1.

Which actor, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1971 for The Last Picture Show, in 1974 for Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, in 1984 for Starman, and in 2000 for The Contender, finally won in 2010 for Crazy Heart?

2.

Which director, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1992 for Thelma & Louise, and in 2002 for Black Hawk Down, finally won in 2001 for Gladiator?

3.

Which Roman poet’s best known works are The Eclogues, The Georgics and The Aeneid?

4.

In Homer’s Odyssey, who is Odysseus’s faithful wife?

5.

From which series of works of fiction did the British New Wave pop group, The Thompson Twins, get their name?

6.

Which Cardiff-based brewery sponsors the Welsh Rugby Union and Glamorgan Cricket Club?

7.

What name is given to the two bands encircling the Earth, within which electrically charged particles from the Sun are trapped?

8.

Who said: “If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised” and “Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses.”?

Sp.

In English, we call it the car bonnet - what do they call it in America?

ROUNDS 2/3 - 'Why Couldn’t I Have That One?' (Part 1)

Each player in the team going first must chose a subject.  The pair of questions must be used for that player and for their counterpart in the other team.

1.

Alec Guinness (Team 1)

What was the name of the character played by Alec Guinness in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai?

2.

Alec Guinness (Team 2)

What was the family name of the characters played by Alec Guinness in the film Kind Hearts and Coronets?

3.

Hamlet (Team 1)

In the play Hamlet, in which German city - one of the centres of the Protestant faith associated with Martin Luther - had Hamlet attended university?

4.

Hamlet (Team 2)

Hamlet has 3 friends in the play that attended Wittenberg University with him.  Name them.

5.

Land-locked (Team 1)

Of England’s 39 traditional counties which is the most southerly land-locked county?

6.

Land-locked (Team 2)

In the 8 counties of Wales created in 1974 only one was land-locked.  Which was it?

7.

Former place names (Team 1)

What capital city was formerly known as Christiana?

8.

Former place names (Team 2)

What capital city was formerly known as Bytown?

9.

Poetry (Team 1)

What is the first line of the 19th century poem to which these are the closing lines: “The red-breast whistles from the garden-croft / And gathering swallows twitter in the skies”?

10.

Poetry (Team 2)

Of which famous 20th century poem is this the opening line: “Let us go then, you and I”?

11.

US Capital punishment (Team 1)

Name 4 of the 5 legal methods of execution carried out in the USA in the last 20 years.

12.

US Capital punishment (Team 2)

Which US State (by some way) has carried out the most capital sentences in the past 30 years?

13.

World Cup final (Team 1)

In which year was the result of the World Cup final: Brazil 3 Czechoslovakia 1?

14.

World Cup final (Team 2)

In which year was the result of the World Cup final: Italy 4 Hungary 2?

15.

Local politics (Team 1)

What was the name of the last Conservative MP to represent Manchester Withington?

16.

Local politics (Team 2)

Prior to John Leech the last Liberal to represent Manchester Withington was a well-known local industrialist.  What was his surname?

17.

Social networking (Team 1)

What term has been adopted to describe the use of a social network to emotionally abuse someone?

18.

Social networking (Team 2)

Facebook is the most popular social networking site worldwide but which is the most popular in the US?

For each question specify the missing fourth in the sequence - Sequences may go ‘forwards’ or ‘backwards’

1.

The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, …

2.

Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, …

3.

Embryo, larva, pupa, …

4.

Preston North End (1889), Aston Villa (1897), Tottenham Hotspur (1961), …

5.

Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish, Jack McConnell …

6.

Aleph, Bet, Gimel, …

7.

Quartic, cubic, quadratic,  …

8.

Chris Hollins, Tom Chambers, Alesha Dixon …

Sp.

Silver Birch, Comply or Die, Mon Mome …

ROUND 5 - Hidden theme

All the answers are the names of musicians with something in common

1.

Which bandleader had Moonlight Serenade as his theme tune?

2.

The singer/songwriter Jiles Perry Richardson, whose most successful recording was Chantilly Lace, is better known by what nickname?

3.

Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in 1932, she is best known for the songs Walkin’ After Midnight in 1957, I Fall to Pieces and Crazy in 1961, and She’s Got You.  By what name is she better known?

4.

Although he died in 1964, in 1966 his record Distant Drums went to No. 1 in the British singles chart and remained there for five weeks beating competition from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby.  Who was he?

5.

Often called the ‘King of Soul’, he died in 1967, and is probably best known for his hit record of 1968 (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay.  Who is he?

6.

Ronnie van Zant and Steve Gaines were members of which rock band, probably best known for the tracks Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird?

7.

In the UK, he is best known for his 1961 hits Travelin' Man and Hello Mary Lou.  Who is he?

8.

The older members of the quiz league will remember being assailed by James Galway and his golden flute, endlessly playing Annie’s Song.  For the original song-writer and singer, it was a U.S. No.1 hit and his only U.K. No. 1.  Who wrote it?

Sp.

In 1979, who became lead singer for Ozzy Osbourne’s newly formed band, Blizzard of Ozz?

ROUNDS 6/7 - 'Why Couldn’t I Have That One?' (Part 2)

Each player in the team going first must chose a subject.  The pair of questions must be used for that player and for their counterpart in the other team.

1.

Drama (Team 1)

Who devised the 3 dramatic unities (i.e. a play should have a single plot, should be set in a single place and should take place within 24 hours)?

2.

Drama (Team 2)

Name one of the 2 Shakespeare plays that meet all the characteristics of the three unities.

3.

Foreign nobility (Team 1)

Which 4-letter German title is the equivalent of an Earl in England or a Count in other parts of Europe?

4.

Foreign nobility (Team 2)

Which 8-letter German title was used for the rulers of border areas in Germany in the middle ages (Brandenburg being a particular example)?

5.

Soviet Union (Team 1)

Stalin’s Foreign Minister Molotov took his name from the Russian for which appropriate implement?

6.

Soviet Union (Team 2)

What was the popular name for the Soviet Union’s counter-espionage organization?

7.

High Street (Team 1)

In March 1969 David Quayle and Richard Block opened their first shop on Portswood Road, Southampton.  What did they call it?

8.

High Street (Team 2)

In 1924 Mr Cohen bought a consignment of tea for his market stall from a Mr Stockwell.  What were Mr Stockwell’s initials?

9.

Pop music & time (Team 1)

Which month made Don Maclean shiver?

10.

Pop music & time (Team 2)

“It might as well rain until” when – according to Carole King?

11.

Unfamiliar first names (Team 1)

The fictional hero Rambo was best known by his surname.  What was his first name?

12.

Unfamiliar first names (Team 2)

The fictional hero Magnum was best known by his surname.  What was his first name?

13.

British cars (Team 1)

What was the name given to the luxury versions of Austin Rover cars such as the Maestro, the Metro and the Montego?

14.

British cars (Team 2)

Which former British Car manufacturer had models called the Elf and the Kestrel?

15.

Card games (Team 1)

Which card game is named after the Spanish word for basket and is based on melding cards of the same rank?

16.

Card games (Team 2)

What is the name given to a Bridge hand with no card higher than a nine?

17.

TV (Team 1)

In 1985 Granada TV launched a soap opera which only lasted 100 episodes.  What was it called?

18.

TV (Team 2)

What was the Channel 4 Game Show hosted by Richard O’Brien between 1990 and 1993?

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

Elephant, Rockwell and Baskerville are all types of what?

2.

Defined as ‘semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols’, what are they?

3.

Which English river, with a namesake animal, rises in Somerset, flows through Honiton, and discharges into the English Channel near Budleigh Salterton?

4.

Which English river, with a namesake animal, rises near Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, and flows through Surrey to join the River Thames near Hampton Court?

5.

Which current C4 TV drama, based on the coexistence of vampires and humans, is set in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana?

6.

Which current E4 TV musical comedy drama, based on the exploits of a High School show choir is set in the town of Lima, Ohio?

7.

Born in Manchester in 1925, who was the sole winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, his co-worker in their award-winning achievement having died in 1988?

8.

Having won an Ig-Nobel Prize in 2000 (for magnetically levitating a live frog) Manchester University physicist Andre Geim achieved a unique double when he shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics with his co-worker Konstantin Novoselov for their work on which material, a two-dimensional arrangement of carbon atoms?

Spares

1.

Which celebrity, other than Delia Smith, sits on the board of Norwich City football club?

2.

The world's most difficult word to translate has been identified as ‘ilunga’ from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It came top of a list drawn up in consultation with 1,000 linguists.  What does it mean?

1.

Which actor, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1971 for The Last Picture Show, in 1974 for Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, in 1984 for Starman, and in 2000 for The Contender, finally won in 2010 for Crazy Heart?

Jeff Bridges

2.

Which director, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1992 for Thelma & Louise, and in 2002 for Black Hawk Down, finally won in 2001 for Gladiator?

Ridley Scott

3.

Which Roman poet’s best known works are The Eclogues, The Georgics and The Aeneid?

Virgil

4.

In Homer’s Odyssey, who is Odysseus’s faithful wife?

Penelope

5.

From which series of works of fiction did the British New Wave pop group, The Thompson Twins, get their name?

The Adventures of Tintin

6.

Which Cardiff-based brewery sponsors the Welsh Rugby Union and Glamorgan Cricket Club?

Brains

7.

What name is given to the two bands encircling the Earth, within which electrically charged particles from the Sun are trapped?

Van Allen belts

8.

Who said: “If all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end, I wouldn't be a bit surprised” and “Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses.”?

Dorothy Parker

Sp.

In English, we call it the car bonnet - what do they call it in America?

The Hood

ROUNDS 2/3 - 'Why Couldn’t I Have That One?' (Part 1)

Each player in the team going first must chose a subject.  The pair of questions must be used for that player and for their counterpart in the other team.

1.

Alec Guinness (Team 1)

What was the name of the character played by Alec Guinness in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai?

Colonel Nicholson

2.

Alec Guinness (Team 2)

What was the family name of the characters played by Alec Guinness in the film Kind Hearts and Coronets?

D'Ascoyne

3.

Hamlet (Team 1)

In the play Hamlet, in which German city - one of the centres of the Protestant faith associated with Martin Luther - had Hamlet attended university?

Wittenberg

4.

Hamlet (Team 2)

Hamlet has 3 friends in the play that attended Wittenberg University with him.  Name them.

Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Horatio

5.

Land-locked (Team 1)

Of England’s 39 traditional counties which is the most southerly land-locked county?

Wiltshire

6.

Land-locked (Team 2)

In the 8 counties of Wales created in 1974 only one was land-locked.  Which was it?

Powys

7.

Former place names (Team 1)

What capital city was formerly known as Christiana?

Oslo

8.

Former place names (Team 2)

What capital city was formerly known as Bytown?

Ottawa

9.

Poetry (Team 1)

What is the first line of the 19th century poem to which these are the closing lines: “The red-breast whistles from the garden-croft / And gathering swallows twitter in the skies”?

(To Autumn by Keats)

10.

Poetry (Team 2)

Of which famous 20th century poem is this the opening line: “Let us go then, you and I”?

(by T S Eliot)

11.

US Capital punishment (Team 1)

Name 4 of the 5 legal methods of execution carried out in the USA in the last 20 years.

(4 from)

Lethal Injection, Hanging, Gas Chamber,
Firing Squad, Electric Chair

12.

US Capital punishment (Team 2)

Which US State (by some way) has carried out the most capital sentences in the past 30 years?

Texas

13.

World Cup final (Team 1)

In which year was the result of the World Cup final: Brazil 3 Czechoslovakia 1?

(in Chile)

14.

World Cup final (Team 2)

In which year was the result of the World Cup final: Italy 4 Hungary 2?

(in France)

15.

Local politics (Team 1)

What was the name of the last Conservative MP to represent Manchester Withington?

Fred Silvester

16.

Local politics (Team 2)

Prior to John Leech the last Liberal to represent Manchester Withington was a well-known local industrialist.  What was his surname?

(Ernest Simon of Simon Engineering in the 1920s)

17.

Social networking (Team 1)

What term has been adopted to describe the use of a social network to emotionally abuse someone?

Trolling

18.

Social networking (Team 2)

Facebook is the most popular social networking site worldwide but which is the most popular in the US?

MySpace

For each question specify the missing fourth in the sequence - Sequences may go ‘forwards’ or ‘backwards’

1.

The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, …

Mort

(Successive Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett)

2.

Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, …

Christian Bale

(Successive actors to play Batman)

3.

Embryo, larva, pupa, …

Imago

(accept adult - successive stages in the life of an insect undergoing complete metamorphosis)

4.

Preston North End (1889), Aston Villa (1897), Tottenham Hotspur (1961), …

Arsenal (1971)

(First 4 winners of the Football League and FA Cup double)

5.

Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish, Jack McConnell …

Alex Salmond

(Scottish First Ministers)

6.

Aleph, Bet, Gimel, …

Dalet

(or Daleth - first 4 letters of the Hebrew alphabet)

7.

Quartic, cubic, quadratic,  …

Linear

(Reducing degrees of polynomial equations of degrees  from 4 to 1)

8.

Chris Hollins, Tom Chambers, Alesha Dixon …

Mark Ramprakash

(Strictly Come Dancing winners in reverse chronological order)

Sp.

Silver Birch, Comply or Die, Mon Mome …

Don’t Push It

(Grand National winners 2007 to 2010)

ROUND 5 - Hidden theme

All the answers are the names of musicians with something in common

1.

Which bandleader had Moonlight Serenade as his theme tune?

Glenn Miller

2.

The singer/songwriter Jiles Perry Richardson, whose most successful recording was Chantilly Lace, is better known by what nickname?

The Big Bopper

3.

Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in 1932, she is best known for the songs Walkin’ After Midnight in 1957, I Fall to Pieces and Crazy in 1961, and She’s Got You.  By what name is she better known?

Patsy Cline

4.

Although he died in 1964, in 1966 his record Distant Drums went to No. 1 in the British singles chart and remained there for five weeks beating competition from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby.  Who was he?

Jim Reeves

5.

Often called the ‘King of Soul’, he died in 1967, and is probably best known for his hit record of 1968 (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay.  Who is he?

Otis Redding

6.

Ronnie van Zant and Steve Gaines were members of which rock band, probably best known for the tracks Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird?

Lynyrd Skynyrd

7.

In the UK, he is best known for his 1961 hits Travelin' Man and Hello Mary Lou.  Who is he?

Ricky Nelson

8.

The older members of the quiz league will remember being assailed by James Galway and his golden flute, endlessly playing Annie’s Song.  For the original song-writer and singer, it was a U.S. No.1 hit and his only U.K. No. 1.  Who wrote it?

John Denver

Sp.

In 1979, who became lead singer for Ozzy Osbourne’s newly formed band, Blizzard of Ozz?

Randy Rhoads

ROUNDS 6/7 - 'Why Couldn’t I Have That One?' (Part 2)

Each player in the team going first must chose a subject.  The pair of questions must be used for that player and for their counterpart in the other team.

1.

Drama (Team 1)

Who devised the 3 dramatic unities (i.e. a play should have a single plot, should be set in a single place and should take place within 24 hours)?

Aristotle

2.

Drama (Team 2)

Name one of the 2 Shakespeare plays that meet all the characteristics of the three unities.

(either)

The Comedy Of Errors

(or)

The Tempest

3.

Foreign nobility (Team 1)

Which 4-letter German title is the equivalent of an Earl in England or a Count in other parts of Europe?

Graf

4.

Foreign nobility (Team 2)

Which 8-letter German title was used for the rulers of border areas in Germany in the middle ages (Brandenburg being a particular example)?

Margrave

5.

Soviet Union (Team 1)

Stalin’s Foreign Minister Molotov took his name from the Russian for which appropriate implement?

Hammer

6.

Soviet Union (Team 2)

What was the popular name for the Soviet Union’s counter-espionage organization?

S.M.E.R.S.H.

7.

High Street (Team 1)

In March 1969 David Quayle and Richard Block opened their first shop on Portswood Road, Southampton.  What did they call it?

B&Q

8.

High Street (Team 2)

In 1924 Mr Cohen bought a consignment of tea for his market stall from a Mr Stockwell.  What were Mr Stockwell’s initials?

T. E.

(from which the name TESCO was formed)

9.

Pop music & time (Team 1)

Which month made Don Maclean shiver?

February

(from the song American Pie – “with every paper I delivered”)

10.

Pop music & time (Team 2)

“It might as well rain until” when – according to Carole King?

September

11.

Unfamiliar first names (Team 1)

The fictional hero Rambo was best known by his surname.  What was his first name?

John

12.

Unfamiliar first names (Team 2)

The fictional hero Magnum was best known by his surname.  What was his first name?

Thomas

13.

British cars (Team 1)

What was the name given to the luxury versions of Austin Rover cars such as the Maestro, the Metro and the Montego?

Vanden Plas

14.

British cars (Team 2)

Which former British Car manufacturer had models called the Elf and the Kestrel?

Riley

15.

Card games (Team 1)

Which card game is named after the Spanish word for basket and is based on melding cards of the same rank?

Canasta

16.

Card games (Team 2)

What is the name given to a Bridge hand with no card higher than a nine?

Yarborough

17.

TV (Team 1)

In 1985 Granada TV launched a soap opera which only lasted 100 episodes.  What was it called?

Albion Market

18.

TV (Team 2)

What was the Channel 4 Game Show hosted by Richard O’Brien between 1990 and 1993?

The Crystal Maze

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

Elephant, Rockwell and Baskerville are all types of what?

(or font)

2.

Defined as ‘semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up letters and symbols’, what are they?

Serifs

3.

Which English river, with a namesake animal, rises in Somerset, flows through Honiton, and discharges into the English Channel near Budleigh Salterton?

Otter

4.

Which English river, with a namesake animal, rises near Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, and flows through Surrey to join the River Thames near Hampton Court?

Mole

5.

Which current C4 TV drama, based on the coexistence of vampires and humans, is set in the town of Bon Temps, Louisiana?

True Blood

6.

Which current E4 TV musical comedy drama, based on the exploits of a High School show choir is set in the town of Lima, Ohio?

Glee

7.

Born in Manchester in 1925, who was the sole winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, his co-worker in their award-winning achievement having died in 1988?

Robert Edwards

8.

Having won an Ig-Nobel Prize in 2000 (for magnetically levitating a live frog) Manchester University physicist Andre Geim achieved a unique double when he shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics with his co-worker Konstantin Novoselov for their work on which material, a two-dimensional arrangement of carbon atoms?

Graphene

Spares

1.

Which celebrity, other than Delia Smith, sits on the board of Norwich City football club?

Stephen Fry

2.

The world's most difficult word to translate has been identified as ‘ilunga’ from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It came top of a list drawn up in consultation with 1,000 linguists.  What does it mean?

Ilunga means ‘a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the  first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time’