1.

Which noted former England and Middlesex cricketer, who played in 53 tests between 1955 and 1975, saw his career almost come to an end during England's 1967/68 tour of the West indies, when he was involved in a horrific boating accident in which he lost four toes?

2.

Which noted former snooker referee appeared in an early 1980s Carling Black Label advert in which he crushed a snooker ball with his gloved hand?

3.

Which Hungarian football club, with a name meaning 'Homeland Defense' (since it was associated with the Hungarian army), experienced its greatest era in the early 1950s, when legendary players Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis (amongst others) played for them?

4.

Which now waning Czechoslovak football club was originally founded in 1948 as ATK, which stood for Armádni tĕlocvičný klub, or Army Club of Physical Training?

5.

Which noted Michael Parkinson botherer died in 1999 after falling from his roof while adjusting his television aerial?

6.

Who presented ITV'S World of Sport from 1968 to 1985?

7.

Which British-Gibraltarian guitarist and songwriter is the father of a Strokes member of the same name?

8.

The Welsh mountain Twmpa, situated near the English border just south of Hay-on-Wye, is better known by what bawdy nickname?

Sp.

1.

Which political treatise by George Bernard Shaw (originally published in 1928) later became the first book published by Pelican (in 1937)?

2.

Puffin started out publishing children's non-fiction - but which children's book, later made famous by a BBC television adaptation starring John Pertwee, was the first work of fiction published by Puffin?

3.

4.

Which Midlands town had, until 2005, been banned by a 1265 royal decree from having a university established in its environs?

5.

Where is the cathedral church for the Roman Catholic Bishopric of the Forces located?

6.

Which former cathedral city, now a mere cathedral town, lost its city status due to a farcical administrative error in 1998 (though it didn't actually realise until four years later)?

7.

Which medieval logician, founder of the scholastic method, was castrated at the height of his fame at the behest of his lover's uncle?

8.

Nicknamed Doctor Subtilis, which notoriously difficult-to-understand Scottish medieval philosopher has a name which became the origin of the word 'dunce'?

1.

If Manchester is 'Cottonopolis', then Middlesborough is.......?  What nickname was applied to industrial Middlesborough?

2.

Which Wirral-based rival to the Blackpool tower was closed during WWI and dismantled shortly after?

3.

Thomas Cook organised the first package tour in 1841.  Which Midlands town was its destination?

4.

There is a once-weekly direct train every Friday at 09.22 am between Stockton and which other town in Greater Manchester?

5.

Which Anglo-lrish clergyman advocated the cannibalisation of children in a 1729 essay?

6.

Which Midlands Enlightenment figure wrote Zoonomia, a work that includes some early ideas relating to the theory of evolution?

7.

Which university college is the sole constituent of the University of Dublin?

8.

What is the Welsh word for martyr?

Sp.

ROUND 4 - Pairs

1.

What term describes the treatment of cotton thread with caustic soda to give it lustre?

2.

Retting describes the process of separating the fibres which constitute what type of cloth?

3.

Which Scottish magazine, founded in 1817 and running until 1980, published many of Shelley, Coleridge and Wordsworth's most important works, as well as Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness later in the 19th century?

4.

Which magazine owned by Charles Dickens published his novels Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, as well as Wilkie Collins' most famous novels?

5.

Which radical English political movement was founded by Gerrard Winstanley during the English Civil War was also known as the True Levellers?

6.

Which English political movement was founded in Manchester in 1838 and built the Free Trade Hall to host its meetings?

7.

Which fashion designer created the dresses worn by Capucine and Claudia Cardinale in The Pink Panther films?

8.

Which fashion designer created the costumes for the 1997 science fiction film The Fifth Element?

1.

Which American was Formula One world champion in 1978?  His son followed in his father's footsteps with greater ignominy and less success.

2.

Which animated Roald Dahl adaptation featured the talents of Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon, and an unusual specimen of Prunus Persica?

3.

Who is the only active boxer to have become an elected congressman in the Philippines?

4.

Noctilucent, Mammatus, Nacreous, Lenticular and Kelvin-Helmholtz are all rare types of what?

5.

Which goalkeeper was winner of the Lev Yashin or Golden Glove award in the 2006 World Cup?

6.

What name is held in common between the mother of Superman, a state in Venezuela, a character in Dr Zhivago and an American actress famous for her role in Twin Peaks?

7.

It is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and the 5th brightest star in the night sky overall.  Its extensively studied solar system is the source of the extraterrestrial message in the film and novel Contact.  What is this star's name?

8.

Its analogue was first identified in the experimental species Drosophila Melanogaster (the fruit fly) and named for the spiky projections its mutant form would cause to form on developing embryos. Which protein, then, is a key part of the cellular signalling processes involved in establishing the segmentation and outline body plan of developing human embryos?

Pair I: Fictitious squadrons (hardly any of which made it back)

1.

Which fictitious squadron's mission on screen was to destroy a V2 rocket fuel plant in an impregnable location in a Norwegian fjord in their venerable Mosquito fighter bombers (and whose movie still has the greatest war movie theme of all time)?

2.

Which fictitious squadron's first mission on screen was to destroy the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin in their X-wings?

Pair II: Ridiculous names of celebrity offspring

3.

Specify two of the first 4 names of the daughter of the late Paula Yates and late Michael Hutchence (now adopted by Bob Geldof)?

(If the first team that are asked this question get only one right and it is passed over, the second team must provide two different names)

4.

Name the first names of two of the children of the late musician Frank Zappa?

(If the first team that are asked this question get only one right and it is passed over, the second team must provide two different names)

Pair III: Named after...

5.

Which man has the greatest percentage of the earth's land surface area named after him?

6.

Which woman has the greatest percentage of the earth's land surface area named after her?

Pair IV: Molecules with funny names

7.

lt's not James Bond's favourite champagne (at least up to Roger Moore's time when Bollinger clearly had more money for product placement).  lt's a dopanmine antagonist that suppresses nausea.  What is it?

8.

It's not a hunger or desire you build up for something.  lt's hydroxy form is the main mineral component of bone.  What is it?

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

Which 17th century ltalian-born Cardinal became Chief Minister of France on the death of Cardinal Richelieu and essentially acted as co-ruler of France during the regency of Queen Anne of Austria until King Louis XIV came of age?

2.

Which word, which originally referred to a type of cabochon cut gemstone, has acquired a more unsavoury meaning referring to a large unsightly abscess - though most recently it has also become famous as a term of architectural criticism?

3.

St Wenceslas, of the Christmas carol, was a 10th century Duke (note, not a King) of which country?

4.

Which 2004 film comedy, about a lonely Idaho schoolboy from a dysfunctional family, was directed by Jared Hess, starred Jon Heder and has gained a cult following since its release?

5.

What is the name of the street on which the American TV series Desperate Housewives is set?

6.

Which long-running series of books for girls were written by Francine Pascal and focused on the saccharine adventures of all-American twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their friends at a California high school?

7.

Which American actress, who has appeared in films such as Lost in Translation and Girl With the Pearl Earring, released an album of Tom Waits covers in 2008 entitled Anywhere l Lay My Head?

8.

Which Kate Bush album, released after a three year lull in her career, became her most critically acclaimed work and featured the top 20 singles Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting and the album's title track?

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

Which comedian and musician, best known for creating the character of Frank Sidebottom, sadly died in June 2010?

2.

Which much-loved children's author, who died on Christmas Eve 2010 at the age of 84, created The Wombles?

3.

Which TV personality, perhaps best known for presenting The Culture Show and the BBC's annual Glastonbury coverage, was a member of 1990s Sunderland-based band Kenickie, who had top 40 hits with songs such as In Your Car and Punka?

4.

Which Scottish actress and musician, who has made cameo appearances in Father Ted and EastEnders, starred in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl before going on to form the band Altered Images?

5.

Which 'showbiz legend', wit and raconteur, who can regularly be heard on Radio 4, is the creation of comedian Steve Delaney?

6.

Though best known for creating Sheffield-based singer-songwriter John Shuttleworth, Graham Fellows also regularly performs as which 'rock musicologist and media studies lecturer' whose pivotal role in the history of rock and roll has been criminally overlooked?

7.

Which British author, known for writing Tipping The Velvet and Affinity, has been short-listed for the Orange Prize for Literature twice for her novels Fingersmith and Night Watch, though she is yet to win the award? .

8.

Which British author won the Orange Prize for Literature in 2004 and The Orange of Oranges prize the subsequent year, with her novel Small Island, about the experiences of Jamaican immigrants arriving in Britain on the Windrush after WWII which was partly based on the lives of her own parents?

Spares

1.

Spinoza was a notorious philosopher in his own lifetime, but what trade did he spend his entire adult life working at?

2.

Which Austrian-born philosopher studied Mechanical Engineering in Manchester eat the Victoria Universityj in the 1900s, before eventually receiving his PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge in 1929 for a work that was already a philosophical classic?

3.

Which Blue Square Conference South side resigned its membership in 2009 after the FA ruled that it could never win promotion to the Football League?

4.

Which London-based amateur side were one of the 15 teams that competed in the inaugural FA Cup, entered the 1900 Olympic Games representing Great Britain, and won it having on their books the incredibly named player-referee Segar Bastard?

5.

Which writer of detective novels was commissioned in the early days of Penguin Classics to produce a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy which is now a classic in its own right?

6.

Which English aristocrat introduced the sonnet to England with his translations of Petrarch, including the famous Whoso List to Hunt?

1.

Which noted former England and Middlesex cricketer, who played in 53 tests between 1955 and 1975, saw his career almost come to an end during England's 1967/68 tour of the West indies, when he was involved in a horrific boating accident in which he lost four toes?

Fred Titmus

(his foot got caught in the propeller)

2.

Which noted former snooker referee appeared in an early 1980s Carling Black Label advert in which he crushed a snooker ball with his gloved hand?

Len Ganley

3.

Which Hungarian football club, with a name meaning 'Homeland Defense' (since it was associated with the Hungarian army), experienced its greatest era in the early 1950s, when legendary players Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis (amongst others) played for them?

Budapest Honved FC

(accept just 'Honved' but prompt on 'Kispest' - the club was originally founded under this name and adopted the name 'Kispest Honved FC' in the 90s, which it was called until the early 00s when it went bankrupt and was replaced in the league by a new 'Budapest Honved FC')

4.

Which now waning Czechoslovak football club was originally founded in 1948 as ATK, which stood for Armádni tĕlocvičný klub, or Army Club of Physical Training?

Dukla Prague

5.

Which noted Michael Parkinson botherer died in 1999 after falling from his roof while adjusting his television aerial?

Rod Hull

6.

Who presented ITV'S World of Sport from 1968 to 1985?

Dickie Davies

7.

Which British-Gibraltarian guitarist and songwriter is the father of a Strokes member of the same name?

Albert Hammond

8.

The Welsh mountain Twmpa, situated near the English border just south of Hay-on-Wye, is better known by what bawdy nickname?

Lord Hereford's Knob

Sp.

Nerys Hughes

1.

Which political treatise by George Bernard Shaw (originally published in 1928) later became the first book published by Pelican (in 1937)?

The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism

2.

Puffin started out publishing children's non-fiction - but which children's book, later made famous by a BBC television adaptation starring John Pertwee, was the first work of fiction published by Puffin?

Worzel Gummidge

3.

The University of Central Lancashire

(UCLAN)

4.

Which Midlands town had, until 2005, been banned by a 1265 royal decree from having a university established in its environs?

Northampton

5.

Where is the cathedral church for the Roman Catholic Bishopric of the Forces located?

Aldershot

6.

Which former cathedral city, now a mere cathedral town, lost its city status due to a farcical administrative error in 1998 (though it didn't actually realise until four years later)?

Rochester

(it was absorbed into the Medway unitary authority and nobody realised they had to appoint charter trustees to protect its city status)

7.

Which medieval logician, founder of the scholastic method, was castrated at the height of his fame at the behest of his lover's uncle?

Peter Abelard

8.

Nicknamed Doctor Subtilis, which notoriously difficult-to-understand Scottish medieval philosopher has a name which became the origin of the word 'dunce'?

John Duns Scotus

1.

If Manchester is 'Cottonopolis', then Middlesborough is.......?  What nickname was applied to industrial Middlesborough?

'Ironopolis'

2.

Which Wirral-based rival to the Blackpool tower was closed during WWI and dismantled shortly after?

New Brighton Tower

3.

Thomas Cook organised the first package tour in 1841.  Which Midlands town was its destination?

Loughborough

4.

There is a once-weekly direct train every Friday at 09.22 am between Stockton and which other town in Greater Manchester?

Stalybridge

(it is the only service that still runs on the Stockport to Stalybridge line)

5.

Which Anglo-lrish clergyman advocated the cannibalisation of children in a 1729 essay?

Jonathan Swift

6.

Which Midlands Enlightenment figure wrote Zoonomia, a work that includes some early ideas relating to the theory of evolution?

Erasmus Darwin

7.

Which university college is the sole constituent of the University of Dublin?

Trinity College

8.

What is the Welsh word for martyr?

Merthyr

Sp.

ROUND 4 - Pairs

1.

What term describes the treatment of cotton thread with caustic soda to give it lustre?

Mercerisation

2.

Retting describes the process of separating the fibres which constitute what type of cloth?

Linen

(accept flax)

3.

Which Scottish magazine, founded in 1817 and running until 1980, published many of Shelley, Coleridge and Wordsworth's most important works, as well as Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness later in the 19th century?

Blackwood's Magazine

4.

Which magazine owned by Charles Dickens published his novels Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, as well as Wilkie Collins' most famous novels?

All The Year Round

5.

Which radical English political movement was founded by Gerrard Winstanley during the English Civil War was also known as the True Levellers?

Diggers

6.

Which English political movement was founded in Manchester in 1838 and built the Free Trade Hall to host its meetings?

The Anti-Corn Law League

7.

Which fashion designer created the dresses worn by Capucine and Claudia Cardinale in The Pink Panther films?

Yves Saint-Laurent

8.

Which fashion designer created the costumes for the 1997 science fiction film The Fifth Element?

Jean-Paul Gaultier

1.

Which American was Formula One world champion in 1978?  His son followed in his father's footsteps with greater ignominy and less success.

Mario Andretti

2.

Which animated Roald Dahl adaptation featured the talents of Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon, and an unusual specimen of Prunus Persica?

James and the Giant Peach

3.

Who is the only active boxer to have become an elected congressman in the Philippines?

Manny Pacquiao

4.

Noctilucent, Mammatus, Nacreous, Lenticular and Kelvin-Helmholtz are all rare types of what?

Cloud

5.

Which goalkeeper was winner of the Lev Yashin or Golden Glove award in the 2006 World Cup?

Gianluigi Buffon

6.

What name is held in common between the mother of Superman, a state in Venezuela, a character in Dr Zhivago and an American actress famous for her role in Twin Peaks?

Lara

7.

It is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and the 5th brightest star in the night sky overall.  Its extensively studied solar system is the source of the extraterrestrial message in the film and novel Contact.  What is this star's name?

Vega

8.

Its analogue was first identified in the experimental species Drosophila Melanogaster (the fruit fly) and named for the spiky projections its mutant form would cause to form on developing embryos. Which protein, then, is a key part of the cellular signalling processes involved in establishing the segmentation and outline body plan of developing human embryos?

Sonic hedgehog ideogram

1.

Which fictitious squadron's mission on screen was to destroy a V2 rocket fuel plant in an impregnable location in a Norwegian fjord in their venerable Mosquito fighter bombers (and whose movie still has the greatest war movie theme of all time)?

633 Squadron

2.

Which fictitious squadron's first mission on screen was to destroy the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin in their X-wings?

Red Squadron

Pair II: Ridiculous names of celebrity offspring

3.

Specify two of the first 4 names of the daughter of the late Paula Yates and late Michael Hutchence (now adopted by Bob Geldof)?

(If the first team that are asked this question get only one right and it is passed over, the second team must provide two different names)

(two from)

Heavenly,

Hiraani,

Tiger,

Lily

4.

Name the first names of two of the children of the late musician Frank Zappa?

(If the first team that are asked this question get only one right and it is passed over, the second team must provide two different names)

(two from)

Moon Unit,

Dweezil,

Ahmet Emuuka Rodan

(accept 'Ahmet' as one),

Diva Thin Muffin

(accept 'Diva' as one)

Pair III: Named after...

5.

Which man has the greatest percentage of the earth's land surface area named after him?

Amerigo Vespucci

(11% - North and South America)

6.

Which woman has the greatest percentage of the earth's land surface area named after her?

Queen Victoria

(approx 1% - including Queensland Australia)

also accept Queen Maud of Norway

(she also has approx 1% - including Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, but slightly less in total than Victoria - but it's arguable so allow either answer)

Pair IV: Molecules with funny names

7.

lt's not James Bond's favourite champagne (at least up to Roger Moore's time when Bollinger clearly had more money for product placement).  lt's a dopanmine antagonist that suppresses nausea.  What is it?

Domperidone

8.

It's not a hunger or desire you build up for something.  lt's hydroxy form is the main mineral component of bone.  What is it?

Apatite

(ask them to spell this answer)

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

Which 17th century ltalian-born Cardinal became Chief Minister of France on the death of Cardinal Richelieu and essentially acted as co-ruler of France during the regency of Queen Anne of Austria until King Louis XIV came of age?

Cardinal Jules Mazarin

2.

Which word, which originally referred to a type of cabochon cut gemstone, has acquired a more unsavoury meaning referring to a large unsightly abscess - though most recently it has also become famous as a term of architectural criticism?

Carbuncle

3.

St Wenceslas, of the Christmas carol, was a 10th century Duke (note, not a King) of which country?

Bohemia

(do not accept Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia)

4.

Which 2004 film comedy, about a lonely Idaho schoolboy from a dysfunctional family, was directed by Jared Hess, starred Jon Heder and has gained a cult following since its release?

Napoleon Dynamite

5.

What is the name of the street on which the American TV series Desperate Housewives is set?

Wisteria Lane

6.

Which long-running series of books for girls were written by Francine Pascal and focused on the saccharine adventures of all-American twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their friends at a California high school?

Sweet Valley High

7.

Which American actress, who has appeared in films such as Lost in Translation and Girl With the Pearl Earring, released an album of Tom Waits covers in 2008 entitled Anywhere l Lay My Head?

Scarlett Johansson

8.

Which Kate Bush album, released after a three year lull in her career, became her most critically acclaimed work and featured the top 20 singles Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting and the album's title track?

Hounds of Love

Theme: Each answer contains a word that features in the title of a Sherlock Holmes story.  The titles are:

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

Which comedian and musician, best known for creating the character of Frank Sidebottom, sadly died in June 2010?

Chris Sievey

2.

Which much-loved children's author, who died on Christmas Eve 2010 at the age of 84, created The Wombles?

Elisabeth Beresford

3.

Which TV personality, perhaps best known for presenting The Culture Show and the BBC's annual Glastonbury coverage, was a member of 1990s Sunderland-based band Kenickie, who had top 40 hits with songs such as In Your Car and Punka?

Lauren Laverne

4.

Which Scottish actress and musician, who has made cameo appearances in Father Ted and EastEnders, starred in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl before going on to form the band Altered Images?

Clare Grogan

5.

Which 'showbiz legend', wit and raconteur, who can regularly be heard on Radio 4, is the creation of comedian Steve Delaney?

Count Arthur Strong

6.

Though best known for creating Sheffield-based singer-songwriter John Shuttleworth, Graham Fellows also regularly performs as which 'rock musicologist and media studies lecturer' whose pivotal role in the history of rock and roll has been criminally overlooked?

Brian Appleton

7.

Which British author, known for writing Tipping The Velvet and Affinity, has been short-listed for the Orange Prize for Literature twice for her novels Fingersmith and Night Watch, though she is yet to win the award? .

Sarah Waters

8.

Which British author won the Orange Prize for Literature in 2004 and The Orange of Oranges prize the subsequent year, with her novel Small Island, about the experiences of Jamaican immigrants arriving in Britain on the Windrush after WWII which was partly based on the lives of her own parents?

Andrea Levy

Spares

1.

Spinoza was a notorious philosopher in his own lifetime, but what trade did he spend his entire adult life working at?

Lens grinding

2.

Which Austrian-born philosopher studied Mechanical Engineering in Manchester eat the Victoria Universityj in the 1900s, before eventually receiving his PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge in 1929 for a work that was already a philosophical classic?

Wittgenstein

3.

Which Blue Square Conference South side resigned its membership in 2009 after the FA ruled that it could never win promotion to the Football League?

Team Bath

(because of its association with the University of Bath)

4.

Which London-based amateur side were one of the 15 teams that competed in the inaugural FA Cup, entered the 1900 Olympic Games representing Great Britain, and won it having on their books the incredibly named player-referee Segar Bastard?

Upton Park FC

5.

Which writer of detective novels was commissioned in the early days of Penguin Classics to produce a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy which is now a classic in its own right?

Dorothy L Sayers.

6.

Which English aristocrat introduced the sonnet to England with his translations of Petrarch, including the famous Whoso List to Hunt?

Sir Thomas Wyatt