Quiz 01

Question 1

Pesto, a staple sauce of Italian cooking, combines pine kernels, parmesan cheese and olive oil with which herb?

Answer 1

Basil

Question 2

In the Caribbean, what is a duppy?

Answer 2

Ghost

Question 3

Barbara Millicent Roberts is the full name of which iconic figure of the 20th Century, first introduced to the public by Ruth Handler in 1959 at the New York Toy Fair?

Answer 3

Barbie

Question 4

On the label of a bottle of wine, the letters DOCG are an indication that it has been granted a stamp of particular quality. In which country will it have been produced?

Answer 4

Italy

Question 5

In the world of antiques, the names of William Cookworthy, Samuel Gilbody and Benjamin Lund are associated with high-quality 18th century examples in what field of craftmanship?

Answer 5

Porcelain

Question 6

Lackland and Softsword are among the nicknames given to which English King, the father of Henry III?

Answer 6

John

Question 7

In the so-called Easter Rising of 1916, which building in Dublin’s Sackvill St was occupied and used as a headquarters by Irish nationalists, until they abandoned it when it caught fire as a result of being shelled by the British?

Answer 7

Post Office

Question 8

Which of the territories of Canada has the city of Yellowknife as its capital?

Answer 8

Northwest Territories

Question 9

Ada, Countess of Lovelace, best known for having written the first description of Charles Babbage’s mechanical computer, was the daughter of which English poet?

Answer 9

Byron

Question 10

Sabrina, The Apartment and Some Like It Hot are among the films of which multiple-Oscar winning director who died in 2002?

Answer 10

Billy Wilder

Question 11

Which type of wheat, with a name derived from the Latin for hard, is cultivated mainly to make pasta, couscous and macaroni?

Answer 11

Durum

Question 12

Which fictional detective made his final appearance in a novel called Curtain, published in 1975, and was the first fictional character ever to be honoured with an obituary on the front page of the New York Times?

Answer 12

Hercule Poirot

Question 13

Which Swiss sculptor, born in 1901, is best known for his works in bronze depicting rough textured free standing human figures with extremely thin and elongated limbs?

Answer 13

Alberto Giocometti

Question 14

Which island group in the Indian Ocean, a popular tourist destination, has the city of Victoria as its capital?

Answer 14

Seychelles

Question 15

Now considered a classic of cookery writing, the 1984 book An Omelette And A Glass Of Wine is a collection of articles by which food writer?

Answer 15

Elizabeth David

Question 16

Which British rock group, formed in the late 1960s, was named after an agriculturalist of the 18th century whose principle work was entitled Horse-Hoeing Husbandry?

Answer 16

Jethro Tull

Question 17

Which Dublin born actor played the role of Philip E Marlow in Dennis Potter’s television series The Singing Detective?

Answer 17

Michael Gambon

Question 18

Which organisation has its origins in Pulaski, Tennessee, founded there by Confederate Army veterans in the late 1860s?

Answer 18

The Klu Klux Klan

Question 19

Vanessa and Jesse, the children of Lorna Luft, are the grandchildren of which singer and actress who died in 1969?

Answer 19

Judy Garland

Question 20

In 1911, the American politician, explorer and archaeologist Hiram Bingham discovered which lost Inca city, on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru?

Answer 20

Machu Picchu

Question 21

Which spice is derived from the plant whose Latin name is Crocus Sativus?

Answer 21

Saffron

Question 22

According to the prison warder Mr Mackay in the classic TV comedy series Porridge, “In this prison there are only two rules. One is, you do not write on the walls.” What is the other

Answer 22

You obey all the rules

Question 23

Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea are four novels written by Lawrence Durrell in the 1950s, which are known by what collective title?

Answer 23

The Alexandria Quartet

Question 24

Ultra-violet radiation in sunlight helps convert ergosterol, a substance present in the skin, into a form of which vitamin?

Answer 24

D

Question 25

Which of the American Ivy League universities has its campus in the city of New Haven Connecticut?

Answer 25

Yale

Question 26

What name is given to the gold-coloured alloy of copper, zinc and sometimes tin, which is used to decorate furniture and ornaments?

Answer 26

Ormalu

Question 27

By what name do we know the undesirable condition known medically as Pityriasis Capitis?

Answer 27

Dandruff

Question 28

Can you name the music-hall star born Matilda Alice Victoria Wood in 1870, who first appeared as Bella Delmere before taking the stage name by which she is best known?

Answer 28

Marie Lloyd

Question 29

Having formulated a law for the polarisation of light, which is named after him, the 19th century Scottish physicist David Brewster also invented a scientific instrument that became popular as a children’s toy. What was it?

Answer 29

Kaleidoscope

Question 30

The 1930s children’s books Peter Duck and Pigeon Post are sequels featuring the same characters to which highly successful novel?

Answer 30

Swallows and Amazons

Question 31

In chemistry, what name is given to different forms of the same substance which may have different properties, such as carbon in the forms graphite and diamond?

Answer 31

Allotropes

Question 32

Which much recorded country song, composed by Kris Kristofferson, has a refrain which begins with the words “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose”?

Answer 32

Me and Bobby McGee

Question 33

Which highly respected broadcaster, born in 1933, came to prominence as one of the regulars on television’s Late Night Line Up in the 1960, and later presented the ethical investigative series The Heart Of The Matter for many years?

Answer 33

Joan Bakewell

Question 34

In which Hindu text, part of the Mahabharata, does Lord Krishna instruct Prince Arjuna on the importance of absolute devotion?

Answer 34

The Bhagavad-gita

Question 35

The novel sequence entitled Gargantua and Pantagruel, famously long and rambling and bawdy, is the work of which French Renaissance medic and satirist?

Answer 35

Rabelais

Question 36

Which Scottish Premier League football club plays its home games at Tynecastle?

Answer 36

Hearts

Question 37

In the animal kingdom, the family Leporidae consists of which common British mammals

Answer 37

Rabbits and hares

Question 38

What word is used in physics to describe an ionised gas produced at extremely high temperatures and, in biology, to the liquid component of blood?

Answer 38

Plasma

Question 39

A psychopathic killer named Michael Myers is the central villain of which celebrated horror movie of 1978 and its series of sequels?

Answer 39

Halloween

Question 40

Famously celebrated in music, Fingal’s Cave is a rock formation to be found on which uninhabited Hebridean island?

Answer 40

Staffa