Quiz 11 Flashcards

1
Q

Which month, known as the windy month, was the sixth month of the French Revolutionary calendar, and lasted from around 20th February to 21st March

A

Ventose

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2
Q

Alberto Juantorena, Quincy Watts and Michael Johnson are among those who have won Olympic gold in which athletics event?

A

400m

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3
Q

Which children’s story by Roald Dahl was first adapted for the London stage in 2011 with songs by musician and comedian Tim Minchin?

A

Matilda

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4
Q

One of the four kings in a standard English pack of cards is depicted without a moustache - supposedly, originally, it ws missed off because of poor copying. Which king is it?

A

The King of Hearts

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5
Q

Which artist became the first President of the Royal Academy in 1768?

A

Joshua Reynolds

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6
Q

Of which British Prime Minister is the Labour politician Douglas Jay quoted as saying He never used one syllable where none would do?

A

Clement Atlee

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7
Q

In a chemistry laboratory, what is the purpose of a Kipp’s aparatus

A

Production of gases

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8
Q

Which two provinces in the North East of France, annexed by Bismark in 1871, were returned to France by Treaty of Versaille after the First World War?

A

Alsace and Lorraine

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9
Q

Which is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World whose exact location remains unconfirmed by archeology?

A

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

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10
Q

The adjective pelagic, often used to describe certain types of bird, comes from a Greek word meaning what?

A

The open sea

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11
Q

Which powerful Italian organised crime ring, whose name is possibly derived from a local word for thief, is based in Calabria but has links and operatives all over the world?

A

The ‘Ndrangheta

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12
Q

In the children’s TV drama series Grange Hill, what was the name of the long-serving head teacher played by Gwyneth Powell?

A

Bridget (the Midget) McKluskey

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13
Q

Although it’s used in casual speech to mean the dim and distant past, in law the phrase time immemorial relates very precisely to a particular calendar year. Which one?

A

1189 (Richard I)

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14
Q

Which Dutch sprinter, who won the 100m and 200m at the 1948 London Olympics, was nicknamed The Flying Housewife?

A

Fanny Blankers-Koen

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15
Q

Which medal of the Order of the British Empire for gallentry was superceded in September 1940 by the introduction of which other honour?

A

George Medal

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16
Q

In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, what is Gulliver’s first name?

A

Lemuel

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17
Q

What name, also meaning a particular time of day, is sometimes given to the hot and dry southern states of Italy, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia?

A

Mezzogiorno

18
Q

Which North American city is served by George Bush International Airport?

A

Houston TX

19
Q

Which novelty swing dance, derived from the Charleston, was named following Charles Lindbergh’s crossing of the Atlantic in 1927?

A

Lindy hop

20
Q

Which part of the British Isles has a parliament called the Court of Chief Pleas?

A

Sark

21
Q

Which type of theatre derives its name from a Latin word meaning a player of many parts?

A

Pantomime

22
Q

Apatosuarus is the name by which scientists now refer to the dinosaur formerly known as the Brontosaurus. The name Brontosausus means Thunder Lizard - but what does the name Apatosaurus mean?

A

Deceptive Lizard

23
Q

Windermere is the kargest of the lakes in the English Lake District, and the largest natural lake in England. Which is the second largest?

A

Ullswater

24
Q

In Morse Code, the most commonly occuring vowel and the most commonly occuring consonant are represented respectively by a single dot and a single dash. Which letters are these?

A

E and T

25
Q

Which athlete and politician became the first person to be named BBC Sports Personality Of The Year in 1954?

A

Chris Chataway

26
Q

The comic playwright born Jean Baptiste Poquelin in 1622 is better known by what pen name?

A

Moliere

27
Q

Which pioneering jazz pianist, who came to prominence as part of the be-bop movement in the 1940s had the unusual middle name Sphere?

A

Thelonius Monk

28
Q

In the care label symbols found on clothes, what is indicated by a square with a circle inside it, crossed out.

A

Do not tumble dry

29
Q

A painting of 1599 by Caravaggio depicts a scene from the Old Testament, in which the Hebrew widow Judith beheads an Assyrian commander, after having calculatedly seduced him and made him drunk. What’s his name?

A

Holofernes

30
Q

The heavy black-brown mineral cassiterite is the principle ore of which metallic element?

A

Tin

31
Q

The toxic quinolizidine alkaloid, that became the suspected agent of poisoning in the Daphne du Maurier novel My Cousin Rachel, is presentin the seeds of which tree, grown for its hanging clusters of golden flowers

A

Labernum

32
Q

Which Scottish monarch was killed at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513?

A

James IV

33
Q

In an early printed book, where would you find the explicit?

A

At the end

34
Q

Which artist did Gore Vidal call a genius with the IQ of a moron

A

Andy Warhol

35
Q

Which Latin phrase meaning come with me is often used to describe a personal handbook, carried for use when needed

A

Vade Mecum

36
Q

The cran, equal to 37.5 gallons, is often used commercially to measure the volume of which commodity?

A

Fish - herring

37
Q

The comedian Frankie Howerd’s role as Pseudolus, in the London production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, led to a TV comedy series which was written for him, and directly inspired by that show. What was its title?

A

Up Pompeii

38
Q

The four American Presidents whose faces are carved into Mount Rushmore in South Dakota are Lincoln, Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and which other?

A

Thomas Jefferson

39
Q

The Canadian physician Frederick Banting won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923, for his work with his colleague Charles Best, that made possible the treatment of which common condition?

A

Diabetes

40
Q

The Drury Lane Theatre, on 28th September 1745, saw the first recorded public performance of which now very popular piece of music?

A

God Save The King