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GK 32
Quiz
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Which river flows through Pretoria, South Africa? | Apies |
President of the South African Republic (or Transvaal) from 1883 to 1900, who was nicknamed "Old Lion" or "Uncle"? | Paul Kruger |
Regarded as the mastermind behind socially engineering and implementing the racial policies of apartheid, who was PM of South Africa from 1958 to 1966? | Hendrik Verwoerd |
Which US swimmer, the "California Condor", competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning a total of eleven medals (eight gold, two silver and one bronze)? | Matt Biondi |
He has been called the first modern historian, and the earliest person to write using the three-period view of history: Antiquity, Middle Ages, and Modern - which man, born in Arezzo in 1370? | Leonardo Bruni |
The Prague cathedral that is the seat of city's Archbishop is dedicated to which saint? He was joined in a 1997 rededication by both Wenceslaus and Adalbert. | St Vitus |
Who wrote 1843's "Past and Present"? | Thomas Carlyle |
Which 19th century 'movement' of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism, used as its philosophy Tractarianism, named for a series of publications, the Tracts for the Times, published from 1833-1841? | Oxford Movement |
Queenstown in New Zealand is located on an inlet of which lake? | Lake Wakatipu |
Which French architect and theorist, famous for his interpretive "restorations" of medieval buildings (1814-79) restored Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and the walls of Carcassonne? | Eugène Viollet-le-Duc |
Which artist created the photo series "Centerfolds" in 1981, "Fairy Tales" in 1985 and "Disasters" (1986-9)? | Cindy Sherman |
Born in Brockton, Massachussetts in 1980, which man is credited with founding the Napster music-sharing site? | Shawn Fanning |
Which Chicago-born artist (1940-2007) was known for splitting her canvasses into fragments that she allowed to overlap each other, and created works with titles Just In Time, Yikes and Do The Dance? | Elizabeth Murray |
Which French-American sculptor, painter, and filmmaker (1930-2002), one of the few women artists widely known for monumental sculpture, created the sculpture series 'Tirs', 'Nanas' and 'Tarot Garden', the latter located in Tuscany? | Niki de Saint Phalle |
Which German visual artist, born 1944, is best known for her installation art, film directing, and her body modifications such as Einhorn (Unicorn), a body-suit with a very large horn projecting vertically from the headpiece? | Rebecca Horn |
"He Do The Police In Different Voices" was the original working title of which long poem of 1922? | The Waste Land (TS Eliot) |
Whose 1907 published literary work was entitled "Chamber Music"? | James Joyce |
Which US bookseller (1887-1962) is known for her Paris bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, where she published James Joyce's controversial book, Ulysses (1922)? | Sylvia Beach |
Which poet published "Easter 1916" about the botched Irish national uprising, in the same year? | WB Yeats |
Which character narrates "The Great Gatsby"? | Nick Carraway |
What is the largest town by population on the Isle of Wight? | Ryde |
In which English county is Bettiscombe Manor, famous for its "screaming skull"? | Dorset |
According to myth, which Welsh giant and king's head is buried under the White Tower at the Tower of London, the ravens that live there belonging to him? | Bran |
Which two-part Eisenstein film was commissioned by Stalin - its first part was shown in 1944, but the second not until after Stalin's death in 1958, as he was incensed by the title character's depiction? | Ivan the Terrible |
The daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, and the brother of kings Edward IV and Richard III, who was executed in 1541 on the orders of Henry VIII of England? | Elizabeth Pole, Countess of Salisbury |
What is the translation into English of "St Peter ad Vincula", the parish church of the Tower of London? | St Peter in chains |
What word refers to an area of wooden panelling on the lower part of the walls of a room? | Wainscot |
Built by Jonas Fosbrooke in 1580, which item of furniture was reputedly made for Edward IV and can be seen in the Victoria & Albert Museum? | Great Bed of Ware |
What is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan, operationally responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world? | ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) |
Nur Muhammad Taraki was Chairman of the Presidium of the Revolutionary Council and the communist leader of which nation from 30 April 1978 – 14 September 1979? | Afghanistan |
The US Government used which name for the 'Operation' that officially described the War in Afghanistan, from the period between October 2001 and December 2014? | Operation Enduring Freedom |
Which cave complex, part of the White Mountains (Safēd Kōh) of eastern Afghanistan was infamously once a hideout of Osama Bin Laden and gave its name to a December 2001 battle? | Tora Bora |
Ahmad Shah Massoud, a powerful military commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989 and in the following years of civil war, and assassinated 2 days before 9/11, was known by what nickname? | The Lion of Panjshir |
What was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War, fought in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642? | Battle of Edgehill |
Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day celebrated on the 13th of which month? | December |
Aoroi, biaiothanatoi, ataphoi and agamoi were the four types of what, according to the ancient Greeks? | Ghosts |
The Pharsalia, also known as On the Civil War is a poem begun in 61AD by which Roman writer of epics? | Lucan |
Domrémy-la-Pucelle is a village of about 150 people in the Vosges, France that is best known as the birthplace of which person? | Joan of Arc |
Which French political and economic theorist and businessman whose thought played a substantial role in influencing politics, economics, sociology, and the philosophy of science (1760-1825) created a political and economic ideology known as industrialism? | (Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de) Saint-Simon |
From the Greek for "holy" and "to show" what name is given to a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy? | Hierophant |
Who replaced Paul Jones as lead singer of Manfred Mann in 1966? | Mike d'Abo |
The maker of which amaretto-flavoured liqueur maintains its original "secret formula" is unchanged since 1525? | Disaronno Originale |
"Let's Work Together" was the biggest UK hit for which band in 1970, reaching number 2? | Canned Heat |
David Crosby was a member of which band from 1964 to 1973? | The Byrds |
The son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia in Greek mythology, who is said to have killed Priam? | Neoptolemus |
Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius" is based on whose poem? | John Henry Newman (Cardinal Newman) |
Who wrote the words to the patriotic song "Land of Hope and Glory", the music being by Elgar? | AC Benson |
Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007) was a famed player of which musical instrument? | Cello |
Albert Herring, Op. 39, a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, was based on whose short story? | Guy de Maupassant |
By what method did the Biblical king Saul die, according to the Bible? | Suicide (fell on his sword) |
The name Canada is taken from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning what? | Village (or settlement) |
The capital of Upper Canada from 1797 - 1841, by what name was Toronto known prior to 1834? | York |
Which city in Newfoundland and Labrador is the oldest English-founded city in North America and received the first wireless trans-Atlantic message in 1901? | St John's |
Celebrated annually on July 1st, by what name was Canada Day known prior to 1982? | Dominion Day |
Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City in 1608 under the sponsorship of which French King? | Henry IV |
Lucy Maude Montgomery's character, Anne of Green Gables was born in which Canadian province? | Prince Edward Island |
Who was the colonist and soldier of New France who led a French militia, allied with Huron Indians, against a much larger Iroquois army at the Battle of Long Sault in 1660? | Dollard Des Ormeaux |
Who was the Canadian-born French colonial governor who, in 1755, became the last governor of New France before it was ceded to Britain after the Seven Years’ War? | Pierre-Francois de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal |
Canada shares its only land border with the United States. However, it shares marine borders with which two European countries? | Denmark (Greenland) and France (St Pierre & Miquelon) |
According to Canadian legend "Push on, brave York Volunteers" were the last words of which British Major-General, nicknamed ‘The Hero of Upper America’, who was killed at the Battle of Queenston Heights in 1812? | Isaac Brock |
Its name coined by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the painters Umberto Boccione, Carlo Carra and Luigi Russolo are associated with which artistic movement? | Futurism |
What is the missing brand name in this famous advertising slogan? “Did you … your teeth today”. | Maclean |
Which of the transition metals takes its name from the Swedish for ‘heavy stone’? | Tungsten |
The Schoolmaster and The Palindrome are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer? | Joseph Haydn |
Spring and Rhenish are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer? | Robert Schumann |
Italian and Reformation are the popular names given to symphonies by which composer? | Felix Mendelssohn |
The duplicitous Julien Sorel, the son of a carpenter, is the protagonist of which 1831 novel? | The Rouge Et La Noir |
Dr Primrose, whose seemingly idyllic life is rocked by sudden impoverishment, is the protagonist of which 1765 novel? | The Vicar of Wakefield |
Harry Haller, who struggles to reconcile his noble aspirations with his baser instincts, is the protagonist of which 1927 novel? | Steppenwolf |
Who was British Prime Minister at the time of the Peterloo Massacre? | Earl of Liverpool |
What was the capital of ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom? | Memphis |
Which city was known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset and was the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom? | Thebes |
The The Colossi of Memnon (Arabic: el-Colossat or es-Salamat) are two massive stone statues of which pharaoh? | Amenhotep III |
What relation was Tutankhamun to his predecessor Akhenaten? | Son-in-law |
Who was the tenth and final pharaoh of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, eventually effectively a prisoner in his own palace? | Ramesses XI |
Which horror film was set in the Maryland town of Burkittsville? The town was previously known by another name that features in the title of the film. | The Blair Witch Project |
For what name is Carrie a shortened form in the 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek? | Carietta |
Which 1954 novel by Richard Matheson has been adapted for three horror films, namely 'The Last Man on Earth' (1964), 'The Omega Man' (1971) and a 2007 film that shares the same name as the book? | I Am Legend |
The 2007 horror film 'Grindhouse' is a double feature film co-written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The film consists of the Rodriguez-directed 'Planet Terror' and which feature by Tarantino? | Death Proof |
What is the name of Bernard Herrmann’s screeching string composition that plays during the infamous shower scene in Hitchcock’s 'Psycho'? | The Murder |
Found throughout Africa, Asia and South America, what is the common name given to the limbless, snake-like amphibians that comprise the order Gymnophiona or Apoda? | Caecilians |
The villain Tokka from the 1991 film ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze’ was a mutated variety of which species of turtle, the largest species of freshwater turtle in North America? | Alligator Snapping Turtle |
Also known as the proteus, what is the common name for the amphibian Proteus anguinu, notable for its blindness, caused by adaptation to a life of complete darkness in its underground habitat? | Olm |
Which alcoholic beverage indigenous to and unique to Okinawa in Japan is alternatively known as Habu sake because of the practice of placing a venomous habu snake in it, which, it is claimed, increases its potency? | Awamori |
Its common name taken from the islands in the Pacific Ocean where it is found but also known as Guichenot's Giant Gecko or Eyelash Gecko, which species of gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus, had long been thought extinct until it was ‘rediscovered’ in 1994? | New Caledonian Crested Gecko |
Which fleet-footed messenger supposedly ran the 26 miles to Athens to deliver the news of the victory at the 490BCE Battle of Marathon, before expiring? | Pheidippides |
Which Athenian general is often credited with devising the tactics that defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, although he died in prison the following year after being convicted of treason? | Miltiades |
Which battle fought during the Franco–Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870, resulted in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and for all intents and purposes decided the war in favour of Prussia? | Battle of Sedan |
In which country did Napoleon III die in exile in 1873? | UK (England) |
Who was crowned "king" of Hungary on 17 September 1382, seven days after Louis the Great's death? | Mary |
Lasting 632-661, and with a name meaning 'righteous', what was the first of the four major caliphates established after the death of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad? | Rashidun Calpihate |
Lasting 661-750 (tho longer, in exile, in Cordoba) what was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad? | Umayyad Caliphate |
What was the nickname of Indian Politician Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah (1905-82)? | The Lion of Kashmir |
Who was the British PM at the outbreak of the Crimean War? | George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen |
Which numbered amendment to the US constitution reversed Prohibition? | 21st |
What is the topic of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution? | Right to keep and bear arms |
In which year did the Aberfan tragedy occur? | 1966 |
Which French commander was defeated by Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham? | Montcalm |
What name, derived from the then Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was given to the US legal act that introduced Prohibition? | Volstead Act |
What was the alternative name of the Battle of the Nile in August 1798? | Battle of Aboukir Bay |
Roman, Sebastopol and Toulouse are varieties of which bird? | Geese |
What name is given to the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time? | Chronology |
What name is given to the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values? | Silviculture |
How else is the plant Viola tricolor or heartsease also known, because it was the progenitor of the cultivated varieties? | Wild pansy |
Jem Marsh and Frank Costin founded which car company in 1959? | Marcos |
Fig trees belong to which genus? | Ficus |
Cultivated for its edible pods, how is the tree Ceratonia siliqua, or locust bean, better known? | Carob Tree |
Who (reigning 1665-1700) was the last Habsburg ruler of Spain? | Charles II |
The pilgrimage site of La Basilica di Nostra Signora di Bonaria, which may have given its name to Buenos Aires, is in which Italian city? | Cagliari |
How is the fur of the coypu better known? | Nutria |
Who (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, after defeating the last Parthian shahanshah Artabanus V on the Hormozdgan plain in 224? | Ardashir I |
St Paul, Saul of Tarsus, stated that he was a descendant of which of the 12 Tribes of Israel? | Tribe of Benjamin |
Christian iconography often shows him as a young, beardless man with a tonsure, wearing a deacon's vestments, and often holding a miniature church building or a censer - who is usually considered Christianity's first martyr? | St Stephen |
Which Christian holiday, celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks? | Pentecost |
In apocryphal gospels, who have been given the names Dismas and Gestas? | The two thieves crucified with Jesus |
Conflicting with the Sadducees, which school of thought in the Holy Land during the time of Second Temple Judaism became the foundational, liturgical and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism? | Pharisees |
Pontius Pilate was the fifth man to hold which post in the Roman province of Judaea from AD 26–36? | Prefect |
Which Jewish rebellion, lasting from 167 to 160 BCE, was led by its namesake peoples against the Seleucid Empire and the Hellenistic influence on Jewish life? | Maccabean Revolt |
The namesake Biblical book of which Jewish scribe and priest describes how he led a group of Judean exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem where he is said to have enforced observance of the Torah? | Ezra |
Abgar V the Black or Abgarus V of Edessa, a ruler of the province of Osroene, is claimed in some sources to be the very first ruler in history to have what distinction? | To be a Christian |
Now considered part of the much larger Laniakea Supercluster, which 'supercluster', sharing its name with a sign of the Zodiac, do the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies belong to? | Virgo Supercluster |
In the Laniakea Supercluster of which the Milky Way is part, all the galaxies seem to be moving to a point at its centre, which has been given waht two-word name? | Great Attractor |
What is the closest star system to the Solar System? | Alpha Centauri |
What is the largest galaxy in the Local Group? | Andromeda |
In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish for their role in the detection of what, first discovered in 2016? | Gravitational Waves |
Star clusters come in two forms - globular and which other? | Open |
With a diameter of 396 kilometres (246 mi) it is the smallest astronomical body that is known to be rounded in shape because of self-gravitation, of which planet is Mimas a moon? | Saturn |
Which objects are classified using the Morgan-Keenan (MK) system? | Stars |
Other than the Sun, what is the brightest star when seen from Earth? | Sirius (Sirius A) |
What are by far the most common type of star in the Milky Way? | Red Dwarves |
In geological time, which supereon covers the time before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is itself comprised of three eons (Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic)? | Precambrian |
In geological time, what name has been given to a proposed epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on the Earth's geology and ecosystems? | Anthropocene |
What is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS)? It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present. | Quaternary period |
The current geological epoch, which epoch began after the Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years before present? | Holocene |
Which geological period immediately preceded the Tertiary and followed the Jurassic? | Cretaceous |
Which geological period of time immediately followed the Ordovician but preceded the Devonian? | Silurian |
Which subdivision of the geologic timescale, the Holocene being an example, is longer than an age but shorter than a period? | Epoch |
The Tertiary geological period is now often divided into which two periods? | Paleogene, Neogene |
Situated in the Esbjerg Municipality in south west Jutland, which is the oldest town in Denmark, having been established in the 8th Century? | Ribe |
Who was the only King of France to have been made a saint? | Louis IX |
The painters Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet were prominent members of which 19th Century French school of landscape painters, named after the town in Fontainbleau Forest where the artists gathered? | Barbizon School |
Which singer contributed backing vocals to the Electric Six's 2002 hit 'Danger! High Voltage' under the name John S. O'Leary? | Jack White |
Which American writer shot and killed his ex-wife during a drunken party game in Mexico City in 1951? | William S Burroughs |
In terms of population, Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia. Which is the second largest? | Kosice |
In which American state did the first Battle of the Bull Run occur in July 1861? | Virginia |
Who scored Arsenal's winning goal in extra-time of the replayed 1993 FA Cup final? | Andy Linighan |
Which Russian resort was the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games? | Sochi |
Which two countries fought the Kalmar War from 1611 to 1613? | Denmark and Sweden |
According to Greek mythology, which king of Thebes was the husband of Jocasta and father of Oedipus? | Laius |
Who was the American President who made the Louisiana Purchase from France? | Thomas Jefferson |
Which Austrian feminist playwright and novelist won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004? | Elfriede Jelinek |
Although it was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, the classic film 'Citizen Kane' only won one; which one? | Best Original Screenplay |
Which French explorer became the first person to sail up the St Lawrence River, across which now stands a bridge bearing his name? | Jacques Cartier |
The musical 'Helly, Dolly!' was based on which play written by the American author Thornton Wilder? | The Matchmaker |
In June 2007, to reflect the wishes of its inhabitants, the Japanese government officially switched the name of Iwo Jima to it original name; what is it now called? | Iwo To |
Meaning 'Plain Land' in old Icelandic, what name was given to the area of North America, now part of Newfoundland, that was discovered by the norseman Leif Eiríksson in about the year AD1000? | Vinland |
Which American writer wrote a series of novels known collectively as 'The Leatherstocking Tales'? | James Fennimore Cooper |
Which English rock group took their name from the title of a 1966 novel by William Manus? | Mott The Hoople |
The 19th Century Belgian musicians Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux are all famous players of which musical instrument? | Violin |
Which was the only defeated European country to acquire new territory as part of the border adjustments after the First World War? | Austria |
Oona O'Neill married which 54 year old actor when she was just 18, staying with him until his death in 1977 and having eight children with him? | Charlie Chaplin |
Known for his turbulent lifestyle and a favourite of the tabloids, the identically-named son of which actor, nicknamed "Manny" died at age 40 in February 1974, just one year after his father's death at 79? | Edward G. Robinson (son was Edward G. Robinson Jr) |
Which American film director was best known for directing the movie "Rebel Without a Cause"? | Nicholas Ray |
Which American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance as John "Plato" Crawford opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause, was murdered in a botched robbery in 1976? | Sal Mineo |
In which film did James Dean debut as the troubled Caleb Trask? | East of Eden |
Which Greek-American directed several important films including A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), and East of Eden (1955)? | Elias Kazan |
Which US director's most notable films are probably A Place in the Sun (1951; winner of 6 Oscars including Best Director), Shane (1953; Oscar nominated), Giant (1956; Oscar for Best Director) & The Diary of Anne Frank (1959; nominated for Best Director)? | George Stevens |
In which US city was the popular TV series Dexter set? | Miami |
Which French filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter is regularly considered one of the best directors in history though he only directed six films, including "Playtime" (1967) and "Mon Uncle" (1958)? | Jacques Tati |
Which American actress whose career spanned five decades won Academy Awards for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965), and received nominations for A Place in the Sun (1951) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972)? | Shelley Winters |
Phyllis Gates married which film star in 1955, although she was essentially a "beard" as he was homosexual? | Rock Hudson |
Which West German filmmaker, actor, playwright and theatre director, who was a catalyst of the New German Cinema movement, died in 1982 from a lethal cocktail of cocaine and barbiturates? | Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
Dying in 2017, who directed "The Silence of the Lambs" (winning a Best Director Oscar), "Philadelphia" and "Married To The Mob"? | Jonathan Demme |
Clyde Griffiths is the central character in which Theodore Dreiser novel? | An American Tragedy |
Which German-born conductor and composer was appointed Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the 1930s, but after the war his left-wing views saw him denied entry to the USA? | Otto Klemperer |
One of the founders of the French New Wave, which French film director's The 400 Blows came to be a defining film of the movement? He also directed Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board and Love on the Run. | François Truffaut |
Which Italian film director married Ingrid Bergman in 1950? | Roberto Rossellini |
Breathless, My Life To Live, The Little Soldiers, Les Carabiniers and Contempt are among the major works of which French film director of the Nouvelle Vague and New Wave movements? | Jean-Luc Godard |
Which Italian film director was best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents" — L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L'Eclisse (1962), as well as the English-language Blowup (1966)? | Michelangelo Antonioni |
Playing Max von Mayerling in Sunset Boulevard, actor Erich von Stroheim was born in which capital city? | Vienna |
Which author was born in Sauk Center, Minnesota on Feb 7th 1885? | Sinclair Lewis |
Which United States subscription-based e-commerce service first started in 1926 with "Lolly Willowes" by Sylvia Townsend Warner? | Book of the Month Club |
Which important sociological studies conducted by Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd took place in the 1920s in Muncie, Indiana? | Middletown Studies |
Which bandleader and pianist was born Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe? | Jelly Roll Morton |
What was "Ain't Misbehavin'" pianist Fats Waller's real first name? | Thomas |
Which American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance wrote the controversial 1926 novel "Nigger Heaven"? | Carl van Vechten |
Other than protium, what is the only other stable isotope of hydrogen? | Deuterium |
Which US psychoanalyst wrote "Individual and Mass Behaviour in Extreme Situations", "The Empty Fortress" and "The Uses of Enchantment" - he was exposed after his death as having used plagiarism and fake credentials? | Bruno Bettelheim |
George W. Corner played a pivotal role in the discovery of which hormone, also called P4? | Progesterone |
Which Russian-born French sculptor was a friend of Henry Miller and was represented by the character Borowski in Miller's Tropic of Cancer? His best-known work is probably The Destroyed City (1951-1953)? | Ossip Zadkine |
Which prolific French surrealist painted "Mama, Papa is Wounded!" (1927), but died of a stroke aged just 55? | Yves Tanguy |
Which French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker created an early form of Cubism that his critics called "Tubism" because of its reliance on cylindrical shapes? | Fernand Léger |
What nationality was painter Max Ernst? | German |
Which German expressionist, whose works were branded "degenerate" by the Nazis shot and killed himself in Switzerland on 15th June 1938? | Ernst Kirchner |
Who wrote "Illness as Metaphor" and "AIDS and its Metaphors"? | Susan Sontag |
Michel Foucault, Bruce Chatwin, Anthony Perkins, Denholm Elliott and Rudolf Nureyev all died of which disease? | HIV/AIDS |
In which country was the conservationist Joy Adamson born? | Austria |
What were the two sequels to Joy Adamson's famous book "Born Free"? | Living Free, Forever Free |
Which Russian biologist, historian and dissident wrote "A Question of Madness" with his brother Roy, and is famous for exposing the Kyshtym nuclear disaster? | Zhores Medvedev |
Complete the title of the 1962 Solzhenitsyn novel: "One Day In The Life of..."? | Ivan Denisovich |
Played by Ralph Fiennes in 1994 movie "Quiz Show", which man was best known for a television quiz show scandal, when in 1959 he testified before the United States Congress that he had been given the correct answers by the producers of the show Twenty One? | Charles Van Doren |
Who was the host of a US variety show that ran from 1948 to 1971? It was initially called "The Toast of the Town" but later renamed for its host. | Ed Sullivan (The Ed Sullivan Show) |
Which ground-breaking US TV show started life as a radio show called "My Favorite Husband"? | I Love Lucy |
Which American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958 became famous for a March 1954 episode where Edward Murrow confronted Senator Joseph McCarthy about the "Red Scare" and helped bring about McCarthy's downfall? | See It Now |
In 1950, Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill published research in the British Medical Journal that first showed a close link between smoking and what disease? | Lung Cancer |
One of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname "Mr. Television", who sponsored 1948-56's "Star Theatre"? | Texaco (Texaco Star Theatre) |
First appearing in 1944, which American advertising mascot created by the Ad Council with artist Albert Staehle warns of the dangers of wildfires? | Smokey Bear |
First created by the Bolsheviks in 1917, what name was given to the executive committee for Communist Parties? | Politburo |
Popular in Nazi Germany, and promoted by Joseph Goebbels, what were Volksempfängers? | Radios/radio receivers |
Which British monarch was the first to have their speeches broadcast by the BBC? | George V (1924) |
The Mishneh Torah (Hebrew: "Repetition of the Torah"), subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka, is a code of Jewish law written by which man (d.1204)? | Moses Maimonides |
Which sage of the 2nd century, known by his acronym Rashbi, is the alleged author of the Zohar, according to its promulgator (and probable real author) Moses de Leon? | Simeon bar Yochai |
Which festival is the Jewish Rosh Hashanah? | New Year |
The shofar, blown at Rosh Hashanah in a synagogue, is usually a horn from which animal? | Ram |
What name is given to a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Tabernacles? | Sukkah |
Which actress was born with the real forenames Julia Jean, in Wallace, Idaho on February 8, 1921? | Lana Turner |
Which actress is best known for her Academy Award-winning role in The Three Faces of Eve (1957)? | Joanne Woodward |
From 1949 through 1959, which theatre hosted the American motion picture industry's annual Academy Award Ceremonies? | Pantages Theater |
Published in 1978, "Mommie Dearest" was an expose written by which actress's stepdaughter? | Joan Crawford (written by Christina Crawford) |
Which 1959 films tell the story of Jan Marrow (Doris Day), an interior decorator and Brad Allen (Rock Hudson), a womanizing composer/bachelor, both of whom share a telephone party line? | Pillow Talk |
What do the letters ESPN stand for in the US Sports channel? | Entertainment and Sports Programming Network |
Which American television sitcom that aired on Fox from 1987 and 1997 follows the lives of Al Bundy, a once glorious high school football player turned hard-luck women's shoe salesman and his family? | Married... with Children |
Which acclaimed film director created a famous 1984 Super Bowl advert for Apple Computers? | Ridley Scott |
Ray Tomlinson (1941-2016) is generally credited with the first what, first implemented in 1971? | E-mail system (accept use of @ sign) |
The Magnavox Odyssey was the first commercial example of what, released in 1972? | Home video console |
Who wrote the 1944 play "No Exit"? | Jean-Paul Sartre |
Robert Alda played who in the 1945 film "Rhapsody in Blue"? | George Gershwin |
Which child model and actress was born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942? | Sandra Dee |
Along with Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, which gossip columnist (1904-88) came to wield sufficient power to make or break Hollywood careers—prompting her to describe herself as "the last of the unholy trio"? | Sheilah Graham |
Which actress starred in both "She Done Him Wrong" and "I'm No Angel" alongside Cary Grant? Both were released in 1933. | Mae West |
Which Battle of 9 August 48 BC was decisive in Caesar's victory over Pompey? | Battle of Pharsalus |
Which historically-important valley in Central Asia is spread across eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan? | Fergana Valley |
One of the most crushing defeats in Roman history, which battle was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire in upper Mesopotamia? It resulted in Crassus' death and the end of the First Triumvirate. | Battle of Carrhae |
Which public park in northwest England was the world's first publicly-funded park? | Birkenhead Park |
Puerto del Rosario is the capital of which of the Canary Islands? | Fuerteventura |
Becoming perhaps the first western samurai, which English navigator, in 1600, was the first of his nation to reach Japan during a five-ship expedition for the Dutch East India Company? | William Adams |
Which Roman lyric poet died on November 27, 8 BC, aged 56? | Horace |
Ralph Vaughan Williams' song cycle 'On Wenlock Edge' is a musical setting for the works of which English poet? | AE Housman |
Which 1993 film stars John Goodman as the William Castle-inspired filmmaker Lawrence Woolsey? | Matinee |
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, whose 1768 Massachusetts Circular Letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, leading ultimately to US independence? | Samuel Adams |
How is Handel's Harpsichord Suite No. 5 nicknamed? | The Harmonious Blacksmith |
Who was the primary lead vocalist and lyricist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980, choking on his own vomit? | Bon Scott |
Ian Anderson was a flautist in which band, formed in Blackpool in 1967? | Jethro Tull |
In which place was Jesus betrayed by Judas, and the place where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion? | Garden of Gethsemane |
What was considered the hometown of Jesus, Biblically? | Nazareth |
Who was the Greek goddess of the dawn? | Eos |
Principally a fertility goddess, which Sumerian goddess was a mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer? | Ninhursag |
Which French sauce is made with dry red wine, bone marrow, butter, shallots and sauce demi-glace? | Bordelaise |
Which insurrectionary held by the Roman governor at the same time as Jesus was freed by Pontius Pilate while Jesus was kept as a prisoner? | Barabbas |
Which Jerusalem church church contains, according to tradition, the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as "Calvary", and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected? | Church of the Holy Sepulchre |
What term, the French for 'burning cloud' is used to describe some types of volcanic pyroclatic flows? | Nuée ardente |
Which is the only bird, struthio camelus, that has been used to produce leather? | Ostrich |
How is the shrub genus ligustrum better known? | Privet |
On which UK banknote was Adam Smith's portrait preceded by Shakespeare, Elgar and Faraday? | £20 |
Andean and Californian are the only two extant species of which bird? | Condor |
Of what is ombrophobia the morbid fear? | Rain |
Whose portrait preceded Dickens and Darwin on a £10 note? | Florence Nightingale |
Whose portrait appeared on the new polymer £10 notes introduced in 2017? | Jane Austen |
How is the flowering plant Syringa vulgaris better known? | Lilac |
What is the name of the rawhide leather made from sharks or rays' skin? | Shagreen |
What is the capital of New Brunswick? | Fredericton |
Superseded by Justin Trudeau, who was Canada's PM from 2006 to 2015? | Stephen Harper |
Replacing Jean Chretien, who was Canadian PM from 2003 to 2006? | Paul Martin |
Who was Canada's first female PM? | Kim Campbell |
Canada's first prime minister born in the United Kingdom since Mackenzie Bowell in 1896, who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada from June 30 to September 17, 1984, though never sat in parliament? | John Turner |
In which decade were the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) formed? | 1920s (1920 itself) |
Influencing the famous "Group of Seven" which Canadian artist (1877-1917) died under mysterious circumstances on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park? | Tom Thomson |
Who had a UK Christmas Number 1 in 1959 with "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?"? | Emile Ford and the Checkmates |
Cliff Richard and the Shadows had a 1960 Christmas Number 1 single in the UK with which song? | I Love You |
Who was the first Prime Minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891)? | John MacDonald |
What is both the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest university in the world in continuous operations? | University of Salamanca |
What is the UK's oldest university, the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation? | University of Oxford |
Which topic completes the medieval trivium: grammar, logic and....? | Rhetoric |
Which topic completes the medieval quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music and...? | Astronomy |
Which institute of higher learning in Holborn, London was founded in 1597 and hosts over 140 free public lectures every year? | Gresham College |
In which year was the Royal Society founded? | 1660 |
The Royal Academy of Arts was founded by which British monarch? | George III |
Although several institutions claim to be the third-oldest university in England, which has perhaps the best claim, as it was the third oldest officially recognised university (1832) and the third to confer degrees (1837)? | University of Durham |
Founded in 1785, what is the USA's oldest state-chartered university and the birthplace of the American system of public higher education? | University of Georgia |
Who wrote the influential 1852 book "The Idea of the University"? | (Cardinal) Henry Newman |
In September 2006, after the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which stated that double jeopardy should be abrogated where new evidence came to light, who became the first person to be convicted of murder after previously being acquitted? | William Dunlop |
Which King of Scotland was the father of Mary, Queen of Scots? | James V |
Which Greek mythological figure was driven mad and pursued by the Furies after he murdered Aegisthus and his mother, Clytemnestra? | Orestes |
On which Elmore Leonard book was the movie "Jackie Brown" based? | Rum Punch |
Who was the first white rapper to have a number 1 single in the USA? | Vanilla Ice |
In 1958, which English explorer led the first expeditionary team to complete an overland crossing of Antarctica? | Vivian Fuchs |
In which city is the Imperial Crypt, which was used as the principal place of entombment for the Habsburg dynasty and hereditary Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire? | Vienna |
For what did the K stand in the name of the author Jerome K Jerome? | Klapka |
Which is the northernmost town on the British mainland? | Thurso |
In 1935, who became the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth established under American tutelage? | Manuel Quezon |
In which year did Casey Jones die trying to prevent his train from crashing into a freight train? | 1900 |
Which racing trainer achieved the record of the most National Hunt winners during the 20th Century? | Martin Pipe |
In August 2007, which San Francisco Giants baseballer hit his 756th career home run, passing Hank Aaron as the all-time leader in Major League Baseball? | Barry Bonds |
Which southern African breed of dog is also known as the 'African lion hound'? | Rhodesian Ridgeback |
What was the first name of Mr Cruft who established the famous dog show in 1886? | Charles |
The ancient cities of Apollonia, Butrini and Krujë are all tourist attractions in which country? | Albania |
Which poem by Richard Lovelace contains the famous line, “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage”? | To Althea, From Prison |
Inhabitants of which American state are known as 'cornhuskers'? | Nebraska |
Which French politician was President of the European Commission between 1985 and 1995? | Jacques Delors |
What kind of creature is Smoochy in the 2002 film 'Death to Smoochy'? | Rhinoceros |
Who narrated all 100 episodes of children's TV series "In The Night Garden..."? | Derek Jacobi |
What was the name of the ship computer in "Red Dwarf"? | Holly |
In the TV series "Quantum Leap", what was the name of the self-aware artificial intelligence "parallel hybrid computer with an ego" that runs the Project Quantum Leap, and helps Sam throughout his leaps? | Ziggy |
In which 1925 film does Charlie Chaplin's character eat his boots? | The Gold Rush |
In the film, when does Mary Poppins say that she will stay until? | "The Wind Changes" |
Who was Henry II in the 1968 film "The Lion In Winter"? | Peter O'Toole |
Who played Eleanor of Aquitaine in the 1968 film "The Lion In Winter"? | Katherine Hepburn |
Who played Maid Marian in the 1976 film "Robin and Marian"? | Audrey Hepburn |
At which London theatre did Tommy Cooper collapse and die? | Her Majesty's Theatre (Westminster) |
In which year was Prince Charles born? | 1948 |
Lichen forms from a symbiotic relationship between which two organisms? | Algae/cyanobacteria and fungi |
Which UK Number 2 and worldwide hit of 2015 was recorded by American electronic music group Major Lazer and French producer DJ Snake featuring vocals from Danish singer MØ? | Lean On |
Which artist, who taught at the Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture, was born on18 December 1879 in Münchenbuchsee near Bern, Switzerland? | Paul Klee |
Whic electronic music trio is composed of record producer Diplo, and DJs Jillionaire and Walshy Fire? | Major Lazer |
Which English poet, historical novelist, critic and classicist died aged 90 in 1985, and is buried on Majorca? | Robert Graves |
Which composer (1803-69) made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation? | Hector Berlioz |
In physics, which term is used to represent physical quantities that have both magnitude and direction? | Vector |
Which philosopher wrote "Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous" (1713) and "A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Part I" (1710)? | George Berkeley |
Which polymath and philosopher wrote "Théodicée" (1710) and "Discours de Métaphysique" (1688)? | Gottfried Leibniz |
Which insects belong to family Gryllidae, and have species including "ant-loving" and "sword-bearing"? | Crickets |
Give a year in the life of Fra Angelico. | 1395-1455 |
Which monarch of Britain was born on 9th November 1683 in Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover? | George II |
George VI of Great Britain is the only British monarch to date to have been born in which palace? | Sandringham |
Who are the only two British monarchs, as of 2018, to have been born in Buckingham Palace? | William IV, Edward VII |
Located at the base of the trachea, what is the vocal organ of birds? | Syrinx |
Abu Sayyaf is a militant Islamic separatist movement based in which country? | Philippines |
Known as Portugal's greatest poet, which author is best remembered for his epic work 'Os Lusíadas'? | Luís de Camões |
"Mother died today" is the first line of which French novel of 1942? | L'Etranger |
Elton John's 1982 song 'Empty Garden' was written as a tribute to whom? | John Lennon |
Which county cricket team plays its home games at Grace Road? | Leicestershire |
In the Iliad, who was the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba? | Hector |
In Hesiod's "Theogony", what was the first thing to come into being or exist? | Chaos |
The Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic Xenophanes came from which city in Asia Minor? | Colophon |
Pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides came from which ancient city of Magna Graecia? | Elea/Velia |
Which PM of New Zealand announced that she was pregnant with her first child while in office in 2018? | Jacinda Ardern |
What was the name of the British light cruiser that was accidentally rammed by HMS Queen Mary in October 1942 with the loss of 338 lives? | HMS Curacao |
Who wrote the music for the 1993 UK BBC TV series "The Buddha of Suburbia"? | David Bowie |
In Greek myth, of what was Iris the personification? | The Rainbow |
'La Noire de...', 'Touki Bouki' and 'Guimba, un tyran, une époque' are three of the most important films in the movie industry of which African country? | Nigeria |
What name is given to the young of a falcon? | Eyas |
How many playing cards are used in a game of euchre? | 32 |
Basketball's Hall of Fame is located in which city in Massachussetts, USA? | Springfield |
Shane Gould (born 23 November 1956) was a successful Australian female competitor who won 5 Olympic medals at which sport? | Swimming |
Gabby Logan (née Yorath) represented Wales at which sport? | Gymnastics |
In which year did swimmer Anita Lonsborough win 200m Olympic breaststroke gold? | 1960 |
Which yachting regatta was started in 1957 and was normally a biennial event (occurring in odd-numbered years) which was competed for between national teams, but was not staged in 2001 and was last held in 2003? | Admiral's Cup |
Who was the first footballer to win consecutive European Cups with two different clubs? | Marcel Desailly (Marseille, Milan) |
Who became test cricket's leading ever run scorer in November 2005, although his record has since been overhauled? He was the first player to score a first class century, double century, triple century, quadruple century and quintuple century. | Brian Lara |
Who was the first player to cross the 10,000 run mark in Test Cricket? | Sunil Gavaskar |
Which English rugby union player (born 7 July 1965 in Bath) was nicknamed "Prince of Centres"? | Jeremy Guscott |
Which Premier League football manager received a caution from police in 2007 for obstructing them when they attempted to take his pet dog into custody? | Jose Mourinho |
Which board game was invented by Anthony E. Pratt in 1948? | Cluedo |
Which term and the accompanying specific exercise method were developed by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, an exercise physiologist, and Col. Pauline Potts, a physical therapist, both of the United States Air Force? | Aerobics |
What name is given to a referee in a sumo wrestling bout? | Gyoji |
Who completed the first ascent of Mont Blanc with physician Michel-Gabriel Paccard on 8 August 1786? | Jacques Balmat |
What value is ascribed to an ace in the card game canasta? | Twenty |
Which golfer won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008? | Padraig Harrington |
Which golfer won his first career major title, two strokes ahead of runners-up Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen, and Patrick Reed, at the 2017 US PGA tournament? | Justin Thomas |
Which American professional golfer claimed his first major championship by winning the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Wisconsin? | Brooks Koepka |
Which golfer won the US Open and US Masters in 2015, and the Open in 2017? | Jordan Speith |
Which golfer won his first major at the 2017 US Masters? | Sergio Garcia |
Which skeleton bobsleigh athlete won GB's only medal, a silver, at the 2006 Winter Olympics? | Shelley Rudman |
In the commedia della arte, who is in love with Columbine? | Harlequin |
Which Welsh political cartoonist (1902-79) was best known for his work for the Daily Mail and for becoming the chief cartoonist at the British satirical periodical Punch? | Leslie Gilbert Illingworth |
Which 1995 Pat Barker novel won that year's Booker Prize? | The Ghost Road |
Who wrote the poem "The Splendour Falls on Castle Walls"? | Tennyson |
John Keble, Henry Newman and Edward Pusey were all part of which 'movement' of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism? | Oxford Movement |
Which poet wrote "I Remember, I Remember" that begins:- "I remember, I remember The house where I was born"? | Thomas Hood |
Which children's author, children's laureate from 2005 to 2007 wrote the "Tracy Beaker" series of novels? | Jacqueline Wilson |
Which collection of short pieces Charles Dickens originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and 1836 was his first published work? | Sketches by Boz |
Who won 2014's Booker prize with "The Narrow Road To The Deep North"? | Richard Flanagan |
Which English theatre, opera and film director introduced London audiences to the work of Samuel Beckett with the UK premiere of Waiting for Godot, and founded the Royal Shakespeare Company (1960–68)? He died in 2017. | Peter Hall |
Sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for children's literature, which two literary awards by the International Board on Books for Young People were inaugurated in 1956 (writing) and 1966 (illustration)? | Hans Christian Andersen Awards |
How was Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, born 1887, better known? | Le Corbusier |
In ballet, what name is given to a leap in which one leg appears to be thrown in the direction of the movement? | Jeté |
Who became the first female General Secretary of the TUC in 2013, when she replaced Brendan Barber? | Frances O'Grady |
Who did Douglas Hurd replace as UK Foreign Secretary in 1989? | John Major |
What is the forename of Tony Blair's second son, Euan being the oldest? | Nicholas |
Which Oxford college, one of the first women's colleges but today mixed, was attended by Margaret Thatcher? | Somerville |
Which battles are also called the Battles of Manassas? | First and Second Battles of Bull Run |
Which Second World War naval engagement between British and Axis forces, fought from 27–29 March 1941 is known in Italy as the Battle of Gaudo, and saw the sinking of several Italian ships? | Battle of Cape Matapan |
David Waddington had what UK government role from October 1989 to December 1990? | Home Secretary |
Which Labour politician served as the Member of Parliament since 1982 for Peckham, and then for its successor constituency of Camberwell and Peckham since 1997? | Harriet Harman |
Whose death produced so many memorials that Charles Dickens commented that he longed for an "inaccessible one"? | Prince Albert |
Which of Napoleon's marshals became King of Sweden from 1818 to his death in 1844? | Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (Charles XIV John of Sweden) |
Which state did George Washington represent in the Continental Congress? | Virginia |
In which year of the 20th century did the Queen start paying tax? | 1993 |
Who was the last leader of the UK's Liberal Party before it merged with the SDP to become the Liberal Democrats? | David Steel |
Who was the other member of the 'Gang of Four' who founded the SDP with David Owen, Shirley Williams and Roy Jenkins? | Bill Rodgers |
Which ship sank with the loss of about 300 lives on September 8th 1860, in Lake Michigan? | Lady Elgin |
Which lady played a heroic role in the Escape of Charles II in 1651 by riding to Bristol with him? She was the subject of the novel The September Queen by Gillian Bagwell. | Jane Lane (Lady Fisher) |
What is the Chinese name of the Yellow River? | Huang He |
Which hormone is produced by the corpus luteum, the spheroid of yellowish tissue that forms inside a ruptured ovarian follicle after ovulation? | Progesterone |
Now rarely used, which drug, isolated on October 19, 1943, by Albert Schatz, was the first to be effective against TB? | Streptomycin |
What does BCG stand for in the name of the tuberculosis vaccine? | Bacillus Calmette-Guérin |
Which mountain in central Italy gives its name to a large particle physics laboratory buried within it, which holds experiments searching for dark matter? The first large experiments there started in 1989. | Gran Sasso (Gran Sasso D'Italia) |
Which peak in the Harz mountains of Germany gives its name to the phenomenon in which an elongated shadow of the observer, often bearing a halo, is cast onto cloud? | The Brocken (The Brocken Spectre) |
The 1500-01 painting "The Entombment" in London's National Gallery is the earliest painting to be confidently attributed to who? | Michelangelo |
Which four-letter word is a whisky or wine tasting term used to describe how the drink smells in the glass? | Nose |
On which California mountain is the 100-inch Hooker telescope, used by Hubble to confirm that the universe is expanding? | Mount Wilson |
The companion of the legendary lumberjack Paul Bunyan, what type of animal was 'Babe'? | Ox |
Which Cambridge University college has a namesake city in southern Texas? | Corpus Christi |
What successful UK chart duo was an offshoot of the group Guys and Dolls? | Dollar |
Who was the other half of the group Soft Cell along with Marc Almond? | David Ball |
What specific name is given to water where some sort of acid is added—often lemon juice, lime juice, or vinegar—to prevent cut or skinned fruits or vegetables from browning so as to maintain their appearance? | Acidulated Water |
In 2017, who became Japan's first home-grown sumo grand champion since 1998? | Kisenosato |
In 2009, which sumo wrestler broke the record for the most wins in a calendar year, winning 86 out of 90 bouts, and broke the records for most career wins, achieved in July 2017? | Hakuho Sho |
What colour is Elmo on Sesame Street? | Red |
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with which format? | Musicals |
Christopher 'Kit' Nubbles is a character in which Dickens novel? | The Old Curiosity Shop |
What four-word term is the usual English translation of the epithet given to the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, who reigned 913-959CE? | Born in the Purple |
Which dabbling duck is also called a wild duck in the UK? | Mallard |
Bucephala clangula is which medium sized sea duck, named for a distinctive facial feature? | (Common) Goldeneye |
Common, king and spectacled are the three extant species of which type of large sea duck? | Eider |
Which capital city's name means "Monday" in the local language? | Dushanbe (Tajikistan) |
Nicknamed "The Just" who was King of Kings (Shahanshah) of the Sasanian Empire from 531 to 579? | Khosrow I |
In which century did Gregory of Tours live and write? | 6th century (30 November c. 538 – 17 November 594) |
The last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire, Theodosius I lived in which century? | 4th century (11 January 347 – 17 January 395) |
Who was the founder and first emperor of the Song dynasty in China, reigning from 960 until his death in 976? | Taizu |
Otto I, the Great, was Holy Roman Emperor in which century? | 10th century (23 November 912 – 7 May 973) |
Who was the first Governor of the Bank of England from 1694 to 1697? | John Houblon |
Which psychology professor at Stanford University, born in 1946, is known for her work on the growth-versus-fixed mindset psychological traits? She wrote "Mindset: The new psychology of success". | Carol Dweck |
Which musical features the song "Reviewing The Situation"? | Oliver! (Fagin) |
Which lecturer at UCL presented a biopic of Ada Lovelace and the documentary "The Joy of Data", and wrote "The Mathematics of Love"? | Hannah Fry |
The fictional Bertie Wooster supposedly attended which real-life Oxford college, that stands next to the River Cherwell and has within its grounds a deer park and Addison's Walk? | Magdalen College |
Which real private coeducational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland was the supposed school of the fictional James Bond? | Fettes College |
Which company filed for the largest bankruptcy in US history? | Lehman Brothers |
Former US Secretary to the Treasury Hank Paulson, ECB President Mario Draghi and Bank of England Mark Carney all formerly worked at what investment bank founded in 1869? | Goldman Sachs |
Tom Singh, the brother of writer and broadcaster Simon Singh, founded which British High Street chain? | New Look |
The Student is a fortnightly independent newspaper produced by students at the University of Edinburgh, founded in 1887 by which prominent author? | Robert Louis Stevenson |
Cape Columbia, the most northerly land point in Canada, is on which island, the third largest in Canada? | Ellesmere Island |
Named after a Dutch physicist, which distance-dependent interactions between atoms or molecules are not a result of any chemical electronic bond, and they are comparatively weak and more susceptible to being perturbed? | Van der Waals interactions |
Which chemical compound with the chemical formula H2CO3 is a physiological buffer? | Carbonic acid |
Which former Holby City actor won Strictly Come Dancing in 2017? | Joe McFadden |
The campanile in Florence is sometimes named after which artist, who designed it up to the first floor? | Giotto (Giotto's Tower) |
Which Greek philosopher lived a life of travel, having left his birth place of Colophon, Ionia at the age of 25 and continuing to travel throughout the Greek world for another 67 year? | Xenophanes |
Which ancient Persian city was the place where Hammurabi's law code was found in 1901? | Susa |
What name is given to a chemical bond which is formed when one element is so much more electronegative than another that it strips an electron from its partner? | Ionic |
Complete the title of the 1568 work by Giorgio Vasari: "Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and....."? | Architects |
Which pharaoh reunited Egypt in his 39th year, thus ending the First Intermediate Period? Consequently, he is considered the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom. | Mentuhotep II |
Lamniformes, an order of sharks distinguished by possessing two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gill slits, eyes without nictitating membranes, and a mouth extending behind the eyes, are better known by what name involving that of another fish? | Mackerel Sharks |
Which type of weak bonds bind water molecules? | Hydrogen Bonds |
Who the earliest known poet whose name has been recorded? She was the High Priestess of the goddess Inanna and the moon god Nanna (Sin). She lived in the Sumerian city-state of Ur. | Enheduanna |
Philip the Good who reigned as Philip III from 1419 until his death, was the Duke of where? | Duke of Burgundy |
Holding the all-time Olympic record for most individual medals at a single Games, who the first male gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of ten in an Olympic competition, a feat he accomplished in the long horse vault in 1980? | Alexander Dityatin |
What was the UK name of a 1993 US film starring Ben Kingsley and Laurence Fishburne in a biopic of chess prodigy, Josh Waitzkin? | Innocent Moves |
Pawn Sacrifice is a 2014 American biographical drama film starring Toby Maguire as which real-life person? | Bobby Fischer |
Which UCLA Bruins coach first said "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing" | Henry Russell Sanders |
At which English port were all four of Captain Cook's ships built? | Whitby |
Ernest Hemingway once claimed that "All modern American literature comes from one book". Which book? | Huckleberry Finn |
Yoshkar-Ola is the capital and the largest city of which Russian republic on the North bank of the Volga? | Mari El |
Give a year in the life of Greek poet Pindar. | c. 522 – c. 443 BC |
In which year did the NFL begin as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) before renaming itself the National Football League two years later? | 1920 |
Which Greek town, historically known under its Italian name Navarino, was a significant kingdom in Mycenaean Greece, with remains of the so-called "Palace of Nestor" excavated nearby, named after the King of the town in the Iliad? | Pylos |
Which word, from the Italian for 'round', is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture? | Tondo |
Which military leader, whose name meant "mild one", was a leading Persian military commander during the Persian Wars with Greece in the early 5th century BC, who died at the Battle of Plataea? | Mardonius |
Which town in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia, is infamous as the site of a school hostage siege in 2004, in which 333 people were killed, 186 of them children? | Beslan |
Which Italian scholar and Catholic priest (1433-99), who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, coined the term "Platonic love"? | Marsilio Ficino |
In a professional American Football match, which official wears a white hat? | Referee |
Ford Field has been the home of which NFL team since 2002? | Detroit Lions |
The siege of which city lasted from August 1189 until July 1191 during the Third Crusade - it was a key victory for the Crusaders and a serious setback for Saladin's ambition to destroy the Crusader States? | Acre |
Which city is unique in the UK in having had a municipally owned telephone system from 1902 until 2007, sporting cream, not red, telephone boxes? | Kingston Upon Hull |
Mary de Bohun and Joan of Navarre were the two spouses of which English monarch? | Henry IV |
A massacre at which town in Languedoc took place on 22 July 1209, and was the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade? An abbot is said to have exhorted "Kill them all! God will know his own." | Béziers |
Which 19th century English historian wrote "THE INVASION OF THE CRIMEA: Its Origin, and an Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord Raglan", in 8 volumes, published from 1863 to 1887? | Alexander William Kinglake |
Which two men signed a non-aggression pact on August 23, 1939 between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany? The pact is often named after them. | Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop |
Which French king was assassinated in 1589 by Jacques Clément, a Catholic fanatic? | Henry III |
At which battle did an army of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeat the Great Heathen Army led by Guthrum on a date between 6 and 12 May AD 878? | Battle of Edington (or Ethandun) |
The Committee to Re-elect the President, abbreviated CRP, but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising campaign for which 20th century US President? | Richard Nixon |
Georgios Grivas was a leader of which guerrilla organisation in the 1960s and 1970s? | EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston) |
Who was the last British monarch to refuse Royal Assent to an act of parliament? | Queen Anne |
Who was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister, and resigned in 1974, the year following the Yom Kippur War? | Golda Meir |
What was the British military action Operation CORPORATE? | Retaking Falkland Islands |
Which British Labour politician co-founded and served as general secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union from 1922–40, and as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government? | Ernest Bevin |
What was Lord Lucan's real name? | Richard John Bingham |
Where in the world of great art could you find the statement, "...il suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a votre bienveillance"? | Written on the letter in David's "Death of Marat" |
Building began in 1748 of which inhabited sea fortress and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Helsinki? | Suomenlinna |
In which city are the headquarters of the European Central Bank? | Frankfurt |
Which body of water, linking the Coral Sea with the Arafura Sea, separates Cape York Peninsula in Queensland from the Western Province of Papua New Guinea? | Torres Strait |
Britain fought Denmark-Norway in which war, during the Napoleonic Wars, that lasted from 1807 until ended by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814? | Gunboat War |
Fenya is a cant language used by criminals from which country? | Russia |
Rogier van der Weyden was born in which Belgian city known in Dutch as Doornik? | Tournai |
Now considered a derogatory term, which people of SW Africa were called "Hottentots" by Dutch settlers? | Khoikhoi |
Just one year younger than him, which US President had a sister Rosemary who was mentally disabled, and subjected to a lobotomy aged 23? | John F Kennedy |
Which English monarch had a youngest son, John, had learning disability and a possible intellectual disability, both linked to his severe epilepsy of which he died aged 13? | George V |
Appointed in 2000, which New England Patriots coach led the Patriots to 15 AFC East division titles, 12 appearances in the AFC Championship Game, and eight Super Bowl appearances by 2018? | Bill Belichick |
Which former NFL player born in Golders Green, London to Nigerian parents, now a commentator, played for the New York Giants in a surprise victory in Super Bowl XLII over the New England Patriots? | Osi Umenyiora |
Which eugenicist wrote a never-published Utopian novel called "Kantsaywhere"? | Francis Galton |
A placekicker, who was the first Scottish-born NFL player to win the Superbowl? | Lawrence Tynes |
At around the age of 10 to 12, Titian joined the studio of which Italian Renaissance painter (1430-1516)? | Giovanni Bellini |
Head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in 1939, which Pope was the first sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929? | Pope Pius XI |
President Woodrow Wilson and Chris Christie are both former governors of which US State? | New Jersey |
In 1907, which US state became the first to legalise involuntary sterilisation? Its current NBA basketball team is the Pacers. | Indiana |
In terms of WW2 deaths, the third worst extermination camp, exceeded only by Treblinka and Auschwitz, which concentration camp, only operating for 8 months in 1942, lies 71 miles SE of Lublin? | Bełżec |
At which Nazi concentration camp, in occupied Poland, was there a revolt on 14 October 1943, where about 600 prisoners tried to escape; about half succeeded in crossing the fence, of whom around 50 evaded capture? | Sobibor |
What was the first country in modern history to legalise abortion? | USSR |
Lausanne is the capital and largest city of which Swiss canton? | Vaud |
Which American birth control activist and sex educator (1879-1966) popularized the term "birth control", opened the first birth control clinic in the USA, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America? | Margaret Sanger |
In which decade did Marie Stopes open her first birth control clinic, in North London? | 1920s (1921) |
The Second Sino-Japanese War, that ended in 1945 with the end of WW2, started in which year? | 1937 |
Which artist, born Maria Górska (16 May 1898 – 18 March 1980) was nicknamed "baroness with a brush"? | Tamara de Lempicka |
GWP is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. What does it stand for? | Global Warming Potential |
First published in 1919, what was the magnum opus of HL Mencken, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States? | The American Language |
HL Mencken was known as "The Sage Of..." which city on the eastern seaboard of the USA? | Baltimore |
Which 1960 film directed by Stanley Kramer, with Spencer Tracy as Drummond and Fredric March as Brady dramatized the Scopes Monkey Trial? | Inherit The Wind |
Which genus of cats contains the cougar and the jaguarondi? | Puma |
The words guano and quinine ultimately derive from which language? | Quechua |
Which three women served as Queen of the Netherlands during the 20th century? | Wilhelmina, Juliana, Beatrix |
In which New York borough is Conference House Park, the southernmost point of both the city and the state? | Staten Island |
Who became monarch of the Netherlands in 2013? | William-Alexander |
The Geological Society of London, the Linnean Society of London, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society of Chemistry are all based in which Piccadilly building, home to the Royal Academy? | Burlington House |
The River Swale in Northern England is a major tributary of which river, that itself flows into the Ouse? | Ure |
Yaren is the de facto capital of which nation? | Nauru |
Arlanda and Bromma are the two airports serving which major city? | Stockholm |
The City of Manchester lies on the east bank of which river? | Irwell |
On which lake was John Cobb killed in 1952, attempting to break the world water speed record in the jet speedboat Crusader at a speed in excess of 200 mph? | Loch Ness |
What name, from the Spanish for "cooking pot" is given to a large cauldron-like depression that forms following the evacuation of a magma chamber/reservoir? | Caldera |
In which English county is Shepton Mallet? | Somerset |
Derived from Greek, what name is given to fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size or emplacement mechanism? | Tephra |
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical building on which London thoroughfare? | The Strand |
Who won a second Olivier Award for the music and lyrics of the musical "Groundhog Day" that made its world premiere try-out at The Old Vic in London in summer 2016? | Tim Minchin |
Which French scientist and palaeontologist named the "pterodactyl"? He engaged in a famous debate with Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1830. | Georges Cuvier |
In 1878, who said, "Lord Salisbury and myself have brought you back peace—but a peace I hope with honour, which may satisfy our sovereign and tend to the welfare of our country" upon returning from the Congress of Berlin? | Disraeli |
Which Charles Dickens novel begins "Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day"? | Little Dorrit |
Which light-sensitive receptor protein involved in visual phototransduction is named for the Greek for "rose-sight"? | Rhodopsin |
In 1942, who wrote "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" (The Myth of Sisyphus), a literary essay on the Absurd? | Albert Camus |
The second-brightest star in the night sky is named for which mythical navigator for Menelaus, king of Sparta? | Canopus |
Which English painter and interior designer (1879-1961) was a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf? | Vanessa Bell |
The ancient Greek city of Epidamnos or Epidamnus, later the Roman Dyrrachium, is located in which modern-day country? | Albania |
Cordelia Gray first appeared in which 1972 PD James novel, later adapted for TV? | An Unsuitable Job for a Woman |
Which musician was born Aubrey Graham on 24th October 1986? | Drake |
Which trophy is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football in the United States whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity? | Heisman Trophy |
In Greek myth, which Spartan king was the father of Clytemnestra? | Tyndareus |
The Anna Wintour Costume Center is housed in which US museum? | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
What was Gene Hackman's character, Jimmy Doyle's profession in the film "The French Connection"? | Policeman |
In Greek myth, how were Hector and Paris related? | Brothers |
Kolkata lies on the east bank of which river? | Hooghly |
"Big hairy" ((Chaetophractus villosus) and "Screaming hairy" (Chaetophractus vellerosus) are species of what animal? | Armadillo |
What is the collective name for the group of metals resistant to oxidation and corrosion in moist air? | Noble metals |
Which UK national radio station broadcasts on 90.2 MHz – 92.6 MHz FM? | Radio 3 |
Which ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor was located almost directly opposite Byzantium and is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy? | Chalcedon |
The Treaty of Teschen, signed in 1779, officially ended which war? | War of the Bavarian Succession |
Petrozavodsk is the capital of which Republic and federal subject of the Russian Federation? | Republic of Karelia |
Formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen, which group, whose albums include ‘Love Metal’ and ‘Gold Light’, are the only Finnish band ever to go Gold in the USA? | HIM |
Located in Copenhagen, what is the name of the winter home of the Danish royal family? | Amalienborg Palace |
Which popular English actress was born Florence Marjorie Robertson in October 1904? | Anna Neagle |
John Tams played rifleman Daniel Hagman in which UK TV series? | Sharpe |
Which woman, born in Barnsley in 1950, is best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour since 1987, and had a mastectomy in 2007? | Jenni Murray |
Which actor filed for divorce from his fifth wife Victoria Duffy while dying of prostate cancer in 2010? | Dennis Hopper |
In which city was drug lord Pablo Escobar shot and killed in 1993? | Medellin |
In which 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman, did George Clooney play Ryan Bingham, "a suave, smartly dressed businessman in his 40s", who is a frequent-flying "downsizer"? | Up In The Air |
Which twins are known for co-directing visceral, and often violent, movies such as Menace II Society, Dead Presidents, From Hell and The Book of Eli? | Hughes brothers (Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes) |
Which French film director directed films "My Night at Maud's", "Claire's Knee" and "The Green Ray"? | Éric Rohmer |
Which actor, who died in 1973, had a daughter called Domino (1969-2005), who became a bounty hunter in the USA? | Laurence Harvey |
Which long-running UK show was created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland? | EastEnders |
Which 1939 British film was the first collaboration between the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger? | The Spy In Black |
In which 1997 TV series did Michael French play time-travelling Jeff Slade? | Crime Traveller |
What was the first sequel to the successful 1970 film Airport? | Airport 1975 |
Which US actor is best known for his Academy Award winning role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film "An Officer and a Gentleman"? | Louis Gossett Jr. |
Who played the title role in 1939 film "Young Mr. Lincoln"? | Henry Fonda |
Suffering extensive fire damage in the US Civil War during its occupation by General Sherman, what is the capital of South Carolina? | Columbia |
Named after a Welsh physicist who won a Nobel Prize in 1973, what devices are used in a large integrated circuit to speed the passage of signals by electron tunnelling? The components only operate at temperatures close to absolute zero. | Josephson Junctions |
What name is given to rapidly rotating neutron stars that emit regular beams of electromagnetic radiation, usually at radio frequencies? | Pulsars |
Which discrete probability distribution results from summing n independent Bernoulli random variables? | Binomial distribution |
In the theory of probability and statistics, what name is given to a trial that is a random experiment with exactly two possible outcomes, "success" and "failure", in which the probability of success is the same every time the experiment is conducted? | Bernoulli trial |
Which Werner Herzog film of 1982 sees a protagonist hauling a riverboat over a mountain in Peru in an attempt to finance the building of an opera house? | Fitzcarraldo |
Which solar system planet has the largest equatorial bulge? | Saturn |
The Evening Standard called which three-act play "self-pitying snivel" after its 1956 premiere? Its action takes place in a one room flat in the Midlands. | Look Back In Anger |
The UK Space Agency, launched in 2010, is based in which town to the west of London that has five conglomerated roundabouts called "The Magic Roundabout"? | Slough |
What two word term, popularised in the 1950s, refers to the disorientation experienced by those who move from one environment or country to another that is markedly different? | Culture shock |
Which English scientist discovered the Law of Partial Pressures in 1801? | John Dalton |
Which European capital city was known as Reval until 1918? | Tallinn |
Italy is separated into political areas known as regions; how many regions are there? | Twenty |
Which English Civil War General later led the English forces at the Sieges of Limerick and was made Lord Deputy of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell in 1650? | Henry Ireton |
Also known as Christiansø, Denmark’s most easterly point lies on which archipelago in the Baltic Sea, home to just 95 permanent residents? | Ertholmene |
Opened in October 2006, 'Óðamansgarði' (or 'The Madman´s Garden') was the first opera ever to be performed in which language? | Faroese |
In 1969, Denmark became the first country to officially legalise what? | Pornography |
The name of which dinosaur means 'Swift Thief' in Latin? | Velociraptor |
Which English poet, as a young man, fought with Sir Walter Raleigh against the Spanish at Cadiz and the Azores? | John Donne |
Also known as Finnish baseball, which is the national sport of Finland? | Pesäpallo |
Using the highest notes of the instrument's range, a bassoon solo opens Stravinsky's score for which ballet, first performed in Paris in May 1913, with choreography by Nijinsky? | The Rite of Spring |
In Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" the bassoon represents which character? | Peter's grandfather |
What is the common name of the substance found in the blood, brain and GI tract which plays an important part in haemostasis, and is involved in mood, sleep and prolactin regulation? It is also called 5-hydroxytryptamine. | Serotonin |
The 1957 film "The Bridge On The River Kwai" was based on a 1952 novel by who? | Pierre Boulle |
Who played male lead Dr Alec Harvey in "Brief Encounter"? | Trevor Howard |
China's longest land frontier is with which country? | Mongolia |
What is the family name of the earls of Derby? | Stanley |
What was the name of the only painting Van Gogh sold during his lifetime? | The Red Vineyard |
Who was the first Briton to win a Nobel Prize? | Ronald Ross (Physiology/Medicine, 1902, work on transmission malaria) |
Who created the character 'Dick Tracy'? | Chester Gould |
The sister of Thomas Arne was a singer and celebrated actress who went by what name? | Susannah Maria Cibber/Mrs Cibber |
Which term, adopted by the English language, means "unfit to fight" in French? | Hors de combat |
Which English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer (1626-97) was known for his biographies and studies of Stonehenge? | John Aubrey |
Which character in a play says "he is the very pineapple of politeness"? | Mrs Malaprop (from Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals) |
Who painted "The Colossus" in 1810? | Goya |
Which architect (1811-78) designed the Albert Memorial? | George Gilbert Scott |
How was the artist Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001) better known? | Balthus |
Who wrote the 1995 novel "Rose Madder"? | Stephen King |
What was the name of the 2010-11 Internet spin-off of the British soap opera EastEnders? | E20 |
Which English artist based in London who works in sculpture, video, and installation art won the inaugural Hepworth Prize and the Turner Prize, both in 2016? | Helen Marten |
Charles Rennie MacKintosh was a celebrated exponent of which artistic style, inspired by natural forms and structures, particularly the curved lines of plants and flowers? | Art Nouveau |
Who painted 1876's "La Moulin de la Gallette"? | Renoir |
Who wrote 1959's "Eating People Is Wrong"? | Malcolm Bradbury |
Porlock, immortalised by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's interruption by the "person on business from Porlock" is in which English county? | Somerset |
Along Came a Spider (1993) marked the first appearance of which recurring main character in James Patterson novels? | Alex Cross |
Who wrote the novels "Small World" and "Changing Places"? | David Lodge |
How was writer R.C. Lamburn better known? | Richmal Crompton (her first two names) |
Who played Quiller in the 1966 film "The Quiller Memorandum"? | George Segal |
In the 1940s and 1950s how was the UK radio character Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby better known? | PC49 |
The theme tune to British radio show "Brain of Britain" is taken from which musical piece? | Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart) |
Which American World Cup alpine ski racer won four World Cup overall championships in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012, as well as the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first ever in the event for an American woman? | Lindsey Vonn |
What is the name of the South Korean county that hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics? | Pyeongchang |
In which sport might there be a "York round"? | Archery |
Which arcade game introduced the Nintendo character Mario? | Donkey Kong |
Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim were all computer games in which successful series? | The Elder Scrolls |
Which sport once went by the name of battledore? | Badminton |
Who were the first English football club to install undersoil heating, in 1958? | Everton |
Which unit prefix, from the Latin for 'seven' denotes 10 to the minus 21? | Zepto- |
Which unit prefix in the metric system denotes a factor of 10−24? | Yocto- |
What is the largest decimal unit prefix in the metric system, denoting a factor of 1024 or 1000000000000000000000000? | Yotta- |
El Cid lived in which century? | 11th (1043-99) |
Which economist, who won the Nobel Prize in 1987, showed that technological progress was a factor in economic growth as well as capital accumulation and labour growth? | Robert Solow |
In 2017, which US economist was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to behavioural economics, which "have built a bridge between the economic and psychological analyses of individual decision-making"? | Richard Thaler |
Which European country used the temporary currency, the talonas, between 1991 and 1993? | Lithuania |
What regnal name links successive Kings of France known as "the Wise", "the Mad" and "the Victorious"? | Charles (V, VI and VII) |
What event of 1945 connects the films 'Der Hund von Baskerville' and 'Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war'? | The (only) films found in Hitler's bunker |
Which boxer defeated Jake Kilrain in 1889 in the last ever world heavyweight championship prizefight decided with bare knuckles under London Prize Ring rules? | John L Sullivan |
In April 2007, Laurent Deutsch starred in a French film that told the story of which fabulist and poet, born in 1621? | Jean de la Fontaine |
The TGV Est links Paris with which other French city? | Strasbourg |
Which English bishop, who was born in Beverley in Yorkshire, was appointed Bishop of Rochester in 1504 at the insistence of Henry VII only to be executed in 1535? He was canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI along with Thomas More. | John Fisher |
In the George R.R. Martin novels, which castle is the ancestral home of the House of Stark? | Winterfell |
In the George R.R. Martin novels, what name is given to a group of seven islands to the west of Westeros? | Iron Islands |
The Second Boer War ended on 31st May in which year? | 1902 |
In genetics, what two-word name is given to a mating between two organisms with different variations at one genetic chromosome of interest? | Monohybrid Cross |
In genetics, which single word means the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell? | Aneuploidy |
In Mendel's nomenclature of inheritance, for what do the initials P and F stand? | Parental, filial |
The acronym SKY is often used for the three most prestigious universities in which country? | South Korea (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University) |
Who was the first woman to direct a film noir, "The Hitch-Hiker", in 1953? | Ida Lupino |
Jezebel (1938), Now, Voyager (1942) and "All About Eve" (1950) were all films starring which actress? | Bette Davis |
Which chemical element has the symbol Mt? | Meitnerium |
Which poet wrote the poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" in 1876, although it was not published until 1918? | Gerard Manley Hopkins |
Who, born Amy Lyon in 1765, who later modelled for George Romney's painting "Circe"? | Emma, Lady Hamilton |
Which solar system planet orbits the sun every 164 Earth years? | Neptune |
Give a year in Brazil's "Vargas Era"? | 1930-45 |
Who wrote 2014's "The Tragedy of the European Union: Disintegration or Revival?" and 1998's "The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered"? | George Soros |
Which Polish gestalt psychologist (1907-96) is most well known for his conformity experiments, in which he demonstrated the influence of group pressure on opinions? | Solomon Asch |
Which Turkish-American social psychologist helped develop social judgment theory and realistic conflict theory, often collaboratively with his wife Carolyn Wood? | Muzafer Sherif |
"Where books are burned, people will be also" is a quote by which German poet, best known for 1827's "Book of Songs"? | Heinrich Heine |
Quickset, Cornish and Devon are types of which organic structure, often havens for wildlife? | Hedgerow |
Commonly referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara", Thomas Sankara was president of which country from 1983 to 1987? | Burkina Faso |
What name is given to inhabitants of Louisiana who are descendants of migrants from Acadia (L'Acadie) in what are now the Maritimes of Eastern Canada? | Cajuns |
What is largest city and municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain? | Gijon |
Whose best known short stories include "Désirée’s Baby" (1893), a tale of miscegenation in antebellum Louisiana, "The Story of an Hour" (1894), and "The Storm"(1898)? | Kate Chopin |
Gibraltar Point, the site of a nature reserve, is in which English county? | Lincolnshire |
Both Mozart and Beethoven were alive for the entirety of which decade? | 1780s |
Mimi and Marcello are characters in which opera of 1896? | La Bohème |
Which Biblical character had the nickname Antipas? | King Herod |
Who is the patron saint of soldiers? | St Michael |
Which sauce, named after a city, is made from melted butter, salt, pepper, lemon juice and sieved hard boiled eggs, and is usually served over asparagus? | Bruxelloise |
Gerome Ragni and James Rado wrote the book and lyrics for which 1967 musical? | Hair |
In Greek myth, who was the father of both Agamemnon and Menelaus? | Atreus |
Waragi is the moonshine of which African country? | Uganda |
Who founded the Church Army in 1882? | Wilson Carlile |
Which incarnation of Vishnu (eg first, second etc) was Krishna, in Hinduism? | Eighth |
Which composer (1685-1757) wrote 555 sonatas, mainly for harpsichord? | Domenico Scarlatti |
In which year did Freddy Mercury die? | 1991 |
Which vegetable is also called "poor man's asparagus"? | Good-king-henry |
In which city was Cliff Richard born? | Lucknow, India |
What is the name of Venice's opera house, three times destroyed by fire, in 1774, 1836 and 1996? | La Fenice (the Phoenix) |
Whose opera is the notoriously hard-to-sing "Esclarmonde" of 1889? | Jules Massenet |
Which part of a flower typically consists of an expanded basal portion called the ovary, an elongated section called a style and an apical structure that receives pollen called a stigma? | Pistil |
Which dame and fashion designer, born 19 September 1940 in Chatham, Kent, was called "the punk princess of fashion"? | Zandra Rhodes |
What name is given to the branch of physics that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound? | Acoustics |
A 'grayling' can be a fish, or what other type of creature? | Butterfly |
By what more common name is a wood hyacinth also known? | Bluebell |
What is the main acid in 'acid rain'? | Sulphuric Acid |
At sea, which watch lasts from midnight until 4am? | Middle watch |
At sea, which watch lasts from 6pm to 8pm? | Second Dog Watch |
What name is given to an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases? | Nebula |
The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union merged with the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union (almost exclusively known as MSF) in 2001 to form which union, the UK's second-largest? | Amicus |
Sue Sylvester, portrayed by Jane Lynch, was a prominent fictional character in which TV series, that ran from 2009-2015? | Glee |
Detective Stella Bonasera was a fictional character in six seasons of which US TV series? | CSI: NY |
Which US actor best known for his roles as Sylar on the science fiction drama series Heroes (2006–2010), and Spock in the reboot Star Trek (2009) and its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016)? | Zachary Quinto |
Which series, starring Patricia Arquette and Ted Danson, was the fourth series in the CSI franchise, but was cancelled in 2016 after two seasons? | CSI: Cyber |
Who played the title character DI John Rebus in the crime fiction-mystery series Rebus (2000–2007) and the dwarf Balin in The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014)? | Ken Stott |
Who hosted "American Idol" from 2002 to 2016? | Ryan Seacrest |
Bradley Walsh played the lead role of DS Ronnie Brooks in which TV series? | Law & Order: UK |
Which two actors played Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward in the 1976 film "All The President's Men"? | Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman |
Which US film director (1928-98) was notable for directing his "paranoia trilogy": All the President's Men, Klute (1971), and The Parallax View (1974)? | Alan J Pakula |
Tim Robbins won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for portraying Dave Boyle in which film? | Mystic River |
Which 1976 movie is set in the fictional LA ghetto of 'Anderson'? | Assault On Precinct 13 |
Jane Fonda won Best Actress Oscars for which two films? | Klute (1971), Coming Home (1978) |
Glenda Jackson won Best Actress Oscars for which two films? | Women in Love (1970), and A Touch of Class (1973) |
Elizabeth Taylor won Best Actress Oscars for which two films? | BUtterfield 8 (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) |
Who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Children of a Lesser God (1986) and to date is the only deaf performer to have won the award? | Marlee Matlin |
Which British soap opera, set in Salford, lasted only one year, from 1985 to 1986? | Albion Market |
Which actor's last completed film was 1993's "The Thing Called Love"? | River Phoenix |
What was the name of fictional detective Sexton Blake's bloodhound? | Pedro |
On which show did the two Ronnies, Corbett and Barker, first work together on TV? | The Frost Report |
Which British entertainer was born in 1938 with the real first names Newton Edward? | Paul Daniels |
The Alamo is located in which US city? | San Antonio |
Which road bridge over the Firth of Forth in Scotland opened to traffic on 19 November 2008? | Clackmannanshire Bridge |
Which numbered parallel divides the Koreas? | 38th |
Named after a far-northern location in classical European literature and cartography, which people or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit? | Thule people |
Which English county shares its name with a Paleo-Eskimo culture that existed from 500 BC to between 1000 and 1500 AD? | Dorset (Dorset culture) |
Which strait separates Greenland from Ellesmere Island? | Nares Strait |
Named after a US Secretary of State for War (1881-85) which body of water in the Arctic Ocean stretches from Cape Columbia, Canada, in the west to Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland, in the east? | Lincoln Sea |
Who became monarch of Denmark on 14th March 1972, following the death of their father, Frederick IX? | Margrethe II |
The home of the palace of King Alcinous, which region was the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey before returning home to Ithaca, in Homer's epic? | Scheria or Phaeacia |
In Ancient Sparta, at what age were boys taken from their mother to be raised by the state? | Seven years |
Most famous as a college football team, what name is given to the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln? | Cornhuskers (Nebraska Cornhuskers) |
Which Athenian citizen is known mostly for his leading role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his downfall afterwards? He was the son of Cimon Coalemos, a renowned Olympic chariot-racer, and the father of Cimon, the noted Athenian statesman. | Miltiades |
How long is half-time in an NFL match? | 12 minutes |
Which artist was born Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi c. 1445? | Botticelli |
Wasil ibn Ata (700-748) founded which school of Islamic thought? | Mutazilite |
Raytheon is a US company involved in which industry? | Defence/military/missiles |
Which planet is 'The Magician' in Holst's The Planets suite? | Uranus |
What epithet is applied to Saturn in Holst's The Planets suite? | The Bringer of Old Age |
"London. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather." are the opening sentences in which Dickens novel? | Bleak House |
The Inatsisartut' is the parliament where? | Greenland |
Which British theme park resort and zoo lies on the A4091, near Tamworth, Staffordshire? | Drayton Manor Theme Park |
Which amusement park in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England opened in 1921 and is thus the second oldest theme park in the UK? | Wicksteed Park |
What are the two 'crown dependencies' of the British Isles? | Isle of Man; Channel Islands |
What epithet is applied to Venus is Holst's Planets suite? | Bringer of Peace |
To which country does Christmas Island belong? | Australia |
How are the plants known as 'rockfoils' also called? | Saxifrages |
"White-Fronted" and "Pink-Footed" are two species of which bird? | Geese |
What is the largest national park in the world, larger than all but 29 countries? | North East Greenland National Park |
What three word term is given to the period of relatively colder weather between approximately the 16th to the 19th centuries? | Little Ice Age |
Which Greek lyric poet from Sparta who composed verses around the time of the Second Messenian War is known especially for political and military elegies, exhorting Spartans to support the state authorities and to fight bravely against the Messenians? | Tyrtaeus |
In football, in which World Cup was a white ball first used? | 1950 |
Which footballer signed for Manchester United from the New Jersey based MetroStars in 2003? | Tim Howard |
The Gold Cup, originally the Whitbread Gold Cup when first held in 1957, and as of 2018 the Bet365 Gold Cup, is held at which British racecourse? | Sandown Park |
At which English racecourse is the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes held? | Ascot (not to be confused with the King George VI Chase) |
The King George VI Chase, a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older, is held at which racecourse? | Kempton Park (not to be confused with the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes) |
Champion jockey in 2016 and 2017, who had, as of 2018, ridden a record 20 Grand Nationals without winning? | Richard Johnson |
Who was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2010, becoming the first jockey to win the award? | Tony McCoy |
Who was the first jockey to ride 1000 National Hunt winners? | Stan Mellor |
Which British athlete won the silver medal in the 400m at the 1968 Olympics, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships? Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life. | Lillian Board |
Mary Peters won pentathlon gold for Great Britain at which Olympics? | 1972 Munich |
A satire on "Modern Art", criticism, artistic pretension and the value placed on art, who wrote the 1956 play "Nude with Violin"? | Noel Coward |
Called 'The Master Poems' collectively, which 19th century poet wrote a large number of poems addressed to "Signor", "Sir" and "Master"? | Emily Dickinson |
The Inheritors (1955), Free Fall (1959), The Spire (1964) and The Pyramid (1967) are all novels by which author? | William Golding |
Who wrote the 2009 novel "Juliet, Naked"? | Nick Hornby |
Which American sculptor, born in Seattle in 1960 is talented at sewing and is renowned for tiny clothing sets, including the 2006-2009 installation "Men's Suits"? | Charles LeDray |
"A Week in December" is a novel by which British writer, published in 2009? | Sebastian Faulks |
Annie Leibovitz, born 1949 in Connecticut, is famous for working in which field? | Photography (esp. portraits) |
Which 15th century knight was the author or compiler of "Le Morte d'Arthur"? | Sir Thomas Malory |
What single-word title was given to his 1969 memoir by Henri Charrière about his imprisonment at the Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana? | Papillon |
"Billy Liar" is a 1959 novel by which British author? | Keith Waterhouse |
Built in the first half of the 20th Century, the world’s oldest playable pipe organ is located in the Basilique de Valère in which Swiss city? | Sion |
What was the forename of Baron Hausman, best known for redesigning Paris in 1852? | Georges-Eugène |
The father of the poet Lydia Koidula, Johann Voldemar Jannsen wrote the words to ‘Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm’ meaning ‘My Fatherland, My Happiness and Joy’, the national anthem of which country? | Estonia |
In May 1991, who became the first female Prime Minister of France? | Édith Cresson |
Who was the French Minister of Justice who oversaw the drafting of the French Constitution that was adopted in October 1958? | Michel Debré |
Which UK children's sitcom, produced by Southern Television for ITV, was based on books by English author Barbara Euphan Todd and ran from 1979-81? | Worzel Gummidge |
Published in 1926, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" is the autobiographical account of the experiences of who? | T.E. Lawrence |
"Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed. One may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house" is a literary description of which house? | Wuthering Heights |
Which word, that means sleight of hand, comes from the French for 'nimble fingers'? | Prestidigitation |
Which newspaper did George Osborne become editor of in May 2017? | London Evening Standard |
Named after a Dutch physicist, which law states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant when a light ray passes from one medium to another? | Snell's Law (after Willebrord Snellius 1580-1626) |
Which Peruvian aviator died in 1910 while attempting the first air crossing of the Alps? | Jorge Chávez |
The role dating to 1415, which officer in the UK parliament ensures the order and security of the House of Commons, and is the only person allowed to carry a sword there? | Serjeant at Arms |
The holder of which office in the UK parliament acts as custodian of the Great Seal of the Realm? | Lord Chancellor |
The modern layout for which aeronautical device was first proposed by Romanian inventor Anastase Dragomir in the late 1920s? | Ejection Seat |
What name, used in Germany as a title of nobility, is also the title of a 1964 novel by Saul Bellow? | Herzog |
Which English military historian wrote "Stalingrad" (1988), "The Second World War" (2012) and "Berlin: The Downfall 1945" (2002)? | Antony Beevor |
Rosalind and Orlando are the lovers in which of Shakespeare's plays? | As You Like It |
Plato's famous cave allegory appears in which of his works? | The Republic |
Which 1979 film by the director Werner Herzog starred Bruno Ganz and Klaus Kinski, and was a homage to a 1922 classic of German cinema? | Nosferatu |
What is the Zulu word for any armed body of men? However, in English it is often used to refer to a Zulu regiment. | Impi |
Who created the character Rumpole of the Bailey? | John Mortimer |
Frequently called "She Who Must Be Obeyed" what was the Christian name of the wife of TV character Rumpole of the Bailey? | Hilda |
Which Shakespeare play begins "In delivering my son from me/I bury a second husband"? | All's Well That Ends Well |
Who wrote "Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words" in 1992, that first made public Princess Diana's bulimia? | Andrew Morton |
Which playwright was born Tomáš Straussler on 3 July 1937? | Tom Stoppard |
Who wrote a celebrated essay called "Des tours de Babel" in 1985? | Jacques Derrida |
Which Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin (34-62CE) was only published after his early death, by his friend and mentor, the stoic philosopher Lucius Annaeus Cornutus? | Persius |
Which Italian humanist, religious thinker, publisher, and writer, who died in 1566, is best known for his translation of the Bible into Italian? | Antonio Brucioli |
What was first done by the French theologian Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples in 1530 in Antwerp, Belgium? | Translation of Bible into French |
Which British poet and Private Eye contributor's last major work was a poetic version of the Iliad entitled "Homer: War Music"? | Christopher Logue |
Named 'the Dog of the Century' in 2000, what was the name of the black Newfoundland that reportedly saved 27 people from drowning in Swansea's North Dock during the 1930s? | Swansea Jack |
Which Jewish poet, born in Chernowitz in what was Romania (now Ukraine) in 1920, spent more than 18 months of World War II in a Romanian labour camp and committed suicide by drowning in the Seine in 1970? | Paul Celan |
Which scientific law states that the recession speed of a distant galaxy is directly proportional to the distance of the galaxy from the observer? | Hubble's Law |
In which year was the King James Bible completed? | 1611 |
The mock-heroic "Mac Flecknoe" was a lampoon circulated in manuscript and an attack on the playwright Thomas Shadwell by which poet and author of the 17th century? | John Dryden |
Which 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet is credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature, initially by translating Petrarch? | Thomas Wyatt |
Formed in response to Enlightenment rationalism and associated with philosopher Johann Georg Hamann, what name is given to the German literary movement that took place 1760-80s which portrayed individual subjectivity and extreme emotional expression? | Sturm und Drang |
‘Millennium Approaches’ and ‘Perestroika’ were the subtitles of the two volumes of which play, a “Gay Fantasia on National Themes”, later to be made into a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös? | Angels in America (by Tony Kushner) |
Which author did George Eliot describe as “…the last true polymath to walk the earth.”? He wrote 4 novels and created 3000 drawings, as well as writing poetry and treatises on botany, colour and anatomy. | Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe |
The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from which Japanese castle? | Edo Castle |
Mr Merdle, a politician based on the real-life John Sadleir, takes his own life after the crash of a bank in which Dickens novel? | Little Dorrit |
Used in electronics for the point in a circuit where several conductors meet, which word also refers to the point on a plant's stem from which a branch or leaf grows? | Node |
Which man, responsible for a slew of common scientific terms, coined the terms "uniformitarianism" and "catastrophism" for the two early, competing geological theories? | William Whewell |
What was the surname of the 18th century Venetian artist, Giovanni Battista, who was the brother-in-law of Francesco and Gian-Antonio Guardi and the father of the brothers Gian-Domenico and Lorenzo, all of whom were painters? | Tiepolo |
Which sea of the Indian Ocean is bounded to the north by the Irrawaddy Delta? | Andaman Sea |
Which philosopher and political theorist was born in Geneva in 1712 and wrote his 1755 "Discourses On The Origins Of Inequality" there? | Jean-Jacques Rousseau |
Dolly the cloned sheep was produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which technique the nucleus from a somatic cell is transferred to what type of recipient cell? | (Denucleated) Embryonic cell |
Which fruit has the Latin name rubus idaeus? | Raspberry |
Which Roman Emperor was reputedly strangled in his bath by his wrestling partner Narcissus after a failed attempt by Marcia, his mistress, to poison him? | Commodus |
The Statute of Anne in 1710 established which commercial principle in the UK? | Copyright |
Which medieval weapon, a two-handed pole weapon, is carried by Yeomen of the Guard and the Swiss Guard? | Halberd |
Who is supposed to have owned the legendary hound Gelert, given as a gift from John of England? | Llywelyn the Great (grandfather of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd) |
At which South African university did Nelson Mandela study, although he never completed his degree? | University of Fort Hare |
For how many days was William Henry Harrison US President? | 31 |
First performed in 1782, which Mozart opera is set in the Ottoman empire? | The Abduction from the Seraglio |
Born in 1033, which Bendectine monk expounded the ontological proof for God in his "Proslogion"? | St Anselm (of Canterbury) |
Which Dutch conductor was appointed the music director at Glyndebourne in 1977, and in 1987 took up the same role at Covent Garden? | Bernard Haitink |
Although his finch observations are better known, what is the common name of the family mimidae which were key to Darwin's theories on evolution? | Mockingbirds |
What was the nickname given to the murders of bigamist George Joseph Smith, who was convicted and hanged in 1915? | Brides in the Bath |
Berat, Elbasan and Fier are all counties of which European country? | Albania |
Which footballer was the subject of a hit single by The Others that reached number 36 in the charts in October 2004? | Stan Bowles |
Designed by Tommy Flowers, what was the name of the computer that was used by British code breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II to read encrypted German messages, such as those from the Enigma machine? | Colossus |
Which ballet by Léo Delibes is subtitled 'The Girl with Enamel Eyes'? | Coppelia |
Which train robber from the American Wild West was known as 'The Robin Hood of Texas'? | Sam Bass |
Which country did West Germany defeat in the final of the 1954 football World Cup? | Hungary |
What was the name of James Buchanan’s niece who acted as his First Lady during his tenure in office? | Harriet Lane |
Mount Sněžka is the highest peak in which European country? | Czech Republic |
What name has been given to the heavy metal music developed in the Germany in the 90s that combines heavily distorted electric guitar and percussion with deep, and often gothic, vocals? Important bands associated with the movement include Rammstein. | Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hardness) |
What common name is given to the many thousands of invertebrates in the phylum annelida? | Earthworms/ringed worms |
Who, in 1984, was the first US astronaut to do an untethered space walk? | Bruce McCandless II |
Which paper size measures 297x420mm? | A3 |
Who produced the car models the 'Baleno' and 'Cappuccino'? | Suzuki |
What animal's name is given to a paper size of 584 x 711mm? | Elephant |
Which wedding anniversary is traditionally celebrated with silk and linen (in the UK)? | 12th |
In the UK, which wedding anniversary is celebrated with fruit and flowers? | Fourth |
Which flower has the name "osterglocke" in German? | Daffodil |
Which flower has the Latin name Hyacinthoides non-scripta? | Bluebell |
Basiphobia is the morbid fear of which activity? | Fear of falling (or walking) |
Which motor pioneer, the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, began selling cars in Mayfair in 1902, meeting his famous business partner in 1906? | Charles Rolls |
Who was the first man to win both a Turner Prize and an Academy Award for Best Director? | Steve McQueen |
Which animated British Children's television show produced by Smallfilms between 1965 and 1967 featured characters called Pippin and a squirrel-like creature named Tog? | The Pogles |
Alyson Hannigan played which character on television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)? | Willow Rosenberg |
How is entertainer Paul James Martin, born 9 July 1957, better known? | Paul Merton |
Which real-life man did Anthony Hopkins play in 2004 film "The Road to Wellville"? | John Harvey Kellogg |
Which leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era (1860-1904) was born George Wild Galvin? | Dan Leno |
Which English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress (1870-1922) was born Matilda Alice Victoria Wood? | Marie Lloyd |
The 2005 film "Sin City" was based on whose graphic novel? | Frank Miller |
Dying in 2017, which actor was the voice of The Great Dragon in 2008 TV series "Merlin"? | John Hurt |
One of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31, who appeared in the most Carry On films? | Kenneth Williams |
In 2008 the youngest captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup, who also led Pittsburgh to Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, becoming the first player since his mentor Mario Lemieux to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) in consecutive years? | Sidney Crosby |
One of the top point-scorers in NHL history, what nationality is Jaromír Jágr? | Czech |
Australian Premier League champions in 2012 and 2017, which rugby league team play in Melbourne? | Melbourne Storm |
Prior to Amy Williams in 2010 who was the last Briton to win an individual gold at the Winter Olympics? | Robin Cousins (1980) |
Which English former wicketkeeper who appeared in 71 matches for the England cricket team between 2010 and 2013 was born in South Africa, but had his career ended by an injury in 2014 that affected his vision? He then turned to professional golf. | Craig Kieswetter |
At which sport was Sydney Howard Smith the first All-England Champion in 1900? | Badminton |
In which year of the Varsity Boat Race was the Cambridge boat struck a barge before the start, causing the race to be postponed until the following day, making it the first Boat Race to be held on a Sunday? | 1984 |
The Varsity Boat race rule which states that oarsmen will compete in the race no more than four times as an undergraduate and no more than four times as a graduate is named after which former competitor, who competed for Oxford between 1978 and 1983? | Boris Rankov (Rankov Rule) |
Alice Blanche Legh (1855 – 3 January 1948) won the British national title at which sport 23 times from 1881 to 1922, the last when she was 67 years old? | Archery |
Which NHL team from Vancouver joined the league in 1970 as an expansion team along with the Buffalo Sabres? | Vancouver Canucks |
Rex Williams won his seventh and final world title in which sport in 1983? | Billiards |
Who won the 1989 Tour de France by just eight seconds? | Greg LeMond |
In British greyhound racing, what colour is traditionally worn by the dog in lane three? | White |
Åge Hadler (NOR) and Ulla Lindkvist (SWE) were the first man and woman world champions respectively in 1966 in which sport? | Orienteering |
Which cup is the most prestigious at the Henley Royal Regatta, being for Men's Eights? | Grand Challenge Cup |
Which British track and field athlete took part in their sixth Olympics at Atlanta 1996, having won gold in 1984? | Tessa Sanderson |
Which Romanian discus thrower was the first track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics (1952–1972)? | Lia Manoliu |
Which sport is played under 'Harvard Rules'? | American Football |
Harvard's annual American Football match with which other university is simply called "The Game"? | Yale |
What colour are the triple word squares on a Scrabble board? | Red |
The Battle of Zama took place in which conflict? | Second Punic War |
Which English monarch's last words were "all my possessions for a moment of time"? | Elizabeth |
Believed by some to be a reference to a hippopotamus, which creature in the Book of Job has a name that is now used to indicate the extreme size of ay thing or animal? | Behemoth |
Which tragic hero is a student at the University of Wittenberg, although his studies are interrupted by his father's death and mother's remarriage to his uncle? | Hamlet |
Which fictional country was George Eliot's setting for "Middlemarch"? | Loamshire |
Which phrase, taken from John's gospel, is the title of an Arthur Sullivan oratorio, a poem by Sir Edwin Arnold, and a painting by Holman Hunt depicting Christ carrying a lantern and knocking on the door of the soul? | The Light Of The World |
In a novel of 1945, which Oxford aesthete startles his fellow-students by reciting sections of T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" through a megaphone? | Anthony Blanche (in Brideshead Revisited) |
Probably settled around 11,000 years ago, the Pulli settlement on the Pärnu River is the oldest known settlement in which European country? | Estonia |
Which island group did Britain hand over to Greece as a gift to mark the coronation of King George I of Greece in 1864? | Ionian Islands |
On which of the Channel Islands could you visit Castle Cornet? | Guernsey |
Who was the first queen and last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, ruling from January 29, 1891, until the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii on January 17, 1893? | Liliʻuokalani |
A black maria is an informal term for a vehicle put to what use? | Transporting prisoners |
Who was the first English monarch to use a flush toilet, at Richmond Palace? | Elizabeth I |
Who was the alleged Lockerbie bomber, imprisoned in 2001 and released on compassionate grounds in 2007? | Abdelbaset al-Megrahi |
A vehicle for Silvio Berlusconi, which Italian political party was founded in December 1993 and won its first general election soon afterwards in March 1994? | Forza Italia |
Ali Bongo Ondimba became president of which country in 2009, 6 months after the death of British entertainer Ali Bongo? | Gabon |
Which ritual performed at the funeral of a magician was first performed in 1926, after the death of Harry Houdini? | Broken Wand Ceremony |
Who was PM from Japan briefly from 2006-7 before mounting a comeback and taking office again in 2012? | Shinzo Abe |
In which year was Adolf Eichmann executed in Israel? | 1962 |
Which Nazi, whose 1945 death was confirmed by DNA testing in 1972 and 1998, was known as "the Brown Eminence"? | Martin Bormann |
The Kiriwana and Trobriand Islands are coral formations lying 90 miles north of the southeastern tip of which island? | New Guinea |
The 1969 film musical "Paint Your Wagon" is set in which city? | No Name City |
Brenda Spencer, who provided The Boomtown Rats with the title of the song "I Don't Like Mondays" ran amok with a gun in which city in 1979? | San Diego |
What, in the context of UK health and safety, is COSHH? | Control of Substances Hazardous to Health |
Which fictional hero lives with his priggish brother Sid and his Aunt Polly in St Petersburg, Missouri? | Tom Sawyer |
What word describes a distinctive layer within a soil, that differs physically or chemically from the layers below or above? | Horizon |
Which French can-can dancer made famous by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec through his paintings, was nicknamed La Mélinite, after an explosive? | Jane Avril |
The assassination of which Communist leader on 1st Dec 1934 is generally taken as heralding the start of the Great Purges in the USSR? | Sergey Kirov |
Which BBC Radio 4 broadcaster, perhaps best known as a former presenter of Woman's Hour (1972-87) and later the Today programme, was brought up in South Africa? | Sue MacGregor |
Whose first major film role was as Sid Vicious in 1986's "Sid and Nancy"? | Gary Oldman |
Which American author wrote "Fear of Flying" in 1973? | Erica Jong |
Which sports arena, opened in its present incarnation in 1968, and redeveloped in 1991 and again in 2011-13, was originally a converted New York railway station? | Madison Square Garden |
Also associated with clarinets and oboes, Theobald Boehm made several improvements to which instrument in the mid 19th-century, changing the conical bore to the one now generally used, making fingering easier and producing a more even tone? | Flute |
Which Canadian performer worked with veteran producer Owen Bradley (1915-98) on 1988 album "Shadowland"? | k.d. lang |
"Schoolhouse Hill" and "No 44, The Mysterious Stranger" are both versions of an unfinished novel by which writer? | Mark Twain |
Which European species of maple, especially those with a wavy grain, provides the traditional wood for violins? | Sycamore |
The opening words of "The Wind In The Willows" tell us that "Mole had been working hard all the morning...." doing what? | Spring cleaning |
If you subtract the number of Just Men in a novel published in 1905 by the British writer Edgar Wallace from the number of Pillars of Wisdom in a work by T.E. Lawrence, what number are you left with? | Three (7-4) |
In Romeo and Juliet, we are told that Juliet's birthday fell on "Lammas-eve" and therefore on what date? | July 31st (Lammas is August 1st) |
Which Ealing film comedy of 1949 involves the serial killing of the heirs to an aristocratic family? | Kind Hearts and Coronets |
"Bell Harry" is the great central tower of which English cathedral? | Canterbury |
The dog breed the Elkhound originated in which Scandinavian country around 6000 years ago? It is also that country's national dog. | Norway |
The Gazelle Hound, Persian Greyhound or Tazi are alternative names for which dog breed? | Saluki |
Percival Proudfoot are the forenames of which Beano character, created by Leo Baxendale in 1954? | Plug |
Which Italian design company was founded in 1921 and is known by the surname of its founder Giovanni? It is particularly associated with household objects, especially kitchenware. | Alessi |
Which of the Russian Tsars issued the Emancipation Manifesto of 1861 that freed the serfs? | Alexander II |
According to John Milton, which year of his life "Hath time, the subtle thief of youth, stolen on its wing"? | 23rd |
What collective name was given to free settlers in Australia who opposed the late 18th century campaign by former convicts for equal civil rights? | Exclusionists |
The flight to Dover, and a sojourn with his eccentric aunt Betsey Trotwood, form part of the adventures of which of Dickens' eponymous heroes? | David Copperfield |
Also known as Holme I, which prehistoric monument was located in the village of Holme-next-the-Sea, near Old Hunstanton in the English county of Norfolk? | Seahenge |
Which boxer was born Walker Smith Junior in 1921 and held the welterweight title from 1946 to 1951? He later defeated Jake LaMotta to win the first of his five middleweight championships. | Sugar Ray Robinson |
Which heart valve lies between the left atrium and left ventricle? | Mitral or bicuspid |
Which Italian-born French composer (1632-87) wrote the operas "Alceste" and "Armide"? | Jean-Baptiste Lully |
Which 17th century French composer also wrote incidental music for productions by Molière, as well as sacred music such as the harmonisation of carol tunes in "Messe de minuit pour noël"? | Marc-Antoine Charpentier |
Which Canterbury Tale's prologue: "Many's the Jack of Dover you have sold/That has twice been warmed up and twice left cold"? | The Cook's Tale |
Which snake is also called a hamadryad? | King cobra |
Which playwright and novelist's first novel was 1879's "The Red Room"? | August Strindberg |
In the name of the DIY staple, what does MDF stand for? | Medium-density fibreboard |
What type of material results from spreading resin-coated particles of soft wood on a flat plate, and bonding them under high pressure and heat? | Chipboard |
Which organisation was established in 1933 by Royal Charter to "Encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom"? | British Film Institute |
Which Sao Paulo based football club is nicknamed Verdão (Big Green)? | Palmeiras |
Which Federico Fellini movie was the first official winner of the Academy Award for Best Film In A Foreign Language at the 29th ceremony in 1956? | La Strada |
What country did the film "The Salesman" hail from, the winner of the Academy Award for Best Film In A Foreign Language at the 89th Academy Awards? | Iran |
Founded by Portuguese immigrants in 1898, which football team is still traditionally supported by the Portuguese community of Rio de Janeiro? | Vasco da Gama |
Which Brazilian football team shares its name with a demonym for people who reside in the State of Rio de Janeiro? | Fluminense |
What was the nickname of Mildred Gillars, a US woman convicted of treason in 1949 for her broadcasts just before the Allied invasion of Normandy? | Axis Sally |
Which horror film actor's death resulted in him being replaced by the chiropractor of the director's wife in the cult classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space"? | Bela Lugosi |
Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi (December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008), known professionally as Maila Nurmi, was a Finnish-American actress and television personality who created which campy 1950s character who starred in "Plan 9 From Outer Space"? | Vampira |
Dated 1936, "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" is one of which composer's best known works? | Béla Bartók |
In which Derek Jarman film of 1978 is Elizabeth I transported to the 20th Century, being largely appalled by what she sees? | Jubilee |
Which single word means the transport of a boat and/or its cargo overland from one navigable waterway to another? | Portage |
In Egyptian myth which goddess was the daughter of Ra and the wife of Horus, often represented as a star-studded cow? | Hathor |
The dun cow of Dunsmore Heath was , according to legend, slain by which Anglo-Danish hero? | Guy of Warwick |
Nociceptors are nerve endings specifically concerned with response to which type of sensation? | Pain |
Botev Peak is the highest in which mountain range, known locally as Stara Planina? | Balkan Mountains |
Which Canadian-born beautician and businesswoman manufactured a range of over 300 cosmetics, and also owned several racehorses, one of which won the 1947 Kentucky Derby? | Elizabeth Arden |
In which English monarch's reign did the Hundred Years' War begin? | Edward III |
In which English monarch's reign did the Hundred Years' War end? | Henry VI |
What name is given to a permanently magnetised deposit of magnetite, the ore of iron first used as a compass by the Chinese in the 2nd millennium BC? | Lodestone |
What name is given to the young of a beaver or squirrel? | Kitten |
What name is given to a bridge hand devoid of trumps, also a term used in motor racing? | Chicane |
Two players played in the Old Wembley stadiums last FA Cup Final AND its last England international - which two? | Gareth Barry, Gareth Southgate |
Which American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1988 won the Olympic gold at middleweight in 1976? | Michael Spinks |
To where did Stirling Albion FC move their home games in 1993? | Forthbank Stadium |
Which Welsh snooker player won the first Pot Black tournament in 1969? | Ray Reardon |
Which sportsman released the autobiography "Don't Tell Kath" in 1994? | Ian Botham |
In which year did Leighton Rees become the first winner of the World Professional Darts Championship? | 1978 |
Who broke Michael Johnson's longstanding 400m world record in 2016? | Wayde van Niekerk |
In which capital city is famous athletics venue, Bislett Stadium? | Oslo |
Which French professional cyclist was nicknamed Le Blaireau (either "the shaving brush" or "the badger")? | Bernard Hinault |
Which Austrian-born American music composer for theatre and films is famous for scoring, among others, King Kong, Casablanca and Gone With The Wind? | Max Steiner |
Which US group's first single and only major hit, "Gee", released in June 1953, has been credited with being the first rock n’ roll hit by a rock and roll group? | The Crows |
Which Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted doo-wop group from the United States, most popular in the mid- to late 1950s are best known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You"? | The Flamingos |
The 11th Century Peel Castle, built by the Vikings under King Magnus Barelegs, stands on which island off the Isle of Man? | St Patrick's Isle |
In 1861, who became the first king of a united Italy? | Victor Emmanuel II |
What is the common name for trees of the genus picea? | Spruce |
What is the slang term in the UK for £25? | Pony |
What does the Internet acronym OTTOMH represent? | Off The Top Of My Head |
Which TV presenter, born in 1968 on Hastings-on-Hudson, has also been a successful actress, having starred in Last Exit To Brooklyn, Serial Mom and Hairspray? | Ricki Lake |
Whose theorem states that any linear circuit, consisting of resistances and 1 or more voltage sources and having 2 output terminals, can be replaced with a single constant-current source & a single parallel resistance for the purpose of circuit analysis? | Norton (Edward Lowry Norton) |
Which US Attorney-General, in post from January 1961 to September 1964, led a campaign against organised crime bosses including Sam Giancana and Jimmy Hoffa? | Robert Kennedy |
Which seabird has the Latin name Larus argentatus? | Herring Gull |
To which literary character, first seen in 1921, had a dog called Jumble? | William Brown (Just William) |
Which Hindi word was a technique developed by Gandhi as a political tool used against the British, and means"nonviolent resistance"? | Satyagraha |
Who was the first Governor-General of Pakistan? | Muhammad Ali Jinnah |
What is the common name for pastinaca sativa, a member of the umbelliferae family, cultivated since ancient times for its edible root? | Parsnip |
What name did Carl Jung give to his psychiatric theories to distinguish them from Freud's psychoanalysis? | Analytical Psychology |
Which Austro–German psychiatrist was the author of the foundational work Psychopathia Sexualis (1886)? | Richard von Krafft-Ebing |
What was the name of the 1979 book by Tom Wolfe which described the experiences of the first US astronauts? | The Right Stuff |
Which space mission was the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth's Moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth? | Apollo 8 |
What name did Friedrich Froebel give to the "school for the psychological training of little children by means of play" which he opened in Blankenburg in Thuringia in 1837? | Kindergarten |
Analogous to a photon, what name is given to a quantum of vibrational energy in a crystal lattice? | Phonon |
Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex in which English county? | Norfolk |
What is the capital of Turkmenistan? | Ashgabat |
Which is the only lunar maria to be given the name "ocean"? | Oceanus Procellarum/Ocean of Storms |
Which US folk group included Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, disbanded between 1952-55 after McCarthyite blacklisting, and were the subject of 1981 film "Wasn't That A Time?"? | The Weavers |
Which New York businesswoman founded her own cosmetics company in 1946, later founding the Aramis range for men, and the Clinique range for women? | Estée Lauder |
Which song from 1940's "Pinocchio" became the Disney company's theme song? | When You Wish Upon A Star |
Pulsars were discovered by Jocelyn Bell and Anthony Hewish at which Radio Astronomy observatory on the outskirts of Cambridge? | The Mullard |
Which theatre manager financed the opening of the Abbey in Dublin, and bought the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester where she ran her own repertory company until 1917? | Annie Horniman |
What has been the venue for the Academy Awards since 2002? | Kodak Theater |
What was the popular name of the set of industry moral guidelines that was applied to most United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968? | Hays Code |
The name of which TV channel comes from the first five cent movie theaters in the USA? | Nickelodeon |
What was the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope, in 1953? | The Robe |
Who was the American-British artist, designer, visual effects creator, writer and producer who created a form of stop-motion model animation known as "Dynamation"? | Ray Harryhausen |
300,000 extras were used in a funeral scene of which 1982 film, possibly the most in movie history? | Gandhi |
Which 1914 film was the first feature-length movie filmed specifically in Hollywood? | The Squaw Man |
Which Indian film actor and producer, who appeared in several Merchant Ivory films, won the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India but died in 2017? | Shashi Kapoor |
Mack Sennett, a Canadian-born American director and actor, known as an innovator of slapstick comedy in film, created which film studio in 1912? | Keystone Studios |
Which 1941 film featured the longest kiss in film (lasting three minutes and five seconds), between Regis Toomey and Jane Wyman, until 1988? | You're In The Army |
At which county cricket club did Ian Botham finish his career? | Durham |
In which English football season did Everton FC first win the league? | 1890-91 |
Which rugby league player, who played in both codes, scored a record 496 points in the 1956-57 season? | Lewis Jones |
In which year did Corbiere win the Grand National? | 1983 |
Who did Henry Cooper defeat in January 1959 to become the British Heavyweight Boxing Champion? | Brian London |
Who was the first footballer to score six hat-tricks for England? | Jimmy Greaves |
Who was the first person to twice win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award? | Henry Cooper |
Held in 1932, what was the first US venue of the Winter Olympics? | Lake Placid |
Dickie Bird, the famous retired cricket umpire, played county cricket for Yorkshire and which other side? | Leicestershire |
Who was the first goalkeeper to win the European Footballer of the Year Award (now the Ballon D'Or)? | Lev Yashin |