ROUND 1 - 'Old School Tie'

Set by The Bards of Didsbury

Each question deals with people who were at the same school, mainly, but not always, at the same time

1.

Two notable Science Fiction and Fantasy authors, one male and one female, both at Berkeley High School, California, in 1947.  In their published work they used the same middle initial.  Who were they?

2.

In which school could you at one time have found both Jesus and Gandhi in the same form?

3.

At Northwold Primary School, Upper Clapton, in the early 1950s, you would have found two Twentieth Century Boys, one now as dead as the dinosaurs, the survivor closely associated with Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights.  Who are they?

4.

Overlapping in the year 1900 at Dulwich College, were two future writers.  One, better known as a novelist, wrote the screenplay for the 1946 film noir The Blue Dahlia, and the other created the recurring character of Aunt Dahlia, proprietor of the women's periodical 'Milady's Boudoir'.

5.

At the Realschule in Linz, 1904-1905, in different years, one boy who ended his most famous book with the line "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent"; and another who in his most famous book emphasised the utility of "the big lie".

6.

The older of these two attended Burnage Grammar School for Boys, and the younger its successor Burnage Comprehensive, at non-overlapping times.  Both are now in the House of Lords.  If you like your Gherkins with a side order of BRlCs, that will help identify them.

7.

At Durham Chorister’s School in 1966, two boys separated by two years.  The elder sadly didn't make it as a rock star with his university band Ugly Rumours and the younger fortunately gave up electrical engineering for performing, including the role of Zazu the red-billed hornbill in The Lion King.

8.

Two sisters attended the Francis Holland School in London in the 19405.  The younger was expelled at age 15 for selling explicit limericks and stories to her schoolmates.  She went on to a stellar career in a similar vein, later work including artistic collaborations with her elder sister.  Who were the sisters?

Sp.

What have you done to deserve this question about two musical contemporaries at St Cuthbert's RC Boys Grammar, Newcastle, in the late 1960s?  One of them was christened Gordon and the other...wasn't.

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

Set by The Prodigals

Usual caveats apply

1.

On April 21st 1949, actor Roy Rogers had his foot and hand prints preserved on the sidewalk outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.  Who also had his prints preserved alongside Roy’s?

2.

In which 1967 film (shot partly on location at Birkdale Beach, Southport) did Phil Silvers play the role of Sergeant Ernie Knocker?

3.

Which lively Spanish couples dance (a mixture of Folk dance and Flamenco) is traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets and handclapping?

4.

What is the first word of the Qur’an?  It translates from the Arabic as “In the name of God”.

5.

In which 1952 MGM film did Stewart Granger play the role of swashbuckling Andre Moreau?

6.

In which 1974 Michael Cimino directed heist movie did Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges star as partners in crime?

7.

Which graphic novel by Raymond Briggs first published in 1982 told of a nuclear attack on Great Britain by the Soviet Union?  It was later made into an animated film.

8.

First published in 1826, which is the oldest national daily newspaper in France?

Sp.

Which 2008 film starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan was mainly shot on location on the Greek island of Skopelos?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - 'UK Bird Tour'

Set by Compulsory Mantis Shrimp

A tour of the UK via established nesting sites of red kites, ospreys and peregrine falcons

1.

Red kites are a frequent sight in the Fathew valley not far from Cadair Idris.  Which narrow-gauge heritage railway runs along this valley?

2.

Red kites also breed in which range of hills, northwest of London?  Ivinghoe Beacon, the start of the Ridgeway National Trail is in this range.

3.

Which large man-made lake in the Vale of Catmose has been a nesting site for ospreys?  It is roughly midway between Northampton and Lincoln.

4.

Which osprey nesting project is named after a Welsh river?  The nature reserve in question is located close to a ‘Junction’ station on the Cambrian Coast Line, about 10 miles from Aberystwyth.

5.

The Glaslyn Osprey Project is close to which town in NW Wales?  It is the terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway.

6.

Sometimes known as the ‘Osprey Village’, Boat of Garten is located close to which major Scottish river?

7.

In recent years, peregrine falcons have nested on the roof of which midlands cathedral, noted for its fine neo-classical interior?  The painter, Joseph Wright, was born in this city in 1734.

8.

Another nesting site for peregrines is the cathedral of which city, about 120 miles east-south-east of Derby?  Its spire is one of the tallest in England.

Sp

Which body of water west of Skiddaw is an osprey breeding site?  It is the northernmost ‘lake’ of the Lake District?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Paired

Set by 'Knocked Out United'

1.

“But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it.  I been there before.” ... is the last line of which novel published in 1884?

2.

Which is the only team never to have been relegated from Serie A?

3.

Bernard Weatherall, Speaker of the House of Commons 1983-1992 was the last holder of the office to do what?  He said at the time "I don’t think the Speaker should be the star".

4.

An epidemic of which disease caused 1613 to be known in Spain as El ano de los Garrotillos (the year of Strangulations).  In the Middle Ages the disease was known in England as Boulogne sore throat.

5.

The theme song of which TV series was performed by the Rembrandts?

6.

What is the county flower of Greater Manchester? Associated with boggy habitats?  It appears before the words "moorland boulder" in W H Auden’s poem The Night Mail.

7.

What is the name of the Guardian columnist and presenter of Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View.  He also writes best-selling thrillers, mainly under the pseudonym Sam Bourne.

8.

Which Cole Porter song describes the fate of a woman who shoots her treacherous lover but is then lynched by a vengeful mob?

Sp.

What word links the winner of the Oscar for best picture in 2004 and a top 5 hit for the Primitives in 1998?

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Round Britain

Set by Albert

Inspired by Brian McClintock's round in March about foreign places he had visited each of the answers in this round is a place in Britain that MOBO has never visited

At the end of the quiz you are invited to make a generous financial contribution to send MOBO to these places in the luxurious style to which he wishes to become accustomed

1.

Before becoming Emperor of France Napoleon III lived in exile here for two years. Consequently its main thoroughfare, Lord Street, is said to have inspired the design of the Boulevards of Paris.

2.

This location shares its name with the hereditary title of the British Prime Minister at the commencement of the Crimean War.

3.

In 1600 the jester Will Kemp morris-danced his way from London to this place, a distance of 108 miles.  At the time it was the second biggest city in Britain after London.

4.

Queen Elizabeth of Romania lived in exile in this Welsh town for a brief period in 1912 but a flock of angora goats have lived on the hill above the town for much longer.

5.

This place shares its name with a famous American female singer who had hits with Leave A Light On and Heaven Is A Place On Earth.

6.

This city was the model for George Eliot’s Middlemarch and is also the home of The Belgrade Theatre.

7.

Although it boasts two Cathedrals this place is the smallest city in Ireland.  It is also the birthplace of the Reverend Ian Paisley.

8.

This town was the site of the first recorded cholera outbreak in Britain in 1822.  The local football club shares the name of its stadium with the English translation of the stadium of Benfica of Lisbon.

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme - 'Indestructible'

Set by Dunkin' Dönitz

The answers could be split into two separate gender groups relating to a TV programme which most of this evening's competitors are old enough to remember

One of the answers could occur in both groups - usual caveats apply

1.

Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams were the lesser known members of which trio.  They had four American Number One Hits between 1999 and 2001 including, appropriately, the theme to the film of Charlie’s Angels?

2.

Which Guinness Pro14 Rugby team is based in Llanelli?

3.

Which Play for Today written by Dennis Potter took its title from A E Housman’s A Shropshire Lad. The play is about a group of seven children in 1943 all played by adults including Colin Welland and Helen Mirren.

4.

Which weekly publication ran from 1926, when it was founded as a magazine for dance band musicians, until 2000 when it merged with its biggest rival?

5.

Which piece of music premiered in 1924 is best known in the version orchestrated by Ferde Grofé?

6.

What are the next two words from this song recorded by Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald amongst others?

“I’m feelin’ might lonesome, Haven’t slept a wink: I walk the floor from nine to four In between I drink”

7.

In the 2013 list of books most left behind in Travelodges which novel was top?  The main character is Anastasia (Ana) Steele.  According to Salman Rushdie “It made Twilight look like War and Peace”. In the list published in 2018 it had slipped to sixth

8.

What is the nickname often given to a work composed in Austria in 1906 and first performed in Munich in 1910.  Performances rarely reflect its title.

Sp.

Which single by the Buzzcocks begins “Whenever I’m in doubt about things I do I listen to the high street wailing sounds in a queue”?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Paired

Set by The Charabancs of Fire

1.

In which medieval work of art can you find 632 men, 190 horses, 35 dogs and over 506 other animals and birds?  Of the 93 penises that pop up at regular intervals, only 5 are human; the rest are equine.

2.

Food production was never a serious problem for Germany until the very end of World War One. Despite this, a ban was placed on the production of sausages at various times throughout the war. These bans were imposed because all available animal intestines were needed for the manufacture of what product, considered vital to the war effort.

3.

Which English Glam Rock band took its name from a novel by the American writer Willard Manus about "a misfit, a rebel without a cause with a gambling problem and a flatulent girlfriend."?  The band's singles included the 1973 hit All the Way from Memphis.

4.

Laid out in the 1780s, which Manchester city centre street was named in honour of the family who in 1596 bought the rights to the manor of Manchester for £3,500.  The family had recently built and resided in Hough End Hall which was the manor house of Withington.

5.

A survey conducted in France in the early years of the 20th century credited what increasingly popular invention with an average increase in the height of the French population.  The reason given was that it reduced significantly the number of marriages between blood relations.

6.

Which band, possibly the most famous musical outfit to come from Witton Gilbert in Co Durham, was formed in 1978 by an ex-trainee priest called Paddy McAloon.  Their albums include From Langley Park to Memphis.

7.

Which street in South Manchester was originally called Dog Kennel Lane.  The local temperance movement was based here in the late 19th century and petitioned for the street to be given a more inspiring name.  The new name was chosen in honour of the American state that had placed a prohibition on the sale of alcohol in 1851.

8.

Which 5 words end an inscription found in the 1486 English manuscript The Boke of St Albans?  The inscription begins "An Eagle for an Emperor".  A re-usage of the missing words in the 1960s went largely unnoticed at first but gradually attracted a cult following.

Sp1

"A chorus of raspberries to the high sentiments demanded by the arbiters of British culture".  This was George Orwell's defence of the artistic work of which genteel Londoner known and loved by many as 'The King of the Saucy Postcard'?

Sp2

What was the surname of Albert and Christiane, the French husband and wife who in 1950 overcame legal difficulties and opened the CHM Montalivet, the world's first commercial holiday centre for naturists.  For those of you who tend to browse their H&E Naturist magazine without actually reading it, a little bit of nominative determinism might help you unzip the answer without blurting.

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Paired

Set by 'Knocked Out United'

1.

“Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do you start to miss everybody.”... is the last line of which novel published in 1951.

2.

Other than Celtic which is the only team never to have been relegated from the top division of Scottish football?

3.

Which Speaker of the House of Commons was forced to resign as a result of his involvement in the expenses scandal?

4.

The sinister and menacing atmosphere of which 1897 novel was greatly inspired and coloured by the stories the young author had heard from his mother about her experience of having survived a cholera epidemic as a 14 year old in Sligo town?

5.

The theme song of which TV series was performed by the Alabama 3?

6.

What is the county flower of Cheshire?  Also known as ‘milkmaids’ and ‘lady’s smock’, it grows on wet meadows.  Its name contains the name of a summer migrant bird.

7.

Amelia Gentleman, the Guardian journalist who won the Paul Foot award in 2018 for breaking the story of the Windrush scandal is married to which politician, the MP for Orpington?

8.

In the Cole Porter song You’re The Top which 20th Century political figure is compared to Napoleon Brandy?

Sp1

Who opened the batting for Whalley Range Cricket Club in the 1883 season?  He is probably better known for compositions for orchestra such as In a Summer Garden and Brigg Fair.

Sp2

Which Lancashire and England captain was born in Whalley Range in 1871?  In 1895, he made 424  against Somerset, a record that endured almost 100 years.  He shares his surname with a character in the sitcom, Porridge.

Sp3

What word links the winner of the Oscar for best picture in 2002 and the band who had a top 5 hit with Hard to Say I’m Sorry in 1984?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

Tiebreakers

1.

How many episodes of Breaking Bad were made?

2.

3.

The Guardians of the Galaxy (made in 2014) tops the list of the film with the most on-screen deaths in it.  How many are there ?

ROUND 1 - 'Old School Tie'

Set by The Bards of Didsbury

Each question deals with people who were at the same school, mainly, but not always, at the same time

1.

Two notable Science Fiction and Fantasy authors, one male and one female, both at Berkeley High School, California, in 1947.  In their published work they used the same middle initial.  Who were they?

Ursula K Le Guin and

Philip K Dick

(Note: Ursula's middle initial stood for her maiden name of Kroeber, she would have been Ursula Kroeber at the time, so that answer is allowed)

2.

In which school could you at one time have found both Jesus and Gandhi in the same form?

Manchester Grammar School

(Robert Powell, who played Jesus of Nazareth, and Ben Kingsley, who played Gandhi, were in the same form)

3.

At Northwold Primary School, Upper Clapton, in the early 1950s, you would have found two Twentieth Century Boys, one now as dead as the dinosaurs, the survivor closely associated with Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights.  Who are they?

Marc Bolan and

Alan Sugar

4.

Overlapping in the year 1900 at Dulwich College, were two future writers.  One, better known as a novelist, wrote the screenplay for the 1946 film noir The Blue Dahlia, and the other created the recurring character of Aunt Dahlia, proprietor of the women's periodical 'Milady's Boudoir'.

Raymond Chandler and

P G Wodehouse

5.

At the Realschule in Linz, 1904-1905, in different years, one boy who ended his most famous book with the line "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent"; and another who in his most famous book emphasised the utility of "the big lie".

Ludwig Wittgenstein and

Adolf Hitler

6.

The older of these two attended Burnage Grammar School for Boys, and the younger its successor Burnage Comprehensive, at non-overlapping times.  Both are now in the House of Lords.  If you like your Gherkins with a side order of BRlCs, that will help identify them.

Norman Foster and

Jim O'Neill

(Foster is the architect of The Gherkin and economist O'Neill coined the term BRlCs to refer to Brazil, Russia, lndia and China - emerging economies)

7.

At Durham Chorister’s School in 1966, two boys separated by two years.  The elder sadly didn't make it as a rock star with his university band Ugly Rumours and the younger fortunately gave up electrical engineering for performing, including the role of Zazu the red-billed hornbill in The Lion King.

Tony Blair and

Rowan Atkinson

8.

Two sisters attended the Francis Holland School in London in the 19405.  The younger was expelled at age 15 for selling explicit limericks and stories to her schoolmates.  She went on to a stellar career in a similar vein, later work including artistic collaborations with her elder sister.  Who were the sisters?

Jackie and Joan Collins

Sp.

What have you done to deserve this question about two musical contemporaries at St Cuthbert's RC Boys Grammar, Newcastle, in the late 1960s?  One of them was christened Gordon and the other...wasn't.

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme

Set by The Prodigals

Usual caveats apply

1.

On April 21st 1949, actor Roy Rogers had his foot and hand prints preserved on the sidewalk outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.  Who also had his prints preserved alongside Roy’s?

(Roy’s horse) Trigger

2.

In which 1967 film (shot partly on location at Birkdale Beach, Southport) did Phil Silvers play the role of Sergeant Ernie Knocker?

Carry on Follow that Camel

3.

Which lively Spanish couples dance (a mixture of Folk dance and Flamenco) is traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets and handclapping?

The Fandango

4.

What is the first word of the Qur’an?  It translates from the Arabic as “In the name of God”.

Bismillah

5.

In which 1952 MGM film did Stewart Granger play the role of swashbuckling Andre Moreau?

Scaramouche

6.

In which 1974 Michael Cimino directed heist movie did Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges star as partners in crime?

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

7.

Which graphic novel by Raymond Briggs first published in 1982 told of a nuclear attack on Great Britain by the Soviet Union?  It was later made into an animated film.

When the Wind Blows

8.

First published in 1826, which is the oldest national daily newspaper in France?

Le Figaro

Sp.

Which 2008 film starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan was mainly shot on location on the Greek island of Skopelos?

Mamma Mia!

Theme: Words and phrases found in the lyrics of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody....

Trigger, Carry on, Fandango, Bismillah, Scaramouche, Thunderbolt, the wind blows, Figaro and Mamma Mia

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - 'UK Bird Tour'

Set by Compulsory Mantis Shrimp

A tour of the UK via established nesting sites of red kites, ospreys and peregrine falcons

1.

Red kites are a frequent sight in the Fathew valley not far from Cadair Idris.  Which narrow-gauge heritage railway runs along this valley?

Talyllyn (Railway)

2.

Red kites also breed in which range of hills, northwest of London?  Ivinghoe Beacon, the start of the Ridgeway National Trail is in this range.

Chilterns

3.

Which large man-made lake in the Vale of Catmose has been a nesting site for ospreys?  It is roughly midway between Northampton and Lincoln.

Rutland (Water)

4.

Which osprey nesting project is named after a Welsh river?  The nature reserve in question is located close to a ‘Junction’ station on the Cambrian Coast Line, about 10 miles from Aberystwyth.

Dyfi / Dovey

5.

The Glaslyn Osprey Project is close to which town in NW Wales?  It is the terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway.

Porthmadog

6.

Sometimes known as the ‘Osprey Village’, Boat of Garten is located close to which major Scottish river?

Spey

7.

In recent years, peregrine falcons have nested on the roof of which midlands cathedral, noted for its fine neo-classical interior?  The painter, Joseph Wright, was born in this city in 1734.

Derby

8.

Another nesting site for peregrines is the cathedral of which city, about 120 miles east-south-east of Derby?  Its spire is one of the tallest in England.

Norwich

Sp

Which body of water west of Skiddaw is an osprey breeding site?  It is the northernmost ‘lake’ of the Lake District?

Bassenthwaite (Lake)

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Paired

Set by 'Knocked Out United'

1.

“But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it.  I been there before.” ... is the last line of which novel published in 1884?

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

2.

Which is the only team never to have been relegated from Serie A?

Inter Milan

3.

Bernard Weatherall, Speaker of the House of Commons 1983-1992 was the last holder of the office to do what?  He said at the time "I don’t think the Speaker should be the star".

Wear a wig

4.

An epidemic of which disease caused 1613 to be known in Spain as El ano de los Garrotillos (the year of Strangulations).  In the Middle Ages the disease was known in England as Boulogne sore throat.

Diphtheria

5.

The theme song of which TV series was performed by the Rembrandts?

Friends

6.

What is the county flower of Greater Manchester? Associated with boggy habitats?  It appears before the words "moorland boulder" in W H Auden’s poem The Night Mail.

7.

What is the name of the Guardian columnist and presenter of Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View.  He also writes best-selling thrillers, mainly under the pseudonym Sam Bourne.

Jonathan Freedland

8.

Which Cole Porter song describes the fate of a woman who shoots her treacherous lover but is then lynched by a vengeful mob?

Miss Otis Regrets

Sp.

What word links the winner of the Oscar for best picture in 2004 and a top 5 hit for the Primitives in 1998?

Crash

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Round Britain

Set by Albert

Inspired by Brian McClintock's round in March about foreign places he had visited each of the answers in this round is a place in Britain that MOBO has never visited

At the end of the quiz you are invited to make a generous financial contribution to send MOBO to these places in the luxurious style to which he wishes to become accustomed

1.

Before becoming Emperor of France Napoleon III lived in exile here for two years. Consequently its main thoroughfare, Lord Street, is said to have inspired the design of the Boulevards of Paris.

Southport

2.

This location shares its name with the hereditary title of the British Prime Minister at the commencement of the Crimean War.

Aberdeen

(Earl of Aberdeen)

3.

In 1600 the jester Will Kemp morris-danced his way from London to this place, a distance of 108 miles.  At the time it was the second biggest city in Britain after London.

Norwich

4.

Queen Elizabeth of Romania lived in exile in this Welsh town for a brief period in 1912 but a flock of angora goats have lived on the hill above the town for much longer.

Llandudno

5.

This place shares its name with a famous American female singer who had hits with Leave A Light On and Heaven Is A Place On Earth.

Carlisle

(Belinda Carlisle)

6.

This city was the model for George Eliot’s Middlemarch and is also the home of The Belgrade Theatre.

Coventry

7.

Although it boasts two Cathedrals this place is the smallest city in Ireland.  It is also the birthplace of the Reverend Ian Paisley.

Armagh

8.

This town was the site of the first recorded cholera outbreak in Britain in 1822.  The local football club shares the name of its stadium with the English translation of the stadium of Benfica of Lisbon.

Sunderland

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme - 'Indestructible'

Set by Dunkin' Dönitz

The answers could be split into two separate gender groups relating to a TV programme which most of this evening's competitors are old enough to remember

One of the answers could occur in both groups - usual caveats apply

1.

Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams were the lesser known members of which trio.  They had four American Number One Hits between 1999 and 2001 including, appropriately, the theme to the film of Charlie’s Angels?

Destiny’s Child

2.

Which Guinness Pro14 Rugby team is based in Llanelli?

Scarlets

3.

Which Play for Today written by Dennis Potter took its title from A E Housman’s A Shropshire Lad. The play is about a group of seven children in 1943 all played by adults including Colin Welland and Helen Mirren.

Blue Remembered Hills

4.

Which weekly publication ran from 1926, when it was founded as a magazine for dance band musicians, until 2000 when it merged with its biggest rival?

Melody Maker

5.

Which piece of music premiered in 1924 is best known in the version orchestrated by Ferde Grofé?

Rhapsody in Blue

6.

What are the next two words from this song recorded by Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald amongst others?

“I’m feelin’ might lonesome, Haven’t slept a wink: I walk the floor from nine to four In between I drink”

Black Coffee

7.

In the 2013 list of books most left behind in Travelodges which novel was top?  The main character is Anastasia (Ana) Steele.  According to Salman Rushdie “It made Twilight look like War and Peace”. In the list published in 2018 it had slipped to sixth

50 Shades of Grey

8.

What is the nickname often given to a work composed in Austria in 1906 and first performed in Munich in 1910.  Performances rarely reflect its title.

Symphony of a Thousand

(Mahler)

Sp.

Which single by the Buzzcocks begins “Whenever I’m in doubt about things I do I listen to the high street wailing sounds in a queue”?

Harmony in My Head

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Paired

Set by The Charabancs of Fire

1.

In which medieval work of art can you find 632 men, 190 horses, 35 dogs and over 506 other animals and birds?  Of the 93 penises that pop up at regular intervals, only 5 are human; the rest are equine.

The Bayeux Tapestry

2.

Food production was never a serious problem for Germany until the very end of World War One. Despite this, a ban was placed on the production of sausages at various times throughout the war. These bans were imposed because all available animal intestines were needed for the manufacture of what product, considered vital to the war effort.

Zeppelins

(as many as 250,000 pig or cow intestines were needed to make the gas holding cells for a single Zeppelin)

3.

Which English Glam Rock band took its name from a novel by the American writer Willard Manus about "a misfit, a rebel without a cause with a gambling problem and a flatulent girlfriend."?  The band's singles included the 1973 hit All the Way from Memphis.

Mott the Hoople

4.

Laid out in the 1780s, which Manchester city centre street was named in honour of the family who in 1596 bought the rights to the manor of Manchester for £3,500.  The family had recently built and resided in Hough End Hall which was the manor house of Withington.

Mosley Street

(the Mosley family eventually sold their manorial rights to Manchester City Council for £200,000 in 1846)

5.

A survey conducted in France in the early years of the 20th century credited what increasingly popular invention with an average increase in the height of the French population.  The reason given was that it reduced significantly the number of marriages between blood relations.

The Bicycle

6.

Which band, possibly the most famous musical outfit to come from Witton Gilbert in Co Durham, was formed in 1978 by an ex-trainee priest called Paddy McAloon.  Their albums include From Langley Park to Memphis.

Prefab Sprout

7.

Which street in South Manchester was originally called Dog Kennel Lane.  The local temperance movement was based here in the late 19th century and petitioned for the street to be given a more inspiring name.  The new name was chosen in honour of the American state that had placed a prohibition on the sale of alcohol in 1851.

Maine Road

8.

Which 5 words end an inscription found in the 1486 English manuscript The Boke of St Albans?  The inscription begins "An Eagle for an Emperor".  A re-usage of the missing words in the 1960s went largely unnoticed at first but gradually attracted a cult following.

"A Kestrel for a Knave"

(1968 novel by Barry Hines which became the acclaimed film Kes)

Sp1

"A chorus of raspberries to the high sentiments demanded by the arbiters of British culture".  This was George Orwell's defence of the artistic work of which genteel Londoner known and loved by many as 'The King of the Saucy Postcard'?

Donald McGill

Sp2

What was the surname of Albert and Christiane, the French husband and wife who in 1950 overcame legal difficulties and opened the CHM Montalivet, the world's first commercial holiday centre for naturists.  For those of you who tend to browse their H&E Naturist magazine without actually reading it, a little bit of nominative determinism might help you unzip the answer without blurting.

Lecocq

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Paired

Set by 'Knocked Out United'

1.

“Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do you start to miss everybody.”... is the last line of which novel published in 1951.

The Catcher in the Rye

2.

Other than Celtic which is the only team never to have been relegated from the top division of Scottish football?

Aberdeen

3.

Which Speaker of the House of Commons was forced to resign as a result of his involvement in the expenses scandal?

4.

The sinister and menacing atmosphere of which 1897 novel was greatly inspired and coloured by the stories the young author had heard from his mother about her experience of having survived a cholera epidemic as a 14 year old in Sligo town?

Dracula

5.

The theme song of which TV series was performed by the Alabama 3?

The Sopranos

6.

What is the county flower of Cheshire?  Also known as ‘milkmaids’ and ‘lady’s smock’, it grows on wet meadows.  Its name contains the name of a summer migrant bird.

Cuckooflower

7.

Amelia Gentleman, the Guardian journalist who won the Paul Foot award in 2018 for breaking the story of the Windrush scandal is married to which politician, the MP for Orpington?

Jo Johnson

8.

In the Cole Porter song You’re The Top which 20th Century political figure is compared to Napoleon Brandy?

Sp1

Who opened the batting for Whalley Range Cricket Club in the 1883 season?  He is probably better known for compositions for orchestra such as In a Summer Garden and Brigg Fair.

(Frederick) Delius

Sp2

Which Lancashire and England captain was born in Whalley Range in 1871?  In 1895, he made 424  against Somerset, a record that endured almost 100 years.  He shares his surname with a character in the sitcom, Porridge.

(Archie) Maclaren

Sp3

What word links the winner of the Oscar for best picture in 2002 and the band who had a top 5 hit with Hard to Say I’m Sorry in 1984?

Chicago

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers

Tiebreakers

1.

How many episodes of Breaking Bad were made?

62

2.

272

3.

The Guardians of the Galaxy (made in 2014) tops the list of the film with the most on-screen deaths in it.  How many are there ?

83,871