The Tudor Society

Tudor inventors and inventions quiz

Claire Ridgway

How much do you know about the inventors and inventions of the Tudor period?

Grab your favourite snack and beverage, make yourself comfortable, and test yourself with this week's Sunday quiz!

Afterwards, why not watch our Claire Chats video on Tudor inventions - here.

Tudor inventors and inventions

Q1) Physician and clergyman Timothy Bright invented what in his 1588 work "Characterie...."?

The flush toilet

Modern shorthand

The "equals" sign

The division sign

Correct! His book was called "Characterie: an Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character".
Wrong! He invented modern shorthand. His book was called "Characterie: an Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character".

Q2) This man invented England's first flush toilet called the Ajax and wrote about it in his "A New Discourse upon a Stale Subject: The Metamorphosis of Ajax" (1596).

Thomas Crapper

John Harington

Walter Ralegh

William Oughtred

Correct!
Wrong! It was Sir John Harington.

Q3) Which of the following did mathematician William Oughtred invent or develop? Tick all that apply.

The "=" sign"

The "x" symbol for multiplication

The abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for sine and cosine functions

The "%" symbol

Correct!
Wrong! He developed the slide rule and introduced the "x" symbol for multiplication and the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions.

Q4) This "Father of modern philosophy" was born in 1596 and is known for his dictum “I think, therefore I am".

René Descartes

John Dee

William Baldwin

Edward Kelley

Correct!
Wrong! It's René Descartes.

Q5) Which of the following symbols did Robert Recorde introduce?

%

÷

/

=

Correct! He introduced it in his "“The Whetstone of Witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmeteke: containing the extraction of rootes; the cossike practise, with the rule of equation; and the workes of Surde Nombers".
Wrong! It was the "=" sign. He introduced it in his "“The Whetstone of Witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmeteke: containing the extraction of rootes; the cossike practise, with the rule of equation; and the workes of Surde Nombers".

Q6) In 1571, Robert Dudley gave Elizabeth I this cutting edge item as a New Year gift.

An astrolable

A globe

A carriage clock

A wrist watch

Correct!
Wrong! It was a wrist watch or "arm watch".

Q7) This machine was invented in 1589 by William Lee, but Elizabeth I refused to give Lee a patent for it.

Knitting machine

Spinning wheel

An adding machine

Steam pump

Correct! The “stocking frame” imitated hand knitting and by 1598 it could produce both silk and woollen stockings.
Wrong! It was a knitting machine. The “stocking frame” imitated hand knitting and by 1598 it could produce both silk and woollen stockings.

Q8) What was accidentally invented in 1568 by Dr Alexander Nowell, Dean of St Paul's?

A basic refrigerator

Bottled beer

Lemonade

Blue cheese

Correct! He had put beer in a bottle to take fishing with him and then lost it for a few days. It was perfectly drinkable when he found it.
Wrong! It was bottled beer. He had put beer in a bottle to take fishing with him and then lost it for a few days. It was perfectly drinkable when he found it.

Q9) This type of book was first published by printer Richard Pynson in 1500.

A herbal

A gardening handbook

A recipe book

An encyclopaedia

Correct! It was The Boke of Cookery.
Wrong! It was a recipe book - The Boke of Cookery.

Q10) This printer, who introduced the printing press into England in 1476 with William Caxton, was the first printer to to use Hebrew and Arabic characters in English books (1524), the first to use italic type (1528) and the first to print music using movable type.

Wynkyn de Word

John Rastell

Nicholas Hill

William Rastell

Correct!
Wrong! It was Wynkyn de Word.

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