Wednesday 26 September 2007

THE 41st QUIZ

Another short one today. I've been busy writing my weekly quiz for my local. I think the landlord wants it to be a permanent thing - he intimated that he's fed up with me winning every week. At least if I'm writing it, I can't win.

Anyway, to the quiz:


1. Although Podgorica is its de facto capital, which city is designated as Prijestonica, or the old royal capital, of Montenegro?
2. Which transition metal of the platinum group was named in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston after an asteroid that had been discovered the previous year?
3. Declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers, what collective name has been given to the dams, sluices, locks, dikes and storm surge barriers built in the southwest of the Netherlands between 1950 and 1997?
4. Who was Commander-in-Chief of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in 1916?
5. The first major combat operation in NATO's history was a sustained air campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 30th August to 20th September 1995. What was the NATO codename given to the campaign?
6. South Africa has three capital cities, which city is the judicial capital?
7. Established in 1602, which city’s stock exchange is considered to be the world’s oldest?
8. Remembered as the founder of seismology, which English astronomer and geologist published ‘Essay on the Causes and Phenomena of Earthquakes’ in 1760, in which he described earthquakes as wave motions in the Earth’s interior created by layers of rocks rubbing against one another?
9. Who became the first king of a united Norway after the Battle of Hafrsfjord, probably fought in 872AD?
10. In Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde’, what was Dr Jeckyll's first name?
11. Painted in the 1660s, ‘Self Portrait as a Lutenist’ shows which Dutch genre painter sitting cross-legged on a chair playing a lute?
12. Which are the only two groups beginning with the letter ‘Z’ to have had more than one UK top ten hit?
13. The Riigikogu is the name given to the unicameral parliament of which country?
14. By what name was the American painter Anna Mary Robertson better known?
15. Meaning ‘book language’ and used by around 85% of the population, which is the most commonly used of the two official written standards of Norwegian, the other being Nynorsk?
16. A young murderer, who is the title character of a 1944 French novel who briefly lived with a drag queen called Divine and a pimp called Darling Daintyfoot before being arrested and tried, and executed?
17. It is often claimed that Milton based his ‘Paradise Lost’ partly on ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Adam in Ballingschap’, works by which Dutch author and playwright?
18. Which 18th Century French physician is known as the 'father of modern dentistry'?
19. Killed at the Battle of Fitjar in 961AD, who was the first Christian King of Norway?
20. Which oddly-named city in Alberta was described by Rudyard Kipling as "all hell for a basement" referring to the vast reserves of natural gas beneath it and is thus known colloquially as the Gas City?


And the answers:


1. CETINJE
2. PALLADIUM
3. DELTA WORKS
4. ADMIRAL JELLICOE
5. OPERATION DELIBERATE FORCE
6. BLOEMFONTEIN
7. AMSTERDAM
8. JOHN MICHELL
9. HARALD FAIRHAIR
10. HENRY
11. JAN STEEN
12. ZZ TOP & THE ZUTONS
13. ESTONIA
14. GRANDMA MOSES
15. BOKMÅL
16. OUR LADY OF FLOWERS
17. JOOST VAN DEN VONDEL
18. PIERRE FAUCHARD
19. HAAKON I (or HAAKON THE GOOD)
20. MEDICINE HAT

Tuesday 25 September 2007

THE 40th QUIZ

Just a short one today. Back tomorrow with more:

1. The 9th/10th Century scholar Clement of Ohrid is usually credited with the invention of which alphabet?
2. In the 19th Century, Wallachia united with which other Danubian Principality to create the state of Romania?
3. The tallest tower in the world when it was built in 1184, the Giralda is the name given to the bell tower of the cathedral in which European city?
4. With an area of 485 acres, which is the world’s most densely populated country?
5. Who was the Kenyan-born English archaeologist and anthropologist who, with his wife Mary, discovered the skull of Zinjanthropus and the remains of Homo habilis which established East Africa as the probable birthplace of man?
6. Displayed on the flag of Macedonia (FYROM) what is the name of the symbol of a stylised star with sixteen rays that was discovered during archaeological excavations in Greece by Professor Manolis Andronikos in 1977?
7. Which author left his novel 'Confessions of Felix Krull' unfinished at his death in 1955?
8. Between the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the Treaty of Turin in 1860, Monaco was designated as a protectorate of which Kingdom?
9. Released in March 1993, 'Jump They Say' was which singer's last top 10 hit?
10. Which Greek island, in the prefecture of Chania, contains the southernmost point in Europe?
11. Suur Munamägi is the highest point, Võhandu is the longest river and Peipus is the largest lake; which country?
12. Which Formula 1 racing driver began the 1955 season with two retirements, the second a spectacular accident at the Monaco GP, where he crashed into the harbour after missing a chicane, and died at Monza during the Italian GP five races later?
13. Which of Shakespeare's plays ends with the line, "Proceed, proceed. We'll so begin these rites as we do trust they'll end, in true delights"?
14. The largest battle in mediaeval Europe, at which battle of 1410 did the armies of Poland and Lithuania decisively defeat the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights?
15. What name is given to the steady flow of matter from the Sun's corona that is responsible for keeping the tails of comets pointing away from the Sun?
16. Which treaty of 1814 transferred Malta, Tobago, St. Lucia and the Isle of France (now Mauritius) to Britain from France?
17. Which sea, an arm of the Mediterranean separates Italy from Sardinia?
18. The Prut River forms a natural border between which two Eastern European countries?
19. Dating from the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the White Tower is a symbol of Greek sovereignty over Macedonia and stands on the waterfront of which city?
20. Who was the leader of the Guelphs who, when disguised as a Franciscan monk, captured the Rock of Monaco on 8th January 1297, with descendants of his cousin still ruling Monaco to this day?


The answers:


1. CYRILLIC
2. MOLDAVIA
3. SEVILLE
4. MONACO
5. LOUIS LEAKEY
6. VERGINA SUN (or STAR OF VERGINA)
7. THOMAS MANN
8. SARDINIA
9. DAVID BOWIE
10. GAVDOS
11. ESTONIA
12. ALBERTO ASCARI
13. AS YOU LIKE IT
14. BATTLE OF GRUNWALD (or FIRST BATTLE OF TANNENBERG)
15. SOLAR WIND
16. TREATY OF PARIS
17. TYRRHENIAN SEA
18. ROMANIA & MOLDOVA
19. THESSALONIKI (or SALONICA)
20. FRANÇOIS GRIMALDI

Monday 24 September 2007

THE 39th QUIZ

Here we go:


1. Which Icelandic island, lying 25 miles north of the mainland, lies on the Arctic Circle and is home to the country’s northernmost population?
2. With only 16% of its citizens saying that they believe in a God, which country, according to a 2005 poll, is home to the most unreligious people of the 27 member states of the European Union?
3. Which early 19th Century Irish composer is best remembered for being the first composer to write Nocturnes?
4. Which Irish saint founded Lindisfarne monastery on Holy Island in the 7th Century?
5. The 11th Century Peel Castle, built by the Vikings under King Magnus Barelegs, stands on which island off the Isle of Man?
6. In 1861, who became the first king of a united Italy?
7. Who was the so-called ‘Mad Mullah’ of Somalia who led armed resistance to the British, Italian and Ethiopian forces in Somalia during the first twenty years of the Twentieth Century?
8. In which country could you visit Castle Liechtenstein?
9. Which is the largest port on the Mediterranean?
10. Which battle of 1275 resulted in the death of Godfred VI Magnuson, the last Norse King of the Isle of Man?
11. Which military order of German warrior monks was first organised by Albert of Buxhoeveden in 1202?
12. Discovered by Christiaan Huygens in 1655, which is the only moon in our solar system known to have a dense atmosphere?
13. Which war, ended by the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, that saw the Russian Empire take on Sweden for the domination of Eastern Europe marked the end of the Swedish Empire?
14. Which artist's last work was 'The Transfiguration' which he left unfinished at his death in 1520?
15. Named after a fire giant in Norse mythology, what is the name of the Icelandic island that was formed during a volcanic eruption and reached the surface in November 1963?
16. Which male tennis player did Billie Jean King defeat in straight sets 1973 in a match dubbed 'The Battle of the Sexes'?
17. Consisting of the Dáil and the Seanad, what is the name of the Irish parliament?
18. Who succeeded Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister of Italy in 1943?
19. Deriving from the Gaelic for ‘bent’, what is the name of the Manx team sport, similar to hurling and shinty, that is played annually in St Johns?
20. Diaphoresis is the technical name for which bodily process?
21. Campione d’Italia is an Italian exclave completely surrounded by which Swiss canton?
22. In Greek mythology, who was the goddess of the moon who fell in love with the shepherd boy, Endymion?
23. What name is given to the symbol consisting of three bent human legs that is used on the flags of the Isle of Man and Sicily?
24. Which general and commander-in-chief led the New Model Army at the Battle of Naseby in 1645?
25. Which Icelandic politician became the world’s first female President when she was elected in 1980? She held the position until 1996.
26. Which Roman historian is best known for his monumental work 'Ab Urbe Condita', usually referred to in English as the 'History of Rome'?
27. Regarded as the unofficial national poet of Italy, which poet, whose collections include ‘Rime Nuove’ (New Rhymes) and ‘Odi Barbare’ (Barbarian Odes), became, in 1906, the first Italian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
28. Roy of the Rovers first appeared in a weekly strip in which comic magazine in 1954?
29. A doubly landlocked country is a country that is not only landlocked but also entirely surrounded by other landlocked countries. There are only two such countries in the world. Which two?
30. Whilst incarcerated in which prison did John Bunyan write 'The Pilgrim's Progress'?
31. Which is the only land mammal native to Iceland?
32.Which Roman Emperor was assassinated in 41AD by members of the Praetorian Guard, led by Cassius Chaerea?
33. One of the earliest recognised operatic works, and sometimes described as the earliest opera to remain dramatically viable by modern standards, which work, inspired by a story from Greek mythology, by the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi, with text by Alessandro Striggio, was first performed in the ducal palace at Mantua in 1607?
34. Born Frank Edwin Wright III, Tré Cool is the drummer for which successful American rock group?
35. The Battle of Flowers has been held annually on the second week of August since 1902 on which island?
36. Named after the French chemist who formulated it in 1884, which scientific theory, used to predict the effect of a change in conditions on a chemical equilibrium, states that if a change is made in the pressure, temperature or concentration of a system in chemical equilibrium, the equilibrium will be displaced in such a way as to oppose this change?
37. According to Landnámabók, who became the first permanent Norse settler on Iceland in 874AD?
38. Sharing its name with a German synthpop group, which 1965 Jean-Luc Godard film has the original French subtitle "Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution"?
39. The United States House of Representatives ruled that, legally, if which Italian inventor “had been able to pay the $10 fee to maintain the caveat after 1874, no patent (for the telephone) could have been issued to Bell"?
40. Who is the American aviator and adventurer, best known for holding many world records including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth, who has been reported missing since 3rd September 2007 after his plane disappeared over the Nevada Desert?
41. Lasting between 1941 and 1944, the Soviet Union fought the Continuation War against which country?
42. Which Italian satirist and playwright wrote 'Accidental Death of an Anarchist' and 'Can't Pay? Won't Pay!'?
43. Known as ‘The Gateway to Hell’, which is Iceland’s most active volcano, its last eruption occurring in February 2000?
44. Situated in the North Caucasus mountains, which large republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation, was established in January 1921 and has its capital at Makhachkala?
45. In 1768, France purchased the island of Corsica from which city state?
46. Which former British MP served as Secretary-General of NATO from 1999 to 2003?
47. Which founding member of the 2nd Red Brigades, was sentenced to six life sentences for the murder of the Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978, but was released after just 15 years in 1998?
48. Which popular British artist, born in Surrey in 1926 but active in Plymouth from the 1960s, is famous for her paintings of fat people?
49. The English doctor Sir Henry Howarth Bashford wrote which satirical work, with the subtitle 'Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man', that was first published anonymously in the UK in 1924?
50. With 41 to date, which country is home to the world’s most UNESCO World Heritage Sites?


Hope you enjoyed that lot. More tomorrow. The answers:


1. GRÍMSEY
2. ESTONIA
3. JOHN FIELD
4. ST AIDAN
5. ST PATRICK’S ISLE
6. VICTOR EMMANUEL II
7. MOHAMMED ABDULLAH HASSAN
8. AUSTRIA
9. MARSEILLE
10. BATTLE OF RONALDSWAY
11. LIVONIAN BROTHERS OF THE SWORD (or LIVONIAN ORDER)
12. TITAN
13. GREAT NORTHERN WAR
14. RAPHAEL
15. SURTSEY
16. BOBBY RIGGS
17. OIREACHTAS
18. PIETRO BADOGLIO
19. CAMMAG
20. SWEATING
21. TICINO
22. SELENE
23. TRISKELION (or TRISCELI in Sicily)
24. THOMAS FAIRFAX
25. VIGDÍS FINNBOGADÓTTIR
26. LIVY
27. GIOSUÈ CARDUCCI
28. TIGER
29. LIECHTENSTEIN & UZBEKISTAN
30. BEDFORD
31. ARCTIC FOX
32. CALIGULA
33. L'ORFEO
34. GREEN DAY
35. JERSEY
36. LE CHATELIER'S PRINCIPLE
37. INGÓLFUR ARNARSON
38. ALPHAVILLE
39. ANTONIO MEUCCI
40. STEVE FOSSETT
41. FINLAND
42. DARIO FO
43. HEKLA
44. DAGESTAN
45. GENOA
46. GEORGE ROBERTSON
47. MARIO MORETTI
48. BERYL COOK
49. AUGUSTUS CARP, ESQ., BY HIMSELF
50. ITALY

Saturday 22 September 2007

THE 38th QUIZ

Hi. I'm back again. I haven't posted for a few days because of a short illness. Hopefully we get back to regular postings now. Here goes:

1. Probably settled around 11,000 years ago, the Pulli settlement on the Pärnu River is the oldest known settlement in which European country?
2. Which island group did Britain hand over to Greece as a gift to mark the coronation of King George I of Greece in 1864?
3. On which of the Channel Islands could you visit Castle Cornet?
4. Born in Transylvania in 1886, who was the Hungarian Communist politician who ruled Hungary as the Hungarian Soviet Republic for a period in 1919?
5. After being dismissed by the Royal Navy, which 19th Century British naval officer, nicknamed the 'sea wolf', went on to serve in the rebel navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece during their struggles for independence?
6. Represented in Zen calligraphy as a circle, what name is given to the central tenet of Taoism, translating as 'without action', that involves the understanding of when to act and when not to act?
7. Which former American President was appointed the Chief Justice of the United States eight years after he left the White House?
8. In which fictitious French village did René Artois own a café in the TV sit-com ''Allo ' Allo!'?
9. The Great Mosque of which Malian city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the largest mud-brick building in the world?
10. The Brown Bear is the national animal and the Whooper Swan is the national bird; which country?
11. In one of the most famous maritime disasters in history, what was the name of the Italian ocean liner, named after a 16th Century Genoese admiral, that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in July 1956 after colliding with the Swedish-American liner SS Stockholm?
12. His actions considered the precursor of the Athens Polytechnic uprising, what was the name of the Greek geology student who set himself ablaze in Matteotti square in Genoa in protest at the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos?
13. Found in Hungary, at 47,500 square metres, which is the largest thermal lake in the world?
14. What is the name of the Andalusian Spanish based vernacular spoken in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar?
15. Now covered in rainforest in a Guatemalan National Park after its abandonment in the 10th Century, which Maya capital, with a name meaning 'At the reservoir', is home to six of the largest Mesoamerican step pyramids?
16. Which poet designed the famous garden at Sissinghurst Castle in the Weald of Kent?
17. Thought to contain the oldest free standing buildings in the world, what name is given to the temple grouping built in Malta during the Ġgantija and Tarxien phases between 3600 and 2500BC?
18. Which ox-like antelope, Boselaphus tragocamelus, also known as the blue bull, is found in northern India and eastern Pakistan?
19. The Bund is a collection of early 20th century neo-classical buildings found in which city?
20. Which poem by John Keats begins with the famous line, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever"?
21. According to tradition Sigmundur Brestisson brought Christianity to which islands in 999AD?
22. Which Greek King was assassinated in Thessaloniki in 1913?
23. Formally known as Smyrna, which is the largest port in Turkey after Istanbul?
24. Which was the only one of the British Isles upon which Germany established concentration camps during World War II?
25. Which Hungarian Prime Minister, famously an expert in geography and economics, committed suicide in April 1941 in protest at his country’s involvement in the German attack on Yugoslavia?
26. The 16th Century Stari Most bridge, from which the Bosnian city of Mostar takes its name, spans which river?
27. What was the name of Nelson's flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798?
28. What was Anne's surname in LM Montgomery's novel 'Anne of Green Gables'?
29. Who was the British illustrator who is best known for his work illustrating the 'Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm' in 1900 and 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' in 1907?
30. The Cueca is dance originating from which South American country?
31. Which Hungarian physicist, the nephew of writer Sándor Bródy, invented the krypton-filled fluorescent lamp in 1930?
32. Which general was the Prime Minister of Greece during the authoritarian 4th of August Regime from 1936 until his death in 1941?
33. In which American state would you find the closest point to mainland Europe?
34. The Arrow Cross Party was a pro-German anti-Semitic socialist party that ruled which country from October 1944 to January 1945?
35. While playing for Real Madrid between 1953 and 1971, who became the only footballer to win 6 European Cup winners’ medals?
36. In the 13th Century BC, Pharaoh Ramesses II ordered the construction of two massive rock temples to himself and his queen, Nefertiti, at Abu Simbel to commemorate his alleged victory at which battle? It is thought today that his army was, in fact, humiliated by the Hittite forces and, at best, the battle was inconclusive.
37. Coming to power in 1916, who was the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian empire?
38. By what name is the egg laying 'spiny anteater' properly known?
39. Which Icelandic explorer discovered Newfoundland in modern-day Canada early in the 11th Century?
40. Which famous ship was captained by Christopher Jones, who died in 1622?
41. Who was the 20th Century sculptor who created 'The Table of Silence', 'The Gate of the Kiss' and 'The Endless Column'?
42. Born in Esztergom in 975AD, Stephen I is considered the first King of which modern country?
43. Who was the French naval officer in charge of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar?
44. Who replaced Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1982?
45. What name is given to the painting technique in which water colours are thickened with gum or glue before application to the canvas?
46. At which battle of the War of the Austrian Succession did George II become the last English monarch to personally lead his troops into battle?
47. In Shakespeare's play, at which university had Hamlet been a student?
48. In which language was the text for Leoš Janáček's 'Glagolitic Mass' written?
49. In 1865, Edward Whymper became the first person to climb which mountain?
50. Between 1912 and 1929 New Delhi, chosen as the new capital of India, was designed by which British architect?


And the answers are:


1. ESTONIA
2. IONIAN ISLANDS
3. GUERNSEY
4. BÉLA KUN
5. THOMAS COCHRANE
6. WU WEI
7. HOWARD TAFT
8. NOUVION
9. DJENNÉ
10. FINLAND
11. SS ANDREA DORIA
12. KOSTAS GEORGAKIS
13. LAKE HÉVÍZ
14. LLANITO (or YANITO)
15. TIKAL (or TIK’AL)
16. VITA SACKVILLE-WEST
17. MNAJDRA
18. NILGAI
19. SHANGHAI
20. ENDYMION
21. FAROE ISLANDS
22. GEORGE I
23. İZMIR
24. ALDERNEY
25. PÁL TELEKI
26. NERETVA
27. HMS VANGUARD
28. SHIRLEY
29. ARTHUR RACKHAM
30. CHILE
31. IMRE BRÓDY
32. IOANNIS METAXAS
33. MASACHUSETTS
34. HUNGARY
35. FRANCISCO GENTO
36. BATTLE OF KADESH
37. KARL I
38. ECHIDNA
39. LEIF ERICSSON
40. MAYFLOWER
41. CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI
42. HUNGARY
43. PIERRE-CHARLES VILLENEUVE
44. JAVIER PÉREZ DE CUÉLLAR
45. GOUACHE
46. BATTLE OF DETTINGEN
47. WITTENBURG
48. OLD (CHURCH) SLAVONIC
49. MATTERHORN
50. EDWARD LUTYENS

Tuesday 18 September 2007

THE 37th QUIZ

There's a bit of a German bias to this one:

1. The Federal Constitutional Court, or Bundesverfassungsgericht, is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters and is located in which city?
2. Named 'the Dog of the Century' in 2000, what was the name of the black Newfoundland that reportedly saved 27 people from drowning in Swansea's North Dock during the 1930s?
3. Which Jewish poet, born in Chernowitz in what was Romania (now Ukraine) in 1920, spent more than 18 months of World War II in a Romanian labour camp and committed suicide by drowning in the Seine in 1970?
4. Which scientific law states that the recession speed of a distant galaxy is directly proportional to the distance of the galaxy from the observer?
5. Formed in response to the rationalism of the Enlightenment and associated with the philosopher Johann Georg Hamann, what name is given to the German literary and musical movement that took place between the 1760s and the 1780s which portrayed individual subjectivity and extreme emotional expression?
6. ‘Millennium Approaches’ and ‘Perestroika’ were the subtitles of the two volumes of which “Gay Fantasia on National Themes”, later to be made into a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös?
7. In August 2006, the BBC reported that which city in eastern Germany has the lowest birthrate in the world?
8. Who was the captain of HMS Beagle when Darwin travelled aboard it to conduct his research?
9. Which author did George Eliot describe as “…the last true polymath to walk the earth.”?
10. Who played the title character in the 1957 film ‘The Admirable Crichton’?
11. Which German Dadaist and surrealist artist, whose best known works include ‘The Virgin Chastises the infant Jesus before Three Witnesses: André Breton, Paul Éluard, and the Painter’ and ‘The Elephant Celebes’, served in the German army during World War I and stated in his autobiography that he “…died the 1st August 1914”?
12. In 1971, which British aviatrix became the first woman to fly over the North Pole?
13. The German inventor and early filmmaker Max Skladanowsky and his brother Emil invented which early movie projector, used to display the first moving picture to be shown to a paying audience in November 1895 about two months before the Lumière Brothers' Cinématographe made its public debut?
14. The American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd were all shot dead by the FBI in which year?
15. The 2007 movie 'Rescue Dawn', starring Christian Bale and Steve Zahn, is the latest film from which German, whose directorial debut was the 1962 short film ‘Herakles’?
16. What was the name of the ship that arrived at Tilbury in June 1948 carrying the first large group of West Indian immigrants to the UK after World War II?
17. Designed in 1941 by the German engineer and computer pioneer Konrad Zuse, what was the name of the world's first functional program-controlled computer?
18. Which American poet was charged with treason for broadcasting Fascist propaganda during World War II and subsequently spent 12 years in a psychiatric hospital?
19. During World War II Operation Felix was the proposed name for a German/Spanish plan to seize what? It was scheduled to take place on January 10th 1941 but it was never executed.
20. Currently under construction and scheduled to be operational by 2011, at 1600 MWe the world’s largest nuclear power station is being built by France's AREVA and Germany's Siemens AG in which country?
21. Which British bird, that takes its name from the old Norse for 'foul gull' can squirt an evil-smelling stomach oil up to 2 metres to repel unwanted visitors?
22. What was the acronymic name of the German intelligence organisation, operative from 1921 until 1944, the full name of which translated into English as ‘Overseas Department/Office in Defence of the Armed Forces High Command’?
23. What was the name of the Canadian journalist and art critic who is best remembered as the executor of the estate of Oscar Wilde, with whom he had been lifelong friends?
24. On the Mohs scale of hardness, which crystalline form of aluminium oxide is used to define a hardness of 9.0?
25. Who was the German-born Dutch artist who painted portraits of both Charles I and Charles II as well as the famous 'warts and all' portrait of Oliver Cromwell?
26. In which fictional kingdom in Central Europe was Anthony Hope's novel ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’ set?
27. Berat, Elbasan and Fier are all counties of which European country?
28. At which German art school were the painters Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Josef Albers all lecturers?
29. In 1844, Samuel Morse used which four-word Biblical quote when he sent the world's first public telegraph message?
30. Which footballer was the subject of a hit single by The Others that reached number 36 in the charts in October 2004?
31. Designed by Tommy Flowers, what was the name of the computer that was used by British code breakers at Bletchley Park during World War II to read encrypted German messages, such as those from the Enigma machine?
32. Which ballet by Léo Delibes is subtitled 'The Girl with Enamel Eyes'?
33. Which train robber from the American Wild West was known as 'The Robin Hood of Texas'?
34. Which country did West Germany defeat in the final of the 1954 football World Cup?
35. What was the name of James Buchanan’s niece who acted as his First Lady during his tenure in office?
36. Mount Sněžka is the highest peak in which European country?
37. What name has been given to the heavy metal music developed in the German speaking world in the 1990s that combines heavily distorted electric guitar and percussion with deep, and often gothic, vocals? Important bands associated with the movement include OOMPH! and Rammstein.
38. ‘The Good Old Swedish Time’ is the name given to the period of history during the 17th Century in which country? It is so named because of the seeming benefits, such as the printing press and the establishment of universities, that came with Swedish rule.
39. David Lodge's 2004 novel ‘Author, Author’ is based on the life of which novelist?
40. In which German city is the Goethe Museum?
41. Regulus is the brightest star of which constellation?
42. Productions of which English-language play feature heavily in the plot of the Pedro Almodóvar film 'Todo sobre mi madre' (All About My Mother)?
43. At which battle of World War I was the German Admiral Maximilian von Spee killed?
44. Which Californian punk band collaborated with Buju Banton on the song 'Misty Days' from Banton's album 'Unchained Spirit'?
45. Which celebrated German scientist, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1932, is best remembered for his uncertainty principle that states that there is a limit to the precision with which the position and direction of a particle can be simultaneously known?
46. Which English architect designed the international railway terminal at Waterloo Station and the Eden Project in Cornwall?
47. Which hill in Bodmin Moor is the highest point in Cornwall?
48. Known as 'The Angel of the Battlefield,' who was the American teacher, nurse and humanitarian who founded the American Red Cross in 1881?
49. Which French engineer invented the world's first passenger-carrying airship in 1852?
50. The Thomas Cup is a trophy awarded in which sport?


And the answers:


1. KARLSRUHE
2. SWANSEA JACK
3. PAUL CELAN
4. HUBBLE'S LAW
5. STURM UND DRANG (or STORM AND STRESS)
6. ANGELS IN AMERICA (by TONY KUSHNER)
7. CHEMNITZ
8. ROBERT FITZROY
9. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
10. KENNETH MORE
11. MAX ERNST
12. SHEILA SCOTT
13. BIOSCOP
14. 1934
15. WERNER HERZOG
16. EMPIRE WINDRUSH
17. Z3
18. EZRA POUND
19. GIBRALTAR
20. FINLAND
21. FULMAR
22. ABWEHR
23. ROBBIE ROSS
24. CORUNDUM
25. PETER LELY
26. RURITANIA
27. ALBANIA
28. BAUHAUS
29. WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT
30. STAN BOWLES
31. COLOSSUS
32. COPPÉLIA
33. SAM BASS
34. HUNGARY
35. HARRIET LANE
36. CZECH REPUBLIC
37. NEUE DEUTSCHE HÄRTE (NEW GERMAN HARDNESS)
38. ESTONIA
39. HENRY JAMES
40. FRANKFURT
41. LEO
42. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
43. BATTLE OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS
44. RANCID
45. WERNER HEISENBERG
46. NICHOLAS GRIMSHAW
47. BROWN WILLY
48. CLARA BARTON
49. HENRI GIFFARD
50. BADMINTON

Monday 17 September 2007

THE 36th QUIZ

Hello again. A bit of a Frenchy feel to the quiz today. Here goes:


1. Tintamarre is the largest island in which French overseas collectivity that came into being in February 2007?
2. What event of 1945 connects the films 'Der Hund von Baskerville' and 'Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war'?
3. Which boxer defeated Jake Kilrain in 1889 in the last ever world heavyweight championship prizefight decided with bare knuckles under London Prize Ring rules?
4. In April 2007, Laurent Deutsch starred in a French film that told the story of which fabulist and poet, born in 1621?
5. What was the name of the Swiss psychologist who developed the ink-blot psychological test?
6. Inaugurated in March 2007, the LGV Est, an extension to the French high-speed TGV network, links Paris with which city?
7. Also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, at which battle of 1805 did France defeat Austria and Russia?
8. Which English bishop, who was born in Beverley in Yorkshire, was appointed Bishop of Rochester in 1504 at the insistence of Henry VII only to be executed in 1535? He was canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI along with Thomas More.
9. In Greek mythology, which Spartan king was the father of Castor and Pollox?
10. In which African country would you find the Mountains of the Moon?
11. The current King of Spain and the current Grand Duke of Luxembourg are, through the Bourbon branch, both members of which dynasty, named after the King of France who reigned from 987AD until 996AD?
12. Which American city is served by Metropolitan Airport?
13. Which Scottish soldier and nobleman led the government army that defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715?
14. First published in 1852, ‘Émaux et camées’ is a collection of 37 poems considered to represent the greatest work of which French author?
15. Who was the English sea captain and Arctic explorer who, along with his entire crew, disappeared whilst attempting to navigate the Northwest Passage in 1847?
16. Designed by Norman Foster and Michel Virlogeux, the Millau Viaduct, the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, spans which river, a tributary of the Garonne?
17. Which French writer published the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924?
18. Which Hungarian city earned the nickname of ‘Calvinist Rome’ during the 16th Century because it was one of the first cities to embrace the Protestant Reformation?
19. The carcajou is an alternative name for which mammal?
20. In 'The Pickwick Papers', what is the name of Mr Pickwick's landlady who sues him for breach of promise to marry her?
21. Aged 88 at the time of his resignation, who is the oldest Head of State in French history?
22. What name is given to the unit of pressure equal to 60 millimetres of mercury?
23. Which Cuban-born Italian novelist wrote 'Invisible Cities' and 'The Castle of Crossed Destinies'?
24. Which treaty of 843AD created the kingdom of Francia Occidentalis and represents only the legal founding of the state of France?
25. What was the full name of the American poet and novelist known primarily by her initials H.D.?
26. What is the name of the town in French Guiana, home to the Guiana Space Centre, from which the European Space Agency and CNES launch their satellites?
27. Which French author won the first ever Nobel Prize for Literature in 1901?
28. Lítla Dímun is the only one of the eighteen large islands of which European island group to be uninhabited?
29. Named after an 18th Century British scientist, what name is given to the ratio of the tensile stress to the tensile strain in a material?
30. In May 1957 Britain's first Hydrogen Bomb was tested over which Pacific island?
31. Fought between March 13 – May 7, 1954, which battle, which resulted in a massive defeat for the French army, effectively ended the First Indochina War?
32. What is the name of the American politician who replaced Rudolph Giuliani as Mayor of New York in 2002?
33. In 1599, who became the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey since Geoffrey Chaucer?
34. Built in the first half of the 20th Century, the world’s oldest playable pipe organ is located in the Basilique de Valère in which Swiss city?
35. Bornholm is an island in the Baltic Sea belonging to which country?
36. Known by some as the man who created Paris and by others as the man who destroyed it, which civic planner was hired by Napoleon III in 1852 to modernise Paris?
37. What was the pen name used by the French novelist Amandine Lucie Dudevant?
38. The father of the poet Lydia Koidula, Johann Voldemar Jannsen wrote the words to ‘Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm’ meaning ‘My Fatherland, My Happiness and Joy’, the national anthem of which country?
39. Which former coach of the Green Bay Packers gives his name to the trophy awarded to the winners of the NFL Superbowl?
40. In May 1991, who became the first female Prime Minister of France?
41. Who was the French Minister of Justice who oversaw the drafting of the French Constitution that was adopted in October 1958?
42. The Majlis is the name given to the parliament of which country?
43. The Merneptah Stele was discovered at Thebes by which English Egyptologist who pioneered the use of the sequence dating method in archaeology?
44. The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations who were (originally) followers of whom?
45. Which Asian capital city has a name meaning 'Town of Victory' in the local tongue?
46. Lifou Island, Maré Island, Tiga Island, Ouvéa Island, Mouli Island, and Faiava Island are the six inhabited islands in which archipelago, part of the French territory of New Caledonia?
47. Before her marriage to Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine was the Queen of which French King?
48. With a population density of just 15.5 people per square kilometre, which is the most sparsely populated country in the European Union?
49. Which French short story writer and dramatist wrote the novella upon which Bizet's opera 'Carmen' is based?
50. Who was the first king of Scotland from the House of Stuart?


And the answers?:


1. SAINT MARTIN
2. THEY WERE THE ONLY FILMS FOUND IN HITLER'S BUNKER
3. JOHN L SULLIVAN
4. JEAN DE LA FONTAINE
5. HERMANN RORSCHACH
6. STRASBOURG
7. AUSTERLITZ
8. JOHN FISHER
9. TYNDAREUS
10. UGANDA
11. CAPETIAN DYNASTY
12. DETROIT
13. JOHN CAMPBELL, DUKE OF ARGYLL
14. THÉOPHILE GAUTIER
15. JOHN FRANKLIN
16. TARN
17. ANDRÉ BRETON
18. DEBRECEN
19. WOLVERINE
20. MRS BARDELL
21. PHILIPPE PÉTAIN
22. ATMOSPHERE
23. ITALO CALVINO
24. TREATY OF VERDUN
25. HILDA DOOLITTLE
26. KOUROU
27. SULLY PRUDHOMME
28. FAROE ISLANDS
29. YOUNG'S MODULUS
30. KIRIMATI (or CHRISTMAS ISLAND)
31. BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU
32. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
33. EDMUND SPENSER
34. SION
35. DENMARK
36. BARON HAUSSMANN (GEORGES-EUGÈNE HAUSSMANN)
37. GEORGE SAND
38. ESTONIA
39. VINCE LOMBARDI
40. ÉDITH CRESSON
41. MICHEL DEBRÉ
42. IRAN
43. FLINDERS PETRIE
44. MENNO SIMONS
45. JAKARTA
46. LOYALTY ISLANDS (OR ÎLES LOYAUTÉ)
47. LOUIS VII
48. FINLAND
49. PROSPER MÉRIMÉE
50. ROBERT II

Sunday 16 September 2007

THE 35th QUIZ

Today I have been mostly researching Denmark and Finland. You will see that this has influenced today's quiz a tad!:

(By the way I'm very proud of question 7 - you'll see).


1. Which town in the Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, founded by the Dutch East India Company in 1620, was a Danish colony from 1620 until 1845?
2. Directed by Max Spielberg, the son of Steven, and with the tagline "This time it's really personal", 'Jaws 19' was a holofilm playing at the Holomax Theater in the year 2015 in which real film of 1989?
3. By what Anglicised name is Antti Hulkko, the lead singer of the Finnish rock group Hanoi Rocks, better know?
4. In which sport did the Indonesian Rudy Hartono win the All England Championship seven years in succession?
5. Opened in July 2000, the Oresund Bridge connects Copenhagen to which Swedish city?
6. By what name is the abnormal movement disorder chorea better known?
7. Where could you find the statement, "...il suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir droit a votre bienveillance"?
8. Building began in 1748 of which inhabited sea fortress and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Helsinki?
9. In which city are the headquarters of the European Central Bank?
10. Which body of water, linking the Coral Sea with the Arafura Sea, separates Cape York Peninsula in Queensland from the Western Province of Papua New Guinea?
11. Britain fought Denmark-Norway in which war, during the Napoleonic Wars, that lasted from 1807 until ended by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814?
12. According to Greek mythology, who sacrificed his son Pelops and served up his flesh at a banquet for the Gods?
13. Which three European countries are the only countries in the world in which a Uralic language is spoken by the majority of the population?
14. The Avesta is the sacred book of which Asian religion?
15. Which two Danish authors shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1917?
16. Born in Elston Hall near Newark-on Trent in 1731, which naturalist and poet wrote the important scientific work 'Zoönomia'?
17. The Kings of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II belonged to which royal house?
18. Who became the first President of Finland in 1919?
19. Which city did Astana replace as capital of Kazakhstan in 1998?
20. At either 8’4” or 8’5”, which Ukrainian veterinary surgeon is listed by the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ as the world’s tallest living man?
21. Named in part after a German river, what was the codename of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9th April 1940, during which the Danish military offered just two hours of resistance before surrendering?
22. The Treaty of Teschen, signed in 1779, officially ended which war?
23. Petrozavodsk is the capital of which Republic and federal subject of the Russian Federation?
24. Formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen, which group, whose albums include ‘Love Metal’ and ‘Gold Light’, are the only Finnish band ever to go Gold in the USA?
25. Located in Copenhagen, what is the name of the winter home of the Danish royal family?
26. Which pseudonym was used by the Danish Baroness Karen Blixen when she wrote her autobiographical book 'Out of Africa'?
27. Which English scientist discovered the Law of Partial Pressures in 1801?
28. Which European capital city was known as Reval until 1918?
29. Italy is separated into political areas known as regions; how many regions are there?
30. Which English Civil War General later led the English forces at the Sieges of Limerick and was made Lord Deputy of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell in 1650?
31. Also known as Christiansø, Denmark’s most easterly point lies on which archipelago in the Baltic Sea, home to just 95 permanent residents?
32. Who was the tenant of the serial killer John Christie who was hanged for supposedly killing his own wife and child?
33. Opened in October 2006, 'Óðamansgarði' (or 'The Madman´s Garden') is the first opera ever to be performed in which language?
34. Which Panamanian boxer was known as 'Manos de Piedra', or 'Hands of Stone'?
35. In 1969, Denmark became the first country to officially legalise what?
36. The name of which dinosaur means 'Swift Thief' in Latin?
37. Which English poet, as a young man, fought with Sir Walter Raleigh against the Spanish at Cadiz and the Azores?
38. Also known as Finnish baseball, which is the national sport of Finland?
39. In which prison was Adolf Hitler incarcerated in 1924?
40. Which current Labour MP was, in 1976, acquitted on charges of bank robbery?
41. The Danish companies Lundbeck and Novo Nordisk are both involved in which industry?
42. Opened in 1988, the Essen Opera House was designed by, and is named after, which architect?
43. The St. George’s Night Uprising is the name given to a series of rebellions that took place between 1343 and 1345 against the primarily German rulers of which European country?
44. Which dramatist's first play was 'Catalina', published in 1850?
45. In December 2006, which Danish American footballer became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the National Football League?
46. Which poet wrote the sonnet 'The New Colossus' that was inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty?
47. Who is the only actor ever to have played three different American Presidents in three different films? Namely Abraham Lincoln in 'The Perfect Tribute', Ulysses S. Grant in 'The Legend of the Lone Ranger' and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 'FDR: The Final Years'. Ironically, he won his first Oscar while playing a non-Presidential role in the 1976 film 'All the President's Men'.
48. Which one of the flying Finns won four gold medals at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, including the 10,000 metres and the 3000 metres steeplechase and followed that with a gold medal for the 5000 metres at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam?
49. Inspired by the European masters such as Claude Lorrain and John Constable, Thomas Cole is acknowledged as the founder of which artistic movement, also associated with Frederic Church and Sanford Robinson Gifford?
50. Which American Old West outlaw, who boasted that he had killed more than forty men, was himself shot dead by the El Paso lawman John Selman in 1895?


And the answers:


1. THARANGAMBADI (OR TRANQUEBAR)
2. BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II
3. ANDY McCOY
4. BADMINTON
5. MALMÖ
6. ST VITUS' DANCE
7. WRITTEN ON THE LETTER IN DAVID'S 'THE DEATH OF MARAT'
8. SUOMENLINNA (or VIAPORI)
9. FRANKFURT
10. TORRES STRAIT
11. GUNBOAT WAR
12. TANTALUS
13. ESTONIA, FINLAND & HUNGARY
14. ZOROASTRIANISM
15. HENRIK PONTOPPIDAN & KARL GJELLERUP (aka EPIGONOS)
16. ERASMUS DARWIN
17. SAVOY
18. KAARLO JUHO STÅHLBERG
19. ALMATY
20. LEONID STADNYK
21. OPERATION WESERÜBUNG
22. WAR OF THE BAVARIAN SUCCESSION
23. REPUBLIC OF KARELIA
24. HIM
25. AMALIENBORG PALACE
26. ISAK DINESEN
27. JOHN DALTON
28. TALLINN
29. 20
30. HENRY IRETON
31. ERTHOLMENE
32. TIMOTHY EVANS
33. FAROESE
34. ROBERTO DURÁN
35. PORNOGRAPHY
36. VELOCIRAPTOR
37. JOHN DONNE
38. PESÄPALLO
39. LANDSBERG
40. PETER HAIN
41. PHARMACEUTICALS
42. ALVAR AALTO
43. ESTONIA
44. HENRIK IBSEN
45. MORTEN ANDERSEN
46. EMMA LAZARUS
47. JASON ROBARDS
48. VILLE RITOLA
49. HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL
50. JOHN WESLEY HARDING

Saturday 15 September 2007

THE 34th QUIZ

Hi there. Here we are:


1. 'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott' or 'A Mighty Forest is Our God' is a hymn, paraphrasing Psalm 46, written by whom sometime between 1527 and 1529?
2. Each decade since 1952 'Sight & Sound' magazine has polled the world's foremost film critics in order to create a list of the 10 greatest films of all time. Which are the only two films, released in 1925 and 1939, to have made the top 10 in each of the 6 lists compiled so far?
3. Which country's karate team boycotted the Asian championship in Malaysia in August 2007 in protest at the beating of one of its official referees by the local police?
4. Who is the only footbaler to have played in Merseyside, Manchester and Auld Firm derbies?
5. Which chemical element with the atomic number 64 and the relative atomic mass 157.25 is named after a Finnish chemist, born in 1760?
6. 'Mermaid Avenue' was a 1998 collection of Woody Guthrie songs re-recorded, at the request of Guthrie's daughter Nora, by which singer-songwriter in collaboration with the Chicago rock band Wilco?
7. What is the name of the UK-based gay rights direct action campaigning group formed by Peter Tatchell among others following the murder of the gay actor Michael Boothe?
8. Which famous theorem states that it is impossible to find an integer solution to the equation 'xn + yn = zn' if 'n' is greater than 2 and 'x', 'y' and 'z' are not zero?
9. On April 25th 1792, a thief and assassin named Jacques Nicolas Pelletier became the first person to die in what manner?
10. In 1986, which Nigerian playwright became the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?
11. Which archipelago of islands was originally known to the French as Îles Malouines?
12. Often cited as the first significant American feature film, which controversial DW Griffith film, that portrayed Ku Klux Klansmen in a heroic light, was adapted from Thomas Dixon's novel and play 'The Clansman'?
13. Who was the gambler and businessman who set up both Howletts Zoo, near Canterbury, and Port Lympne Zoo, near Hythe?
14. In Greek mythology, who continued to cry for her slain children even after being turned to stone by Zeus?
15. Which number, larger than a googol but smaller than a googolplex, can be written as 1 followed by 303 zeroes?
16. The Schick Test is used to determine the susceptibility of a person to which infectious disease?
17. What was the score when England beat Australia in the 2003 rugby World Cup final?
18. Who was the last Western Roman Emperor who abdicated in AD476?
19. In the novel by Jules Verne, who was the French valet who accompanied Phileas Fogg on his attempt to go Around the World in Eighty Days?
20. The Bullet Train links Tokyo with which other Japanese city?
21. The flag of which European country features a two-headed eagle at its centre?
22. What is the name of the 7'3" English born actor, who took the oath to become a naturalized citizen of the United States in October 2005, who is best known for playing the Wookiee, Chewbacca, in the 'Star Wars' movies?
23. The American abolitionist John Brown is best remembered for leading a raid on the federal armory in which town in West Virginia?
24. In Greek mythology, what was the name of the youth killed by a blow to his head, caused by a discus thrown by Apollo?
25. Found guilty, at the age of 14, of the murder of his 12-year-old schoolmate Lynne Harper in 1959 and sentenced to hang, which Canadian, whose case has been a cause célèbre for almost fifty years, was officially acquitted of the crime in August 2007 after his conviction was declared a miscarriage of justice?
26. Derived from the Greek for 'I rub', what name is given to the scientific study of friction, lubrication and wear?
27. Which Moroccan athlete won both the men's 1500 and 5000 metres at the 2004 Olympic Games?
28. Which famous English poet had the middle name Chawner?
29. In the play by Christopher Marlowe, what was the name of the Jew of Malta?
30. Begun in 1697, what is the name of the baroque palace complex built in Vienna by Prince Eugene of Savoy?
31. Which African capital city was formerly known as Christopolis?
32. What is the name of James Fennimore Cooper's fictional Mohican chief, the companion of Natty Bumppo, who was played by Russell Means in the 1992 film 'The Last of the Mohicans'?
33. What was the name of the Norwegian king, reputedly standing at 7ft tall, who invaded England in 1066 only to be defeated by King Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge?
34. Which religious reformer is considered the founder of the both the Church of Scotland and the Protestant Reformation in Scotland?
35. With which band did Ian Broudie and Holly Johnson play together before becoming the lead singers of The Lightning Seeds and Frankie Goes to Hollywood respectively?
36. What is the name of the Palestinian militant group, closely linked to the Fatah political party, that signs its name as the Brigades of Shahid Yasser Arafat?
37. Gaston Tong Sang, a founding member of the pro-French Tahoera'a Huiraatira political party, was forced to resign as the President of which French overseas collectivity on 31st August 2007?
38. In meteorology, what is measured in oktas?
39. 'Hatter's Castle' was the first novel by which popular 20th century novelist?
40. Which retired American footballer, who won four Super Bowls during his 13 years as a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers between 1979 and 1992, produces his own wine under the label Montagia?
41. Which large lake lies on the River Rhine on the border between Germany, Switzerland and Austria?
42. Nicknamed the 'Bull Moose Party', what was the name of the American political party founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 after he had lost the Republican Presidential nomination to William Howard Taft?
43. At which English port were all four of Captain Cook's ships built?
44. Ernest Hemingway once claimed that "All modern American literature comes from one book". Which book?
45. Voted the fifth greatest heavy metal band of all time by MTV in 2006, which now defunct band, that formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981, had a number 1 album in the USA in 1994 with 'Far Beyond Driven'?
46. The Second Tuareg Rebellion began in which country in February 2007?
47. Which word was coined by Karl Brunner in 1968 to describe the economic theories of Milton Friedman?
48. Who was the Austrian zoologist, a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1948 and author of 'King Solomon's Ring', who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his studies of animal behavioural patterns?
49. 'The Canterbury Tales' tells the stories of a collection of pilgrims travelling to Canterbury from which London borough?
50. Which is the most notherly county in mainland Britain?


And the answers too:


1. MARTIN LUTHER
2. BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN & LA RÈGLE DU JEU (or THE RULES OF THE GAME)
3. INDONESIA
4. ANDREI KANCHELSKIS
5. GADOLINIUM
6. BILLY BRAGG
7. OUTRAGE!
8. FERMAT'S LAST THEREOM
9. GUILLOTINED
10. WOLE SOYINKA
11. FALKLAND ISLANDS
12. THE BIRTH OF A NATION
13. JOHN ASPINALL
14. NIOBE
15. CENTILLION
16. DIPHTHERIA
17. 20-17
18. ROMULUS AUGUSTUS
19. PASSEPARTOUT
20. OSAKA
21. ALBANIA
22. PETER MAYHEW
23. HARPERS FERRY
24. HYACINTHUS
25. STEVEN TRUSCOTT
26. TRIBOLOGY
27. HICHAM EL GUERROUJ
28. RUPERT BROOKE
29. BARABAS
30. THE BELVEDERE
31. MONROVIA
32. CHINGACHGOOK
33. HARALD HARDRAADE
34. JOHN KNOX
35. BIG IN JAPAN
36. AL-AQASA MARTYRS' BRIGADE
37. FRENCH POLYNESIA
38. CLOUD COVER
39. AJ CRONIN
40. JOE MONTANA
41. LAKE CONSTANCE
42. PROGRESSIVE PARTY
43. WHITBY
44. HUCKLEBERRY FINN
45. PANTERA
46. NIGER
47. MONETARISM
48. KONRAD LORENZ
49. SOUTHWARK
50. CAITHNESS

Friday 14 September 2007

THE 33rd QUIZ

Here we go again. Hope you enjoy:


1. In 1440, the Italian humanist Lorenzo Valla proved that which Roman imperial edict, probably devised in the 8th or 9th Century, was a fake?
2. The 1929 cartoon 'Race Riot' is notable for being the first to be entirely produced and directed by Walter Lantz and featured which character created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks prior to Disney's greater success with Mickey Mouse?
3. What is the name given to Hamburg's famous red light district?
4. Which creature, specifically, is the world's largest reptile?
5. In August 2007, Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Country Club in which Oklahoma city?
6. Which work by the Italian Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola is often called 'The Manisfesto of the Renaissance'?
7. Which is the longest book of the Old Testament?
8. Which American astronaut, who landed on the Moon in 1972, travelled into space more times than any other astronaut during the 20th Century?
9. Prior to 2002, by what name was Liverpool John Lennon Airport known?
10. Which is the second largest of the Greek islands?
11. What is the name of the city in Virginia which, for one week, served as the last capital of the Confederate States of America?
12. Hohhot is the capital of which Chinese Autonomous Region that celebrated in 60th anniversary last month?
13. Abu Sayyaf is a militant Islamic separatist movement based in which country?
14. Known as Portugal's greatest poet, which author is best remembered for his epic work 'Os Lusíadas'?
15. In August 2007, 500 people were evacuated from the slopes of which active volcano on the Indonesian island of Siau when it began to spew out ash and lava?
16. "Mother died today" is the first line of which French novel of 1942?
17. Elton John's 1982 song 'Empty Garden' was written as a tribute to whom?
18. Which county cricket team plays its home games at Grace Road?
19. The Sheet Metal Donkey was the nickname given to the world's first practical all metal aircraft; who designed it?
20. In fear of the jealous wrath of his Queen, Hera, Zeus turned Io into which creature?
21. Croesus, famed for his wealth, was the king of which ancient kingdom?
22. In which American state is Hamburger University?
23. What nationality is the fisherman in Ernest Hemingway's novella 'The Old Man and the Sea'?
24. In which country were 85 protesters killed and more than 600 injured by the police forces during the July Revolt of 1927?
25. Who was the Liberal Party Senator for South Australia who was elected as the President of the Australian Senate in August 2007?
26. What was the name of the British light cruiser that was accidentally rammed by HMS Queen Mary in October 1942 with the loss of 338 lives?
27. Which 1993 BBC miniseries, with a soundtrack written by David Bowie, was adapted from a novel by Hanif Kureishi? It starred Naveen Andrews as the title character.
28. 'La Noire de...', 'Touki Bouki' and 'Guimba, un tyran, une époque' are three of the most important films in the movie industry of which African country?
29. What name is given to the young of a falcon?
30. Which pretender to the English throne landed in England in 1495 in an attempt to overthrow King Henry VII and was hanged as a traitor at Tyburn?
31. Which Flemish-Dutch painter, born in 1525, earned the nickname 'peasant' because of his practice of putting on disguises in order to take part in peasant gatherings?
32. In 1982, who became the first female jockey to complete the Grand National?
33. In 2001, which British rock group became the first Western act to play in Cuba for over 20 years?
34. In July 2007, Valdis Zatlers was sworn in as the third President of which country?
35. Which Pope ordered the execution of the Friulian miller Menocchio in 1599 after he was named as a heresiarch for his philosophical teachings?
36. Europe's most complete Neolithic village, which UNESCO World Heritage Site is located on the Bay of Skaill on Mainland island in the Orkneys?
37. What name is given to the uncut sideburns worn by male orthodox Jews?
38. Which Greek philosopher and naturalist wrote the 'Naturalis Historia'?
39. In the 1890s, who was the sportsman who played cricket for Sussex and England, football for Southampton and England and held the long jump world record?
40. Lake Scutari forms a natural border between Montenegro and which other country?
41. In 1993, who became the first female Prime Minister of Canada?
42. The story of which Greek mythological character has been told in a play by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, a film by Michael Cacoyannis and an opera by Richard Strauss?
43. What was the name of the 19-year old who was hanged for the murder of PC Sidney Miles in 1953 but who won a posthumous pardon in 1998?
44. In which German city was Charlemagne crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800AD?
45. The 16th Century Italian poet Torquato Tasso is best remembered for which work in which he tells a fictionalized version of the battles between the Muslims and the Christians during the First Crusade?
46. Which very rare astronomical phenomenon occurred in the Western Hemisphere and parts of the Eastern Hemisphere on May 31 2007?
47. Which Roman Emperor founded the Flavian Dynasty in AD69?
48. In 1909, which author became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?
49. Which country has the International Vehicle Registration code 'RB'?
50. Who was the Archbishop of York who crowned William the Conqueror King of England?


And the answers:


1. DONATION OF CONSTANTINE
2. OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT
3. REEPERBAHN
4. SALT WATER CROCODILE
5. TULSA
6. ORATION ON THE DIGNITY OF MAN
7. PSALMS
8. JOHN YOUNG
9. SPEKE AIRPORT
10. EUBOEA
11. DANVILLE
12. INNER MONGOLIA
13. PHILIPPINES
14. LUÍS DE CAMÕES
15. KARANGETANG
16. L'ENTRANGER (THE STRANGER or THE OUTSIDER by ALBERT CAMUS)
17. JOHN LENNON
18. LEICESTERSHIRE
19. HUGO JUNKERS
20. HEIFER
21. LYDIA
22. ILLINOIS
23. CUBAN
24. AUSTRIA
25. ALAN FERGUSON
26. HMS CURACOA
27. THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA
28. NIGERIA
29. EYAS
30. PERKIN WARBECK
31. PIETER BRUEGHEL (THE ELDER)
32. GERALDINE REES
33. MANIC STREET PREACHERS
34. LATVIA
35. CLEMENT VIII
36. SKARA BRAE
37. PAYESS
38. PLINY THE ELDER
39. CB FRY
40. ALBANIA
41. KIM CAMPBELL
42. ELEKTRA
43. DEREK BENTLEY
44. AACHEN
45. LA GERUSALEMME LIBERATA (JERUSALEM DELIVERED)
46. BLUE MOON
47. VESPASIAN
48. SELMA LAGERLÖF
49. BOTSWANA
50. ALDRED

Thursday 13 September 2007

THE 32nd QUIZ

Apologies for the delay; I've been very busy. Here goes:


1. Which hystricognath rodent, the sole member of the family Dinomyidae in the infraorder Caviomorpha, is sometimes known, quite wonderfully in my opinion, as 'Count Branicki's terrible mouse'?
2. In August 2007, 14 convicted prisoners escaped from which detention centre in Oxfordshire?
3. Which Neil Young song did Kurt Cobain quote in his suicide note?
4. Which bandy-legged dwarf of Egyptian mythology was the god of pleasure, jollity, music and childbirth?
5. Which country uses the Convertible Mark as its unit of currency?
6. Which female ballet dancer defected to the West while dancing with the Kirov Ballet in London in 1972?
7. The capital city of which island group is located on New Providence Island?
8. In September 2006, after the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which stated that double jeopardy should be abrogated where "fresh and viable" new evidence came to light, who became the first person to be convicted of murder after previously being acquitted? He had twice previously been tried for the murder of Julie Hogg in Billingham in 1989, but two juries failed to reach a verdict and he was formally acquitted in 1991. When the new law came into effect he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
9. The 1997 film 'Jackie Brown' was adapted from the novel 'Rum Punch', written by which American author?
10. Which King of Scotland was the father of Mary, Queen of Scots?
11. Which Greek mythological figure was driven mad and pursued by the Furies after he murdered Aegisthus and his mother, Clytemnestra?
12. Six new species to science, a horseshoe bat, a rodent, two shrews and two species of insects, were discovered in a forest in which country in August 2007?
13. Who was the first white rapper to have a number 1 single in the USA?
14. In 1958, which English explorer led the first expeditionary team to complete an overland crossing of Antarctica?
15. In which city is the Imperial Crypt, which was used as the principal place of entombment for the Habsburg dynasty and hereditary Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire?
16. For what did the K stand in the name of the author Jerome K Jerome?
17. Which is the northernmost town on the British mainland?
18. In 1935, who became the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth established under American tutelage?
19. The Islets of Langerhans are a feature of which organ in the human body?
20. Who was the American engine driver and folk hero on the Cannonball Express who died in 1900 trying to prevent his train from crashing into a freight train?
21. Which racing trainer achieved the record of the most National Hunt winners during the 20th Century?
22. In August 2007, which San Francisco Giants baseballer hit his 756th career home run, passing Hank Aaron as the all-time leader in Major League Baseball?
23. Which southern African breed of dog is also known as the 'African lion hound'?
24. What was the first name of Mr Cruft who established the famous dog show in 1886?
25. The ancient cities of Apollonia, Butrini and Krujë are all tourist attractions in which country?
26. Which poem by Richard Lovelace contains the famous line, “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage”?
27. Inhabitants of which American state are known as 'cornhuskers'?
28. Which French politician was President of the European Commission between 1985 and 1995?
29. What kind of creature is Smoochy in the 2002 film 'Death to Smoochy'?
30. The Salarian Way was a Roman road that linked Rome to which city?
31. What is the scientific name given to the ability of some animals, such as lizards, to self-amputate a part of their body in order to elude a predator?
32. TrES-4 is the largest known planet in the universe and was discovered in August 2007 in which constellation?
33. Reaching number 28 in the UK charts in 1980, which group's first hit was entitled 'Ne-Ne-Na-Na-Na-Na-Nu-Nu'?
34. In which American state were the Seminole Wars fought from 1835 to 1842?
35. Which German-Dutch alchemist and chemist, who was the first person to produce hydrochloric acid, is known as 'the German Boyle'?
36. 'The Age of Anxiety' is the nickname of which composer's 2nd Symphony?
37. In which African country would you find the Toubkal National Park?
38. In September 1956, which singer became the first person to have four UK number 1 singles when 'A Woman in Love' reached the top spot in the charts?
39. What was the name of the naturalist and explorer, known as the 'Father of Biogeography', who proposed a theory of natural selection in his books 'The Malay Archipelago' and 'Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection'?
40. What was the name of the ship that was supposed to sail to America with the Mayflower but had to return to Plymouth because of a leak?
41. In 1975, who became the first English player to be sent-off in a rugby union international match?
42. Riots occurred in which country in August 2007 after it was announced that Xanana Gusmão would become the next Prime Minister?
43. At 87 hours long, which 1987 Lee Groban film is listed by the 'Guinness Book of Records' as the longest film ever made?
44. Which once common household item was invented by Melville R Bissell in 1876?
45. What does a laclabphilist collect?
46. What is the title of Arthur C Clarke's 1948 novel upon which the film '2001: A Space Odyssey' was based?
47. Which sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, separates Tuscany from Corsica?
48. The expression 'Cloud-Cuckoo-Land' is taken from a line in which play by the Greek dramatist Aristophanes?
49. Which Scottish football team is the only one to have played in both English and Scottish FA Cup finals?
50. Who was the King of Greece during World War II, who went into exile after the German invasion in 1941?


And the answers:


1. PACARANA
2. CAMPSFIELD HOUSE
3. HEY HEY, MY MY (INTO THE BLACK)
4. BES
5. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINIA
6. NATALIA MAKAROVA
7. BAHAMAS
8. WILLIAM DUNLOP
9. ELMORE LEONARD
10. JAMES V
11. ORESTES
12. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
13. VANILLA ICE
14. VIVIAN FUCHS
15. VIENNA
16. KLAPKA
17. THURSO
18. MANUEL QUEZON
19. PANCREAS
20. CASEY JONES
21. MARTIN PIPE
22. BARRY BONDS
23. RHODESIAN RIDGEBACK
24. CHARLES
25. ALBANIA
26. TO ALTHEA, FROM PRISON
27. NEBRASKSA
28. JACQUES DELORS
29. RHINOCEROS
30. ANCONA
31. AUTOTOMY
32. HERCULES
33. BAD MANNERS
34. FLORIDA
35. JOHANN RUDOLF GLAUBER
36. LEONARD BERNSTEIN
37. MOROCCO
38. FRANKIE LAINE
39. ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE
40. SPEEDWELL
41. MIKE BURTON
42. EAST TIMOR
43. THE CURE FOR INSOMNIA
44. CARPET SWEEPER
45. CHEESE LABELS
46. THE SENTINEL
47. LIGURIAN SEA
48. THE BIRDS
49. QUEENS PARK
50. GEORGE II

Monday 10 September 2007

THE 31st QUIZ

Another one:

1. What is the name of Iraq's largest Sunni party that withdrew from the Iraqi government in August 2007?
2. Islas de los Ladrones meaning "Islands of Thieves" is an alternative name for which archipelago?
3. Walid Eido, who was killed in an explosion in June 2007, was an MP in which country?
4. Which fish of the genus Istiophorus can reach speeds of 68.5mph, making it the fastest fish in the ocean?
5. According to Greek mythology, who was the Phoenician prince who founded the city of Thebes and became its first king?
6. In which English city was the first of the twelve Eleanor Crosses built in 1291?
7. Which European capital city was known to the Romans as Olisipo?
8. In which African country would you find the Great Bitter Lakes?
9. Which Roman Emperor, the son of Marcus Aurelius, believed himself to be the reincarnation of Hercules and had a passion for gladiatorial combat?
10. In which European country were the Ottoman Empire victorious at the Battle of Savra in 1385?
11. Who is the first Mongolian sumo wrestler to reach the rank of Yokozuna, who also became, in August 2007, the first Yokozuna to be suspended after he was recorded playing football with the Japanese international midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata while supposedly injured?
12. At 2925 metres Mount Rila is the highest point in which European country?
13. Which tennis player did Boris Becker defeat in the final to win his first Wimbledon title in 1985?
14. Built in 1814, what was the name of George Stephenson's first locomotive?
15. Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led military coups in which African country in 1979 and 1981?
16. Who was the ancient Greek legislator who in the 7th Century BC laid down the first written constitution of Athens?
17. Which 19th Century ornithologist and painter illustrated the books 'The Birds of America' and 'Ornithological Biographies'?
18. How many of the United Kingdom's 66 cities are in Wales?
19. In 2005, which Elvis Presley song became the 1000th UK number 1 single?
20. Who was the German physicist and engineer who invented the first vacuum pump in 1650?
21. In August 2007, 'The Dandy' comic underwent a major image overhaul when it added which word to its original title?
22. What was the name of the late 19th and early 20th Century Austrian symbolist painter whose best known works include 'The Friends' and 'The Virgins'?
23. Native to New Guinea, what is the name of the world's largest butterfly?
24. Who became Asia's first female President when she replaced Ferdinand Marcos as the President of the Philippines in 1986?
25. Ashurbanipal, who died in 627BC, was the last great King of which ancient nation?
26. In 1990, a painting by Vincent van Gogh was sold for a then world-record $82.5 million at Christie’s, New York. What is the name of the painting?
27. The Brocken the highest peak in which German mountain range?
28. The chance to play which character in a 1972 film was reportedly turned down by Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Ryan O'Neal and Dustin Hoffman?
29. Which American novelist has used the pseudonyms Cameron Kay, Edgar Box and Katherine Everard?
30. Which American power pop band, formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1986 are best known for their singles 'Golden Blunders', 'Dream All Day' and 'Flavor of the Month'?
31. In August 2007, Mexican archaeologists announced the discovery of what is believed to be the tomb of which Aztec emperor?
32. Grodno, Gomel and Mogilev are major cities in which European country?
33. In 1973, which British yachtswoman and author became the first female to sail solo across the Atlantic?
34. Of what is alektorophobia the fear?
35. Who was the daughter of Priam in Greek mythology who defied Apollo and was thus condemned to accurately predict the future but never to be believed?
36. Which public park in northwest England was the world's first publicly-funded park?
37. The 1994 film 'Quiz Show'tells the true story of the 1950s scandal surrounding which American gameshow?
38. Puerto del Rosario is the capital of which of the Canary Islands?
39. Ralph Vaughan Williams' song cycle 'On Wenlock Edge' is a musical setting for the works of which English poet?
40. Which 1993 film stars John Goodman as the William Castle-inspired filmmaker Lawrence Woolsey?
41. In August 2007, which baseballer, a third baseman for the New York Yankees, became the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs?
42. Lake Neusiedl straddles the border between Austria and which other country?
43. Who was the German scientist who discovered nuclear fission and was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize for Chemistry?
44. Who, in 1675, was appointed the first Astronomer Royal?
45. Sometimes known as the 'pillar saints', what was the name given to ascetics of early Christian times that spent much of their days and nights perched on top of pillars?
46. Which Berkshire born actor played Marcus in the 2002 film 'About a Boy' and is currently starring as Tony in the E4 "dramedy" 'Skins'?
47. In which city are the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organisation?
48. Regarded as the father and creator of all, who is the chief god worshipped by the Zuni Indians of New Mexico?
49. What is the name of Dennis the Menace's pet spider?
50. What connects Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison and Jean-Paul Marat?


And the answers:


1. IRAQI ACCORD FRONT
2. MARIANA ISLANDS
3. LEBANON
4. SAILFISH
5. CADMUS
6. LINCOLN
7. LISBON
8. EGYPT
9. COMMODUS
10. ALBANIA
11. ASASHORYU AKINORI
12. BULGARIA
13. KEVIN CURREN
14. BLÜCHER
15. GHANA
16. DRACO
17. JOHN JAMES AUDUBON
18. 5 (BANGOR, CARDIFF, NEWPORT, ST DAVID'S & SWANSEA)
19. ONE NIGHT
20. OTTO VON GUERICKE
21. XTREME
22. GUSTAV KLIMT
23. QUEEN ALEXANDRA'S BIRDWING
24. CORAZON AQUINO
25. ASSYRIA
26. PORTRAIT OF DR GACHET
27. HARZ MOUNTAIN
28. MICHAEL CORLEONE (in THE GODFATHER)
29. GORE VIDAL
30. THE POSIES
31. AHUITZOTL
32. BELARUS
33. CLARE FRANCIS
34. CHICKENS
35. CASSANDRA
36. BIRKENHEAD PARK
37. TWENTY ONE
38. FUERTEVENTURA
39. AE HOUSMAN
40. MATINEE
41. ALEX RODRIGUEZ
42. HUNGARY
43. OTTO HAHN
44. JOHN FLAMSTEED
45. STYLITES
46. NICHOLAS HOULT
47. GENEVA
48. AWONAWILONA
49. DASHER
50. THEY ALL DIED IN THE BATHROOM

Saturday 8 September 2007

THE 30th QUIZ

Hello again. Have a look at these:

1. What name has been given to the new species of the genus Mastigoteuthis which was discovered in one of the deep-sea pipelines of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority off the Hawaiian Islands in the summer of 2007?
2. Which Austrian medical doctor and psychologist, born in 1870, founded the school of Individual Psychology?
3. How many points are awarded for a goal in Gaelic football?
4. Which French chemist, who named oxygen in 1778, disproved the phlogiston theory of combustion?
5. Which former Olympic gold medallist became the Member of Parliament for Peterborough in 1931?
6. Isca Dumnoniorum was the Roman name for which English city?
7. Mount Smolikas is the highest peak in which European mountain range?
8. In the English translations of the Asterix comics, what is the name of village leader, a middle-aged, obese man with red hair, pigtails and a huge moustache?
9. Which Welsh painter, born in 1876, whose famous works include 'A Corner of the Artist's Room', became the mistress of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin?
10. Which mountain range in the Sudetes in Central Europe is sometimes known as the Giant Mountains?
11. Encamp, Canillo and Ordino are three of the seven parishes into which which European country is divided?
12. In 1980, which Panamanian boxer became the first person to defeat Sugar Ray Leonard?
13. The Emperor is the largest species of penguin; which is the smallest?
14. Which American First Lady is perhaps best remembered for rescuing a portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart from the White House when British troops burnt Washington DC in 1814?
15. Radama II was the king of which African country until his assassination in 1863?
16. In which town in Texas were 83 people killed in a stand-off between the FBI and the Branch Davidian sect in 1993?
17. Which of Elizabeth Taylor's husbands died in a plane crash in 1958?
18. Which British composer was appointed Master of the Queen's Music in 2004?
19. Which term, coined by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1912, describes the paintings of Robert Delaunay and members of the Puteaux Group whose works were rooted in Cubism but moved toward a pure lyrical abstraction, seeing painting as the bringing together of a sensation of bright colours?
20. Banski Dvori is a historical building that serves as the official residence of the government of which country?
21. Who became the 5th President of Albania in July 2007 when he replaced Alfred Moisiu?
22. Which American invented the computer mouse whilst working at the Stamford Research Institute in 1964?
23. In Greek mythology, who was the Muse of Astronomy?
24. Which German admiral of the First World War is best remembered for commanding the German Battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland?
25. By what name is the Indian landmark Harmandir Sahib better known?
26. Which city was the capital of Burma between 1860 – 1865, prior to Rangoon becoming capital?
27. Which was the last American state to abolish slavery?
28. What is the stagename of Christopher James Hardman, who featured on the second series of 'Gene Simmons' Rock School' and reached number 3 in the UK charts with his first single 'Checkin' It Out' in September 2006?
29. Who wrote the poem 'Two Loves' that contains the famous line, “I am the love that dare not speak its name”?
30. Which former Soviet state abolished capital punishment on June 27, 2007?
31. Who was the Croatian-Serb politician, who led Croatia's Serb minority during the Croatian War of Independence, who, on 12 June 2007, was found guilty of murder and persecution committed while he was leader of the Krajina Serb republic between 1991 and 1995?
32. In 1968, who became the first black woman to be elected to Congress in the United States?
33. In Greek mythology, what was the name of the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta?
34. What was the name of the sister ship of the Titanic that was sunk in 1916 after hitting a mine off the coast of Greece?
35. Which Italian island is the largest island in the Tuscan Archipelago?
36. Which 20th Century sculptor brought a law suit against US Customs because they wanted to charge duty on an imported bronze sculpture that they considered to be nothing more than raw material?
37. Although it only made number 7 in the UK charts in 1981, which was the best-selling single in the US of the 1980s?
38. In the British sit-com 'Red Dwarf', for what did the J stand in the name of the character Arnold J. Rimmer, played by Chris Barrie?
39. Belonging to Launce in 'The Two Gentleman of Verona', what is the name of the only dog to be named in any of Shakespeare's plays?
40. Twenty two people were killed in June 2007 when a Paramount Airlines helicopter crashed in which country?
41. Which Inter Milan player won the FIFA World Footballer of the Year Award in 1991?
42. The most common form of the condition goitre in humans results from a lack of which element?
43. Which book of the New Testament tells the story of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which includes the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer?
44. Which English King signed the Treaty of Dover with France in which he promised to support French policy in Europe in return for a French subsidy?
45. What was the name of Arsenal tube station prior to it being renamed after the football club in 1932?
46. In Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities', who is the villainous woman who uses patterns in her knitting to register the names and description of enemies of the French Revolution?
47. Released in 1997, 'A.D.I.D.A.S.' was the breakthrough single for the Californian nu-metal band Korn; for what did the acronym A.D.I.D.A.S. stand?
48. Białowieża Primaeval Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the border between which two European countries?
49. What name was adopted by the Florentine painter born Paolo di Dono in 1397?
50. Adopted in February 1998, which European country's national anthem was written by Dušan Šestić?


And the answers?:


1. OCTOSQUID
2. ALFRED ADLER
3. 3
4. ANTOINE LAVOISIER
5. LORD BURGHLEY (DAVID CECIL)
6. EXETER
7. PINDUS MOUNTAINS
8. VITALSTATISTIX
9. GWEN JOHNS
10. KARKONOSZE (or KRKONOŠE) MOUNTAINS
11. ANDORRA
12. ROBERTO DURÁN
13. FAIRY PENGUIN
14. DOLLY MADISON
15. MADAGASCAR
16. WACO
17. MIKE TODD
18. PETER MAXWELL DAVIES
19. ORPHISM
20. CROATIA
21. BAMIR TOPI
22. DOUGLAS ENGELBART
23. URANIA
24. FRANZ VON HIPPER
25. GOLDEN TEMPLE (OF AMRITSAR)
26. MANDALAY
27. MISSISSIPPI
28. LIL' CHRIS
29. LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS
30. KYRGYZSTAN
31. MILAN MARTIĆ
32. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
33. ANTIGONE
34. BRITANNIC
35. ELBA
36. CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI
37. PHYSICAL (by OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN)
38. JUDAS
39. CRAB
40. SIERRA LEONE
41. LOTHAR MATTHÄUS
42. IODINE
43. MATTHEW
44. CHARLES II
45. GILLESPIE ROAD
46. MADAME DEFARGE
47. ALL DAY I DREAM ABOUT SEX
48. POLAND & BELARUS
49. PAOLO UCCELLO
50. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Friday 7 September 2007

THE 29th QUIZ

Hello again. Let's take a look at these:

1. On 9th July 2007, snow fell on which capital city for the first time in 89 years and only the second time in recorded history?
2. Situated in the Esbjerg Municipality in south west Jutland, which is the oldest town in Denmark, having been established in the 8th Century?
3. Who was the only King of France to have been made a saint?
4. The painters Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet were prominent members of which 19th Century French school of landscape painters, named after the town in Fontainbleau Forest where the artists gathered?
5. Which singer contributed backing vocals to the Electric Six's 2002 hit 'Danger! High Voltage' under the name John S. O'Leary?
6. Which American writer shot and killed his ex-wife during a drunken party game in Mexico City in 1951?
7. In terms of population, Bratislava is the largest city in Slovakia. Which is the second largest?
8. In which American state did the first Battle of the Bull Run occur in July 1861?
9. Who scored Arsenal's winning goal in extra-time of the replayed 1993 FA Cup final?
10. Which Russian resort was selected, in July 2007, as the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games?
11. Which two countries fought the Kalmar War from 1611 to 1613?
12. Which 17th Century Italian scientist is best remembered for inventing the mercury barometer?
13. According to Greek mythology, which king of Thebes was the husband of Jocasta and father of Oedipus?
14. Who was the American President who made the Louisiana Purchase from France?
15. Which Austrian feminist playwright and novelist won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004?
16. Although it was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, the classic film 'Citizen Kane' only won one; which one?
17. Which French explorer became the first person to sail up the St Lawrence River, across which now stands a bridge bearing his name?
18. The musical 'Helly, Dolly!' was based on which play written by the American author Thornton Wilder?
19. Which Italian racing driver won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1952 and 1953?
20. In June 2007, to reflect the wishes of its inhabitants, the Japanese government officially switched the name of Iwo Jima to it original name; what is it now called?
21. Meaning 'Plain Land' in old Icelandic, what name was given to the area of North America, now part of Newfoundland, that was discovered by the norseman Leif Eiríksson in about the year AD1000?
22. Which American writer wrote a series of novels known collectively as 'The Leatherstocking Tales'?
23. Which English rock group took their name from the title of a 1966 novel by William Manus?
24. The 19th Century Belgian musicians Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe and Arthur Grumiaux are all famous players of which musical instrument?
25. Which was the only defeated European country to acquire new territory as part of the border adjustments after the First World War?
26. Killing 118 people throughout the film, the character John Preston has killed more people in one film than anyone else in cinema history; in which film of 2002 did he achieve this feat?
27. After a topping off ceremony in June 2007, the Comcast Centre officially became the tallest building in which American city?
28. Signed in 1581, the Oath of Abjuration was the formal declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from which other country?
29. Which Roman author wrote the novel 'The Satyricon'?
30. Which basketball team defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in June 2007 to win the NBA Championship?
31. Lying in Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner, what is the name of the largest peninsular in the Adriatic Sea?
32. If a carnivore is an animal that eats meat and a herbivore is an animal that eats plants then what name is given to a creature that eats only grass?
33. Which large flightless bird, of the genus Pinguinus, was hunted to extinction in 1844?
34. The Moche was an ancient civilisation that existed in which modern-day country?
35. Mir Castle and Niasviž Castle are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites in which European country?
36. In the New Testament, who was chosen as the twelfth apostle after the death of Judas Iscariot?
37. In which castle was Edward II killed?
38. In terms of area, which is the smallest of the former Soviet Republics?
39. Which land mammal has the most teeth?
40. What name has been given to the enormous birdlike dinosaur, that was discovered in Inner Mongolia by the paleontologist Xu Xing in June 2007?
41. During which war was an aeroplane first used to drop bombs?
42. Who was the Conservative MP for Eastbourne who was assassinated by the IRA in 1990?
43. Adrian Lyne's 2002 film 'Unfaithful' was a remake of which French film of 1968 directed by Claude Chabrol?
44. Who is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo and head of the Catholic church in Zimbabwe who, in June 2007, called on the British government to invade Zimbabwe and remove Robert Mugabe from power?
45. 'The Great Charlemagne, My Father' is the title of the national anthem of which country?
46. On New Years Eve in 2003, the actress and singer Natalie Imbruglia married Daniel Johns, the lead singer of which Australian rock group whose albums include 'Frogstomp' and 'Neon Ballroom'?
47. Who was the Egyptian Pharaoh at the time the Sphinx at Giza was erected?
48. Which English scientist received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904 for his successful isolation of the inert atmospheric gas argon?
49. Major General Vang Pao was arrested in the United States in June 2007 for plotting to overthrow the government of which country?
50. Previously known as Mesembria, what is the name of the ancient city and UNESCO World Heritage Site on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast?


Hope that was okay. To the answers:


1. BUENOS AIRES
2. RIBE
3. LOUIS IX
4. BARBIZON SCHOOL
5. JACK WHITE
6. WILLIAM S BURROUGHS
7. KOSICE
8. VIRGINIA
9. ANDY LINIGHAN
10. SOCHI
11. DENMARK & SWEDEN
12. EVANGELISTA TORRICELLI
13. LAIUS
14. THOMAS JEFFERSON
15. ELFRIEDE JELINEK
16. BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
17. JACQUES CARTIER
18. THE MATCHMAKER
19. ALBERTO ASCARI
20. IWO TO
21. VINLAND
22. JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER
23. MOTT THE HOOPLE
24. VIOLIN
25. AUSTRIA
26. EQUILIBRIUM
27. PHILADELPHIA
28. SPAIN
29. PETRONIUS
30. SAN ANTONIO SPURS
31. ISTREA
32. GRAMINIVORE
33. GREAT AUK
34. PERU
35. BELARUS
36. MATTHIAS
37. BERKELEY CASTLE
38. ARMENIA
39. OPOSSUM
40. GIGANTORAPTOR
41. FIRST BALKAN WAR
42. IAN GOW
43. LA FEMME INFIDÈLE
44. PIUS NCUBE
45. ANDORRA
46. SILVERCHAIR
47. KHAFRE
48. JOHN WILLIAM RAYLEIGH
49. LAOS
50. NESEBAR

Thursday 6 September 2007

THE 28th QUIZ

Here is today's offering. Enjoy!


1. The Byzantine Emperor Nicephoros died on a dunghill during which battle against the Bulgarians fought on 26 July, 811?
2. Author of the 1554 work 'Cruydeboeck', who became court physician to the Austrian Emperor Rudolph II in 1575 and professor of medicine at the University of Leiden in 1582?
3. The first European mountain railway built with a standard-gauge track, in which European country was the Semmering Railway constructed between 1848 and 1854?
4. What was the pseudonym of Pierre Culliford, best known for his creation of 'The Smurfs' comic strip?
5. Which city in Belgium is famous for its carnival, held every February, which traditionally ends with 'The Burning of the Doll'?
6. A subgroup of the Kayapo tribe, what is the name of the tribe of indigenous people discovered in the Amazon Rainforest in May 2007?
7. Founded in 1793, which resort on the Baltic Sea in the Bade Doberan district is the oldest seaside spa in Germany?
8. To which country does the island of Masirah belong?
9. In June 2007, what was the name of the horse that became the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes in over 100 years?
10. At which Australian port does the Hunter River reach the Pacific Ocean?
11. The Chamorro or Chamoru people are the indigenous people of which archipelago?
12. The Polisario Front is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the independence of which territory?
13. Who was the French political philosopher and anarchist who coined the phrase 'Property is theft'?
14. In which American state are the Green Mountains located?
15. The Kush were an ancient African civilisation located in which modern day country?
16. According to the Gospel of Matthew, which Biblical character ate “locusts and wild honey”?
17. What rank did Idi Amin achieve in the British Army?
18. What is the common name of the now extinct marsupial also called the thylacine?
19. Which American golfer is best remembered for having won 11 consecutive tournaments during 1945?
20. Sharing its name with an Israeli internet news portal, what name is given to the sound effect used in American radio, film, and television to imitate the indistinct murmur of a crowd in the background?
21. Who was the English biologist, known as 'Darwin's Bulldog' for his defence of the theory of evolution, who coined the term 'agnosticism'?
22. In which country were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid said to have died in a gunfight in 1908?
23. In 1903, which English architect won the competition to design the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool?
24. Which European capital city is served by Nikola Tesla airport?
25. A statue of which Roman general, who was governor of Britain in the first Century, stands in the city of Bath?
26. Who was the Greek god of wealth who is said to have been blinded by Zeus so that he might dispense his wealth blindly without regard to merit?
27. Which American President, whose administration ran from 1857-1861, is the only President to have been a bachelor?
28. In Homer's 'Odyssey', what was the name of Odysseus' faithful dog who awaited his return from Ithaca?
29. In June 2007, which Jamaican-born American become the youngest person, as well as the first black person, to fly solo around the world?
30. The O le Ao o le Malo is the title given to the head of state in which country?
31. What name is given to the shanty towns of Brazil, the first of which was created in in November 1897 when 20,000 veteran soldiers were brought to Rio de Janeiro and left with no place to live?
32. In 1842, who became the last politician to be denied appointment to the office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds?
33. Considered one of the key sites in world prehistory and home to some of the earliest handcrafted gold treasure, in which country could you find the Varna Necropolis?
34. What was the name of the mysterious and magical island featured in the musical 'South Pacific'?
35. By what name is Gustav Mahler's 'Eighth Symphony' better known?
36. The Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea are an autonomous region of which country?
37. Which physician and philosopher, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, founded the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon?
38. Which Greek philosopher founded the Eleatic School of Philosophy in the 5th Century BC?
39. Which ice hockey team defeated the Ottowa Senators to win the 2007 Stanley Cup?
40. In 1934, the Russian adventurer Boris Skossyreff unsuccessfully declared himself Boris I of which European country?
41. Which Dutch-born painter, who taught at Yale University, published the influential book 'The Interaction of Color' in 1963?
42. Which city is the administrative centre of the French region of Lorraine?
43. In which castle did King John die in 1216?
44. In Norse mythology, who was the messenger to the gods?
45. Who was the Conservative peer who died in 1986, who was best known for his homosexual relationship with the gangster Ronnie Kray?
46. What was the pen-name of the 16th Century alchemist and physician Phillip von Hohenheim?
47. Amblyopia is the medical name for which visual disorder?
48. Who became King of Wessex in 802AD, King of Kent in 825AD and King of Mercia in 829AD and is often referred to as the first King of England?
49. Before it achieved independence in 1828 which country was known as Banda Oriental?
50. What was pen-name used by the Russian novelist Aleksei Peshkov?


Do well? Let's see:


1. BATTLE OF PLISKA
2. REMBERT DODOENS
3. AUSTRIA
4. PEYO
5. AALST
6. METIKTYRE
7. HEILIGENDAMM
8. OMAN
9. RAGS TO RICHES
10. NEWCASTLE
11. MARIANA ISLANDS
12. WESTERN SAHARA
13. PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON
14. VERMONT
15. SUDAN
16. JOHN THE BAPTIST
17. SERGEANT-MAJOR
18. TASMANIAN TIGER
19. BYRON NELSON
20. WALLA
21. THOMAS HUXLEY
22. BOLIVIA
23. GILES GILBERT SCOTT
24. BELGRADE
25. GNAEUS JULIUS AGRICOLA
26. PLUTUS
27. JAMES BUCHANON
28. ARGUS
29. BARRINGTON IRVING
30. SAMOA
31. FAVELAS
32. VISCOUNT CHELSEA (or EARL CADOGAN)
33. BULGARIA
34. BALI HA'I
35. SYMPHONY OF A THOUSAND
36. FINLAND
37. ALBERT SCHWEITZER
38. PARMENIDES
39. ANAHEIM DUCKS
40. ANDORRA
41. JOSEF ALBERS
42. NANCY
43. NEWARK
44. HERMOD
45. LORD (ROBERT) BOOTHBY
46. PARACELSUS
47. LAZY EYE
48. EGBERT
49. URUGUAY
50. MAXIM GORKY

Wednesday 5 September 2007

THE 27th QUIZ

Have a go at these:

1. Signed in 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended which war?
2. Which is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative capital of Republika Srpska?
3. Which German author, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1972, wrote the novels 'The Unguarded House' and 'The Bread of Our Early Years'?
4. On which river does Bremen stand?
5. Which French-speaking singer-songwriter was voted by the public as the greatest ever Belgian in the 2005 television show 'Le plus grand belge'?
6. Which famous poem by the Beat Generation writer Allen Ginsberg begins with the line, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness”?
7. Which NASA astronaut was the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission?
8. In classical mythology, which king ordered Heracles to perform his twelve labours?
9. In which country did French troops help to restore former President David Dacko to power in 1979?
10. Which is the only European language in which the word for mathematics – 'wiskunde' – is not derived from Greek?
11. Which inland sea connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea?
12. During the 20th Century, which European country was the first to officially ban religion and become the world's first Atheist state?
13. Which cartoonist created Bogart the Cat?
14. Who is the English writer and geographer who is principally remembered for his promotion of English settlements in North America in works such as 'Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation'?
15. Which metallic element has the highest melting point?
16. In 1989, who was the Moroccan athlete who simultaneously held the world record for the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m?
17. The Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent under the rule of which Emperor, who ruled from 98 to 117 AD?
18. Zentralfriedhof is the largest and most famous cemetery in which European capital city?
19. Who, in 1789, was the German chemist who discovered Uranium and named it after the newly discovered planet, Uranus?
20. Based in Leuven in Belgium and created after a merger in 2004, which is the world's largest brewery?
21. The Ormeli Falls is the largest waterfall in Europe. In which country is it located?
22. Who is the Italian mountaineer and explorer who, in 1986, became the first person to climb all fourteen of the world's highest mountains?
23. Widely believed to have been the location of the first Jewish ghetto uprising of the Second World War, Lakhva is a small town in which country?
24. William Golding wrote the novel 'Lord of the Flies' in response to which 1857 novel by RM Ballantyne?
25. Who, in 1929, when becoming Minister for Labour became the first woman to hold a ministerial position in the British Government?
26. Deriving from the Latin for 'thunderbolt', what name is given to the natural hollow glass tubes formed in sand or soil by lightning strikes?
27. In horse racing, who was Desert Orchid's trainer?
28. What is the pseudonym used by the prominent Flemish sculptor Henri Van Herwegen, famous for his sculptures of aeroplanes, who announced his retirement in 2005 in order to promote his PanamaJumbo coffee brand?
29. Held in ancient Greece, the festival of athletic and musical competitions known as the Isthmian Games were held in honour of which God?
30. Against which South American country did Bolivia fight the Chaco War during the 1930s?
31. What was the name of the Nazi leader who led the Gestapo from 1939 until 1945 but disappeared at the end of World War II, never to be seen again?
32. Who was the renowned English botanist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage in 1768 and is credited with introducing eucalyptus, mimosa and acacia to Europe?
33. Which song by New Kids on the Block became the first number 1 single of the 1990s?
34. Which English football administrator was President of FIFA from 1961 to 1974?
35. The teachings of which ancient Greek physician, who wrote 'On the Elements According to Hippocrates', dominated European medicine until the Renaissance?
36. The construction of the Colosseum in Rome began under the rule of which Emperor?
37. On which island would you find the necropolis known as the Hypogeum of Hal-Saflieni?
38. The Union of Lublin, that was signed in 1569, united which two European countries?
39. Which 14th Century English poet is best known for his works 'Vox Clamantis' and 'Confessio Amantis'?
40. Mount Tremblant is the highest peak in which North American mountain range?
41. Who was the American General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968?
42. In the Bible, who was the father of Noah?
43. Which of the shipping forecast areas used by the BBC is named in honour of the founder of the Met Office?
44. Which Russian tennis player won the women's singles title at the US Open in 2004?
45. By what name was the Bight of Bonny, in the Gulf of Guinea, known prior to 1972?
46. Which school of landscape painting was founded by John Crome and John Cotman?
47. Which European capital city is the highest above sea-level?
48. Which internationally recognised non-SI unit of pressure is equal to 101,325 Pascals?
49. In 1950, which became the first film to receive 14 Academy Award nominations? This was not equalled until the release of 'Titanic' in 1997.
50. Charles Denis Pratt was born in Sutton in Surrey in 1908; by what name is he better remembered?

The answers:

1. THE WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
2. BANJA LUKA
3. HEINRICH BÖLL
4. WESER
5. JACQUES BREL
6. HOWL
7. JIM LOVELL
8. EURYSTHEUS
9. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
10. DUTCH
11. SEA OF MARMARA
12. ALBANIA
13. PETER PLANT
14. RICHARD HAKLUYT
15. TUNGSTEN
16. SAID AOUITA
17. TRAJAN
18. VIENNA
19. MARTIN HEINRICH KLAPROTH
20. INBEV
21. NORWAY
22. REINHOLD MESSNER
23. BELARUS
24. CORAL ISLAND
25. MARGARET BONDFIELD
26. FULGURITES
27. DAVID ELSWORTH
28. PANAMARENKO
29. POSEIDON
30. PARAGUAY
31. HEINRICH MULLER
32. JOSEPH BANKS
33. HANGIN' TOUGH
34. STANLEY ROUS
35. GALEN
36. VESPASIAN
37. MALTA
38. POLAND & LITHUANIA
39. JOHN GOWER
40. LAURENTIAN MOUNTAINS
41. WILLIAM WESTMORELAND
42. LAMECH
43. FITZROY
44. SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA
45. BIGHT OF BIAFRA
46. NORWICH SCHOOL
47. MADRID
48. ATMOSPHERE
49. ALL ABOUT EVE
50. QUENTIN CRISP