ROUND 1

1.

Which iconic fictional characters live at 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan?

Wallace and Gromit

2.

In the recent Twenty20 Cricket World Cup which Australian bowler became the first to get a hat-trick in international Twenty20?

Brett Lee

3.

Tutankhamen was a pharaoh of which numbered Egyptian dynasty?

18^th (eighteenth)

4.

In which European city is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on permanent display?  (Peggy Guggenheim herself is buried in the back garden of the gallery).

Venice

5.

Edward, the Black Prince, was the father of which King of England?

Richard II (second)

6.

In the Bible what was the name of the priest to whom the prophet Samuel was apprenticed as a boy?

Eli

7.

Who played the villain Francisco Scaramanga in the 1974 Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun?

Christopher Lee

8.

Which politician described the 1983 Labour manifesto as “the longest suicide note in history”?

Gerald Kaufman

ROUND 2

1.

Which shadow chancellor described the introduction of premium bonds in 1957 as “a squalid little raffle”?

Harold Wilson

2.

Who played drug addict Frankie Machine in the 1955 film The Man With The Golden Arm, for which he was nominated for an academy award?

Frank Sinatra

3.

In the Bible which priest, along with the prophet Nathan, anointed King Solomon?

Zadok

4.

John of Gaunt was the father of which King of England?

Henry IV (fourth)

5.

In which European capital city is Baron and Baroness Thyssen’s art collection on permanent display?

Madrid

6.

In which numbered Egyptian dynasty were the Giza pyramids constructed?

4^th (fourth)

7.

In the recent Twenty20 Cricket World Cup Yuvraj Singh of India scored six sixes in an over.  Who was the unfortunate English bowler?

Stuart Broad

8.

Which long running TV sitcom ‘twins’ lived at 24 Sebastopol Terrace, East Acton from 1960-65 and at 28 Sebastopol Terrace, East Acton from 1971-79?

Eric Sykes and his twin sister Hattie (also accept Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques)

ROUND 3 – Themed

“Can’t see the wood for the trees”

(some of the links are soundalikes - the theme is given after the answer to question 8)

1.

Who was the second African-American to win a Wimbledon Singles championship?

Arthur Ashe

2.

What was US President Andrew Jackson’s nickname bestowed because of his toughness?

Old Hickory

3.

Traditionally the goddess Aphrodite was born of sea foam off the coast of which modern country?

Cyprus

4.

Who is the current MP for Wokingham, and was Secretary of State for Wales 1993-95?

John Redwood

5.

Who was born as Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston (then in Lancashire) on 16^th June 1890?

Stan Laurel

6.

Which 1975 film starring Ryan O’Neal and directed by Stanley Kubrick was based on a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray?

Barry Lyndon

7.

Which Swedish Prime Minister was assassinated on 28^th February 1986?

Olaf Palme

8.

Which US right wing organisation was founded in 1958 and named after a military intelligence officer killed by communists in China in 1945?

John Birch Society

All the answers contained the name of a tree: ash, hickory, cypress, redwood, laurel, linden, palm and birch - though some were soundalikes

ROUND 4 – Pictures

“Yesterday’s Men”

1.

Who is this former deputy leader of the Labour party and former deputy Prime Minister?

Herbert Morrison

2.

Who is this former deputy leader of the Labour party who acted as deputy Prime Minister although he never officially held the post?

Edward Short (now Lord Glenamara and who is 95 next month)

3.

Who is this post-war American Vice-President?

Hubert Humphrey (VP to Johnson)

4.

Who is this post-war American Vice-President?

Nelson Rockefeller (VP to Ford)

5.

Who is this polymath scientist whose finger is preserved in a jar in Florence?

Galileo (Galilei)

6.

Who is this polymath scientist who died on the day his greatest work was published?

(Nicolaus) Copernicus

7.

Who is this 1908 Nobel chemistry prize winner who had Manchester connections?

Ernest Rutherford (he held the Physics chair at Manchester University)

8.

Who is this 1922 Nobel physics prize winner, pictured here in later life, who also had Manchester connections, and whose son also later won the physics prize in 1975?

Niels Bohr (researcher and lecturer with Rutherford in Manchester)

ROUND 5

1.

Since 1946 three horses which have won the Grand National have had the name of a chemical element in their names.  Name any one of them (whole name not just the element).

(one of) Nickel Coin (1951), Nicolaus Silver (1961), Silver Birch (2007)

2.

Which country has the highest absolute number of Muslims?

Indonesia (over 200 million)

3.

In which sport did Eric Heiden win 5 individual gold medals at a single Olympics in 1980?

Speed ice skating

4.

What colour is the third letter of the Google trademark (i.e. the colour of the second ‘o’)?

Yellow

5.

Give the surnames of any two of the Four Marys who accompanied Mary Queen of Scots to France as her girl companions.

(two of) Beaton, Seton, Fleming, Livingston

6.

Which river flows through Leicester, Leicestershire?

Soar

7.

In which 1960s TV series did Patrick McGoohan play secret agent John Drake?

Dangerman

8.

Who is the author of novels including Cat’s Eyes, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake?

Margaret Attwood

ROUND 6 

1.

Who is the author of novels including The Girl at the Lion D’Or, Charlotte Gray, Human Traces and Engleby?

Sebastian Faulks

2.

In which 1960s TV series did Richard Bradford play ex CIA agent/private investigator Mac McGill?

Man in a Suitcase

3.

Which river flows through Rochester, Kent?

Medway

4.

AD 69 was known as ‘The Year of the Four Emperors’.  Name any one of the four men who were recognised as Emperors of Rome in that year.

(one of) Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian

5.

What colour is the bottom right ring of the Olympic Rings trademark?

Green

6.

In which sport did Vitaly Scherbo win five individual gold medals at the same Olympic Games in 1992?

Gymnastics (he also won a team gold)

7.

Which country has the highest absolute number of Roman Catholics?

Brazil (almost 137 million)

8.

Since 1946 two horses which have won the Grand National have been named after Scottish mountains.  Name either.

(one of) Foinavon (1967), Ben Nevis (1980)

ROUND 7 – Themed

“The County Set”

(the theme is given after the answer to question 8)

1.

Which detective made his first appearance in the 1964 novel From Doon With Death?

Inspector Reg Wexford

2.

How is the medical condition Trisomy-21 better known?

Downs Syndrome

3.

Edward Kennedy is one of Massachusetts’s two senators.  Who is the other?

John Kerry

4.

Which psychiatrist who presented In the Psychiatrist’s Chair on Radio 4 died earlier this month?

Dr Anthony Clare

5.

Which DJ presents Music Club on Radio 2 on Monday nights 23.30 - 00.30?

Simon Mayo

6.

Which film actor starred in films including The Mark of Zorro, The Black Rose and Prince of Foxes but died aged 44 whist filming Solomon and Sheba?

Tyrone Power

7.

Who was the father of historian Lady Antonia Fraser?

Earl of Longford (aka Frank Packenham)

8.

The 1962 hit song Three Stars Will Shine Tonight was released by the leading actor, and based on the theme tune, of which popular drama series 1961-1965?

Dr Kildare

All answers had the name of a county in Northern Ireland (Down, Tyrone) or the Republic of Ireland (Wexford, Kerry, Clare, Mayo, Longford, Kildare)

ROUND 8

1.

Two US states are geoellipsoidal rectangles.  Name either of them.

(one of) Colorado, Wyoming

2.

Four US states meet at a single point at Four Corners Monument.  Colorado is one of them.  Name two of the other three.

(two of) Utah,  New Mexico, Arizona

3.

Ada Lovelace, who is often described as the world’s first computer programmer, was the first legitimate child of which poet?  She died aged 36, the same age as her father.

Lord Byron

4.

Which poet eloped with and married a 16 year old, left her three years later and eloped with another 16 year old and her 16 year old step-sister?  He later married the former when his first wife committed suicide and possibly fathered the latter’s illegitimate child.  He died at 29.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

5.

In which country was the pop singer Shakira born in 1977?

Colombia

6.

In which country was the pop singer Gloria Estefan born in 1957?

Cuba

7.

Former US Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were both born in which year? (allow +/- 1)

1913 (accept 1912-1914)

8.

Former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and George Bush Senior were both born in which year? (allow +/- 1)

1924 (accept 1923-1925)

SPARES

1.

Which role does Sir Liam Donaldson play in national life?

Chief Medical Officer

2.

Who is the Chief Rabbi?

Jonathon Sachs

3.

Who is the only member of the winning 1966 Soccer World Cup winning side to have been sent off at a subsequent international?

Alan Ball

4.

Which cities have hosted the summer Olympics more than once?

Paris, London, Los Angeles, Athens

5.

In which city is Leonardo’s Last Supper?

Milan

6.

Who is Herbert Morrison’s grandson who has also served in a Labour cabinet?

Peter Mandelson

7.

Which fictional detective made his first appearance in the 1962 novel Cover Her Face?

Commander Adam Dalgliesh

8.

Recently ‘outed’ what is Professor Dumbledore’s first name?

Albus