ROUND 1 - Music

1.

What nickname is given to Beethoven’s piano sonata number 8 and Tchaikovsky’s sixth symphony?

2.

How is Britten’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, op. 34, better known?

3.

What 1942 work for orchestra and spoken voice has recordings narrated by, amongst many others, Neil Armstrong, Barrack Obama and Margaret Thatcher?

4.

What 1936 work for orchestra and narrator includes characters Bird, Duck and Cat, each of which has its own motif?  It too has had many famous narrators.

5.

Which opera’s last words are “The comedy is over” ("La commedia è finita")?  The singer has just stabbed his wife and her lover.

6.

Which opera’s last words are “Here I stand, true to you unto death” ("Hier steh ich, treu dir bis zum Tod")?  The character then leaps into the sea to her death.

7.

Who composed his requiem mass to honour the poet Alessandro Manzoni?  It has been described as the greatest opera he wrote.

8.

Whose first symphony is nicknamed 'The Titan'?

Sp.

Whose 14th symphony is a setting for soprano, bass and orchestra of 11 poems, mostly on the theme of death?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Places named in songs

1.

Which British city is named in the lyrics of ABBA’s Super Trouper?

2.

Which US city appears in titles of songs by Billy Joel and The Pet Shop Boys?

3.

Which British city is named in the lyrics of The Who’s Pinball Wizard?

4.

Which US city appears in the title of a song by The Arctic Monkeys?

5.

Which British city is named in the lyrics of Rotterdam by Beautiful South?

6.

Nutbush City Limits was a hit for Ike and Tina Turner.  Nutbush is an actual town in which US state as mentioned in the lyrics?

7.

Kokomo by The Beach Boys is a fictional island, but the song mentions five real islands or island groups in the opening lyrics.  Name one of them.

8.

Which 1980 song by Ultravox was prevented from reaching Number One by Dolce’s Shaddap a Ya Face!?

Sp.

Which hit by Duran Duran names a city in its title, but in fact refers to a girl of the same name?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme - 'So near yet so far'

1.

Come On in June 1963 was the debut single by which band?

2.

Because she was recognised as 'Righteous Among the Nations' for sheltering refugees during the Second World War, Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in which specific location?

3.

About which city was it widely said that “he who holds (name of city) holds Scotland”?  It has also been described as “a huge brooch clasping the Highlands and Lowlands together”.

4.

Of which condiment did comedian Tom Wrigglesworth say “outsiders think it is Sheffield’s answer to Worcestershire Sauce.  Sheffielders think it is the answer to everything”?  The name of this condiment differs from Worcestershire Sauce in not using anchovies in the recipe.

5.

Which literary character rides a donkey named Dapple?

6.

The Prodigal Daughter was a 1982 sequel to which novel?

7.

Which company co-developed the compact disc with Sony?

8.

What surname links the trophy awarded to the winners of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football Championship, a snooker player who has special dispensation not to wear a bow-tie and a film star known for The Cider House Rules and Biscuit?

Sp1

Which television presenter was known for the catchphrase “Keep ‘Em Peeled”?

Sp2

Michael Portillo lost which constituency to Labour’s Stephen Twigg in 1997? (2 word answer required)

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - Announced theme - Each answer contains the name of one of our avian friends

1.

What is the name of the 1993 award winning novel by Jung Chang which describes the lives of three female generations in China?

2.

What is the name of the 1992 novel by Iain Banks which explores the issues inside a Scottish family?

3.

In the nursery rhyme Cock Robin, which character offers to dig his grave?

4.

In the nursery rhyme Cock Robin, which character offers to conduct the funeral service?

5.

What was the surname of the English sisters who Oscar and Felix attempted to seduce in The Odd Couple?

6.

What is the name of the 1963 film, directed by Joan Littlewood, about life in the East End of London, which made a star of Barbara Windsor?

7.

What is the avian nickname of the character Herman Philips who was the Head of Accounts at Sterling Cooper in the TV series Mad Men?

8.

What was the nickname of the famous 101st Airborne Division of the US army during the Second World War?

Sp.

Which Australian actor won a posthumous Oscar for Best Actor in the 1976 film Network?  (first name required)

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Rutland - A round on England's smallest county

1.

After the county town of Oakham, what is the second most populous settlement in the county of Rutland?  It is the site of a public school which produced Stephen Fry.

2.

The Dukedom of Rutland has its seat at which castle and stately home a few miles over the border in Leicestershire?

3.

Which man, born in Oakham in 1649, was a priest who fabricated the 'Popish Plot', a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill Charles II?

4.

By surface area, Rutland Water is the largest man-made lake in England – but by capacity of water, it is exceeded by which other reservoir?

5.

The flag of Rutland depicts 13 acorns surrounding what object, which has been a symbol of the county since the Norman invasion?  This object is shown hanging upside down, as is the tradition when these objects are hung on walls in the county, supposedly so that the devil cannot make a nest in the bottom of it.

6.

Too small to constitute an entire constituency on its own, the county is combined with which nearby town to create the current Parliamentary constituency?

7.

Who was the MP for Rutland and Melton from 1992 until 2019?  He was the first sitting Conservative MP to voluntarily come out as gay.

8.

Which actor, who was educated at Oakham School, has recently won plaudits for his portrayal of Major Charles Ingram in the 2020 TV adaptation of James Graham’s play Quiz and for his role as Tom Wambsgans in the current hit Succession?

Sp.

Rutland has borders with three counties. Leicestershire is one.  Name the other two.

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

By what name is Stanley Burrell better known in the music world?

2.

Who presented the National Lottery quiz show Jet Set?

3.

Which band’s albums include The Works, The Miracle and Made in Heaven?

4.

Which American fashion designer is famous for her wedding dresses?

5.

What name is given to a puzzle device that combines the use of pictures with letters to depict words or phrases?

6.

Name the English playwright, poet and translator, born 1564 and died 1593.

7.

Name the town in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport on the River Goyt, nine miles south east of Manchester.

8.

Name a British TV series which ran for five series on CBBC, adapted from the book of the same name by Jacqueline Wilson.

Sp1

Give the name of the Mexican Formula One racing driver for Red Bull.

Sp2

Name the former Emmerdale star who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2019.

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Run Ons

The last word, or the last part of the last word, of the first answer is the first, or the first part of the first, of the second: for example, a book about a shipwrecked family - and the literary alter ego of Alexander Selkirk would be: The Swiss Family Robinson Crusoe (new example given at the request of Mike Bath!)

First names and last names are both required in all cases. Definite and indefinite articles may be ignored. Usual caveats apply.

1.

Swiss title character of a very long opera by Rossini

&

Bald American actor who played a New York policemen on TV and Ernst Stavro Blofeld in a Bond film.

2.

French writer who fled to England in 1898 when charged with criminal libel after publication of what is now perhaps his best known work

&

Famously barefoot runner who acquired a British passport in order to compete in the Olympic Games.

3.

Stylish 1960s thriller whose theme song was Windmills of Your Mind

&

1957 film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, which is number 5 on the American Film Institute’s list of greatest love stories.

4.

The employer, until recently, of Frances Hougen, who has described in less than glowing terms to committees of both the US and UK parliaments

&

Hugely successful 2011 comedy musical about the adventures of two missionaries in Africa.

5.

Somewhat pious 1996 book by the best known losing candidate for the US Presidency in 2016, subtitled And Other Lessons Children Teach Us

&

American disco group, popular for songs addressing, amongst other topics, membership of a branch of the Armed Forces and advice on accommodation.

6.

English actor and director, first actor to be ennobled

&

Frenchman who composed Quartet for the End of Time while a prisoner of war, known also for his use of birdsong.

7.

French name for scallops, commonly oven-baked with a gratin

&

Eccentric French pianist and composer, best known for his jazzy versions of Bach.

8.

Anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut whose central character, like its author, survived the bombing of Dresden

&

Novel by E Nesbit about the adventures of siblings who move from London to Kent.

Sp1

Ornamental musical passage, usually for the soloist, unaccompanied, in a concerto

&

American actor known for Hairspray and more recently for playing the serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

Sp2

Personal anthem of the President of the United States

&

Character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest who smothers Jack Nicholson’s character and escapes.

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Pot pourri (with a pair)

1.

Private Eye has produced several series of articles, in the style of Mills and Boon, about the travails of various members of the Royal Family (perhaps most notably) in Heir of Sorrows, Prince Charles).  The fictional author was named after a shampoo.  Who is she?

2.

Which athlete, who won a gold medal in the Olympic women’s pentathlon in 1972, is now a Dame, a Lady of the Garter and a Companion of Honour?

3.

A meeting taking place in Glasgow has received passing mention in the news of late.  What does the COP of COP26 stand for?

4.

A body whose suggestions to the Government on such things as lockdowns are occasionally heeded has also been in the news from time to time.  What does SAGE stand for?

5.

US senators may (and don’t they just) drone on, apparently interminably, in the Senate, and use this ability to delay and defeat legislation.  What is the name of the procedure by which such a filibuster can be ended?

6.

Who, in 1996, caused a marked drop in stock markets around the world after using the phrase “irrational exuberance”?

7.

One measure of inflation is the RPI.  Another, increasingly preferred perhaps because it tends to be lower, is the CPIH.  For what does CPIH stand?

8.

Analogous to the Munros, what name has since May 2021 been given to 95 hills in the Peak District, mostly more modest than the Munros, but nevertheless including Kinder Scout?  The environmental campaigner after whom they are named, who died in 1986, was a relative of the setter’s wife and shared her maiden name, Haythornthwaite.

Sp1

What is tested in the annual 'Trial of the Pyx', a ceremony dating back at least to 1282, which now takes place in Goldsmiths Hall under the supervision of the Queen’s Remembrancer?  The verdict is given three months later to the Chancellor of the Exchequer or his deputy.

Sp2

For over 100 years, until it developed a crack, a bell at Lloyds of London was rung whenever news arrived of an overdue ship (once for lost, twice for arrived), after royal deaths and on other ceremonial occasions.  What is it called, after the ship from which it was salvaged?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Music

1.

What nickname is given to Beethoven’s piano sonata number 8 and Tchaikovsky’s sixth symphony?

Pathétique

2.

How is Britten’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, op. 34, better known?

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

3.

What 1942 work for orchestra and spoken voice has recordings narrated by, amongst many others, Neil Armstrong, Barrack Obama and Margaret Thatcher?

Lincoln Portrait

4.

What 1936 work for orchestra and narrator includes characters Bird, Duck and Cat, each of which has its own motif?  It too has had many famous narrators.

Peter and the Wolf

5.

Which opera’s last words are “The comedy is over” ("La commedia è finita")?  The singer has just stabbed his wife and her lover.

Pagliacci

6.

Which opera’s last words are “Here I stand, true to you unto death” ("Hier steh ich, treu dir bis zum Tod")?  The character then leaps into the sea to her death.

The Flying Dutchman

(Der Fliegende Holländer)

7.

Who composed his requiem mass to honour the poet Alessandro Manzoni?  It has been described as the greatest opera he wrote.

Verdi

8.

Whose first symphony is nicknamed 'The Titan'?

Mahler

Sp.

Whose 14th symphony is a setting for soprano, bass and orchestra of 11 poems, mostly on the theme of death?

Shostakovich

ROUND 2 - Places named in songs

1.

Which British city is named in the lyrics of ABBA’s Super Trouper?

Glasgow

(Lyrics: "I was sick and tired of everything when I called you last night from Glasgow")

2.

Which US city appears in titles of songs by Billy Joel and The Pet Shop Boys?

New York

(New York State of Mind; New York City Boy)

3.

Which British city is named in the lyrics of The Who’s Pinball Wizard?

Brighton

(Lyrics: "Ever since I was a young boy I’ve played the silver ball from Soho down to Brighton")

4.

Which US city appears in the title of a song by The Arctic Monkeys?

5.

Which British city is named in the lyrics of Rotterdam by Beautiful South?

6.

Nutbush City Limits was a hit for Ike and Tina Turner.  Nutbush is an actual town in which US state as mentioned in the lyrics?

7.

Kokomo by The Beach Boys is a fictional island, but the song mentions five real islands or island groups in the opening lyrics.  Name one of them.

(one of)

Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahama, Key Largo

(NOT Martinique and Montserrat which are mentioned later in the song)

8.

Which 1980 song by Ultravox was prevented from reaching Number One by Dolce’s Shaddap a Ya Face!?

Sp.

Which hit by Duran Duran names a city in its title, but in fact refers to a girl of the same name?

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Hidden theme - 'So near yet so far'

1.

Come On in June 1963 was the debut single by which band?

The Rolling Stones

2.

Because she was recognised as 'Righteous Among the Nations' for sheltering refugees during the Second World War, Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried in which specific location?

Mount of Olives

(prompt on 'Jerusalem' or 'Israel')

3.

About which city was it widely said that “he who holds (name of city) holds Scotland”?  It has also been described as “a huge brooch clasping the Highlands and Lowlands together”.

Stirling

4.

Of which condiment did comedian Tom Wrigglesworth say “outsiders think it is Sheffield’s answer to Worcestershire Sauce.  Sheffielders think it is the answer to everything”?  The name of this condiment differs from Worcestershire Sauce in not using anchovies in the recipe.

Henderson’s Relish

5.

Which literary character rides a donkey named Dapple?

Sancho Panza

6.

The Prodigal Daughter was a 1982 sequel to which novel?

Kane and Abel

7.

Which company co-developed the compact disc with Sony?

Philips

8.

What surname links the trophy awarded to the winners of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football Championship, a snooker player who has special dispensation not to wear a bow-tie and a film star known for The Cider House Rules and Biscuit?

Maguire

Sp1

Which television presenter was known for the catchphrase “Keep ‘Em Peeled”?

Shaw Taylor

Sp2

Michael Portillo lost which constituency to Labour’s Stephen Twigg in 1997? (2 word answer required)

Enfield Southgate

Theme: Each answer contains the surname of a member of England’s Euro 2020 squad (including the manager)

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - Announced theme - Each answer contains the name of one of our avian friends

1.

What is the name of the 1993 award winning novel by Jung Chang which describes the lives of three female generations in China?

Wild Swans

2.

What is the name of the 1992 novel by Iain Banks which explores the issues inside a Scottish family?

The Crow Road

3.

In the nursery rhyme Cock Robin, which character offers to dig his grave?

The owl

("I said the owl with my little trowel")

4.

In the nursery rhyme Cock Robin, which character offers to conduct the funeral service?

The rook

(“I said the rook with my little book”)

5.

What was the surname of the English sisters who Oscar and Felix attempted to seduce in The Odd Couple?

The Pigeon sisters

6.

What is the name of the 1963 film, directed by Joan Littlewood, about life in the East End of London, which made a star of Barbara Windsor?

Sparrows Can’t Sing

7.

What is the avian nickname of the character Herman Philips who was the Head of Accounts at Sterling Cooper in the TV series Mad Men?

Duck

8.

What was the nickname of the famous 101st Airborne Division of the US army during the Second World War?

The Screaming Eagles

Sp.

Which Australian actor won a posthumous Oscar for Best Actor in the 1976 film Network?  (first name required)

Peter Finch

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Rutland - A round on England's smallest county

1.

After the county town of Oakham, what is the second most populous settlement in the county of Rutland?  It is the site of a public school which produced Stephen Fry.

Uppingham

2.

The Dukedom of Rutland has its seat at which castle and stately home a few miles over the border in Leicestershire?

Belvoir Castle

3.

Which man, born in Oakham in 1649, was a priest who fabricated the 'Popish Plot', a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill Charles II?

Titus Oates

4.

By surface area, Rutland Water is the largest man-made lake in England – but by capacity of water, it is exceeded by which other reservoir?

Kielder Water

5.

The flag of Rutland depicts 13 acorns surrounding what object, which has been a symbol of the county since the Norman invasion?  This object is shown hanging upside down, as is the tradition when these objects are hung on walls in the county, supposedly so that the devil cannot make a nest in the bottom of it.

Horseshoe

6.

Too small to constitute an entire constituency on its own, the county is combined with which nearby town to create the current Parliamentary constituency?

Melton Mowbray

(accept 'Melton' as the official name is 'Rutland and Melton')

7.

Who was the MP for Rutland and Melton from 1992 until 2019?  He was the first sitting Conservative MP to voluntarily come out as gay.

Alan Duncan

8.

Which actor, who was educated at Oakham School, has recently won plaudits for his portrayal of Major Charles Ingram in the 2020 TV adaptation of James Graham’s play Quiz and for his role as Tom Wambsgans in the current hit Succession?

Matthew Macfadyen

Sp.

Rutland has borders with three counties. Leicestershire is one.  Name the other two.

Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden theme

1.

By what name is Stanley Burrell better known in the music world?

M C Hammer

2.

Who presented the National Lottery quiz show Jet Set?

Eamonn Holmes

3.

Which band’s albums include The Works, The Miracle and Made in Heaven?

Queen

4.

Which American fashion designer is famous for her wedding dresses?

Vera Wang

5.

What name is given to a puzzle device that combines the use of pictures with letters to depict words or phrases?

Rebus

6.

Name the English playwright, poet and translator, born 1564 and died 1593.

Christopher Marlowe

7.

Name the town in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport on the River Goyt, nine miles south east of Manchester.

Marple

8.

Name a British TV series which ran for five series on CBBC, adapted from the book of the same name by Jacqueline Wilson.

The Story of Tracy Beaker

Sp1

Give the name of the Mexican Formula One racing driver for Red Bull.

Sergio Perez (Mendoza)

Sp2

Name the former Emmerdale star who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2019.

Kelvin Fletcher

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a fictional detectives or investigators

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Run Ons

The last word, or the last part of the last word, of the first answer is the first, or the first part of the first, of the second: for example, a book about a shipwrecked family - and the literary alter ego of Alexander Selkirk would be: The Swiss Family Robinson Crusoe (new example given at the request of Mike Bath!)

First names and last names are both required in all cases. Definite and indefinite articles may be ignored. Usual caveats apply.

1.

Swiss title character of a very long opera by Rossini

&

Bald American actor who played a New York policemen on TV and Ernst Stavro Blofeld in a Bond film.

William Telly Savalas

2.

French writer who fled to England in 1898 when charged with criminal libel after publication of what is now perhaps his best known work

&

Famously barefoot runner who acquired a British passport in order to compete in the Olympic Games.

Emile Zola Budd

3.

Stylish 1960s thriller whose theme song was Windmills of Your Mind

&

1957 film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, which is number 5 on the American Film Institute’s list of greatest love stories.

The Thomas Crown Affair/An Affair to Remember

4.

The employer, until recently, of Frances Hougen, who has described in less than glowing terms to committees of both the US and UK parliaments

&

Hugely successful 2011 comedy musical about the adventures of two missionaries in Africa.

FaceBook of Mormon

5.

Somewhat pious 1996 book by the best known losing candidate for the US Presidency in 2016, subtitled And Other Lessons Children Teach Us

&

American disco group, popular for songs addressing, amongst other topics, membership of a branch of the Armed Forces and advice on accommodation.

It Takes a Village People

6.

English actor and director, first actor to be ennobled

&

Frenchman who composed Quartet for the End of Time while a prisoner of war, known also for his use of birdsong.

Laurence Olivier Messiaen

7.

French name for scallops, commonly oven-baked with a gratin

&

Eccentric French pianist and composer, best known for his jazzy versions of Bach.

Coquilles St Jacques Loussier

8.

Anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut whose central character, like its author, survived the bombing of Dresden

&

Novel by E Nesbit about the adventures of siblings who move from London to Kent.

Slaughterhouse Five Children and It

Sp1

Ornamental musical passage, usually for the soloist, unaccompanied, in a concerto

&

American actor known for Hairspray and more recently for playing the serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

Cadenza / Zac Efron

Sp2

Personal anthem of the President of the United States

&

Character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest who smothers Jack Nicholson’s character and escapes.

Hail to the Chief Bromden

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Pot pourri (with a pair)

1.

Private Eye has produced several series of articles, in the style of Mills and Boon, about the travails of various members of the Royal Family (perhaps most notably) in Heir of Sorrows, Prince Charles).  The fictional author was named after a shampoo.  Who is she?

2.

Which athlete, who won a gold medal in the Olympic women’s pentathlon in 1972, is now a Dame, a Lady of the Garter and a Companion of Honour?

Mary Peters

3.

A meeting taking place in Glasgow has received passing mention in the news of late.  What does the COP of COP26 stand for?

Conference of the Parties

(to various treaties)

4.

A body whose suggestions to the Government on such things as lockdowns are occasionally heeded has also been in the news from time to time.  What does SAGE stand for?

Strategic Advisory Group for Emergencies

5.

US senators may (and don’t they just) drone on, apparently interminably, in the Senate, and use this ability to delay and defeat legislation.  What is the name of the procedure by which such a filibuster can be ended?

Cloture motion

6.

Who, in 1996, caused a marked drop in stock markets around the world after using the phrase “irrational exuberance”?

7.

One measure of inflation is the RPI.  Another, increasingly preferred perhaps because it tends to be lower, is the CPIH.  For what does CPIH stand?

Consumer Prices Index with Housing

8.

Analogous to the Munros, what name has since May 2021 been given to 95 hills in the Peak District, mostly more modest than the Munros, but nevertheless including Kinder Scout?  The environmental campaigner after whom they are named, who died in 1986, was a relative of the setter’s wife and shared her maiden name, Haythornthwaite.

Ethels

Sp1

What is tested in the annual 'Trial of the Pyx', a ceremony dating back at least to 1282, which now takes place in Goldsmiths Hall under the supervision of the Queen’s Remembrancer?  The verdict is given three months later to the Chancellor of the Exchequer or his deputy.

The quality of coinage from the Royal Mint

Sp2

For over 100 years, until it developed a crack, a bell at Lloyds of London was rung whenever news arrived of an overdue ship (once for lost, twice for arrived), after royal deaths and on other ceremonial occasions.  What is it called, after the ship from which it was salvaged?

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers