Withington Pub Quiz League - questions 02/03/22

*The Question voted as 'Question of the Week' is highlighted in the question paper below and can be reached by clicking 'QotW below*
WithQuiz League paper 02/03/22	Set by: The Charabancs of Fire	QotW: R4/Q4
Average Aggregate Score: 75.8 (Season's Ave. Agg.: 76.1)	"It was an entertaining quiz." "What happened to science, geography, history and reasonable general knowledge in this quiz?"

ROUND 1 - Common denominators

What name links the following pairs of clues?

Beware, there are some slight differences in spelling between the common denominators

18th century landscape gardener responsible for Harewood House and Blenheim Palace gardens,

Foreign Secretary from 1966 to 1968, about whom the phrase 'tired and emotional' was coined by Private Eye.

Author of popular novels including Birdsong (1993) and Charlotte Gray (1999),

Manchester United midfielder from 2001 to 2003.

Roman emperor from 193 to 211CE,

Professor played by Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter films.

Prolific opening batsman for Yorkshire (1934-55) and England (1937-55),

18th century Scottish geologist often referred to as 'the father of modern geology'.

American writer and filmmaker of science fiction/fantasy including Jurassic Park,

1957 comedy romance film starring Kenneth More based on a 1902 play by J M Barrie.

TV detective played by Keeley Hawes in Ashes to Ashes,

Stretch of ocean between Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Title character from Dickens novel set during the Gordon Riots,

TV detective in Midsomer Murders.

US investment bank which failed in the financial crisis of 2008,

Australian international cricketer who also played for Yorkshire and coached Australia from 2013 to 2018.

Sp.

Fashion designer with pop star ex-wife who presented 320 episodes of long-running BBC program The Clothes Show,

Scottish author of The Wasp Factory (1984), who died in 2013.

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Pairs

What word is taken from the Nahuatl language of Aztec Mexico by English and other European languages to describe a sauce produced from the pulp of the avocado fruit?

Opened in 1796 what is the name of the Dublin prison and present day museum where the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in 1916?

The first film in the Halloween franchise was made in 1978 by John Carpenter with a very small budget. The mask worn by the psychotic killer Michael Myers was bought for under two dollars in a local joke shop and depicted the face of which iconic TV character painted white?

Who is the subject of this Russian commemorative stamp? The journalist and activist was given a hero’s burial by the Soviet Union and is one of only three Americans buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

What was the two-word name of the former Air Force station on the outskirts of Lisburn that was used as a detention centre for alleged paramilitary prisoners from mid 1971 until 2000? It was known colloquially as The Maze, or H-Blocks.

What word borrowed from the Nahuatl language of Aztec Mexico describes a small jaguar native to the Americas from southern Texas to northern Argentina? It is slightly larger than a domestic cat and has distinctive dots and stripes on its fur.

The bicentenary of the birth of which non-Russian poet is being commemorated on this stamp? His poetry was very popular in the Soviet Union where he was celebrated as an international poet of the common people.

You may sleep more soundly tonight if we tell you that the many gory events that take place in The Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise are entirely fictional. But which horrific 20th century historical event really did take place on an American street called Elm Street?

Sp1.

A widely reproduced cartoon by Peter Steiner that first appeared in the New Yorker in 1993 states that “on the internet nobody knows that you are a ………..”. Fill in the blank.

Sp2

Which American was famously described by his wife as being “a hard dog to keep on the porch”?

Sp3

How do you titillate an ocelot?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Films Theme

In this round you will be given 3 films and you have to name the actor/actress who plays a part in all three

Pirates of the Caribbean (2007); The Boat that Rocked (2009); Love Actually (2003).

Meet Joe Black (1998); The Departed (2006 - N.B. as producer not actor); Moneyball (2011).

Selma (2014); Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011); The Help (2011).

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013); Star Wars (2019); Dune (2021).

Michael Clayton (2007); We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011); The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010).

Jackie Brown (1997); Iron Man (2008-2013); Die Hard With A Vengeance (1996).

Interview with the Vampire (1994); True Romance (1993); Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991).

The Ladykillers (1955); The Pink Panther (1963); Spartacus (1960).

Sp1

The Queen (2006); Charlotte Gray (2001); The final 3 Harry Potter films.

Sp2

Trapeze (1956); The Vikings (1958); Houdini (1958).

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - 'Cupid's Arrow'

The last letter of each of answers 1 to 7 will form the first letter of the answer to the following question

The second part of the opening track from Elton John's double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (the first part is Funeral For A Friend).

This also the English name of the plant Amaranthus Caudatus.

(3 word answer required)

In Greek mythology, the name given by Pygmalion to a statue of a beautiful woman he carved and with which he then fell in love. After praying to Aphrodite, the Goddess Of Love, she brought the statue to life for him.

This is also the name of a moon of Neptune.

(1 word answer required)

Complete the missing name in this 1849 poem by Edgar Allan Poe:

“It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea,

that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of ..... .....,

and this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me”.

(both names required)

The second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No.21 in C Major was used as the theme music to this 1967 Swedish film about a female circus performer who had fallen in love with a Swedish nobleman and committed suicide with him after their love affair caused a public scandal. What was her name which is also the title of the film, and now also the popular name for the Mozart piece used in the film?

(both names required)

This 1971 British film based on a 1967 biography by Robert K Massie tells the story of a couple who married for love against the wishes of their respective families and whose ongoing love affair eventually brought disaster to themselves, their families and their country. Name the film.

(3 word answer required)

Which 19th century novel begins with a respectably married woman arriving at her brother's house to help mediate between him and his estranged wife after he had been caught having an affair and then goes on to cause scandal by having an affair of her own?

(2 word answer required)

A reminder perhaps that Cupid's Arrow isn't always aimed at human beings - complete the missing word from this 2007 poem by U A Fanthorpe about another kind of love.

“And maintenance is the sensible side of love,
Which knows what time and weather are doing
To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;
Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers
My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps
My suspect edifice upright in air,
As ..... did the sky.”

(1 word answer required)

Which Beatles' song from the 1968 White Album was written by John Lennon in India and supposedly inspired by a sexual advance made to Mia Farrow by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi?

(2 word answer required)

Sp1

Give the English name for a set of three instructional books written in 2 AD by the Roman poet Ovid. They were considered so scandalous to public morals that Emperor Augustus eventually banished Ovid to the Black Sea where he spent the rest of his life.

(an answer of at least 3 words is required)

Sp2

Some of these things crop up in a 1993 hit song by the late lamented (or not, as you prefer) singer Meatloaf:

1. Forget the way you feel right now;

2. Forgive himself if you don't go all the way tonight;

3. Do it better than he does it with you, so long;

4. Stop dreaming of you every night of his life.

What are they?

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

Often associated with digital art works, what is defined as 'a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded'?

What new 'industry' is conducted throughout the world but is concentrated most heavily in Kazakhstan, and has recently received criticism from environmentalists because of its massive use of electricity?

More famous for his choral music, who was glad to be commissioned by Helen, Countess of Radnor in 1894 to compose an orchestral work, subsequently known as Lady Radnor’s Suite, for her to conduct?

Written by Gustav Holst in 1913 what orchestral work was named after the independent girls’ school in Hammersmith (the complement to a famous boys’ school) where Holst taught?

Which 1965 science fiction novel is centred on the the planet Arrakis, and has been used, along with its sequels to name various features on Saturn’s moon Titan?

Which winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (the oldest ever laureate for Literature) wrote the Canopus in Argos series of science fiction novels between 1979 and 1983?

Reputed to harbour angry spirits, with reference to which it may have been named, what is the highest point in England outside the Lake District.

Referencing a favourite haunt of Alan Partridge which ridge in Norfolk includes the highest point in Eastern England (Beacon Hill at 103m)?

Sp.

The Anderton boat lift takes boats between the River Weaver and which canal?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden Theme: 'Egrets, I've had a few'

Which USA vice president was once famously told that he was no Jack Kennedy? He also proved that he was no geography teacher either when he told voters:

“I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix”.

In which multi Oscar winning 1975 film did the character Randle Patrick Mc Murphy ask his fellow inmates:

“ Which one of you nuts has got any guts?”

Rossini wrote an opera in two acts called La Gazza Ladra. Translate this title into English.

Which short single-movement work by Ralph Vaughan Williams was inspired by an 1881 poem of the same name written by George Meredith?

Which British multinational retailing company has its headquarters in London and over 1,300 stores spread over nine countries. Its leading brands are B&Q and Screwfix.

Name this former footballer: Won 42 caps and scored 16 goals for England. Helped Brian Clough sweep Nottingham Forest from second division obscurity to European Cup glory. Was top scorer at Arsenal for three consecutive seasons. Still a cult figure in the city of Cologne.

Which inland Italian city is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal? It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 AD until the collapse of the empire in 476. It is famous for its well preserved late Roman architecture and Byzantine art with eight buildings comprising its UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro. What was this city known as between the years 1946 and 1992?

Sp1

Pausing not for a moment to consider any ornithological inaccuracy, translate 'white head' into Welsh.

Sp2

Which enterprise which lasted from 1948 until its privatisation in 1997 had a graphic logo which was quickly nicknamed 'the arrow of indecision'. The logo is still used as a generic symbol on street signs etc.

Sp3

Paul McCartney’s acoustic guitar accompaniment to his own voice on which much loved track on the Beatles’ White Album was inspired by the Johann Sebastian Bach's classical lute piece Bourée in E minor?

Sp4

At the time of going to press there is still only one bird in the world that has external nostrils at the end of its beak. It can often be heard snuffling and snorting as it tries to clear its nostrils while hunting for food. Which bird?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Run-Ons with a music bias

James Bay hit of 2014 which begins: “Tried to keep you close to me but life got in between”,

Billy Joel album and hit from 1992 which begins: “In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep”.

Neil Diamond song 1972 which include the lyrics: “and before you know it get to feeling good - you simply have no choice”,

New Order song which includes the lyrics: ”And I thought I was mistaken And I thought I heard you speak”.

Codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of Britain,

a hit for Tight Fit in the 80’s and the Tokens in the 60’s.

City of Culture 2021,

an Otis Redding song which starts: “Oh she may be weary, them young girls they get wearied”.

Squeeze song of 1978 which starts: “ The Indians send signals from the rocks above the pass”,

1974 song by Harry Chapin which begins: “My child arrived the other day, he came into the world in the usual way”.

TV sitcom 1999-2001 that took its name from an Abba song,

a Rolling Stones song that begins: “Ooh a storm is threatening my very life today.

Bee Gees song that begins: “Listen to the ground there is movement all around”,

a 1997 film based on a Nick Hornby novel.

Beatles song from 1967 which begins: “No one I think is in my tree”,

a Bob Dylan song that includes the lyrics: “May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung”.

Sp1

Dan Walker’s new sofa buddy on BBC Breakfast,

2019 Sally Wainwright TV drama starring Suranne Jones.

Sp2

Group who sang Fisherman’s Blues and Whole of the Moon,

a song by The Cure which begins: “I would say I’m sorry if I thought that it would change your mind”.

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - 'The Things They Say'

Which former American presidential candidate babbled this:

“I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.“?

Which former Governor of California once regaled us with these thoughts on the issue of gay marriage:

“I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.“?

Which former French president once usefully declared:

“China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.”?

Which former England manager thoughtfully observed:

“We didn’t underestimate them. They were just a lot better than we thought.“?

Which former British boxer once advised us that:

“Boxing’s all about getting the job done as quickly as possible, whether it takes 10 or 15 or 20 rounds.”?

On being asked whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece, which well known US basketball player replied:

“I can’t really remember the names of the clubs that we went to.“?

Which American pop star, much in the news recently, once regaled us with her problems with foreign cuisine:

“I've never really wanted to go to Japan simply because I don't like eating fish and I know that's very popular out there in Africa."?

Which former US Defence Secretary spectacularly tied himself and everybody else in knots with this legendary quote:

“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.”?

Sp1

Often unfairly attributed to Marie Antoinette, which French queen, who was the wife of Louis XIV of France (not Louis XVI) is the one actually thought to be responsible for that immortal statement:

“ S'ils n'ont pas de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche" ("If there's no bread, let them eat cake")?

Sp2

Who, when visiting Niagara Falls for the first time, remarked:

"It looks very damp."?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Common denominators

What name links the following pairs of clues?

Beware, there are some slight differences in spelling between the common denominators

18th century landscape gardener responsible for Harewood House and Blenheim Palace gardens,

Foreign Secretary from 1966 to 1968, about whom the phrase 'tired and emotional' was coined by Private Eye.

Brown

(Lancelot 'Capability'

& George Brown)

Author of popular novels including Birdsong (1993) and Charlotte Gray (1999),

Manchester United midfielder from 2001 to 2003.

Sebastian

(Sebastian Faulks

& Juan Sebastian Veron)

Roman emperor from 193 to 211CE,

Professor played by Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter films.

Severus

(Lucius Septimius Severus

& Severus Snape)

Prolific opening batsman for Yorkshire (1934-55) and England (1937-55),

18th century Scottish geologist often referred to as 'the father of modern geology'.

Hutton

(Leonard Hutton

& James Hutton)

American writer and filmmaker of science fiction/fantasy including Jurassic Park,

1957 comedy romance film starring Kenneth More based on a 1902 play by J M Barrie.

Crichton

(Michael Crichton

& The Admirable Crichton)

TV detective played by Keeley Hawes in Ashes to Ashes,

Stretch of ocean between Cape Horn and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Drake

(Alex Drake

& Drake Passage)

Title character from Dickens novel set during the Gordon Riots,

TV detective in Midsomer Murders.

Barnaby

(Barnaby Rudge

& Chief Inspector Barnaby)

US investment bank which failed in the financial crisis of 2008,

Australian international cricketer who also played for Yorkshire and coached Australia from 2013 to 2018.

Lehman

(Lehman Brothers

& Darren Lehmann)

Sp.

Fashion designer with pop star ex-wife who presented 320 episodes of long-running BBC program The Clothes Show,

Scottish author of The Wasp Factory (1984), who died in 2013.

Banks

(Jeff Banks

& Iain Banks)

Go back to Round 1 questions without answers

ROUND 2 - Pairs

What word is taken from the Nahuatl language of Aztec Mexico by English and other European languages to describe a sauce produced from the pulp of the avocado fruit?

Guacamole

Opened in 1796 what is the name of the Dublin prison and present day museum where the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed in 1916?

Kilmainham

(Gaol)

Captain Kirk

(Star Trek)

John Reed

Long Kesh

Ocelot

Robert Burns

Assassination of President Kennedy

Sp1

A widely reproduced cartoon by Peter Steiner that first appeared in the New Yorker in 1993 states that “on the internet nobody knows that you are a ………..”. Fill in the blank.

Dog

Sp2

Which American was famously described by his wife as being “a hard dog to keep on the porch”?

Bill Clinton

Sp3

How do you titillate an ocelot?

You oscillate its tit a lot

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Films Theme

In this round you will be given 3 films and you have to name the actor/actress who plays a part in all three

Pirates of the Caribbean (2007); The Boat that Rocked (2009); Love Actually (2003).

Bill Nighy

Meet Joe Black (1998); The Departed (2006 - N.B. as producer not actor); Moneyball (2011).

Brad Pitt

Selma (2014); Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011); The Help (2011).

David Oyelowo

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013); Star Wars (2019); Dune (2021).

Oscar Isaac

Michael Clayton (2007); We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011); The Chronicles of Narnia (2005-2010).

Tilda Swinton

Jackie Brown (1997); Iron Man (2008-2013); Die Hard With A Vengeance (1996).

Samuel L Jackson

Interview with the Vampire (1994); True Romance (1993); Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991).

Christian Slater

The Ladykillers (1955); The Pink Panther (1963); Spartacus (1960).

Herbert Lom

Sp1

The Queen (2006); Charlotte Gray (2001); The final 3 Harry Potter films.

Helen Mc Crory

Sp2

Trapeze (1956); The Vikings (1958); Houdini (1958).

Tony Curtis

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - 'Cupid's Arrow'

The last letter of each of answers 1 to 7 will form the first letter of the answer to the following question

The second part of the opening track from Elton John's double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (the first part is Funeral For A Friend).

This also the English name of the plant Amaranthus Caudatus.

(3 word answer required)

Love Lies Bleeding

This is also the name of a moon of Neptune.

(1 word answer required)

Galatea

Complete the missing name in this 1849 poem by Edgar Allan Poe:

“It was many and many a year ago in a kingdom by the sea,

that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of ..... .....,

and this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me”.

(both names required)

"...Annabel Lee..."

(both names required)

Elvira Madigan

(3 word answer required)

Nicholas and Alexandra

(Emperor and Empress of Russia)

(2 word answer required)

Anna Karenina

A reminder perhaps that Cupid's Arrow isn't always aimed at human beings - complete the missing word from this 2007 poem by U A Fanthorpe about another kind of love.

“And maintenance is the sensible side of love,
Which knows what time and weather are doing
To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;
Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers
My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps
My suspect edifice upright in air,
As ..... did the sky.”

(1 word answer required)

Atlas

Which Beatles' song from the 1968 White Album was written by John Lennon in India and supposedly inspired by a sexual advance made to Mia Farrow by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi?

(2 word answer required)

Sexy Sadie

Sp1

(an answer of at least 3 words is required)

(The) Art Of Love

(in Latin, Ars Amatoria)

Sp2

Some of these things crop up in a 1993 hit song by the late lamented (or not, as you prefer) singer Meatloaf:

1. Forget the way you feel right now;

2. Forgive himself if you don't go all the way tonight;

3. Do it better than he does it with you, so long;

4. Stop dreaming of you every night of his life.

What are they?

Things he won't do for love

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Pairs

Often associated with digital art works, what is defined as 'a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded'?

Non-Fungible Token

(accept NFT)

Bit-Coin Mining

Hubert Parry

Written by Gustav Holst in 1913 what orchestral work was named after the independent girls’ school in Hammersmith (the complement to a famous boys’ school) where Holst taught?

The St Paul’s Suite

Which 1965 science fiction novel is centred on the the planet Arrakis, and has been used, along with its sequels to name various features on Saturn’s moon Titan?

Dune

Which winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (the oldest ever laureate for Literature) wrote the Canopus in Argos series of science fiction novels between 1979 and 1983?

Doris Lessing

Reputed to harbour angry spirits, with reference to which it may have been named, what is the highest point in England outside the Lake District.

Cross Fell

(893m)

Referencing a favourite haunt of Alan Partridge which ridge in Norfolk includes the highest point in Eastern England (Beacon Hill at 103m)?

Cromer Ridge

Sp.

The Anderton boat lift takes boats between the River Weaver and which canal?

The Trent and Mersey Canal

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Hidden Theme: 'Egrets, I've had a few'

Which USA vice president was once famously told that he was no Jack Kennedy? He also proved that he was no geography teacher either when he told voters:

“I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix”.

Dan Quayle

In which multi Oscar winning 1975 film did the character Randle Patrick Mc Murphy ask his fellow inmates:

“ Which one of you nuts has got any guts?”

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Rossini wrote an opera in two acts called La Gazza Ladra. Translate this title into English.

The Thieving Magpie

Which short single-movement work by Ralph Vaughan Williams was inspired by an 1881 poem of the same name written by George Meredith?

The Lark Ascending

Which British multinational retailing company has its headquarters in London and over 1,300 stores spread over nine countries. Its leading brands are B&Q and Screwfix.

Kingfisher (plc)

Tony Woodcock

Ravenna

Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro. What was this city known as between the years 1946 and 1992?

Titograd

Sp1

Pausing not for a moment to consider any ornithological inaccuracy, translate 'white head' into Welsh.

Pen Gwyn

Sp2

British Rail

Sp3

Blackbird

Sp4

Kiwi

Theme: Each answer contains the name (or the sound of the name) of a bird

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Run-Ons with a music bias

James Bay hit of 2014 which begins: “Tried to keep you close to me but life got in between”,

Billy Joel album and hit from 1992 which begins: “In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep”.

Hold Back the River of Dreams

Neil Diamond song 1972 which include the lyrics: “and before you know it get to feeling good - you simply have no choice”,

New Order song which includes the lyrics: ”And I thought I was mistaken And I thought I heard you speak”.

Song Sung Blue Monday

Codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of Britain,

a hit for Tight Fit in the 80’s and the Tokens in the 60’s.

Operation Sealion Sleeps Tonight

City of Culture 2021,

an Otis Redding song which starts: “Oh she may be weary, them young girls they get wearied”.

Coventry a Little Tenderness

Squeeze song of 1978 which starts: “ The Indians send signals from the rocks above the pass”,

1974 song by Harry Chapin which begins: “My child arrived the other day, he came into the world in the usual way”.

Cool for Cats in the Cradle

TV sitcom 1999-2001 that took its name from an Abba song,

a Rolling Stones song that begins: “Ooh a storm is threatening my very life today.

Gimme Gimme Gimme Shelter

Bee Gees song that begins: “Listen to the ground there is movement all around”,

a 1997 film based on a Nick Hornby novel.

Night Fever Pitch

Beatles song from 1967 which begins: “No one I think is in my tree”,

a Bob Dylan song that includes the lyrics: “May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung”.

Strawberry Fields Forever Young

Sp1

Dan Walker’s new sofa buddy on BBC Breakfast,

2019 Sally Wainwright TV drama starring Suranne Jones.

Sally Nugentleman Jack

Sp2

Group who sang Fisherman’s Blues and Whole of the Moon,

a song by The Cure which begins: “I would say I’m sorry if I thought that it would change your mind”.

The Waterboys Don’t Cry

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - 'The Things They Say'

Which former American presidential candidate babbled this:

“I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.“?

Mitt Romney

(strange how he never got elected)

Which former Governor of California once regaled us with these thoughts on the issue of gay marriage:

“I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.“?

Arnold Schwarzenegger

(thanks for that useful contribution to the issue, Arnie)

Which former French president once usefully declared:

“China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.”?

Charles de Gaulle

(very intellectual those French)

Which former England manager thoughtfully observed:

“We didn’t underestimate them. They were just a lot better than we thought.“?

Bobby Robson

(after losing to Cameroon in a 1990 World Cup finals match)

Which former British boxer once advised us that:

“Boxing’s all about getting the job done as quickly as possible, whether it takes 10 or 15 or 20 rounds.”?

Frank Bruno

(maybe Harry knew what he meant)

On being asked whether he had visited the Parthenon during his visit to Greece, which well known US basketball player replied:

“I can’t really remember the names of the clubs that we went to.“?

Shaquille O’Neal

(just too much to see in Greece no doubt)

Which American pop star, much in the news recently, once regaled us with her problems with foreign cuisine:

“I've never really wanted to go to Japan simply because I don't like eating fish and I know that's very popular out there in Africa."?

Britney Spears

(maybe it's no wonder her dad thought it best he keep an eye on her)

Which former US Defence Secretary spectacularly tied himself and everybody else in knots with this legendary quote:

“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.”?

Donald Rumsfeld

(when answering a baffled reporter at a press conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels in 2002)

Sp1

Often unfairly attributed to Marie Antoinette, which French queen, who was the wife of Louis XIV of France (not Louis XVI) is the one actually thought to be responsible for that immortal statement:

“ S'ils n'ont pas de pain, qu'ils mangent de la brioche" ("If there's no bread, let them eat cake")?

Marie Therese

(of Spain, a simple-minded lady who was genuinely naïve rather than condescending)

Sp2

Who, when visiting Niagara Falls for the first time, remarked:

"It looks very damp."?

Queen Elizabeth II

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers