ROUND 1 - Stockport format - Verbal

1.

Which 2016 novel, the subject of a Paramount TV series last year, tells the story of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov’s house arrest in the Hotel Metropol?

2.

Which Welsh town is home to the second largest castle in Britain, after Windsor?

3.

What name was given to the German airmen sent by Hitler to help Franco in the Spanish Civil War, whose operations included the infamous bombing of Guernica?

4.

Which painting by John Everett Millais depicts a scene on the sea front at Budleigh Salterton, Devon?

5.

In the human body, what is emmetropia?

6.

In 1936, who became the first woman to be named 'Time Woman of the Year'?

7.

Ray Sawyer was a founding member of and vocalist with which band, who enjoyed chart success in the seventies, and whose name was inspired by his eyepatch?

8.

9.

At the age of ten, the poet Lord Byron became the 6th Baron Byron of where?

10.

What name is traditionally given to the day on which the English agricultural year is said to start – which this year fell on January 13th?

11.

At 19,341 feet (or 5,895 metres) above sea level, Uhuru Peak is the highest point of which mountain?

12.

Name the two films with animals in their titles that won the Best Picture Oscar in the 1990s.

13.

In a men’s decathlon, which event is the first to take place on the second day?

14.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last month, was beaten in the second round of the 2002 French presidential election, by whom?

15.

Which food product was introduced by Crosse & Blackwell in 1922, and named after a village near Burton-on-Trent?

16.

Which food product was developed in 1899 by Nottingham grocer Frederick Garton and still sells 28 million bottles a year?

17.

Jimmy Carter died in December in which small Georgia city where he had also been born?

18.

In a women’s heptathlon, which event is the first to take place on the second day?

19.

Name two of the three films with boys’ names in their titles that won the Best Picture Oscar in the 1960s.

20.

Which mountain is sometimes known as Mount Godwin-Austen?

21.

What name is given to the National Day of New Zealand – which has been celebrated today?

22.

In 1990, the politician Barbara Castle was created Baroness Castle of where?

23.

In which modern-day country is the site of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire?

24.

Which newly formed rock band did Steve Marriott join after leaving the Small Faces in 1969?

25.

Who is the only person to have been named 'Time Man of the Year' three times?

26.

The condition cholecystitis (colly-sis-tie-tis) affects what part of the body?

27.

Which painting by Ford Madox Brown depicts a couple of emigrants on a ship, with the White Cliffs of Dover in the background?

28.

What code name was given to the 1942 Allied amphibious attack on the port of Dieppe?

29.

Which ruined castle, one of the largest in Scotland, sits on Strone Point, a promontory on the north-western shore of Loch Ness?

30.

Which 1967 novel, recently dramatized on Netflix, tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo?

Sp1

Born in Salford in 1945, by what name is Elaine Bookbinder better known?

Sp2

What was the job of Albert Pierrepoint between 1932 and 1956?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - Stockport format - Written

There is a hidden theme that connects the answers

1.

What word follows Scandale, Raise and Trout to give the names of geographical features in the Lake District?

2.

Three songs were nominated from the same 1994 film for the Best Original Song Oscar.  One of them won the award, but which one opened the movie but did not win?

3.

In which specific location could you visit the Bethesda Fountain and the Delacorte Theater?

4.

Which winner of multiple Olympic medals went on to become a jockey, and gives their name to a section of the A34 bypass in Wilmslow?

5.

In 2008, which bank was taken into public ownership after becoming the first British bank in 150 years to fail due to a bank run?

6.

Playing a character called Steve Savage, Jason Manford joined the cast of the fourteenth series of which TV drama in 2024?

7.

Which company sells fragrances called Fifth Avenue and Red Door, both referencing its original New York location?

8.

Which TV period drama, set in South Wales, ran from 1984 to 1987 and starred Nerys Hughes as the title character?

9.

Chris Evans, Gary Davies and Mark Radcliffe are among the broadcasters who started their careers at which radio station?

The presenters of which TV show, which ran from 1982-1987, included Leslie Ash, Margi Clarke and Muriel Gray?

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - WithQuiz format - 'Anthology'

Each answer contains the name of a flower

1.

Which Scottish band had a UK top ten hit in 1984 with Young at Heart?  It reached number 1 on its reissue in 1993.

2.

For which 1963 film did Sidney Poitier win the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actor?

3.

What is the official nickname of the US state of Kansas?

4.

Which Conservative political organisation, founded in 1883, was closely associated with Benjamin Disraeli?

5.

 Which of Castleton’s show caves can only be visited by boat?

6.

In Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, how is the Portsmouth Bumboat Woman Mrs Cripps better known?

7.

What kind of women’s shorts are named after a character in a popular American TV series played by Catherine Bach?

8.

Which character was introduced to the Cluedo game in 2016 to replace Mrs White?

Sp.

The upcoming third season of which TV drama series was filmed in Thailand, following the first two seasons set in Hawaii and Sicily respectively? 

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - WithQuiz format - 'Double Blockbuster'

Please choose a double letter for your Blockbuster-style question.  Both words are required in each case even when the answer is a name.

AA

Poet Laureate from 1896 to 1913.

BB

Playground game involving players running from one area to another while another player tries to intercept them.

CC

New wave and synth-pop band whose only UK top ten hit was the 1984 Wishful Thinking.

DD

David Bowie album whose lead single was Rebel Rebel.

FF

Ship that gave its name to the capital and main settlement of Christmas Island.

GG

2012 novel about the possible implication of Nick Dunne in the disappearance of his wife Amy.

JJ

Heavyweight boxer nicknamed The Galveston Giant.

MM

Latin name of the 15th century treatise on witchcraft translated as Hammer of the Witches.

OO

Code name for the 1944 Battle of Normandy.

PP

Full name of the protagonist of Great Expectations.

SS

One of Glasgow’s main thoroughfares, home to the National Trust-owned Willow Tearooms.

WW

Aviation pioneer born in Indiana in 1867.

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - WithQuiz format - 'Sequences'

In the style of Only Connect what comes next?

1.

Edward I, Edward II, Edward III

2.

Geoffrey Fisher, Michael Ramsey, Donald Coggan

3.

Europa, Io, Callisto

4.

Athens, Paris, St Louis

5.

Forth, Tyne, Humber

6.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu

7.

Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer, Anne Robinson

8.

Don’t Stop me Eatin’, Sausage Rolls for Everyone, Last Christmas

Sp

Arthur Balfour, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Henry Herbert Asquith

Go to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - WithQuiz format - 'The Year of the Snake'

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, please choose an animal from the Chinese Zodiac

Snake

Now brewed in the UK, Cobra beer was initially imported from which Indian city, the capital of the state of Karnataka?

Horse

The Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee lie about three miles from which Welsh town?

Sheep

Part of his Hunting Cantata, who composed the aria Sheep May Safely Graze?

Monkey

Which comedian, popular on radio in the 1950s and 60s, used the catchphrase "Right, monkey!"?

Rooster

Which drummer and founder member of the rock band Atomic Rooster went on to form a well-known supergroup in 1969?

Dog

The town of Gander, Newfoundland, is the setting for which musical, whose story takes place during the week following the September 11th attacks?

Pig

According to Homer’s Odyssey, who changed Odysseus’s crew into swine when they landed on her island?

Rat

What animal was adopted as the mascot of the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army, giving rise to the nickname Desert Rats)?

Ox

In Thomas Hardy’s poem The Oxen, what seven words follow the line "Christmas Eve and twelve of the clock"?

Tiger

With 82, Tiger Woods holds the record for most PGA tour wins jointly with which other American golfer?  Nicknamed the Slammer, he died in 2002.

Rabbit

Which Pulitzer-prize winning author wrote a series of novels about former basketball star Harry Angstrom, better known as 'Rabbit'?

Dragon

Apart from returning entrepreneur Emma Grede, name either of the celebrities who have joined Dragons’ Den as guest dragons for the current series.

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Stockport format - Written - Extra Round in case of a tie

In the style of Tenable write down in any order the 10 national capital cities that start with the letter 'N'.

We mean the current capital cities of the 193 member states of the United Nations.

Go to Round 7 question with answers

Tiebreaker

Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s main islands. What is its area in square miles, according to its Wikipedia page?

Go to Tiebreaker question with answer

ROUND 1 - Stockport format - Verbal

1.

Which 2016 novel, the subject of a Paramount TV series last year, tells the story of Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov’s house arrest in the Hotel Metropol?

A Gentleman in Moscow

2.

Which Welsh town is home to the second largest castle in Britain, after Windsor?

Caerphilly

3.

What name was given to the German airmen sent by Hitler to help Franco in the Spanish Civil War, whose operations included the infamous bombing of Guernica?

Condor Legion

4.

Which painting by John Everett Millais depicts a scene on the sea front at Budleigh Salterton, Devon?

The Boyhood of Raleigh

5.

In the human body, what is emmetropia?

Perfect vision

6.

In 1936, who became the first woman to be named 'Time Woman of the Year'?

Wallis Simpson

7.

Ray Sawyer was a founding member of and vocalist with which band, who enjoyed chart success in the seventies, and whose name was inspired by his eyepatch?

Doctor Hook & the Medicine Show

(accept 'Doctor Hook')

8.

Nepal

9.

At the age of ten, the poet Lord Byron became the 6th Baron Byron of where?

Rochdale

10.

What name is traditionally given to the day on which the English agricultural year is said to start – which this year fell on January 13th?

Plough Monday

11.

At 19,341 feet (or 5,895 metres) above sea level, Uhuru Peak is the highest point of which mountain?

Kilimanjaro

12.

Name the two films with animals in their titles that won the Best Picture Oscar in the 1990s.

(two from)

Dances with Wolves, Silence of the Lambs

13.

In a men’s decathlon, which event is the first to take place on the second day?

110 metres hurdles

14.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died last month, was beaten in the second round of the 2002 French presidential election, by whom?

Jacques Chirac

15.

Which food product was introduced by Crosse & Blackwell in 1922, and named after a village near Burton-on-Trent?

Branston Pickle

16.

Which food product was developed in 1899 by Nottingham grocer Frederick Garton and still sells 28 million bottles a year?

HP sauce

17.

Jimmy Carter died in December in which small Georgia city where he had also been born?

Plains

18.

In a women’s heptathlon, which event is the first to take place on the second day?

Long jump

19.

Name two of the three films with boys’ names in their titles that won the Best Picture Oscar in the 1960s.

(two from)

Lawrence of Arabia, Tom Jones, Oliver!

20.

Which mountain is sometimes known as Mount Godwin-Austen?

K2

21.

What name is given to the National Day of New Zealand – which has been celebrated today?

Waitangi Day

22.

In 1990, the politician Barbara Castle was created Baroness Castle of where?

Blackburn

23.

In which modern-day country is the site of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian empire?

Iraq

24.

Which newly formed rock band did Steve Marriott join after leaving the Small Faces in 1969?

Humble Pie

25.

Who is the only person to have been named 'Time Man of the Year' three times?

Franklin D Roosevelt

26.

The condition cholecystitis (colly-sis-tie-tis) affects what part of the body?

The gall bladder

27.

Which painting by Ford Madox Brown depicts a couple of emigrants on a ship, with the White Cliffs of Dover in the background?

The Last of England

28.

What code name was given to the 1942 Allied amphibious attack on the port of Dieppe?

Operation Jubilee

29.

Which ruined castle, one of the largest in Scotland, sits on Strone Point, a promontory on the north-western shore of Loch Ness?

Urquhart Castle
 

30.

Which 1967 novel, recently dramatized on Netflix, tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo?

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Sp1

Born in Salford in 1945, by what name is Elaine Bookbinder better known?

Elkie Brooks

Sp2

What was the job of Albert Pierrepoint between 1932 and 1956?

Hangman/executioner

ROUND 2 - Stockport format - Written

There is a hidden theme that connects the answers

1.

What word follows Scandale, Raise and Trout to give the names of geographical features in the Lake District?

Beck

2.

Three songs were nominated from the same 1994 film for the Best Original Song Oscar.  One of them won the award, but which one opened the movie but did not win?

Circle of Life

3.

In which specific location could you visit the Bethesda Fountain and the Delacorte Theater?

Central Park

(New York)

4.

Which winner of multiple Olympic medals went on to become a jockey, and gives their name to a section of the A34 bypass in Wilmslow?

Victoria Pendleton

5.

In 2008, which bank was taken into public ownership after becoming the first British bank in 150 years to fail due to a bank run?

Northern Rock

6.

Playing a character called Steve Savage, Jason Manford joined the cast of the fourteenth series of which TV drama in 2024?

Waterloo Road

7.

Which company sells fragrances called Fifth Avenue and Red Door, both referencing its original New York location?

Elizabeth Arden
 

8.

Which TV period drama, set in South Wales, ran from 1984 to 1987 and starred Nerys Hughes as the title character?

The District Nurse

9.

Chris Evans, Gary Davies and Mark Radcliffe are among the broadcasters who started their careers at which radio station?

Piccadilly Radio

10.

The presenters of which TV show, which ran from 1982-1987, included Leslie Ash, Margi Clarke and Muriel Gray?

The Tube

Theme: The London Underground - referring to the map designer Harry Beck and several of its lines

ROUND 3 - WithQuiz format - 'Anthology'

Each answer contains the name of a flower

1.

Which Scottish band had a UK top ten hit in 1984 with Young at Heart?  It reached number 1 on its reissue in 1993.

The Bluebells

2.

For which 1963 film did Sidney Poitier win the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actor?

Lilies of the Field

3.

What is the official nickname of the US state of Kansas?

The Sunflower State

4.

Which Conservative political organisation, founded in 1883, was closely associated with Benjamin Disraeli?

The Primrose League

5.

 Which of Castleton’s show caves can only be visited by boat?

Speedwell Cavern

6.

In Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, how is the Portsmouth Bumboat Woman Mrs Cripps better known?

Little Buttercup

7.

What kind of women’s shorts are named after a character in a popular American TV series played by Catherine Bach?

Daisy Dukes

8.

Which character was introduced to the Cluedo game in 2016 to replace Mrs White?

Doctor Orchid

Sp.

The upcoming third season of which TV drama series was filmed in Thailand, following the first two seasons set in Hawaii and Sicily respectively? 

The White Lotus

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - WithQuiz format - 'Double Blockbuster'

Please choose a double letter for your Blockbuster-style question.  Both words are required in each case even when the answer is a name.

AA

Poet Laureate from 1896 to 1913.

Alfred Austin

BB

Playground game involving players running from one area to another while another player tries to intercept them.

British Bulldog

CC

New wave and synth-pop band whose only UK top ten hit was the 1984 Wishful Thinking.

China Crisis

DD

David Bowie album whose lead single was Rebel Rebel.

Diamond Dogs

FF

Ship that gave its name to the capital and main settlement of Christmas Island.

Flying Fish

GG

2012 novel about the possible implication of Nick Dunne in the disappearance of his wife Amy.

Gone Girl

JJ

Heavyweight boxer nicknamed The Galveston Giant.

Jack Johnson

MM

Latin name of the 15th century treatise on witchcraft translated as Hammer of the Witches.

Malleus Maleficarum

OO

Code name for the 1944 Battle of Normandy.

Operation Overlord

PP

Full name of the protagonist of Great Expectations.

Philip Pirrip

SS

One of Glasgow’s main thoroughfares, home to the National Trust-owned Willow Tearooms.

Sauchiehall Street

WW

Aviation pioneer born in Indiana in 1867.

Wilbur Wright

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - WithQuiz format - 'Sequences'

In the style of Only Connect what comes next?

1.

Edward I, Edward II, Edward III

Richard II

2.

Geoffrey Fisher, Michael Ramsey, Donald Coggan

Robert Runcie

3.

Europa, Io, Callisto

 Ganymede

(largest moons of Jupiter)

4.

Athens, Paris, St Louis

London

(1st modern Olympic host cities)

5.

Forth, Tyne, Humber

Thame

(shipping areas on England’s east coast, north to south)

6.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu

(main islands of Japan, in size order)

7.

Jeff Stelling, Nick Hewer, Anne Robinson

Colin Murray

(most recent Countdown presenters)

8.

Don’t Stop me Eatin’, Sausage Rolls for Everyone, Last Christmas

Last Christmas

(most recent UK Xmas number ones)

Sp

Arthur Balfour, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Henry Herbert Asquith

David Lloyd George

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - WithQuiz format - 'The Year of the Snake'

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, please choose an animal from the Chinese Zodiac

Snake

Now brewed in the UK, Cobra beer was initially imported from which Indian city, the capital of the state of Karnataka?

Bangalore

Horse

The Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee lie about three miles from which Welsh town?

Llangollen

Sheep

Part of his Hunting Cantata, who composed the aria Sheep May Safely Graze?

J S Bach

Monkey

Which comedian, popular on radio in the 1950s and 60s, used the catchphrase "Right, monkey!"?

Al Read

Rooster

Which drummer and founder member of the rock band Atomic Rooster went on to form a well-known supergroup in 1969?

Carl Palmer

Dog

The town of Gander, Newfoundland, is the setting for which musical, whose story takes place during the week following the September 11th attacks?

Come From Away

Pig

According to Homer’s Odyssey, who changed Odysseus’s crew into swine when they landed on her island?

Circe

(pron Seer-say)

Rat

What animal was adopted as the mascot of the 7th Armoured Division of the British Army, giving rise to the nickname Desert Rats)?

The jerboa

(not the gerbil!)

Ox

In Thomas Hardy’s poem The Oxen, what seven words follow the line "Christmas Eve and twelve of the clock"?

"Now they are all on their knees"
 

Tiger

With 82, Tiger Woods holds the record for most PGA tour wins jointly with which other American golfer?  Nicknamed the Slammer, he died in 2002.

Sam Snead

Rabbit

Which Pulitzer-prize winning author wrote a series of novels about former basketball star Harry Angstrom, better known as 'Rabbit'?

John Updike

Dragon

Apart from returning entrepreneur Emma Grede, name either of the celebrities who have joined Dragons’ Den as guest dragons for the current series.

Joe Wicks

or

Trinny Woodall

ROUND 7 - Stockport format - Written - Extra Round in case of a tie

In the style of Tenable write down in any order the 10 national capital cities that start with the letter 'N'.

We mean the current capital cities of the 193 member states of the United Nations.

1.

Nairobi (Kenya)

2.

Nassau (The Bahamas)

3.

Naypyidaw (Myanmar)

4.

N’djamena (Chad)

5.

New Delhi (India)

6.

Ngerulmud (Palau)

7.

Niamey (Niger)

8.

Nicosia (Cyprus)

9.

Nouakchott (Mauretania)

10.

Nuku’alofa (Tonga)

Tiebreaker

Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s main islands. What is its area in square miles, according to its Wikipedia page?

7,259 sq m