The World Quiz League

Red and white stripes. Red and white stripes on jerseys of Sunderland FC (Wearsiders). Red stripes on white of Signal toothpaste. Malaysia has 7 red stripes and 7 white stripes on its flag compared to 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes on the US flag, so that is one more white stripe. Red Stripe beer brewed in Jamaica or The White Stripes, the blues-rock duo from Detroit, Michigan made up of Jack White (guitar and vocals) and Meg White (drums), who are cagey about their real backgrounds. Billing themselves as brother and sister, Jack White and Meg White released their self-titled debut album in 1999. In reality, they are ex-husband-and-wife and Meg is seven months older than Jack; their divorce papers were revealed on the website The Smoking Gun.

Venky

(red) rage, (orange) crush, (yellow) cowardice, (green) envy, (blue) depression, (indigo) mood, (violet) flower - the colours of the rainbow

Arthur J Puty

March 15th.
1906: registration of Rolls Royce Ltd ("first" because the name is commonly used to denote best in class -- e.g. "the Rolls-Royce of quizzes");
1917: abdication of Nicolas II of Russia ("last" because the monarchy was then abolished);
44BC: assassination of Julius Caesar ("famous" because it's the Ides of March);
1990: election of Mikhail Gorbachev as executive president of the Soviet Union ("last-ditch" because the USSR was officially dissolved the following year);

awaldock

March 15
March 15, 1985 - Symbolic.com <http://Symbolic.com> is the first domain name registered.
March 15, 1917 - Nicholas II abdicates and the Russian monarchy ends.
March 15, 44BC - Julius Caesar should have paid attention to that 'Ides of March' thing.
March 15, 1960 - South Korean presidential election that sparked the April Revolution.

Russ

Idaho. It's the number of electoral college votes that state returned in the last election divided by the number of borders it had with other US states.

Owl

Each "statistic" is the number of the state's electoral college votes, divided by the number of other states with which it shares a boundary (e.g. California: 55 votes, 3 neighbours = 55/3 = 18.33). The others in the list are FL 27/2, TX 34/4, NY 31/5, WA 11/2, ME 4/1, SC 8/2, TN 11/8, WY 3/6. The (unique) missing state is Idaho, with 4 votes and 6 neighbours.

awaldock

Ariel, in The Tempest (William Shakespeare). The image is taken from "An Illustrated Shakspere Birthday Book", pub. George Routledge and Sons, 1883, page 72.

In Act V, Sc. I, Ariel sings:
"Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip’s bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat’s back I do fly..."

(OK, I lied about the page number.)

awaldock

Between sophism and speedometer you find sorcerer, sot, sou, sound, soutane, soviet, spaniel, spastic, spat, specific and spectre. The menu includes sorbet, souchong, soufflé, sounder, soup, souse, Southdown mutton, sowens, soya in many forms, Spanish onion, and spatchcock, plus of course the "spécialité de la maison"; and, as always, the ubiquitous "Sorry, that's off, dear."

awaldock

sophistry sorcerer sot sou sound soutane soviet spaniel spastic spats spectacles spectre speedometer
sops, sorb apple, sorbet, Soreen, sorghum, sorrel, souari nut, souffle, soul food, soup, soupfin shark, sour bread, sour cherry, sour cream, sour fig, sour grapes, sour gum, sour mash, sour orange, sours, souvlaki, sowbelly, soya, soya milk, soybeans, soy sauce, spaghetti, spam, Spangles, Spanish onion, spare ribs, sparid fish, sparkleberries, sparkling water, sparkling wine, sparrows, spatchcock, spawn, spearfish, spearmint gum, Special K, speckled trout, speed

Dadge

Between...
Sophistry and speedometer, you find sorcerer, sot, sou, sound, soutane, soviet, spaniel, spasm, spat, spectacles (?) and spectre. On the menu might be...

Specialty (special fried rice), spare ribs, spam, Spanish omelette, spam, spatchcock (seriously), spam, spaghetti, spam, spam, spam, soya beans, spam, various sour things, spam, soup, soufflé, sorbet (with spangles to follow).

There, that's not got much spam in it.

Graybags

Avedis Zildjian Company

Avedis Zildjian was an alchemist in Constantinople during the 17th century. His unsuccessful attempts at creating gold led him to an alloy of copper, tin and silver with unique sound qualities. He began using this alloy to make cymbals. The Avedis Zildjian Company is the oldest family run business in the U.S..

Mickhasalreadybeentaken

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory

Johann Friedrich Böttger was the alchemist attempting to create gold. Eventually, the plan shifted to recreating the pure porcelain of China...because making gold is hard.

Russ

Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH, or the Meissen Porcelain Company. Founded in 1710 by Augustus the Strong using the talents of unsuccessful alchemist Johann Frederick Bottger. Full details

awaldock