OB question: Which was the only renowned national newspaper in India that did NOT carry the news

of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination on the front page on Jan 31st 1948? Why did it not do so? Answer at the end. The Hindu! Reason: in those days, the front page of The Hindu was reserved for advertisements! ----Answers preceded by ## > 1. What did the middle initial 'S' in President Harry S. Truman's name > stand for? Why was he given such a middle name? (Full funda, please.) ## The 'S' stood for nothing! Both his maternal and paternal grandfathers had names starting with 'S' and his parents didn't want to pick one gramp over the other. So, they just left it at 'S'. Half a point to those who got the 'nothing' part, but got the funda wrong. To those who pointed out my error in affixing a period after the 'S': you are dead right; please accept my humble apologies. The 'S' is not an abbreviation of anything and hence shouldn't be followed by a period! Source: Readers' Digest book of amazing facts. > 2. Which is the only right-hand drive vehicle mass-manufactured in the US? > Why is it made right-hand drive? (Again, full funda, please.) Clue: It is > a van. ## USPS postal van. (The little white van that looks like a cardboard box on wheels.) Funda: So that the mailperson can drop the mail into kerb-side mailboxes without having to alight from the vehicle! Source: not authoratative, sorry. :-) > 3. Whose last words supposedly were, "let her come"? ## Rajiv Gandhi. Not many people got this, I wonder why?! Thank God for no James Bond TWINE-like PJs, though! Source: India Book House (IBH) pocket quiz. > 4. How do we better know Rajesh Pitambar? ## Rajesh Pilot, former union minister! Source: IIRC, it was mentioned in an episode of Zee TV's Aap Ki Adalat. Again, not many people got this, I wonder why! > 5. Whom did Leander Paes beat in 1990 to win the junior Wimbledon title? ## Marcos Ondruska of South Africa. Source: well, just surf around, you'll find an authoritative website mentioning it. > 6. Who is the only Indian bowler to get all the opposing batsmen out in a

> test match? ## S. Venkataraghavan vs NZ in 1964-65. The googly foxed a lot of people! :-) However, maybe I should've phrased the question better by saying, "opposing players" instead of "opposing batsmen". My apologies, once again. To those who answered "Kapil Dev at Edgbaston in 1979": excellent try, but sorry, no points. A lot of people answered Kumble, Hirwani, etc. However, Kumble did not get *all* opposing batsmen out at Delhi! Waqar Younis remained not out in both innings! Hirwani also did not get *all* West Indian batsmen out at Madras; Patrick Patterson remained not out in both innings! Venkataraghavan got *all* NZ batsmen out at least once in the match! He took 12 wickets altogether in the game. This is, BTW, a very, very rare feat! Not even Jim Laker got *all* Australian batsmen out at Old Trafford, in the match in which he took 19 wickets! One of them remained unbeaten in both innings. I suspect that Venkataraghavan's record is a *world record*, but I don't have a way to verify it. I am positive, however, that it is an Indian record. Source: www.khel.com archives. > 7. During the 1985 World Championship of Cricket tournament in > Australia, which India won, whom did Bill O'Reilly describe as the "best > backfoot player I've seen in a long time" ? ## Mohammed Azharuddin. Source: a previous quiz at my alma mater. :-) > > > > > > 8. Majorly arbit question: Whose 1993 personal webpage contained the line: "Job offers for large sums of money in exotic, faraway lands (i.e., either coast, or Texas, but not the !#@%!#%#$%! midwest) will be happily perused." Big clue: remember that not too many people had webpages as early as 1993.

## Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape Communications. A toughie, but a few people did manage to get it. Source: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Experimental/demoweb/old/marc-info.html > 9. What is common to the following corporations: Hewlett Packard, Apple, > Delta Airlines, Mattel, Readers' Digest and Walt Disney Co.,Infosys? ## All the above corporations started in garages! Probably the least answered question of the quiz! Source: http://www.garage.com/famousGarages.shtml > 10. Which Vienna, Austria-born Hollywood bombshell is credited with the > invention of spread spectrum technology widely used today in wireless > communication?

## Hedy Lamarr.