GK 3 Flashcards
(200 cards)
1
Q
Mercury and bromine are the only two chemical elements which exist in which state at room temperature? Sublimation involves a substance changing from solid to a gas without changing into this state in between.
A
Liquid
2
Q
Although studies have shown that many factors can be responsible what adjective describes wine which gives off undesirable smells or tastes and reflects a belief that such taint is caused by an item often used as a stopper for the wine bottle?
A
Corked (accept derivatives)
3
Q
Which motor race held in the midwest US on Memorial Day weekend on a course nicknamed The Brickyard forms part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport with the Monaco Grand Prix and the Le Mans 24 Hours? Graham Hill is the only driver to have won all three.
A
Indianapolis 500
4
Q
Philosopher Roland Barthes scientist Pierre Curie and beloved national icon Diana Princess of Wales all died in road traffic accidents of one kind or another in which European capital city?
A
Paris
5
Q
Which British artist held the record for most expensive painting by a living artist sold at auction from November 2018 to May 2019 with his work Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)? It was one of numerous pictures of swimming pools he painted in the 1960s and 70s most famously including A Bigger Splash.
A
David Hockney
6
Q
The monarchs that ruled Britain from 1714 to 1901 were members of which royal house named after a city in Lower Saxony Germany?
A
Hanover
7
Q
According to its opening line in which US city known for its association with jazz music is the House of the Rising Sun?
A
New Orleans
8
Q
Which real-life Frenchman was portrayed by Ian Holm in Time Bandits (1981) Terry Camilleri in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) Rod Steiger in Waterloo (1970) and in 1927 by Albert Dieudonné in an Abel Gance epic named after this person?
A
Napoleon Bonaparte
9
Q
Which British motorway runs from Chiswick in London to Pont Abraham in Carmarthenshire and crosses the Severn on the Prince of Wales Bridge (renamed as such in 2018)?
A
M4
10
Q
Holding the role from 2009 to 2019 who was the first woman and first LGBT person to be UK Poet Laureate?
A
Carol Ann Duffy
11
Q
The Three Tenors consist of Luciano Pavarotti and which two Spaniards?
A
Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras
12
Q
Alicia Garza Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi are the founders of which international human rights movement also known by the initials BLM which campaigns against systemic racism and racial violence towards a particular minority ethnic group?
A
Black Lives Matter
13
Q
The Russian folk song Korobeiniki is predominantly known outside that nation as the catchy music for which tile-matching video game created in 1984 by Alexei Pajitnov?
A
Tetris
14
Q
Which German astronomer is associated with his Three Laws of Planetary Motion with the first being that the orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of its two foci?
A
Johannes Kepler
15
Q
The names of the French film movement La Nouvelle Vague and the Brazilian music style bossa nova can be translated into English as what two word term which also (rather loosely and particularly in the US) describes the style of music that emerged after punk exemplified by artists such as The Cars or The Knack?
A
New wave
16
Q
Which skyscraper in Dubai has at 828 metres tall been the tallest building on earth since it topped out in 2009?
A
Burj Khalifa
17
Q
What mode of transport is the best known invention of the British engineer Christopher Cockerell?
A
Hovercraft
18
Q
What does the acronym BOGOF stand for in the retail industry?
A
Buy one get one free
19
Q
Add together the number of lines in a sonnet and the number of lines in a haiku. Take away the number of lines in a limerick. What number results?
A
12
20
Q
The name of which archipelago divided from the southern tip of South America by the Magellan Strait means Land of Fire in Spanish?
A
Tierra del Fuego
21
Q
Jade Jones won gold medals for Team GB at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics in which martial art?
A
Taekwondo
22
Q
At which narrow coastal pass with a name meaning hot gates did Leonidas lead a force of 300 Spartans against an overwhelmingly larger Persian force ultimately to their deaths?
A
Thermopylae
23
Q
Which dating app aimed at the LGBT community announced in June 2020 that it would remove its filter for selection by race after criticism of it had recently intensified?
A
Grindr
24
Q
Which day of the week do Germans know as MIttwoch?
A
Wednesday
25
Sexual Perversity in Chicago Speed-the-Plow and Glengarry Glen Ross are plays by which US playwright (born 1947)?
David Mamet
26
Which 1958 Hitchcock film starring James Stewart and Kim Novak was voted the best movie of all time in the 2012 Sight and Sound poll replacing previous incumbent Citizen Kane?
Vertigo
27
The 2016 track Work From Home from the album 7/27 has become popular again during the Coronavirus lockdown. It is by which US girl band whose name is often shortened to 5H?
Fifth Harmony
28
43 people died in 2018 when the Morandi Bridge collapsed. In which large Italian city did it cross the river Polcevera?
Genoa
29
In 1982 Wood Green MP Reg Race became the first MP to use what word in the House of Commons when reading out wording from a prostitute's phone box card? The middle two letters were asterisked in Hansard and you may take this approach in your answer if you are squeamish about bad language.
Fuck
30
Which species of shark Rhincodon typus is the largest living fish species and by far the largest non-mammalian vertebrate species found on earth?
Whale shark
31
Doing so in 1971 and 2006 who are the only BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners to be from the same family?
Princess Anne and Zara Phillips
32
What was the name of the 2018 sequel to Wreck-it-Ralph which some have claimed refers back to a 2014 nude photo shoot by Kim Kardashian which allegedly achieved the titular action?
Ralph Breaks the Internet
33
Dorothy Parker and Harpo Marx were members of a group of wits who styled themselves the Round Table of which New York City hotel on West 44th Street at which they met daily for lunch for about ten years?
Algonquin
34
Scottish artist David Shrigley designed Kingsley the bright yellow jagged mascot for which Scottish League One football club who play at the Firhill Stadium? Alan Hansen and Mo Johnstone began their careers with this side.
Partick Thistle
35
What Arabic word meaning community is used by Muslims to describe the whole of the global Islamic community bound together by their religion?
Ummah
36
What two word phrase a translation of the German word “zauberkugel” did German immunologist Paul Ehrlich give to a treatment for a disease which targets a specific microbe without harming the body itself?
Magic bullet
37
Which Swedish manufacturer of outdoor power products such as trimmers and chainsaws spun off its motorcycle division (which continues to share the same name) in 1987 it being owned by the Austrian KTM group nowadays?
Husqvarna
38
Staying in the business world the initials LBO stand for what sort of transaction in which one company acquires another using a significant amount of borrowed money to meet the cost of acquisition with the assets of the company being acquired typically being used as collateral for the loan?
Leveraged buyout
39
The title character of which 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical is a manipulative small-time nightclub performer whose ambitions lead him into an affair with the wealthy middle-aged and married Vera Simpson?
Pal Joey
40
Also a term familiar from UK planning law what is the name of the environmental movement set up by the Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai in 1977 for which she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004?
Green Belt (Movement)
41
The twin brothers Chris and Xand van Tulleken present which medically themed children's series on CBBC which has run since 2012?
Operation Ouch!
42
What name is shared by the Greek historian who wrote The Histories who devised a namesake Square used to encode messages with an alleged arcade video game said to have produced intense psychoactive and addictive effects in players in the 1980s but of which no trace can now be located?
Polybius
43
Which winner of the 1961 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré became in 1955 the first English rider to finish the Tour de France and in 1958 the first to win a stage?
Brian Robinson
44
Which battle of the early 20th century was the first decisive naval battle fought by modern steel battleship fleets and the first in which wireless telegraphy was crucial?
Tsushima
45
In 2013 fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld indicated his wish to marry his blue-cream Birman cat: what is the name of that cat who maintains a social media presence to this day despite Lagerfeld's death?
Choupette
46
Which singer who finished third in the 2011 series of The X Factor joined the cast of reality show and Michael McPartland favourite Geordie Shore in 2020?
Amelia Lily
47
Described as the dean of African-American opera composers who won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for his 2019 opera The Central Park Five? Previous works by him include X The Life and Times of Malcolm X and Amistad.
Anthony Davis
48
Also referred to as pyroclasts which Greek word meaning ash is given to fragmentary material expelled during a volcanic eruption which may include ash but also larger cinders and blocks of material?
Tephra
49
Taken from the village near Empoli in which he was born the Italian Mannerist Jacopo Carucci is better known by what name? His Deposition from the Cross in the church of Santa Felicita Florence is widely considered to be his masterpiece.
Pontormo
50
Also known as the Chicken's Neck which narrow strip just over 20 kilometres wide separates India's northeastern states from the rest of India with Bangladesh to the south and Nepal to the north?
Siliguri corridor
51
Between 1968 and 1980 all four host cities of the Summer Olympic Games had names beginning with which letter?
M (Mexico City Munich Montreal Moscow)
52
Which South Asian country joined the Commonwealth in its own right in 1972 having declared independence from Pakistan the previous year?
Bangladesh
53
Michael Myers is the troubled serial killer central to which series of horror films?
Halloween
54
Which appropriately-named tribe destroyed Rome in 455 CE?
Vandals
55
Only two pieces can make the first move in chess. If pawns are one then what is the other?
Knights
56
According to legend the architect Postnik Yakovlev was blinded by Ivan the Terrible after designing which famous cathedral so that he could never create anything so beautiful again?
St Basil’s Cathedral
57
What is the name of the cold tomato-based vegetable soup that originated in Andalusia and southern Portugal but is now popular throughout Iberia?
Gazpacho
58
In June 1910 Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG) became the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service when it operated the rigid airships designed by which German count? This man's name is often used as a synonym for any rigid airship.
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
59
Grasslands Chant The Stampede and Simba Confronts Scar are all numbers from which stage musical based on a 1994 Walt Disney film of the same name?
The Lion King
60
This stuffed dog is perhaps the best-known exhibit at a museum in the Russian city of Ryazan named after which Nobel Laureate born in the city in 1849?
Ivan Pavlov
61
In 2002 the American Vonetta Flowers became the first black person to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics competing in which sport? The Jamaicans Devon Harris Dudley Stokes Michael White and Freddy Powell also famously competed in the four-man team event in this sport at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Bobleigh or Bobsled
62
The second and third volumes of Karl Marx's Das Kapital were published posthumously after Marx's notes were collated by which man with whom Marx had collaborated on Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (The Communist Manifesto)?
Friedrich Engels
63
A Basset Hound called Jason is the mascot of which American brand of casual footwear?
Hush Puppies
64
In 1778 the first work ever to be performed at the famous La Scala opera house in Milan was Europa riconosciuta an opera in two acts by which Italian composer? Thirteen years later the death of Mozart led to unfounded rumours that this man had poisoned the Austrian.
Antonio Salieri
65
In which modern-day country was the Islamic prophet Mohammad born in around 570 CE?
Saudi Arabia
66
Henry Vandyke Carter was the illustrator of which hugely influential medical textbook first published in 1858? The name of the book was later used with a very minor spelling difference as the title of an American medical drama television series starring Ellen Pompeo.
Gray's Anatomy
67
Which singer and actor gained international recognition as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Sugarcubes before embarking on a solo career that produced hits such as Army of Me and It's Oh So Quiet? In 2000 she was awarded the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the Lars von Trier film Danser i mørket (Dancer in the Dark).
Björk
68
What name is commonly given to the protest of December 1773 in which New England protesters disguised as American-Indians threw the cargoes of the ships Beaver Eleanor and Dartmouth overboard in response to increased taxation?
Boston Tea Party
69
Current executive chairman Ana Botín is the fourth member of her family to hold that role at which banking and financial services group founded in its namesake European city in 1857?
Santander
70
The Egyptian god Thoth is commonly depicted with the head of which wading bird considered sacred by the Ancient Egyptians?
(Sacred) Ibis
71
A jazz festival combining music and leisure activities is held every May in the Belgian village of Liberchies to celebrate its most famous son. After which legendary guitarist is the festival named?
Django Reinhardt
72
Which country occupies the easternmost point on the African mainland and has the longest coastline of all the continent’s mainland nations? Travelling from west to east it is at this country that the equator reaches the Indian Ocean.
Somalia
73
This is the logo of which presentation programme that has been a component of the Microsoft Office suite for the last 30 years?
PowerPoint
74
The large public field in Paris that runs between the Eiffel Tower and the École Militaire is named after which Roman god?
Mars
75
Following the Hanshin Tigers' 1985 victory in the Japan Series ecstatic fans threw a statue of which man into the Dōtonbori River in celebration because he looked a little like the team's star slugger the American Randy Bass? Since this event the team has never again won the Japan Series title leading many to talk of the 'Curse of the Colonel'.
Colonel Harland Sanders
76
Its name deriving from the Latin for ‘wedge shaped’ which early form of written expression inscribed on clay tablets by means of a blunt reed for a stylus emerged in Sumer around the 30th century BCE?
Cuneiform
77
Will Arnett provides the voice of the title character in which American animated TV series about an aging anthropormophic equine left bitter by the fading of his celebrity?
BoJack Horseman
78
Which letter of the alphabet is used to symbolise the mathematical constant that is the base of the natural logarithm and approximately equal to 2.71828?
e
79
A propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg Congress of the Nazi Party The Triumph of the Will is the most famous work of which female German director who died in 2003 at the age of 101?
Leni Riefenstahl
80
Often used as a gemstone what name is given to black volcanic glass that forms from cooling magma?
Obsidian
81
Its prevalence among people from tropical and sub-tropical regions is thought to be a result of its increased resistance to malaria. The mutated haemoglobin gene that causes which blood disorder characterized by rigid abnormally shaped red blood cells is carried by around one-third of all native inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa?
Sickle-cell disease or sickle-cell anaemia
82
The Iranian-born French graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi is best-known for her autobiographical series of comic books named after which ancient city and ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire?
Persepolis
83
Which 2002 horror/comedy film directed by Ellory Elkayem was originally to be titled Arach Attack but had its title changed upon release as the similarity to 'Iraq Attack' made it seem inappropriate so near to the start of the Iraq War?
Eight Legged Freaks
84
Which constellation the second largest after Hydra can easily be found in the night sky through its brightest star Spica?
Virgo
85
P.T. Barnum served as mayor of which US city today the largest in Connecticut? This city was the birthplace of the Frisbee and was the site of the first ever Subway restaurant in 1965.
Bridgeport
86
Claude Monet's 1872 painting Impression Sunrise from which the Impressionist movement got its name was an image of which French harbour port?
Le Havre
87
What is the title of the Spanish-language Netflix series that debuted in 2017 starring Marco de la O as the Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán? The show's title is the nickname by which Guzmán was commonly known prior to his arrest and convinction.
El Chapo
88
Commonly translated into English as 'storm and stress' what was the German title of Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's 1777 play that gave its name to the cultural movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s? Both Goethe and Schiller were associated with this movement early in their careers.
Sturm und Drang
89
This man was Louis XV's finance minister at the time of France's credit crisis during the Seven Years' War. Because of the consequent economic austerity he introduced his name became synonymous with anything done cheaply including a certain inexpensive style of portrait which is now named after him. Who is this man who also gives his name to the third largest island of the Seychelles?
Étienne de Silhouette
90
Just edging out former team-mate Manute Bol as the tallest man to ever play in the NBA which 7’7” Romanian basketball player also starred alongside Billy Crystal in the 1998 comedy drama film My Giant?
Gheorghe Mureşan
91
Alain Mabanckou is perhaps best-known for his 2005 novel Verre Cassé (Broken Glass) which he described as an attempt to “break the French language”. Like many of his novels it was set in which Francophone African nation in which Mabanckou was born and raised?
Republic of the Congo or Congo-Brazzaville
92
Lying in the Cordillera Central range in the Dominican Republic which mountain is the highest peak in the Caribbean? Named after one of the country's founding fathers it also shares its name with former Presidents of El Salvador (1984-89) and Paraguay (2003-08) and the maiden name of Eva Perón.
(Pico) Duarte
93
In physics what term is used for a loop of wire often wrapped around a metallic core which produces a magnetic field when an electric current is passed through it?
Solenoid
94
Wayang Kulit is a theatre in Indonesia that was designated as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003. It is the country’s most famous theatre performing wayang a traditional Indonesian form of entertainment that for some is the epitome of Indonesian culture. What type of performance is wayang? Two words needed for the point.
Shadow puppetry
95
Alexander Pushkin’s 1836 novel The Captain’s Daughter was a romanticised account of the largest peasant rebellion in Russian history. Named after the pretender to the Russian throne who led it this is which Cossack insurrection of the 1770s?
Pugachev's Rebeliion
96
Despite its name it is more closely related to sheep and goats than to cattle. This is which Arctic mammal noted for its thick coat and for the strong odour emitted by males?
Muskox
97
What is the first name of Zinedine Zidane's son also a professional footballer currently on loan at Spanish club UD Almería? He was named in honour of a Uruguayan attacking midfielder who was one of the older Zidane's heroes as a boy and who in 2004 was the only Uruguayan footballer to be named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers.
Enzo
98
Jointly awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work which pair of German chemists give their name to the chemical reaction which sees a conjugated diene join with an alkene to form a cyclohexene?
Otto Diels & Kurt Alder
99
Known for his strong vocal performances and trademark quote Ve sakam site (I Love You All) which Macedonian singer and actor who died in a car crash in 2007 was nicknamed ‘the Elvis of the Balkans’?
Toše Proeski
100
What is the name of the foul-mouthed alcoholic squirrel who has a 'Bad Fur Day' in the title of a 2001 Nintendo 64 video game? The aim of the game is to get the inebriated rodent back home to his girlfriend a task made all the more difficult by the fact that a twisted Prussian weasel is trying to capture him and use him as a table leg.
Conker
101
Auckland Christchurch Wellington and Hamilton are the four largest cities of which southern-hemisphere country?
New Zealand
102
Abraham Lincoln was born on the 12th February 1809 exactly the same day/month/year as which English scientist who 50 years later published On the Origin of Species the seminal work on evolutionary-biology?
Charles Darwin
103
Which 6-foot 9-inch-tall author (1942 - 2008) wrote the novels The Andromeda Strain Congo Jurassic Park and Timeline?
Michael Crichton
104
In Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries most major forests of taxus baccata were decimated as its wood was perfect for making English longbows; as a result Kingly Vale Nature Reserve just outside Chichester West Sussex is one of the few major stands of this tree left on the continent. What is the three-letter common name of this slow-growing coniferous tree?
Yew
105
Nichelle Nichols once handed in her letter of resignation to the creator of Star Trek as she had ambitions to sing and dance on Broadway; but which civil rights leader (and Star Trek fan) convinced her to rescind this letter as he thought Uhura was by far the most positive character portrayed by a black woman on TV at the time and was a great role model to millions of girls across the world?
Martin Luther King Jr
106
Which legume is the main ingredient in the Middle-Eastern dip Hummus? Additionally hummus is the Arabic word for the legume in question.
Chickpeas
107
Freya Loki and Heimdallr are deities found in which European mythology?
Norse
108
What was repeatedly said to be “coming over the hill” in the lyrics of a 2006 hit by Welsh band The Automatic?
A Monster
109
On 27th Feb. 1999 which Birmingham-based football club was the last team in England’s Premier League to start and play a whole match with 11 English players? Their three subs Gareth Barry Mark Draper and Stan Collymore were also English. Oh and they also lost the game 4 - 1 to Coventry City.
Aston Villa
110
Which Oxfordshire-born actor star of the TV shows Jeeves and Wooster House M. D. and Avenue 5 is 61 years old today? (First name and surname required please.)
Hugh Laurie
111
Loch Lomond has the largest surface area of any loch in Scotland; Loch Morar is the country’s deepest loch; but which loch holds the greatest volume of fresh water due to having both the second-largest surface area and the second-greatest depth?
Loch Ness
112
Which decade of the 20th century saw the start (and end) of the Spanish Civil War; the Hindenburg airship disaster; and The Dandy and Beano comics first go on sale?
1930s
113
Complete the title of the 1983 Gothic horror novel by Susan Hill The Woman in _____?
Black
114
The acronym LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of _________. What word beginning with R (obviously) is missing?
Radiation
115
What has happened to Olympus London and Angel in the titles of three films released 2013 2016 and 2019 respectively? All three films star Gerard Butler as the all-action Secret Service agent Mike Banning.
Fallen
116
First published in 1974 which fantasy tabletop role-playing game was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson?
Dungeons & Dragons
117
In the mythology of ancient Egypt the god Sobek is depicted as having the head of which Nile-dwelling creature?
Crocodile
118
Which composer who sadly died in a light-aircraft crash in 2015 orchestrated the scores for over one hundred movies including Willow Braveheart Titanic and Avatar?
James Horner
119
Born in Delray Beach Florida in 2004 which up-and-coming tennis star beat Venus Williams (one of her idols) in the first round of last year's Wimbledon Championships aged just 15? She is currently number 52 in the WTA Rankings.
Cori Coco Gauff
120
Which word that is used as an encompassing term for the Western Christian festive season that occurs before Lent comes from the Latin for ‘remove meat’ or ‘farewell to meat’?
Carnival
121
Zakynthos the third largest of the Ionian Islands is also known by the Italian version of its name that also begins with Z. What is it?
Zante
122
Which unorthodox crusade to the Holy Land is said to have taken place in the year 1212 but with very few (if any) of the young participants actually making it to their destination due to being sold into slavery or shipwrecked during the journey?
Children’s Crusade
123
What is the surname of these two British brothers: Gerald a naturalist conservationist and author who founded the Jersey Zoo in 1959; and Lawrence a novelist poet and dramatist whose most famous work is The Alexandria Quartet series of novels?
Durrell
124
Which toxic element was a major chemical component of Scheele’s Green a yellowish-green pigment used in the 19th century to colour wallpaper paints wax candles and even some children’s toys; which unsurprisingly resulted in numerous people being slowly poisoned?
Arsenic
125
[Spoiler Alert!] Which 1999 Hollywood movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan was released in China under the alternate title of He’s a Ghost!?
The Sixth Sense
126
The blue agave plant is the base ingredient of which distilled alcoholic drink?
Tequila
127
What number links these three things: the age cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was in June 1963 when she became the first woman in Space; the number of counties that comprise the Republic of Ireland; and the shirt number worn by footballer Ledley King when he played for Tottenham Hotspur?
26
128
Which British band formed by Norman Cook Ashley Slater and Jesse Graham had a minor hit in 1993 with their debut single Turn On Tune In Cop Out? The track was re-released in 1995 after it featured in a Levi Jeans TV ad.
Freak Power
129
Who in 1961 was the first non-American golfer to win The U.S. Masters Tournament since its inception in 1934? He would go on to win it a second and third time (in 1974 and 78) but the intervening years were again dominated by competitors from the USA.
Gary Player
130
Hubert Cecil Booth’s 1901 invention The Puffing Billy which was petrol-powered and could only be moved around by horse-drawn cart was the precursor to which now extremely common (and much smaller) household device?
Vacuum cleaner
131
Situated on the border between the English county of Herefordshire and the Welsh historic county of Brecknockshire which small market town with a population of less than two-thousand has over twenty bookshops and is the site of a world-renowned annual literature festival?
Hay-on-Wye (or Y Gelli)
132
On 30th September 1966 Seretse Khama became the first president of which newly independent country? The 2016 film A United Kingdom starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike tells the story of his path to the presidency and the controversies surrounding his marriage to the white British woman Ruth Williams.
Botswana
133
The dramatis personae of which play by William Shakespeare includes the characters: Baptista Minola a gentleman of Padua; Katherine his elder daughter; Bianca his younger daughter and Petruchio a gentleman of Verona and suitor of Katherine?
The Taming of the Shrew
134
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient ____ light-emitting diodes (L.E.D.s) which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. Which colour/word is missing from this quote by the awarding-body?
Blue
135
Set in a prestigious African-American law-firm that deals mainly with Illinois police brutality cases which spin-off and sequel to the CBS drama The Good Wife stars Christine Baranski Cush Jumbo Rose Leslie Delroy Lindo and Michael Sheen?
The Good Fight
136
The Japanese liqueur Midori made by the multi-national brewing and distilling company Suntory is flavoured with which fruit?
Melon
137
In Islam which name is given to someone who can recite the whole of the Quran from memory?
Hafiz
138
The second Pope who died c. 76AD; the Nobel Prize winner for both Chemistry in 1954 and Peace in 1962; and the younger brother of Lucy van Pelt in the Peanuts comic strip. Which first name is shared by all three?
Linus
139
In 2008 what did the National Basketball Association’s Seattle Supersonics change their name to after relocating to a city in the south-central United States?
Oklahoma City Thunder
140
Which town and seaport located in the Morbihan department of France’s Brittany region is home to the huge Keroman Submarine Base built by the Germans during World War 2?
Lorient
141
Name the physiographic region of mountains plateaus and scenic waterways that covers 47000 square miles of (mainly) Missouri and Arkansas being the most extensive area of highlands in the U.S. between the Appalachians and the Rockies?
The Ozarks
142
Name either of the two Mercury Seven astronauts whose names weren’t used by Gerry Anderson for one of the five Tracy brothers in the TV series Thunderbirds?
Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton
143
Perhaps best known for her Earthsea series of fantasy books which female science-fiction author was the first to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards; doing so with her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness?
Ursula K. Le Guin
144
The name of which species of monkey comes from the Greek for ‘docked’ or ‘maimed’ due to their thumbs being nothing more than stumps?
Colobus
145
The films Insidious (2010) The Conjuring (2013) Furious 7 (2015) and Aquaman (2018) were all directed by which Malaysian-born Australian? He also co-created the disturbing Saw film franchise.
James Wan
146
Cervelle de Canut meaning silk worker’s brain is a cheese-dip speciality of which French city?
Lyon
147
Venerated in Mexico which female deity or saint of folk Catholicism is known by a Spanish name meaning 'Our Lady of the Holy Death' or ‘Holy Death’ for short?
Nuestra Senora de la Santa Muerte
148
What stage name did electro-music pioneer Richard D. James use when he released the ambient/techno albums Selected Ambient Works 85 – 92 (1992) and …I Care Because You Do (1995) and the singles Come to Daddy (1997) and Windowlicker (1999)?
Aphex Twin
149
Founded in 1845 which English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore has a daily average circulation of about 370000? It also has Myanmar and Brunei editions albeit with much smaller circulations.
The Straits Times
150
Standing at an incredible 8-feet 11.1-inches (2.72 metres) who was the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable proof? He was born in Alton Illinois in 1918 and died in 1940 age just 22.
Robert Pershing Wadlow
151
Born in Switzerland which man has recently become the first tennis player to top the annual Forbes list of the world's highest paid athletes?
ROGER FEDERER
152
Which painter’s works include The Starry Night Sunflowers and Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear?
VINCENT VAN GOGH
153
In which Italian city will you find Galileo Galilei Airport and a campanile that has an angle of slant of 3.97 degrees from the vertical?
PISA
154
Which jewellery firm founded in 1842 in Saint Petersburg is famous for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted eggs for the Russian Tsars?
FABERGÉ
155
Audi Bentley Bugatti Porsche SEAT and Skoda are all subsidiaries of which German automobile manufacturer?
VOLKSWAGEN
156
Montevideo the capital and largest city of Uruguay stands on the bank of which river?
RIVER PLATE (or RÍO DE LA PLATA)
157
Which member of the Simpson family shot Mr Burns with a handgun in a two-part episode of The Simpsons in 1995?
MAGGIE
158
Which Union general led his forces on a ‘March to the Sea’ from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864 during the American Civil War?
WILLIAM TECUMSAH SHERMAN
159
Working in collaboration with writer Rene Goscinny who was the co-creator and illustrator of the Asterix comic book series?
ALBERT UDERZO
160
Which computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software takes its name from an ancient Egyptian tablet which provided a key to the modern translation of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing?
ROSETTA STONE
161
The statue of Christ the Redeemer is at the peak of the Corcovado mountain overlooking which city?
RIO DE JANEIRO
162
Who was the author of the novels featuring the Private Investigator Philip Marlowe such as The Big Sleep (1939) Farewell My Lovely (1940) and The Long Goodbye (1953)?
RAYMOND CHANDLER
163
Who invented the cotton gin in 1793?
ELI WHITNEY
164
V2-Schneider was written by David Bowie as a tribute to Florian Schneider of the band Kraftwerk and is a track on which 1977 album that is the second record in the ‘Berlin Trilogy’?
HEROES
165
Which Native American athlete won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics but lost his titles after it was found he had violated the amateurism rules that were then in place because he had played semi-professional baseball before competing in the Games? His titles were restored by the IOC in 1983.
JIM THORPE
166
In the film Alien which English actor who died in 2017 plays the role of Kane who is killed when an alien creature bursts out of his chest?
JOHN HURT
167
Which island in the Aegean is the remnant of a volcanic caldera formed after a massive eruption which may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete?
SANTORINI (or THERA)
168
Which 1563 painting by Veronese is the largest in the Louvre’s collection but is often overlooked as it is hung on the wall directly opposite the Mona Lisa?
THE WEDDING AT CANA
169
Which Muslim caliphate established by the descendants of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad overthrew the Umayyads in 750 and was itself destroyed by a Mongol invasion in 1258?
ABBASID
170
Who introduced the Three Laws of Robotics in his 1942 short story Runaround?
ISAAC ASIMOV
171
Who did Idi Amin replace as leader of Uganda in 1971 following a military coup?
MILTON OBOTE
172
The flag of which country in the Americas includes its national bird in the centre of the flag?
GUATEMALA
173
Which carbonated soft drink was created in the 1880s by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco Texas?
DR PEPPER
174
From the Greek for ‘pollution’ which theory of disease that originated in the Middle Ages held that some diseases were caused by a noxious form of ‘bad air’ from decomposing matter? The word is used today to mean an unpleasant feeling about a situation or place.
MIASMA
175
The Australian pop group Savage Garden was named after the phrase “beauty is a savage garden” from The Vampire Chronicles written by which American author?
ANNE RICE
176
What word used to describe a stereotypical countercultural and anti-materialistic person of the 1950s was first coined by Herb Caen in April 1958? He tagged a then recent ‘Russian satellite’ type suffix onto Jack Kerouac’s ‘generation’.
BEATNIK
177
What two-word alliteration is the English translation of the German word ‘Geisterspiele’ which is used to describe football matches played behind closed doors?
GHOST GAMES
178
Who was the first couturier to open a ready-to-wear boutique when he launched a shop named Rive Gauche in Paris in September 1966?
YVES ST LAURENT
179
Who developed an equation in 1961 that predicts the approximate number of alien civilizations in our own galaxy that we might be able to contact and also teamed up with Carl Sagan to design the Pioneer Plaque and the Voyager Golden Record?
FRANK DRAKE
180
Which French-born American engineer architect and urban designer was responsible for the basic plan of Washington D.C.?
PIERRE CHARLES L'ENFANT
181
The sweet type of which fortified wine is used as an ingredient in the cocktails Americano Rob Roy and Negroni?
VERMOUTH
182
In the late 1930s test pilot John Macready designed a pair of 'aviator' sunglasses for eye-health company Bausch & Lomb. The iconic sunglasses are still marketed under which brand name?
RAY-BAN
183
Which Colombian cyclist won the Giro d’Italia in 2014 and the Vuelta e Espana in 2016 and was also runner-up to Chris Froome in the Tour de France in 2013 and 2015?
NAIRO QUINTANA
184
Which early Renaissance Italian artist (c. 1397-1475) was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in works such as The Battle of San Romano and The Hunt in the Forest?
PAOLO UCCELLO
185
The film Gran Torino starring Clint Eastwood is set among which ethnic group some of whom resettled in the US as refugees from Laos in the late 1970s following the end of the Vietnam War?
HMONG
186
This is a famous picture of Raquel Welch promoting which 1966 film?
1 MILLION YEARS BC
187
What name is given to the gauge bosons that carry the strong nuclear force and bind quarks together forming hadrons?
GLUONS
188
Which photographer and photojournalist is best known for her Depression-era work such as this famous study known as Migrant Mother Nipomo California?
DOROTHEA LANGE
189
Named after a 19th-century French author which psychosomatic disorder causes rapid heartbeat dizziness fainting confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to an experience of great personal significance particularly when viewing art?
STENDHAL SYNDROME
190
One of Apple’s less successful products which series of personal digital assistants that included the MessagePad and eMate300 was discontinued in 1998 as it suffered from a high price and problems with the handwriting recognition element?
NEWTON
191
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku which 2000 Japanese film spawned a genre of films and games where a select group of people are instructed to kill one another until there is a triumphant survivor?
BATTLE ROYALE
192
Announced by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2017 what is the name of the planned city near the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia which will cost an estimated $500 billion? Officials claim it will be powered solely with wind and solar power; there will be flying taxis and robotic maids.
NEOM
193
What is the common English name of the plant with the scientific name Euphorbia pulcherrima? Varieties with solid red bracts are widely used in Christmas floral displays and its name is derived from the surname of the first US Minister to Mexico.
POINSETTIA
194
Which theory named after a waterfowl was introduced in a 2007 book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and describes large events which come as a surprise have a major effect and are rationalised with the benefit of hindsight?
BLACK SWAN
195
Used for pop concerts since 1990 in which city is the Great Strahov Stadium which was completed in 1934 for mass gymnastics displays and has a capacity of around 250000 spectators?
PRAGUE
196
What is the alternative title of the Japanese song Ue o Muite Arukō (‘I Look up when I Walk’)? Under this name it reached number 1 in the US charts in 1963 for Kyu Sakamoto. Sampled in Avicii’s song Freak it is also the name of a Japanese food dish.
SUKIYAKI
197
What was the name of the United States security programme that was established as part of the Manhattan Project's mission to coordinate foreign intelligence related to enemy nuclear activity?
ALSOS MISSION
198
International Dance Day is held annually on 29 April the birthday of which French choreographer (1727-1810) whose major reforms in ballet production stressing the importance of dramatic motivation which he called ballet d’action formed the basis for modern ballet?
JEAN-GEORGES NOVERRE
199
In 1947 who became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her role in the discovery of glycogen metabolism?
GERTY CORI
200
Who commanded the First Fleet which began the colonisation of Australia in 1788 and was the first Governor of New South Wales from then until 1792?
ARTHUR PHILLIP
