ROUND 1

1.

Which well-loved children’s television programme included “the very biggest spotty dog you ever did see”?

The Woodentops

2.

Which politician, first elected to Westminster in 1970, is nicknamed “The Beast of Bolsover”?

Dennis Skinner

3.

In the Bible who was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin?

Rachel

4.

What is the name of Bill Gates’s wife who together with her husband has established a $24 billion charitable foundation?

Melinda

5.

Which city was the birth place of anti-slave trade campaigner William Wilberforce?

Hull

6.

Born in Southport in 1969 who is the acclaimed author of novels including Ghostwritten, No 9 Dream and Black Swan Green?

David Mitchell

7.

“Presbyterians” is an anagram of which pop singer (forename and surname)?

Britney Spears

8.

Name any one of the three astronauts on the ill-fated Apollo 13.

James Lovell or Fred Haise or John Swigert

ROUND 2

1.

Name any one of the three astronauts on Apollo 8 who were the first to orbit the moon in December 1968 and to see Earthrise?

James Lovell or William Anders or Frank Borman

2.

“It is a raunchier gal” is an anagram of which pop singer (forename and surname)?

Christina Aguilera

3.

Born in Birmingham in 1961 who is the acclaimed author of novels including What a Carve Up, The Rotters’ Club and The Closed Circle?

Jonathon Coe

4.

Which town was the birth place of economist Adam Smith?

Kirkcaldy

5.

Who is the world’s third wealthiest man?  He has recently pledged $30 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  He has said he intends to leave his children enough money to do anything, but not enough money to do nothing.

Warren Buffett

6.

In the Bible who was the mother of Jacob and Esau?

Rebekah

7.

Which politician, first elected to Westminster in 1970, is nicknamed “The Abominable No-man”?

Ian Paisley

8.

Who is the only puppet to have won the quiz show The Weakest Link?

Basil Brush (he won £10 900 in Dec 2005 for the Blue Peter appeal)

ROUND 3 – Themed

All the answers have something in common

The theme is hidden  after the answer to Question 8

1.

Who owns the atlas from which all Wombles choose a name when they are of age?

Great Uncle Bulgaria

2.

Which actress was married firstly to David McCallum and secondly to Charles Bronson?

Jill Ireland

3.

Who managed the Welsh football team from 1979 to 1987 and now manages a nursing home in North Wales?

Mike England

4.

What nickname has been bestowed on cricketer Ashley Giles following a misprint on mugs ordered for his testimonial year?

King of Spain

5.

Born Jacques Thibault, who won the 1921 Nobel Prize for Literature?

Anatole France

6.

Who is the founder of the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia?

Jimmy Wales

7.

Who is the Minister for Justice at the Home Office in the current government?

Patricia, Baroness Scotland

8.

Which Marxist, born in Poland in 1870, was murdered in Berlin in January 1919 following a failed communist uprising?

Rosa Luxemburg

Every answer contains the name of a European country

ROUND 4 - Pictures

1.

Born in 1813 who is this composer?

Richard Wagner

2.

Born in 1810 who is this composer?

Robert Schumann

3.

Who is this British winner of the Nobel Literature Prize of 1948?

T S Eliot

4.

Who is this British winner of the Nobel Literature prize of 1950?

Bertrand Russell

5.

Who is this jockey who won the Grand National twice, first on West Tip and secondly on Miinehoma?

Richard Dunwoody

6.

Who is this jockey who won the Grand National twice, first on Party Politics and secondly on Earth Summit?

Carl Llewelyn

7.

Who painted this picture sold last year for $135 million?

Gustav Klimt

8.

Who painted this still life sold in 1999 for $60.5 million?

Paul Cezanne

ROUND 5

1.

Who said of the Abdication Crisis: “This is a fine kettle of fish”?

Queen Mary

2.

In which month is Presidents’ Day in the USA?

February

3.

Which singer-songwriter died on December 18^th 2000 when hit by a speeding powerboat whilst diving in Cozumel, Mexico?

Kirsty McColl

4.

Which US president is depicted on the dime coin?

Franklin D Roosevelt

5.

In which sport have the Italian Blue Team won the Bermuda Bowl 14 times since 1950?

Bridge

6.

Which radio programme running from 1950 to 1982 had as its theme tune the Berceuse from the Dolly Suite by Gabriel Faure?

Listen With Mother

7.

Who was the original “It Girl”?  Her most famous quip was “The more I see of men, the more I like dogs”?

Clara Bow

8.

Which vegetable has varieties including Southport Red Globe, Pearl Pickler and Ricardo?

Onion

ROUND 6 

1.

Which vegetable has varieties including Kelvedon Wonder, Little Marvel and Meteor?

Pea

2.

Who was the original “Sweater Girl”?  She was married eight times to seven men including Artie Shaw and Lex Barker.  She once said “I liked the boys, and the boys liked me”.

Lana Turner

3.

Which TV sitcom running from 1987 to 1992 had as its theme tune the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky?

The New Statesman

4.

In which sport have Paul Morphy, Emmanuel Lasker, Max Euwe and Mikhail Tal all been undisputed world champions?

Chess

5.

The obverse side of Irish euro coins feature 12 stars surrounding what object?

A harp

6.

Which singer-songwriter whose hits included Leaving on a Jet Plane died in an air crash on October 13^th 1997?

John Denver

7.

In which month is Memorial Day in the USA?

May

8.

Which future earl allegedly declined a barony in 1945 because, as the younger son of a marquess, he was already higher in the order of precedence than a mere baron?

Lord Louis Mountbatten (later Earl Mountbatten of Burma)

ROUND 7 – Themed

All the answers have something in common

The theme is hidden  after the answer to Question 8

1.

On which island are the Callanish Standing Stones?

Lewis (also accept Lewis and Harris)

2.

Who won a Commonwealth Gold Medal in the 1500m in 1994, Silver in 1998 and Gold again in 2002 before going on to greater things?

Kelly Holmes

3.

Who, with a term of office of 42 years, is the longest serving Poet Laureate so far?

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

4.

Which 1974 book by Robert M Pirsig exploring the metaphysics of quality became an unlikely best seller despite being rejected by 121 publishers?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

5.

Who was the author of the plays The Jew of Malta and Dido, Queen of Carthage?

Christopher Marlowe

6.

Christopher Finney, who won the George Cross for bravery in Iraq, was born in Brussels but brought up in which North West village?

Marple

7.

Which poet wrote the following lines:

                  “The woods are lovely, dark and deep

                  But I have promises to keep

                  And miles to go before I sleep

                        And miles to go before I sleep"

Robert Frost

8.

Which poet wrote the following lines:

                        “Jenny kissed me when we met

                        Jumping from the chair she sat in

                        Time you thief who love to get

                        Sweets in your list put that in

                        Say I’m lonely, say I’m sad

                        Say that health and wealth have passed me by

                        Say I’m growing old, but add

                        Jenny kissed me”

Leigh Hunt

Each answer contains the name of a fictional detective or private investigator: Robbie Lewis, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Tennison, Aurelio Zen, Philip Marlowe, Jane Marple, Jack Frost and Gene Hunt

ROUND 8

1.

Yorkshire has won the Cricket County Championship an astonishing 30 times since 1890.  Four counties have never won it.  Durham is one.  Name one of the other three.

Somerset or Gloucestershire or Northamptonshire

2.

Derbyshire have been bottom of the Cricket County Championship 13 times but three counties have never been bottom.  Name one of them.

Lancashire or Surrey or Middlesex

3.

In which James Bond film did actress Lana Wood play the character Plenty O’Toole?

Diamonds are Forever

4.

In which James Bond film did actress Lois Chiles play the CIA astronaut Holly Goodhead?

Moonraker

5.

The equator runs through land territory of seven African nations.  Name four of them.

(4 from) Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (or Zaire), Uganda, Kenya or Somalia

6.

Seven states of the USA have a population of fewer than one million.  Name four of them.

(4 from) Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware or Montana

7.

Give a year in the life of the English writer Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales.

1343 to 1400

8.

Give a year in the life of the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, author of The Decameron.

1313 to 1375

SPARES

1.

Who is the current president of UEFA?

Michel Platini

2.

Who, in Private Eye, was nicknamed the Bouncing Czech?

Robert Maxwell

3.

Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu is the elected monarch of which country?

Malaysia

4.

For whom was Traudl Junge (born Gertraud Humps) a personal private secretary?

Adolf Hitler

5.

Which of Father Megson’s organs is approximately 12 fingerbreadths in length?

His duodenum (from Latin duodenum digitorum)

6.

In the news this week……Which late politician, an organ scholar at Balliol in his youth, allegedly indulged in “cottaging” which he was advised to discontinue?

Ted Heath

7.

The band The Rembrandts sing the theme song for which sitcom?

Friends

8.

Who is Dawn French’s husband?

Lenny Henry

9.

Are we all going to work hard in the close season training our brains and absorbing millions of facts so we can come out fighting and give those Napier Girls a damned good thrashing in next season’s league and cup?

?????

`“Nearest the Bull’s Eye”

1.

How many women have been judicially executed in the electric chair in the USA?

26

2.

How many episodes of the Beverly Hill Billies were made?

274