2017–18 Season: Week 12 – 6 February 2018
Specialist Rounds
Set by the Harrington 'B'.
Round 1: Geography
1 |
Egypt has land borders with Sudan, Israel and which other country? |
|
Libya |
2 |
In which country is the Western Ghats mountain range? |
|
India |
3 |
What is the world's most southerly capital city? |
|
Wellington (New Zealand) |
4 |
The ancient ruins of Troy are to be found in which modern country? |
|
Turkey |
5 |
In which country is the port city of Fray Bentos? |
|
Uruguay |
6 |
Name the warm dry wind that blows off North America's Rocky Mountains? |
|
Chinook |
7 |
There are two sister monuments to London's Cleopatra's Needle, one in Paris and one in the US. Where in the US? |
|
Central Park, New York (accept New York) |
8 |
On which river does Lancaster stand? |
|
The Lune |
Supplementaries:
1 |
Cox's Bazar, a city in the news in recent months, is in which country? |
|
Bangladesh (it's the closest town to the Rohingya refugee camps) |
2 |
What is the only US city to be named after a British Prime Minister? |
|
Pittsburgh |
Round 2: History – Date Night
(Note to QMs: for all answers, allow a year's leeway either side)
1 |
In what year did ... Queen Victoria succeed to the throne? |
|
1837 |
2 |
In what year did ... Tony Blair become Prime Minister? |
|
1997 |
3 |
In what year did ... the Chernobyl Disaster take place? |
|
1986 |
4 |
In what year did ... the British Airship R101 crash occur? |
|
1930 |
5 |
In what year did ... Captain Scott reach the South Pole? |
|
1912 |
6 |
In what year did ... George V come to the throne? |
|
1910 |
7 |
In what year did ... the Jarrow Hunger March take place? |
|
1936 |
8 |
In what year did ... the Tianamen Square Massacre take place? |
|
1989 |
Supplementaries:
1 |
In what year did ... Lyndon Johnson become US President? |
|
1963 |
2 |
In what year did ... Percy Shaw start manufacturing Cat's Eyes? |
|
1935 |
Round 3: Sport - Play by the Rules
1 |
According to FA rules, what's the maximum width of a football pitch in yards? |
|
100 yards (accept 95 to 105 yds) |
2 |
What's the diameter of a golf hole in inches, according to R&A rules? |
|
4.25 inches (accept 3.75 to 4.75 inches) |
3 |
What's the name of the governing body of 'world tennis, wheelchair tennis and beach tennis'? |
|
The International Tennis Federation |
4 |
Frenchman Jean Todt was recently re–elected President of which sport's governing body? |
|
Motorsport (accept Formula 1) (He's President of the FIA) |
5 |
The latest MCC Code limits the width of a cricket bat to no more than what in inches? |
|
4.25 inches (accept 3.75 to 4.75 inches) |
6 |
Under IOC rules, what length should an Olympic swimming pool be in metres? |
|
50 metres |
7 |
Name the French ex–president of UEFA who was initially banned from all football–related activity for 8 years after
the FIFA corruption scandal. |
|
Michel Platini (the ban has since been reduced to 4 years) |
8 |
Who endorsed the rules of boxing published in 1867 that later carried his name? |
|
The Marquess of Queensbury |
Supplementaries:
1 |
According to World Rugby, what's the maximum number of substitutes that can be nominated in a rugby union game? |
|
8 |
2 |
Name either team involved in the football match in which a VAR (Video Assistant Referee) was used for the very first time. |
|
Brighton
vs Crystal Palace (FA Cup 3rd round, 8th Jan) |
Round 4: Science
1 |
Limnology is the study of what? |
|
Lakes or inland waters |
2 |
René Laennec invented which medical aid? |
|
The stethoscope |
3 |
The name of which particle in an atom's nucleus comes from the Greek word for 'first'? |
|
The proton |
4 |
Which purified wax obtained from sheep's wool is used as a base for skin creams and soaps? |
|
Lanolin |
5 |
Gold and which other primary constituent make the alloy Electrum? |
|
Silver |
6 |
In the human body, in what process is the protein fibrin involved? |
|
Clotting of the blood |
7 |
What is the group of medicines known as 'antitussives' used to treat? |
|
Coughs |
8 |
What is measured by the Gay–Lussac Scale? |
|
Alcohol strength |
Supplementaries:
1 |
Natrium is the Latin name for which element? |
|
Sodium |
2 |
What is the densest known gas? |
|
Radon |
Round 5: The Rainbow Round 2018
All answers contain a colour as part of the full answer.
1 |
By what name was Belarus formerly known? |
|
White Russia |
2 |
Which stretch of water links the Gulf of Aden in the south to the Suez Canal in the north? |
|
The Red Sea |
3 |
Name the American abolitionist executed in 1859. |
|
John Brown |
4 |
What is the more common name for the Royal Highland Regiment? |
|
The Black Watch |
5 |
What's the longest river in South Africa, flowing almost 1200 miles west into the Atlantic Ocean? |
|
The Orange River |
6 |
What's the name given to the flag flown by a ship when it leaves port? |
|
The Blue Peter |
7 |
Who was Queen of England for nine days in the 16th century? |
|
Lady Jane Grey |
8 |
What's the former name of Ghana? |
|
The Gold Coast |
Supplementaries:
1 |
Which country is separated from Canada by the Davis Strait? |
|
Greenland |
2 |
In the film The Wizard of Oz, where did the wizard live? |
|
The Emerald City |
Round 6: Arts & Entertainment – Before They Were Famous
1 |
American actress born Caryn Elaine Johnson in 1955, found fame in The Colour Purple after working as a bricklayer and
a beautician for corpses in a Funeral Directors. |
|
Whoopi Goldberg |
2 |
Born in Sydney in 1968, this actor, of X–Men fame, was once a PE teacher. |
|
Hugh Jackman |
3 |
Born in 1963, this actor was a ballpoint pen tele–salesman before becoming a star through the film Edward Scissorhands. |
|
Johnny Depp |
4 |
Born in Edinburgh in 1930, this suave actor's first job was
as a milkman with St Cuthbert's Co–operative Society. |
|
Sean Connery |
5 |
Born 1945 in London of Scottish descent, this singer with ambitions to be a footballer once worked in Highgate Cemetery. |
|
Rod Stewart |
6 |
Born in 1945, this Dame has played both Queen Elizabeths but once worked at Southend's Kursaal Amusement Park persuading people
to try the rides. |
|
Helen Mirren |
7 |
Born 1962 in New Jersey, this singer–songwriter has sold over 130 million records with the group that bears his surname.
Before music he made Christmas decorations. |
|
John Bon Jovi |
8 |
Born 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, this rock singer worked in an abattoir – possibly where he got a taste for raw flesh. |
|
Ozzy Osbourne |
Supplementaries:
1 |
Born in 1942 in Chicago this actor took up a career in carpentry before being spotted by George Lucas for a role in
American Graffiti, and later Star Wars. |
|
Harrison Ford |
2 |
Born in 1938 in Limerick this radio DJ worked in a bank before his career in broadcasting. |
|
Terry Wogan |
Round 7: Old School
All the following are based on facts found in the Vimto Book of Knowledge, handed out in local primary schools in the 1960s.
1 |
What is 800 in Roman numerals? |
|
DCCC |
2 |
How many yards are there in a mile? |
|
1,760 |
3 |
An Imperial ton is made up of 20 what? |
|
Hundredweight |
4 |
What used to be available in Imperial, Elephant and Double Demy sizes? |
|
Paper |
5 |
How many chains are in a furlong? |
|
10 (a furlong is 220 yards) |
6 |
A coin worth two–shillings and sixpence was also known as what? |
|
Half a crown (accept half–crown) |
7 |
Before decimalisation, how many pennies were in £1? |
|
240 |
8 |
In British place names, what does 'burn' or 'bourne' (e.g. as in Ashbourne) usually mean? |
|
A large stream or small river
(accept "stream" or "river") |
Supplementaries:
1 |
What is 400 in Roman numerals? |
|
CD |
2 |
How many pints made up a quart? |
|
2 |
Round 8: Child's Play
1 |
Who wrote the Mary Poppins stories? |
|
P. L. Travers |
2 |
On which farm did Worzel Gummidge live? |
|
Scatterbrook Farm |
3 |
What is the name of Dennis the Menace's pet pig? |
|
Rasher |
4 |
Who is the arch enemy of Danger Mouse? |
|
Baron Silas Greenback |
5 |
Which actor provided the voice of Paddington in the two recent films? |
|
Ben Whishaw |
6 |
Who wrote the book The 101 Dalmatians? |
|
Dodie Smith |
7 |
In the 1960s Thunderbirds TV series what is Lady Penelope's surname? |
|
Creighton–Ward |
8 |
Who is the voice of Lightning McQueen in the movie Cars? |
|
Owen Wilson |
Supplementaries:
1 |
What was the name of ITV's 1970s rival to Blue Peter? |
|
Magpie |
2 |
What message is on the note attached to Paddington Bear's coat when he's found at the railway station? |
|
PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR. THANK YOU. |
General Knowledge
Set by the Park Timers.
1 |
What was the first name of Wilbur Wright's brother, also co–credited with inventing powered
heavier–than–air flight? |
|
Orville |
2 |
Since Mauritania added red bands last year, which is the only national flag not to contain at least one of the colours red,
white or blue? |
|
Jamaica |
3 |
From which country did Guinea–Bissau gain independence in 1974? |
|
Portugal |
4 |
Which BBC presenter was seriously injured, along with Sarah Greene, in a helicopter crash in 1988? |
|
Mike Smith |
5 |
Which sci–fi TV show made its debut on Fox in 1993, and featured a character also called Fox? |
|
The X–Files |
6 |
Which fashion magazine has been running since 1892? |
|
Vogue |
7 |
Which London department store was bombed in 1983, killing six and injuring 75? |
|
Harrods |
8 |
What was the name of Mary Shelley's mother, who wrote A Vindication Of The Rights of Woman in 1792? |
|
Mary Wollstonecraft |
9 |
Only 71% of the Yorkshire Dales national park is in Yorkshire, and 1% is in Lancashire. In which county is the rest? |
|
Cumbria |
10 |
Steel is around 98% iron, and 2% of what element? |
|
Carbon |
11 |
Bronze is around 90% copper, and 10% of what element? |
|
Tin |
12 |
Which building were the Elgin Marbles taken from? |
|
The Parthenon |
13 |
Which event did Queen Victoria lend the Koh–i–Noor diamond to? |
|
The Great Exhibition |
14 |
What connects Benazir Bhutto to Islamabad, Indira Gandhi to Delhi, and Queen Beatrix to Aruba? |
|
They are all airports |
15 |
Which Nobel Prize did Kazuo Ishiguro win last year? |
|
Literature |
16 |
Who is the current Chancellor of the Exchequer? |
|
Philip Hammond |
17 |
In which war did the British burn down Washington? |
|
The War of 1812 |
18 |
In which city were the popular music group The Housemartins based? |
|
Hull |
19 |
What colour were Mr Blobby's spots? |
|
Yellow |
20 |
What name is given to a large gathering of Scouts who rally at a national or international level? |
|
Jamboree |
21 |
Name one of the two people who wrote that "The workers have nothing to lose but their chains". |
|
Karl Marx or Friedrich Engels |
22 |
Which animal appears, with a lion, on the front of a British passport? |
|
|
Unicorn |
23 |
What name was given to the 19th–century group who wrecked weaving machines? |
|
Luddites |
24 |
What term is used to describe a black and white horse? |
|
Piebald |
25 |
In proof–reading, what does the abbreviation 'UC' stand for? |
|
Upper Case |
26 |
In geography, what is a cataract? |
|
Waterfall |
27 |
On which river in Ireland did William III defeat a French and Irish army in 1690? |
|
The Boyne |
28 |
Which card game has at least two forms, called auction and contract? |
|
|
Bridge |
29 |
Which drink was created when Indian army officers added quinine to soda water to help fight malaria? |
|
Tonic water |
30 |
What is the Aurora Australis also called? |
|
The Southern
Lights |
31 |
How is the Caribbean island of St Christopher more familiarly known? |
|
St Kitts |
32 |
What monetary guarantee did British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald abandon in 1931? |
|
The Gold Standard |
33 |
Who did James Earl Ray assassinate in 1968? |
|
Martin Luther King |
34 |
In film and television production, what is the Gaffer chiefly responsible for? |
|
Electrics (he or she is the chief electrician) |
35 |
Which UK broadsheet has editions published in Frankfurt and New York? |
|
Financial Times (not The Times) |
36 |
Which place was a hit for Martha and the Muffins? |
|
Echo Beach |
37 |
'The Diamond State' is one of the nicknames of which US state? |
|
Delaware |
38 |
Who became Prime Minister of Italy in 1922? |
|
Benito Mussolini |
39 |
From 1995 to 2014, which booze brand gave its name to the competition now replaced by the European Rugby Cup? |
|
Heineken |
40 |
In 2014, which Harry Potter book became the fastest–selling book in history, shifting 15 million copies in a day? |
|
|
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
41 |
In classical mechanics, what name is given to the product of the mass and velocity of an object? |
|
Momentum |
42 |
What colour is octopus blood normally? |
|
Blue |
43 |
Which 15th century mural, by Leonardo Da Vinci, is housed in the refectory at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan? |
|
The Last Supper |
44 |
Dry ice is the solid form of which gas? |
|
Carbon dioxide |
45 |
Which German city hosted the 1972 Summer Olympic games? |
|
Munich |
46 |
Which region of Romania has a name that means 'land beyond the forest'? |
|
Transylvania |
47 |
Which French international goalkeeper joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2012? |
|
|
Hugo Lloris |
48 |
Which Russian ruler was born Sophie of Anhalt–Zerbst in 1729? |
|
Catherine II (Catherine the Great) |
49 |
Which annual sporting event shares its name with a 1983 single by Kraftwerk? |
|
Tour De France |
50 |
Smiling Buddha was the codename given to which country's first successful nuclear bomb test? |
|
India |
51 |
Which part of the body of Welsh master mariner Robert Jenkins is linked to a conflict between Britain and Spain
that began in 1739? |
|
His ear |
52 |
What name is given to a collection of over 900 different manuscripts discovered in the Qumran caves? |
|
The Dead Sea Scrolls |
53 |
From Here to Eternity was the debut novel of which US author? |
|
James Jones |
54 |
By what name do we know the Russian stringed musical instrument usually characterised by its triangular body and
three strings? |
|
Balalaika |
55 |
Which title character of a book of the Old Testament of the Bible married Boaz? |
|
|
Ruth |
56 |
Which is the longest river to have its source in the European Union? |
|
Danube |
57 |
Which actor plays Ronnie and Reggie Kray in the 2015 movie
Legend? |
|
Tom Hardy |
58 |
In which organ of the human body are the pinna, the cochlea and the semicircular canals? |
|
The ear |
59 |
Which pizza variety is named after the queen consort of King Umberto 1st of Italy? |
|
Margherita |
60 |
Which aromatic beverage is commonly prepared by pouring boiling water over cured leaves of Camellia sinensis, an
evergreen shrub native to Asia? |
|
Tea |
61 |
Where would you find a Plimsoll line? |
|
On the hull of a boat or ship (accept boat
or ship) |
62 |
In which country did the Easter Rising take place in 1916? |
|
Ireland |
63 |
What is Superman's home planet called? |
|
Krypton |
64 |
In which UK city was the Titanic built? |
|
Belfast |
65 |
Which British gardens were established in 1759 and given to the nation in 1840? |
|
Kew Gardens |
66 |
Which city, mentioned in Genesis, is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world? |
|
Damascus |
67 |
Which Wagner opera is about a ghost ship? |
|
The Flying Dutchman |
68 |
In Snow White, what work did the seven dwarfs do? |
|
Mining |
69 |
Which woman's name connects a song in Two Gentlemen of Verona, a poet who committed suicide in 1963, and the sister of
fellow suffragettes Christabel and Adela Pankhurst? |
|
Sylvia (Who is Sylvia, Sylvia Plath, and Sylvia Pankhurst) |
70 |
In the German language, what is the name for the two dots that appear over vowels? |
|
Umlaut |
71 |
Which iconic car, first launched in 1959, was designed by Alec Issigonis? |
|
|
Mini |
72 |
In the film The African Queen, what was the African Queen? |
|
A boat |
73 |
By what title is the Bishop of Rome more commonly known? |
|
Pope |
74 |
What breed of dog is Snoopy? |
|
Beagle |
75 |
Arthur's Seat overlooks which UK city? |
|
Edinburgh |
76 |
What is seersucker? |
|
A type of material or cloth |
77 |
What name is given to the Sunday before Easter? |
|
Palm Sunday |
78 |
What is a squirrel's nest in the fork of a tree called? |
|
A drey |
79 |
In which building did Margaret Thatcher die? |
|
The Ritz Hotel, London (accept "the Ritz") |
80 |
Gerald Grosvenor, who was Britain's third richest citizen when he died in 2016, inherited which dukedom in 1979? |
|
Westminster |
81 |
Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book, was born in which country? |
|
India |
82 |
What type of animal is a booby? |
|
A sea–bird (accept "bird") |
83 |
What is the largest moon of Saturn called? |
|
Titan |
84 |
Which actor was credited with the most appearances in the
Carry On series of films? |
|
Kenneth Williams with 25 films (Joan Sims 24, Charles Hawtrey 23,
Sid James 19) |
85 |
Switzerland has how many official languages? |
|
4 (German, French, Italian, Romansh) |
86 |
Which English playwright won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature? |
|
Harold Pinter |
87 |
The Zodiac sign of Cancer starts in which month? |
|
June |
88 |
Josiah Bartlet was the President across the majority of which TV drama series? |
|
The West Wing |
89 |
Which British Prime Minister was known as 'Big Jim'? |
|
|
James Callaghan |
90 |
The 2015 remake of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was directed by which British filmmaker? |
|
Guy Ritchie |
91 |
The Khyber Pass connects Pakistan and which other country? |
|
Afghanistan |
92 |
Who wrote the novel Brighton Rock? |
|
Graham Greene |
93 |
Which series of fortifications spans from Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west? |
|
|
The Great Wall of China |
94 |
The artist Hieronymus Bosch was which nationality? |
|
|
Dutch |
95 |
Which former British Prime Minister was born in Edinburgh in 1953? |
|
Tony Blair |
96 |
Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, was born in which country? |
|
Australia |
Supplementaries:
1 |
Up to and including 2017, which university shares the accolade of most University Challenge series wins with Magdalen
College, Oxford ? |
|
University of Manchester (2006, 2009, 2012, 2013) |
2 |
Which Italian club was beaten 4–1 by Real Madrid in the final of the 2017 UEFA Champions League? |
|
Juventus |
3 |
Which English novelist appears on the back of the first
series of polymer £10 notes, introduced in September 2017? |
|
Jane Austen |
4 |
Who was leader of the UK Independence Party during the General Election of 2017? |
|
Paul Nuttall |
5 |
Which is the largest company to have its headquarters in Cupertino, California? |
|
Apple |
6 |
Which English Tudor monarch lived from 1491 to 1547? |
|
Henry VIII |
© Macclesfield Quiz League 2018