3 November Questions by Pack Horse and The Crown

SPECIALIST

Sport

Science

MPs' Expenses

Homphones

History

Geography

Famous Album Art

Art & Entertainment

SPORT

1 What part did Tom Williams play in a recent sporting scandal?
A He was the rugby player who bit the fake blood capsule in the “Bloodgate” scandal.

2 What is the nickname of MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi?
A The Doctor

3 Who is the current England Cricket head coach?
A Andy Flower.

4 Who is the football referee who has recently hit the headlines after Alex Ferguson suggested he was not fit enough for the modern game?
A Alan Whiley

5 Which football club was recently purchased by a group named Munto Finance?
A Notts County

6 In what event did Gymnast Beth Tweddle win gold at this years world championships?
A Floor

7 Which city is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics?
A Vancouver

8 What was unique about Tiger Woods' second place finish in this year’s US PGA Championship?
A It was the first time he had failed to win a major championship when leading going into the last day.

S1 Jenson Button was crowned F1 World Champion at the Brazilian Grand Prix on October 18th, but who won the race that day?
A Mark Webber

S2 James Ward is currently Britain’s number 2 ranked player at which sport?
A Tennis

SCIENCE

1/ Cinnabar is the ore of which metal?
Mercury.

2/ Name one of the three bones making up your Ossicles?
Anvil, Hammer or Stirrup.

3/ Of what natural phenomenon are Horsehead, Crab and Eagle notable examples?
Nebulae / star clusters / constellation.

4/ Which star, in the constellation of Carina, is the 2nd brightest star in the sky?
Canopus.

5/ Which scientist first demonstrated in the 1920s that galaxies exist outside the Milky Way?
Edwin Hubble.

6/ What does it mean if an animal or bird is born precocial?
They are immediately self-sufficient and have no dependence on their parents at all.

7/ What in the human body, is the purpose of the sinoatrial node?
Pacemaker.

8/ Cassiterite is the ore of which metal?
Tin.

S1/ Which organisms produce spores, live off organic matter and lack chlorophyll, making them unable to photosynthesise?
Fungi and mushrooms.

S2/ What scientific principle determines the direction in which winds rotate in cyclonic weather systems?
The Coriolis effect.

MP's EXPENSES

1 What is the name given to the practice of changing your allocated second home in order to
maximise expense claims or avoid capital gains tax?
A Flipping

2 Which Liberal Democrat MP claimed for a trouser press?
A Chris Huhne.

3 Which Conservative MP claimed for his moat to be cleaned?
A Douglas Hogg

4 Which former Cabinet Minister claimed 88p for a bathroom plug?
A Jacquie Smith

5 Even before the Daily Telegraph started its revelations, which Tory MP was suspended from the House after it was revealed he had paid his son £10,000 pa for work he had never done?
A Derek Conway.

6 Labour MP for Luton South Margaret Moran claimed for dry rot to be treated in a house in which town, 200 miles from her constituency?
A Southampton.

7 What, according to the Daily Telegraph, was the issue which motivated the whistleblower
to leak the information to them in the first place?s
A He was unhappy with the lack of equipment faced by the British Army.

8 What is the name of the new Speaker of the House who has vowed to clean up MP's expenses?
A Jon Bercow

S1 Sir Peter Viggers claimed for which item that has since been used to epitomise the whole
scandal?
A A Duck House

S2 David Cameron paid back £680 for the clearing of which plant from his chimney?
A Wisteria.

HOMOPHONES

Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently, with different meanings. Each question is in 2 parts, and each answer is made up of the 2 homophones which sound the same, eg the answer to ‘purchaser / cow shed’ is buyer / byre.


1. Female animal / Tree
A. Ewe / yew

2. Strong and healthy / Call out to someone
A. Hale / hail

3. Sailing ship / Animal sound
A. Barque / bark

4. Member of the British nobility / Land unable to produce much vegetation.
A. Baron / Barren

5. Small glass bottle / Smoothing tool.
A. Phial / file

6. Careful to avoid attracting attention / Individually separate and distinctive.
A. Discreet / Discrete

7. Foreign coin / candid and honest
A. Franc / Frank

8. Article of jewellery / Raise (a sensitive subject) for discussion
A. Brooch / Broach

Supplementaries

S1. Solicit votes / Strong, coarse cloth
AS1. Canvass / canvas

S2. A device to measure or detect a physical property / A container in which incense is burnt.
S2A. Sensor / Censer

HISTORY

British history from the end of the war to the present day (almost)


Q1. Who was the British Prime Minister when the war ended in August 1945?
A1. Clement Atlee (Churchill lost the election between VE and VJ days.)

Q2. For what reason were thousands of British troops sent to the Monte Bello Islands and Maralinga, both in Australia, between 1952 and 1958?
A2. The British nuclear bomb was being tested.

Q3. In 1954 Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four minute mile. In which city was the track?
A3. Oxford

Q4. During the Profumo affair, what was the name of the osteopath and part-time pimp who committed suicide?
A4. Stephen Ward

Q5. In which year was the government forced to impose the three day week?
A5. 1974

Q6. What did the Limehouse declaration of 1981 eventually lead to?
A6. (The formation of) The Social Democratic Party (Not the Liberal Democrats- they were formed seven years later)

Q7. Who, in 1990, said to President George Bush “Don’t wobble George”?
A7. Margaret Thatcher (referring to Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait)

Q8. What event linked London and Philadelphia in 1985?
A8. Live Aid.



Supplementaries

S1.In what year was the Good Friday Agreement signed?
A1. 1998

S2. What’s the next line in this poetry verse from Philip Larkin?
“So life was never better than
In nineteen sixty three
Between the end of the Chatterley ban………….
S2. And the Beatles first L.P.(Beatles LP acceptable).

GEOGRAPHY

1/ In which range of hills does the River Thames have its source?
The Cotswolds.

2/ In which country is the Coromandel Coast?
India (South Eastern coast)

3/ How many degrees of latitude separate the Tropics of cancer and Capricorn? (Some leeway)
47o (accept 45 to 50).

4/ What name is given to a vent on a volcano, which emits smoke and noxious gases?
A fumarole.

5/ In 2002 which well known shipping forecast area changed its name to FitzRoy to avoid confusion with a nearby peninsula and lighthouse with the same name?
Finisterre.

6/ In which county is the village of Borstal, home to Britain’s first juvenile detention centre?
Kent.

7/ On which river does Rotherham stand?
The river Don.

8/ The Russian river Don flows into which body of water?
The Sea of Azov.

S1/ In which country is the port of Abadan
Iran

S2/ Which mountain range embraces areas of Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Austria and Hungary?
The Carpathian mountains.

Famous Album Art

Each question consists of a description of music album art (Front cover or inside gatefold) along with the year the album was released. In each case please give the name of the group or artiste, NOT the name of the album.


Q1. A black and white picture of the group outside Salford Lads’ Club. 1985.

A1. The Smiths (The Queen is Dead)


Q2. A baby boy swimming under water trying to reach a dollar bill. 1991.

A2. Nirvana (Nevermind)


Q3. A view looking down Berwick Street in Soho. In the centre is a man walking away from the camera about to pass another man walking towards the camera.1995.

A3. Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory


Q4. A huge inflated pig flying over Battersea Power Station. 1977.

A4. Pink Floyd (Animals)


Q5. The 1830 painting “Liberty Leading the People” over which is daubed the name of the album in white paint.2008.

A5. Coldplay. (Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends)


Q6. Against a blue sky, the four members of the group are each walking on their own separate tightropes. 2008.

A6. Take That (The Circus)


Q7. Also against a blue sky, a picture of a shiny percussion instrument which gives its name to the album. 1973.

A7. Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells)



Q8. A painting of an old man with a heavy load of sticks on his back. The painting is on the wall of a half-demolished cottage.1971.

A8. Led Zeppelin (The album had no title, sometimes called the Four Symbols album, Led Zeppelin IV)




Supps

S1. A pastiche of Mount Rushmore, with the faces of the group members carved in the rock instead of U.S. Presidents.1970.
A. Deep Purple (Deep Purple in Rock)


S2. A painting by Andy Warhol of a bright yellow banana.1996

A. The Velvet Underground (The Velvet Underground and Nico)

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

1/ Which woodwind instrument is the smallest member of the Flute family?
The piccolo.

2/ Which heavy metal guitar legend played the solo on Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit Beat it?
Eddie Van Halen.

3/ Who wrote the first stories of the1980’s TV series Tales Of The Unexpected?
Roald Dahl.

4/ Who wrote the children’s stories Puck of Pook’s Hill?
Rudyard Kipling.

5/ Which musical features the song Sunrise Sunset?
Fidler On The Roof.

6/ Which Mozart composition was used to introduce the radio quiz Brain Of Britain?
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

7/ Which comedienne and broadcaster wrote the novel Whistling For The Elephants?
Sandi Toksvig.

8/ Which band was formed from pupils from Charterhouse school in 1969 and kept going to the 90’s, reforming for a world tour in 2007.
Genesis.

S1/ In which prison did John Bunyan write Pilgrim’s Progress?
Bedford Jail.

S2/ What is the name of the handyman in the musical The Rocky Horror Show?
Riff Raff.

General knowledge 

Tonight’s General Knowledge round was set by the Crown and vetted by the Pack Horse Bowling Club.


Q1.The French word “metier” has been absorbed into English. What does it refer to?
A person’s occupation, specialist field or forte.
Q2.Which French edict of 1598 established toleration of the Huguenots, later revoked in 1685 causing many to emigrate?
Nantes
Q3.Stella Rimington was the first female head of which organisation?
The Security Service (commonly known as MI5)
Q4.From which mineral is cement principally made?
Limestone
Q5.Whisky is usually spelt W-H-I-S-K-Y if produced in Scotland. How is it usually spelt if produced in Ireland?
W-H-I-S-K-E-Y with the additional E.
Q6.Which American style of whisky shares its name with a former royal family of France, Spain and Naples?
Bourbon.
Q7.What is the name of the annual grant voted by Parliament to supply the expenses of the royal establishment in Britain?
The Civil List
Q8.James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn, is 8th in line to the British throne. Who is his father?
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Q9.What does the Soil Assocation do?
It is the main UK body for setting organic food standards.
Q10.Who was Chairman of the Provisional Government of the France from 1944 to 1946 then President of France from 1959 to 1969?
Charles de Gaulle
Q11.Which UK National Park, created 2005, lies mainly in south-west Hampshire – from east of the Avon Valley to Southampton Water and from the Solent coast to the edge of the Wiltshire chalk downs.
New Forest National Park
Q12.The name of which Jewish festival means Day of Atonement?
Yon Kippur
Q13.In mathematics, by putting half-twist into a strip of paper and then joining both ends together, a single-sided single-edged surface can be formed. What is its name?
Möbius strip
Q14.Name a year in the reign of Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1660-1685
Q15.Which is the largest and wealthiest of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates?
Abu Dhabi
Q16.What is the name of the earliest known hominid recently discovered?
Andipithecus [accept Ardi]
Q17.In which railway station would you be if you were standing beneath a sign for Platform 9 ¾?
Kings Cross, London
Q18.What British freshwater fish is also known as the doctor fish?
The Tench
Q19.What kind of creature is a wobbegong?
A shark
Q20. Which legendary guitarist and musical innovator died on August 13th 2009 at the age of 94?
Les Paul
Q21.Which military operation was known as Operation Telic?
The Iraq War (2003)
Q22.What was Beethoven’s only opera?
Fidelio
Q23.What does the Stanford-Binet test measure?
IQ
Q24.Which IQ score (usually, but specifically on the Stanford-Binet test) is considered to mark the beginning of genius level?
140
Q25.In which US state would you find the Katmai National Park? [“Katmai” is pronounced Cat-My]
Alaska
Q26.What was the number emblazoned on the bonnet of the ‘lovebug’ sports car Herbie?
53
Q27.What colourful name has been given to the stone circle recently discovered close to Stonehenge?
Bluehenge
Q28. Who won the 2009 Man Booker Prize for her novel Wolf Hall, the story of the life of Thomas Cromwell?
Hilary Mantel
Q29. How long, in feet, is the Bayeux Tapestry?
231 feet (accept 10 ft either way)
Q30. What is the call sign of any helicopter carrying the President of the USA?
Marine One
Q31.What was the name of the traditional two weeks’ holiday in Macclesfield for the silk workers, taking its name from the Saint whose feast day was traditionally held on the summer solstice?
Barnaby
Q32.Which French protestant theologian, born 1509, believed souls were pre-destined to heaven or hell and gave his name to a protestant branch of Christianity?
John Calvin.
Q33.Which position, a professorship of mathematics at Cambridge University, has been held by Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking?
The Lucasian chair (of mathematics).
Q34.Which fabled city connects the tenth book of Genesis with an ear-inserted fish in Douglas Adam’s Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series of books?
Babel. [in the Biblical myth, after people built the Tower of Babel, God decided that they should speak different languages; in The Hitch Hiker’s series of novels the Babel Fish allows people to understand one another instantly]
Q35.Which atmospheric and colourful sounding term is used to describe scientific research without clear goals or immediately apparent real world applications?
Blue skies [as in “blue skies research”, “blue skies science” and “blue skies thinking”].
Q36.Which ship did Charles Darwin voyage on from 1831-1836 on a long scientific survey expedition to South America and the South Seas?
HMS Beagle [accept Beagle]
Q37.Which Baroness co-founded the SDP in 1981 and was leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 2000-2004?
Shirley Williams (Baroness Williams of Crosby)
Q38.According to Samuel Johnson, what is defined as “a grain, which in England is generally give to horses, but in Scotland supports the people”?
Oats
Q39.According to Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary, what is defined as “the art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic”?
Painting
Q40.Which German word, absorbed into English, means the “spirit of the times”
Zeitgheist. [pronounced to rhyme with height-Christ]
Q41.Which city claims to the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world and is known for St Paul’s conversion on the road to it?
Damascus
Q42.Whose only published novel was Wuthering Heights (first name and surname please)?
Emily Brontë
Q43.Which UK regulator covers children’s care and education?
OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills)
Q44.What valley runs along the geological fault from Inverness to Fort William?
The Great Glen or Glen More
Q45.What is the name of the Rocester based manufacturing company founded by Sir Joseph Cyril Bamford in 1945?
JCB [“J C Bamford Excavators Limited” for the too clever, but “JCB” is all that’s needed]
Q46.What is the former name of the port now called Chenai, capital of the South-East Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and giving its name to a curry sauce?
Madras
Q47.Which flat handicap race is run at Newmarket, starting in Cambridgeshire and finishing in Suffolk?
Cesarewitch
Q48.Which Roman general defeated Hannibal at the battle of Zama in 202BC?
Scipio
Q49.Who is the author of ‘The Country Girls trilogy of novels?
Edna O' Brien
Q50.Don Lockwood is the protagonist in which musical film?
Singin’ In The Rain
Q51.‘Long Walk To Freedom’ is the autobiography of which statesman?
Nelson Mandela
Q52.‘Dreams of my Father’ is a memoir of which statesman?
Barack Obama
Q53.What is “Albany beef”?
Sturgeon [accept “fish”. A slang name originating among British seamen during the US War of Independence, for the sturgeon they caught in the Hudson River]
Q54.'Cherrystones' are a marine delicacy better known as what?
Clams
Q55.What is a Brannock device used to measure?
Shoe size
Q56.Antoine Cadillac founded which city in the 1701?
Detroit
Q57.‘This Is It’ is the newly released film about which deceased singer preparing for his tour?
Michael Jackson?
Q58.Corey, Jeff and Timmy have all owned which famous pet?
Lassie
Q59.In the American comic strip, what is Dennis’ surname
Mitchell [confusingly the American Dennis the Menace was first published 12 March 1951 and bears no connection to the British red-and-black-jumper-wearing character of the same name, first published in the Beano 3 days later]
Q60.What state of matter has a definite volume but no definite shape?
Liquid
Q61.What bird is the common term for 3 consecutive strikes in ten pin bowling?
Turkey
Q62.What did Molly Malone die of in the eponymous poem?
Fever
Q63.What valour award does R D Wingfield’s fictional detective Jack Frost hold?
George Cross
Q64.How did cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin die?
Plan crash on a training flight.
Q65.Inhabitants of which town are sometimes known as “Sanddancers”?
South Shields
Q66.Which nickname was given to the area of Manhattan where most music publishers worked?
Tin Pan Alley [a ‘tin pan’ being a cheap tinny piano]
Q67.Who played Tinkerbell in 1991 film Hook?
Julia Roberts
Q68.Of which county is Trowbridge the administrative capital?
Wiltshire
Q69.What is the pen-name of David Cornwell?
John Le Carre
Q70.What is the anatomical name for the lower jaw bone?
Mandible
Q71.What features are both a surprise and a disappointment in Australia?
Lakes [Lake Surprise and Lake Disappointment]
Q72.What is Priscilla - in the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert?
A bus
Q73.What common kitchen device contains a magnetron?
Microwave
Q74.What sport are you playing if you cross-wire your opponents balls?
Croquet [To position both opponents’ croquet balls either side of the next croquet hoop to be played]
Q75.What colour jersey does the Tour de France leader in the points classification wear?
Green
Q76.On which day of the week is Lady's Day at Royal Ascot?
Thursday
Q77.Which comedian’s shows include Politics, Animals, and Extras?
Ricky Gervaise [Politics and Animals are live shows; Extras is a sit-com]
Q78.Which painter worked as an art dealer in London and Paris, as a school master in both Ramsgate and Isleworth, and had a brother called Theo.
Vincent Van Gogh
Q79.Which dramatist wrote the Talking Heads series of monologues and The History Boys
Alan Bennett
Q80.General Musharraf seized power in which country in 1999?
Pakistan
Q81.John Bailol was King of which country in the late 13th century?
Scotland
Q82.What word can mean both involuntary laughter for an actor, and a cadaver?
Corpse
Q83.Which word, formed from an item of clothing and the body part it covers, originally applied to illegally made liquor but not extends to describe illegally made audio and video recordings?
Bootleg
Q84.Which Roman Emperor followed Caligula and preceded Nero?
Claudius I
Q85.Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and Myron Scholes have all won which Nobel prize?
Economics Prize
Q86.Linus Pauling, Mohammed ElBaradei and John Hume have all won which Nobel prize?
Peace Prize
Q87.Which Indian dried fish savoury takes its popular name from the Marathi name for the fish, “bombilla”
Bombay Duck
Q88.The popular name for which thick soup from the southern states of America is also a name for okra, one of the soup’s main ingredients.
Gumbo
Q89.In which Norwegian-built vessel did Sir Ernest Shackleton sail to explore the Antarctic in 1914. It was trapped by pack ice and sank the following year.
Endurance
Q90.Which cross-Channel car ferry sailed from Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987 with her bow doors open, capsizing with the loss of 193 lives?
Herald of Free Enterprise
Q91.In Greek creation myth, what was the name of the infinite space existing before creation, from which sprang Gaea, the Earth
Chaos
Q92.In Norse mythology, Sleipnir was the eight-legged stallion of which god?
Odin
Q93.At one time, 70% of the streets of Macclesfield were paved with stone from which quarry?
Tegg’s Nose
Q94.Which local road (and I want a letter followed by a number) connects Waterhouses with Hazel Grove?
A523
Q95.Which country was formerly known as East Pakistan?
Bangladesh
Q96.Which archipelago and local government district sites 45km south west of Land’s End?
Isles of Scilly
Supplementaries
Q1.Which town of north east England was the home of the Venerable Bede and the start of the hunger march to London in 1936?
Jarrow
Q2.Which term, originally deriving from the Greek for “own peculiarity” denotes an expression characteristic of a country, district, dialect or language, which usually gives strength and force to a phrase or sentence?
Idiom
Q3.Which term describes a rectangular array of numbers considered as a single mathematical object, and was used as the title of a popular 1999 film?
Matrix
Q4.Whose Dictionary of the English Language was released in 1755?
Samuel Johnson
Q5.Which craft can be defined as the interlacing of two or more threads at right angles to form a fabric?
Weaving
Q6.Which current affairs magazine is edited by Ian Hislop?
Private Eye