Answers to Ian’s Trivialus 11 May 2025
Answers
Factor
Vladimir Putin – there was a time of some jiggery-pokery (2008 – 2012) when he served as Prime Minister, instead of President, but there was little doubt as to who held the strings of power during this interim period.
b) Orchids
Nantes
Lady Gaga
Los Angeles – The Soviet Union, and its Eastern bloc allies, boycotted the games essentially in retaliation for the US boycott of the Moscow games four years earlier. This wasn’t the official reason, and the boycotting countries cited security concerns as their reasons for withdrawal, but these were specious claims.
Billy Ray Cyrus – Miley Cyrus. Hurley’s friends have expressed surprise with her unlikely new romance.
Grease (1978)
Augusto Pinochet
100
American, the first of such to be elected – Cardinal Robert Prevost. The new Pope chooses the name himself.
Saigon – people fled to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, and even Australia. Most of the boats were small and unseaworthy and with food and water running out, many perished. It is estimated that somewhere between 200k and 400k Vietnamese died at sea during this period.
c) – Only The Lonely.
Faces – using a programme called FaceAge, researchers can estimate a person’s biological age and then compare this to their chronological age. On average, the facial age of a cancer sufferer was around five years higher than their chronological age.
Thickens
North Africa – specifically the Maghreb, which is the western half of the Arab world.
Malta – the programme became an EU back door for money launderers and Russian oligarchs subject to Western sanctions. The ruling could have implications for other EU countries that offer golden visas.
a) Belgrade. Serbia (Belgrade), Romania (Bucharest) and Bulgaria (Sofia).
False – black holes emit particles, known today as Hawking radiation. Up until Stephen Hawking’s proposal it was widely believed that any object entering a black hole is completely lost to the Universe.
a) – 12.