?

[+Carbon Hunter]

I'll go for Maritzburg in the 1930's

[+GlobalRat]

A bit further south at St Georges' or Buffalo Park perhaps?

 

St George's, 1960/61.

 

The grounds of the second oldest cricket club in South Africa, the venue for the first Test, the first women's international Test, the last Test before South Africa's expulsion from world cricket, the first ever Test series win against Australia, the first Rebel Test, the first Test with the resumption of 'normal' cricket. . . and the sixth oldest cricket ground in the world.

 

PE Also hosted the first rugby tests, men's and womens.

 

You're it.

[+cincol]

Here is a sneaky one. Ray Jennings, his brother Ken Jennings and Jimmy Cook all played cricket for Tranvaal in the 1970's. They also share something else in common - what is it that they share?

[+cincol]

Duplicated somehow.

Edited December 18, 2008 by cincol

[+Carbon Hunter]

They all had handlebar moustaches?

 

How about they were all teachers?

[+cincol]

I don't think any of them had handlebar moutaches!!

 

Yebo gogo - they all studied teaching in the 70's and repesented Transvaal as students. Ken later specialised in sports psychology and Ray entered into business with Graeme Pollock. Jimmy continued his career as a teacher and I believe he is still teaching. He did [does] work with the CSA cricket academy as well.

[+GlobalRat]

[+Carbon Hunter]

Sorry -w/e here in the Gulf ....

 

What is unusual about Vilikazi Street in Orlando?

[+GlobalRat]

Sorry -w/e here in the Gulf ....

 

What is unusual about Vilikazi Street in Orlando?

 

Nice easy one ... don't have a follow up question though... will give someone else an opportunity.

 

Enjoy the weekend, I'm going to enjoy a cold one now.

[+Wazat]

Double post

Edited December 19, 2008 by Wazat

[+Wazat]

Not sure if it is unusual but Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu stayed there and the Memorial for Hector Pietersen or Museum is also in the same street.

 

Think the unusual bit would be that two Nobel Peace prize winners in the same street puts it up there in the unusual.

[+Carbon Hunter]

Yep - you're it - only street in the world that 2 Nobel Peace Prize winners lived in prior to their awards.

[+Wazat]

OK... lets see.... Paris Opera House first got electric lighting from this man. But he also lays claim to another first in South Africa. What was it and who was he.

 

OK tho make it a little easier... He assisted his cousin in putting the first electric lighting in the Paris opera house and he was keen on caravaning. But he built something that was a first for South Africa.

Edited December 21, 2008 by Wazat

[+anlufu]

The Phantom-of-the Opera lived there and his name was Erik!!

[+Carbon Hunter]

I'd say - the first underground ventilation system on a mine.

And he was Oliver Schreiners brother

[+Wazat]

Mmm tough one this it would seem...

[+Carbon Hunter]

OK after my complete and utter guess

Let me try a bit more of a focussed guess.

 

Thomas Edison (he invented the lightbulb - so maybe he was involved in Paris)? And the first bioscope (cinema) in SA?

[+GlobalRat]

I've seen this chap at a cache.....mmm... starts rummaging through archives

[+Wazat]

He might have been smelly if you saw him GlobalRat... LoL. But there is a cache with him in....

[+GlobalRat]

John Weston, supposedly first person in SA to build a powered airplane?

 

Think it's him, recall reading up about him after doing the cache and had made some cryptic notes. Seemed to be a somewhat strange character, called himself admiral although he never served in the navy, something like that. The photo at the cache site was also a mockup, some borrowed military uniform.

[+Wazat]

Well done GlobalRat. I am working on a cache for the caravan. It is pretty impressive.

[+GlobalRat]

What was Lions Head (yes the one next to Table Mountain in CPT) originally known as?

[+tomtwogates]

I seem to remember that it was named The Sugar loaf by the British before Jan vR arrived, they also had different names for Devil's Peak and Signal Hill as well.

[+GlobalRat]

I seem to remember that it was named The Sugar loaf by the British before Jan vR arrived, they also had different names for Devil's Peak and Signal Hill as well.

 

Correct, the dutch also called it Suijkerbroot, 'sugar-loaf'.

 

You're it!

[+tomtwogates]

Short and sweet - Who was Joshua Penny?

[+Carbon Hunter]

He was a British soldier who hid on Table Mountain for over a year to evade escape from the Dutch in Cape Town.

[+tomtwogates]

Well done Carbon Hunter - only he hid from the British as they had just just invaded the Cape for the first time - over to you!

 

some info on Joshua Penny - He was a British subject picked up by a pressgang in Jamaica in 1795. He was on a ship that took part in the battle of Muizenberg – he was on ships stationed here at the Cape and tried to get ashore – he was sent ashore after shamming sickness in 1799 and ran away and lived on the mountain for 14 months. He lived in a cave in Fountain Ravine which was later discovered and relics from the cave are kept in a case at the Mountain club of South Africa

Edited December 24, 2008 by tomtwogates

[+CapeDoc]

Is there a cache there?

[+Carbon Hunter]

What famous author with a strong SA connection wrote the following books - "The Father Christmas Letters"; "Mr. Bliss"; "Smith of Wootton Major"; "Farmer Giles of Ham" and "Leaf by Niggle"?

[+GlobalRat]

What famous author with a strong SA connection wrote the following books - "The Father Christmas Letters"; "Mr. Bliss"; "Smith of Wootton Major"; "Farmer Giles of Ham" and "Leaf by Niggle"?

 

Tolkien?

[+Carbon Hunter]

On the button - I thought that may have taken longer?

 

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, as he was christened, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1892. His early and barely memorable years were spent divided between the city and a country farm. His father, an English banker, was making efforts to establish a branch in that country. Many of Tolkien's early memories of South Africa, including an incident when he was bitten by a tarantula while visiting a rural district, are reported to have influenced his later works.

He left South Africa to return to England with his mother and his brother, Hilary. His father, Arthur, was supposed also to return to England within the next few months. However, Arthur Tolkien died of rheumatic fever while still in South Africa. This left the grieving family in relatively dire straights and on a very limited income.

[+GlobalRat]

Lucky guess, first author that sprung to mind after your opening statement, as for the titles... never heard of them... they certainly aren't listed amongst his works in LOTR

 

Here's a typical pub question....

 

Who was the first South African born person to win an Oscar?