ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

1.

Which English musician and band leader was renowned for her All Girl Band spanning a period of some 40 years until 1983?  She is best remembered for her signature tune Lady Be Good?

2.

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was founded in 1922 by William Hesketh Lever in memory of his wife and is famous for its collection of Pre-Raphaelite pictures.  In which English village is it to be found?

3.

Which 1994 film was directed by Philip Noyce, based on a Tom Clancy novel of the same name and was the last film version to star Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan.

4.

Which insurance intermediary based in Altrincham, is one of the largest providers of motorcycle insurance in the UK?

5.

Which report published 50 years ago is remembered as the document that sparked the huge expansion of the university system?

6.

When Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in 1923, whose drawings were used to illustrate it?

7.

Which Paraguayan footballer, currently playing for Malaga, is that country's all time leading goal scorer with 28 goals?

8.

The comedian Russell Brand has just started his first ever world stand up tour. What title has he given it?

Sp.

If you were to send a letter to Santa Clause, North Pole, Canada what post code would you use?

ROUND 2 - Linked Pairs

Each question is in 2 parts.  Each answer contains 3 words. The middle word is the second word of the first part and the first word of the second part.
For example: Who was the 3rd President of the USA; who was the leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War?  Answer: Thomas JEFFERSON Davis.
Note that the words ‘A’ ,‘The’ and ‘And’ don’t count.

1.

Which Chinese-style dish of fried noodles with shredded meat or seafood and vegetables comes from the Chinese for 'stir-fried noodles'?

Which work contains chapters entitled: In the House of My Parents; The Beginning of My Political Activity; The Struggle with the Red Front; Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy?

2.

What is the title of the Mozart opera that is also known as The Rake Punished?

Who was part of Italy's squad at the 1962 World Cup and coached his national team to the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004?

3.

The author of Fifty Shades of Grey is E L James.  What do the initials E L stand for?
What is the name of the medical officer in Star Trek, whose nickname is 'Bones'?

4.

Which US city is home to Torrey Pines golf course and has been called 'America's Craft Beer Capital'?

Which painter of murals was married to fellow artist Frida Kahlo?

5.

What is the capital of Mauritius?

In 2001, New Orleans airport was renamed in which person’s honour?

6.

Which artist wrote “I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born"?  His Nazi-orchestrated funeral left the impression with his fellow countrymen that he was a Nazi sympathizer.

Which series of children's books is about a group of unwanted vegetables, fruits, legumes and nuts who were swept to the corner of a shop but ran away together and set up home in and around an old, forgotten garden shed?  They spawned a brand of yoghurts based on the names of the characters.

7.

Which composer, born in 1937, who describes himself as "a Jewish-Taoist-Hindu-Toltec-Buddhist", won a Golden Globe for his film score for The Truman Show, a Bafta for his film score for The Hours and has collaborated with many musicians including David Bowie, Brian Eno and Leonard Cohen?

Which Tennessee Williams play is thought to be autobiographical, the characters and story mimicking his own more closely than any of his other works?

8.

Which food dish comprises a fried or grilled cheese and ham sandwich, whose name is French, for 'bite a man'?

What is the name of the comic film character created by Jacques Tati, whose trademark was a raincoat, umbrella and pipe?

Sp.

Which dish comprises poached eggs and sliced ham on toast, covered with hollandaise sauce?

Which General in the American army defected to the British army during the American Revolution, his name thus becoming a byword in the United States for treason or betrayal?

ROUND 3 - Pot pourri

1.

Sandy Park has been chosen as a venue for the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup.  Which Aviva premiership Rugby union club plays at this ground?

2.

Which long-standing member of the Simpsons cast died last month at the age of 70?

3.

The port of Mocha situated on the eastern side of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb is famous for its coffee exports between the 15th and 17th centuries.  In which country, not now renowned for its coffee exports, is it?

4.

Whose works form the basis for the operas Luisa Miller, Don Carlo, I Masnieri (the Robbers) all by Verdi, Guillaume Tell by Rossini and Maria Stuarda by Donizetti?

5.

How are the members of the nomadic tribe Saami better known?

6.

Which element, 44th in the periodic table, a hard white metal found in platinum ores, was called after the Latin for Russia by its discoverer in 1845?

7.

What foodstuff was the traditional gift from daughters away in Domestic Service to their mother on Mothering Sunday?

8.

Which poet whose first collection of poems was called And a Good Time Was Had by All and whose best-known collection is probably Not Waving but Drowning was born in Hull in 1901?

ROUND 4 - Picture Round

(with non-picture alternative versions of questions 3, 4, 5 and 6)

1.

Which southern European capital is shown in this aerial picture?

2.

Which southern European capital is shown in this aerial picture?

3.

What Olympic sporting event takes place in this arena?

or

Which Olympic sport's name is derived from the French for training?

4.

Which sport is played in this arena?

or

The positions cover, third man, cover point and centre occur in which sport?

5.

Which cartoonist drew this picture?

or

Which cartoonist born in 1920 started his drawing career by documenting the life in the Japanese prisoner of war camp in which he was incarcerated?  He is popularly associated with cartoons of academic institutions.

6.

Which cartoonist drew this picture?

or

Which cartoonist, born in Tranmere in 1933 has published for the Daily Mirror, Punch, Private Eye and What's Brewing? amongst other publications?  He has also appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

7.

Who is this Blackpool born tenor well-known for his operatic and musical theatre roles?

8.

Who is this singer?  He appears in musical theatre and TV and is also a radio presenter.

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

Why has Magnus Carlsen been in the news recently?

2.

Laure Prouvost has been in the headlines recently for what achievement?

3.

The Bridge is the title of a recent Scandinavian crime/drama TV series.  What is the name of the bridge referred to?

4.

Borgen is a Danish political drama TV series.  What is the origin of the title Borgen?

5.

Which bands albums include Definitely Maybe (1994) and Be Here Now (1997)?

6.

Which bands albums include His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995)?

7.

What species of birds may be little, corn, reed, Lapland, rock and snow?

8.

What species of birds may be common, curlew, green, marsh, purple and wood?

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

Which member of the Rolling Stones, whose real surname is Perks, has designed and marketed a patented metal detector?

2.

Which Coronation Street character, played by Bruno Langley, was the program’s first gay character?

3.

Founded after a British philanthropist, which is the newest of the Cambridge colleges?  Among its alumni are Nick Clegg, Konnie Huq and Robert Webb.

4.

What is Marge Simpson’s maiden name?

5.

Born in 1989, this singer/songwriter released her eponymous debut album in 2006.  Our Song, her third single, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the country chart.

6.

Which company, founded in 1985, has been criticised for many aspects of its customer service and advertising campaigns?  One of their advertisements used a picture of the Manneken Pis, asking the reader whether they were "pissed off” with the high prices of one of its Belgian competitors?

7.

Which musician and producer was a member of the Shadows and was once engaged to Olivia Newton-John?

8.

Which item of clothing is named after an American social reformer, women’s rights and temperance advocate, who in 1849 urged women to develop a style of dress that was not so harmful to their health as the current fashion?

Sp.

Which sporting tournament began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States and is named after a Harvard student who went on to serve as US Secretary of War from 1925-29 and Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929-32?

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

Which Australian rock band had a 1972 hit with the song In a Broken Dream featuring an uncredited Rod Stewart as guest vocalist?

2.

Which TV series of the 1980s was originally filmed at Alnwick Castle and had end credits which featured the words "Additional Dialogue by William Shakespeare”?

3.

Who has been the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2002 and is patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation?

4.

What is the title of the children’s novel, published in 1858, which was the inspiration for and mentioned in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies?

5.

Which single from REM’s album Automatic for the People, with lyrics referring to making and avoiding phone calls, features the line: "Call me when you try to wake her" which, according to a 2010 survey, was the most misheard lyric in the UK, the most common mishearing being "Calling Jamaica”?

6.

Which of George Orwell’s novels is about Gordon Comstock who has 'declared war' on what he sees as an 'overarching dependence' on money by leaving a promising job as a copywriter and taking a low-paying job instead, ostensibly so he can write poetry?

7.

Which book, the second in James Clavell’s Asian Saga, the title of which translates roughly as 'Big Shot', is about European and American traders who move into Hong Kong following the end of the First Opium War?

8.

What is the name of the drinking establishment in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

Sp1

Known for its marine turtles and ultramarathon, which is the easternmost island of Cape Verde?

Sp2

Which company was founded in 1989 by Cambridge law graduate and qualified Chartered Accountant Karan Bilimoria, who thought that Britain needed a smoother, less gassy lager, which would appeal to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike?

Sp3

What is the title of the single and album released by Steve Earle in 1988, which Earle himself calls the world's first blend of heavy metal and bluegrass?

ROUND 8 - Pot pourri

1.

Of which British institution is St Cyr the French equivalent?

2.

The letters A, G, C, and T, and only these, are used to describe what?

3.

Thank You for Being a Friend sung by Cynthia Fee was the theme tune for which US 1980s-1990s sitcom?

4.

The picturesque railway line from Edinburgh to Carlisle via Hawick closed in 1969 and is planned to be partially reopened in 2015.  The name by which this line is known has Sir Walter Scott connections.  What is it?

5.

What is the name given to the radio frequency band with wavelengths between 1m and 10m?

6.

In The Birds by Aeschulus what term or phrase is used to describe an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect?

7.

Born in Northamptonshire in 1793 and dying in the county's Lunatic Asylum in 1864 which poet, best known for works such as The Village Minstrel and Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenes is sometimes called 'The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet'?

8.

Spares

1.

HMS Trincomalee is a Royal Navy frigate built in India and launched in 1817 and is the oldest British warship still afloat.  In which North-East Coast town can you see her?

2.

Wormold is a major character in which 20th century novel?

3.

Which English king introduced the Jury system?

4.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge was, from 1717-18, the flagship of which pirate?

ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

1.

Which English musician and band leader was renowned for her All Girl Band spanning a period of some 40 years until 1983?  She is best remembered for her signature tune Lady Be Good?

Ivy Benson

2.

The Lady Lever Art Gallery was founded in 1922 by William Hesketh Lever in memory of his wife and is famous for its collection of Pre-Raphaelite pictures.  In which English village is it to be found?

Port Sunlight

3.

Which 1994 film was directed by Philip Noyce, based on a Tom Clancy novel of the same name and was the last film version to star Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan.

Clear and Present Danger

4.

Which insurance intermediary based in Altrincham, is one of the largest providers of motorcycle insurance in the UK?

Carole Nash

5.

Which report published 50 years ago is remembered as the document that sparked the huge expansion of the university system?

Robbins Report

6.

When Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in 1923, whose drawings were used to illustrate it?

E H Shepard

7.

Which Paraguayan footballer, currently playing for Malaga, is that country's all time leading goal scorer with 28 goals?

Roque Santa Cruz

8.

The comedian Russell Brand has just started his first ever world stand up tour. What title has he given it?

'Messiah Complex World Tour'

Sp.

If you were to send a letter to Santa Clause, North Pole, Canada what post code would you use?

H0H 0H0

ROUND 2 - Linked Pairs

Each question is in 2 parts.  Each answer contains 3 words. The middle word is the second word of the first part and the first word of the second part.
For example: Who was the 3rd President of the USA; who was the leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War?  Answer: Thomas JEFFERSON Davis.
Note that the words ‘A’ ,‘The’ and ‘And’ don’t count.

1.

Which Chinese-style dish of fried noodles with shredded meat or seafood and vegetables comes from the Chinese for 'stir-fried noodles'?

Which work contains chapters entitled: In the House of My Parents; The Beginning of My Political Activity; The Struggle with the Red Front; Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy?

Chow MEIN Kampf

2.

What is the title of the Mozart opera that is also known as The Rake Punished?

Who was part of Italy's squad at the 1962 World Cup and coached his national team to the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004?

Don GIOVANNI Trapattoni

3.

The author of Fifty Shades of Grey is E L James.  What do the initials E L stand for?

What is the name of the medical officer in Star Trek, whose nickname is 'Bones'?

Erika LEONARD McCoy

4.

Which US city is home to Torrey Pines golf course and has been called 'America's Craft Beer Capital'?

Which painter of murals was married to fellow artist Frida Kahlo?

San DIEGO Rivera

5.

What is the capital of Mauritius?

In 2001, New Orleans airport was renamed in which person’s honour?

Port LOUIS Armstrong

6.

Which artist wrote “I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born"?  His Nazi-orchestrated funeral left the impression with his fellow countrymen that he was a Nazi sympathizer.

Which series of children's books is about a group of unwanted vegetables, fruits, legumes and nuts who were swept to the corner of a shop but ran away together and set up home in and around an old, forgotten garden shed?  They spawned a brand of yoghurts based on the names of the characters.

Edvard MUNCH Bunch

7.

Which composer, born in 1937, who describes himself as "a Jewish-Taoist-Hindu-Toltec-Buddhist", won a Golden Globe for his film score for The Truman Show, a Bafta for his film score for The Hours and has collaborated with many musicians including David Bowie, Brian Eno and Leonard Cohen?

Which Tennessee Williams play is thought to be autobiographical, the characters and story mimicking his own more closely than any of his other works?

Philip GLASS Menagerie

8.

Which food dish comprises a fried or grilled cheese and ham sandwich, whose name is French, for 'bite a man'?

What is the name of the comic film character created by Jacques Tati, whose trademark was a raincoat, umbrella and pipe?

Croque-MONSIEUR Hulot

Sp.

Which dish comprises poached eggs and sliced ham on toast, covered with hollandaise sauce?

Which General in the American army defected to the British army during the American Revolution, his name thus becoming a byword in the United States for treason or betrayal?

Eggs BENEDICT Arnold

ROUND 3 - Pot pourri

1.

Sandy Park has been chosen as a venue for the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup.  Which Aviva premiership Rugby union club plays at this ground?

Exeter

(Chiefs)

2.

Which long-standing member of the Simpsons cast died last month at the age of 70?

Marcia Wallace

(Mrs Krabappel)

3.

The port of Mocha situated on the eastern side of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb is famous for its coffee exports between the 15th and 17th centuries.  In which country, not now renowned for its coffee exports, is it?

Yemen

4.

Whose works form the basis for the operas Luisa Miller, Don Carlo, I Masnieri (the Robbers) all by Verdi, Guillaume Tell by Rossini and Maria Stuarda by Donizetti?

Schiller

(they are all based on plays by Schiller)

5.

How are the members of the nomadic tribe Saami better known?

(Lapps)

6.

Which element, 44th in the periodic table, a hard white metal found in platinum ores, was called after the Latin for Russia by its discoverer in 1845?

Ruthenium

7.

What foodstuff was the traditional gift from daughters away in Domestic Service to their mother on Mothering Sunday?

Simnel Cake

8.

Which poet whose first collection of poems was called And a Good Time Was Had by All and whose best-known collection is probably Not Waving but Drowning was born in Hull in 1901?

Stevie Smith

ROUND 4 - Picture Round

(with non-picture alternative versions of questions 3, 4, 5 and 6)

1.

Which southern European capital is shown in this aerial picture?

Belgrade

2.

Which southern European capital is shown in this aerial picture?

Lisbon

3.

What Olympic sporting event takes place in this arena?

or

Which Olympic sport's name is derived from the French for training?

4.

Which sport is played in this arena?

or

The positions cover, third man, cover point and centre occur in which sport?

5.

Which cartoonist drew this picture?

or

Which cartoonist born in 1920 started his drawing career by documenting the life in the Japanese prisoner of war camp in which he was incarcerated?  He is popularly associated with cartoons of academic institutions.

6.

Which cartoonist drew this picture?

or

Which cartoonist, born in Tranmere in 1933 has published for the Daily Mirror, Punch, Private Eye and What's Brewing? amongst other publications?  He has also appeared on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

7.

Who is this Blackpool born tenor well-known for his operatic and musical theatre roles?

8.

Who is this singer?  He appears in musical theatre and TV and is also a radio presenter.

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

Why has Magnus Carlsen been in the news recently?

He became the new chess world champion

2.

Laure Prouvost has been in the headlines recently for what achievement?

Winner of the 2013 Turner Prize

3.

The Bridge is the title of a recent Scandinavian crime/drama TV series.  What is the name of the bridge referred to?

Oresund

4.

Borgen is a Danish political drama TV series.  What is the origin of the title Borgen?

It is the nickname of Christiansborg Palace

(which houses the Danish parliament, the prime minister's office and the supreme court)

5.

Which bands albums include Definitely Maybe (1994) and Be Here Now (1997)?

Oasis

6.

Which bands albums include His 'n' Hers (1994) and Different Class (1995)?

Pulp

7.

What species of birds may be little, corn, reed, Lapland, rock and snow?

Buntings

8.

What species of birds may be common, curlew, green, marsh, purple and wood?

Sandpipers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

Which member of the Rolling Stones, whose real surname is Perks, has designed and marketed a patented metal detector?

Bill Wyman

2.

Which Coronation Street character, played by Bruno Langley, was the program’s first gay character?

Todd Grimshaw

3.

Founded after a British philanthropist, which is the newest of the Cambridge colleges?  Among its alumni are Nick Clegg, Konnie Huq and Robert Webb.

Robinson

4.

What is Marge Simpson’s maiden name?

Bouvier

5.

Born in 1989, this singer/songwriter released her eponymous debut album in 2006.  Our Song, her third single, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number one song on the country chart.

Taylor Swift

6.

Which company, founded in 1985, has been criticised for many aspects of its customer service and advertising campaigns?  One of their advertisements used a picture of the Manneken Pis, asking the reader whether they were "pissed off” with the high prices of one of its Belgian competitors?

Ryanair

7.

Which musician and producer was a member of the Shadows and was once engaged to Olivia Newton-John?

Bruce Welch

8.

Which item of clothing is named after an American social reformer, women’s rights and temperance advocate, who in 1849 urged women to develop a style of dress that was not so harmful to their health as the current fashion?

Bloomers

Sp.

Which sporting tournament began in 1900 as a challenge between Great Britain and the United States and is named after a Harvard student who went on to serve as US Secretary of War from 1925-29 and Governor-General of the Philippines from 1929-32?

The Davis Cup

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

Which Australian rock band had a 1972 hit with the song In a Broken Dream featuring an uncredited Rod Stewart as guest vocalist?

Python Lee Jackson

2.

Which TV series of the 1980s was originally filmed at Alnwick Castle and had end credits which featured the words "Additional Dialogue by William Shakespeare”?

Blackadder

3.

Who has been the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2002 and is patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation?

Simon Rattle

4.

What is the title of the children’s novel, published in 1858, which was the inspiration for and mentioned in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies?

The Coral Island

5.

Which single from REM’s album Automatic for the People, with lyrics referring to making and avoiding phone calls, features the line: "Call me when you try to wake her" which, according to a 2010 survey, was the most misheard lyric in the UK, the most common mishearing being "Calling Jamaica”?

The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight

6.

Which of George Orwell’s novels is about Gordon Comstock who has 'declared war' on what he sees as an 'overarching dependence' on money by leaving a promising job as a copywriter and taking a low-paying job instead, ostensibly so he can write poetry?

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

7.

Which book, the second in James Clavell’s Asian Saga, the title of which translates roughly as 'Big Shot', is about European and American traders who move into Hong Kong following the end of the First Opium War?

Tai-pan

8.

What is the name of the drinking establishment in The Merry Wives of Windsor?

The Garter Inn

Sp1

Known for its marine turtles and ultramarathon, which is the easternmost island of Cape Verde?

Boa Vista

Sp2

Which company was founded in 1989 by Cambridge law graduate and qualified Chartered Accountant Karan Bilimoria, who thought that Britain needed a smoother, less gassy lager, which would appeal to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike?

Cobra Beer

Sp3

What is the title of the single and album released by Steve Earle in 1988, which Earle himself calls the world's first blend of heavy metal and bluegrass?

Copperhead Road

ROUND 8 - Pot pourri

1.

Of which British institution is St Cyr the French equivalent?

Sandhurst

2.

The letters A, G, C, and T, and only these, are used to describe what?

DNA sequences

3.

Thank You for Being a Friend sung by Cynthia Fee was the theme tune for which US 1980s-1990s sitcom?

The Golden Girls

4.

The picturesque railway line from Edinburgh to Carlisle via Hawick closed in 1969 and is planned to be partially reopened in 2015.  The name by which this line is known has Sir Walter Scott connections.  What is it?

The Waverley line

5.

What is the name given to the radio frequency band with wavelengths between 1m and 10m?

VHF

6.

In The Birds by Aeschulus what term or phrase is used to describe an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect?

'Cloud Cuckoo Land'

7.

Born in Northamptonshire in 1793 and dying in the county's Lunatic Asylum in 1864 which poet, best known for works such as The Village Minstrel and Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenes is sometimes called 'The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet'?

John Clare

8.

Richard Lovelace

Spares

1.

HMS Trincomalee is a Royal Navy frigate built in India and launched in 1817 and is the oldest British warship still afloat.  In which North-East Coast town can you see her?

Hartlepool

2.

Wormold is a major character in which 20th century novel?

Our Man in Havana

3.

Which English king introduced the Jury system?

Henry II

4.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge was, from 1717-18, the flagship of which pirate?

Edward Teach or Blackbeard

(accept either)