ROUND 1 - 'The Best of Times, the First of Times'

The first round of the Turing Testers first quiz starts with a round on successful - and less successful - debuts.

1.

At the 1952 Olympics, who decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life, which he then won?  In the week preceding that race, he had already won gold in the 5,000m and the 10,000m.

2.

For a player, a very bad debut for a football team would be to score an own goal, or to get sent off. Which Englishman managed to do both of these things in his first game for Real Madrid in 2005?

3.

The NME ranked Debut as the top LP of 1993.  Who was its mononymous solo artist, winner of the 1994 Brit Awards for Best Newcomer and Best International Female?

4.

In 2008, Duffy claimed the record for best-selling debut album by a British female vocalist, usurping which other mononymous singer?  Her namesake band’s debut Diamond Life won the Brit Award for Best Album in 1985.

5.

Which opera’s 1875 opening night performance in Paris was so poorly received that the audience were reportedly entirely silent by the final act?  One reviewer described the title character as “the very incarnation of vice”, while the composer, who died later that year at the age of 36, predicted that the piece would be a “definite and hopeless flop".

6.

Alexander Glazunov was allegedly drunk when he conducted the First Symphony of which fellow Russian at its 1897 première?  The composer left before the end of the disastrous performance, and suffered a mental breakdown shortly afterwards.

7.

Who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1968 for her film debut?  She also won the 1984 Golden Globe for Best Director for her directorial debut and remains the only female winner of the award.

8.

During shooting of his debut feature, which maverick director did stars Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould allegedly attempt to get fired?  He went on to win the Grand Prix at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival

Sp1

In 2014, the novel Girl Online broke the record for first-week sales for a debut author with 78,109. The author was already an established internet celebrity.  Who was she?

Sp2

Whose debut novel inspired the founding of many clubs, such as a bicycle club founded in 1870, the year of their death?  The condition now called Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome was previously named after the novel.

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme - 'Unclear and Present Danger'

Each answer contains one or more theme words, each perhaps hidden in a larger word.

1.

Which poem by Walter Scott inspired a Rossini opera and shares its name with a character from Arthurian legend?

2.

Still the fastest manned air-breathing jet aircraft half a century after its introduction, the Lockheed SR-71 is popularly known by what name referencing its colour?

3.

Across the 74th‒76th Academy Awards, which film trilogy won a record 17 Oscars?

4.

What regnal name was shared by these three Kings of France:

a. the husband of Catherine de’ Medici;

b. their youngest son, the last Valois king;

c. that son’s successor, the first Bourbon king?

5.

According to a typo reprinted in several Indian papers, Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft was caught using which wading bird during the third Test against South Africa in March 2018?

6.

Park-Chan Wook directed Florence Pugh in which 2018 BBC miniseries, based on the 1983 John Le Carré novel of the same name?

7.

Which actress earned only $3000 for her Academy Award-winning role as Brandon Ten in 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry? 

8.

Which castle, the largest in England, was seized from Royalists in 1642 by two dozen Parliamentarians without a shot being fired? 

Sp1

Jack Black portrayed children’s author R L Stine in which film of 2015?  He reprised the role in 2018.

Sp2

In the 2017 UK General Election, the sole candidate for the Gremloids party obtained its record 249 votes after promising to:

a. legalise the hunting of fox-hunters;

b. call a referendum on whether to call a second Brexit referendum

c. regenerate Nicholson’s Shopping Centre in which English town?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - 'Stan Culture'

Noun: 'Stan' - an overzealous fan of a celebrity

Verb: 'to stan' - to be an overzealous fan of a celebrity

1.

The term 'stan' derives from the 2000 Eminem song of the same name, which features the song Thank You by which British singer-songwriter born on Christmas Day in 1971?

2.

The Bardi Gang is the name given to the 'stans' of which American rapper and singer, born Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar in 1992?  Her stage name is ultimately derived from a brand of rum.

3.

Which American rock band is stanned by 'The Victims'?

4.

In which film series of 2012‒2015 does Stanley Tucci play flashy television personality Caesar Flickerman?

5.

Stan Collymore plays footballer and possible murder victim Kevin Franks in which 2006 film, the Golden Raspberry-winning sequel to a 1992 neo-noir hit Basic Instinct 2?

6.

Which Polish scientist is known for his role in developing the Monte Carlo method of computation, and for his work with Edward Teller on thermonuclear weapons?

7.

Stanley Kubrick directed and produced a film adaptation of the novel Lolita in 1962.  What is Lolita’s full name?

8.

The suffix '-stan' means 'land of' in Urdu and Persian.  How many countries have this suffix in their name? 

Sp1

'Stan' is the name given to the fifth most complete known fossil of which animal?  A cast of it can be found in the Manchester Museum.

Sp2

Boasting 20 million subscribers each, name either of the two Youtube personalities who fought at The Staples Center in front of 2.5 million live viewers recently?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUNDS 4 & 5 - 'A Partridge in a Pair Tree'

Both teams are provided with a sheet showing ten boxes, each box contains a pair of thematically linked questions.  Think of it as a quizzers advent calendar.

The unchosen categories can be used as spares.

Rockstars Under the Influence

(specifically, the influence of Russian literature. In each question, name both the books and the songs they helped inspire)

1a.

A Dostoyevsky novella which opens “I am a sick man, I am a spiteful man, I believe my liver is diseased”;

a 1980 song by Magazine which starts “I am angry, I am ill, and I’m as ugly as sin”.

1b.

A Russian novel in which a character is told “Manuscripts don’t burn” after trying to destroy a draft of a novel about Pontius Pilate;

a 1968 song including the lyrics “Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate”.

African Disunion

2a.

The Nigerian Civil War (1967‒70) began when states in southeast Nigeria declared independence as a new country under what name?

2b.

Which Secretary-General of the United Nations died in a 1961 plane crash during the Congo Crisis?

Turing asks about WW2 Espionage

3a.

After taking suggestions from children who had overheard military conversations, Leonard Dawe was investigated for coincidentally giving hints regarding the Normandy Landings in which medium?

3b.

What code name did the British give to the Spanish double-agent Juan Pujol García, who acted against Nazi Germany by fabricating an entire fictional spy network?

The Terrible Tudors

4a.

Who was the first wife of Elizabeth I’s favourite Lord Robert Dudley?  She died after falling down a flight of stairs, in circumstances often considered suspicious.

4b.

Which lawyer, born 1500, was executed in 1537 for rebelling against Henry VIII in his role as a leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace?

Defiance

5a.

When ordered to make a sign, prisoner and master blacksmith Jan Liwacz made a deliberate show of defiance – still visible today – by turning the letter ‘B’ upside down.  What words appear on the sign?

5b.

Name any of the men on the 200m podium at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics, famous for the gold and silver medallists making a Black Power salute.

Sports Science

6a.

What forename is shared by the youngest driver ever to compete in Formula 1, and a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose granddaughter is Olivia Newton-John?

b.

What surname is shared by a swimmer who won four gold medals at London 2012 aged 17, and the English scientist who is the main subject of the play Photo 51 by Anna Ziegler?

Christmasterpieces

7a.

Which artist painted Mary, Joseph, and many other people, in The Census of Bethlehem?  Another snowy landscape by this painter is The Hunters in the Snow.

7b.

The Mystical Nativity (or The Mystic Nativity) is the only signed work by which Florentine artist?

Queens

8a.

Which polity was ruled by Melisende, daughter of Baldwin II, from 1131‒1153, jointly with her husband, Fulk, and then her son, Baldwin?

8b.

Which nation was ruled by Ranavalona III from 1883 until 1897, when she was exiled to Réunion and then to Algiers?

Cannibalism

9a

In which sitcom does one of the main characters offer to let a man eat him in order to watch a DVD at his house?

9b.

Which novel features a feline castaway that shares its name with a victim of cannibalism at the hands of Dudley, Stephens and Brooks?

Science (Class A)

10a

Kary Mullis, a Nobel laureate who died in 2019, credited LSD for inspiring him to develop which method of making several copies of a specific DNA segment?

10b

"Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas.  Now all I see is a blank piece of paper.”  Which prolific Hungarian mathematician said this, describing the month he went without amphetamines to win a bet?

Go to Rounds 4 & 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - 'Answer Xmash'

A seasonally themed run-on round. Usual rules apply: the overlaps may be in spelling or sound, generally both. As a special treat, each of the final pair of questions consists of three clues for three phrases to run-on, with the middle phrase overlapping at both ends. In the case of people, both forename and surname are required.

1.

Carcharodon carcharias, the largest extant macropredatory fish;

a Christmas carol whose usual melody is based on Felix Mendelssohn’s Festgesang.

2.

The first sitting US senator to become President;

a Christmas carol notable for the Latin refrain “Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis".

3.

A 1950 fantasy novel in which Father Christmas gifts three children lethal weapons;

a euphemism coined by Justin Timberlake following an incident during Superbowl XXXVIII (38).

4.

A fantasy character first portrayed on stage by Nina Boucicault (pronounced 'BOO-see-koh') in London during the Christmas of 1904;

a Milanese cake traditionally eaten at Christmas.

5.

A British actor who co-founded the film studio United Artists and died on Christmas Day in 1977;

the Roman author of Naturalis Historia who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.  (give the full name by which he is known in English)

6.

The American actor who played Joseph in Catherine Hardwicke’s 2006 film The Nativity Story;

a former MP for the University of Cambridge born on Christmas Day in 1642.

7.

Three clues:

A TV show created by Vince Gilligan in 2008 which has won 16 Emmy Awards;

a 2003 Christmas film starring Angelina Jolie’s second husband;

the capital of the US state in which the aforementioned TV show is mainly set.

8.

Three clues:

The eponymous geological formation of a novel by Joan Lindsay whose TV adaptation, starring Natalie Dormer, aired on BBC 2 in 2018;

a 1985 film featuring a boxing match on Christmas Day;

the first six words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address of 1863.

Sp.

Born on Christmas Day in 1924, the creator of the Twilight Zone;

the first teenager to score in five consecutive UEFA Champions League matches, a Red Bull Salzburg forward.

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

What object links an American online music magazine, a dentist depicted standing outside an Iowa home in 1930, and the first person to be convicted of murder by DNA fingerprinting evidence?

2.

What object links the music reviewer Anthony Fantano, an American building designed for the 1962 World’s Fair, and a thin sword first seen in Season 1 of Game of Thrones?

3.

A member of the mint family, which herb’s name would at first glance appear to connect it to an unrelated family of flowering plant, but is in fact derived from the Latin for 'dew of the sea'?

4.

The etymology of the ‘foxglove’ is disputed; one suggested derivation is a 16th century German botanist’s family name which translates to ‘fox’.  Which other genus of flowering plant definitely is named after him?

5.

Which play revolves around Dr Thomas Stockmann’s making a discovery that the new town baths are contaminated and pose a grave threat to public health?

6.

What four words, in translation, complete this quote from the character Joseph in a 1944 play:

“You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the ‘burning marl.’ Old wives' tales! There's no need for red-hot pokers...”

7.

Which Christmas carol often attributed to the exiled Jacobite John Francis Wade, is sometimes said to be a cryptic reference to the birth of Bonnie Prince Charlie?

8.

Which Christmas carol, for which the earliest known text was written in 1534 by Robert Croo, was traditionally sung as part of the West Midlands mystery play The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors?

Sp1

In 1979, signals indicative of a nuclear explosion were unexpectedly detected.  Although its source remains unknown, many suspect it was a joint Israel-South African nuclear test.  Also known as the 'South Atlantic Flash', this incident is generally known by what name, after the satellite that observed the event?

Sp2

Who is often described as having 'saved the world' during the Cuban missile crisis, for vetoing the launch of a nuclear weapon whilst second-in-command on the Soviet submarine B-59?

Sp3

Sp4

Which judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK nearly died in 1989 after being mugged, beaten and stabbed on his way home from drama school?  He of course survived to win a record six British Academy Television Awards for Best Entertainment Performance.

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - 'Quizzical Review 2019'

1.

One country changed its name this year after resolving a long-running dispute with its neighbour. Give its new name.

2.

One national capital changed its name this year, to honour a former ruler after they resigned this year. Give its new name.

3.

Since May 2019, whose role in 'Servant of the People' is as his country’s President?  In his former job, his role in Servant of the People was as his country’s President.

4.

Which candidate in the 2019 UK General Election wrote many of the intros and outros read brilliantly by Victoria Coren-Mitchell on Only Connect?

5.

Which African country comes fourth in this sequence: Colombia (2016); Switzerland (2017); Democratic Republic of Congo/Iraq (2018); …?

6.

Deep Blue is to Chess as AlphaGo is to Go, as Watson is to Jeopardy! and as Pluribus is to... what?

7.

For the BBC Sports Personality of 2019 it’s Christchurch, New Zealand.  For the European Commission President it’s Brussels.  Which city is it for the US President and UK Prime Minister?

8.

Which young person comes fourth in this sequence: Donald Trump (2016); The Silence Breakers (2017); The Guardians (2018); …?

Sp1

In June, which G20 leader served as best man at the wedding of Arsenal’s FIFA World Cup Winner Mesut Özil (pronounced: 'meh-zut er-zil')?

Sp2

On 10 December 2019, Sanna Marin became which country’s prime minister?  Aged 34, she is its youngest ever, and currently the world’s youngest prime minister.

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

ROUND 1 - 'The Best of Times, the First of Times'

The first round of the Turing Testers first quiz starts with a round on successful - and less successful - debuts.

1.

At the 1952 Olympics, who decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life, which he then won?  In the week preceding that race, he had already won gold in the 5,000m and the 10,000m.

Emil Zátopek

2.

For a player, a very bad debut for a football team would be to score an own goal, or to get sent off. Which Englishman managed to do both of these things in his first game for Real Madrid in 2005?

3.

The NME ranked Debut as the top LP of 1993.  Who was its mononymous solo artist, winner of the 1994 Brit Awards for Best Newcomer and Best International Female?

4.

In 2008, Duffy claimed the record for best-selling debut album by a British female vocalist, usurping which other mononymous singer?  Her namesake band’s debut Diamond Life won the Brit Award for Best Album in 1985.

Sade

(pronounced 'shah-DAY')

5.

Which opera’s 1875 opening night performance in Paris was so poorly received that the audience were reportedly entirely silent by the final act?  One reviewer described the title character as “the very incarnation of vice”, while the composer, who died later that year at the age of 36, predicted that the piece would be a “definite and hopeless flop".

Carmen

6.

Alexander Glazunov was allegedly drunk when he conducted the First Symphony of which fellow Russian at its 1897 première?  The composer left before the end of the disastrous performance, and suffered a mental breakdown shortly afterwards.

Sergei Rachmaninov

7.

Who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1968 for her film debut?  She also won the 1984 Golden Globe for Best Director for her directorial debut and remains the only female winner of the award.

Barbra Streisand

(Funny Girl for acting, and Yentl for directing were her successful debuts)

8.

During shooting of his debut feature, which maverick director did stars Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould allegedly attempt to get fired?  He went on to win the Grand Prix at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival

Robert Altman

(the film was M*A*S*H)

Sp1

In 2014, the novel Girl Online broke the record for first-week sales for a debut author with 78,109. The author was already an established internet celebrity.  Who was she?

Zoella

(or Zoe Sugg)

Sp2

Whose debut novel inspired the founding of many clubs, such as a bicycle club founded in 1870, the year of their death?  The condition now called Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome was previously named after the novel.

Charles Dickens

(The Pickwick Papers)

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme - 'Unclear and Present Danger'

Each answer contains one or more theme words, each perhaps hidden in a larger word.

1.

Which poem by Walter Scott inspired a Rossini opera and shares its name with a character from Arthurian legend?

The Lady of the Lake

2.

Still the fastest manned air-breathing jet aircraft half a century after its introduction, the Lockheed SR-71 is popularly known by what name referencing its colour?

Blackbird

3.

Across the 74th‒76th Academy Awards, which film trilogy won a record 17 Oscars?

The Lord of the Rings

4.

What regnal name was shared by these three Kings of France:

a. the husband of Catherine de’ Medici;

b. their youngest son, the last Valois king;

c. that son’s successor, the first Bourbon king?

Henri

(or Henry - II, III and IV)

5.

According to a typo reprinted in several Indian papers, Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft was caught using which wading bird during the third Test against South Africa in March 2018?

Sandpiper

(the article was about 'Sandpapergate', a ball tampering scandal)

6.

Park-Chan Wook directed Florence Pugh in which 2018 BBC miniseries, based on the 1983 John Le Carré novel of the same name?

Little Drummer Girl

7.

Which actress earned only $3000 for her Academy Award-winning role as Brandon Ten in 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry? 

Hilary Swank

8.

Which castle, the largest in England, was seized from Royalists in 1642 by two dozen Parliamentarians without a shot being fired? 

Dover Castle

Sp1

Jack Black portrayed children’s author R L Stine in which film of 2015?  He reprised the role in 2018.

Goosebumps

Sp2

In the 2017 UK General Election, the sole candidate for the Gremloids party obtained its record 249 votes after promising to:

a. legalise the hunting of fox-hunters;

b. call a referendum on whether to call a second Brexit referendum

c. regenerate Nicholson’s Shopping Centre in which English town?

Maidenhead

(the candidate was Lord Buckethead)

Theme: Each answer contains gifts from The Twelve Days of Christmas

Lady; bird (colly bird = blackbird]; lord, rings; hen (three French Henries!); piper; drummer; swan; dove; goose; maid

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - 'Stan Culture'

Noun: 'Stan' - an overzealous fan of a celebrity

Verb: 'to stan' - to be an overzealous fan of a celebrity

1.

The term 'stan' derives from the 2000 Eminem song of the same name, which features the song Thank You by which British singer-songwriter born on Christmas Day in 1971?

Dido

2.

The Bardi Gang is the name given to the 'stans' of which American rapper and singer, born Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar in 1992?  Her stage name is ultimately derived from a brand of rum.

Cardi B

3.

Which American rock band is stanned by 'The Victims'?

The Killers

4.

In which film series of 2012‒2015 does Stanley Tucci play flashy television personality Caesar Flickerman?

The Hunger Games

5.

Stan Collymore plays footballer and possible murder victim Kevin Franks in which 2006 film, the Golden Raspberry-winning sequel to a 1992 neo-noir hit Basic Instinct 2?

Risk Addiction

6.

Which Polish scientist is known for his role in developing the Monte Carlo method of computation, and for his work with Edward Teller on thermonuclear weapons?

Stanlislaw Ulam

7.

Stanley Kubrick directed and produced a film adaptation of the novel Lolita in 1962.  What is Lolita’s full name?

Dolores Haze

8.

The suffix '-stan' means 'land of' in Urdu and Persian.  How many countries have this suffix in their name? 

Seven

(Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)

Sp1

'Stan' is the name given to the fifth most complete known fossil of which animal?  A cast of it can be found in the Manchester Museum.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Sp2

Boasting 20 million subscribers each, name either of the two Youtube personalities who fought at The Staples Center in front of 2.5 million live viewers recently?

(either)

KSI

(or)

Logan Paul

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUNDS 4 & 5 - 'A Partridge in a Pair Tree'

Both teams are provided with a sheet showing ten boxes, each box contains a pair of thematically linked questions.  Think of it as a quizzers advent calendar.

The unchosen categories can be used as spares.

Rockstars Under the Influence

(specifically, the influence of Russian literature. In each question, name both the books and the songs they helped inspire)

1a.

A Dostoyevsky novella which opens “I am a sick man, I am a spiteful man, I believe my liver is diseased”;

a 1980 song by Magazine which starts “I am angry, I am ill, and I’m as ugly as sin”.

Notes from the Underground;

A Song from Under the Floorboards

1b.

A Russian novel in which a character is told “Manuscripts don’t burn” after trying to destroy a draft of a novel about Pontius Pilate;

a 1968 song including the lyrics “Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate”.

The Master and Margarita;

Sympathy for the Devil

African Disunion

2a.

The Nigerian Civil War (1967‒70) began when states in southeast Nigeria declared independence as a new country under what name?

(Republic of) Biafra

2b.

Which Secretary-General of the United Nations died in a 1961 plane crash during the Congo Crisis?

Turing asks about WW2 Espionage

3a.

After taking suggestions from children who had overheard military conversations, Leonard Dawe was investigated for coincidentally giving hints regarding the Normandy Landings in which medium?

(he compiled crosswords for the Daily Telegraph)

3b.

What code name did the British give to the Spanish double-agent Juan Pujol García, who acted against Nazi Germany by fabricating an entire fictional spy network?

Garbo

The Terrible Tudors

4a.

Who was the first wife of Elizabeth I’s favourite Lord Robert Dudley?  She died after falling down a flight of stairs, in circumstances often considered suspicious.

Amy Robsart

(accept Amy Dudley)

4b.

Which lawyer, born 1500, was executed in 1537 for rebelling against Henry VIII in his role as a leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace?

Robert Aske

Defiance

5a.

When ordered to make a sign, prisoner and master blacksmith Jan Liwacz made a deliberate show of defiance – still visible today – by turning the letter ‘B’ upside down.  What words appear on the sign?

'Arbeit Macht Frei'

(accept translation 'Work sets you free')

5b.

Name any of the men on the 200m podium at the Mexico City 1968 Olympics, famous for the gold and silver medallists making a Black Power salute.

(any one from)

Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman

Sports Science

6a.

What forename is shared by the youngest driver ever to compete in Formula 1, and a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose granddaughter is Olivia Newton-John?

Max

(Verstappen, Born)

6b.

What surname is shared by a swimmer who won four gold medals at London 2012 aged 17, and the English scientist who is the main subject of the play Photo 51 by Anna Ziegler?

Franklin

(Missy, Rosalind)

Christmasterpieces

7a.

Which artist painted Mary, Joseph, and many other people, in The Census of Bethlehem?  Another snowy landscape by this painter is The Hunters in the Snow.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

7b.

The Mystical Nativity (or The Mystic Nativity) is the only signed work by which Florentine artist?

Sandro Botticelli

Queens

8a.

Which polity was ruled by Melisende, daughter of Baldwin II, from 1131‒1153, jointly with her husband, Fulk, and then her son, Baldwin?

Kingdom of Jerusalem

8b.

Which nation was ruled by Ranavalona III from 1883 until 1897, when she was exiled to Réunion and then to Algiers?

Kingdom of Madagascar

(aka Merina Kingdom / Kingdom of Imerina)

Cannibalism

9a

In which sitcom does one of the main characters offer to let a man eat him in order to watch a DVD at his house?

The IT Crowd

9b.

Which novel features a feline castaway that shares its name with a victim of cannibalism at the hands of Dudley, Stephens and Brooks?

Life of Pi

(Richard Parker is the name of both the tiger in Life of Pi and the cabin boy who was eaten by Dudley, Stephens and Brooks)

Science (Class A)

10a

Kary Mullis, a Nobel laureate who died in 2019, credited LSD for inspiring him to develop which method of making several copies of a specific DNA segment?

Polymerase Chain Reaction

(accept 'PCR')

10b

"Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas.  Now all I see is a blank piece of paper.”  Which prolific Hungarian mathematician said this, describing the month he went without amphetamines to win a bet?

Paul Erdős

(pronounced 'air-dish')

Go back to Rounds 4 & 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - 'Answer Xmash'

A seasonally themed run-on round. Usual rules apply: the overlaps may be in spelling or sound, generally both. As a special treat, each of the final pair of questions consists of three clues for three phrases to run-on, with the middle phrase overlapping at both ends. In the case of people, both forename and surname are required.

1.

Carcharodon carcharias, the largest extant macropredatory fish;

a Christmas carol whose usual melody is based on Felix Mendelssohn’s Festgesang.

Great White Shark the Herald Angels Sing

2.

The first sitting US senator to become President;

a Christmas carol notable for the Latin refrain “Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis".

Warren Harding-Dong Merrily on High

3.

A 1950 fantasy novel in which Father Christmas gifts three children lethal weapons;

a euphemism coined by Justin Timberlake following an incident during Superbowl XXXVIII (38).

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Malfunction

4.

A fantasy character first portrayed on stage by Nina Boucicault (pronounced 'BOO-see-koh') in London during the Christmas of 1904;

a Milanese cake traditionally eaten at Christmas.

Peter Panettone

5.

A British actor who co-founded the film studio United Artists and died on Christmas Day in 1977;

the Roman author of Naturalis Historia who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.  (give the full name by which he is known in English)

Charlie Chapliny the Elder

6.

The American actor who played Joseph in Catherine Hardwicke’s 2006 film The Nativity Story;

a former MP for the University of Cambridge born on Christmas Day in 1642.

Oscar Isaac Newton

7.

Three clues:

A TV show created by Vince Gilligan in 2008 which has won 16 Emmy Awards;

a 2003 Christmas film starring Angelina Jolie’s second husband;

the capital of the US state in which the aforementioned TV show is mainly set.

Breaking Bad Santa Fe

(Breaking Bad; Bad Santa; Santa Fe)

8.

Three clues:

The eponymous geological formation of a novel by Joan Lindsay whose TV adaptation, starring Natalie Dormer, aired on BBC 2 in 2018;

a 1985 film featuring a boxing match on Christmas Day;

the first six words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address of 1863.

Hanging Rocky Four Score and Seven Years Ago

(Picnic at Hanging Rock; Rocky IV; “Four Score and Seven Years Ago”)

Sp.

Born on Christmas Day in 1924, the creator of the Twilight Zone;

the first teenager to score in five consecutive UEFA Champions League matches, a Red Bull Salzburg forward.

Rod Serling Braut Håland

(pronounced 'BROWT HAW-land' - Rod Serling; Erling Braut Håland)

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Pairs

1.

What object links an American online music magazine, a dentist depicted standing outside an Iowa home in 1930, and the first person to be convicted of murder by DNA fingerprinting evidence?

Pitchfork

(Pitchfork magazine, profession of the man in American Gothic, Colin Pitchfork)

2.

What object links the music reviewer Anthony Fantano, an American building designed for the 1962 World’s Fair, and a thin sword first seen in Season 1 of Game of Thrones?

Needle

(The Needle Drop, Space Needle, Needle]

3.

A member of the mint family, which herb’s name would at first glance appear to connect it to an unrelated family of flowering plant, but is in fact derived from the Latin for 'dew of the sea'?

Rosemary

(ros marinus in Latin)

4.

The etymology of the ‘foxglove’ is disputed; one suggested derivation is a 16th century German botanist’s family name which translates to ‘fox’.  Which other genus of flowering plant definitely is named after him?

Fuchsia

(named after Leonard Fuchs)

5.

Which play revolves around Dr Thomas Stockmann’s making a discovery that the new town baths are contaminated and pose a grave threat to public health?

An Enemy of the People

6.

What four words, in translation, complete this quote from the character Joseph in a 1944 play:

“You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the ‘burning marl.’ Old wives' tales! There's no need for red-hot pokers...”

“Hell is other people”

7.

Which Christmas carol often attributed to the exiled Jacobite John Francis Wade, is sometimes said to be a cryptic reference to the birth of Bonnie Prince Charlie?

O Come, All Ye Faithful

(or Adeste Fideles)

8.

Which Christmas carol, for which the earliest known text was written in 1534 by Robert Croo, was traditionally sung as part of the West Midlands mystery play The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors?

Coventry Carol

Sp1

In 1979, signals indicative of a nuclear explosion were unexpectedly detected.  Although its source remains unknown, many suspect it was a joint Israel-South African nuclear test.  Also known as the 'South Atlantic Flash', this incident is generally known by what name, after the satellite that observed the event?

The Vela Incident

Sp2

Who is often described as having 'saved the world' during the Cuban missile crisis, for vetoing the launch of a nuclear weapon whilst second-in-command on the Soviet submarine B-59?

Vasily Arkhipov

Sp3

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Sp4

Which judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK nearly died in 1989 after being mugged, beaten and stabbed on his way home from drama school?  He of course survived to win a record six British Academy Television Awards for Best Entertainment Performance.

Graham Norton

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - 'Quizzical Review 2019'

1.

One country changed its name this year after resolving a long-running dispute with its neighbour. Give its new name.

North Macedonia

(renamed in February due to Prespa Agreement)

2.

One national capital changed its name this year, to honour a former ruler after they resigned this year. Give its new name.

Nur-Sultan

(capital of Kazakhstan, renamed for its former President, who resigned after 29 years’ rule in March)

3.

Since May 2019, whose role in 'Servant of the People' is as his country’s President?  In his former job, his role in Servant of the People was as his country’s President.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

(formerly played fictional President of Ukraine in TV show Servant of the People; now actual President of Ukraine in political party 'Servant of the People')

4.

Which candidate in the 2019 UK General Election wrote many of the intros and outros read brilliantly by Victoria Coren-Mitchell on Only Connect?

Count Binface

(or more accurately, Jon Harvey - he also works on Have I Got News For You)

5.

Which African country comes fourth in this sequence: Colombia (2016); Switzerland (2017); Democratic Republic of Congo/Iraq (2018); …?

Ethiopia (2019)

(home countries of recent Nobel Peace Prize Winners)

6.

Deep Blue is to Chess as AlphaGo is to Go, as Watson is to Jeopardy! and as Pluribus is to... what?

Texas Hold’em (Poker)

(computers that beat human experts)

7.

For the BBC Sports Personality of 2019 it’s Christchurch, New Zealand.  For the European Commission President it’s Brussels.  Which city is it for the US President and UK Prime Minister?

8.

Which young person comes fourth in this sequence: Donald Trump (2016); The Silence Breakers (2017); The Guardians (2018); …?

Greta Thunberg (2019)

(TIME Person of the Year, prompting shameful tweets from the first member of the sequence - with an emphasis on 'member')

Sp1

In June, which G20 leader served as best man at the wedding of Arsenal’s FIFA World Cup Winner Mesut Özil (pronounced: 'meh-zut er-zil')?

Recep Erdoğan

(pronounced 'reh-JEP er-doe-AN')

Sp2

On 10 December 2019, Sanna Marin became which country’s prime minister?  Aged 34, she is its youngest ever, and currently the world’s youngest prime minister.

Finland

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers