ROUND 1 - Paired with Round 2

1.

Which former Labour cabinet minister was described by Harold Wilson as “someone who immatures with age” and by Kinsley Amis as “the most dangerous man in Britain”?

2.

Which actor stars as Mrs Brown in the inexplicably popular comedy show Mrs Brown’s Boys?

3.

Which Austrian, who died in 1925, founded the Waldorf schools based on anthroposophy principles?  There are 33 such schools in the UK, and 1000 worldwide.

4.

The current United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change was once Director General of WHO and Prime Minister of Norway.  Who is she?

5.

Who is the only person to have won an Oscar as producer of the Best Film and also won a Turner Prize?

6.

Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Ena survived an assassination attempt on her wedding day and was queen consort of which country from from 1906 to 1931?

7.

Pete Sampras could have won eight consecutive Men’s Wimbledon Singles championships had he not been defeated in the 1996 quarterfinals by the man who went on to win the title that year.  Who beat him?

8.

Still a popular given name who was the mother of the Old Testament prophet Samuel?

1.

Who was the only daughter of the Prophet Muhammad to outlive him?

2.

Bjorn Borg won five consecutive Men’s Wimbledon Singles championships from 1976 to 1980.  He beat Jimmy Connors (twice) and John McEnroe, and two other players.  Name either.

3.

Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter Louise, a sister of Louis Mountbatten, was queen consort of which country from 1950 to 1965?

4.

Who has had 49 Oscar nominations, the most of any living person?  Though he has only won five times three of these films were the highest grossing films ever made at the time.

5.

The current Secretary General of NATO was a former Prime Minister of Denmark.  Who is he?

6.

Which Italian physician, who died in 1952, founded schools based on free activity in a prepared environment?  There are over 700 such establishments in the UK.

7.

Which actress plays Miranda’s mother in the inexplicably popular comedy show Miranda?

8.

Which former Tory cabinet minister was described by Harold MacMillan as “the only boring Jew I have ever met” and by Reginald Maudling as “nutty as a fruit cake”?

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

1.

What was the Kaiser Chief’s first number 1 hit in the UK charts and the 10th best selling single in 2007?

2.

With sales of 33 million albums and singles worldwide which group has been the most successful Danish band?  They had three number 1 hits in the UK in the 1990s.

3.

Born in Bodelwyddan in 1993, who became the first Briton to win an Olympic gold medal in taekwondo when she triumphed in London 2012?

4.

Which drama series, running since 2005, was originally set in the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, Washington?

5.

Which 1908 novel by Henry de Vere Stacpoole, exploring the theme of emerging adolescent sexuality, was filmed in 1923, 1949 and 1980 and starred Molly Adair, Jean Simmons and Brooke Shields respectively?

6.

Texan born Haley O’Sullivan is the current holder of which title awarded annually in County Kerry since 1959?

7.

What word connects Alecia Moore, a lingerie line by Victoria’s Secret, and Dianthus plumarius?

8.

What word connects the 1952 Grand National winner, the forerunner of Air New Zealand, and Anas crecca?

ROUND 4 - Picture Round

1.

What connects this statue outside Liverpool Street Station with former Battersea MP, now Labour life peer, Alf Dubs?

2.

Which North West industrialists commissioned this memorial to over 4,000 of their workers who had served in the Great War, of whom 503 had been killed?

3.

Who is this French composer who died in 1924? His most famous piece was played every weekday on radio from 1950 to 1982 delighting generations of children.

4.

Who is this French composer who died in 1921?  The maestoso movement from his third symphony delighted a new generation of children in the 1995 film Babe.

5.

Now a 52 year old art dealer in Los Angeles he played the youngest son in which US drama series that ran from 1971 to 1981?

6.

Now a 39 year old mathematician and occasional actress, and pictured here with her son Draco, her best selling maths books for teen girls include the titles Math Doesn’t Suck, Kiss My Math, Hot X-Algebra Exposed and Girls Get Curves - Geometry Takes Shape.  In which comedy drama running from 1988 to 1993 did she play the adolescent love interest of the lead character?

7.

Who was this American First Lady?

8.

Who was this American First Lady?

ROUND 5 - Given theme - 'Health Secretaries'

Since 1979 there have been 15 people who have held the thankless task of Secretary of State for Health. Each answer contains the name of one of them (sometimes in 'sound-alike' form). In the interests of balance there are four Tories and four from the Labour party randomly scattered.  There have been no Liberal Democrat Health Secretaries so far.

1.

According to Shakespeare which unlikely object moved to Dunsinane and presaged the overthrow of Macbeth?

2.

Which footballer played 353 times for Newcastle scoring 200 goals and 13 times for England scoring 10 goals?  When he died in 1988 during a particularly bad run for the club it was cynically suggested it was the first time Newcastle United had a striker in the box all season.

3.

Which now deceased character from EastEnders was imprisoned twice for fraud though the second was as a result of a frame up?

4.

Which EastEnders actress had a Number 4 hit in the UK charts in 1986 with Anyone Can Fall in Love?

5.

Who won his first golf major in 2011 after 54 attempts?

6.

What is the name coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858 to describe the conflict between Great Britain and Spain from 1739 to 1748?  It derives from an incident off the coast of Florida in 1731.

7.

Currently serving a whole of life tariff at a maximum-security prison in Colorado who is the British-born terrorist known as 'the Shoebomber'?

8.

Which Peter Shaffer play of 1964 portrays the conflicting worldviews of Francisco Pizarro and Incan Emperor Atahualpa?

ROUND 6 - Connected pattern

1.

The thick billed murre, the spectacled guillemot and the razorbill are all species of which bird family?

2.

Which city was the capital of Vietnam until 1945?  Located on the Perfume River it is home to the tombs of many of the Nguyen emperors who built a citadel containing a Forbidden City there.

3.

Which Greek letter has been variously used in science as a measurement of the tortuosity of a substance; the name of a group of proteins abundant in neurones; and as a prefix in the naming of stars?

4.

Which group of compounds containing an N=N bond (N double bond N) between two larger groups of the molecule have been used as dyes and pigments?  Examples include methyl orange and sunset yellow.

5.

What word connects a British racing car manufacturer founded in Lincolnshire by Ray Mays producing E-type and G-type models amongst others; and the statistic that calculates the average number of runs a pitcher concedes in a nine innings game?

6.

Which name is common to these two rivers?  One emerges from Wookey Hole in Somerset and empties into the Bristol Channel.  The other rises near Beaminster in Dorset and flows south into Lyme Bay.

7.

In Italy bottarga is dried and cured for several weeks before eating; in the Lebanon it is often eaten raw directly from the source; and in Japan the reddish-orange ikura is often used in sushi.  What type of food are these?

8.

Invented in 1922 by Nobel Prize winning physicist Gustav Dalen it used the following principle “a heavy frame made from cast iron components can absorb heat from a low intensity but continuously burning source and the accumulated heat used when needed”.  What is the name common to both the product and the company?

ROUNDS 7 & 8 - Pick Your Own Subject

1.

WWI - troops

In 1914 just before the battle of the Marne 6,000 troops were rushed from Paris to the front by what method of transport?

2.

WWI - armaments

In 1914 the invading Germans solved the problem of the forts at Liege and Namur by shelling them with enormous howitzers.  Which two firms made them?

3.

WWI - naval battles

In 1914 the Royal Navy sank the German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gniesenau off the coast of which islands?

4.

WWI - home front

In 1914 three east coast English towns were bombarded from the sea with significant civilian deaths.  Name two of the three towns.

5.

Cricket

What is the name of the Australian Twenty20 League tournament held in December / January in Australia?

6.

European kings

What relation was Louis 15th to his immediate predecessor Louis 14th?

7.

Musicals

Which is the most successful musical in terms of gross receipts of all time?

8.

9.

10.

Classical music

Mozart’s works are catalogued with K numbers but which letter is used to catalogue the works of Franz Schubert?         

11.

Radio comedy

Which radio sitcom ran from 1959 to 1975 (with two subsequent specials) and starred Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips and Stephen Murray?  Richard Caldicot played their superior 'Thunderguts' Povey.

12.

Natural world

What kind of creature is a pollywog?

13.

Racing

What kind of race is the Elfstedentocht held 15 times since 1909?

14.

Cemeteries

Audie Murphy, a popular actor who starred in Westerns, was killed in an air crash in 1971. In which cemetery is he interred?

15.

The Bible

Which book of the Bible promises a term of life of three score years and ten?  Luckily this is often exceeded to the relief of several Withington quizzers!

16.

Hell

The expression 'All hell broke loose' is a quotation from which poetical work?

17.

US crime

The Five Families are the original Italian American Mafia crime families of New York City that have dominated organised crime in the US since 1931.  Name two of them.

18.

UK crime

In which year were the last judicial executions in the United Kingdom?

19.

Large organ

In which large organ of the body would you find Meissner’s corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel cells and Langerhans cells amongst others?

20.

Homoeroticism

Which film director when asked in 1990 what he thought about all the homoeroticism on Channel 4 replied, that in his opinion, there was not enough of it?

Spares

1.

In which organ of the body are the loops of Henle?

2.

What name connects a character from the Mikado and a type of doughnut in the shape of a twisted rope?

3.

What is the title of popular boy band One Direction’s latest album?  Although only released on 25 November 2013 it was 2013’s biggest seller.

4.

Why is the shipping area Forties so called?

5.

How many popes have been called Leo?

6.

The Clore Gallery at the Tate primarily houses works by which British artist?

ROUND 1 - Paired with Round 2

1.

Which former Labour cabinet minister was described by Harold Wilson as “someone who immatures with age” and by Kinsley Amis as “the most dangerous man in Britain”?

Tony Benn

2.

Which actor stars as Mrs Brown in the inexplicably popular comedy show Mrs Brown’s Boys?

Brendan O’Carroll

3.

Which Austrian, who died in 1925, founded the Waldorf schools based on anthroposophy principles?  There are 33 such schools in the UK, and 1000 worldwide.

Rudolf Steiner

4.

The current United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change was once Director General of WHO and Prime Minister of Norway.  Who is she?

Gro Harlem Brundtland

5.

Who is the only person to have won an Oscar as producer of the Best Film and also won a Turner Prize?

Steve McQueen

6.

Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Ena survived an assassination attempt on her wedding day and was queen consort of which country from from 1906 to 1931?

Spain

7.

Pete Sampras could have won eight consecutive Men’s Wimbledon Singles championships had he not been defeated in the 1996 quarterfinals by the man who went on to win the title that year.  Who beat him?

Richard Krajicek

8.

Still a popular given name who was the mother of the Old Testament prophet Samuel?

Hannah

1.

Who was the only daughter of the Prophet Muhammad to outlive him?

Fatima

2.

Bjorn Borg won five consecutive Men’s Wimbledon Singles championships from 1976 to 1980.  He beat Jimmy Connors (twice) and John McEnroe, and two other players.  Name either.

3.

Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter Louise, a sister of Louis Mountbatten, was queen consort of which country from 1950 to 1965?

4.

Who has had 49 Oscar nominations, the most of any living person?  Though he has only won five times three of these films were the highest grossing films ever made at the time.

John Williams

(the 3 were Jaws, Star Wars and ET)

5.

The current Secretary General of NATO was a former Prime Minister of Denmark.  Who is he?

6.

Which Italian physician, who died in 1952, founded schools based on free activity in a prepared environment?  There are over 700 such establishments in the UK.

7.

Which actress plays Miranda’s mother in the inexplicably popular comedy show Miranda?

8.

Which former Tory cabinet minister was described by Harold MacMillan as “the only boring Jew I have ever met” and by Reginald Maudling as “nutty as a fruit cake”?

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

1.

What was the Kaiser Chief’s first number 1 hit in the UK charts and the 10th best selling single in 2007?

Ruby

2.

With sales of 33 million albums and singles worldwide which group has been the most successful Danish band?  They had three number 1 hits in the UK in the 1990s.

Aqua

3.

Born in Bodelwyddan in 1993, who became the first Briton to win an Olympic gold medal in taekwondo when she triumphed in London 2012?

Jade Jones

4.

Which drama series, running since 2005, was originally set in the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, Washington?

Grey’s Anatomy

5.

Which 1908 novel by Henry de Vere Stacpoole, exploring the theme of emerging adolescent sexuality, was filmed in 1923, 1949 and 1980 and starred Molly Adair, Jean Simmons and Brooke Shields respectively?

The Blue Lagoon

6.

Texan born Haley O’Sullivan is the current holder of which title awarded annually in County Kerry since 1959?

Rose of Tralee

7.

What word connects Alecia Moore, a lingerie line by Victoria’s Secret, and Dianthus plumarius?

Pink

8.

What word connects the 1952 Grand National winner, the forerunner of Air New Zealand, and Anas crecca?

Teal

ROUND 4 - Picture Round

1.

What connects this statue outside Liverpool Street Station with former Battersea MP, now Labour life peer, Alf Dubs?

It commemorates the Kindertransport of 10,000 (mostly) Jewish children from Occupied Europe to the UK just before the War

(Alf Dubs was one of those children)

2.

Which North West industrialists commissioned this memorial to over 4,000 of their workers who had served in the Great War, of whom 503 had been killed?

(it is in Port Sunlight)

3.

Who is this French composer who died in 1924? His most famous piece was played every weekday on radio from 1950 to 1982 delighting generations of children.

Gabriel Fauré

4.

Who is this French composer who died in 1921?  The maestoso movement from his third symphony delighted a new generation of children in the 1995 film Babe.

Camille Saint-Saëns

5.

Now a 52 year old art dealer in Los Angeles he played the youngest son in which US drama series that ran from 1971 to 1981?

(he is David Harper and he played Jim-Bob)

6.

Now a 39 year old mathematician and occasional actress, and pictured here with her son Draco, her best selling maths books for teen girls include the titles Math Doesn’t Suck, Kiss My Math, Hot X-Algebra Exposed and Girls Get Curves - Geometry Takes Shape.  In which comedy drama running from 1988 to 1993 did she play the adolescent love interest of the lead character?

The Wonder Years

(Danica McKellar who played Winnie Cooper)

7.

Who was this American First Lady?

Mamie Eisenhower

8.

Who was this American First Lady?

Betty Ford

ROUND 5 - Given theme - 'Health Secretaries'

Since 1979 there have been 15 people who have held the thankless task of Secretary of State for Health. Each answer contains the name of one of them (sometimes in 'sound-alike' form). In the interests of balance there are four Tories and four from the Labour party randomly scattered.  There have been no Liberal Democrat Health Secretaries so far.

1.

According to Shakespeare which unlikely object moved to Dunsinane and presaged the overthrow of Macbeth?

Birnam Wood

(Andy Burnham Lab 2009-10)

2.

Which footballer played 353 times for Newcastle scoring 200 goals and 13 times for England scoring 10 goals?  When he died in 1988 during a particularly bad run for the club it was cynically suggested it was the first time Newcastle United had a striker in the box all season.

Jackie Milburn

(Alan Milburn Lab 1999-2003)

3.

Which now deceased character from EastEnders was imprisoned twice for fraud though the second was as a result of a frame up?

Arthur Fowler

(Norman Fowler Con 1981-1987)

4.

Which EastEnders actress had a Number 4 hit in the UK charts in 1986 with Anyone Can Fall in Love?

Anita Dobson

(Frank Dobson Lab 1997-1999)

5.

Who won his first golf major in 2011 after 54 attempts?

(Ken Clarke Con 1988-1990)

6.

What is the name coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858 to describe the conflict between Great Britain and Spain from 1739 to 1748?  It derives from an incident off the coast of Florida in 1731.

(Patrick Jenkin Con 1979-1981)

7.

Currently serving a whole of life tariff at a maximum-security prison in Colorado who is the British-born terrorist known as 'the Shoebomber'?

(John Reid Lab 2003-2005)

8.

Which Peter Shaffer play of 1964 portrays the conflicting worldviews of Francisco Pizarro and Incan Emperor Atahualpa?

The Royal Hunt of the Sun

(Jeremy Hunt Con 2012-present

ROUND 6 - Connected pattern

1.

The thick billed murre, the spectacled guillemot and the razorbill are all species of which bird family?

Auk

2.

Which city was the capital of Vietnam until 1945?  Located on the Perfume River it is home to the tombs of many of the Nguyen emperors who built a citadel containing a Forbidden City there.

Hue

3.

Which Greek letter has been variously used in science as a measurement of the tortuosity of a substance; the name of a group of proteins abundant in neurones; and as a prefix in the naming of stars?

Tau

4.

Which group of compounds containing an N=N bond (N double bond N) between two larger groups of the molecule have been used as dyes and pigments?  Examples include methyl orange and sunset yellow.

Azo

5.

What word connects a British racing car manufacturer founded in Lincolnshire by Ray Mays producing E-type and G-type models amongst others; and the statistic that calculates the average number of runs a pitcher concedes in a nine innings game?

ERA

6.

Which name is common to these two rivers?  One emerges from Wookey Hole in Somerset and empties into the Bristol Channel.  The other rises near Beaminster in Dorset and flows south into Lyme Bay.

Axe

7.

In Italy bottarga is dried and cured for several weeks before eating; in the Lebanon it is often eaten raw directly from the source; and in Japan the reddish-orange ikura is often used in sushi.  What type of food are these?

8.

Invented in 1922 by Nobel Prize winning physicist Gustav Dalen it used the following principle “a heavy frame made from cast iron components can absorb heat from a low intensity but continuously burning source and the accumulated heat used when needed”.  What is the name common to both the product and the company?

Aga

ROUNDS 7 & 8 - Pick Your Own Subject

1.

WWI - troops

In 1914 just before the battle of the Marne 6,000 troops were rushed from Paris to the front by what method of transport?

2.

WWI - armaments

In 1914 the invading Germans solved the problem of the forts at Liege and Namur by shelling them with enormous howitzers.  Which two firms made them?

3.

WWI - naval battles

In 1914 the Royal Navy sank the German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gniesenau off the coast of which islands?

4.

WWI - home front

In 1914 three east coast English towns were bombarded from the sea with significant civilian deaths.  Name two of the three towns.

5.

Cricket

What is the name of the Australian Twenty20 League tournament held in December / January in Australia?

The Big Bash

6.

European kings

What relation was Louis 15th to his immediate predecessor Louis 14th?

7.

Musicals

Which is the most successful musical in terms of gross receipts of all time?

8.

9.

10.

Classical music

Mozart’s works are catalogued with K numbers but which letter is used to catalogue the works of Franz Schubert?         

11.

Radio comedy

Which radio sitcom ran from 1959 to 1975 (with two subsequent specials) and starred Jon Pertwee, Leslie Phillips and Stephen Murray?  Richard Caldicot played their superior 'Thunderguts' Povey.

12.

Natural world

What kind of creature is a pollywog?

13.

Racing

What kind of race is the Elfstedentocht held 15 times since 1909?

Long distance (120 miles) ice speed skating

(held on Dutch canals linking 11 towns if the conditions are cold enough)

14.

Cemeteries

Audie Murphy, a popular actor who starred in Westerns, was killed in an air crash in 1971. In which cemetery is he interred?

15.

The Bible

Which book of the Bible promises a term of life of three score years and ten?  Luckily this is often exceeded to the relief of several Withington quizzers!

16.

Hell

The expression 'All hell broke loose' is a quotation from which poetical work?

Paradise Lost

(by Milton)

17.

US crime

The Five Families are the original Italian American Mafia crime families of New York City that have dominated organised crime in the US since 1931.  Name two of them.

18.

UK crime

In which year were the last judicial executions in the United Kingdom?

19.

Large organ

In which large organ of the body would you find Meissner’s corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel cells and Langerhans cells amongst others?

20.

Homoeroticism

Which film director when asked in 1990 what he thought about all the homoeroticism on Channel 4 replied, that in his opinion, there was not enough of it?

Spares

1.

In which organ of the body are the loops of Henle?

Kidney

2.

What name connects a character from the Mikado and a type of doughnut in the shape of a twisted rope?

Yum Yum

3.

What is the title of popular boy band One Direction’s latest album?  Although only released on 25 November 2013 it was 2013’s biggest seller.

Midnight Memories

4.

Why is the shipping area Forties so called?

Because the average depth of the sea is 40 fathoms

5.

How many popes have been called Leo?

13

6.

The Clore Gallery at the Tate primarily houses works by which British artist?

J M W Turner