2023–4 Season: Week 4 – 28 November 2023

Set by Dolphin Hammers; vetted by Park Timers.

Specialist Rounds

1	Arts & Entertainment	2	Sport
3	Geography	4	History
5	Science (and Nature)	6	Famous Douglases
7	Roman Numerals - or Initials?	8	Celebrations

Round 1: Arts & Entertainment

1	Who was the first celebrity to be voted off this year's Strictly Come Dancing?
	Les Dennis
2	The fifth and last series of which popular sitcom has been on the BBC this autumn?
	Ghosts
3	In which city was Handel's Messiah first performed?
	Dublin
4	Who is considered to be the founder of Cubism, along with Picasso?
	Braque
5	Why is this year (2023) being commemorated by Shakespeare enthusiasts?
	It's the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio.
6	Bring Up the Bodies is the second volume in a of a trilogy by which Booker Prize winner?
	Hilary Mantel
7	What was the name of Harry Styles's original boy band?
	One Direction
8	A statue of which entertainer was unveiled in the small South Wales town of Glynneath to mark his 80th birthday on the 27th of September this year?
	Max Boyce

Supplementaries:

1	The word 'nerd' is first found in a book published by which author in 1950?
	Dr. Seuss
2	What's the name for an outside wall of a room or building that rises above an adjoining roof and contains windows (particularly in large churches)?
	Clerestorey

Round 2: Sport

Just the surname will do.

1	Which female tennis player has won the most Grand Slams?
	Margaret Court (24)
2	Which footballer has scored the most goals in World Cup history?
	Miroslav Klose (16)
3	Who is the second highest run scorer in Test cricket behind Sachin Tendulkar?
	Ricky Ponting
4	GB athlete Jessica Ennis–Hill specialised at which event?
	Heptathlon
5	Michael Jordan played most of his matches for which basketball team?
	Chicago Bulls
6	On which course is the US Masters golf tournament held?
	Augusta (National)
7	Who was the first cyclist born in the British Isles to win the Tour de France?
	Geraint Thomas – Cardiff (Bradley Wiggins Belgium, Chris Froome Kenya)
8	Name either of the two Formula 1 drivers, other than Lewis Hamilton, that have won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award twice.
	Nigel Mansell or Damon Hill

Supplementaries:

1	The Kentucky Derby is run at which track?
	Churchill Downs
2	Which country are the current Netball World Cup champions?
	Australia (they beat England in the 2023 final)

Round 3: Geography

All questions are about Great Britain.

1	Wiltshire shares borders with Dorset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and two other counties. Name one of those other two.
	Berkshire or Somerset
2	Name either of the two Rivers that form the Humber.
	The Trent or the (Yorkshire) Ouse
3	Which river is spanned by Abraham Darby's bridge at Ironbridge?
	The Severn
4	Which is the smallest UK city by population?
	St. Davids
5	What were yr Bannau Brycheiniog (ban–aye bruch–ine–ee–og – ch as in loch) formerly officially known as?
	The Brecon Beacons
6	What's the largest island of Shetland called?
	Mainland
7	In which body of water will you find Lundy Island?
	The Bristol Channel
8	Name either of the two end points of the Sandstone Trail.
	Frodsham (Cheshire) or Whitchurch (Shropshire)

Supplementaries:

1	Which river meets the Severn at Tewkesbury?
	The Avon (the one that flows through Stratford)
2	What earthwork roughly follows the England / Wales border?
	Offa's Dyke

Round 4: History

1	Which European country's civil war lasted from 1946 to 1949?
	Greece
2	For what did John Bellingham become well known in the early 19 th century?
	He assassinated the Prime Minister, Spencer Percival, in 1812
3	Who or what was referred to as "Mr Balfour's Poodle"?
	The House of Lords (do not accept Parliament)
4	Who led the 1968 Czech rising against the Soviet Union?
	Alexander Dubcek
5	Who was Genghis Khan's famous grandson?
	Kublai Khan
6	Who dispersed a French mob with "a whiff of grapeshot?"
	Napoleon Bonaparte
7	Caroline of Brunswick was very unhappily married to which King of the United Kingdom?
	George IV
8	Which British MP faked his own death in 1974, leaving his clothes on a beach in the USA (namely Miami Beach)?
	John Stonehouse

Supplementaries:

1	By what name is the Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus better known?
	Caligula (little boots)
2	Which King of England had his oldest son crowned as the Young King when he (the king) was still alive?
	Henry II (the young king rather spoiled it by dying before his father!)

Round 5: Science (and Nature)

1	The kakapo is the only flightless species of which type of bird?
	Parrot
2	What does an anemometer measure?
	Wind speed
3	Which layer protects the Earth from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation?
	The Ozone Layer
4	Which reddish–brown colour gets its name from a pigment extracted from cuttlefish?
	Sepia
5	What does the S stand for in the acronym LASER?
	Stimulated
6	In which decade was the first transatlantic radio broadcast?
	The 1900s (1901)
7	In 1830, Edwin Budding's first machine had a frame made of wrought iron and was 19 inches wide. What was it?
	The first lawn mower
8	What did Swiss engineer George de Mestral invent after seeing burrs clinging to his dog after a walk?
	Velcro

Supplementaries:

1	What's the only letter that doesn't appear on the periodic table?
	J
2	Nylon was first used commercially in which product?
	A toothbrush

Round 6: Famous Douglases

All answers have Douglas either as a first name or surname. Obviously, Douglas is not a sufficient answer – even if it's the surname! Both names are needed.

1	1909–2000: an American actor and producer and decorated naval officer of World War II. He starred in The Prisoner of Zenda and Gunga Din, and had the same name as his father
	Douglas Fairbanks Jr
2	1916–2020: an American actor and film maker. He appeared in more than 90 films including Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, Lust for Life and Spartacus. His son followed him into films
	Kirk Douglas
3	1910–82: an RAF flying ace during World War II. In 1931 he crashed and lost both his legs. In 1941 he bailed out over France and was captured. Despite his disability he made a number of escape attempts and was sent to Colditz.
	Sir Douglas Bader
4	1880–1964: an American five–star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army, with a prominent role in the Pacific theatre during World War II, he accepted the Japanese Surrender
	Douglas MacArthur
5	April 7 1960, to date: an American former professional boxer who competed between 1981 and 1999. undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1990 for eight months (after knocking out Mike Tyson to win the title: He was defeated by Evander Holyfield in his only title defence.
	James or "Buster" Douglas
6	1900–58: an English cricketer who played 22 Test matches. Best known for captaining the English team during the 1932–33 Ashes tour where England employed 'Bodyline' tactics against Donald Bradman's Australian team.
	Douglas Jardine
7	1952–2001: an English author, screenwriter, essayist, humourist, satirist and dramatist. Author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and The Long Dark Tea–Time of the Soul.
	Douglas Adams
8	1870–1945: an English poet, journalist and a lover of Oscar Wilde. His father, the Marquess of Queensbury publicly accused Wilde of homosexuality. Wilde sued him for criminal libel, but was found guilty and imprisoned. His nickname is an acceptable answer.
	Lord Alfred (or 'Bosie') Douglas

Supplementaries:

1	1883–1939: an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro. Married to Mary Pickford, his career rapidly declined with the advent of the 'talkies'.
	Douglas Fairbanks
2	1861–1928: a Field Marshall of the British Army. He commanded on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of World War I. He was commander during the Battles of the Somme, Arras, Ypres earning the sobriquet "Butcher" for his tactics. Made an Earl.
	Douglas Haig

Round 7: Roman Numerals (or are they Initials?)

Each answer is the name of a person (or in one case an organisation), whose initials are also the letters used to make up a particular Roman numeral. To help you, the number is given first. Both or all names are needed.

For example:

1	The number is 400. Which actress's breakout role was playing Tina Carlyle in The Mask?
	Cameron Diaz

(The Roman numeral for 400 is CD.)

1	The number is 2000. In 2018, she received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, 40 years after her boyfriend. Who is she?
	Minnie Mouse
2	The number is 200. Who returned to the USA in 1972, for the first time in 20 years, to receive an honorary Oscar?
	Charlie Chaplin
3	The number is 600. Which US politician was Vice President from 2001 to 2009, serving under George W Bush?
	Dick Cheney
4	The number is 1050. Who was excommunicated by Pope Leo X at the Diet of Worms in 1521?
	Martin Luther
5	The number is 550. Who is the only Scotsman to win the Ballon d'Or?
	Dennis Law
6	The number is 1200. Based in St. John's Wood, London, who owns Lord's Cricket Ground?
	Marylebone Cricket Club
7	The number is 1500. The 1917 sculpture Fountain, which consists of a porcelain urinal signed 'R. Mutt', was by which French artist?
	Marcel Duchamp
8	The number is 900. Which musician, who died in 2022, co–wrote the songs Don't Stop and Everywhere?
	Christine McVie

Supplementaries:

1	The number is 55. Which American skier has 82 women's World Cup wins (a record that was broken earlier this year)?
	Lindsey Vonn
2	The number is 1100. Who had a 2023 hit with the song Flowers?
	Miley Cyrus

Round 8: Celebrations

1	Name a year, other than 2012, when Britain hosted the Olympics.
	1908 or 1948
2	In which decade was New Year's Day made an official bank holiday in England and Wales?
	The 1970s
3	Who wrote The Father Christmas Letters, originally just for his children, which told of the adventures of Father Christmas, and (among others) North Polar bear and his nephews?
	J. R. R. Tolkien
4	By what name is the Hindu Festival of Lights more commonly known?
	Diwali
5	Similarly ... by what name is the Jewish Festival of Lights more commonly known?
	Hannukah
6	Which national festival took place in 1951 as "a tonic for the Nation" after the Second World War?
	The Festival of Britain
7	Which Indian festival, Hindu in origin but more widely celebrated, includes firing coloured water at each other?
	Holi
8	What's the female equivalent of a Bar Mitzvah?
	Bat Mitzvah

Supplementaries:

1	What Christian (specifically Catholic) feast is celebrated on the Thursday week after Pentecost (Whitsun)? In the Middle Ages, it was when the Mystery Plays were performed.
	Corpus Christi
2	Which singer recorded the song Celebration in 2009?
	Madonna
3	Who sang Congratulations in the Eurovision Song Contest?
	Cliff Richard

General Knowledge

1	Who married Clementine Hoosier in 1908?
	Winston Churchill
2	The present Duke of Edinburgh once worked for which of Andrew Lloyd Webber's enterprises?
	The Really Useful Theatre Company
3	Which bird is said to boom?
	The bittern
4	Name one of the two European countries whose flag has neither red nor blue in it.
	Ireland or Cyprus
5	Apart from the name of a character in Killing Eve, what is a villanelle?
	A form of poem
6	By what common name is the hedging plant Ligustrum better known?
	Privet
7	Who was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in the Olympics?
	Nadia Comăneci
8	Which motor manufacturer produces models called Guilia, Tonale and Stelvio?
	Alfa Romeo

 

9	What type of pastry are profiteroles made out of?
	Choux pastry
10	Which was the only one of Henry VIII's wives to receive a queen's burial?
	Jane Seymour
11	At which stately home were the exteriors of Downton Abbey shot?
	Highclere Castle
12	The name of which bird derives from the French form of William?
	The guillemot
13	What's the name of the cat in Alien?
	Jones or Jonesy
14	What item of clothing was a beaver?
	A hat
15	Which 20th Century prime minister was born in Manchester?
	David Lloyd George
16	Who wrote the poem Sea Fever, which starts "I must go down to the seas again"?
	John Masefield

 

17	What is the main city of Crete?
	Iraklion (a.k.a. Heraklion)
18	What, in Norse Mythology, is Yggdrasil?
	The giant (ash) tree that supports the universe
19	Who was Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister?
	Lord Melbourne, William Lamb
20	Malcolm McLaren managed which rock band?
	The Sex Pistols (also Adam & the Ants, and the New York Dolls
21	Which car manufacturer produces models named the Picanto, Sportage and Sorento?
	Kia
22	Which bird is also called the hedge sparrow?
	The dunnock
23	Who was the last Poet Laureate to hold the position for life?
	Ted Hughes
24	Which country won the first FIFA World Cup (in 1930)?
	Uruguay

 

25	What's the tallest species of grass ?
	Bamboo
26	What did the word 'trivia' mean, originally?
	Three ways (at the meeting of which, in ancient Rome, gossip and trivial information would be exchanged)
27	Who is the Roman equivalent of Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest?
	Ceres
28	Which 20th century Prime Minister married Audrey Moulton?
	James Callaghan
29	On what streaming service do you find programmes from the following TV channels – Drama, Dave, W and Yesterday?
	UKTV (Play)
30	Who wrote the sequence of poems known as The Idylls of the King?
	Tennyson
31	By what name is the plant Hedera better known?
	Ivy
32	The river Lily passes through which Cheshire town?
	Knutsford. It's what Canute forded (allegedly)

 

33	In which country was Elon Musk born?
	South Africa
34	Which rock becomes marble when metamorphosed?
	Limestone
35	Excluding Ireland (and UK) name a European country that drives on the left
	Malta or Cyprus
36	What type of beans are used to make baked beans?
	Haricot (also known as navy beans)
37	Which World War II operation was called Pluto?
	The building of the pipeline supplying fuel to France under the English Channel (Pipe Line Under The Ocean)
38	Which London–born singer has Kosovo/Albanian parents?
	Dua Lipa
39	The word 'botulism' comes from the Latin for which foodstuff?
	Sausage
40	Who played the Cat in Red Dwarf?
	Danny John–Jules

 

41	Who was the last English manager to be in charge of a team that won English football's top league?
	Howard Wilkinson (Leeds United, 1992)
42	Which local constituency does Esther McVey represent in Parliament?
	Tatton
43	What does the B stand for in the initialism 'USB'?
	Bus
44	The colour of which stationery product was changed from white so that children wouldn't mistake it for chewing gum?
	Blu–Tack
45	Which modern–day country did the original St. Nicholas come from?
	Turkey
46	Which dynasty did Cleopatra belong to?
	The Ptolemaic dynasty
47	Who headlined Glastonbury's prestigious Sunday night slot this year?
	Elton John
48	Before Boris Johnson, Andrew Bonar Law was the only UK prime minister to have been born outside the British Isles. Where was he born?
	Canada

 

49	Which word literally meant something that tangled up the feet (in Latin)?
	Impediment
50	Which golfer was known as 'the Big Easy'?
	Ernie Els
51	Who was the first woman to be appointed Vice President of the US?
	Kamala Harris
52	Which European country changed from driving on the left to the right in 1967?
	Sweden
53	In which country is the oldest living tree?
	USA (California)
54	What type of wheat is used to make pasta?
	Durum wheat
55	The building of the Colosseum in Rome started under which Emperor?
	Vespasian (of the Flavian dynasty; hence its formal name – the Flavian Amphitheatre)
56	Who presents and co–ordinates the BBC programme The Repair Shop?
	Jay Blades

 

57	Name one of the two bodies of water that are linked by the Anderton boat lift.
	The Trent & Mersey Canal and the River Weaver
58	In the musical description of Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat, which colour is listed first?
	Red
59	In karate, which is the colour of belt immediately below black?
	Brown
60	What's the name of the 30–year–old named in Boris Johnson's resignation honours – the youngest ever life peer?
	Charlotte Owens (Baroness Owens of Alderley Edge – we lived next door but one to her and were friendly with the family – Liz H)
61	Which poet wrote the semi–autobiographical book Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man?
	Siegfried Sassoon
62	What does the A stand for in DNA?
	Acid
63	What type of pasta has a name that means 'little worms'?
	Vermicelli
64	Who is the only British prime minister to have been awarded a PhD?
	Gordon Brown

 

65	Who has presented every (UK) edition of Channel 4's Grand Designs since it started in 1999?
	Kevin McCloud
66	Which local monument was built in 1817 to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo?
	White Nancy
67	Which 1985 film won 11 Oscars, a record for a film that did not win Best Film?
	The Color Purple
68	What was the name of the boy in the picture book, by Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are?
	Max
69	Which war correspondent represented Tatton as an Independent MP from 1997 to 2001?
	Martin Bell
70	Which gulf almost cuts the Greek mainland in two?
	The Gulf of Corinth
71	Mycology is the study of what?
	Mushrooms
72	Name one of the two books in the Bible that bear the names of women.
	Ruth or Esther

 

73	How is Alecia Beth Moore better known?
	Pink
74	Which section of Girl Guiding is for girls aged between 14 and 18?
	Rangers
75	What's the name of the pig in Charlotte's Web?
	Wilbur
76	How many players are there in a baseball team?
	Nine
77	There are four capital cities on the River Danube. Vienna and Budapest are two of them; name one of the other two.
	Bratislava or Belgrade
78	Name one of the two constituencies that elected Labour MPs in the October by–elections.
	Mid Bedfordshire or Tamworth
79	Which Cheshire town boasts two of the finest Saxon crosses in England?
	Sandbach
80	What's the only even prime number?
	Two

 

81	Besides Chester, which other English city still regularly performs the mystery plays that were performed there in the Middle Ages?
	York
82	Who has up till now been the only woman UK poet Laureate?
	Carol Ann Duffy
83	What is the spirit in a Screwdriver cocktail?
	Vodka
84	Which metal is the best conductor of electricity?
	Silver
85	Follower and Rover are positions in which team game?
	Australian rules football
86	What is the UK's largest National Park?
	The Cairngorms
87	Who is the deputy leader of the Labour Party (as of November 21st)?
	Angela Rayner
88	What does Volvo mean in Latin?
	I roll (accept anything with roll as the central word)

 

89	Which Canadian writer shared (with Bernadine Evaristo) the Booker Prize in 2019 with a sequel to a book first published in 1985?
	Margaret Atwood (The Testaments – a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale)
90	Which spirit goes in a Dark and Stormy cocktail?
	(Dark) rum
91	What kind of item of clothing was a Spencer?
	An overcoat (woman's)
92	What are iambs and spondees?
	Terms to express the metre (or rhythm) of English verse
93	Which bird is also known as Mother Carey's Chickens?
	The storm(y) petrel
94	Name the team that won either the women's or men's 100 cricket competition this August
	Southern Brave (women) or Oval Invincibles (men)
95	Which river flows through Belfast?
	The Lagan
96	Which British retail chain went into administration in October of this year?
	Wilkinsons (a.k.a. Wilko)

Supplementaries:

1	Who played the young Morse in Endeavour?
	Shaun Evans
2	Name one of the two chambers that make up the French Parliament.
	The National Assembly and the Senate
3	The Smoker Inn at Plumley takes its name from which sort of animal?
	A horse (specifically, a racehorse)
4	Who wrote the Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries?
	Reginald Hill
5	Which well–known local pub/restaurant was previously called the Warren de Tabley Arms?
	The Bells of Peover (named after a former landlord, Mr. Bell, and not its proximity to the Church!!)
6	What's the first name of Madame Macron, the wife of the current French President?
	Brigitte

And finally ... yet more supplementary questions on Douglases:

1	20 July 1955 to date: a former British table tennis player, born in Jamaica and brought up in Birmingham. He was an attacking, left–handed player, notable for his scissor jump smash. He was made an MBE and represented GB at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
	Desmond Douglas
2	3 May 1971 to date: he was elected as MP for Harwich in 2005 and Clacton in 2010, as a Conservative. In 2014 he resigned and became the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party. He left UKIP in 2017 to sit as an independent MP.
	Douglas Carswell

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