Blowing Hot And Cold

With temperatures ranging from 400 degrees centigrade to minus 180, Mercury experiences the widest heat variations of any of the planets in our solar system. Now, with the forthcoming arrival on March 17th of the American space probe Messenger at the planet closest to the sun, we're set to find out a great deal more about Mercury. After a seven year journey, Messenger will be spending the next twelve months orbiting this strange little world and beaming back to Earth a battery of information which will massively increase our understanding of it. Highly Questionable marks the occasion with today's wide ranging mercury themed quiz.          

 Mercury Quiz 

 1  What is the symbol for the chemical element mercury in the periodic table?

 2  Freddie Mercury was the lead singer of which British rock band?

 3  In Greek mythology, which deity is the equivalent of the Roman god Mercury? 

 4  The 2010 Mercury Music Prize was won by which band? 

 5  'Mercury Rising', the 1998 Hollywood action movie, saw which American actor play an FBI agent detailed to protect a young boy with autism whose mathematical skills give him astounding code breaking abilities.
Answers will be published along with tomorrow's Highly Questionable quiz.

 First World War Quiz Answers 

The answers to yesterday's WWI quiz are:-

 1  Sarajevo was the scene of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the incident which sparked WWI.

 2  Sebastian Faulks is the author of 'Birdsong', the 1993 novel widely praised for capturing the nature of a number of key experiences and events of the first world war.

 3  The Lusitania was the name of the Cunard passenger liner torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in May 1915 as it journeyed from New York towards Liverpool.

 4  The Russian revolution prompted the withdrawal of Russia from WWI. 

 5  The Treaty of Versailles was the official agreement detailing the terms of peace between the Allied powers and Germany at the end of WWI.

The author of the Highly Questionable? quiz and trivia blog, Harry Reid, is a freelance question setter, writer and blogger. He can be contacted at harryreid@btinternet.com.