ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

1.

Name the 1961 film directed by Bryan Forbes in which Alan Bates plays a murder suspect discovered by a young girl in a barn.

2.

Name the mountain first climbed in 1865 by Edward Whymper, one of 3 survivors of the 7 man ascent group.

3.

Name the women’s lifestyle magazine launched in New York in 1867 and the UK in 1929.

4.

What word can be defined as: 'Things that represent other things by association, resemblance or convention, especially material objects used to represent invisible things'?

5.

What shipwrecked Shakespearean character was known by the alternative name of Cesario?

6.

Name the character in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream who was chosen to play the part of Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration.

7.

Where does the annual Peter Pan Cup Swimming Race take place every year on Christmas Day?

8.

What two words define the study of the structure, properties, composition and reactions of compounds that contain carbon?

ROUND 2 - 'Popular Entertainment Pairs'

1.

Which film actor starred in the following films: The Dish, Event Horizon and The Hunt For Red October?

2.

Which film actor starred in the following films: Swordfish, Australia and Van Helsing?

3.

Which TV actor has been chosen to replace David Tennant as the new and 11th Doctor Who?

4.

Which TV actor plays Jack Harkness in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood?

5.

Which film role connects Benecio del Toro, Gael Garcia Bernal and Antonio Banderas?

6.

Which 3 words connect:  The Von Trapp Story, the beginning of The Graduate, and Girls Aloud’s debut single?

7.

Which author is the creator of the following series of thriller novels: Dr. Alex Cross and The Women’s Murder Club.  Two of his books have been made into films starring Morgan Freeman?

8.

Whose latest book is Pygmy?  He also wrote Fight Club  and Choke both of which have been made into films.

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

1.

Who sang with UB40 on their No.1 hit cover version of I Got U Babe?

2.

How was Harry Longabaugh better known?

3.

Which author wrote The Bonfire Of The Vanities?

4.

What name is given to a barrel that contains 54 galleons of beer?

5.

What nickname was given by American Indians to a black US cavalryman who fought in the Indian wars after 1866?  It is also the name of a reggae song co-written by Bob Marley and Noel G Williams.

6.

How is the plant nepeta more commonly known?

7.

Which station lies at the western end of the Ffestiniog Railway?

8.

What name is given to the warm-up area for the pitchers on a baseball pitch?

ROUND 4 - Pairs

1.

Fill in the missing name from this sequence: Philip, William, George,……, Philip

2.

Fill in the missing name from this sequence: Edward, Edward, Edward, ……, Henry, Frederick

3.

Prior to Gordon Brown, who was the last Scottish-born Prime Minister of Great Britain?

4.

Who was the only British Prime Minister not to have English as his first language?

5.

The critically acclaimed 1998 play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn details a secret meeting in that city in 1941 between two world-famous 20th century scientists to discuss the possible creation of a nuclear bomb.  It was later filmed in 2002 with Daniel Craig and Stephen Rea playing the two scientific leads.  Name the two scientists.

6.

The 1987 TV film drama Life Story detailed the race to find the structure of DNA.  Four famous scientists featured in it, two of them being James Watson (played by Jeff Goldblum) and Francis Crick (played by Tim Piggott-Smith).  The other two were played by Juliet Stevenson and Alan Howard.  Name them.

7.

Who once cautioned against thoughts of suicide by advising:  “Guns aren’t lawful, nooses give, gas smells awful – you might as well live.”?

8.

Who is said to have tried to discourage Queen Victoria from visiting him on his deathbed, confiding to friends that, “She will only want me to take a message to Albert.”?

ROUNDS 5-8 - Blockbuster Bingo

Choose the initials of the answer to get your question

1.

TOTW

Disturbingly well-made Leni Riefenstahl film featuring the sixth Nazi Party Congress.

2.

TWOE

Collective name for Alex Spofford, Jane Smart and Sukie Rougemont in a novel, a film and a musical.

3.

POJR

First four words in the lyrics of Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Britain’s top-selling single in 1982.

4.

EFTS

Exact and perhaps surprising location in North London where American politician and talk-show host, Jerry Springer was born on February 13th 1944.

5.

SL

Saturday morning presenter of  Football Preview on BBC TV until 1974.  A dour Scot both by birth and  in appearance, he was infamous for chomping his way through a  shopping-bag full of apples during the match.

6.

TGR

Episode in English history that formed the backdrop for the Dickens novel, Barnaby Rudge.

7.

SDN

Surprise top-ten hit in 1967 for hard-drinking, rabble-rousing Irish folk group, The Dubliners.

8.

TOT

Name given to the 1830s enforced relocation of several native American tribes from their homelands to the so-called Indian territory in present day Oklahoma.

9.

BA

700 year old building near Yelverton in Devon, originally founded by the Cistercians but better remembered as the home of Sir Francis Drake.

10.

 IMMLBTGW

First line of the ballad  Dirty Old Town, Ewan MacColl’s homage to his native Salford.

11.

C

In literature, he is "a mooncalf, a freckled whelp, son of the witch Sycorax, banished from Algiers".

12.

RB

Disparaging term much used in 18th and 19th century politics.  Old Sarum in Wiltshire and Bramber in West Sussex are examples.

13.

HH

Leisure device that has been in existence for over 3,000 years.  Its popularity peaked in the crazy summer of 1958 when close to over 100 million of them were sold worldwide.

14.

BF

Father Megson’s favourite nonconformist burial ground in London.  A haven of peace amid the noise and grime of City Road and Old Street.  Famous dissenters buried here include Daniel Defoe and William Blake.

15.

RM

British breed of sheep traditionally bred for mutton rather than for wool.

16.

TPL

A 1983 film directed by Richard Eyre and scripted by Ian McEwan.  It was a savage study of shabby Thatcherite values.

17.

HOWME

Title of a 2008 exhibition held in the National Media Museum, London.  It celebrated 50 years of Blue Peter on BBC TV.

18.

TCP

The legislative body of the island of Sark, keeping democratic feudalism alive after more than 400 years.

19.

IHWSH

Only line of dialogue given by director Rob Reiner to his mother Estelle when she briefly appeared as an elderly restaurant diner in his film, When Harry Met Sally.

20.

SA

Particularly lethal cigarette brand launched by Carroll’s of Dundalk in 1919.  Named from a line of Scottish poetry and reputed to have been Jean-Paul Sartre’s favourite brand.

21.

E

Word defined in his Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce as “a person of low taste, far more interested in himself than in me”.

22.

HP

Possibly the best single malt whisky in the world, produced by the distillery of the same name in Kirkwall in the Orkneys.

23.

BB

Items sometimes required by the armed forces.  In 2004, then US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld decreed that the ones used in Iraq should be referred to as 'Transfer Tubes'.  Nobody was fooled.

24.

GWAPE

Possibly the only 17th century painting to become a 21st century award-winning novel and film.

25.

ES(H)

English football ground and location where, until recently, a bullock used to be paraded around the pitch before kick-off.

26.

VCB

Woody Allen comedy film for which Spanish actress, Penelope Cruz won Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscars.

27.

OIRDC

Every Christmas Eve since 1918, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in King’s College, Cambridge opens with this carol, first published in 1848.

28.

SK

Where you would find Europe’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins.

29.

TTE

Pricey Indian and Nepalese restaurant situated in Didsbury Village where the price of one vegetable samosa would have got you a dozen suicide biryanis and a complementary stomach pump at the legendary Plaza.

30.

COD

Winner of the 2008 Grand National (or a timely warning for our financial institutions).

31.

EDC

Situation comedy series on BBC 1 from 1984-1989.  Like The Good Life  it was written by Larby and Esmonde and is less brash than most situation comedies with gentle humour and a hint of darkness.

32.

MF

Former FBI agent who died in December 2008.  In 2005 he was identified as the insider 'Deep Throat' who leaked the details of the Watergate scandal to the Washington Post.

33.

TF

American impressionist who did more to scupper the Republican Party in 2008 than even George W Bush.  Her most famous TV quote was:  “I believe the cornerstone of American foreign policy should be diplomacy….and I can see Russia from my house”.

34.

TPL

Francophobic stage persona  adopted by the 1968 born great-great-grandson of William Makepeace Thackeray.

35.

HWM

Award winning interactive visitors’ attraction centre opened in 2000 and housed in a restored Victorian mill in Stockport.

36.

AWDYLSYF

One of the most popular paintings exhibited in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery.

37.

TCR

1992 Scottish novel dramatized by the BBC in 1996.  Its opening lines are:  “It was the day my grandmother exploded!”.

38.

TROT

Like the words in the original ballad, you have to be “lovely and fair” to win this title.

39.

PH

Scenic location in the north west of England.  It has associations with the early Quaker movement after George Fox claimed to have had a mystical experience here in 1652.

40.

TMR

Perhaps the most romantically named football league ground in England.  Technically it should be called the 'Portulaca Grandiflora Stadium'.

Spares

1.

(for Round 1)

Which Scottish local government region was once a Pictish kingdom and boasts Dunfermline among its larger towns?

2.

(for Round 1)

What name is given to a part-time judge who usually sits in the crown courts in less serious cases but may also sit in the county courts or the High Court.

3.

(for Round 1)

Name the 1958 novel by Iris Murdoch set in Imber Court, a lay religious community in Gloucestershire.

4.

(for Round 1)

Famed as one of the BBC’s all-time ‘turkeys’, what 1981/82 series was set aboard a North Sea Ferry and starred Kate O’Mara?

5.

(for Round 2)

Which popular female singer sang and danced with compère Hugh Jackman in the homage to Hollywood musicals sequence at this year’s Oscar ceremony?

6.

(for Round 2)

Which veteran US comic actor received the annually awarded Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at this year's Oscar ceremony?

7.

(for Round 3)

The actor Dan Haggerty  played which popular TV role from 1977 to 1978?

8.

(for Round 3)

What nickname was given to the 17th century Swedish warrior king, Gustavus Adolphus?

9.

(for Round 4)

Name the former Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland whose pension has been causing such a rumpus in the news lately.

10.

(for Round 4)

Name the American businessman and former Chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange who was recently charged with perpetrating possibly the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.

ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

1.

Name the 1961 film directed by Bryan Forbes in which Alan Bates plays a murder suspect discovered by a young girl in a barn.

Whistle Down The Wind

2.

Name the mountain first climbed in 1865 by Edward Whymper, one of 3 survivors of the 7 man ascent group.

The Matterhorn

3.

Name the women’s lifestyle magazine launched in New York in 1867 and the UK in 1929.

Harper’s Bazaar

4.

What word can be defined as: 'Things that represent other things by association, resemblance or convention, especially material objects used to represent invisible things'?

Symbols

5.

What shipwrecked Shakespearean character was known by the alternative name of Cesario?

Viola

(from Twelfth Night)

6.

Name the character in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream who was chosen to play the part of Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration.

Francis Flute

7.

Where does the annual Peter Pan Cup Swimming Race take place every year on Christmas Day?

The Serpentine

8.

What two words define the study of the structure, properties, composition and reactions of compounds that contain carbon?

Organic Chemistry

ROUND 2 - 'Popular Entertainment Pairs'

1.

Which film actor starred in the following films: The Dish, Event Horizon and The Hunt For Red October?

Sam Neill

2.

Which film actor starred in the following films: Swordfish, Australia and Van Helsing?

Hugh Jackman

3.

Which TV actor has been chosen to replace David Tennant as the new and 11th Doctor Who?

Matt Smith

4.

Which TV actor plays Jack Harkness in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood?

John Barrowman

5.

Which film role connects Benecio del Toro, Gael Garcia Bernal and Antonio Banderas?

Che Guevara

6.

Which 3 words connect:  The Von Trapp Story, the beginning of The Graduate, and Girls Aloud’s debut single?

“The Sound of”

(The Sound of Music, The Sound of Silence & Sound of The Underground)

7.

Which author is the creator of the following series of thriller novels: Dr. Alex Cross and The Women’s Murder Club.  Two of his books have been made into films starring Morgan Freeman?

James Patterson

8.

Whose latest book is Pygmy?  He also wrote Fight Club  and Choke both of which have been made into films.

Chuck Palahniuk

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

1.

Who sang with UB40 on their No.1 hit cover version of I Got U Babe?

Chrissie Hynde

2.

How was Harry Longabaugh better known?

The Sundance Kid

3.

Which author wrote The Bonfire Of The Vanities?

Tom Wolfe

4.

What name is given to a barrel that contains 54 galleons of beer?

Hogshead

5.

What nickname was given by American Indians to a black US cavalryman who fought in the Indian wars after 1866?  It is also the name of a reggae song co-written by Bob Marley and Noel G Williams.

Buffalo Soldier

6.

How is the plant nepeta more commonly known?

Cat Mint

7.

Which station lies at the western end of the Ffestiniog Railway?

Portmadog

8.

What name is given to the warm-up area for the pitchers on a baseball pitch?

Bullpen

ROUND 4 - Pairs

1.

Fill in the missing name from this sequence: Philip, William, George,……, Philip

Albert

(they are respectively the names of the husbands of Queens Mary I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria and Elizabeth II)

2.

Fill in the missing name from this sequence: Edward, Edward, Edward, ……, Henry, Frederick

Arthur

(they are respectively Princes of Wales who died before succeeding to the throne, i.e. Edward the Black Prince, Edward of Westminster, Edward of Middleham, Arthur Tudor, Henry Stuart and Frederick of Hanover)

3.

Prior to Gordon Brown, who was the last Scottish-born Prime Minister of Great Britain?

Tony Blair

(born in Edinburgh)

4.

Who was the only British Prime Minister not to have English as his first language?

David Lloyd-George

(his first language was Welsh)

5.

The critically acclaimed 1998 play Copenhagen by Michael Frayn details a secret meeting in that city in 1941 between two world-famous 20th century scientists to discuss the possible creation of a nuclear bomb.  It was later filmed in 2002 with Daniel Craig and Stephen Rea playing the two scientific leads.  Name the two scientists.

Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg

(Craig played the latter)

6.

The 1987 TV film drama Life Story detailed the race to find the structure of DNA.  Four famous scientists featured in it, two of them being James Watson (played by Jeff Goldblum) and Francis Crick (played by Tim Piggott-Smith).  The other two were played by Juliet Stevenson and Alan Howard.  Name them.

Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins

7.

Who once cautioned against thoughts of suicide by advising:  “Guns aren’t lawful, nooses give, gas smells awful – you might as well live.”?

Dorothy Parker

8.

Who is said to have tried to discourage Queen Victoria from visiting him on his deathbed, confiding to friends that, “She will only want me to take a message to Albert.”?

Benjamin Disraeli

ROUNDS 5-8 - Blockbuster Bingo

Choose the initials of the answer to get your question

1.

TOTW

Disturbingly well-made Leni Riefenstahl film featuring the sixth Nazi Party Congress.

Triumph of The Will

2.

TWOE

Collective name for Alex Spofford, Jane Smart and Sukie Rougemont in a novel, a film and a musical.

The Witches Of Eastwick

3.

POJR

First four words in the lyrics of Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Britain’s top-selling single in 1982.

“Poor old Johnny Ray”

4.

EFTS

Exact and perhaps surprising location in North London where American politician and talk-show host, Jerry Springer was born on February 13th 1944.

East Finchley Tube Station

5.

SL

Saturday morning presenter of  Football Preview on BBC TV until 1974.  A dour Scot both by birth and  in appearance, he was infamous for chomping his way through a  shopping-bag full of apples during the match.

Sam Leitch

6.

TGR

Episode in English history that formed the backdrop for the Dickens novel, Barnaby Rudge.

The Gordon Riots

7.

SDN

Surprise top-ten hit in 1967 for hard-drinking, rabble-rousing Irish folk group, The Dubliners.

Seven Drunken Nights

8.

TOT

Name given to the 1830s enforced relocation of several native American tribes from their homelands to the so-called Indian territory in present day Oklahoma.

Trail Of Tears

9.

BA

700 year old building near Yelverton in Devon, originally founded by the Cistercians but better remembered as the home of Sir Francis Drake.

Buckland Abbey

10.

 IMMLBTGW

First line of the ballad  Dirty Old Town, Ewan MacColl’s homage to his native Salford.

“I met my love by the gasworks wall”

11.

C

In literature, he is "a mooncalf, a freckled whelp, son of the witch Sycorax, banished from Algiers".

Caliban

(from Shakespeare’s The Tempest)

12.

RB

Disparaging term much used in 18th and 19th century politics.  Old Sarum in Wiltshire and Bramber in West Sussex are examples.

Rotten Boroughs

13.

HH

Leisure device that has been in existence for over 3,000 years.  Its popularity peaked in the crazy summer of 1958 when close to over 100 million of them were sold worldwide.

Hula Hoop

14

BF

Father Megson’s favourite nonconformist burial ground in London.  A haven of peace amid the noise and grime of City Road and Old Street.  Famous dissenters buried here include Daniel Defoe and William Blake.

Bunhill Fields

15.

RM

British breed of sheep traditionally bred for mutton rather than for wool.

Romney Marsh

16.

TPL

A 1983 film directed by Richard Eyre and scripted by Ian McEwan.  It was a savage study of shabby Thatcherite values.

The Ploughman’s Lunch

17.

HOWME

Title of a 2008 exhibition held in the National Media Museum, London.  It celebrated 50 years of Blue Peter on BBC TV.

Here’s One We Made Earlier

18.

TCP

The legislative body of the island of Sark, keeping democratic feudalism alive after more than 400 years.

The Chief Pleas

19.

IHWSH

Only line of dialogue given by director Rob Reiner to his mother Estelle when she briefly appeared as an elderly restaurant diner in his film, When Harry Met Sally.

“I’ll have what she’s having”

20.

SA

Particularly lethal cigarette brand launched by Carroll’s of Dundalk in 1919.  Named from a line of Scottish poetry and reputed to have been Jean-Paul Sartre’s favourite brand.

Sweet Afton

21.

E

Word defined in his Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce as “a person of low taste, far more interested in himself than in me”.

Egotist.

22.

HP

Possibly the best single malt whisky in the world, produced by the distillery of the same name in Kirkwall in the Orkneys.

Highland Park

23.

BB

Items sometimes required by the armed forces.  In 2004, then US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld decreed that the ones used in Iraq should be referred to as 'Transfer Tubes'.  Nobody was fooled.

Body Bags

24.

GWAPE

Possibly the only 17th century painting to become a 21st century award-winning novel and film.

A Girl With A Pearl Ear-ring

25.

ES(H)

English football ground and location where, until recently, a bullock used to be paraded around the pitch before kick-off.

Edgar Street (Hereford)

26.

VCB

Woody Allen comedy film for which Spanish actress, Penelope Cruz won Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscars.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

27.

OIRDC

Every Christmas Eve since 1918, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in King’s College, Cambridge opens with this carol, first published in 1848.

Once in Royal David’s City

28.

SK

Where you would find Europe’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins.

St Kilda

29.

TTE

Pricey Indian and Nepalese restaurant situated in Didsbury Village where the price of one vegetable samosa would have got you a dozen suicide biryanis and a complementary stomach pump at the legendary Plaza.

The Third Eye

30.

COD

Winner of the 2008 Grand National (or a timely warning for our financial institutions).

Comply Or Die

31.

EDC

Situation comedy series on BBC 1 from 1984-1989.  Like The Good Life  it was written by Larby and Esmonde and is less brash than most situation comedies with gentle humour and a hint of darkness.

Ever Decreasing Circles

32.

MF

Former FBI agent who died in December 2008.  In 2005 he was identified as the insider 'Deep Throat' who leaked the details of the Watergate scandal to the Washington Post.

Mark Felt

33.

TF

American impressionist who did more to scupper the Republican Party in 2008 than even George W Bush.  Her most famous TV quote was:  “I believe the cornerstone of American foreign policy should be diplomacy….and I can see Russia from my house”.

Tina Fey

(aka The Thinking Man’s Sarah Palin)

34

TPL

Francophobic stage persona  adopted by the 1968 born great-great-grandson of William Makepeace Thackeray.

The Pub Landlord

(aka Al Murray)

35.

HWM

Award winning interactive visitors’ attraction centre opened in 2000 and housed in a restored Victorian mill in Stockport.

Hat Works Museum

36.

AWDYLSYF

One of the most popular paintings exhibited in Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery.

And When Did You Last See Your Father?

(by Frederick Yeames)

37.

TCR

1992 Scottish novel dramatized by the BBC in 1996.  Its opening lines are:  “It was the day my grandmother exploded!”.

The Crow Road

 (by Iain Banks)

38.

TROT

Like the words in the original ballad, you have to be “lovely and fair” to win this title.

The Rose Of Tralee

39.

PH

Scenic location in the north west of England.  It has associations with the early Quaker movement after George Fox claimed to have had a mystical experience here in 1652.

Pendle Hill

40.

TMR

Perhaps the most romantically named football league ground in England.  Technically it should be called the 'Portulaca Grandiflora Stadium'.

The Moss Rose

(Macclesfield Town)

1.

(for Round 1)

Which Scottish local government region was once a Pictish kingdom and boasts Dunfermline among its larger towns?

Fife

2.

(for Round 1)

What name is given to a part-time judge who usually sits in the crown courts in less serious cases but may also sit in the county courts or the High Court.

Recorder

3.

(for Round 1)

Name the 1958 novel by Iris Murdoch set in Imber Court, a lay religious community in Gloucestershire.

The Bell

4.

(for Round 1)

Famed as one of the BBC’s all-time ‘turkeys’, what 1981/82 series was set aboard a North Sea Ferry and starred Kate O’Mara?

Triangle

5.

(for Round 2)

Which popular female singer sang and danced with compère Hugh Jackman in the homage to Hollywood musicals sequence at this year’s Oscar ceremony?

Beyoncé Knowles

6.

(for Round 2)

Which veteran US comic actor received the annually awarded Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at this year's Oscar ceremony?

Jerry Lewis

7.

(for Round 3)

The actor Dan Haggerty  played which popular TV role from 1977 to 1978?

Grizzly Adams

8.

(for Round 3)

What nickname was given to the 17th century Swedish warrior king, Gustavus Adolphus?

The Lion Of The North

9.

(for Round 4)

Name the former Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland whose pension has been causing such a rumpus in the news lately.

Sir Fred Goodwin

10.

(for Round 4)

Name the American businessman and former Chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange who was recently charged with perpetrating possibly the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person.

(The aptly named)

Bernard Madoff

Go back to Spare questions without answers