See the questions here

Here’s how it worked. There were 10 sets of five questions. The answers to each set of questions formed a common theme or Missing Link. There were no prizes on offer, simply the inestimable rewards of brain exercise. 

MIKE’S MAVERICK MISSING LINK MINDBENDER #1

SET ONE 

• English county symbolised by the red rose. Lancashire.
• The study of how people live in societies and how they make their lives meaningful. Social anthropology.
• Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley before moving to Transvaal.  Wits University.
• A Zulu word meaning a body of warriors. Impi.
• The highest single free-standing mountain in the world. Kilimanjaro.

The Missing Link: Johnny Clegg … was born in Lancashire, studied social anthropology at Wits and two of his best-known songs are Impi and Kilimanjaro. 

SET TWO 

• Grand Parade Investments recently sold its stake in the SA operations of this fast food chain. Burger King.
• What you will find at 1 Hospital Street, Braamfontein. Constitutional Court.
• Electric guitar brand famous for the Les Paul model. Gibson.
• A word which means to turn (an eyelid, the intestines, or some other bodily part) outwards or inside out. Evert.
• Only Formula One Grand Prix team currently run by a woman. Williams (Claire Williams is the deputy team principal and de facto boss).

The Missing Link = Wimbledon women’s singles titles winners … Billie Jean King, Margaret Court, Althea Gibson, Chris Evert, Venus & Serena Williams.

SET THREE  

• The name of Oprah Winfrey’s semi-palindromic production company. Harpo.
• A clown name and popular Spur ice cream treat. Chico.
• The name for a one-piece novelty mask consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, a large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and a moustache. Groucho glasses.
• In the Middle of a popular American sitcom which won seven Emmys in the 2000s. Malcolm in The Middle.
• German word for Charles. Karl.

The Missing Link = First names that go with Marx … Harpo, Chico and Groucho were three of the Marx Brothers, Malcolm Marx is a world cup winning Springbok rugby player and, if you don’t know who Karl Marx is, you have no place even trying this quiz. 

SET FOUR

• 1998 Jim Carrey movie, directed by Peter Weir, which, surprisingly, did not receive a single Academy Award. The Truman Show.
• Founder of the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. Henry Ford.
• The brand name which became synonymous with vacuuming. Hoover.
• ‘Babooshka’ singer. Kate Bush.
• Popularly, but probably inaccurately, credited with the discovery of the main Witwatersrand gold reef in 1886 on the farm Langlaagte. George Harrison.

The Missing Link = American presidents … Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Herbert Hoover, George Bush, Benjamin Harrison. 

SET FIVE

• Victor Matfield, Sho Madjozi and Mamphela Ramphele were all born in this province.  Limpopo.
• Largest freshwater predator in Africa which can weigh over 1,000 kg. Nile crocodile.
• Defoliant notorious for its use in chemical warfare by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War (or The American War of Aggression as the Vietnamese government calls it). Agent Orange.
• Niamey is the capital of this country. Niger.
• Was a Free State before it became Belgian. Congo (called the Congo Free State when it was ruled as a personal fiefdom by King Leopold before it became the Belgian Congo).

The Missing Link = Major African rivers … Limpopo, Nile (or Crocodile), Orange, Niger, Congo.  

SET SIX 

• Author of ‘The Madonna of Excelsior’ and ‘The Heart of Redness’.  Zakes Mda.
• The name of the world cup football stadium in Polokwane. Peter Mokaba.
• The unofficial name of the phenomenon of shared false memory.  The Mandela Effect.
• The only South African to be President of Interpol. Jackie Selebi.
• American state in New England famous for lobsters. Maine.

The Missing Link: ANC Youth League leaders … AP Mda (Zakes Mda’s father and founder of the league), Peter Mokaba, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Selebi, Collen Maine.  

SET SEVEN 

• Delilah and Sex Bomb singer. Tom Jones.
• Controversial American World War II general nicknamed ‘Blood and Guts’. General George S Patton.
• A lawyer trained at the Inner Temple in London who was assassinated by Nathuram Godse. Mahatma Gandhi.
• American sporting home of Cubs, Bears and Bulls.  Chicago.
• Jason’s ship as he searched for the Golden Fleece. Argo.

The Missing Link = Oscar winners for best movie … Tom Jones (1964), Patton (1970), Gandhi (1982), Chicago (2002), Argo (2012). 

SET EIGHT

• Musical based on a pioneering Charles Dickens social novel about an orphan in a workhouse. Oliver.
• Welsh footballer who plays for Juventus. Aaron Ramsay.
• Actor who portrayed Muhammad Ali in 2001 Oscar-nominated movie. Will Smith.
• Ummagumma was an album by this band.  Pink Floyd.
• Popular 2013 movie set in Edinburgh with music by The Proclaimers. Sunshine On Leith.

The Missing Link = famous chefs … Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Delia Smith, Keith Floyd, Prue Leith.

SET NINE

• The Duke who rode Stagecoach to major acting fame, mainly in Westerns. John Wayne.
• Quechua (a Peruvian language) word meaning ‘royal’. Tupac.
• Mythically continued his game of bowls as the Spanish Armada approached the English coast in 1588. Sir Francis Drake.
• The direction opposite that of the earth’s rotation on its axis. West.
• Shorthand for an alternative name. AKA (Also Known As).

The Missing Link = rappers … Lil Wayne, Tupac Shakur, Drake, Kanye West, AKA

SET TEN

• Iconic sewing brand which sold two million machines by 1876. Singer.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Quasimodo.
• Legend of the SA real estate business who died in April 2018. Pam Golding.
• The current Australian prime minister. Scott Morrison.
• First name of a South African, born in 1964, who is widely famous for his sculptures of wildlife. Dylan (Lewis).

The Missing Link = Nobel Prize for Literature winners … Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), Salvatore Quasimodo (1959), William Golding (1983), Toni Morrison (1993), Bob Dylan (2016). DM

Watch out for Mike’s Maverick Missing Link Mindbender  #2 to be published soon.