Continuing Trivial Pursuits: History

<< Starkey: "It's 116 years, you fucking idiots"

As mentioned last time, it's now the turn of surely the most derided TP category: History. Its brown brethren, the equally frustrating Art & Literature, has proven surprisingly popular with opponents in the past, but History wins out for always being picked as the last question to answer. I feel I'm maybe talking a bit too much about Trivial Pursuit, however, and we're not even halfway through, so let's get on with it.

Questions:

1. What did the word 'catholic' mean in ancient Greek?

2. Garum was a popular sauce in Roman times. What was it made of?

3. What is the chief ingredient of Worcestershire sauce, first produced in 1837?

4. Which Asian country invented fingerprinting?

5. From which ancient language does the word 'salary' derive?

6. What was the worst epidemic of the 20th century?

7. Sean is the Gaelic variation of which popular British name?

8. Nike was the Greek goddess of what?

9. For how many years did the Hundred Years War last?

10. How old is our universe estimated to be?

And now, the answers...

1. Universal

2. Fermented fish guts

3. Fermented anchovies (look, it's like one of those cards where all the answers are the same!)

4. Fermented anchovies... just kidding, god, this is like that Two Ronnies sketch... it's actually China.

5. Latin. It comes from the word 'salarium', which means salt. Quantities of salt was offered as payment in Roman times. Presumably the diet consisted of chips, fried egg sandwiches and Margaritas.

6. Spanish flu, which killed over 50 million people in 1918. Puts swine flu in perspective.

7. John. Now, some of you may have noticed this is not a question about history. The problem, you see, is that I dislike history so much, I subconsciously avoid taking on any information related to the topic. Starkey would be furious.

8. Sweatshops. Or maybe victory and strength.

9. 116 years. This is such a Trivial Pursuit question.

10. 15 billion years old today.

Next up, it's Art & Literature. I would like to point out, ahead of the unveiling of ten questions that vary between straightforward and factually dubious, that I have a degree in English Literature. A degree that took 3 years to earn, and which appears to have irrecoverably destroyed any interest I ever had in the subject.