ROUND 1

1.

Which historical figure had siblings called Caroline, Elisa, Jerome, Joseph, Louis, Lucien and Pauline?

Napoleon Bonaparte

2.

Which wading bird gets its name from its habit of probing sand or rocks with his bill in the hope of finding food under pebbles, shells etc?

Turnstone

3.

Which gun takes its name from the German (or Czech) for a sling?

Howitzer

4.

What is the capital of the country which was formerly known as French Somaliland?

Djibouti

5.

What was John Mark's claim to fame in London in 1948?

He lit the Olympic flame at Wembley

6.

Which composer’s works include the opera The Love for Three Oranges and Lieutenant Kijé?

Sergei Prokofiev

7.

Which character in Greek mythology gave her name to a form of jellyfish?

Medusa

8.

What is the Italian porridge that is made from maize or other cornmeal?

Polenta

ROUND 2

1.

Benny the Dip, Harry the Horse and Sky Masterson were characters created in stories by which writer?

Damon Runyon

2.

Bleeding heart and Dutchman’s breeches are names given to which garden plant?

Dicentra

3.

“Our country owes all our troubles to him - and God simply made me an instrument of his punishment.”  These words are attributed to which person?

John Wilkes Booth (Abraham Lincoln’s assassin)

4.

Which word is derived from the Mexican-Indian words for bitter and water?

Chocolate

5.

In which year did the events take place that inspired Picasso’s painting Guernica?

1937

6.

An MP can resign his seat by applying for the Chiltern Hundreds or what other position?

The Stewardship of the Manor of Northstead

7.

Which American film star has a middle name Tiffany?

Richard Gere

8.

Kent was divided into lathes for administrative purposes.  What was Sussex divided into?

Rapes

ROUND 3 – Themed

Each answer contains the name of a composer - either as a whole word or as part of a word.  In some cases it is the sound of the name rather than the correctly spelt version.

A list of the composers are hidden after the answer to Question 8.

1.

If you walk from St Paul’s Cathedral to Tate Modern, via the shortest route, where would you cross the Thames?

Millenium Bridge

2.

What is the name of UK cricket’s official charity?

Lords Taverners

3.

He joined the BBC in 1970 as a reporter on radio news, becoming a special correspondent in many parts of the world.  For the past 20 years he has specialised in political reporting from Westminster, and at times, presented a wide variety of programmes on Radio 4, and been a guest on many light entertainment shows.  From 2000 – 2002, he was political editor for ITN.  He is the author of two books: Give Me Ten Seconds and Maggie: Her Fatal Legacy.  Who is he?

John Sergeant

4.

Who was the founder of Big Issue?

John Bird

5.

By what name is the medical term ‘prominentia laryngea’ better known?

Adam’s Apple

6.

The 16 westernmost counties of Florida make up the “Florida ….…” what?

Panhandle

7.

It is located 15.3 miles south-west of Charing Cross and lies between the towns of Weybridge and Esher.  Its name is Anglo-Saxon in origin, believed to mean “farm of the Britons” or “Saxon settlement”.  Julie Andrews was born there. Where is it?

Walton-on-Thames

8.

Who played Jonathon Hart in Hart to Hart?

Robert Wagner

The composers were:

Frank Bridge (1879-1941); John Taverner (1490-1545); Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967); William Byrd (1539-1623); John Adams (1947-); George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759); William Walton (1902-1983); and Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

ROUND 4

1.

What is the title of JMW Turner’s watercolour which has just ‘resurfaced’ after more than 100 years?

Bamburgh Castle

2.

Who wrote the recently rediscovered play, The Better Half?

Noël Coward

3.

Ashton in Northamptonshire hosts which world championships?

World Conker Championships

4.

Sonkajarvi in Finland, hosts with un-PC world championships?

World Wife-carrying Championships

5.

Which Canadian rock-star’s new album is called Chrome Dreams II?

Neil Young

6.

Who wrote the songs Manic Monday and I Feel for You?

Prince

7.

Which financial newspaper was founded on 8 July, 1889?

Wall Street Journal

8.

On 9 January 1888, the Financial Times was launched under what name, prior to it being renamed on 13 February of the same year?

London Financial Guide

ROUND 5

1.

Who is the only man who became Prime Minister after being deputy prime minister and then was succeeded by his immediate predecessor as Prime Minister?

Clement Attlee (he was deputy Prime Minister to Churchill in the wartime cabinet and then was succeeded by Churchill in 1951)

2.

Name the two Finns who have been Formula One world champions before this weekend.

Keke Rosberg and Mika Häkkinen

3.

Which rugby union team was the only team to lose all their matches in the recent World Cup?

Namibia

4.

Name the two stars of the remake of Sleuth coming out shortly.

Michael Caine and Jude Law

5.

Who is the writer of the shows Hello Dolly, Mame! and Mack and Mabel?

Jerry Herman

6.

In which gallery are the Turner Prize exhibits being shown this year?

Tate Liverpool

7.

What do Arsenal, Barbican, Embankment and Charing Cross specifically have in common?

They are all tube stations that have changed their names (from Gillespie Road, Aldersgate, Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square respectively)

8.

Which 4 countries make up the continent of South America in the game of Risk?

Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Venezuela

ROUND 6 

1.

What is a misericord in a church?

It is a shelf under a folding chair that can be leant upon by someone standing, thus providing some comfort for someone in an upright position for a long period of time

2.

Roxana of Bactria, played in a recent film by Rosario Dawson, was the consort of which historical figure?

Alexander the Great

3.

Echo Beach was a hit for which Canadian group in 1980?

Martha and the Muffins

4.

John William Gott, sent to prison in 1921, was the last person imprisoned in the UK for what offence?

Blasphemy

5.

Which film co-stars Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, Danny Devito and Will Sampson?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

6.

Which film co-stars Denholm Elliott, Sean Connery, Jon Rhys-Davies and Alexei Sayle?

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

7.

Which phrase, sometimes written as one word,  means ‘new trend’ or ‘new style’ in Portuguese?

Bossa nova

8.

In which city did Spiderman operate?

New York

ROUND 7

1.

Which is the only Central American country with no Caribbean coast?    

El Salvador

2.

What is the capital of Burma?

Naypyidaw (other spellings are possible)

3.

Who is Nicolas Cage’s famous uncle?

Francis Ford Coppola

4.

What connection do the distances 2.4, 112 and 26.2 miles have?

Distances in the events of the Iron Man Triathlon

5.

Cayetano Ripoll was the last victim of which institution in 1826?

Spanish Inquisition

6.

Performances of which Shakespeare play were banned between 1788 and 1820 in this country?

King Lear

7.

What was the USS Phoenix better known as?

General Belgrano

8.

The layout of which city is shaped like an aeroplane?

Brasilia

ROUND 8

1.

Which fictional character's childhood home was Gateshead Hall?

Jane Eyre

2.

Who lives at No. 1 Observatory Circle?

US Vice President (at the moment Dick Cheney)

3.

What links avocados and orchids etymologically?

Testicle (derived from words for it in Greek and Nahuatl)

4.

What does a angram contain?

Every letter of the alphabet

5.

As what is the Second Battle of Höchstädt far better known?

Blenheim (the name Blenheim came about because of the mispronunciation of the French name of the nearby hamlet of Blindheim)

6.

Who is the only Ambassador who doesn’t have to work in a foreign country?

US Ambassador to the UN

7.

In 1990 Katy Cropper became the first woman to win what event (though on the face of it she should not have been allowed to take part)?

One Man and his Dog

8.

What is the main ingredient of tahini?     

Sesame

SPARES

1.

Where did Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin first meet?

Tehran

2.

What world record feat was achieved by ‘Glamorous Glennis’ in 1947?

Breaking the sound barrier for the first time (Glamorous Glennis was the name of Chuck Yeager’s plane)

3.

How many players are there in a women’s lacrosse team?

12

4.

What links Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniel?

They were the first Oscar-winning black actor and actress

5.

What links Throckmorton, Ridolfi and Babington?

They were all plots against Elizabeth I

6.

Lys Assia was the first winner of what?

Eurovision Song Contest

7.

What was St Petersburg called between 1914 and 1924?

Petrograd