Question Paper 12th May 2010

set by Opsimaths

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 (Stockport format) - Verbal

1.

By the summer of 2013 you should be able to travel by Metrolink from Piccadilly Gardens to East Didsbury.  What will the stop between Trafford Bar and Chorlton be called?

Firswood

2.

Scotland has 4 stadia capable of holding 50,000 or more people.  Name them.

Murrayfield, Celtic Park, Hampden Park and Ibrox

3.

What is the name of the Daily Beast’s Foreign Correspondent, the chief character of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop?

William) Boot

4.

Who wrote the lyrics for the 1940 stage musical Pal Joey?

Lorenz Hart

5.

The name of which foodstuff derives from the Nahuatl word for testicle?

Avocado

6.

What nickname is given to both Beethoven’s 5^th Piano Concerto and a string quartet by Haydn?

Emperor

7.

Who wrote The ABC of Southern Locomotives in 1942 leading to a career in publishing books on trains and transport?

Ian Allan

8.

Of what might: “King Phillip Come Out For God’s Sake” remind you?

Order of taxa in biology

(kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)

9.

What was the name of the model of Reliant 3-wheeled car used by the Trotters in Only Fools and Horses?

Regal

10.

Which 20^th century politician said: “Negotiating with De Valera is like trying to pick up mercury with a fork”?

David Lloyd George

11.

What common English idiom is the equivalent of the French phrase ‘Avoir un chat dans la gorge’?

‘To have  a frog in one’s throat’

12.

By land area which is the largest landlocked country in Africa?

Chad

13.

Complete this list: Uruguay, Mexico, France, Argentina, Portugal and ….

West Germany

(teams that England played in the 1966 World Cup Final tournament)

14.

What is the name of the Premiership footballer who has made several successful appearances on Channel 4’s Countdown and has been dubbed ‘Britain’s Brainiest Footballer’?

Clarke Carlisle

(of Burnley)

15.

What type of pasta has a name which translates as ‘a knot in a piece of wood’?

Gnocchi

16.

By the summer of 2013 you should be able to travel by Metrolink from Piccadilly Gardens to East Didsbury.  What will the stop between Chorlton and Withington be called?

St Werburgh’s Road

17.

After Wembley, Old Trafford and the Emirates which 4 English Association Football stadia hold the most people?

St James’ Park (Newcastle), Stadium of Light (Sunderland), City of Manchester Stadium and Anfield (Liverpool)

18.

What was the title of Evelyn Waugh’s 1932 novel that was a satire on Emperor Haile Selassie’s attempts to modernize Abyssinia?

Black Mischief

19.

Who wrote the music for the musical My Fair Lady?

Frederick Loewe

20.

Which brand name of a popular beverage derives, in part, from the Chinese word for doctor?

Typhoo

(tea)

21.

What nickname is given to both Beethoven’s 8^th Piano Sonata and Tchaikovsky’s 6^th Symphony?

Pathétique

22.

What was the brand name of the model railways on sale up to the 1970s that uniquely allowed 2 trains to be separately controlled on the same track by having a centre rail as well as a left and right hand rail for the flow of current?

Trix Twin

23.

Of what might: “Only Erections Hurt Misinformed Superstars” remind you?

The Great Lakes from east to west

(Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, Superior)

24.

Which Oscar-winning actor turned down the role of Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses but made several subsequent appearances as DCI Roy ‘the Slag’ Slater?

Jim Broadbent

25.

Of whom did Herbert Asquith say: “He is not a great man; he is a great poster”?

Lord Kitchener

26.

What common English idiom is the equivalent of the French phrase ‘Couper les cheveux en quatre’?

‘To split hairs’

27.

By land area which is the largest landlocked country in Europe?

Belarus

28.

Complete this list: Chris Hollins, Tom Chambers, Alesha Dixon, Mark Ramprakash, Darren Gough, Jill Halfpenny and ….

Natasha Kaplinsky

(winners of Strictly Come Dancing working back from this year)

29.

Which well-known Hollywood star is the cousin of two sportsmen both of whom have captained their national team?

Russell Crowe

(cousin of Jeff and Martin Crowe – both captains of the New Zealand cricket team)

30.

Which type of pasta has a name which translates as ‘little pies’?

Tortellini

ROUND 2 (Stockport format) - Written

1.

Which actress has appeared as Fiona Middleton in Coronation Street and Kim Campbell in Waterloo Road?

Angela Griffin

2.

At which Football Club did Dean Ashton start his career?

Crewe Alexandra

3.

Apart from The Beatles themselves, who was the only actor to appear in all their three live action films?

Victor Spinetti

4.

Which Lancashire town formerly known as Marsden was renamed in the early 19^th century?

Nelson

5.

Which novel and film of the 1960s featured the adventures of a member of staff at an undertaker’s called Shadrack & Duxbury?

Billy Liar

6.

Present Indicative and Future Infinitive were two volumes of the autobiography written by whom?

Noel Coward

7.

Who wrote Petula Clark’s number one song from 1967 This is My Song?

Charlie Chaplin

8.

Which British landmark is known as Penn An Wlas in the local language?

Land’s End

9.

Which English city known by the Romans as Noviomagnus was at one end of the Roman Road known as Stane Street?

Chichester

10.

One of New Zealand’s highest paid sports personalities is Steve Williams.  What does he do?

Caddy for Tiger Woods

ROUND 3 (WithQuiz format) – Themed

Part (or all) of each answer belongs to a set which can be revealed after the answer to Question 8

1.

In which 1973 romantic comedy film did Glenda Jackson win an Oscar for Best Actress starring opposite George Segal?

A Touch of Class

2.

What word associated with the ‘high life’ derives from the French for a wine merchant’s assistant?

Gourmet

3.

Apart from his work on radio and TV, Anthony Clare, was qualified as what?

A Psychiatrist

4.

What well-known dish was created by Oscar Tschirky and features in the lyrics of Cole Porter’s song You’re the Tops?

Waldorf Salad

5.

According to the Gospel of St John what is the first miracle performed by Jesus?

Turning water into wine at the Wedding at Cana

6.

What J B Priestley play written in 1945 concerns a middle-class family being questioned about the suicide of a young working-class woman?

An Inspector Calls

7.

What was the nickname of the England cricket captain, Colin Cowdrey?

Kipper

8.

Which well-known British TV character lived beneath King’s Cross Station with his friends Kevin, Erroll and Glenis?

Roland Rat

Each answer includes part or all of the title of an episode in Fawlty Towers:

A Touch of Class, Gourmet Night, The Psychiatrist, Waldorf Salad, The Wedding Party, The Hotel Inspectors, The Kipper and the Corpse, and Basil the Rat

ROUND 4 (WithQuiz format) – Paired with Round 6

1.

What is called iddy-umpty by troops?

Morse code

2.

What is the city at the eastern end of the A57 trunk road?

Lincoln

3.

For which city is Arlanda the main international airport?

Stockholm

4.

In which town would you find the headquarters of the Buckinghamshire County Council?

Aylesbury

5.

Which real-life character appears in all the following works of fiction: The Negotiator by Frederick Forsyth, XPD by Len Deighton, Titmuss Regained by John Mortimer and The Child in Time by Ian McEwan?

Margaret Thatcher

6.

Born in 1911 as Virginia Katherine McMath; died 1979; by what name is this actress better known?

Ginger Rogers

7.

What term, a contraction of two words, describes chemical reactions that involve the loss or gain of electrons?

Redox

(short for reduction-oxidation)

8.

From which two ports in Britain can you catch a ferry to Rosslare?

Fishguard and Pembroke

ROUND 5 (WithQuiz format) – Themed

The answers share a common characteristic which in each case relates to the position in the round - which can be revealed after the answer to Question 8

1.

Which capital city is the furthest north of all the capitals of countries formed from the break up of Yugoslavia?

Ljubljana

(Slovenia)

2.

For what is Longhope, a small settlement in the Orkney Isles, best remembered?

The Longhope Lifeboat disaster

(in 1969 when the crew of 8 perished in Scapa Flow attempting a rescue)

3.

In October 1936 what special role was played by Loughborough, Leicester and Market Harborough amongst 21 other English towns?

Stopping points on the Jarrow March

4.

Who said “...she's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile.”?

Mrs Malaprop

(in Sheridan’s The Rivals)

5.

Who was Michael Henchard?

The Mayor of Casterbridge

(in Thomas Hardy’s novel)

6.

After Everest and K2 what is the third highest mountain in the world?

Kanchenjunga

7.

Along with Tim Vine who presented the Channel 5 launch programme in 1997?

Julia Bradbury

8.

Who played the title role in David Lean’s 1954 classic film version of Hobson’s Choice?

Charles Laughton

Each answer contains the abbreviation for the month of the year related to the number of the question (i.e. Q1/jan, Q2/feb, etc.)

ROUND 6 (WithQuiz format) – Paired with Round 4

1.

In 2004 Morse Code officially adopted its first new character since World War I.  What was it?

@

(the ampersand)

2.

What is the city at the eastern end of the A59 trunk road?

York

3.

For which city is Suvarnabhumi the main international airport?

Bangkok

4.

In which town would you find the headquarters of the Derbyshire County Council?

Matlock

5.

Which real-life Jewish Russian-born adventurer and secret agent was immortalised in a book by Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart and is thought by many to be the model on which Ian Fleming based his character James Bond?

Sidney Reilly

(Reilly, Ace of Spies)

6.

Born in 1893 as Gladys Mary Smith; died 1995; by what name is this actress better known?

Mary Pickford

7.

What is the term for a chemical reaction which produces heat?

Exothermic

8.

From which two ports in Britain can you catch a ferry to Santander?

Portsmouth and Plymouth

Extra Time Round (Stockport format) - Written

1.

The US engineer Thomas Midgley Jnr. is best known for two innovations, which subsequently proved to be ecologically disastrous.  Name either one of these

He added lead to petrol to prevent ‘knocking’ and he introduced CFCs into domestic refrigerators

2.

In computing, what does the acronym GIGO stand for?

Garbage In, Garbage Out

3.

What name is given to a enclosure of conducting material that protects objects inside it from electric fields?

Faraday cage

(or Faraday shield)

4.

Who is the only person win Emmies for acting, writing and directing in the same TV series, a long-running US comedy show?

Alan Alda

(for M*A*S*H)

5.

Which Scottish engineer was named as in the BBC poll for 100 Greatest Britains, and was also in the top 100 in polls for the Greatest American and Greatest Canadian?

Alexander Graham Bell

6.

Identified as a separate species in 2006, which is the only bird species unique to Britain?

Scottish Crossbill

7.

Which children’s TV character has a brother called Tom who is a zoologist in the Arctic?

Bob the Builder

8.

The Koestler Parapsychology Unit is part of which British university?

Edinburgh

9.

The holder of which, now largely ceremonial, office of the Royal Household ranks in precedence directly after the Lord Chamberlain?  Previous holders of this title include Mark Anthony during the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, and the Earls of Leicester and Essex during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Master of the Horse

10.

In navigation, what is the process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known speed, elapsed time, and course?

Dead reckoning

…and if it’s still tied……The Tiebreaker

In miles per hour what is the world record speed for a train that runs on a conventional track set by a French TGV in 2007?

357 miles per hour