ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

With a name originally inspired by a racehorse, which Scottish rock band, considered to be one of the most popular post-punk revival bands, won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize for their eponymous debut album?

2.

Originally called Ruston Parva, which Yorkshire based indie rock band, is named after the first club for which the current Leeds United captain played?

3.

Which spicy pasta sauce, the name of which in Italian means 'angry', is made from garlic, tomatoes and red chilli peppers?

4.

Which pasta sauce, the name of which in Italian means 'in the style of a whore', consists of tomato, black olives, capers, anchovies and red peppers?

5.

What do the letters MS on an Ordinance Survey map indicate?

6.

What do the letters BP on an Ordnance Survey map indicate?

7.

Eight Old Harrovians have held the office of Prime Minister.  Of these six were Tories (or Conservatives) and one, Lord Palmerston, was a Whig (or Liberal).  To what party did the eighth belong?

8.

Which British Politician, then a Captain in the 6th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment, was the penultimate person to be evacuated from Suvla Bay in the Dardanelles?  He served as MP for two constituencies, the last being Walthamstow West.

Sp.

Which UK Prime Minister was Head Boy of Wirral Grammar School?

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

1.

Who served as Secretary of State for Northern Island and Secretary of State for Employment in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet, and was MP for Lowestoft and Waveney?

2.

He served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Secretary of State for Industry and was MP for Leeds North East.  He is generally regarded as her principal adviser and political guru.  What was his nickname?

3.

Which comedian and physics graduate is the presenter on ITV's It’s Not Rocket Science?

4.

Which TV presenter has made travel documentaries titled Tropic of Cancer, Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, as well as series about Greece and the Caribbean?

5.

What was the public enquiry conducted by Dame Janet Smith between March 2000 and January 2005?

6.

What is the name of the 1993 album by Sting which was a pun on his family name?

7.

Last Wednesday Officer Paul Rogerson of the Utah Highway Patrol decided not to issue a ticket to a speeding driver after a passenger in the car sang Happy Birthday to him.  Who was it that serenaded Officer Rogerson?

8.

Her pioneering work at Kings College, London, in X-Ray Crystallography and her later studies into the molecular structure of viruses at Birkbeck College both resulted in the award of Nobel Prizes to others.  Who was she?

Sp.

Which manufacturing company, still trading today, was formed in Street, Somerset, in 1825?

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

To which island group do Union Island, Palm Island and Mustique belong?

2.

To which island group do Vulcano, Salina and Stromboli belong?

3.

Which film ends with the words: “All right, Mr. De Mille.  I’m ready for my close up”?

4.

Which film ends with the words: “Well, nobody’s perfect”?

5.

In 1982 two songs entitled What? and Wot entered the charts in the same week, name either artist?

6.

From which song do the following lyrics come: “Sipping gin and juice underneath a palm tree”?

7.

Who wrote HMS Ulysses?

8.

Who wrote On the Beach and No Highway?

Sp.

Who created DCI Banks?

ROUND 4 - 'Numbers'

Each answer contains the number of the question or a sound-alike thereof

1.

Fierce Creatures (1997) was a sort of sequel to which 1980s film?

2.

What was the name of John Grisham’s first novel, published in 1989 (and filmed in 1996)?

3.

Which shirt number, now worn by numerous footballers, was made famous by basketball’s Michael Jordan?

4.

The family of which Spanish king is depicted in the painting Las Meninas, which is to be found in the Prado?

5.

How were the Pearson siblings, from Romford, known when they had 15 hit singles between 1985 and 1988?

6.

What educational establishment can be found on Lower Park Road, M14?

7.

Which plc, established in its current form in 1989, moved its HQ from Birmingham to Coventry in 2010?

8.

Which football chant is said to have first been heard in 1894 at Bramhall Lane and sung at goalkeeper William Foulke?

9.

What was the year of the four emperors in Roman history?

ROUND 5 - Hidden theme

1.

Who played Clint Eastwood’s partner in the 1976 Dirty Harry movie The Enforcer?

2.

Vanuatu was formerly known as what?

3.

The action of Desmond Bagley’s Cold War Thriller Running Blind takes place in which country?

4.

On 14th August 1979 Edward Heath was temporarily lost at sea, during which tragic event?

5.

DCI Jimmy Perez of the TV Series Shetland was born where?

6.

Sitting on a rock, whilst on holiday to escape from the pollen which was giving him extreme hay fever, Werner Heisenberg dreamed up (or evolved) his Uncertainty Principle.  Where was this rock?

7.

Tom Bombadil rescued Frodo Baggins and his fellow Hobbits when they were attacked by wraithlike creatures as they camped by some ancient graves or barrows.  What were these wraiths?

8.

Name the much acclaimed Children’s book by Shirley Hughes first published in 1974 which won the Kate Greenaway Award in 1977.

Sp1

Which MP for Bute and Argyleshire wrote Eastern Approaches, which contains a graphic account of Stalin’s show trials of the 1930’s?  He later enlisted as a private in the Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier.  Enoch Powell was the only other MP to emulate this feat.

Sp2

Which Governor of Londonderry is reviled as a coward and traitor by the Unionist Community and is frequently burned in effigy?

ROUND 6 - 'What’s the Surname?'

The answer to each question is the surname shared by the three people described - the pronunciations are always the same though the spellings may differ slightly

1.

i) A Welsh-born politician who was MP for Folkestone and Hythe 1983-2010.

ii) A British writer who was married to Kingsley Amis 1965-1983 and wrote The Cazalet Chronicles.

iii) An American director whose films include Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code and Frost/Nixon.

2.

i) A cricketer who won several one-day trophies with Lancashire, captained them from 1978 to 1980 and made an unbeaten century on his England debut.

ii) An actor who appeared in many films from 1955 onwards but is best known for playing Gunner ‘Gloria’ Beaumont in the sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.

iii) An American soul singer, most successful in the 1970s, who is better known to younger generations for a cartoon voiceover.

3.

i) A golfer who has been in five winning Ryder Cup teams but never won a major championship.

ii) The lead singer of a rock band formed in 1965, who died in 1995 and has a flavour of ice cream named after him.

iii) An explorer who discovered the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

4.

i) A Didsbury-born actress, who attended Parr's Wood High School, and has appeared in the recent movie remakes of Anna Karenina, Great Expectations and Cinderella.

ii) One of the most celebrated British gold medallists at the 2012 Olympics.

iii) The name of the head of the men’s department in Are You Being Served?

5.

i) A member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet from 1981-1990.

ii) The British actress who plays Rey in Star Wars – The Force Awakens.

iii) An English protestant martyr who was burned alongside Hugh Latimer.

6.

ii) An American entertainer recently seen playing Dr Mark Sloan in the TV series Diagnosis: Murder.

iii) A current central defender in the top half of the Premier League.

7.

i) The main character in the series of novels for teenage girls by Louise Rennison.

ii) A famous winner of the Football Pools who appeared on the sleeve of the Smiths’ single Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.

iii) The central character played by Alec Guinness in The Bridge On The River Kwai.

8.

i) A scientist who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure of DNA.

ii) A footballer who played 84 times for England in the 1970s and 1980s.

ii) Lenny Henry’s well-meaning but trouble-prone pirate radio DJ.

Sp.

i) An American actor best known for the title role in Robocop and its sequels.

ii) A British rock star born in Woking in 1958.

iii). A well-known fictional servant and travelling companion.

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

Which 2008 Coen Brothers film starred Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand as gym employees who stumble upon a disc containing CIA employee John Malkovich’s memoirs?

2.

Who was the Labour MP for Middleton & Prestwich, and later Heywood & Middleton, between 1974 and 1997?  He shared his name with that of a British Prime Minister.

3.

Which repetitively titled song reached the top ten in 1976 for the Andrea True Connection and did so again for Bananarama in 1993 and Rachel Stevens in 2004?

4.

Which 1964 play by Peter Shaffer is set during the Spanish invasion of Inca Peru?

5.

Which political theorist wrote The Rights Of Man in 1791 in defence of the French Revolution against its critics?

6.

Which TV personality was the first female host of the Radio One Breakfast Show and has more recently presented the Strictly Come Dancing spin-off, It Takes Two?

7.

Which sports psychiatrist has famously helped various English and British national teams plus individuals such as Ronnie O’Sullivan?  He wrote the book The Chimp Paradox.

8.

Which 2013 film starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson shows the struggles of Walt Disney to acquire the rights to film Mary Poppins? (full title needed)

Sp.

Which legendary tennis player was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tennis championships during the same calendar year?

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

In addition to appearing as an extra in Four Weddings and a Funeral, which current cabinet member appeared in the film’s credits for her role in finding other extras for the film?

2.

Which current cabinet member, along with fellow Conservative MP Ed Vaizey, appeared in the credits for Star Wars: the Force Awakens?

3.

What was the first British TV programme to give away a million pounds as a prize?

4.

What was the TV programme, presented by Chris Evans, in which the audience were told to be prepared to go immediately on a dream holiday if they won the show’s top prize?

5.

Near which city have archaeologists recently discovered a well-preserved Bronze Age settlement which has been called 'Britain’s Pompeii'?

6.

Which former boss of a nationalized industry was a Liberal Democrat peer and the oldest living member of the House of Lords prior to his recent death?

7.

What, in 1972, was the first football club other than a national team to have a UK top ten hit single?

8.

What is the only song of a club rather than a national football team to reach number one in the UK singles chart?

Sp.

What 'first' has Mary Somerville, the founder of Somerville College, Oxford, achieved recently?

ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

With a name originally inspired by a racehorse, which Scottish rock band, considered to be one of the most popular post-punk revival bands, won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize for their eponymous debut album?

Franz Ferdinand

2.

Originally called Ruston Parva, which Yorkshire based indie rock band, is named after the first club for which the current Leeds United captain played?

The Kaiser Chiefs

3.

Which spicy pasta sauce, the name of which in Italian means 'angry', is made from garlic, tomatoes and red chilli peppers?

Arrabiata

4.

Which pasta sauce, the name of which in Italian means 'in the style of a whore', consists of tomato, black olives, capers, anchovies and red peppers?

Puttanesca

5.

What do the letters MS on an Ordinance Survey map indicate?

Milestone

6.

What do the letters BP on an Ordnance Survey map indicate?

Boundary Post

7.

Eight Old Harrovians have held the office of Prime Minister.  Of these six were Tories (or Conservatives) and one, Lord Palmerston, was a Whig (or Liberal).  To what party did the eighth belong?

Congress Party of India

(he was Jawaharlal Nehru)

8.

Which British Politician, then a Captain in the 6th Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment, was the penultimate person to be evacuated from Suvla Bay in the Dardanelles?  He served as MP for two constituencies, the last being Walthamstow West.

Clement Atlee

Sp.

Which UK Prime Minister was Head Boy of Wirral Grammar School?

Harold Wilson

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

1.

Who served as Secretary of State for Northern Island and Secretary of State for Employment in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet, and was MP for Lowestoft and Waveney?

James Prior

2.

He served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Secretary of State for Industry and was MP for Leeds North East.  He is generally regarded as her principal adviser and political guru.  What was his nickname?

'The Mad Monk'

(Sir Keith Joseph)

3.

Which comedian and physics graduate is the presenter on ITV's It’s Not Rocket Science?

Ben Miller

4.

Which TV presenter has made travel documentaries titled Tropic of Cancer, Equator and Tropic of Capricorn, as well as series about Greece and the Caribbean?

Simon Reeve

5.

What was the public enquiry conducted by Dame Janet Smith between March 2000 and January 2005?

The Shipman Enquiry

6.

What is the name of the 1993 album by Sting which was a pun on his family name?

10 Summoner's Tales

7.

Last Wednesday Officer Paul Rogerson of the Utah Highway Patrol decided not to issue a ticket to a speeding driver after a passenger in the car sang Happy Birthday to him.  Who was it that serenaded Officer Rogerson?

Gladys Knight

8.

Her pioneering work at Kings College, London, in X-Ray Crystallography and her later studies into the molecular structure of viruses at Birkbeck College both resulted in the award of Nobel Prizes to others.  Who was she?

Rosalind Franklin

Sp.

Which manufacturing company, still trading today, was formed in Street, Somerset, in 1825?

Clarks

(shoe manufacturer)

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

To which island group do Union Island, Palm Island and Mustique belong?

The Grenadines

2.

To which island group do Vulcano, Salina and Stromboli belong?

The Aeolian Islands

3.

Which film ends with the words: “All right, Mr. De Mille.  I’m ready for my close up”?

Sunset Boulevard

4.

Which film ends with the words: “Well, nobody’s perfect”?

Some Like It Hot

5.

In 1982 two songs entitled What? and Wot entered the charts in the same week, name either artist?

(either)

Soft Cell

(or)

Captain Sensible

6.

From which song do the following lyrics come: “Sipping gin and juice underneath a palm tree”?

California Girls

(by Katy Perry)

7.

Who wrote HMS Ulysses?

Alistair MacLean

8.

Who wrote On the Beach and No Highway?

Nevil Shute

Sp.

Who created DCI Banks?

Peter Robinson

ROUND 4 - 'Numbers'

Each answer contains the number of the question or a sound-alike thereof

1.

Fierce Creatures (1997) was a sort of sequel to which 1980s film?

A Fish called Wanda

2.

What was the name of John Grisham’s first novel, published in 1989 (and filmed in 1996)?

A Time to Kill

3.

Which shirt number, now worn by numerous footballers, was made famous by basketball’s Michael Jordan?

23

4.

The family of which Spanish king is depicted in the painting Las Meninas, which is to be found in the Prado?

Philip IV

5.

How were the Pearson siblings, from Romford, known when they had 15 hit singles between 1985 and 1988?

5 Star

6.

What educational establishment can be found on Lower Park Road, M14?

Xaverian Sixth Form College

7.

Which plc, established in its current form in 1989, moved its HQ from Birmingham to Coventry in 2010?

Severn Trent Water

8.

Which football chant is said to have first been heard in 1894 at Bramhall Lane and sung at goalkeeper William Foulke?

“Who ate all the pies?”

9.

What was the year of the four emperors in Roman history?

69AD

ROUND 5 - Hidden theme

1.

Who played Clint Eastwood’s partner in the 1976 Dirty Harry movie The Enforcer?

Tyne Daly

2.

Vanuatu was formerly known as what?

The New Hebrides

3.

The action of Desmond Bagley’s Cold War Thriller Running Blind takes place in which country?

Iceland

4.

On 14th August 1979 Edward Heath was temporarily lost at sea, during which tragic event?

The Fastnet Disaster

(accept Fastnet Race)

5.

DCI Jimmy Perez of the TV Series Shetland was born where?

Fair Isle

(where, according to him, there live 50 people and a lot of birds)

6.

Sitting on a rock, whilst on holiday to escape from the pollen which was giving him extreme hay fever, Werner Heisenberg dreamed up (or evolved) his Uncertainty Principle.  Where was this rock?

Heligoland

7.

Tom Bombadil rescued Frodo Baggins and his fellow Hobbits when they were attacked by wraithlike creatures as they camped by some ancient graves or barrows.  What were these wraiths?

Barrow Wights

8.

Name the much acclaimed Children’s book by Shirley Hughes first published in 1974 which won the Kate Greenaway Award in 1977.

Dogger

Sp1

Which MP for Bute and Argyleshire wrote Eastern Approaches, which contains a graphic account of Stalin’s show trials of the 1930’s?  He later enlisted as a private in the Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier.  Enoch Powell was the only other MP to emulate this feat.

Sir Fitzroy Maclean

Sp2

Which Governor of Londonderry is reviled as a coward and traitor by the Unionist Community and is frequently burned in effigy?

Robert Lundy

ROUND 6 - 'What’s the Surname?'

The answer to each question is the surname shared by the three people described - the pronunciations are always the same though the spellings may differ slightly

1.

i) A Welsh-born politician who was MP for Folkestone and Hythe 1983-2010.

ii) A British writer who was married to Kingsley Amis 1965-1983 and wrote The Cazalet Chronicles.

iii) An American director whose films include Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code and Frost/Nixon.

Howard

(Michael, Elizabeth Jane, Ron)

2.

i) A cricketer who won several one-day trophies with Lancashire, captained them from 1978 to 1980 and made an unbeaten century on his England debut.

ii) An actor who appeared in many films from 1955 onwards but is best known for playing Gunner ‘Gloria’ Beaumont in the sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.

iii) An American soul singer, most successful in the 1970s, who is better known to younger generations for a cartoon voiceover.

Hayes

(Frank, Melvyn, Isaac)

3.

i) A golfer who has been in five winning Ryder Cup teams but never won a major championship.

ii) The lead singer of a rock band formed in 1965, who died in 1995 and has a flavour of ice cream named after him.

iii) An explorer who discovered the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

Garcia

(Sergio, Jerry, Diego)

4.

i) A Didsbury-born actress, who attended Parr's Wood High School, and has appeared in the recent movie remakes of Anna Karenina, Great Expectations and Cinderella.

ii) One of the most celebrated British gold medallists at the 2012 Olympics.

iii) The name of the head of the men’s department in Are You Being Served?

Grainger

(Holliday, Katherine, Mr (Ernest))

5.

i) A member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet from 1981-1990.

ii) The British actress who plays Rey in Star Wars – The Force Awakens.

iii) An English protestant martyr who was burned alongside Hugh Latimer.

Ridley

(Nicholas, Daisy, Nicholas again)

6.

i) A painter who lived from 1599 to 1641 and painted various European monarchs.

ii) An American entertainer recently seen playing Dr Mark Sloan in the TV series Diagnosis: Murder.

iii) A current central defender in the top half of the Premier League.

Van Dyck/Van Dyke

(Sir Antony, Dick, Virgil)

7.

i) The main character in the series of novels for teenage girls by Louise Rennison.

ii) A famous winner of the Football Pools who appeared on the sleeve of the Smiths’ single Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now.

iii) The central character played by Alec Guinness in The Bridge On The River Kwai.

Nicholson

(Georgia, Viv, 'Lieutenant Colonel')

8.

i) A scientist who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the structure of DNA.

ii) A footballer who played 84 times for England in the 1970s and 1980s.

ii) Lenny Henry’s well-meaning but trouble-prone pirate radio DJ.

Wilkins

(Maurice, Ray, Delbert)

Sp.

i) An American actor best known for the title role in Robocop and its sequels.

ii) A British rock star born in Woking in 1958.

iii). A well-known fictional servant and travelling companion.

Weller

(Peter, Paul, Sam)

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

Which 2008 Coen Brothers film starred Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand as gym employees who stumble upon a disc containing CIA employee John Malkovich’s memoirs?

Burn After Reading

2.

Who was the Labour MP for Middleton & Prestwich, and later Heywood & Middleton, between 1974 and 1997?  He shared his name with that of a British Prime Minister.

Jim Callaghan

3.

Which repetitively titled song reached the top ten in 1976 for the Andrea True Connection and did so again for Bananarama in 1993 and Rachel Stevens in 2004?

More, More, More

4.

Which 1964 play by Peter Shaffer is set during the Spanish invasion of Inca Peru?

The Royal Hunt of the Sun

5.

Which political theorist wrote The Rights Of Man in 1791 in defence of the French Revolution against its critics?

Thomas Paine

6.

Which TV personality was the first female host of the Radio One Breakfast Show and has more recently presented the Strictly Come Dancing spin-off, It Takes Two?

Zoe Ball

7.

Which sports psychiatrist has famously helped various English and British national teams plus individuals such as Ronnie O’Sullivan?  He wrote the book The Chimp Paradox.

Dr Steve Peters

8.

Which 2013 film starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson shows the struggles of Walt Disney to acquire the rights to film Mary Poppins? (full title needed)

Saving Mr Banks

Sp.

Which legendary tennis player was the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tennis championships during the same calendar year?

Maureen (‘Little Mo’) Connolly

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

In addition to appearing as an extra in Four Weddings and a Funeral, which current cabinet member appeared in the film’s credits for her role in finding other extras for the film?

Amber Rudd

2.

Which current cabinet member, along with fellow Conservative MP Ed Vaizey, appeared in the credits for Star Wars: the Force Awakens?

George Osborne

3.

What was the first British TV programme to give away a million pounds as a prize?

TFI Friday

4.

What was the TV programme, presented by Chris Evans, in which the audience were told to be prepared to go immediately on a dream holiday if they won the show’s top prize?

Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush

5.

Near which city have archaeologists recently discovered a well-preserved Bronze Age settlement which has been called 'Britain’s Pompeii'?

Peterborough

6.

Which former boss of a nationalized industry was a Liberal Democrat peer and the oldest living member of the House of Lords prior to his recent death?

Derek Ezra

7.

What, in 1972, was the first football club other than a national team to have a UK top ten hit single?

Leeds United

(with the song Leeds United!)

8.

What is the only song of a club rather than a national football team to reach number one in the UK singles chart?

Come On You Reds

(title required, not just the name of 'Manchester United' who were the performers)

Sp.

What 'first' has Mary Somerville, the founder of Somerville College, Oxford, achieved recently?

She has been chosen as the first non-royal woman to appear on Royal Bank of Scotland banknotes