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GK 9
Quiz
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Which science-fiction writer coined the term "cyberspace"? | William Gibson |
| What is a male swan known as? | Cob |
| What is a female swan known as? | Pen |
| Which giant screen film projection system, which gives an enhanced visual impact, has its origins in Montreal's Expo 67? | IMAX |
| Which actress was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in San Antonio, Texas, in 1908? | Joan Crawford |
| Which military leader poisoned himself in Bithynia in Asia Minor in around 182BCE? | Hannibal |
| What is the branch of astronomy that is concerned solely with the moon called? | Selenology |
| The mouflon, native to Corsica and Sardinia, is a small, wild form of which animal? | Sheep |
| Which religion, founded in 3rdC CE Persia, at its 3rd-7thC height one of the world's biggest, taught an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness? | Manichaeism |
| The Loyalty Islands in the Pacific are part of which territory? | New Caledonia |
| Which orchestral march by William Walton was first performed at the coronation of King George VI, and was used as the recessional music at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011? | Crown Imperial |
| What was the real name of 'Dr Seuss'? | Theodore Geisel |
| The sixth labour of Hercules involved defeating what sort of creatures who were destroying the countryside around Lake Stymphalia? | Birds |
| The address of which constituent college of the University of London is: Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE? | London School of Economics |
| Extending from 500 to 10,000 kilometres above the earth’s surface, what is the uppermost layer of the earth’s atmosphere called – beyond which there is only outer space? | Exosphere |
| Which species of cat, with scientific name Acinonyx jubatus, is found in much of Africa, can be known as the hunting leopard, and is unusual among cats in having claws which are not fully retractable? | Cheetah |
| At the Academy Awards held in February 2015, Ida became the first film from which nation to win the award for Best Foreign Language Film? | Poland |
| What shrub gave its name to the revolution which saw Zine El Abidine Ben Ali overthrown as President of Tunisia in 2011? | Jasmine |
| Which musical features numbers including "Gee, Officer Krupke" and "I Feel Pretty"? | West Side Story |
| What flower gave its name to the revolution which saw Askar Akayev overthrown as President of Kyrgyzstan in 2005? | Tulip |
| What name is given to the Persian language in Afghanistan? | Dari |
| How was the Amu Darya river known in Ancient times? | Oxus |
| Which mountain range divides the Amu Darya and Indus valleys? | Hindu Kush |
| Give a year in the rule of the Achaemenid Empire. | 550-330BCE |
| Which large snake-like lake monster said to live in Lake Seljord in Seljord, Telemark, Norway? | Selma |
| Which parliament is located in Karasjok, Norway? | Sami parliament |
| Which Norwegian figure skater and film star was a three-time Olympic Champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in Ladies' Singles, a ten-time World Champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European Champion (1931–1936)? | Sonja Henie |
| Johann Koss of Norway won four Winter Olympic golds at what sporting event? | Speed skating |
| Who won a total of 29 medals in the Olympics and World Championships in the period between 1991 and 1999, making him the most successful cross-country skier in history? | Bjorn Daehlie |
| Which Dutch city is the home of Rabobank? | Utrecht |
| The bulk of the Great Pyramids at Giza are constructed in which stone? | Limestone |
| Which Theban king reunited Egypt after the First Intermediate Period and started the Middle Kingdom? | Mentuhotep II |
| Which group of "foreign princes" ruled a part of Northern Egypt during the latter Middle Kingdom at the Second Intermediate Period, from their capital at Avaris? | Hyksos |
| Which Egyptian deity was god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead? | Osiris |
| What two-word term indicated the "life-force" in Ancient Egypt that would be reunited with the soul by the process of mummification? | Ka |
| Hatshepshut was the widow of which Egyptian king who preceded her as ruler? | Tuthmosis II |
| In which century was Tutankhamun's rule of Egypt? | Fourteenth BCE (1333-1323BCE) |
| Ramses II fought the Hittites at which battle in 1274BCE? | Kadesh |
| Phaistos, Mallios and Zakros were all towns located in the territory of which ancient civilisation? | Minoan |
| Linear B was the script used by which ancient peoples? | Mycenaeans |
| Where is the intermittent Ghaggar-Hakra river, once critical to an ancient civilisation? | Between India and Pakistan (IVC) |
| Dilmun or Tilmun was an ancient area that centred on which modern-day nation? | Bahrain |
| The ancient Yangshao culture of China, which lasted c.5000-3000BCE was centred on which river? | Yellow River |
| Who excavated the palace at Knossos between 1900 and 1932? | Arthur Evans |
| As yet undeciphered, what was the script used by the Minoan civilisation? | Linear A |
| Which dynasty ruled China from 1600-1046BCE? | Shang |
| Which Neolithic henge and stone circle is about 6 miles north-east of Stromness? | Ring of Brodgar |
| When was Skara Brae exposed by a storm? | 1850 |
| Who was the first US Vice-President to become President upon the death of their predecessor? | John Tyler (on death of Harrison) |
| Father Edward Daly is best known for a photograph taken during which notorious event? | Bloody Sunday (he waves a blood-stained white handkerchief as he trie sto escort a mortally-wounded person to safety) |
| What is the name of the detective in 'Bleak House'? | Inspector Bucket |
| In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' who does Helena marry? | Demetrius |
| In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', what job is done by Peter Quince? | Carpenter |
| In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' what job is done by Robin Starveling? | Tailor |
| Based on the four 'humors' what four personality types were proposed by Galen? | Phlegmatic, sanguine, choleric, melancholic |
| Which Frenchman (26 August 1743 – 8 May 1794) was called 'The Father Of Modern Chemistry'? | Antoine Lavoisier |
| Which chemical element, atomic number 20, can be used to make orange fireworks? | Calcium |
| Name either of the two chemical elements, atomic numbers 29 or 56, that can be used to make green fireworks? | Barium, Copper |
| Lithium or Potassium generally produce which colour of fireworks? | Purple |
| What type of food has varieties called "Loch Ness", "Masterpiece" and "Tendergreen"? | French Beans |
| Which chemical element is named for the capital of Sweden? | Holmium |
| Procyon is the brightest star in which constellation? | Canis Minor |
| Spica is the brightest star in which constellation? | Virgo |
| Vega is the brightest star in which constellation? | Lyra |
| What is the collective name for toads? | Knot |
| Which mollusc is lined with mother-of-pearl? | Abalone |
| What is the approximate gestation period of a rabbit? | One month/30 days |
| What is the approximate gestation period of a dog? | Two months/60 days |
| What name is given to a horse that is black and white in colour? | Piebald |
| What name is given to a golden horse with a pale mane? | Palomino |
| What type of foodstuff has varieties called "Early Market", "Lyon Prizetaker" and "Royal Favourite"? | Leek |
| Which animal's name translates as "no drink"? | Koala |
| What name is given to subatomic particles without a whole number spin value? | Fermions |
| What are the fundamental, force-carrying bosons called? | Gauge Boson |
| Which element's name means "inactive" or "inert"? | Argon |
| What is the translation of the constellation 'lyra? | Harp |
| Bar the Sun, which is the nearest star to Earth? | Proxima Centauri |
| Which is the next brightest star in the sky after the Sun? | Sirius |
| Which French king, who reigned for just one year, was betrothed to Mary Queen of Scots? | Francois II |
| Who was the wife of Henri II of France? | Catherine de Medici |
| Which playwright wrote "Tartuffe", "L'Ecole Des Femmes", and "Le Misanthrope"? | Moliere |
| What was the name of the salon hostess (1634-92) who was also an author, writing "Le Grand Cyrus" and "Clelie"? | Madame De Lafayette |
| Who (8 July 1621 – 13 April 1695) was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century? | Jean de la Fontaine |
| Which opera composer was born in Florence in 1632, and died at the peak of his powers in Paris in 1687? | Jean-Baptiste Lully |
| Who was the stage designer (1631-1713) responsible for the 'Enchanted Isle' at Versailles? | Carlo Vigarani |
| As of 2015, who enjoyed the longest unbroken reign of any European monarch? | Louis XIV (72 years) |
| What relation was Louis XV to Louis XIV of France? | Great-grandson |
| Who acted as regent to Louis XV of France? | Philippe d'Orleans |
| Which opera by Gheorghe Enescu, usually considered his masterpiece, received its world premiere in Paris on 13 March 1936, and features a musical saw? | Oedipe |
| Which city's German name is Kronstadt? | Brasov |
| What is the highest peak in Romania (2544m)? | Moldoveanu |
| Which Romanian town, home to 'Dracula's Castle' is also known as Torzburg? | Bran |
| Which King of Romania succeeded Carol I in 1914? | Ferdinand |
| What is Romania's biggest ski resort? | Poiana Brasov |
| Which church in Brasov, is the largest Gothic church between Vienna and Istanbul? | Black Church |
| What is the Romanian/Transylvanian name for a vampire, or the undead? | Strigoi |
| Who had a 1994 hit with the song "As If We Never Said Goodbye" from Sunset Boulevard? | Barbara Streisand |
| In which year were dog licences abolished? | 1988 |
| What is produced by a female donkey and a male horse? | Hinny |
| What is the largest rodent native to Europe? | Coypu |
| Who was the Greek Muse of song and oratory? | Polyhymnia |
| In Greek myth, which place was the heroes' paradise? | Elysian Fields |
| Who killed Procrustes in Greek myth? | Theseus |
| Who is the heroine of Wagner's opera 'Lohengrin'? | Elsa |
| Which chemical element's name means 'unstable' in Greek? | Astatine |
| What is immediately below 'diamond', on the Mohs scale, signifying number 9? | Corundum |
| What is a yaffle, specifically? | Green woodpecker |
| What is the spin value of the Higgs boson? | Zero |
| What type of particle, defined as an elementary, half-integer spin (spin 1⁄2) particle that does not undergo strong interactions, is an electron? | Lepton |
| What does QANTAS stand for? | Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service |
| Which has been the world's busiest airport, by passenger numbers, from 1998 to 2015? | Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta (accept Atlanta) |
| Which airport reclaimed the 'most take-offs and landings annually' title in 2014? | O'Hare, Chicago |
| As of winter 2012/2013, which airport served 264 destinations in 113 countries, making it the airport with the most international destinations in the world; it is normally the third busiest in Europe? | Frankfurt |
| Who (September 22, 1904 – August 22, 1965) was the first female flight attendant? | Ellen Church |
| What type of fruit are "Russet" and "Laxton's Superb"? | Apples |
| What is the SI unit of magnetic flux? | Weber |
| Which three chemical elements are present in Britannia Metal? | Tin, Antimony, Copper |
| What does EPBM, sometimes seen on cutlery, stand for? | Electro-plated Britannia Metal |
| What food stuff are "Duncan" and "Marsh" varieties of? | Grapefruit |
| What are the three species of swan native to the UK? | Whooper, Bewick's, Mute |
| What name is given to fuel used in UK agricultural vehicles that has a significantly reduced tax levy compared to un-dyed fuel used in ordinary road vehicles? | Red diesel |
| Which radiation has wavelengths that lie between visible radiation and X-rays? | Ultraviolet |
| What is the name of the space-time point at which matter is compressed to an infinite density? | Singularity |
| What is the angular momentum quantum number of an electron in the S-orbital? | Zero |
| In molecular science, for what does MFP stand? | Mean Free Path |
| Lucy Ashton and Edgar are the doomed lovers in which opera? | Lucia di Lammermoor |
| What is the real name of 'Madame Butterfly' in the Puccini opera? | Cio Cio San |
| In Puccini's "Madame Butterfly", which American does the titular character fall in love with? | Lt Pinkerton |
| Which musical show features the songs "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "I Got Rhythm"? | An American In Paris |
| In myth, who opened Pandora's box? | Epimetheus |
| Which musical work, by Erik Satie, features a piece that is to be repeated 840 times? | Vexations |
| Which work by Stravinsky has gone into history as 'causing a riot' at its premiere, though as usual, the truth is a little more complex? | The Rite of Spring |
| What is the proper name for Bach's "Air On A G string"? | Air From Suite No 3 |
| In myth, who were the parents of Dionysus? | Zeus and Selene |
| What was the name of the island upon which Sean Connery's James Bond confronts "Dr No"? | Crab Key |
| Which building overtook the Eiffel Tower as the world's highest? | Chrysler Building |
| Which port is the largest cargo handler in the UK? | Felixstowe |
| In which English county is the onshore oil field of Palmers Wood? | Surrey |
| In which county is Felixstowe? | Suffolk |
| Which stadium is used by QPR? | Loftus Road |
| Who won their first Davis Cup in 2014? | Switzerland |
| Since 2006, where have Doncaster Rovers played? | Keepmoat Stadium |
| Which Wakefield RLFC player died of a heart attack at the gym in 2008, aged just 31? | Adam Watene |
| What is the name given to the symbol of a snake devouring its own tail? | Ouroboros |
| What substance speeds up a chemical reaction without itself being chemically altered? | Catalyst |
| What is the chemical symbol for lead? | Pb |
| Which valued decorative substance is largely made of China Clay? | Porcelain |
| What is the name given to a compound with the same formula but different properties to another? | Isomer |
| Which bird nests by barricading itself in a hollow tree? | Hornbill |
| What type of bird is an 'Openbill', whose beak never fully closes? | Stork |
| What is the largest bird of prey in the UK? | Golden Eagle |
| Which bird, native to the UK, buries acorns for later retrieval? | Jay |
| What is an alternate, one-word name for lines of longitude? | Meridians |
| What, in degrees, are the upper and lower limits of latitude on Earth? | 90 (N & S) |
| What is an alternate, one-word name for lines of latitude? | Parallels |
| Into what further unit are degrees of angle subdivided? | Arc minutes |
| To the nearest thousand, what is the approximate circumference of the Earth in miles? | 25000 |
| Which term means "of the stars"? | Sidereal |
| What name is given to the temporal interval that it takes for an object to reappear at the same point in relation to two or more other objects, e.g. when the Moon relative to the Sun as observed from Earth returns to the same illumination phase? | Synodic Period |
| What is the alternative name for sengis? | Elephant Shrews |
| Anteaters, sloths and armadillos form which 'superorder'? | Xenarthra |
| Which IUCN conversation rating lies between 'endangered' and 'lower risk'? | Vulnerable |
| In the IUCN conservation ratings 'lower risk' is itself divided into which two categories? | Near Threatened and Least Concern |
| Which animal has the scientific name 'vulpes vulpes'? | Red fox |
| What are "Gillyflower", "Gladstone" and "White Transparent"? | Apples |
| What is 'relative atomic mass' also called? | Atomic weight |
| Keynes' "General Theory" was published in which year? | 1936 |
| Herbert Croly co-founded which influential paper? | The New Republic |
| Give a year in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. | 1901-09 |
| Which party did Teddy Roosevelt run for in the 1912 US presidential election? | Progressive Party |
| Which 1942 man's eponymous 'report' helped paved the way for the modern British welfare state? | Beveridge |
| The 1944 Education Act raised the school leaving age to what in the UK? | 15 |
| In which year was the UK NHS Act? | 1948 |
| What was the ECSC, a forerunner of the EU? | European Coal and Steel Community |
| What relation was Liszt to Wagner? | Father-in-law |
| Which religious group are baptised into the 'Khalsa'? | Sikhs |
| What was Leo Sayer's only UK number 1 single? | When I Need You |
| Mussorgsky's "Picture At An Exhibition" was written for which musical instrument? | Piano |
| Who orchestrated Mussorgsky's "Picture At An Exhibition"? | Ravel |
| Who was the high priest of Judea at the time of Christ's crucifixion? | Caiaphas |
| What is Oklahoma's nickname? | Sooner State |
| What is Oregon's nickname? | Beaver State |
| What is Pennsylvania's state capital? | Harrisburg |
| What is the highest square number in the Fibonacci sequence? | 144 |
| Who wrote "Prologomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science"? | Immanuel Kant |
| Which Depeche Mode song was inspired by Priscilla Presley's memoir "Elvis and Me"? | Personal Jesus |
| What are the forenames of the historian AN Wilson? | Andrew Norman |
| Who wrote the famous 1859 work "Self-Help"? | Samuel Smiles |
| Which writer of adventure novels was brought up by a Billingsgate Fish Market porter? | R Horatio Edgar Wallace |
| Who wrote the Maigret novels? | Georges Simenon |
| Which Shakespeare play features the line "we few, we happy few, we band of brothers"? | Henry V |
| The seafarer Jack Aubrey was created by which writer? | Patrick O'Brian |
| Which was the first Conan Doyle story to feature Sherlock Holmes? | A Study In Scarlet |
| Which artist joined the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria for a seven-year commitment, but, two years later left due to contracting typhoid? | Claude Monet |
| Who, in 1999, became the first Children's Laureate? | Quentin Blake |
| What does the Latin phrase "ora pro nobis" mean? | Pray For Us |
| Which poet and novelist wrote the "Barrack Room Ballads"? | Rudyard Kipling |
| Who was the Poet Laureate from 1790 to 1813? | Henry James Pye |
| Complete the saying: "Curses, like chickens...."? | Come home to roost |
| Complete the saying: "Desperate diseases..."? | Must have desperate remedies |
| Which NFL team won the 2014 Superbowl but then lost the 2015 game? | Seahawks |
| As of 2015, which two NFL teams have exactly won 5 Superbowls, joint second to the Steelers with six? | Cowboys, 49ers |
| Which lake forms a large part of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia? | Kariba |
| The Victoria Falls lie on which river? | Zambezi |
| Averaging 13cm tall, what is the smallest dog breed? | Chihuahua |
| In DIY, what is 'MDF' short for? | Medium density fibreboard |
| A tenon is a type of what tool? | Hammer |
| Where are espadrilles worn? | The feet (they are shoes) |
| John Laing and Taylor Woodrow (until the latter merged with another company) were both famous companies in which field? | Construction - Taylor Woodrow merged with Wimpey |
| On the coin used until 2008, what does Britannia hold on a 50p piece? | Trident and an olive branch |
| Who wrote 1936 work "Mathematical Theory of Computing"? | Alan Turing |
| What is a fear of heights called? | Acrophobia |
| "We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of the world" is the opening sentence in which book, said to be one of the least-read of all bestsellers? | A Brief History of Time |
| Which surrealist and Dadist posed the question "who am I" in the opening sentence of his 1928 novel Nadja? | Andre Breton |
| What colour links the common names of the canons of the Premonstratensian order, founded by St Norbert, and the Carmelites? | White |
| Who wrote "The Red Shoes"? | Hans Christian Andersen |
| "The Lollipop Shoes" is the sequel to which novel? | Chocolat by Joanne Harris |
| "Blue Shoes and Happiness" is the seventh in a series of novels by which author? | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Who did Fanny Caplan attempt to assassinate in 1918? | Lenin |
| Created on December 20, 1917, which Russian security service was a forerunner of the KGB? | Cheka |
| So shrouded in legend that even his birth and death dates are unknown (c. 1870 – c. 1880 – c. 1925), which British agent was known as the 'Ace of Spies'? | Sidney Reilly |
| Who was Oscar nominated for his performance as Solomon Northup in "12 Years A Slave"? | Chiwetel Ejiofor |
| Who directed "Chariots of Fire"? | Hugh Hudson |
| Who played the titular role in Dennis Potter's TV play "The Singing Detective"? | Michael Gambon |
| Who was the first actor to play Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films? | Richard Harris |
| Who directed the film "8½"? | Fellini |
| Ivan Owen provided the voice of which TV puppet until his retirement in 2000? | Basil Brush |
| Which actress played the devil in 2000 film "Bedazzled"? | Elizabeth Hurley |
| Who was the doctor who controversially tended to Michael Jackson, including supplying the propofol that killed him? | Conrad Murray |
| What was the name of the character John Cleese played in the bond films? | R |
| What was the name of the tortoise in "Bill and Ben: The Flowerpot Men"? | Slowcoach |
| Which actor wrote the autobiography "In and Out Of Character"? | Basil Rathbone |
| Which actor was the subject of biographies "The Fourth Musketeer" and "His Majesty The American"? | Douglas Fairbanks Sr |
| What does CBS stand for in the name of the US TV network? | Columbia Broadcasting System |
| Which 1929 movie was the first feature film with an all-black cast? | Hallelujah |
| Who played Dr No in the 1962 film - he died in October 2009? | Joseph Wiseman |
| Where is there a 240m World Trade Center with two towers and three wind turbines in between them? | Bahrain |
| Which famous man, an inventor, (1771-1833) was born in Camborne? | Richard Trevithick |
| Which castle, built by Henry VIII, between 1540 and 1542, is near Falmouth? | Pendennis |
| On which river is the Tarbela Dam in Pakistan? | Indus |
| What is the correct full name of Westminister Abbey? | Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster |
| Which US Army officer (1858-1928) supervised the construction of the Panama Canal? | George Washington Goethals |
| Which canal in France links the Atlantic to the Mediterranean? | Canal Du Midi |
| Who was the consort of Richard I of England? | Berengaria of Navarre |
| Which crusade was Richard I part of? | Third |
| In which deal did Richard I surrender feudal claims to Scotland for money? | Quitclaim of Canterbury |
| Which European king held Richard I to ransom? | Leopold of Austria |
| In which month and year did the UK go decimal? | February 1971 (15th to be exact) |
| The Danes were defeated, losing 14000 troops, at which battle of 1710, marking their last invasion of Sweden? | Helsingborg |
| In 1804, 'Black' George Petrovic led an uprising of which people against the Ottomans? | Serbs |
| Who defeated Mike Tyson in February 1990 and became Heavyweight Champion of The World, despite being 42-1 to win the fight? | James "Buster" Douglas |
| In 303, which Roman Emperor ordered a persecution of Christians, including apparently the martyrdom of St Sebastian, who was a member of his Praetorian Guard? | Diocletian |
| Who was murdered in Dumfries' Greyfriars Kirk on 10th February 1306 by Robert the Bruce, the culmination of a bitter feud for control of Scotland? | John "Red" Comyn |
| In the Iliad, who killed Hector? | Achilles |
| Who, in Homeric myth, was Hector's father? | Priam |
| Hebe was the Greek goddess of what? | Youth |
| Who was the Roman equivalent of Greek goddess Hebe? | Juventus |
| Which playwright wrote that Helen of Troy's face "launched a thousand ships"? | Marlowe |
| Dom Perignon belonged to which monastic order? | Benedictine |
| What is a cor anglais? | Oboe |
| Which religion were most of the USSR'S "refuseniks" who were denied permission to emigrate? | Jews |
| Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori are the members of which Japanese boy band? | SMAP |
| In myth, who was the father of Lohengrin? | Parsifal |
| Who composed string quartets called The Joke, The Bird, The Rider and the Emperor? | Haydn |
| Which Turkish dish features leaves wrapped around a filling? | Dolmades |
| In the Old Testament, to whom was Joseph sold for 20 pieces of silver? | Ishmaelites |
| Which musical instrument's name literally means "soft loud"? | Pianoforte |
| "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Evil Woman" were 1970s hits for who? | ELO |
| Which bird is associated with the Greek goddess Athena? | Owl |
| Who are the two lead characters in La Boheme? | Mimi and Rodolfo |
| In the opera, who kills Carmen? | Don Jose |
| In the opera, with which toreador does Carmen run away? | Escamillo |
| Who were the backing band of Herb Alpert? | Tijuana Brass |
| Who were the backing band of Captain Beefheart? | Magic Band |
| In which city is the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art located? | Amsterdam |
| A French term , what name is given to a metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in low relief? | Repoussé or repoussage |
| Which painting technique, used mostly in oil painting, sees layers of wet paint applied to previously administered layers of wet paint? | Alla prima (sometimes 'wet on wet') |
| From the Latin for 'gypsum' what is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these? | Gesso |
| Which French term is used for a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour, particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture? | Grisaille |
| The Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences, was published in 1638, the final work of who? | Galileo Galilei |
| Who discovered both Saturn's ring and its moon Titan? | Christiaan Huygens |
| Which Polish astronomer (28 January 1611 – 28 January 1687) gained a reputation as "the founder of lunar topography" and described ten new constellations, seven of which are still recognized by astronomers? | Johannes Hevelius |
| Who is the hero of the Roman novel 'The Golden Ass'? | Lucius |
| Who wrote the Roman novel popularly known as 'The Golden Ass' - albeit its proper title is Metamorphoses? | Apuleius |
| Renowned for his wealth, who was the king of Lydia who, according to Herodotus, reigned for fourteen years: from 560 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 546 BC? | Croesus |
| Who, in Greek myth, was the son of Oecles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle? He was the King of Argos along with Adrastus— the brother of his wife, Eriphyle— and Iphis? | Amphiaraus |
| Who, in ancient Roman religion, was the protector of grains, represented by a grain seed? | Consus |
| The Sphinx in Giza is thought to represent the Pharoah Chephren fused with which God? | Horus |
| The Biblical place On is better known by what name? | Memphis, Egypt |
| "Golden Twigs" is a work by which controversial figure? | Aleister Crowley |
| The ancient site of Ur, birthplace of Abraham, is in which modern-day country? | Iraq |
| Who wrote "The Magic Mountain", published in 1924? | Thomas Mann |
| Which author wrote 'The Sandman' series of graphic novels? | Neil Gaiman |
| The Rosetta Stone was written in which three languages? | Demotic, Greek, Hieroglyphics |
| Who wrote the graphic novel 'Promethea'? | Alan Moore |
| Irenaeus described who as 'the father of all heresies'? | Simon Magus |
| Which Japanese airport is located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Ōsaka Station? | Kansai International Airport |
| What is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of stone knapping developed by precursors to modern humans during the Palaeolithic period, named after a place in France? | Levallois Technique |
| Give a year In the life of St Augustine. | 354-430CE |
| Who became President of Iran in 2013? | Hassan Rohani |
| What name is given to a device that "stores" static electricity between two electrodes on the inside and outside of a glass jar? | Leyden jar |
| Which disease of cattle was declared officially eradicated in 2011? | Rinderpest |
| Which jazz trombonist and bandleader, whose real first name was Edouard, was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz, making popular 1940s radio broadcasts—among them a number of slots on The Orson Welles Almanac program? | Kid Ory |
| Where was a meeting convened in January 1604, for discussion between King James I of England and representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans? | Hampton Court (Hampton Court Conference) |
| If the books of the Hebrew Bible are removed from the Septaugint, what is left? | Apocrypha |
| Karlstadt am Main lies in which German lander? | Bavaria |
| How are the Biblical books James 1-2, Peter 1-3 and John collectively known? | Catholic Epistles |
| How are the Biblical books 1&2 Timothy and Titus collectively known? | Pastoral Epistles |
| The apocryphal book of 'Jubilees' is a retelling of which book in the Hebrew Bible? | Genesis |
| What is the second-largest city in Zimbabwe? | Bulawayo |
| Who wrote the infamous 1992 tract "The End of History & The Last Man'? | Francis Fukuyama |
| The 7/7 atrocity occurred in which year? | 2005 |
| HL Mencken was a famous name in which field? | Journalism |
| Originally developed by UK manufacturer Hawker Siddeley in the 1960s, what emerged as the only truly successful design of the many vertical/short takeoff aircraft attempted during that era? | Harrier jump jet |
| What is the name of the manufacturer of the Tornado, a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft? | Panavia |
| There are four ways of measuring time: solar, dynamical, international sidereal, and which other? | Atomic |
| What is the collective name for moles? | A labour |
| What was invented by Robert Whitehead in 1866? | Self-propelled torpedo |
| What is an 'Acme Thunderer'? | A whistle |
| What is the Swahili word for 'master'? | Bwana |
| Which shops, by tradition, feature the Medici coat of arms? | Pawnbrokers |
| What is made by a cordwainer? | Shoes |
| Whose portrait appears on a US $5 bill? | Abraham Lincoln |
| Which is the nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way? | Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy |
| Which precious stone can be said to be 'of the first water'? | Diamond (a way of assessing their translucence) |
| The now-extinct solitaire was what type of creature? | A bird |
| What was the first message sent by Morse telegraph? | What hath God wrought |
| In which part of the world did the hamster originate? | Middle East |
| What is a troika? | A Russian sled or carriage drawn by three horses harnessed side-by-side |
| Which chemical element comes first alphabetically? | Actinium |
| Which man created the periodic Table? | Mendeleyev |
| What are the five halogen elements? | Iodine, Chlorine, Fluorine, Astatine, Bromine |
| How many feet are there in a yard? | Three |
| Which chemical element takes its name from a word meaning 'heavy'? | Barium |
| Which chemical element takes its name from the German for 'goblin'? | Cobalt |
| What is the proper anatomical name for the Achilles tendon? | Calcaneal tendon |
| Amino acids are linked together by what type of bond? | Peptide |
| What does 'hydrogen' mean in the original Greek? | Water-producing |
| Which metal has the highest boiling point of all? | Tungsten |
| Who discovered the chemical element hydrogen? | Henry Cavendish |
| Which bird takes its name from the Spanish for 'fool'? | Booby |
| Which acronym has been used for 2 police computer systems, one introduced in 1985 and its successor in 2000? | HOLMES |
| Who discovered helium in 1895? | William Ramsay |
| What paper size is 210x297mm? | A4 |
| Smithson Tennant discovered which element and metal, in 1803? | Osmium |
| What is the UK's largest native carnivore? | Grey seal |
| Who plays the main villain, opposite Wesley Snipes, in 1998 film "Blade"? | Stephen Dorff |
| Which comedian's "Good News" show started on BBC3 in 2009? | Russell Howard |
| In which country is the Ridley Scott film "Black Rain" set? | Japan |
| In which film does Liam Neeson search Paris for his kidnapped daughter? | Taken |
| Which character was played by Peter Capaldi in "The Thick Of It"? | Malcolm Tucker |
| Who directed "The Truman Show"? | Peter Weir |
| Who played the character Kay Adams in all three Godfather films? | Diane Keaton |
| Who played Robin Hood in 1981 film "Time Bandits"? | John Cleese |
| In The Waltons, what was Grandpa Walton's first name? | Zeb |
| In which year did badminton become an Olympic sport? | 1992 |
| What size is a badminton singles court? | 44 x 17 feet |
| Who became only the fourth nation, after Indonesia, Malaysia and China, to win the Thomas Cup with victory in 2014? | Japan |
| The winner of a men's badminton game is the first player to reach how many points? | 15 |
| The winner of a women's badminton game is the first player to reach how many points? | 11 |
| How many feathers must protrude from the base of a badminton shuttlecock? | Sixteen |
| Which European nation have been Thomas Cup runners-up eight times, as of 2015, but never won it? | Denmark |
| Who won the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009, but was stripped of his 2010 title for doping? | Alberto Contador |
| How many counters are on the board at the start of a game of backgammon? | Thirty |
| Which Lancashire batsman hit Malcolm Nash for 34 in a single over in 1977? | Frank Hayes |
| Highgrove House has been the residence of which Royal since 1980? | Prince Charles |
| What is the Gloucestershire residence of Princess Anne? | Gatcombe Park |
| How was the Hoover Dam formerly known, before being re-named for the ex-US President? | Boulder Dam |
| What is the more correct title for the building that contains the Houses of Parliament? | The Palace of Westminister |
| The Itaipu Dam lies on which river? | Parana |
| Which writer created the word 'yahoo'? | Jonathan Swift |
| David LaChapelle is a famous name in which field, he has been called the 'Fellini of' this field? | Photography |
| Which newspaper is nicknamed The Gray Lady? | The New York Times |
| Poet Pablo Neruda hailed from which country? | Chile |
| First published in 1867, what was Emile Zola's breakthrough novel? | Therese Raquin |
| Wordsworth wrote five poems between 1798 and 1801 dedicated to which girl - the poems are now collectively known by her name? | Lucy |
| Meaning 'splinter' which word refers to an artist's studio? | Atelier |
| Which author, born in Rhodesia in 1933, wrote novels that featured the Courtney and Ballantyne families? | Wilbur Smith |
| Which playwright married Antonia Fraser in 1980? | Harold Pinter |
| Who wrote "The Good Earth", that won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize? | Pearl S. Buck |
| Who presented the Hope Diamond to Louis XIV? | Tavernier |
| In which year was the first cash machine opened, in Enfield? | 1967 |
| Who kidnapped James I when he was 15 years old, a crime for which he was later beheaded for high treason? | William Ruthven, Earl of Gowrie |
| James I's book "Basilikon Doron" was an extended defence of which principle? | The Monarch's divine right |
| Which monarch of England faced the Monmouth Rebellion? | James II |
| In which year did citizens of Washington DC attain full voting rights? | 1961 |
| Which British government special advisor and press officer resigned after an infamous "bury bad news" comment following 9/11? | Jo Moore |
| Which member of the British Royal Family held a 21st birthday party in 2002 in Windsor dungeons? | Zara Philipps |
| What was the cause of death, a probable suicide, of Alan Turing? | Cyanide poisoning |
| In Greek myth, who created the labyrinth on the island of Crete? | Daedalus |
| "I Feel Pretty" and "Maria" are songs from which musical? | West Side Story |
| Who were Buddy Holly's backing band? | The Crickets |
| Who were Tommy James's backing band? | The Shondelles |
| Give a year in the life of musical conductor Henry Wood. | 1869-1944 |
| Which Russian composer was a naval officer, composing while he sailed on a two-year-and-eight-month cruise aboard the clipper Almaz in late 1862? | Rimsky-Korsakov |
| Florestan & Leonara are characters in which opera? | Fidelio |
| "Cheek to Cheek" and "Isn't This A Lovely Day" are songs in which musical? | Top Hat |
| "Honeysuckle Rose" and "The Sheikh of Araby" are songs from which musical? | Tin Pan Alley |
| Biologically, what determines whether an individual of a species is female or male? | Individuals with the larger sex cells (gametes) are female |
| The Epistles of Wisdom is the foundational text of which faith? | Druze |
| What was the last silent film made by Charlie Chaplin? | Modern Times |
| Who did John Wayne play in "Stagecoach"? | The Ringo Kid |
| Who played Heathcliff in the 1938 film version of "Wuthering Heights"? | Laurence Olivier |
| Who did the choreography for 1933 film "Footlight Parade", as well as creating the musical numbers? | Busby Berkeley |
| Who played Grusinskaya, a dancer, in the 1931 film "Grand Hotel"? | Greta Grabo |
| In which movie did "Garbo talk" for the first time? | Anna Christie |
| Which real-life gangster was the movie "Scarface" based on? | Al Capone |
| What profession was held by Mr Chipperfield in the classic movie "Goodbye Mr Chips"? | Teacher/schoolmaster |
| Which character is the lead heroine in "Gone With The Wind" - she was played by Vivienne Leigh in the 1938 film? | Scarlett O'Hara |
| Edward Fox portrayed Edward VIII in the 1978 TV series 'Edward and Mrs Simpson', and the assassin in which 1973 film? | The Day Of The Jackal |
| Louis Nicolas Vauquelin discovered beryllium, and which other chemical element? | Chromium |
| From Latin for 'do the whole thing' what name is given to an employee who has multiple tasks? | Factotum |
| Severino Antinori is an Italian doctor known for his controversial views in which field? | IVF and/or human cloning (accept fertility) |
| Which dog breed, originally used in fox-hunting was named after a 19th century clergyman, born 1795? | Jack Russell Terrier |
| Red, Sugar and Japanese are all types of what tree? | Maple |
| Hilbert's eighth problem, which unsolved hypothesis implies results about the distribution of prime numbers? | Riemann Hypothesis |
| Which free language-learning platform was founded by professor Luis von Ahn and his graduate student Severin Hacker? | Duolingo |
| In science and philosophy, and from the Greek for 'pattern', what is defined as 'is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitutes legitimate contributions to a field'? | Paradigm |
| In office since 2006, which President of Liberia became the first elected head of state in Africa? | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf |
| Serving as President from 2006 to 2010 (and then, again, from 2014) who was Chile's first female President? | Michelle Bachelet |
| Mentioned throughout the Hebrew Bible and once in the New Testament, what name is given to winged angelic beings who are considered to attend on the Abrahamic God in biblical tradition? | Cherubim |
| Held from 1414 to 1418 which Roman Catholic ecumenical council ended the Western schism? | Council of Constance/Konstanz |
| Give a year in the life of chemist Robert Boyle. | 1627-91 |
| Which German Scholastic philosopher, theologian and mathematician (1325 – 11 February 1397) wrote 7 works on astronomy, 18 treatises on the Western schism, seventeen polemics, 50 ascetical treatises, and 12 epistles, sermons and pamphlets? | Henry of Langenstein |
| Which capital city's airport is located at Katunayake? | Colombo |
| What is the largest working waterwheel in the world? | Laxey Wheel, isle of Man |
| The Shwedagon Pagoda dominates the skyline of which city? | Yangon/Rangoon |
| What is the longest undersea tunnel in the world, although the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France has a longer undersea portion? | Seikan Tunnel, Japan |
| Who was the father of the Biblical Abraham? | Teran |
| The early Egyptian God Khnum is usually depicted with the head of which animal? | Ram |
| Where did a genocidal massacre against the Kurdish people take place on March 16, 1988 that killed between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injured 7,000 to 10,000 more using chemical weapons? | Halabja |
| The Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s, manufactured by who? | de Havilland |
| Which division of non-vascular bryophyte land plants are also referred to as hepatics, and are similar to mosses? | Liverworts |
| On what date did Roald Amundsen become the first man to reach the South Pole? | 14th December 1911 |
| One of the safest harbours in Antarctica, in which archipelago is Deception Island? | South Shetlands |
| Regarded as the "father of geodesy" which scholar of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also wrote a History of India after a 1017 trip there? | Al-Biruni |
| The FARC is a guerrilla movement that primarally operated/operates in which country? | Colombia |
| What is the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons? | Pen-Y-Fan |
| What name is shared by both a town in Cornwall, and the second city of Tasmania? | Launceston |
| Which is the second largest city in New Zealand? | Christchurch |
| On which island was the Celtic 'Hendy Head' found? | Anglesey |
| Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickock was killed, is in which US state? | South Dakota |
| Which is the only French department beginning with an F? | Finistère |
| Which motorway links the M4 to Bristol city centre? | M32 |
| Which UNESCO World Heritage Site near Chongqing, features a series of Chinese religious sculptures and carvings, dating back as far as the 7th century AD? | Dazu Rock Carvings |
| Who designed the wide boulevards of Paris in the 1850s and 1860s? | Haussmann |
| Where are the HQ of the African Union, seat of the African Union Commission? | Addis Ababa |
| What does the word 'cenotaph' translate as? | Empty tomb |
| Where are the headquarters of OPEC? | Vienna |
| Which two islands are separated by the Cook Strait? | New Zealand's North and South Islands |
| Apapa Quays are part of the port of which African city? | Lagos |
| What was the name of Hong Kong's old airport, in use until the 1990s? | Kai Tak |
| In which national park is the lowest elevation in North America? | Death Valley |
| In which country is the lowest elevation in South America? | Argentina |
| Jamaica, Surrey and Yorkshire all share a town or city with what name? | Kingston |
| Sir Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis Henry Morgan were pioneering figures in which field? | Anthropology |
| What is the systematic study of people and cultures, designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study? | Ethnography |
| What is by far the most frequently used ethnic term in the Bible, commonly described as a people who had been annihilated by the Israelites? | Canaanites |
| What was the official religion of Persia and its distant subdivisions from 600 BCE to 650 CE? | Zoroastrianism |
| What language spoken by Zoroaster, used for composing the Yasna Haptanghaiti and the Gathas? | Avestan |
| Who is the one universal, transcendent, supreme god in Zoroastrianism? | Ahura Mazda |
| The Hardknott Pass lies at the east end of which Lake District valley? | Eskdale |
| Give a year in the life of Petrarch. | 1304-74 |
| For what does 'DNB' stand? | Dictionary of National Biography |
| Who wrote 'Exodus', a 1958 historical novel about the founding of Israel? | Leon Uris |
| In poetry which month "comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb"? | March |
| In Pinter's "The Caretaker" what is the name of the tramp offered the titular role? | Davies |
| In which play does the character Gwendoline Fairfax appear? | The Importance Of Being Earnest |
| What is "i.e." actually short for? | It est |
| Bagot, Bushy and Green are characters in which Shakespeare play? | Richard II |
| Which architect designed Banqueting House at Whitehall and the portico of St Paul's that was destroyed in the Great Fire? | Inigo Jones |
| Who wrote the play "The Entertainer"? | Osborne |
| Which Shakespeare play features the line "neither a borrower nor a lender be"? | Hamlet |
| Thomas Wakley founded which journal? | The Lancet |
| Give a year in the life of William Wordsworth. | 1770-1850 |
| In which city was the Chartist newspaper "The Northern Star" founded? | Leeds |
| Who painted "Slavers Throwing Overboard The Dead & Dying: Typhoon Coming Up"? | Turner |
| Disraeli's trilogy of novels are "Coningsby", "Sybil" and which other? | Tangred |
| Who wrote "Pippa Passes"? | Browning |
| Which Australian Rugby League player played for Wigan in 1984-5, won 4 premierships with Parramatta and was voted the world's best player in 1986? | Brett Kenny |
| Which British sailor broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe twice, in 2005 and 2008? | Ellen MacArthur |
| Who did Jacques Rogge succeed as IOC President? | Juan Antonio Samaranch |
| In which US State is Valhalla Golf Course? | Kentucky |
| Who coached the 2009 British and Irish Lions team to South Africa? | Ian MacGeechan |
| Who designed Valhalla Golf Course? | Jack Nicklaus |
| Who coached 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia? | Warren Gatland |
| What are tatami, hitori, fillomino and futoshiki? | Japanese number puzzles |
| In which year did Fabio Capello score a Wembley winner for Italy against England? | 1973 |
| As of 2015, what is the most populous country in the world never to have won an Olympic medal? | Bangladesh |
| Maurice Flitcroft achieved brief notoriety in which sport in 1976? | Golf (he hoaxed as a professional golfer, and hit a score of 121 in the qualifying competition for the 1976 Open Championship) |
| In which two months of the year can the 2000 Guineas be held? | April/May |
| How old are horses that run in the 2000 Guineas, St Leger and Derby? | Three |
| Which WW2 commander died on 23rd March 1944 in a plane crash near Bishnupur, Manipur State, India? | Orde Wingate |
| Which battle took place in Europe on 13th March 1704? | Blenheim |
| Rudolphs and Randolphs are types of what in trampolining? | Front Somersaults |
| The pet of George V, Charlotte, was what type of creature? | Parrot |
| Which international force fought for the left-wing Republicans in the Spanish Civil War? | International Brigades |
| In the Spanish Civil War, what was the name of the Nationalists' German-sponsored air division? | Condor Legion |
| Where was the 2016 Superbowl, between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos, held? | Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara |
| In 1920 Berbers in which mainly mountainous region of northern Morocco revolted against Spain? | Rif |
| Which philosopher interoduced the 'felicific calculus' algorithm, for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to cause? | Bentham |
| In medieval times, what were 'Winchester Geese'? | Prostitutes |
| What is the meaning of the name Honolulu in the local language? | Sheltered bay |
| What is the maximum number of people allowed into a pod on the London Eye? | 25 |
| The World's Columbian Exposition was held in 1893 in which city? | Chicago |
| Which architect took a leading role in creating master plans for a number of cities, including Chicago, Manila and Washington, D.C, and also designed several famous buildings, including the Flatiron Building in NYC and Union Station in Washington? | Daniel Burnham |
| 'Broadacre City' was a hypothetical planned city designed by who? | Frank Lloyd Wright |
| Which Israeli-American psychologist, the author of "Thinking Fast And Slow" is one of the few non-economists to win a Nobel Prize in Economics? | Daniel Kahneman |
| Who (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was the English founder of the garden city movement? | Ebenezer Howard |
| In which year did the original Disneyland theme park in Anaheim open? | 1955 |
| What is a spigot? | A (usually outdoor) tap (faucet) |
| Which archipelago lies in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the U.S. mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada? | San Juan Islands |
| In the contest to name Athens, in myth, which god or goddess lost out to Athena? | Poseidon |
| In myth, Athena won the contest to have Athens named after her because her gift to the city was deemed more useful than her competitor's - what was that gift? | An olive tree |
| Which order of column was used in the Parthenon? | Doric |
| Which element in classical and neoclassical architecture consists of a gable, originally of a triangular shape, placed above the horizontal structure of the entablature, typically supported by columns? | Pediment |
| In classical architecture, what name is given to a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze? | Metope |
| The Beulé Gate lies at the entrance to which tourist attraction? | Acropolis |
| Which man (1880-1930) popularised continental drift theory? | Alfred Wegener |
| What was the name of the character played by Dustin Hoffman in 'The Graduate'? | Benjamin Braddock |
| For which two films did Dustin Hoffman win a best actor Oscar? | Rain Man, Kramer v Kramer |
| Which opera do the sisters Fiordoligi and Dorabella appear in? | Cosi Fan Tutte |
| Which German abbess (1098 – 17 September 1179), wrote innovative 12th Century plainsong and is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany? | Hildegard of Bingen |
| Who were the backing group of Joan Jett? | The Blackhearts |
| Who were the backing group of Country Joe? | Fish |
| Which conductor used the pseudonym Paul Klenovsky? | Henry Wood |
| Which composer married Constance Weber? | Mozart |
| Which composer was nicknamed "The Red Priest"? | Vivaldi |
| Which three British composers died in 1936? | Elgar, Holst, Delius |
| In which city was JS Bach Cantor of St Thomas? | Leipzig |
| Which composer of 'An Irish Symphony' was the conductor of the Halle Orchestra from 1920-33? | Hamilton Harty |
| Which character, in Greek myth, was turned into a laurel tree? | Daphne |
| Which fellow composer down the music of Frederick Delius when the composer was blind and paralysed? | Eric Fenby |
| Which mythical Greek herald had a famously loud voice, so much so that his name lives on as an English adjective? | Stentor |
| In Germanic myth, who said that she would only marry a man that was stronger than she was? | Brunnhilde |
| In Greek myth, who slew Medusa? | Perseus |
| What is a vertical bar dividing a window called? | Mullion |
| Which 1843 ship was the first to be propelled by the turn of a screw? | Great Britain |
| Howard Hughes bought 25% of which airline in 1938? | TWA |
| What does OECD stand for? | Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development |
| Which class of birds are flightless ones? | Ratites |
| What is the SI unit of electrical capacitance? | Farad |
| What is the SI unit of electrical charge? | Coulomb |
| How many inches are in a cubit? | 18 |
| Which city is served by Boryspil Airport? | Kiev |
| What is the highest mountain in Ukraine? | Mt Hoverla |
| In which month and year was the Chernobyl Accident? | (26th) April 1986 |
| Kiev stands on which river? | Dnipro |
| In which year was the month-long Sino-Indian War over a disputed Himalayan border? | 1962 |
| Which battle of 15 June 1389 cemented Ottoman rule over Serbia? | Battle of Kosovo (or Kosovo Polje) |
| The flag of Kosovo features a map of the country surmounted by how many white stars? | Six |
| The third-largest city in Afghanistan, what is the capital of Balkh province? | Mazar-i-Sharif |
| How many time zones are there in Russia? | Eleven |
| Charles XII of which country led a failed attack on Russia in 1708? | Sweden |
| All 4 members of which band were killed in a car crash outside Stockholm in February 2016? | Viola Beach |
| Which former Eastern Bloc nation joined NATO in 2009? | Albania |
| Ivan The Terrible was Tsar in which century? | Sixteenth (1547-84) |
| Which Tsar founded the Russian Empire in 1721? | Peter the Great |
| As of Feb 2016, who were the 5 members of the Eurasian Economic Union? | Armenia, Belarus, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia |
| What was the fourth, chronologically, of Hercules' labours? | Capturing the Erymanthian Boar |
| What was the fifth, chronologically, of Hercules' labours? | Cleaning the Augean Stables |
| What was the sixth, chronologically, of Hercules' labours? | Killing the Stymphanalean Birds |
| Which 17th century musician died from gangrene, having accidentally struck his foot with his long conducting staff during a performance of his Te Deum? | Jean-Baptiste Lully |
| Which Spanish composer was killed when the SS Sussex was torpedoed in 1916? | Enrique Granados |
| Written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua, what is the earliest surviving opera that is still regularly performed today. | Moneverdi's "L'Orfeo" (Peri's "Dafne" is older but not regularly performed) |
| Who wrote opera "The Silken Ladder"? | Rossini |
| Who was the composer of operas "Don Pasquale" and "Lucia Di Lammermoor"? | Donizetti |
| First produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831, which is Bellini's most oft-performed opera? | Norma |
| Give a year In the life of composer Vincenzo Bellini. | 1801-35 |
| Who composed the short opera "I Pagliacci"? | Leoncavello |
| Who were the backing band of John Mayall? | The Bluesbreakers |
| Who were the backing band of Gary Numan? | The Tubeway Army |
| Who were the backing band of Gary Puckett? | Union Gap |
| Brian Poole was the lead singer of which band? | The Tremoloes |
| Which British conductor of Polish and Irish descent, born 1882, spurned a baton when performing? | Leopold Stokowski |
| Who, in myth, was the Greek Muse of Epic Poetry? | Calliope |
| How many symphonies were written, in total, by Leonard Bernstein? | Three |
| In which city did Rudolf Nureyev defect in 1961? | Paris |
| Which musical features the song "Another Suitcase In Another Hall"? | Evita |
| A false attributation, that persisted for many years, had a Charles Moncke as the alleged inventor of what? | Monkey Wrench (in fact he never existed) |
| Luke Howard (1772-1864) developed the nomenclature for what, still used today? | Clouds |
| What can be classified into 'hesperiodea' and 'papilonoidea'? | Butterflies |
| Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus all belong to which "infraorder" of dinosaurs? | Sauropods |
| Which breed of dog is understood to have the best sense of smell? | Bloodhound |
| Which was the first iPod to be sold without a scroll wheel? | iShuffle |
| Dental amalgam is traditionally around 50% comprised of which metal? | Mercury |
| What were first successfully marketed in around 1904 by shop merchant Thomas Sullivan from New York? | Tea bags |
| Waldo Hanchett patented which aid to dentistry in 1848? | Dentist's chair |
| Which structure connects the larynx to the lungs? | Trachea |
| Which company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land? | Polaroid |
| The first commercially available iPod had how many GB of memory available for use? | 5GB |
| Bill Moggridge's GRiD Compass 1101 is generally regarded as the first ever example of what? | Laptop |
| What symbol shares a key with '4' on a computer keyboard? | $ |
| What is the name given to a cross between a male false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) and a female common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)? | Wolphin |
| Which bird has the scientific name "struthio camelus", meaning "sparrow camel"? | Ostrich |
| What communication method was first successfully used in the USA in March 1955? | Fax |
| Who led the Visigoths that sacked Rome in 410CE? | Alaric |
| What also goes by the name Sagarmatha, in the language of its native country? | Mt Everest (in Nepal) |
| Which Pre-Socratic was nicknamed 'the weeping philosopher'? | Heraclitus |
| The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lasted from which year until 1795? | 1569 |
| The Church of England parish church of Saint Giles in which village near Slough claims to have been the setting for Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"? | Stoke Poges |
| Who was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 until August 431, when the emperor Theodosius II confirmed his condemnation by the Council of Ephesus on 22 June, for teaching the disunity between Christ's human and divine natures? | Nestorius |
| Which battle took place in AD 451 between a coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I, against the Huns and their allies commanded by their leader Attila? | Chalons (or Catalaunian Plains) |
| What was a cithara? | Ancient Greek lyre-like instrument |
| Which 6th century historian's most notable work was his Decem Libri Historiarum or Ten Books of Histories, better known as the Historia Francorum ("History of the Franks"), a title given to it by later chroniclers? | Gregory of Tours |
| Who was the last of the western Roman Emperors? | Romulus Augustulus |
| Which city had the Roman name Burdigala? | Bordeaux |
| At which battle of 507 did Clovis of the Franks defeat the Visigoths under Alaric, thus taking the territory of Tolosa and setting the stage for the unification of France? | Battle of Vouillé |
| What is the largest town on the Isle of Bute? | Rothesay |
| Which hills, with a high point at Duncolm, stretch from Dumbarton to Strathblane? | Kilpatrick Hills |
| Which UK TV series was set in the fictional village of Portwenn? | Doc Martin |
| Which BBC journalist won the 2005 Paul Foot award and attracted controversy for a row during the filming of "Scientology and Me", a 2007 Panorama investigation into Scientology? | John Sweeney |
| For which film did Jon Voight win a Best Actor Oscar? | Coming Home |
| For which film did Richard Dreyfuss win a Best Actor Oscar? | The Goodbye Girl |
| Who won a Best Actor Oscar for the film "A Double Life" in 1948? | Ronald Colman |
| In which century is the original 'Star Trek' series set? | 23rd |
| Which famous author and playwright was born and buried in Kirriemuir, Scotland, which he called "Thrums" in some of his early novels? | JM Barrie |
| Who lived at Hughenden Manor, Bucks between 1848 and his death in 1881? | Benjamin Disraeli |
| What is the summer residence of the French President? | Fontainebleau |
| In which country is there a 24.51 km tunnel that became the world's longest road tunnel upon opening in 2000? | Norway |
| Who played Alex Cross in both 1997's "Kiss The Girls" and 2001's "Along Came A Spider"? | Morgan Freeman |
| The Brummie Kevin Turby was a comic creation of which actor? | Rik Mayall |
| MGM Cartoon character "Droopy" was what type of animal? | Dog |
| Who created the characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Droopy, and Screwy Squirrel? | Tex Avery |
| Who played Dr Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes from 1939 to 1946? | Nigel Bruce |
| In Doctor Who, which assistant to the Doctor was played by both Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward? | Romana |
| What was the original title of "The Phil Silvers Show"? | You'll Never Get Rich |
| In which film of 1963, adapted from a novel, does Tom Courtenay play an undertaker's clerk? | Billy Liar |
| In the original "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)", who played Randall? | Mike Pratt |
| Who played both Carol in "The Rag Trade" and Grace Pulman in "New Tricks"? | Sheila Hancock |
| Who played the murderer Franz Becket in Fritz Lang's "M"? | Peter Lorre |
| In whih 1993 film does Tom Cruise work in a Memphis law firm with Mafia connections? | The Firm |
| Who was the first male non-pro dancer, and the first sportsperson, in 2005, to win "Strictly Come Dancing"? | Darren Gough |
| Who was born Julia Wells on 1 October 1935? | Julie Andrews |
| Which 2001 film starring Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris and Jude Law is set during the Battle of Stalingrad? | Enemy At The Gates |
| In 1942 patriotic war film "In Which We Serve", who played Captain E.V. Kinross, captain of the HMS Torrin? | Noel Coward |
| The Propylaea, Arrephorion and Erechtheum are all structures that can be found together in which specific place? | Acropolis of Athens |
| The Al-Azhar Mosque is an influential mosque, established 972, in which city? | Cairo |
| Who is Big Ben named after? | Benjamin Hall (civil engineer and politician) |
| In which country is the Cahora Bassa Dam? | Mozambique |
| Christ the Redeemer of the Andes, a monument high in the Andes at 3,832 metres (12,572 ft) above mean sea level, lies on the border of which two countries? | Chile and Argentina |
| Built from 1555–61 on orders from Ivan the Terrible, to whom is the famous multi-domed cathedral on Red Square dedicated? | St Basil (Vasily) |
| The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, built between 1175 and 1490 is more commonly known by what name, that includes the name of its small cathedral city in Somerset? | Wells Cathedral |
| Opened for traffic on 17 September 1871, which is the oldest of the large rail tunnels through the Alps? | Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also called Mont Cenis Tunnel) |
| From which city was London's Cleopatra's Needle taken? | Alexandria |
| For what, in the UK, does CCHQ stand? | Conservative Campaign Headquarters |
| Hadrian's Wall ran between which two towns? | Bowness and Wallsend |
| In which country is the Kariba Dam? | Zambia |
| The Altamira caves lie 30km west of which Spanish city? | Santander |
| The prehistoric statue the 'Venus of Willendorf' was named after a village in which country? | Austria |
| Which company, founded 1851, is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west coast? | Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) |
| Which Yorkshire race course was known for staging only National Hunt racing but staged its first Flat racing fixture in April 2015? | Wetherby |
| Which are the two major suits in Bridge? | Hearts, Spades |
| Who was the World Snooker Champion in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1978? | Ray Reardon |
| Irving Saladino was a 2008 Olympic Gold medallist in which event? | Long jump |
| In which county is Kempton Park Racecourse? | Surrey |
| In which year were the Snooker World Championships first held at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield? | 1977 |
| Who won the 2015 World Snooker Championships at the Crucible aged 38, the first trophy in his 20-year career? | Stuart Bingham |
| Irving Saladino, in 2008, became which country's first and - as of 2015 - only Olympic gold medallist? | Panama |
| Give a year in the life of Jan Van Eyck? | 1394-1441 |
| The word 'quark' originated in which novel? | Finnegan's Wake |
| 1945 Nobel Literature prize winner Gabriela Mistral was from which country? | Chile |
| Give a year in the life of Daniel Defoe | 1660-1731 |
| For which novel did Ian McEwan first win the Booker Prize? | Amsterdam |
| Who wrote "Memoirs Of An Infantry Officer" in 1930? | Sassoon |
| Who wrote "The American Way Of Death"? | Jessica Mitford |
| Which Shakespeare play features the phrase "the world is mine oyster"? | The Merry Wives of Windsor |
| Which plant 's leaves appear on a Corinthian column? | Acanthus |
| On waking, which author regularly said "good, another day's pipe smoking"? | JRR Tolkien |
| Who was the oldest of the Mitford sisters? | Nancy Mitford (b. 1904) |
| The most recent to die, in 2014, who was the youngest Mitford sister? | Deborah Mitford |
| Which author won the 2005 Booker prize with his novel "The Sea"? | John Banville |
| What is the forename of Charles Saatchi's brother, with whom he co-founded Saatchi & Saatchi? | Maurice |
| Who wrote the novel "Enigma of Arrival"? | VS Naipaul |
| The novel "World's End" which featured the Van Brunt family, set over 300 years in New York, was written by who? | TC Boyle |
| What is the name given to a right to silence warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation)? | Miranda Warning |
| Whose work was "Grace Abounding To The Chief Of Sinners"? | John Bunyan |
| Who was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005? | Gerhard Schroeder |
| Who was the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s, convicted of plotting the assassination of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and executed by hanging in 1966? | Sayyid Qutb |
| The anthropological hoax involving the supposedly-untouched Tarasay people occurred in which country? | Philippines |
| What name was given to statement issued on 25 January 1981 by Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams, confirming they were to leave the Labour Party and join the SDP? | Limehouse Declaration |
| The first commercially successful cultured pearls were grown in which country? | Japan |
| What is the currency of Bahrain? | Bahraini Dinar |
| The first species ever to have its status changed from "Extinct In The Wild" to "Vulnerable", after a successful reintroduction programme, what is the national animal of Bahrain? | Arabian Oryx |
| What is the name of the rosewater drink sprayed in place of champagne at F1 Grands Prix in Bahrain? | Waard |
| Later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology, who was the Sumerian God of Wisdom, Mischief and Water, named in the Epic of Gilgamesh? | Enki |
| Who was the first winner of a Bahrain Grand Prix, when the inaugural event took place in 2004? | Michael Schumacher |
| Principally a fertility goddess, and found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, who was a mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer? | Ninhursag (accept Ninh) |
| From 1521-1602 which country ruled over Bahrain? | Portugal |
| Revered by Muslims as an Islamic relic which, according to Muslim tradition, dates back to the time of Adam and Eve, what can be found at the Easternmost corner of the Qaaba? | Black stone |
| Which term, from the Latin for "containing a thousand", is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed? | Millenarianism |
| What is the national air carrier of Bahrain? | Gulf Air |
| The sooty, Amur, and Eleonara's, are all species of what? | Falcon |
| Now destroyed, which monument in the centre of a roundabout was the focus of the Bahraini uprisings in 2011? | Pearl Monument |
| Which Christological doctrine that emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus is named after the Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431? | Nestorianism |
| In which decade did Bahrain become independent? | 1970s (1971) |
| The rhim gazelle favours which type of environment? | Desert |
| What is is the first month of the Islamic calendar? | Muharram |
| The Day of Ashura, the tenth day of the first month in the Islamic calendar, which marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram, marks - for Shia - Muslims, whose death? | Husayn, the grandson of Mohammed |
| Visited by approximately 50,000 tourists every year, in which country is there a mesquite tree called The Tree Of Life, in legend said to be the only remainder of the Garden of Eden? | Bahrain |
| What is the main international airport of Berlin? | Tegel Airport |
| Who wrote "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry"? | Rachel Joyce |
| Deposed 1806, who was the last Holy Roman Emperor? | Francis II |
| Which Holy Roman Emperor, sharing a name and regnal number with a later great king, lived 1194-1250, and controlled a vast swathe of Europe? | Frederick II |
| Seen as an enormous turning point in history, a which 732 battle did Frankish and Burgundian forces under Austrasian Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel defeat an Islamic army keen to subjugate Europe? | Battle of Tours |
| The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of which Holy Roman Emperor? | Charles V |
| What was the name of the alliance of France, Pope Clement VII, the Republic of Venice, England, the Duchy of Milan and Republic of Florence that fought the Habsburgs from 1526-30? | League of Cognac |
| What popular name has been given to a failed coup attempt by the Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler — along with Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff and other Kampfbund leaders — to seize power in Munich, Bavaria, during 8–9 November 1923? | Beer Hall Putsch |
| Who was the last Ottoman sultan, reigning until 1922? | Mehmet VI |
| How was the mobster born Salvatore Lucania better known? | Lucky Luciano |
| Known to its native speakers in Ireland as De Gammon, what is the language of Irish travellers, spoken particularly in Ireland, the USA and Great Britain? | Shelta |
| Which (c. 1572 – 25 August 1632) English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer wrote The Shoemaker's Holiday (1599), his acknowledged masterpiece? | Thomas Dekker |
| Which English Jacobean playwright and poet (1580 – July 1627) wrote plays " A Chaste Maid in Cheapside", "A Game At Chess" and "The Revenger's Tragedy", and was apparently called on to help revise "Macbeth" and "Measure for Measure"? | Thomas Middleton |
| In 2015, Justin Bieber became the first solo male artist to simultaneously occupy positions 1,2 and 3 on the UK singles chart, as well as achieving Number 1 with each of the 3 songs involved; what were the three songs? | What Do You Mean, Sorry, Love Yourself |
| The first step in winemaking, what name is given to freshly pressed grape juice before it becomes alcoholic? | Must |
| Who wrote the satirical 1956 novel "Noblesse Oblige"? | Nancy Mitford |
| Which US detective fiction author, who worked extensively on the HBO series The Wire, created the characters Nick Stefanos and Spero Lucas? | George Pelecanos |
| Which Hungarian–French artist's 1930S work "Zebra" is considered by some to be one of the earliest examples of op art? | Victor Vasarely |
| The pedestrianized Strøget is a street and tourist attraction in which European city? | Copenhagen |
| Lucia Costa and Oscar Niemeyer were together responsible for the design of which city? | Brasilia |
| In which decade were university constituencies abolished in the UK? | 1940s (1948) |
| What title was possessed by George IV before he assumed the throne? | Duke of York |
| What title did Anthony Eden take on elevation to the peerage? | Earl of Avon |
| Which Prime Minister became the Earl of Stockton on elevation to the peerage? | Harold MacMillan |
| What name was given to the period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s? | Dustbowl |
| Which sea battle fought on 24 June 1340 was one of the opening conflicts of the Hundred Years' War between England and France? | Battle of Sluys |
| Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough was a close friend and the confidante of which British monarch? | Queen Anne |
| Which company introduced tea bags to the UK? | Tetley |
| What is the most popular non-alcoholic beverage in the world (excluding water)? | Coffee |
| What position was held by Anders Fogh Rasmussen from 2009 to 2014? | NATO secretary-general |
| In 2009, Kirsty Moore became the first female to be appointed to which post? | Pilot for the Red Arrows |
| In post 1952-57, who was the first NATO secretary-general? | Hastings Ismay |
| What nationality is Jens Stoltenberg, appointed Nato secretary-general in 2014? | Norwegian |
| Who were the two consorts of King John of England? | Isabella of Angouleme; Isabella of Gloucester |
| In popular legend, where did King John lose many of his crown jewels? | The Wash |
| What colour robes are worn by Fransciscan monks? | Grey |
| Which order of monks ran Fountains Abbey? | Cistercians |
| In myth, who was the father of the giant "Albion", brother of Bergion? | Poseidon/Neptune |
| Born in Uganda, who became the 97th Archbishop of York in 2005, and famously skydived for charity? | John Sentamu |
| What is the name given to the sticks used to stir cocktails? | Swizzle sticks |
| How is a blood pudding also known? | Black pudding |
| The song "Stranger In Paradise" is taken from which musical? | Kismet |
| In myth, who killed Agamemnon? | Either his wife's lover Aegisthus, or his wife, Clytemnestra |
| Who were the two children of Agamemnon who avenged their father's death, in Greek myth? | Orestes and Electra |
| In Greek myth, who was Oedipus' father? | Laius |
| In Greek myth, who was Oedipus' mother? | Jocasta |
| In Greek myth, who was the mother of Eros? | Aphrodite |
| Anu was the supreme god in the mythology of which ancient civilisation? | Babylonian |
| Give a year in the life of JS Bach. | 1685-1750 |
| What was the forename of JS Bach's first wife? | Barbara |
| Clifford Chance, Slaughter & May and Linklaters are all companies specialising in what? | Law |
| On which number is the duodecimal system based? | 12 |
| What is the profession of a cordwainer? | Shoe-maker |
| What is the profession of a loriner? | Makers of metal parts for bridles, harnesses, spurs and other horse apparel |
| What is a pricket? | A spike for candles |
| Which three word term refers to a temporary recovery in share prices after a fall? | Dead cat bounce |
| What term is given for interest added to the principal of a deposit or loan so that the added interest also earns interest from then on.? | Compund interest |
| What name is given to the end product of a mathematical division? | Quotient |
| In the AS level in schools, what does AS stand for? | Advanced supplementary |
| What appeared on the reverse of a five pence piece from 1971 to 2008? | Thistle |
| Who thought to be the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England? | William Caxton |
| What was designed by Claude (Claudius) Honoré Desiré Dornier? | Aeroplanes |
| Who, in the UK, are the DWI, based in Whitehall? | Drinking Water Inspectorate |
| Up to what value are 5p and 10p pieces technically legal tender? | £5 |
| Which is the lowest value British coin that is legal tender for an unlimited amount? | £1 |
| Eau de Nil is a pale shade of which colour? | Green |
| On which earlier plane were Nimrods modelled? | DeHavilland Comet |
| What is the name given to a vertical partition separating a ship's compartments? | Bulkhead |
| Erythema Pernio is another name for which condition? | Chilblains |
| In photography, what does DPI stand for when referring to a camera's resolution? | Dots Per Inch |
| What were the forenames of the five Marx brothers? | Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo, Gummo |
| Which class of nuclear submarine is slated to replace both the Swiftsure and Trafalgar class in the UK Navy? | Astute |
| Who wrote "The Four Million", his second collection of published stories, and coined the term "banana republic"? | O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) |
| Who created Mutt and Jeff, the first successful daily comic strip in the United States? | Bud Fisher |
| Which newspaper, that was published between 1865 and 1932, was known as "The Pink 'Un"? | The Sporting Times |
| "Guys and Dolls" was based on which newspaperman's two stories, "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure"? | Damon Runyon |
| Controversially used in 1996 by the Oakland School Board, which portmanteau word is a symonym for African American Vernacular English? | Ebonics |
| Who originally coined the phrase "Dark Ages"? | Petrarch |
| Their name memorialised in a Welsh poem, which P-Celtic speaking Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia's territory, in post-Roman times, included Dùn Éideann, later Edinburgh? | Gododdin |
| Which battle, fought around AD 600 between a force raised by Brittonic people from the "Old North" of Britain, and the Angles, ended in a catastrophic defeat for the former, and paved the way for the Angles to colonise much Brittonic territory? | Battle of Catraeth (possibly Catterick) |
| Which Roman word signified the area between Hadrian's and the Antonine Walls? | Intervallum |
| Which city was known to the Romans as Luguvalium? | Carlisle |
| Intimately associated with the king Urien, which kingdom of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, included Cumbria and the Solway Firth? | Rheged |
| Which city was known to the Romans as Pons Aeilius? | Newcastle |
| What was tanistry? | A Gaelic system for passing on titles and lands |
| Which German-born painter who moved to Flanders lived 1430-1494, and painted "Scenes from the Passion of Christ" in the Galleria Sabauda of Turin and the "Advent and Triumph of Christ" in the Pinakothek of Munich? | Hans Memling |
| What is Britain's smallest historic county, often nicknamed "The Wee County"? | Clackmannanshire |
| Which major victory for the Anglo Saxons over the native Britons in the early 7th century saw Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys, Rhôs (a cantref of the Kingdom of Gwynedd) and possibly Mercia? | Battle of Chester |
| What name is given to a stable natural language that has developed from a pidgin, becoming nativized by children as their first language, with the accompanying effect of a fully developed vocabulary and system of grammar? | Creole |
| The 1932 film "Horse Feathers" was a vehicle for who? | Marx Brothers |
| What did Robert Falconer Keith do on 31st May 1911? | Launch the RMS Titanic |
| What, as of 2016, is the deposit for standing as a candidate for the European parliament? | £5000 |
| How is Vitamin B3 also known? | Niacin |
| Who had a UK Number 1 album in 1992 with "Wish"? | The Cure |
| There are two main types of coffee bean sold worldwide, accounting for over 96% of production, which two? | Arabica and Robusta |
| The wind known as the 'Doctor' blows in which country? | Australia |
| Steinlager is produced in which country? | New Zealand |
| Otoplasty is the correction of deformities of which body part? | Ears |
| Whose motto is "Indocilis Privata Loqui (not apt to disclose secrets)"? | The Magic Circle |
| Who plays the title role in TV series "Endeavour"? | John Evans |
| Whose motto is "Regnum Defende (Defence of the Realm)"? | MI5 |
| Who wrote the Booker Prize winner "A Brief History of Seven Killings"? | Marlon James |
| Which currency was used in Qatar before 1966? | Indian Rupee |
| In which country of the UK is Big Dog Forest? | Northern Ireland |
| What are the components of a B&B Cocktail? | Brandy and Bendictine |
| In which city was Anne Frank born? | Frankfurt |
| Who was the first British monarch to visit the UK? | George VI |
| Accuracy International make which product? | Guns |
| Who sang the theme tune to "To Sir With Love"? | Lulu |
| Camembert cheese is made in which region of France? | Normandy |
| What is a cryptonym? | Codeword |
| Jimmies and sooks are the males and females of what species? | Blue crabs |
| The Ralph Reader Gang Show had what signature tune? | On The Crest Of A Wave |
| The Lakeside Hammers are a team in which UK sport? | Speedway |
| Where would a Mexican wear huaraches? | Feet |
| In which London building is the round reading room? | British Museum |
| The River Len is found in which English county? | Kent |
| What is the currency of Botswana? | Pula |
| The Bell X1 plane that first broke the sound barrier had what nickname? | Glamorous Glennis |
| Which US president had the middle name Birchard? | Rutherford B Hayes |
| Which actor and produced was married to Anne Bancroft from 1964 until her death in 2005? | Mel Brooks |
| Anne Bancroft won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her lead role in which 1962 film? | The Miracle Worker |
| Who played Bottom in the 1935 film version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"? | Jimmy Cagney |
| Which director of 2006's "Marie Antoinette" also received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the comedy-drama "Lost in Translation"? | Sofia Coppola |
| What was the theme tune for "Octopussy"? | All Time High |
| Who was the first actress to earn $1,000,000 for a single film? | Elizabeth Taylor |
| Which character unsuccessfully hunts Bugs Bunny? | Elmer J Fudd |
| Which TV show regularly ended with "the story you have seen is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent"? | Dragnet |
| What was the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award? | Beauty and The Beast |
| Who appeared in more "Carry On" films than anyone else? | Joan Sims |
| Which 1998 American fantasy romance film, loosely based on the 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday, was the second pairing of Antony Hopkins and Brad Pitt after their 1994 film Legends of the Fall? | Meet Joe Black |
| Which film re-united as its two lead actors the Pretty Woman stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts? | Runaway Bride |
| Which two Carry On films were the only two not to have "Carry On" in the original title? | Don't Lose Your Head and Follow That Camel |
| How is Hiram B Hackenbacker better known? | Brains in "Thunderbirds" |
| What is Lady Penelope's surname? | Creighton-Ward |
| What is James Bond's family motto? | The World Is Not Enough |
| Who played L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies' (played by James Stewart) girlfriend Lisa Carol Fremont in "Rear Window"? | Grace Kelly |
| Who played the main female role opposite Cary Grant in "North by Northwest"? | Eva Marie Saint |
| What was the first name of Dorien's husband in "Birds Of A Feather"? | Marcus |
| What is the real name of Cliff Richard? | Harry Webb |
| Who, as of 2016, is the most nominated director in Academy Awards history with 12 nominations? | William Wyler |
| Which US newsreader was well known for his departing catchphrase "And that's the way it is," followed by the broadcast's date? | Walter Cronkite |
| The Kalahari lies mainly in which country? | Botswana |
| What was the more northern of two supercontinents (the other being Gondwana) that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent around 300 to 200 million years ago? | Laurasia |
| What name is given to a geographical dictionary or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas? | Gazetteer |
| What name is given to a mixture of molten or semi-molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and which forms igneous rocks? | Magma |
| What is the one-word alternative name for a rhumb line, an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle? | Loxodrome |
| What represents a youth hostel on an Ordnance Survey map? | Red Triangle |
| What name is given to a narrow strip connecting two land masses? | Isthmus |
| What is the Cumbrian name for a small lake or large pond? | Tarn |
| Where do Cowdenbeath FC play home games? | Central Park |
| Which Irish Olympic bronze-winning boxer was found hanged in London by Frank (later Kellie) Maloney in 2009? | Darren Sutherland |
| As of 2016, which cricketer holds the record for most Test dismissals by a wicket-keeper, with 532 catches and 23 stumpings? | Mark Boucher (SA) |
| Who defeated Jim Corbett in 1897 to become World Heavyweight Champion? | Bob Fitzimmons |
| In which city did Tyson Fury defeat Wladimir Klitschko for WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring Heavyweight titles? | Dusseldorf |
| Who founded Taoism? | Lao-Zi |
| Also known as the Classic of Changes or Book of Changes in English, what name is given to the ancient divination text that is the oldest of the Chinese classics? | I Ching |
| What is the southernmost district of Sweden, that lends its name to a vehicle manufacturer and a dialect? | Scania |
| Which island, to the east of most of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and northwest of Poland, contains the ruin of Hammershus? | Bornholm |
| What is the largest island in the Baltic Sea? | Gotland |
| Hammershus, Scandinavia's largest medieval fortification, was probably built for which King, who reigned 1202-41? | Valdemar II (the Victorious) of Denmark |
| The island of Inchgalbraith lies on which body of water? | Loch Lomond |
| Which Roman poet and astrologer was the author of a poem in five books called Astronomica? | Marcus Manilius |
| Which Roman senator of the late 1st century AD is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises, especially "De Aquaeductu", dealing with the aqueducts of Rome.? | Frontinus |
| Regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration, which man - a Duke of Viseu - lived from 1394 to 1460 and was the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discoveries? | Henry the Navigator |
| The moon rises how many minutes later than the day before each day? | Fifty |
| Which Jesuit polymath (1602-80) has been described as "The Last Renaissance Man", and wrote treatises on volcanoes, fossils, automatons, China, comparative religion and medicine, although his claim to have deciphered hieroglyphics was nonsense? | Athanasius Kircher |
| Which language did Jesus Christ speak during his public ministry? | Aramaic |
| What feat did aviator Hubert Wilkins achieve in 1928? | Flew across the Arctic and Antarctic |
| Who was the first man to reach the South Pole by air - he also claimed to have been the first to do the same to the North Pole, but this claim is disputed? | Richard E Byrd |
| Who was the Brazilian partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, controversially detained at Heathrow in 2013 under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000? | David Miranda |
| The Lockheed Martin F-35 is better known by what name? | Lightning II |
| Which Bible edition took its name from a misspelling of the word 'vinyard' in Luke 22? | Vinegar Bible |
| What important misprint led to the 1631 'Wicked Bible' being recalled to the printers? | It omitted 'not' in "Thou shalt not commit adultery" |
| The Jewish War (c.75CE) was a work of history by which man? | Josephus |
| Which infectious viral disease of cattle was declared eradicated worldwide in 2011? | Rinderpest |
| Which man, the mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong, wrote many tunes still played today including "Dippermouth Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal Street Blues", and "Doctor Jazz"? | Joe 'King' Oliver |
| Which Black US author wrote a series of Harlem Detective novels featuring Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, New York City police detectives in Harlem, and "If He Hollers Let Him Go"? In 1958 he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. | Chester Himes |
| Both Presocratic philosophers Parmenides, and his pupil Xeno (of paradox fame), hailed from which Greek colony in Southern Italy? | Elea |
| As of 2016, who has won six Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards – 2 for Outstanding Contribution to Music and the first Brits Icon in 2013 for his "lasting impact on British culture", an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Tony Award & a Disney Legend Award? | Elton John |
| Who wrote "Of Time and the River", "You Can't Go Home Again" and "The Web and the Rock", before dying aged 37 from TB? | Thomas Wolfe |
| What is the function of the website Zoosk? | Dating |
| Which NBA team won 6 championships in the 1990s but none before, or as of 2016, since? | Chicago Bulls |
| Why was the Stanley Cup not awarded in 1919? | Spanish flu |
| Which team won a record 17th NBA championship in 2008? | Boston Celtics |
| Which NBA team, previously based in Philadelphia and San Francisco, won the 2015 championships while based in Oakland? | Golden State Warriors |
| In the Gospel of Luke, Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to where? | Emmaus |
| What is the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history and the most-produced combat aircraft since the Korean War? | MiG 21 |
| Observed lunging out of the water to grab pigeons on land, what is the other name of a sheatfish? | Wels catfish |
| In 2005, Barry J Marshall and J Robin Warren of Australia won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for discovering the role of what in causing disease? | Helicobacter Pylori |
| Eleven people on the ground were killed and several others were injured, including the pilot of the plane when a plane crashed onto the A27 during which 2015 airshow? | Shoreham Airshow |
| Which song, released April 6, 2015, became the then-second most viewed YouTube video with 1517 million views as of March 4th 2016? | See You Again by Wiz Khalifa feat Charlie Puth |
| "Lean On" was a critical and commercial success, peaking at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number two on the UK Singles Chart, for which electronic music group? | Major Lazer |
| Which founder of the school of individual psychology (1870-1937) coined the term "inferiority complex", recognized as an isolating element which plays a key role in personality development? | Alfred Adler |
| Poem collections "Pomes Penyeach" (1927) and "Chamber Music" (1907) were written by who? | James Joyce |
| In The Odyssey, on which island did Calypso detain Odysseus for 7 years? | Ogygia |
| Which 2015 French crime drama film directed by Jacques Audiard won the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival? | Dheepan |
| Which period of Chinese history lasted for 255 years between 476BC and 221 BC? | Warring States period |
| Which is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany? | Schleswig-Holstein |
| What is the capital city of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, also known as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in English? | Schwerin |
| Frankfurt am Main is the largest city in which German state? | Hesse |
| The flag of Monaco is virtually identical to which other - considerably larger - country's flag? | Indonesia |
| Wild Bill Hickok was murdered by who in 1876? | Jack McCall |
| Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of whose works? | Plato |
| Suspiria de profundis (a Latin phrase meaning "sighs from the depths") is one of the best-known and most distinctive literary works of which English essayist? | Thomas De Quincey |
| Born into slavery, the African-American abolitionist Sojourner Truth is best-remembered today for a speech she made in Akron, Ohio in 1851 which is now universally known by which title, a question repeated several times during the speech? | Ain't I A Woman? |
| Which popular Egyptian condiment, consisting of a mixture of herbs, nuts, and spices, has a name derived from the Arabic for 'to pound'? | Duqqa |
| Barack Obama's father was a member of which African ethnic group, the third largest in Kenya (after the Kikuyu and the Luhya), and also found in Uganda and Tanzania, and in smaller numbers in Sudan and Ethiopia? | Luo |
| Built upon the orders of Trajan, a famous bridge on the Tagus river is to be found in which Spanish city with a name aptly meaning 'the bridge' in Arabic? | Alcantara |
| At the men's football event at the 2015 Pacific Games, which country made headlines by losing 30-0 to Tahiti, 38-0 to Fiji, and 46-0 to Vanuatu? | Micronesia |
| The only person to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony, a Pulitzer Prize, and a Golden Globe is which composer responsible for the scores to films such as The Way We Were, Ordinary People, and Sophie's Choice? | Marvin Hamlisch |
| The oldest motorcycle speedway race in the world - known as the Golden Helmet - has been hosted annually since 1929 in which Czech city? | Pardubice |
| Founded in 1725, the Sobrino de Botín in Madrid is the world's oldest example of which type of establishment still in existence? | Restaurant |
| The soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli is best-remembered today for being the first person to take the role of which courtesan - the central character in Verdi's La Traviata? | Violetta Valery |
| Which 1977 Sam Peckinpah film - set during World War II - is based on Willi Heinrich's 1956 novel The Willing Flesh? | Cross of Iron |
| Andrija Mohorovičić gives his name to the discontinuity forming the boundary between the Earth's crust and the mantle, but which German geophysicist gives his name to the discontinuity forming the boundary between the lower mantle and the outer core? | Beno Gutenberg |
| The only painting by Leonardo da Vinci on public display in the Americas is a portrait of which woman on show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC? | Ginevra de Benci |
| Islamic State is a jihadist organisation with a political ideology based on which ultra-conservative movement within Sunni Islam with a name derived from the Arabic for 'pious forefathers'? | Salafism |
| As of 2015, which driver won the most F1 Grands Prix without ever being crowned champion (16)? | Stirling Moss |
| Rose Atoll is the southernmost point belonging to the USA. It is to be found within which territory? | American Samoa |
| Which Malian kora player is probably best-known for his work recorded with his Symmetric Orchestra composed of griots from the across the old Mande Empire of west Africa? | Toumani Diabate |
| Which tiny filamental structures found in rocks and sediments are about 10% the size of bacteria, leading to claims that they are the smallest known life. This is controversial, however, and many biologists believe them to be crystalline structures. | Nanobes |
| The first German book ever to top the New York Times best-seller list, Der Vorleser (The Reader) was a 1995 novel by which law professor and judge? | Bernhard Schlink |
| natural nuclear fission reactor is a uranium deposit where self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions have occurred. The first such reactor was discovered in 1972 in Oklo province in which African country? | Gabon |
| Inspiring an American TV series written by Stephen King, which 1994 Danish television miniseries - created by Lars von Trier - follows a number of characters as they encounter bizarre phenomena in the neurological ward of a Copenhagen hospital? | The Kingdom |
| Summer of 1915 is the subtitle of which work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber? The piece is named for the city in Tennessee in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Agee (on whose work the music was based) was born. | Knoxville |
| The best-known of the Nag Hammadi texts is almost certainly a gospel consisting of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. This gospel is named for which of the Twelve Apostles who, according to the text's introduction, authored it? | St Thomas |
| Gauguin's 1889 painting The Yellow Christ is often cited as the quintessential work of which style of post-impressionist painting in which bold, flat forms are separated by dark contours? | Cloissonism |
| What is the name of the cowboy known to 'shoot faster than his shadow' who was created by Belgian cartoonist Maurice De Bevere - better known as Morris – and at one time written by René Goscinny? | Lucky Luke |
| Which Portland Thorns forward featured on the cover of the US edition of the FIFA 16 video game? | Alex Morgan |
| Who wrote "Goodbye To All That"? | Robert Graves |
| Who wrote "The Happy Hooker" in 1971? | Xavier Hollander |
| Who wrote "Inside The Third Reich" (first published in German in 1969, in English in 1970)? | Albert Speer |
| Imprisoned in Germany, whose biography was published in the United States in 1941 under the title "I Paid Hitler"? | Fritz Thyssen |
| Alfred E Neumann is a recurring character who appears in which magazine? | MAD |
| Who devised Andy Capp? | Reg Smythe |
| Who is Andy Capp's wife? | Flo/Florence |
| Which pair drew and wrote the Asterix stories? | Goscinny and Uderzo |
| Who created the character of Barry McKenzie? | Barry Humphries |
| Which cartoonist created and drew Fred Basset? | Alex Graham |
| Which famous artist had the 'surname' Di Bondone? | Giotto |
| In which year did St Francis of Assisi die? | 1226 |
| Which artist (c1240 – 1302) is traditionally, and according to Vasari, said to have been Giotto's master? | Cimabue |
| What was Dante's surname? | Alighieri |
| The Scrovegni Chapel in which Italian town or city was designed by Giotto? | Padua |
| The artist Duccio hailed from which city? | Siena |
| In which building did John Bunyan write "A Pilgrim's Progress"? | Bedford Gaol |
| Who wrote epistolatory novels "Clarissa" and "Pamela"? | Samuel Richardson |
| Which painter, who lived from 1284-1344, born in Siena, was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style, and was believed to be a pupil of Duccio? | Simone Martini |
| Which structure in Florence, its first stone laid in 334, was designed by Giotto and is often named after him? | Campanile/Giotto's Campanile |
| In which country is the Braslau Lakes National Park? | Belarus |
| Gamla Stan is the central, old town part of which European city? | Stockholm |
| Which theory, devised in 1992 by economist Hyman Minsky, received greater attention in the media following the subprime mortgage crisis of the late 2000s? | Financial Instability Hypothesis |
| Which shell beads were traditionally used by the north-eastern Native Americans as a form of gift exchange, and mistaken for currency by early colonists? | Wampum |
| In which decade was the US dollar uncoupled to the gold standard? | 1970s (1971) |
| The Lotos-Eaters (sic) was an 1832 poem by who? | Alfred, Lord Tennyson |
| Which country was named by Ruy López de Villalobos? | Philippines |
| In which English county was Francis Drake born? | Devon |
| What is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde? | Praia |
| Francis Drake's ship "The Golden Hind" had what original name? | Pelican |
| Located in Djurgardens, Stockholm, what is the world's first open-air museum, designed by Arthur Hazelius, and opened in 1891? | Skansen |
| Which Swiss-born visual artist who works with video, film, and moving images which are often displayed as projections, won the Joan Miró Prize in 2009, and created the works Pepperminta, I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much, Pickleporno and Ever is Over All? | Pipilotti Rist |
| What was the surname of the father and son Swedish architects (1615-81, and 1654-1728) who designed, among other things, the Drottningholm Palace? | Tessin (both called Nicodemus) |
| The assassination of Swedish king Gustav III in 1792 formed the basis for which of Verdi's operas? | A Masked Ball |
| What was the old name for Taiwan, taken from the Portuguese for 'beautiful island'? | Formosa |
| What the most populous city in Flanders, with around 510,000 inhabitants? | Antwerp |
| Give a year in the life of the man sometimes described as Scotland's first king, Kenneth MacAlpin. | 810-858 |
| Which American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois (1899-1972), briefly the manager of Louis Armstrong, is remembered for being a colorful character, as portrayed in his autobiography Really the Blues, as for his music? | Mezz Mezzrow |
| Arabella and Benjamin Allen are siblings that appear in which Dickens novel? | The Pickwick Papers |
| Based on the number of participating athletes, what is the second most popular winter sport in the world? | Bandy |
| In which year did Queen Victoria come to the throne? | 1837 |
| Who was US President on 1st January 1900? | William McKinley |
| In which year did British VAT rise from 15% to 17.5%? | 1991 |
| Who was forced to resign as Austrian Chancellor in 1848? | Metternich |
| What was a sepoy, historically? | The designation given to an Indian soldier (today it is a private in various armies of the subcontinent) |
| Which pioneering British photographer took pictures of the Crimean War, including a series entitled The Valley of the Shadow of Death? | Roger Fenton |
| Which colonel seized power in the military coup d'état that took place in Greece on 21 April 1967? | Georgios Papadopoulos |
| Enoch Powell was the MP for a constituency in which town from 1950 to 1974? | Wolverhampton |
| In the traditional office, which hymn is sung at the end of Matins on all days when the Gloria is said at Mass; those days are all Sundays outside Advent, Septuagesima, Lent, and Passiontide; on all feasts and on all ferias during Eastertide? | Te Deum |
| Which British sociologist who is known for his theory of structuration, (born 1938) was influential in creating the idea of the political "Third Way" embraced by Tony Blair? | Anthony Giddens |
| Give a year in the reign of Henry III of England. | 1216-72. |
| What is the name of the Israeli parliament? | Knesset |
| Which Israeli Prime Minister's brother died leading Operation Entebbe? | Benjamin Netanyahu |
| Modelled after the British Army's Special Air Service, what is the name of the Israeli Special Forces unit created in 1952? | Sayeret Matkal |
| Former Taoiseach of Ireland Charles Haughey was tried but acquitted of what offence in 1970? | Gunrunning |
| Who first entered the UK Parliament in 1982 as MP for Peckham? | Harriet Harman |
| From 1949 to 1957, Sidney Holland was the PM of which country? | New Zealand |
| Which man, credited with devising the concept of sending greetings cards at Christmas time, also assisted Prince Albert in organising the 1851 Great Exhibition? | Henry Cole |
| Robert Peel died three days after what accident befell him? | Falling off his horse |
| At which battle was Ethelred I of England killed (or sustained wounds that led to his death)? | Merton |
| Which architect designed Edinburgh's Charlotte Square? | Robert Adam |
| Which portrait painter, portraitist to King George IV in Scotland was Scotland's first significant portrait painter since the Union to remain based in Scotland? | Sir Henry Raeburn |
| Which Scottish artist (1877-1931) lived in the USA between ages 15 and 30, was a member of the four Scottish Colourists and is among the most popular Scottish artists, his paintings critically acclaimed for their treatment of light? | Leslie Hunter |
| Sir George Frederick Harvey, born 1806 in Stiring, dying in Edinburgh in 1876, was famed in what field? | Painting/art |
| The Great Rhetra was the oral - and quasi-mythical - constitution of Sparta, believed to have been formulated and established by which legendary lawgiver in accordance with the Oracle at Delphi? | Lycurgus |
| Annie Clark, of St Vincent, was formerly a member of which collective or band? | The Polyphonic Spree |
| Robert Pershing Wadlow is the tallest man ever to have lived whose height has been medically verified. But second on that list, standing at 8'10", was which African-American (1865-1905)? | John Rogan |
| Dating from pre-Columbian times, tepache is a popular Mexican fermented beverage made from which fruit? | Pineapple |
| Which physical law states that the rate at which a fluid flows through a permeable medium is directly proportional to the drop in elevation between two places in the medium and inversely proportional to the distance between them? | Darcy's Law |
| Which peninsula in Senegal serves as the most westerly point on mainland Africa? | Cap-vert |
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garyegrant
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