Jan 6th–THE QUESTIONS

SPECIALIST QUESTIONS

Set by the Park Taverners

History – Anniversaries in 2015

Missing Vowels

Sport – appropriate nicknames

12th Night

Science

Geography

Hey Diddle Diddle

Arts and Entertainment – another picture round

 

 

History - Anniversaries in 2015

1Who was released from Drakenstein Correctional Centre (formerly Victor Verstere Prison) 25 years ago on 11th February 1990?

Nelson Mandela (He was only on Robben Island for the first 18 years).

2Which British Prime Minister died 50 years ago on 24th January 1965?

Winston Churchill.

3Which US President died 150 years ago on 15th April 1865?

Abraham Lincoln.

4Which one day battle took place in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands 200 years ago?

Waterloo.

5Name the deadly hurricane which struck the Gulf Coast of the USA, causing vast damage to New Orleans 10 years ago?

Katrina.

6Which international organisation, with its HQ in Manhatten, was established 70 years ago?

United Nations.

7.What started 75 years ago on 10th July 1940 and finished on 31st October of the same year?

The Battle of Britain.

8Who made history when becoming the leader of a major UK political party 40 years ago?

Margaret Thatcher (1st woman).

S1Why has the 3rd October been a national holiday in Germany for 15 years since 1990?

It is to celebrate German re-unification.

S2What was signed 800 years ago at Runneymeade?

The Magna Carta.

MISSING VOWELS

1.SKTHFMLY

Ask The Family

2. NTTWNT

In It To Win It

3.THCB

The Cube

4. THCS

The Chase

5. DLRNDL

Deal Or No Deal

6. SCRNTST

Screen Test

7. TTLWPT

Total Wipeout

8. RNRND

Runaround

S1. WNLSRDRW

Win Lose or Draw

S2. NVRSTYCHLLNG

University Challenge

Non-visual Supplementaries

S3Who presented 3-2-1?

Ted Rogers

S4In which English city was 'Sale of the Century' recorded?

Norwich

 

Sport

Appropriate Nicknames. From the information given we need the nickname that is more or less relevant to the team or individual.

1. San Francisco American Football team?
49ers (from the 1849 gold rush).

2. Detroit Basketball Team?
Pistons (from the motor trade).

3. Australian National Rugby League team?
Kangaroos.

4. Kent one day County Cricket team?
Spitfires.

5. Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar?
The Little Master (from his lack of height & obvious talent).

6. Buffalo American Football team?
Bills.

7. Infamous former Buffalo Bills running back OJ Simpson?
Juice (from his initials).

8. Everton Football Club?
The Toffees (from Everton Mints).

S1. Rugby winger Jason Robinson?
Billy Whizz.

S2. Boxer Jake La Motta?
Raging Bull.

S3. American Golfer Craig Stadler?
The Walrus (from his general appearance).

 

12 Days of Christmas

1. Who was the male lead and eldest child in the TV series the Partridge Family?
David Cassidy.

2. What is the largest turtle?
Leatherback Sea Turtle.

3. Who starred as Popeye Doyle in the French Connection?
Gene Hackman.

4. The international calling code, +49, is for which country?
Germany

5. In the Lord of the Rings which Race were given 9 rings?
Men

6. Complete the line 'Goosey goosey gander, whither shall I wander? Upstairs and downstairs…'
And in my lady's chamber.

7. With which sport would you associate the Sydney Swans?
Australian Rules Football.

8. Which band sang the song 'Maid of Orleans'?
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)

S1. Louise, Flick, Ruth, Dee Dee and Andi were five of the original six members of Pan's People who debuted on Top of the Pops in 1971. Who is missing?
Babs

S2. In which district of London is Lords Cricket Ground?
St John's Wood.

S3. Who composed the Shepherd's Pipe Carol?
John Rutter.

S4. What is the alternate name for a kettle drum?
Timpani.

 

Science

1. Which letter is used in maths to represent the square root of minus one?
i

2. What is the name of the NASA space craft which had a successful unmanned test flight round the world a few times on December 5th 2014?
Orion

3. Lipitor, Mevacor & Crestor are examples of which class of drug?
Statins

4. Thiamine, Riboflavin and Niacin are examples of which vitamin?
Vitamin B (They are B1, B2 & B3)

5. Whose thought experiment is used to illustrate one of theories of quantum mechanics and involves feline participation or not?
Erwin Schrödinger (‘s cat)

6. During which phenomenon would you see Baily’s Beads?
During a solar eclipse (they are “beads” of sunlight seen around the moon during an eclipse.)

7. What is the more common name for the pale blue pungent gas triatomic oxygen?
Ozone

8. Which American psychologist in 1943 developed the theory of psychological health, known as the “hierarchy of needs”?
Abraham Maslow

S1. Which general purpose computer programming language takes its name from a British TV sketch show of the 1960s and 70s?
Python (From Monty Python’s Flying Circus)

S2. The German physicist Johann Witter discovered the existence of which kind of radiation, between infrared and X rays on the electromagnetic spectrum?
Ultra violet light

S3. In astrophysics, what in theory takes up nearly 85% of the mass of the universe, but is not visible?
Dark matter

 

GEOGRAPHY

1What is the capital of Syria?

Damascus

2The Old Man of Hoy is an example of which geological landform?A sea Stack

3Pedology is the study of what?

Soil

4Which country has borders with Belgium, France and Germany?Luxembourg

5Which country has borders with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia?Thailand

6What is the more common name for the Intertropical Convergence Zone, known to sailors for the lack of wind?Doldrums

7Which English county has 2 separate, unconnected coastlines?Devon

8If you were swimming at Latitude 0 Degrees North Longitude 180 degrees West, in which ocean would you be?

Pacific

S1What is the capital of Quatar?

Doha

S2What is latitude 66°32'N otherwise known as?

The Arctic circle

 

 

Hey Diddle Diddle

…………All the following questions relate to popular children’s nursery rhymes

1Who had yellow hair and wore silver buckles on his knee?

(Bonny) Bobby Shafto

2If Polly put the kettle on who took it off again?

Sukey

3How much was owed to “The Bells of St Martin’s”

Five farthings

4Who pulled Pussy out the well?

Little Tommy Stout

5What did Solomon Grundy do on a Wednesday?

Married

6Who found Lucy Lockett’s lost pocket?

Kitty Fisher

7Who married The Owl and The Pussycat

The Turkey (who lives on the hill)

8Who offered to dig Cock Robin’s grave

The Owl (with his little trowel)

S1Who ate the malt that lay in The House that Jack Built?

The rat

S2What did The Crooked Man find against a crooked stile?

A Crooked Sixpence

1

Are You Being Served

Bless This House

3

Butterflies

4

Citizen Smith

5

George and Mildred (accept Man About The House)

6

Love Thy Neighbour

7

Just Good Friends

8

(Whatever Happened To) The Likely Lads (accept The Likely Lads)

S1

Open All Hours

S2

The Good Life

 

 

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Set by the Pack Horse Bowling club

 

1/ Which small market town in Powys draws an estimated 80,000 people to its annual book festival?

Ans. Hay on Wye

2/ Boxing promoter Frank Maloney underwent a sex change operation last year. What is “her” new first name?

Ans. Kellie

3/ On the 10^th of December last year, Western Scotland was hit by a weather system known as a rapid cyclogenesis, which more colloquial expression was it called ?

Ans. A weather bomb.

4/ In November 1914, eleven players of which Scottish football club, feeling that it was wrong to be playing professional football whilst the country was at war, enlisted together in the army?

Ans. Hearts

5/ In the early years of which sport were father and son Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, famous?

Ans. Golf.

6/ Which theoretical physicist won the Nobel Prize in 1918 for formulating quantum theory?

Ans. Max Planck

7/ The scaphoid bone is the largest bone in which specific part of the human body?

Ans. The Wrist.

8/ Mottram Hall Hotel has recently changed hands. Who are the new owners?

Ans. Q Hotels

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9/ What is the name of the film, whose release on Christmas Day, was initially cancelled by Sony following threats by hackers?

Ans. The Interview.

10/ The Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and The Port of Liverpool Building on Liverpool’s waterfront are now known by what collective name?

Ans. The Three Graces

11/ Four U.S. Civil War generals later became president of the country. Who was the first?

Ans. Ulysses Grant (1869-77)

12/ In the BBC’s 2014 Sports Personality of the Year Poll, which female finished highest?

Ans. Joe Pavey. (third)

13/ Magnetite, hematite, limonite and siderite are ores of which metal?

Ans. Iron

14/ In a flower, what are the individual leaves called that are closed over the bud before it blooms?

Ans. Sepals.

15/ Which supermarket’s website in December had a page entitled Heston’s magical Christmas?

Ans. Waitrose

16/ Which veteran British writer, mainly, but not exclusively, of science fiction,

wrote the book Frankenstein Unbound, which was made into a film in 1990?

Ans. Brian Aldiss.

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17/ Yerevan is the capital of which country?

Ans. Armenia.

18/ Which ancient edifice in the British Isles needed, it has been estimated, 30million man-hours of work to build?

Ans. Stonehenge (standing stone circle)

19/ Who has been voted African Footballer of the Year in 2011, 2012 and 2013?

Ans. YaYa Toure

20/ Which Italian physicist developed the Voltaic Pile, the forerunner of the electric battery?

Ans. Alessandro Volta.

21/ A common winter visitor, now stripping our holly trees of berries, To which family of birds do Redwings belong?

Ans. Thrush (Turdidae family is acceptable)

22/ According to its adverts, Stella Artois contains only 4 ingredients, Water, Hops and Malted Barley are 3. What is the fourth?

Ans. Maize (Sweetcorn)

23/ Which famous American play first performed in 1955 features the feuding Pollitt family from Mississippi?

Ans. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

24/ What is the name of the leader of the apes in the 2 latest Planet of the Apes films made in 2011 & 2014?

Ans. Caesar.

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25/ When King Charles 1^st raised his standard at Nottingham castle it marked the beginning of what?

Ans. The English Civil War

26/ Which major sporting event in England and Wales starts on 18^th September this year?

Ans. The Rugby World Cup.

27/ Which alkane, chemical formula CH4, occurs naturally in oil wells, marshes and the emissions from cows?

Ans. Methane.

28/ Poisonus to livestock, colloquially known as a Cadle-dock or stinking nanny, what is the correct name for this large, yellow flowered, common roadside and pasture weed?

Ans. Ragwort (common)

29/ Bill de Blasio holds which public office in America?

Ans. Mayor of New York.

30/ Which famous Spanish artist painted The Persistence of Memory?

Ans. Salvador Dali.

31/ Last year rock keyboard player Rick Wakeman did a tour to mark the 40th anniversary of his concept album based on a Jules Verne story. What was the book/album called?

Ans. Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

32/ Lytham St Annes lies on the estuary of which river?

Ans. The Ribble.

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33/ On a standard dart board, what is the lowest number that cannot be scored with a single dart?

Ans 23

34/ Which major spiral galaxy is the closest to the Milky Way and might collide with it in about three billion years?

Ans. Andromeda

35/ Red and Grey are two species of which edible fish.

Ans. Mullet

36/ Which fashion designer created the H-line and the A-line in the 1950’s?

Ans. Christian Dior.

37/ In which of the arts was Jacob Epstine a leading figure?

Ans. Sculpture.

38/ Which 1993 film is based on case of the Guildford Four?

Ans/ In The Name Of The Father.

39/ In which sea is the Dogger Bank?

Ans. The North Sea

40/ Why were the contents of Samuel Pepys diaries not revealed until; 150 years after his death?

Ans. They were written in shorthand/code which needed to be deciphered.

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41/ Who in 1881 discovered a vaccine for Anthrax?

Ans. Louis Pasteur

42/ The Cougar , Catamount or Mountain Lion is another name for which animal?

Ans. The Puma (do not accept Ocelot)

43/ Who said “The Ballot is stronger than the bullet”?

Ans. Abraham Lincoln

44/ Which R D Blackmore classic romance is sub-titled A Romance of Exmoor?

Ans. Lorna Doone.

45/ Which actor played lead roles in the Spielberg movies “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”?

Ans. Richard Dreyfuss.

46/ Which English navigator gave his name to an island north-east of Tasmania, a mountain range in southern Australia and a river in Queensland?

Ans. Matthew Flinders.

47/ Where is the Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit?

Ans. Abu Dhabi (accept United Arab Emirates, UAE)

48/ Which English ruler established the Royal Ascot race meeting in 1711?

Ans. Queen Anne

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49/ The Great Indian, the Javan and the Sumartran are among the remaining species of which creature?

Ans. Rhinoceros.

50/ “A scoop of boy trout’s” is an example of which figure of speech?

Ans. A Spoonerism

51/ In a Shakespeare sonnet which line precedes, “Thou art more lovely and more temperate”?

Ans. Shall I compare thee to a summers day?

52/ Dale Arden is the female companion of which comic strip character?

Ans. Flash Gordon.

53/ What is the name of the narrow band of very fast wind occurring in the upper troposphere or lower stratosphere, one band occurring in each hemisphere?

Ans. The jet stream.

54/ What was adopted in the United States of America on 14^th June 1777, and is celebrated every year on that day?

Ans. The flag of the United States, 14^th June is Flag Day.

55/ In Swansea in 1968 Sir Garfield Sobers was the first cricketer to hit six sixes off six balls, who was the unfortunate bowler?

Ans. Malcolm Nash.

56/ What was the name of Britain’s first Nuclear power station when it began operating in 1956?

Ans. Calder Hall (do not accept Sellafield, as it is a different site across the river Calder)

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57/ What is the name of the first female Church of England Bishop?

Ans. The Right Reverend Libby Lane. (do not accept the Bishop of Stockport)

58/ Good Vibrations, published in 1990, is the autobiography of which percussion player, who suffered total loss of hearing in her early teens?

Ans. Evelyn Glennie.

59/ Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Paul “Gigsy” McGuigan were two of the original members of which band?

Ans. Oasis

60/ The Court of Lions is in which Moorish palace situated above Granada in Southern Spain?

Ans. The Alhambra Palace

61/ The 1555 publication “Centuries” is the work of which French Apothecary?

Ans. Nostradamus. (accept Michel de Nostredame)

62/ Who was the last European golfer to win the US open?

Ans. Justin Rose in 2013

63/ With which planet did the comet Shoemaker-Levy collide in 1994?

Ans. Jupiter

64/ Where on the body is your Popliteal Fossa?

Ans. Knee (the hollow at the back)

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65/ What term is given to the technique where paint is mixed and bound with egg yolk?

Ans. Tempera

66/ Christopher Biggins played which role in the 1976 award winning BBC dramatisation of I Claudius?

Ans. Nero.

67/ The Grand Coulee Dam stands on which North American river?

Ans. The Columbia river.

68/ What was the Sheet Metal Donkey or the Tin Donkey which, in 1915, was the very first of its kind?

Ans. An all metal aeroplane. ( The Junkers J1)

69/ Only 2 English Classic horse races are restricted to fillies only, name either?

Ans. The Oaks or The One Thousand Guineas.

70/ In the 1850’s and 1860’s, of what did Ferdinand de Lesseps mastermind the construction?

Ans. The Suez Canal.

71/ What colour head does a male Mallard have?

Ans. Green

72/ Alleys and Aggies are types of what?

Ans. Marbles.

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73/ Whose latest (and probably last) album released in 2014 is entitled The Endless River?

Ans. Pink Floyd.

74/ What is the alternative name for The Sea of Galilee in northern Israel?

Ans. Lake Tiberius.

75/ What is the name of the gymnasium and garden, with covered walks, where Aristotle taught?

Ans. The Lyceum.

76/ Name the Bath rugby player who recently switched codes joining them from South Sydney RL?

Ans. Sam Burgess.

77. Who in 1784 gave his name to a fragmentation shell?

Ans. Henry Shrapnel.

78/ Which former woodland region in central England is the setting for Shakespeare’s As You Like It?

Ans. The Forest of Arden.

79/ Which female forename name means “little she bear”?

Ans. Ursula.

80/ The Knight of the Red Rose is the English title of which Richard Strauss opera?

Ans. Der Rosenkavalier.

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81/ Mandalay is a city in which country?

Ans. Myanmar (accept Burma)

82/ Gladwyn Jebb is the only Briton to have held which diplomatic office?

Ans. UN Secretary General. (1945 to 46)

83/ In December, who became the first Premier League managerial “casualty” of the season?

Ans. Neil Warnock (Crystal Palace) Alan Irvine (West Brom) was second.

84/ Of what is dendrology the science?

Ans. Trees

85/ Old Man’s Beard and Traveler’s Joy are names for a variety of which flower?

Ans. Clematis.

86/ The Notting Hill Carnival takes place on the last weekend of which month?

Ans. August.

87/ Name the creator of Marvel Comics, who has had a cameo role in almost all the recent film adaptations of the comic’s superheros?

Ans. Stan Lee.

88/ What is the name of Coldplay’s most recent album?

Ans. Ghost Stories

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89/ Name the American lawyer who resigned from FIFA’s ethics committee in December, unhappy with the way his report into alleged corruption had been handled?

Ans. Michael Garcia.

90/ Where would you find Valles Marineris, a great chasm some 4,000km long?

Ans. Mars.

91/ Causing blisters if touched in sunlight, what is the name of this large hollow stemmed plant, with white umbel flowers, commonly found in roadside verges?

Ans. Hogweed (giant)

92/ According to the Chinese zodiac, as from 15th February 2015 it will be the year of which animal?

Ans. Sheep (accept goat or ram)

93/ Artist Grayson Perry has a transvestite alter ego, what is “her” first name?

Ans. Claire

94/ In which year was the cinematic Space Odyssey set?

0Ans. 2001

95/ What do Laplanders call themselves?

Ans. Sami.

96/ Who was on the English throne when Macclesfield was granted its royal charter?

Ans. Henry III (1216 to 1272, Macclesfield’s charter 1261)

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Sup1/ What is the largest island in Canada

Ans. Baffin Island.

Sup2/ Which English artist was famous for her humorous paintings of large naked ladies?

Ans. Beryl Cook

Sup3/ Which division of the High Court deals with wills, trusts and [property?

Ans The Chancery division.

Sup4/ What is measured using a Wheatstone bridge?

Ans. Electrical Resistance.

Sup5/ Which major European port is situated near the mouth of the river Rhine?

Ans. Rotterdam

Sup6/ What is added to the Greek wine Retsina to give it its unique flavour?

Ans/ Pine resin

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