Set 08 Flashcards
1
Q
Who was the only crew member allowed to whistle on board a man-of-war?
A
Cook (so he couldn’t spit in the food)
2
Q
Which game in which two long jump ropes turning in opposite directions are jumped by one or more players jumping simultaneously began in the inner cities of America?
A
Double Dutch
3
Q
What was adopted worldwide on November 1st 1884?
A
The Greenwich Meridian
4
Q
In chess, which eight-letter word means a player put at a disadvantage because they have to make a move?
A
Zugzwang
5
Q
Which Shelley work was written as a response to the Peterloo Massacre?
A
The Masque of Anarchy
6
Q
What was the name of the boat in which Shelley died?
A
Ariel
7
Q
Robert Garside, also known as ‘The Running Man’ holds which record?
A
First man to run around the world
8
Q
In which city did W H Auden die in 1973?
A
Vienna
9
Q
Which process includes stages called calcination, dissolution and projection?
A
Alchemy
10
Q
Which conman sold the Eiffel tower for scrap?
A
Victor Lustig
11
Q
Which five letter word means the excess days in a solar year compared to a lunar year?
A
Epact
12
Q
Who owned the horse Different Class, that finished third in the Grand National 1968 behind Red Alligator?
A
Gregory Peck
13
Q
Which man was the oldest ever to win the Grand National on Grittar in 1982?
A
Dick Saunders
14
Q
Which 1996 Grand National winning jockey claimed that winning it was better than sex?
A
Mick Fitzgerald
15
Q
Which horse, trained by Nigel Twiston Davies, won the Scottish, Welsh and English Grand Nationals in the 1990s?
A
Earth Summit
16
Q
The Grand National that never was in 1993, had a false start because the starting tape got caught under whose chin?
A
Richard Dunwoody
17
Q
The otter belongs to which family of animals?
A
Weasel
18
Q
On a ship, what name is given to the compass housing?
A
Binnacle
19
Q
The Menads were the followers of which Greek God?
A
Dionysus
20
Q
Which wind has a name meaning ‘East Wind’ in Arabic?
A
Scirocco
21
Q
Which bomb created by Barnes Wallis shared its name with a pieve of wooden furniture?
A
Tallboy
22
Q
Which fashion designer launched the Rive Gauche range in 1966?
A
Yves St Laurent
23
Q
Andy Murray lost to Roger Federer in the final of which Grand Slam tournament in 2010?
A
Australian Open
24
Q
In cars, what does ABS stand for?
A
Antilock Braking System
25
Blue Jacket and Delph Blue are varieties of which scented flower?
Hyacinth
26
Traditionally, Parkin is served on what night in Yorkshire?
5th November
27
In 1979, which actor finished in second place in the Le Mans 24-hour race at the age of 54?
Paul Newman
28
Which rare bear-like mammal has an enlarged wrist bone, functioning like a thumb and allowing it to handle food?
Giant Panda
29
Which Michelin-starred chef presented 'In Search of Perfection', in which he created 'perfect' versions of everyday dishes like Spaghetti Bolognaise?
Heston Blumenthal
30
On which Hawaiian island is Lost filmed?
Oahu
31
Which river flows into Lake Geneva at its eastern end and out at its western end?
Rhone
32
Seth Pecksniff is a hypocritical architect in which Dickens book?
Martin Chuzzlewit
33
Terry, who starred as Toto in the Wizard of Oz, was what breed of dog?
Cairn terrier
34
Which French composer made his way from Italy to Paris intent on murdering his fiancee, who had left him for a piano manufacturer?
Hector Berlioz
35
Which wartime ballad was written by lyricist Frederick Weatherly while he was an army officer in 1916. Set to music by Haydn Wood, it was one of the most famous songs from World War I. Weatherley reportedly wrote the lyric after he had conceived an affection for a French widow while receiving protection at her home in France?
Roses of Picardy
36
What is the American for a dual carriageway?
Divided Highway
37
Paresthesia is the medical term for what sensation?
Pins and needles
38
Catoptromancy uses what to predict the future?
A mirror
39
Which choreographer's ballets include A Month in the Country, Enigma Variations and Symphonic Variations?
Sir Frederick Ashton
40
Who was on the British throne when Pepys died?
Queen Anne
41
Van 't Hoff and Herman Emil Fischerr were the first two Nobel Laureates in which field?
Chemistry
42
Which is the only Ivy League university with the name of its state in its name?
Pennsylvania
43
Which planet has the shortest day?
Jupiter
44
Bandit Koose Veerappan was killed by police in 2004 in which country?
India
45
It included the Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta, The Fisherman and His Soul and The Star Child. Who penned the 1891 collection of fairy tales called A House of Pomegranates?
Oscar Wilde
46
Which battle was fought in Normandy in 1106, between an invading force led by Henry I of England, and his older brother Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy? Henry's knights won a decisive victory, capturing Robert and imprisoning him in England and then Wales until Robert's death in Cardiff Castle.
Tinchebrai
47
Which Swedish king was defeated at the Battle of Poltava in his attempt to conquer Russia in 1709?
Charles XII
48
Which philosopher and advocate for women's rights was married to John Stuart Mill?
Harriet Taylor
49
David Livingstone died in which modern-day country?
Zambia
50
Which sculpture in Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen, commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France?
The Lion of Lucerne
51
Which Scottish songwriter and song collector was also known as Lady Nairne and the Flower of Strathairn because of her beauty?
Caroline Oliphant
52
What was the name of the consort of Pericles?
Aspasia
53
Which English antiquary (1687-1765) was one of the founders of field archaeology and pioneered the investigation of Stonehenge?
William Stukeley
54
Which British fascist, a scion of a notable political family, proposed to the Wehrmacht the formation of a British volunteer force (subsequently to become the British Free Corps) and made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany. He was executed for treason after the war having pleaded guilty?
John Amery
55
Which British polar explorer, writer and artist became in 1969 the first man to walk undisputed to the North Pole, on the 60th anniversary of Robert Peary's famous, but disputed, expedition. He was described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as "the greatest polar explorer of our time"?
Sir Wally Herbert
56
What is the indigenous name given to the northern third of Quebec?
Nunavik
57
What did Wehrmacht literally mean?
Defence force
58
In the Wehrmacht was the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. What name was given to the army?
Heer
59
Who played Clouseau in the critically panned remake of the Pink Panther in 2006?
Steve Martin
60
Which ELO single was dedicated to Skylab?
Don't Bring Me Down
61
Which TV series was focussed on the Luxton and District Traction Company in Essex?
On the Buses
62
Who directed Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963) and Ice Station Zebra (1968)?
John Sturges
63
Which 1962 remake of Gunga Din (1939) set in the American West, featuring Rat Pack icons Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. It was the last film to feature all five members of the Rat Pack due to Sinatra's falling out with Lawford and later Bishop?
Sergeants Three
64
Which 1969 film, with a Pink Floyd soundtrack, deals with heroin addiction on Ibiza?
More
65
In Sweet Charity, which boyfriend of Charity steals her handbag and pushes her in a lake?
Charlie
66
Who created Conan the Barbarian?
Robert E Howard
67
Best known for the Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels, who died of a rare heart disease in 2007?
Robert Jordan
68
Since the inauguration of the Open Era in 1968, which tennis player holds the record for appearing in the most men's singles Grand Slam finals?
Ivan Lendl
69
In the Shrek films, which princess does Shrek woo and marry?
Fiona
70
What is the Spanish for motorway?
Autopista
71
What was the most famous Cleopatra's regnal number?
VII
72
Henderson's model, the Roper-Logan-Tierney model and the Ruoy model are all recommended for members of which profession?
Nursing
73
Which 1966 Jerry Herman Broadway musical has a name that is an anagram of a Jane Austen work?
Mame
74
In the mouth, Koplik spots are an early sign of what?
Measles
75
Saccharum officinarum is the Latin name for which crop?
Sugar cane
76
According to Victor Hugo in Les Miserables, idleness has a son and a daughter. What are they?
Robbery and hunger
77
Nutcrack night is an alternative name for what?
Halloween
78
Sisters Mary and Lizzie Burns of Manchester were the mistresses of which philosopher?
Friedrich Engels
79
Who did Strand Magazine engage to illustrate Sherlock Holmes?
Sidney Paget
80
Tyre, Sidon and Byblos were the main cities of which ancient people?
Phoenicians
81
Which part of the body is affected by Ramsey Hunt's syndrome?
Face
82
On which gulf is Piraeus?
Saronic
83
Delphine de la Mare inspired which literary heroine?
Madame Bovary
84
Which feminist and former communist, a long-term journalist and campaigner, stood for the Green Party in Hampstead and Kilburn in the 2010 General Election?
Bea Campbell
85
Veteran cars are those produced before which year?
1904
86
Which performer would be most likely to use a swozzle?
Punch and Judy man
87
Ribes grossulaia is the Latin name for which fruit?
Gooseberries
88
Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands (published 1868) was written by whom?
Queen Victoria
89
Which medical tool for investigating body cavities, with a form dependent on the body cavity for which it is designed may also be referred to as a diopter or dioptra?
Speculum
90
Which is the most westerly of the Lake District lakes?
Ennerdale Water
91
Ain't I volatile' is a phrase associated with Miss Moucher, a dwarf manicurist and masseuse in which Charles Dickens novel?
David Copperfield
92
The Tsukahara is a technique used in which gymnastics discipline?
Vault
93
In the Just William books, what is Ginger's surname?
Flowerdew or Merridew
94
What's the surname of Ginger, Biggles' companion?
Hebblethwaite
95
What is the better-known definition of a Messalina complex?
Nymphomania
96
Where according to Kipling 'does the dawn come up like thunder outta China crorse the Bay?'
The Road to Mandalay
97
Which woman was the first black performer to be offered a long-term Hollywood contract, but was blacklisted due to her partnership with Paul Robeson?
Lena Horne
98
Which cartoon character made his first appearance in The Chain Gang, but was not given the name we know him by until the Moose Hunt a little later?
Pluto
99
In Australia, what have you done if you have 'Major Mitchelled'?
Got lost
100
According to the US war slogan, Loose Lips do what?
Sink ships
101
A blivet is an optical illusion or undecipherable paradox that takes what form?
A fork that appears to have three tines at one end but only two at the other (also called an Impossible Trident)
102
Which biologist and geneticist, born in Oxford in 1892, wrote Daedalus, in which he predicted the development of test-tube babies?
J B S Haldane
103
Which part of the brain stem, occupying its lower half, regulates the heart, respiration, salivation and swallowing?
Medulla Oblongata
104
Which Roman poet wrote the Odes and Epodes and faught at the Battle of Phillipi?
Horace
105
The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce was the first of four tracts on that subject by which English poet?
Milton
106
Which three letters are the Speedo racing suit worn by Rebecca Adlington when she won two gold medals in Beijing?
LZR
107
Worn controversially at the FINA World Championships 2009, of what material are the all-in-one swimsuits that shaved seconds off times?
Polyurethane
108
Wayne's A Pain was the winner of a Blue Peter competition to be added to which cartoon gang in 2007?
Bash Street Kids
109
Which architect started the building of St Peter's in Rome, with the work much later passing to Michaelangelo?
Bramante
110
What name was given to the 2005 Kyrgyzstan revolution?
Tulip revolution
111
To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour. Which poet?
William Blake
112
What is the name of the monastery at Mount Sinai?
St Catherine's
113
Dub Be Good to Me is based on which Clash song?
Guns of Brixton
114
On which Clash song is Stupid Girl by Garbage based?
Train in Vain
115
925 is a number associated with the purity of which metal?
Sterling silver
116
Which religion has a branch where the scriptures have a name meaning 'baskets'?
Buddhism
117
Which newspaper commissioned Stanley to find Livingstone?
New York Herald
118
What was the name of Sarah Jessica Parker's first fragrance?
Lovely
119
What item of clothing has a French bearer as a component part?
Trousers
120
Which comic book character was called the Short-Sighted Gink?
Colonel Blink
121
What kind of animal is a galliwasp?
Lizard
122
What is measured by a Mercalli scale in connection with earthquakes?
Intensity
123
In the human body, where is the canthus?
Corner of the eye
124
Diplopoda are what class of animals?
Millipedes
125
If you arrange the planets in order of size, which two are either side of Earth?
Neptune and Venus
126
Adult onset diabetes has been linked to a lack of which trace mineral, atomic number 24?
Chromium
127
In which year did Halley's Comet appear in his lifetime?
1682
128
Which moon of Uranus, named for a character in the Taming of the Shrew, also shares its name with a soap character?
Bianca
129
Harry Wheatcroft, who died in 1977, was particularly associated with which specific plant?
Roses (rose-grower)
130
Which animal has a collective term of chine and is also sometimes called a fitch?
Polecat
131
Which six-time champion jockey was tried unsuccessfully for alleged race-fixing?
Kieran Fallon
132
The Grey Cup is awarded in which team ball game?
Canadian football
133
Which Briton won 3 races in Formula 1 and also the Le Mans in 1991?
Johnny Herbert
134
Which is the first horse-racing classic of the season?
2000 Guineas
135
Who painted, among others, David Garrick, Mrs Siddons, Dr Johnson and R B Sheridan?
Thomas Gainsborough
136
When considering the real value of his wealth, which man, who died in 1937, is widely held to be the wealthiest American in the history of the United States and the world?
John D Rockefeller
137
Which philosopher (1788-1860) developed Kant's ideas and then devised a philosophy very similar to Buddhism?
Schopenhauer
138
Who was elected administrator of the Department of Paris in 1791 but was executed just over 3 years later?
Danton
139
Now Poland's fifth largest city, it is the historical capital of the Wielkopolska ("Greater Poland") region and lies on the Warta river halfway between Warsaw and Berlin. What's it called?
Poznan
140
Which two word Latin phrase means 'a papal pronouncement'?
Ex cathedra
141
Which French film-maker made Shoah, the nine and a half hour long film about the Holocaust?
Claude Lanzmann
142
Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Thousand Acres, later made into a Michelle Pfeiffer film, was a retelling of which Shakespeare play?
King Lear
143
What Greek word is used to mean the part of a play during which the main action develops?
Epitasis
144
Peregrine, Elberta and Rochester are cultivars of which fruit?
Peach
145
What is the surname of the protagonist of the Sword of Honour trilogy?
Crouchback
146
Edmund Crouchback was the second son of which English king?
Henry III
147
What is the name of the largest of many holes in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes?
Foramen magnum
148
Which river did Midas use to wash away the 'gift' of turning all to gold?
Pactolus
149
Which country did Italy try to invade in October 1940?
Greece
150
The Gemara and Mishna together make up what?
Talmud
151
What is the maximum period of imprisonment a magistrates court can pass down?
Six months
152
Tulancingo was the capital of which civilisation?
Toltec
153
Whose desire to see John the Baptist killed was behind the request that his head be served on a platter?
Herodias
154
In which year did Cleopatra commit suicide?
30BC
155
ISKCON is the full name of the organisation normally referred to as what?
Hare Krishna
156
Which theatre reopened in 1998, after being damaged in the IRA bombing of Manchester?
Royal Exchange
157
In 1241, which army sacked Krakow?
Mongol
158
Which artist's work went on display at the Royal Academy in January 1999, sparking huge demand for tickets?
Monet
159
Which English philosopher, and bishop of Peterborough from 1691 published De legibus naturae (On natural laws), propounding utilitarianism and opposing the egoistic ethics of Thomas Hobbes?
Richard Cumberland
160
Which English king was married to Elizabeth Woodville?
Edward IV
161
Before Sandhurst took over in 1947, where was the Royal Military Academy?
Woolwich
162
The name of a people, which word is missing from this epitaph relating to an incident in 480BC: 'Go, stranger, and tell the ___________ that here we lie, obedient to their commands'?
Spartans
163
The musical 'Always' is based on the relationship between which two people?
Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
164
Before buying a plot of land, which Roman poet buried a flea on it and called it a cemetary, to avoid tax?
Virgil
165
Which European country has no currency of its own, therefore using the Euro, although it is not in the EU?
Montenegro
166
The Grandmaster's Palace is the presidential residence of which EU member state?
Malta
167
What was the name of the worm that attacked Facebook in 2008, its name an anagram of that site's name?
Koobface
168
Which city is home to the world's most northerly metro system?
Helsinki
169
Which fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an elaborate hoax, but not before it had beaten Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte?
The Turk
170
Which mathematical problem involves a knight on a chessboard? The knight is placed on the empty board and, moving according to the rules of chess, must visit each square exactly once.
The Knight's Tour
171
Who was the first Briton to reach the summit of K2 in 1986, but died on the return journey?
Alan Rouse
172
Which scallop dredger sank with the loss of seven lives off the Isle of Man in January 2000?
Solway Harvester
173
In which year did the Gaul sink?
1974
174
Who was the first black person to own a Savile Row tailor's shop?
Andrew Ramroop
175
Difficult to stage, Catalini's opera La Waly has a memorable death, where the heroine dies in what?
An avalanche
176
It centred on Molly Robertson-Kirk and was an early example of a novel with a female detective. Who wrtoe Lady Molly of Scotland Yard?
Baroness Orczy
177
What is the title of the so far unreleased 14 minute long experimental Beatles track?
Carnival of Light
178
Directed by Barry Levinson, which 1984 film with Robert Redford and Glenn Close was based on the 1952 Bernard Malamud novel of the same name?
The Natural
179
Which body of water connects Rob Roy MacGregor and Scott's Lady of the Lake?
Loch Katrine
180
Scoop, Match Point, and Cassandra's Dream (which starred Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell) are which director's London Trilogy?
Woody Allen
181
In 2010, who was announced as the winner of the TS Eliot prize for poetry for his collection 'The Water Table' about the Severn Estuary?
Philip Gross
182
All That Fall is a one-act radio play, his first, by which writer produced following a request from the BBC? It was written in English and completed in September 1956.
Samuel Beckett
183
Who wrote Tom's Midnight Garden?
Philippa Pearce
184
What is the name of the largest media conglomerate in India, that now owns Absolute radio?
The Times Group
185
Who directed the video for Thriller?
John Landis
186
Who has been portrayed on the big screen more than anyone else- 70 different actors have played the role?
Sherlock Holmes
187
Alexandra Burke was beaten to the number one slot on Star For a Night aged 12 by which singer?
Joss Stone
188
Which Austrian psychologist coined the word 'lifestyle'?
Alfred Alder
189
What is the name of the process in which a three-dimensional artistic composition is made from putting together found objects?
Assemblage
190
As with the burning of the Reichstag by 'communists', what name is given to covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities?
False flag operations
191
What was the magazine GP known as until 1957?
Apparel Arts
192
When fresh, what should a pear do in water?
Sink
193
At what age can kids in the UK legally be given alcohol at home?
Five
194
About how many UK police officers have died in the line of duty since the c17?
1600
195
In which decade were fixed penalty notices introduced into Britain to deal with minor parking offences?
1950s
196
Gay-Lussac's laws concern the properties of what?
Gases
197
In meteorology, what name is given to an observable shaft of precipitation reaching down from a cloud that evaporates before reaching the ground?
Virga
198
With the atomic number 23, which toxic, soft, silvery-grey, ductile transition metal is used in alloys?
Vanadium
199
Which effect describes the explusion of a magnetic field from a superconductor and is the reason that magnets levitate over a superconductor?
Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect
200
To which family of trees do junipers belong?
Cypress
201
Monte Rosa is the highest in Switzerland but is also sometimes called what?
Dufourspitze
202
If plant cell walls contain cellulose, what do fungal cell walls contain?
Chitin
203
The Babcock test is used to determine the fat content of what?
Milk
204
Which Danish botanist, 1841-1924, was one of the main founding fathers of ecology?
Eugen Warming
205
Typically used as a solder, what do we call a fusible alloy of 50% bismuth, 25-28% lead and 22-25% tin?
Rose metal
206
Technically, what meteorological phenomenon is a monsoon?
A wind
207
What name was given to weights used by long-jumpers in Ancient Greece to improve their distance?
Halteres
208
The Superga Air Disaster of 1949 killed most of which football team?
Torino
209
Which type of exercise training is designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in sports?
Plyometrics
210
Until 2009, Bill Frindall was the president of British Blind Sport. Who is now the president?
Sally Gunnell
211
Which then Blackburn Rovers player was invited onto the flight deck to deal with his fear of flying- but the airline then sacked the pilot involved?
Robbie Savage
212
Also the name of a ballroom dancing style, what name is given to a smooth gait in which a horse seems to be walking with its front legs and trotting with the hind?
Foxtrot
213
In England, there are perhaps 500,000 people infected with chronic __________, of which perhaps 100,000 don't know they have it. What can be successfully treated with pegylated interferon?
Hepatitis
214
What is the name of the panel of football referees to officiate matches in the Premier League?
Select Group
215
Who made history in 2008 by becoming the first female jockey to ride 100 winners in a year?
Hayley Turner
216
Which British boxer defeated Jose Luis Castillo in June 2007, putting him on the canvas for the first time in his career?
Ricky Hatton
217
Which song did Barry McGuigan's father Pat sing before his son's fights (he was a singer who had represented Ireland in the 1968 Eurovision song contest)?
Danny Boy
218
Barry McGuigan won a WBA world featherweight title when he defeated which opponent who was making his 20th title defence at Loftus Road in 1985?
Eusebio Pedroza
219
What is the nickname of Irish cricket fans?
Blarney Army
220
Featherstone Rovers RLFC play at which stadium, previously names the Chris Moyles Stadium for sponsorship purposes?
Post Office Road
221
In which country did Go originate?
China
222
At which stadium in Newcastle does greyhound racing and speedway take place?
Brough Park
223
Who won the inaugural World Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in 2007, beating Pakistan in the final?
India
224
Which is the oldest continuously run professional American football club in the USA?
Arizona Cardinals
225
How many hurdles in a 400m hurdles race?
Ten
226
When is International Women's Day?
8th March
227
Which Gibraltar-born fashion designer has worked for Dior and Givenchy?
John Galliano
228
Born Boston, MA in 1970, she had a Buddhist upbringing, a Swedish mother called Nena von Schlebrugg, and has brothers called Ganden, Dechen and Mipam. Who?
Uma Thurman
229
Which creature, mentioned in poems by Robert Herrick and Walter de la Mare, gives out a luminous signal to attract mates?
Glow-worm
230
Which bomber was used in the Dambusters raids?
Avro Lancaster
231
What is the name of Willy Nelson's guitar?
Trigger
232
In mountaineering and orology, what is the proper name for scree?
Talus
233
Mullet is the boss of which TV detective?
Jack Frost
234
Who became associated with the song 'You Made Me Love You' after she performed it in the film Broadway Melody of 1938, addressed to Clark Gable?
Judy Garland
235
In boxing, what name is given to an illegal punch to the base of the neck?
Rabbit punch
236
In Great Expectations, how does Mr Wemmick describe his elderly father, to whom he is devoted?
The Aged P
237
Robert Aldrich directed which early film treatment of lesbianism in 1968 that starred Beryl Reid?
The Killing of Sister George
238
Focusing on strategy games, which software company was founded in 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds when they left Microprose?
Firaxis
239
Pingpong, double tenor, guitar, cello and bass are all varieties of which musical instrument that originated in Trinidad?
Steel drums
240
The Bacara factory, founded in 1764, produces which kind of tableware?
Crystal
241
The Hindu Times is the opening track on which Oasis album?
Heathen Chemistry
242
Who was the first Children's Laureate?
Quentin Blake
243
Name both tunnels under the Mersey linking Liverpool with Birkenhead.
Kingsway and Queensway
244
Which university term literally means 'with living voice'?
Viva voce
245
Bismarck said that German involvement in which troubled bit of Europe was not work the bones of a single healthy Pomeranian grenadier?
The Balkans
246
Which operation transformed the Long Parliament into the Rump Parliament?
Pride's Purge
247
In a Frank Sinatra song, which city is 'that toddling town'?
Chicago
248
Commonly misidentified as a synonym for whitlow or felon, what disease is an often-tender bacterial or fungal hand infection or foot infection where the nail and skin meet at the side or the base of a finger or toenail?
Paronychia
249
Lara's theme was part of the score for which 1965 Oscar winning film?
Doctor Zhivago
250
In 1929 Prince George became the president of which sporting club, with the position still filled by a member of his family?
All England Tennis Club, Wimbledon
251
Whose Adoration of the Magi hangs in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge?
Rubens
252
Which prefix used in ecclesiastical titles comes from the Greek for Chief?
Arch-
253
What did De Gaulle say was too serious a matter to leave to politicians?
Politics
254
Which researcher at UCL in the early c20 created the first ever electrical valve?
Sir John Ambrose Fleming
255
In which city did Charles Parsons invent the electrical turbine?
Newcastle upon Tyne
256
Which Briton, later executed by the Nazis, won the first ever Monaco GP?
William Grover-Williams
257
Which Ivory Coast player was left paralysed due to a freak injury against Tonga in the 1995 Rugby World Cup?
Max Brito
258
Which leisure activity often benefits from feedback supplied by 'haptic peripherals'?
Video gaming (e.g. the 'vibrate' function on consoles)
259
Who wrote the cricket-based novels Bonaventure and The Flashing Blade?
David Gower
260
Which biennial sporting competition was instituted by Sir Myles Wyatt in 1957?
Admiral's Cup
261
USA PGA winner in 1991 and Open champion in 1995, which arkansas goldfer released a country and western album including the song 'All My Exes Wear Rolexes'?
John Daly
262
Which was the first horse ever (in 2009) to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup?
Kauto Star
263
Also dubbed the Viet Gwent, what was the better known name of the sporting collective whose motto was 'we may go down, we may go up, but we never go back'?
The Pontypool front row
264
Which rugby club in the Scottish borders in 2002/3 won a treble comprising the Borders League, Scottish League and Tennet's Scottish Cup?
Hawick
265
Which bagpipe song is only ever performed by pipers at funerals or memorial services, with them even only practicing it in private?
Flowers of the Forest
266
From the Latin for rod, which instrument is used as a cane for hitting pupils in Jesuit schools?
Ferula
267
Which film, his last in Britain, did Hitchcok return to London to film in the early 1970s, with a climax in Covent Garden flower market?
Frenzy
268
Which screenwriter, who died in 2009, links Z Cars, The Italian Job, Reilly, Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness?
Troy Kennedy Martin
269
Tales of an Accelerated Culture was the subtitle of which seminal 1990s book?
Generation X
270
Which musician's real name is Brian Robson Rankin?
Hank Marvin
271
Hank Marvin chose his surname in tribute to which part Native American singer/songwriter?
Marvin Rainwater
272
The Casa das Historias in Cascais, Portugal, is a gallery entirely dedicated to whose work?
Paula Rego
273
John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing was set on which of the world's continents?
Antarctica
274
What were the surnames of Julie and Julia in the Meryl Streep film in real life?
Julia Child (TV cook), Julie Powell (cooked her recipes)
275
In The Portrait of Dorien Gray, who tempts Dorien into living a debauched lifestyle?
Lord Henry Wootton
276
Reputedly, Barack Obama's first date with Michelle was to go to see which film?
Do The Right Thing
277
In 2009, Ruth Reed became the first ever female President of which British organisation?
RIBA
278
In 2009, Johnny Marr joined which much younger indie rock band?
The Cribs
279
Who wrote in 2009 The Audacity of Hype?
Armando Iannuci
280
Name all three of the childrens/adult's writing Iggulden brothers.
Con, Hal and David
281
Who co-founded the Leeds international piano festival and wrote a number of 'teach yourself piano' books in the 1980s?
Fanny Waterman
282
With his brother David, who directed Gimme Shelter, showing the Altamont riot?
Albert Maysles
283
What is the name for a saddlecloth that goes underneath a horse's saddle?
Numnah
284
Originating in Trinidad, soca music is actually an acronym. What does soca stand for?
Soul Calypso
285
She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore may in fact be a reference to which historical character?
Mary Anning
286
Who won an Oscar for the music for The Way We Were, as well as writing Nobody Does It Better?
Marvin Hamlisch
287
Who writes crime novels as Benjamin Black but writes other novels under his real name?
John Banville
288
Ansuman Biswas in 2009 spent 40 days and nights alone in the gothic tower of which city's museum? (He styled himself the ________Hermit)
Manchester
289
As well as murals by Rothko, the Seagram restaurant included a stage curtain painted by whom?
Picasso
290
In Manchester, what is the MOSI?
Museum of Science and Industry
291
Which American poet coined the term Vorticism?
Ezra Pound
292
Meaning ‘all seas’, what was the name of the vast global ocean that surrounded the Pangaea supercontinent, during the Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras?
Panthalassa
293
Which country won each of the first two World Championships in the sport of kabaddi, held in 2004 and 2007, beating Iran in the final on both occasions?
India
294
The nine lyric poets of ancient Greece were Alcman, Sappho, Alcaeus, Anacreon Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, Bacchylides and which other poet, perhaps the greatest of them all, whose name has survived in an eponymous style of ode consisting of a series of triads in which the strophe and antistrophe have the same stanza form and the epode has a different form?
Pindar
295
Ruling from 1192 until 1199, who was the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate and the first shogun of Japan?
Minamoto (no Yoritomo)
296
Which is the world’s only city from which you can legally fly to the South Pole?
Christchurch
297
Also a nickname applied to Nelson Mandela, Madiba is the isibongo (or honorary title), given to the kings of which South African dynasty or clan?
Thembu
298
The cochonnet is the name given to the jack in which sport or game that originated in southern France in 1907 and has a name meaning ‘feet together’ in Occitan?
Petanque
299
Known as ‘The Mother of the Blues’, Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett was one of the earliest recording blues artists and was a huge influence on later blues stars such as Bessie Smith. Early in her career, she travelled with a vaudeville troupe known as the Rabbit Foot Minstrels before meeting her husband, whose surname she would take during her most successful years. By what stage-name is this singer, born in 1886, remembered today?
Ma Rainey
300
Which letter of the alphabet needs to be added to the end of the surname of the official war painter to Napoleon to give the surname of a 20th Century German artist known for his savage caricatures of life in Berlin between the wars?
Z (Gros and Grosz)
301
Which mythical ship in Norse mythology was captained by Hyrm?
Naglfar (Nail ship)
302
Which two cities (for half a mark each) are home to the largest number of native speakers of Galego?
Vigo and La Coruña (or A Coruña)
303
Alexander the Great is said to have ordered that the shrine of Asclepios be razed to the ground after the death of which of his generals, and probable lover, in Ecbatana in 324BC?
Hephaestion
304
Severny and Yuzhny, separated by the narrow Matochkin Strait, are the two main islands of which Russian archipelago that forms the boundary between the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea?
Novaya Zemlya
305
A Compás! and Azahara are two of the albums released by which Spanish guitarist, born in Córdoba in 1942, who founded the world's first university course on flamenco guitar?
Paco Peña
306
Known as ‘The Father of Modern China’, which revolutionary and political leader became, in 1912, the first provisional President of the Republic of China and co-founded the Kuomintang (the Chinese Nationalist Party)?
Sun Yat-sen
307
Located on the Andriyivskyy Descent, a street described in detail in his novel The White Guard, a museum dedicated to the life of which author was opened in Kiev on 15th May 1991, the 100th anniversary of his birth?
Mikhail Bulgakov
308
Teleny, or, The Reverse of the Medal is a pornographic, homoerotic novel set in fin-de-siècle Paris and published anonymously in 1893. It is believed that the novel was written collaboratively by a number of minor Victorian authors under the guidance of whom?
Oscar Wilde
309
What is the Japanese name given to the ring in which sumo wrestling bouts are held?
Dohyō
310
Which Maya city, its name thought to mean ‘Built Three Times’, was founded in around 500 AD by Hun Uitzil Chac Tutul Xiu and ruled over by the Xiu family for many generations until they moved their capital to Maní in the 13th Century?
Uxmal
311
What was the ‘great’ claim to fame of Sandy Allen, who died in August 2008?
She was the world’s tallest woman
312
Which English word, meaning ‘tangible currency’, was also the name of the chief Chinese currency denomination prior to the introduction of the yuan in the late 19th century?
Cash
313
Under UK chart rules, what is the maximum duration for a song if it is to be permitted as a ‘single’?
40 minutes
314
In which modern-day capital city was Mother Teresa of Calcutta born in 1910?
Skopje
315
What was the name of Electra's husband?
Pylades
316
How are the religious terms Kam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh and Ahankar collectively known?
Five Thieves (or Five Evils) of Sikhism
317
At 5,300 years old, he is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy. He was discovered in 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. Although he is sometimes referred to as Frozen Fritz or the Similaun man, his most common nickname is taken from the mountain range in the central Alps in which he was discovered. What is that nickname?
Ötzi (the Iceman)
318
Which family, whose name derives from the Italian for ‘force’, virtually ruled Milan from 1450 until 1535?
Sforza
319
Now best known as a judge on the hit TV show American Idol, which Grammy Award-winning record producer and musician was the bass guitarist with the rock group Journey between 1986 and 1987?
Randy Jackson
320
Walt Whitman’s famous poem O Captain! My Captain contains the lines: But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. To whom was the poem dedicated?
Abraham Lincoln
321
The most famous example being the coelacanth, what Biblical name is given to a taxon that disappears from one or more periods of the fossil record and is therefore presumed to have become extinct, only for it to reappear later?
Lazarus taxon
322
Which Greek poet, also the author of the 1904 work Waiting for the Barbarians, is, perhaps, best remembered for the 1911 poem Ithaca, which affirms the enjoyment of the journey of life using the Homeric return journey of Odysseus to his home island as its inspiration?
Constantine P. Cavafy
323
Whose childhood was explored in the 2007 Kazakhstani film Mongol, directed by Sergei Bodrov and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film?
Ghenghis Khan
324
Which 1942 battle, famous for its so-called ‘Death March’, saw the single largest surrender of an American military force in U.S. history?
Battle of Bataan
325
His last film role saw him star alongside Rex Harrison in the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle and he is scheduled to publish his first (ghost-written) autobiography later in 2008. Who is this reclusive Hollywood star, born in Liberia in 1932?
Jiggs (aka Cheeta The Chimp)
326
It shares its name with a small phallic male creature from Greek myth, a metrical foot used in poetry, and the moveable part of a crustacean’s pincer. Imaged orbiting 243 Ida by the Galileo spacecraft in 1993, what is the name of the first discovered asteroid moon?
Dactyl
327
What name is given in many countries around the world, including in the USA and the UK, to the reality television show that was first aired in Sweden in 1997 as Expedition: Robinson?
Survivor
328
In Russia, ice hockey is known as xоккей с шайбой (literally, ‘hockey with puck’). Which sport, also extremely popular in Russia, is known as xоккей с мячом (‘hockey with ball’)?
Bandy
329
In 1962, which American singer and actor (then 59) became the first person to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award?
Bing Crosby
330
Which series of wars, fought between 1419 and 1434, are named after a Bohemian religious thinker, philosopher and reformer whose execution on 6th July 1415 is still commemorated as a public holiday in the Czech Republic?
Hussite Wars
331
What was the name of the Faroe Islands goalkeeper who wore a bobble hat?
Jens Martin Knudsen
332
The youngest person ever to give birth, for which there is verifiable medical evidence, is a Peruvian girl named Lina Medina who gave birth at what age? (Just a year needed)
Five
333
Le sang d'un poète (1930), Orphée (1950) and Le testament d'Orphée (1960) were the three films in the Orphic Trilogy of which surrealist filmmaker?
Jean Cocteau
334
The Drake equation, named after the American astronomer and astrophysicist who devised it in 1960, is an equation used to estimate the number of what in our galaxy?
Extraterrestrial civilisations
335
Often more noticeable when you are hungry, borborygmus is the medical name for what?
Stomach rumbling
336
What does Amazon literally mean?
Without breast
337
Created by Craig McCracken, a student of the California Institute of the Arts, in 1992, what collective name is given to Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup?
The Powerpuff Girls
338
The Cave of the Patriarchs is a series of subterranean caves located in a compound in which ancient Middle Eastern city?
Hebron
339
It is said to be the world’s most remote archipelago and in 1811 it was named the Islands of Refreshment by its self-proclaimed ruler and first permanent settler, Jonathan Lambert. Where?
Tristan da Cunha
340
What is the famous distinction of Raoul le Fevre’s courtly romance Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye?
It was the first book printed in English
341
It is the largest American fraternity both in terms of pledges and annual initiates and was founded in 1869 by five students at the University of Virginia. What is the name of this fraternity whose members are taught to live their lives by the Star and Crescent?
Kappa Sigma
342
What's French for the tooth fairy?
La Petite Souris
343
What colour jersey is awarded to the leader of the King of the Mountains category at the Giro d'Italia?
Green
344
Sanssouci, the former summer palace of Frederick the Great in Potsdam, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. However, a palace with the almost identical name of Sans-Souci was designated as a World Heritage Site way back in 1982. Built between 1810 and 1813 for King Henri Christophe, in which country could you find the San-Souci Palace?
Haiti
345
This word refers to the Hindu place of torment, mentioned in the dharmaśāstras, itihāsas and Purānas and is similar to the Judeo-Christian concept of Hell. It is also the name given to the subterranean purgatory of Buddhist cosmology. Which word, literally meaning ‘of man’ in Sanskrit, is this?
Naraka
346
Which large island marks the eastern limit of the Gulf of Tonkin?
Hainan
347
The Latvian Maris Strombergs won the gold medal in which event at the Beijing Olympic Games earlier this year, the first time the event had been contested at the Olympics?
(Men’s) BMX
348
How are the stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka collectively known?
Orion’s Belt
349
Born in 1844, which Russian composer, a famous sufferer of synesthesia, was the youngest of the group known as The Five?
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
350
The Olympic high jumper, discus thrower and middle-distance runner Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala invented which sport, similar to baseball, that is now often referred to as the national sport of Finland?
Pesäpallo
351
Who was the lead singer of Talk Talk, who shared his surname with a famous head of MI5?
Mark Hollis
352
Nicknamed the Lion of Mali and ruling from 1312 until 1337, which Emperor of the Mali Empire is best remembered for his hajj of 1324, during which he gave out so much gold to the people of Cairo that it reportedly took 12 years for the city’s economy to recover?
Mansa Musa
353
Most quizzers will tell you with some certainty that osmium is the densest of all elements. However, calculations of density from the space lattice suggest that this is possibly not the case. Which metallic element, with the atomic number 77 and used as a hardening agent for platinum, is quite probably denser?
Iridium
354
Better remembered today as the namesake of something worn by certain males, which American was appointed as the first President of the National Rifle Association at its inception in 1871?
Ambrose Burnside
355
Having become, in 2003, the first Official Outfitter of Wimbledon, which clothing company was the official apparel sponsor of the 2008 U.S. Open and also won the contract to outfit the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team?
Polo (Ralph Lauren)
356
What is the name of the family whose history is told in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude?
Buendía
357
A ditloid is a type of word puzzle in which a name, phrase or quote must be deduced from the numbers and abbreviated letters in the clue. The name is taken from an early ditloid clue, 1 DitLoID. Which novel, first published in 1962, was the answer to the clue?
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
358
The first person known to have converted to Islam, who was the first wife of Muhammad?
Khadijah
359
The Puerto Rican dice game Generala was the inspiration for which popular game, originally made by Milton Bradley, the object of which is to score as near to 375 points as possible by rolling five dice to make certain combinations?
Yahtzee
360
Which actress, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as the title character in the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve, was the first person to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
Joanne Woodward
361
Which animal's name repeated eight times in a row can, as proved by Steven Pinker in The Language Instinct, form a grammatical sentence?
Buffalo
362
Nicknamed ‘the Spanish Caravaggio’, which artist, born in Extremadura in 1598, is best known for his paintings of monks, nuns and martyrs, such as Saint Francis of Assisi and his great altarpiece of Saint Thomas Aquinas?
Francisco de Zurbarán
363
Founded in Crusinallo in 1921, which Italian kitchenware company’s most famous products include Michael Graves' kettle with a bird shaped whistle and Philippe Starck's three-legged Juicy Salif lemon squeezer?
Alessi
364
The Spanish Armada, that sailed against England in 1588, was famously led by Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, the Duke of Medina Sidonia. But which two military men, for half a point each, led the English Armada that was sent towards Spain the following year?
Francis Drake and John Norreys (or Norris)
365
Which word, derived from Arabic, is the title of a famous musical, a game played with dice and a Marvel Comics superheroine?
Kismet
366
W.E.B. DuBois, Alain Locke and James Weldon Johnson were major figures in which Black American intellectual and artistic movement, that flourished in the ten years or so between the end of the First World War and the start of the Great Depression?
Harlem Renaissance
367
First broadcast in November 1947 and still going strong today, which American news programme, produced by NBC, is the world’s longest-running television show of all time?
Meet the Press
368
Which vaccine, first used in humans in 1921, was developed by, and named after, the French bacteriologist Albert Calmette and veterinarian Camille Guérin?
BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin)
369
In August 2008, which South African cricketer, who made his Test debut as a 20-year old in 2004, claimed the record for playing in the most Test innings (76) without ever being dismissed for a duck?
A.B. de Villiers
370
Sometimes described as the world’s first modern scientist, which Iraqi Muslim scientist wrote the seven-volume Book of Optics (1011-1021) and created the first working camera obscura?
Ibn al-Haytham (or Alhazen)
371
What would you expect to find between a plastron and a carapace?
A tortoise or turtle
372
Unveiled this year, what type of creature is Zakumi, the official mascot of the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa?
Leopard
373
The name of which armed militia is Arabic for the Devil on Horseback?
Janjaweed
374
Stephen Fry's 2003 film Bright Young Things was a screen adaptation of which of Evelyn Waugh's novels?
Vile Bodies
375
His great size was a result of a rare hormonal condition known as acromegaly and, in 1974, he was offered a professional American football contract with the Washington Redskins. However, he turned it down to concentrate on his career as a professional wrestler and, upon his retirement in 1991, he was remembered as one of the WWF’s greatest ever stars. Who is this wrester who also appeared in the films Conan the Destroyer (1984) and The Princess Bride (1987)?
André Roussimoff (or André the Giant)
376
Sabir was a pidgin language that was used in the Mediterranean Basin between the 11th and 19th centuries. It was more commonly known by what name that has now become a generic term referring to any language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers?
Lingua Franca
377
After a severe nervous breakdown in 1841 that led to his descent into complete insanity, the French Romantic poet Gérard de Nerval became something of a laughing stock when he began taking his pet for walks around Paris on the end of a blue ribbon. Claiming that they are "peaceful, serious creatures, who know the secrets of the sea, and don't bark”, what type of creature was his pet?
Lobster
378
Ray Smith, the narrator, and Japhy Murphy are the central characters in which 1958 Jack Kerouac novel that gives a semi-fictional account of the events that occurred in the years after On the Road?
The Dharma Bums
379
Graça Simbine is the only woman to have been married to the presidents of two different nations. To which two presidents, for half a point each, has she been married?
Samora Machel and Nelson Mandela
380
With nine titles, who is the most successful non-American golfer of all time in terms of wins at the four majors?
Gary Player
381
The only natural predator of skunks are which birds, who lack a sense of smell?
Great horned owls
382
Scuderia Toro Rosso is a Formula One racing team owned in a 50/50 partnership between the drinks company Red Bull and which former F1 driver?
Gerhard Berger
383
Most associated with Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland and Hole’s Courtney Love, what portmanteau name is given to the image used by certain female punk bands of the early 1990s that typically consisted of torn, cleavage-exposing babydoll dresses, heavy makeup and leather Mary-Jane shoes?
Kinderwhore
384
Which professional basketball team, who play their home matches at Madison Square Garden, are the most valuable basketball franchise in the NBA, valued at approximately $608 million?
New York Knickerbockers
385
In August 2008, who became the first female tennis player to have attained the World Number 1 ranking without previously having reached a Grand Slam final?
Jelena Janković
386
What name is shared by a Filipino snack consisting of a fried spring roll filled with plantain and jackfruit and dipped in brown sugar and a Spanish nougat-like confectionary item typically made from honey, sugar, egg whites and almonds?
Turrón
387
This cave and its Upper Palaeolithic paintings were discovered in 1879 by the amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola after he was led there by his young daughter. What is the name of this Spanish cave that lies 30 kilometres west of Santander?
Altamira
388
Consisting of a number of small to medium sized South American armoured catfish, members of the genus Penaque are unique in that they are the only known fish to feed extensively on what?
Wood
389
First airing in September 2000, which MTV reality television show features tours of the houses and mansions of celebrities?
(MTV) Cribs
390
Referring to a prehistoric fable, in which observations of lions rolling stones are said to have led to the invention of the wheel, ‘The Lion and Stone’ is the logo of which car manufacturer?
Holden
391
Which logic puzzle, that takes its name from an abbreviation of a Japanese phrase meaning ‘addition cross’, usually consists of a 16x16 grid of filled and empty cells, the filled cells containing a diagonal slash from upper-left to lower-right and a number in one or both halves, such that each horizontal entry has a number in the black half-cell to its immediate left and each vertical entry has a number in the black half-cell immediately above it?
Kakuro
392
Which American singer, recently a judge on the reality television show Rock the Cradle, began her career as drummer for the punk band The Germs, using the name Dottie Danger?
Belinda Carlisle
393
Which is the largest island in the Galapagos?
Isabela
394
Dear Fredward Lynn was introduced in 1999 as the brother of which fictional character and global trademark, created in 1974 by the Japanese company Sanrio?
Hello Kitty
395
Designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and sculpted by Aimé Millet, a seven-metre high statue was erected in 1865 upon the orders of Napoleon III on the supposed site of the Battle of Alesia and still stands there to this day. Which Averni chieftain and French folk hero does it depict?
Vercingetorix
396
Dedicated to Quetzalcoatl and also known by the Nahuatl name Tlachihualtepetl, meaning ‘artificial mountain’, which huge complex located in the Mexican state of Puebla is, with a total volume of 4.45 million m³, not only the world’s largest pyramid but also the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world?
Great Pyramid of Cholula
397
According to singer Steven Tyler, Aerosmith’s 1987 hit single Dude (Looks Like a Lady) was inspired by the physical appearance of Vince Neil, the lead singer with which American glam metal band?
Mötley Crüe
398
The popular board game Ludo originated as a simplified version of which Indian game in which players move around a board shaped like a symmetrical cross by throwing cowrie shells rather than dice?
Pachisi (or Parcheesi)
399
Albrecht Altdorfer’s 1529 masterpiece shows a large banner hanging down from the sky. It contains a Latin text that translates into English as: Alexander the Great defeating the last Darius, after 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalrymen had been killed amongst the ranks of the Persians. Whilst King Darius was able to flee with no more than 1,000 horsemen, his mother, wife, and children were taken prisoner.Which battle does the painting depict?
Battle of Issus
400
In 2008, Princess Peach entered Forbes Wealthiest Fictional People list, with a fortune upwards of $1 billion. She is the heir to the throne of which country, whose capital is at Toad Town?
Mushroom Kingdom
401
The 'scribe harpsichord' was an early version of which household machine?
Typewriter
402
Which WW2 film, based on a book by Graham Greene, is about German paratroopers taking over an English village?
Went The Day Well
403
Which was the first of the United States to give women the vote?
Wyoming (The Equality State)
404
In mathematics, what name is given to three topological circles which are linked and form a Brunnian link, i.e., removing any ring results in two unlinked rings? They are sometimes found in heraldry.
Borromean rings
405
What is a modern collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean near Europe and North Africa belonging to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde?
Macaronesia
406
Which point on Mount Stanley, in the Rwenzori Mountains on the DRC/Uganda border, is the highest point in Africa outside Kenya and Tanzania?
Margherita Peak
407
Which Egyptian city gives its name to the lifelike portraits on wooden panel that are the only ones of their type to have survived from the Roman era?
Faiyum
408
Which is the highest point in Western Europe outside France or Switzerland?
Gran Paradiso, Italy
409
Which country has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other?
Italy
410
The tomb of which Biblical matriarch was at the centre of a dispute in October 2010 over whether it should be an Israeli or Palestinian World Heritage Site?
Rachel
411
What was declared the first ever World Heritage Site in 1978?
Galapagos Islands
412
As well as Dresden, which is the only other World Heritage Site to be delisted?
Arabian Oryx Sanctuary, Oman
413
Which Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science, among whose discoveries was the atmosphere of Venus, gives his name to an ocean ridge disputed between Russia and the West because it lies beneath the North Pole ice?
Mikhail Lomonosov
414
Meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, it is a natural site in Denizli Province in south-western Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, which are terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water?
Pamukkale
415
This genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), commonly known as sweetleaf or sugarleaf, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sweetener and sugar substitute, it has been used in Japan for decades but is banned in some other countries?
Stevia
416
Okiato was which country's first capital city, in 1840?
New Zealand
417
Which is the highest point in the USA outside Alaska and California?
Mount Elbert
418
Who was the coach of the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics, dying in 2009?
Chuck Daly
419
This small Bavarian town is famous for the Gnadenkapelle (Chapel of the Miraculous Image), one of the most-visited shrines in Germany. This is a tiny octagonal chapel which keeps a venerated statue of the Virgin Mary?
Altotting
420
Name this ancient flute-like wind instrument, an oval-shaped enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is often ceramic, but other materials may also be used?
Ocarina
421
What is the Chinese equivalent of the ocarina, looking very similar indeed?
Xun
422
Which theremin-like instrument was invented by, and named for, a French instrument manufacturer?
Ondes Martinot
423
What is the longest river in Chile?
Loa
424
What is the name of the straits that effectively divide Lake Titicaca into two bodies of water?
Strait of Tiquina
425
Which Argentinian city in the Andes foothills is close to the Cerro Catedral ski area but also famous for its chocolate?
San Carlos de Bariloche
426
Which is the highest tepui in South America, was the inspiration for Conan Doyle's The Lost World and is where the borders of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet?
Roraima
427
What name is given to the wide grasslands of Western Venezuela and eastern Colombia?
Llanos
428
Which lake in Colombia where local Indians threw in gold as tributes to the gods was one of the main sources for the legend of El Dorado?
Lake Guatavita
429
The Polish glacier provides one of the more challenging routes up which mountain?
Aconcagua
430
On which arid peninsula is Punta Gallinas, the northernmost point of mainland South America?
Guajira
431
What name is given to the high treeless plateau in Bolivia that extends into Peru?
Altiplano
432
The name of which plant of the primrose family comes from the old Enlgish for cattle dung because it grows in well-manured fields?
Cowslip
433
What was the name of the Catherine Cookson family with a streak of white in their hair?
Mallon
434
What type of animal was Brumas, born in 1949 at London Zoo and named after her keepers, Bruce and Sam?
Polar bear
435
The name of which precious stone comes from the Greek for 'fingernail' or 'claw'?
Onyx
436
What was the name of the Laurel and Hardy short film in which our heroes tried to take a piano upstairs?
Music Box
437
In which Yorkshire Dale are Reeth, Gunnerside and Muker?
Swaledale
438
Whose first portrayal of Hercule Poirot was in the 1978 film Death on the Nile?
Peter Ustinov
439
Where is the HQ of the Royal Yacht Squadron?
Cowes
440
What do you get for winning the French Open men's singles?
The Coupe des Mousquetaires
441
The actress Jill Balcon who died in 2009 was the second wife of which Poet Laureate?
Cecil Day Lewis
442
In Norse mythology, who was the mother of Baldur, sometimes identified as the goddess of love?
Frigga
443
Which volcano has the local name 'Montebello', meaning 'beautiful mountain'?
Etna
444
Whose 1975 album Diamonds and Rust was about her relationship with Bob Dylan in the 1960s?
Joan Baez
445
Which TV series was created by Lavinia Warner after researching Japanese POW camps for This Is Your Life?
Tenko
446
In which play do we find the Surface family and Sir Peter Teazle?
Sheridan's School for Scandal
447
The northern goshawk and which other bird are the only true hawks that breed in Britain?
Sparrowhawk
448
Which taxonomic category's name is the Greek for 'tribe' or 'race'?
Phylum
449
The word Shia, as in Islam, is a shortened form of what phrase in Arabic?
Party of Ali
450
What was the name of Louis XV's last mistress, guillotined in 1793?
Comtesse de Barri
451
In which English city does the Whittle Arch commemorate Sir Frank Whittle?
Coventry
452
Soft ginger biscuits from Nuremburg called Lebkuchen are served at what time of year?
Christmas
453
As well as the Damned United and the Tokyo Trilogy, David Peace is famous for writing which quartet of books?
Red Riding
454
What is the real name of thriller writer Jack Higgins (aged 80)?
Harry Patterson
455
Which lesbian novellist's long-term companion was Penelope Jardine?
Muriel Spark
456
Who writes the Jack Reacher novels?
Lee Child
457
Reputed by some to be the worst film ever made, in America it has become a cult success: fans see it regularly - shouting their favourite bad lines in unison, or throwing objects at the screen. What's this 2003 movie called?
The Room
458
Which American thriller writerhas created a fictional blog - The Chilton Report - with online clues to accompany his latest thriller featuring Special Agent Kathryn Dance?
Jeffery Deaver
459
Who transformed a derelict flat in a run-down council block in south-east London into a blue cave, using 75,000 litres of copper sulphate solution. The resulting artwork was Seizure?
Roger Hiorns
460
Who was David Hockney's muse and Ossie Clarke's partner?
Celia Birtwell
461
In which city was Noel Gallagher attacked by a fan during an Oasis concert in 2008?
Toronto
462
Which series follows the story of Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress who finds herself drawn to one of her customers: ex-civil war soldier and now vampire, Bill Crompton?
True Blood
463
Which man created some of the earliest maps of the moon and may have introduced the potato to England?
Thomas Harriot
464
TS Eliot wrote most of The Waste Land in a beach shelter in which seaside resort?
Margate
465
Which young actor starred in the 2009 film drama Moon?
Sam Rockwell
466
What was the name of the chart-bothering Rory Bremner cricket-themed spoof song?
N-n-nineteen not out by The Commentators
467
Which BAFTA-award winning Jimmy McGovern drama explores the lives behind different closed doors on the same street somewhere in the North West of England?
The Street
468
Which monument in London was designed by Andrew Groarke and Kevin Carmody?
The 7th July memorial
469
In 2009, at the Manchester Velodrome, a quartet of British Olympic gold-medal winning cyclists rode round the track while which band played their song Tour de France?
Kraftwerk
470
Beardyman is a British musician in which unusual genre?
Beatboxing
471
Which classic Nina Bawden novel was based on her own experiences of being evacuated to a Welsh mining village during WWII?
Carrie's War
472
Geraldine McCaughrean in 2009 was appointed the official author of the sequels to which literary classic?
Peter Pan
473
Which author is well known for his controversial novels for young adults, including Junk and Doing It, which feature drug taking and underage sex. His latest novel, Nicholas Dane, is no exception: a modern-day take on Dickens' Oliver Twist which exposes the brutal sexual abuse that took place in some children's care homes in the UK in the 1980s?
Melvin Burgess
474
Which Anne Michaels debut novel won the Orange Prize?
Fugitive Pieces
475
Its sound memorably described by Tony Kushner as “like that of a duck if the duck were a songbird”, which woodwind instrument takes its name from an Italian word that is derived, ultimately, from the French for ‘high wood’?
Oboe
476
The 1930 Josef von Sternberg film The Blue Angel, starring Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings, was based on the novel Professor Unrat. Which author, the elder brother of a much more famous novelist, wrote Professor Unrat?
Heinrich Mann
477
Arctodus simus is an extinct species of bear that lived in North America until approximately 12,000 years ago. It is the largest mammalian land predator that has ever lived and is named for a particular feature of its appearance. What is that name?
Short-faced bear
478
Since 1992, Picasso’s Guernica has been housed in which gallery, Spain’s national museum of 20th Century art?
(Museo Nacional Centro de Arte) Reina Sofía
479
Kinky People Can Often Find Good Sex is a mnemonic used to remember what?
The order of biological taxonomy
480
And what is the name given to the series of naval engagements that took place off the coast of Euboea simultaneously with the more famous land battle at Thermopylae?
Battle of Artemisium
481
The equation, named after the British theoretical physicist who formulated it, provides a description of elementary spin-½ particles, such as electrons, consistent with both the principles of quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity. What is the name of this equation?
Dirac Equation
482
Which massive Andean stratovolcano on the Argentina-Chile border is both the second highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and the highest volcano on Earth?
Ojos del Salado
483
After the demise of apartheid, the ANC government decreed that all South African national sporting teams (with the exception of the rugby union team who remain known as the Springboks) were to be given which nickname, after the country’s unofficial national flower?
Proteas
484
Referenced in The Clash songs Guns of Brixton and Safe European Home, which 1972 Jamaican crime film, directed by Perry Henzell, starred the reggae singer Jimmy Cliff as Ivanhoe Martin, a singer and criminal based on a real-life 1940s Jamaican outlaw nicknamed Rhygin?
The Harder They Come
485
Taking place in the Senate Square in St. Petersburg in late 1825, what name is given to the unsuccessful uprising that saw Russian army officers lead approximately 3,000 soldiers in protest against Nicholas I’s ascension to the throne?
Decembrist Revolt (or Decembrist Uprising)
486
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and Gyancain Norbu are the two current claimants to which title that was first held by Khedrup Je between 1385 and 1438?
Panchen Lama
487
Appearing in the subtitle of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, what name is given to the winged, fairy-like creature of Persian mythology that is descended from fallen angels?
Peri
488
Signed in the Swedish town of the same name in 1721, which war was ended by the Treaty of Nystad?
Great Northern War
489
First published in 1580, the longest and best known of the Essais of the French Renaissance scholar Michel de Montaigne was ‘an apology’ for which 15th Century Catalan theologian who had argued that reason and faith were not irreconcilable?
Raymond Sebond (or Raymond of Sabunde)
490
Located in Nineveh, the Middle East’s first systematically organized library was founded by, and named after, the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. When Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC, the library was burnt to the ground but many of its texts have been preserved. What was the name of this library?
Library of Ashurbanipal
491
Recalling seeing this band playing live after the release of their 1987 album Pleased to Meet Me, Green Day's vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong said, "It was amazing. It changed my whole life. If it wasn't for that, I might've spent my whole time playing in bad speed-metal bands." Which American rock group, whose other albums include Hootenanny and Let it Be, seemingly caused Armstrong to spend his whole time playing in a bad pop-punk band instead?
The Replacements
492
Which Prussian soldier and theorist wrote the military treatise Vom Kriege, published posthumously in 1832, that was based, in part, on his own experiences of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars?
Carl von Clausewitz
493
Built on the Plaza de Mayo in 1873, La Casa Rosada, translating into English as ‘The Pink House’, serves as the official seat of the executive branch of the government of which country?
Argentina
494
What name, from the Latin for ‘to cut off’ is given in geometry to the x-coordinate of a point, corresponding to its distance along the horizontal axis?
Abscissa
495
The SOWPODS list contains all 267,751 words that are valid for what purpose?
Playing Scrabble
496
Eugen Sandow, born as Friedrich Wilhelm Muller in Königsberg, Prussia in 1867, is considered to be the ‘father’ of which competitive activity?
Bodybuilding
497
How are the Father, the Mother, the Son, the Stepdaughter, the Boy and the Child collectively known in the title of a 1921 play?
Six Characters in Search of an Author (or Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore)
498
The German economist and sociologist Max Weber argues in his most famous work that Puritan morality has had a lasting influence on the pursuit of wealth. What is the title of this book that began as a series of essays written in 1904 and 1905?
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
499
In Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 drama A Doll’s House, what is the name of the central character, a mother of three who leaves her family at the end of the play?
Nora Helmer
500
Well known examples include Charon from Greek mythology, the Valkyries of Norse myth and the angels of Christianity. What name, from the Greek for ‘guide of souls’, is given to any spirit or deity whose responsibility it is to escort the newly-deceased to the afterlife?
Psychopomp
