Each round’s answers exhibit a theme.  Some of these themes are related to Christmas.

(The round’s theme is declared beneath the answer to Question 8 - concealed in the same way as the answers)

ROUND 1

1.

By what name is laurus nobilis better known?

Bay

2.

What word connects a retail outlet at Junction 30/31 of the M25 and a film actress known for her hairstyle?

Lake (Lakeside and Veronica)

3.

Who won the ‘World’s Most Handsome Man’ competition in 1921?

Charles Atlas

4.

Who won the ‘World’s Strongest Man’ competition in 1973?

Geoff Capes

5.

Who starred in the original production of the musical Hair and is now a successful writer?

Marsha Hunt

6.

What was the name of the Holiday camp in Hi de Hi?

Maplins

7.

Whose real name is Joan Alexandra Molinsky?

Joan Rivers

8.

In what district of Londonderry were there riots in August 1969?

Bogside

Each answer contains a geographical term

ROUND 2

1.

What unique position or honour does the current Earl Jellicoe hold?

Father of the House of Lords

2.

Which comedy character started as a radio sports reporter, became a chat show host and ended up on Radio Norwich?

Alan Partridge

3.

Which Football League team moved to a new ground called The Liberty Stadium at the beginning of this season?

Swansea City

4.

What word links the band that had a no. 1 hit in 1967 with Green Tambourine and a poem by Robert Browning?

Piper (The Lemon Pipers and the Pied Piper)

5.

Which Shakespeare character said “Yet do I fear thy nature, it is too full of the milk of human kindness”?

Lady Macbeth

6.

Which Gunther Grass novel of 1959 is described as a “bitter, impassioned and scathing dissection of the years from 1925 to 1955 told through the eyes of the dwarf Oskar Matzerath”?

The Tin Drum

7.

Which river flows through the popular tourist village of Hartington?

The Dove

8.

Which battle took place between May 26th and May 28th 1982?

Darwin and Goose Green (accept just Goose Green)

Each answer contains a reference to the song, The 12 days of Christmas

ROUND 3

1.

On which TV programme did John Cleese first appear?

The Frost Report

2.

How is the medical condition coryza better known?

A head cold

3.

Which country/pop singer had hits with Don’t it make my brown eyes blue and Talking in your sleep?

Crystal Gale

4.

Which children’s TV character lives at Colley’s Mill?

Windy Miller

5.

What is the name of the loudmouthed rooster in the Warner Brothers cartoons?

Foghorn Leghorn

6.

Which snooker player won the Benson and Hedges Masters in 1978 and 1981?

Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins

7.

Which golfer won his only majors at the US Open in 1974, 1979 and 1990?

Hale Irwin

8.

Which English author and scientist (1905-1980) wrote A Coat of Varnish and In Their Wisdom?

C P Snow

Each answer contains a reference to wintry weather

ROUND 4 – “Bah”

1.

Which architect designed the Crystal Palace?

Joseph Paxton

2.

Who led the Mexican forces at the Alamo?

General Santa Anna

3.

Which film tells the story of missionary Gladys Aylward?

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

4.

Which US state is known as the Terrapin State, the Old Line State and the Monumental State?

Maryland

5.

Who played bass guitar with the Jimi Hendrix Experience band?

Noel Redding

6.

Who was the first American in space?

Allan Shepherd

7.

What is the most common blue butterfly in the UK, known for inhabiting churchyards?

The Blue Holly

8.

Who scored for Aston Villa versus Bolton last Saturday?

Juan Pablo Angel

Each answer contains a reference to something associated with Christmas

ROUND 5 – “Humbug”

1.

Ambrose Mendy holds the current world record (49 seconds) for eating three of what?

Cream Crackers

2.

Which ancient Greek historian features in the film The English Patient?

Herodotus

3.

Which play by Lope de Vega is set in Naples in the court of the Countess of Belfour?

The Dog in the Manger

4.

Which Scottish former winner of ‘Rear of the Year’ made her first TV appearance on Wheel of Fortune?

Carol Smillie

5.

Who was appointed Deputy Leader of the National Socialist and German Workers’ Party in December 1932?

Rudolf Hess

6.

Who starred in the films Westworld and Futureworld?

Yul Brynner

7.

What character did Lynne Perrie play on television?

Ivy Tilsley (in Coronation Street)

8.

Who presented the pilot for the radio show Just a minute?

Nicholas Parsons

Each answer contains a reference to something associated with Christmas

ROUND 6 

1.

Lake Ladoga, the biggest lake in Europe, is in which country?

Russia

2.

If you ordered pulpo in a Spanish restaurant what would you get?

Octopus

3.

What name is given to someone from Wiltshire?

A Moonraker

4.

Lara Antipova appears in which book and film?

Dr Zhivago

5.

What was adopted first in Germany in April 1916 and rapidly spread across the world?

Daylight Saving time

6.

Of what is astraphobia the fear?

Thunder and lightning

7.

What is the collective name for Laos, Burma and Thailand?

The Golden Triangle

8.

Who wrote the novel Heidi?

Johanna Spyri

Each answer contains a reference to part of the title of a Bond film

ROUND 7

1.

Which novel by George Eliot deals with the Jewish community in Victorian England?

Daniel Deronda

2.

In which country would you find the Blue Mosque?

Turkey

3.

Who was the first editor of the Daily Star?

Derek Jameson

4.

Of which Union is Steve Sinnott the General Secretary?

National Union of Teachers

5.

What are Great Tom in Oxford, and Great Dunstan in Canterbury?

Bells

6.

The 1923 Cup Final is widely remembered for an unusual non-playing participant.  Who or what was it?

A White Horse

7.

Who commanded the 21st Illinois Volunteers at the outbreak of the US civil war?

General Grant

8.

Which film character was once assisted by Mrs Kensington?

Austin Powers

Each answer contains a reference to a brand of whisky

ROUND 8

1.

What is the most populous city in Texas?

Houston

2.

Which novel has the subtitle Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure?

Fanny Hill

3.

Which greyhound of the 1980s holds the record for most consecutive wins?

Ballyregan Bob

4.

What product was invented at Johnson and Johnson in 1921?

Band Aid

5.

J. B. S. Haldane, the geneticist, said that his studies of nature had revealed that God had “An inordinate fondness for….”  - what?

Beetles

6.

What postcode corresponds to Walthamstow in London?

E17 or East 17

7.

Who was described in June 2002 as being: “the archetypal working mother”?

The Queen

8.

Which girl from North Wales was, we are told, brought back to life after being beheaded in the 7th century?

St Winifred

Each answer contains a reference to the performer of a Christmas No. 1 hit

SPARES

1.

Whose last words (in 1977) were: “That was a great game of golf fellas, let’s go and get a coke”?

Bing Crosby

2.

Which songwriter married Linda Lee Thomas in 1919?

Cole Porter

3.

Who presented the England cricket team with their award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year event?

Mike Gatting

4.

Which scientist won a Nobel prize for Chemistry (1954) and a Nobel Peace prize?

Linus Pauling

5.

Which singer was known as the ‘Nabob of Sob’, the ‘Cry Guy’ and the ‘Prince of Wails’?

Johnny Ray

6.

Where did a disastrous military operation begin on 17 April 1961?

Bay of Pigs

7.

What song linked JFK, Woodstock and the Berlin wall?

We didn’t start the fire (by Billy Joel)