17th January–The Questions

 

 

SPECIALIST QUESTIONS      

Set by Church House Bollington

1. GEOGRAPHY

1. Which city is protected by the MOSE flood barrier?

Venice

2. Wills Neck is the highest point in which range of English hills?

Quantocks

3. Which American state lies between Mississippi and Georgia?

Alabama

4. What is the second highest mountain in the world?

K2 (accept Mt Godwen Austen)

5. The capital of Costa Rica shares its name with which Californian city?

San Jose

6. What do Mexicans call the river that Americans call the Rio Grande?

Rio Bravo

7. Which Kent town on the River Medway is home to a former Royal Navy dockyard, nowadays a museum and heritage site?

Chatham

8. San Antonio is a resort on which Mediterranean island?

Ibiza

Supps

China shares borders with how many sovereign states?

14

Lake Vostok lies two miles beneath the surface of which continent?

Antarctica

2.SCIENCE & NATURE

1. How is the creature with the Latin name Ursus Maritimus more commonly known?

Polar Bear

2. Which toy dog, originating in Tibet, is also known as the Chrysanthemum dog?

Shih Tzu

3. What is the name of the recently deceased astronaut who in 1998 became the oldest man in space?

John Glenn

4. Rothschilds, Reticulated, Nubian and Masai are all subspecies of which animal?

Giraffe

5. Name either of the two species of deer which are native to the UK (i.e have not been introduced)?

Roe or Red

6. Which planet has 14 moons, all named after minor Greek water deities?

Neptune

7. Which number Apollo marks the furthest humans have ever travelled from Earth?

Apollo 13

8. What name is given to the fruit of a rose bush?

Hip (also accept hep or haw)

Supps

What are also known as Roentgen rays?

X-rays

By what name is the diamorphine hydrochloride better known?

Heroin

3. HISTORY

1. ‘The Great Game’ refers to the political and diplomatic confrontation between Britain and which other country in the nineteenth century over their respective interests in central Asia, particularly Afghanistan?

Russia

2. Of German cities, Dresden suffered the most casualties as a result of aerial bombardment during the Second World War. Which German city suffered the next most?

Hamburg

3. Which winner of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize sent his wife to Oslo to collect it as he feared being refused entry back into his own country?

Lech Walesa

4. Following the mutiny on the Bounty, which island did Fletcher Christian and his cohorts colonise?

Pitcairn

5. Who instigated the Third Servile War in 73BC? He was portrayed on film by a man who turned 100 in December.

Spartacus

6. What was the surname of Papa Doc and Baby Doc, both dictators of Haiti?

Duvalier

7. What famous American building was burnt by British troops in 1812?

The White House

8. Which of Henry VIII’s wives did he refer to as ‘The Flanders Mare’?

Anne of Cleves

Supps

Who traditionally wears the Fisherman’s ring?

The Pope

The name for which type of car derives from the word for long coats worn by French shepherds?

Limousine

4.SPORT

1. Which Swiss football team, whose name can often elicit schoolboy sniggers, play their home games at the equally wonderfully named Wankdorf stadium?

Young Boys Berne

2. Which is the only NFL team not to have a logo on their helmets? Their name reflects the colour of their kit and they are one of very few sports teams to play in this colour.

Cleveland Browns (accept ‘Cleveland’ or ‘Browns’)

3. Since 2005, the stretch of the A52 between Derby and Nottingham has been named after which man with sporting connections to both cities?

Brian Clough

4. Before they adopted the more mundane ‘City’, Leicester’s professional football team carried which suffix which referred to a nearby Roman road?

Leicester Fosse

5. Which sport held at the 1900 Olympics led to the deaths of 300 animals? Protests by animal rights groups led to the sport’s disappearance by the time of the 1904 games.

Pigeon shooting

6. Adolf Dassler founded Adidas. Which sportswear manufacturer was founded by his brother Rudolf?

Puma

7. In Ice Hockey, a Gordie Howe hat-trick named after a legend of the game who died last year is a goal, an assist and a what in one game?

A fight

8. Recently retired Huddersfield Giants rugby league prop Eorl Crabtree is the nephew of which Yorkshire sporting legend?

Big Daddy

Supps

Apart from Red Rum, name either of the other two horses to have won the Grand National with the word ‘red’ in their name.

Red Alligator (1968), Red Marauder (2001)

What nationality was the boxer Roberto Duran who won five titles at four different weights and was the first man to beat Sugar Ray Leonard?

Panamanian

5.ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

1. McKinley Morganfield was the real name of which blues musician?

Muddy Waters

2. Which group has had the most top 40 singles in the UK without ever having a number one? Among their near misses are ‘People are People’ and ‘Everything Counts’.

Depeche Mode

3. A snatch of which traditional British song can be heard at the end of Queen’s ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’?

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside

4. Which stage and screen musical features the songs, Skid Row, Suddenly Seymour and Mushnik and Son?

Little Shop of Horrors

5. Which is the only Shakespeare title character to die before the end of Act 3?

Julius Caesar

6. What was the name of the book published in 1979 by the artist Kit Williams which took the form of a treasure hunt to find a real golden hare buried somewhere in the UK?

Masquerade

7. A character from which TV series had a poster in his office which read ‘I want to believe’?

The X-Files (Mulder)

8. Which director won his only Best Picture Oscar for ‘Rebecca’ in 1940?

Alfred Hitchcock

Supps

What is the name of the spaceship in the film ‘Alien’?

Nostromo

Apart from members of the titular family themselves, which character has had the most speaking appearances in the Simpsons?

Moe Szyslak (accept ‘Moe)

6.FAMOUS PETS

1. What is the name of Dennis the Menace’s pet pig?

Rasher

2. Which politician once had a cat named ‘Harold Wilson’?

Jeremy Corbyn

3. What was the name of the dog in the Famous Five?

Timmy

4. ‘Wellington’ is the canine murder victim of which 2003 novel by Mark Haddon, now a multi-award winning stage play?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

5. ‘Crookshanks’ is the pet cat of which Harry Potter character?

Hermione Granger (accept either name)

6. What is the first name of the talking dog in the TV series ‘Family Guy’?

Brian

7. Bo and Sunny are the Portuguese Water Dog pets of which family?

The Obamas

8. Commemorated by a statue outside his master’s London house, ‘Hodge’ was the pet cat of which English literary figure and lexicographer?

Samuel Johnson (aka Dr Johnson)

Supps

‘Astro’ was the pet dog of which space-age American animated sitcom family?

The Jetsons

Duchess, Toulouse, Marie and Berlioz are the pets of Madame Adelaide who are rescued by Thomas O’Malley in which Disney animated film?

The Aristocats

7.BANKNOTES

1. Which type of bird appears with Charles Darwin on the back of the current £10 note?

Hummingbird

2. Who features on the reverse of the current £20 note?

Adam Smith

3. Which painter will replace Adam Smith on £20 notes from 2020?

J M W Turner

4. Which author will replace Charles Darwin on £10 notes from 2017?

Jane Austen

5. If Washington appears on the $1 bill and Lincoln on the $5 bill, which president features on the US $2 bill?

Thomas Jefferson

6. Banknotes issued in which part of the British Isles feature depictions of, amongst others, Castle Rushen and the Laxey Wheel?

Isle of Man

7. Which country was the first to introduce plastic (strictly speaking ‘polymer’) bank notes into general circulation in 1988?

Australia

8. Who featured on the reverse of the £1 note from 1978 to 1988?

Sir Isaac Newton

Supps

Which nations banknotes have featured Charles Kingsford-Smith and Banjo Patterson?

Australia

In which year was the British one pound note removed from circulation?

1988cept 1 year either way)

8.BLOCKBUSTERS GOLD RUN-STYLE ROUND

Each question requires an answer of more than one word. You will be given the initial letter of each word to help, e.g. What SDW was an Arab-Israeli conflict of 1967? Answer – Six-Day War

1. TJAMC – A Scottish alternative rock band formed in 1983 by the brothers Jim and William Reid.

The Jesus and Mary Chain

2. AOTQOS – First premiered in London in 1749, this piece of music by Handel has since become a widely popular processional piece often played at weddings and was used at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

3. AJR – The full name of the character played by Chris Barrie in Red Dwarf, his middle name reflecting his treacherous nature.

Arnold Judas Rimmer

4. TSAN – Popular long running BBC programme currently hosted by Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Chris Lintott.

The Sky at Night

5. RTBC - Hit for Ian Dury in 1979 containing the lines “curing smallpox, Buddy Holly, Bolshoi ballet, porridge oats, juice of a carrot and yellow socks.”

Reasons to be Cheerful

6. PSOTY – Award discontinued in 2003 when Stephen Fry was the last winner. Other recipients had included Tony Benn and Harold Wilson.

Pipe Smoker of the Year

7. FF – Lozenge manufactured by the Lofthouse company in Fleetwood, Lancashire

Fisherman’s Friend

8. CG – subject of an iconic photograph taken by Alberto Korda on March 5^th 1960

Che Guevara

Supps

STM – What a player might aim to do in a game of Hearts.

Shoot the Moon

NSF – Sitcom character who did time in HMP Slade

Norman Stanley Fletcher

 

General Knowledge Questions

set by Church House Bollington

1. Which southern state of America is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State?

Alabama

2. Which race on the F1 Grand Prix calendar is held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit?

Singapore

3. Which James Bond actor starred in the 1992 film The Lawnmower Man?

Pierce Brosnan

4. The Call of the Wild is a 1903 novel by which American author?

Jack London

5. A traditional balalaika has how many strings?

3

6. Boca Juniors versus River Plate is the big derby football match in which capital city?

Buenos Aires

7. “Jesus wept” is the shortest verse in the Bible but for whom did Jesus weep?

Lazarus

8. In Greek Mythology, who challenged Athena to a weaving contest before being turned into a spider?

Arachne

9. Which classic song from 1964 opens with the line, “Hello darkness my old friend”?

The Sound of Silence

10. Which island is known in the native tongue as Rapa Nui?

Easter Island

11. Who wrote the 1980 novel The Name of the Rose?

Umberto Eco

12. Which US city is known as the City of Brotherly Love?

Philadelphia

13. What sport is played by, among others, the Anaheim Ducks, the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Ice Hockey

14. In which city can you take a ferry from Circular Quay to Taronga Zoo?

Sydney

15. Which popular prime time TV programme features Dave Arch and his Orchestra?

Strictly Come Dancing

16. Who were England's opponents in Gareth Southgate’s first game in charge following the sacking of Sam Allardyce in October 2016?

Malta

17. Which song do the British soldiers defending Rorkes Drift sing in reply to the Zulu warriors war chant in the 1964 film Zulu?

Men of Harlech

18. In which 2005 film did Joaquin Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon play Johnny Cash and June Carter?

Walk the Line

19. Which four time Tour de France winner was known as The Cannibal?

Eddy Merckx

20. Which US president was the first to die in office and consequently also has served the shortest term in presidential history?

William Henry Harrison (32 days)

21. What is the capital of the Australian state of Victoria?

Melbourne

22. How many teams have won the English Premier League since its inception in 1992?

6 (Man Utd, Blackburn, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Leicester)

23. A statue of which famous explorer stands atop the column at the lower end of the La Rambla thoroughfare in Barcelona?

Christopher Columbus

24. Before the introduction of the Euro, what was the currency of Greece?

Drachma

25. Who, in 1994, became the first Channel Islands born footballer to play for England?

Graeme Le Saux

26. What is the more common name of the skin complaint, Urticaria?

Hives

27. Mittwoch is the German name for which day of the week?

Wednesday

28. Which dance became an international dance craze in 1975 following Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony's song of the same name?

The Hustle

29. The 1980’s advertising campaign of which confectionary product bet us that we couldn't put one in our mouth without chewing it?

Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles

30. What is the name of the thin, plain weave, sheer fabric traditionally made from silk and often used in bridalwear?

Organza

31. From which classic 1950 film does Gloria Swanson’s character Norma Desmond utter the closing line, “Alright Mr De Mille, I'm ready for my close up”.

Sunset Boulevard

32. What was the name of Paul Eddington’s character in the sitcom Yes, Minister?

Jim Hacker

33. In which European country would you find the village of Y?

France

34. Which member of England's 1966 World Cup winning football team once played a first class cricket match for Essex?

Geoff Hurst

35. Which guitarist replaced Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones in 1969?

Mick Taylor

36. Which philosopher famously claimed that “God is dead”?

Friedrich Nietzsche

37. Which US state shares the longest border with Canada?

Alaska

38. Who was the Mayor of New York at the time of the September 11^th attacks in 2001?

Rudolph Giuliani

39. In which Russian city was Tsar Nicholas II and his family executed in 1918?

Ekaterinburg

40. Which American president said, “You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”?

Abraham Lincoln

41. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is a symphonic poem written in 1896 by which French composer?

Paul Dukas

42. Who showed us around the celebrities’ houses in the original series of Through the Keyhole hosted by Sir David Frost?

Lloyd Grossman

43. Who eventually replaced Dermot Murnaghan as host of the BBC2 quiz show Eggheads after sharing the job for a short time?

Jeremy Vine

44. What nationality was racing driver Emerson Fittipaldi?

Brazilian

45. The ground of which English football club, currently playing in League 1, was used as a World War II prisoner of war camp until May 1945?

Swindon Town

46. How many American Presidents held office during the Vietnam War?

5 (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford)

47. Perhaps the most well-known of cricket umpires, Dickie Bird, retired from first class cricket in 1998 but what was his real first name?

Harold

48. Which actress starred in the Alan Bennett monologue A Cream Cracker under The Settee forming part of the 1987 BBC series, Talking Heads?

Thora Hird

49. Which spirit, when added to white Crème de Menthe, puts the sting in a Stinger cocktail?

Brandy

50. Which legendary American record producer is currently serving a prison sentence for second degree murder?

Phil Spector

51. What was the name of the man wrongly executed in 1950 for crimes committed by John Christie at 10 Rillington Place?

Timothy Evans

52. What is the capital of the Canadian province, Manitoba?

Winnipeg

53. What is the largest living species of lizard?

Komodo Dragon

54. Which autobiographical novel of 1969 tells the story of the authors incarceration and subsequent escape from the French Penal Colony of French Guiana?

Papillon

55. Which member of an acting dynasty played the greedy banker Mr Potter in the 1946 film, It's A Wonderful Life? Both names required.

Lionel Barrymore

56. Which book of the Old Testament tells the story of Samson and Delilah?

Judges

57. What nickname name was given to serial killer Albert DeSalvo, convicted of thirteen murders committed between 1962 and 1964?

The Boston Strangler

58. Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ is the semi-autobiographical book by which British comedy actor, who died in 2014 aged 56?

Rik Mayall

59. What is the name of the Tudor mansion in Kent, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn?

Hever Castle

60. Which author’s novels include Portnoys Complaint, American Pastoral and The Human Stain?

Philip Roth

61. In fencing, what is the name given to a counterattack made immediately after a successful parry?

Riposte

62. In the Old Testament, who was Jacob’s twin brother?

Esau

63. Robert Stroud, an American sentenced to life in prison and portrayed on film by Burt Lancaster was given what nickname?

The Birdman of Alcatraz

64. Spike, dig, set and block are terms in which team sport?

Volleyball

65. 2016 saw the death of Harper Lee, what was the name of her long awaited sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird?

Go Set a Watchman

66. In Japanese cuisine, thin slices of what are eaten in between courses to cleanse the palate?

Ginger

67. Along with New Mexico which US state joined the Union in 1912? Doing so on February 14^th and so gaining its nickname, the Valentine State.

Arizona

68. What is the nickname of League One football team, Chesterfield?

The Spireites

69. Inmates seized control of Winson Green Prison in December 2016, in which city is Winson Green?

Birmingham

70. In which Indian city would you find Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known as The Golden Temple, the holiest Gurdwara in Sikhism?

Amritsar

71. Which athlete came second in the BBC’s 2016 Sports Personality of the Year?

Alistair Brownlee (both names required)

72. Also at the 2016 Sports Personality of the Year awards, which US sporting legend was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award?

Michael Phelps

73. Eyes Wide Shut starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman was the final film from which director, released four months after his death in 1999?

Stanley Kubrick

74. How is the Chapparal Cock, a ground cuckoo native to Mexico, more commonly known?

The Roadrunner

75. Common, Water and Pygmy are types of which British mammal?

Shrew

76. What is the only bone in the human body that is not attached to any other bone?

The hyoid

77. What is the name of Alexander Armstrong’s co presenter on the BBC quiz show, Pointless?

Richard Osman

78. Who knocked Macclesfield Town FC out of the 2016/17 FA Cup in December 2016?

Oxford United

79. What is the national flower of Austria?

Edelweiss

80. Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated on three occasions for the Best Actor In A Leading Role Oscar before finally winning in 2016 for his role in which film?

The Revenant

81. Who did Andy Murray beat to win the Wimbledon Mens singles title in 2016?

Milos Raonic

82. Which Hollywood actress and socialite who once said she “never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back” died in late December 2016 aged 99?

Zsa Zsa Gabor

83. According to The White Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass, which kind of food is eaten tomorrow, yesterday, but never today?

Jam

84. At which venue was the William Hill World Darts Championship held in December?

Alexandra Palace

85. Name either of the countries that occupy the Caribbean island of Hispaniola?

Haiti or Dominican Republic

86. Which was the first English “New Town” to be created following the New Towns Act of 1946?

Stevenage

87. Which Mexican painter, married to fellow artist Frieda Kahlo, helped to establish the Mexican Mural Movement and painted numerous murals in cities across Mexico and the USA?

Diego Rivera

88. “I love the colourful clothes she wears and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair” is a line taken from which hit song of 1966?

Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)

89. In the Chinese Zodiac, the year commencing 28^th January 2017 will be the year of which animal?

Rooster

90. Leaves of Grass, which was first published in 1855, is a collection of the work of which American poet?

Walt Whitman

91. Which comic strip character, created by Mary Tourtel, first appeared in the Daily Express in 1920?

Rupert Bear

92. Which British author wrote the books, High Fidelity, About a Boy and A Long Way Down?

Nick Hornby

93. In which Shakespeare play would you find the characters Proteus, Valentine, Silvia and Julia?

Two Gentlemen of Verona

94. Which Christian hymn starts with the line, “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made”?

How Great Thou Art

95. What is the name of the children's book written by Prince Charles, illustrated by Sir Hugh Casson and published in 1980?

The Old Man of Lochnagar

96. Which board game, the original version of which was released in 1957, involves a political map of the world divided into six continents and forty-two territories?

Risk

Supps.

Which British group had a 1979 hit with Some Girls?

Racey

What is the capital of Nigeria?

Abuja

What is the gel like substance that fills most of the eye?

Vitreous Humour

In the children's TV series Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men, what was the name of the tortoise?

Slowcoach