Answers to Ian’s Trivialus 9 November 2025
Answers
Gold
Zohran Mamdani, who despite his youth and relative inexperience, has managed to benefit from a wave of anti-Trump sentiment. Given his challenges (mostly self-imposed) he’s going to be in the news a lot. The two other states to elect Democratic (but centrist and pragmatic) governors were New Jersey and Virginia.
The Tree of Knowledge
Pig skin
He believes, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigerian president incapable of preventing Islamic militants from attacks on Christians in the country.
b) – 66 million
b) – Ernest Hemingway.
India – the Statue of Unity, portraying Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (a founding father of India) in the state of Gujarat is 182m tall. It is 54m taller than the 2nd highest statue – the Spring Temple Buddha in China. Rio’s impressive statue only ranks 135th in terms of the world’s tallest statues.
a) – Louis XIV
Nothing – the 11 intervening days were discarded when Britain changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
The Netherlands – Arnhem.
Clint Eastwood’s
The longest government shutdown in history has resulted in 13k controllers and 50k transport agents working without pay. 0ver 3 million travellers have been affected. The shutdown came about when Republicans and Democrats couldn’t agree to pass a bill funding government services beyond 1 October – it is now in its 39th day.
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours.
a) – the Forint which is derived from the city of Florence where gold coins were minted from the 13th century. Hungary’s original currency, florentis, was a gold-based one.
Germany – the country needs to reach a NATO goal of 260k active soldiers within ten years. At this point military service is expected to be voluntary, but already social media in Germany is awash with claims of forced conscription.
The former means unvarying and free from extremes. If applied to people it describes someone who is placid or even-tempered. Equitable means fair, impartial and just – e.g. employment practices should be based on equitable standards between genders and organisational levels.
Aztec Empire – Mexico City – Hernán Cortés.
True and true.
c) – Chad