ROUND 1 - "Is it always sunny in September?"

To mark the Albert’s move to their new home venue, The Sun in September, a round in which all of the questions refer to events which took place in that month.

1.

Which King of France, who appears in Alexander Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, was born on 27th September 1601?  Name and regnal number, please, and a near miss won’t do

2.

On 10th September 1897, a London taxi driver became the first motorist to be arrested and charged with which offence?

3.

In September 1893, which country became the first in the world to grant the vote to all women?

4.

Which medical procedure was first performed on 25th September 1818, by James Blundell?

5.

Which building in London came into official use in its current role on 22nd September 1755?

6.

Which well-known piece of British music had its premier on 28th September 1745?

7.

How was the singer Marvin Lee Aday, born on 27th September 1947, better known?

8.

Which British military hero was born on 29th September 1758?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Sporting Celebrities

1.

Which American action movie star won European Karate championships in 1980 and 1981 before his breakthrough role in Rocky IV?

2.

Which action movie star competed in diving events for Great Britain at the 1990 Commonwealth Games?

3.

Which British historian and television presenter rowed for Oxford University between 1999 and 2001?

4.

Which English actor, comedian and writer, who first came to fame as half of a comedy duo, rowed for Cambridge University in 1980?

5.

Which American author and doctor won a gold medal for rowing at the Paris Olympics in 1924?

6.

Which American general, who served in the first World War and achieved fame for his exploits in the second one competed in the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics?

7.

Which BBC presenter competed in the World Triathlon Championships in Chicago in 2015?

8.

Which Hawaiian-born actor, a professional wrestler and weightlifter, won a silver medal in the London Olympics in 1948 before a famous role as a movie villain?  Give name or character

Sp1

Which actor, whose most famous role was Tarzan, won five Olympic gold medals?

Sp2

In which 1981 film are World Cup finalists Pele and Bobby Moore seen playing football?

Sp3

Which American actress set multiple swimming records in her late teens but was denied the chance to compete in the Olympic games because of their cancellation in 1940?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - Pot Pourri

1.

What are hiragana, katakana and kanji?

2.

According to Billy Connolly, an intellectual is someone who can listen to Rossini’s William Tell Overture without … doing what?

3.

In February 2022, a Ukrainian soldier is famously recorded as having replied to a demand for surrender with the words:

“Russian warship, go fuck yourself”

(the exchange took place in Russian and the exact translation may be disputed).  What is the name of the island he was defending?

4.

In April 2023, a machine belonging to which company underwent what it euphemistically, if entirely accurately, described as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” (i.e. it blew up)?

5.

Of the 100 United States senators, three (at the time of writing) sit as independents.  Two are Kyrsten Sinema and Angus King.  What is the name of the third, who is far better-known?

6.

What is the British equivalent of the American Sag-Aftra union?

7.

How, in mythology, were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos collectively known?

8.

What is measured with a sphygmomanometer?

Sp1

A beautiful fairy in Charles Kingsleys’ The Water Babies was called Mrs DoAsYouWouldBeDoneBy.  What was the name of her sadistic and ugly sister?

Sp2

In 1935 which American magazine, still in print, headlined a story about the unpopularity in rural areas of films about rural areas with the words “Stix Nix Hick Pix”?

Sp3

In what academic discipline would an Argand diagram be used?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - 'Wails'

Inspired by this year’s family holiday, and in a departure from the hugely popular 'English Counties' themed rounds of the last few years, we present a round on South Wales.

1.

Where, lying south-west of Swansea, was the first part of the UK to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?

2.

Which Monmouthshire-born politician and sometime President of the European Commission was dubbed King John XV by the French due to his grandiose tastes and the fact that his name sounded like the French for that title?

3.

What is the English translation of the long-running Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm?

4.

Michael Barrett is the real name of which Cardiff-born pop star of the 1980s?

5.

Rated one of the greatest Welsh footballers, which centre-forward, who played for Leeds United and Juventus, missed his country’s narrow 1-0 loss to Brazil in the 1958 World Cup quarter-final due to an injury picked up in the previous game?  Manager Jimmy Murphy felt that with this man in the side, Wales would have won.

6.

Dating from the 14th century, what is the name of the traditional Welsh soup made with either beef or lamb, leeks, potatoes, carrots and swedes and recognized as one of the country’s national dishes?

7.

Richard Burton was nominated for an acting Oscar seven times but never won. Name any one of the films for which he was nominated.

8.

Which author wrote A Child’s Christmas In Wales?

Sp1

What is the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons (or Bannau Brycheiniog, as we must now call, or at least try to call, them)?

Sp2

What is the name of the 7-mile stretch of beach on the shore of Carmarthen Bay between Laugharne and Tenby, where five land-speed records were set between 1924 and 1927?

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - Music

1.

Who wrote symphonies named The Year 1905 and Babi Yar?

2.

Who wrote symphonies named The Four Temperaments and Inextinguishable?

3.

In America, it is called a sixteenth note.  What is it called in the UK?

4.

In America, this musician is called the concertmaster.  What is he (or she) called in the UK?

5.

Who wrote the opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella)?

6.

The title character of which opera, who works in a cigarette factory, is fatally stabbed towards the end of the last act?

7.

What name is shared by a work for violin and piano by Beethoven (opus 47, as if you care) and a novel by Tolstoy?

8.

J S Bach’s collection of 48 Preludes and Fugues were published as two volumes with what title?

Sp1

Who wrote the opera La Voix Humaine, a one-act work for solo soprano who talks to her lover on the telephone?

Sp2

The opening section of which oratorio by Haydn is entitled Representation of Chaos?

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - Sporting Pairs

1.

Two Major League baseball teams are located in Texas.  Name both.

2.

Two Major League baseball teams are located in Missouri.  Name both.

3.

In 2021 pressure by the Black Lives Matter movement forced the Cleveland Indians baseball team to change its name - to what?

4.

In 2022 pressure by the Black Lives Matter movement forced the Washington Redskins NFL team to change its name - to What?

5.

Which Scottish League football team ceased to exist in 1967?

6.

Which now defunct Manchester football team was prevented from joining the Football League in 1931 by the joint efforts of Manchester United and Manchester City?

7.

Which Football League club plays its home matches at The Wham Stadium?

8.

Which Football League club plays its home matches at The Toughsheet Stadium?

Sp.

Which English football team has won the European Cup / UEFA Champions League on exactly two occasions?

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

As usual, the themed word may be all or part of a word in the answer. Usual caveats, whatever they may be, may apply.

1.

Which American president pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders on his second day in office?

2.

What was the somewhat inappropriate surname of the manager of the Welsh men’s national football team from 1980 to 1988?

3.

Which novel by Thomas Hardy follows the activities of the Mellstock Parish Choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically involved with the comely new village schoolmistress, Fancy Day?

4.

Who hosted the most recent revival of Blankety Blank, in 2021?

5.

Who played Pamela Anderson in the 2022 series Pam & Tommy?  She has also appeared in Downton Abbey and the films Darkest Hour, Yesterday and The Dig.

6.

Which song has spent the longest time in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart?  As of June this year, it has been there for 368 weeks (7 years), albeit not consecutively.  It tells the true story of the lead singer’s belief that his girlfriend was cheating on him and the confirmation of this suspicion when he caught her with another man in the Crown and Anchor bar in his home town of Las Vegas.

7.

Which Jaguar XJ8-driving TV character was often to be seen drinking 'VAT's and smoking panatellas in the Winchester Club?

8.

The statue of Richard the Lionheart outside the Houses of Parliament is made of what material?

Sp1

Which singer won the first series of American Idol?  Among her biggest UK hits have been Since U Been Gone and My Life Would Suck Without You?  (Surname will suffice for the answer but the first name is needed for the theme)

Sp2

What are the animated characters in the film Who Killed Roger Rabbit collectively called?

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

What did Churchill describe as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”?

2.

To what was someone (perhaps Lord Chesterfield although the quotation is variously attributed) referring when he said “the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous and the price absurd”?

3.

Which member of the US congress was injured in a mass shooting in 2011, returned to work later that year but retired in January 2012, leading the satirical magazine The Onion to comment “I guess being shot in the head is a lot worse than we all thought”?

4.

Whose first words to his wife after being shot were “Honey, I forgot to duck”, a line taken from the boxer Jack Dempsey?

5.

The Norman French sentence "Le Roy le veult" was recently heard in the Palace of Westminster for the first time in more than 70 years (replacing “La Reyne le veult”).  What does it signify?

6.

The Norman French phrase 'autrefois [pronounced owe-truh-foyz] acquit', could be used as an absolute defence to a criminal charge in England until 2005.  How is the rule it invokes commonly known in English?

7.

The first chorus of a popular music hall song from the 1890s began:

“Oh it really is a werry pretty garden / And Chingford to the Eastward could be seen / Wiv a ladder and some glasses / You could see the ’Ackney Marshes.”

What is the next line, which is also the title of the song? (8 words)

8.

Another popular music hall song was Waiting at the Church.  It was covered by, among others, Julie Andrews and Miss Piggy, and a snatch was famously sung by Jim Callahan at the TUC conference in 1978.  The chorus contained the lines:

 “All at once he sent me round a note. / Here’s the very note, /

And this is what he wrote: / “Can’t get away to marry you today.”

What is the next line? (5 words)

Sp1

Which Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who died in 2020, was widely known by her initials, RBG?

Sp2

Which Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is the first black woman to be appointed?  She too is chiefly known by her initials, in this case KBJ.

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

ROUND 1 - "Is it always sunny in September?"

To mark the Albert’s move to their new home venue, The Sun in September, a round in which all of the questions refer to events which took place in that month.

1.

Which King of France, who appears in Alexander Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, was born on 27th September 1601?  Name and regnal number, please, and a near miss won’t do

Louis XIII

2.

On 10th September 1897, a London taxi driver became the first motorist to be arrested and charged with which offence?

Driving while under the influence of alcohol

3.

In September 1893, which country became the first in the world to grant the vote to all women?

New Zealand

4.

Which medical procedure was first performed on 25th September 1818, by James Blundell?

Blood transfusion

(note for pedants: it was the first with a human recipient)

5.

Which building in London came into official use in its current role on 22nd September 1755?

10 Downing Street

(Robert Walpole became the first acknowledged Prime Minister to live there)

6.

Which well-known piece of British music had its premier on 28th September 1745?

The National Anthem

(accept God Save the King, or even the Queen)

7.

How was the singer Marvin Lee Aday, born on 27th September 1947, better known?

Meat Loaf

8.

Which British military hero was born on 29th September 1758?

Horatio Nelson

ROUND 2 - Sporting Celebrities

1.

Which American action movie star won European Karate championships in 1980 and 1981 before his breakthrough role in Rocky IV?

Dolph Lundgren

2.

Which action movie star competed in diving events for Great Britain at the 1990 Commonwealth Games?

Jason Statham

3.

Which British historian and television presenter rowed for Oxford University between 1999 and 2001?

Dan Snow

4.

Which English actor, comedian and writer, who first came to fame as half of a comedy duo, rowed for Cambridge University in 1980?

Hugh Laurie

5.

Which American author and doctor won a gold medal for rowing at the Paris Olympics in 1924?

Dr Benjamin Spock

6.

Which American general, who served in the first World War and achieved fame for his exploits in the second one competed in the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics?

George C Patton

7.

Which BBC presenter competed in the World Triathlon Championships in Chicago in 2015?

Louise Minchin

8.

Which Hawaiian-born actor, a professional wrestler and weightlifter, won a silver medal in the London Olympics in 1948 before a famous role as a movie villain?  Give name or character

Harold Sakata / Oddjob

Sp1

Which actor, whose most famous role was Tarzan, won five Olympic gold medals?

Johnny Weissmuller

Sp2

In which 1981 film are World Cup finalists Pele and Bobby Moore seen playing football?

Escape to Victory

Sp3

Which American actress set multiple swimming records in her late teens but was denied the chance to compete in the Olympic games because of their cancellation in 1940?

Esther Williams

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - Pot Pourri

1.

What are hiragana, katakana and kanji?

Japanese writing styles

2.

According to Billy Connolly, an intellectual is someone who can listen to Rossini’s William Tell Overture without … doing what?

The Lone Ranger

3.

In February 2022, a Ukrainian soldier is famously recorded as having replied to a demand for surrender with the words:

“Russian warship, go fuck yourself”

(the exchange took place in Russian and the exact translation may be disputed).  What is the name of the island he was defending?

Snake Island

4.

In April 2023, a machine belonging to which company underwent what it euphemistically, if entirely accurately, described as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” (i.e. it blew up)?

Space X

5.

Of the 100 United States senators, three (at the time of writing) sit as independents.  Two are Kyrsten Sinema and Angus King.  What is the name of the third, who is far better-known?

Bernie Sanders

6.

What is the British equivalent of the American Sag-Aftra union?

Equity

7.

How, in mythology, were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos collectively known?

The Fates

8.

What is measured with a sphygmomanometer?

Blood pressure

Sp1

A beautiful fairy in Charles Kingsleys’ The Water Babies was called Mrs DoAsYouWouldBeDoneBy.  What was the name of her sadistic and ugly sister?

Mrs BeDoneByAsYouDid

Sp2

In 1935 which American magazine, still in print, headlined a story about the unpopularity in rural areas of films about rural areas with the words “Stix Nix Hick Pix”?

Variety

Sp3

In what academic discipline would an Argand diagram be used?

Mathematics

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - 'Wails'

Inspired by this year’s family holiday, and in a departure from the hugely popular 'English Counties' themed rounds of the last few years, we present a round on South Wales.

1.

Where, lying south-west of Swansea, was the first part of the UK to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?

Gower Peninsula

2.

Which Monmouthshire-born politician and sometime President of the European Commission was dubbed King John XV by the French due to his grandiose tastes and the fact that his name sounded like the French for that title?

Roy Jenkins

('Roi Jean Quinze')

3.

What is the English translation of the long-running Welsh soap opera Pobol y Cwm?

People of the Valley

4.

Michael Barrett is the real name of which Cardiff-born pop star of the 1980s?

Shakin’ Stevens

5.

Rated one of the greatest Welsh footballers, which centre-forward, who played for Leeds United and Juventus, missed his country’s narrow 1-0 loss to Brazil in the 1958 World Cup quarter-final due to an injury picked up in the previous game?  Manager Jimmy Murphy felt that with this man in the side, Wales would have won.

John Charles

6.

Dating from the 14th century, what is the name of the traditional Welsh soup made with either beef or lamb, leeks, potatoes, carrots and swedes and recognized as one of the country’s national dishes?

Cawl

7.

Richard Burton was nominated for an acting Oscar seven times but never won. Name any one of the films for which he was nominated.

(any one of)

My Cousin Rachel,

The Robe,

Becket,

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,

Anne of the Thousand Days,

Equus,

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

8.

Which author wrote A Child’s Christmas In Wales?

Dylan Thomas

Sp1

What is the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons (or Bannau Brycheiniog, as we must now call, or at least try to call, them)?

Pen-y-Fan

Sp2

What is the name of the 7-mile stretch of beach on the shore of Carmarthen Bay between Laugharne and Tenby, where five land-speed records were set between 1924 and 1927?

Pendine Sands

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - Music

1.

Who wrote symphonies named The Year 1905 and Babi Yar?

Shostakovich

2.

Who wrote symphonies named The Four Temperaments and Inextinguishable?

Nielsen

3.

In America, it is called a sixteenth note.  What is it called in the UK?

Semiquaver

4.

In America, this musician is called the concertmaster.  What is he (or she) called in the UK?

Leader

5.

Who wrote the opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella)?

Rossini

6.

The title character of which opera, who works in a cigarette factory, is fatally stabbed towards the end of the last act?

Carmen

7.

What name is shared by a work for violin and piano by Beethoven (opus 47, as if you care) and a novel by Tolstoy?

Kreutzer Sonata

8.

J S Bach’s collection of 48 Preludes and Fugues were published as two volumes with what title?

The Well-Tempered Clavier

Sp1

Who wrote the opera La Voix Humaine, a one-act work for solo soprano who talks to her lover on the telephone?

Poulenc

Sp2

The opening section of which oratorio by Haydn is entitled Representation of Chaos?

The Creation

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - Sporting Pairs

1.

Two Major League baseball teams are located in Texas.  Name both.

Texas Rangers and Houston Astros

2.

Two Major League baseball teams are located in Missouri.  Name both.

St Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals

3.

In 2021 pressure by the Black Lives Matter movement forced the Cleveland Indians baseball team to change its name - to what?

Cleveland Guardians

4.

In 2022 pressure by the Black Lives Matter movement forced the Washington Redskins NFL team to change its name - to What?

Washington Commanders

5.

Which Scottish League football team ceased to exist in 1967?

Third Lanark

6.

Which now defunct Manchester football team was prevented from joining the Football League in 1931 by the joint efforts of Manchester United and Manchester City?

Manchester Central

7.

Which Football League club plays its home matches at The Wham Stadium?

Accrington Stanley

8.

Which Football League club plays its home matches at The Toughsheet Stadium?

Bolton Wanderers

Sp.

Which English football team has won the European Cup / UEFA Champions League on exactly two occasions?

Nottingham Forest

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Hidden theme

As usual, the themed word may be all or part of a word in the answer. Usual caveats, whatever they may be, may apply.

1.

Which American president pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders on his second day in office?

Jimmy Carter

2.

What was the somewhat inappropriate surname of the manager of the Welsh men’s national football team from 1980 to 1988?

Mike England

3.

Which novel by Thomas Hardy follows the activities of the Mellstock Parish Choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically involved with the comely new village schoolmistress, Fancy Day?

Under the Greenwood Tree

4.

Who hosted the most recent revival of Blankety Blank, in 2021?

Bradley Walsh

5.

Who played Pamela Anderson in the 2022 series Pam & Tommy?  She has also appeared in Downton Abbey and the films Darkest Hour, Yesterday and The Dig.

Lily James

6.

Which song has spent the longest time in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart?  As of June this year, it has been there for 368 weeks (7 years), albeit not consecutively.  It tells the true story of the lead singer’s belief that his girlfriend was cheating on him and the confirmation of this suspicion when he caught her with another man in the Crown and Anchor bar in his home town of Las Vegas.

Mr Brightside

7.

Which Jaguar XJ8-driving TV character was often to be seen drinking 'VAT's and smoking panatellas in the Winchester Club?

Arthur Daley

8.

The statue of Richard the Lionheart outside the Houses of Parliament is made of what material?

Sp1

Which singer won the first series of American Idol?  Among her biggest UK hits have been Since U Been Gone and My Life Would Suck Without You?  (Surname will suffice for the answer but the first name is needed for the theme)

Kelly Clarkson

Sp2

What are the animated characters in the film Who Killed Roger Rabbit collectively called?

Toons

Theme: Each answer contains the name a Lioness who played in the final of the 2023 Women’s World Cup:

Jess Carter, Bethany England, Alex Greenwood, Keira Walsh, Lauren James, Millie Bright,

Rachel Daly, Lucy Bronze, Chloe Kelly and Ella Toone

ROUND 8 - Pairs

1.

What did Churchill describe as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”?

Russia

2.

To what was someone (perhaps Lord Chesterfield although the quotation is variously attributed) referring when he said “the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous and the price absurd”?

Sexual intercourse

3.

Which member of the US congress was injured in a mass shooting in 2011, returned to work later that year but retired in January 2012, leading the satirical magazine The Onion to comment “I guess being shot in the head is a lot worse than we all thought”?

Gabrielle Giffords

4.

Whose first words to his wife after being shot were “Honey, I forgot to duck”, a line taken from the boxer Jack Dempsey?

Ronald Reagan

5.

The Norman French sentence "Le Roy le veult" was recently heard in the Palace of Westminster for the first time in more than 70 years (replacing “La Reyne le veult”).  What does it signify?

That the monarch has given the Royal Assent to a bill

6.

The Norman French phrase 'autrefois [pronounced owe-truh-foyz] acquit', could be used as an absolute defence to a criminal charge in England until 2005.  How is the rule it invokes commonly known in English?

Double jeopardy

7.

The first chorus of a popular music hall song from the 1890s began:

“Oh it really is a werry pretty garden / And Chingford to the Eastward could be seen / Wiv a ladder and some glasses / You could see the ’Ackney Marshes.”

What is the next line, which is also the title of the song? (8 words)

"If it wasn’t for the ’ouses in between"

8.

Another popular music hall song was Waiting at the Church.  It was covered by, among others, Julie Andrews and Miss Piggy, and a snatch was famously sung by Jim Callahan at the TUC conference in 1978.  The chorus contained the lines:

 “All at once he sent me round a note. / Here’s the very note, /

And this is what he wrote: / “Can’t get away to marry you today.”

What is the next line? (5 words)

"My wife won’t let me"

Sp1

Which Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who died in 2020, was widely known by her initials, RBG?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Sp2

Which Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is the first black woman to be appointed?  She too is chiefly known by her initials, in this case KBJ.

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers