Quizmaster John James Maloney found time this week for some tricky questions. Take your time and see if you can get 10 out of 10.
QUESTIONS
1 Most time zones in the world differ by whole hours, but Australia’s Lord Howe Island has one of the rarest clock adjustments on Earth. How much do clocks there shift for daylight saving time?
2 London’s iconic clock tower is world-famous, but Big Ben isn’t the name of the clock or the tower. What does Big Ben refer to?
3 Now to our biological clocks: The internal 24-hour cycle that dictates human sleep, waking, and hormone production comes from the Latin words for “around” and “day”. What is it called?
4 If you board a direct flight from Australia or New Zealand to Hawaii, what calendar anomaly will you experience when landing?
5 If I Could Turn Back Time was a giant hit for which recording star?
6 Next time you see an advert for an analog (non-digital) watch or traditional wall clock, check the hands. What time are they almost universally set to in promotional photos?
7 What is a Bundy clock used for?
8 What historic event happened at 9.56 pm on July 20, 1969?
9 What historic event happened at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945?
10 Where might you find a marine chronometer?
ANSWERS
1 It is normally half an hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time but shifts 30 minutes (instead of the standard 60 minutes) to bring it into line with Eastern Daylight Time.
2 It is the nickname of the large bell in the Great Clock of Westminster. By extension it has become the common name of the clock and tower at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London.
3 The circadian rhythm (from Latin circa = around and dies = day). It is governed by internal processes rather than by external events such as the sunrise that impacts diurnal rhythms.
4 You have crossed the International Date Line and gained a day because you have landed where the local day is the day before you took off.
5 Cher.
6 It is ten past ten. Watchmakers set the hands to frame the logo that is below the 12 o’clock mark and to create a visually pleasing smile-like shape.
7 To register the time an employee clocks on at work and clocks off work. The company that produced them eventually became IBM.
8 Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon. And that’s Houston, Texas time at Mission Control.
9 The American B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. And that was local Japan time.
10 On a boat, a ship or a sailor’s wrist.