Q 01/05

Which pursuit was dubbed the 'Hobby of Kings' in Renaissance times, when only the very wealthy could afford it?

A) Stamp collecting

B) Coin collecting

C) Art collecting

D) Book collecting

Answer · why

B) Coin collecting

Coin collecting has since been promoted from the Hobby of Kings to the 'King of Hobbies', as one of the oldest and most popular pastimes in the world.

Q 02/05

Deltiology, ranked the world's third-largest collecting hobby behind stamps and money, is the collecting of what?

A) Postcards

B) Bookplates

C) Autographs

D) Theatre programmes

Answer · why

A) Postcards

Postcards are what deltiologists collect, a name built on the Greek 'deltion', a small writing tablet, though it took twenty years to reach a dictiona...

Q 03/05

In British birding slang, what is a birder called who travels long distances to tick off a rare bird?

A) Lister

B) Twitcher

C) Stringer

D) Dipper

Answer · why

B) Twitcher

Twitcher comes from the nervous behaviour of Howard Medhurst, a 1950s British birdwatcher; a twitcher who misses the bird has 'dipped out'.

Q 04/05

Which GPS treasure hunt began on 3 May 2000, the day after the US stopped scrambling civilian satellite signals?

A) Geocaching

B) Letterboxing

C) Orienteering

D) Rogaining

Answer · why

A) Geocaching

Geocaching's first cache was a black plastic bucket that Dave Ulmer part-buried in Beavercreek, Oregon, holding software, videos, books, money, a can ...

Q 05/05

Pteridomania, a Victorian craze that put its motif on gravestones and christening gifts, was a fever for which plants?

A) Tulips

B) Roses

C) Ferns

D) Lilies

Answer · why

C) Ferns

Ferns were the obsession, and Charles Kingsley coined 'pteridomania' in 1855 while teasing that daughters everywhere had been 'seized' by it.