Quiz 02

Question 1

Which building, one of the holiest places of Islam, stands on the top of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem and is traditionally the site of the prophet Mohammad’s ascent to heaven?

Answer 1

The Dome of the Rock

Question 2

What kind of strutting dance, especially popular at the height of the Ragtime era in early 20th century America, was named after the prize that was traditionally awarded to the best dancers?

Answer 2

Cake walk

Question 3

The volt is an SI unit measuring the electrical energy converted by the electric charge moving between two points in a circuit. Although it’s commonly referred to as the voltage, what two-word term is properly given to this quantity?

Answer 3

Potential difference

Question 4

Which French mathematician and philosopher proved, in the late 1640s, that air pressure decreased with altitude, by taking a barometer to the summit of Puy de Dôme in the Auvergne?

Answer 4

Blaise Pascal

Question 5

Edmund, son of Ethelred the Unready, who briefly succeeded his father as king in 1016, is usually known by a nickname reflecting his courage. What was the nickname?

Answer 5

Ironside

Question 6

Stars And Stripes Forever, directed by Henry Koster and starring Clifton Webb, is a biopic of which American composer?

Answer 6

John Philip Souza

Question 7

What is the highest mountain outside Asia?

Answer 7

Aconcagua (Argentina)

Question 8

The origin of which snack is generally attributed to the aristocrat John Montague, who is said to have eaten food in this form in order to avoid having to leave the gaming table

Answer 8

Sandwich

Question 9

Which daily newspaper began life in 1754 as the Leeds Intelligencer?

Answer 9

Yorkshire Post

Question 10

The English Poet William Langland, who lived from about 1330 to 1400, is known for one long alliterative poem which exists in several different versions. What is it called?

Answer 10

Piers Plowman

Question 11

Which British no 1 rock album of the 1970s features the cover image of an inflatable pig flying above Battersea power station?

Answer 11

Animals by Pink Floyd

Question 12

Which inventor, born in the USA and later a naturalised Briton, developed the first fully automatic machine gun, manufactured by Vickers and Abbot and adopted by the British Army?

Answer 12

Hiram Maxim

Question 13

Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the plays of Shakespeare were all edited in expurgated form by which somerset-born physician and writer?

Answer 13

Thomas Bowlder

Question 14

In the name of the actor and former American football player OJ Simpson, who was acquitted of murder in 1995, what do the initials OJ stand for?

Answer 14

Orenthal James

Question 15

The Sargasso Sea, surrounded by and effectively created by the enclosing effects of the Gulf Stream, the Canary Crescent and the Equatorial Current, takes its name from the abundance of Sargassum in its waters. What is Sargassum?

Answer 15

Brown seaweed

Question 16

Who was in overall command of the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588?

Answer 16

Effingham

Question 17

Whose music, though originally popular in the composer’s lifetime, gained a resurgence in 1973 when his piece The Entertainer was featured in the film The Sting?

Answer 17

Scott Joplin

Question 18

What are the Aventine, the Caelian, the Capitoline, the Esquiline, the Quirinal, the Vimial and the Palatine?

Answer 18

Seven hills of Rome

Question 19

The Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations on the Segregation of the Queen is the full title of a scholarly work written by which fictional character, created in 1887?

Answer 19

Sherlock Holmes

Question 20

What kind of soup has a name that means pepper water in the Tamil language?

Answer 20

Mulligatawny

Question 21

The game called Noughts and Crosses in British English is more commonly known in the US by what three-word alliterative name?

Answer 21

Tic Tac Toe

Question 22

The Minerals and Land Pavilion, the Power and Production Pavilion, the Sea and Ships Pavilion and the Lion and Unicorn Pavilion were all built for which major event of 1951?

Answer 22

Festival of Britain

Question 23

Shakespeare’s character Autolycus is described as a snapper up of unconsidered trifles. In which play does he appear?

Answer 23

The Winter’s Tale

Question 24

Which 1979 film was advertised with the tag line “In Space, No-one Can Hear You Scream”?

Answer 24

Alien

Question 25

Born Karoline Blaumer in Austria at the turn of the twentieth century, the future wife of the composer Kurt Weill became known by what stage name?

Answer 25

Lotte Lenya

Question 26

Which European city was the birthplace of the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi?

Answer 26

Edinburgh

Question 27

Which measurement of length, in the UK, can be defined as a tenth of a nautical mile?

Answer 27

Chain

Question 28

Who was the author of the 1750s work The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director?

Answer 28

Thomas Chippendale

Question 29

What’s the popular name for the furcula, a forked bony structure on the bodies of birds to which the muscles of flight are attached?

Answer 29

Wishbone

Question 30

In the musical West Side Story, what are the names of the two rival gangs, equivalent to the Montagues and the Capulets in the source story Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 30

The Jets and the Sharks

Question 31

The Battles of the Boyne in 1690, Gettysburg in 1863 and The Somme in 1916 all began on which date of the calendar?

Answer 31

July 1st

Question 32

The first chapter of which novel, first published in 1954, is called The Sound Of The Shell?

Answer 32

Lord of the Flies

Question 33

Which English jeweller lends his name to the alloy of copper and zinc which he invented in the early 18th century?

Answer 33

Christopher Pinchbeck

Question 34

Although her achievements in the Crimean War had for many years been eclipsed by Florence Nightingale, which Jamaica-born nursing pioneer was voted top of a 21st Century poll to find the 100 greatest black Britons?

Answer 34

Mary Seacole

Question 35

To which famous couple was Variety magazine referring to in its June 1956 headline “Egghead Weds Hourglass”?

Answer 35

Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe

Question 36

What is the standard unit of luminous flux, used to measure the light that passes through an area in a second?

Answer 36

The Lumen

Question 37

Which English king was defeated and captured at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141?

Answer 37

Stephen

Question 38

Martin Cooper, a Chicago engineer employed by the Motorola company, is credited with being the first person to ever do what, on the 3rd April 1973

Answer 38

Make a mobile phone call

Question 39

What is the simplest fraction that expresses the decimal value 0.85?

Answer 39

17/20

Question 40

What aromatic oil gives its distinct flavour to Earl Grey Tea?

Answer 40

Bergamot