Quiz 38

Question 1

In the 1960s, what name was well known both as that of Eliza Doolittle’s elocution instructor in the musical My Fair Lady and of a British bullfighter in Spain?

Answer 1

Henry Higgins

Question 2

The Dutch-born anatomist Eugene Dubois discovered the first known fossil of which early species of man, in the 1890s?

Answer 2

Homo Erectus

Question 3

The daughter of Asclepius, who was the goddess of Health in Greek mythology?

Answer 3

Hygieia

Question 4

Which cartoon character, created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appeared in the comic strip Thimble Theatre in 1929, and was later portrayed in a 1980 live-action film by Robin Williams?

Answer 4

Popeye

Question 5

Which limestone formation is believed to be the northern promontory of what were known in the ancient world as the Pillars of Hercules?

Answer 5

Rock of Gibraltar

Question 6

What name, also that of an opera by Verdi, is given to the revolt against Charles I of Naples and Sicily which began with the riot that took place on Easter Monday 1283 in a church outside Palermo?

Answer 6

Sicilian Vespers

Question 7

Who was the last US President to die in office of natural causes?

Answer 7

Franklin D Roosevelt

Question 8

Sir Charles Isham, a 19th century horticulturalist, is thought to be the first person to introduce which controversial feature to British gardens?

Answer 8

Gnomes

Question 9

What is the meaning of the name of the Irish political party Fianna Fail?

Answer 9

Soldiers of Destiny

Question 10

Who are the only parent and child to have won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on separate occasions?

Answer 10

Princess Anne and Zara Phillips

Question 11

Which English poet, who died in 1861, is commemorated with blue plaques at Beacon Hill in Torquay and at 50 Wimpole Street, London W1?

Answer 11

Elizabeth Barratt Browning

Question 12

What is the name of the swivelling rod that is attached to a motorbike or cycle to support the vehicle in an upright position when stationary?

Answer 12

Kickstand

Question 13

At around 4,500km long, the Trans-Sahara Highway begins in Algeria - and ends in which country?

Answer 13

Nigeria

Question 14

Which British no 1 hit single of the 1970s is about a girl called Brenda Ann Spencer?

Answer 14

I Don’t Like Mondays

Question 15

Which mountain range, extending for around 225 miles on both sides of the French-Swiss border, lends its name to the geological period that dates from around 200 to 144 million years ago?

Answer 15

Jura

Question 16

Which recipe, created in 1953 and especially familiar as a sandwich filling, is usually credited to Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume?

Answer 16

Coronation Chicken

Question 17

Which conquered territory became Rome’s first province in 241BC?

Answer 17

Sicily

Question 18

The director of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz was also accredited director of Gone With The Wind the same year, for which he won an Academy Award. Who was he?

Answer 18

Victor Fleming

Question 19

PET scanning is commonly used in medicine to detect the location of a tumour. What do the letters PET stand for?

Answer 19

Positron Emission Tomography

Question 20

A sculpture by Maggie Hambling entitled Scallop, bearing words from Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, stands on the beach at which British coastal town?

Answer 20

Aldeburgh

Question 21

What relation was King Edward the Confessor to his successor Harold Godwinson?

Answer 21

Brothers-in-law

Question 22

Which fictional character - in a novel of 1759 - is born on the 5th November 1718 at his family home, his nose crushed by the forceps of Dr Slop during the course of his delivery?

Answer 22

Tristram Shandy

Question 23

Which word did Ambrose Pierce define in his Devil’s Dictionary as a temporary insanity curable by marriage?

Answer 23

Love

Question 24

Which historic event took place in the French town of Annonay on the 4th June 1783?

Answer 24

First balloon flight

Question 25

The main character in the film of Len Deighton’s novel The Ipcress File and its sequels is called Harry Palmer. What was his name in the the original novels?

Answer 25

It’s never given

Question 26

Which German astronomer, who lived between 1758 and 1840, discovered the minor planets Pallas and Vesta and has a paradox named after him?

Answer 26

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers

Question 27

Which lake, located south-west of Budapest, is the largest lake in central Europe?

Answer 27

Lake Balaton

Question 28

Who was the British Prime Minister during the years of the American Civil War?

Answer 28

Lord Palmerston

Question 29

Highclere Castle in Hampshire, which doubled as the fictional Downton Abbey in the globally successful TV series, was built to a design by which 19th century British architect?

Answer 29

Sir Charles Barry

Question 30

What colour is the live wire in a standard UK three pin electrical plug?

Answer 30

Brown

Question 31

The poem which begins “My heart leaps up when I behold/A rainbow in the sky” - which also includes the line “The Child is the father of the Man” - is by which poet?

Answer 31

William Wordsworth

Question 32

What sort of animal is a Sergeant Baker?

Answer 32

Fish

Question 33

In which play by Christopher Marlowe, first published in 2594, does the title character refer to Helen of Troy with the words, “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/and burnt the topless towers of Illium”?

Answer 33

Doctor Faustus

Question 34

Which actress, who gained fame in a number of iconic British film, TV and radio comedies, was married to the actor John le Mesurier between 1949 and 1965?

Answer 34

Hattie Jacques

Question 35

The title character of Puccini’s opera Turandot is a bloodthirsty princess in which city?

Answer 35

Old Peking

Question 36

Since 1916, the annual eating contest for what fast food item has been held at Nathan’s Diner at Coney Island?

Answer 36

Hot dogs

Question 37

The Seven Years’ War, as its name suggests, took place across a period of seven years, between Britain’ declaration of war on France and the Treaty of Paris, which brought it to an end. Name any one of the eight calendar years during which it was being fought?

Answer 37

1756-1763

Question 38

The wisent is another name for the European species of which grazing mammal?

Answer 38

Bison

Question 39

In 1966, during a famous - or indeed infamous - televised interview with Japanese journalists during the Vietnam Conflict, how was the American prisoner-of-war Commander Jeremiah Denton able to indicate to the viewing public that he’d been tortured?

Answer 39

Blinking

Question 40

Cave of the Heart, Errand into the Maze and Night Journey are among the works of which American choreographer, who died in 1991?

Answer 40

Martha Graham