Q 01/05

Which unusual job did Christchurch City Council pay Ian Brackenbury Channell $16,000 a year to do until 2021?

A) Wizard

B) Town crier

C) Court jester

D) Rat catcher

Answer · why

A) Wizard

Wizard was his official post: from 1998 the council paid him to provide acts of wizardry promoting the city, after gallery directors had declared him ...

Q 02/05

Which everyday material forms the giant tubes of Christchurch's Transitional Cathedral, opened in 2013?

A) Bamboo

B) Plywood

C) Cardboard

D) Fibreglass

Answer · why

C) Cardboard

Cardboard tubes form the walls and roof of the A-frame building, which was designed to last about 50 years rather than to be permanent.

Q 03/05

After the 2011 earthquake, the Re:START pop-up mall in central Christchurch housed its shops inside what?

A) Old railway carriages

B) Army field tents

C) Double-decker buses

D) Shipping containers

Answer · why

D) Shipping containers

Shipping containers made a colourful temporary mall on Cashel Street, and it proved so popular with locals and tourists that it stayed open until Janu...

Q 04/05

When James Cook charted the volcanic Banks Peninsula beside Christchurch in 1770, what did he mistake it for?

A) A river mouth

B) A sandbar

C) A mainland cape

D) An island

Answer · why

D) An island

An island is what Cook recorded, deceived by the outline of the land behind, and he named it Banks Island after the botanist aboard his ship.

Q 05/05

Which director's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, starring Kate Winslet, dramatised a notorious Christchurch murder case?

A) Jane Campion

B) Lee Tamahori

C) Peter Jackson

D) Taika Waititi

Answer · why

C) Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson co-wrote the screenplay with Fran Walsh, and the film gave both Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey their first feature film roles.