ROUND 1 - Themed - 'Do I Spy An Answer?'

Each answer contains the name of a a fictional spy

1.

Name the company.  Born in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1845, the company founder opened his first shop at 29 Market Street, Manchester in 1869 and died in 1918.  The company, now part of Unilever, employs 3000 people nationwide including 480 in the Manchester area, where its main factory is in Trafford Park.

2.

What two word phrase popularly describes an automobile with artificial intelligence (or 'AI') functionality?  Examples include Kitt in the TV series Knight Rider and the Mercedes-Benz ‘Robot cars’, which led to the development of the S-Class.

3.

This is a trick-taking card game based on Whist.  A major distinctive feature is that one player often plays against the other three.  However players form temporary alliances with two players playing against the other two if prop and cop is called.  What is the game called?

4.

Which graphic was devised by Harvey Ball in Massachusetts in 1963 for an insurance firm that wanted an internal campaign to improve employee morale?  He never trademarked the iconic image and, as a result, Ball never made any profit beyond his initial $45 fee.

5.

Born in 1623, this French mathematician and philosopher contributed to many areas of mathematics.  He worked on conic sections and projective geometry and in correspondence with Fermat he laid the foundations for the theory of probability.  He died in 1662.  Name him.  (the first name is required to fit the theme)

6.

Which golfer won the U.S. Masters in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, the U.S. Open in 1960, and the British Open Championship in1961 and 1962?

7.

Who was the lead actress in the 1979 to 1984 TV series Hart to Hart?

8.

For which 2004 film did Imelda Staunton and Mike Leigh win BAFTA awards and gain Oscar nominations?

Sp.

What is the common thread running through the connecting links in each of the following groups:

a) Gary Sobers, Hannibal Lecter and Anne Boleyn,

b) M, N, O on mobiles and J & K on most Blackberries,

c) one one zero?

ROUND 2 - Themed - 'Listen carefully, I will say this only twice'

Dedicated to the Electric Pigs - instead of repeated questions it is the answers that contain repetitions

1.

What item of warfare is named after a city in West Bengal close to Calcutta?

2.

In 1952 the First Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers was deployed to counter which uprising against British imperial rule?

3.

Which 9 times married Hungarian starred in the 1953 film Lili?

4.

Which 1958 film, directed by Vincente Minnelli, was based on a 1944 short story by Colette?

5.

From which racial group are the majority of the populations of Morocco and Algeria descended?

6.

Which fictional journalist and his dog were the creations of Georges Remi?

7.

With what activity would you most closely associate the gallop from Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld?

8.

What Caribbean organisation’s name derives from the French for ‘Uncle Gunnysack’, a bogeyman who stalks the streets at night kidnapping children and putting them in his sack?

Sp.

What tropical fruit is nicknamed the prairie banana in the US?

ROUND 3 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1.

England and Scotland were joined in the United Kingdom in 1707 - but in which year was Ireland formally joined with England and Scotland?  (You are allowed two years leeway either way)

2.

What specifically connects the great military commanders, the Macedonian Alexander the Great, the Spartan Lysander, the Trojan Hector - and perhaps rather oddly - Hercules?

3.

Top of the Pops started on January 1st in which year?

4.

What connection links Andy Fairweather Low, The Augusta National Golf Course and the A4?

5.

The visit of which famous person to Copenhagen in 1950 led to the production of Carlsberg Special Brew?

6.

What part does sodium ricinoleate play in British television history?

7.

Everyone in Ireland knows where they were on June 26th 1996 when there was a fatal shooting on the Naas road.  Who was shot?

8.

In which American City on the shores of Lake Erie is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum?

9.

In the military, what does the word brevet indicate?

10.

In 2008, what specifically connected the Welsh football internationals Jason Koumas, Gareth Bale and Craig Bellamy

ROUND 4 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1.

'Can Queen Victoria eat cold apple pie' is a mnemonic for what?

2.

Invented in Italy as ‘longue paume’ and introduced to France in the 13th century, it is the fastest ball game in the world.  What is it?

3.

The first pope was St Peter who held office until 64 AD.  Who was the second pope?

4.

Wilhelmj’s arrangement of Bach Suite for Orchestra No. 3 in D (2nd movement) is better known as what?

5.

What food stuff did Edward Asselberg invent in 1941?

6.

How were Patrick Hill, Richard McIlkenny, John Walker, William Power, Gerard Hunter and Hugh Callaghan collectively known?

7.

In 1961 The Misfits was the last completed film of which actor and actress? (both names needed)

8.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is set in which two cities?

9.

Ed Miliband is Secretary of State for the DECC.  What does DECC stand for?

10.

How many states are there in the USA?  Beware don't count the commonwealths!

ROUND 5 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1.

Describing itself as 'Britain’s oldest working theatre in its original form', the restored Georgian Theatre Royal is in which North Yorkshire town?

2.

Named after a naval hero, what is the name of the inn owned by Jim Hawkin’s parents in Treasure Island?

3.

Appearing with Noel Edmonds in Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, what was the alliterative name of the stuffed, purple dinosaur, an anagram of the words 'Swap Shop'?

4.

Which five-word title links an epic 1962 Western movie which follows the life of a family from 1839 to 1889, with a 2003 triple live Led Zeppelin album?

5.

Bringing together Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross would give you the name of which website?         

6.

Which Yorkshire rugby league side, promoted to National League 1 at the end of the 2007 season, play at Post Office Road, which was re-branded in 2007 as The Chris Moyles Stadium?

7.

David II (1324-1371) was the second and last king of which Scottish royal house?

8.

Most of us have twenty-four of them.  In 2007 semi-professional opera singer Maria Field was hoping to resume singing after having two extra removed from her body.  What are they?

9

Which EU capital city is home to the world’s most northerly metro system with its distinctive orange rolling stock?

10.

The Sussex Stakes takes place at which racecourse on the South Downs north of Chichester?

ROUND 6 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1.

In which TV show does Jon Hamm play the leading character Don Draper?

2.

What was particularly unusual about the make up of the Union & Confederate forces in the American Civil War battle of Pea Ridge?

3.

Which football fans' chant is based on a song which originated in the American Civil War

4.

In June 1975, a cricket match between Derbyshire and Lancashire was interrupted by what?

5.

Which rock group comprises four members, all dead, one of them assassinated?

6.

What connects the songs Chain Reaction by Diana Ross, Heartbreaker by Dionne Warwick and Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton?

7.

Who created and writes the BBC TV series Hustle?

8.

What does the ‘K’ stand for in the name of the religious movement abbreviated ISKCON?

9.

What was the name of the Led Zeppelin song used as the best-known of the theme tunes for Top of the Pops?

10.

England and Scotland were joined in the United Kingdom in 1707 and Ireland made it 3 in 1801 - but in what year was Wales (informally) joined with England?  (You are allowed five years leeway either way)

ROUND 7 – Themed - 'Raising the Standard

All the answers in this round include names of various S.I. Units (beware the spare question is a soundalike)

1.

Which German composer is noted for the opera Die Freischütz?

2.

The opening line of this poet’s most famous work is “The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day”.  Another line, “Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife”, provided Thomas Hardy with the title of one of his novels.  The setting for this poem is the place where the author was later buried.  Who is this English poet, who lived from 1716-1771?

3.

He scored France’s only goal in Euro 2008, in their 4-1 defeat by the Netherlands. Who is this former Premiership player, France’s all-time leading goalscorer?

4.

'Women as other' is the theme of which 1949 work of feminist philosophy by Simone de Beauvoir?

5.

Born 2nd April 1967, this fictional character grew up in Leicester, but as a young man moved to London.  Failing in his boyhood ambition to be a writer, he found short-lived celebrity as an offal chef.  Later he became an antiquarian bookseller.  Father of three children by different mothers, who is this eponymous protagonist of six books and three TV series?

6.

Scotland’s most popular tourist attraction and the most popular museum outside London, name this Glasgow art gallery and museum, situated in park of the same name.

7.

The actor Frank Windsor is best known for playing what character in the TV series Z Cars and Softly, Softly?

8.

He died in 2004 when his car hit a wall at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles.  Who is this German-born fashion photographer, famous for his erotic studies of nude women?

Sp.

This German film director is best known for films such as Aguirre, Wrath of God, The Enigma of Casper Hauser, Woyzeck and Fitzcarraldo.  Name him.

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

In which British city would you find the neighbourhoods of Frenchay, Totterdown and Fishponds?

2.

In which British city would you find the neighbourhoods of Baffins, Widley and Cosham?

3.

Prior to Edinburgh becoming capital in 1452 which city was Scotland’s capital?

4.

Following Karachi and prior to Islamabad, which city was the capital of Pakistan between 1959 and 1967?

5.

Which author has been nominated the most times for the Booker prize?

6.

Which novel won the ‘Booker of Booker’ prizes in 1993 as the best Booker prize winner of the first 25 years of the prize?

7.

The last person actually buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey (rather than just commemorated by a plaque) was an actor.  Who was he?

8.

The last woman to be commemorated by a plaque in Poet’s Corner was an actress.  Who was she?

ROUND 1 - Themed - 'Do I Spy An Answer?'

Each answer contains the name of a a fictional spy

1.

Name the company.  Born in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1845, the company founder opened his first shop at 29 Market Street, Manchester in 1869 and died in 1918.  The company, now part of Unilever, employs 3000 people nationwide including 480 in the Manchester area, where its main factory is in Trafford Park.

Brooke Bond

(founded by Arthur Brooke - there never was a Mr. Bond)

James Bond is the spy

2.

What two word phrase popularly describes an automobile with artificial intelligence (or 'AI') functionality?  Examples include Kitt in the TV series Knight Rider and the Mercedes-Benz ‘Robot cars’, which led to the development of the S-Class.

Smart car

Max Smart is the spy

(from the 60’s TV series and most recently the 2008 film Get Smart)

3.

This is a trick-taking card game based on Whist.  A major distinctive feature is that one player often plays against the other three.  However players form temporary alliances with two players playing against the other two if prop and cop is called.  What is the game called?

Solo Whist

(or simply Solo)

Napoleon Solo is the spy

(from The Man from Uncle)

4.

Which graphic was devised by Harvey Ball in Massachusetts in 1963 for an insurance firm that wanted an internal campaign to improve employee morale?  He never trademarked the iconic image and, as a result, Ball never made any profit beyond his initial $45 fee.

The Smiley ☺

George Smiley is the spy

(from the John le Carré novels)

5.

Born in 1623, this French mathematician and philosopher contributed to many areas of mathematics.  He worked on conic sections and projective geometry and in correspondence with Fermat he laid the foundations for the theory of probability.  He died in 1662.  Name him.  (the first name is required to fit the theme)

Blaise Pascal

Modesty Blaise is the spy

6.

Which golfer won the U.S. Masters in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, the U.S. Open in 1960, and the British Open Championship in1961 and 1962?

Arnold Palmer

Harry Palmer is the spy

(from the Len Deighton books e.g. The Ipcress File)

7.

Who was the lead actress in the 1979 to 1984 TV series Hart to Hart?

Stefanie Powers

Austin Powers is the spy

8.

For which 2004 film did Imelda Staunton and Mike Leigh win BAFTA awards and gain Oscar nominations?

Vera Drake

John Drake is the spy

(in Dangerman)

Sp.

What is the common thread running through the connecting links in each of the following groups:

a) Gary Sobers, Hannibal Lecter and Anne Boleyn,

b) M, N, O on mobiles and J & K on most Blackberries,

c) one one zero?

The number 6

(a) born with 6 fingers on their hands, b) 6 on the key pad, and c) 6 in binary)

No. 6 is the spy

(in The Prisoner)

ROUND 2 - Themed - 'Listen carefully, I will say this only twice'

Dedicated to the Electric Pigs - instead of repeated questions it is the answers that contain repetitions

1.

What item of warfare is named after a city in West Bengal close to Calcutta?

The dum-dum bullet

2.

In 1952 the First Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers was deployed to counter which uprising against British imperial rule?

The Mau-Mau uprising

(in Kenya)

3.

Which 9 times married Hungarian starred in the 1953 film Lili?

Zsa Zsa-Gabor

4.

Which 1958 film, directed by Vincente Minnelli, was based on a 1944 short story by Colette?

Gigi

5.

From which racial group are the majority of the populations of Morocco and Algeria descended?

Berber

6.

Which fictional journalist and his dog were the creations of Georges Remi?

Tintin

(Georges Remi was the real name of Hergé)

7.

With what activity would you most closely associate the gallop from Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld?

Can-can dancing

8.

What Caribbean organisation’s name derives from the French for ‘Uncle Gunnysack’, a bogeyman who stalks the streets at night kidnapping children and putting them in his sack?

The Tonton Macoute

(the Haitian Secret Police)

Sp.

What tropical fruit is nicknamed the prairie banana in the US?

Pawpaw

ROUND 3 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1.

England and Scotland were joined in the United Kingdom in 1707 - but in which year was Ireland formally joined with England and Scotland?  (You are allowed two years leeway either way)

1801

(allow 1799 - 1803)

2.

What specifically connects the great military commanders, the Macedonian Alexander the Great, the Spartan Lysander, the Trojan Hector - and perhaps rather oddly - Hercules?

All are mentioned in the first verse of The British Grenadiers

"Some talk of Alexander and some of Hercules, of Hector and Lysander and such great names as these, but of all the world's great heroes there's none that can compare with the tow-row-row-row-row-row-row of the British Grenadiers’’

3.

Top of the Pops started on January 1st in which year?

1964

4.

What connection links Andy Fairweather Low, The Augusta National Golf Course and the A4?

Amen Corner

5.

The visit of which famous person to Copenhagen in 1950 led to the production of Carlsberg Special Brew?

Winston Churchill

6.

What part does sodium ricinoleate play in British television history?

It’s the SR in Gibbs SR – the first advert to appear on British television

7.

Everyone in Ireland knows where they were on June 26th 1996 when there was a fatal shooting on the Naas road.  Who was shot?

Veronica Guerin

8.

In which American City on the shores of Lake Erie is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum?

Cleveland

9.

In the military, what does the word brevet indicate?

Temporarily holding a higher rank

(normally in the field and without the pay associated with the higher rank)

10.

In 2008, what specifically connected the Welsh football internationals Jason Koumas, Gareth Bale and Craig Bellamy

They all missed penalties in Wales’ first three World Cup 2010 qualifying matches

ROUND 4 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1.

'Can Queen Victoria eat cold apple pie' is a mnemonic for what?

The Seven Hills of Rome

(Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquline, Caelian, Aventine & Palatine)

2.

Invented in Italy as ‘longue paume’ and introduced to France in the 13th century, it is the fastest ball game in the world.  What is it?

Pelota vasca

(Jai alai)

3.

The first pope was St Peter who held office until 64 AD.  Who was the second pope?

St Linus

4.

Wilhelmj’s arrangement of Bach Suite for Orchestra No. 3 in D (2nd movement) is better known as what?

Air on the G String

5.

What food stuff did Edward Asselberg invent in 1941?

Instant potato

6.

How were Patrick Hill, Richard McIlkenny, John Walker, William Power, Gerard Hunter and Hugh Callaghan collectively known?

The Birmingham Six

(They were wrongly imprisoned following two public house bombings in November 1974 and released when their convictions were quashed in March 1991)

7.

In 1961 The Misfits was the last completed film of which actor and actress? (both names needed)

Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe

8.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is set in which two cities?

Verona and Mantua

9.

Ed Miliband is Secretary of State for the DECC.  What does DECC stand for?

Department of Energy & Climate Change

10.

How many states are there in the USA?  Beware don't count the commonwealths!

46

(Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia are commonwealths)

ROUND 5 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1

Describing itself as 'Britain’s oldest working theatre in its original form', the restored Georgian Theatre Royal is in which North Yorkshire town?

Richmond

2.

Named after a naval hero, what is the name of the inn owned by Jim Hawkin’s parents in Treasure Island?

Admiral Benbow

3.

Appearing with Noel Edmonds in Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, what was the alliterative name of the stuffed, purple dinosaur, an anagram of the words 'Swap Shop'?

Posh Paws

4.

Which five-word title links an epic 1962 Western movie which follows the life of a family from 1839 to 1889, with a 2003 triple live Led Zeppelin album?

How the West was Won

5.

Bringing together Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross would give you the name of which website?         

Friends Reunited

6.

Which Yorkshire rugby league side, promoted to National League 1 at the end of the 2007 season, play at Post Office Road, which was re-branded in 2007 as The Chris Moyles Stadium?

Featherstone Rovers

7.

David II (1324-1371) was the second and last king of which Scottish royal house?

Bruce

8.

Most of us have twenty-four of them.  In 2007 semi-professional opera singer Maria Field was hoping to resume singing after having two extra removed from her body.  What are they?

Ribs

9.

Which EU capital city is home to the world’s most northerly metro system with its distinctive orange rolling stock?

Helsinki

10.

The Sussex Stakes takes place at which racecourse on the South Downs north of Chichester?

Goodwood

ROUND 6 - Mini Bingo

Pick a number between 1 and 10 to get your question

1

In which TV show does Jon Hamm play the leading character Don Draper?

Mad Men

2.

What was particularly unusual about the make up of the Union & Confederate forces in the American Civil War battle of Pea Ridge?

It was the only significant battle where both sides used substantial numbers of native Americans

3.

Which football fans' chant is based on a song which originated in the American Civil War

Hello, hello, We are the Busby Boys

(based on the chorus of Marching Through Georgia)

4.

In June 1975, a cricket match between Derbyshire and Lancashire was interrupted by what?

Snow

(an inch of it falling in Buxton)

5.

Which rock group comprises four members, all dead, one of them assassinated?

Mount Rushmore

6.

What connects the songs Chain Reaction by Diana Ross, Heartbreaker by Dionne Warwick and Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton?

All written by the Bee Gees

7.

Who created and writes the BBC TV series Hustle?

Tony Jordan

8.

What does the ‘K’ stand for in the name of the religious movement abbreviated ISKCON?

Krishna

(International Society for Krishna Consciousness)

9.

What was the name of the Led Zeppelin song used as the best-known of the theme tunes for Top of the Pops?

Whole Lotta Love

10.

England and Scotland were joined in the United Kingdom in 1707 and Ireland made it 3 in 1801 - but in what year was Wales (informally) joined with England?  (You are allowed five years leeway either way)

1536

(allow 1531 - 1541)

ROUND 7 - Themed - 'Raising the Standard

All the answers in this round include names of various S.I. Units (beware the spare question is a soundalike)

1.

Which German composer is noted for the opera Die Freischütz?

Carl Maria von Weber

2.

The opening line of this poet’s most famous work is “The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day”.  Another line, “Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife”, provided Thomas Hardy with the title of one of his novels.  The setting for this poem is the place where the author was later buried.  Who is this English poet, who lived from 1716-1771?

Thomas Gray

(the poem quoted is Elegy in a Country Churchyard)

3.

He scored France’s only goal in Euro 2008, in their 4-1 defeat by the Netherlands. Who is this former Premiership player, France’s all-time leading goalscorer?

Thierry Henry

4.

'Women as other' is the theme of which 1949 work of feminist philosophy by Simone de Beauvoir?

The Second Sex

5.

Born 2nd April 1967, this fictional character grew up in Leicester, but as a young man moved to London.  Failing in his boyhood ambition to be a writer, he found short-lived celebrity as an offal chef.  Later he became an antiquarian bookseller.  Father of three children by different mothers, who is this eponymous protagonist of six books and three TV series?

Adrian Mole

6.

Scotland’s most popular tourist attraction and the most popular museum outside London, name this Glasgow art gallery and museum, situated in park of the same name.

Kelvingrove

7.

The actor Frank Windsor is best known for playing what character in the TV series Z Cars and Softly, Softly?

DS/Det. Chief Supt. John Watt

8.

He died in 2004 when his car hit a wall at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles.  Who is this German-born fashion photographer, famous for his erotic studies of nude women?

Helmut Newton

Sp.

This German film director is best known for films such as Aguirre, Wrath of God, The Enigma of Casper Hauser, Woyzeck and Fitzcarraldo.  Name him.

Werner Herzog

(Hertz)

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

In which British city would you find the neighbourhoods of Frenchay, Totterdown and Fishponds?

Bristol

2.

In which British city would you find the neighbourhoods of Baffins, Widley and Cosham?

Portsmouth

3.

Prior to Edinburgh becoming capital in 1452 which city was Scotland’s capital?

Perth

4.

Following Karachi and prior to Islamabad, which city was the capital of Pakistan between 1959 and 1967?

Rawalpindi

5.

Which author has been nominated the most times for the Booker prize?

Iris Murdoch

(6 times)

6.

Which novel won the ‘Booker of Booker’ prizes in 1993 as the best Booker prize winner of the first 25 years of the prize?

Midnight’s Children

(by Salman Rushdie)

7.

The last person actually buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey (rather than just commemorated by a plaque) was an actor.  Who was he?

Lord (Laurence) Olivier

8.

The last woman to be commemorated by a plaque in Poet’s Corner was an actress.  Who was she?

Dame Peggy Ashcroft