QM Quiz #21

I have set most of the questions in this quiz from the latest Pears Cyclopaedia - mixture of stuff, as per usual.

1 Which Belgian poet and essayist (1862-1949) - recipient of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Literature - wrote plays including Princess Maleine, Pelleas and Melisande, and The Blue Bird?
2 First excavated in 1965, the archaeological site of Lepenski Vir - said to date to around 8000 BC - lies on the banks of which major European river?
3 Widely identified as the politician who has served in the greatest number of different political offices, Norodom Sihanouk was, from 1953 to 1970, the effective ruler of which Asian country?
4 Given to women during or after the menopause, for what do the letters HRT stand?
5 Opened in Las Vegas in March 2014, the High Roller is the world's tallest what?
6 The first was launched in October 1957; the second was launched in November 1957; the third was launched in May 1958. What name links these three events?
7 Although harshly received by critics, it was a box-office success. Which 1970 David Lean film was a very loose adaptation of Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and featured Robert Mitchum and Trevor Howard in major roles?
8 Which novel chronicles the encounters and appointments of Leopold Bloom in Dublin over the course of the day 16 June 1904?
9 "It was said of Augustus that he found Rome brick and left it marble: the same is true of ___ and spin bowling." Complete this quote from the Australian sports journalist Gideon Haigh, which refers to a cricketer whose record of 708 wickets in his Test career was only surpassed by Muttiah Muralitharan in 2007?
10 Which French Romantic painter's The Raft of the Medusa depicts a moment in the aftermath of the wrecking of the namesake naval frigate, which ran aground off the coast of western Africa in 1816?
11 Which US pop-rock band, whose first album - Days Are Gone - spawned six singles, is comprised of sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana, as well as drummer Dash Hutton?
12 The Lincoln Borglum Museum serves as a visitor centre to which US tourist attraction?
13 69 people have died this week after drinking beer which was originally said to have been contaminated with crocodile bile, although it has been said that a toxic plant was the most likely cause for the deaths. In which African nation did this take place?
14 Other than Hindi and Bengali, which is the only language to be spoken in more than one Indian state?
15 A spin-off from The Muppets, what was the title of Jim Henson's live-action TV series which featured creatures such as the Doozers and the Gorgs?
16 Which German doctor and anthropologist is known as the "father of modern pathology", being the first to coin terms such as leukaemia, thrombosis, and embolism?
17 Perhaps most famous for his role as Tom Haverford in the NBC show Parks and Recreation, which US comedian released his debut album - Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening - in 2010?
18 Which chemical element is also known as wolfram, reflected in its chemical symbol?
19 The Dutchman Cornelis Drebbel was the builder of the first what in 1620?
20 Alberta, Saskatchewan, and which other province whose capital is at Winnipeg comprise the Canadian Prairies?




Answers:
1 Maurice Maeterlinck
2 Danube
3 Cambodia
4 Hormone replacement therapy
5 Ferris wheel
6 Sputnik
7 Ryan's Daughter
8 Ulysses
9 Shane Warne
10 Theodore Gericault
11 Haim
12 Mount Rushmore
13 Mozambique
14 Telugu
15 Fraggle Rock
16 Rudolf Virchow
17 Aziz Ansari
18 Tungsten
19 Submarine
20 Manitoba

QM Quiz #20

As part of my resolution to write more on this blog, here's another QM Quiz - twenty questions for you to ponder, have a go at, download, etc.:

1 The title of a James Ellroy novel, what nickname was given to Elizabeth Short, who was found mutilated in a Los Angeles park in 1947?

2 Declared a World Heritage Site in 1979, the ruins of the ancient city of Persepolis lie in the south-west of which country?

3 His 1970 acid western, El Topo, has become a cult film; which Chilean film-maker also directed The Holy Mountain (1973) and Santa Sangre (1989)?

4 Betty Willis designed which item that can be seen at 5100 Las Vegas Boulevard South?

5 In Morse code, a single dot represents which letter?

6 In the care of the National Trust since 1940, which Norfolk stately home was the birthplace of Anne Boleyn?

7 Who was the first emperor of the Roman Empire's so-called Year of the Four Emperors?

8 Which constellation takes its name from the Latin for "twins"?

9 Piazza del Campo is the main public space of which Italian city?

10 A leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, and the founder of an almost-namesake agrarian movement, which man - to this day an iconic figure in Mexico - was assassinated in 1919, aged 39?

11 Now resting on her port side in approximately 42 m of water, which Swedish ferry capsized in 1980 close to Larnaca on her maiden voyage, and has been named as being among the top wreck-diving sites in the world?

12 Abandoned when the country surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what was the codename of the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan close to the end of World War II?

13 Which of the Wu-Tang Clan's founding members died in November 2004 of a drug overdose, two days before his 36th birthday?

14 Who is the current president of Indonesia?

15 Including English, how many languages are spoken in the lyrics of the Ian Dury and the Blockheads song, "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick"?
16 What surname links the Indian director of the so-called "Apu Trilogy" and the American director of Rebel Without a Cause?
17 Which US Army general commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968-72, in a time which saw US troop deployment numbers fall from around 540,000 to 50,000?
18 Angelo is the main antagonist of which of Shakespeare's comedies, although the play's mood isn't typical of a comedy?
19 Who was the primary user of the steam-powered rocket known as Skycycle X-2?
20 Which skyscraper was the tallest in the world from 2004 until 2010, when it was overtaken by the Burj Khalifa?




Answers:
1 The Black Dahlia
2 Iran
3 Alejandro Jodorowsky
4 Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
5 E
6 Blickling Hall
7 Galba
8 Gemini
9 Siena
10 Emiliano Zapata
11 MS Zenobia
12 Operation Downfall
13 Ol' Dirty Buzzard
14 Joko Widodo
15 Three
16 Ray
17 Creighton Abrams
18 Measure for Measure
19 Evel Knievel
20 Taipei 101