ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

1.

In the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays, what was the name of the school bully who was eventually expelled from Rugby for drunkenness?

2.

Which British naturalist, born in 1823, is sometimes called the 'father of biogeography' but is perhaps best known for his rivalry with Charles Darwin?

3.

Which American architect coined the term 'geodesic' to describe a dome made of rigid triangular elements?

4.

What is the name of the character played by Ursula Andress in the James Bond film Dr No? (full name required)

5.

In which TV series, created and written by John Mortimer, was the titular central character portrayed by Leo McKern?

6.

In which Liverpool art gallery would you see the W F Yeames painting And When Did You Last See Your Father??

7.

Which former English Football League club, currently playing in the National League, play their home games at Victoria Park?

8.

In 1956, who became the first Black player to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament?

Sp1

The Native American Sacagawea is noted for her assistance of whose expedition to the Pacific Ocean, which took place between 1804 and 1806?

Sp2

Which English cartoonist is famous for his drawings of whimsically elaborate machines?

Go to Round 1 questions with answers

ROUND 2 - 'Not separated at birth'

Give both names of the two people who share the same surname - or at least surnames that sound the same

1.

Former Governor of the Bank of England, now a politician;

BBC journalist, presenter at various times of Newsnight, Panorama, The World at One and Woman’s Hour.

2.

Dutch model and media personality, best (only?) known for her alleged liaison with a very well-known British footballer;

American author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

3.

Singer of the 2023 British Eurovision entry, who came 25th of 26 in the final;

Title of a poem by John Whitter which includes the lines: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen / The saddest are these: ‘It might have been’”.

4.

American actress, winner of a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for Night of the Iguana and married (sequentially) to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra;

Assumed name of Peter Sellers’s character in the film Being There.

5.

The BBC’s Moscow correspondent and Russia editor;

Couple executed in the USA in 1953 for conspiring to pass nuclear secrets to the Russians (either of their first names will do).

6.

Welsh instrumentalist and composer, knighted in 2015, whose works include Adiemus, Requiem and Stabat Mater;

Welsh mezzo-soprano, singer of operatic arias, popular music and hymns and known (and derided) for running the London Marathon in full make-up and diamond earrings.

7.

BBC’s medical editor;

English actor, TV presenter (recently alongside his son) and former professional footballer.

8.

One of the world’s finest classical guitarists, perhaps best known for his recording of the theme music for the film The Deer Hunter;

American conductor and prolific composer of film music (for which he has won 5 Oscars from no fewer than 54 nominations) and other orchestral works.

Sp

Detective Chief Inspector, creation of Lynda La Plante;

British poet who wrote the lines: “Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred”.

Go to Round 2 questions with answers

ROUND 3 - 'On a County'

This year Albert's travelling County fan(atic) spent his (her?) holidays in Cornwall

1.

What is the name of the open-air theatre cut into the rocks at Porthcurno, four miles from Land’s End?

2.

What is the name of the highest point in Cornwall? (no sniggering at the back)

3.

Which novel by Daphne du Maurier takes its name from a remote inlet of the Helford River on the Lizard peninsula?

4.

Appearing on its coat of arms, what is Cornwall’s county bird?  It is a member of the crow family and has distinctive red legs and a red bill.

5.

Which North Cornish fishing port and tourist hotspot holds a festival each May Day known as the ’Obby ’Oss?

6.

Which Cornishman, better known for his work in an entirely different field, was asked by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to proofread the second edition of his and Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads?

7.

St Austell Brewery’s best-selling bitter Tribute was first brewed in 1999 to celebrate what event?

8.

Which 1992 TV adaptation of a 1982 novel by Mary Wesley, which was set in a Cornish country house, achieved Channel 4’s highest ever viewing figures for a drama, a record it held for over 20 years?

Sp1

What is the stage name of the pioneering Cornish electronic musician and DJ Richard James, best known for the album Selected Ambient Works 85–92?

Sp2

Which company is the UK’s largest maker of Cornish pasties?

Go to Round 3 questions with answers

ROUND 4 - 'Watching the Detectives'

1.

Which fictional detective’s sidekick drives a Lagonda?

2.

Which fictional detective drives a Lancia in the original books but an English car on TV?

3.

Which detective series is set in the village of Kembleford?

4.

Everyone calls Inspector Frost 'Jack'; what is his actual first name?

5.

Which detective’s surname means 'puzzle'?

6.

The origin of which fictional detective’s name is Latin for truth?

7.

In Midsummer Murders, how are Tom Barnaby (played by John Nettles) and John Barnaby (played by Neil Dudgeon) related?

8.

Which detective married the artist Agatha Troy?

Sp1

Which detective lives in the village of St Mary Mead?

Sp2

Which detective was played by Mark McManus?

Go to Round 4 questions with answers

ROUND 5 - 'A Round of real mettle'

Each question contains the name of a metal - sometimes as part of a longer word

1.

Which English comedian played the role of Sheriff Langston in the 1985 western Silverado?

2.

Which river passes through a geographical feature known as 'The Iron Gates'?

3.

The American rock group Steely Dan took its name from an item described by William S Burroughs in The Naked Lunch.  What was the original Steely Dan?

4.

Which two countries signed the Pact of Steel in 1939?

5.

Which former British colony was known as the Gold Coast?

6.

Which county’s limited over cricket team is known as 'The Steelbacks'?

7.

Which English professional football club was originally known as Thames Iron Works?

8.

Which South American capital city is said to be the origin of the myth of El Dorado?

Sp

What is the popular name for iron pyrites?

o to Round 5 questions with answers

ROUND 6 - 'Five letters'

Each question has three parts; the answers are all single words of 5 letters which differ only in their first letters.

For example the answer to the question "Card game; Mother; Pacifier" would be "Rummy; Mummy; Dummy"

1.

A four-legged animal; a TV detective; a person from the North

2.

First names of Mr Hill; Mr Henry; Mr Rogers

3.

First names of Mr Hill (another one); Mr Lamb; Mr White

4.

A four-legged animal (another one); a game in which players mark off numbers; an afternoon TV quiz show

5.

At no time; cut off; condition of elevated body temperature

6.

An island nation; a type of dance; a payday loan company which collapsed in 2018

7.

A four-legged animal (yet another one); a parasite; to soak in or drench with liquid

8.

An island nation (another one); a province and its capital in northwest Argentina; a city on the Crimean peninsula

Sp

A four-legged animal (there’s an awful lot of them, isn’t there?); a big cat hybrid; a Swiss mountain

Go to Round 6 questions with answers

ROUND 7 - Run-ons

1.

Novel by Henry James about Isabel Archer, a wealthy young American woman, and her suitors in England and Italy;

&

Opera by Shostakovich which was heartily disliked by Stalin, whose criticism led to the form of the composer’s fifth symphony.

2.

Novel by Evelyn Waugh describing the life of Paul Pennyfeather after he is expelled from Oxford (“I expect you’ll be becoming a schoolmaster, Sir. That’s what most of the gentlemen does, that gets sent down for indecent behaviour”);

&

TV sitcom which ran from 1976 to 1979 showing the consequences of a midlife crisis in a middle manager at Sunshine Desserts.

3.

British comic actor, born in South Africa, known for his distinctive laugh, who appeared with Tony Hancock and in several of the Carry On films who died on stage in 1976;

&

Canadian film director of, among many other films, Titanic and Avatar.

4.

American film whose cast included Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway and which won Oscars for best screenplay, best director and best score but not, controversially, best picture in 2006;

&

Name in English of one of the world’s largest diamonds which since 1937 has been set in the crown worn by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at her coronation.

5.

British businessman, former chairman of the Arcadia group and known for his large yacht, lavish parties and allegedly dubious financial dealings, who retains his knighthood despite a vote in the House of Commons that it be forfeited;

&

Poem by Milton Hayes describing the events in Nepal leading to the death of Mad Carew, whose grave remains tended by the Colonel’s daughter.

6.

2015 British comedy-drama, said to be mostly true, starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings as the screenplay’s author Alan Bennett;

&

Much-recorded British female classical/pop violinist who competed for Thailand in Alpine skiing in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

7.

Little boy who visited Puff the Magic Dragon;

&

1973 comedy-drama set during the Depression starring Tatum O’Neal (who won the Oscar for best supporting actress) and her father Ryan.

8.

Old boy of Manchester Grammar School, author of On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts;

&

Full name of the principal of Springfield Elementary School in The Simpsons.

Sp

Memoir by the current American Vice-President, filmed in 2020 starring Glenn Close;

&

Poem beginning: “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.”

Go to Round 7 questions with answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme - 'After a meeting in Manchester'

1.

What one-word name is given to a distributed collection of computer servers providing storage and software to which access is gained over the Internet?

2.

What was the English title of Isabel Allende’s debut novel, published in 1982 to huge acclaim? The 1993 film adaptation was rather less well-received, despite a cast including Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Glenn Close.

3.

Which Premier League football club has as its emblem a cockerel on a ball?

4.

What is the title of the third book (in order of publication) in the Narnia series, which includes the name of the ship on and around which much of the book is set?

5.

What is the name of the theatrical illusion in which a person or object offstage is made to appear as a spectral presence onstage by being brightly-lit and reflected in an obliquely-positioned sheet of glass?

6.

What name is given to a road on the side of a cliff, the ground rising on one side and falling on the other?  Three well-known examples run east from Nice, along the Côte d’Azur.

7.

In an episode of Blackadder, Amy Hardwood, the daughter of an apparently wealthy Northern mill-owner, turns out not to be “wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume” but to have a rather darker (and squirrel-hating) personality.  How was her alter ego known?

8.

Which Scottish championship football team is based in the constituency represented for the last decade of his parliamentary career by Gordon Brown?

Sp1

A musical scored by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on a novel of 1910, tells the story of a soprano pursued by a disfigured musical genius.  What is its title?

Sp2

What is the official name of the winged figure on the bonnet of a Rolls Royce car?

Go to Round 8 questions with answers

ROUND 1 - Hidden theme

1.

In the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays, what was the name of the school bully who was eventually expelled from Rugby for drunkenness?

(Harry) Flashman

2.

Which British naturalist, born in 1823, is sometimes called the 'father of biogeography' but is perhaps best known for his rivalry with Charles Darwin?

(Alfred) Wallace

3.

Which American architect coined the term 'geodesic' to describe a dome made of rigid triangular elements?

(Buckminster) Fuller

4.

What is the name of the character played by Ursula Andress in the James Bond film Dr No? (full name required)

Honey Ryder

5.

In which TV series, created and written by John Mortimer, was the titular central character portrayed by Leo McKern?

Rumpole of the Bailey

6.

In which Liverpool art gallery would you see the W F Yeames painting And When Did You Last See Your Father??

Walker

7.

Which former English Football League club, currently playing in the National League, play their home games at Victoria Park?

Hartlepool (United)

8.

In 1956, who became the first Black player to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament?

Sp1

The Native American Sacagawea is noted for her assistance of whose expedition to the Pacific Ocean, which took place between 1804 and 1806?

(Meriwether) Lewis & (William) Clark

(accept either surname)

Sp2

Which English cartoonist is famous for his drawings of whimsically elaborate machines?

(William) Heath Robinson

Theme: Each answer contains the surname of a winner of Mastermind ...

Kevin Ashman, Shaun Wallace, Gavin Fuller, Jesse Honey, Ian Bayley, Alice Walker, Ruth Hart, Robert/Pat/Jonathan Gibson, David Clark, Judith Lewis, Alan Heath, John Robinson

ROUND 2 - 'Not separated at birth'

Give both names of the two people who share the same surname - or at least surnames that sound the same

1.

Former Governor of the Bank of England, now a politician;

BBC journalist, presenter at various times of Newsnight, Panorama, The World at One and Woman’s Hour.

Mark Carney /

Martha Kearney

2.

Dutch model and media personality, best (only?) known for her alleged liaison with a very well-known British footballer;

American author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Rebecca Loos/

Anita Loos

3.

Singer of the 2023 British Eurovision entry, who came 25th of 26 in the final;

Title of a poem by John Whitter which includes the lines: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen / The saddest are these: ‘It might have been’”.

Mae Muller/

Maud Muller

4.

American actress, winner of a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for Night of the Iguana and married (sequentially) to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra;

Assumed name of Peter Sellers’s character in the film Being There.

Ava Gardner /

Chauncy Gardener (Chance, the gardener)

5.

The BBC’s Moscow correspondent and Russia editor;

Couple executed in the USA in 1953 for conspiring to pass nuclear secrets to the Russians (either of their first names will do).

Steve Rosenberg /

Julius or Ethel Rosenberg

6.

Welsh instrumentalist and composer, knighted in 2015, whose works include Adiemus, Requiem and Stabat Mater;

Welsh mezzo-soprano, singer of operatic arias, popular music and hymns and known (and derided) for running the London Marathon in full make-up and diamond earrings.

Sir Karl Jenkins /

Katherine Jenkins

7.

BBC’s medical editor;

English actor, TV presenter (recently alongside his son) and former professional footballer.

Fergus Walsh /

Bradley Walsh

8.

One of the world’s finest classical guitarists, perhaps best known for his recording of the theme music for the film The Deer Hunter;

American conductor and prolific composer of film music (for which he has won 5 Oscars from no fewer than 54 nominations) and other orchestral works.

Sp

Detective Chief Inspector, creation of Lynda La Plante;

British poet who wrote the lines: “Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred”.

Jane Tennison /

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Go back to Round 2 questions without answers

ROUND 3 - 'On a County'

This year Albert's travelling County fan(atic) spent his (her?) holidays in Cornwall

1.

What is the name of the open-air theatre cut into the rocks at Porthcurno, four miles from Land’s End?

Minack

2.

What is the name of the highest point in Cornwall? (no sniggering at the back)

Brown Willy

3.

Which novel by Daphne du Maurier takes its name from a remote inlet of the Helford River on the Lizard peninsula?

Frenchman’s Creek

4.

Appearing on its coat of arms, what is Cornwall’s county bird?  It is a member of the crow family and has distinctive red legs and a red bill.

Chough

5.

Which North Cornish fishing port and tourist hotspot holds a festival each May Day known as the ’Obby ’Oss?

Padstow

6.

Which Cornishman, better known for his work in an entirely different field, was asked by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to proofread the second edition of his and Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads?

(Humphrey) Davy

7.

St Austell Brewery’s best-selling bitter Tribute was first brewed in 1999 to celebrate what event?

That year’s solar eclipse (visible in the UK only in Cornwall)

8.

Which 1992 TV adaptation of a 1982 novel by Mary Wesley, which was set in a Cornish country house, achieved Channel 4’s highest ever viewing figures for a drama, a record it held for over 20 years?

The Camomile Lawn

Sp1

What is the stage name of the pioneering Cornish electronic musician and DJ Richard James, best known for the album Selected Ambient Works 85–92?

Aphex Twin

(accept Polygon Window)

Sp2

Which company is the UK’s largest maker of Cornish pasties?

Ginsters

Go back to Round 3 questions without answers

ROUND 4 - 'Watching the Detectives'

1.

Which fictional detective’s sidekick drives a Lagonda?

Poirot

(Captain Hastings is very proud of his Lagonda)

2.

Which fictional detective drives a Lancia in the original books but an English car on TV?

Morse

3.

Which detective series is set in the village of Kembleford?

Father Brown

4.

Everyone calls Inspector Frost 'Jack'; what is his actual first name?

William

5.

Which detective’s surname means 'puzzle'?

Rebus

6.

The origin of which fictional detective’s name is Latin for truth?

Vera

7.

In Midsummer Murders, how are Tom Barnaby (played by John Nettles) and John Barnaby (played by Neil Dudgeon) related?

They are cousins

8.

Which detective married the artist Agatha Troy?

(Roderick) Alleyn

Sp1

Which detective lives in the village of St Mary Mead?

Miss Marple

Sp2

Which detective was played by Mark McManus?

Taggart

Go back to Round 4 questions without answers

ROUND 5 - 'A Round of real mettle'

Each question contains the name of a metal - sometimes as part of a longer word

1.

Which English comedian played the role of Sheriff Langston in the 1985 western Silverado?

(John) Cleese

2.

Which river passes through a geographical feature known as 'The Iron Gates'?

Danube

3.

The American rock group Steely Dan took its name from an item described by William S Burroughs in The Naked Lunch.  What was the original Steely Dan?

A sex toy

(to be precise, a steam-driven strap-on dildo)

4.

Which two countries signed the Pact of Steel in 1939?

Germany and Italy

5.

Which former British colony was known as the Gold Coast?

Ghana

6.

Which county’s limited over cricket team is known as 'The Steelbacks'?

Northamptonshire

7.

Which English professional football club was originally known as Thames Iron Works?

West Ham United

8.

Which South American capital city is said to be the origin of the myth of El Dorado?

Bogotá

Sp

What is the popular name for iron pyrites?

Fools’ gold

Go back to Round 5 questions without answers

ROUND 6 - 'Five letters'

Each question has three parts; the answers are all single words of 5 letters which differ only in their first letters.

For example the answer to the question "Card game; Mother; Pacifier" would be "Rummy; Mummy; Dummy"

1.

A four-legged animal; a TV detective; a person from the North

Horse; Morse; Norse

2.

First names of Mr Hill; Mr Henry; Mr Rogers

Benny; Lenny; Kenny

3.

First names of Mr Hill (another one); Mr Lamb; Mr White

Harry; Larry; Barry

4.

A four-legged animal (another one); a game in which players mark off numbers; an afternoon TV quiz show

Dingo; Bingo; Lingo

5.

At no time; cut off; condition of elevated body temperature

Never; Sever; Fever

6.

An island nation; a type of dance; a payday loan company which collapsed in 2018

Tonga; Conga; Wonga

7.

A four-legged animal (yet another one); a parasite; to soak in or drench with liquid

Mouse; Louse; Souse

(or Douse)

8.

An island nation (another one); a province and its capital in northwest Argentina; a city on the Crimean peninsula

Sp

A four-legged animal (there’s an awful lot of them, isn’t there?); a big cat hybrid; a Swiss mountain

Tiger; Liger; Eiger

Go back to Round 6 questions without answers

ROUND 7 - Run-ons

1.

Novel by Henry James about Isabel Archer, a wealthy young American woman, and her suitors in England and Italy;

&

Opera by Shostakovich which was heartily disliked by Stalin, whose criticism led to the form of the composer’s fifth symphony.

Portrait of a Lady /

Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District

2.

Novel by Evelyn Waugh describing the life of Paul Pennyfeather after he is expelled from Oxford (“I expect you’ll be becoming a schoolmaster, Sir. That’s what most of the gentlemen does, that gets sent down for indecent behaviour”);

&

TV sitcom which ran from 1976 to 1979 showing the consequences of a midlife crisis in a middle manager at Sunshine Desserts.

Decline and Fall /

Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

3.

British comic actor, born in South Africa, known for his distinctive laugh, who appeared with Tony Hancock and in several of the Carry On films who died on stage in 1976;

&

Canadian film director of, among many other films, Titanic and Avatar.

Sid James /

James Cameron

4.

American film whose cast included Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway and which won Oscars for best screenplay, best director and best score but not, controversially, best picture in 2006;

&

Name in English of one of the world’s largest diamonds which since 1937 has been set in the crown worn by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at her coronation.

Brokeback Mountain /

Mountain of Light

(i.e. Koh-i-Noor)

5.

British businessman, former chairman of the Arcadia group and known for his large yacht, lavish parties and allegedly dubious financial dealings, who retains his knighthood despite a vote in the House of Commons that it be forfeited;

&

Poem by Milton Hayes describing the events in Nepal leading to the death of Mad Carew, whose grave remains tended by the Colonel’s daughter.

Sir Philip Green /

Green Eye of the Little Yellow God

6.

2015 British comedy-drama, said to be mostly true, starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings as the screenplay’s author Alan Bennett;

&

Much-recorded British female classical/pop violinist who competed for Thailand in Alpine skiing in the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The Lady in the Van / Vanessa-Mae

7.

Little boy who visited Puff the Magic Dragon;

&

1973 comedy-drama set during the Depression starring Tatum O’Neal (who won the Oscar for best supporting actress) and her father Ryan.

Jackie Paper /

Paper Moon

8.

Old boy of Manchester Grammar School, author of On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts;

&

Full name of the principal of Springfield Elementary School in The Simpsons.

Thomas de Quincey / Seymour Skinner

Sp

Memoir by the current American Vice-President, filmed in 2020 starring Glenn Close;

&

Poem beginning: “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.”

Hillbilly Elegy /

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Go back to Round 7 questions without answers

ROUND 8 - Hidden theme - 'After a meeting in Manchester'

1.

What one-word name is given to a distributed collection of computer servers providing storage and software to which access is gained over the Internet?

Cloud

2.

What was the English title of Isabel Allende’s debut novel, published in 1982 to huge acclaim? The 1993 film adaptation was rather less well-received, despite a cast including Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Glenn Close.

The House of the Spirits

3.

Which Premier League football club has as its emblem a cockerel on a ball?

Tottenham Hotspur (accept Spurs)

4.

What is the title of the third book (in order of publication) in the Narnia series, which includes the name of the ship on and around which much of the book is set?

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

5.

What is the name of the theatrical illusion in which a person or object offstage is made to appear as a spectral presence onstage by being brightly-lit and reflected in an obliquely-positioned sheet of glass?

Pepper’s Ghost

6.

What name is given to a road on the side of a cliff, the ground rising on one side and falling on the other?  Three well-known examples run east from Nice, along the Côte d’Azur.

Corniche

7.

In an episode of Blackadder, Amy Hardwood, the daughter of an apparently wealthy Northern mill-owner, turns out not to be “wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume” but to have a rather darker (and squirrel-hating) personality.  How was her alter ego known?

The Shadow

8.

Which Scottish championship football team is based in the constituency represented for the last decade of his parliamentary career by Gordon Brown?

Raith Rovers

(Kirkcaldy; Cowdenbeath play against rather more lowly opposition)

Sp1

A musical scored by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on a novel of 1910, tells the story of a soprano pursued by a disfigured musical genius.  What is its title?

The Phantom of the Opera

Sp2

What is the official name of the winged figure on the bonnet of a Rolls Royce car?

The Spirit of Ecstasy

Theme: Each answer contains the name of a Rolls Royce model - in most cases preceded by the word 'Silver'

Henry Royce and the Honorable Charles Rolls met in the Midland Hotel

Go back to Round 8 questions without answers