ROUND 1 - Reverse pairs

1.

Which politician’s first foray into national politics was in the Beaconsfield by-election?  Losing his deposit with a derisory 3,886 votes things could only get better.

2.

Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 only two people have been judicially executed.  Name either.

3.

Which artefact in the British Museum was vandalised by a drunken student in 1845, but was painstakingly pieced together in 1845, 1948 and 1988 and is on display in Room 70 of the British Museum?  (two-word answer required)

4.

What is the name of the prize launched by Prince William and David Attenborough to support environmental projects worldwide?

5.

What is the title of the Duchess of Sussex’s book for children published this year?  It is available soon in remainder bins in all good bookshops.

6.

Which artefact discovered in 1939 in over 500 fragments, was painstakingly reconstructed in 1945 and 1971 and is on display in Room 41 of the British Museum?  (three-word answer required)

7.

Since 1948 people executed in the USA under Federal law (as opposed to State law) have all been guilty of murder except for two.  Name either.

8.

Which Cabinet Minister’s first foray into national politics was in the working-class Central Fife constituency in the 1997 election.  He received a derisory 3,669 votes.  He denied campaigning in a Bentley saying it was only a Mercedes.

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme - 'Current affairs in the UK'

1.

By what name is 13-year old James Wessex better known?

2.

Nigel, the Golden Retriever, made frequent appearances on BBC2 until his death in 2020.  Who was his owner?

3.

Which football stadium is home to Heart of Midlothian Football Club (Hearts)?

4.

Which business founded in 1903 occupied 111-119 Charing Cross Road before its move to 107 Charing Cross Road in 2011?

5.

Which musician whose bands have included Slik, Rich Kids, Visage, Thin Lizzy, and others, has received five honorary doctorates and an OBE in respect of his musicianship and charitable activities?

6.

Which singer, who changed his name to Sananda Maitreya in 2001, had success in the 1980s with top five UK singles including Wishing Well and Sign Your Name?

7.

What was the name of the anthropomorphic thistle that was the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games?

8.

“Thank God!  We lived through it.  The Great War 1914 to 1917.” were the last words spoken by Captain Kevin Darling in which six-episode series?  (three words needed)

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme - 'Look up to the sky'

1.

Who was the only daughter of novelist Barbara Cartland (first name only required)?

2.

Which 2012 epic science fiction film was based on a 2004 novel by David Mitchell?

3.

Which horse was foaled during an unusual event on 1st April 1764 and is still commemorated annually in a race at Sandown Park?

4.

Which self-help book published by American relationship counsellor John Gray in 1992 examines communication difficulties between the sexes and has sold over 15 million copies?

5.

In the sitcom Frasier what is the name of the Manchester-born housekeeper and physical therapist who eventually marries Niles Crane?

6.

In which event did 120 of 146 (or possibly 43 of 64) prisoners die in Fort William on 20th June 1746?

7.

What was Tasmin Archer’s only No 1 single in the UK?  It was also her only top 10 hit.

8.

What was the last track on Oasis’s album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?.  It contains the line: “Walking slowly down the hall / faster than a cannon ball”.

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Missing from the List

Who or what are missing from these lists?

Where an ellipsis is seen (…..) before or after the list it means the list is part of a sequence

1.

….., Des Lynam, BLANK, Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer, Colin Murray, Nick Hewer, …..

2.

 ….., Beatrice, BLANK, Eugenie, August, Edward, James, Louise, …..

3.

William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren Harding, BLANK

4.

Duke of Newcastle, Duke of Devonshire, Duke of Grafton, Duke of Portland, BLANK

5.

 ….., Argon, Krypton, Xenon, BLANK, Organesson

6.

….., BLANK, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, …..

7.

BLANK, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney

8.

Honor Blackman, BLANK, Linda Thorson, Joanna Lumley

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Announced theme - 'Language then and now'

The march to PC, wokery and beyond

1.

Titty was the third Walker child in Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons published in 1930.  Her name was changed to Kitty for the 1963 TV production, reverted to Titty for the 1974 film version, but for the 2016 film version the name was changed again.  To what?

2.

Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree first published in 1943 had child characters called Dick and Fanny.  Current reprints have changed these names allegedly to make them more contemporary for young readers.  Give either of the new names.

3.

The Committee on Evil Literature was established in Ireland in 1926, it, and its successor the Censorship of Publications Board, banned over 5000 books until 1998.  Which novel by Edna O’Brien was banned in 1960 for 'explicit sexual content'?

4.

Which 1958 autobiographical novel by Brendan Behan was also banned probably for its critiques of Irish republicanism, the Roman Catholic Church and its depiction of adolescent sexuality?

5.

The world of gender studies and sexual identity politics has become complicated.  More and more groups have been added to the LBG acronym.  Which foreign leader, said to be the most woke, used the term '2SLBGTQQIA+' in a recent speech?

6.

The academic world of gender studies and sexual identity politics has also become rather vicious with people with perceived wrong thoughts being 'cancelled'.  The acronym TERF has been used as a slur.  What is TERF an acronym for?

7.

Once labelled 'the rudest man in Britain' which presenter and right-wing social commentator has found himself 'cancelled' following misspoken remarks on slavery?

8.

Which scientist, voted the world’s top thinker in a poll in 2013, has had his 1996 award of 'Humanist of the Year' revoked in 2021 because “he demeaned marginal groups” including transgender people using “the guise of scientific discourse”?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme - 'Sweet sorrow - but not in Verona'

1.

Played by Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago which nightclub singer was accused of murdering her husband and sister?

2.

Who was the Italian director of Last Tango in Paris and The Conformist?

3.

Romantically linked to three of the Rolling Stones which actress played the role of the Great Tyrant in the film Barbarella?

4.

According to a 1975 single by The Sweet what did everyone want a piece of?

5.

First Lady of California when married to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger which niece of JFK received two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Award as producer of The Alzheimer’s Project?

6.

Which actor’s roles have included Fagin in Dickensian, Thomas More in Wolf Hall, Harold McMillan in The Crown and Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour?

7.

What is the stage name of rapper and actor Robert Matthew van Winkle?

8.

Which term entering musical slang in the 1920s has been defined as 'the main hook of the song' often beginning the song and repeated throughout?  It is also a chord progression or refrain known as ostinato in classical music such as Ravel’s Bolero.

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Announced theme - 'The Spanish world beyond Spain'

1.

Which country, the most populous of Central America, was once the core of the Mayan population?  It was involved in civil war lasting from 1960 to 1996.

2.

Spanish is the dominant language of Central America but where in Central America apart from Belize is English still a predominant native language?

3.

Panama once formed part of Gran Colombia following separation from Spain in 1821.  Apart from Panama and Colombia, Gran Colombia included two other present-day countries and parts of a further three.  Name three of the five.

4.

Which country in the Caribbean is an 'unincorporated territory' of the United States?

5.

The Galapagos islands, a volcanic archipelago 563 miles from the mainland, are part of which country?

6.

Two South American countries are landlocked.  Name both.

7.

Spanish predominates in Central and South America but only one independent African country has Spanish as one of its official languages along with French and Portuguese - though Spanish is the primary language in the public sphere.  Which?

8.

2010 Nobel Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, now a Marquess in the Spanish nobility, is a native of which country which also had advanced civilisation in pre-Columbian times?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme - 'A rose is a rose is a rose - so long as it's red'

1.

In which mansion near St James Palace was the conference held in 1979 that saw the agreement to end the Rhodesian conflict/civil war and establishment of Zimbabwe?

2.

John Travolta has lost two partners to breast cancer.  The first was actress Diana Hyland in 1977 and the second was his actress wife of 29 years in 2020.  What was her name?

3.

Which successful and retired F1 driver has two sons involved in motor sport?  Controversially he once described the Monaco GP as like “riding a bicycle round your living room” and once called his rival Nigel Mansell “an uneducated blockhead”.

4.

About which athlete did comedian Frankie Boyle comment that she “looks like someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon”?

5.

Described by Margaret Thatcher as “a notorious agitator” Derek Robinson (Red Robbo) was a shop steward at which company until his sacking in 1979?

6.

Which scientist born in Cockermouth in 1766 made notable contributions to chemistry, meteorology and the study of colour-blindness?

7.

Which Northern comic, a star of radio and TV, died aged 51 in June 1973 of an accidental 'sleeping pills and brandy' overdose on the day of his mother’s funeral?

8.

Which golfer was runner up to Shane Lowry in the 2019 Open Golf Championship having been runner up to Brooks Koepke in the 2018 US Open?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

Spares

1.

Laurel Hubbard has become Otago University’s New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year 2021 despite a poor performance in the Tokyo Olympics.  In which event does she compete?

2.

Lisa Carrington won three gold medals for New Zealand in the Tokyo Olympics to add to golds won in London and Rio, and has won the Halberg Award for New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year every year from 2016.  What is her sport?

3.

In an attempt to be inclusive which learned journal described women as “bodies with vaginas” and ended up offending the Twitterati even more so?

4.

Which character from West Side Story shares her name with the title of an 1852 novel by Alphonse de Lamartine, telling of a young Frenchman who falls for a fisherman’s granddaughter during a trip to Naples?

5.

Which UK political party had a co-leader named Catmando between 1999 and 2002 until his death in a road traffic accident?

6.

Which is the second most populous city in Pakistan?

7.

How many popes have been called Leo, the last dying in 1903?

Go to Spares questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Reverse pairs

1.

Which politician’s first foray into national politics was in the Beaconsfield by-election?  Losing his deposit with a derisory 3,886 votes things could only get better.

2.

Since the establishment of Israel in 1948 only two people have been judicially executed.  Name either.

3.

Which artefact in the British Museum was vandalised by a drunken student in 1845, but was painstakingly pieced together in 1845, 1948 and 1988 and is on display in Room 70 of the British Museum?  (two-word answer required)

4.

What is the name of the prize launched by Prince William and David Attenborough to support environmental projects worldwide?

The Earthshot Prize

5.

What is the title of the Duchess of Sussex’s book for children published this year?  It is available soon in remainder bins in all good bookshops.

6.

Which artefact discovered in 1939 in over 500 fragments, was painstakingly reconstructed in 1945 and 1971 and is on display in Room 41 of the British Museum?  (three-word answer required)

7.

Since 1948 people executed in the USA under Federal law (as opposed to State law) have all been guilty of murder except for two.  Name either.

Julius Rosenberg

or

Ethel Rosenberg

8.

Which Cabinet Minister’s first foray into national politics was in the working-class Central Fife constituency in the 1997 election.  He received a derisory 3,669 votes.  He denied campaigning in a Bentley saying it was only a Mercedes.

ROUND 2 - Hidden theme - 'Current affairs in the UK'

1.

By what name is 13-year old James Wessex better known?

2.

Nigel, the Golden Retriever, made frequent appearances on BBC2 until his death in 2020.  Who was his owner?

3.

Which football stadium is home to Heart of Midlothian Football Club (Hearts)?

4.

Which business founded in 1903 occupied 111-119 Charing Cross Road before its move to 107 Charing Cross Road in 2011?

5.

Which musician whose bands have included Slik, Rich Kids, Visage, Thin Lizzy, and others, has received five honorary doctorates and an OBE in respect of his musicianship and charitable activities?

6.

Which singer, who changed his name to Sananda Maitreya in 2001, had success in the 1980s with top five UK singles including Wishing Well and Sign Your Name?

7.

What was the name of the anthropomorphic thistle that was the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games?

8.

“Thank God!  We lived through it.  The Great War 1914 to 1917.” were the last words spoken by Captain Kevin Darling in which six-episode series?  (three words needed)

Blackadder Goes Forth

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a UK river (cryptically alluded to by the phrase 'current affairs')...

Severn, Don, Tyne, Foyle, Ure, Trent, Clyde, Blackadder/Forth

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme - 'Look up to the sky'

1.

Who was the only daughter of novelist Barbara Cartland (first name only required)?

(later Countess of Dartmouth, and later still Countess Spencer)

2.

Which 2012 epic science fiction film was based on a 2004 novel by David Mitchell?

Cloud Atlas

3.

Which horse was foaled during an unusual event on 1st April 1764 and is still commemorated annually in a race at Sandown Park?

Eclipse

4.

Which self-help book published by American relationship counsellor John Gray in 1992 examines communication difficulties between the sexes and has sold over 15 million copies?

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

5.

In the sitcom Frasier what is the name of the Manchester-born housekeeper and physical therapist who eventually marries Niles Crane?

Daphne Moon

6.

In which event did 120 of 146 (or possibly 43 of 64) prisoners die in Fort William on 20th June 1746?

The Black Hole of Calcutta

7.

What was Tasmin Archer’s only No 1 single in the UK?  It was also her only top 10 hit.

Sleeping Satellite

8.

What was the last track on Oasis’s album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?.  It contains the line: “Walking slowly down the hall / faster than a cannon ball”.

Champagne Supernova

Theme: Each answer contains the name of an aerial or astronomical feature...

rain, cloud, eclipse, Mars, Venus, moon, black hole, satellite, supernova

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Missing from the List

Who or what are missing from these lists?

Where an ellipsis is seen (…..) before or after the list it means the list is part of a sequence

1.

….., Des Lynam, BLANK, Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer, Colin Murray, Nick Hewer, …..

Des O’Connor

(hosts of Countdown)

2.

 ….., Beatrice, BLANK, Eugenie, August, Edward, James, Louise, …..

Sienna

(current line of succession to the throne 10-16)

3.

William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren Harding, BLANK

Franklin D Roosevelt

(US Presidents dying in office of natural causes)

4.

Duke of Newcastle, Duke of Devonshire, Duke of Grafton, Duke of Portland, BLANK

Duke of Wellington

(Dukes who have been Prime Minister)

5.

 ….., Argon, Krypton, Xenon, BLANK, Organesson

Radon

(Noble gases)

6.

….., BLANK, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, …..

Acts (of the Apostles)

(New Testament canon)

7.

BLANK, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney

W B Yeats

(Irish winners of the Nobel Literature Prize)

8.

Honor Blackman, BLANK, Linda Thorson, Joanna Lumley

(TV Avenger actresses with Patrick Macnee)

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Announced theme - 'Language then and now'

The march to PC, wokery and beyond

1.

Titty was the third Walker child in Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons published in 1930.  Her name was changed to Kitty for the 1963 TV production, reverted to Titty for the 1974 film version, but for the 2016 film version the name was changed again.  To what?

(the fourth child Roger, the ship’s boy, kept his name for all versions)

2.

Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree first published in 1943 had child characters called Dick and Fanny.  Current reprints have changed these names allegedly to make them more contemporary for young readers.  Give either of the new names.

Frannie

3.

The Committee on Evil Literature was established in Ireland in 1926, it, and its successor the Censorship of Publications Board, banned over 5000 books until 1998.  Which novel by Edna O’Brien was banned in 1960 for 'explicit sexual content'?

The Country Girls

4.

Which 1958 autobiographical novel by Brendan Behan was also banned probably for its critiques of Irish republicanism, the Roman Catholic Church and its depiction of adolescent sexuality?

5.

The world of gender studies and sexual identity politics has become complicated.  More and more groups have been added to the LBG acronym.  Which foreign leader, said to be the most woke, used the term '2SLBGTQQIA+' in a recent speech?

('2S' refers to indigenous Canadians who have both a male and female spirit, 'QQ' is 'queer and questioning', 'I' is intersex, 'A' is asexual. and '+' includes everyone else - possibly)

6.

The academic world of gender studies and sexual identity politics has also become rather vicious with people with perceived wrong thoughts being 'cancelled'.  The acronym TERF has been used as a slur.  What is TERF an acronym for?

(these are feminists who think only cis women can be feminists - I think)

7.

Once labelled 'the rudest man in Britain' which presenter and right-wing social commentator has found himself 'cancelled' following misspoken remarks on slavery?

David Starkey

8.

Which scientist, voted the world’s top thinker in a poll in 2013, has had his 1996 award of 'Humanist of the Year' revoked in 2021 because “he demeaned marginal groups” including transgender people using “the guise of scientific discourse”?

Richard Dawkins

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme - 'Sweet sorrow - but not in Verona'

1.

Played by Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago which nightclub singer was accused of murdering her husband and sister?

Velma Kelly

2.

Who was the Italian director of Last Tango in Paris and The Conformist?

Bernardo Bertolucci

3.

Romantically linked to three of the Rolling Stones which actress played the role of the Great Tyrant in the film Barbarella?

Anita Pallenberg

4.

According to a 1975 single by The Sweet what did everyone want a piece of?

The Action

5.

First Lady of California when married to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger which niece of JFK received two Emmy Awards and an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Award as producer of The Alzheimer’s Project?

6.

Which actor’s roles have included Fagin in Dickensian, Thomas More in Wolf Hall, Harold McMillan in The Crown and Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour?

Anton Lesser

7.

What is the stage name of rapper and actor Robert Matthew van Winkle?

Vanilla Ice

8.

Which term entering musical slang in the 1920s has been defined as 'the main hook of the song' often beginning the song and repeated throughout?  It is also a chord progression or refrain known as ostinato in classical music such as Ravel’s Bolero.

Riff

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a character in the Bernstein/Sondheim/Laurents musical West Side Story...

Velma, Bernardo, Anita, Action, Maria, Anton (Tony), Ice and Riff

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Announced theme - 'The Spanish world beyond Spain'

1.

Which country, the most populous of Central America, was once the core of the Mayan population?  It was involved in civil war lasting from 1960 to 1996.

2.

Spanish is the dominant language of Central America but where in Central America apart from Belize is English still a predominant native language?

3.

Panama once formed part of Gran Colombia following separation from Spain in 1821.  Apart from Panama and Colombia, Gran Colombia included two other present-day countries and parts of a further three.  Name three of the five.

4.

Which country in the Caribbean is an 'unincorporated territory' of the United States?

5.

The Galapagos islands, a volcanic archipelago 563 miles from the mainland, are part of which country?

Ecuador

6.

Two South American countries are landlocked.  Name both.

Bolivia and Paraguay

7.

Spanish predominates in Central and South America but only one independent African country has Spanish as one of its official languages along with French and Portuguese - though Spanish is the primary language in the public sphere.  Which?

Equatorial Guinea

8.

2010 Nobel Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, now a Marquess in the Spanish nobility, is a native of which country which also had advanced civilisation in pre-Columbian times?

Peru

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme - 'A rose is a rose is a rose - so long as it's red'

1.

In which mansion near St James Palace was the conference held in 1979 that saw the agreement to end the Rhodesian conflict/civil war and establishment of Zimbabwe?

2.

John Travolta has lost two partners to breast cancer.  The first was actress Diana Hyland in 1977 and the second was his actress wife of 29 years in 2020.  What was her name?

Kelly Preston

3.

Which successful and retired F1 driver has two sons involved in motor sport?  Controversially he once described the Monaco GP as like “riding a bicycle round your living room” and once called his rival Nigel Mansell “an uneducated blockhead”.

Nelson Piquet

4.

About which athlete did comedian Frankie Boyle comment that she “looks like someone who’s looking at themselves in the back of a spoon”?

5.

Described by Margaret Thatcher as “a notorious agitator” Derek Robinson (Red Robbo) was a shop steward at which company until his sacking in 1979?

6.

Which scientist born in Cockermouth in 1766 made notable contributions to chemistry, meteorology and the study of colour-blindness?

7.

Which Northern comic, a star of radio and TV, died aged 51 in June 1973 of an accidental 'sleeping pills and brandy' overdose on the day of his mother’s funeral?

Jimmy Clitheroe

8.

Which golfer was runner up to Shane Lowry in the 2019 Open Golf Championship having been runner up to Brooks Koepke in the 2018 US Open?

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a city, town or village in the Red Rose county of Lancashire...

Lancaster, Preston, Nelson, Adlington, Leyland, Dalton, Clitheroe and Fleetwood

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers

Spares

1.

Laurel Hubbard has become Otago University’s New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year 2021 despite a poor performance in the Tokyo Olympics.  In which event does she compete?

Weight lifting

(she failed to register a weight in Tokyo as her snatch was not good enough)

2.

Lisa Carrington won three gold medals for New Zealand in the Tokyo Olympics to add to golds won in London and Rio, and has won the Halberg Award for New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year every year from 2016.  What is her sport?

Canoeing

3.

In an attempt to be inclusive which learned journal described women as “bodies with vaginas” and ended up offending the Twitterati even more so?

The Lancet

4.

Which character from West Side Story shares her name with the title of an 1852 novel by Alphonse de Lamartine, telling of a young Frenchman who falls for a fisherman’s granddaughter during a trip to Naples?

Graziella

5.

Which UK political party had a co-leader named Catmando between 1999 and 2002 until his death in a road traffic accident?

6.

Which is the second most populous city in Pakistan?

7.

How many popes have been called Leo, the last dying in 1903?

Go back to Spares questions without answers