All the answers share a similarity

1.

In 1875 Robert Koch identified the bacteria that caused what disease for which Louis Pasteur first developed a vaccine in 1881?

2.

Who won the Tour de France each year between 1969 and 1972, and again in 1974?

3.

Which British pentathlete won a team gold medal along with Danny Nightingale and Adrian Parker in the team event at the 1976 Summer Olympics?

4.

In the human body what name is given to the cleft or cavity forming the upper part of the gullet, lying behind the nose and mouth and above the larynx?

5.

Who met Jimmy Saville on TV on April 13 2000, Neil and Christine Hamilton on December 11 2001 and Ann Widdecombe on March 3 2002?

6.

Which character from comics likes nothing more than to terrorise Fatty Fudge?

7.

Whose number one album of 1995 was entitled Medusa?

8.

Which firm of clock and watch makers entered the home computer business in the 1980’s with models based on the ZX81 and Spectrum but soon withdrew after declining sales?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Pairs

1.

Whose literary career was launched with The Rachel Papers in 1973?

2.

Whose literary career took off with Chocolat in 1999?

3.

Which state of the USA forms nearly all of the western shore of Lake Michigan?

4.

Which US river is spanned by the George Washington Bridge?

5.

Which British-based public transport operator has its HQ in Sunderland and has bus or rail operations in more than 10 other European countries?

6.

Who, the brother of Ann Gloag, is the current chairman of Stagecoach plc?

7.

Which cruiser of the Royal Navy assisted HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles at the Battle of the River Plate and was sunk in 1942 by the Japanese Navy?

8.

Which battleship of the Royal Navy assisted HMS Hood against the Bismarck at the Battle of Denmark Strait in 1941?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

The Appian way connected Rome and which other city?

2.

The Aurelian Way connected Rome and which port?

3.

“Happy Henry Lithely Began Baking Cakes, Not Omitting Four Necessities”; the foregoing is a mnemonic to help memorise what?

4.

“Bless My Dear Aunt Sally”; the foregoing is a mnemonic to memorise what?

5.

Who used the ship Nimrod for his 1908 expedition?

6.

What was the name of Robert Falcon Scott’s ship in his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole starting in 1910?

7.

Which town in the south of France, 15 km away from Cannes, is generally considered to be the world’s capital of perfume?

8.

Which city in western France is on the Loire River 31 miles from the Atlantic coast and was described by Time magazine in 2004 as “the most liveable city in all of Europe”?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Hidden theme

...although strictly speaking this a two-theme round

1.

Which alternative rock band formed in 1983 revolved around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reed?

2.

What is the official address of the Chief Whip of the presiding Government?

3.

What was launched by Henry Leland in 1917 as the luxury brand of the Ford Motor Company?

4.

In which Martin Scorsese film did Daniel Day-Lewis play William ‘Bill the Butcher’ Cutting?

5.

In which Irish county is Shannon Town?

6.

Which borough of New York is home to JFK International and La Guardia Airports?

7.

Who replaced Nick Hancock as a TV host in 1999?

8.

Which politician was Foreign Secretary between 1955 and 1960 and Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1960 and 1962?

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

Which city lies immediately to the south-east of the junction of the A14 and M11?

2.

Which motorway crosses the River Medway on the Medway Viaduct?

3.

In the novel Nineteen-Eighty Four for which government department do both Winston and Julia work?

4.

In the novel Animal Farm who adopts the maxim, “I will work harder”?

5.

The island of Penang lies off the coast of which country?

6.

What is Thailand’s largest island?

7.

By what name is percutaneous coronary intervention commonly known?

8.

Which class of life-saving drugs did Sir James Black, who recently died, invent in the late 1950’s?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

Scattered over the answers are four thematically connected ‘pairs’

1.

Who served as President of the USA between 1869 and 1877?

2.

Which vegetable did the Ancient Greeks call a philtron which translates to ‘love charm’? (They believed this vegetable made both men and women more amorous)

3.

Which 20th century poet wrote the following words: “This is the way the world ends/ This is the way the world ends/ This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper”?

4.

Which seaside town has a famous sculpture created by Graham Ibbeson and unveiled in 1999?

5.

Who was hanged for the murder of his infant daughter on March 9 1950?

6.

Which English table tennis player was world champion in 1949 and 1951?

7.

Which current Championship football manager was in charge at Preston North End between 2004 and 2006?

8.

Which firm of cartographers, founded in the early 19th century, were also known as the Edinburgh Geographical Institute?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

Ole Kirk Christiansen was born this day in Denmark in 1891; what company did he famously form in 1932?

2.

Who was hanged in York this day in 1739?

3.

Which cartoon character would you associate with the town Sweethaven?

4.

Which chain of restaurants derived its name from a friend of Popeye?

5.

Who is the current editor of the Daily Mail?

6.

Who is the current editor of the Guardian?

7.

In Greek mythology who was the wife of Hector and the concubine of Neoptolemus?

8.

In Greek mythology who was the twin sister of Helen and the wife of Agamemnon?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme

1.

Which actress played Alex Greville in the 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday?

2.

Who was nominated for a best actress oscar for her portrayal of Pat Nixon in the film Nixon and also played Pamela Landy in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum?

3.

Which wife of Henry VIII is sometimes referred to as his ‘rose without a thorn’?

4.

What was the birth name of the so-called shoe bomber who tried to bomb an airplane in 2001?

5.

For what is pV=k the mathematical equation?

6.

Who in 2006 accused UKIP of being mostly composed of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”?

7.

In which mining town in the Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire was D H Lawrence born in 1885?

8.

Which author, best known for a novel of 1960, was a childhood friend of Truman Capote?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

Spares

1.

Which magazine was defended by John Mortimer QC against a charge of obscene publication in 1971?

2.

What was described by the Guardian in 1978 as “an awful warning against thinking too big in Britain’s cities”?

3.

In which decade was David Lloyd George born in Manchester?

4.

Who set himself alight in Wenceslas Square in Prague on January 19 1969 as a protest against the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia?

5.

Which celebrated animal was reported dead in Kenya in January 1961?

6.

Who became King of France when aged four in 1643 and proceeded to reign for 72 years?

Go to Spares questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

All the answers share a similarity

1.

In 1875 Robert Koch identified the bacteria that caused what disease for which Louis Pasteur first developed a vaccine in 1881?

Anthrax

2.

Who won the Tour de France each year between 1969 and 1972, and again in 1974?

Eddie Merckx

3.

Which British pentathlete won a team gold medal along with Danny Nightingale and Adrian Parker in the team event at the 1976 Summer Olympics?

Jim Fox

4.

In the human body what name is given to the cleft or cavity forming the upper part of the gullet, lying behind the nose and mouth and above the larynx?

Pharynx

5.

Who met Jimmy Saville on TV on April 13 2000, Neil and Christine Hamilton on December 11 2001 and Ann Widdecombe on March 3 2002?

Louis Theroux

6.

Which character from comics likes nothing more than to terrorise Fatty Fudge?

Minnie the Minx

7.

Whose number one album of 1995 was entitled Medusa?

Annie Lennox

8.

Which firm of clock and watch makers entered the home computer business in the 1980’s with models based on the ZX81 and Spectrum but soon withdrew after declining sales?

Timex

Theme: Each answer ends with the letter 'X'

ROUND 2 - Pairs

1.

Whose literary career was launched with The Rachel Papers in 1973?

Martin Amis

2.

Whose literary career took off with Chocolat in 1999?

Joanne Harris

3.

Which state of the USA forms nearly all of the western shore of Lake Michigan?

Wisconsin

4.

Which US river is spanned by the George Washington Bridge?

Hudson

5.

Which British-based public transport operator has its HQ in Sunderland and has bus or rail operations in more than 10 other European countries?

Arriva

6.

Who, the brother of Ann Gloag, is the current chairman of Stagecoach plc?

Brian Souter

7.

Which cruiser of the Royal Navy assisted HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles at the Battle of the River Plate and was sunk in 1942 by the Japanese Navy?

HMS Exeter

8.

Which battleship of the Royal Navy assisted HMS Hood against the Bismarck at the Battle of Denmark Strait in 1941?

HMS The Prince of Wales

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

The Appian way connected Rome and which other city?

Brindisi

2.

The Aurelian Way connected Rome and which port?

Genoa

3.

“Happy Henry Lithely Began Baking Cakes, Not Omitting Four Necessities”; the foregoing is a mnemonic to help memorise what?

The first ten elements of the Periodic Table

4.

“Bless My Dear Aunt Sally”; the foregoing is a mnemonic to memorise what?

Order in which operations are carried out in algebraic and numerical expressions

( i.e. brackets, multiplications, divisions, additions, subtractions)

5.

Who used the ship Nimrod for his 1908 expedition?

Ernest Shackleton

6.

What was the name of Robert Falcon Scott’s ship in his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole starting in 1910?

Terra Nova

7.

Which town in the south of France, 15 km away from Cannes, is generally considered to be the world’s capital of perfume?

Grasse

8.

Which city in western France is on the Loire River 31 miles from the Atlantic coast and was described by Time magazine in 2004 as “the most liveable city in all of Europe”?

Nantes

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Hidden theme

...although strictly speaking this a two-theme round

1.

Which alternative rock band formed in 1983 revolved around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reed?

The Jesus and Mary Chain

2.

What is the official address of the Chief Whip of the presiding Government?

12 Downing Street

3.

What was launched by Henry Leland in 1917 as the luxury brand of the Ford Motor Company?

Lincoln

4.

In which Martin Scorsese film did Daniel Day-Lewis play William ‘Bill the Butcher’ Cutting?

Gangs of New York

5.

In which Irish county is Shannon Town?

Clare

6.

Which borough of New York is home to JFK International and La Guardia Airports?

Queens

7.

Who replaced Nick Hancock as a TV host in 1999?

Paul Merton

(on Room 101)

8.

Which politician was Foreign Secretary between 1955 and 1960 and Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1960 and 1962?

Selwyn Lloyd

Theme: Each answer contains the name of an Oxbridge college

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

Which city lies immediately to the south-east of the junction of the A14 and M11?

Cambridge

2.

Which motorway crosses the River Medway on the Medway Viaduct?

M2

3.

In the novel Nineteen-Eighty Four for which government department do both Winston and Julia work?

Ministry of Truth

4.

In the novel Animal Farm who adopts the maxim, “I will work harder”?

Boxer

(the carthorse)

5.

The island of Penang lies off the coast of which country?

Malaysia

6.

What is Thailand’s largest island?

Phuket

7.

By what name is percutaneous coronary intervention commonly known?

(coronary) Angioplasty

8.

Which class of life-saving drugs did Sir James Black, who recently died, invent in the late 1950’s?

Beta blockers

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

Scattered over the answers are four thematically connected ‘pairs’

1.

Who served as President of the USA between 1869 and 1877?

(Ulysses S) Grant

2.

Which vegetable did the Ancient Greeks call a philtron which translates to ‘love charm’? (They believed this vegetable made both men and women more amorous)

Carrot

3.

Which 20th century poet wrote the following words: “This is the way the world ends/ This is the way the world ends/ This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper”?

T S Eliot

4.

Which seaside town has a famous sculpture created by Graham Ibbeson and unveiled in 1999?

Morecambe

(a sculpture of Eric Morecambe)

5.

Who was hanged for the murder of his infant daughter on March 9 1950?

Timothy Evans

6.

Which English table tennis player was world champion in 1949 and 1951?

Johnny Leach

7.

Which current Championship football manager was in charge at Preston North End between 2004 and 2006?

Billy Davies

8.

Which firm of cartographers, founded in the early 19th century, were also known as the Edinburgh Geographical Institute?

Bartholomews, or John Bartholomew and Son Limited

Theme: Each of the four pairs consists of the birth name and the assumed name of the same person:

 Cary Grant/Archie Leach, Jasper Carrott/Robert Davis, George Eliot/Mary Evans, Eric Morecambe/Eric Bartholomew

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

Ole Kirk Christiansen was born this day in Denmark in 1891; what company did he famously form in 1932?

Lego

2.

Who was hanged in York this day in 1739?

Dick Turpin

3.

Which cartoon character would you associate with the town Sweethaven?

Popeye

4.

Which chain of restaurants derived its name from a friend of Popeye?

Wimpy

5.

Who is the current editor of the Daily Mail?

Paul Dacre

6.

Who is the current editor of the Guardian?

Alan Rusbridger

7.

In Greek mythology who was the wife of Hector and the concubine of Neoptolemus?

Andromache

8.

In Greek mythology who was the twin sister of Helen and the wife of Agamemnon?

Clytemnestra

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme

1.

Which actress played Alex Greville in the 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday?

Glenda Jackson

2.

Who was nominated for a best actress oscar for her portrayal of Pat Nixon in the film Nixon and also played Pamela Landy in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum?

Joan Allen

3.

Which wife of Henry VIII is sometimes referred to as his ‘rose without a thorn’?

Catherine Howard

4.

What was the birth name of the so-called shoe bomber who tried to bomb an airplane in 2001?

Richard Reid

5.

For what is pV=k the mathematical equation?

Boyle’s Law

6.

Who in 2006 accused UKIP of being mostly composed of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”?

David Cameron

7.

In which mining town in the Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire was D H Lawrence born in 1885?

Eastwood

8.

Which author, best known for a novel of 1960, was a childhood friend of Truman Capote?

Harper Lee

Theme: Each answer contains the name of an Oscar-winning film director

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers

Spares

1.

Which magazine was defended by John Mortimer QC against a charge of obscene publication in 1971?

Oz

2.

What was described by the Guardian in 1978 as “an awful warning against thinking too big in Britain’s cities”?

Manchester’s Arndale Centre

3.

In which decade was David Lloyd George born in Manchester?

1863

4.

Who set himself alight in Wenceslas Square in Prague on January 19 1969 as a protest against the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Jan Palach

5.

Which celebrated animal was reported dead in Kenya in January 1961?

Elsa

(the lioness in Born Free)

6.

Who became King of France when aged four in 1643 and proceeded to reign for 72 years?

Louis XIV

Go back to Spares questions without answers