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
Stockport GP
I attended the Quizzing Grand Prix in Stockport on Saturday, my third IQA event. Given that I'd attend two events prior to this, I knew what to expect in terms of the day and the standard of the questions, though I found those on Saturday to be a tad harder than those I've done before. Despite that, I managed to increase my score slightly from Stafford in May.
The venue itself was very good, right outside/inside Stockport FC's ground, Edgeley Park, and the turnout was the biggest ever seen at a domestic GP as far as I know. Certainly the biggest I've ever seen at a quiz. Perhaps some of that number was due to the Fifteen to One auditions taking place in the afternoon, which I took part in. I might not get on the show, but thought I might as well try if I was there to begin with. I was eliminated fairly early in the mini-game thing we did thanks to not knowing who played Scarlett O'Hara's father in the film Gone with the Wind - apparently it was Thomas Mitchell (I'm still none the wiser).
The individual quiz itself marked a slight improvement for me, though I thought it was harder than the WQC and the Stafford GP in May, particularly the Art & Culture and Physical World sections. I would think that, being as young as I am, some of the more obscure events of the past, such as current affairs from past decades and the like, are harder to brush up on than stuff like English monarchs and famous battles.
Overall, though, it was a great day, featuring a decent mix of quizzes, and it was good to meet some new people in the team quiz. I'd recommend the Grand Prix events to anyone - they may not be cheap, particularly when you've factored in travel, but they're certainly well-organised days with quizzes that are almost always excellent (there are a few exceptions in terms of individual questions, but on the whole they're not bad).
The individual quiz itself marked a slight improvement for me, though I thought it was harder than the WQC and the Stafford GP in May, particularly the Art & Culture and Physical World sections. I would think that, being as young as I am, some of the more obscure events of the past, such as current affairs from past decades and the like, are harder to brush up on than stuff like English monarchs and famous battles.
Overall, though, it was a great day, featuring a decent mix of quizzes, and it was good to meet some new people in the team quiz. I'd recommend the Grand Prix events to anyone - they may not be cheap, particularly when you've factored in travel, but they're certainly well-organised days with quizzes that are almost always excellent (there are a few exceptions in terms of individual questions, but on the whole they're not bad).
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
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
Why quizzing?
I often wonder how and why I got into quizzing; it certainly seems to predominantly be a pastime for the middle-aged - going by attendances at pub quizzes and quiz leagues up and down the country, anyway. I don't particularly mind that - I enjoy the competition, the learning, the fact-hoarding, the reading, the travelling. It all adds up to something that never seems to get old for me - well, it hasn't yet, and I'm one of those people who tends to go through obsessive phases of things, in that I'll watch a certain TV show and read as much about it as I can, or a particular film series, or a book, or something else. Anyway, here's how it all started, for anyone who's interested...
Around a year or two ago, I was watching TV one day, bored, when I stumbled across a new quiz show - The Chase. New to me, anyway, though I think it must have been in its second or third, perhaps fourth, series. It was different to anything I'd watched in terms of quiz TV - fast-paced, exciting, loads of questions, but the thing that interested me most was the chaser in the chair. I was mesmerised by their question-answering prowess, reeling out answer after answer in the final chase. I wondered who these people were. How do they become so knowledgeable, I thought to myself? Truth be told, I didn't know, but I sure was going to find out. And from there it started and spiralled...
I've always had a fairly decent general knowledge for my age, I think - I remember having a pack of world capitals snap cards when I was younger, and I'd always had encyclopaedias and an interest in reading from a young age, but The Chase had awoken a desire to learn far more than I'd ever done before. I started reading about the chasers themselves, saw that one of them was described as a Grand Master, and decided to look it up. It was from there that I found the Quizzing UK website, and thus the Grand Prix circuit that I've recently started playing on. I'd never known that something like that existed, and the names that I saw read like a who's who of quizzing - Kevin Ashman, Pat Gibson, Anne Hegerty, Mark Labbett, among others.
That's when I decided to improve - there wasn't much of a pattern to it, as I recall. Generally I read a lot online, answered questions, picked up as many facts as I could, and tried to cement the chestnuts. It was then that I discovered just how much there is to learn, and just how good the top players are. The standards at the top really are incredible. Fast forward a year or so, and I was in need of more. That was when, as a random search, I googled "Lancaster quiz league", not expecting to find anything. I was surprised. I discovered the Lancaster City Quiz League in November 2013, read the questions, looked at the teams and the stats and had a desire to join. I only plucked up the courage to join in January, when I sent off an email to the league's secretary, who put me straight into The Pub's (yes, that is the very original name of the pub) team. I played a few matches and found I really enjoyed the competition - light-hearted socially, but fierce once the questions were being asked. Had I not sent that email, this blog would probably never have been started, and I probably would have confined quizzing to the back of my mind like everything else.
From there, I started attending the Quizzing GPs, and taking part in more quiz events. On Saturday, I'll be attending the Stockport Grand Prix, my third Quizzing UK event so far, a culmination of all the knowledge I've accumulated so far. As quizzers know, there's always more to learn...
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
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
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