ROUND 1 - Stockport style - Verbal

1.

Who was the hapless England manager in 1981 on the night when his team and entire country famously took one hell of a beating according to the Norwegian commentator?

2.

What edible, mostly red, berry of the plant solanum lycopersicum derives its name from the Aztec word which means 'plump thing with a navel'?

3.

Which W H Auden poem ends with these lines:

“And none will hear the postman's knock

Without a quickening of the heart,

For who can bear to feel himself forgot”?

4.

Which sea area has land boundaries stretching from Rosslaire around Southern Ireland to Valentia Island just south of Dingle Bay?

5.

Later immortalised in song who died in 1854 and was buried in St Kentigern's churchyard in the Cumbrian village of Caldbeck?  In 1977 his grave was vandalised by anti-hunting activists.

6.

The limewater test is commonly used in chemistry to detect the presence of which common gas?

7.

In which UK parliamentary constituency are the Houses of Parliament located?  (full and exact name required)

8.

Whose much lauded Symphony Number 3 composed in Katowice in 1976 and inspired by his country's suffering and resilience in World War 2 is also known as the 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'?

9.

In 2003 what did the English indie rock group Parva change their name to?  They chose their new name in honour of the first football club that Leeds United captain and club legend Lucas Radebe played for.

10.

In which 2016 novel by Sarah Perry does an English village become gripped by fear of the return of a mythical monster?

11.

Which film comes next in the following sequence: a) Jaws: b) Jaws 2 c) Jaws ?????

12.

In which award-winning BBC Radio 4 series does Josie Long present various short documentaries and 'adventures in sound'?

13.

What is Russia's fourth largest city?  Situated at the foot of the Ural mountains, it is home to the most eastern stadium to be used in the 2018 World Cup.

14.

The bible accuses Jezebel of being a wanton woman because she painted her eyes.  The black powder she used for this purpose was kohl which is a sulphide of which element which has the atomic number 51?

15.

The brand logo design for which product includes this phrase from The Book of Judges: “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”?  It is the oldest unchanged brand design in Britain.

16.

When Norway beat England in 1981 the commentator lists several famous people born in England, "the birthplace of giants, who took one hell of a beating".  Who is the only sportsman mentioned in the rant apart from the football team?

17.

Always a big favourite in Mexican restaurants, the name of which dip is derived from two Aztec words meaning avocado and sauce?

18.

In June 2009 which MP was described as the Notting Hill boy who has gone from the Post Office to the Home Office.

19.

Name the headland that marks the border between the shipping areas of Tyne and Humber.

20.

Which country was veteran DJ John Peel visiting with his wife when he died after suffering a heart attack in 2004?

21.

Zymology is the applied science of studying which biochemical process and its practical uses

22.

Since 1997 which MP has represented the constituency of Buckingham?  At his re-election in 2015, a record number of spoiled votes were cast in protest against the constituency not having had a voice in Parliament since 2009.

23.

Which Polish composer and conductor was lauded in 1960 for his short and emotionally charged musical composition translated as "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima"?  An excerpt from it was used by the Manic Street Preachers in their 1991 single You Love Us.

24.

Which English rock band took their name from the surname of a female member of the Charles Manson cult?  It is a common Armenian surname and means 'butcher'.

25.

Who wrote the 2002 Pulitzer prizewinning novel Middlesex?

26.

What does the 'D' stand for in the trademark name of the penetrating oil WD-40?

27.

In which award-winning BBC Radio 4 series did Jarvis Cocker undertake several nocturnal expeditions to explore the human condition?

28.

What is the capital city of the Russian federal Republic of Tatarstan?  It was one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and it shares its name with the surname of an Oscar winning film director.

29.

The early 19th century discovery of which element (atomic number 48 and related to zinc) greatly increased the range of vivid pigments available to artists?

30.

The logo of which brand has a bear camouflaged against a mountain thus symbolising Bern, the city where it was first produced in 1909?

Sp1

Where was Lee Miller, a former New York fashion model turned war photographer, when she arranged to appear in an iconic photograph taken on 30th April 1945?

Sp2

Beating George Best to the honour by about half an hour, which Blackburn Rovers winger received the first red card in English league football when they were introduced on October 2nd 1976?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Stockport style - Written

1.

The 2005 Indian novel called Q&A was filmed under what title?

2.

What was the subject of the famous 1990 photograph given the title The Pale Blue Dot?

3.

Which country joined the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and NATO in 2009 and was alphabetically first in each?

4.

Which financial institution founded in 1968 and part of the Alliance and Leicester Group when it ceased trading in 2003 uniquely had its own non-geographical postcode?

5.

What is normally chanted in a foreign language but when translated into English starts off with this line: "There is going to be a fight between us. May it mean death to you and life to us"?

6.

What can't you do in the real or imagined presence of others if you suffer from the phobia that has the medical name paruresis?

7.

Some critics call him a modern Impressionist.  Others describe his work as soft pornography. Whose most famous painting is The Singing Butler?

8.

Let’s play Blockbusters:

EAIPM: What is the 5 word subtitle of economist E F Schumacher's influential collected essays published in 1973 under the title Small is Beautiful?

9.

Which famous English sporting event was won by Australia on June 7th 2014?

10.

Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel won the 'Funniest Joke of The Fringe' award this year at the Edinburgh Festival.  He took the title with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' – I think I might have............”.  Which one word completes the punchline?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - WithQuiz style - Announced theme - 'Flowers'

1.

One of the oldest grounds in the Football League and, in Fr Megson's opinion, one of the most romantically named, where do Macclesfield Town FC play their home games?

2.

Fred West was infamously married to fellow serial killer Rose.  But what was the quaint first name of Harold Shipman's innocent wife?

3.

The English wear a poppy in their lapels on Remembrance Day. The French wear 'un bleuet' for the same reason.  What is the English name for this small flower?

4.

Which small blue or purple flower, sometimes associated with freemasonry, has the scientific name myosotis which is Greek for 'mouse’s ear'?

5.

One of L S Lowry’s paintings depicts an annual Easter Fair held along Stannybrook Road in which popular country park between Failsworth and Droylsden?

6.

Which Ancoats-born actress and pianist who died aged 85 in 1983 achieved worldwide fame for playing local gossip and battle-axe Ena Sharples in Coronation Street?

7.

Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for Best Actress and director Woody Allen was nominated for Best Original screenplay for which critically acclaimed 2013 black comedy/drama film?

8.

Jim Broadbent won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a dedicated and long-suffering husband in which 2001 biographical film.

Sp.

What was the name of the record label founded by John Peel in 1969 as a way to get the music he liked onto record?  It was named after one of his hamsters at the suggestion of his then flatmate Marc Bolan.

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - WithQuiz style - Announced theme - 'Knowing Mine, Knowing Yours'

1.

In January 1913 which Picturedrome opened at 494 Wilmslow Rd Withington?  It was only the third of its kind to open in Britain and would go on to become the third longest-running cinema in the country?

2.

According to the milestone adjacent to Withington Fire Station erected by the Manchester and Wilmslow Turnpike Trust in the 19th Century, what is the EXACT distance from that spot to Wilmslow?

3.

What historic business decision was taken at the Didsbury home of architect Daniel Adamson on 27th June 1882?  A blue plaque marks the exact spot of that evening's meeting in the present day lodge of The Towers Business Park.

4.

"And so this is the place now with kids of our own. Some are born here, some drawn here, but they all call it home". These words which united a city in 2017 form part of a poem written by which former Withington Post Office worker sometimes known as 'Longfella'?

5.

Locusts and boils are still comparatively rare in Stockport but giant artistic representations of which of the 10 Plagues of Egypt overran the town centre between June and September 2019.

6.

The post box outside Poynton High School was painted gold in 2012 in honour of which ex-pupil who won four gold medals for Team GB at the 2012 Summer Paralympics?  She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2013.

7.

In 2017 a sculpture was unveiled opposite Stockport's war memorial in honour of former Edgeley milkman James Conway.  Conway lost his life while taking part in one of the Royal Marines' most famous wartime raids when volunteers paddled 80 miles up the Gironde in folding canoes to place mines on enemy vessels in the port of Bordeaux.  What name was given to the 12 participants of this raid and later to a film made about their heroism in 1955?

8.

Picture the scene:

Early 1975.  Another late afternoon for 10CC at Stockport's iconic Strawberry Studios as they struggle to put the finishing touches on their recording of a troublesome track.  Despite months of work nobody is happy with the finished product.  Then a flash of inspiration.  They ask Cathy Redfearn, the studio's receptionist if she would like to whisper into the microphone.  Cathy is shy because of her Stockport accent but is eventually coaxed into whispering just six words.  The band are happy now.  It's a wrap.  The song goes on to become their most successful single.  The first two words that Cathy whispered were "Be quiet".  What were the other four words?

Sp1

A research institute for new technologies in cotton production was set up in 1920 at The Towers in Didsbury.  A significant contribution to the purchase price of the site was made by William Greenwood the MP for Stockport on condition that the Institute be named in honour of his daughter.  What was his daughter called?

Sp2

Linking two of tonight's second half answers who was employed as resident pianist at the Scala Picturedrome for a period in the mid 1920s?

Sp3

Complete this L S Lowry quote: “Why should anyone need to go to church when they can stand all day and gaze at the ???

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - WithQuiz style - Hidden theme - 'Great British Cryptic Flowers'

...with some sound-alikes

1.

In Roman numerals what letter denotes 500

2.

Although it has come to be used to denote something more sinister and blood-curdling what word simply means 'woman fairy' in the Irish language?

3.

Premiered in Prague in 1787 which Mozart opera in two acts is subtitled The Libertine Punished?

4.

In which city would you find 'The Prophet’s Mosque', the traditional burial place of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad?

5.

What three letter word can be defined as 'a rotating or sliding piece in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary motion into linear motion'?

6.

The London flagship store of which bookseller located in Charing Cross Road was so famed for its bad-tempered service and its outmoded and eccentric business practices that it eventually became a tourist attraction.  It was bought by Waterstones in 2018.

7.

Which American singer came to fame with his debut album in 1987 that included his hit singles Dance Little Sister, Sign Your Name and Wishing Well?

8.

The so called 'Cigarette Smoking Man' was a recurring character and principal villain in which popular and long-running TV science fiction drama series?

Sp1

For which 1955 film did Jo van Fleet win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in her screen debut? The film is now better remembered for another debut, that of James Dean.

Sp2

If you can believe the opening narration of the 1968 film what was invented in 1925 in New York on 'The Night They Raided Minskys'?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - WithQuiz style - Pairs

1.

Germany’s 16 modern states include 3 Stadts-Staaten (i.e. City States).  Berlin and Hamburg are 2 of them.  What is the third?

2.

What self-declared and short-lived status was held by the German states of Bremen and Bavaria and, even more briefly by the Irish city of Limerick, during the political turbulence of the year 1919?

3.

An 1879 copy of which guidebook to the railroads of the United States and Canada was used by Michael Portillo in his BBC travel documentary series Great American Railway Journeys?

4.

Now considered a classic in the field of travel writing, which 1975 book by Paul Theroux describes a marathon train journey he undertook from London to Japan and back again via the Trans-Siberian Railway?

5.

Which opera, written by Donizetti and loosely based on a Sir Walter Scott novel, features the so-called 'mad scene in which the eponymous heroine kills her husband shortly after being forced to marry him?

6.

"Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral".  Which symphony, thought to have been composed under the influence of opium, is Leonard Bernstein describing here?

7.

Whose inquest was held in the Cat and Bagpipes public house on the 12th May 1812, just a short distance from where he had been shot dead in his London workplace the previous day?  He left behind a widow and 12 children and a bank account containing the surprisingly small sum of £106 5s 1d (£106, 5 shillings and 1 penny)?

8.

Isaac Gascoigne was the MP for Liverpool who witnessed the shooting of Spencer Perceval and recognised the assassin John Bellingham as one of his constituents.  He was the great-great-great grandfather of University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne.  Which of Bamber's uncles maintained the political connection by becoming a Prime Minister in 1963, a post he was forced to relinquish in 1969?

Sp1

If you were having trouble making your mind up whether to worship at the 11 foot brass statue of Bill Clinton on the Bulevardi Bill Klinton or at the nearby Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa before paying homage at the the house where singer Rita Ora was born you would be wasting an entire afternoon in which European city.

Sp2

If you found visits to Edgeley Park a tad too exhilarating and popped over instead to watch a Merv Mary FC home game at the Mary stadium in the city of Mary near the ancient ruins of Merv and all the time trying to dodge the surveillance of the state police who report back to a leader who appears in fashion shoots and makes even Donald Trump look sane, in which country would you not be enjoying yourself?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

Tiebreakers

1.

The metre was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the meridian arc from the North pole to the equator passing through which European city?

2.

Multiply the height of Michelangelo's sculpture of David in feet by the average weight in grams of a fully grown male bird of the type known as the common (Eurasian) wren and express your answer as something only an idiot or a dedicated quizzer should know.

3.

How many people survived the sinking of the Titanic?

Go to Tiebreaker questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Stockport style - Verbal

1.

Who was the hapless England manager in 1981 on the night when his team and entire country famously took one hell of a beating according to the Norwegian commentator?

Ron Greenwood

2.

What edible, mostly red, berry of the plant solanum lycopersicum derives its name from the Aztec word which means 'plump thing with a navel'?

Tomato

3.

Which W H Auden poem ends with these lines:

“And none will hear the postman's knock

Without a quickening of the heart,

For who can bear to feel himself forgot”?

Night Mail

4.

Which sea area has land boundaries stretching from Rosslaire around Southern Ireland to Valentia Island just south of Dingle Bay?

Fastnet

5.

Later immortalised in song who died in 1854 and was buried in St Kentigern's churchyard in the Cumbrian village of Caldbeck?  In 1977 his grave was vandalised by anti-hunting activists.

John Peel

(the huntsman)

6.

The limewater test is commonly used in chemistry to detect the presence of which common gas?

Carbon Dioxide

7.

In which UK parliamentary constituency are the Houses of Parliament located?  (full and exact name required)

Cities of London and Westminster

8.

Whose much lauded Symphony Number 3 composed in Katowice in 1976 and inspired by his country's suffering and resilience in World War 2 is also known as the 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'?

(Henryk) Gorecki

(surname will suffice - and is pronounced 'Gor - et- ski')

9.

In 2003 what did the English indie rock group Parva change their name to?  They chose their new name in honour of the first football club that Leeds United captain and club legend Lucas Radebe played for.

Kaiser Chiefs

10.

In which 2016 novel by Sarah Perry does an English village become gripped by fear of the return of a mythical monster?

The Essex Serpent

11.

Which film comes next in the following sequence: a) Jaws: b) Jaws 2 c) Jaws ?????

Jaws 3-D

12.

In which award-winning BBC Radio 4 series does Josie Long present various short documentaries and 'adventures in sound'?

Short Cuts

13.

What is Russia's fourth largest city?  Situated at the foot of the Ural mountains, it is home to the most eastern stadium to be used in the 2018 World Cup.

Ekaterinburg

14.

The bible accuses Jezebel of being a wanton woman because she painted her eyes.  The black powder she used for this purpose was kohl which is a sulphide of which element which has the atomic number 51?

Antimony

15.

The brand logo design for which product includes this phrase from The Book of Judges: “Out of the strong came forth sweetness”?  It is the oldest unchanged brand design in Britain.

Lyle's Golden Syrup

16.

When Norway beat England in 1981 the commentator lists several famous people born in England, "the birthplace of giants, who took one hell of a beating".  Who is the only sportsman mentioned in the rant apart from the football team?

Henry Cooper

17.

Always a big favourite in Mexican restaurants, the name of which dip is derived from two Aztec words meaning avocado and sauce?

Guacamole

18.

In June 2009 which MP was described as the Notting Hill boy who has gone from the Post Office to the Home Office.

Alan Johnson

(former postman who replaced Jacqui Smith as Home Secretary) 

19.

Name the headland that marks the border between the shipping areas of Tyne and Humber.

Flamborough Head

20.

Which country was veteran DJ John Peel visiting with his wife when he died after suffering a heart attack in 2004?

Peru

21.

Zymology is the applied science of studying which biochemical process and its practical uses

Fermentation

22.

Since 1997 which MP has represented the constituency of Buckingham?  At his re-election in 2015, a record number of spoiled votes were cast in protest against the constituency not having had a voice in Parliament since 2009.

John Bercow

(who as Speaker is elected unopposed by the mainstream parties and does not have a legislative vote in Parliament unless it is to break a tie)

23.

Which Polish composer and conductor was lauded in 1960 for his short and emotionally charged musical composition translated as "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima"?  An excerpt from it was used by the Manic Street Preachers in their 1991 single You Love Us.

(Krzysztof) Penderecki

(surname will suffice - and is pronounced Pen -der- et- ski)

24.

Which English rock band took their name from the surname of a female member of the Charles Manson cult?  It is a common Armenian surname and means 'butcher'.

Kasabian

25.

Who wrote the 2002 Pulitzer prizewinning novel Middlesex?

Jeffrey Eugenides

26.

What does the 'D' stand for in the trademark name of the penetrating oil WD-40?

Displacement

('Water Displacement - 40th formula')

27.

In which award-winning BBC Radio 4 series did Jarvis Cocker undertake several nocturnal expeditions to explore the human condition?

Wireless Nights

28.

What is the capital city of the Russian federal Republic of Tatarstan?  It was one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and it shares its name with the surname of an Oscar winning film director.

Kazan

29.

The early 19th century discovery of which element (atomic number 48 and related to zinc) greatly increased the range of vivid pigments available to artists?

Cadmium

30.

The logo of which brand has a bear camouflaged against a mountain thus symbolising Bern, the city where it was first produced in 1909?

Toblerone chocolate bar

Sp1

Where was Lee Miller, a former New York fashion model turned war photographer, when she arranged to appear in an iconic photograph taken on 30th April 1945?

In Hitler's bathtub

(in his Munich apartment)

Sp2

Beating George Best to the honour by about half an hour, which Blackburn Rovers winger received the first red card in English league football when they were introduced on October 2nd 1976?

Dave Wagstaffe

ROUND 2 - Stockport style - Written

1.

The 2005 Indian novel called Q&A was filmed under what title?

Slumdog Millionaire

2.

What was the subject of the famous 1990 photograph given the title The Pale Blue Dot?

The Earth

(taken from Voyager One)

3.

Which country joined the Warsaw Pact in 1955 and NATO in 2009 and was alphabetically first in each?

Albania

4.

Which financial institution founded in 1968 and part of the Alliance and Leicester Group when it ceased trading in 2003 uniquely had its own non-geographical postcode?

Girobank

(or National Girobank as it was originally called - its Bootle HQ had the postcode GIR 0AA)

5.

What is normally chanted in a foreign language but when translated into English starts off with this line: "There is going to be a fight between us. May it mean death to you and life to us"?

The Haka

6.

What can't you do in the real or imagined presence of others if you suffer from the phobia that has the medical name paruresis?

Urinate

7.

Some critics call him a modern Impressionist.  Others describe his work as soft pornography. Whose most famous painting is The Singing Butler?

Jack Vettriano

8.

Let’s play Blockbusters:

EAIPM: What is the 5 word subtitle of economist E F Schumacher's influential collected essays published in 1973 under the title Small is Beautiful?

Economics As If People Mattered

9.

Which famous English sporting event was won by Australia on June 7th 2014?

The Epsom Derby

(Australia was an English horse trained in Ireland)

10.

Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel won the 'Funniest Joke of The Fringe' award this year at the Edinburgh Festival.  He took the title with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' – I think I might have............”.  Which one word completes the punchline?

Florets

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - WithQuiz style - Announced theme - 'Flowers'

1.

One of the oldest grounds in the Football League and, in Fr Megson's opinion, one of the most romantically named, where do Macclesfield Town FC play their home games?

Moss Rose

2.

Fred West was infamously married to fellow serial killer Rose.  But what was the quaint first name of Harold Shipman's innocent wife?

Primrose

3.

The English wear a poppy in their lapels on Remembrance Day. The French wear 'un bleuet' for the same reason.  What is the English name for this small flower?

Cornflower

4.

Which small blue or purple flower, sometimes associated with freemasonry, has the scientific name myosotis which is Greek for 'mouse’s ear'?

Forget-me-not

5.

One of L S Lowry’s paintings depicts an annual Easter Fair held along Stannybrook Road in which popular country park between Failsworth and Droylsden?

Daisy Nook Park

6.

Which Ancoats-born actress and pianist who died aged 85 in 1983 achieved worldwide fame for playing local gossip and battle-axe Ena Sharples in Coronation Street?

Violet Carson

7.

Cate Blanchett won an Oscar for Best Actress and director Woody Allen was nominated for Best Original screenplay for which critically acclaimed 2013 black comedy/drama film?

Blue Jasmine

8.

Jim Broadbent won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a dedicated and long-suffering husband in which 2001 biographical film.

Iris

Sp.

What was the name of the record label founded by John Peel in 1969 as a way to get the music he liked onto record?  It was named after one of his hamsters at the suggestion of his then flatmate Marc Bolan.

Dandelion Records

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - WithQuiz style - Announced theme - 'Knowing Mine, Knowing Yours'

1.

In January 1913 which Picturedrome opened at 494 Wilmslow Rd Withington?  It was only the third of its kind to open in Britain and would go on to become the third longest-running cinema in the country?

The Scala

(not Cine-City which was a much later name)

2.

According to the milestone adjacent to Withington Fire Station erected by the Manchester and Wilmslow Turnpike Trust in the 19th Century, what is the EXACT distance from that spot to Wilmslow?

Eight and a quarter miles

3.

What historic business decision was taken at the Didsbury home of architect Daniel Adamson on 27th June 1882?  A blue plaque marks the exact spot of that evening's meeting in the present day lodge of The Towers Business Park.

The construction of the Manchester Ship Canal

4.

"And so this is the place now with kids of our own. Some are born here, some drawn here, but they all call it home". These words which united a city in 2017 form part of a poem written by which former Withington Post Office worker sometimes known as 'Longfella'?

Tony Walsh

(This is the Place)

5.

Locusts and boils are still comparatively rare in Stockport but giant artistic representations of which of the 10 Plagues of Egypt overran the town centre between June and September 2019.

Frogs

(19 of them were commissioned to celebrate Stockport's - alleged - Giant Leap Forward......)

6.

The post box outside Poynton High School was painted gold in 2012 in honour of which ex-pupil who won four gold medals for Team GB at the 2012 Summer Paralympics?  She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2013.

Sarah Storey

7.

In 2017 a sculpture was unveiled opposite Stockport's war memorial in honour of former Edgeley milkman James Conway.  Conway lost his life while taking part in one of the Royal Marines' most famous wartime raids when volunteers paddled 80 miles up the Gironde in folding canoes to place mines on enemy vessels in the port of Bordeaux.  What name was given to the 12 participants of this raid and later to a film made about their heroism in 1955?

The Cockleshell Heroes

8.

Sp1

A research institute for new technologies in cotton production was set up in 1920 at The Towers in Didsbury.  A significant contribution to the purchase price of the site was made by William Greenwood the MP for Stockport on condition that the Institute be named in honour of his daughter.  What was his daughter called?

Shirley

Sp2

Linking two of tonight's second half answers who was employed as resident pianist at the Scala Picturedrome for a period in the mid 1920s?

Violet Carson

(earning 2 pounds 5 shillings per week)

Sp3

Complete this L S Lowry quote: “Why should anyone need to go to church when they can stand all day and gaze at the ???

Stockport Viaduct

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - WithQuiz style - Hidden theme - 'Great British Cryptic Flowers'

...with some sound-alikes

1.

In Roman numerals what letter denotes 500

D

2.

Although it has come to be used to denote something more sinister and blood-curdling what word simply means 'woman fairy' in the Irish language?

Banshee

(bean sídhe)

3.

Premiered in Prague in 1787 which Mozart opera in two acts is subtitled The Libertine Punished?

Don Giovanni

4.

In which city would you find 'The Prophet’s Mosque', the traditional burial place of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad?

Medina
 

5.

What three letter word can be defined as 'a rotating or sliding piece in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary motion into linear motion'?

Cam

6.

The London flagship store of which bookseller located in Charing Cross Road was so famed for its bad-tempered service and its outmoded and eccentric business practices that it eventually became a tourist attraction.  It was bought by Waterstones in 2018.

Foyles

7.

Which American singer came to fame with his debut album in 1987 that included his hit singles Dance Little Sister, Sign Your Name and Wishing Well?

Terence Trent D'Arby
 

8.

The so called 'Cigarette Smoking Man' was a recurring character and principal villain in which popular and long-running TV science fiction drama series?

The X -Files
 

Sp1

For which 1955 film did Jo van Fleet win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in her screen debut? The film is now better remembered for another debut, that of James Dean.

East of Eden

Sp2

If you can believe the opening narration of the 1968 film what was invented in 1925 in New York on 'The Night They Raided Minskys'?

Striptease

Theme: Each answer contains the name - or the sound of the name - of a UK river

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - WithQuiz style - Pairs

1.

Germany’s 16 modern states include 3 Stadts-Staaten (i.e. City States).  Berlin and Hamburg are 2 of them.  What is the third?

Bremen

2.

What self-declared and short-lived status was held by the German states of Bremen and Bavaria and, even more briefly by the Irish city of Limerick, during the political turbulence of the year 1919?

Soviet Republic

3.

An 1879 copy of which guidebook to the railroads of the United States and Canada was used by Michael Portillo in his BBC travel documentary series Great American Railway Journeys?

Appleton's Guide

4.

Now considered a classic in the field of travel writing, which 1975 book by Paul Theroux describes a marathon train journey he undertook from London to Japan and back again via the Trans-Siberian Railway?

The Great Railway Bazaar

5.

Which opera, written by Donizetti and loosely based on a Sir Walter Scott novel, features the so-called 'mad scene in which the eponymous heroine kills her husband shortly after being forced to marry him?

Lucia di Lammermoor

6.

"Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral".  Which symphony, thought to have been composed under the influence of opium, is Leonard Bernstein describing here?

Symphonie Fantastique

7.

Whose inquest was held in the Cat and Bagpipes public house on the 12th May 1812, just a short distance from where he had been shot dead in his London workplace the previous day?  He left behind a widow and 12 children and a bank account containing the surprisingly small sum of £106 5s 1d (£106, 5 shillings and 1 penny)?

Spencer Perceval

8.

Isaac Gascoigne was the MP for Liverpool who witnessed the shooting of Spencer Perceval and recognised the assassin John Bellingham as one of his constituents.  He was the great-great-great grandfather of University Challenge presenter Bamber Gascoigne.  Which of Bamber's uncles maintained the political connection by becoming a Prime Minister in 1963, a post he was forced to relinquish in 1969?

(Captain) Terence O' Neill

(PM of Northern Ireland)

Sp1

If you were having trouble making your mind up whether to worship at the 11 foot brass statue of Bill Clinton on the Bulevardi Bill Klinton or at the nearby Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa before paying homage at the the house where singer Rita Ora was born you would be wasting an entire afternoon in which European city.

Pristina

(Kosovo)

Sp2

If you found visits to Edgeley Park a tad too exhilarating and popped over instead to watch a Merv Mary FC home game at the Mary stadium in the city of Mary near the ancient ruins of Merv and all the time trying to dodge the surveillance of the state police who report back to a leader who appears in fashion shoots and makes even Donald Trump look sane, in which country would you not be enjoying yourself?

Turkmenistan

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Tiebreakers

1.

The metre was originally defined as 1/10,000,000 of the meridian arc from the North pole to the equator passing through which European city?

Dunkirk

2.

Multiply the height of Michelangelo's sculpture of David in feet by the average weight in grams of a fully grown male bird of the type known as the common (Eurasian) wren and express your answer as something only an idiot or a dedicated quizzer should know.

153

(17 feet x 9 grams)

3.

How many people survived the sinking of the Titanic?

706

(492 passengers and 214 crew)

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