Set 10 Flashcards
1
Q
Jill Paton Walsh has completed unfinished works by which crime writer?
A
Dorothy L Sayers
2
Q
Loose Change is a series of films directed by Dylan Avery released between 2005 and 2009 claiming what?
A
That September 11 was a conspiracy
3
Q
James Marsh’d film Man on Wire chronicled whose tightrope walk between the two towers of the World Trade Centre?
A
Philippe Petit
4
Q
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe was a film made after Herzog claimed he would eat his shoe if which man ever completed his documentary film ‘Gates of Heaven’?
A
Errol Morris
5
Q
Who directed The Family, about the working-class Wilkins family of Reading in the 1970s, a pioneer of the reality genre? He also created Sylvania Waters in Australia.
A
Paul Watson
6
Q
John le Carre’s son Nicholas Cornwell writes under which name?
A
Nicholas Harkaway
7
Q
Which Japanese- American artist, landscape architect and furniture designer (1904-1988) also worked with Martha Graham on designing stage sets for her productions?
A
Isamu Noguchi
8
Q
Which American singer, songwriter and composer created the scores for Awakenings, The Natural, Meet The Parents, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life and Monsters Inc., among many others?
A
Randy Newman
9
Q
In which English city is there an arts centre called Quad?
A
Derby
10
Q
One of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Chicago (2002)?
A
John C Reilly
11
Q
Bizarro and The Siege of Malta were completed at the end of his life after the author had suffered three strokes. Which author?
A
Walter Scott
12
Q
Which South African Jewish born screenwriter won an Oscar for the Pianist and was nominated for another for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?
A
Ronald Harwood
13
Q
Which originally Catholic award is given in the USA for film and TV writing that is ‘intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom’?
A
Humanitas Prize
14
Q
James Frey was vilified for making up bits of which supposed autobiography?
A
A Million Little Pieces
15
Q
With lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and music by Marvin Hamlisch, which musical consists of a story based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager; a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven?
A
They’re Playing Our Song
16
Q
Carole Bayer Sager co-wrote which song that was a hit in 1965 and 1988?
A
A Groovy Kind of Love
17
Q
Which Gilbert and Sullivan opera gives us the phrase ‘short sharp shock’?
A
The Mikado
18
Q
The only outdoor sculpture in London of which king can be found at the north gate of St Bartholomew’s hospital?
A
Henry VIII
19
Q
Who directed Tootsie?
A
Sydney Pollack
20
Q
Born in Denison, IA, and for a time replacing Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie in Dallas, which woman won an Oscar, alongside Frank Sinatra, for her role in From Here To Eternity?
A
Donna Reed
21
Q
Famous for works including Cloudstreet, The Riders and Dirt Music, which Perth-based author, born 1960, sets most of his books in Western Australia?
A
Tim Winton
22
Q
Which French composer created the soundtrack for films including the Thomas Crown Affair, thereby writing Windmills of Your Mind?
A
Michel Legrand
23
Q
In May 2008, Radio 3 broadcast every note of which composer’s music?
A
Chopin
24
Q
Doris Lessing spent much of her childhood in which African country?
A
Rhodesia
25
Which British author had a hand in writing some of the lyrics for Showboat?
P G Wodehouse
26
Which European country installed Jonas Furrer as its first President in 1848, the incumbent changing on an annual basis since then?
Switzerland
27
Which American director was responsible for Nurse Betty, the filming of A.S.Byatt's Possession (with Gwyneth Paltrow) and the awful 2006 remake of the Wicker Man?
Neil LaBute
28
Which city is most associated with the Indian Mutiny of 1857?
Meerut
29
Where in the City of London would you find a pony, a top bit, a saddle and a crop?
Smithfield Market (they're cuts of meat)
30
How much does a Smithfield stone weight?
Eight pounds
31
Whose best-known work is the long poem V. (1985), written during the miners' strike of 1984-85, and describing a trip to see his parents' grave in a Leeds cemetery "now littered with beer cans and vandalised by obscene graffiti"?
Tony Harrison
32
The Subjection of Women was an early feminist work, but by which male philosopher?
John Stuart Mill
33
Which English woman is the author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2008, and the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, 'fastest woman on water', which won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998?
Kate Summerscale
34
Who was the ex-Nazi villain of Moonraker?
Hugo Drax
35
Who completed Turandot?
Francesco Alfano
36
Born 1942, he is an Austrian filmmaker and writer best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. At the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, his film The White Ribbon won the Palme d'Or for best film, and at the 67th Golden Globe Awards the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. What's his name?
Michael Haneke
37
Which British astronomer's works of fiction include the Black Cloud? He was also famous for his remark about space being only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight up.
Fred Hoyle
38
Christmas disease is a subset of which other disorder?
Haemophilia
39
Which two countries contested the Battle of Kentish Knock in 1652?
England and the Netherlands
40
Which rank comes between captain and rear-admiral in the RN?
Commodore
41
Harriet Said was the first completed novel by which contemporary British author, who died in 2010?
Beryl Bainbridge
42
Ain't Got No- I Got Life by Nina Simone was from which musical?
Hair
43
Which director was known as the King of the B-Movie?
Roger Corman
44
Which French-born playwright wrote the play Art?
Yasmina Reza
45
Who wrote The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao?
Junot Diaz
46
Who write the official song for Liverpool as it became City of Culture 2008?
Ringo Starr
47
When Zia ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, was asked how a group of peasants (the Mujahadeen) had been able to repel a superpower (Russia), what was his three-word reply?
Charlie did it
48
Which French playwright was the original author of La Cage Aux Folles?
Jean Poiret
49
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days tells the tragic story of two female university students who try to arrange an illegal abortion during the late 1980s. It won a Cannes Palme d'Or and was set in which country?
Romania
50
Who directed Brokeback Mountain and Lust, Caution?
Ang Lee
51
The third largest buiilding in the world, and a hangar originally intended to house the construction of a giant airship, this building near Berlin now houses an indoor, artificial tropical resort. What was its original name?
Aerium
52
Which is the largest building in the world by floor area?
Terminal 3, Dubai airport
53
Which building displaced the Pentagon as the largest building in the USA in the late 2000s?
The Palazzo hotel, Las Vegas
54
Which Oscar-winning songwriter wrote the songs for films including Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Winnie the Pooh, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The AristoCats and The Slipper and the Rose?
Richard Sherman
55
Jerry Seinfeld co-wrote and voiced Which animated film in 2007?
Bee Movie
56
Who directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille?
Brad Bird
57
In the 1960s he and Breyten Breytenbach were key figures in the Afrikaans literary movement known as Die Sestigers ("The Sixtyers"). These writers sought to use Afrikaans as a language to speak against the apartheid government, and also to bring into Afrikaans literature the influence of contemporary English and French trends. Which writer?
Andre Brink
58
He started writing at the age of seven when after the death of two of his three pet hamsters, he wrote a poem about the loneliness of the remaining pet. Famous for novels including Death and the Penguin, and Penguin lost, what is the name of this Ukrainian literary giant, born 1961?
Andrey Kurkov
59
Which director was responsible for Flight 93 and the Bourne Ultimatum?
Paul Greengrass
60
Which English comedian's debut novel was Murder Most Fab?
Julian Clary
61
Which leading figure in American abstract expressionism (1904-1980) will have a museum dedicated to his work open in Denver in 2011?
Clyfford Still
62
Which man, 1915-1991, was one of the youngest abstract expressionists in the New York School, a phrase which he coined himself? He married female artist Helen Frankenthaler.
Robert Motherwell
63
The world's largest indoor theme park is at Yas, Abu Dhabi, with which specific motorsport theme?
Ferrari (World)
64
What is the forename of Nigel Kneale's son, who was shortlisted for the Booker and won the Whitbread in 2000 with his novel English Passengers?
Matthew
65
British virtuoso Steven Isserlis is most associated with which musical instrument?
Cello
66
Which Somerset Maughan story is set in China and has been filmed three times- in 1934, 1957 (as The Seventh Sin) and 2006?
The Painted Veil
67
Which famous Britain lived at Hoglands, Hertfordshire, now a museum dedicated to his life and work?
Henry Moore
68
Koanga is an African prince and voodoo priest in the eponymous opera by whom?
Frederick Delius
69
Which Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer first came to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, played with Maynard Ferguson and was one of the instigators of jazz fusion?
Joe Zawinul
70
In the 2006 film Fur, Nicole kidman starred as which real-life photographer?
Diane Arbus
71
Daniel Palmer invented which alternative medical practice in Iowa Magnetic Studio in 1895?
Chiropracty
72
Name all of Yorkshire's 'Five Towns'.
Castleford, Normanton, Featherstone, Pontefract, Knottingley
73
Dimitri Szarzewski plays rugby for which country?
France
74
In a phrase coined by the poet Edward Young, what do you do if you join the great majority?
You die
75
Name both of the German dams breached by the Dambusters raid.
Mohne and Edersee
76
Which German dam was a target of the Dambusters raid but held?
Sorpe
77
A New Zealander, who is the only surviving member of the Dambusters raid as of 2010?
Les Munro
78
Which Lancashire carpenter produced the now standard numbering arrangement for dartboards?
Brian Gamlin
79
How far is the oche from the dartboard?
7 foot 9 and 3/4 inches
80
In which version of darts is the oche nine feet from the board?
London fives
81
Which anatomical name is sometimes given to the outer bull in darts?
Iris
82
Which feature on a dartboard appeared briefly in the 1990s and enabled a score of 240 to be achieved?
Quad ring
83
In darts, you 'go bust' if your score is below zero. Which is the only positive score at which you 'go bust'?
One
84
The PDC's World Grand Prix darts format is different from standard- you have to start on a double. What is this called?
Doubling-in
85
There are many ways of achieving a nine-dart finish, but purists regard which combination as the 'best' way?
Three 167s (T20, T19, bull)
86
What is the name of the version of darts where each number has to be hit in sequence?
Round the Clock
87
What number score do you start on in London Fives darts?
505
88
Which darts game is played on a diamond-shaped board, as it has similarities with the scoring system in baseball?
Dartball
89
In darts, what is a Shanghai?
A single, double and a treble of the same number
90
In darts, the World Matchplay championships are sponsored by which betting firm?
Stan James
91
In the 2000s, the International Darts League and the World Darts Trophy attempted to bring BDO and PDC players together in the same competition, but both were pulled. In which country were they held?
Netherlands
92
In the list of multiple Darts world champions, Phil Taylor easily leads with 15. Who is in second place, with eight?
Trina Gulliver
93
Which darts player is nicknamed The Limestone Cowboy?
Bob Anderson
94
Which darts player is nicknamed The Prince of Wales?
Richie Burnett
95
Which darts player is nicknamed The Deadly Boomerang?
Tony David
96
Which darts player is nicknamed The Milky Bar Kid?
Keith Deller
97
Which darts player is nicknamed McDanger?
Les Wallace
98
What is Jelle Klaasen's nickname in darts?
The Matador
99
How many players on a baseball team?
Nine
100
In baseball, teams switch between fielding and batting every time what event happens?
Three batsmen are out
101
The Major League Baseball is divided into which two parts?
National League and American League
102
What is the name of the rower closest to the stern?
Stroke
103
At which Olympics did the women's rowing events start?
Montreal 1976
104
Which c19 rower from Cornwall achieved national celebrity by beating men's crews with her all female boats?
Ann Glanville
105
Where are the Remenham Challenge Cup and the Princess Grace Challenge Cup contested?
Henley regatta
106
Which rowing club did not admit women until 1997?
Leander
107
What is the name of the rowing held at the Paralympics?
Adaptive rowing
108
In paralympic rowing, what does LTA stand for?
Legs, Trunk, Arms
109
In rowing notation, what shows the presence or absence of a cox?
A plus or minus sign (e.g. M8+ is a men's coxed eight)
110
What's the name of the kicking style required in butterfly stroke?
Dolphin kick
111
Before metrication, how long in yards was what is now the 1500m swimming race?
1650 yards
112
What determines the order of strokes in a medley race?
Alphabetical (Backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle)
113
Competitive swimming swarms with officials. As well as timekeepers and referees, there are judges of which two aspects of technique?
(Inspector of) turns and (judges of) stroke
114
Which swim meet officials make sure the swimmers finish with both hands on the side?
Finish judges
115
Which swim meet official gathers swimmers for the start of the race?
Clerk of the Course
116
In which body of water was the swimming at the 1896 and 1906 (intercalated) Olympics?
Mediterranean Sea
117
In which body of water was the swimming at the 1900 Olympics?
River Seine
118
At a three-day swim meet, which events take place on the first day?
Distance events
119
Which suits are worn by swimmers while training to deliberately slow them down, so they go faster in competitions?
Drag suits
120
What name is given to swimming out of a pool, such as in a lake or ocean?
Open water swimming
121
What was unusual about the swimming events at the 1904 Olympics?
Only one in which distances were measured in yards
122
Which swimming innovation was introduced at the 1924 Olympics?
50 metre pool
123
Which swimming innovation was introduced at the 1936 Olympics?
Diving blocks
124
Which swimming innovation was introduced at the 1976 Olympics?
Goggles
125
What turn is used in swimming to go from backstroke to breaststoke?
Bucket turn
126
What name is given to races and records set in a 25m rather than a 50m pool in swimming?
Short course
127
The earliest dartboards were made of which type of wood, soaked overnight so that the holes healed?
Elm
128
Which company was the first to manufacture a dartboard out of sisal fibre?
Nodor
129
What is the diameter of a regulation dartboard?
17 and 3/4 inches
130
Perrigo Manchester and London Fives are variants of what?
Dartboards
131
How many segments does a London Fives dartboard have?
Twelve
132
Which country's baseball is split into the Central League and the Pacific League?
Japan
133
What is the name of the tenth man added to the traditional nine in a baseball team who bats for the pitcher?
Designated hitter
134
Mediaeval French games including La Soule, Theque, La Balle au Baton and La Balle Empoisonee are thought to be the ancestors of which modern sport?
Baseball
135
A Little Pretty Pocket Book by John Newbury was the first to mention which sport by name?
Baseball
136
What rules, developed by Alexander Cartwright, are the basis of baseball?
Knickerbocker rules
137
Which 'gentleman's agreement' kept blacks out of Major League Baseball from the early 1890s?
The colour bar
138
The last major change to the modern rules of baseball, in 1901, was to count foul balls as what?
Strikes
139
The National League in US baseball is the oldest one, so is sometimes referred to as what?
The senior circuit
140
Fred Merkle committed a famous gaffe in a crucial 1908 game for the New York Giants that became known by what two-word name?
Merkle's boner
141
The American League evolved from which earlier league?
Western league
142
The World Series got off to a shaky start as which team refused to play the winners of the American League, not recognising it as a major league?
New York Giants
143
In baseball, which legal device was used to bind players to their team even after their contract had ended?
Reserve Clause
144
Which three-word phrase is used to describe the events of 1919, when the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series?
Black Sox Scandal
145
As a result of the Black Sox Scandal, what post was created to oversee probity in baseball?
Commissioner of Baseball
146
Which was the first significant 'coloured' league, founded in 1920?
Negro National League
147
Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson were famous in what position in 1920s baseball?
Pitcher
148
What was the name of the period in baseball up to the early 1920s where pitchers dominated, throwing blindingly fast balls, with hitters unable to score many runs?
Dead ball era
149
Which team invented the farm system in baseball, when general manager Branch Rickey invested in several minor league clubs?
St Louis Cardinals
150
What name is given to children's baseball leagues in the USA?
Little League Baseball
151
Which Chicago Cubs owner created the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during WW2?
Philip Wrigley
152
Jackie Robinson debuted for which team, thereby breaking the colour bar, in 1947?
Brooklyn Dodgers
153
Which black player debuted for the Cleveland Indians the same year as Jackie Robinson?
Larry Doby
154
In 1958, where did the Brooklyn Dodgers relocate?
Los Angeles
155
In the same year, where did the New York Giants relocate?
San Francisco
156
Which was the last Major League team to add a black player to its roster, in 1959?
Boston Red Sox
157
Which baseball team play in Anaheim?
Los Angeles Angels
158
With an increase in the number of games played per season, which player was able to beat Babe Ruth's single season home run record in the early 1960s?
Roger Maris
159
After the 1968 baseball season, why was the strike zone reduced and the pitcher's mound lowered?
To counter the dominance of the pitcher
160
In 1969, which St Louis Cardinals player made the first legal challenge to the reserve clause?
Curt Flood
161
In 1975, the reserve clause was finally struck down by a court decision. What was the name of that ruling?
The Seitz decision
162
In what year was the World Series cancelled for the first time ever due to a players strike?
1994
163
In October 2010, having pitched a perfect game that May, which Phillies pitcher pitched only the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history?
Roy Halliday
164
As well as Mark McGwire, which other man beat Roger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998?
Sammy Sosa
165
In 2001, who established the current record of 73 home runs in a single season?
Barry Bonds
166
In 2007, Barry Bonds beat whose record to become the all-time baseball home runs record holder?
Hank Aaron
167
In baseball, the balance between bat and ball swung so rapidly in 2010 after a period of hitter dominance, the year was nicknamed what?
The year of the pitcher
168
Which was the first Canadian club to join the American MLB in 1969?
Montreal Expos
169
In which year did the Toronto Blue Jays become the first, and still the only, club from outside the USA to win the World Series?
1992
170
In 2004 the Montreal Expos became which new team after relocating to the USA?
Washington Nationals
171
Sadaharu Oh set the global record for professional home runs while playing for which Japanese team from 1959 to 1980?
Yomiuri Giants
172
In which country was the first formal baseball league outside the USA or Canada founded in 1878?
Cuba
173
Which country boasts the most successful and longest established baseball league in Europe?
The Netherlands
174
Which were the first Olympics to feature baseball, although it has now been dropped from the Olympic programme?
1992 Barcelona
175
By custom , in baseball, which team bats at the top (i.e in the first half) of each inning?
Visitors
176
In baseball, what is the infield made of?
Dirt
177
In baseball, which chalk line runs along two sides of the diamond and behind the home plate?
Foul line
178
In baseball, what line divides the infield from the outfield?
Grass line
179
If the area outside the foul line is called foul territory, what is the rest of a baseball field called?
Fair territory
180
What name is given to the plate at the top of a pitcher's mound in baseball due to the material it is made from?
The rubber
181
What is the baseball equivalent of the wicket-keeper in cricket?
Catcher
182
In baseball, which fielding position, as well as second baseman, is typically close to second base?
Short stop
183
What are the three basic outfield positions in baseball?
Left/centre/right fielder
184
In baseball, a batter who reachs first base without any fielding errors is credited with what?
A hit
185
In baseball, what name is given to a fielder advancing to the next base while a ball is being pitched?
Stolen base
186
In baseball, if the batter has 'flied out', what has happened?
The ball he hit has been caught
187
In baseball, what name is given to two outs in the same play?
Double play
188
In baseball, what name is given to the off-field area where pitchers warm up?
Bullpen
189
What are the two positions that a team's coaches overlook from coaching boxes in baseball?
First base and third base
190
In MLB, how many umpires are used per game?
Four
191
In the playoffs, how many umpires are used per game?
Six
192
In baseball, what is the alternative name for the changeup, a type of pitched ball?
An off-speed pitch
193
In baseball pitches, the curveball is one of the two breaking balls. Which is the other?
The slider
194
In baseball, what name is given to a batsman hitting a ball that he knows is likely to get him out so that a team-mate can at least advance bases while it happens and score?
Sacrifice
195
A sacrifice bunt employed with a runner on third base, aimed at bringing that runner home, is known as what?
A squeeze play
196
Minute Maid Park is the home of which MLB team?
Houston Astros
197
Which stadium, home to the Colorado Rockies, is famed as a hitter's park due to its high altitude?
Coors Field
198
Which team plays at Wrigley Field?
Chicago Cubs
199
Which player, active in the 1980s, is MLB's all time leader in runs and stolen bases?
Rickey Henderson
200
In baseball statistics, what does RBIs stand for?
Runs Batted In
201
In baseball, a player's batting average is calculated by dividing 'hits' by what?
At bats'
202
In baseball, if you are tagged out while attempting to steal a base, what term is used?
Caught stealing
203
The annual award for best pitcher is named for which legendary player?
Cy Young
204
In baseball statistics, what does ERA stand for?
Earned Run Average
205
Coined by Bill Young, and referring to the Society of American Baseball Research, what name is given to the field of baseball statistics study?
Sabermetrics
206
Which major league baseball hall of famer is commonly regarded as Puerto Rico's greatest ever baseball player or even sportsman?
Roberto Clemente
207
Which game, as well as softball and rounders, is sometimes used as an introductory sport for aspiring baseball players?
Tee ball
208
Richard Adler and Jerry Ross collaborated on which baseball-themed musical?
Damn Yankees
209
Which comedy sketch by Abbott and Costello about baseball was voted one of the funniest ever?
Who's on first?
210
Who wrote The Natural, on which the Robert Redford film was based?
Bernard Malamud
211
On which book by W.P. Kinsella was the film Field of Dreams based?
Shoeless Joe
212
Originating in the early 1980s in New York, Rotisserie League Baseball was the first example of which sporting and cultural phenomenon?
Fantasy leagues/sports
213
What is the Scandinavian equivalent of baseball?
Branboll
214
What is the Russian equivalent of baseball?
Lapta
215
What is the Finnish equivalent of baseball?
Pesapallo
216
The 99 is a Middle Eastern comic book based on the 99 attributes of Allah, which has just been bought by DC Comics in the USA. Which country does it come from?
Kuwait
217
Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires covers the founding of which website?
Facebook
218
What's the name of Jeffrey Deaver's quadriplegic forensic detective?
Lincoln Rhyme
219
Which unofficial Palestinian national poet died in 2008?
Mahmoud Darwish
220
Which international architect is designing the Transport Hub in New York at Ground Zero?
Santiago Calatrava
221
What is the French equivalent of the Brit awards?
Victoires de la Musique
222
The ngoni, xalam and akonting are African instruments that appear to be the ancestors of which instrument associated with African-Americans?
Banjo
223
Which musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, is a fundamental genre belonging to Venezuela. The well-known song "Alma Llanera" is one, and is considered the unofficial national anthem of Venezuela. In 1882 it became Venezuela's national dance. Formerly, the Spanish word meant "a party"?
Joropo
224
Which world- famous designer is mostly famous for furniture but also created curvy "book worm" shelves and Swarkowski crystal chandeliers that respond to text messages?
Ron Arad
225
Which successful German acoustic-folk group was founded by Anglo-German Christopher Blenkinsop in Berlin in 1995?
17 Hippies
226
Which female French film director, born 1928, is known for her experimental films that are sometimes called stylistic precusors to the French New Wave of the 1960s, including La Pointe Courte, Cleo from 5 to 7, Happiness, and Vagabond?
Agnes Varda
227
In Denmark, what is the name of the 180km long sound of water on which Aalborg lies that cuts of the north island of Jutland from the rest of the country?
Limfjord
228
On which river are Bremen and Bremerhaven?
Weser
229
In Italy, which smaller (though still sizable) lake lies roughly halfway between Garda and Como, near Bergamo and Brescia?
Lake Iseo
230
Which city, the second largest in Lombardy, is known as the Lioness of Italy after 1849 uprisings against Austrian rule?
Brescia
231
Saint Angela Merici founded which order of nuns in Brescia in 1535?
Ursulines
232
What's the name of Philadelphia's American Football team?
Eagles
233
What is the name of the southwesternmost point of Australia, where the west coast ends and the south coast starts?
Cape Leeuwin
234
Which conservationist won a bronze for Great Britain in the 1936 Berlin Olympics sailing?
Sir Peter Scott
235
Which DPP was stopped for kerb-crawling in King's Cross in 1991, with his wife committing suicide in 1993?
Allan Green
236
The charity White Ribbon Alliance, a favourite of Sarah Brown, campaigns for what?
Maternal health
237
What is ATP an abbreviation of?
Adenosine Triphosphate
238
Which anthology of poems by Liverpool poets Roger McGough, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri was first published in 1967?
The Mersey Sound
239
Which minor movement in British poetry in the late 1970s and early 1980s? Poets most closely associated with it are Craig Raine and Christopher Reid. It used exotic metaphors for everyday phrases.
Martian poetry
240
Which future Booker-prize winning novelist was a member of The Movement, a poetry movement of the 1950s?
Kingsley Amis
241
Which deep yellow coloured fungus is shaped like a trumpet, smells of apricots and has a slightly peppery taste?
Chanterelle
242
Boletus edulis is what kind of edible mushroom?
Porcino (or cep)
243
Which man produced most of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's most famous songs?
Rick Rubin
244
Who was T-Rex's producer for Get It On?
Tony Visconti
245
Who produced Where The Streets Have No Name?
Brian Eno
246
The smelting of zinc is the main source of which toxic white metal, atomic number 48?
Cadmium
247
Which French king was assassinated in 1589 by a Dominican monk?
Henri III
248
What was the monk's name?
Jacques Clement
249
Who murdered Henri IV?
Francois Ravaillac
250
Which novelist from Manchester debuted with The Shabby Tiger and went on to greater success with 'Fame Is The Spur', later filmed with Michael Redgrave?
Howard Spring
251
Who won the Booker Prize in 1979 with Offshore, a book about life in the houseboats of Battersea?
Penelope Fitzgerald
252
With which novel did Penelope Lively win the Booker in 1987?
Moon Tiger
253
What name is given to the oval or oblong enclosure in Egyptian hieroglyphics?
Cartouche
254
Which fountain of the Muses on Mount Helicon was formed when Pegasus struck it with a hoof?
Hippocrene
255
What name is given to the metallurgical process where metal is heated and then plunged into cold water?
Quench
256
What does the name Hippocrates literally mean?
Horsepower
257
In which city was Paul Dirac born?
Bristol
258
Dupuytren's contracture affects which part of the body?
Hand
259
What does the Punic of Punic wars mean?
Phoenician
260
Traditionally, the pigment ochre was obtained from earths rich in which metal?
Iron
261
In pre-decimal currency, what proportion of a pound was 15 shillings?
Three-quarters
262
In geology, what word, from the Greek for 'to lean' denotes a downfold or a trough in rock?
Syncline
263
Which garden bird of the finch family is Pyrrhula pyrrhula?
Bullfinch
264
Raphael Hythloday is a traveller in which famous book?
Utopia
265
Which British prime minister's tenure coincided with that of President Monroe in the USA?
Lord Liverpool
266
In which war were the battles of Fontenoy, Cartagena and Dettingen?
War of the Austrian Succession
267
During which war were the battles of La Rochelle, Herrings and Formigny?
100 Years War
268
Which 2008 reality TV contest pitted amateur chefs against professionals?
Step Up To The Plate
269
Which 2008 reality TV contest had people cooking their signature dish for food critics?
Eating with the Enemy
270
Who was the last act to play Shea Stadium before it was demolished in 2008?
Billy Joel
271
In 2008, Zorro the Musical was set to the music of which band?
Gypsy Kings
272
In 1967, at which London venue did Jimi Hendrix set his Fender Stratocaster ablaze with lighter fuel?
Finsbury Park Astoria
273
Eliza Cathy is a folk singer who is the daughter of Martin Carthy and which other folk singer?
Norma Waterson
274
Who was Creative Director of Liverpool City of Culture 2008?
Phil Redmond
275
In 2008, Martin Creed's Work Number 850 at the Tate Britain consisted of what?
A sprinter running through the gallery at top speed
276
Who was awarded the first ever International Booker in 2005?
Ismail Kadare
277
Which Danish painter (1864-1916) is known for his poetic, low-key portraits and interiors, such as Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams and Interior with Young Woman from Behind?
Vilhelm Hammershoi
278
Which 2008 Disney film tells the tale of what happens when the Pevensie siblings return to Narnia 1,300 years after the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?
Prince Caspian
279
Which children's author is responsible for Charlie and Lola?
Lauren Child
280
Taro Chiezo created which striking public work of art in Liverpool?
Superlambanana
281
Joy Swift created the first of what kind of weekend in 1980, when working in the hotel industry?
Murder Mystery
282
Keira Knightley and Siena Miller starred in The Edge of Love in 2008, a film about the two women in the life of whom?
Dylan Thomas
283
Founded by Georges Seurat and also called chromoluminarism, what name was given to the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches which interacted optically?
Divisionism
284
The 2008 film Gone Baby Gone was whose directorial debut?
Ben Affleck
285
Which Dave Brubeck album contains Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk?
Time Out
286
David Lurie is the main character in which classic of South African literature?
Disgrace by J M Coetzee
287
Which new city in South Korea is one of the most expensive development projects ever undertaken and will feature replicas of Venice's waterways and New York's Central Park?
New Songdo
288
Which Moroccan writer writes entirely in French and has won the Prix Goncourt? Born in Fes in 1944, his most famous works are 'Racism Explained to My Daughter' and 'The Sand Child'?
Tahar Ben Jelloun
289
The largest African film festival, FESPACO is held biannually in which capital city?
Ouagadougou
290
What name is given to a Mystery Writer of America award?
Edgar
291
Which German painter and sculptor studied with Joseph Beuys during the 1970s? His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac. His themes include German history and the horror of the Holocaust.
Anselm Kiefer
292
What is Zowie Bowie's new name?
Duncan Jones
293
In 2009, Lang Lang toured with which jazz pianist on a combined classical/jazz piano tour?
Herbie Hancock
294
The Golden Apricot film festival is held annually in which city?
Yerevan
295
What adjective is added to 'parasite' to indicate a parasite that is unable to survive outside a host?
Obligate
296
Which country has the biggest film industry in the Middle East and North Africa and is called 'the Hollywood of the Arab world'?
Egypt
297
Which Scottish photographer, born John R Waddell in 1966, works professionally under his middle name?
Rankin
298
In the United States fans of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books are buying electric guitars, synthesisers and drum kits and taking to the road to play a new kind of music- what's it called?
Wizard Rock
299
Which Jewish South African photographer, who was born in 1930 to Lithuanian immigrants, has chronicled the developments from apartheid to present?
David Goldblatt
300
Recently a French academic researching a thesis on which writer discovered a notebook containing half of an unpublished novel - a murder mystery with the working title of The Empty Chair. Now it's set to be serialised in an American magazine?
Graham Greene
301
Born 1960 in Nazareth, Israel, which Palestinian film director and actor is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention, which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. His cinematic style is often compared to that of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton, for its poetic interplay between "burlesque and sobriety"?
Elia Suleiman
302
What do you get if you win the Stockholm Film Festival?
The bronze horse
303
Which award-winning 1999 film about Mexican immigrants was the directorial debut of Cary Fukunaga?
Sin Nombre
304
What is the surname of the French piano-playing sisters Katia and Marielle?
Labeque
305
Particularly in Bollywood, what name is given to a singer whose singing is prerecorded for use in movies? They record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras, while the actual singer does not appear on screen
Playback singers
306
Zuhal Sultan founded the National Youth Orchestra of which country aged just 17?
Iraq
307
Traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season in the USA, what name is given to the day after Thanksgiving?
Black Friday
308
Who was the official photographer for Woodstock?
Henry Diltz
309
Jean Marie Gustave Le Clezio is of dual nationality- French and which other?
Mauritian
310
Blake Alphonso Higgs, a singer and banjoist from the Bahamas, and Arthur Blake, a black Floridan singer known as 'the king of Ragtime Guitar', shared which two word nickname?
Blind Blake
311
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is a Palestinian-Israeli orchestra created by which famous man?
Daniel Barenboim
312
Which West Indian cricketer has the third highest Test batting average of all time behind Don Bradman and Graeme Pollock?
George Headley
313
Which Yorkshireman (1894-1978) had the highest English batting average of all time, and is 4th in the all-time list?
Herbert Sutcliffe
314
Which Australian, born 1970, with a batting average of 53.58, leads the all-time ODI statistics just as Don Bradman leads the Test batting average statistics?
Michael Bevan
315
Tolo TV is the most popular network in which country?
Afghanistan
316
Which novel by Samuel Shem, popular among medical students, portrays the psychological harm done to medical interns during the course of medical internship in the early 1970s?
House of God
317
The 2009 book Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier is about which real-life Englishwoman?
Mary Anning
318
What was the Pinochet regime's version of Robben Island or Alcatraz?
Dawson Island (between Tierra del Fuego and the mainland)
319
The September Issue, the name commonly given to its September 2007 edition, was the largest ever. Which magazine?
Vogue
320
In 2008, producer Thomas Kufus released 80 camera crews onto the streets of which city to film its life for 24 hours, with the results being shown in real time on national TV?
Berlin
321
Which man, called Iran's greatest living master of traditional Persian music, withdrew his songs from national radio in 2009 in protest at the government's crackdown on demonstrators?
Mohammad-Reza Shajarian
322
Which Guyanese-born actress and author played Vyvyan's mum in The Young Ones and won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize in 1990 with Shape-Shifter, as well as being nominated for the Orange Prize in 1997 for The Ventriloquist's Tale?
Pauline Melville
323
Which British folk record label is the oldest independent record label in the world?
Topic Records
324
Arkham Asylum is the name of a comic, which is itself named after an institution in the world of which fictional superhero?
Batman
325
Which Polish theatre director (1933 - 1999) was an innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts?
Jerzy Grotowski
326
Which Polish artist renowned for his large-scale slide and video projections on architectural facades and monuments is perhaps best known for his projection of a swastika onto South Africa House in the 1980s?
Krzysztof Wodiczko
327
With 1000 toilets, 32,290 square feet, and four stories, this bathroom is the largest in the world. Located on Yangrenjie ("Foreigners Street"), China hopes that its colossal Egyptian-themed restroom will bring tourism to the city. Aside from its enormous size, the bathroom also features calm music, TVs and interestingly shaped urinals. WHich city?
Chongqing
328
What name is given to the chess game played on 21 June 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. The very bold sacrifices made by Anderssen to finally secure victory have made it one of the most famous chess games of all time. Anderssen gave up both rooks and a bishop, then his queen, checkmating his opponent with his three remaining minor pieces?
The Immortal Game
329
What was the pronounciation of Potoooooooo, the thoroughbred racehorse owned by the Earl of Abingdon in the c18 and so named due to a stabe-hand's spelling error?
Potatoes (Pot-8 o's)
330
The abolitionist and dry-cleaner Thomas L Jennings was the first African American man to do what, in 1821?
Hold a patent (for a dry-cleaning process)
331
Which man was the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal, though he died of typhoid fever only five months after returning from the 1908 games?
John Taylor
332
Who was the first African American millionaire and the first woman of any colour in US history to become a self-made millionaire? She sold hair-care products.
Madam C J Walker
333
Which first ever female African American pilot died aged 34 in an air crash in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1926?
Bessie Coleman
334
Which was the first known interracial jazz group in 1935?
Benny Goodman Trio
335
Ethel Waters was the first African-American to star in a sitcom on network TV, in which series?
Beulah
336
Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role in which eponymous 1954 film?
Carmen Jones
337
James Baskett was the first male performer of African descent to win an Oscar, when he got an Honorary Oscar for singing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah as which character in Song of the South?
Uncle Remus
338
Which man, who claimed to be an Cameroonian Jew and descended from Queen Victoria (he wasn't) played Mr Big/Dr Kananga in Live and Let Die, thus becoming the first African American Bond villain?
Yaphet Kotto
339
Who was the first African American woman on the covers of Vogue and Elle?
Beverley Johnson
340
Which American golfer was the first African American to play in a men's golf Major?
Robert Elder (1975)
341
Who became the first African American billionaire in 2001, thanks to his founding of Black Entertainment Television?
Robert L Johnson
342
What three word name is given to a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect; they are lured into an improper parse that turns out to be a dead end?
Garden path sentence
343
Mamihlapinatapai is a word from the Yaghan language, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the "most succinct word". It describes "a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that they both desire but which neither one wants to start." On which island is Yaghan spoken?
Tierra del Fuego
344
The Greeks were known to treat the bereaved with this primitive anti-depressant that was known for its ability to “chase away sorrow.” The drug is frequently mentioned in Greek literature like Homer’s Odyssey. Some claim that it might be fictional, but others have argued that the drug was real and used widely in ancient Greece?
Nepenthe
345
Which ancient mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions was recovered in 1900–01 from its eponymous wreck, but its complexity and significance were not understood until decades later. It is now thought to have been built about 150–100 BCE. The degree of mechanical sophistication is comparable to late medieval Swiss watchmaking?
Antikythra mechanism
346
Often recognized as the world’s first electronic musical instrument, which large organ-like device that used tonewheels to creative synthetic musical notes that were then transmitted by wires to a series of loudspeakers. It was developed by the inventor Thaddeus Cahill in 1897, and at the time it was one of the biggest instruments ever built. Cahill would eventually construct three versions of it, one of which was said to weigh some 200 tons and take up enough space to fill an entire room?
Telharmonium
347
Which herbal wonder drug that the Romans used as one of the earliest forms of birth control. It was based on the fruit of a particular genus of the fennel plant, a flowering herb that only grew along a certain shoreline in modern day Libya?
Silphium
348
Which ancient Indian settlement can be found near Collinsville, IL?
Cahokia
349
Which underwater rock formation that lies off the coast of the Ryukyu Islands was discovered in 1987 by a group of divers who were there to observe Hammerhead sharks? The monument is made up of a series of striking rock formations including massive platforms, carved steps, and huge stone pillars that lie at depths of 5-40 meters.
Yonaguni monument
350
Which monument in Germany is made out of earth, gravel, and wooden palisades and is regarded as the earliest example of a primitive “solar observatory.” The circle consists of a series of circular ditches surrounded by palisade walls (which have since been reconstructed) that house a raised mound of dirt in the center?
Goseck Circle
351
Not far from the famous Inca city of Machu Picchu lies which strange embankment of stone walls located just outside Cuzco? The series of three walls was assembled from massive 200-ton blocks of rock and limestone, and they are arranged in a zigzag pattern along the hillside. The longest is roughly 1000 feet in length and each stands some fifteen feet tall.
Sacsayhuaman
352
Which self-consciously weird monument was built by a mysterious man called R C Christian in the American South in 1979, and has been called the American Stonehenge?
The Georgia Guidestones
353
What's the name of the Indonesian coffee that has passed through a civet?
Kopi Luwak
354
The rarest dogs in the world, Just 150 were known to exist before a bust at Willow Hill, PA's eccentric Randy Hammond's home. Now there are 235. What breed?
New Guinea Singing Dog
355
Which animal, repeated eight times, is famously a grammatical sentence?
Buffalo
356
Nobel Literary Laureate 2009, she's best known for books like The Appointment and 1994's The Land Of Green Plums which depicts the harshness of life in Communist Romania under the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu - in particular for German minorities who lived in fear of persecution.
Hertha Mueller
357
Which country's premier film awards are the Ophir?
Israel
358
A settlement called Black Rock City, that lasts for a week every year, is the centrepiece of which festival?
Burning Man
359
What name is given to is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in areas with a historically strong Muslim presence, such as Pakistan, where Nusrat Ali Fatah Khan was by far its most famous practitioner?
Qawwali
360
What was Heath Ledger's last film (not Batman)?
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
361
Asia's largest film festival is held in which port city?
Pusan
362
Marc Price famously directed which zombie film in 2009 on a budget of $74?
Colin
363
The film is set in Communist Romania in the final years of the Nicolae Ceausescu era. It tells the story of two students, roommates in the university dormitory, who try to arrange an illegal abortion, and it won the Palme d'Or in Cannes in 2007. What's its name?
4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days
364
Which minimalist Italian composer and pianist did the soundtrack for This Is England, and, incongruously, music for Waterloo Road?
Ludovici Einaudi
365
Which Italian collective of five fiction writers wrote the novel 'Q' under the pseudonym 'Luther Blissett'?
Wu Ming Collective
366
Lake of Stars music festival featured in 2009 The Maccabees, SWAY and Hot Chip's Joe Goddard. In which African country does it take place?
Malawi
367
Which 2009 film tells the story of Hypatia, the pagan mathematician killed by a Christian mob in Alexandria?
Agora
368
Which Canadian short-story writer, (1931- )winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction, and a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize is generally regarded to be one of the world's foremost writers of fiction?
Alice Munro
369
What is the Russian for a Russian doll? They have been banned from the Hermitage as the Russians claim they are in fact Japanese.
Matryoshka
370
What's the name of the system formerly used in the Deep South where a tenant is allowed to farm land belonging to someone else for a percentage of the crop?
Sharecropping
371
Which British car, driven by Stirling Moss, gained its first F1 victory at Monaco in 1960?
Lotus
372
Which F1 team took its name from the initials of its founders, who included Franco Ambrosio, Alan Rees and Jackie Oliver?
Arrows
373
Which Canadian F1 circuit was considered too dangerous and was dropped in 1970?
Mont Tremblant
374
What was the nickname of F1 racer Wolfgang von Trips, poised to win the 1961 Championship until his death at Monza after colliding with Jim Clark's Lotus? The accident also killed 15 in the crowd.
Taffy
375
Whose life was saved at the 1973 South African Grand Prix when Mike Hailwood pulled him from his burning car, receiving the George Cross for his efforts?
Clay Regazzoni
376
Nicknamed 'Lole', which Argentinian driver was, until Kimi Raikkonen in 2010, the only man to score points in both Formula 1 and the WRC?
Carlos Reutemann
377
In which 1975 Grand Prix did Vittoria Brambilla crash on his victory lap after driving his only F1 victory?
Austrian
378
Who won the 1971 Italian GP by just 0.01 seconds from Ronnie Peterson in the closest ever race?
Peter Gethin
379
Kid Auto Races at Venice was the first outing, in 1914, of which famous character in films?
Chaplin's Little Tramp
380
Which Chaplin film features his son Sydney and also three of his daughters in cameo roles?
Countess from Hong Kong
381
Which Chaplin film, made in Britain in 1957 and his last leading role, was about the ani-communist hysteria in the USA in the 1950s?
A King In New York
382
Where was the first Austrian GP held, in 1964?
Zeltweg
383
The Austrian GP was dropped from the calendar in 2003, after the team orders controversy- who had to let Schumacher past?
Rubens Barrichello
384
In whose speech to the Tory conference in 2002 was it claimed that 'some people see us as the nasty party'?
Theresa May
385
Taal, meaning speech, is an old name for which language developed in a Dutch colony in the c17?
Afrikaans
386
Who is the Goddess of the dead in Norse mythology?
Hel
387
In which opera do we find the Polovtsian dances?
Prince Igor (Borodin)
388
In 1996, Alex Greaves became the first woman, on Portuguese Lil, to do what?
Ride in the Derby
389
This time I'm Gonna Take It Myself and Put It Right in Her Hand are lines from which Elvis Presley song?
Return to Sender
390
What is the first word expected of a newly-elected pope, followed by the name he wants to be known by?
Accepto
391
What's the breed of sheep associated with the Lake District National Park?
Herdwick
392
What does Cutty mean in 'Cutty Sark'?
Short
393
Which class of drugs are taken for coronary complaints and are designed to slow down the heart?
Beta blockers
394
What does DAB stand for on a radio?
Digital Audio Broadcasting
395
In US elections, what type of ballot can be 'open' or 'closed'?
A primary
396
Frank Finlay appeared as the Witchsmeller Poursuivant in the first episode of which TV comedy?
Blackadder
397
What's the name of the official bat used in baseball?
Louisville Slugger
398
Which relative of the weasel is distinguished from it by its larger size and black-tipped tail?
Stoat
399
Which US university awards the Pulitzer Prizes?
Columbia
400
What material is produced by buffing the flesh side of a tanned animal hide?
Suede
401
Where are the HQ of NUM and NACODS?
Barnsley
402
Which American actor said 'I've played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses. That's enough for any man'?
Charlton Heston
403
What general name is given to members of the genus Accipiter?
Hawks
404
Which song did Stevie Wonder write for his baby daughter in Songs in the Key of Life?
Isn't She Lovely
405
Who wrote 12 historic espionage novels set in the Napoleonic period with the central character Roger Brook?
Dennis Wheatley
406
Hansong until 1910. Kyongsong under Japanese rule. Which city?
Seoul
407
In Ancient Rome, which ceremonial purification of the people took place five years after the census, so came to mean a five-year period?
Lustrum
408
Which South Korean composer is based in Berlin and is known for her 2007 opera Alice in Wonderland?
Unsuk Chin
409
Which Chinese American author and physician grew up in Tianjin in China, Shanghai in China and Hong Kong. She is famous for her memoirs, Chinese Cinderella and Falling Leaves, which relate the misery-stricken, terrible childhood she had?
Adeline Yen Mah
410
Michelle Paver has written which six-book series for children set in the pre-agricultural Stone Age?
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
411
Which Serbian artist caused controversy in Canada with his portrait of Jesus outlined by bullet holes?
Viktor Mitic
412
Which American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer wrote or co-wrote "Be My Baby", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Leader of the Pack", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", and "River Deep, Mountain High", discovered Neil Diamond, and shares her surname with a part of London?
Ellie Greenwich
413
In July 2009, Dornoch Capital Advisers put which English football team for sale on Ebay without permission from owner Peter Johnson, who had it removed?
Tranmere Rovers
414
Which is the partner charity of Ebay, which allows charitable donations as people buy and sell?
MissionFish
415
Which Brazilian writer (1920-1977) was born to a Jewish family in Podolia in Western Ukraine, she was brought to Brazil as a child, following the First World War, and was famous for novels including Near to the Wild Heart, Family Ties and The Passion According to G.H.?
Clarice Lispector
416
Which arts festival in London examines insect-human interactivity in bioscience, through art, cinema, music and comedy?
Pestival
417
Which graphic novel by Apostolos Doxiadis, subtitled 'An Epic Search for Truth', is based on the story of the c19 so-called 'foundational quest' in mathematics?
Logicomix
418
Douglas Coupland's 2009 novel Generation A is set in a world where all of which creatures are extinct?
Bees
419
Which Egyptian novelist is known for works such as East of the Palms, Sunset Oasis and Aunt Safiyaa and the Monastery? He won the first International Prize for Arab Fiction?
Bahaa Taher
420
A smiling white whale called 'the Fail Whale' being lifted out of the ocean by a flock of little birds appears when which website is overloaded?
Twitter
421
Who directed the film Fish Tank?
Andrea Arnold
422
In basketball, what line divides a shot worth two points from one worth three points?
Three point line
423
What name is given to a two-point shot in basketball?
A field goal
424
In basketball, you can either hold the ball or dribble. What foul is incurred if you do both?
Double dribbling
425
What is awarded if a player is fouled when he is shooting the ball?
A free throw
426
In basketball, if taller players are centres, what are shorter players?
Guards
427
The rules of basketball, as invented by James Naismith, incorporated the rules of which children's game?
Duck on a rock
428
Where is the Basketball Hall of Fame?
Springfield, MA
429
What innovation did Paul 'Tony' Hinkle introduce to basketball in the 1950s?
Orange ball
430
Which upstart organisation emerged in basketball in 1967 to threaten the NBA's monopoly, but merged with it in 1976?
ABA (American Basketball Association)
431
In the first men's basketball final in Berlin, 1936, the USA defeated which country?
Canada
432
At which Olympics was women's basketball permitted for the first time?
1976 Montreal
433
What's the name of Toronto's basketball team?
Raptors
434
What's the name of Phoenix's basketball team?
Suns
435
How many points do you get in basketball for a shot from the foul line after a foul has been committed?
One
436
FIBA basketball games have four quarters of 10 minutes each, but NBA game quarters last how long?
12 minutes
437
How long is half-time in basketball?
15 minutes
438
How long is an overtime period in basketball?
5 minutes
439
How long in seconds is a time out in basketball?
100 minutes
440
What is a basketball referee known as in the NBA?
Crew chief
441
How many panels does a basketball have?
Eight
442
Twenty eight metres by 15 metres is the playing area for which sport?
Basketball
443
What wood is used in the planks of a basketball court?
Maple
444
In basketball, what is six feet by 3.5 feet?
Backboard
445
The rim of a basketball basket is how high above the court?
10 feet
446
Men's are Size 7 (a 295 ball) and women's are Size 6 (a 285 ball) in which sport?
Basketball
447
Which Columbian town is the model for Macondo in 100 Years of Solitude?
Aracataca
448
Lord Shorty’s 1973 hit song Indrani is considered to have been the first recorded example of which style of music that blends calypso with Trinidadian chutney music?
Soca
449
Posthumously pardoned in 2008, what was the name of the Dutch council communist who was accused of, and eventually executed for, setting fire to the German Reichstag building on 27th February 1933?
Marinus van der Lubbe
450
The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between five Pacific Rim sides - the New Zealand Maori and which four national teams?
Tonga, Fiji, Samoa & Japan
451
He is, without doubt, Russia’s most famous prisoner and he is currently being held in the city of Krasnokamensk. Which oligarch, then controller of Yukos Oil Company and the country’s richest man, was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to nine years in prison in May 2005?
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
452
More Than a Feeling was the 1976 debut single of which band that took its name from the city in which they had formed earlier that year?
Boston
453
Ranging from 1.372 million to 9.655 million kilometres, it has the most eccentric orbit of any known satellite. What is the name of the third largest moon of Neptune, the unusual orbit of which suggests that it may be a captured asteroid?
Nereid
454
Home to a distinguished collection of sculptures, what is the name of the garden complex situated behind the Pitti Palace in Florence?
Boboli Gardens
455
Partly derived from the German for ‘hybrid’ or ‘hermaphrodite’, what name is given to a chemical compound that is electrically neutral, but carries formal, and usually non-adjacent, positive and negative charges on different atoms?
Zwitterions
456
Named after a Dutch astronomer and home to the dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea and Makemake, what name is given to the region of our Solar System extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 55 astronomical units from the Sun?
Kuiper Belt
457
What name, deriving ultimately from the Tiberian Hebrew word for ‘easterners’, is given to Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus?
Mizrahim or Mizrahi Jews
458
In 1936, the first five inductees to the National Baseball Hall of Fame were named. Predictably, Babe Ruth was one of the five. For half a point each, name any two of the other four.
Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson
459
Notable for being the last major naval battle in history to be fought entirely with sailing ships, which battle of the Greek War of Independence saw a combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada destroyed by a British, French and Russian naval force in the Ionian Sea on 20th October 1827?
Battle of Navarino
460
Which relatively unknown German swimmer broke both Michael Phelps’ 200m freestyle world record and Ian Thorpe’s 400m freestyle world record within three days of each other at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome?
Paul Biedermann
461
Chavín de Huántar is an archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage Site containing ruins and artifacts originally constructed by the Chavín culture in around 900 BC and is found in which country?
Peru
462
Telling the story of a young Spanish student searching for a renowned Senegalese poet, the 2004 Malagasy film Souli, written and directed by Alexander Abela, is loosely based on which Shakespeare play?
Othello
463
The former World War II soldier Billy Pilgrim, who is captured by an alien space ship and is taken to the planet Tralfamadore before being sent back to Earth to relive past and future moments of his life, is the central character of which 1969 novel?
Slaughterhouse-Five
464
Between 1947 and 1961, the legendary footballer Alfredo di Stéfano scored 29 goals in 41 internationals for Argentina, Spain and which other country?
Colombia
465
Which Tony Award-winning rock musical, adapted from the controversial 1891 play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, tells the story of a group of teenagers discovering their sexuality in late 19th Century Germany?
Spring Awakening
466
Which 80s pop group were named after the title of a 1960 film starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood?
Fine Young Cannibals
467
Launched in February 2009 to spread "monotheism, peace and justice" in the world, Omid was the first domestically made satellite to be launched by which country?
Iran
468
Which Nobel-Prize winning author, whose pseudonymous surname should leave you in no doubt of his nationality, had a brain just two-thirds the normal size?
Anatole France
469
Its name coming from the official chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 BC and 481 BC, this period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, saw China ruled by a feudal system. In the first half of the 5th Century BC, the nominal Zhou kings lost all real influence, the feudal system crumbled, and the Warring States Period began. What was the name of this period?
Spring and Autumn Period
470
Created between 1907 and 1913 by the building of a namesake dam across the Chagres River, which Panamanian lake was, at the time of its creation, the largest man-made lake in the world?
Gatun Lake
471
Founded at Kandahar in 1747 by the eponymous Pashtun military commander, which Empire based in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, and later including northeastern Iran and parts of eastern Punjab, is often considered the origin of the modern state of Afghanistan?
Durrani Empire
472
Which is the world's oldest known board game, originating from Ancient Egypt?
Senet
473
Which Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world and is the first inhabited place on Earth to experience the New Year annually?
Kiritimati or Christmas Island
474
First discovered in 1961, it is the largest and best preserved Neolithic site found to date. What is the name of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, inhabited between approximately 7500 BC and 5700 BC, that takes its name from the Turkish for ‘fork mound’?
Çatalhöyük
475
The Mughal Empire reached its greatest physical extent under this man. His harsh policies towards non-Muslims led to constant wars that left the Empire dangerously overextended. Upon his death in 1707, the Empire began a steady decline from which it was never to recover. Who was this Emperor, the son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, who was also known by his chosen imperial title of Alamgir I?
Aurangzeb
476
Which French folk dance, that became particularly popular in the court of Louis XIV, took its name from that of an ethno-linguistic group from the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated?
Gavotte
477
With a population of a little over 600, which palindromic town in Greenland, formerly known as Thule, is generally considered to be the northernmost town in the world?
Qaanaaq
478
Which French military officer, who served in the Continental Army under George Washington during the War of American Independence, is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris under soil taken from the battlefield at Bunker Hill?
Marquis de Lafayette
479
Which artificial, non-saccharide sweetener is marketed under the trademark names Equal, NutraSweet and Canderel?
Aspartame
480
Which French fashion house was founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion, a Parisian of Egyptian origin?
Chloé
481
Which Algerian-born Marxist philosopher, author of Reading Capital, strangled his wife to death in 1980?
Louis Althusser
482
The name of which country is taken from the Hebrew for 'one who has struggled with God'?
Israel
483
Which Cuban percussion instrument consists of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums, the larger of which is called the hembra and the smaller known as the macho?
Bongo Drums
484
Which Indian cricketer holds the record for the most catches in Test cricket, is the only batsman to have scored a century in all ten of the Test playing nations and was the first ever recipient of the ICC Player of the Year Award in 2004?
Rahul Dravid
485
Which Moldovan pop music trio, comprising Dan Balan, Radu Sîrbu, and Arsenie "Arsenium" Todiras, gained global popularity in 2004 with their hit Dragostea din tei?
O-Zone
486
Deriving from the Latin for ‘little foot’, what name is given in botany to the small stalk that attaches a leaf to the stem?
Petiole
487
He needs no sleep and his senses are so good that he can hear grass grow and see to the end of the world. It is said that he will mark the onset of Ragnarök by sounding the Gjallarhorn and will kill and be killed by Loki. Who is this member of the Æsir, the son of Odin, who guards the Bifrost Bridge that links Midgard and Asgard?
Heimdall
488
Which Roman Emperor was strangled to death in his bath by the wrestler Narcissus in 192 AD?
Commodus
489
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) currently has three brands to which WWE wrestlers are assigned to perform. SmackDown and ECW are two of these brands but what is the name of the third, considered the company’s flagship brand due to its longer history and higher ratings?
Raw
490
Currently in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, The Allegory of Gluttony is the name given to the bottom third of one wing of a divided triptych painted by Hieronymous Bosch. The separated top two-thirds of the wing is far more famous and is housed in the Louvre. By what name is that top two-thirds known?
Ship of Fools
491
Giving its name to a conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia that was fought in 1977 and 1978, what is the name of the territory comprising the southeastern portion of the Somali Regional State in Ethiopia that is home to ethnic Somalis?
Ogaden
492
It featured frescoed walls, stuccoed ceilings applied with ivory and semi-precious stones, and extensive gold-leaf which gave the building its name. Designed by Nero after the Great Fire of Rome and possibly covering an area of over 300 acres, what is the name of this large, landscaped portico villa that covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline and Caelian hills?
Domus Aurea or Golden House
493
In physics, what name is given to a physical quantity, such as mass, length or speed, that is completely specified by its magnitude and has no direction?
Scalar
494
It was originally written as a tetralogy but the fourth play, Proteus, has been lost. The surviving dramas, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides, form the only surviving example of a trilogy of ancient Greek plays. Written by Aeschylus and concerning the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, what is the collective name given to these tragedies that inspired Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra?
Oresteia
495
Virgil’s Georgics were written in honour of this 1st Century BC patron for the new generation of 'Augustan' poets. Who was this confidant and advisor to Octavian whose name has become a byword for a wealthy patron of the arts?
Gaius Maecenas
496
What is the name of the family of Tuscan nobles and bankers who are best known for their conspiracy to murder members of the Medici family on 26th April 1478?
Pazzi
497
Named in honour of the first President of the National Basketball Association, which trophy is awarded to the winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award?
(Maurice) Podoloff Trophy
498
There is currently controversy over whether this title is held by Ogyen Trinley Dorje or Trinley Thaye Dorje. Sometimes known as the Black Hat Lama as a result of his black crown, what title is given to the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest lineage within the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism?
Karmapa
499
The Zonda is a dry wind that occurs regularly on the eastern slopes of which mountain range?
Andes
500
Named after the Northern Irish scientist who introduced it in 1883, what name is given in fluid dynamics to a dimensionless number that gives a measure of the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces and consequently quantifies the relative importance of these two types of forces for given flow conditions?
Reynolds number
