ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Prior to our present Queen, who was Britain’s longest-lived ruler?  He died in 1712 aged 85.

2.

The longest-lived US president is G H W Bush but who did he beat for the record when he reached 93 years 166 days?

3.

What, in France, is a 'vespasienne'?

4.

The classic French pastry, mille-feuille, is sometimes named after another Emperor.  Whom?

5.

Which Scottish football club, known as the 'Bully Wee', found their latest home in Cumbernauld in 1994?

6.

Which Scottish football club, known as 'The Jags', play at Firhill?

7.

The island of Gamla Stan is found in which European capital?

8.

Museum Island, to give the English translation, is found in which European capital?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Pairs

1.

Who painted the celebrated mid-17th century portrait of Pope Innocent X?

2.

Who painted the equestrian portrait of Charles V in 1548?

3.

After a famous photo-shoot in 1964 Cassius Clay (as he was then) asked "Who were those little sissies?".  Who were they?

4.

Who photographed the 1971 Ali-Frazier fight for Time magazine?  He was moonlighting, being in roughly the same day job as the Beatles.

5.

Who wrote the three consecutive novels: Amsterdam, Atonement and Saturday between 1998 and 2005?

6.

Who wrote the three consecutive novels: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality between 1979 and 1990?

7.

Robert Johnson died in 1938, apparently poisoned by a jealous husband.  For which notorious song is he best remembered?

8.

Rezso Seress killed himself in 1968?  For which notorious song is he best remembered?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

1.

Which singer, born Davyhulme, 1959, opened his huge gob again recently on the subject of halal meat?

2.

In 2009 an unpaved road was completed from McMurdo air base to where?  The journey takes about 40 days.

3.

Which Henry James novel shares its name with a location (and a park) in Greenwich Village, New York City?

4.

What was the surname of the movie big shot in The Godfather who woke up with a horse’s head in his bed?

5.

How was Douglas Patterson, a character in Grange Hill from 1980 to 1984 better, and alliteratively, known?

6.

What is the usual name for the town in Cadiz province directly over the border from Gibraltar?

7.

Which district of Seville houses a famous basilica of the same name which, in turn, houses ‘Spain’s best-loved virgin’?

8.

Which name for an olive-based paté comes from the Provençal word for caper?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Links

For each question you will get two clues with a link between them - simply guess the link

For example: Question - Singer in the Black-Eyed Peas pop group – Famous Manchester United Manager; Answer - Fergie

Answers may not necessarily be spelt the same but they will sound alike

1.

Lords of Winterfell in Game of Thrones.

Ben Elton novel of 1989.

2.

The Principal of Springfield Elementary School.

A Lord Protector of England, uncle of an English King.

3.

Newest NHL team based in Las Vegas (currently enjoying its inaugural season).

NBA team based in Oakland, California.

4.

Famously unfinished poem by Lord Byron.

Chelsea Football Club’s player of the year in 2012 and 2013.

5.

South Yorkshire Town on the River Ouse.

Three-time snooker World Champion.

6.

UK Indie rock band who released albums including Employment (2004) and Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2006).

Phenomenon that forms around the iris, a symptom of Wilson’s Disease, caused by accumulation of copper.

7.

Armoured vehicle of World War ll.

Musical currently playing at the Cambridge Theatre based on a Roald Dahl character with lyrics by comedian Tim Minchin.

8.

Anfield’s current 'Egyptian King'.

Name of the character played by Millie Bobby Brown in the hit sci-fi Stranger Things.

Sp

A steamboat that exploded in 1865 killing nearly 1800 people and described as the worst maritime disaster in US history.

White, seedless grape also known as Lady de Coverley in England and 'oval-fruited kishmash' in Turkey and Iraq.

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 & 6 - Events of May 2nd

Pick your year for a question on something that happened on May 2nd in that year

1.

1497

Name the explorer who left Bristol searching for new lands in the New World.

2.

1536

Who was arrested and taken to the Tower of London?

3.

1660

Which baroque composer, who died in 1720, was born in Palermo?

4.

1670

Which New World based company did Charles II grant a royal warrant to?

5.

1729

Which empress was born in Stettin, then in West Prussia?

6.

1892

Which minor noble was born in Breslau, Silesia, now Wroclaw, Poland?  He died in April 1918.

7.

1929

In what type of establishment was Billie Holliday (then aged 14) arrested with her mother?

8.

1936

A lupine related piece of music was premiered in Moscow.  What was it?

9.

1949

Arthur Miller won the Pulitzer Prize for which work?

10.

1953

Two kings were installed in Iraq and Jordan.  In both cases this followed a regency which ended, near to their 18th birthdays.  Name either.

11.

1955

Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for which work?

12.

1957

An eponymous Republican senator died.  Who?

13.

1962

Real Madrid lost the European Cup final 5-3 to which team?

14.

1982

The General Belgrano was sunk by which submarine?

15.

1988

A work of art titled Search was sold for $4,800,000.  It was by which artist?

16.

1997

Donald Trump and his wife announce they are separating.  What was the wife’s name? (NB she was known by her maiden name and this is required for the answer)

17.

2008

The first film of a franchise starring Robert Downie Jr was released.  Which franchise?

Go to Round 5 & 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

Who won the best actor Oscar in 2004 for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray?

2.

Philip Seymour Hofmann won the same award a year later for his portrayal of which real-life person?

3.

What political first was achieved by Margaret Bondfield, born in Chard, Somerset, in 1873?

4.

What artistic first was achieved by Rachel Whiteread in 1993?

5.

Which tennis player won her first grand slam event by taking the Australian Open title earlier this year?

6.

Who recently won his first golf major by triumphing in the US Masters?

7.

The Maltese Falcon in 1941 was the first feature film directed by which Hollywood legend?

8.

Bout de Soufflé (or Breathless) was the first feature film directed by which legend of the French New Wave?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Top-to-tail

The first letter of each answer is the last letter of the one before

1.

"I’ll pay you the money, Don" were the last words of Sam Garret as his head was repeatedly smashed into a Cleveland pavement in 1967.  What was Don’s surname?

2.

Which writer (1925-2012) wrote Myra Beckinridge?  (forename is required)

3.

Which architect designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York City?  (forename not required)

4.

Which port city was besieged for 241 days in 1941?

5.

Which tube station is the only one with six consecutive consonants in its name?

6.

Which rapper was born Marshall Mathers in 1972?

7.

Which infectious disease is usually caused by Plasmodium Falciparum?

8.

It was a 'List' in the 1993 Oscar-winning movie.  What was it in the 1982 novel?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

Spares

1.

Who is the only person to have won both an Olympic Gold Medal and a Nobel Prize?

2.

What was sold at public auction for £6,600 in September 1916?

3.

What was the alternative title of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

4.

Which Manchester-born-and-raised painter won the Turner Prize in 1998?

5.

Which red grape variety is the main component in a Chianti wine blend?

Go to Spares questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Pairs

1.

Prior to our present Queen, who was Britain’s longest-lived ruler?  He died in 1712 aged 85.

Richard Cromwell

(Lord Protector 1659-59)

2.

The longest-lived US president is G H W Bush but who did he beat for the record when he reached 93 years 166 days?

Gerald Ford

3.

What, in France, is a 'vespasienne'?

A public urinal

(named after Vespasian who is reputed to have imposed a tax on urine)

4.

The classic French pastry, mille-feuille, is sometimes named after another Emperor.  Whom?

Napoleon

5.

Which Scottish football club, known as the 'Bully Wee', found their latest home in Cumbernauld in 1994?

Clyde

6.

Which Scottish football club, known as 'The Jags', play at Firhill?

Partick Thistle

7.

The island of Gamla Stan is found in which European capital?

Stockholm

8.

Museum Island, to give the English translation, is found in which European capital?

Berlin

ROUND 2 - Pairs

1.

Who painted the celebrated mid-17th century portrait of Pope Innocent X?

Velasquez

2.

Who painted the equestrian portrait of Charles V in 1548?

Titian

3.

After a famous photo-shoot in 1964 Cassius Clay (as he was then) asked "Who were those little sissies?".  Who were they?

The Beatles

4.

Who photographed the 1971 Ali-Frazier fight for Time magazine?  He was moonlighting, being in roughly the same day job as the Beatles.

Frank Sinatra

5.

Who wrote the three consecutive novels: Amsterdam, Atonement and Saturday between 1998 and 2005?

Ian McEwan

6.

Who wrote the three consecutive novels: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality between 1979 and 1990?

Milan Kundera

7.

Robert Johnson died in 1938, apparently poisoned by a jealous husband.  For which notorious song is he best remembered?

Cross Road Blues

(or just Crossroads as it has also been recorded under that name)

8.

Rezso Seress killed himself in 1968?  For which notorious song is he best remembered?

Gloomy Sunday

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme

1.

Which singer, born Davyhulme, 1959, opened his huge gob again recently on the subject of halal meat?

Morrisey

2.

In 2009 an unpaved road was completed from McMurdo air base to where?  The journey takes about 40 days.

The South Pole

(a research station, specifically)

3.

Which Henry James novel shares its name with a location (and a park) in Greenwich Village, New York City?

Washington Square

4.

What was the surname of the movie big shot in The Godfather who woke up with a horse’s head in his bed?

Woltz

5.

How was Douglas Patterson, a character in Grange Hill from 1980 to 1984 better, and alliteratively, known?

Pogo (Patterson)

6.

What is the usual name for the town in Cadiz province directly over the border from Gibraltar?

La Linea (de Concepcion)

7.

Which district of Seville houses a famous basilica of the same name which, in turn, houses ‘Spain’s best-loved virgin’?

Macarena

8.

Which name for an olive-based paté comes from the Provençal word for caper?

Tapenade

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a dances of one kind or another

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Links

For each question you will get two clues with a link between them - simply guess the link

For example: Question - Singer in the Black-Eyed Peas pop group – Famous Manchester United Manager; Answer - Fergie

Answers may not necessarily be spelt the same but they will sound alike

1.

Lords of Winterfell in Game of Thrones.

Ben Elton novel of 1989.

Stark

2.

The Principal of Springfield Elementary School.

A Lord Protector of England, uncle of an English King.

 Seymour

(Seymour Skinner from The Simpsons & Thomas Seymour, Duke of Somerset, Uncle of Edward the VI)

3.

Newest NHL team based in Las Vegas (currently enjoying its inaugural season).

NBA team based in Oakland, California.

Golden

(Las Vegas Golden Knights & the Golden State Warriors)

4.

Famously unfinished poem by Lord Byron.

Chelsea Football Club’s player of the year in 2012 and 2013.

Juan

(Don Juan & Juan Mata)

5.

South Yorkshire Town on the River Ouse.

Three-time snooker World Champion.

Selby

(the town and Mark Selby)

6.

UK Indie rock band who released albums including Employment (2004) and Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2006).

Phenomenon that forms around the iris, a symptom of Wilson’s Disease, caused by accumulation of copper.

Kaiser

(Kaiser Chiefs & Kayser-Fleischer rings caused by too much copper in the body)

7.

Armoured vehicle of World War ll.

Musical currently playing at the Cambridge Theatre based on a Roald Dahl character with lyrics by comedian Tim Minchin.

Matilda

(British Tank and Matilda the Musical)

8.

Anfield’s current 'Egyptian King'.

Name of the character played by Millie Bobby Brown in the hit sci-fi Stranger Things.

11

(Mohammed Salah, the Egyptian King, wears the number 11 shirt for Liverpool & 'Eleven' is the name of the character)

Sp

A steamboat that exploded in 1865 killing nearly 1800 people and described as the worst maritime disaster in US history.

White, seedless grape also known as Lady de Coverley in England and 'oval-fruited kishmash' in Turkey and Iraq.

Sultana

(SS Sultana exploded in 1865 and the sultana is a white seedless grape)

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 & 6 - Events of May 2nd

Pick your year for a question on something that happened on May 2nd in that year

1.

1497

Name the explorer who left Bristol searching for new lands in the New World.

John Cabot

2.

1536

Who was arrested and taken to the Tower of London?

Anne Boleyn

3.

1660

Which baroque composer, who died in 1720, was born in Palermo?

Scarlatti

4.

1670

Which New World based company did Charles II grant a royal warrant to?

Hudson Bay

5.

1729

Which empress was born in Stettin, then in West Prussia?

Catherine the Great

6.

1892

Which minor noble was born in Breslau, Silesia, now Wroclaw, Poland?  He died in April 1918.

Manfred von Richtofen

7.

1929

In what type of establishment was Billie Holliday (then aged 14) arrested with her mother?

a brothel

8.

1936

A lupine related piece of music was premiered in Moscow.  What was it?

Peter and the Wolf

9.

1949

Arthur Miller won the Pulitzer Prize for which work?

Death of a Salesman

10.

1953

Two kings were installed in Iraq and Jordan.  In both cases this followed a regency which ended, near to their 18th birthdays.  Name either.

Feisal (II - in Iraq)

(or) Hussein (I - in Jordan)

11.

1955

Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for which work?

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

12.

1957

An eponymous Republican senator died.  Who?

Joseph McCarthy

13.

1962

Real Madrid lost the European Cup final 5-3 to which team?

Benfica

14.

1982

The General Belgrano was sunk by which submarine?

HMS Conqueror

15.

1988

A work of art titled Search was sold for $4,800,000.  It was by which artist?

Jackson Pollock

16.

1997

Donald Trump and his wife announce they are separating.  What was the wife’s name? (NB she was known by her maiden name and this is required for the answer)

Marla Marples

17.

2008

The first film of a franchise starring Robert Downie Jr was released.  Which franchise?

Iron Man

Go back to Round 5 & 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

Who won the best actor Oscar in 2004 for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray?

Jamie Foxx

2.

Philip Seymour Hofmann won the same award a year later for his portrayal of which real-life person?

Truman Capote

3.

What political first was achieved by Margaret Bondfield, born in Chard, Somerset, in 1873?

First female cabinet minister and privy counsellor

(either 'first' will do)

4.

What artistic first was achieved by Rachel Whiteread in 1993?

First female Turner Prize winner

5.

Which tennis player won her first grand slam event by taking the Australian Open title earlier this year?

Caroline Wozniacki

6.

Who recently won his first golf major by triumphing in the US Masters?

Patrick Reed

7.

The Maltese Falcon in 1941 was the first feature film directed by which Hollywood legend?

John Huston

8.

Bout de Soufflé (or Breathless) was the first feature film directed by which legend of the French New Wave?

Jean-Luc Goddard

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Top-to-tail

The first letter of each answer is the last letter of the one before

1.

"I’ll pay you the money, Don" were the last words of Sam Garret as his head was repeatedly smashed into a Cleveland pavement in 1967.  What was Don’s surname?

King

2.

Which writer (1925-2012) wrote Myra Beckinridge?  (forename is required)

Gore Vidal

3.

Which architect designed the Guggenheim Museum in New York City?  (forename not required)

(Frank) Lloyd Wright

4.

Which port city was besieged for 241 days in 1941?

Tobruk

5.

Which tube station is the only one with six consecutive consonants in its name?

Knightsbridge

6.

Which rapper was born Marshall Mathers in 1972?

Eminem

7.

Which infectious disease is usually caused by Plasmodium Falciparum?

Malaria

8.

It was a 'List' in the 1993 Oscar-winning movie.  What was it in the 1982 novel?

An Ark

(Schindler’s, if anyone is confused)

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers

Spares

1.

Who is the only person to have won both an Olympic Gold Medal and a Nobel Prize?

Philip Noel Baker

(1500m at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920; and the Peace Prize in 1959 for his work in the United Nations Association)

2.

What was sold at public auction for £6,600 in September 1916?

Stonehenge

3.

What was the alternative title of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?

The Modern Prometheus

4.

Which Manchester-born-and-raised painter won the Turner Prize in 1998?

Chris Ofili

5.

Which red grape variety is the main component in a Chianti wine blend?

Sangiovese

Go back to Spares questions without answers