|
Question |
Answer |
|
Literature (7) |
|
HG Wells set War of the Worlds in
which town? His Martians landed on nearby Horsell
Common. Paul Weller was born here and got his own back
by writing his song A Town Called Malice. |
Woking |
|
Which
Enid Blyton novel of 1943 with children called Bessie,
Dick and Fanny is now republished with the names Beth,
Rick and Frannie? |
The Magic Faraway Tree
|
|
Who is
the fictional author of the fictional books On the
Polyphonic Motets of Lassus, On the Study of Tobaccos
and their Ashes, and A Practical Handbook of Bee
Culture with Some Observations upon the Segregation of
the Queen? |
Sherlock Holmes |
|
How is
Marmaduke, Earl of Bunkerton known to his pals? |
Lord Snooty |
|
Which
poet laureate, who wrote The Inchcape Rock, also
published The Story of the Three Bears, an early
version of the tale in which Goldilocks was originally
an old woman? |
(Robert) Southey |
|
What is
the name of Blackburn Rovers Fanzine which was
relaunched in September 2017 after a four year dormancy?
|
4000 holes |
|
Which romantic poet was one of the first
to mention the roast beef sandwich in print? |
John Keats |
|
Art/Architecture (2) |
|
What was advertised by the poster created
in 1908 by artist John Hassall for the Great Northern
Railways? |
Skegness
(the Jolly Fisherman
picture with the slogan “Skegness is SO bracing”) |
|
In heraldry what is an animal doing if it
is described as 'urinant'? |
Diving
(usually
of a fish - from the Latin urinare = to dive)
|
|
History
(6) |
|
Which
town has a pillar which was erected in honour of Lord
Nelson in 1819, more than two decades before his column
was erected in London? Later the town suffered
extensive damage during World War 2 largely because it
was the last significant place German planes could drop
bombs on before returning home. |
Great Yarmouth |
|
What was
the name of the Jamaican businesswoman who set up the
'British Hotel' behind the lines during the Crimean War,
a recuperation area for sick and convalescent officers?
She was largely forgotten for over a century but her
reputation has grown over the last fifty years or so,
culminating in her being voted 'Greatest Black Briton'
in 2004. |
Mary Seacole |
|
According
to an entry in his diary, who on Christmas Day 1911,
dined on a special meal of horsemeat flavoured with
onion and curry powder followed by arrowroot, cocoa and
biscuit hoosh sweetened and finally a plum pudding with
cocoa and raisins? |
Captain
(Robert Falcon) Scott |
|
Which
Confederate sympathiser was shot dead by Union soldier
Boston Corbett in Port Royal, Virginia on April 26th
1865? |
John Wilkes Booth |
|
In 1917
the SS Mont Blanc, loaded with munitions, blew up in
this port producing the largest non-natural explosion
prior to the invention of nuclear weapons. Whole
districts were flattened and thousands of lives were
lost. Where did this happen? |
Halifax, Nova Scotia |
|
Who won the battle of Edington? He is
also responsible for schools teaching in English rather
than Latin. |
Alfred (the
Great) |
|
Politics
(6) |
|
Introduced in 1799, abolished in 1802,
reintroduced in 1803, abolished again in 1816,
reintroduced again in 1842, and still with us. What is
it? |
Income Tax |
|
Of which
Labour politician did Winston Churchill say the
following: “He has all the virtues I dislike and none of
the vices I admire”? |
Stafford Cripps |
|
When
Labour MP Seymore Cocks (Broxtowe 1929-53) was
delivering a speech in the House of Commons which Tory
MP was heard to mutter: “Seymore Cocks - hear more
balls”? |
Winston Churchill |
|
Which
British politician active in government in the 1960s is
believed to have said: “If voting changed anything, they
would make it illegal.”? |
Tony Benn |
|
Which English statesman
was abducted as a baby by his grandfather’s pet monkey?
In the frontispiece of a 1664 satirical cookbook,
purporting to be by his wife Elizabeth, she
appears with a monkey on her shoulder. |
Oliver Cromwell |
|
Averaging
only 1 kill per year since 2011, Larry, the Downing
Street Cat, continues to perform dismally as a mouser.
As a result of this, how many times did Theresa May have
to call out Pest Control to her Downing Street abode in
2017? |
40 |
|
Military/Royalty (3) |
|
One hundred years ago this year, which
European dynasty came into being with a proclamation by
its first monarch on 17 July 1917 - and is still
reigning to this day? |
The House of Windsor
(its
first monarch was George V of Great Britain and Ireland
who had reigned previously as a monarch of the House of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) |
|
It was originally built in 1703 and first
opened to the public in 1993 when 4,314 people paid to
visit it. |
Buckingham Palace |
|
This
person was born into poverty on the Wirral as Amy Lyon.
She became the mistress of Charles Greville, MP for
Warwick. She later married his uncle thereby taking the
name by which she is best known. Renowned for her
beauty, she is one of the most painted Englishwomen of
all time but died in poverty in Calais in 1815. Who is
she? |
Lady (Emma)
Hamilton |
|
Crime/Law
(2) |
|
In recent
years this crime has been the third fastest growing in
the UK after cyber-crime and identity fraud. What is it?
|
Livestock rustling
|
|
Born out
of wedlock in Tremadog, Wales, in August 1888, whose
fatal road accident in 1935 was used as an argument for
the compulsory wearing of motorcycle helmets (enacted in
law in 1973)? |
T E Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia) |
|
Transport/Shipping/Aviation/Motoring
(8) |
|
The launch of a Royal Navy battleship in
1906 was subsequently described by naval historians
thus: “With the launch of a single ship the scales of
naval power were reset overnight.” What was the name of
this battleship? |
HMS Dreadnought |
|
Where was the astronomically high speed
record of 11.2 mph set in 1972? |
The Moon
(John
Young of Apollo 16 driving the Lunar Rover in the
Descartes Highlands) |
|
Weighing over 3,700 tonnes and completed
in 1983, officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in May
1984. |
The Thames Flood Barrier |
|
Between
1620 and 1624 the Dutch inventor Cornelius van Drabel
built and tested (on the river Thames) the first what? |
Submarine |
|
How was
Benjamin Briggs, who mysteriously disappeared in 1872,
better known to history? |
He was
the captain of the merchant ship Mary Celeste
(which
was found drifting in the Atlantic minus her crew in
that year) |
|
What 1984
event was the astronaut Bruce McCandless describing,
when he said: "That may have been ‘one small step’ for
Neil, but it’s a heck of a big leap for me"? |
First
untethered space walk |
|
Which car
first manufactured in 1948 and remaining in production
for 40 years, in its design briefing had to have the
ability “To be able to cross a ploughed field without
breaking eggs in a basket on a seat” and also “To be
able to carry a medium sized pig in the back”?
|
Citroen 2CV
(as it
was originally designed for farmers’ use)
|
|
In 2009 an unpaved road was completed
from McMurdo air base to where? The journey takes about
40 days. |
The South Pole
(a research station,
specifically) |
|
Cinema/Theatre/TV/Radio (10) |
|
"We
always were English and we always will be English. And
it's just because we are English that we're standing up
for our right to be Burgundians". From which 1949 film
are these lines taken? |
Passport to Pimlico
|
|
Born on
18th April 1857 which American civil rights
lawyer rose to prominence during the so-called Scopes
Monkey Trial of 1925? He was the inspiration for
Spencer Tracy’s character Henry Drummond in the 1960
film version of the trial, Inherit the Wind. |
Clarence Darrow
|
|
During the Second World War she toured
with fellow child star Julie Andrews. She was nicknamed
'the Singing Sweetheart'. In 1969 she sang backing
vocals on John Lennon’s Give Peace a Chance. She is the
only person to be the subject of This is Your Life on
three occasions. She is now 85 years of age. Who is
she? |
Petula Clark |
|
Marilyn Monroe once said (in answer to a
journalist's question) “the only thing I wear in bed is
…..” what? |
Chanel No. 5 |
|
Who was
the first US actress to appear on a postage stamp?
|
Grace Kelly
(1956 in
Monaco when she got married, and 1993 in the USA and
Monaco) |
|
Which
2017 horror film starring Javier Bardem and Jennifer
Lawrence is supposedly an allegory for "the rape and
destruction of Earth” according to Lawrence? It has
been nominated for a number of awards including Worst
Actress, Worst Supporting Actor, and Worst Director for
the upcoming Golden Raspberry awards. |
Mother! |
|
Which
actress regularly left nothing to the imagination while
climbing a ladder on the set of Lifeboat in 1944?
When someone complained about her antics, Hitchcock’s
reply was: “I don’t know whether that’s a concern for
wardrobe or hairdressing”. |
Tallulah Bankhead |
|
Which
Hollywood performer who gained worldwide fame during the
silent era, star of 27 films such as The Clash of the
Wolves, was rescued from a World War I battlefield
by an American soldier? |
Rin
Tin Tin |
|
Which broadcaster
who died in 2010 was famous for quotes such as “Oh my
God he has won the title back at 32” and “The wife of
the Cambridge president is kissing the cox of the Oxford
crew”? |
Harry Carpenter |
|
What was
unusual about the BBC’s evening news radio broadcast on
this day in 1930? |
The
announcer simply said “There is no news today”
and then some music was played |
|
Pop/Rock/Other music
(5) |
|
The title track from which best selling
1971 album begins with these lines: "Sitting in a sleazy
snack bar / sucking sickly sausage rolls / slippin' down
slowly, slippin' down sideways / think I'll sign off the
dole.”? |
Fog on the Tyne
(by Lindisfarne) |
|
Which British group, formed in 1977, took
its name from the Nazi slang for a military brothel?
|
Joy Division |
|
Which
musician born in Singapore on 27th October 1978
represented Thailand in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics
but finished last in the giant slalom? |
Vanessa Mae |
|
Mittwoch aus Licht
(Wednesday
from Light) is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Scene 3 involves a string quartet, audio and video
equipment and technicians, and what else?
|
Helicopters
(A string
quartet is introduced to the audience by a moderator.
The players then go to four waiting helicopters,
followed by video cameras transmitting back to
television monitors in the auditorium. While flying in
the helicopters, they play a synchronized, polyphonic
composition, while reacting to the sounds of the rotor
blades.) |
|
Jacques
Offenbach had posthumous success with his final opera
The Tales of Hoffmann. But what was the title of his
first big success? A witty operetta written in a mock
Chinese style, it was so popular in Paris that a new
music- hall was built in a mock Chinese style on the
Boulevard Voltaire and given the same name. This
music-hall later became a venue for rock concerts. |
Bataclan
(the rock
venue where 90 people died in a coordinated terrorist
attack in November 2015) |
|
Sport/Games (10) |
|
Name this
footballer: Hamilton-born Scottish international; scored
145 goals for Manchester United in 265 appearances; the
son of a striker who helped Manchester City win their
first League Division 1 title in 1937; in 1951 they
teamed up to put Stockport County in the record book
when they became the first father and son to play
English League football on the same team in the same
match. |
David Herd |
|
What connects Keith Peacock in 1965 with
The Who in 1966? |
Substitute
(KP was
the first substitute in English football and the release
date of the single with this title) |
|
It is a
well-heeled district of London and a much less
salubrious area of Liverpool. It’s also a test cricket
ground and an “aunt heap”. What name do these all
share? |
Kensington
(the test
cricket ground is Kensington Oval in Bridgetown,
Barbados; the “aunt heap” refers to Kensington Palace,
where the royal family stores the superfluous sisters
and cousins and aunts - named so by Prince Charles) |
|
The 1908
Olympic games, originally scheduled for Rome, were moved
to London. Why? |
Vesuvius
erupted in 1906 so the funds intended for the games were
diverted to reconstruction |
|
Which
Denton-born adopted son of Blackpool was voted 'the best
right-back in the world' after playing for England in
the 1962 World Cup? In October 1974 he took up the
poison chalice of managing Leeds United after the
dismissal of Brian Clough. |
Jimmy Armfield |
|
Between 1950 and 1956, which national
football team recorded 42 victories, 7 draws and just
one defeat? |
Hungary
(the team
broke up due to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; the one
defeat was by West Germany in the 1954 World Cup final) |
|
Which
country won a bronze medal in the women’s 3000m short
track speed skating relay in this year’s Winter Olympics
despite not actually making the final? Their time was a
new world record and nearly four seconds faster than the
gold medallists. |
Netherlands |
|
About
which golfer did a commentator say, when he and his
caddy were lining up a putt, "Some weeks he likes to use
Fanny, other weeks he prefers to do it himself."? |
Nick Faldo
(the caddy was Fanny Sunneson) |
|
Rufus has
been employed at Wimbledon for the past 10 years. His
shift starts at 5am and lasts for 4 hours. He works for
the whole Wimbledon fortnight and is the smallest
employee. What is his job? |
To chase away the pigeons
(Rufus is a Harris Hawk) |
|
Chukotka
is the region of Russia closest to Alaska. Which former
street trader and rubber duck salesman was the region’s
Governor from 2000 to 2008? He is now much better known
in a rather different context. |
Roman Abramovich |
|
Myths/Legends/Traditions (2) |
|
In Greek
mythology, under which volcanic mountain was the deadly
monster Typhon trapped by Zeus? |
Etna |
|
In Austrian
and German folklore, which demon-like being accompanies
Saint Nicholas on his rounds, doling out punishment to
naughty children while the saint delivers presents to
the good ones? |
Krampus |
|
Religion (4) |
|
What has 5 verses in the Gospel of
Matthew Chapter 6, but only 3 in the Gospel of Luke
Chapter 11? |
The Lord's Prayer
(Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) |
|
What
honorific is conferred by Israel on non-Jews, who gave
significant assistance to Jews during the Holocaust? |
'Righteous Among The Nations'
(e.g. Raoul
Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler) |
|
"Behold,
O monks, this is my advice to you. All component things
in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work
hard to gain your own salvation." Whose final words
were said to be these? |
(The) Buddha's |
|
What specifically links the dioceses of
Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, Peterborough? |
They
were created by Henry VIII after the dissolution of the
monasteries |
|
Science/Maths (2) |
|
Alexander
Graham Bell developed an early version of which device,
following the attempted assassination of James Garfield
in 1882? |
Metal detector
(it was used to locate the bullet) |
|
The
scientific paper Stereospecific Polymerization of
Isoprene was purportedly authored by the wife of a
European leader. Following her death due to unnatural
causes on December 25th 1989, it was revealed that her
scientific credentials were a hoax and that all the
research published under her name was written by a team
of scientists in her name in order to obtain a
fraudulent doctorate. What is her surname?
|
(Elena)
Ceaușescu |
|
Food/Drink (5) |
|
This botanically infused mixture was
first produced in 1824 in what is now Ciudad Bolívar, in
Venezuela. In 1876, production was moved to Trinidad and
Tobago. What is it called? |
Angostura bitters
(Ciudad
Bolívar was formerly called Angostura - the mixture does
not contain angostura bark) |
|
Situated at 1,732 feet above sea level in
the Yorkshire Dales what is England’s highest public
house? |
The Tan Hill Inn |
|
The
surname of which Scottish industrialist appears on the
design of the grocery product sometimes said to be
Britain’s oldest brand? Its trademark, unchanged since
1885, bears a motto referring to a story in the Book of
Judges. |
(Abram) Lyle
(Lyle’s
Golden Syrup - ‘out of the strong came forth
sweetness’) |
|
According
to a 2014 report, which country has the highest annual
per capita consumption of beer in the world? |
The Czech Republic
(142.6
litres; the Seychelles are 2nd with 114.6 litres, and
the UK is a measly 28th with 67.7 litres) |
|
Name the
delicacy found in Guernsey which Islanders spend hours
wading through coastal rock pools searching to find.
Scientifically labelled Haliotis tuberculate they look
similar to an oyster and have a unique mild mollusc
flavour. The traditional way to cook them is in a
casserole |
(Green) Ormers |
|
Animals/Birds/Nature
(2) |
|
What kind of bird is stuffed and
displayed in the MCC museum at Lords? |
a sparrow
(killed
in mid air 3.July 1936 by a ball from Jahangir Khan; it
is mounted on the fatal ball) |
|
Neglected after the First
World War and only restored in the 1990s, which location
near Mevagissey in Cornwall features Europe’s only
remaining pineapple pit? |
The Lost Gardens of Heligan
(New Jersey – The Garden State)
|
|
Manufacturing/Retail/Fashion (4) |
|
What
life-enhancing innovation was introduced to the streets
of Rome by the emperor Vespasian? Affordable to all
except the very poor, they were greatly lauded and even
today they are still sometimes referred to as 'Vespasiani'
in the Italian language. |
(Pay-to-use)
Public Toilets |
|
Which clothing
chain opened its first shop in Manchester's King Street
West in 1965? The owner made a deal with rival boutique
owner George Best that he would not sell suits if George
did not sell jeans. In 1966 they became the first store
in the north of England to stock Levi jeans which sold
at £2.37p per pair. |
Stolen From Ivor |
|
In hopefully unrelated
facts, this country is the most sexually active in the
world with 87% of its population having sex weekly, and,
with 4 million, it has the highest population of goats
in the EU. Name the country. |
Greece
(according
to a 2016 survey by Durex, and EU figures from 2015) |
|
Made from
the zinc-aluminium alloy Zamac, what were produced at a
factory in Binns Road, Liverpool from 1934 to 1979? |
Dinky Toys |
|
Geography (8) |
|
Lying to
the north east of the Outer Hebridean island of Barra
what is the name of the next inhabited island in the
chain? It is home to a unique breed of pony as well as
the group of Scots who sought to ‘repatriate’ the whisky
from the shipwreck in Compton Mackenzie’s book Whisky
Galore. |
Eriskay |
|
Which town stands today
on the site of the place referred to in the writings of
the Venerable Bede as “the place where the stags come to
drink”? |
Hartlepool |
|
What is the second longest river wholly
in the European Union (including its tributary)? |
Elbe/Vlatava
(accept Elbe)
(the Elbe/Vlatava is 1252km - the Rhine is not wholly in
the EU as it rises in Switzerland)
|
|
In 2007
which small Welsh market town beat off fierce opposition
from both Glastonbury and York for the right to be
twinned with Timbuktu in Mali. The Guardian described
the twinning as being very fitting since Timbuktu is the
oldest home of the written word in Africa |
Hay-on-Wye |
|
Which
World Heritage Site stretches from Exmouth in Devon,
through Weymouth, to Studland Bay in Dorset? It is
named after a mountain range, which mainly
follows the France-Switzerland border. |
The Jurassic Coast
(named after the Jura Mountains) |
|
Chomolungma is highly famous by another name. What is
that name? |
Mount Everest |
|
Which two
countries are partially separated by the hundred mile
long Strait of Juan de Fuca? It is named after the
Greek navigator who sailed in 1592 to seek the fabled
Strait of Anian that was believed to mark the boundary
of North America and Asia. |
United
States of America & Canada |
|
The
renovation of which London tourist attraction,
originally built on the River Clyde in the 1860s, had
the dubious honour of being awarded the 2012 Carbuncle
Cup? |
Cutty Sark |
|
Questions involving
two or several different subjects (14) |
|
Which
establishment links the following: the author Thomas de
Quincey, the pianist John Ogden, the former MP for
Manchester Withington John Leech, and the actors Robert
Powell and Sir Ben Kingsley?
Inspired
by the Gamesmanship series of books by Stephen Potter,
which 1960 comedy film starred Ian Carmichael and
Terry-Thomas? It was remade in Hollywood in 2006. |
Manchester Grammar
School for Scoundrels
(apologies
to Michael Atherton, Dave Rainford, et al.) |
|
1934
novel which was F Scott Fitzgerald’s fourth and final
completed novel;
This 1980
hit by Madness told of North African adventures both
nocturnal and nautical.
|
Tender is the (Night) Boat to Cairo |
|
A play by
Peter Shaffer set in Peru in the sixteenth century;
An
ingredient commonly used in antipasti. |
The Royal Hunt of the Sun-dried
tomatoes |
|
1980 film
starring Goldie Hawn as an heiress whose husband died
during vigorous activity in bed on their wedding night,
for which she received an Oscar nomination;
Name of
the title character of 1967 film starring Dustin
Hoffman, for which its director won an Oscar. |
Private Benjamin Braddock |
|
In the
Goon Show, what are almost the only words Little Jim
ever says?
The word
‘whisky’ is derived from a Gaelic phrase meaning what? |
"He's Fallen in the Water" of Life
|
|
Which
American won a Best Actor Oscar in 1966 for his twin
role as Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn?
Which
character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
series, has a "brain the size of a planet"?
|
Lee Marvin the Paranoid Android |
|
Brangelina’s first biological child, born in 2006.
(name and father’s surname required);
From the
film Jurassic Park, complete what Dr Ian Malcom
(played by Jeff Goldblum) said upon encountering a mound
of dinosaur droppings: “That is one big - - -“ (3
words). |
Shiloh Pitt / pile o’ shit |
|
What's
the connection? Liverpool FC in 1996, Alec Guinness,
Kirk Stevens, Colonel Sanders. |
All wore white suits |
|
Song by
Paul Simon that refers to "angels in the architecture";
Italian-American singer and actor in The Godfather who
recorded Here in My Heart (this song became the
first UK Christmas number one when it reached the top
spot in 1952, the year the Official Singles Chart
began) |
You Can Call Me Al
Martino |
|
Philosopher
who said “Those who can make you believe absurdities can
make you commit atrocities”.
Piece of
music arranged by Jacques Loussier’s Jazz Trio for a
long series of TV ads which ran until 1991 when tobacco
ads were banned. |
VoltAire
on a G String |
|
(3 parts)
1980 film
named after a band founded two years earlier by its two
leading actors, which has raising money for an
orphanage's tax bill at the heart of its plot;
Multiple
platinum 1985 rock album which spent 10 weeks at number
1;
1894
comedy by George Bernard Shaw, from which the derogatory
term 'chocolate soldier' derives.
|
The Blues Brothers in Arms and the
Man |
|
A British
sketch show starring two Cambridge Footlights alumni;
The
scorer of the winning goal in the 1988 Cup Final |
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Sanchez |
|
a) Archie Norman became
the chairman of which company in September 2017?
b) (two-parts):
i)
Which charity was founded in 1991 to fund medical
research into cures for children's diseases and, in
February 2017, partnered with Great Ormond Street
Hospital?
ii)
Which organisation was founded by the Australian
barrister Roland Berrill and the British scientist
and lawyer Lancelot Ware in 1946?
|
Marks & Spencer / Sparks & Mensa |
|
Popular
name given to a major and pivotal event in the history
of Ireland.
Form of
marketing communication disdainfully described by Orwell
as "the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket".
|
(The) Easter Rising / Advertising |
