QM Quiz #22

First of these I've written for a good while. Been busy with a variety of things, so here are some fresh questions for you to have a go at / save to your computer / do with whatever you desire.

It's the final regular-season match of the 2014/15 Lancaster City Quiz League season tonight. I'll be playing in my first match since mid-January, so haven't featured as much as I'd have liked this season but my first year at university is the reason for that. Playing Boot & Shoe B who have won the league and regained the title that eluded them last year.

We've also been drawn in the LCQL Cup quarter-finals against Boot & Shoe B for a home match two weeks today. I imagine that will be a far more hard-fought fixture.

Anyway, the questions...

1 Which French neoclassical architect's best-known works included Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in Saint Petersburg?
2 The so-called "Sabre Dance" is a movement in the final act of which Aram Khachaturian ballet (1942)?
3 What was the name of the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed last week, who is strongly suspected of having brought the plane down deliberately?
4 Which country won their fifth Cricket World Cup this week?
5 What did the initials GK stand for in the name of author GK Chesterton?
6 Which philosopher put forward the analysis and theory of deconstruction in his 1967 work, Of Grammatology?
7 China's Lin Dan is regarded as one of the greatest singles players of all time in which sport?
8 Which English king often had the sobriquet Beauclerc applied to his name?
9 Argentite is an ore of which metal?
10 Which Australian painter's most famous work was a series of depictions of outlaw Ned Kelly in the outback?
11 The Eduskunta is which country's national parliament?
12 Which Italian director's best-known films are The Leopard (1963) and Death in Venice (1971)?
13 Nedda and Silvio are lovers in which opera that premiered in Milan in 1892?
14 Ross Macdonald's hardboiled novels set in southern California featured which fictional private detective?
15 Which birds of the grouse family change to white in colour in winter to help them blend into the snowy backgrounds of their habitats?
16 Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundian allegiance in 1430 in which French town, before being handed over to the English?
17 Particularly associated as a religious practice, the lace or silk shawl known as a mantilla is worn predominantly by the women of which country?
18 Which German chess player, regarded as one of the best ever, held the World Chess Champion crown for a record 27 years from 1894 to 1921?
19 The name of which constellation comes from the Latin word for "charioteer"?
20 The rock band Soundgarden named themselves after a public art sculpture in which US city, from which they hailed?




Answers:
1 Auguste de Montferrand
2 Gayane
3 Andreas Lubitz
4 Australia
5 Gilbert Keith
6 Jacques Derrida
7 Badminton
8 Henry I
9 Silver
10 Sidney Nolan
11 Finland
12 Luchino Visconti
13 Pagliacci
14 Lew Archer
15 Ptarmigans
16 Compiegne
17 Spain
18 Emanuel Lasker
19 Auriga
20 Seattle

QM Quiz #19

Not written one of these for ages, so I'll do so now - hope you enjoy:

1 Which term in Islam describes the collection of teachings, deeds, and sayings of the prophet Muhammad which constitute the primary source of guidance for Muslims aside from the Koran?
2 Starring Norman Beaton, Isabelle Lucas, and a young Lenny Henry, what was the first British sitcom to have an entirely black cast?
3 Which French king ordered the building of the Bastille fortress in 1370?
4 2014's G20 summit concluded last week. In which city was it held?
5 The director David Lean's first four films were adaptations of works by which English playwright?
6 Which former Conservative MP became UKIP's second directly elected MP on the early hours of Friday morning after a victory in the Rochester and Strood by-election?
7 Home to the country's most successful football club of recent years, what is Hungary's second-largest city?
8 The Kuvendi is the parliament of which European country?
9 The organisation Greenpeace was founded after protests against US plans for a nuclear weapon test on which Alaskan island?
10 The chemical element hassium is named after a state in which country?
11 In which country was Elizabeth II when she heard that her father, George VI, had died and that she was queen?
12 The episode "An Unearthly Child" marked the first appearance of which famous TV character?
13 The first official US flag was flown during which 1777 engagement of the American Revolutionary War?
14 The M57 motorway is a ring road around which major UK city?
15 Which passenger steamship became known in 1912 as the ship that came to the aid of Titanic survivors when it sank, and was subsequently sank herself in 1918 off the Isles of Scilly?
16 The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race is run at which French racecourse at the beginning of October each year?
17 Who, alongside Calvert Vaux, designed New York City's Central Park?
18 Butser Hill is the highest point of which English range of chalk hills?
19 Which US journalist (1887-1920) is best remembered for his account of the October Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World?
20 The Church of the Holy Rude, where James VI of the Scots was crowned in 1567, is in which Scottish city?




Answers:
1 Hadith
2 The Fosters
3 Charles V
4 Brisbane
5 Noel Coward
6 Mark Reckless
7 Debrecen
8 Albania
9 Amchitka
10 Germany
11 Kenya
12 The Doctor (Doctor Who)
13 Siege of Fort Stanwix
14 Liverpool
15 Carpathia
16 Longchamp
17 Frederick Law Olmsted
18 South Downs
19 John Reed
20 Stirling

QM Quiz #18

Seems like ages since I last posted - indeed, it has been ten days. Here are twenty quick questions for you to peruse, store, have a go at.

100Quiz #2 is still open to enter; I'll close it to entries a week today, probably.

1 What is the official name of Manhattan's Sixth Avenue, although this name is rarely used by New Yorkers?
2 How was the German singer Christa Paffgen (1938-1988) better known?
3 The King Baudouin Stadium is in which country?
4 Which Austrian town on the border with Germany is best-known for being the birthplace of Adolf Hitler?
5 Which prominent Dutchman discovered the rings of Saturn in 1655?
6 From the Greek for "acting of one's own will", what word describes a self-operating machine?
7 How many players are there on each team in a Gaelic football match?
8 London Bridge carries five lanes of which major road?
9 In which US state is the popular animated series, South Park, primarily set?
10 Who is the current manager of Celtic FC?
11 In 1986, Time magazine called which man "a laureate of American lowlife"?
12 In The Flintstones, what is the name of Fred and Wilma Flintstone's infant daughter?
13 Which hurricane, currently impacting Bermuda, is the strongest recorded since Igor in 2010?
14 Der Ring des Nibelungen is a four-opera cycle by which famous composer?
15 Which is the oldest professional ice hockey team in the United States?
16 Which desert's name means "black sand" in Turkic languages?
17 One Brewer's Green, London is the headquarters of which UK political party?
18 Giotto's Campanile stands in which Italian city?
19 The Cuban Revolution of 1953 to 1959 was an overthrow of whose government?
20 Jonas Salk developed the first successful vaccine for which disease?




Answers:
1 Avenue of the Americas
2 Nico
3 Belgium
4 Braunau am Inn
5 Christiaan Huygens
6 Automaton
7 Fifteen
8 A3
9 Colorado
10 Ronny Deila
11 Charles Bukowski
12 Pebbles
13 Hurricane Gonzalo
14 Richard Wagner
15 Boston Bruins
16 Karakum
17 Labour
18 Florence
19 Fulgencio Batista
20 Poliomyelitis

QM Quiz #17

1 In which national capital was athlete Mo Farah born?

2 Japan's second-highest volcano erupted this week, causing the deaths of at least thirty people. What is its name?

3 Described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world, in which English county is RAF Menwith Hill?

4 1979's Life in a Day was the debut album of which band?

5 Ghent, Antwerp, and Valenciennes are all among the towns that stand on which major river of northern France, western Belgium, and the south-west of the Netherlands?

6 In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, whose shrine are the story-telling pilgrims visiting?

7 During the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, fifty new churches were paid for by a tax levied on what item entering the capital?

8 The title of a 2008 thriller starring Tom Cruise and Kenneth Branagh, what was the codeword for the 1944 operation that was an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler?

9 The Victoria Cross was initially introduced to reward acts of courage during which war?

10 What ironic trait was shared by the composers Beethoven, Smetana, and Faure?

11 In mythology, what was the name of the Roman slave who aided and befriended a lion that subsequently saved his life after he was thrown to the aforementioned animals for attempting to escape?

12 Breeding in the south-western US and Mexico, what is the smallest species of owl?

13 The ongoing political comic strip, If..., has appeared in which daily newspaper since 1981?

14 Who remains to date the longest-serving leader of the Labour Party?

15 According to Jewish folklore, who was the first wife of Adam?

16 What is the densest naturally occurring chemical element?

17 What forename and surname links the wife of Shakespeare and a modern-day Hollywood actress?

18 Which monarch instigated the Christmas Day broadcast to the nation in 1932?

19 Aside from becoming a major early figure in the sport of golf, and lending his name to the sport's most prestigious trophy, what was Samuel Ryder's profession?

20 Which traditional sport of Central Asia consists of horse-mounted players dragging a goat carcass towards a goal?

Answers:

1 Mogadishu

2 Mount Ontake

3 North Yorkshire

4 Simple Minds

5 Scheldt

6 Thomas Becket

7 Coal

8 Valkyrie

9 Crimean War

10 Deafness

11 Androcles

12 Elf owl

13 The Guardian
14 Clement Attlee
15 Lilith
16 Osmium
17 Anne Hathaway
18 George V
19 Seed merchant
20 Buzkashi

QM Quiz #15

The Lancaster City Quiz League season began last night. The Pub got a 66-48 victory over Slyne Lodge. Decent enough set written by the Gregson A team. Managed to get a score of 15 which I'm pleased about after thinking about it more thoroughly - only got three of my eight questions right but managed to get six passes. Mistaking Cadiz for Calvi on a question about Nelson's loss of one eye was an absolute shitter, though. Still, not too bad for our first league match. That'll be my last game for a month or so at least - though I'd like to be back temporarily for a couple of matches. Depends on if I'm picked for a start.

Anyway, questions...

QM Quiz #15
1 What is the largest city to stand on Lake Champlain, which is divided between the US states of New York and Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec?

2 Which Colombian cyclist won the 2014 Giro d'Italia?

3 What was actress Diane Keaton's birth surname?

4 Close to the border crossing with Croatia, what is the only coastal town in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

5 The film Schindler's List was based on a 1982 novel by which Australian writer?

6 The 2013 and 2014 winners of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture have both been from which country?

7 Willy Lott's Cottage can be seen in which famous painting of 1821?

8 What name, meaning unauthorised, was given to the castles built in 12th-century England without royal approval, particularly during the Anarchy war of 1135 to 1154?

9 2014 is the Chinese year of which creature?

10 Which 2004 Martin Scorsese film tells the story of a twenty-year period in the life of Howard Hughes?

11 Which short-lived US comedy series, first seen in 1982 and starring Leslie Nielsen, was a spoof of police procedurals and a precursor to the successful Naked Gun film series?

12 "I met a traveller from an antique land..." is the first line of which 1818 poem?

13 What was the official name of the "Dam Busters" raids of 1943 that saw the bombing of the Moehne and Edersee Dams?

14 Which stock character of Russian folk puppetry is also the title of an Igor Stravinsky ballet?

15 The largest city of its namesake governorate, what is the capital of Oman?
16 What newspaper format has pages that are slightly wider and taller than the tabloid format, but narrower and shorter than that of the broadsheet?
17 Which Brazilian city, the country's fifth-largest, is the state capital of Ceara?
18 Possibly his best-known work is the brutalist Royal National Theatre on the South Bank of the Thames; which English architect was also responsible for designing the European Investment Bank building in Luxembourg?
19 Caused by the inhalation of coal dust, which disease affecting the lungs is known as "miner's disease"?
20 Name the year. Da Vinci's Mona Lisa is displayed in the US for the first time; Harold Wilson becomes leader of the UK Labour Party; Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes.




Answers:
1 Burlington
2 Nairo Quintana
3 Hall
4 Neum
5 Thomas Keneally
6 Japan
7 The Hay Wain
8 Adulterine
9 Horse
10 The Aviator
11 Police Squad!
12 "Ozymandias"
13 Operation Chastise
14 Petrushka
15 Muscat
16 Berliner
17 Fortaleza
18 Denys Lasdun
19 Pneumoconiosis
20 1963

QM Quiz #14

1 The hopak is a dance from which country?

2 Which Yugoslav movement of World War II, led by Draza Mihailovic, was dissolved in 1946 as Tito proclaimed an amnesty to all defecting forces?

3 The Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing, is set on which island?

4 Giles Clarke is the current chairman of which sport governing body?

5 Which English theatre critic and writer was supposedly the first person to say the word "fuck" on British television?

6 What is the name of the sea cave, so-called after a British captain, that lies on the south-east face of the Rock of Gibraltar?

7 What was the first James Bond film to star Roger Moore?

8 Automobile engineer Louis Chevrolet, pharmacologist Daniel Bovet, and revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat were all born in which present-day country?

9 What is the main colour of the flag of Macau?

10 Stephen Crane's book, The Red Badge of Courage, is set during which war?

11 Who is the most recent British prime minister to have served non-consecutive terms?

12 The last time a team outside the top flight won the competition, which team won the 1980 FA Cup?

13 The Wasatch Front is home to roughly 80% of the population of which US state?

14 Usain Bolt set both the 100m and 200m world records in which city in 2009?

15 Poly Styrene, Lora Logic, and Jak Airport were members of which English punk band?

16 What do the Libyans call the sirocco wind, the same name as that of a Japanese film studio?

17 Numismatics is the scientific study of what?

18 Which composer created the Symphonie fantastique and the Grande messe des morts requiem? 

19 What is the longest river in the European Union?

20 The highest point of the Dinaric Alps is in which country?

Answers:

1 Ukraine

2 Chetniks

3 Sicily

4 ECB

5 Kenneth Tynan

6 Gorham's Cave

7 Live and Let Die

8 Switzerland

9 Green

10 American Civil War

11 Harold Wilson

12 West Ham

13 Utah

14 Berlin

15 X-Ray Spex

16 Ghibli

17 Currency

18 Hector Berlioz

19 Danube

20 Albania

QM Quiz #13

1 Pictured on the cover of The Verve's debut album, in which English county is the tourist spot known as Thor's Cave?

2 The tennis player Milos Raonic represents which country?

3 Who was the first husband of actress Lauren Bacall?

4 William Tuthill is best-remembered as the architect of which New York City landmark?

5 Canada's highest mountain, Mount Logan, is located within which of the country's territories?

6 Which horse did Red Rum beat to win his first Grand National - in 1973 - despite being thirty lengths behind with just a few fences to go?
7 What name, in honour of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, was originally used by Europeans to describe what we now call Tasmania?
8 Which company manufactured the Vulcan bomber, operated by the RAF from 1956 to 1984?
9 What is, at 343m, the tallest bridge in the world?
10 Which constituency did James Callaghan occupy during his time as British prime minister, as well as for thirty years outside of that position?
11 Capital of its namesake canton, what is the largest city in Switzerland?
12 Who directed the 2010 film, The Social Network?
13 What name was given to the rural guerrilla fighters during the French Resistance of World War Two? They took their name from a type of shrubbery.
14 Which German philosopher - the founding father of the Vienna Circle - was assassinated on the steps of the University of Vienna by a former student in 1936?
15 Saladin, Nizami, Mohamed Pasha Jaff, and Ahmet Kaya were all people of which ethnic group?
16 Which British monarch awarded Malta the George Cross?
17 Which convicted US murderer dubbed himself "Son of Sam" in a note to the New York Police Department, a nickname with which he has been associated since?
18 Who was the only Chancellor of the Exchequer not to deliver a Budget?
19 What was the fourth of Buddha's Four Noble Truths, prescribing the way to enlightenment?
20 Give a year in the life of Nicolaus Copernicus.




Answers:
1 Staffordshire
2 Canada
3 Humphrey Bogart
4 Carnegie Hall
5 Yukon
6 Crisp
7 Van Diemen's Land
8 Avro
9 Millau Viaduct
10 Cardiff South East
11 Zurich
12 David Fincher
13 Maquis
14 Moritz Schlick
15 Kurds
16 George VI
17 David Berkowitz
18 Iain MacLeod
19 Eightfold Path
20 1473-1543

QM Quiz #12

1 Which US city is home to a basketball team known as the Nuggets and a football team known as the Broncos?

2 On which island is the Timanfaya National Park?
3 The Battle of Dettingen was the last time a British monarch personally led troops into battle. Who was the British monarch?
4 Which Carson McCullers novel was adapted into a 1968 film starring Alan Arkin and Sondra Locke, for which both earned Academy Award nominations?
5 Which leader of Uganda before and after the dictatorship of Idi Amin fled to Zambia after being deposed in 1985, before dying in South Africa twenty years later?
6 Which Italian region forms the "heel" on the "boot" of Italy?
7 What was the world's tallest building from its completion in 2004 to the opening of the Burj Khalifa in 2010?
8 Who gave the longest Academy Award acceptance speech in history when accepting a Best Actress award for Mrs. Miniver?
9 "There are known knowns" is a line from a now-infamous speech by which US political figure?
10 Which detective was mystery writer Rex Stout's most famous creation?
11 A match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships was the longest tennis match in professional history. After over eleven hours of play, the American John Isner defeated which French player?
12 Located on the state's longest river, what is the capital of Michigan?
13 Supposedly the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, the ancient trading port of Byblos is in which modern-day country?
14 Who has been the president of Germany since March 2012?
15 The US company Shure predominantly manufactures what?
16 The 1996 documentary film, Looking for Richard, was the directorial debut of which major Hollywood actor?
17 In Pakistan, 9th November is a national day dedicated to which major philosopher and poet of the country, whose efforts to establish a separate Muslim state contributed to the formation of the country?
18 On which river does Barnsley stand?
19 Weston Loomis were the middle names of which US poet, best known for The Cantos?
20 Named after a Swedish physicist, what is the SI unit of dose equivalent?




Answers:
1 Denver
2 Lanzarote
3 George II
4 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
5 Milton Obote
6 Apulia
7 Taipei 101
8 Greer Garson
9 Donald Rumsfeld
10 Nero Wolfe
11 Nicolas Mahut
12 Lansing
13 Lebanon
14 Joachim Gauck
15 Microphones
16 Al Pacino
17 Muhammad Iqbal
18 River Dearne
19 Ezra Pound
20 Sievert

QM Quiz #11

1 Which Greek island is home to the Ionian University?
2 The Gokstad ship, a Viking ship found in a burial mound, is on display in which capital city?
3 Who was the first presenter of the British television talent show, New Faces?
4 An image of it appears on the country's flag, the resplendent quetzal is the national bird of which nation?
5 In 2012, LonelyPlanet.com listed which north-eastern Italian city as the world's most underrated travel destination?
6 He died in 1453; who was the last reigning Byzantine emperor?
7 In which country is the most northerly point of South America?
8 Which former US Secretary of State gives his name to the airport of Washington, D.C.?
9 Who is the youngest male to win a Best Actor Oscar?
10 Who did John Howard replace as Prime Minister of Australia in 1996?
11 Who did Yigal Amir assassinate in 1995?
12 Intended to provide a human-like interface to the internet, which company created the intelligent personal assistant known as Mya?
13 A ferry sunk this week in which major, dissecting river of Bangladesh?
14 By what infamous name is Japan's Aokigahara forest known? It lies at the north-western base of Mount Fuji.
15 Which musical instrument connects a song by Perry Como, the nickname of a Vivaldi concerto, and a novel by Louis de Bernieres?
16 Which Argentine composer scored the films Brokeback Mountain and Babel?
17 Which Cistercian monastery stands in the gardens of Studley Royal Park in Yorkshire?
18 What is the largest island of the Philippines?
19 Which eldest daughter of Henry VII of England was also the mother of James V?
20 Which vicious creature of Greek mythology - killed by Heracles - lived at Nemea?




Answers:
1 Corfu
2 Oslo
3 Derek Hobson
4 Guatemala
5 Trieste
6 Constantine XI Palaiologos
7 Colombia
8 John Foster Dulles
9 Adrien Brody
10 Paul Keating
11 Yitzhak Rabin
12 Motorola
13 Padma River
14 Suicide forest
15 Mandolin
16 Gustavo Santaolalla
17 Fountains Abbey
18 Luzon
19 Margaret Tudor
20 Lion

QM Quiz #10

1 Which northern French city gives its name to an 1802 treaty that temporarily ended hostilities between the French First Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars?
2 The Soviet Venera 3 probe is believed to have crash-landed on which planet in 1966?
3 Who is the current leader of the Green Party of England and Wales?
4 Ludwig Guttmann - a German-born neurologist - established what in England?
5 In which US state was the ice cream company, Ben & Jerry's, founded in 1978?
6 The metical, subdivided into 100 centavos, is the currency of which African nation?
7 Owing to the area's reputation as a china and earthenware centre, what name is often applied to the area of Staffordshire comprising the towns Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton?
8 Nicknamed "the Shark of Messina", which Italian won the 2014 Tour de France?
9 Named after the Austrian paediatrician, the Schick test is a measure of someone's susceptibility to which disease?
10 The fifth-largest lake in Europe, Lake Peipus, is bordered by Russia and which other country?
11 Which Australian is the only swimmer to take the same individual title at three consecutive Olympic Games, winning the 100m freestyle in 1956, 1960, and 1964?
12 Who directed the 1967 film, Bonnie and Clyde?
13 What number was Roger Bannister wearing on his shirt when he ran the first four-minute mile in 1954?
14 Eleanor of Aquitaine was the spouse of which English monarch?
15 Which Belgian professional football club won the 1987-88 European Cup Winners' Cup, in a shock victory against AFC Ajax?
16 Kinnie is a soft drink from which European country?
17 What is the southernmost state of New England?
18 Who was US Secretary of Defence from 1961-1968, the longest-serving ever in the role?
19 Who played the title role in the 1950 film, All About Eve?
20 Which chemical element has the symbol Sb?




Answers:
1 Amiens
2 Venus
3 Natalie Bennett
4 Paralympic Games
5 Vermont
6 Mozambique
7 The Potteries
8 Vincenzo Nibali
9 Diphtheria
10 Estonia
11 Dawn Fraser
12 Arthur Penn
13 41
14 Henry II
15 KV Mechelen
16 Malta
17 Connecticut
18 Robert McNamara
19 Anne Baxter
20 Antimony

QM Quiz #9

1 Protozoa of the genus Plasmodium cause which disease?
2 Which highest point of Indonesia is also the highest mountain to be found on an island?
3 In which city was Anne Frank born in 1929?
4 Which retired US professional wrestler, comedian, and actor is often referred to as "The Hardcore Legend" and was a special guest referee in the closing match of WrestleMania 2000?
5 Air Algerie Flight 5017 crashed this week in which African country?
6 Traditionally more affluent than other South American countries, which nation has been known by the sobriquet "the Switzerland of South America"?
7 By what nickname was Joan of Arc most commonly known?
8 Who directed The Bridge on the River Kwai?
9 High Land, Hard Rain was the debut album of which Scottish new wave band?
10 From her second studio album, 21, "Set Fire to the Rain" is a song by which singer-songwriter?
11 The Ustase was a fascist terrorist organisation active in which modern-day country from 1929 to 1945?
12 In what year was Channel 4 first broadcast in the UK?
13 What is the largest island of Fiji, comprising much of the population?
14 Which Middle Eastern country has a name that means "two seas"?
15 A complex of five internationally significant sites, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Museum Island can be found in which European capital?
16 Who rose to fame with his revolutionary 1957 book, Syntactic Structures?
17 Found on the Neretva River, Mostar is the fourth-largest city in which country?
18 What is the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name?
19 Which US vice president served under Richard Nixon from 1969-1973?
20 In which decade did the deadliest hurricane in history occur, striking the Caribbean and killing thousands?




Answers:
1 Malaria
2 Puncak Jaya
3 Frankfurt
4 Mick Foley
5 Mali
6 Uruguay
7 Maid of Orleans
8 David Lean
9 Aztec Camera
10 Adele
11 Croatia
12 1982
13 Viti Levu
14 Bahrain
15 Berlin
16 Noam Chomsky
17 Bosnia & Herzegovina
18 KLM
19 Spiro Agnew
20 1780s

QM Quiz #8

1 In which city is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, headquarters of the FBI?
2 The chief town of the island, what was the capital of Corsica until 1811?
3 The fifth-largest constellation is named for a hero of Greek myth - with the Roman version of the name being used. Which hero?
4 Which Nigerian writer's first novel, Things Fall Apart, is the most widely read book in African literature?
5 Two people have won the FIFA World Cup as both player and coach. One is Franz Beckenbauer; which Brazilian is the other?
6 Pyelonephritis is an inflammation of which bodily organ?
7 Which Surrey-born economist (1766-1834) argued in his 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population that efforts should be made to reduce the population?
8 What is the name of the family of space vehicles being developed in Russia? They are intended to become the mainstay of the Russian space fleet in the future, and the first flight took place successfully yesterday.
9 Also known as Operation Jubilee, a disastrous August 1942 Allied attack on which German-occupied port of northern France influenced the Normandy landings?
10 Which country was known until 1972 as Ceylon?
11 Which Italian-built deep-diving bathyscaphe reached the deepest point of all the oceans - Challenger Deep - in August 1953? It was the first manned vessel to have reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep.
12 Which British band took their name from the headline of Guy Peellaert's painting featuring Frank Sinatra?
13 Known in the West as Madame Mao, who was the final wife of Mao Zedong?
14 Which of the halogens has a name deriving from the Greek for "strong-smelling"?
15 Who was the first male tennis player to win all four Grand Slams on three different surfaces?
16 The Columbus Channel - or Serpent's Mouth - separates the south-westernmost point of Trinidad and Tobago from which South American country, eleven kilometres away?
17 Bassanio, Portia, and Shylock are characters in which Shakespeare play?
18 What is the common name of birds of the order Strigiformes?
19 Located in Indonesia, what is the highest mountain in the world to be located on an island?
20 Created in 1972, the Templeton Prize is awarded for progress in which field?




Answers:
1 Washington, D.C.
2 Bastia
3 Hercules
4 Chinua Achebe
5 Mario Zagallo
6 Kidney
7 Thomas Malthus
8 Angara
9 Dieppe
10 Sri Lanka
11 Trieste
12 Frankie Goes to Hollywood
13 Jiang Qing
14 Bromine
15 Andre Agassi
16 Venezuela
17 The Merchant of Venice
18 Owls
19 Puncak Jaya
20 Religion

QM Quiz #7

1 The D. H. Lawrence Ranch - now on the National Register of Historic Places - was the home of the English novelist for around two years during the 1920s. In which US state can it be found?

2 What does the Brinell scale test?

3 The film Apocalypse Now was based on which Joseph Conrad novella, describing ivory transporter Charles Marlow's journey down Africa's Congo River?

4 Which Dutch physician is believed to have been the first to discover the essential food factors that are now known as vitamins? He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1929.

5 Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes that itself has a population of around 30,000. In which large body of water - named after the country in which it lies - can it be found?

6 What is the central square of Moscow?

7 Which Connecticut-born film actor, known for his laconic manner, was a leading man particularly associated with the film noir genre, and gained fame for roles in films such as The Night of the Hunter (1955), and The Sundowners (1960)?

8 Which UK cabinet figure is the current MP for Tatton?

9 How are fish of the Clupea genus more commonly known?

10 What is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?

11 Who still holds the football scoring record of sixty league goals in one season? He signed for Everton in 1925.

12 Who is the only person to have served as President and Chief Justice of the United States?

13 Which Kenyan runner is the current Olympic and world record holder in the 800m, as well as being the first person to run under 1:41 for the event?

14 Doing so in 1923, what was the last country in Europe to adopt the Gregorian calendar?

15 What was the middle name of Michael Jackson?

16 Which racing driver (1955- ) was nicknamed "the Professor"?

17 What term was introduced by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890) to describe the continuous, random activity of the mind?

18 What was the nationality of the man after whom the volt was named?

19 Who directed the 2011 film, A Separation?

20 The popular song "Mack the Knife" was originally used in The Threepenny Opera. Bertolt Brecht composed the lyrics for it; who composed the music?

Answers:

1 New Mexico

2 Hardness of materials

3 Heart of Darkness

4 Christiaan Eijkman

5 Lake Nicaragua

6 Red Square

7 Robert Mitchum

8 George Osborne

9 Herring

10 Corsica

11 William "Dixie" Dean

12 William Howard Taft

13 David Rudisha

14 Greece

15 Joseph

16 Alain Prost

17 Stream of consciousness

18 Italian

19 Asghar Farhadi

20 Kurt Weill

QM Quiz #6

1 Who - name and regnal number - recently ascended to the Spanish throne, replacing his father, Juan Carlos I?

2 Escondida - the world's largest copper-producing mine - can be found in which country?

3 The iron sulfide, pyrite, is commonly known by which two-word name, also the title of a song by The Stone Roses?

4 Which leading figure of modern Chinese literature wrote A Madman's Diary, regarded as one of the best books of all time?

5 Viewed as Greece's best-known living composer, who scored the films Zorba the Greek (1964), Z (1969), and Serpico (1973)?

6 Attracting international attention in the 1980s after a deadly industrial disaster, Bhopal is the capital of which Indian state?

7 Which Italian city is this? The seventh-largest city in the country, it is home to the world's oldest university, and was declared European Capital of Culture in 2000. It is served by Guglielmo Marconi Airport, perhaps its most famous son. 

8 Situated in the valley of the Hari River, what is Afghanistan's third-largest city, with a population of over 430,000?

9 How many US states have their name displayed on the state flag?

10 Which Jonathan Larson rock musical, based on Puccini's opera La bohème, tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive in New York City's Lower East Side?
11 In governmental parlance, ochlocracy is rule by whom?
12 Which 1988 film stars Eric Bogosian as Barry Champlain, a caustic Jewish radio personality who becomes the subject of a hate campaign? It was based on the story of Alan Berg, a radio host assassinated by members of a white nationalist group?
13 Which Argentine centre-back, at one point football's highest-scoring defender, was captain of his nation as they lifted the 1978 FIFA World Cup?
14 Which French physicist made major contributions to quantum theory, and won the 1929 Nobel Prize for Physics for "his discovery of the wave nature of electrons"?
15 His second major title, which golfer recently won the sport's 2014 US Open?
16 The Bay of Plenty, named by James Cook after the plentiful food supplies he found there, is a large indentation in which country's northern coastline?
17 The New York Times remarked in 1931 that "Miss Earhart did not promise to "obey" her husband". Which US publisher and promoter (1887-1950) is being referred to in this quotation?
18 Yama is the god of death in which religion?
19 "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan" is mentioned in the opening line of which 1922 novel?
20 Which world music record label was launched by former Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne, and has been responsible for unearthing and popularising several unknown talents?





Answers:
1 Felipe VI
2 Chile
3 "Fool's gold"
4 Lu Xun
5 Mikis Theodorakis
6 Madhya Pradesh
7 Bologna
8 Herat
9 26
10 Rent
11 The mob
12 Talk Radio
13 Daniel Passarella
14 Louis de Broglie
15 Martin Kaymer
16 New Zealand
17 George P. Putnam
18 Hinduism
19 Ulysses
20 Luaka Bop

QM Quiz #5

1 O Globo is a newspaper of which major city in the southern hemisphere?
2 Which decade saw the premiere of Mozart's opera Così fan tutte, the abolition of slavery in France, and the death of George Washington, first president of the USA?

3 Pulse was a 1995 live double album by which English band?
4 What was the last Summer Olympics - year or city - at which golf featured?
5 Which Swede received the 1903 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for "his electrolytic theory of dissociation"? An equation, an acid definition, a lunar crater, and a laboratory at Stockholm University are all named after him.
6 Which Hungarian-born American business magnate is known as "the man who broke the Bank of England" because of his short sale of $10bn worth of GBP, giving him a profit of $1bn during the 1992 Black Wednesday currency crisis?
7 Which American professional baseball team are based at Miller Park?
8 What is the capital of Lithuania?
9 Named after a Charles Dickens character, what is a gamp?
10 Also hosted by Paul Merton and Frank Skinner, who was the original presenter of the BBC TV series, Room 101?
11 Immortalised on canvas by Turner, which 98-gun ship was launched in 1798 and used at the Battle of Trafalgar?
12 What is the sum of the total angles in an octagon?
13 0121 is the STD calling code of which UK city?
14 What was the surname of the Dutch graphic artist who was known for his impossible constructions and explorations of infinity?
15 Taken from Act Three of Othello, what was Elgar's title for his set of five marches for symphony orchestra, the first of which was the basis for "Land of Hope and Glory"?

16 Which two letters distinguish between the name of one half of a successful US music duo, and the name of the bass guitarist for The Clash?
17 In which year did Steffi Graf win both the Wimbledon's singles and doubles title, completing the latter alongside Gabriela Sabatini?
18 Her symbol being the vulture, who was the principal goddess of Egyptian mythology?
19 In the UK, what is the minimum legal age for purchasing a pet?
20 Who founded the weekly journal, Harijan, in February 1933?

Answers:
1 Rio de Janeiro
2 1790s
3 Pink Floyd
4 1904 (St. Louis)
5 Svante Arrhenius
6 George Soros
7 Milwaukee Brewers

8 Vilnius
9 Umbrella
10 Nick Hancock
11 HMS Temeraire (1798)
12 1080º
13 Birmingham
14 Escher
15 Pomp and Circumstance
16 'on'
17 1988
18 Mut
19 12
20 Mahatma Gandhi

QM Quiz #4

1 Which five-word phrase was first used by promoter Horace Lee Logan on December 15, 1956 near Shreveport, Louisiana?

2 The first woman to serve in the role, who is the current president of Chile?

3 "Mending Wall" was a 1914 metaphorical poem by which American?
4 Discovered in 1789 by William Herschel, Mimas - the twentieth-largest moon in the Solar System - is a satellite of which planet?
5 Which 1968 film was based on the novel Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish, writing under the pseudonym Robert L. Pike?
6 Which social networking website was founded in January 2005 by Michael and Xochi Birch?
7 Who is the current UK Secretary of State for Defence?
8 Coexist - released in 2012 - is the second album by which English indie band?
9 Meaning "writings", what name is given to the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (instruction) and Nevi'im (prophets)?
10 How many current member states are there in the African Union?
11 The Storting is the parliament of which country?
12 What is the two-letter internet domain code for Niger?
13 World War II is generally said to have began on the first of which month in 1939, when Germany invaded Poland?
14 The American football team known as the Steelers is based in which city?
15 Which famous battle was fought on 7th October 1571 in the Gulf of Patras, a branch of the Ionian Sea?
16 Which supermarket was founded on the principle "pile it high, sell it cheap"?
17 Which chemical element has a name that comes from the Latin for "dark red"?
18 Serving from 1850-53, who was the last US president not to be affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties?
19 Give a year in the life of Henry IV of England.
20 Which Greek letter is used as a symbol for standard deviation?




Answers:
1 Elvis has left the building
2 Michelle Bachelet
3 Robert Frost
4 Saturn
5 Bullitt
6 Bebo
7 Philip Hammond
8 The xx
9 Ketuvim
10 54
11 Norway
12 .ne
13 September
14 Pittsburgh
15 Battle of Lepanto
16 Tesco
17 Rubidium
18 Millard Fillmore
19 1367-1413
20 Sigma

QM Quiz #3

1 Which patriotic society, organised in the USA in 1890, stipulates that members must be directly descended from soldiers or patriots of the Revolutionary period?

2 Which Italian painter, son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini, settled in Mantua in 1460, where his major works included nine tempera pictures representing the “Triumph of Caesar” (1482-92)?

3 1816 – the so-called “Year Without a Summer” - saw severe climate abnormalities resulting from the huge eruption of which Indonesian stratovolcano, active to this day, a year earlier?

4 Freaks, His 'n' Hers, and Separations are three albums by which English band, formed in Sheffield in 1978?

5 Which large, slender-winged seabird, with a wingspan up to 3m, gave Fleetwood Mac a 1968 UK number-one single?

6 Which actor links the following roles: Henry Gondorff, Fast Eddie Felson, and Sidney J. Mussburger?

7 The Bang Na Expressway, one of the longest bridges in the world, can be crossed in which Asian country?

8 Killed in 1967 during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission, who was the second American to fly in space and the first member of the NASA Astronaut Corps to fly in space twice?

9 First published in 1964, whose children's picture book, The Giving Tree, has been described as “one of the most divisive books in children's literature”, yet has become one of its author's most well-known books and has been translated in several languages?

10 Including the incumbent, how many UN Secretaries-General have been Asian?

11 The first Central African Games were held in which national capital in 1976?

12 Their story made into a 1970 film starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris, which group of Irish miners in 1870s Philadelphia became involved in industrial disputes, leading to the hangings and imprisonments of their major members?

13 Friedrich Ernst Dorn discovered which chemical element – atomic number 86 - in 1898?

14 Which Townsend Thoresen capsized off the port of Zeebrugge in March 1987 when the main car deck doors were inadvertently left open?

15 Codenamed Operation Iceberg, in what year was the Battle of Okinawa fought?

16 Which Roman emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor?

17 What was the first Grand Slam tennis tournament won by Ivan Lendl – year and event?

18 An arts event devoted mainly to classical music, who founded the Aldeburgh Festival in 1948?

19 Recorded in San Francisco in 1971, whose fifth studio album was entitled Tupelo Honey?

20 Taking the First Folio as the basis for the question, what is the shortest of Shakespeare's plays?





Answers:

1 Daughters of the American Revolution

2 Andrea Mantegna

3 Mount Tambora

4 Pulp

5 Albatross

6 Paul Newman

7 Thailand

8 Gus Grissom

9 Shel Silverstein

10 Two

11 Libreville

12 The Molly Maguires

13 Radon

14 Herald of Free Enterprise

15 1945

16 Claudius

17 1984 French Open

18 Benjamin Britten

19 Van Morrison

20 The Comedy of Errors

QM Quiz #2

The second of these general quizzes. If anyone has ideas for other quizzes they'd like to see (I have some myself as well), please let me know in the comment box.

1 Which 1985 Martin Scorsese film centres around Paul Hackett, a New York City word processor played by Griffin Dunne, who experiences a series of misadventures as he tries to make his way home from SoHo at night?

2 The order Siphonaptera refers to which insects?

3 Stockholm syndrome refers to the feelings of sympathy and affection from hostages to their captors. The inverse of this, in which captors feel sympathy for their hostages, takes its name from which other world capital?

4 Toncontín International Airport, ranked as one of the most dangerous in the world, serves which Central American capital?

5 Who is notable for being the last UK prime minister to hold office while being a member of the House of Lords?

6 Which decade links the First Anglo-Sikh War, the births of future US president William McKinley and writer Henry James, and the publication of The Communist Manifesto?

7 How many nations participated in 1930's inaugural FIFA World Cup?

8 The 1911 painting, L'Atelier Rouge, named as an influential work of modern art, was a creation of which French artist?

9 Who co-wrote, with David Bowie, the song China Girl?

10 In which country is Issyk Kul, the second-largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea, and the tenth-largest lake in the world by volume?

11 Which US vice-president from 1933 to 1941, known as “Cactus Jack” to his contemporaries, described the position as being “not worth a bucket of warm piss”?

12 Shortland Street, broadcasting since 1992, is which country's longest-running soap opera?

13 Known as the British Tin Pan Alley, which London street is associated with British popular music, and is the title of a 1970 Kinks song?

14 Coming from the Latin for “little moon”, what name is given to the crescent-shaped white area at the base of the fingernail?

15 What was the codeword for the anti-Nazi uprising and planned attempt on Hitler's life by Claus von Stauffenberg that also forms the name of a 2008 film on the same topic starring Tom Cruise?

16 According to 2014's Fortune Global 500 list, what is the world's largest public corporation?

17 Which colourful bird is the only extant member of the family Upupidae?

18 The Sandinista National Liberation Front is associated with – and headquartered in - which country?

19 Which Italian received the 1909 Nobel Prize for Physics, alongside the German Karl Ferdinand Braun, for “his contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy”?

20 In September 1973, Billie Jean King beat which male tennis player over three sets in the so-called Battle of the Sexes match, one of three held over a period of nineteen years?

Answers:

1 After Hours

2 Fleas

3 Lima

4 Tegucigalpa

5 Alec Douglas-Home

6 1840s

7 13

8 Henri Matisse

9 Iggy Pop

10 Kyrgyzstan

11 John Nance Garner

12 New Zealand

13 Denmark Street

14 Lunula

15 Valkyrie

16 Walmart

17 Hoopoe

18 Nicaragua

19 Guglielmo Marconi

20 Bobby Riggs

QM Quiz #1

This is the first of a series of twenty-question quizzes I'll be writing for the blog. The questions will be fairly general, and hopefully there'll be a range of difficulty levels for people to have a go at. The answers will be a few lines below the last question.

1 Involved in his country's struggle for independence from the Netherlands, Sukarno was the first president of which Asian republic, from 1945-1967?

2 At the 2012 Summer Olympics, which country won the most silver medals in the cycling events, with four?

3 Perhaps known to Simpsons fans, what was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' maiden name?

4 Starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, who directed the 1995 film Heat?

5 The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with Camden, New Jersey crosses which US river?

6 By what four-letter pseudonym was Hablot Knight Browne, an artist famous for his Dickens illustrations, better known?

7 Which fruit-bearing evergreen shrub from Asia, closely resembling citrus, is part of the family Rutaceae?

8 Subdivided into 100 bani, what is the currency of Romania?

9 Deriving from the Sanskrit for “having three forms”, how is the representation in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva known?

10 With which English county would you associate the author Jane Austen?

11 Which Chilean received the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature?

12 Which Puccini opera was unfinished at the time of his death, and later completed by Franco Alfano?

13 Angélique Kidjo is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, and has been named as “Africa's premier diva” by Time magazine. From which country does she hail?

14 Having replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the role for allegations against the former of sexual assault, Christine Lagarde is the current managing director of which organisation?

15 Who is, to date, the only US president from Pennsylvania, and the only one to have gone his whole life unmarried?

16 Joining for a fee of £2.5m, from which French club did Newcastle United sign David Ginola in 1995?

17 Known for the novels The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839), what was the one-word pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle?

18 Labour leader Ed Miliband is the current MP for which Yorkshire constituency?

19 Leading Germany from the ruins of World War Two into a prosperous nation, which statesman was German chancellor from 1949-1963?

20 Who is the subject of Clint Eastwood's 1988 film Bird?




Answers:
1 Indonesia
2 Germany 
3 Bouvier
4 Michael Mann
5 Delaware River
6 Phiz
7 Kumquat
8 Leu
9 Trimurti
10 Hampshire
11 Pablo Neruda
12 Turandot
13 Benin
14 International Monetary Fund
15 James Buchanan
16 Paris Saint-Germain
17 Stendhal
18 Doncaster North
19 Konrad Adenauer
20 Charlie Parker