ROUND 1 - Anagrams

All the answers contain an anagram of the current of former name of a country

1.

Which radio and TV presenter was a regular reporter on The Cricket Show on Channel 4 in 2005, a co-presenter on the Cricket AM Show on Sky Sports, and has recently exhibited some fancy footwork on BBC1?

2.

Named after an incident in 1996, when members of a militant movement took hundreds of people hostage whilst they were attending a party at the official residence of an ambassador, which syndrome - a converse of Stockholm Syndrome - has been proposed in which abductors develop sympathy for their hostages?

3.

What Latin word for shade is used for the area on the earth or moon experiencing totality in an eclipse?

4.

After becoming Vice President of a company, Smokey Robinson named his two children in honour of the company.  He named his son Berry.  What did he name his daughter?

5.

Who crashed the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music awards and grabbed the microphone from the winner Taylor Swift in order to proclaim that Beyoncé's rival video was "one of the best videos of all time"?

6.

What epithet connects Joaquín Guzmán, Lester Joseph Gillis, and Charles Arthur Floyd?

7.

What 6-letter verb for a cooking method takes its name from the French for ‘live coals’?

8.

Which German-born British biochemist was a co-recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin, along with Howard Florey and Alexander Fleming?

1.

What is the link between Foinaven and Arkle which has nothing to do with horseracing?

2.

Flower of Scotland was written by Roy Williamson who was a member of which Scottish folk band?

3.

In the film BUtterfield 8 what is BUtterfield 8?

4.

Which song, with vocals by Ray McKinley and the Crew Chiefs, was recorded by Glenn Miller in 1941 and a year later was the first to be awarded a Gold Disc?

5.

Who won the US Women's Open Tennis Championship in 2015?

6.

Who won the British Open Golf Tournament in 2015?

7.

What is the name of the Headquarters of the Royal Military School of Music located in Twickenham?

8.

What is the nickname given to Haydn's 45th Symphony composed in 1722?  On its original performance each performer snuffed out his candle in turn and left the stage until there were just 2 muted violins left.

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

Highly topical and presented as pairs

1.

Which serialised gothic novel of 1909-1910 has been adapted into at least a dozen films, 5 TV shows, and 8 staged and musical versions?

2.

Which serialised novel of 1878 tells the story of Diggory Venn, and Thomasin Yeobright?

3.

Where in the body would you find the rhomboidal, trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles?

4.

What word can be applied to reproductive biological science, remade computer programmes and stolen mobile phones?

5.

Which phrase precedes the following quote from Alexander Pope:

"------------ in the human breast / Man never is, but always to be blest"

6.

Which human trait of uncertain morality has also been demonstrated in elephants, camels and chimpanzees?

7.

What is the name of the bi-monthly illustrated magazine published by the Jehovah's Witnesses?

8.

The hidden theme of this round features prominently in the current edition of which monthly magazine, first published in 1989?

ROUND 4 - Pairs

1.

Who are the only brothers currently elected as MPs?  Born in 1964 and 1971, one shares his name with a World Snooker Champion.

2.

Sharing the same surname, who are the only brother and sister currently elected as MPs?  Born in Aden in 1954 and 1956, to a catholic family originally from Goa, one has been the chair of the home affairs select committee since 2007, the other shares her first name with the Zuton's biggest hit.

3.

Which composer had many hugely successful operatic hits until 1829, after which, despite hints of a new work on the Faust theme, it never materialised, and he died 39 years later having never composed another opera?

4.

Which composer wrote successful symphonies until his 7th in 1926?  Despite hints of an 8th - which he probably burnt in the 1940s - he died 31 years later having never composed another symphony.

5.

Where would you find images by Gillick, Machin, Maklouf, Rank-Broadley, and since June 2015, Clark?

6.

A pound coin is composed of three metals in the ratio 70%, 24.5% and 5.5%.  In that order, what are the metals?

7.

Famous for the WW2 battle, in which island group is Guadalcanal?

8.

Famous for another WW2 battle, Midway atoll lies at the leeward end of which island group?

ROUND 5 - Hidden theme

1.

What is the title of Ian Dury’s debut album, released in 1977?

2.

Which edible is named for its resemblance to an object which takes its name from the eponymous character of a poem written in 1790 who, while drunk, rode home on his horse crossing the Brig o’Doon?

3.

Which cut of beef is the trimmed, boneless portion of the diaphragm muscle attached to the 6th through 12th ribs on the underside of the short plate and is the cut of choice for Cornish pasties?

4.

Which opera features Josephine, the daughter of Captain Corcoran, who is in love with a lower-class sailor named Ralph Rackstraw?  The captain and the able seaman were swapped at birth and eventually their roles are reversed.

5.

Which ethnic group identify their country as Euskal Herria?  The population has virtually no 'B' blood type, nor the related 'AB' type.  Famous representatives include Ignatius Loyola, the wife of Richard I, and Maurice Ravel.

6.

What is the original name of the London thoroughfare that changed its name to Middlesex Street in 1830 to record the boundary between Portsoken Ward in the City of London and Whitechapel, although the old name continues to be associated with the area?  Alan Sugar got his start in business as a stall holder in its eponymous market.

7.

What is the title of the dark sitcom that ran for two series on BBC between 2004 and 2005, written by and starring Julia Davis, who manages a beauty parlour?  When she learns that her husband has cancer, she uses this fact to manipulate her new neighbours played by Rebecca Front and Angus Deayton.

8.

Spongebob Squarepants lives in which underwater city?

ROUND 6 - The 'Black Round'

Each answer contains a word that may be preceded or followed by the work 'black' - there are sound-alikes and some of the pertinent words are hidden in longer words

1.

Which footballer was the first to score a goal at Wembley and the first to be transferred for more than £10,000?  He played for Bolton and Arsenal.

2.

Which river rises in Novomoskosk, a town roughly 150 miles from Moscow, and flows into the sea of Azov?

3.

Which bloody dictator's real name was Saloth Sar?  He lived from 1925 to 1998.

4.

Which region of France, with the capital Bourges, was a dukedom frequently created for junior members of the Royal family?

5.

Which martial art's name can be translated into English as 'supreme ultimate fist'?

6.

What do the Americans call a covered goods wagon, used for transportation of goods that require to be kept dry?  At one time they were a common sight on our railways and still may be seen in the US.

7.

Which play by a Nobel prize winner for literature, first performed in New York in 1946, takes place in Harry Hope's saloon and rooming house in Greenwich Village in 1912 where all the patrons appearing onstage including three prostitutes are alcoholics?

8.

What is the generic name given to the motorway ring roads that encircle Washington DC and other cities in the United States?

Sp1

Which composer invented the genre 'orchestral tone poem' and wrote 13 of them including Les Preludes?

Sp2

Which narrative poem, written in 1859 by Christina Rossetti is about the two young sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and has allusions to Adam and Eve and forbidden fruit.

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

The 19th-century financier and politician George Hudson was called 'The ---- King'.  The missing word describes the principal activity of Hudson's extensive empire centred at York.  What was it?

2.

The Swedish industrialist and financier Ivan Kreuger who went bankrupt and then committed suicide in 1932 was known as 'The ----- King'.  The missing word describes the product that was produced by one of the larger companies in his business empire.  Last year this company produced 81,000 million examples of this product. What is it?

3.

Stanley Kirk Burrell is the real name of which rapper?

4.

Damon Gough, the singer/songwriter is better known as who?

5.

Which strait links the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea between Italy and Albania?

6.

Which strait links the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia?

7.

For her role playing the housekeeper Alma Brown in which 1963 film did Patricia Neale win the Best Actress Oscar?

8.

Which film star holds the record for most Oscar nominations?  The first nomination was for a role in a film made in 1978.

ROUND 8 - Pot luck

1.

The capital of the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt is a city on the River Elbe some 65 miles south west of Berlin in which an 17th-century experiment showed the power of air pressure by the use of 2 hemispheres of steel.  What is the name of the city?

2.

The capital of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate is a city on the River Rhine close to the confluence with the Main.  Guttenberg established his press there in the 15th century.  It has a team lying 7th in the Bundesliga first Division.  What is the name of the city?

3.

In the new Testament Gospels of St Mark and St Matthew referred to St Thaddeus as one of the 12 Apostles.  By what better known name is he called in the Gospels of St Luke and St John?  His epistle under his better-known name appears just before Revelations in the New Testament.

4.

What is the name of the secret society at Cambridge University founded in 1820, also known as the Cambridge Conversazione Society, that has had as members Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and Eric Hobsbawm amongst others?

5.

At which University, founded in 1701, and named after a benefactor who was an officeholder in the British East India Company, is there a secret society called Skull and Bones?

6.

David Cameron appears to spend more time in the COBRA committee than he does in the chamber of the house of Parliament.  What does COBRA stand for?

7.

On 28 June 1940 what started at 6 o'clock in the morning in Paris at the Palais Garnier opera house and finished three hours later at the Sacré Coeur, Montmartre?

8.

The only mention of a card game in the plays of Shakespeare occurs in the following dialogue:

Sir Thomas Lovell: "Came you from the King, my lord?"
Gardiner: "I did, Sir Thomas, and left him at primero with the Duke of Suffolk."

From which of the plays, which appears late in the canon, does this dialogue come?

Spares

1.

Name either the city where Dr Frankenstein was born or where he was brought up according to the novel by Mary Shelley.

2.

The academic institution in Paris known in short as ENS is a higher education establishment outside the French university system.  Former graduates include John-Paul Sartre, Georges Pompidou, Louis Pasteur, all 10 French winners of the Field prize and 13 Nobel prizewinners amongst many others.  What does ENS stand for?

3.

Which Canadian born actress was Lady Peel but used her maiden name for her stage appearances?  She appeared in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Round the World in 80 Days, but was better known for her cabaret and stage musical appearances.  She was a close friend of Noel Coward and was the first person to sing Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

4.

Which cathedral in England, although not the longest, has the longest nave?  It became a cathedral in 1877 but was built in the 11th century.  Dr Runcie was bishop here before he became Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the suffragan bishops is that of Bedford.

5.

Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest in the UK but which one is second highest at a height of 111 m?  It is also the second largest cathedral in area in the UK.  The current Bishop is the 132nd to hold the position.

ROUND 1 - Anagrams

All the answers contain an anagram of the current of former name of a country

1.

Which radio and TV presenter was a regular reporter on The Cricket Show on Channel 4 in 2005, a co-presenter on the Cricket AM Show on Sky Sports, and has recently exhibited some fancy footwork on BBC1?

Anita Rani

(Iran)

2.

Named after an incident in 1996, when members of a militant movement took hundreds of people hostage whilst they were attending a party at the official residence of an ambassador, which syndrome - a converse of Stockholm Syndrome - has been proposed in which abductors develop sympathy for their hostages?

Lima Syndrome

(Mali)

3.

What Latin word for shade is used for the area on the earth or moon experiencing totality in an eclipse?

Umbra

(Burma)

4.

After becoming Vice President of a company, Smokey Robinson named his two children in honour of the company.  He named his son Berry.  What did he name his daughter?

Tamla

(Malta)

5.

Who crashed the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music awards and grabbed the microphone from the winner Taylor Swift in order to proclaim that Beyoncé's rival video was "one of the best videos of all time"?

Kanye West

(Kenya)

6.

What epithet connects Joaquín Guzmán, Lester Joseph Gillis, and Charles Arthur Floyd?

Public Enemy No. 1

(Lester Joseph Gillis is better known as 'Baby Face Nelson', Charles Arthur Floyd is better known as 'Pretty Boy' Floyd)

(Yemen)

7.

What 6-letter verb for a cooking method takes its name from the French for ‘live coals’?

Braise

(Serbia)

8.

Which German-born British biochemist was a co-recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on penicillin, along with Howard Florey and Alexander Fleming?

(Ernst Boris) Chain

(China)

1.

What is the link between Foinaven and Arkle which has nothing to do with horseracing?

They are both mountains (Corbetts) in Scotland

2.

Flower of Scotland was written by Roy Williamson who was a member of which Scottish folk band?

The Corries

3.

In the film BUtterfield 8 what is BUtterfield 8?

A telephone (exchange) number

4.

Which song, with vocals by Ray McKinley and the Crew Chiefs, was recorded by Glenn Miller in 1941 and a year later was the first to be awarded a Gold Disc?

The Chattanooga Choo Choo

5.

Who won the US Women's Open Tennis Championship in 2015?

(Flavia) Pennetta

6.

Who won the British Open Golf Tournament in 2015?

Zak Johnson

7.

What is the name of the Headquarters of the Royal Military School of Music located in Twickenham?

Kneller Hall

8.

What is the nickname given to Haydn's 45th Symphony composed in 1722?  On its original performance each performer snuffed out his candle in turn and left the stage until there were just 2 muted violins left.

The Farewell

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

Highly topical and presented as pairs

1.

Which serialised gothic novel of 1909-1910 has been adapted into at least a dozen films, 5 TV shows, and 8 staged and musical versions?

Phantom of the Opera

2.

Which serialised novel of 1878 tells the story of Diggory Venn, and Thomasin Yeobright?

Return of the Native

3.

Where in the body would you find the rhomboidal, trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles?

The Back

4.

What word can be applied to reproductive biological science, remade computer programmes and stolen mobile phones?

Clones

5.

Which phrase precedes the following quote from Alexander Pope:

"------------ in the human breast / Man never is, but always to be blest"

"Hope Springs Eternal"

6.

Which human trait of uncertain morality has also been demonstrated in elephants, camels and chimpanzees?

Revenge

7.

What is the name of the bi-monthly illustrated magazine published by the Jehovah's Witnesses?

Awake!

(allow Awakens)

8.

The hidden theme of this round features prominently in the current edition of which monthly magazine, first published in 1989?

Empire

ROUND 4 - Pairs

1.

Who are the only brothers currently elected as MPs?  Born in 1964 and 1971, one shares his name with a World Snooker Champion.

Boris and Joe Johnson

2.

Sharing the same surname, who are the only brother and sister currently elected as MPs?  Born in Aden in 1954 and 1956, to a catholic family originally from Goa, one has been the chair of the home affairs select committee since 2007, the other shares her first name with the Zuton's biggest hit.

Keith and Valerie Vaz

3.

Which composer had many hugely successful operatic hits until 1829, after which, despite hints of a new work on the Faust theme, it never materialised, and he died 39 years later having never composed another opera?

Rossini

4.

Which composer wrote successful symphonies until his 7th in 1926?  Despite hints of an 8th - which he probably burnt in the 1940s - he died 31 years later having never composed another symphony.

Sibelius

5.

Where would you find images by Gillick, Machin, Maklouf, Rank-Broadley, and since June 2015, Clark?

Images of the Queen on coins

(accept coins)
(Machin's stamp design is still in use - and is the most reproduced artwork in history at 320 billion and counting....)

6.

A pound coin is composed of three metals in the ratio 70%, 24.5% and 5.5%.  In that order, what are the metals?

Copper, Zinc, Nickel

7.

Famous for the WW2 battle, in which island group is Guadalcanal?

Solomon Islands

8.

Famous for another WW2 battle, Midway atoll lies at the leeward end of which island group?

Hawaiian Islands

ROUND 5 - Hidden theme

1.

What is the title of Ian Dury’s debut album, released in 1977?

New Boots and Panties!!

2.

Which edible is named for its resemblance to an object which takes its name from the eponymous character of a poem written in 1790 who, while drunk, rode home on his horse crossing the Brig o’Doon?

Scotch bonnet chilli

(named for its resemblance to a Tam o’Shanter)

3.

Which cut of beef is the trimmed, boneless portion of the diaphragm muscle attached to the 6th through 12th ribs on the underside of the short plate and is the cut of choice for Cornish pasties?

Skirt

4.

Which opera features Josephine, the daughter of Captain Corcoran, who is in love with a lower-class sailor named Ralph Rackstraw?  The captain and the able seaman were swapped at birth and eventually their roles are reversed.

HMS Pinafore

5.

Which ethnic group identify their country as Euskal Herria?  The population has virtually no 'B' blood type, nor the related 'AB' type.  Famous representatives include Ignatius Loyola, the wife of Richard I, and Maurice Ravel.

Basques

6.

What is the original name of the London thoroughfare that changed its name to Middlesex Street in 1830 to record the boundary between Portsoken Ward in the City of London and Whitechapel, although the old name continues to be associated with the area?  Alan Sugar got his start in business as a stall holder in its eponymous market.

Petticoat Lane

7.

What is the title of the dark sitcom that ran for two series on BBC between 2004 and 2005, written by and starring Julia Davis, who manages a beauty parlour?  When she learns that her husband has cancer, she uses this fact to manipulate her new neighbours played by Rebecca Front and Angus Deayton.

Nighty Night

8.

Spongebob Squarepants lives in which underwater city?

Bikini Bottom

Theme: Each answer contains a reference to an item of ladies’ clothing

ROUND 6 - The 'Black Round'

Each answer contains a word that may be preceded or followed by the work 'black' - there are sound-alikes and some of the pertinent words are hidden in longer words

1.

Which footballer was the first to score a goal at Wembley and the first to be transferred for more than £10,000?  He played for Bolton and Arsenal.

David Jack

2.

Which river rises in Novomoskosk, a town roughly 150 miles from Moscow, and flows into the sea of Azov?

River Don

3.

Which bloody dictator's real name was Saloth Sar?  He lived from 1925 to 1998.

Pol Pot

4.

Which region of France, with the capital Bourges, was a dukedom frequently created for junior members of the Royal family?

Berry
 

5.

Which martial art's name can be translated into English as 'supreme ultimate fist'?

T'ai chi

6.

What do the Americans call a covered goods wagon, used for transportation of goods that require to be kept dry?  At one time they were a common sight on our railways and still may be seen in the US.

Boxcar

7.

Which play by a Nobel prize winner for literature, first performed in New York in 1946, takes place in Harry Hope's saloon and rooming house in Greenwich Village in 1912 where all the patrons appearing onstage including three prostitutes are alcoholics?

The Iceman Cometh

8.

What is the generic name given to the motorway ring roads that encircle Washington DC and other cities in the United States?

Beltways

Sp1

Which composer invented the genre 'orchestral tone poem' and wrote 13 of them including Les Preludes?

Liszt

Sp2

Which narrative poem, written in 1859 by Christina Rossetti is about the two young sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and has allusions to Adam and Eve and forbidden fruit.

Goblin market

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

The 19th-century financier and politician George Hudson was called 'The ---- King'.  The missing word describes the principal activity of Hudson's extensive empire centred at York.  What was it?

The Railway

2.

The Swedish industrialist and financier Ivan Kreuger who went bankrupt and then committed suicide in 1932 was known as 'The ----- King'.  The missing word describes the product that was produced by one of the larger companies in his business empire.  Last year this company produced 81,000 million examples of this product. What is it?

The Match

3.

Stanley Kirk Burrell is the real name of which rapper?

MC Hammer

4.

Damon Gough, the singer/songwriter is better known as who?

Badly Drawn Boy

5.

Which strait links the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea between Italy and Albania?

Straits of Otranto

6.

Which strait links the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia?

Cabot Strait

7.

For her role playing the housekeeper Alma Brown in which 1963 film did Patricia Neale win the Best Actress Oscar?

Hud

8.

Which film star holds the record for most Oscar nominations?  The first nomination was for a role in a film made in 1978.

ROUND 8 - Pot luck

1.

The capital of the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt is a city on the River Elbe some 65 miles south west of Berlin in which an 17th-century experiment showed the power of air pressure by the use of 2 hemispheres of steel.  What is the name of the city?

Magdeburg

2.

The capital of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate is a city on the River Rhine close to the confluence with the Main.  Guttenberg established his press there in the 15th century.  It has a team lying 7th in the Bundesliga first Division.  What is the name of the city?

Mainz

3.

In the new Testament Gospels of St Mark and St Matthew referred to St Thaddeus as one of the 12 Apostles.  By what better known name is he called in the Gospels of St Luke and St John?  His epistle under his better-known name appears just before Revelations in the New Testament.

St Jude

4.

What is the name of the secret society at Cambridge University founded in 1820, also known as the Cambridge Conversazione Society, that has had as members Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and Eric Hobsbawm amongst others?

The (Cambridge) Apostles

5.

At which University, founded in 1701, and named after a benefactor who was an officeholder in the British East India Company, is there a secret society called Skull and Bones?

Yale

6.

David Cameron appears to spend more time in the COBRA committee than he does in the chamber of the house of Parliament.  What does COBRA stand for?

Cabinet office briefing room(s)

7.

On 28 June 1940 what started at 6 o'clock in the morning in Paris at the Palais Garnier opera house and finished three hours later at the Sacré Coeur, Montmartre?

Hitler's tour of Paris

8.

The only mention of a card game in the plays of Shakespeare occurs in the following dialogue:

Sir Thomas Lovell: "Came you from the King, my lord?"
Gardiner: "I did, Sir Thomas, and left him at primero with the Duke of Suffolk."

From which of the plays, which appears late in the canon, does this dialogue come?

Henry VIII

Spares

1.

Name either the city where Dr Frankenstein was born or where he was brought up according to the novel by Mary Shelley.

(either)

Naples

(or)

Geneva

2.

The academic institution in Paris known in short as ENS is a higher education establishment outside the French university system.  Former graduates include John-Paul Sartre, Georges Pompidou, Louis Pasteur, all 10 French winners of the Field prize and 13 Nobel prizewinners amongst many others.  What does ENS stand for?

Ecole Normale Superieure

3.

Which Canadian born actress was Lady Peel but used her maiden name for her stage appearances?  She appeared in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Round the World in 80 Days, but was better known for her cabaret and stage musical appearances.  She was a close friend of Noel Coward and was the first person to sing Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

Beatrice Lillie

4.

Which cathedral in England, although not the longest, has the longest nave?  It became a cathedral in 1877 but was built in the 11th century.  Dr Runcie was bishop here before he became Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the suffragan bishops is that of Bedford.

St Albans

5.

Salisbury Cathedral is the tallest in the UK but which one is second highest at a height of 111 m?  It is also the second largest cathedral in area in the UK.  The current Bishop is the 132nd to hold the position.

St Pauls