ROUND 1

Questions in this round are paired with Round 5

1.

When dialling London phone numbers, the exchange used to be signified by 3 digits equating to the position on the dial of their first 3 characters (excluding the digit 1, and using zero for O) e.g. ABBey was 222.  What exchange was signified by 235?

BELgravia

2.

Who was the last Prime Minister to have represented a Scottish constituency during his parliamentary career?

Sir Alec Douglas Home

3.

What single 6 letter word links Brisbane Road, a train in Venice and a 1964 film starring Peter Sellers?

Orient (Leyton Orient play at Brisbane Road, the Orient Express terminates at Venice and The World of Henry Orient)

4.

Who interviewed Princess Diana on Panorama?

Martin Bashir

5.

What is a quokka?

A small marsupial found in Western Australia

6.

In which Irish county does Bantry Bay lie?

Cork

7.

Which colonial state capital was named after the British Colonial Secretary in office in 1803?

Hobart (Tasmania)

8.

Which Friday evening TV show coined the catchphrase “The weekend starts here”?

Ready Steady Go

ROUND 2 – “What a Way to Go”

 Inspired by the History Men’s ‘Accidents, Operations, Illnesses and Deaths of Famous People’ round, in each case the question is ‘How did he die?’  The answers are unusual or ironic.

1.

The Greek playwright Aeschylus in 456 BC?

A tortoise dropped on his head (in order to eat them, eagles reputedly break tortoises’ shells by dropping them on stones and this eagle mistook Aeschylus bald pate for a stone)

2.

Attila the Hun in 453 AD?

A nosebleed (following the wedding feast when he took his sixth wife, he fell into a drunken stupor, had a nosebleed and drowned in his own blood)

3.

King Edward II in 1327?

Had a red-hot poker inserted into his anus

4.

The statesman, philosopher, writer and scientist, Francis Bacon in 1625?

Caught pneumonia (after stuffing snow into a chicken – he thought that freezing a chicken might preserve it, so he bought a chicken, stuffed snow into it, and caught pneumonia)

5.

Prince Frederick, son of George II, in 1751?

Hit on the head by a cricket ball (died two years later of an infected cyst on the head)

6.

Jan Masaryk, first President of Czechoslovakia, in 1948?

Defenestration (body found in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry below his bedroom window)

7.

Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident, in 1978?

Poisoned umbrella (jabbed in the calf with the poison, ricin, using a modified umbrella)

8.

Jim Fixx in 1984 - author of the Complete Book of Running, published in 1977, which is credited with starting the American fitness revolution?

Heart attack (whilst out jogging)

ROUND 3

Questions in this round are in pairs

1.

Which British city began life as a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall, was then called Monkchester by a settlement of monks and got its modern name from the Normans who built a stronghold on the site of the old fort?

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

2.

Which British city began as a Roman fort for the invasion of Wales, guarded the lowest Severn crossing and today is one of the venues of the Three Choirs music festival?

Gloucester

3.

In Scandinavian and German mythology, Fafnir was a creature eventually killed by Sigurd (or Sigmund) - what sort of creature was it?

Dragon

4.

In Scandinavian and German mythology, Sleipnir was an eight legged creature belonging to, and much treasured by Odin - what sort of creature was it?

Horse

5.

A person’s surname at one time reflected the job he or she did.  Normally a woman’s job, what did a lavender do for a living?

Washer of clothes or Washer woman or Laundress (accept any of these)

6.

Although a costermonger now refers to a person who sells almost any item off a barrow, what item of food did such a person originally sell?

Apples

7.

Hugh the Drover (1914) and Sir John in Love (1929) were operas by which British composer?

Ralph Vaughan Williams

8.

Which composer’s ballets include Checkmate (1937) and Adam Zero?

Sir Arthur Bliss

ROUND 4

Questions in this round are a general miscellany, with no themes, pairings or anything

1.

An Essay on Population was the most famous work of which mathematician?

Thomas Malthus

2.

Who was the anti-hero of the book Room at the Top?

Joe Lampton

3.

In which pantomime does Idle Jack appear?

Dick Whittington

4.

Which great English contralto died of cancer in 1953?

Kathleen Ferrier

5.

Which Scottish explorer of the River Niger drowned on his second expedition after being attacked by natives?

Mungo Park

6.

Of whom was Harold Wilson speaking when he said “He immatures with age”?

Tony Benn

7.

Before Boris Becker, who was the last player born in Germany to win Wimbledon’s men’s singles?

John McEnroe

8.

The earliest records were made from vulcanised rubber.  What, from the late 1800s, replaced this as the material for making records and lasted for many years until the 1950s when vinyl became popular?

Shellac

ROUND 5

Questions in this round are paired with Round 1

1.

When dialling London phone numbers, the exchange used to be signified by 3 digits equating to the position on the dial of their first 3 characters (excluding the digit 1, and using zero for O) e.g. ABBey was 222.  What exchange was signified by 944?

WHItehall

2.

Who was the last Prime Minister to die at Number 10 Downing Street?

Henry Campbell-Bannerman

3.

What single 4 letter word links cricket in Wellington, a project at St Austell and Lord Avon?

Eden (Eden Park Test Ground in Wellington, NZ, the Eden Project and Lord Avon was the title of former PM, Anthony Eden)

4.

Which film star did Princess Diana famously dance with at the White House?

John Travolta

5.

What is a quagga?

An extinct South African wild ass

6.

Ignoring Northern Ireland, Donegal borders just one other Irish county.  Which is it?

Leitrim

7.

What was named after the 1873 Chief Secretary of South Australia?

Ayer’s Rock

8.

What was the name of the man who was urged to “give him the money” in Have A Go, Wilfred Pickles’ 1950/60s radio quiz show?

Barney

ROUND 6  - A Manchester Pub Crawl

Inspired by Snoopy’s Friends ‘Capital Directions’ round, we will take a walk round Manchester, but being Opsimaths, this walk will involve a few pubs

1.

Striding purposefully from Piccadilly Gardens, straight through Primark, which pub faces us as we come out the back door?

The Shakespeare

2.

Having continued westward along Fountain Street, we rest on the bench in the Peace Garden in St. Peter’s Square.  Looking round, we can only see one pub. Which pub is it?

The Waterhouse

3.

Walking on down Lower Mosley Street passed G-Mex and the Bridgewater Hall, we come to Great Bridgewater Street, and to what the Council describe as ‘cosy well preserved Edwardian hostelry, with a gem of a beer garden’.   What’s its name?

The Briton’s Protection

4.

Strolling on down Great Bridgewater Street, we come to a green tiled triangular pub named after a Sir Walter Scott novel or a stagecoach to London. What’s the name of this pub?

The Peveril of the Peak

5.

Crossing Oxford Street and ambling along Portland Street, we come to the smallest pub in central Manchester, which has been described as ‘Not so much a bar as a walk in drinks cabinet’.  What’s it called?

The Circus Tavern

6.

Having reeled across Piccadilly Gardens and various back streets, we are in the Cathedral precinct.  We gaze, somewhat glazed, at the back of three pubs. What’s the aptly named pub which has been there since 1815?

The Mitre (Sinclair’s Oyster Bar and the Old Wellington were moved there in the 70’s)

7.

Staggering along Deansgate, we reach reputedly the largest pub in Britain (if not Europe) and one named after an essay by George Orwell.  What’s the name of this pub?

The Moon Under Water

8.

Finally, further along Deansgate, on the same side of the road, we crawl through the doors of red painted, cream-tiled pub that boasts being the oldest licensed premises in Manchester.  Please tell us where we are?

The Sawyer’s Arms

ROUND 7

Questions in this round are in pairs

1.

What does a deltiologist collect?

Picture postcards

2.

What does a tegestologist collect?

Beer mats

3.

By what stage name is the singer Michael Lee Aday, born Marvin Lee Aday better known?

Meat Loaf

4.

By what name is the singer/actress Cheryl Sarkisian LaPierre better known?

Cher

5.

What is the chemical symbol for sodium?

Na

6.

What is the chemical symbol for mercury?

Hg

7.

What is the nickname of the state of Oregon?

The Beaver, or Sunset, state

8.

What is the nickname of the state of Wisconsin?

The Badger, or America’s Dairyland, state

ROUND 8

Questions in this round are a general miscellany, with no themes, pairings or anything

1.

The Cassian Way, a Roman road, runs between which two cities?

Rome and Florence

2.

What is capital of Fiji?

Suva

3.

Who is known as the ‘Father of English Football’?

Stanley Rous

4.

To whom is York Minster dedicated?

St Peter

5.

Who sang Hi Ho Silver Lining?

Jeff Beck

6.

What is Ruth Rendell’s assumed name for some of her novels?

Barbara Vine

7.

As what is the fruit Prunus Avium better known?

Cherry

8.

Who declined the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964?

Jean-Paul Sartre

SPARES

Q1 is paired with Q5; Q2 follows a theme already introduced in the main Quiz; Q3a and Q3b are a pair and Q4 stands alone; Q5 as we’ve already indicated is paired with Q1; Q6 follows another theme already introduced in the main Quiz; Q7a and Q7b are a pair and Q8 stands alone – so there you have it!!!

1.

According to a famous poem, what question is asked in a small village near Cambridge at 14:50 hours?

“Is there honey still for tea?” (from The Old Vicarage at Grantchester by Rupert Brooke)

2.

In 1899, how did the French president Félix Faure die?

A stroke while being fellated in his office

3a.

In which city would you find Flemington Park racecourse?

Melbourne

3b.

At which racecourse is the Irish Grand National run?

Fairyhouse, County Meath

4.

What do the initials in the delivery firm TNT stand for?

Today Not Tomorrow

5.

According to a famous poem, who lost points to be on the brink of losing a game of tennis?

Miss Joan Hunter Dunn from A Subaltern’s Love Song by John Betjeman

6.

Having caught a taxi home after our pub crawl, we stand outside Est Est Est in Didsbury.  Suddenly we realise that there is still time for a lastie in the pub over the road.  What’s the pub called?

The Royal Oak

7a.

Which is generally supposed to have been the first published play Shakespeare wrote?

The Comedy of Errors

7b.

Which is generally supposed to have been the last published play Shakespeare wrote?

Henry VIII

8.

What is a garth?

Either a pagan local worship group or an enclosed yard or garden, especially that of a monastery cloister