ROUND 1 - 'Political Extremists'

1.

Lord Salisbury is believed to have been about 6’ 4’’, but which post-World War 2 figure does Downing Street's website list as officially being our tallest ever Prime Minister at 6’ 1’’?

2.

Abraham Lincoln was the tallest, at about 6’ 4’’, and James Madison was the shortest, at 5’ 4’’.  Weighing between 300 and 350lbs, who was the 27th and heaviest President in U.S. history?  He was also the last President to have facial hair.

3.

Currently, the longest ruling non-royal national leader is Paul Biya.  He was Prime Minister, and is now President, of his Central African nation.  Overall he has been leader since 30 June 1975.  Of which country is he President?

4.

In power for 10 months and 18 days during 1991-92, who was the shortest-serving French Prime Minister?

5.

The longest-serving current monarch has been sovereign of which country since 9 June 1946?

6.

Born on 21 February 1924, and being just over 2 years older than our Queen, he is the oldest state leader still in office.  Who is he?

7.

The highest annual salary earner among national leaders earns about £1.14m per year, roughly equivalent to the combined annual pay of the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK.  Of which country is he Prime Minister?

8.

The most murderous regimes of the 20th Century were those of Mao Zedong (60 million victims), Stalin (40 million), and Hitler (30 million).  A European monarch led the 4th most murderous regime of the 20th Century.  Which country did he lead?

Sp1

Who is the longest-serving, post-war Prime Minister of Italy, and the third longest-serving since the Unification of Italy, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti?

Sp2

Geoffrey Clements was leader of possibly the most unsuccessful UK political party ever.  In the 1992 general election, it contested 310 seats, including Manchester Withington.  In the 1997 general election, it had 197 candidates, again including Manchester Withington.  In every case, the candidates lost their deposits.  What was the party called?

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

1.

What was the name of the Roman road that linked Exeter to Lincoln, via Ilchester, Bath, Cirencester and Leicester?

2.

Which major figure in the American abstract expressionist movement, dubbed by Time magazine as 'Jack the Dripper', died in 1956 at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related single-car accident when he was driving?

3.

Who, according to the citation, won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature, "principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature”?

4.

Formed in Manchester in 1983, which rock band’s most successful line-up was probably vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Mani, and drummer Reni?

5.

Founded in 1831, its flagship store is in Knightsbridge.  It also has stores in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, and Manchester, as well as several stores overseas.  Name this department store chain.

6.

Which manufacturer, based in Nashville Tennessee, sells a variety of models, including the Byrdland, Explorer, Flying V, Firebird, SG, and the iconic Les Paul?

7.

Which singer came to international attention in Britain’s Got Talent in 2009?  She was the clear favourite to win the final, but ended up in second place to dance troupe Diversity.

8.

Which infantry regiment, formed in 1793, was merged in 1961 with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders?

Sp1

In 1973, he won the World Heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica. He lost the title in 1974, and retired in 1977. In 1994, aged 45, he came out of retirement and regained the Heavyweight Championship, so becoming the oldest Heavyweight Champion in history.  Who is he?

Sp2

Which stately home has been used as a location for Peter Ustinov's 1965 film Lady L, Galton and Simpson's 1966 film The Spy with a Cold Nose, Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon, the 1995 film The Buccaneers, the 2006 film Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties and the 2008 film Brideshead Revisited?

ROUND 3 - 'Pick Your Own' - ‘Six Degrees of Separation, minus four – Sports, Religion & Politics’

There is a theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person through a chain of no more than five intermediaries. The setter of this round has shortened it to one intermediary i.e. Brian knows (or knew) someone who met the person in the answer. This is obviously of no help in answering the questions unless you know Brian really well, but there you are!

1.

Sports 1

His career includes nineteen Himalayan expeditions.  In 1966, he made the first ever ascent of the Old Man of Hoy.  In 2014, to mark his 80th birthday and to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease charities, he climbed it again.  Who is this mountaineer?

2.

Sports 2

He is one of a small group of Welsh rugby union players to have won three Grand Slams, with Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Gareth Edwards and Gerald Davies. As a fullback in the 1970s, he was noted for his attacking style, and his long sideburns. Who is he?

3.

 Sports 3

Known as the ‘Dark Destroyer’, this English boxer held middleweight and super-middleweight world titles.  His professional record comprised 42 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw.  The draw was in 1993 against Chris Eubank at Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium.  Who was he?

4.

Sports 4

He was a right-handed opening batsman and occasional leg-break bowler for England.  He became England captain aged 25 and led the side in a record 54 Test matches.  Who is he?

5.

Religion 1

Appointed on 31 May 1961 and holding the office until 1974, who was the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury?        

6.

Religion 2

Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael (born 1892 - died 1975) is revered by between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people as the returned messiah of the Bible, and God incarnate.  By what name, given to him at his baptism and adopted again as part of his regnal name, is he better known? 

7.

Religion 3

While at King's College London, (1962–1966), he worked as a part-time curate, first at St Alban's Church, Golders Green, and then at St Mary's Church in Bletchingley, Surrey.  He retired as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996.  Who is he?

8.

Religion 4

This world leader was chosen in 1937, on the basis that, when presented with various relics, some of which had belonged to his predecessor, he correctly identified all the items owned by his predecessor, exclaiming, ‘It's mine! It's mine!’.  Who is he?

9.

Politics 1

As Minister of Transport, she introduced the breathalyser.  As Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, her white paper In Place of Strife aimed to reduce trade union powers.  As Secretary of State for Social Services, she introduced a range of welfare reforms, including the Invalid Care Allowance.  Who was she?

10.

Politics 2

The Queen Mother described it as “a sensible coat for a day like this”, but who was lambasted for wearing a duffel coat at the Cenotaph wreath-laying on Remembrance Sunday in 1981? 

11.

Politics 3

The fall of the Berlin Wall began on the evening of 9 November 1989.  Who was Chancellor of West Germany at the time?

12.

Politics 4

In the year he died, Hugo Chavez said “He will be remembered as a great fighter, a revolutionary and martyr”, Nelson Mandela said “In the darkest moments of our struggle, when our backs were to the wall, (he) stood with us”, and Hillary Clinton said “We came, we saw, he died”.  Who was he?

ROUND 4 - 'Kinship'

Each answer contains a word that may precede the word ‘kin’ to make a familiar name, word or phrase.  Beware some of the theme words in answers are ‘sound-alikes’ of the words needed and/or parts of longer words.

1.

Who lives in Dillydale in a house with a bandaged roof?

2.

Which Charles Trenet song became Bobby Darin’s signature tune?

3.

Which 1981 film starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson tells the story of the life and career of John Reed, the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution?

4.

Which 1971 Woody Allen film is about a bumbling New Yorker who, after being dumped by his activist girlfriend, travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion?

5.

In the Doctor Doolittle books what was the name of the llama-like animal with two heads at opposite ends of its body?

6.

The seemingly interminable nature of Last of the Summer Wine starring, as it did, elderly actors, meant it was in constant need of finding new old actors to replace deceased cast members.  Right at the end in series 30 (of an eventual 31) the main character Luther 'Hobbo' Hobdyke, a retired milkman, was introduced.  Who played this part?

7.

During a diplomatic trip to the US in 1924 Prince Edward (later Edward VIII) introduced the Americans to a style of casual/sporting clothing.  What was it?

8.

Well known to all Mancunians, what traditionally linked Maine Road and Old Trafford, and was popular with Bradford colliery workers and Belle Vue pleasure seekers alike?

Sp1

At the 2012 Cheltenham Festival Races which horse ridden by Ruby Walsh won a record fourth World Hurdles race thus confirming himself as the greatest staying hurdler in horseracing history?

Sp2

In the 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum the Concert Party’s pianist, played by John Clegg, is bald and bespectacled.  How is he habitually addressed by the Battery Sergeant-Major played by Windsor Davies?

ROUND 5 - Quartets

What links the following groups of four?

1.

Rex Hunt, Alan Huckle, Nigel Haywood, Colin Roberts

2.

Joe Mears, Andrew Stephen, Bert Millichip, David Bernstein

3.

David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson, Ingram Wilcox

4.

Tom O’Callaghan, Alison Firth, Naeem Ul Hassan, Susan Cooley

5.

Superb, Roomster, Rapid, Citigo   

6.

Broadway, Central Park, Freehold, Queen’s Road

7.

Hastings Ismay, Peter Carrington, Javier Solana George Robertson

8.

Sir John Simon, Sir Samuel Hoare, Sir Frank Soskice, Robert Carr  

Sp1

Joshua, Charles, James, Kenny

Sp2

Robins, Mann, Howard, Lewis

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

Formed in 1967 and still going, it is one of the best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide. That said, they have only ever had one UK No. 1 single, in 1968, which later appeared on their The Pious Bird of Good Omen album.  Name the band.

2.

Which five-word phrase constructed with a view to testing the enunciation of a speaker, and not to be attempted after too many pints, refers to part of the Edinburgh constabulary?

3.

The sinking of which ship, on 26 February 1852, is the earliest maritime disaster evacuation, during which the concept of ‘women and children first’ is known to have been applied?

4.

Which famous entertainer died as an indirect result of an unclear picture on his TV during the broadcast of the second leg of the Champions League quarter final football match between Internazionale and Manchester United at the San Siro Stadium in 1999?

5.

Who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1783, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1809?  The 24 years between his two terms is the longest gap between terms of office of any Prime Minister.

6.

On New Year’s Day 1962 in their quest for their next star ‘rock combo’ the Decca recording company interviewed two unknown pop groups. The group turned down was the Beatles.  Who got the gig?

7.

Which 1965 Western, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starred Charlton Heston as the eponymous Union cavalry officer, who leads a troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners, and scouts into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding US bases in Texas?

8.

Wilmington is the largest city in this US State, but what is the capital and second largest?

Sp1

What is the next line in the lyrics of the classic Cole Porter song Anything Goes:

“Times have changed
And we've often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
…………………………………………….”?

Sp2

In the USA, ‘The Big Three Colleges’ are based in Cambridge, Princeton, and where?

ROUND 7 - 'Pairs'

All questions relate to a famous pair

1.

What is the largest city in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

2.

Ira Gershwin was a lyricist who worked principally with his brother, George - but with which other composer did he work when he wrote the lyrics for the classic 1944 hit Long Ago and Far Away?

3.

Marc Riley, Radio 6 DJ and the ‘Lard’ half of the ‘Mark and Lard’ pair that worked as DJs on Radio1, was formerly a member of which band?

4.

Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce was created in 1835.  What was the profession of its creators, John Lea and William Perrins?

5.

The St Kitts and Nevis Federation in the West Indies now hosts International Cricket fixtures at the Warner Park Sporting Complex in its capital.  What is the name of its capital?

6.

Flanders and Swann wrote a song called Slow Train lamenting the stations axed by Dr Beeching in the 1960s.  The lyrics contain the names of as many of the stations as they could fit in.  Which station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, which became the inspiration for the title of a long-running ITV drama series, was included?

7.

What was the county town of the former Scottish county of Ross and Cromarty?

8.

In Midsummer Night’s Dream’s ‘play within a play’ the part of Pyramus is played by the character Nick Bottom, the Weaver, and the part of Thisbe by Francis Flute.  What is Flute’s trade?

Sp1

What is the first name of Wodehouse’s Jeeves in the Jeeves and Wooster series of novels?

Sp2

Virginia McMath won an Academy Best Actress award for her role in the 1940 film Kitty Foyle, but was much better known for an acting partnership.  What was her stage name?

ROUND 8 - 'Up to a Point'

Each answer contains a word that may precede the word ‘point’ to make a familiar name, word or phrase.  Beware some of the theme words in answers are ‘sound-alikes’ of the words needed and/or parts of longer words.

1.

Which singer and guitarist were best known for his recordings with harmonica player Sonny Terry?

2.

Which 1968 UK number one hit had a title inspired by John Dyer, the gardener at one of the group member’s country mansion?

3.

Peter Finlay’s debut novel won the Booker Prize in 2003.  What is Finlay’s pen name?

4.

Which professional footballer played most of his league games with Southport and then managed Halifax, Southport and Preston North End, but is probably best remembered for his son who played for England 72 times between 1965 and 1975 and had the same first name as his father?

5.

The vice-president of the Pacific Coast Borax Company gave his name to a geographical feature of Death Valley in California which in turn gave its name to a 1970 counterculture film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni with music by Pink Floyd and Jerry Garcia.  What was the vice-president’s surname?

6.

Germany won the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship held in England, winning 2-1 in the Wembley final through an extra time ‘Golden Goal’.  Who did they defeat in the final?

7.

The Suffolk coastal town of Aldeburgh is renowned for a 500 year old Grade 1 listed building in its town centre, the finest example of a certain type of building in the country and where the town council still meets regularly. What is this building called?

8.

Jack Nitzsche’s score for the award-winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is enhanced by the ethereal sound of which unusual musical instrument very similar to the theremin?

Sp1

Phil Taylor is widely regarded as the best darts player of all time.  What is his nickname?

Sp2

Who once said “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted”?

Tiebreakers

1.

How many minutes long is the film Gone with the Wind?

2.

As at October 2014 what is the record for the lowest attendance ever at a Premiership game?

ROUND 1 - 'Political Extremists'

1.

Lord Salisbury is believed to have been about 6’ 4’’, but which post-World War 2 figure does Downing Street's website list as officially being our tallest ever Prime Minister at 6’ 1’’?

James Callaghan

2.

Abraham Lincoln was the tallest, at about 6’ 4’’, and James Madison was the shortest, at 5’ 4’’.  Weighing between 300 and 350lbs, who was the 27th and heaviest President in U.S. history?  He was also the last President to have facial hair.

(William) Taft

(Served 1909 – 1913; reputedly, having got stuck in the White House bathtub, he had a 7' long 41" wide bath installed)

3.

Currently, the longest ruling non-royal national leader is Paul Biya.  He was Prime Minister, and is now President, of his Central African nation.  Overall he has been leader since 30 June 1975.  Of which country is he President?

Cameroon

4.

In power for 10 months and 18 days during 1991-92, who was the shortest-serving French Prime Minister?

(Édith) Cresson

5.

The longest-serving current monarch has been sovereign of which country since 9 June 1946?

Thailand

(King Rama IX)

6.

Born on 21 February 1924, and being just over 2 years older than our Queen, he is the oldest state leader still in office.  Who is he?

Robert Mugabe

(of Zimbabwe)

7.

The highest annual salary earner among national leaders earns about £1.14m per year, roughly equivalent to the combined annual pay of the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK.  Of which country is he Prime Minister?

Singapore

(Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong)

8.

The most murderous regimes of the 20th Century were those of Mao Zedong (60 million victims), Stalin (40 million), and Hitler (30 million).  A European monarch led the 4th most murderous regime of the 20th Century.  Which country did he lead?

Belgium

(King Leopold II was responsible for the deaths of 8 million enslaved Congolese between 1886-1908)

Sp1

Who is the longest-serving, post-war Prime Minister of Italy, and the third longest-serving since the Unification of Italy, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti?

Silvio Berlusconi  

Sp2

Geoffrey Clements was leader of possibly the most unsuccessful UK political party ever.  In the 1992 general election, it contested 310 seats, including Manchester Withington.  In the 1997 general election, it had 197 candidates, again including Manchester Withington.  In every case, the candidates lost their deposits.  What was the party called?

The Natural Law Party

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

1.

What was the name of the Roman road that linked Exeter to Lincoln, via Ilchester, Bath, Cirencester and Leicester?

The Fosse Way

2.

Which major figure in the American abstract expressionist movement, dubbed by Time magazine as 'Jack the Dripper', died in 1956 at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related single-car accident when he was driving?

Jackson Pollock

3.

Who, according to the citation, won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature, "principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature”?

(Thomas) Mann

4.

Formed in Manchester in 1983, which rock band’s most successful line-up was probably vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Mani, and drummer Reni?

The Stone Roses

5.

Founded in 1831, its flagship store is in Knightsbridge.  It also has stores in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, and Manchester, as well as several stores overseas.  Name this department store chain.

Harvey Nichols

6.

Which manufacturer, based in Nashville Tennessee, sells a variety of models, including the Byrdland, Explorer, Flying V, Firebird, SG, and the iconic Les Paul?

Gibson

(Guitar Corporation)

7.

Which singer came to international attention in Britain’s Got Talent in 2009?  She was the clear favourite to win the final, but ended up in second place to dance troupe Diversity.

Susan Boyle

8.

Which infantry regiment, formed in 1793, was merged in 1961 with the Seaforth Highlanders to form the Queen's Own Highlanders?

(The Queen's Own) Cameron Highlanders

Sp1

In 1973, he won the World Heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica. He lost the title in 1974, and retired in 1977. In 1994, aged 45, he came out of retirement and regained the Heavyweight Championship, so becoming the oldest Heavyweight Champion in history.  Who is he?

George Foreman

Sp2

Which stately home has been used as a location for Peter Ustinov's 1965 film Lady L, Galton and Simpson's 1966 film The Spy with a Cold Nose, Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon, the 1995 film The Buccaneers, the 2006 film Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties and the 2008 film Brideshead Revisited?

Castle Howard

ROUND 3 - 'Pick Your Own' - ‘Six Degrees of Separation, minus four – Sports, Religion & Politics’

There is a theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person through a chain of no more than five intermediaries. The setter of this round has shortened it to one intermediary i.e. Brian knows (or knew) someone who met the person in the answer. This is obviously of no help in answering the questions unless you know Brian really well, but there you are!

1.

Sports 1

His career includes nineteen Himalayan expeditions.  In 1966, he made the first ever ascent of the Old Man of Hoy.  In 2014, to mark his 80th birthday and to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease charities, he climbed it again.  Who is this mountaineer?

(Sir) Chris Bonnington

2.

Sports 2

He is one of a small group of Welsh rugby union players to have won three Grand Slams, with Ryan Jones, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Gareth Edwards and Gerald Davies. As a fullback in the 1970s, he was noted for his attacking style, and his long sideburns. Who is he?

J P R Williams

(John Peter Rhys Williams)

3.

 Sports 3

Known as the ‘Dark Destroyer’, this English boxer held middleweight and super-middleweight world titles.  His professional record comprised 42 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw.  The draw was in 1993 against Chris Eubank at Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium.  Who was he?

Nigel Benn

4.

Sports 4

He was a right-handed opening batsman and occasional leg-break bowler for England.  He became England captain aged 25 and led the side in a record 54 Test matches.  Who is he?

Michael Atherton

5.

Religion 1

Appointed on 31 May 1961 and holding the office until 1974, who was the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury?        

(Arthur) Michael Ramsey

6.

Religion 2

Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael (born 1892 - died 1975) is revered by between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people as the returned messiah of the Bible, and God incarnate.  By what name, given to him at his baptism and adopted again as part of his regnal name, is he better known? 

Haile Selassie

7.

Religion 3

While at King's College London, (1962–1966), he worked as a part-time curate, first at St Alban's Church, Golders Green, and then at St Mary's Church in Bletchingley, Surrey.  He retired as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996.  Who is he?

Desmond Tutu

8.

Religion 4

This world leader was chosen in 1937, on the basis that, when presented with various relics, some of which had belonged to his predecessor, he correctly identified all the items owned by his predecessor, exclaiming, ‘It's mine! It's mine!’.  Who is he?

The Dalai Lama

(accept Tenzin Gyatso, Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, or Lhamo Dondrub)

9.

Politics 1

As Minister of Transport, she introduced the breathalyser.  As Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, her white paper In Place of Strife aimed to reduce trade union powers.  As Secretary of State for Social Services, she introduced a range of welfare reforms, including the Invalid Care Allowance.  Who was she?

Barbara Castle

(accept Baroness Castle of Blackburn)

10.

Politics 2

The Queen Mother described it as “a sensible coat for a day like this”, but who was lambasted for wearing a duffel coat at the Cenotaph wreath-laying on Remembrance Sunday in 1981? 

Michael Foot

(he later donated the coat to the People's History Museum in Manchester)

11.

Politics 3

The fall of the Berlin Wall began on the evening of 9 November 1989.  Who was Chancellor of West Germany at the time?

Helmut Kohl

(Chancellor of West Germany 1982–90 and of the reunited Germany 1990–98)

12.

Politics 4

In the year he died, Hugo Chavez said “He will be remembered as a great fighter, a revolutionary and martyr”, Nelson Mandela said “In the darkest moments of our struggle, when our backs were to the wall, (he) stood with us”, and Hillary Clinton said “We came, we saw, he died”.  Who was he?

(Muammar abu Minyar al-)Gaddafi

(7 June 1942 – 20 October 2011)

ROUND 4 - 'Kinship'

Each answer contains a word that may precede the word ‘kin’ to make a familiar name, word or phrase.  Beware some of the theme words in answers are ‘sound-alikes’ of the words needed and/or parts of longer words.

1.

Who lives in Dillydale in a house with a bandaged roof?

Mr Bump

(by Roger Hargreaves)

2.

Which Charles Trenet song became Bobby Darin’s signature tune?

La Mer

(Bobby Darin’s version was entitled Beyond the Sea)

3.

Which 1981 film starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson tells the story of the life and career of John Reed, the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution?

Reds

4.

Which 1971 Woody Allen film is about a bumbling New Yorker who, after being dumped by his activist girlfriend, travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion?

Bananas

5.

In the Doctor Doolittle books what was the name of the llama-like animal with two heads at opposite ends of its body?

Pushmi-pullyu

6.

The seemingly interminable nature of Last of the Summer Wine starring, as it did, elderly actors, meant it was in constant need of finding new old actors to replace deceased cast members.  Right at the end in series 30 (of an eventual 31) the main character Luther 'Hobbo' Hobdyke, a retired milkman, was introduced.  Who played this part?

Russ Abbott

7.

During a diplomatic trip to the US in 1924 Prince Edward (later Edward VIII) introduced the Americans to a style of casual/sporting clothing.  What was it?

Plus-fours

8.

Well known to all Mancunians, what traditionally linked Maine Road and Old Trafford, and was popular with Bradford colliery workers and Belle Vue pleasure seekers alike?

Number 53 bus route

Sp1

At the 2012 Cheltenham Festival Races which horse ridden by Ruby Walsh won a record fourth World Hurdles race thus confirming himself as the greatest staying hurdler in horseracing history?

Big Buck’s

Sp2

In the 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum the Concert Party’s pianist, played by John Clegg, is bald and bespectacled.  How is he habitually addressed by the Battery Sergeant-Major played by Windsor Davies?

“Mister ‘La-de-da’ Gunner Graham”

ROUND 5 - Quartets

What links the following groups of four?

1.

Rex Hunt, Alan Huckle, Nigel Haywood, Colin Roberts

All served as Governors of the Falkland Islands

2.

Joe Mears, Andrew Stephen, Bert Millichip, David Bernstein

All served as Chairmen of the FA

3.

David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson, Ingram Wilcox

All won £1,000,000 on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?

4.

Tom O’Callaghan, Alison Firth, Naeem Ul Hassan, Susan Cooley

All held the post of Lord Mayor of Manchester

5.

Superb, Roomster, Rapid, Citigo   

All models of Škoda cars

6.

Broadway, Central Park, Freehold, Queen’s Road

All Metrolink stations

7.

Hastings Ismay, Peter Carrington, Javier Solana George Robertson

All served as Secretaries General of NATO

8.

Sir John Simon, Sir Samuel Hoare, Sir Frank Soskice, Robert Carr  

All served as UK Home Secretaries

(during the 20th century)

Sp1

Joshua, Charles, James, Kenny

All won Gold Medals for Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics

(Anthony Joshua – Boxing; Peter Charles – Equestrian; Tom James – Rowing; Jason Kenny – Cycling)

Sp2

Robins, Mann, Howard, Lewis

All have been Captain of England’s Cricket team

(Walter Robins, George Mann, Nigel Howard, Tony Lewis)

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

Formed in 1967 and still going, it is one of the best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide. That said, they have only ever had one UK No. 1 single, in 1968, which later appeared on their The Pious Bird of Good Omen album.  Name the band.

Fleetwood Mac

(Albatross was at No. 1 for just one week)

2.

Which five-word phrase constructed with a view to testing the enunciation of a speaker, and not to be attempted after too many pints, refers to part of the Edinburgh constabulary?

“The Leith police dismisseth us”

3.

The sinking of which ship, on 26 February 1852, is the earliest maritime disaster evacuation, during which the concept of ‘women and children first’ is known to have been applied?

HMS Birkenhead

4.

Which famous entertainer died as an indirect result of an unclear picture on his TV during the broadcast of the second leg of the Champions League quarter final football match between Internazionale and Manchester United at the San Siro Stadium in 1999?

Rod Hull

(he’d climbed onto his roof to adjust the aerial and fell off)

5.

Who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1783, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1809?  The 24 years between his two terms is the longest gap between terms of office of any Prime Minister.

The Duke of Portland

(William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland)

6.

On New Year’s Day 1962 in their quest for their next star ‘rock combo’ the Decca recording company interviewed two unknown pop groups. The group turned down was the Beatles.  Who got the gig?

Brian Poole and The Tremeloes

7.

Which 1965 Western, directed by Sam Peckinpah, starred Charlton Heston as the eponymous Union cavalry officer, who leads a troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners, and scouts into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding US bases in Texas?

Major Dundee

8.

Wilmington is the largest city in this US State, but what is the capital and second largest?

Dover

(State capital of Delaware)

Sp1

What is the next line in the lyrics of the classic Cole Porter song Anything Goes:

“Times have changed
And we've often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
…………………………………………….”?

“When they landed on Plymouth Rock”

Sp2

In the USA, ‘The Big Three Colleges’ are based in Cambridge, Princeton, and where?

New Haven, Connecticut

(Yale in New Haven, CN, Harvard in Cambridge, MA and Princeton in Princeton, NJ)

ROUND 7 - 'Pairs'

All questions relate to a famous pair

1.

What is the largest city in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Mostar

2.

Ira Gershwin was a lyricist who worked principally with his brother, George - but with which other composer did he work when he wrote the lyrics for the classic 1944 hit Long Ago and Far Away?

Jerome Kern

3.

Marc Riley, Radio 6 DJ and the ‘Lard’ half of the ‘Mark and Lard’ pair that worked as DJs on Radio1, was formerly a member of which band?

The Fall

4.

Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce was created in 1835.  What was the profession of its creators, John Lea and William Perrins?

Chemists

5.

The St Kitts and Nevis Federation in the West Indies now hosts International Cricket fixtures at the Warner Park Sporting Complex in its capital.  What is the name of its capital?

Basseterre

6.

Flanders and Swann wrote a song called Slow Train lamenting the stations axed by Dr Beeching in the 1960s.  The lyrics contain the names of as many of the stations as they could fit in.  Which station on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, which became the inspiration for the title of a long-running ITV drama series, was included?

Midsomer Norton

(inspiration for the title of Midsomer Murders)

7.

What was the county town of the former Scottish county of Ross and Cromarty?

Dingwall

8.

In Midsummer Night’s Dream’s ‘play within a play’ the part of Pyramus is played by the character Nick Bottom, the Weaver, and the part of Thisbe by Francis Flute.  What is Flute’s trade?

Bellows mender

Sp1

What is the first name of Wodehouse’s Jeeves in the Jeeves and Wooster series of novels?

Reginald

Sp2

Virginia McMath won an Academy Best Actress award for her role in the 1940 film Kitty Foyle, but was much better known for an acting partnership.  What was her stage name?

Ginger Rogers

ROUND 8 - 'Up to a Point'

Each answer contains a word that may precede the word ‘point’ to make a familiar name, word or phrase.  Beware some of the theme words in answers are ‘sound-alikes’ of the words needed and/or parts of longer words.

1.

Which singer and guitarist were best known for his recordings with harmonica player Sonny Terry?

Brownie McGhee

2.

Which 1968 UK number one hit had a title inspired by John Dyer, the gardener at one of the group member’s country mansion?

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

(by The Rolling Stones – Dyer, usually known as ‘Jack’, was Keith Richards’ gardener)

3.

Peter Finlay’s debut novel won the Booker Prize in 2003.  What is Finlay’s pen name?

D B C Pierre

(the novel is Vernon God Little)

4.

Which professional footballer played most of his league games with Southport and then managed Halifax, Southport and Preston North End, but is probably best remembered for his son who played for England 72 times between 1965 and 1975 and had the same first name as his father?

Alan Ball (Senior)

5.

The vice-president of the Pacific Coast Borax Company gave his name to a geographical feature of Death Valley in California which in turn gave its name to a 1970 counterculture film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni with music by Pink Floyd and Jerry Garcia.  What was the vice-president’s surname?

Zabriskie

(the film was Zabriskie Point)

6.

Germany won the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship held in England, winning 2-1 in the Wembley final through an extra time ‘Golden Goal’.  Who did they defeat in the final?

Czech Republic
(ironically a recently re-united country was playing one that had recently split up)

7.

The Suffolk coastal town of Aldeburgh is renowned for a 500 year old Grade 1 listed building in its town centre, the finest example of a certain type of building in the country and where the town council still meets regularly. What is this building called?

The Moot Hall

8.

Jack Nitzsche’s score for the award-winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is enhanced by the ethereal sound of which unusual musical instrument very similar to the theremin?

Musical saw

Sp1

Phil Taylor is widely regarded as the best darts player of all time.  What is his nickname?

‘The Power’

Sp2

Who once said “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted”?

Mae West

Tiebreakers

1.

How many minutes long is the film Gone with the Wind?

238

2.

As at October 2014 what is the record for the lowest attendance ever at a Premiership game?

3,039

(Wimbledon v Everton 1993)