Quiz 14

Question 1

In which book of the Bible will you find the story of Samson and Delilah?

Answer 1

Judges

Question 2

In physics, what name is given to the fourth state of matter, which displays distinct properties that are quite different from those of solids, liquids and gases?

Answer 2

Plasma

Question 3

Because of an association with a particular piece of Handel’s music, the main character Pip in Dickens’ Great Expectations is given the name Handel by his friend Herbert Pocket. Which piece of music is it?

Answer 3

The Harmonious Blacksmith

Question 4

The peculiarly named thoroughfare Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate is to be found in which English city?

Answer 4

York

Question 5

Which two politicians’ names were combined in the work Butskellism, a term denoting a pragmatic agreement over a policy between two opposing parties?

Answer 5

Butler and Gaitskell

Question 6

“Woke up one morning half asleep, with all my blankets in a heap” are the opening words of which pop song, the first ever to be played on Radio One?

Answer 6

Flowers in the Rain - The Move

Question 7

What’s the name of the soldier with whom Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina falls in love, their affair tragically ending in her death?

Answer 7

Count Vronsky

Question 8

Which term for a megalith is derived from the Welsh words for Long Stone?

Answer 8

Menhir

Question 9

In physics, which term is used to describe a particular temperature and pressure at which three different phases of one substance - normally solid, liquid and gas - can co-exist?

Answer 9

Triple point

Question 10

The Marquis de Sillery has been credited with being the first man to ship which drink to London, some time in the 17th century?

Answer 10

Champagne

Question 11

Decaying uranium finally becomes an isotope of which metal?

Answer 11

Lead

Question 12

Which English racecourse at one time alternated with Silverstone as the venue for the British motor racing Grand Prix?

Answer 12

Aintree

Question 13

Legend has it that the weather on St Swithin’s Day determines the weather for the next forty days. On which date does St Swithin’s Day fall?

Answer 13

July 15th

Question 14

Edith Cavell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Raoul Wallenberg, Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Kennedy, Dame Cicely Saunders and Aung San Suu Kyi are the eight subjects of Courage: Eight Portraits, a book published in 2007 by which politician?

Answer 14

Gordon Brown

Question 15

Two of the best remembered poets of the First World War, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, met in 1917 whilst being treated for shell shock at which hospital in Edinburgh?

Answer 15

Craiglockhurst

Question 16

In physics, the term Magic Numbers refers to the numbers of protons or neutrons generally present in a stable nucleus. What are the first two magic numbers?

Answer 16

2, 8

Question 17

Thomas Gainsborough’s painting of the young Jonathan Buttall, now to be found in the Huntington Art Gallery in California, is usually known by what name?

Answer 17

The Blue Boy

Question 18

Which incident in a Shakespeare play prompted Dr Johnson to write that he was “so shocked by it that I know not whether I ever endured to read again the last scenes of the play till I undertook to revise them as editor”?

Answer 18

Death of Cordelia

Question 19

Hidden beneath a layer of creamy, golden encrusted haricot beans, etc etc - This rich sounding concoction is how Elizabeth David described which rustic traditional French dish?

Answer 19

Cassoulet

Question 20

Linus Pauling is the only man to have won two Nobel prizes in different disciplines. Which two?

Answer 20

Peace and Chemistry

Question 21

Pianosa, an island off the west coast of Italy, is the setting for which novel first published in 1961?

Answer 21

Catch 22

Question 22

Which English word meaning self-denying or temperate of appetite in unusual in containing all five vowels, used once each, in alphabetical order?

Answer 22

Abstemious

Question 23

What was the stage name of the music hall star born George Edward Wade in Herne Hill in 1869, and most closely associated with the song If You Were The Only Girl In The World?

Answer 23

George Robey

Question 24

While he was in prison for his part in a riot in the 1780, William Addis fashioned the first commercially successful example of a now common household implement, out of bone and animal hair. What implement?

Answer 24

Toothbrush

Question 25

Ol’ Blood And Guts is a nickname associated with which US Army General of the Second World War?

Answer 25

George Patton

Question 26

The only time tanks have been deployed against the public in mainland Britain was in January 1919 in George Square, in which city?

Answer 26

Glasgow

Question 27

The singer and broadcaster Guy Garvey fronts which British rock band?

Answer 27

Elbow

Question 28

Although its not the state capital, which is the largest city in the US state of Nebraska?

Answer 28

Omaha

Question 29

The Old Lady of Threadneedle St, an affectionate term for the Bank of England, was coined in a caption to a cartoon of 1797 by which satirical artist and illustrator?

Answer 29

James Gilray

Question 30

In the 1930s, Mahatma Gandhi led a symbolic protest march against the government’s tax on which commodity?

Answer 30

Salt

Question 31

Following the death of its composer, which unfinished opera was completed in 1926 by Franco Alfano?

Answer 31

Turandot

Question 32

Which technological innovation, invented in 1876, was described by Ambrose Bierce as an invention of the devil with abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance?

Answer 32

Telephone

Question 33

In a phrase coined by the 18th century poet Edward Young, what do you do if you join the great majority?

Answer 33

Die

Question 34

In September 2008 the US government announced it was taking control of two huge mortgage companies in order to help shore up the economy. One was called Fannie Mae, what was the other called?

Answer 34

Freddie Mac

Question 35

In 1911, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire was questioned as a suspect by French authorities investigating which major crime?

Answer 35

Theft of the Mona Lisa

Question 36

Garralus glandarius is the Latin name of which common member of the crow family?

Answer 36

The Jay

Question 37

What is the title of Damien Hirst’s controversial artwork featuring a lamb in formaldehyde, first seen in public in 1994?

Answer 37

Away from the Flock

Question 38

Which small type of French cake was supposedly named by Louis XV in honour of his father-in-law’s cook?

Answer 38

Madelaines (Paumier)

Question 39

In a cultural initiative of the Austrian Presidency of the EU in 2006, typical cakes or sweetmeats from all 27 of the member countries were presented in cafes. Belgium contributed waffles, Cyprus baklava and Italy tiramisu. What was chosen to represent the UK?

Answer 39

Shortbread

Question 40

Which five letter word, now familiar in a quite different context, is used in archaeology for a monumental gateway to Egyptian temples or palaces, built in stone and usually decorated with relief figures and hieroglyphs?

Answer 40

Pylon