ROUND 1

1.

Who rode Silver Birch to victory in this year’s Grand National?

2.

Who ran The Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap?

3.

What year were the Gordon Riots? (allow 3 years either way)

4.

Who wrote Long Day’s Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh?

5.

What first did Jacqui Oatley achieve at the weekend?

6.

Into what was Daphne, a nymph loved by Apollo, transformed?

7.

Give a year in the life of Niccolo Machiavelli.

8.

Which Scottish football club plays its home games in Dingwall?

ROUND 2

1.

Moving clockwise from North, Northeast (NE) is the first point in the eight-point compass and North-Northeast (NNE) is the first point in the 16-point compass.  What is the first point in the 32-point compass?

2.

Dr Jeffrey Sachs is giving this year's Reith lectures on BBC Radio Four.  Who is presenting the programme and moderating the question and answer session after the lectures?

3.

Who is being described here?  He was born in 1819 in Glasgow and became a chartist in his youth.  He emigrated to the United States when he was 23.  With a business partner he set up the North-Western Police Agency in Chicago where he developed several investigative techniques still in use today.  During the Civil War he worked as the head of the union intelligence service.  He was hired by the Spanish government in 1872 to suppress a revolution in Cuba.  He died in 1884 from an infection acquired after biting his tongue.

4.

In what year was the last case of a woman being tried and convicted of witchcraft in this country?

(allow 4 years either way)

5.

The zygomaticus major muscle and the orbicularis oculi muscle are used in what common human activity?

6.

“If an infinite number of rods be broken: find the chance that one at least is broken in the middle” is a problem devised and solved while lying awake at night by an author, well known for another genre of book.  He compiled and published 72 such problems with a title suggesting sleepless nights.  Who is the author?

7.

Recently the IPCC issued a report on the effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  What does IPCC stand for?

8.

A summit meeting took place in Delhi earlier this month of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).  The association is made up of eight countries.  Excluding India, name four of the other seven countries.

ROUND 3

1.

What is the name of the doctor created by Richard Gordon?

2.

Which 1960’s TV series has a title meaning doctor in Swahili?

3.

A line from which traditional nursery rhyme provided the name for a musical based on GB Shaw’s Pygmalion?

4.

Which famous pair of musical creators had the middle names, Schwenk and Seymour?

5.

Who was the first US President to die in office? (forename and surname required)

6.

Which poet nursed and visited many wounded soldiers in Washington during the American Civil War?

7.

Sir John Gielgud was the great-nephew of which famous actress?

8.

Who composed the opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet?

ROUND 4

1.

Two Scottish football clubs play in Falkirk.  One is Falkirk, what is the other?

2.

Give a year in the life of Dante.

3.

In Greek mythology, who was the shepherd that Selene, the moon-goddess, begged Jupiter to give everlasting youth and beauty?

4.

What first did Sally Ride achieve in 1983?

5.

Who wrote A Taste of Honey?

6.

In which Dickens’s novel, which features the Gordon Riots, does the raven Grip appear?

7.

In Martin Chuzzlewit what was the occupation of Sarah Gamp?

8.

Who rode Kauto Star to victory in this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup?

ROUND 5 - 'Girl's Names'

Each answer contains a girl's name

1.

What is the name given to the action by a matador when he waves the cape at the bull while standing still?  The name also means 'true likeness'.

2.

What was the nickname given to the British A11 tank used at the beginning of the Second World War, which was taken from the name of a cartoon duck?

3.

What name for a lady’s maid is derived from a character in the Old Testament  book of Samuel?

4.

What sort of biscuit did Proust eat which brought his memories flooding back?

5.

Whom did Sherlock Holmes call 'The Woman'?

6.

Which BBC radio character died on 22 September 1955 in a fire, contrived to draw attention away from a perceived significant event?

7.

What name is given to a type of lady’s handbag closed by draw-strings at the top and hung from the wrist?

8.

Which girl's name was popularised by Marie Correlli?  A character with the same name was played in a long-running comedy series on BBC by Brigit Forsyth.

ROUND 6

1.

What is the motto of the Royal Air Force?

2.

What is the motto of MGM?

3.

Psephology is the study of what?

4.

Herpetology is the study of what?

5.

What ecclesiastical post is held by Richard Chartres?

6.

Which Church of England bishop signs himself 'Roffen'?

7.

What is the longest river in Spain?

8.

What is the longest river in Portugal?

ROUND 7

1.

What is the name of the fictional hero who first appeared in a short story entitled The White Fokker?

2.

In Greek mythology, which goddess was declared the fairest in the 'Judgement of Paris'?

3.

Where was the last major battle fought on English soil?

4.

Where was the home of Sir Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West where they created a celebrated garden?

5.

Which game gave us the expression ‘to win by a street’?

6.

Which viscose-based material was invented by Jacques Brandenberger in 1908?

7.

Which word was formerly used to describe a married woman’s personal property (exclusive of dowry) over which she had lawful control?

8.

The musical, Guys and Dolls, was based on characters created by which author?

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme - 'It's a Knock Out'

1.

Who said: “In defeat unbeatable; in victory unbearable”? (forename and surname required)

2.

Who recently broke up with Hugh Grant?

3.

By what name is methane (CH₄) also known?

4.

What was left in the box after Pandora had opened it?

5.

Which James Joyce work makes use of puns and portmanteaux words, and a wide range of allusion?

6.

Who is currently Secretary of State for International Development?

7.

What is the county town of East Sussex?

8.

What word connects: a mixture of stout and porter; a ship employed surreptitiously to supply strong drink to deep-sea fishermen; a maker of tubs, casks, etc.?

1.

Romeo and Juliet takes place in which 2 Italian cities?

2.

Who played Frances Urquhart in The House of Cards?

3.

Bunthorne’s Bride is the alternative title for which Gilbert and Sullivan operetta?

4.

How was Jeanne Antoine Poisson better known?

5.

Who will contest this year’s Rugby Union Heineken Cup Final?

6.

Whose official residence is: 1, Carlton Gardens, London?

7.

On what event did the Franks Commission report?

8.

Who played Hotlips Houlihan in the film M.A.S.H.?

According to reports, how many wooden buildings were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the subsequent 3-day conflagration?

ROUND 1

1.

Who rode Silver Birch to victory in this year’s Grand National?

Robbie Power

2.

Who ran The Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap?

Mistress Quickly

3.

What year were the Gordon Riots? (allow 3 years either way)

1780

(allow 1777-1783)

4.

Who wrote Long Day’s Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh?

Eugene O’Neill

5.

What first did Jacqui Oatley achieve at the weekend?

First woman to commentate on BBC’s Match of the Day

6.

Into what was Daphne, a nymph loved by Apollo, transformed?

A Laurel Tree

7.

Give a year in the life of Niccolo Machiavelli.

1469-1527

8.

Which Scottish football club plays its home games in Dingwall?

Ross County

ROUND 2

1.

Moving clockwise from North, Northeast (NE) is the first point in the eight-point compass and North-Northeast (NNE) is the first point in the 16-point compass.  What is the first point in the 32-point compass?

North by East

(NbE)

2.

Dr Jeffrey Sachs is giving this year's Reith lectures on BBC Radio Four.  Who is presenting the programme and moderating the question and answer session after the lectures?

Sue Lawley

3.

Who is being described here?  He was born in 1819 in Glasgow and became a chartist in his youth.  He emigrated to the United States when he was 23.  With a business partner he set up the North-Western Police Agency in Chicago where he developed several investigative techniques still in use today.  During the Civil War he worked as the head of the union intelligence service.  He was hired by the Spanish government in 1872 to suppress a revolution in Cuba.  He died in 1884 from an infection acquired after biting his tongue.

Allan Pinkerton

4.

In what year was the last case of a woman being tried and convicted of witchcraft in this country?

(allow 4 years either way)

1944

(allow 1940-1948; Helen Duncan received nine months in Holloway for revealing in a séance that HMS Barham had been sunk months before it was officially announced)

5.

The zygomaticus major muscle and the orbicularis oculi muscle are used in what common human activity?

Smiling

6.

“If an infinite number of rods be broken: find the chance that one at least is broken in the middle” is a problem devised and solved while lying awake at night by an author, well known for another genre of book.  He compiled and published 72 such problems with a title suggesting sleepless nights.  Who is the author?

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

(accept Lewis Caroll; the book is called Pillow Problems - the answer is (e-1)/e - the method is available on demand)

7.

Recently the IPCC issued a report on the effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  What does IPCC stand for?

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

8.

A summit meeting took place in Delhi earlier this month of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).  The association is made up of eight countries.  Excluding India, name four of the other seven countries.

(four from)

Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and The Maldives

ROUND 3

1.

What is the name of the doctor created by Richard Gordon?

Dr Simon Sparrow

2.

Which 1960’s TV series has a title meaning doctor in Swahili?

Daktari

3.

A line from which traditional nursery rhyme provided the name for a musical based on GB Shaw’s Pygmalion?

London Bridge is falling down, My Fair Lady

4.

Which famous pair of musical creators had the middle names, Schwenk and Seymour?

William Schwenk Gilbert & Arthur Seymour Sullivan

5.

Who was the first US President to die in office? (forename and surname required)

William Henry Harrison

(died 1841)

6.

Which poet nursed and visited many wounded soldiers in Washington during the American Civil War?

Walt Whitman

7.

Sir John Gielgud was the great-nephew of which famous actress?

Ellen Terry

8.

Who composed the opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet?

Frederick Delius

ROUND 4

1.

Two Scottish football clubs play in Falkirk.  One is Falkirk, what is the other?

East Stirlingshire

2.

Give a year in the life of Dante.

1265-1321

3.

In Greek mythology, who was the shepherd that Selene, the moon-goddess, begged Jupiter to give everlasting youth and beauty?

Endymion

(as he was a mortal, Jupiter put him into an everlasting sleep)

4.

What first did Sally Ride achieve in 1983?

First American woman to orbit the earth

5.

Who wrote A Taste of Honey?

Shelagh Delaney

6.

In which Dickens’s novel, which features the Gordon Riots, does the raven Grip appear?

Barnaby Rudge

7.

In Martin Chuzzlewit what was the occupation of Sarah Gamp?

Midwife

8.

Who rode Kauto Star to victory in this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup?

Ruby Walsh

ROUND 5 - 'Girl's Names'

Each answer contains a girl's name

1

What is the name given to the action by a matador when he waves the cape at the bull while standing still?  The name also means 'true likeness'.

Veronica

2.

What was the nickname given to the British A11 tank used at the beginning of the Second World War, which was taken from the name of a cartoon duck?

Matilda

3.

What name for a lady’s maid is derived from a character in the Old Testament  book of Samuel?

Abigail

4.

What sort of biscuit did Proust eat which brought his memories flooding back?

A Madeleine

5.

Whom did Sherlock Holmes call 'The Woman'?

Irene Adler

(she appears in Scandal in Bohemia)

6.

Which BBC radio character died on 22 September 1955 in a fire, contrived to draw attention away from a perceived significant event?

Grace Archer

7.

What name is given to a type of lady’s handbag closed by draw-strings at the top and hung from the wrist?

A Dorothy bag

8.

Which girl's name was popularised by Marie Correlli?  A character with the same name was played in a long-running comedy series on BBC by Brigit Forsyth.

Thelma

(in The Likely Lads)

ROUND 6

1

What is the motto of the Royal Air Force?

'Per ardua ad astra'

2.

What is the motto of MGM?

'Ars Gratia Artis'

3.

Psephology is the study of what?

Election results

4.

Herpetology is the study of what?

Reptiles and amphibians

5.

What ecclesiastical post is held by Richard Chartres?

Bishop of London

6.

Which Church of England bishop signs himself 'Roffen'?

Bishop of Rochester

7.

What is the longest river in Spain?

Ebro

8.

What is the longest river in Portugal?

Tagus

ROUND 7

1.

What is the name of the fictional hero who first appeared in a short story entitled The White Fokker?

Bigglesworth

(accept Biggles)

2.

In Greek mythology, which goddess was declared the fairest in the 'Judgement of Paris'?

Aphrodite

3.

Where was the last major battle fought on English soil?

Sedgemoor

4.

Where was the home of Sir Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West where they created a celebrated garden?

Sissinghurst Castle

5.

Which game gave us the expression ‘to win by a street’?

Cribbage

(‘street’ being the length of a cribbage board)

6.

Which viscose-based material was invented by Jacques Brandenberger in 1908?

Cellophane

7.

Which word was formerly used to describe a married woman’s personal property (exclusive of dowry) over which she had lawful control?

Paraphernalia

8.

The musical, Guys and Dolls, was based on characters created by which author?

Damon Runyon

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme - 'It's a Knock Out'

1.

Who said: “In defeat unbeatable; in victory unbearable”? (forename and surname required)

Winston Churchill

(of Viscount Montgomery)

2.

Who recently broke up with Hugh Grant?

Jemima Khan

3.

By what name is methane (CH₄) also known?

Marsh Gas

4.

What was left in the box after Pandora had opened it?

Hope

5.

Which James Joyce work makes use of puns and portmanteaux words, and a wide range of allusion?

Finnegan’s Wake

6.

Who is currently Secretary of State for International Development?

Hilary Benn

7.

What is the county town of East Sussex?

Lewes

8.

What word connects: a mixture of stout and porter; a ship employed surreptitiously to supply strong drink to deep-sea fishermen; a maker of tubs, casks, etc.?

Cooper

1.

Romeo and Juliet takes place in which 2 Italian cities?

Verona and Mantua

2.

Who played Frances Urquhart in The House of Cards?

Ian Richardson

3.

Bunthorne’s Bride is the alternative title for which Gilbert and Sullivan operetta?

Patience

4.

How was Jeanne Antoine Poisson better known?

Madame de Pompadour

5.

Who will contest this year’s Rugby Union Heineken Cup Final?

Leicester and Wasps

6.

Whose official residence is: 1, Carlton Gardens, London?

Foreign Secretary

7.

On what event did the Franks Commission report?

Falklands Conflict

8.

Who played Hotlips Houlihan in the film M.A.S.H.?

Sally Kellerman

Go back to Spare questions without answers

According to reports, how many wooden buildings were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the subsequent 3-day conflagration?

24,671

Go back to Tiebreaker question without answer