ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Victory in which battle in November 1942 prompted Winston Churchill to claim that "This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”?

2.

Which King of Epirus, having been congratulated for his victory over the Romans at the Battle of Asculum in 279BC, is reported to have replied, "One more such victory will undo me!”?

3.

After which riots in London in June 1780 was the Lord Mayor Brackley Kennet fined £1000 for his negligence in failing to read the Riot Act?

4.

What name, inspired by a character in the Book of Genesis, was adopted by rural rioters in Wales, active from 1839 onwards, whose targeted attacks on tollgates saw many participants choosing to dress in women’s clothing?

5.

Which Manchester public house, having probably taken its name from its use as a recruiting hall for the army during the Napoleonic wars, celebrated its bicentenary on the 10th of June 2011?

6.

Which Manchester public house, having taken its name from its proximity to a short lived enterprise established by Messrs Ward and Banks in 1793, is considered by CAMRA to be 'one of the Top Ten Real Heritage Pubs in Britain'?

7.

What is traditionally made as follows: take the unfermented pressings of white grape varieties Trebbiano or Lambrusco, heat for several hours in an open vessel until reduced by more than half, and finally age for at least twelve years in seven casks each made from a different wood?

8.

You opt to use a recipe from Jamie Oliver’s website. The listed ingredients are garlic, sea salt, ground black pepper, freshly chopped basil leaves, lighted toasted pine nuts, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil and, optionally, a small squeeze of lemon juice.  What are you going to make?

1.

What instruction, given several times over the course of one hour to one of Alan Bailey, Derek Young or Johnny Baker, none of whom actually had the right name, became a catchphrase having entered into the public consciousness in 1967?

2.

The Ancient of Days was first seen in 1794 when it appeared as the frontispiece to the artist’s own philosophical treatise Europe a Prophecy.  Name the artist.

3.

What was given to the City of Glasgow by a former shipping magnate in 1944 and is now housed in a purpose built award-winning building on the Pollok estate?

4.

Featuring at number 61 on Radio 4’s History of the World in 100 Objects were 78 pieces of carved walrus ivory from the twelfth century.  Where had they been unearthed in 1831?

5.

What thoroughfare connects Ludgate Hill with the junction of Newgate Street and Holborn Viaduct?

6.

What is the name of the philanthropist, appointed Professor of Political Economy at Owen’s College in 1855, whose lasting memorial is the result of his disposal of the Whitworth estate as one of three legatees?

7.

Name the Belgian priest, and Professor of Physics, who published his theory on the expanding nature of the universe in 1927, causing Einstein’s retort “Your maths is correct but your physics is abominable.”.

8.

Which restaurant, established in 1953 at 2 Greek Street Soho and specialising in Hungarian cuisine, takes its name from an operetta by Emmerich Kalman?

Sp.

Who wrote the novel Kestrel for a Knave?

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

Give a year when Hadrian, of Hadrian’s Wall fame, was Emperor of Rome

2.

Give a year when Offa, of Offa’s Dyke fame, was King of Mercia.

3.

Who was recently appointed to succeed Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury in March next year?

4.

Who was recently appointed to succeed Sir Mervyn King as Governor of the Bank of England in June next year?

5.

The Natural History Museum has on display an iconic fossil, the Rhyniella Hirsti, which is generally accepted to be the world’s oldest known insect, but from which geological period does it come?

6.

The Natural History Museum has on display an iconic fossil, Archaeopteryx, which is generally accepted to be the world’s oldest known bird, but from which geological period does it come?

7.

What body of water connects the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean Sea?

8.

What body of water connects the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf?

ROUND 4 - Hidden theme

1.

What 1985 film, starring Madonna and Roseanna Arquette, took its title from an advert in the personals section of a New York tabloid that so very much intrigued the unfulfilled suburban housewife played by Arquette?

2.

Who co-wrote The Power of Love and had a cameo role in the 1985 film Back to the Future when his character, while holding auditions for the school prom, rejected Marty McFly and his band’s rendition of that same song with “sorry fellas you’re just too darned loud”?

3.

An innovation made from silk and known colloquially as 'Monkey’s fists' were first marketed by Charvet of Paris in 1904 as an alternative to what accessory?

4.

Which genus of the family felidae includes only two extant species: the jaguarundi and the cougar?

5.

 If The Song of Moulin Rouge was the first, and Flat Beat the twenty fifth and most recent, what was the tenth on the 25th of August 1960?

6.

Name the elder of the Sauk Native American tribe who led a doomed attack in 1832 to regain the tribal homelands in Illinois and is today immortalised in the name of a NHL franchise.

7.

What title did Harold Godwinson inherit on the death of his father in 1053?

8.

Which song, first published in Montreal in the Pocket Song Book of McGill College, tells of the plucking of feathers from a skylark?

Sp.

What is the common name for the bird, correctly the falco columbarius, which is Britain’s smallest bird of prey?

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

What is the name of the process in which clay is compacted on the bottom and sides of a canal, or pond, to form a watertight lining?

2.

What is the name of the process in which cotton and hemp fibres soaked in pine tar are hammered in to the cracks of a vessel’s hull to make it watertight?

3.

Which multiple Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter released the album The Truth about Love in September 2012? 

4.

Which multiple Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter released the album Girl on Fire in November 2012?

5.

Mary Rand made a clean sweep of medals in the 1964 Olympics winning gold in the long jump but can you name the two events in which she won silver and bronze?

6.

Who, in 1962, became the first female winner of the BBC Sport Personality of the Year?

7.

What, as of the 1st of December, is the most watched video in the history of YouTube, with more than 861m viewings, beating the number who watched the video of Justin Beiber’s Baby?

8.

What three word long message, posted on the 6th of November, became the most re-tweeted message in the history of Twitter, with 817,165 re-tweets as of the 3rd of December, beating a message from Justin Beiber?

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

What made its maiden flight when an otherwise unremarkable Hawker Hart biplane, serial number K3036, took off on the 21st of February 1935?

2.

Which piece of music by Paul Dukas was inspired by the poem, Zauberlehrling, written by Goethe in 1797?

3.

What single was a number 1 across much of Europe, for Europe, in 1986 before being disastrously remixed in 1999 in time for the millennium celebrations?

4.

Which Area of Outstanding National Beauty, designated in September 1958 and covering 26 square miles, incorporates the northern terminus of the long distance footpath known as The Heart of England Way?

5.

What was the codename for the invasion of Okinawa by American, British and Australian forces on April 1st 1945?

6.

What was the name given to the fifth largest satellite of Uranus by its discoverer, Gerard Kuiper, in 1948?

7.

Name the future US president who was seriously wounded when a musket ball severed an artery in his shoulder while serving as a Lieutenant in Washington’s army at the battle of Trenton.

8.

What was introduced to the British public in 1910, weighs less than 6 grammes and is missing from this list of the British Army’s Standard Iron Ration of 1914: bully beef, cheese, biscuit, tea, sugar, salt and….

Sp.

Which World Heritage site incorporates Old Harry Rocks?

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

For a hotel in which seaside town did the London Midland and Scottish Railway commission Eric Gill to sculpt two seahorses that would stand above, and to either side, of its main entrance in 1932?

2.

Who commissioned Eric Gill’s sculpture of Prospero and Ariel, made in Portland stone, to stand above the main entrance of their new headquarters, which opened in Central London in 1934?

3.

Complete the list of the five members admitted to a particular 'sporting club', since the Second World War: Tommy Lawton of Notts County, Reg Matthews of Coventry City, Johnny Byrne and Peter Taylor both of Crystal Palace, and….

4.

Similarly what sporting club, despite being open for membership since 1780, has only ever admitted six members; the most recent, Fifinella, being as long ago as 1916?

5.

The body of which warrior was exhumed from his grave in Samarkand in 1941, more than 500 years after his death, after which it was confirmed that he had indeed suffered a serious hip injury?

6.

The body of which scientist was exhumed from his grave in Prague in 2010, more than 400 years after his death, after which it was confirmed that he did not die from mercury poisoning but probably from a burst bladder?

7.

The IUCN was founded in 1948 by Julian Huxley, the first Director General of UNESCO, but what do the initials stand for?

8.

CITES was drafted as a result of a 1963 meeting of the IUCN and entered into force on 1st of July 1975, but what do the initials stand for?

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme

1.

Which of NASA’s space shuttles was named in honour of the Royal Naval vessel that conducted a global oceanographic survey between 1872 and 1876 taking 492 deep sea soundings?

2.

What term is used to describe a cricket delivery that bounces more than twice on its way to the batsman’s crease, and is also the nickname of the US Air Force’s BLU 82 bomb originally used to create large clearings in the Vietnamese Jungle?

3.

What song, a 1972 number one single in the US billboard chart for Billy Paul, includes the following lyrics: “We gotta be extra careful that we don't build our hopes too high because she's got her own obligations and so do I”?

4.

Falstaff, described as having a nutty flavour, and Wellington, described as exhibiting good frost resistance, are varieties of which edible?

5.

The Warwickshire Drooper, beloved by brewers of the old English tipple, Jerkum, is a variety of which edible?

6.

Which registered charity, founded in 1982, ran the award winning advertising campaign 'Assume Nothing' that featured elongated, out of focus models photographed by Peter Dazeley?

7.

What was the title of the seminal 1965 book on British youth culture that was chosen by William Broad as the name of his fledgling punk band in 1976?

8.

Which 2011 award winning short film, starring Judi Dench, about wrinklies coming to terms with social networking, has, as its title, the phrase used on Facebook to indicate that another party has not yet responded to your initial entreaty?

Sp.

In which community would you find The Border Hotel, the northern terminus of the Pennine Way?

Spares

1.

What has been made since 1868 by the McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana?

2.

Who famously said outside court after losing a libel case in 1986: “I’ve just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech”?

3.

The 1987 Cup Final was described by John Motson as “the finest I’ve had the pleasure of commentating on”.  Name either of the teams involved.

4.

Which piece of music, by a fellow French composer, represents the tortoise in Saint Saens’ The Carnival of the Animals?

ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Victory in which battle in November 1942 prompted Winston Churchill to claim that "This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”?

(2nd battle of) El Alamein

2.

Which King of Epirus, having been congratulated for his victory over the Romans at the Battle of Asculum in 279BC, is reported to have replied, "One more such victory will undo me!”?

Phyrrus

3.

After which riots in London in June 1780 was the Lord Mayor Brackley Kennet fined £1000 for his negligence in failing to read the Riot Act?

The Gordon Riots

4.

What name, inspired by a character in the Book of Genesis, was adopted by rural rioters in Wales, active from 1839 onwards, whose targeted attacks on tollgates saw many participants choosing to dress in women’s clothing?

Rebecca

5.

Which Manchester public house, having probably taken its name from its use as a recruiting hall for the army during the Napoleonic wars, celebrated its bicentenary on the 10th of June 2011?

Briton's Protection

6.

Which Manchester public house, having taken its name from its proximity to a short lived enterprise established by Messrs Ward and Banks in 1793, is considered by CAMRA to be 'one of the Top Ten Real Heritage Pubs in Britain'?

Circus Tavern

7.

What is traditionally made as follows: take the unfermented pressings of white grape varieties Trebbiano or Lambrusco, heat for several hours in an open vessel until reduced by more than half, and finally age for at least twelve years in seven casks each made from a different wood?

Balsamic vinegar

8.

You opt to use a recipe from Jamie Oliver’s website. The listed ingredients are garlic, sea salt, ground black pepper, freshly chopped basil leaves, lighted toasted pine nuts, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil and, optionally, a small squeeze of lemon juice.  What are you going to make?

Pesto sauce

1.

What instruction, given several times over the course of one hour to one of Alan Bailey, Derek Young or Johnny Baker, none of whom actually had the right name, became a catchphrase having entered into the public consciousness in 1967?

"Bernie, the Bolt"

2.

The Ancient of Days was first seen in 1794 when it appeared as the frontispiece to the artist’s own philosophical treatise Europe a Prophecy.  Name the artist.

William Blake

3.

What was given to the City of Glasgow by a former shipping magnate in 1944 and is now housed in a purpose built award-winning building on the Pollok estate?

The Burrell Collection

4.

Featuring at number 61 on Radio 4’s History of the World in 100 Objects were 78 pieces of carved walrus ivory from the twelfth century.  Where had they been unearthed in 1831?

The Isle of Lewis

5.

What thoroughfare connects Ludgate Hill with the junction of Newgate Street and Holborn Viaduct?

Old Bailey

6.

What is the name of the philanthropist, appointed Professor of Political Economy at Owen’s College in 1855, whose lasting memorial is the result of his disposal of the Whitworth estate as one of three legatees?

(Richard) Christie

7.

Name the Belgian priest, and Professor of Physics, who published his theory on the expanding nature of the universe in 1927, causing Einstein’s retort “Your maths is correct but your physics is abominable.”.

(Georges) Lemaitre

8.

Which restaurant, established in 1953 at 2 Greek Street Soho and specialising in Hungarian cuisine, takes its name from an operetta by Emmerich Kalman?

The Gay Hussar

Sp.

Who wrote the novel Kestrel for a Knave?

Barry Hines

(Jim Hines was the first man to run sub 10 seconds at the Mexico Olympics)

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

Give a year when Hadrian, of Hadrian’s Wall fame, was Emperor of Rome

117AD to 138AD

2.

Give a year when Offa, of Offa’s Dyke fame, was King of Mercia.

757AD to 796AD

3.

Who was recently appointed to succeed Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury in March next year?

Justin Welby

4.

Who was recently appointed to succeed Sir Mervyn King as Governor of the Bank of England in June next year?

Mark Carney

5.

The Natural History Museum has on display an iconic fossil, the Rhyniella Hirsti, which is generally accepted to be the world’s oldest known insect, but from which geological period does it come?

Devonian

6.

The Natural History Museum has on display an iconic fossil, Archaeopteryx, which is generally accepted to be the world’s oldest known bird, but from which geological period does it come?

Jurassic

7.

What body of water connects the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean Sea?

The Dardanelles

(accept Hellespont but only if the answerer looks ancient)

8.

What body of water connects the Gulf of Oman to the Persian Gulf?

Straits of Hormuz

ROUND 4 - Hidden theme

1.

What 1985 film, starring Madonna and Roseanna Arquette, took its title from an advert in the personals section of a New York tabloid that so very much intrigued the unfulfilled suburban housewife played by Arquette?

Desperately Seeking Susan

2.

Who co-wrote The Power of Love and had a cameo role in the 1985 film Back to the Future when his character, while holding auditions for the school prom, rejected Marty McFly and his band’s rendition of that same song with “sorry fellas you’re just too darned loud”?

Huey Lewis

3.

An innovation made from silk and known colloquially as 'Monkey’s fists' were first marketed by Charvet of Paris in 1904 as an alternative to what accessory?

Cuff links

4.

Which genus of the family felidae includes only two extant species: the jaguarundi and the cougar?

Puma

(hence the confusing changeability of the name - the cougar being the puma concolor)

5.

 If The Song of Moulin Rouge was the first, and Flat Beat the twenty fifth and most recent, what was the tenth on the 25th of August 1960?

Apache

(the list being of UK Number 1 singles that are instrumentals)

6.

Name the elder of the Sauk Native American tribe who led a doomed attack in 1832 to regain the tribal homelands in Illinois and is today immortalised in the name of a NHL franchise.

Black Hawk

(the franchise being the Chicago Black Hawks)

7.

What title did Harold Godwinson inherit on the death of his father in 1053?

Earl of Wessex

8.

Which song, first published in Montreal in the Pocket Song Book of McGill College, tells of the plucking of feathers from a skylark?

Alouette

Sp.

What is the common name for the bird, correctly the falco columbarius, which is Britain’s smallest bird of prey?

Merlin

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

What is the name of the process in which clay is compacted on the bottom and sides of a canal, or pond, to form a watertight lining?

Puddling

2.

What is the name of the process in which cotton and hemp fibres soaked in pine tar are hammered in to the cracks of a vessel’s hull to make it watertight?

Caulking

3.

Which multiple Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter released the album The Truth about Love in September 2012? 

Pink

4.

Which multiple Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter released the album Girl on Fire in November 2012?

Alicia Keys

5.

Mary Rand made a clean sweep of medals in the 1964 Olympics winning gold in the long jump but can you name the two events in which she won silver and bronze?

Pentathlon (silver),

4*100m relay (bronze)

6.

Who, in 1962, became the first female winner of the BBC Sport Personality of the Year?

Anita Lonsborough

7.

What, as of the 1st of December, is the most watched video in the history of YouTube, with more than 861m viewings, beating the number who watched the video of Justin Beiber’s Baby?

Gangnam Style

(by Psy)

8.

What three word long message, posted on the 6th of November, became the most re-tweeted message in the history of Twitter, with 817,165 re-tweets as of the 3rd of December, beating a message from Justin Beiber?

"Four more years"

(by Barak Obama)

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

What made its maiden flight when an otherwise unremarkable Hawker Hart biplane, serial number K3036, took off on the 21st of February 1935?

Rolls Royce Merlin engine

2.

Which piece of music by Paul Dukas was inspired by the poem, Zauberlehrling, written by Goethe in 1797?

Sorcerer’s Apprentice

3.

What single was a number 1 across much of Europe, for Europe, in 1986 before being disastrously remixed in 1999 in time for the millennium celebrations?

The Final Countdown

4.

Which Area of Outstanding National Beauty, designated in September 1958 and covering 26 square miles, incorporates the northern terminus of the long distance footpath known as The Heart of England Way?

Cannock Chase

5.

What was the codename for the invasion of Okinawa by American, British and Australian forces on April 1st 1945?

Operation Iceberg

6.

What was the name given to the fifth largest satellite of Uranus by its discoverer, Gerard Kuiper, in 1948?

Miranda    

7.

Name the future US president who was seriously wounded when a musket ball severed an artery in his shoulder while serving as a Lieutenant in Washington’s army at the battle of Trenton.

James Monroe

8.

What was introduced to the British public in 1910, weighs less than 6 grammes and is missing from this list of the British Army’s Standard Iron Ration of 1914: bully beef, cheese, biscuit, tea, sugar, salt and….

Oxo cube

Sp.

Which World Heritage site incorporates Old Harry Rocks?

Jurassic coast

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

For a hotel in which seaside town did the London Midland and Scottish Railway commission Eric Gill to sculpt two seahorses that would stand above, and to either side, of its main entrance in 1932?

Morecambe

(Midland Hotel)

2.

Who commissioned Eric Gill’s sculpture of Prospero and Ariel, made in Portland stone, to stand above the main entrance of their new headquarters, which opened in Central London in 1934?

BBC

(Broadcasting House)

3.

Complete the list of the five members admitted to a particular 'sporting club', since the Second World War: Tommy Lawton of Notts County, Reg Matthews of Coventry City, Johnny Byrne and Peter Taylor both of Crystal Palace, and….

Steve Bull

(of Wolverhampton Wanderers - being players who played for England while registered with a Third Division club)  

4.

Similarly what sporting club, despite being open for membership since 1780, has only ever admitted six members; the most recent, Fifinella, being as long ago as 1916?

Fillies who won the Derby

(Cape Verdi started as an 11-4 favourite in the 1998 race won by High Rise)

5.

The body of which warrior was exhumed from his grave in Samarkand in 1941, more than 500 years after his death, after which it was confirmed that he had indeed suffered a serious hip injury?

Timur the Lame

(aka Tamburlaine)

6.

The body of which scientist was exhumed from his grave in Prague in 2010, more than 400 years after his death, after which it was confirmed that he did not die from mercury poisoning but probably from a burst bladder?

Tyco Brahe

7.

The IUCN was founded in 1948 by Julian Huxley, the first Director General of UNESCO, but what do the initials stand for?

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

8.

CITES was drafted as a result of a 1963 meeting of the IUCN and entered into force on 1st of July 1975, but what do the initials stand for?

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme

1.

Which of NASA’s space shuttles was named in honour of the Royal Naval vessel that conducted a global oceanographic survey between 1872 and 1876 taking 492 deep sea soundings?

Challenger

(hence Challenger Deep)

2.

What term is used to describe a cricket delivery that bounces more than twice on its way to the batsman’s crease, and is also the nickname of the US Air Force’s BLU 82 bomb originally used to create large clearings in the Vietnamese Jungle?

Daisy Cutter

3.

What song, a 1972 number one single in the US billboard chart for Billy Paul, includes the following lyrics: “We gotta be extra careful that we don't build our hopes too high because she's got her own obligations and so do I”?

Me and Mrs Jones

4.

Falstaff, described as having a nutty flavour, and Wellington, described as exhibiting good frost resistance, are varieties of which edible?

Brussel Sprout

5.

The Warwickshire Drooper, beloved by brewers of the old English tipple, Jerkum, is a variety of which edible?

Plum

6.

Which registered charity, founded in 1982, ran the award winning advertising campaign 'Assume Nothing' that featured elongated, out of focus models photographed by Peter Dazeley?

Terence Higgins Trust

7.

What was the title of the seminal 1965 book on British youth culture that was chosen by William Broad as the name of his fledgling punk band in 1976?

Generation X

8.

Which 2011 award winning short film, starring Judi Dench, about wrinklies coming to terms with social networking, has, as its title, the phrase used on Facebook to indicate that another party has not yet responded to your initial entreaty?

Friend Request Pending

Sp.

In which community would you find The Border Hotel, the northern terminus of the Pennine Way?

Kirk Yetholm

(Digory Kirk had a well dodgy wardrobe)

Spares

1.

What has been made since 1868 by the McIlhenny Company of Avery Island, Louisiana?

Tabasco sauce

2.

Who famously said outside court after losing a libel case in 1986: “I’ve just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech”?

Ian Hislop

(the ‘fat Czech’ being Robert Maxwell)

3.

The 1987 Cup Final was described by John Motson as “the finest I’ve had the pleasure of commentating on”.  Name either of the teams involved.

(either)

Coventry City

(or)

Tottenham Hotspur

(accept Spurs)

4.

Which piece of music, by a fellow French composer, represents the tortoise in Saint Saens’ The Carnival of the Animals?

The Can-Can

(also accept Infernal Gallop by Offenbach)