Wednesday, November 12, 2014

11th November–The Questions

 

All questions set by the Ox-fford C

Vetted by the Nag’s Head and the Park Timers

Specialist rounds:

Geography

History

Arts & Entertainment

Science

Sport

Eleven Eleven

Get the picture

On your marks, get set … bake!


Round 1: Geography

  1. Q Which modern city lies at the foot of Mount Vesuvius?
    A Naples
  2. Q The Golden Horn is the harbour of which city?
    A Istanbul
  3. Q What name is shared by a former Soviet republic and a US state?
    A Georgia
  4. Q In which country are the ruins of Petra, famously described as the ‘rose-red city, half as old as time’?
    A Jordan
  5. Q Which archipelago is separated from mainland South America by the Strait of Magellan?
    A Tierra del Fuego
  6. Q In which state is Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the 48 contiguous states of the USA?
    A California
  7. Q Established in 2010, what is Britain’s newest National Park?
    A South Downs
  8. Q In which range of hills is the source of the River Thames?
    A Cotswolds

Supplementaries

  1. Q What is Australia’s most north-easterly state?
    A Queensland
  2. Q On which Greek island are the ruins of the Minoan civilisation?
    A Crete

Round 2: History

  1. Q Who was assassinated in 1812 by John Bellingham?
    A Spencer Perceval
  2. Q Which event of 1773 involved three ships called the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver?
    A Boston Tea Party
  3. Q Which British king married Anne Hyde and Mary of Modena?
    A James II (of England)
  4. Q What name was given to the unsuccessful revolt of 1825 against the Russian emperor Nicholas I?
    A Decembrist Revolt
  5. Q His name now remembered as that of a beverage, who was the UK’s prime minister from 1830 to 1834?
    A Earl Grey
  6. Q Who fought for the Boers during the Boer Wars, served the Allies during both world wars, and was twice prime minister of South Africa between 1919 and 1948?
    A Jan Smuts
  7. Q What ‘first’ took place on July 16th 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico?
    A Nuclear weapon test
  8. Q Name either of the winners of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for the Northern Ireland peace process.
    A David Trimble, John Hume

Supplementaries

  1. Q Which territory was ceded to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and remains under British control?
    A Gibraltar
  2. Q The American M4 tank was better known by the name of which general?

A Sherman


Round 3: Arts & Entertainment

  1. Q Who directed the 1960 film Spartacus?
    A Stanley Kubrick
  2. Q Vacuum cleaner salesman Jim Wormald is the title character of which Graham Greene novel?
    Q Our Man in Havana
  3. Q Which fictional character married Charles Hamilton and Frank Kennedy?
    A Scarlett O’Hara
  4. Q In which 20th century novel was Aunt Ada Doom traumatised when she saw ‘something nasty in the woodshed’?
    A Cold Comfort Farm
  5. Q Which pop group starred in the 1968 movie Head?
    A The Monkees
  6. Q Which children’s TV character had the UK Christmas number one in 2000?
    A Bob the Builder
  1. Q Complete this line from a Tony Hancock sitcom: ‘A pint? That’s very nearly …’
    A An armful
  2. Q On TV, who played Rupert Rigsby and Reggie Perrin?
    A Leonard Rossiter
    Supplementaries
  3. Q Which cartoon series is set in New New York?
    A Futurama
  4. Q Who made a cameo appearance as a waitress in a film about her life, released in the year 2000?
    A Erin Brokovich

Round 4: Science

  1. Q What are the Lyrids (lyre-ids), Perseids and Leonids?
    A Meteor showers
  2. Q Which gas is released during photosynthesis?
    A Oxygen
  3. Q In chemistry, what three letters do the names of the halogens end in?
    A INE (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine)
  4. Q What is the angle between the hands of a clock at one o’clock?
    A 30 degrees
  5. Q What can be measured in watts, or in joules per second?
    A Power
  6. Q Pruritus is the medical term for which uncomfortable condition?
    A Itching
  7. Q Which medical condition has a name that comes, via Latin and French, from the Greek for ‘half a head’?
    A Migraine (from hemicrania, technically ‘half a skull’)
  8. Q Spelter is a name given to various alloys, all containing which element?
    A Zinc

Supplementaries

  1. Q Gravidity is the technical name for which mammalian condition?
    A Pregnancy
  2. Q Protium is the most common isotope of which chemical element?
    A Hydrogen

Round 5: Sport

  1. Q What was the nickname of the boxer James Smith, the first to defeat Frank Bruno in a professional fight?
    A Bonecrusher
  2. Q Which England batsman was bowled by Shane Warne’s first ball in an Ashes test – which has been called the ‘ball of the century’?
    A Mike Gatting
  3. Q Who was the last English footballer (in 1996) to be the subject of a world record transfer fee?
    A Alan Shearer
  4. Q The first major handicap of the English flat racing season is run at Doncaster but shares its name with which cathedral city?
    A Lincoln
  5. Q Which food brand sponsored the London Marathon from 1996 to 2009?
    A Flora
  6. Q In which European city were the Winter Olympics held in both 1964 and 1976?
    A Innsbruck
  7. Q Ironically, who is the only snooker player to have won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award?
    A Steve Davis
  8. Q The London Wasps rugby team recently announced that they will be relocating to which city in December?
    A Coventry

Supplementaries

  1. Q In polo, when do the teams change ends?
    A After each goal
  2. Q In test match cricket, after how many overs does the fielding side have the option to take a new ball?
    A 80

Round 6: Eleven eleven

In celebration of today’s date, a round about the number eleven.

  1. Q Whose official residence is number 11 Downing Street?
    A The Chancellor of the Exchequer (accept 2nd Lord of the Treasury, or George Osborne)
  2. Q Which crew member of Apollo 11 did not walk on the moon?
    A Michael Collins
  1. Q Which character celebrates his eleventy-first birthday at the beginning of a very famous book?
    A Bilbo Baggins
  2. Q In cricket, what slang term is often used to refer to a score of 111?
    A Nelson
  3. Q Who ascended the English throne in the year 1100?
    A Henry I
  4. Q In which film did a rock band proudly claim that their amps went ‘up to eleven’?
    A This is Spinal Tap (accept Spinal Tap)
  5. Q In the 2001 remake of Ocean’s Eleven, who plays the eponymous Danny Ocean?
    A George Clooney
  6. Q The northern end of the M11 motorway is close to which city?
    A Cambridge

Supplementaries

  1. Q What is the eleventh sign of the zodiac?
    A Aquarius
  2. Q In which French forest was the armistice signed on November 11th 1918?
    A Compiègne


Round 7: Get the picture

In this round you’ll be given a clue to the title of a film that won an Oscar for Best Picture and the year it received the award. Some of the clues are more cryptic than others, but none of them refer to the films themselves.

For example, the clue ‘1973: Baptismal sponsor’ would lead you to The Godfather.

  1. Q 1981: There’s nothing remarkable about these folks.
    A Ordinary People
  2. Q 1986: No longer in the Dark Continent.
    A Out of Africa
  3. Q 1952: Barack Obama, for example, by the Seine.
    A An American in Paris
  4. Q 1972: It could mean the Channel Tunnel.
    A The French Connection
  5. Q 2012: Rembrandt or Picasso for example.
    A The Artist
  6. Q 1944: Morocco’s largest city.
    A Casablanca
  7. Q 1988: If there was only one remaining specimen of the biggest species of penguin, we might call it this.
    A The Last Emperor
  8. Q 1967: Mr Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.
    A A Man for All Seasons

Supplementaries

  1. Q 1980: sounds like the Dakotas’ front man taking issue with himself
    A Kramer vs Kramer
  2. Q 2008: Definitely not a gerontocracy
    A No Country for Old Men


Round 8: On your marks, get set … bake!

In homage to the Great British Bake Off, you just need to identify the cakes described.

  1. Q Three layers of puff pastry alternating with layers of pastry cream, its name means a thousand leaves in French.
    A Millefeuille
  2. Q Named after a wooded mountain range in south-west Germany, this rich chocolate cake is flavoured with kirsch and filled with cherries and cream.
    A Black Forest gateau (accept Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte)
  1. Q Chequered pink and yellow sponge, held together by jam and topped with marzipan; it is named after a German town.
    A Battenberg
  2. Q A chocolate cake topped with apricot jam and a chocolate glaze, the original version can be enjoyed at the Viennese hotel that shares its name.
    A Sachertorte
  3. Q A classic English sponge cake, filled with raspberry jam, named after the monarch who is said to have enjoyed it.
    A Victoria sponge
  4. Q A rich fruit cake topped with almonds, named after the city whose football teams play at Tannadice and Dens Park.
    A Dundee
  5. Q An unleavened dough, stretched thin and filled with fruit, forms one of Austria’s national dishes, and one of Maria’s favourite things in The Sound of Music.
    A Apple strudel
  6. Q An iced choux pastry filled with cream; its name is French for lightning.
    A Eclair


Supplementaries

  1. Q The ingredients for this sponge are whisked over hot water to make it light; it is named after Christopher Columbus’s birthplace.
    A Genoese

  1. Q A lemon flavoured sponge, named after the wine that was meant to accompany it rather than the island that shares its name.
    A Madeira

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

1. Q Which London railway terminal is named after the point used to measure road distances from the city?
A Charing Cross

2. Q Since 2012 what has been the official name of the clock tower that houses Big Ben?
A Elizabeth Tower

3. Q Who became Leader of the House of Commons in July 2014?
A William Hague

4. Q Which vegetable is known in German as Blumenkohl?
A Cauliflower

5. Q Who won two Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role, in the first decade of this century?
A Sean Penn (for Mystic River and Milk)

6. Q Which heavy metal band had a UK number 1 in 1991 with Bring your Daughter to the Slaughter?
A Iron Maiden

7. Q Which condiment is sometimes known as Japanese horseradish?
A Wasabi

8. Q Which model replaced the Ford Cortina in 1982, and was itself replaced by the Mondeo?
A The Sierra

9. Q Which British politician was born in New York in 1964 and has the middle name de Pfeffel?
A Boris Johnson

10. Q What name comes next in this sequence: Nancy, Barbara, Hillary, Laura …?
A Michelle (US first ladies)

11. Q Which obsolete name for the chemical element sulphur is also a type of butterfly?
A Brimstone

12. Q Satya Nadella is the current Chief Executive of which technology company?
A Microsoft

13. Which king of England erected the twelve Eleanor crosses that marked the funeral procession of his wife Eleanor?
A Edward I

14. Q Which stage and film musical includes the songs Cell Block Tango, Mr. Cellophane, and All That Jazz?
A Chicago

15. Q Which brand name is derived from the three principal requisites of the product it denotes: durability, reliability and excellence?
A Durex

16. Q The Russian rouble is divided into 100 what?
A Kopeks

17. Q Which TV presenter popularised the phrase ‘cheap as chips’?
A David Dickinson

18. Q If you ordered coquilles St Jacques (cock-ee san Jack) in a French restaurant, what would you expect to be served?
A Scallops

19. Q Which singer, who died last month, represented the UK at the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest?
A Lynsey de Paul

20. Q Who wrote the novels All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, and The Road?
A Cormac McCarthy

21. Q Which coin was introduced in the UK in 1969?
A 50p

22. Q Which country shares its name with the small pieces of paper created by a hole punch?
A Chad

23. Q Which animal links Elton John, Jimmy Nail and Paul Hogan?
A Crocodile

24. Q In which British city is the Royal Armouries Museum?
A Leeds

25. Q Which British city’s cathedral is known as the ‘ship of the fens’?
A Ely

26. Q Which 13th century theologian was known as the Angelic Doctor?
A Thomas Aquinas

27. Q Who was the last driver, in 1994, to be killed during a Formula One race?
A Ayrton Senna

28. Q Name the singer, the title of whose 2011 album was a plus sign, and the title of whose current best-selling album is a multiplication sign?
A Ed Sheeran

29. Q Which cheese, originating in Cyprus, is made from a mixture of goat's milk and sheep's milk, and can be fried without melting?
A Halloumi

30. Q Which traditional Oriental game is played on a nineteen by nineteen grid using black and white ‘stones’?
A Go

31. Q What's the purpose of the best-selling mobile phone "app" Shazam?
A Music recognition

32. Q Which shipping company owned and operated the Titanic?
A White Star Line

33. Q What was the pen name of Theodor Geisel, who died in 1991 aged 87?
A Dr Seuss

34. Q Filbert and cobnut are alternative names for which type of nut?
A Hazelnut

35. Q What's the official nickname of New York State?
A Empire state

36. Q By what name is the company mascot or logo Bibendum more commonly known?
A The Michelin man

37. Q Which English poet's works include Queen Mab, Prometheus Unbound, and Ozymandias?
A P B Shelley

38. Q What do Travis Bickle, Fred Housego, and Noddy have in common?
A They all drive taxis

39. Q Adam Walker is the chairman of which UK political party?
A The British National Party (BNP)

40. Q What’s the name of the microblogging platform and social networking website owned by Yahoo?
A Tumblr

41. Q Which sport or game is featured on the Cluedo board?
A Billiards

42. Q Under what name did James Alfred Wight write a series of best-selling fictionalised autobiographies?
A James Herriot

43. Q What was the name of the club featured in the musical Cabaret?
A The Kit-Kat Club

44. Q Who was France’s longest reigning monarch?
A Louis XIV (fourteenth)

45. Q Old Man's Beard and Traveller's Joy are wild varieties of which flowering plant?
A Clematis

46. Q What company has sponsored the Edinburgh Comedy Awards since 2010?
A Fosters

47. Q Completed in 1965 and said to be the world's tallest arch, in which US city is the Gateway Arch?
A St Louis

48. Q What's the British name for the salad vegetable that's known in the USA as arugula (a-ROO-gyula)?
A Rocket

49. Q Which fruit is known in French as ananas?
A Pineapple

50. Q What's the name of the lake on the river Nile that was formed by the Aswan High Dam?
A Lake Nasser

51. Q Which grocery retailer has a fir tree inside a circle as its logo?
A Spar

52. Footballer Samuel Eto'o, formerly of Chelsea and now of Everton, is the all-time leading goal scorer for which African country?
A Cameroon

53. Q In 2014, which star of the Marvel Universe series of films was named by Forbes magazine as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood for the second year running?
A Robert Downey Junior

54. Q In Greek mythology, who was seduced by Zeus in the guise of a swan?
Leda

55. Q What nationality is Manchester City's manager Manuel Pellegrini?
A Chilean

56. Q What's the motto of the Special Air Service or SAS?
A Who dares wins

57. Q According to the Book of Genesis, who had three wives named Sarah, Hagar and Keturah?
A Abraham

58. Q Which member of David Cameron's Cabinet resigned in August 2014 over the Government's policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict?
A Baroness Warsi (Var-see)

59. Q What word can follow gutter, printing, or stop?
A Press

60. Q What nationality is Pope Francis?
A Argentinian

61. Q Which Paris landmark stands in the Place Charles de Gaulle?
A The Arc de Triomphe

62. Q Which title character in an opera by Wagner is the son of Parsifal, who was one of the Knights of the Round Table?
A Lohengrin

63. Q What name is usually given to a cow that has not calved?
A A heifer

64. Q Which organisation claims that to its members it's the fourth emergency service?
A The AA

65. Q Which company attracted a raft of unwelcome publicity in 2012 when it failed to supply sufficient personnel for the London Olympics?
A G4S

66. Q Who has recently been playing Hamlet at the Royal Exchange?
A Maxine Peake

67. Q Which American model said she'd been told by her mother that a woman needed to be a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom?
A Jerry Hall

68. Q What name did Captain Cook give to Hawaii when he first landed there?
A Sandwich Islands

69. Q Which Latin word is used in English to mean ‘word for word’?
A Verbatim

70. Q Which novel by John Steinbeck was made into a film starring James Dean?
A East of Eden

71. Q Which song, written by John Holt of the Jamaican group The Paragons (who died last month), has provided UK number 1 hits for both Blondie and Atomic Kitten?
A The Tide is High

72. Q What's the name of the European space probe that is about to launch its lander on to Comet 67P?
A Rosetta

73. Q Queen Maud Land, in the Antarctic, is claimed as a dependant territory by which country?
A Norway

74. Q Of which Labour leader did Winston Churchill say, ‘there's less to him than meets the eye’?
A Clement Attlee

75. Q In Greek mythology, who killed the Gorgon Medusa?
A Perseus

76. Q Who directed the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games?
A Danny Boyle

77. Q What is the name of the new Coca-Cola brand, claiming to contain a third less sugar than regular Coke?
A Life

78. Q Whose recent controversial autobiography is entitled The Second Half?
A Roy Keane

79. Q Which car company was named after the French explorer who founded Detroit?
A Cadillac

80. Q What bridge links the towns of Barton and Hessle?
A The Humber Bridge

81. Q Who is editor-in-chief of American Vogue magazine, having also edited the English version?
A Anna Wintour

82. Q According to its terms and conditions, what's the minimum age at which you can use Facebook?
A 13

83. Q Which painter is portrayed by Timothy Spall in a current film?
A J M W Turner

84. Q Which acid causes muscle pain and cramp when exercising?
A Lactic

85. Q In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which character is described as ‘a weaver’?
A Bottom

86. Q ‘Swami’ is a title of respect in which religion?
A Hinduism

87. Q What does the organisation known as Exit promote?
A Euthanasia or assisted suicide

88. Q In which US city are the headquarters of Amazon and Starbucks?
A Seattle

89. Q A painting of what bird is the subject of Donna Tartt’s recent Pulitzer prize-winning novel?
A A goldfinch

90. Q On Welsh road signs, what does ‘araf’ mean?
A Slow

91. Q Who commanded the fleet that made the first circumnavigation of the world in 1519-22, although he failed to complete the voyage?
A Ferdinand Magellan

92. Q Which celebrity chef had a dog called Chalky?
A Rick Stein

93. Q Which 1960s pop group shared its name with a series of holes on the US Masters golf course at Augusta?
A Amen Corner

94. Q Which brand of fruit drinks shares its name with thirteen Popes?
A Innocent

95. Q By what informal name was King George VI known to his family and friends?
Bertie

96. Q Which actress was married to both Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra?
A Ava Gardner

Supplementaries

  1. Q Which scientist and author wrote a series of novels titled Strangers and Brothers?
    A C P Snow
  2. Q Which British TV personality played himself in episodes of The Simpsons entitled Smart and Smarter, and Judge me Tender?
    A Simon Cowell
  3. Q What is Lisbon's most successful football club?
    A Benfica
  4. Q Which radio and TV presenter is married to the author and journalist Jane Goldman?
    A Jonathan Ross
  5. Q Guy Garvey is the singer and front man of which English rock group?
    A Elbow