Question Paper 18th November 2009

set by Ethel Rodin

To see the answers move the mouse over the area immediately to the right of each question whilst at the same time pressing the select button on the mouse -  when you print the page the answers show up on the printed copy

ROUND 1 - Pot Luck

1.

In which Shakespeare play is Claudio sentenced to death for seducing Juliet?

Measure for Measure

2.

In the Bible what was notable about Balaam’s Ass?

It could speak

3.

August is a Wicked Month is a novel by which author?

Edna O’Brien

4.

Bull’s Blood is a wine produced in which country?

Hungary

5.

Which American city was previously known as Fort  Dearborn?

Chicago

6.

In which sport are the terms Double, Octave and Site used?

Fencing

7.

Which former prime minister died in 1850 after a horse riding accident on Constitution Hill?

Robert Peel

8.

The term ‘The Beat Generation’ was first used by which US author?

Jack Kerouac

ROUND 2 - Pot Luck

1.

What is the French term for a person finishing last in a cycle race?

Lanterne Rouge

2.

At which New York night club did Duke Ellington’s orchestra act as the house band between 1927 and 1931?

The Cotton Club

3.

Who sings As Time Goes By and plays the character Sam in the film Casablanca?

Dooley Wilson

4.

Which US president said  “Advertisements  contain the only truth  to be relied on in a newspaper”?

Jefferson

5.

What is dipped in oatmeal and fried to produce the Welsh delicacy laverbread?

Seaweed

6.

What is the common name for the garden plant Convallaria Majalis which has white bell-shaped flowers?

Lily of the Valley

7.

What vice is Susanna’s Secret in the opera by Wolf-Ferrari?

Smoking

8.

Which MP’s office at the house of Parliament was searched by the police earlier this year?

Damian Green

ROUND 3 - Pot Luck

1.

How are the packs of cards used for the card games Piquet, Bezique and Skat obtained from the normal 52-card pack?

All the cards below the sevens are discarded (aces high) to leave 32 cards

2.

Two constructor teams have announced that they will pull out of Formula One at the end of the season.  Name one of the two.

Toyota or BMW-Sauber

(allow either of the names in the latter team)

3.

The giving of Maundy money by the monarch is an old custom but this English king was the first to vary the amount given according to his age.  He was born on Maundy Thursday in Lincolnshire.  He set foot in Jerusalem during one of the Crusades and died in Westminster.  Who was he?

Henry IV

4.

Who was accused and convicted of the crime that was in fact committed by Major Ferdinand Esterhazy?

Dreyfus

5.

How many cubes in total make up the faces of a Rubik’s cube?

26

(three cubed minus one) 

6.

Who when in hospital towards the end of his life was asked why he was reading the Bible replied “I am checking for loopholes”?

W C Fields 

7.

A wind that changes direction in a clockwise direction is said to veer.  What is the name given for the action of a wind that changes direction in a counter-clockwise direction?

Backing

8.

The faces of two non-presidents are on the US currency notes in circulation at the moment.  One is of Benjamin Franklin.  The other is of a signatory of the US Constitution who was the first US Secretary of the Treasury and the founder of the Federalist party which was opposed to Jefferson.  He died in 1804 after a duel.  Who was he?

Hamilton

ROUND 4 – Pictures

“All right My Son!”

Each question has two answers, both of which are required in full for the points.  The second answer always contains a name that appears in the first but with the suffix ‘son’ - e.g. a pair of answers might be Andrew Neill & Leslie Neilsen (note ‘soundalikes’ apply)

1.

William of Orange

&

Henry Williamson

(author of Tarka the Otter)

2.

Harris Hawk

(best bird for hunting)

&

George Harrison

3.

Jens Lehmann

(ex-goalkeeper of Arsenal and Germany)

&

Jensen Interceptor

4.

Gregor Mendel

(Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance)

&

Felix  Mendelssohn

(Hebrides Overture aka Fingals Cave)

5.

DOB

(i.e. Date of Birth – Happy Birthday music)

&

Anita Dobson

(ex of Eastenders, now Mrs Brian May, as is obvious from the hair)

6.

Maxine Carr

(ex-girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley)

&

Scott Carson

(current WBA keeper)

7.

Big Ben

(the large bell in Westminster’s Clock Tower)

&

George Benson

(jazz / funk guitarist)

8.

The Robins

(Altrincham FC’s nickname)

&

Robinson Crusoe

Sp

Mae West

(Lifejacket)

&

Perry Mason

ROUND 5 - Paired

1.

1)                 Which Hollywood actor, predominantly an action hero, is a surprisingly accomplished Blues guitarist?  A review of his most recent album Mojo Priest said “…somewhat like his acting career, it opens with several great tracks, but fades away disappointingly…”.

Steven Seagal

2.

Which Hollywood actor, predominantly known as a comedian, is a surprisingly accomplished Banjo player?  His new album The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo has been very well received.

3.

Which poet and short story writer wrote the poems Tamerlane, The Bells and The Raven?

Edgar Allan Poe

4.

Which poet wrote the collection known as Leaves of Grass?

Walt Whitman

5.

Which well known composer (who was not American, but lived there for many years) wrote a Choral Symphony The Bells based upon Edgar Allen Poe's poem.

 

Rachmaninov

6.

Which well known composer (who was not American, but lived there for some years) wrote a choral orchestral pieces called Sea Drift, based upon verses from Walt Whitman's "leaves of grass".

 

Delius

7.

Who died of cholera on November 6, 1893, nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony?

Tchaikovsky

8.

Delius died of which disease, the late stages of which caused his blindness, paralysis and cardiac problems?

Syphilis

Sp

Vaughan-Williams composed incidental music to a play called The Wasps.  Who, in the 5^th Century BC, wrote The Wasps, along with The Birds and The Frogs.

Aristophanes

Sp

It is postulated that Rachmaninov had which hereditary connective tissue disorder?  He was very tall, with long limbs and massive hands and suffered from arthritis and eye problems, but not the cardiac or aortic problems that can be fatal in this syndrome.

Marfan's syndrome

ROUND 6 - Paired

1.

Who was the only crowned European monarch (i.e. royal head of state) not to attend Charles & Diana's wedding, and why?

King Juan Carlos of Spain because the honeymooning couple were due to stop in Gibraltar on the royal yacht

2.

Only two European Presidents (i.e. elected heads of state) did not attend Charles & Diana’s wedding.  Name either of them – the cou?ntries will do here – and say why they didn’t attend

The President of Ireland (Patrick Hillery), because of the troubles in the North

or

The President of Greece (Constantine Karamanlis), because Greece's exiled monarch, Constantine II, (Charles’ second cousin) had also been invited

3.

Which variety of grape is the main variety used to make Chianti wine?

Sangiovese

(min 80%)

4.

Which variety of grape is the main variety used to make (red) Rioja wine?

Tempranillo

5.

One of the great lyricists of the 20th century was born a hundred years ago today.  He wrote the words for over a thousand songs including Jeepers Creepers, Moon River, That Old Black Magic and Days of Wine and Roses.   Who was he?

Johnny Mercer

6.

Which much married US conductor, pianist and composer who is 80 this year collaborated with Mercer in writing the musical adaption for the Good Companions?

André Previn

7.

Which creature (gulo gulo) is the largest land-dwelling species of the weasel family?  It lives in remote reaches of northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra.

Wolverine

8.

Which creature (lutra lutra) lives in the UK but was nearly extinct by the mid 1980s.  Happily it has now returned to the level of population and distribution that it had in the 1960s.

Otter

Sp

Which grape is the main variety used to make Châteauneuf-du- Pape wine?

Sp

Which predator (uncia uncia) lives in remote mountainous areas?

Snow Leopard or Ounce

ROUND 7 – Paired with a sporting theme

1.

For which international team does Emmanuel Adebayor of Manchester City play?

Togo

2.

Which international team does Wilson Palacios of Spurs play for?

Honduras

3.

How did Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, make an important contribution at Wimbledon?

He was known as Cyclops

(Cyclops was the original device that detected whether a ball was in or out)

4.

Cyclops was retired in 2007.  How did Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce of the US Army Medical Corps help out?

He was known as Hawkeye

(Hawkeye is the latest device to check whether a ball is in or out)

5.

Which seasonal show has used Pop Looks Bach by Sam Fonteyn as its theme music since 1978?

Ski Sunday

(it was also used for the BBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics)

6.

Which programme has used Drag Racer by the Doug Wood Group as its theme music since 1982?

BBC snooker coverage

7.

If Tom Armitage is the first at number 1, and Jonathan Trott the latest at number 645, what is the list?

The all-time list of test cricketers playing for England

8.

If Ravi Shastri was the first, and Andrew Flintoff the 708th, what is the list?

Shane Warne's test wickets

Sp

Which sport is associated with Soul Limbo by Booker T and The MGs?

Cricket

Sp

For which international team does Roque Santa Cruz of Manchester City play for?

Paraguay

ROUND 8

1.

In place names such as Chipping Barnet, Chipping Camden etc. what does Chipping indicate?

Market or market place

2.

Only 2 English Cricketers have been given out Handled the Ball in a Test Match.  Name either.

Graham Gooch

(against Australia in 1993)

or Michael Vaughan

(against India in 2001)

3.

Who died at the Hotel Samarkand in 1970?

Jimi Hendrix

4.

Which establishment founded in 1681 and residing in a building designed by Wren admitted females for the first time in March 2009?

Royal  Hospital Chelsea

(accept Chelsea Pensioners)

5.

What links Danube, Dnieper, Dniester, Bug and Kazil?

They are all rivers that flow into the Black Sea 

6.

Poly Styrene sang with which group?

X-Ray Spex

7.

Who was the only player to beat Pete Sampras at Wimbledon between 1993 and 2000?

Richard Krajicek

8.

Mount Vinson is the highest point where?

Antarctica

Spares

1.

What links: “Are you sitting comfortably?”, Frank Zappa and Fir Park?

Mother

(Listen with Mother, Mothers of Invention, and Motherwell)

2.

The youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature was British.  Who was he?

Rudyard Kipling

3.

Arthur Mailey playing for Australia in 1921 took all 10 Gloucestershire wickets for 66 runs.  His autobiography which was published nearly 4 decades later was appropriately called what?

10 for 66 and All That

4.

Which playwright wrote Antigone, Becket ou l’honneur de Dieu, Ring around the Moon and Time Remembered amongst others?

Jean Anouilh