ROUND 1 - Hidden theme - "Please, sir, I want some more"

The theme may be just the first part of a word in the answer

1.

What is the collective name for Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands?

2.

In the field of astronomy, what does the acronym SETI stand for?

3.

NOTA UK is a voluntary organisation set up in 2010 to campaign for which option to be added to ballot papers for all future UK elections?

4.

What is the name of the sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley, located at Crosby Beach, consisting of 100 cast iron figures facing towards the sea?

5.

Which song, written by Arlen and Harburg, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?  It is sung by a film's protagonist immediately after they say: "It's far, far away.  Behind the moon, beyond the rain.".

6.

What is the title of the spin-off TV series which is a prequel to Breaking Bad that follows the story of con-man turned small-time lawyer, Jimmy McGill?

7.

What curve has the equation y=1/x?

8.

Which rock band, active between 1977 and 2012, achieved international success with the singles Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, and Suicide Blonde?

Sp.

Which Welsh international rugby union outside-half, who plays rugby for the Northampton Saints, became the youngest player to reach 100 games for his former club, the Ospreys?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Pairs

1.

What is the name of the Christian millenarian group founded by John Thomas around 1850 whose name is derived from the Greek word for brother?

2.

What is the name of the church that merged with the Congregational church to form the Unitarians in 1978?

3.

At what battle in the Wars of the Roses, near a city which today contains the largest high security prison in the country, was the Duke of York, the father of the future Edward IV, killed?

4.

After which battle in the Wars of the Roses, near a town with a well-known Abbey, was Henry VI killed in the Tower of London?

5.

Which Hungarian-American scientist (1903-1957) was described as the foremost mathematician of the mid-20th century having contributed to all aspects of mathematics except for number theory and topology.  He was a pioneer in game theory and in the development of the digital computer.  The architecture of the standard computer is named after him.

6.

Which English mathematician and physicist (1902-1984) won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1933 for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.  He also predicted the existence of antimatter.  He was the Lucasian Professor of mathematics at Cambridge for some years and his name is associated with a delta function.

7.

A member of the crow family with brightly coloured bill, legs and feet, its name is derived from its call.  It appears on the Cornish coat of arms.  What is its name?

8.

This heraldic bird which has no legs appears on the coat of arms of Sussex and is based on the birds of the apodidae family.  What is it?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

Which is the furthest south of the British Shipping Forecast areas?

2.

In British Shipping Forecast areas how was German Bight known before 1956?

3.

Which film director won the Oscar in 1995 for On the Waterfront?  (N.B. '1995' should have read '1955')

4.

Which film director won the Oscar in 1960 for Ben Hur?

5.

Which former England football forward, now 37 years old and playing in the EFL championship, wrote the book How to be a Footballer in 2018?

6.

Which politician's first part of his autobiography was entitled This Boy?  It was published in 2013 and won the Orwell prize in 2014.

7.

Which city stands at the meeting of the Rhone and Saone? 

8.

Which city stands at the mouth of the Loire?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Announced theme

There are two answers to each question, both of which are people (real or fictional) who have the same given name and surname

There may be slight spelling differences

Full names are required

1.

Drummer portrayed in a movie by Ben Hardy.

Tennis player who was Great Britain's Davis Cup captain between 2000 and 2004.

2.

Criminal, portrayed in a film by Tom Hardy, who has been called the "most violent prisoner in Britain".

Actor, whose birth surname was Buchinsky, who appeared in a number of films alongside his wife, Jill Ireland.

3.

Presenter who formed his own television production company, Ginger Productions.

Actor who has played Captain America in a number of films.

4.

Irish politician who was assassinated in 1922.

Astronaut portrayed in a movie by Lukas Haas.

5.

He translated the erotic book The Perfumed Garden into English.

The critic Kenneth Tynan called him "the natural successor to Olivier", and who was buried in a red suit and with a copy of Dylan Thomas' poems.

6.

The eponymous hero of the novel whose longer title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of X the Younger of Blunderstone Rooker (where X is the person in question).

He made the Statue of Liberty "disappear" in 1983.

7.

Maiden name of Benjamin Disraeli's wife.

Birth name of the author of Daniel Deronda.

8.

The MP for Orpington, a former Minister for Transport and London.

Rank outsider who beat Steve Davis in the World Snooker final.

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

What is a pizzly?

2.

A geep (a.k.a. a shoat) is a cross between a goat and a sheep.  Whilst the two species may attempt to interbreed, it is generally an unsuccessful mating as the number of chromosomes is different.  However, geeps can be created in the lab by joining the embryos of a sheep and a goat.  Thus half the cells will always be sheep, and the other half goat.  What is the generic name for such an organism, where there are two genetically distinct cell lines?

3.

With the latest edition of a book published in September 2018, in what context did OK become OK?

4.

One of the other new words is an 8 letter word worth 16 points.  A meme (or gif) of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard demonstrating this sense of exasperation has been shared many millions of times.  What is the word?

5.

Widespread in Europe, Asia and North Africa, which small creature has the Latin name 'athene noctua'?

6.

Native to Sub-Saharan Africa, there are two endangered creatures which are the only examples of the genus pan.  Name either of them.

7.

In what context did previously unknown US social worker Doria Ragland become better known in the UK in May 2018?

8.

The ancestry of Thomas Markle, Meghan’s currently estranged father, has been traced back to which English monarch, who was on the throne when the UK parliament was first split into two chambers?  It was established that no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses and the Sovereign.  This development occurred because the king in question was considered to be spending too much money on war.

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Announced theme

All answers contain words that can be placed after the word 'light' (normal rules apply)

1.

What was the title of the 1982 film starring Mel Gibson who plays a journalist in Indonesia during the overthrow of president Sukarno?  Linda Hunt won an Oscar for the best supporting actress although in the film she played a man.

2.

What are the first 6 words of the line in the Longfellow poem Tales of Wayside Inn that precede "...only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness."?  The phrase is used as a metaphor for fleeting encounters.

3.

What is the name given to the ancient philosophical concept, thought to date back to Pythagoras, that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies (i.e. the Sun, Moon, and planets) to be mathematically linked?

4.

What is the name of the TV series written by Beau Willimon based on the novel with the same name by Michael Dobbs?

5.

A town of about 130,000 inhabitants, it was the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey and is the home to Ransomes agricultural machinery makers.  It has a team in the EFL championship.  What is its name?

6.

Which interdenominational Christian youth organisation, conceived by Sir William Alexander Smith and founded in 1883 has 750,000 members in more than 60 countries worldwide?

7.

Who is the leader of the French political party Rassemblement National?  (full name required)

8.

What is the name of the regimental quick march of the Royal Marines?

Sp

One of the largest towns in the country with an urban population of over 300,000 and a team in the EFL championship, where was home to Simonds brewery (merged with Courage in 1960) and Sutton's seeds until 1974?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

What is the nickname of this 1932 born politician who first entered parliament in 1970 and who would be father of the house had not Kenneth Clarke been sworn in first?

2.

Standing on the River Aire this town boasts Europe's longest continuous Horse Racing circuit at 2 miles 125 yards.  The major Rugby League Club in the area is Featherstone Rovers.  What is the name of this town?

3.

What is the name of the horse that Eliza Doolittle urged to "...move its bloomin' arse" in Pygmalion/My Fair Lady?

4.

Name this Scottish crime writer and TV screenwriter who was born in 1951.  His crime fiction novels include the Lewis Trilogy of Blackhouse, Lewis Man and The Chess Man.

5.

Becket Park, and Trinity and All Saints are both universities close to which British city which has its own university established in 1874?

6.

A word of Scottish origin that is sometimes used instead of Clothes Horse - what is it?

7.

Born in 1933 as Harold Lloyd Jenkin he had 9 Top 40 US hits but only one Number 1 in 1958 with It's Only Make Believe.  Recordings of his singing in real life have appeared in several Family Guy instalments - probably ironically.  How was he known professionally?

8.

An Edinburgh University graduate, this actress married Guy Garvey in Manchester in 2016.  She has appeared on TV and also played Mary Jones in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.  Who is this actress with a famous mother?

Sp

A former footballer who was born in 1969 and whose former clubs include Southend, Spurs and Portsmouth.  His career in football management includes Rushden and Diamonds, Gillingham and Northampton Town.  He is currently the manager of Leyton Orient.  Who is he?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

What is the English meaning of the title of Richard Strauss’ opera Die Frau ohne Schatten?

2.

What is the English title of Schubert’s song Die Forelle?

3.

Who plays US President Tom Kirkman in Designated Survivor?

4.

Who plays US President Thomas J Whitmore in Independence Day?

5.

Pineau de Charentes is a fortified aperitif associated with which other local product?

6.

Which Sicilian city is best known for salt pans and the production of a fortified wine?

7.

Who is this week’s Brexit secretary?

8.

Who is the current shadow Northern Ireland Secretary?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

Spares

1.

Who said on being told of the death of Calvin Coolidge: "How can they tell"?

2.

Who said in 1812: "From the sublime to the ridiculous there is only one step"?

3.

Which Perfume House produces Fahrenheit?

4.

Which Perfume House produces Opium?

Go to Spares questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Hidden theme - "Please, sir, I want some more"

The theme may be just the first part of a word in the answer

1.

What is the collective name for Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands?

The Greater Antilles

2.

In the field of astronomy, what does the acronym SETI stand for?

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

3.

NOTA UK is a voluntary organisation set up in 2010 to campaign for which option to be added to ballot papers for all future UK elections?

'None Of The Above'

4.

What is the name of the sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley, located at Crosby Beach, consisting of 100 cast iron figures facing towards the sea?

Another Place

5.

Which song, written by Arlen and Harburg, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song?  It is sung by a film's protagonist immediately after they say: "It's far, far away.  Behind the moon, beyond the rain.".

Over the Rainbow

6.

What is the title of the spin-off TV series which is a prequel to Breaking Bad that follows the story of con-man turned small-time lawyer, Jimmy McGill?

Better Call Saul

7.

What curve has the equation y=1/x?

Hyperbola

8.

Which rock band, active between 1977 and 2012, achieved international success with the singles Need You Tonight, Never Tear Us Apart, and Suicide Blonde?

INXS

(pronounced "in excess")

Sp.

Which Welsh international rugby union outside-half, who plays rugby for the Northampton Saints, became the youngest player to reach 100 games for his former club, the Ospreys?

Dan Biggar

Theme: Each answer contains a synonym for 'more'

ROUND 2 - Pairs

1.

What is the name of the Christian millenarian group founded by John Thomas around 1850 whose name is derived from the Greek word for brother?

Christadelphian

2.

What is the name of the church that merged with the Congregational church to form the Unitarians in 1978?

Presbyterian

3.

At what battle in the Wars of the Roses, near a city which today contains the largest high security prison in the country, was the Duke of York, the father of the future Edward IV, killed?

Wakefield

4.

After which battle in the Wars of the Roses, near a town with a well-known Abbey, was Henry VI killed in the Tower of London?

Tewkesbury

5.

Which Hungarian-American scientist (1903-1957) was described as the foremost mathematician of the mid-20th century having contributed to all aspects of mathematics except for number theory and topology.  He was a pioneer in game theory and in the development of the digital computer.  The architecture of the standard computer is named after him.

(John von) Neuman

6.

Which English mathematician and physicist (1902-1984) won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1933 for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory.  He also predicted the existence of antimatter.  He was the Lucasian Professor of mathematics at Cambridge for some years and his name is associated with a delta function.

7.

A member of the crow family with brightly coloured bill, legs and feet, its name is derived from its call.  It appears on the Cornish coat of arms.  What is its name?

Chough

8.

This heraldic bird which has no legs appears on the coat of arms of Sussex and is based on the birds of the apodidae family.  What is it?

Martlet

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Pairs

1.

Which is the furthest south of the British Shipping Forecast areas?

Trafalgar

2.

In British Shipping Forecast areas how was German Bight known before 1956?

Heligoland

3.

Which film director won the Oscar in 1995 for On the Waterfront?  (N.B. '1995' should have read '1955')

Elia Kazan

4.

Which film director won the Oscar in 1960 for Ben Hur?

William Wyler

5.

Which former England football forward, now 37 years old and playing in the EFL championship, wrote the book How to be a Footballer in 2018?

Peter Crouch

6.

Which politician's first part of his autobiography was entitled This Boy?  It was published in 2013 and won the Orwell prize in 2014.

Alan Johnson

7.

Which city stands at the meeting of the Rhone and Saone? 

Lyon

8.

Which city stands at the mouth of the Loire?

St. Nazaire

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Announced theme

There are two answers to each question, both of which are people (real or fictional) who have the same given name and surname

There may be slight spelling differences

Full names are required

1.

Drummer portrayed in a movie by Ben Hardy.

Tennis player who was Great Britain's Davis Cup captain between 2000 and 2004.

Roger Taylor

2.

Criminal, portrayed in a film by Tom Hardy, who has been called the "most violent prisoner in Britain".

Actor, whose birth surname was Buchinsky, who appeared in a number of films alongside his wife, Jill Ireland.

Charles Bronson

3.

Presenter who formed his own television production company, Ginger Productions.

Actor who has played Captain America in a number of films.

Chris Evans

4.

Irish politician who was assassinated in 1922.

Astronaut portrayed in a movie by Lukas Haas.

Michael Collins

5.

He translated the erotic book The Perfumed Garden into English.

The critic Kenneth Tynan called him "the natural successor to Olivier", and who was buried in a red suit and with a copy of Dylan Thomas' poems.

Richard Burton

6.

The eponymous hero of the novel whose longer title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of X the Younger of Blunderstone Rooker (where X is the person in question).

He made the Statue of Liberty "disappear" in 1983.

David Copperfield

7.

Maiden name of Benjamin Disraeli's wife.

Birth name of the author of Daniel Deronda.

Mary Anne Evans

8.

The MP for Orpington, a former Minister for Transport and London.

Rank outsider who beat Steve Davis in the World Snooker final.

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

1.

What is a pizzly?

A hybrid between a Polar Bear and a Grizzly

(they have been found in the wild as well as in captivity)

2.

A geep (a.k.a. a shoat) is a cross between a goat and a sheep.  Whilst the two species may attempt to interbreed, it is generally an unsuccessful mating as the number of chromosomes is different.  However, geeps can be created in the lab by joining the embryos of a sheep and a goat.  Thus half the cells will always be sheep, and the other half goat.  What is the generic name for such an organism, where there are two genetically distinct cell lines?

Chimera

(NOT a mosaic - which is divergence but from only one egg)

3.

With the latest edition of a book published in September 2018, in what context did OK become OK?

The Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary of permitted words

4.

One of the other new words is an 8 letter word worth 16 points.  A meme (or gif) of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard demonstrating this sense of exasperation has been shared many millions of times.  What is the word?

Facepalm

5.

Widespread in Europe, Asia and North Africa, which small creature has the Latin name 'athene noctua'?

Little owl

6.

Native to Sub-Saharan Africa, there are two endangered creatures which are the only examples of the genus pan.  Name either of them.

Chimpanzee or Bonobo

7.

In what context did previously unknown US social worker Doria Ragland become better known in the UK in May 2018?

She is Meghan Markle’s mother

8.

The ancestry of Thomas Markle, Meghan’s currently estranged father, has been traced back to which English monarch, who was on the throne when the UK parliament was first split into two chambers?  It was established that no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses and the Sovereign.  This development occurred because the king in question was considered to be spending too much money on war.

Edward III

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Announced theme

All answers contain words that can be placed after the word 'light' (normal rules apply)

1.

What was the title of the 1982 film starring Mel Gibson who plays a journalist in Indonesia during the overthrow of president Sukarno?  Linda Hunt won an Oscar for the best supporting actress although in the film she played a man.

The Year of Living Dangerously

2.

What are the first 6 words of the line in the Longfellow poem Tales of Wayside Inn that precede "...only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness."?  The phrase is used as a metaphor for fleeting encounters.

"Ships that pass in the night"

3.

What is the name given to the ancient philosophical concept, thought to date back to Pythagoras, that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies (i.e. the Sun, Moon, and planets) to be mathematically linked?

Music of the spheres

4.

What is the name of the TV series written by Beau Willimon based on the novel with the same name by Michael Dobbs?

House of Cards

5.

A town of about 130,000 inhabitants, it was the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey and is the home to Ransomes agricultural machinery makers.  It has a team in the EFL championship.  What is its name?

Ipswich

6.

Which interdenominational Christian youth organisation, conceived by Sir William Alexander Smith and founded in 1883 has 750,000 members in more than 60 countries worldwide?

Boys Brigade

7.

Who is the leader of the French political party Rassemblement National?  (full name required)

Marion (Marine) Le Pen

8.

What is the name of the regimental quick march of the Royal Marines?

A Life on the Ocean Wave

Sp

One of the largest towns in the country with an urban population of over 300,000 and a team in the EFL championship, where was home to Simonds brewery (merged with Courage in 1960) and Sutton's seeds until 1974?

Reading

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

1.

What is the nickname of this 1932 born politician who first entered parliament in 1970 and who would be father of the house had not Kenneth Clarke been sworn in first?

The Beast of Bolsover

(Dennis Skinner)

2.

Standing on the River Aire this town boasts Europe's longest continuous Horse Racing circuit at 2 miles 125 yards.  The major Rugby League Club in the area is Featherstone Rovers.  What is the name of this town?

Pontefract

3.

What is the name of the horse that Eliza Doolittle urged to "...move its bloomin' arse" in Pygmalion/My Fair Lady?

Dover

4.

Name this Scottish crime writer and TV screenwriter who was born in 1951.  His crime fiction novels include the Lewis Trilogy of Blackhouse, Lewis Man and The Chess Man.

Peter May

5.

Becket Park, and Trinity and All Saints are both universities close to which British city which has its own university established in 1874?

Leeds

6.

A word of Scottish origin that is sometimes used instead of Clothes Horse - what is it?

Maiden

7.

Born in 1933 as Harold Lloyd Jenkin he had 9 Top 40 US hits but only one Number 1 in 1958 with It's Only Make Believe.  Recordings of his singing in real life have appeared in several Family Guy instalments - probably ironically.  How was he known professionally?

Conway Twitty

8.

An Edinburgh University graduate, this actress married Guy Garvey in Manchester in 2016.  She has appeared on TV and also played Mary Jones in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.  Who is this actress with a famous mother?

Rachael Stirling

Sp

A former footballer who was born in 1969 and whose former clubs include Southend, Spurs and Portsmouth.  His career in football management includes Rushden and Diamonds, Gillingham and Northampton Town.  He is currently the manager of Leyton Orient.  Who is he?

Justin Edinburgh

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a castle

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

What is the English meaning of the title of Richard Strauss’ opera Die Frau ohne Schatten?
 

'The woman without shadow'

2.

What is the English title of Schubert’s song Die Forelle?

'The trout'

3.

Who plays US President Tom Kirkman in Designated Survivor?

Kiefer Sutherland

4.

Who plays US President Thomas J Whitmore in Independence Day?

Bill Pullman

5.

Pineau de Charentes is a fortified aperitif associated with which other local product?

Cognac

6.

Which Sicilian city is best known for salt pans and the production of a fortified wine?

Marsala

7.

Who is this week’s Brexit secretary?

Stephen Barclay

8.

Who is the current shadow Northern Ireland Secretary?

Tony Lloyd

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers