ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Who was the first man to regain the undisputed world heavyweight boxing title?

2.

Who is missing from this list: Joe Frazier, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick?

3.

By the terms of the Treaty of Perth in 1265 Denmark recognised Scottish supremacy over the Hebrides and which other island?

4.

The Treaty of Windsor in 1386 established the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world between England and which other country?

5.

Which poet won the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature?

6.

Which poet and playwright won the 1948 Nobel Prize for Literature?

7.

Which cartoon character, real name Eric Wimp, lived at 29 Acacia Road in Nuttytown, later changed to Dandytown?

8.

Which animated character had a business partner called Wendy and a cat called Pilchard?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Pot pourri

1.

What is Norway’s second largest city?

2.

What is Sweden’s second largest city?

3.

Which free and open source web browser was created in 2004 and is managed by the Mozilla Corporation?

4.

What name did Google give to its web browser first released in September 2008?

5.

In David Hockney’s painting Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy who or what was Percy?

6.

On which piece of art work can you see, amongst other items, a TV set, a statue, a doll of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, a hookah, a stone figure of Snow White, a velvet snake and a tuba?

7.

Which weekly peer-reviewed professional journal was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley who described the Homeopathic Organisation as “an audacious set of quacks”?

8.

In 1998 The Lancet was severely criticised for publishing an article by, among others, Richard Wakefield, claiming to have found what?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Pot pourri

1.

Which American work of fiction published in 1853 was subtitled Life Among the Lowly?

2.

Which Pulitzer Prize-winning America novel of 1987 is based loosely on the life and legal case of the slave Margaret Garner?

3.

Which was the first country to win the football World Cup in successive tournaments?

4.

There have been seven World Cup football champions, of which six have won one of their titles while playing in their own country.  Which country is the exception?

5.

What moved about three miles to its present location in Nine Elms in London in 1974?

6.

In which area of London, the scene of the execution of Wat Tyler, is the last surviving historic wholesale market in Central London?

7.

Which chocolate bar, seen as a competitor to Nestlé’s Aero, was launched by Cadbury as a trial version in the NE of England in 1981 and nationally in 1983?

8.

In 2008 Joss Stone became the first non-model to promote which product manufactured by Cadbury?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Hidden theme

1.

Who played Joe Purvis in the 1998-99 comedy drama Grafters?

2.

In Fawlty Towers what was the name of the chef, played by Brian Hall, who came to blows with Manuel when the latter attempted to make paella for Sybil?

3.

In the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility who played Elinor Dashwood and won a BAFTA for her performance?

4.

In the 2001 film Hannibal, the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, who played Clarice Starling?

5.

What nickname is given to various birds, but especially some shrikes because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns?

6.

Which English celebrity chef is the youngest woman ever to be called to the bar and became, in 1998, the first female Rector of the University of Aberdeen?

7.

Whose first collection of poetry, entitled Hawk in the Rain and published in 1957, attracted great critical acclaim?

8.

Who wrote the 1974 novel Shardik and the 1977 novel The Plague Dogs?

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Announced theme

Every answer contains the surname of a famous ‘Paul’ – one of whom is fictional

1.

How is the painful hallux vulgus commonly known?

2.

Which famous US locomotive engineer, the subject of an eponymous song popular in America, lived between 1863 and 1900?

3.

In which 19th century novel is the main antagonist Uncle Ralph?

4.

Who became the seventh President of Ireland in 1990?

5.

Complete this quintet: Allan Clarke, Eric Haydock, Bobbie Elliott, Tony Hicks.

6.

What is the only name to be shared by a station of the Paris Metro and a station of the London Underground, the latter being on the District and Circle Lines?

7.

Who, before Tiger Woods in 2000, was the first golfer to win three majors in a year?

8.

Which TV presenter, born 1935 in London, wrote his Encyclopaedia of Britain in 1993?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Pot pourri

1.

From which prison in Belfast did Patrick Magee and seven other prisoners escape in 1981?

2.

From which Dublin prison did three IRA members escape by helicopter in 1973?

3.

Which Liverpool brewery was founded in 1780, closed in the 1990’s and re-opened in 2005?

4.

Which regional brewery was founded in Masham in North Yorkshire in 1827?

5.

Which tennis player who never won Wimbledon appeared in eight consecutive Men’s US Open finals between 1982 and 1989 being the champion in three of them?

6.

Which tennis player twice won the Men’s US Open title in the 1990’s and was twice the runner-up in the Men’s Wimbledon final in the ‘noughties’?

7.

Under what pen name does Jonathan Crowther compile crosswords for The Observer?

8.

Under what pen name did Bob Smithies, a Granada TV presenter, compile crosswords for the Guardian?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Pot pourri

1.

Which semi-soft cheese, now manufactured in Italy and the USA, was invented in 1906 in a small village near Milan and is often used as a substitute for mozzarella?

2.

Which triple cream cheese, which originated in an area southwest of Milan in the late 16th or early 17th centuries, is a main ingredient of tiramisu?

3.

What is missing from this official list: Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, Eris?

4.

What on Mars is the tallest known volcano and mountain in the Solar System?

5.

Which oscar-winning film of 2002 centred on the mathematician John Nash?

6.

Which oscar-winning film of 2001 centred on Lester Burnham, a middle aged cubicle worker?

7.

With which title did Duffy win best Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards?

8.

Which American country pop singer won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammy Awards, the album being entitled Fearless?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme

1.

By what name is Little Oyster Island in New York Harbour now known?

2.

Who wrote the controversial 1987 book Spycatcher?

3.

Which very successful author wrote romantic novels under the name Mary Westmacott?

4.

In which American TV drama series did John Spencer play Leo McGarry from 1999 until his death from a heart attack in 2005?

5.

In the 1970-72 ITV drama series Man at the Top who played Joe Lampton and was also the first person to play Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger?

6.

Which rugby union player was often fullback for England between 1974 and 1984 and currently holds the world record for points scored in a first class rugby career?

7.

What is awarded to the Man of the Match in rugby league’s Challenge Cup final?

8.

Which area of parkland in London includes Parliament Hill?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

Spares

1.

Who founded The Daily News in 1846?

2.

What did James Marshall and John Sutter start in 1848?

3.

Which hoax was perpetrated by Charles Dawson in 1912?

4.

What position did John Profumo hold at the time of his resignation?    

5.

In which American city did the Fonz live?

6.

Which England test captain stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate in 1964?

Go to Spares questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Who was the first man to regain the undisputed world heavyweight boxing title?

Floyd Patterson

2.

Who is missing from this list: Joe Frazier, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick?

Ken Norton

(boxers who defeated Muhammad Ali)

3.

By the terms of the Treaty of Perth in 1265 Denmark recognised Scottish supremacy over the Hebrides and which other island?

Isle of Man

4.

The Treaty of Windsor in 1386 established the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world between England and which other country?

Portugal

5.

Which poet won the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature?

Seamus Heaney

6.

Which poet and playwright won the 1948 Nobel Prize for Literature?

T. S. Eliot

7.

Which cartoon character, real name Eric Wimp, lived at 29 Acacia Road in Nuttytown, later changed to Dandytown?

Bananaman

8.

Which animated character had a business partner called Wendy and a cat called Pilchard?

Bob the Builder

ROUND 2 - Pot pourri

1.

What is Norway’s second largest city?

Bergen

2.

What is Sweden’s second largest city?

Gothenburg

3.

Which free and open source web browser was created in 2004 and is managed by the Mozilla Corporation?

Firefox

4.

What name did Google give to its web browser first released in September 2008?

Chrome

5.

In David Hockney’s painting Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy who or what was Percy?

A (white) cat

6.

On which piece of art work can you see, amongst other items, a TV set, a statue, a doll of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, a hookah, a stone figure of Snow White, a velvet snake and a tuba?

The cover of the Sergeant Pepper album

(designed by Peter Blake)

7.

Which weekly peer-reviewed professional journal was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley who described the Homeopathic Organisation as “an audacious set of quacks”?

The Lancet

8.

In 1998 The Lancet was severely criticised for publishing an article by, among others, Richard Wakefield, claiming to have found what?

A link between the MMR vaccine and autism

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Pot pourri

1.

Which American work of fiction published in 1853 was subtitled Life Among the Lowly?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

2.

Which Pulitzer Prize-winning America novel of 1987 is based loosely on the life and legal case of the slave Margaret Garner?

Beloved

(by Toni Morrison)

3.

Which was the first country to win the football World Cup in successive tournaments?

Italy

(in 1934 and 1938)

4.

There have been seven World Cup football champions, of which six have won one of their titles while playing in their own country.  Which country is the exception?

Brazil

5.

What moved about three miles to its present location in Nine Elms in London in 1974?

Covent Garden Market

6.

In which area of London, the scene of the execution of Wat Tyler, is the last surviving historic wholesale market in Central London?

Smithfield

7.

Which chocolate bar, seen as a competitor to Nestlé’s Aero, was launched by Cadbury as a trial version in the NE of England in 1981 and nationally in 1983?

Wispa

8.

In 2008 Joss Stone became the first non-model to promote which product manufactured by Cadbury?

Flake

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Hidden theme

1.

Who played Joe Purvis in the 1998-99 comedy drama Grafters?

Robson Green

2.

In Fawlty Towers what was the name of the chef, played by Brian Hall, who came to blows with Manuel when the latter attempted to make paella for Sybil?

Terry

3.

In the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility who played Elinor Dashwood and won a BAFTA for her performance?

Emma Thompson

4.

In the 2001 film Hannibal, the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, who played Clarice Starling?

Julianne Moore

5.

What nickname is given to various birds, but especially some shrikes because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns?

Butcherbird

6.

Which English celebrity chef is the youngest woman ever to be called to the bar and became, in 1998, the first female Rector of the University of Aberdeen?

Clarissa Dickson Wright

7.

Whose first collection of poetry, entitled Hawk in the Rain and published in 1957, attracted great critical acclaim?

Ted Hughes

8.

Who wrote the 1974 novel Shardik and the 1977 novel The Plague Dogs?

Richard Adams

Theme: Each answer contained the surname of a captain of the England football team

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Announced theme

Every answer contains the surname of a famous ‘Paul’ – one of whom is fictional

1.

How is the painful hallux vulgus commonly known?

Bunion

2.

Which famous US locomotive engineer, the subject of an eponymous song popular in America, lived between 1863 and 1900?

Casey Jones

3.

In which 19th century novel is the main antagonist Uncle Ralph?

Nicholas Nickleby

4.

Who became the seventh President of Ireland in 1990?

Mary Robinson

5.

Complete this quintet: Allan Clarke, Eric Haydock, Bobbie Elliott, Tony Hicks.

Graham Nash

(the Hollies)

6.

What is the only name to be shared by a station of the Paris Metro and a station of the London Underground, the latter being on the District and Circle Lines?

Temple

7.

Who, before Tiger Woods in 2000, was the first golfer to win three majors in a year?

Ben Hogan

8.

Which TV presenter, born 1935 in London, wrote his Encyclopaedia of Britain in 1993?

Bamber Gascoigne

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Pot pourri

1.

From which prison in Belfast did Patrick Magee and seven other prisoners escape in 1981?

Crumlin Road

2.

From which Dublin prison did three IRA members escape by helicopter in 1973?

Mountjoy

3.

Which Liverpool brewery was founded in 1780, closed in the 1990’s and re-opened in 2005?

Higsons

4.

Which regional brewery was founded in Masham in North Yorkshire in 1827?

Theakstons

5.

Which tennis player who never won Wimbledon appeared in eight consecutive Men’s US Open finals between 1982 and 1989 being the champion in three of them?

Ivan Lendl

6.

Which tennis player twice won the Men’s US Open title in the 1990’s and was twice the runner-up in the Men’s Wimbledon final in the ‘noughties’?

Patrick Rafter

7.

Under what pen name does Jonathan Crowther compile crosswords for The Observer?

Azed

8.

Under what pen name did Bob Smithies, a Granada TV presenter, compile crosswords for the Guardian?

Bunthorne

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Pot pourri

1.

Which semi-soft cheese, now manufactured in Italy and the USA, was invented in 1906 in a small village near Milan and is often used as a substitute for mozzarella?

Bel Paese

2.

Which triple cream cheese, which originated in an area southwest of Milan in the late 16th or early 17th centuries, is a main ingredient of tiramisu?

Mascarpone

3.

What is missing from this official list: Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, Eris?

Pluto

(dwarf planets)

4.

What on Mars is the tallest known volcano and mountain in the Solar System?

Olympus Mons

5.

Which oscar-winning film of 2002 centred on the mathematician John Nash?

A Beautiful Mind

6.

Which oscar-winning film of 2001 centred on Lester Burnham, a middle aged cubicle worker?

American Beauty

7.

With which title did Duffy win best Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards?

Rockferry

8.

Which American country pop singer won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammy Awards, the album being entitled Fearless?

Taylor Swift

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme

1.

By what name is Little Oyster Island in New York Harbour now known?

Ellis Island

2.

Who wrote the controversial 1987 book Spycatcher?

Peter Wright

3.

Which very successful author wrote romantic novels under the name Mary Westmacott?

Agatha Christie

4.

In which American TV drama series did John Spencer play Leo McGarry from 1999 until his death from a heart attack in 2005?

The West Wing

5.

In the 1970-72 ITV drama series Man at the Top who played Joe Lampton and was also the first person to play Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger?

Kenneth Haigh

6.

Which rugby union player was often fullback for England between 1974 and 1984 and currently holds the world record for points scored in a first class rugby career?

Dusty Hare

7.

What is awarded to the Man of the Match in rugby league’s Challenge Cup final?

Lance Todd Trophy

8.

Which area of parkland in London includes Parliament Hill?

Hampstead Heath

Theme: Each answer contains the surname of a famous murderer

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers

Spares

1.

Who founded The Daily News in 1846?

Charles Dickens

2.

What did James Marshall and John Sutter start in 1848?

California Gold Rush

3.

Which hoax was perpetrated by Charles Dawson in 1912?

Piltdown Man

4.

What position did John Profumo hold at the time of his resignation?    

Secretary of State for War

5.

In which American city did the Fonz live?

Milwaukee

6.

Which England test captain stood as a Conservative parliamentary candidate in 1964?

Ted Dexter

Go back to Spares questions without answers