Seems my last post was over a week ago. Sorry for that. Not sure why I've not updated the blog with anything - indolence and being sidetracked with other things, probably.
Unfortunately I didn't attend this year's BQC. Kettering would have no doubt cost an arm and a leg, and Edinburgh was low on places. There's always next year to make my BQC debut... I'll probably be at the Birmingham GP - always more opportunities for hope and subsequent despair at missed answers and lack of knowledge.
Seeing as I've not updated it for a week, here is a set of fifty questions:
1 Which 1942 film was adapted from the play,
Everybody Comes to Rick's?
2 Its population is cited as being among the longest-lived in the world; what is the largest of Japan's Ryukyu Islands?
3 French chemist Anselme Payen discovered the first one, diastase, in 1883; what name is given to a biological catalyst?
4 What is the name of a badger's habitat?
5 Which town played host to a meeting between Chamberlain and Hitler in 1938 over the Sudetenland crisis?
6 Who served for around three years as the first president of Israel?
7 Despite their name, which country is actually the largest exporter of Brazil nuts?
8 The Czech Jan Zelezny holds the world record for which athletics event?
9 "Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)", "Winter", and "Star Star" are tracks off which 1973 Rolling Stones album?
10 The Carnation Revolution, which overthrew the Estado Novo regime, occurred in which European country in 1974?
11 It's mentioned in the Bible as a place where fallen angels descend to earth; what is the highest mountain in Syria?
12 Which architecture firm, one of the largest in the world, was responsible for designs for buildings such as Chicago's Willis Tower, the Burj Khalifa, and the new World Trade Center?
13 The Great Wave off Kanagawa and Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji were prints by which Japanese artist (1760-1849), generally known by just his surname?
14 A statue of which Roman emperor stands outside York Minster?
15 Which item of clothing was supposedly invented by Andre Courreges and popularised by Mary Quant?
16 Which English playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter wrote the play, A Man For All Seasons, and wrote the screenplay for the film, Doctor Zhivago?
17 The Armenian-British philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian amassed a large art collection with his wealth, much of which can now be seen in a museum in which European city?
18 Which cocktail, of which the Donald Sutherland is a variation, consists of nine parts Scotch whisky and five parts Drambuie?
19 Riga and which northern Swedish city are 2014's European Capitals of Culture?
20 Who was the first Plantagenet king of England?
21 A verdict was delivered in the high-profile trial of Oscar Pistorius this week. What two-word term denotes the offence Pistorius was found guilty of by judge Thokozile Masipa?
22 Set in February 2014, which Frenchman is the current world-record holder for the pole vault athletics event?
23 In 1985, a fire broke out during a match at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium, resulting in the tragic deaths of 56 supporters. Who were Bradford City's opponents that day?
24 What subject matter links the 1979 film, The China Syndrome, and the 1983 film, Silkwood?
25 Which of tennis's famous "Four Musketeers" was nicknamed the "bounding Basque"?
26 Born Romana Barrack, which TV writer created sitcoms including The Liver Birds and Butterflies?
27 In which year did Leslie Mitchell become the first voice heard on BBC TV?
28 The M1 motorway connects London to which major city of England's north?
29 What is the only US state to share a border with only one other state?
30 An image of him appears on the front of the country's $10 bill; who was the first US Secretary of the Treasury?
31 Its native name is Rakiura; what is New Zealand's largest island after the North and South islands?
32 Which traditional Middle Eastern form of headgear consists of a patterned design on a square scarf? It was perhaps made famous by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
33 Taking its title from the name of a popular electronic toy, what was the title of Depeche Mode's debut album, with tracks such as "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough"?
34 Mohamed Boudiaf was assassinated in 1992 while giving a televised speech. He was a political figure of which African country?
35 Ustinov, Trevelyan, and Grey are colleges of which British university?
36 In computing, a nibble consists of how many bits?
37 Which Japanese actor was best known for his 16-film collaboration with director Akira Kurosawa, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo?
38 Running from 21st March to 20th April each year, what is the first astrological sign of the zodiac?
39 Cleopatra's Needle stands closest to which London Underground station?
40 Who was the only crew member aboard Mercury-Redstone 3 in 1961?
41 From the Latin for "shallow dish", what name is given to the greenish discolouration on a statue caused by age and weathering? The Statue of Liberty is a prominent example.
42 The Novotel hotel brand is headquartered in which country?
43 With which Italian city would you associate Francesco Guardi?
44 Due to the location of the majority of his murders, serial killer Andrei Chikatilo was known as the "Butcher of ..." where?
45 Who was runner-up in the recent US Open women's singles tournament, losing 6-3 6-3 to Serena Williams in the final?
46 How does Anna Karenina die in Tolstoy's novel of the same name?
47 Preceded by the Prussian Secret Police, in what year was the Gestapo formed?
48 Dacia - also the name of Europe's fifth-biggest car manufacturer - was the Roman name for which modern-day country?
49 From the Latin for "to chew over again", what word refers to an animal able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in the stomach prior to digestion?
50 On which island of the Bahamas is the capital - Nassau - located?
Answers:
1 Casablanca
2 Okinawa
3 Enzyme
4 Sett
5 Bad Godesberg
6 Chaim Weizmann
7 Bolivia
8 Javelin
9 Goats Head Soup
10 Portugal
11 Mount Hermon
12 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
13 Hokusai
14 Constantine the Great
15 Miniskirt
16 Robert Bolt
17 Lisbon
18 Rusty Nail
19 Umea
20 Henry II
21 Culpable homicide
22 Renaud Lavillenie
23 Lincoln City
24 Nuclear power
25 Jean Borotra
26 Carla Lane
27 1936
28 Leeds
29 Maine
30 Alexander Hamilton
31 Stewart Island
32 Keffiyeh
33 Speak & Spell
34 Algeria
35 University of Durham
36 Four
37 Toshiro Mifune
38 Aries
39 Embankment
40 Alan Shepard
41 Patina
42 France
43 Venice
44 Rostov
45 Caroline Wozniacki
46 She throws herself under a train
47 1933
48 Romania
49 Ruminant
50 New Providence
