GK Set D Flashcards
What is the name of the Benedictine monk who, according to popular legend, invented champagne?
Dom Perignon
In the Peloponnesian War, the people of which city state, noted for its rigid military discipline, were the enemies of the Athenians?
Sparta
What is the profession of a person with the letters RIBA after their name?
Architect
The city of Stirling stands on the right bank of which river?
Forth
It was widely believed that which crewmember of the Starship Enterprise, who first appeared in 1967, had been added to Star Trek at the request of Pravda?
Chekhov
Which political party folded in June 1990, after polling just 155 votes at a by-election in Bootle and finishing behind the Monster Raving Loony Party?
SDP
Which French painter’s works include The Gleaners and The Angelus, two of the most reproduced paintings of the nineteenth century?
Millet
A rockhopper is a species of which bird?
Penguin
In a well known Anglo-Saxon poem, who kills the monster Grendel?
Beowulf
What was the name of the garden where Jesus was arrested on the night of the Last Supper?
Gethsemane
The musical Blood Brothers is set in which city?
Liverpool
The Aspen or Trembling Poplar belongs to which family of shrubs and trees?
Willow
In 1844, teams from Canada and the USA played the first international match in which sport?
Cricket
Bubbles of which gas are formed in the blood of divers when they get “the bends”?
Nitrogen
Which 2006 Martin Scorsese film starred Jack Nicholson as the gangster Frank Costello?
The Departed
Which city, renowned for its sword making, was the capital of Spain until 1560?
Toledo
Aurora is the real name of the title character in which ballet, with music by Tchaikovsky
Sleeping Beauty
Which Trojan war hero was the son and heir of Priam, the last King of Troy?
Hector
Which delicately flavoured vegetable was once known as “sparrow grass”?
Asparagus
Cassiterite is the principle commercial ore of which metal that has been mined in Cornwall since ancient times?
Tin
The term for which figure of speech, where apparently contradictory terms are placed together, comes from the Greek for “sharp” and “foolish”
Oxymoron
Which creatures form the main part of an aardvark’s diet?
Termites
Sir John Tenniel, is particularly remembered for illustrating the works of which nineteenth century children’s author?
Lewis Carroll
Which county is said to take its name from the Dumnonii, a Celtic people who lived in the area?
Devon
Which television programme featured a family business that was based at Oil Drum Lane, Shepherd’s Bush?
Steptoe and Son
Anne Neville, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Warwick, was the wife of which English King?
Richard III
Which word, derived from the Old French for a “splinter of wood” is used to describe an artist’s workshop or studio?
Atelier
Which free-market economist, who died in November 2006, used the phrase, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” as the title of one of his books?
Milton Friedman
Which band, formed in Sheffield in the 1980s, took its name from a fictional group mentioned in the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange?
Heaven 17
What bodily function is also called sternutation?
Sneezing
What is Archimedes said to have shouted while running naked down the street, after discovering the principle of buoyancy in his bath?
Eureka!
Bornean and Sumatran are the two sub-species of which of the great apes?
Orangutan
The name of which style of art and architecture is believed to derive from the French word “rocaille”, meaning “shell-work” and the Italian word for Baroque?
Rococo
The first Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain were said to be led by two brothers. One was called Hengist; what was the name of the other?
Horsa
Which Spanish soup, generally served chilled, is produced from a mixture of raw salad ingredients that are made into a puree?
Gazpacho
In November 1963, undersea volcanic action led to the formation of which small island off the southern coast of Iceland?
Surtsey
Which actor, better known for his parts in musicals, received an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Towering Inferno?
Fred Astaire
Which post-war American President, who served for over two years, was never elected either to that office or that of Vice-President?
Gerald Ford
According to the title of Shakespeare’s play, the nobleman Timon was from which city?
Athens
The contact process is an industrial method of manufacturing which acid?
Sulphuric
Johann Strauss the Elder composed a march in honour of which Austrian military hero in 1848?
Radetsky
In Greek mythology, who is the Muse of History?
Clio
In which European language does “muito obrigado” mean “thank you very much”?
Portuguese
What is the common name for the eye condition “hypermetropia”?
Long-sightedness
Which Football League club is named after the day of the week when its original players took a half day off work in order to participate?
Sheffield Wednesday
Which area of Central London, in the borough of Camden, gives its name to the group of writers, artists and thinkers who lived or met there in the early twentieth century?
Bloomsbury
Which classic album by Miles Davis, one of the best selling jazz records of all time, features the tracks “So What” and “Blue In Green”?
Kind of Blue
Glen Moy and Glen Ample are varieties of which soft fruit, widely grown in Scotland?
Raspberries
Which actor, whose first major success was the title role in a television adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, is the son of a former Attorney General and Lord Chancellor?
Nigel Havers
Which Indian religion, founded in the 6th century BC by Mahavira, lays particular stress on the system of ahisma, or non-violence to any living things?
Jainism
Which Birmingham band topped the UK singles charts in 1983 with “Is There Something I Should Know”?
Duran Duran
Against which country did the USA fight the so-called War of 1812, which actually lasted until the winter of 1814-1815?
Britain
Which Russian-born American artist created the series of paintings Black on Maroon and Red on Maroon, originally intended for a restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York?
Marc Rothko
Turku was the capital of which European country from the 13th century until 1812, while it was under Swedish and then Russian rule?
Finland
Which author created the character Tarzan?
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Which seabird got its name because its presence was believed to be a sign bad weather was coming?
Stormy Petrel
Which type of lager takes its name from the town, now in the Czech Republic, where is was originally brewed in 1842?
Pilsner
In 2005, David Trimble was succeeded as the leader of which political party by Sir Reg Empey?
UUP
What number of the pH scale indicated that a solution is neutral; neither acid or alkaline?
7
Which TV quizmaster is played by League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss in the film Starter for Ten?
Bamber Gascoigne
Which rodent with large defensive quills on its body and tail has a name that comes from the Latin for “pig” and “thorn”?
Porcupine
Which word for a person who sets too much value on social standing was originally a slang term for a cobbler?
Snob
Which English artist painted “Rain, Steam and Speed: The Great Western Railway”, which was first exhibited in 1844 and is now in the National Gallery?
Turner
Which Mediterranean island group came under the protection of the British Crown in 1802, and was finally annexed in 1814?
Malta
At the instigation of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, what term is never used in the dialogue of the film The Godfather?
Mafia
A “carioca” is an inhabitant of which South American city?
Rio de Janeiro
Which crooner’s last TV appearance was with David Bowie on the Merrie Old Christmas Show, recorded in September 1977?
Bing Crosby
What general term for blood poisoning is derived from the Greek for “rotten blood”?
Septicaemia
Which BBC TV sports programme was first shown on 11 October 1958 and appeared for the last time on 28 January 2007?
Grandstand
In Greek mythology, which female monsters had live snakes for hair and were capable of turning people to stone?
Gorgons
The dish made from fillet steak topped with truffles, mushrooms or pate and enclosed in a puff pastry case is named after which soldier and statesman?
Duke of Wellington
In which country is the city of Schaffhausen, which was mistakenly bombed by the Americans on April Fool’s Day, 1944?
Switzerland
Which playwright, on being released from prison in 1897, went to live in France under the alias Sebastian Melmouth?
Oscar Wilde
What is the name of the Stone Age village on Mainland in the Orkneys that was exposed by a storm in the 1850s after being covered for thousands of years by sand?
Skara Brae
Who wrote the marches “The Stars And Stripes Forever” and “The Washington Post”?
John Philip Souza
What ins the sinister common name of Amanita Phalliodes, the most poisonous of British mushrooms, which accounts for ninety percent of fungus-related fatalities?
Death cap
In The Simpsons, what is the name of Homer’s tyrannical employer, who owns the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant?
Montgomery Burns
Which crime of buying and selling ecclesiastical benefits is named after the biblical sorcerer who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, tried to buy spiritual powers from Peter and John?
Simony
One of six sisters, who, as co-editor of the volume of essays Noblesse Oblige, popularised the terms “u” and “non-u” for types of speech and behaviour?
Nancy Mitford
Which document was introduced in its modern form, after the passing of the British Nationality and Status Aliens Act of 1914?
Passport
Which Football League team are known as The Chairboys because of the local furniture making tradition?
Wycombe Wanderers
In grammar, what name is given to a word used to connect words, clauses and sentences?
Conjunction
Patsy Cline, Aerosmith, Seal and Gnarls Barkley all had UK hits with different songs that had what title?
Crazy
Which Middle Eastern city was rebuilt on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian in about AD130, and renamed Aeila Capitolina in his honour?
Jerusalem
Which modern French designer’s works include the furniture for President Mitterand’s private suite in the Elysee Palace, the interior of the Café Costes in Paris and the Juicy Salif lemon squeezer?
Philipe Starck
What is the common name for the three species of flightless birds of the genus Apteryx found in New Zealand?
Kiwis
Which cult comedy series starred Craig Charles as Dave Lister, the last human alive?
Red Dwarf
Krk, Cres and Pag are the largest of the Adriatic islands of which country?
Croatia
The drink “Dark and Stormy” consists of a mixture of ginger beer and which spirit?
Rum
What was CP Scott, the former editor of the Manchester Guardian, referring to when he reportedly said “no good will come of this device. The word is half Greek and half Latin”?
Television
Which 1962 Oscar-winning film, starring Peter O’Toole, had no female speaking parts?
Lawrence of Arabia
Which country fought the Great Patriotic War from June 1941 until 1945?
Soviet Union
Which author’s first novel Burmese Days, published in 1934, was based on the time he spent serving with the Indian Imperial Police?
George Orwell
What is the name of the headland at the northwest extremity of Scotland, one of the few British place names with the prefix “Cape”?
Cape Wrath
What name is given to a picture or relief carving on three panels, typically hinged vertically and often used as an altarpiece?
Triptych
Which Florentine family provided the Roman Catholic church with four Popes, and the French monarchy with two Queens - Catherine and Marie?
Medici
In music, what is the general term for a song by a solo performer with instrumental accompaniment, such as one in a opera or oratorio?
Aria
Which monkey gets its name because its cap of hair resembles the cowl of an order of monks?
Capuchin
Who played a successful but world-weary stand-up comedian called Rick Spleen in the TV comedy series Lead Balloon?
Jack Dee
In India, which general term, from a Sanskrit word meaning “accomplish” is given to any religious ascetic, swami or saintly holy man?
Sadhu
Who set up a whiskey distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee in 1866, which is now the oldest registered distillery in America?
Jack Daniels
What is the singular of the word graffiti?
Graffito
What was the surname of the mother and son who were, respectively, trainer and jockey of the 1991 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Garrison Savannah?
Pitman
Which material, similar in composition to bone, but perforated by tiny canals for nerve fibres and blood capillaries, forms the bulk of a tooth?
Dentine
Who played the title role in the original London production of the musical Barnum?
Michael Crawford
Chittagong is the largest seaport and second largest city of which Asian country?
Bangladesh
The Last Battle, first published in 1956, is the seventh and last in which series of children’s books?
Narnia
On first entering the House of Commons, newly elected MPs are assigned a coathanger with a piece of pink ribbon attached; what is the traditional purpose on the ribbon?
To hang a sword
Who presented the TV series The Tube with Paula Yates from 1982?
Jools Holland
In Norse mythology, what name is given to the hall where warriors killed in battle spend eternity in joyful feasting, presided over by the god Odin?
Valhalla
Which aspect of filmmaking earned Edith Head eight Academy Awards and twenty-seven further nominations between 1948 and 1977?
Costume design
Which bay incorporates two National Parks as part of its shoreline, Snowdonia in the north and the Pembrokeshire Coast in the south?
Cardigan Bay
In which century did the dodo become extinct?
Seventeenth
The album OK Computer topped the UK charts for which band in June 1997?
Radiohead
In 1314, the English army was on its way to relieve the garrison besieged at which castle, when it was defeated at Bannockburn?
Stirling
Rodin’s statue The Thinker was originally conceived as a portrait of which Italian poet?
Dante
In DIY, what term is used for the enlargement of the rim of a drilled hole so that a screw or bolt can be inserted flush with the surface?
Countersinking
According to accepted wisdom, it is best to eat oysters if the name of the month contains which letter?
R
What type of written work did Quentin Crisp describe as “An obituary in serial form with the last instalment missing”?
Autobiography
The title of which novel by Joseph Heller has entered everyday language to describe a no-win situation?
Catch-22
In the Old Testament, how is the Decalogue more usually known?
Ten Commandments
What was the name of the character played by Bernard Hill in the TV drama series The Boys From The Blackstuff?
Yosser Hughes
Which British general and Governor of the Sudan was killed by the troops of the Mahdi at Khartoum in 1885?
Gordon
Which number one 1979 hit by The Buggles was, appropriately, the first video ever played on MTV in August 1981?
Video Killed the Radio Star
What is the common term for the visual defect that is the subject of the Ishihara test?
Colourblindness
Which famous British sculptor was born the son of a miner in Castleford, Yorkshire, in 1898?
Henry Moore
What word of medieval Latin origin means “in exactly the same words as were used originally”?
Verbatim
Which wine is whisked to a froth with egg-yolks and sugar in the Italian dessert Zabaglione?
Marsala
Upon which West Midlands spa town did Queen Victoria confer the title Royal in 1838?
Leamington Spa
Which actress won awards at the Golden Globes in 2007 for playing both Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II?
Helen Mirren
Named after a Yorkshire valley, which is the largest breed of terrier?
Airedale
In 1400, which poet was buried in Westminster Abbey’s St Benedict Chapel, which later became known as Poet’s Corner?
Chaucer
In which year did the General Strike take place in Great Britain?
1926
Which distinctively named football club featured in a famous advert for milk in the 1980s?
Accrington Stanley
Against which city state did Rome fight the three Punic Wars between 264 and 146 BC?
Carthage
By which name is the third movement of Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque for Piano usually known?
Au Clair de Lune
Which country is surrounded by China to the north, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand and Burma to the west?
Laos
Which part of a leaf is known as the petiole?
Stalk
Which pastry, made from very thin dough and most commonly filled with apple, takes its name from the German for whirlpool because of the way it is rolled?
Strudel
What is the longest river in Northern Ireland, with a total length of around eighty miles?
Bann
What term was coined by Newton in the seventeenth century to describe the band of colour formed when a beam of visible white light is split into its constituent colours, and literally means appearance in Latin?
Spectrum
Which insect is commonly referred to in Britain as a Daddy Longlegs?
Cranefly
What name is given to the forced relocation of the Cherokee Native Americans to the Western United States during the winter of 1838-1839?
Trail of Tears
How in the Venetian artist, born Tiziano Vecellio, generally known in English?
Titian
In Scottish folklore, a Selkie is a human on land but takes the form of which marine mammal in the sea?
Seal
What surname links soul and blues performers Ben E, BB and Albert?
King
Haematite is the principle ore of which metal?
Iron
Under what pen-name did Harry Patterson write The Eagle Has Landed and many other thrillers?
Jack Higgins
What did John Steed usually carry in The Avengers?
Umbrella
In mathematics, what is represented by a symbol resembling a figure of eight, lying on its side?
Infinity
Which method of preparing food so that it may be eaten by Muslims means “lawful” in Arabic?
Halal
Which architect died after being run over by a tram in his native Barcelona in 1926?
Gaudi
Which gas, that has the chemical formula HCHO, is used in a solution of water for preserving biological specimens?
Formaldehyde
Which German film actress and singer’s adoption of trousers and other mannish clothes helped launch an American fashion craze in the 1930s?
Marlene Dietrich
The Roman province of Lusitania corresponds approximately to which modern day country?
Portugal
Which Italian word is used for the text of an opera?
Libretto
Khan Younis and Rafah are towns in which territory in the Middle East?
Gaza Strip
In Indian cuisine, what name, derived from a Persian word meaning “fried” is given to a dish of basmati rice mixed with meat, often topped with a thin omelette and served with a seperate vegetable curry?
Biryani
Which Kentish town gives its name to a species of warbler?
Dartford
Which famous racehorse made his debut over fences in the Junior Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham on 18 September 1968, after a short career on the flat?
Red Rum
What name was given by westerners to members of the Mevlevi sect founded in Anatolia because they chanted their ritual prayers with musical accompaniment, while spinning on their left foot?
Whirling Dervishes
Which TV comedy series had the catchphrase “And now for something completely different”?
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Who resigned from his post of Leader of the House of Commons in March 2003, in protest over the decision to take military action against Iraq?
Robin Cook
Which island was the home of the ancient Greek poet Sappho?
Lesbos
Whose first military success came as the commander of the artillery at the siege of Toulon in December 1793?
Napoleon
Who composed the songs Begin the Beguine and Anything Goes for popular musicals of the 1930s?
Cole Porter
Which disease, one of whose main symptoms is jaundice, is principally transmitted to humans by the bite of the Aedes aegypi mosquito?
Yellow Fever
Which canal connects the west and east coasts of Scotland by linking the lochs in the Great Glen?
Caledonian
What word used for the attribution of human characteristics to any non-human object, especially animals?
Anthropomorphism
Which plant, formerly used as a treatment for breast tumour and herpes, was also used as a method of execution, its most noted victim being Socrates?
Hemlock
In Greek legend, whom did Theseus abandon on the island of Naxos, after she had helped him kill the Minotaur?
Ariadne
Which writer was played by Toby Jones in the film Infamous, and in an Oscar-winning performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman?
Truman Capote
Which port in South Western Norway is the country’s second largest city?
Bergen
Which type of dark coloured China tea has a name which is the Chinese for black dragon or black snake?
Oolong
To what status was Pluto “demoted” after a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in August 2006?
Dwarf planet
Which Scottish painter’s work The Singing Butler, bought at auction for over £700,000 in 2004, had been rejected twelve years earlier by the Scottish Arts Council?
Jack Vettriano
Which animals that are found in the tropical forests of the New World and Malaysia are characterised by a short trunk that hangs down over their upper lip?
Tapirs
Whose 1969 novel Portnoy’s Complaint is the story of a young Jewish male at odds with his domineering mother?
Philip Roth
In 1965, who had a top twenty hit with a comedy version of A Hard Day’s Night, in which he recited the lyrics in the style of Lawrence Olivier’s Richard III?
Peter Sellars
What name is generally used in Britain for a drink of fresh orange juice mixed with champagne?
Buck’s Fizz
In 1867, the English physician Thomas Allbutt invented a short version of which basic clinical instrument? Earlier models had been a foot long and took 20 minutes to work.
Thermometer
What in the title of Thomas Hardy’s last novel, about a young man with intellectual ambitions, who dies miserably after a series of misfortunes?
Jude the Obscure
What is the name of the Roman road that followed a remarkably straight route for most of the way between Exeter and Lincoln?
Fosse Way
In his book, Towards a New Architecture, what did the architect Le Corbusier describe as a “machine for living in”?
House
What is the county town and administrative centre of Kent?
Maidstone
Which Francis Ford Coppola film is based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness?
Apocalypse Now
The male of which fish gives birth to its young by expelling them from a single hole in its pouch?
Sea Horse
What name is given to a loaf made from two rounds of dough; a smaller one placed on top of a larger one?
Cottage Loaf
In Celtic folklore, which fairy’s wailing outside a house was supposed to foretell of the approaching death of one of its inhabitants?
Banshee
Which composer wrote The Young Person’s Guide To The Orchestra?
Benjamin Britten
Which spring flower is named after the Greek youth who was accidentally killed while Apollo was teaching him to throw the discus?
Hyacinth
What name, from the luggage that northern political adventurers carried to the South after the American Civil War, is given to someone who comes to start a political career in a place where they have no roots?
Carpetbagger
In which flagship, formerly called The Pelican, did Sir Francis Drake circumnavigate the globe between 1577 and 1580?
The Golden Hinde
The card game usually called Solitaire in America is also known by which other name in Britain?
Patience
In which country in Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain?
Tanzania
In the TV series Life on Mars, in which year does DI Sam Tyler find himself living and working after a car crash?
1973
Which element has the lowest normal boiling point?
Helium
The song “Another suitcase in Another Hall” comes from which musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber?
Evita
Which Israeli Prime Minister shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize with the Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat?
Menachem Begin
In swimming, what term is used for an individual race or relay using all four recognised strokes?
Medley
In Hinduism, a leaf of which herb, closely related to a plant used in Italian cooking, is laid on a dead body to ensure its safe arrival in Paradise?
Basil or Tulsa
Which regular plane figure has internal angles of 108 degrees?
Pentagon
Which mammal has the longest gestation period; between 18 and 22 months?
Elephant
Which Dutch-born artist’s twentieth century masterpiece, “Broadway Boogie-Woogie” uses a series of small colour blocks, reflecting his interest in jazz and dancing?
Piet Mondrian
On which Hebridean island is Fingal’s Cave?
Staffa
Which bestselling novel by Marina Lewycka, published in 2005, opens “Two years after my mother died, my father fill in love with a glamorous blonde Ukranian divorcee”?
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Who was the first King of the united Picts and Scots? His rule extended over the part of Scotland north of the Forth and the Clyde?
Kenneth I
Which group topped the UK album charts for the fourth time in 2003 with Hail To The Thief?
Radiohead
Which actress allegedly said, “The best time I had with Joan Crawford was when I pushed her down the stair in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”?
Bette Davis
What Russian word is used to describe the Soviet government’s policy of openness and transparency, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s?
Glasnost
In the Bible, who was succeeded by Joshua as the leader of the Israelites?
Moses
Which 1973 cult musical was written by Richard O’Brien?
Rocky Horror Show
Which word of Russian origin is used for the flat, generally treeless grassland that extends eastwards from Hungary, through Siberia and into North-eastern China?
Steppe
Which TV character had the catchphrases “lovely jubbly” and “cushty”?
Del-boy Trotter
The spotted is the largest of three species of which scavenging animal, native to Africa and Asia?
Hyena
What name is used for the sidepiece or post of a door or window frame?
Jamb
Which Commonwealth country’s National Day is 1 July, commemorating the date in 1867 when its federal government was established and its first Prime Minister took office?
Canada
Which champagne was first produced in 1876 in its characteristic clear bottle for the Tsar Alexander II?
Cristal
What name is given to the protective outermost layer of the skin?
Epidermis
The attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle forms the plot of which novel by Frederick Forsyth?
The Day of the Jackal
Which thoroughfare, that forms the eastern boundary of Hyde Park, became synonymous with great wealth in the nineteenth century when it was one of London’s most fashionable addresses?
Park Lane
Which rap artist won the 2002 Best Song Oscar for Lose Yourself from his debut film 8 Mile?
Eminem
Memphis was established by Menes as the first capital of which ancient country?
Egypt
Who won the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles title a record nine times between 1978 and 1990?
Navratilova
Which British tree, often planted on river banks to help prevent erosion, is suitable for charcoal making and was once used for making clogs?
Alder
What name is traditionally used for seats in the uppermost gallery of a theatre, because the blue sky painted on many theatre ceilings was thought to represent heaven?
Gods
Which planet’s existence was the first to be predicted by mathematical calculation?
Neptune
Which band’s only chart topping UK single was Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2?
Pink Floyd
In Norse mythology, how many legs did Odin’s magical horse Sleipnir have?
Eight
Bernard Leach established a pottery at which Cornish resort in 1920?
St Ives
In science, which quantity is defined as mass per unit volume?
Density
Which smoked fish is one of the main ingredients in an Omelette Arnold Bennett?
Haddock
The Canadian Provinces of Nunavut, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec all have a shoreline on which stretch of water?
Hudson Bay
In MAS*H, what was the nickname of Corporal Walter O’Reilly, played by Gary Burghoff?
Radar
Pancho Villa, who was assassinated on his ranch in 1923, was one of the revolutionary figures in which country?
Mexico
Which playwright, who was born in Dublin in 1751, wrote the comedies The Rivals and The School for Scandal?
Sheridan
What type of creature is a bandy-bandy, which is found in Australia?
Snake
Whose only opera, Bluebeard’s Castle, was based on a fairy story by Charles Perrault?
Bela Bartok
Oscar Wilde reputedly said that what “is the curse of the drinking classes”?
Work
How many years of marriage are celebrated at a ruby wedding anniversary?
40
The scientific study of birds is known by what specific name?
Ornithology
Which artist’s painting Going to the Match, showing fans outside Bolton Wanderers’ former ground Burnden Park, was bought by the Professional Footballers’ Association for £1.9m in 1999?
LS Lowry
The flag of which Southeast Asian country is red with a five-pointed yellow star in its centre?
Vietnam
“Dirty old river, must you keep rolling” is the opening line of which 1967 hit for The Kinks?
Waterloo Sunset
What alternative name for the Plantagenet Kings of England comes from the French countship held by Henry II at his accession in 1154?
Angevins
Who plays Mr Brown in the film Reservoir Dogs?
Quentin Tarantino
The two species of New World vulture, the Andean and the rarer Californian, are better known by what name?
Condor
Which Greek dish is made from cucumber, garlic, yoghurt and often mint?
Tzatziki
In Norse mythology, what name is given to the land of the giants?
Jotunheim
Whose work The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788?
Gibbon
Which Ukrainian-born aviation pioneer designed the first serviceable helicopter, the VS-300, which he successfully flew in September 1939?
Sikorsky
Which Scottish golfer played in eight Ryder Cups between 1991 and 2006 and never lost a singles match in any of them?
Colin Montgomery
Which animals travel in mobs under the leadership of an “old man” or “boomer”?
Kangeroos
In an essay of 1756, which French writer described the Holy Roman Empire as “neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire”?
Voltaire
Perth in Scotland stands on which river?
Tay
In which 1960s TV series was an international spy organisation run from behind Del Florida’s tailor shop in Manhattan?
The Man From UNCLE
Which prominent Labour politician was the MP for Ebbw Vale from 1929 to his death in 1960?
Nye Bevan
What French term is used in ballet for a dance for two people?
Pas de Deux
in Greek legend, the hundred eyes of which figure were set into a peacock’s tail by the goddess Hera after he had been slain by Hermes?
Argus
In radio broadcasting, what does AM stand for?
Amplitude Modulation
Which desert in Western Australia is named after a member of an expedition who died during an attempt to cross it in 1874?
Gibson
Who wrote he autobiographical play A Voyage Round My Father, about the relationship with his blind barrister father?
John Mortimer
Which island group in the Indian Ocean was ceded to Britain from France in 1814, governed as a dependency of Mauritius until 1903, and became an independent republic in 1976?
Seychelles
Who wrote the song This Land Is Your Land, which became an anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1960s?
Woody Guthrie
By what original trade name is the drug sildenafil citrate most commonly known? It began life as a medication for increasing blood flow to the heart.
Viagra
Who was the Chief Designer at the French fashion house Chloe from 1997 to 2001, when she set up her own label in partnership with the Gucci group?
Stella McCartney
What type of fruit is a costard, from which we get the word costermonger?
Apple
Which country, following their 1979 revolution, began producing ZamZam Cola when its contract with a well-known American firm was cancelled?
Iran
In the film Batman Returns, which villain discovers that his real name is Oswald Cobblepot?
Penguin
On maps of the London Underground, which line is coloured red?
Central
Which British city became known as Cottonopolis in the nineteenth century
Manchester
Whose law states that, within the proportional limit, the extension produced in a wire or spring is proportional to the force producing it?
Hooke’s
The crushed leaves of which plant yield a blue dye used by the ancient Britons as body paint?
Woad
The four main characters of which BAFTA award-winning comedy series were teenage boys called Will, Simon, Jay and Neil?
Inbetweeners
In Islam, what name is given to the official who summons the faithful to prayer five times a day?
Muezzin
Which art museum in Florence has a name meaning “offices” because that was the building’s original purpose, when constructed for the Grand Duke Cosimo the First de ‘Medici?
Uffizi
The 16th Earl of Warwick, also known as the Kingmaker, was killed at which battle in 1471?
Barnet
Literally meaning self-boiling, what is the usual Russian term for a tea urn?
Samovar
In anatomy, which organs of the body are coated with a membrane known as the visceral pleura?
Lungs
In Shakespeare’s Othello, what is the name of Iago’s wife?
Emilia
Who both won and lost French Presidential elections against Francois Mitterand?
Giscard-d’Estang
Which term, from the Italian “to play a harp” is used for a chord in which the notes are played in rapid succession rather than simultaneously?
Arpeggio
Chicago stands on the south-western shores of which of the Great Lakes?
Michigan
In the 1925 film The Gold Rush, which actor tucks into a Thanksgiving day meal of boiled shoe?
Chaplin
What name is given to a young hare, strictly speaking one in its first year?
Leveret
In which sport have the Euroleague champions included Real Madrid, Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv?
Basketball
What was the codename for the Allied landings in North West Africa in November 1942?
Torch
Whose first solo hit was Suedehead, which reached number five in the UK charts in February 1988?
Morrissey
The name of what instrument for measuring high temperatures comes from the Greek words meaning fire and measure?
Pyrometer
Which fashion designer opened her first boutique in Chelsea’s King’s Road in 1995, with her future husband Alexander Plunket Greene?
Mary Quant
Which ferry port lies on Holy Island on the north west tip of Wales?
Holyhead
The name of which thick, reddish-brown Chinese sauce means “seafood” although there is no fish in it?
Hoisin
Which leader, of Kurdish origin, had united all of Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt under his rule by 1186?
Saladin
Stalin Ate My Homework is the title of which comedian’s childhood memoirs?
Alexei Sayle
In Greek and Roman mythology, who was the muse of erotic and love poetry?
Erato
Which American comedian was famous for his parodies of pop songs of the mid 1950s such as The Great Pretender and The Banana Boat Song?
Stan Freberg
Which insects belong to the order Coleoptera?
Beetles
What does a cruciverbalist like to set or solve?
Crosswords
In which cartoon series did the lawyer Perry Masonry appear?
The Flintstones
What phonetic form of the French for “help me” is an internationally recognised distress signal?
Mayday
Which Indian city, whose economy is based primarily on tea, was developed as a sanatorium and hill station for British troops during the period of the Raj?
Darjeeling
In 1966, who became the first footballer to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year?
Bobby Moore
Before decimalisation, what name was given to the British two shilling coin that had been minted originally from 1849?
Florin
What name is given to a sweet pancake served in a flaming orange sauce?
Crepes Suzette
Which halogen has the lowest atomic number and is represented by the letter F?
Fluorine
In music, what word is generally used for a counter-melody either composed or improvised above a familiar melody?
Descant
Traditionally, devotees of which religion leave their dead on Towers of Silence to be devoured by vultures?
Zoroastrians
Which early Florentine artist is supposed to have drawn a perfect circle when the then Pope asked to see a sample of his work?
Giotto
The silverback is the mature male form of which ape?
Gorilla
Which novel about public school life, published in 1857, was originally credited to An Old Boy?
Tom Brown’s Schooldays
In printing and word processing, what term is used for the arrangement of text so that is aligned with the left or right margins, or both?
Justified
On board ship, how long does a dog watch last?
Two hours
In 1892, who first entered parliament as an independent Labour MP for West Ham South?
Kier Hardie
In which Verdi opera do the gypsies sing the Anvil Chorus, while sitting round their camp fire?
Il Trovatore
In Greek mythology, who was married first to Tantalus and then to Agamemnon?
Clytemnestra
Who won the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year Award with The Amber Spyglass, which was the first children’s novel to win the prize?
Philip Pullman
What name, derived from the Greek for gland, is given to the mass of lymphatic tissue between the back of the nose and the throat that can inhibit breathing and speaking, particularly in children?
Adenoids
In which TV series did Ricky Gervais play the struggling actor Andy Millman?
Extras
By what ancient name were the two outcrops Calpe and Abyla, which mark the eastern entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar, collectively known?
Pillars of Hercules
How is Count Lazlo de Almasy better known, in the novel by Michael Ondaatje that was made into a film starring Ralph Fiennes?
The English Patient
Which Latin name for Wales was coined in the middle ages?
Cambria
What name is given to the style in which hair of shoulder length or longer is rolled under on either side, from the tops of the ears to the nape of the neck?
Pageboy
Who was the first signatory of the American Declaration of Independence? His name has become a colloquial term for a signature.
John Hancock
Kumiss, a traditional drink of Central Asian nomads, is normally made from the fermented milk of which animal?
Horse
The god Dagon, who was worshipped extensively throughout the ancient Middle East, is traditionally said to be the inventor of which agricultural implement
Plough
The singer, born as Mary O’Brien in 1939, achieved fame in the 1960s under what name?
Dusty Springfield
Which planet takes longer to complete one rotation on its own axis, relative to the stars, than it does to orbit the Sun?
Venus
What name is given to both a young tree that is larger than a seedling, and also to a greyhound before it is a year old?
Sapling
What was presented to Walt Disney along with the full size Oscar he received in 1938 for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?
Seven dwarf Oscars
Which Oxford college, founded in 1438 by Henry VI and Henry Chichele, traditionally has no undergraduates?
All Souls
Which rocky promontory is known in Cornish as Penn an Wlas?
Land’s End
Which record label, that played an important role in the birth of Rock and Roll, was founded in Memphis in the early 1950s by Sam Phillips?
Sun
Which Jamaican born nurse went to the Crimea at her own expense to tend the wounded, later becoming a popular figure after the publication of her memoirs?
Mary Seacole
In a famous scene from the 1923 film Safety Last, which actor is seen hanging from the hands of a clock over the side of a skyscraper?
Harold Lloyd
Which order of monks was found by St Bruno in 1084?
Carthusians
What name, derived from the Italian word for “trouser leg” is given to a pizza which is folded in half before cooking to contain the filling?
Calzone
Vexillology is the term for the study of what?
Flags
Mrs Boyle is the murder victim in which famous stage play, which has a title taken from Hamlet?
The Mousetrap
Extremely hard and widely used as an abrasive, what is the more common name for the solid compound silicon carbide?
Carborundum
In which region of France is the white wine known as Chablis produced?
Burgundy
Which novel of 1914 tells of a year in the lives of a group of painters and decorators in the fictional town of Mugsborough?
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
The Strait of Otranto separates Italy from the Greek island of Kerkira and which other neighbouring country?
Albania
Who played Mafia boss Tony Soprano in the TV series The Sopranos?
James Gandolfini
What was the name of the mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who was considered the model Roman matron?
Cornelia
Who wrote the orchestral work, first performed in 1841, that is known as the Spring Symphony?
Schumann
An increment of five degrees on the Celcius scale corresponds to an increment of how many degrees on the Fahrenheit scale?
9
Which metaphysical poet wrote “And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”?
John Donne
In ancient Greek religion, who was the goddess of Victory?
Nike
Salvador Dali, Jon Miro and Rene Magritte are among the principle exponents of which art movement that began in the 1920s?
Surrealism
Found mainly in the Fens, what is the largest species of butterfly native to Britain?
Swallowtail
Which term has been taken from the game of bridge to indicate a player or team winning all the major matches or tournaments in the same year?
Grand Slam
Which southern African country became an independent nation on 4 October 1966 under the rule of King Moshoeshoe II?
Lesotho
In which 1969 film does Michael Caine say “Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road”?
The Italian Job
Which virulent lung disease was known as the white death or the white plague, because sufferers from it appear very pale?
TB
Which musical, featuring the songs “Let The Sunshine In” and “Aquarius” opened on Broadway in April 1968?
Hair
Which island off the coast of Dorset is the source of the nearest stone to true marble quarried in England?
Purbeck
Which type of engraving, in which a metal plate was roughened and then polished to produce areas of light and shade, takes its name from the Italian for “half tone”?
Mezzotint
Which candidate for the American presidency used the made up chemical formula AuH2O as an election slogan during his campaign?
Goldwater
Who stars as the private eye Philip Marlowe in the original 1946 film of The Big Sleep?
Humphrey Bogart
Where in the body are the intercostal muscles situated?
Between ribs
Since 1928, athletes from which country have led the parade at the opening of the Olympic Games?
Greece
Which river, for part of its length, forms the boundary between the cities of Salford and Manchester?
Irwell
The Pipes and Drums and Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards took an instrumental version of which hymn to number one in the UK singles charts in 1972?
Amazing Grace
What Latin legal term means “under judicial consideration”?
Subjudice
According to William Blake’s poem, which bird in a cage “puts all heaven in a rage”?
Robin Redbreast
Which is the French for “false step” which is in common use in English as a term for a blunder?
Faux pas
Which British artist created the video of a sleeping David Beckham and the crying photos of Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr?
Sam Taylor Wood
Which animal has double the blood pressure of other large mammals, and a tight sheath of thick skin over its lower limbs to maintain high extravascular pressure?
Giraffe
The name of which ancient religious philosophy is derived from the Chinese for “way”?
Tao
What is the name of Queen Victoria’s home near Cowes on the Isle of Wight where she died in 1901?
Osborne House
Who resigned his seat as Labour MP for Knowsley North in 1986 to become a daytime TV presenter?
Robert Kilroy Silk
Which prefix used in the SI system of units demotes a multiplying factor of 10^-12?
Pico
In Japanese cuisine, which name indicates a dish of meat or shellfish marinated in a soy sauce and grilled or broiled?
Teriyaki
On which island does the Owen Stanley mountain range rise to over 4,000 metres?
New Guinea
In music, what is the usual name for a male voice which comes roughly between tenor and bass?
Baritone
Count Mede de Sivrac is generally considered to have invented which means of transport in about 1790, his invention being variously known as a celerifere or wooden horse?
Bicycle
What is the name of the Kazakhstan TV presenter created by the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen?
Borat
Which British finch gets its name from its unusually shaped beak, which it uses for extracting seeds from conifer cones?
Crossbill
Which popular board game is thought to have its origins in an ancient game, called Mokshparamu, played in India to teach children the difference between good and evil?
Snakes and Ladders
In Norse mythology, what name, from the Old Norse for “doom of the gods” is given to the final battle between the gods and the powers of evil?
Ragnorok
Which liqueur is added to gin and lemon juice to make a White Lady cocktail?
Cointreau
Which beautiful ornamental tree that is widely grown in warm parts of the world, has blue or purple foxglove-like flowers and attractive, oppositely paired, compound leaves?
Jacaranda
What is the name of Don Quixote’s horse in Cervante’s novel?
Rosinante
Which pungent gas is a compound whose molecules contain three atoms of hydrogen and one of nitrogen?
Ammonia
Signing Off was the aptly titled first album of which group, most of whose members had previously been unemployed?
UB40
Which range of hills forms the so-called backbone of Italy?
Appenines
The works of which Berlin-born British artist, noted for his nude paintings, include Girl with a White Dog and Naked Man with a Rat?
Lucien Freud
What was Mahatma Gandhi’s alleged reply when asked by a British journalist in 1931 what he thought of western civilisation?
It would be a good idea
In which American TV series do the six main characters meet at the Central Perk coffee shop?
Friends
In physics, which lower case letter is conventionally used to denote the speed of light in a vacuum?
c
Who played Harry Lime, a racketeer dealing in watered down penicillin, in the film The Third Man?
Orson Welles
At which battle of 1620 were the Bohemian Protestant reformers decisively defeated by combined Catholic forces, marking the end of the Bohemian period of the Thirty Years War?
White Mountain
The police chief Baron Scarpia is the villain of which Puccini opera?
Tosca
Which river, after rising in the Cairngorms, flows past the village of Braemar and Balmoral Castle on its way to the sea?
Dee
In painting, what name is given to a colour that cannot be created by mixing other colours?
Primary
Pongo pygmaeus is the Latin name for which primate, which is found in the wild in Malaysia predominately?
Orangutan
Which playwright’s works include Mother Courage and her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle?
Bertolt Brecht
Which British officer commanded the Arab force that captured the Red Sea port of Aqaba on 6 July 1917?
TE Lawrence
Which frozen dessert, usually consisting of two or more kinds of ice cream, is named after the spherical mould in which it was traditionally made?
Bombe Glacee
In the phonetic NATO alphabet, the name of which city represents the letter L?
Lima
Which colourful, tender plant often with reddish-brown papery bracts, and popular in the Mediterranean, is named after a French navigator?
Bougainvillea
Sodium and which other metallic element were first isolated in 1807 by Sir Humphrey Davy using electrolysis?
Potassium
Which French Rugby League team joined the British Superleague in 2006?
Catalan Dragons
Which former priest, who was excommunicated in about 1366 for sermonising about a classless society, was one of the leaders of the Peasant’s Revolt?
John Ball
Which song from the musical Cats is based mainly on TS Eliot’s poem Rhapsody on a Windy Night?
Memory
Which sea, the northemmost part of the Pacific Ocean, is named after a Danish navigator?
Bering Sea
What name is commonly used in the UK to refer to Paraguay tea, which is brewed from the dried leaves of a shrub related to holly?
Yerba Mate
What middle name is shared by Bill Clinton and William Hague?
Jefferson
For which 1988 film did Dustin Hoffman win an Academy Award as best actor for his role as the autistic Raymond Babbitt, who inherits his father’s 3 million dollar estate?
Rainman
In ornithology, which word derived from Latin for sparrow is used for the huge order of perching birds?
Passeriformes
Who painted Flood at Port Marly in 1876, in which the houses are reflected in floodwater?
Sisley
What name is given to the inflammation of the thin, double layered membrane separating the lungs from the chest cavity caused by a virus, which led to the death of the ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1931?
Pleurisy
Which Latin poet, in his Odes, first wrote the line “Dulce in decorem est pro patria mori”?
Horace
What was traditionally measured in ells?
Woollen cloth
What is the highest point in the Peak District?
Kinder Scout
Which heavy metal band, formed in 1976 with bassist Steve Harris as a founder member, was named after a medieval instrument of torture?
Iron Maiden
In Greek mythology, Odysseus was the king of which island?
Ithaca
What title was won by Gervaise Brook-Hampster in a classic Monty Python sketch?
Upper Class Twit of the Year
