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 #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

100Quiz #2

It seems like a while since I did the first one of these, but it's actually only been just over a month. I'd like to get a lot more entries for this - I reckon I'll succeed (I hope - please enter!). I've also tried to make the questions a tad more accessible while still putting in a few more challenging ones to suit everybody. As always, I welcome feedback about the quiz questions I write, whether they're any good, etc.

How to enter
Simply answer the 100 questions below - without outside help - and send your answers by email to quizmusings@gmx.com - please also clearly give your full name (if you don't mind) so I can add you to the standings. I'll reply letting you know I've got your email.

Deadline: Saturday, 25th October

Good luck!

The questions:

1 The Dancing House, nicknamed “Fred and Ginger” owing to its resemblance to a pair of dancers, can be found in which European capital city?

2 Calixa Lavallee composed the music for which large country's national anthem in 1880?

3 Ralph Vaughan Williams's musical work, The Lark Ascending, took its name from a poet by which Victorian?

4 Built 1268-1290, what is the largest castle in Wales and the second-largest in Britain?

5 Serving from 1961 until its closure in 1963, who was the fourth and final warden of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary?

6 The 1997 film, Contact, was based on a book of the same name by which US astronomer?

7 Beating MaliVai Washington in the 1996 final, who was the last Dutchman to win the Wimbledon singles title?

8 The museum of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stands on the shore of which of North America's Great Lakes?

9 What name, after the Frenchman who pioneered it, was given to the first photographic process and certainly the first to see widespread use? Many of the famous images of Abraham Lincoln were taken via this method.

10 He succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August 2013; who is the current president of Iran?

11 The War Cry is the official news publication of which organisation?

12 In which Venezuelan national park – the sixth-biggest in the world – is the Angel Falls located?

13 Taking their name from the heads of state of both countries, the Torrijos-Carter Treaties were signed by the US and which other nation in 1977?

14 He has been called “the father of the Green Revolution”; which American biologist, humanitarian and Nobel laureate is credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation with his food-production methods?

15 Which MP for Rochester and Strood recently defected to UKIP, triggering a by-election?

16 In ancient Greek mythology, which sea-goddess was the wife of Poseidon?

17 Born with the forenames Jesus Christ, which infamous US punk-rock singer-songwriter became notorious for his live performances, which featured coprophagia, self-mutilation, and attacks against audience members? He has been called “the most spectacular degenerate in rock and roll history”.

18 Notable for his close association with D. W. Griffith, which pioneering cinematographer created early films such as The Painted Lady, Judith of Bethulia, and Drums of Love?

19 Which eminent Swiss portrait artist (1736-1813) painted several famous subjects including Friedrich Schiller, Frederick the Great, Heinrich von Kleist, and Moses Mendelssohn?

20 Which pope declared the First Crusade in 1095?

21 A member of the genus Cuniculus, what type of animal is the paca, native to South America?

22 What was first identified in 1895 by University of California geology professor Andrew Lawson?

23 What is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan?

24 Set in a fictional northern English town, Fludd was an early novel by which Booker Prize-winning author?

25 The San Fermin festival, held for a week every July, is celebrated in which Spanish city?

26 In computing, for what do the letters FTP stand?

27 Owing to their difference in stature, which famous couple were known as “the elephant and the dove”?

28 Barry Levinson's four feature films – Diner, Tin Men, Avalon, Liberty Heights – were all set in which US city, the director's hometown?

29 What two-word name denotes Amsterdam's largest red-light district?

30 After the UK and Ireland, which country has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest the most times?

31 Telling the story of a small group of cancer patients in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel, Cancer Ward, was written by whom?

32 This Allan Ramsay portrait shows which king of the United Kingdom?

 

33 Who was the French signatory of the 1936 Munich Agreement, an event perhaps now famous for the "peace for our time" comment that UK PM Neville Chamberlain made on his return?

34 The house where English writer and man of letters Samuel Johnson was born is maintained to this day as a museum. In which English cathedral city can it be visited?

35 His prodigious talent for war and reputation as a stern disciplinarian earned him the title "the Iron Marshal"; which Marshal of the Empire is ranked alongside Massena and Lannes as one of Napoleon's finest commanders?

36 Which UK retailer has announced the launching of a new Match & More loyalty card in an effort to win back customers?

37 PFC Ludogorets Razgrad are only the second team from which country to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League?

38 Venezuela's Juan Vicente Gomez, Colombia's Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, and Spain's Francisco Franco are all said to have inspired the dictator in which 1975 Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, which describes the disastrous effects of concentrating power in the hands of a single man?

39 In 1985, a virtually complete skeleton was found in deposits on the western side of which major lake of Ethiopia and Kenya?

40 Which style of Belgian beer, of which "Faro" is a sweetened variety, is produced by spontaneous fermentation in open vessels in brewery attics as a result of the yeast in the air?

41 What type of bird features on the flag of Louisiana?

42 Which word of Inuit origin refers to an exposed, rocky element of a glacial ridge that is not covered with ice or snow?

43 Which famous English chemist discovered and first isolated the element potassium in 1807?

44 Which US comedian and TV personality has hosted his own late-night ABC talk show since 2003?

45 The recently published novel, Personal, is the nineteenth to feature which fictional former military policeman, portrayed in a 2012 film by Tom Cruise?

46 Who achieved commercial success in the UK in the 1980s as lead singer with the band Talk Talk?

47 Which Italian paramilitary organisation was responsible for the kidnapping in 1978 of former prime minister of the country, Aldo Moro, who was subsequently killed after 55 days of captivity?

48 A Life of Reinvention is the subtitle of a 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of which prominent twentieth-century US figure?

49 The first Irishman to do so, who captained Europe at the recent 2014 Ryder Cup?

50 This is the flag of which sovereign island country?

51 Which upmarket holiday resort and spa town - visited over the years by Edward VII and George V of the United Kingdom, and Farouk of Egypt, among others - stands in the northern part of France's Haute-Savoie department, on the shores of Lake Geneva?

52 What word, literally meaning "heap", is used to describe a Buddhist burial mound?

53 The 1969 film, Z, centres around the assassination of a politician in which country?

54 What is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea?

55 Which art museum in Florence is the home of Michelangelo's David?

56 The organisers of which tennis Grand Slam introduced an extreme heat policy in 1998, after consultation with a number of players?

57 From the Greek for "under" and "chamber", which portion of the brain - roughly the size of an almond in humans - is responsible for regulating temperature and linking the nervous system to the endocrine system?

58 According to ancient sources, who was the first queen and founder of Carthage?

59 Which term, denoting a choice with only one option, supposedly comes from a Cambridge stable-owner who offered customers the option of taking the horse in the stall nearest the door or taking none at all?

60 Animals described as having a littoral habitat live where?

61 The actress Lauren Bacall was first married to actor Humphrey Bogart. From 1961-69, she was also married to another actor. Whom?

62 Dilute acetic acid is known by what name as a cooking ingredient?

63 What was the title of the play that Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth?

64 In Indian cuisine, what is raita?

65 The first man in space not from the USA or the Soviet Union was what nationality? Both the former and modern-day country name will suffice.

66 Thought to depict the son of a wealthy merchant, The Blue Boy is perhaps the most famous work by which English portraitist and landscape painter?

67 Which Belfast shipyard was responsible for the building of the RMS Titanic?

68 Who was the most famous child of Frances Shand Kydd?

69 In 1996, Frankie Dettori rode how many winners at British Champions' Day at Ascot?

70 Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seconds (1966), and Ronin (1998) were all among the films of which US director, who died in 2002?

71 Which three letters denote a method of quality control, a group of small islands of Antarctica, and the penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet?

72 What is the capital of Lithuania?

73 Which form of bacterial pneumonia was first identified at a 1976 convention in Philadelphia, and is said to be caused by airborne droplets from air-conditioning systems?

74 Istanbul, Varna, Sevastopol, Odessa, and Kerch are all major cities on the shoreline of which major sea of south-eastern Europe?

75 Stravinsky's Concerto in E-flat is often known by which name, the name of the estate of the couple who commissioned it?

76 Which major US city's annual marathon takes runners from the Dodger Stadium to a scenic finish close to the Santa Monica Pier?

77 "al-Magrib" is the Arabic name for which country?

78 Where have people gathered this week to protest about upcoming electoral changes announced by the ruling government?

79 Which Kenyan long-distance runner this week set a new world record of 2:02:57 at the Berlin Marathon?

80 Found in the grasslands of sub-Saharan Africa, what type of creature is the oribi?

81 Who wrote the 1880 short novel, Washington Square?

82 All three English kings with this name died violently. The first was struck fatally by an arrow; the second was deposed and possibly murdered at Pontefract Castle; the third was the last English king to die in battle. What forename is shared by all three?

83 Which Dutch physicist gives his name to the splitting effect of a spectral line into several components in the presence of a static magnetic field?

84 Located in the Macgillycuddy's Reeks range, what is the highest mountain in Ireland?

85 Who was prime minister of the United Kingdom during the War of 1812?

86 What three-word name was given to this photo, showing earth from a distance of 3.7 billion miles?

87 Tarkus (1971), Trilogy (1972), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973) were all albums by which rock supergroup?

88 The Ealing comedy, A Run for Your Money, the 2009 film, Invictus, and James Joyce's work, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, all feature to varying degrees which popular sport?

89 Now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK, CAMRA is an organisation campaigning for what?

90 What is the name of Banquo's son in the Shakespeare play, Macbeth?

91 With seven titles, which country's football team has been the most successful in the African Cup of Nations?

92 Name the year. The Finnish Civil War begins; a flu pandemic kills around 500 million people worldwide; Austrian painter Gustav Klimt dies.

93 Which eccentric US comedian portrayed Latka Gravas in the sitcom, Taxi?

94 Opened in 2011, the EdgeWalk is a feature of which skyscraper?

95 Stadion Miejski is the home of which Polish top-league football club?

96 Having the highest median household income, what is the wealthiest state in the USA?

97 Which country traces its history to the kingdom of Lan Xang?

98 Only one cell thick, what term denotes the smallest of the body's blood vessels?

99 Which MP for Leigh since 2001 is the Shadow Secretary of State for Health?

100 Ahimsa - non-violence - is a fundamental principle of which religion?

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

Questions and stuff

100 #1 update

Received some entries for the first 100 quiz - not as many as I was expecting, though. I'll extend the deadline for a few days to allow anyone who hasn't had a chance to enter yet to do so. Some very good scores so far. 

Click here if you're interested.

Reading
Been reading Simon Jenkins's excellent A Short History of England, which is a book I bought in an even more obsessive quiz phase (yes, I've become rather lax and lazy recently, not bothering to work as hard as I should). Suffice to say, I've learnt a fair few things so far - never knew that the family name Plantagenet comes from the broom plant (planta genista) which was supposedly a symbol of the House of Anjou. And there's a load of other stuff I'd not known or forgotten.

I'd recommend the book highly as an introduction to English history for anyone who's fairly poor on that sort of stuff (like me).

Lancaster City Quiz League
The new season starts in two weeks! Not sure where that time's gone; procrastinating has a lot to answer for. Not that I'll be a regular feature, what with starting university, but I'll be playing the first game for definite for The Pub - if they want me after some of my mediocre performances last season (!). Getting four (4) in the last game of last season was a particular low point. We're away at Slyne Lodge anyway, who I remember playing last year. It's perhaps my least favourite venue of all those used in the quiz league, a Deliverance-style trip into a remote Lancastrian backwater. OK, it's not that bad. Just not a fan of the venue compared to some of the others. No offence to anyone who lives there or plays there who may be reading this!

Questions
Here are some questions. All collected from browsing various websites. Mixture of topics.

1 Replacing Lord Patten in the role, which former head of the Financial Times Group is to become the first woman to chair the BBC Trust?
2 What was the name of the Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by the country's dictator Francois Duvalier?
3 The 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera occurred in which country?
4 Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), and Body Double (1984) were all 1980s thriller films directed by whom?
5 The Battle of Tinchebray resulted in a victory for which English monarch?
6 Tennyson's 1849 poem, In Memoriam A.H.H., is a requiem for which friend and fellow poet, who died suddenly in Vienna sixteen years earlier?
7 Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum, author Ernest Hemingway, and Lewis and Clark's native guide Sacagawea were all born in which US state (or territories that now lie within its borders)?
8 A station on which city's metro system has the longest escalator in Europe?
9 Which five words feature prominently (and are occasionally used as part of the title) in the 1954 doo-wop song, "Sh-Boom"?
10 Accounting for only 0.2% of the country's territory, what is the smallest state in Mexico?

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 #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 #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

Questions on US politics, Danish seaports, and swastikas... and other things

1 Which industrial city in north-eastern France was the birthplace of Victor Hugo in 1802?

2 Which Italian judge spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the Sicilian Mafia, and was subsequently killed by a car bomb they planted under his car in 1992?

3 Who served as US Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977?

4 Mycology is the identification, description, and classification of what?

5 Although Khartoum is the capital, what is the largest city in Sudan?

6 In attempting to revive the empire of his second cousin, Alexander the Great, which King of Epirus fought several battles against Rome, with some success, although his losses were so great that he has inspired a modern-day phrase?

7 Who was the last German man to win the Wimbledon singles title?

8 What is the largest object in the Kuiper belt?

9 What year links the birth of writer John Steinbeck, the founding of football club Real Madrid, and the coronation of Edward VII?

10 A pupil and close follower of Degas, which impressionist painter created works such as Lilacs in a Window and Portrait of Madame Sisley?

11 Often viewed as the organisation that contributed to World War I, what was the name of the secret military society of which Gavrilo Princip – assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand – was a member?

12 Which Danish seaport is the country's fifth-largest city, and is home to an iconic water tower?

13 John Dramani Mahama has been the president of which African republic since 2012, replacing the predecessor John Atta Mills?

14 From the Greek for “depth of the sea”, what name is given to the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water, including the sediment layers?

15 This man (1902-84) joined a company in 1954 and built it into a worldwide brand. He opened the 100^th US store in 1959, and by 2007 this number had reached 30,000 outlets in 122 countries. Which man?

16 Which Japanese actor was known for his sixteen-film collaboration with director Akira Kurosawa, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo?

17 As described in the last book of the Bible's New Testament, what colour horse represents war?

18 Oliver Stone's film, Any Given Sunday, depicts which sport?

19 The music duo, Wham!, comprised George Michael and who else?

20 Which Indian diplomat and politician – sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and aunt of Indira Gandhi – became the first woman president of the UN General Assembly?

21 One of the rarest mammals on earth, the silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus) is found on which island, where it is known as the simpona?

22 In which major city is the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine?

23 From the Greek for “yoked”, what is the name of the initial cell formed upon the fusion of two gamete cells during sexual reproduction?

24 This physicist founded the modern theory of magnetism based on quantum theory, and also devised theories of magnetic behaviour in crystals. His classic treatise, The Theory of Electric and Magnetic Susceptibilities (1932), earned him the title “the father of modern magnetism”. Which man shared the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physics?

25 After his emigration there, Australia became the setting for most of his later books, including A Town Like Alice (1949) and On the Beach (1957). Which writer is being described here?

26 OTE is the national telecommunications provider of which European country?

27 What three words were used to describe a photograph of Earth taken from the Voyager 1 space probe in 1990?

28 Hisarlik is the modern name for which ancient site?

29 Becoming notorious for corruption, nepotism, and embezzlement of billions of dollars, he has been called the “archetypal African dictator”. Who was president of Zaire from 1965-1997?

30 The Øresund Bridge connects Copenhagen in Denmark with which Swedish city?

31 The world's worst single-aircraft crash occurred on 12^th August, 1985. Which airline was involved?

32 The Elton John song “Amoreena” plays over the opening credits of which 1975 film?

33 Who took the iconic World War II photograph, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, atop Mount Suribachi in 1945?

34 Fergana, a strategic point on the ancient Silk Road in Uzbekistan, is famous for which creatures?

35 Which New York-born novelist and writer frequently wrote about Jewish-American life, and wrote novels such as The Natural (1952) and The Fixer (1966)?

36 Who is the oldest outfield player at the 2014 FIFA World Cup?

37 For her role in the 1996 film, The English Patient, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for that year?

38 Which name, meaning “ruler”, was given to several legendary Greek kings, but especially to the brother of Jocasta, who awarded the throne to Oedipus?

39 What is the capital and largest city of Arkansas?

40 What were discovered at Marmes Rockshelter in Washington state in 1965? The site is now a National Historic Landmark.

41 Which city was known as Lutetia in ancient times?

42 Which Australian wrote the Booker Prize-winning novel, Oscar and Lucinda?

43 The word “swastika” - the notorious Nazi symbol – comes from which language? In that language, it means a mystical cross used to denote good luck.

44 In which country is the Brokopondo Reservoir, one of the largest in the world?

45 Islam Karimov is the current president of which country?

46 Which US writer used the pen names Edgar Box, Katherine Everard, and Cameron Kay?

47 Which sport was invented in 1895 by William G Morgan at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts?

48 “Heavy water” is water made with which hydrogen isotope, in which the nucleus comprises a proton and a neutron rather than a proton alone?

49 What major geographical feature was named after a US aviator who crashed nearby in 1937?

50 A term known to quizzers: what is the popular name for Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF), after its two leaders? It was a German left-wing revolutionary group which carried out political bombings in the early 1970s.

Answers:

1 Besançon

2 Giovanni Falcone

3 Henry Kissinger

4 Fungi

5 Omdurman

6 Pyrrhus of Epirus

7 Michael Stich

8 Pluto

9 1902

10 Mary Cassatt

11 Black Hand Gang

12 Esbjerg

13 Ghana

14 Benthic zone

15 Ray Kroc

16 Toshiro Mifune

17 Red

18 American football

19 Andrew Ridgeley

20 Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

21 Madagascar

22 New York City

23 Zygote

24 John Hasbrouck Van Vleck

25 Nevil Shute

26 Greece

27 Pale Blue Dot

28 Troy

29 Mobutu Sese Seko

30 Malmo

31 Japan Airlines

32 Dog Day Afternoon

33 Joe Rosenthal

34 Horses

35 Bernard Malamud

36 Mario Yepes

37 Juliette Binoche

38 Creon

39 Little Rock

40 Oldest Native American human remains

41 Paris

42 Peter Carey

43 Sanskrit

44 Suriname

45 Uzbekistan

46 Gore Vidal

47 Volleyball

48 Deuterium

49 Angel Falls

50 Baader-Meinhof

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 #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