Set 11 Flashcards
1
Q
Considered by many critics to be one of the greatest horror films ever made, which 1977 Dario Argento film stars Jessica Harper as a young, American ballet student?
A
Suspiria
2
Q
Published in 1964, Weep Not, Child was the first English-language novel to be published by an East African. Dealing with the relationship between Africans and the British colonists, it was written by which Kenyan author whose best known works include the novel A Grain of Wheat and the essay Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature?
A
Ngugi wa Thiong’o or James Ngugi
3
Q
The Japanese sport of hanetsuki is very similar to which sport of Western origin but for its lack of a net?
A
Badminton
4
Q
Which class of fundamental particle consists of six “flavours”: the electron, the muon, the tauon, the electron neutrino, the muon neutrino, and the tauon neutrino?
A
Lepton
5
Q
According to Greek mythology, which son of King Aeolus of Thessaly and Enarete was the founder and first king of Ephyra, later to become known as Corinth?
A
Sisyphus
6
Q
Which variety of sherry, that is darker than fino but lighter than oloroso, is named after the region of Spain in which it originated in the 18th Century?
A
Amontillado
7
Q
Embarking on the British ship HMS Adventure in 1773, which young Ra’iatean man, the subject of famous paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds and William Parry, was the first Pacific Islander to visit Europe?
A
Mai or Omai
8
Q
All of the moons of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare or characters from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. Which is the only one of the planet’s moons to be named after a character found in both The Rape of the Lock and a Shakespearean play?
A
Ariel
9
Q
It has the motto Magen VeLo Yera’e, meaning ‘the unseen shield’. Officially known in English as the Israel Security Agency, what is the more common name of Israel’s internal security service?
A
Shin Bet
10
Q
Released in 2005, the companion albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize were the last releases from which Armenian-American rock band prior to the band going on indefinite hiatus in 2006?
A
System of a Down
11
Q
The Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino and Lorenzo di Credi were all pupils of this 15th Century Italian sculptor, goldsmith and painter. Working at the court of Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, whose best known works include The Baptism of Christ and Madonna with the Saints John the Baptist and Donatus?
A
Andrea del Verrocchio
12
Q
In cycling, what is the literal meaning of ‘peloton’?
A
Little ball
13
Q
From 2007, the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix has been hosted in alternate years by which two circuits (for half a point each)?
A
Fuji Speedway and Suzuka
14
Q
Which oil company, founded in Beijing in 1999, is currently the world’s largest publicly traded company in terms of both market capitalisation and revenue?
A
PetroChina
15
Q
The 1841 book Das Wesen des Christentums, which was translated into English as The Essence of Christianity by George Eliot, is the major work of which German philosopher, perhaps best known for his oft-quoted line, “Man is what he eats”?
A
Ludwig Feuerbach
16
Q
One of Gustav Klimt’s best known works is a 1902 frieze created as a celebration of which composer for the 14th Vienna Secessionist exhibition?
A
Beethoven
17
Q
Muhammad was reported to use which cosmetic every night before going to sleep?
A
Kohl
18
Q
Which ingredient is added to a béchamel sauce to make Aurore sauce?
A
Tomatoes or Tomato purée
19
Q
Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain. The above lines are found at the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York. They were written by which extraordinary 13th Century Persian poet, best known for his works Bustan and Gulistan?
A
Sa’adi
20
Q
In the Hindu Puranas this role is taken by Manu, in Babylonian mythology by Utnapishtim. Who takes this role in the Bible?
A
Noah (All central characters of deluge myths)
21
Q
Named, in part, after an Italian author, what is the title of the 1962 Italian portmanteau film, directed by Mario Monicelli, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio de Sica, that is an anthology of four episodes, each by one of the directors and each one concentrating on a different aspect of morality and love in modern times?
A
Boccaccio ’70
22
Q
Named after a luxury automobile manufacturer, what is the name of the annual golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by a team representing Asia and a team representing the rest of the world?
A
Lexus Cup
23
Q
In information theory, what name, after two American electronics researchers, is given to the theory that establishes the maximum amount of error-free digital data that can be transmitted over a communications channel with a specified bandwidth in the presence of noise?
A
Shannon-Hartley Theorem
24
Q
Referring to the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as his prophet, which is the first and most important Pillar of Islam?
A
Shahada
25
Released in 2007, this video game is the third title in its namesake series and was developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360. With sales of 8.1 million copies, it is already the best-selling first-person shooter console game of all time. Which game?
Halo 3 (accept Halo)
26
The Earth’s most severe extinction event occurred 251.4 million years ago and saw up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct. Forming the boundary between its namesake geologic periods, what is the name of this extinction event?
Permian-Triassic extinction event
27
Which 1928 crime movie, directed by Brian Foy and released by Warner Brothers, was the first all-talking feature film?
Lights of New York
28
Bajan is an English-based creole language spoken on which island nation?
Barbados
29
Which traditional Spanish sport, the object of which is to knock down a piece of wood from a distance of 14.5 meters with a metal cylinder called a marro, was developed in pre-Roman times by Celtiberian shepherds who threw stones at bull's horns to entertain themselves?
Calva
30
Mixing Berber, Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms with modern Western musical styles, raï is a popular form of North African folk music that originated in and around which Algerian seaport during the 1930s?
Oran
31
In 2008, it was the world’s third most popular social networking site in terms of monthly unique visitors, behind only Facebook and MySpace. Particularly popular in the developing nations of Africa, Asia and South and Central America, which website was founded in the USA in 2003 by Ramu Yalamanchi?
Hi5
32
Sharing his surname with a more famous French artist, this Early Netherlandish painter is considered one of the last of the great masters of Bruges. Who is this painter of The Marriage at Cana, The Annunciation and The Virgin Among Angels?
Gerard David
33
Martin Scorsese’s 1997 film Kundun tells of the life of which living person?
Dalai Lama
34
This battle, part of the Northwest Indian War, is also known as the Battle of the Wabash or Battle of Wabash River and was fought on 4th November 1791. Of the 1,000 American troops who went into battle, 623 were killed, making the battle the greatest loss to Native American forces by the United States Army in history and the worst defeat that United States forces have ever suffered in battle in proportional terms of losses to strength. Taking it from the general who led the defeated American forces, by what name is this battle best known?
St. Clair’s Defeat
35
Boogie Chillen and Boom Boom, both named in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, are two of the best known songs by which blues guitarist and singer-songwriter?
John Lee Hooker
36
Which brand of urban clothing, established in 1993 and named after its founding fashion designer, has a white rhino as its logo?
Ecko
37
Located 30 km from the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra, which archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to 34 monumental Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples built between the 5th and 10th Centuries?
Ellora Caves
38
Its name deriving from the Greek for ‘serpent keys’, which type of conical bore, brass-keyed bugle, eventually succeeded by the tuba and euphonium, was employed in Mendelssohn's Elias and Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream as well as Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique?
Ophicleide
39
First coming to prominence with their eurodisco hit single You're My Heart, You're My Soul, which synthpop duo, consisting of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen, are the most successful German music act in history with record sales of 120 million?
Modern Talking
40
Becoming extinct approximately 40,000 years ago and about the size of a hippopotamus, which is largest known marsupial ever to have lived?
Diprotodon
41
Following the film’s premier at the 2009 Cannes Film festival, which film did the Ecumenical Jury describe as "the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world"?
Antichrist
42
Named after a city in Nigeria, which brimless, short, rounded cap, often made of kente cloth or mudcloth, is the traditional hat for men in much of West Africa?
Kufi
43
With a name deriving from the Italian for ‘ball’, which Tuscan ball game, similar to the French game jeu de paume, is played in various towns between Siena and Grosseto?
Palla
44
Formerly known as the the Shahyad Aryamehr, which large tower in Tehran, designed by Hossein Amanat and completed in 1971 in commemoration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, is known as the ‘Gateway to Iran’?
Azadi Tower
45
The only Portuguese writer to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was first published relatively late in life, in his 50s, and is probably best known for the novel The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. Now in his eighties his latest work, Cain, a wry retelling of another Biblical story, has caused a fresh storm in his home country. Who?
Jose Saramago
46
This acclaimed Australian writer was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Who?
David Malouf
47
Which 2009 film is a satirical look at New York's contemporary art galleries featuring former footballer Vinnie Jones as a conceptual art genius?
(Untitled)
48
Which film festival is held in the Turkish city of Antalya?
Golden Orange
49
Claude Mackay wrote a poem in 1919 in response to race riots across American cities. It was a poem of such quality that it became an anthem of resistance everywhere and was used by Sir Winston Churchill to encourage troops in the second world war. What was it called?
If We Must Die
50
Gabriel, grandson and namesake of which classical composer, has written a DJ concerto for turntables and orchestra. What's his surname?
Prokofiev
51
Which famous word in the Tshiluba language of southwest Congo means 'a person ready to forgive and forget a first offence, tolerate a second one but never forgive or forget a third one'?
Ilunga
52
What is the name of the group of disabled musicians from Kinshasa?
Staff Benda Billi
53
Iraq's Post War Art and Culture Festival is being held in which notorious jail in Iraqi Kurdistan which, during Saddam Hussein's regime was used to imprison, torture and murder Kurdish people?
Red Jail
54
By which acronym is Zaha Hadid's National Museum of XXI Century Art in Rome usually known?
MAXXI
55
30 years after his death, his last novel The Original of Laura is finally to be published. But should it be? On the eve of his death, fearing it was imperfect, he instructed his wife to destroy the manuscript. Who?
Vladimir Nabokov
56
Which small Andean stringed instrument is made from the shell of the armadillo?
Charango
57
In 2009, which country offered Hollywood directors a 25% tax credit to film there?
Georgia
58
Jeff Tweedy heads which Chicago-based double Grammy award winning band?
Wilco
59
Keorapetse Kgositsile holds which position in South Africa?
Poet Laureate
60
Literally meaning "The Abode of Clouds" in Sanskrit, which hilly state is India's northeasternmost and has its capital at Shillong?
Meghalaya
61
Which country music star is a massive-seller in the USA but relatively unknown around the rest of the world. His aggressive pro-military Bush-era foreign policy anthem 'Courtesy of the Red White and Blue' was a controversial radio hit?
Toby Keith
62
Pirate Latitudes was a novel found after whose death, and published posthumously?
Michael Crichton
63
Which 2001 film by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, set in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban, is based on a story of a successful Afghan-Canadian (played by Nelofer Pazira) who returns to Afghanistan after receiving a letter from her sister, who was left behind when the family escaped, that she plans on committing suicide on the last solar eclipse of the millennium?
Kandahar
64
Which Maltese-American comics artist and journalist achieved international fame through the 1996 American Book Award-winning Palestine, and his graphic novel on the Bosnian War, Safe Area Goražde?
Joe Sacco
65
The 2009 film Machan is based on the real story of the not-so-real Sri Lankan national team who travelled to Germany in 2004 to take part in a championship, and promptly vanished. When the authorities tried to track down the players they soon discovered that there is no Sri Lankan National team for the sport; in fact the game isn't even played there. Which sport?
Handball
66
After the 1959 revolution, Castro gave Che Guevara which position?
Head of the National Bank
67
In 2009, Arabella Dorman became the first female holder of which British post?
Official war artist
68
Who starred in the title role in the 1982 BBC adaptation of The Woman in White?
Jenny Seagrove
69
Which American composer of modern and avant-garde music, noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended technique, shares his full name with the inventor of the potato crisp?
George Crumb
70
Two days after their appearance on Ed Sullivan, the Beatles performed live at their first ever US venue- which one?
Washington Coliseum
71
Literally "fallen words", which Japanese verbal entertainment consists of a lone storyteller sitting on the stage, depicting a long and complicated comical story. The story always involves the dialogue of two or more characters, the difference between the characters depicted only through change in pitch, tone, and a slight turn of the head?
Rakugo
72
Which sandals made from straw rope that in the past were the standard footwear of the common people in Japan are now mostly worn by traditional Buddhist monks?
Waraji
73
Giving 30 percent more power output than ethanol, which biofuel is a by-product of the whisky distillation process?
Butanol
74
Which football player lives in an eco-friendly flower-shaped underground house near Bolton?
Gary Neville
75
Which was the most expensive film ever made, in 2010- $258 million (c.f. $237 million for Avatar)?
Spiderman 3
76
Which Parisian artist and sculptor has sold part of himself, in the form of cameras capturing him working in his studio and projecting this into a cave in Tasmania for the rest of his life?
Christian Boltanski
77
Which Chilean author of the apocalyptic 2666 and also The Savage Detectives died in 2003 of liver failure, possibly as a result of drug abuse earlier in his life?
Roberto Bolano
78
Who played Lennon's mother Julia in Nowhere Boy?
Anne-Marie Duff
79
Dancer Marge Champion was the model for which Disney character?
Snow White
80
What is the name of the Georgian-language equivalent of the Simpsons?
The Samsonadzes
81
Which style of art that flourished in India during the British Raj in the early 20th century was associated with Indian nationalism, but was also promoted and supported by British arts administrators?
Bengal School
82
Which style of art , based in Bombay, was established post-independence as a reaction against the Bengal School?
Progressive Artist's Group
83
Who directed both 'Chicago' and 'Nine'?
Rob Marshall
84
Which Italian quick-change artist is described in the Guinness Book of Records 2006 and 2007, he is described as the fastest quick change artist in the world? Born in Turin, his career covers a wide artistic range and has made him an international name. The change from one costume to another is performed in a matter of seconds, often by throwing a sheet up and completely changing costume by the time it falls. In his current show, he performs 80 characters in one evening?
Arturo Brachetti
85
At which British football club would you find the Lisbon Lions stand?
Celtic
86
The Art of Commercials event is an annual exhibition celebrating art in adverts held in which city's Arts Centre?
Hong Kong
87
Which German artist (1902-1975) is best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist photographer?
Hans Bellmer
88
Held in the oasis town of Essakane and attended by Paul Oakenfold among others, in which country is the Festival of the Desert held?
Mali
89
A giant bronze statue to the 'African Renaissance', The newly built 50-metre high monument of a man, woman and child perched on a hill-top looking out to sea dominates the sky-line of the capital. The project has already caused anger because of its cost, its $27 million price tag deemed excessive for a poor country. Now there's been outrage because of the skimpy clothing worn by the female figure with architects considering whether they can cover up her bare legs in some way. Where?
Senegal
90
The last of the French New Wave directors to become established. He worked as the editor of the Cahiers du cinéma periodical from 1957 to 1963. In his obituary in The Daily Telegraph he was described as "the most durable film-maker of the French New Wave", outlasting his peers and "still making movies the public wanted to see" late in his career. He directed Pauline A La Plage and The Marquise of O....?
Eric Rohmer
91
Which French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving (e.g. Redstone Dancer) moved to London in 1910, where he fell in with Vorticism and became a founder of the London School? With him came a Polish writer over twice his age whom he had met at the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, and with whom he began an intense symbiotic relationship, annexing her surname.
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
92
One of Ukraine's richest men is establishing an international arts prize through his foundation. The Future Generation Arts Prize is calling for all artists - under the age of 35 - from around the world to enter, regardless of location, gender, nationality, race or artistic medium. The winner will receive US$100, 000 prize money. What's the name of the man?
Viktor Pinchuk
93
What is the pen name of a Mainland Chinese writer born in Suzhou who is now based in Nanjing. His real name is Tong Zhonggui and he wrote Wives and Concubines, adapted into Raise The Red Lantern?
Su Tong
94
In 1986, doctors told one of the best known European exponents of abstract expressionism - that he was terminally ill. In the remaining three years of his life, he produced 650 paintings… accelerating to almost one canvas a day in the last 12 months. Which Franco-German man?
Hans Hartung
95
Which American R&B/soul singer and songwriter (1950-2010) first rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s before a successful solo career at the end of the decade. In 1982, he was severely injured in an auto accident in Philadelphia, resulting in his being paralyzed from the waist down. After his injury, the affable entertainer founded an eponymous Alliance, a foundation that helps those with spinal cord injuries?
Teddy Pendergrass
96
Which Australian crime writer, known for his Melbourne-set Jack Irish novels, became the first Australian to win the Golden Dagger in 2007 with The Broken Shore?
Peter Temple
97
Granted French citizenship in 1997, who is so far the only Chinese man to win the Nobel Prize for literature, doing so in 2000?
Gao Xingjian
98
This photojournalist was best known for his documentation of Andy Warhol's infamous Factory in the 1960s. Warhol saw him as a fellow artist and a kindred spirit and gave him unrivalled and unlimited access to his entourage. As a result the photos he took expose both the seedy reality as well as the glamorous veneer of the Factory and its faithful. Who?
Nat Finkelstein
99
"School" is a hard-hitting new TV drama that premiered on Channel One television in January 2010. Set in a secondary school the characters indulge in fistfights, drink beer during the break and there are plentiful references to sex and internet pornography. In which country?
Russia
100
Chow-Yun Fat plays the title role in which 2010 biopic directed by Hu Mei?
Confucius
101
The biggest literature festival in Asia and the biggest completely free festival of literature in the world is held in which Indian city?
Jaipur
102
A sculpture that was found in one of the eponymous caves near Bethlehem, which is considered to be 11,000 years old and to be the oldest known representation of two people engaged in sexual intercourse. What's it called?
The Ain Sahkri lovers
103
In which country is the Giller Prize a top literary award?
Canada
104
Her 2002 book Open was a commercial and critical breakthrough, earning a nomination for the Giller Prize. Her first novel, Alligator (2005), was also nominated for the Giller Prize. It won the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award, Caribbean and Canada Region. Moore often incorporates her Newfoundland heritage in her work; Alligator, for example, is set in St. John's. February is her newest work. Which Eastern seaboard of Canada writer?
Lisa Moore
105
Called "Ku Yakin Sampia Di Sana" (I'm Certain I'll Get There), the CD features some of Indonesia's most popular singers. Which Indonesian president released it in 2010?
S. Bambang Yudhoyono
106
Which book by Andrea Levy is the follow-up to Small Island?
The Long Song
107
American sculptor James Turrell uses light and space to create installations that have moved even the harshest critics to wonder at the beauty and simplicity of his work. The only museum dedicated to his work is in which country?
Argentina
108
Which Independent film awards are held in Santa Monica the day before the Oscars?
Spirit
109
Who directed The Empire Strikes Back and Never Say Never Again, dying aged 87 in 2010?
Irvin Kershner
110
Which American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four? He holds NFL records for consecutive seasons with over 4,000 yards passing and the most total seasons with 4,000 or more yards passing in a career. In 2009, he was listed by The Sporting News as the No. 1 player in the NFL today. Also in 2009, Fox Sports named him player of the decade?
Peyton Manning
111
In which Hitchcok film is the director's cameo winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment?
Rear Window
112
In which Hitchcock film is his cameo a man with two white terriers?
The Birds
113
In which 1976 was Hitchcock's last cameo, seen in profile through a glass door?
Family Plot
114
Which newspaper, which ceased publication in 1932, was called the pink ‘un?
The Sporting Times
115
What is the name of the trophy you get if you win the Indianapolis 500?
Borg-Warner
116
On which circuit is the Le Mans 24 Hours run?
Circuit de la Sarthe
117
The traditional Le Mans start where drivers run across the tracks to their cars was abandoned in 1970 for safety reasons and replaced with a 'rolling start', which is named for which city?
Indianapolis
118
Dedicated to the composer’s daughter ‘Chou-Chou’, which 1908 suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy consists of six pieces including Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, and Jimbo’s Lullaby?
Children’s Corner
119
Reading this text is a fulfillment of the scriptural commandment to each Jew to "tell your son" about the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus. With a name meaning ‘telling’ in Hebrew, which Jewish religious text sets out the order of the Passover Seder?
ANS: Haggadah
120
The rock group They Might Be Giants took their name from the 1971 Hollywood film of the same name that was, in turn, taken from a line in which 17th Century literary masterpiece?
Don Quixote
121
The lake and wetlands of Ichkeul National Park are an important stopping-over point for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds each year. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, in which country could you find it?
Tunisia
122
Based on one of Aesop’s fables, this German-style strategic race board game was designed by David Parlett in 1974 and has sold 2 million copies in over 10 languages. In which game do players pay carrots in order to move forward towards the winning line?
Hare and Tortoise
123
The logical work Begriffsschrift and the philosophical work Über Sinn und Bedeutung are two of the best-known works of which German logician considered to be the father of analytic philosophy?
Gottlob Frege
124
Deriving from the Italian word for ‘yellow’, what name is given to the 20th Century genre of Italian literature and film that includes elements of horror, crime and eroticism?
Giallo
125
He is perhaps best known for his 1966 collection of essays and lectures entitled Écrits and for his wide-reaching influence on post-modernist thought. Which French psychoanalyst and original interpreter of Freud emphasized the primacy of language as the mirror of the unconscious mind, and attempted to introduce the study of language into psychoanalytic theory?
Jacques Lacan
126
In 1999, Vitali Klitschko became, at 6’7”, the tallest heavyweight champion in boxing history. He took this record from which 6’6½” Kansas-born boxer who had become heavyweight champion 84 years earlier?
Jess Willard
127
No Promises, a 2007 album containing poems by William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, Dorothy Parker, Walter de la Mare, and Christina Rossetti set to music, was released by which woman?
Carla Bruni
128
Telling the story of young boy’s upbringing in wartime Tuscany, Tea with Mussolini was a 1999 film directed by, and based on the autobiography of, which Italian filmmaker?
Franco Zeffirelli
129
Used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners and later used by the North Vietnamese to house, torture and interrogate captured servicemen, mostly American pilots shot down during bombing raids, what is the name of the prison nicknamed ‘Hanoi Hilton’ by American prisoners of war?
Hoa Lo Prison
130
Replaced in adulthood by the spinal column in most species, what is the name of the flexible, rod-shaped structural element present in the embryos of all members of the phylum Chordata?
Notochord
131
Perhaps best known for his namesake series that involves linear combinations of sines and cosines and which approximates a given function on a specified domain, which French mathematician and physicist was appointed governor of Lower Egypt by Napoleon in 1798 and is credited with the discovery of the greenhouse effect?
Joseph Fourier
132
Which German-born American pianist, conductor, and composer won the Academy Award for Best Music in consecutive years for Gigi (1958) and Porgy & Bess (1959)?
André Previn
133
In March 2010, Jay Leno returned as host of The Tonight Show after a seven and a half month absence during which the iconic talk show was hosted by which comedian?
Conan O’Brien
134
Declared one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005, what is the name of the 15th Century Maya theatrical play that is performed annually in Baja Verapaz, Guatemala on 25th January?
Rabinal Achí
135
Which Russian terrorist organisation is best known for the successful assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881?
Narodnaya Volya or People’s Will
136
Its best-known products being its hugely successful sports games, its games based on popular movie licenses such as Harry Potter, and games from long-running franchises like Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, The Sims, and Battlefield, which international developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games was founded by Trip Hawkins in 1982?
Electronic Arts or EA
137
What is the name of the French-Canadian engineer who co-invented the aqualung with Jacques Cousteau?
Émile Gagnan
138
Which American theatrical producer and director, associated with many of the best-known Broadway musicals of the second half of the 20th Century, has won twenty-one Tony Awards, more than any other individual?
Harold Prince
139
Makobo Constance Modjadji VI, who died in 2005, was the last holder of which 400 year old matrilineal title held by the ruler of the Balobedu, a people of the Limpopo Province of South Africa?
Rain Queen
140
First discovered in the 1950s and thought to be the most luminous objects in the universe, what name is given to a compact region in the centre of a massive galaxy surrounding a central supermassive black hole?
Quasar
141
Located within its namesake national park, what is the name of the 160 km long mountain range north of Nairobi that is home to the Rhino Charge, an annual cross-country race for 4x4 vehicles?
Aberdare Range
142
The best ice hockey player of his generation and widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, which defenceman won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 1972 and 1974 and won the award for the NHL’s most valuable player in 1970, 1971 and 1972?
Bobby Orr
143
Who was the Chairman of Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and Russia’s largest company, until taking up his current post in May 2008?
Dmitry Medvedev
144
In 1961, which cubist painter became the first living artist to have his artworks exhibited at the Louvre?
Georges Braque
145
His government was overthrown in 1919 after Romanian forces, with the consent of the Allied powers, invaded the country and installed Miklós Horthy as Regent. The first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia was the short lived government of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, established from 21st March until 6th August 1919, under the leadership of which politician?
ANS: Béla Kun
146
Which famous astronomer died from a burst bladder after a royal banquet?
Tycho Brahe
147
Who created the Seed Cathedral for the UK pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010?
Thomas Heatherwick
148
Which Danish sports car company on the Danish island of Zealand is managed by Jesper Jensen, the founder and financier, and Troels Vollertsen. The name is derived from a combination of their names?
Zenvo
149
Fluoroantimonic acid (HSbF6) is a mixture of hydrogen fluoride and antimony pentafluoride in various ratios. What is distinctive about it?
Strongest known acid
150
Why did Austen Chamberlain get the Nobel Peace Prize?
Negotiating the Locarno Pact
151
Arthur Henderson, who also got the Nobel Peace Prize, served in the cabinets of which Prime Minister?
Ramsay MacDonald
152
Sumer and Akkad were the two major cities of which part of Mesopotamia?
Babylonia
153
Which religious reformer wrote De Captivitate Babylonica Ecclesiasticae in 1520, the year of his excommunication?
Martin Luther
154
Liar's Poker, based on his experiences as a bond salesman, Moneyball and the New New Thing about Silicon Valley were the works of which author?
Michael Lewis
155
Which part of the eye, located in the center of the macula region of the retina, is responsible for sharp central vision which is necessary in humans for reading, watching television or movies, driving, and any activity where visual detail is of primary importance?
Fovea
156
Which was the first ever Beatles track credited to all four Beatles?
Flying
157
Discovered accidentally by Eduard Benedictus and developed in Britain as Triplex by John C Wood. What?
Laminated glass/safety glass
158
In cars, air bags are usually referred to as SRS. What do these initials stand for?
Supplementary Restraint System
159
Gustave Liebau, George Caley, Edward J Claghorn and Nils Bohin are credited with the invention of what?
Seat belts
160
What name is given to a metal plate that controls the rate of combustion in a fire or stove?
Damper
161
Which author, who used to work for the US post office in LA, wrote six novels, starting with Post Office in 1971?
Charles Bukowski
162
What name was given by Jung to any of a number of prototypic phenomena, such as the Wise Old Man?
Archetype
163
Which is the simplest of the carboxylic acids, with the formula CO2H2?
Formic acid
164
What name, also that of a child's game, were given to the riots against Mazarin from 1648 to 1653 in Paris?
The Fronde
165
Bryology or muscology is the study of what?
Mosses
166
Which science fiction writer created Ringworld?
Larry Niven
167
Its name meaning 'little O', what is the 15th lettter of the Greek alphabet?
Omicron
168
The novel Old School and the memoirs This Boy's Life and In Pharoah's Army are the works of which writer associated with Dirty Realism?
Tobias Wolff
169
Who wrote the Frank Bascombe series, which comprises The Sportswriter, Independence Day and the Lay of the Land?
Richard Ford
170
Who wrote Cathedral and Where I'm Calling From and was also associated with Dirty Realism?
Raymond Carver
171
Who played Ian Curtis in Control?
Sam Riley
172
The Bergius process of the hydrogenation of bituminous coal was used by Germany in WW2 to produce what?
Petrol
173
The contact process for making sulphuric acid superseded which other process in the 1830s?
Lead chamber
174
The sister of which poet wrote her Alfoxden Journals at Alfoxden House in Somerset?
William Wordsworth
175
Which term indicates a gas below its critical temperature which can be liquified by an increase of pressure alone?
Vapour
176
The phrase 'nature red in tooth and claw' occurs in which Tennyson poem?
In Memoriam AHH
177
Which is the largest known star?
VY Canis Majoris
178
The indoor practice facility of which NFL team collapsed, mid-practice session, in high winds in May 2009? Fortunately, no-one was killed.
Dallas Cowboys
179
Who was the lead singer of the band Black Flag?
Henry Rollins
180
In Britain, a GCSE is an educational qualification. In which country is it an honour, standing for (in the country's own language) 'The Order of St James of The Sword'?
Portugal
181
Which singer, 1920-1999 was known as the Rainha do Fado (Queen of Fado)?
Amalia Rodrigues
182
Nicknamed the Say Hey Kid, which Giants (NY and SF) baseball player, born in Alabama in 1931, is considered by many to be the greatest all-rounder ever?
Willie Mays
183
What is the home ground of the SF Giants?
AT&T Park
184
Baseball ballparks built or rebuilt of concrete and steel (albeit with wooden seats) after the days of the wooden ballpark are said by many to embody the golden age of baseball. They are known for their green seats, large roofs, intimate feel, and major use of exposed steel, brick, and stone. The first of these was Shibe Park, which opened in 1909 in Philadelphia and the only two remaining are Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. What is the name given to such buildings?
Jewel Boxes
185
In the 1990s, the ongoing trend started of trying to recreate the Jewel Boxes- what name is given to this new wave?
Retro ballparks
186
Which was the first of the 'retro' ballparks, home to the Baltimore Orioles?
Camden Yards
187
t occurred in the AFC divisional playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on December 23, 1972. Late in the game, after Frenchy Fuqua, a Pittsburgh halfback, collided with Raiders Safety Jack Tatum as he tried to make a catch, Pittsburgh running back Franco Harris caught the deflected football just before it hit the ground, and ran in for a touchdown that won the game. What's the name of this play, the most famous in American football history?
The Immaculate Reception
188
What is the term used by sportscasters and Philadelphia Eagles fans for a fumble recovery by cornerback Herman Edwards that he returned for a touchdown at the end of a November 19, 1978 NFL game against the New York Giants in Giants Stadium. It was seen as miraculous because it occurred at a point in the game when the Giants were easily capable of running out the game's final seconds?
The Miracle at the Meadowlands
189
The biggest-ever animated series to come out of Africa launched on UK TV in 2010. It's a series of 52 ten minute films for children's television made in Nairobi by traditional African artists working alongside animators and international voice actors- called what?
Tinga Tinga Tales
190
On which island's airport did engineers extend the ocean-side runway to more than 9000 feet by building a massive girder bridge atop about 200 pillars in the 2000s? The bridge, which itself is over 3000 feet long and 590 feet wide, is strong enough to handle the weight of 747s and similar jets. It all had to be done as there is virtually no flat land on the island.
Madeira
191
Where would you find the airports Pegasus Field and Williams Field?
Antarctica
192
Only five miles from the city centre, and now hemmed in by buildings on all sides, which Sao Paulo airport is a challenge for pilots to land at?
Congonhas
193
The runway is about 1700 feet long, but the real surprise is the large hill toward the middle of the strip. You take off downhill and you land going uphill. The hill, which has an 18.5 percent grade, is so steep that small planes could probably gain enough momentum rolling down it with no engines to safely glide off the edge. This is the airport at which international ski resort?
Courcheval
194
What is the world's northernmost airport that tourists can book tickets to?
Svalbard
195
The Sky City Nine Eagles Golf Course can be played at which major international airport while waiting for a plane?
Hong Kong
196
The notorious Toncontin International Airport has been the subject of scrutiny following several accidents, including a 2008 crash that killed five. Toncontin's runway is just over 7000 feet long and situated in a valley surrounded by mountains. Despite the stubby runway, planes as large as Boeing 757s routinely land at the airport. Officials have launched an initiative to reroute commercial traffic to the safer Soto Cano Air Base. Which capital city's airport is this?
Tegucigalpa
197
What's the name of the world's highest airport in Tibet, over 14,000 feet above sea level?
Qamdo Bangda
198
King Fahd International in Saudi Arabia is so large, it's bigger than neighbouring Bahrain. Which city does it serve?
Dammam
199
Which is the largest airport in the USA by land area and has given over much of its area to solar panels?
Denver
200
Which Chinese city has an airport with a long runway in the bay, with taxiways linking it to the control buildings and terminals on the mainland?
Macau
201
Which designer has created a footbridge across the Grand Union Canal at Paddington that folds into an octagon when not in use?
Thomas Heatherwick
202
Mugham or Mugam is the traditional musical style of which country?
Azerbaijan
203
Which 2010 Bollywood Smash starred Shah Rukh Khan as a Muslim immigrant in the USA after 9/11?
My Name Is Khan
204
Which American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist recorded with The Staples Singers, her family's band?
Mavis Staples
205
Better known by the pseudonym "Zambo", he was a virtuoso Afro-Peruvian singer, representative of Afro-Peruvian identity. Some of his best performances are renditions of traditional Peruvian creole music. Dying in 2009, what was his name?
Arturo Cavero
206
He worked for many years doing fashion photography for Vogue magazine, founding his own studio in 1953. He was among the first photographers to pose subjects against a simple grey or white backdrop and used this simplicity more effectively than other photographers. Expanding his austere studio surroundings, he constructed a set of upright angled backdrops, to form a stark, acute corner. Subjects photographed with this technique included Martha Graham, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O'Keeffe, W. H. Auden, Igor Stravinsky and Marlene Dietrich. Which American man?
Irving Penn
207
Dating from about 1500 BC, it contains 84 different mathematical problems and is the most famous mathematical papyrus to have survived from Ancient Egypt. What's it called?
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
208
Yoiks, sung by yoikers, are the traditional songs of which European ethnic group?
Samis (Lapps)
209
Which Anglo-French actress and singer-songwriter is most known in cinema for her roles in The Science of Sleep, I'm Not There, 21 Grams, and Antichrist? She recovered from a cerebral haemorrhage in 2007?
Charlotte Gainsbourg
210
The Design Museum in Holon just outside Tel Aviv is the first building by which man more famous in another field of the arts?
Ron Arad
211
He is the author of ten novels and short story collections, including The Lulu Magnet, A Night at the Pink Poodle, The Motorcycle Cafe, The Pillow Fight and, most recently, The Trout Opera, an epic novel that took him more than ten years to write and examines the Australian character through its chief protagonist, Wilfred Lampe, a rabbiter and farm hand who spends his entire life in the township of Dalgety, on the banks of the Snowy River. Which author?
Matthew Condon
212
In February 2010, Electronic Arts released a video game based on which classic of literature?
Dante's Inferno
213
Who were the first central American culture to build cities and develop writing and are called the Mother Culture of Central America?
Olmecs
214
It's an institution to celebrate the Italian language through song. But significantly, in 2010, the festival allowed a small but important change in its rules. Songs sung in regional dialects were allowed to take part for the very first time. What's the name of this festival?
San Remo festival
215
Which Pakistani-British artist is known for completing works in extreme conditions, including in zero gravity, and recently, in Antarctica?
Nasser Azam
216
Which country's 830-mile long Highway 1 is also called The Ring Road?
Iceland
217
What is the real name of Bolivia's Road of Death, as featured on Top Gear?
Yungas Road
218
Which unpaved highway goes north through the coldest parts of Alaska to the Prudhoe Bay oilfield?
Dalton Highway
219
Which 800 mile long highway connects Pakistan and China through the Pamirs?
Karakorum Highway
220
Eleven hairpin turns take drivers 2800 feet above sea level with an average grade of 9 percent. This scenic road is accented by the Stigfossen waterfall, which runs down the side of the mountain. How does its Norwegian name of Trollstigen translate into English?
Troll Ladder
221
Canton Avenue in which US city disputes the title of world's steepest street with Baldwin Street in Dunedin?
Pittsburgh
222
Where Interstate 635 connects with U.S. 75, the five-level High Five Interchange makes Spaghetti Junction look straightforward. It's on the edge of which major US city?
Dallas
223
The path from Tibbitt to Contwoyto in northern Canada isn't really a road; it's an interconnected collection of frozen lakes that form a trucking lane. The route is meticulously planned along the thickest route and is monitored by maintenance crews who brave temperatures that can drop to minus 70. Made famous by an eponymous History Channel documentary, what's the name of this route?
The Ice Road
224
Subterra Castle in central Kansas is a residential home that was once what?
A nuclear missile silo
225
The Lake Palace in Lake Pichola that was Octopussy's lair in the James Bond film is in which Indian city?
Udaipur
226
What's the name of the transcontinental tunnel under the Bosphorus in Istanbul?
Marmaray Tunnel
227
With a 76 foot diameter, what is the world's largest single-bore tunnel, in San Francisco?
Yerba Buena
228
The PATH Tunnel system is a massive (and necessary) underground shopping mall in which cold city?
Toronto
229
Which location in Colorado served as the NORAD headquarters at the height of the cold war?
Cheyenne Mountain
230
Natural Tunnel State Park is in which US state? A railway line now runs through a naturally-formed 200 foot wide tunnel through a rockface.
Virginia
231
Where are the Vietnam tunnels open to the public?
Cu Chi
232
Which professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University is probably the best known female autistic person on Earth?
Temple Grandin
233
Which shopping centre near Mount Vesuvius, and shaped like that mountain, was designed by Renzo Piano?
Volcano Buono
234
Khan Shatyr is covered by the world's largest tent and tensile structure, and is a massive shopping mall designed by Norman Foster in which Asian capital?
Astana
235
The mall is home to a giant UFO-like structure, called the Cloud, that serves as a shade during the day and a movie screen at night. What is the name of Las Vegas' biggest shopping mall?
Fashion Show Mall
236
Ski Dubai, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East, is the centrepiece of which Dubai building?
Mall of the Emirates
237
Which is the other main shopping mall in Dubai? It's home to the world's largest suspended aquarium, home to over 33,000 aquatic animals and has the worlds largest collection of sand tiger sharks. Guiness World Records declared the front of the tank to be the world's largest acrylic panel, allowing free public viewing from all three levels of the mall?
Dubai Mall
238
What is the name of the famous mall in Milan?
Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II
239
Which Japanese city is home to the Canal City shopping mall?
Fukuoka
240
Stary Browar was built in the former Huggar Brewery factory building, which was once a fully functioning brewery as well as a carbonated-water facility. In 2003 the building was transformed into the center it is today, still maintaining its original brewery architecture. In which European city?
Poznan
241
Built for Expo 98's World's Fair, the Gare do Oriente Station designed by Santiago Calatrava is one of the world's largest transit stations. In which city?
Lisbon
242
The station features the unique Thai architectural style and could arguably be one of the world's most beautiful rail stations. The station contains the Royal Waiting Room, which once served to welcome the king and his court upon their arrival. Which Thai town?
Hua Hin
243
Which village is the temporary capital of Montserrat?
Brades
244
In which part of Boston port did the Tea Party take place?
Griffin's Wharf
245
How many Earth days long is Mercury's year, the shortest in the solar system?
88 days
246
Which composer's only opera was called Treemonisha?
Scott Joplin
247
What was the Algonquin Round Table? (its organisers preferred the name The Vicious Circle)
Daily literary lunch at NY hotel with Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Harold Ross etc
248
Which was the first ship to go through the Panama Canal?
SS Ancon
249
In the Faustian pact with the Devil, how many years did Faust get?
Twenty-four
250
Celtic, Avellum and Iona are al types of what?
Cross
251
In law, what does prima facie evidence mean?
Evidence suggestive but not conclusive of something
252
How many clubs contested the first ever League championship?
Twelve
253
In which month is St James (the Great's) day?
July (25th)
254
Esotropia, exotropia, hypertropia and hypotropia all affect which organ of the body?
Eye
255
Dirty, Snoopy, Biggo Eggo and Awful were names considered and rejected for which group of cartoon characters?
Seven dwarfs
256
How many bones in the cranium?
Eight
257
The son of which major Second World War figure was Mayor of Stuttgart from 1974 to 1996?
Erwin Rommel
258
What is the name of Oscar Pistorius' prosthetic blades?
Cheetah blades
259
Which Muslim political and religion sect was founded by Ismael al-Darazi in the c11, with a name derived from him?
Druze
260
In December, January and February, which wind loaded with red desert dust blows on the coast of West Africa?
Harmattan
261
Which city is the centre of Yoruba culture?
Ife
262
Who wrote Begin the Beguine?
Cole Porter
263
What is the name of the poetry version of the X Factor popular on Gulf television?
Million's Poet
264
Who wrote the best-selling novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas?
John Boyne
265
Which man, now a successful film director, responsible for Green Zone, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, co-wrote Spycatcher with Peter Wright?
Paul Greengrass
266
What name is given to a competition at which poets read or recite original work (or, more rarely, that of others). These performances are then judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience?
Poetry slam
267
What portmanteau term is given to someone from New York City of Puerto Rican heritage?
Nuyorican
268
Which Cape Town born producer and sound engineer worked on albums including Are You Experienced, Electric Ladyland, Houses of the Holy and Frampton Comes Alive?
Eddie Kramer
269
What were Morecambe and Wise's real surnames?
Bartholomew and Wiseman
270
He is a hero to the Pashtun people - a man who organised and ran a peaceful non-violent campaign to oust the British from the Indian sub-continent. Although twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, outside his own people he's enjoyed none of the fame of Gandhi. Who?
Badshah Khan
271
Which Arab city has ambitious plans for an underwater museum for antiquities that cannot easily be brought to the surface?
Alexandria
272
Now The Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, he grew up in the family compound of his polygamous family in Kenya during the Second World War and amidst the terrors of the Mao Mao independence movement. Often spoken of as a likely Nobel prize winner, which writer is this?
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
273
In 2001 which bestselling crime writer published ten rules of writing in the New York Times. They included 'never open a book with weather' and 'try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip'?
Elmore Leonard
274
Which BBC radio presenter, who died in 2010, coined the term world music and discovered Ian Dury and Dire Straits?
Charlie Gillett
275
Which unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants (accounts vary) and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 had deserted or defected from the U.S. Army? They were the subject of a 2010 concept album by the Chieftains and Ry Cooder.
St Patrick's Battalion
276
What do you call someone from Burkina Faso?
Burkinabe
277
Which city is this? If you want to catch a taxi, you can't flap your arm about. Instead you need to use the appropriate hand signal to indicate to taxi drivers where you might be going. Fascinated by the intricacy and variety of these signals, the local artist Susan Woolf decided to paint them all. The paintings eventually became a booklet for blind commuters and now adorn a set of specially issued stamps?
Johannesburg
278
Which luxury Italian fashion house known for its ready-to-wear clothing was established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti? By March 2008, the company had 2,254 stores in 90 countries.
Max Mara
279
Which international children's literature award, the world's richest, was established by the Swedish government in 2002?
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
280
Which influential French film magazine founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca re-invented the basic tenets of film theory and criticism?
Cahiers du Cinema
281
Which film set in Hong Kong (1960) starred William Holden and Nancy Kwan?
The World of Suzie Wong
282
Who directed 11-year old Chloe Moretz in the controversial Kick Ass?
Matthew Vaughan
283
The jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim is from which country?
South Africa
284
Which world-famous architect has designed the National Museum of Qatar and the Louvre in Abu Dhabi?
Jean Nouvel
285
What name is given to a recently discovered work by Leonardo da Vinci of a fourteen year old girl?
La Bella Principessa
286
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim collaborated on a song cycle about which famous woman?
Imelda Marcos
287
Which form of Chinese classical music, literally meaning 'elegant music', was lost in China and is now being re-introduced from Taiwan?
Yayue
288
Which Serbian-born New York artist likes to describe herself as 'The Grandmother of Performance Artists'?
Marina Abramovic
289
Which Ghanaian musical style merges hip hop and high life?
Hiplife
290
Which Argentinian man is the author of numerous non-fiction books such as The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (co-written with Gianni Guadalupi in 1980) and A History of Reading (1996), The Library at Night (2007) and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: A Biography (2008), and novels such as News From a Foreign Country Came (1991)?
Alberto Manguel
291
Who did the front covers of Pink Floyd albums?
Storm Thorgerson
292
The Dead Republic (2010) is the first installment in a trilogy of books about modern Ireland by which author?
Roddy Doyle
293
Which American stage actor (1807-1867) made his career largely on the London stage and in Europe, especially in Shakespearean roles? He is the only actor of African-American descent among the 33 actors of the English stage honored with bronze plaques at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. He was especially popular in Prussia and Russia, where he received top honors from heads of state.
Ira Aldridge
294
By what single name is the Nigerian-German hip hop/soul singer and songwriter born in 1981, singing in both English and Igbo, known?
Nneka
295
Which prize is regarded as the pre-eminent prize for British political writing?
Orwell Prize
296
BAFICI is a film festival held in which city in Latin America?
Buenos Aires
297
On 9 August 48 BC in central Greece, Gaius Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great"). Pompey had the backing of a majority of senators and his army significantly outnumbered the veteran Caesarian legions. But Caesar won. Which famous battle?
Pharsalus
298
Which wife of Mark Anthony is remembered in the history of the late Roman Republic for her political ambition and activity? She is most famous forher involvement in the Perusine War of 41-40 BC. She was the first Roman non-mythological woman to appear on Roman coins.
Fulvia
299
In which year was the first Henley Regatta?
1839
300
Jack, the brother of which famous film star, was successful at and had a trophy named after him, at Henley regatta?
Grace Kelly
301
When E R Sims won victory at Henley Regatta in 1981, who was his partner, for whom it was a first rowing victory?
Steve Redgrave
302
Which girl is the heroine of His Dark Materials?
Lyra
303
Which typographer helped William Morris set up the Kelmscott Press?
Emery Walker
304
What was the name of the TV talent show won by Lee Mead?
Any Dream Will Do
305
Andrea Camillero's novels featuring Inspector Salvo Montalbano are set on which Italian island?
Sicily
306
What was the name of the slave ship on which a rebellion broke out in 1839? The acquittal of the mutineers paved the way for abolition.
Amistad
307
Shirley, Iceland and Oriental are popular species of which plant?
Poppy
308
Who is Lou Reed's wife?
Laurie Anderson
309
Which American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background in New Jersey. His work includes the cult hit Welcome to the Dollhouse, the award-winning Happiness, Storytelling, and Palindromes?
Todd Solondz
310
Sheikh Rashid bin Khalifa al Khalifa is the Minister of Immigration Passports and Nationality in which country? He's also one of the finest contemporary painters in the Arab world. He's been painting for 40 years but rarely exhibited and never sold his work.
Bahrain
311
In Mexico, Nahuatl and Mayan are the two most widely spoken indigenous languages. Which is the third?
Mixtec
312
In Mexico, Nahuatl and Mayan are the two most widely spoken indigenous languages. Which is the fourth if Mixtec is third?
Zapotec
313
Zapotec is most widely spoken in and around which Mexican city?
Oaxaca
314
Mothers in which country wrap themselves and their babies in 'heavy skirts' which grow ever heavier as time passes and they are repeatedly patched?
Cambodia
315
Which award-winning South African author and playwright was born in Pretoria in 1963? His family, of European stock, had strong ties to the South African judiciary. When he was six years old, Galgut was diagnosed with cancer, a trauma which he has described as "the central, cataclysmic event of my life". He fell very ill, and spent long stretches of his childhood in hospital. His love of storytelling developed at this time as he lay convalescing in his hospital bed, listening to relatives reading stories to him.
Damon Galgut
316
Which Australian-born poet who lived in Britain and died aged 81 in 2010 survived two suicide attempts in the 1950s and also the suicide of his wife in the 1970s?
Peter Porter
317
Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier were important, but which urban planner was the most senior Brazilian involved in the development of Brasilia?
Lucio Costa
318
Which Swedish naturalist, a disciple of Linnaeus, is the subject of a biography in 2010 by Per Wastberg and accompanied Captain Cook to the Antarctic region?
Anders Sparrman
319
Where in the Middle East hosts Peter Gabriel's WOMAD festival?
Abu Dhabi
320
What is the alter ego of Iron Man, in the comics and Robert owney Jr films?
Tony Stark
321
David Mitchell's new novel 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' an ambitious novel where a young Dutch pastor's son finds himself caught in up in dramas of love, power, corruption and a fierce battle to defend his island from the British invaders. In which country is it set?
Japan
322
What is Japanese film director and game-show host (Takeshi's Castle) Beat Takeshi's real name?
Takeshi Kitano
323
In which country are Filmfare awards given for achievements in cinema?
India
324
Which Indian film actor and producer first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema, and has since become one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema? He holds the record for most number of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations at the Filmfare Awards. In addition to acting, he has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter, and was an elected member of the Indian Parliament from 1984 to 1987.
Amitabh Bachchan
325
Ala Bashir is a surrealist painter based in Nottingham who for many years was whose personal physician?
Saddam Hussein's
326
The New York Times describes 'Vincere' as a near-masterpiece, a monument to intoxication: of sexual conquest, of military conquest, and, most of all, of cinema. It's a biopic of which man?
Benito Mussolini
327
Jane Smiley's Pulitzer-prize winning A Thousand Acres was based on which Shakespeare play?
King Lear
328
Israeli Avishai Cohen plays which jazz instrument?
Double bass
329
A new Biennale celebrating the work of two writers has started between Argentina and the Czech Republic. Which writers?
Borges and Kafka
330
Director Haim Tabakman's controversial 2010 film is a gay love story set in Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox Jewish community. What's it called?
Eyes Wide Open
331
Which Icelandic-Danish artist did the giant sun at Tate Modern?
Olafur Eliasson
332
If you visit here, you'll find illegally pirated books, CDs and DVDs just about everywhere - sold openly at traffic lights, from pieces of plastic laid out on pavements - even at the beach. Such is the scale of the problem, the book publishing industry is said to be losing more money than any other South American country. Which country?
Peru
333
In 1987 which novelist published his courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent, which went on to sell 9 million copies worldwide and was turned into a film starring Harrison Ford?
Scott Turow
334
Which famous album was recorded at Nellcote in France?
Exile on Main Street
335
Who directed the Palm d'Or winning Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives?
Apichatpong Weerasekathul
336
Which now very elderly man was standing trial for WW2 war crimes in Munich in 2010?
John Demjanjuk
337
Which style of music that originated in Cuba and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arará origin? It is one of the most influential and widespread forms of Latin American music: its derivatives and fusions, namely salsa, have spread across the world.
Son Cubano
338
Which (white) South African satirist has an alter ego Beauty Ramapelepele - the rich, black, opinionated and botox-ed Business Woman of the Year?
Ben Voss
339
Which (white, Jewish) Ann Arbor-born musician has delighted the hip hop community with his album of classic soul music, 'A Strange Arrangement'?
Mayer Hawthorne
340
a lilting, often haunting form of rural dance music from the subtropical northeast of the country. Which Argentinian style of folk music?
Chamame
341
n 2008, the Man Asian Literary Prize was awarded to which Filipino writer now based in Montreal, for his novel Ilustrado?
Miguel Syjuco
342
What's the name of Yann Martell's follow up to Life of Pi?
Beatrice and Virgil
343
Which American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer takes its name from a neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. The series begins three months after Hurricane Katrina where the residents of New Orleans try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane?
Treme
344
Similar to a railroad apartment, which narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, with doors at each end, was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War (1861–65), through to the 1920s?
Shotgun house
345
Which American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B wrote many songs familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", and "Fortune Teller"?
Allen Toussaint
346
The biggest industrial project in human history is happening right now in Canada- what?
Extracting oil from tar sands
347
Which famous Iranian film director, predictably locked up by the authorities there, directed The White Balloon and Offside?
Jafar Panahi
348
Dengue Fever are a band from California with a lead singer from (and composing songs inspired by) which country?
Cambodia
349
Which Russian and Soviet poet was exiled in 1922, living with her family in increasing poverty in Paris, Berlin and Prague before returning to Moscow in 1939. Both her husband and her daughter were arrested for espionage in 1941. Without means of support and in deep isolation, she committed suicide in 1941?
Marina Tsvetaeva
350
It was made with special Imax cameras and cost more than $13 million. The film starts with the story of one of the greatest travellers in history - Ibn Batutta - who undertook an epic journey from his home in Morrocco to travel more than 3,000 miles across north Africa to reach Mecca in the east. Which 2010 film intended to educate about Islam?
Journey To Mecca
351
Where is the first Comedy Store outside London?
Mumbai
352
Kollywood is cinema made in which city and language?
Chennai, Tamil
353
In which town is To Kill a Mockingbird set?
Maycomb, AL
354
Which man, born in 1964, is considered one of the most influential artists of his generation, renowned for his sensuous and sensory installations. The Rio de Janeiro based architect has created a sequence of inter-linked spaces which merge sculpture and architecture?
Ernesto Neto
355
Meaning "School of Life" in Wolof, which Senegalese rap trio consists of N'Dongo D, Aladji Man, and Faada Freddy? Their music takes influence from hip hop, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and reggae and is performed in English, French, Spanish, and Wolof.
Daara J
356
One of the most widely known contemporary Hungarian writers, he worked as a mathematician from 1974 to 1978. The scion of an aristocratic family that traces its roots to the 12th century, he is perhaps best known outside of his native country for Celestial Harmonies (Harmonia Caelestis, 2000) which chronicles his forefathers' epic rise during the Austro-Hungarian empire to their dispossession under communism.
Peter Esterhazy
357
Born in 1971 in Strasbourg, which award winning writer of Turkish descent and the best-selling woman writer in Turkey has been characterized as continuously and creatively blending Western and Eastern traditions of storytelling to generate a fiction that is both local and universal at once. Her writing has been defiant of bigotry and xenophobia, deeply involved in feminism, Sufism and Ottoman culture, with "a particular genius for depicting backstreet Istanbul"?
Elif Shafak
358
In which country is Jacmel, home to a carnival called Kanaval and a film festival? It has just become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Haiti
359
John Flansburgh and John Linnell are the nucleus of which band?
They Might Be Giants
360
The RIBA International award for architecture is named for which architect?
Lubetkin
361
Meaning green pine, which word refers to the Turkish film industry as Hollywood does for the USA?
Yeşilçam
362
In which city is In The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon set?
Barcelona
363
What was the Clah's only UK Number 1?
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
364
The growler, less than three feet in height, is the smallest kind of what?
Iceberg
365
Where in New York is Cleopatra's Needle?
Central Park
366
What name, meaning fourth part, is given to a triangular Scottish oatmeal cake?
Farl
367
Who wrote Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington?
Tennyson
368
Ransom Eli Olds was a pioneer in which industry?
Car making
369
Traditionally, who gave the Italian white wine Soave its name?
Dante
370
We all know that James Joyce wrote A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Published posthumously in 2000, Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, however, was the final novel written by an acclaimed American author. Mirroring the life of its author, the novel tells of Eugene Pota, an elderly writer who is struggling to write a novel that is as successful as his magnum opus. Which author wrote the novel?
Joseph Heller
371
Which French painter, whose best known works include The Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge and Charing Cross Bridge, co-founded Fauvism with Henri Matisse?
André Derain
372
Mississippi Suite and Grand Canyon Suite are two of the best-known works of which 20th Century American pianist and composer of French Huguenot extraction?
Ferde Grofé
373
One of the Five Ks, what name is given to the iron bracelet which serves as a reminder for Sikhs to follow the morals of their faith?
Kara
374
A popular challenge for tourists at this resort is to swim the 400 metres from the beach to Black Lizard Island (Isla de sa Porrassa). What is the name of this major holiday resort on the Spanish island of Majorca, primarily catering for the British and Scandinavian package holiday market?
Magaluf
375
Banned in Chile during Pinochet's regime, which 1982 film directed by Costa Gavras is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman, who disappeared in the bloody aftermath of the US-backed Chilean coup of 1973 that deposed President Salvador Allende?
Missing
376
Although not as famous at the one held in Siena, the world’s oldest Palio has been run since the 13th Century in the the Piazza Alfieri in which Piedmontese city that is perhaps better known for its sparkling wine?
Asti
377
Which Colombian won MVP as San Francisco 49ers won the 2010 World Series?
Edgar Renteria
378
Which is the largest company to be HQ'ed in the Southern Hemisphere?
Petrobras
379
Launched by the Soviet Union in 1971, what was the name of the world’s first space station?
Salyut 1
380
One of the best known and most parodied of all sports team pop songs, what was the name of the rap song recorded by the Chicago Bears American football team immediately prior to their appearance in Super Bowl XX in 1986?
Super Bowl Shuffle
381
Often regarded, along with his contemporary Du Fu, as one of the two greatest poets in Chinese literary history, this 8th Century poet is best known for his alcoholism and his poem Drinking Alone by Moonlight. Which poet is said famously, but almost certainly apocryphally, to have drowned after attempting to embrace the reflection of the Moon in the Yangtze?
Li Bai or Li Po or Li Bo
382
The second most attended annual event in the Caribbean, after the Trinidad Carnival, is a world-renowned jazz festival that was founded in 1991 and takes place on which island?
St. Lucia
383
It is now generally accepted that the landscape and sky in the background of Giorgione’s masterpiece Sleeping Venus were completed, after Giorgione’s death in 1510, by which Renaissance master who would model his own Venus of Urbino on the figure from Giorgione’s painting?
Titian
384
Installed by António de Oliveira Salazar following the army-led coup d'état of 28 May 1926, what was the name of the authoritarian, right-wing regime that presided over Portugal from 1933 until 1974?
Estado Novo
385
Usually denoted by the letter A and named after the 19th Century German physicist who developed it, what name is given to the thermodynamic potential which measures the “useful” work obtainable from a closed thermodynamic system at a constant temperature and volume?
Helmholtz Free Energy
386
Loosely based on the infamous Papin sisters, Lea and Christine, who brutally murdered their employer and her daughter in Le Mans in 1933, which 1947 Jean Genet play tells the story of Solange and Claire, two servants who construct elaborate sadomasochistic rituals when their mistress is away?
The Maids
387
Which American fashion designer of Chinese descent competed at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships but left the sport to take up a career in fashion following her failure to make the US Olympics team?
Vera Wang
388
Which North Carolina-based National Basketball Association team is currently owned and coached by legendary former player Michael Jordan?
Charlotte Bobcats
389
The lover of le Chevalier Des Grieux, which fictional character, introduced in 1731 in a short novel by French author Antoine François Prévost, has served as the title character of musical works by Auber, Massenet and Puccini?
Manon Lescaut
390
What name, after the Danish scientist who developed the technique in 1882, is given to the empirical method of differentiating bacterial species into two large groups based on the chemical and physical properties of their cell walls?
Gram staining
391
A satire of Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen, what distinction is held by Quirino Cristiani’s 1917 film El Apóstol?
The world’s first animated feature film
392
First held in Macau in 2006, what name is given to the multi-sport event held every four years open only to athletes from Portuguese-speaking countries and territories?
Lusophony Games or Jogos da Lusofonia
393
The 1958 French-language film The Lovers of Montparnasse, directed by Jacques Becker, chronicled the last year in the life of which Italian painter who died in abject poverty in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris in 1920?
Amedeo Modigliani
394
Which 12th Century Italian-born scholastic theologian and bishop was known as Magister Sententiarum following the publication of his The Four Books of Sentences, a systematic compilation of theology?
Peter Lombard
395
Upon winning the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in 2008 to add to his Tour de France title from the previous year who became the first Spaniard to win all three Grand Tours?
Alberto Contador
396
Maintaining a strong emphasis on the natural sciences and engineering and widely considered to be one the world’s best universities, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is located in which city?
Pasadena
397
The first animals in space were insects sent aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket in 1947 with the purpose of exploring the effects of radiation exposure at high altitudes. What type of insects were they?
Fruit flies
398
The group’s members included Mikhail Larionov, Natalia Gontcharova, Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall, and Alexander Shevchenko. What is the name given to this Russian artistic group, created from the most radical members of the Jack of Diamonds group, which was influenced by the Cubo-Futurists and held its only exhibition in Moscow in 1912?
Donkey’s Tail
399
Mambo No. 5, which became a worldwide hit for Lou Bega in 1999, was originally composed and recorded by which Cuban bandleader and “King of the Mambo” in 1949?
Pérez Prado
400
This city is sometimes known as Buffalo City as it lies largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River on the Indian Ocean coast. Originally known as Port Rex, it has a population today of over 400,000 and is South Africa’s largest river port. Which city?
East London
401
Which Italian film director, producer and screenwriter, born in Rome in 1940, is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies?
Dario Argento
402
The circuit laws that bear his name are two equalities that deal with the conservation of charge and energy in electrical circuits; his law of thermal radiation is a general statement equating emission and absorption in heated objects; and his three laws of spectroscopy chart and analyze the chemical properties of matter and gases by looking at the bands in their optical spectrum. Which 19th Century German physicist has given his name to each of these laws?
Gustav Kirchoff
403
Invented by the native peoples of North America and with a name deriving from a Cree word meaning ‘fat’ or ‘grease’, which concentrated mixture of fat and protein was widely adopted as a high-energy food by Europeans involved in the fur trade and Arctic and Antarctic exploration?
Pemmican
404
Surrounded by three volcanoes and by a cluster of Maya villages, which large endorheic lake in the Guatemalan highlands is the deepest lake in Central America?
Lake Atitlán
405
In March 1916, he led the Division of the North in a raid on the small border town of Columbus, New Mexico, the first raid on American territory since the American Civil War. By what name was the Mexican Revolutionary general José Doroteo Arango Arámbula better known?
Pancho Villa
406
On May 31st 1970, the massive Ancash earthquake occurred 35km off the coast of Peru. By a cruel twist of fate, almost all of the inhabitants of a coastal Peruvian town were enjoying a street party organised to celebrate the national football team’s qualification for the upcoming World Cup in Mexico. The earthquake triggered a landslide which covered the town in a huge layer of rock, ice and mud, killing all but 92 of the town’s 25,000 inhabitants. What is the name of this town that was declared a national cemetery by the Peruvian government?
Yungay
407
The allegorical series The Course of Empire and The Voyage of Life are, along with landscapes such as Home in the Woods, among the most famous works of which English-born American painter and founder of the Hudson River School?
Thomas Cole
408
Which UNESCO World Heritage Site in Kampala, the burial grounds for four kings of Buganda, was almost completely destroyed by a mysterious fire in March 2010?
Kasubi Tombs
409
Often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy, which Belgian-born physician wrote the enormously influential 1543 textbook of human anatomy De humani corporis fabrica?
Andreas Vesalius
410
Often identified as a cow, which goddess of space, consciousness, the past, the future, and fertility in Hindu mythology is said to support the sky and to be the mother of all things?
Aditi
411
Considered by many to be the greatest rugby union player of all time, which indigenous Australian stunned the world of rugby in 1984 by announcing his retirement from both international rugby and his club side New South Wales when he was just 25?
Mark Ella
412
Adapted from an earlier film of the same name under the personal direction of Zhou Enlai, which Chinese ballet, that depicts the liberation of a peasant girl in Hainan Island and her rise in the Chinese Communist Party, was famously performed for U.S. President Richard Nixon on his visit to China in February 1972?
Red Detachment of Women
413
Statesboro Blues, later recorded by the Allman Brothers Band, was written by which influential American blues singer and guitarist who gave his name to the title of a Bob Dylan song of 1983?
Blind Willie McTell
414
Who was the Pakistani cricketer who was banned for life in 2000 after he was found to be heading an international match-fixing ring?
Saleem Malik
415
Which large sirenian mammal was hunted to extinction within 27 years of being discovered on the uninhabited Commander Islands in the Bering Sea in 1741?
Steller’s sea cow
416
Coming in a graceful twin-dove crystal bottle designed by Rene Lalique, L'Air du Temps, created in 1949, is the most famous perfume from which fashion house?
Nina Ricci
417
What name is given to the unusual roll cloud, that can be up to 1000 kilometres long and can move at speeds up to 60 kilometres per hour, often observed in Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria?
Morning Glory cloud
418
The principal currency of Nicaragua shares its name with which Spanish city?
Córdoba
419
His only novel was entitled The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge and he also wrote Letters to a Young Poet consisting of 10 letters written to a youth considering entering the German military. Who is this Bohemian-Austrian poet and art critic?
Rainer Maria Rilke
420
The 14-year old Jeanne Boulet, who was killed near the village of Les Hubacs on 30th June 1764, was the alleged first victim of which man-eating wolf-like animal that supposedly terrorized the people of the Margeride Mountains in south-central France from 1764 to 1767?
Beast of Gévaudan
421
What's the name of the whistled language on Gomera?
Silbo
422
This genus of songbirds endemic to New Guinea contains six species, three of which, the hooded, the variable, and the brown, are the world’s first documented poisonous birds. The birds’ lethal batrachotoxins, found in their skin and feathers, are acquired from the Chorsine beetles that make up part of their diet. What is the name of this genus?
Pitohui
423
A remarkable feat given that it was her first appearance at a major since coming out of a 2 year retirement, which tennis player won the Women’s Singles Title at the US Open in 2009?
Kim Clijsters
424
Which radioactive metallic element in the actinide series is named after the university at which it was first synthesized in 1949 by bombarding americium with alpha particles?
Berkelium
425
Situated at the front part of the medial wall of the orbit, which is the smallest and most fragile bone of the face?
Lacrimal bone
426
In May 1918, the White Guard began a retreat from the city of Rostov towards the Kuban, in the hope of gaining the support of the Don Cossacks against the Bolshevik government in Moscow. Also known as the First Kuban Campaign, what name is more commonly given to this military withdrawal considered one of the defining moments in the Russian Civil War?
Ice March
427
Also a three-time WWE Champion and a former NFL player with the Minnesota Vikings, he turned his hand to mixed martial arts in 2007. Who is this sportsman, the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight champion?
Brock Lesnar
428
Finishing a disappointing sixth at the 2010 Winter Olympics, he is currently ranked 4th in the world. Appearing to revel in media speculation regarding his sexuality, he is considered to be figure skating’s most recognisable competitor and only ‘superstar’. Which three time US National champion skater was the subject of the documentary film Pop Star on Ice?
Johnny Weir
429
Beginning with an insurrection on Sicily against the rule of Charles of Anjou in 1282, which war was finally ended by the peace of Caltabellota in 1302?
War of the (Sicilian) Vespers
430
Becoming an instant classic upon its publication, Snow Country was the first full-length novel by which author who went on to become, in 1968, the first Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature?
Yasunari Kawabata
431
Born in Mogliano Veneto, near Treviso, in 1720, which Italian artist is best known for his etchings of Roman ruins and for his 16 prints of labyrinthine, Kafkaesque prison vaults?
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
432
Founded in 1925 in the town of Fresnoy-le-Grand in Northern France, which French cookware manufacturer is world famous for its colorful enameled cast iron casseroles?
Le Creuset
433
Its symptoms include painful skin sores and, if left untreated, it can cause fatal damage to the spleen and liver. Transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly in the namesake genus, what is the name of this disease that causes approximately 60,000 deaths annually in tropical and sub-tropical countries?
Leishmaniasis
434
Which French automobile manufacturer is best known for its first model, the Vega, which gained some notoriety as a result of it being the car in which Albert Camus was travelling when he was killed in 1960?
Facel
435
Immediately meeting with hostility upon its completion in 1857 as it was seen to glorify lower class workers, which famous oil painting by Jean-François Millet depicts three peasant women stooping to collect the last scraps of a wheat harvest?
The Gleaners or Des glaneuses
436
His original DJ style would inspire such figures as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Born Clive Campbell in 1955, what is the stage name of the Jamaican-born DJ credited with originating hip-hop music?
Kool Herc
437
Constructed during the reign of the Yongle Emperor during the early 15th Century, which Taoist temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Beijing was visited annually by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for ceremonies of prayer for good harvest?
Temple of Heaven
438
Often credited with having laid the foundations for Athenian democracy, which statesman, lawmaker, and elegiac poet, born in c. 638 BC, repealed most of the laws enacted by Draco and legislated against political, economic and moral decline in ancient Athens?
Solon
439
Superficially similar to the muskrat, which semi-aquatic mammal that inhabits the Volga, Don and Ural River basins in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan is, at 400 to 520 grams, comfortably the world’s largest species of mole?
Russian Desman
440
Women in Saudi Arabia are required by law to wear which long-sleeved robe-like dress, equivalent to the Iranian chador and South Asian burqa?
Abaya
441
When it sold at Sotheby’s in London for £65 million, the cast bronze sculpture L’Homme qui marche I become the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Who was the sculptor?
Alberto Giacometti
442
Its famous cover artwork was created by the German artist Mati Klarwein. Which double album, released in 1970, sold over half a million copies, thus becoming Miles Davis’ first gold record?
Bitches Brew
443
Which cricketer is known as The Little Master?
Sachin Tendulkar
444
Which idiom comes from the telegraph line between Placerville and Virginia city?
Hearing something on the grapevine
445
What name is given to a computer programme with malicious code hidden within it, otherwise looking innocuous?
Trojan horse
446
What is the name of the Clint Eastwood film about the invasion of Grenada?
Heartbreak Ridge
447
In horse racing the narrowest margin of victory is a nose. How was it formerly known?
A short head
448
Which radio show was devised for the Cliff Adams Singers in 1959? It continued to 2001.
Sing Something Simple
449
What was the name of the virus responsible for the swine flu scare in 2009?
H1N1
450
In a pack of playing cards, what does the King of Diamonds have behind his left shoulder?
An axe
451
Who made his directorial debut with Stanley Donen in On The Town, in which he also starred?
Gene Kelly
452
One baht is 100 what?
Satang
453
Which Poet Laureate has collections of verse including Standing Female Nude and Mean Time?
Carol Ann Duffy
454
Who was the presenter of Antiques Roadshow until 2000?
Hugh Scully
455
"Iman Muda" or Young Leader is a new reality television programme, the most-watched programme ever on its Islamic-themed cable channel and has nearly 30,000 Facebook fans/friends. They've been following the young men, who all want to be an Iman, go through tasks such as preparing a corpse for burial and counselling unmarried pregnant women. Which country?
Malaysia
456
What's the name of Mumford and Sons debut album?
Sigh No More
457
Which Irish prize, worth 10,000 euros, is the world's richest for literature?
International IMPAC Dublin literary award
458
Which Norwegian won the IMPAC award for his 2007 work Out Stealing Horses?
Per Petterson
459
Which Australian won the first ever IMPAC award in 1996 for Remembering Babylon?
David Malouf
460
Barbara Kingsolver's book The Lacuna is set in which country?
Mexico
461
Many of the best known images by Alf Kumalo are of which notable man?
Nelson Mandela
462
In which city is the Bluecoat Gallery?
Liverpool
463
Under which stage name does Mercury-nominated rapper Ben Chijioke record?
Ty
464
Who wrote and directed Cinema Paradiso?
Giuseppe Tornatore
465
In Taiwan's southern city of Kaohsiung, a museum has opened to commemorate which star, arguably the most beloved pop singer in the Chinese language world in the 20th century, who died aged 42 of an asthma attack while on holiday in Thailand in 1995?
Teresa Teng
466
Which dictator's body was exhumed in July 2010 to remove doubts about where he was buried?
Nicolae Ceausescu
467
With over 50 million units sold, which Antipodean album is the second best-selling LP ever?
Back in Black- AC/DC
468
Poetry-lovers cycle round the streets and piazzas of which Italian city reciting odes to the city's inhabitants in the Poetandem event in which Italian city?
Bologna
469
What is the name of Bob Dylan's singer-songwriter son?
Jakob
470
Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer are siblings and which Swedish electropop duo?
The Knife
471
Where was UNESCO City of Literature 2010?
Dublin
472
Five hundred years ago which artist was commissioned to design 10 tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. The finished wall hangings were regarded as five times more valuable than Michaelangelo's frescos on the chapel ceiling?
Raphael
473
What is the name of Buenos Aires' pre-eminent opera house?
Teatro Colon
474
"The best musicians from the world's best orchestras" all brought together to promote peace - this is the ambitious goal of the World Orchestra for Peace. Today led by Valeri Gergiev, it was founded in 1995 by which man?
Sir Georg Solti
475
Who played Vesper Lynd in the David Niven version of Casino Royale?
Ursula Andress
476
Hot classical music pin-up Leila Josefowicz, who is Canadian, plays which instrument?
Violin
477
Some of the world's most famous violinists, such as Niccolò Paganini, Yehudi Menuhin and Itzhak Perlman, have preferred its violins to the Stradavari. Which Cremona-based family of luthiers, as famous as Stradivari and Amati?
Guarneri
478
One of France's best known and most popular living artists, he has ecently been voted the country's artist "par excellence". He famously coined the term "outrenoir" or beyond black, after he decided to only paint in black. Who?
Pierre Soulages
479
Which French comic writer, animator and film director was responsible for Belleville Rendezvous and The Illusionist?
Sylvain Chomet
480
Which US award for LGBT literature is named for a Greek letter?
Lambda Literary Award
481
The name of more than one Black Power movement and the name of the highest point on Kilimanjiro, what is the Swahili word for freedom?
Uhuru
482
Accompanying piano tuner Stefan Knüpfer at his job, which Austrian film features world-famous pianists like Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder, Till Fellner and Pierre-Laurent Aimard?
Pianomania
483
Who was born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo in Honolulu?
Tia Carrere
484
Which actress was Tony Curtis' cousin and suggested to him that he should try acting?
Shelley Winters
485
Shuga is a soap opera with a safe sex message credited with widespread success in spreading that message in which African country?
Kenya
486
Set in Europe just before the beginning of WW1, which strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 is distinguished by its negotiation phases (players spend much of their time forming and betraying alliances with other players) and the absence of dice or other game elements that produce random effects?
Diplomacy
487
Carcassonne's wooden board pieces, colloquially called what, have become a European symbol of board gaming?
Meeples
488
Born 1902 in Thessaloniki, which Turkish poet, playwright, novelist and memoirist was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements"? Described as a "romantic communist" and "romantic revolutionary",he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile, dying in Moscow. His poetry has been translated into more than fifty languages.
Nazim Hikmet
489
Which American short story writer whose work is so brief in places that people have debated whether some of her stories are actually "prose poems" or "philosophical ponderings" was once married to Paul Auster?
Lydia Davis
490
Director Alain Corneau, who died in 2010, is probably best known to international audiences for his 1991 film which won 7 Cesars. What was it called?
Tous les matins du monde
491
If The Seven Samurai was remade for Hollywood as the Magnificent Seven, what was Rashomon's remake called?
The Outrage
492
Which man was an audio engineer known for his extensive private recordings of important jazz musicians in the 1930s, and for his contributions to recording technology? A musician who developed an interest in sound engineering, he began building his own recording devices in the mid-1930s.
William Savory
493
The Museum of Broken Relationships has just opened in which EU capital city?
Zagreb
494
The subject of a 2010 Disney film, which American thoroughbred racehorse in 1973 became the first U.S Triple Crown champion in twenty-five years?
Secretariat
495
He attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker Trilogy (1987-94), Taste of Cherry (1997), and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). Part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, he has a reputation for using child protagonists, for documentary style narrative films, for stories that take place in rural villages, and for conversations that unfold inside cars?
Abbas Kiarostami
496
In 2010, the National Museum of Denmark staged an exhibition of the paintings of which famous singer-songwriter?
Bob Dylan
497
Every other year in Bamburg, Germany, a Conducting Competition is held named after which composer?
Gustav Mahler
498
He wrote 'V for Vendetta' and 'Swamp Thing'. And now his latest project is a 2 hour long CD of him reading one of his own stories in his distinctive Northampton accent, accompanied by music played by various stars from the indie music scene. Who?
Alan Moore
499
The 2010 film Winter's Bone is set in which distinctive part of the USA?
The Ozarks
