The QuizMuser returns...

Apparently my last post on here was 21st June, so I apologise for that. I've had a fairly busy and not completely productive summer but at least I'm back now to start posting again. My first UC episode with Liverpool aired on 20th July, and saw us win 205-130 in a reasonably close tie against St Peter's, Oxford.

Here are some questions I've been collecting and collating in the past couple of months for you all to have a go at, if indeed there is still anyone out there who reads this outdated jumble of words and phrases... Answers after the questions, as always.

1 Which basketball player who signed for the NBA's Washington Wizards in 2014 was married to Kim Kardashian from 2011 to 2013?

2 The Russian Alexey Pajitnov co-designed and developed which popular video game first released in 1984?

3 What was the name of Genghis Khan's third son who succeeded him as supreme leader of the Mongol Empire?

4 Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the final, finished as joint-top scorer in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup alongside which German striker of Cameroonian origin who retired after the tournament's conclusion?

5 Jurgen Klopp, new manager of Liverpool FC, spent his entire 12-year playing career with which German club?

6 Aldous Huxley's novel Eyeless in Gaza takes its title from a line in which work by John Milton?

7 The Azadi Tower, formerly known as the Shahyad Tower, is an easily recognisable symbol of which Middle Eastern capital city?

8 Which architect who designed the Eden Project in Cornwall shares his name with a current Radio 1 DJ?

9 What is the capital and largest city of the Cayman Islands?

10 What term in biology describes the long, slender nerve cell projection which typically carries electrical impulses away from the nerve body? 

11 Which cup-bearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus is the goddess of youth in Greek mythology?

12 The Baha'i faith has its headquarters on the slopes of which mountain range in the Israeli city of Haifa?

13 John Ridd is the hero of which English novel set in Exmoor, published in 1869?

14 Sometimes known by the name of the merchant who first described the species in 1704, which strepsirrhine primate is occasionally referred to as a "softly-softly" in English-speaking parts of Africa?

15 What name is given to the national military police force of Italy?

16 Which forest gives its name to the series of mass executions of Polish officers that took place in 1940?
17 What name is given to the parliament of Finland?
18 Which pungent, spiky fruit is known as the king of fruits in south-east Asia due to its popularity? Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace described its flesh as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds".
19 Known as the Tashkent Terror, which Uzbek cyclist known for his erratic and unpredictable sprinting is now perhaps best known for a memorable somersault crash during the 1991 Tour de France?
20 What colloquial Italian name is often given to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23?
21 To be found in the Wallace Collection, who painted A Dance to the Music of Time between 1634 and 1635?
22 Which 1957 Akira Kurosawa film transposes the plot of Shakespeare's Macbeth to feudal Japan?
23 What is the largest in area of New York City's five boroughs?
24 The quotation "nice guys finish last" is often credited to which outspoken baseball player and manager who was nicknamed Leo the Lip?
25 Once the world's highest-paid entertainer, what was the most commonly used name of the Swiss clown, dubbed the "king of clowns", who was born Charles Adrien Wettach?




Answers:
1 Kris Humphries
2 Tetris
3 Ogedei
4 Celia Sasic
5 1 FSV Mainz 05
6 Samson Agonistes
7 Tehran
8 Nicholas Grimshaw
9 George Town
10 Axon
11 Hebe
12 Mount Carmel
13 Lorna Doone
14 Potto
15 Carabinieri
16 Katyn
17 Eduskunta
18 Durian
19 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
20 "Appassionata"
21 Nicolas Poussin
22 Throne of Blood
23 Queens
24 Leo Durocher
25 Grock

Question-writing - and some new questions

If anyone ever needs any questions writing, whether it be for pub quizzes or quiz leagues or whatever, feel free to send me an email at jackbennett@gmx.com and I'll reply as soon as I can. Competitive rates.

Questions - mixed stuff

1 The NBA team Golden State Warriors are based in which Californian city?

2 Angel Falls, the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, drop over the edge of which flat-topped mountain in Venezuela's Canaima National Park?

3 The first film of the franchise in thirty years, what is the two-word subtitle of the 2015 Mad Max film, which stars Tom Hardy in the title role?

4 Which strait separates the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra?

5 Florence Owens Thompson was the subject of the 1936 photograph entitled Migrant Mother, an iconic image of the Great Depression. Who was the photographer?

6 The musical Annie Get Your Gun was composed by whom?

7 Phlebitis is the inflammation of which part of the body?

8 Wilanow Palace is located in which European capital city?

9 What is the name of Pope Francis's second encyclical that was officially published this week (18 June 2015) accompanied by a news conference?

10 Ruslan Zakharov competes for Russia in which winter sport?

Answers:

1 Oakland

2 Auyan-tepui

3 Fury Road

4 Sunda Strait

5 Dorothea Lange

6 Irving Berlin

7 Veins

8 Warsaw

9 Laudato si'

10 Speed skating

Quizzers Delight

I've not posted on here for a month - I need to get my priorities right. OK, on request of a mate of mine at uni, I've written a quiz on all things rap and hip hop. It's not a genre of music (or two genres) I've listened to much, but it's as valid a topic for quizzes as any other so here's the quiz.

And that post title is a pun - but not a very good or original one, admittedly - on the Sugarhill Gang song title.

Mixture of stuff, international outlook, etc.

1 Birth name Kevin Donovan, which US DJ from the Bronx influenced the development of hip hop in the 1980s, leading to his nicknames such as "The Godfather" and "Amen Ra of Hip Hop Kulture"?

2 Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins is credited with coining the term hip hop in 1978 while teasing a friend who had recently joined the US Army by scat-singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythm of marching soldiers. Which influential hip hop group was Wiggins a member of?

3 The 1981 single "Rapture" is said to be the first major single containing hip-hop elements by a white artist to reach number-one in the USA. Which band, also famous for tracks such as "Sunday Girl" and "Heart of Glass", released the song?

4 "NY State of Mind", "One Love", and "It Ain't Hard to Tell" are all tracks off which 1994 rap album, regarded as a landmark record in the genre?

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

6 Which city south of downtown Los Angeles features in the title of NWA's debut 1988 album?

7 The word hyphy (pronounced HY-fee) refers to the hip hop-style music surrounding which major US city?

8 Which US rapper - a pioneer female of hip hop - had a mid-1990s feud with fellow female rapper Foxy Brown?

9 Which 2002 hip hop biopic film starred Eminem as Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr, a young, white rapper living in inner-city Detroit?

10 AllMusic's John Bush called him "the best rapper / producer in history"; the US rapper Q-Tip found fame as a member of which hip hop group?

11 Which rapper collaborated with Chase & Status on the 2009 UK top-ten single "End Credits"?

12 The rapper with the stage name Sarkodie, who won Best International Act: Africa in the 2012 BET Awards, is regarded as which African country's greatest hip-hop artist?

13 Which US rapper is best-known for his 1994 debut album, The Sun Rises in the East?

14 The rapper Tupac Shakur died after being shot multiple times in a drive-by in Las Vegas - which year?

15 Arguably the rapper Ice Cube's most famous song, which track - the second single from his third solo album, Predator - contains lyrics such as "Lakers beat the Supersonics" and "even saw the lights of the Goodyear blimp"?

Answers:

1 Afrika Bambaataa

2 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

3 Blondie

4 Illmatic

5 Ol' Dirty Bastard

6 Compton

7 San Francisco

8 Queen Latifah

9 8 Mile

10 A Tribe Called Quest

11 Plan B

12 Ghana

13 Jeru the Damaja

14 1996

15 "It Was a Good Day"

1970s film quiz

Trying to change up a bit the topics I write quizzes on, as it seems all I've done recently on here is knock together twenty questions and post them up. So, today's topic is 1970s film. I do love films, and I think the 1970s was very possibly the best decade in the medium's history, so here goes. Everything from mainstream to foreign cinema. Some of the questions may be fairly difficult, but I've tried to have a decent mix.

I'll try to write one of these a day for the next few days, but we'll see how that goes.

1 Dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his Bollywood roles, which actor is regarded as one of the greatest in the history of Indian cinema, and starred alongside Rajesh Khanna in 1970s films such as Anand and Namak Haraam?

2 Which 1977 surrealist horror marked the feature-length directorial debut of David Lynch?

3 Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) were both works by which director?

4 Bernardo Bertolucci's 1970 film, The Conformist, was based on an earlier 1951 novel by whom?

5 Who directed the so-called "paranoia trilogy" of films which consisted of Klute (1971), The Parallax View (1974), and All the President's Men (1976)?

6 What is the name of the commercial spacecraft that serves as the principal setting in the film Alien?

7 Which world city serves as the predominant setting for the following films: The Aristocats (1970), The American Friend (1977), Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)?

8 Based on the 1966 novel, Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square, what was Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate film?

9 What was the first R-rated film to win the Best Picture Academy Award since the introduction of the MPAA film rating system?

10 Which Argentinian composer - perhaps best known for his Mission: Impossible theme - scored films such as Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick, and The Amityville Horror?

Answers:

1 Amitabh Bachchan

2 Eraserhead

3 Terrence Malick

4 Alberto Moravia

5 Alan J Pakula

6 Nostromo

7 Paris

8 Frenzy

9 The French Connection

10 Lalo Schifrin

A post that has come from nowhere...

Well, my last blog post seems to have been almost a month ago, so it's about time - now I've finished my first semester at uni and have returned home for Christmas - I rambled some more and wrote some questions for people to have a go at (or not, depending on their inclination).

On the University Challenge front, we haven't had a full-on practice session yet despite promises that one would be arranged. At this rate, we'll be rusty if we ever do get on the show. Hopefully January will yield some opportunities for practice, ahead of the supposed interviews with the production team.

Anyway, ten questions based on art (seeing that I made a trip to the Walker Art Gallery while in Liverpool and actually found it quite interesting) - hope you enjoy (and do make suggestions for topics you'd like to see particular questions on, if you like):

1 Which English painter, one of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood founders, created works such as The Hireling Shepherd (1851) and The Awakening Conscience (1853)?
2 The Dada art movement was founded in 1916 in which city?
3 The Embarkation for... Complete the name of this Jean-Antoine Watteau painting with the name of the Greek island which features in its title?
4 In the 1620s, Diego Velazquez served as the principal court painter to which king of Spain?
5 On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, whose most famous painting was the 1851 work, Washington Crossing the Delaware?
6 Which term describes a work in Christian art which shows the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most commonly in sculpture?
7 Green Stripe, painted in 1905, is a depiction by which French artist of his wife, Amelie?
8 With which primary colour was the artist Yves Klein most associated?
9 Which Italian Renaissance painter had the birth surname Filipepi?
10 How many human figures can be seen in Edward Hopper's acclaimed 1942 painting, Nighthawks?




Answers:
1 William Holman Hunt
2 Zurich
3 Cythera / Kythira
4 Philip IV
5 Emanuel Leutze
6 Pieta
7 Henri Matisse
8 Blue
9 Sandro Botticelli
10 Four

100Quiz #2 - results

Received a few more entries for this than the first one, but I enjoy writing them so as long as people are finding them useful, I'll continue to write. Hopefully with some better marketing / spreading the word, I'll be able to get a few more entrants as well, of course.

The scores were as follows - some very tight competition:

1 Peter Ediss 72
2 Clive Dunning 69
3 Mark Cooper 62
4 Hugh Bennett 57
5 Alan Gibbs 55
6 Joseph Krol 46
7 = Ian Chilman 45
7 = Ritchie Venner 45
9 Paul Davis 38
10 Nic Mortimer 32

Thanks to all those who entered, and hope you enjoyed it and found it to be a decent enough set. Well done to Peter Ediss, who got a really good score, as well as Clive Dunning who wasn't far behind.

100Quiz #3 will hopefully be up in the next few days; haven't written it yet but got two legal essays due in this week so obviously they'll have to be priorities. Still, it should be up by the weekend, so keep checking if you want to enter.

Upcoming quiz miscellany

Not posted that much recently - too much legal reading. :( Still, I've started a spreadsheet database of questions, which I add to when I find something sufficiently interesting / likely to come up (or so I think) in a future quiz.

I found out the other day that the UoL University Challenge trials take place on 17th and 18th November - obviously, I'll be there. All it mentions is "a booklet of sample questions" - hmm, would be a bit embarrassing if I failed to do well after all this blog hoo-ha... all these written questions... all these quizzes attended.

I'm going to extend the deadline for the second 100Quiz until the end of the month. Not got a chance to sort it all out yet but I will do. So, anyone who hasn't had a chance to enter yet, you've still got time to do so if you wish.

Attending the second Quiz in the North on Saturday at Rainhill, which I'm looking forward to. I thought the first one was great, and I'm sure this will be as good. Also one of the few quizzes that's handy for where I am in Liverpool now. Also been asked to play in some MQL cup matches that are coming up, which I hope to do well in (mainly because I don't want to let people who've given me a chance down).

Needless to say, I'm not attending the European Quizzing Championships. Just not feasible at the moment with university, but I plan to attend in the future - hopefully when I have a better chance of doing reasonably well). However, good luck to all those taking part.

Having been back in Lancaster for the weekend (and Monday), I'm playing for The Pub in the LCQL tomorrow night versus Gregson A. Would be nice to get a win, but always a tricky fixture.

Questions
1 In which city was US president William McKinley shot and fatally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in 1901?
2 Who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, for "his outstanding, pioneer contribution to modern-day poetry"?
3 Lake Arenal, built artificially in 1979 to provide electricity to the country, is the largest lake in which Central American nation?
4 The term "ostrich guitar" was coined by which major rock music figure, who died in 2013?
5 Aurelia Cotta was the mother of which famous historical figure?
6 Boy, released in 1980, was which band's debut album?
7 What was the last pitched battle to be fought between English and Scottish armies?
8 The actresses Cloris Leachman and Maxine Cooper both made their film debuts in which 1955 Robert Aldrich film noir?
9 Who wrote the novel, The Buddha of Suburbia?
10 Which country will host the 2019 Pan American Games?




Answers:
1 Buffalo
2 TS Eliot
3 Costa Rica
4 Lou Reed
5 Julius Caesar
6 U2
7 Battle of Pinkie Cleugh
8 Kiss Me Deadly
9 Hanif Kureishi
10 Peru

Briefly...

I'm playing in a Merseyside Quiz League cup match tonight - stepped in for someone who's missing, so travelling to Southport in a couple of hours. Fingers crossed I give a good showing. Certainly wouldn't want to make a tit of myself. You never know, I might even be able to play more regularly if there's space for an extra team member. Anyway...

A few quick questions for today, all taken from my ever-expanding spreadsheet of things I'm trying to learn and remember (with varying amounts of success on most occasions). Answers a few lines below, as always.

1 Which potentially active stratovolcano is the highest peak in Iran and the Middle East?

2 Who is the current UK MP for Welwyn Hatfield?

3 Which king granted the Royal Society its charter?

4 What is the county town of Buckinghamshire?

5 Who received a Best Director Oscar nomination for Crossfire (1947)?

Answers:

1 Mount Damavand

2 Grant Shapps

3 Charles II

4 Aylesbury

5 Edward Dmytryk

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

First update from a far-flung land...

Not really, I'm only in Liverpool. But it seems far-flung when it's your first time of living away from home properly. I'll settle in.

Anyway, today's questions:

1 Derived from an Arabic word meaning "horseman", what name in medieval Iberia was given to a high-ranking official in the household of a king?
2 Which country occupies the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola?
3 Supposedly invented by Hero of Alexandria, the aeolipile was the first known device of what type?
4 Used in the selection process for the UK's special forces personnel, what is the highest peak in South Wales?
5 Located on the route of the Pan-American Highway, what is El Salvador's second-largest city?
6 The Scot Lonnie Donegan was the best-known exponent of which type of popular music, originating in 1950s USA?
7 What is the name of Sydney's natural harbour, considered to be one of the world's finest?
8 The infamous nineteenth-century murderers Burke and Hare both had which forename?
9 Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, and Detroit Tigers are all professional teams in which sport?
10 Best-known for her 1812 affair with Lord Byron, Lady Caroline Lamb was the wife of which British prime minister?
11 Crna Gora is the local name for which small European country?
12 From Greek words for "virgin" and "birth", which biological term refers to the development of an individual from an egg without fertilisation by a male gamete?
13 Now beneath Mexico City, what was the island capital of Lake Texcoco?
14 The Mentha pulegium species of flowering plant is known by which numismatic-sounding name?
15 Alessandro Filipepi was the original name of which Italian painter (1445-1510)?
16 In 1913, who became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
17 In 1987, Teddy Seymour became the first black man in history to do what?
18 The Gulf of Venezuela separates its namesake country from which other South American nation, home to the Guajira Peninsula?
19 Frequently listed on unusual place name lists, the town of Snowflake lies in which US state, ironic in that the state itself is one of the warmest?
20 NASA's MAVEN probe is intended to study which planet's atmosphere?
21 Tux, the mascot for the operating system Linux, is what kind of animal?
22 American attorney Bruce Buck is the current chairman of which London football club?
23 Ranked by historians as one of the worst to have ever occupied the role, who was the only US president to have originated from Pennsylvania?
24 Washington Crossing the Delaware was an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by whom?
25 Although French-born, Jessica Fox competed for Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in which sport?




Answers:
1 Alferez
2 Haiti
3 Steam turbine
4 Pen y Fan
5 Santa Ana
6 Skiffle
7 Port Jackson
8 William
9 Baseball
10 William Lamb / Lord Melbourne
11 Montenegro
12 Parthenogenesis
13 Tenochtitlan
14 Pennyroyal
15 Sandro Botticelli
16 Rabindranath Tagore
17 Sail around the world
18 Colombia
19 Arizona
20 Mars
21 Penguin
22 Chelsea
23 James Buchanan
24 Emanuel Leutze
25 Canoeing

Questions on Syria, serial killers and sitcoms

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 

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

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

100Quiz #1

OK, so here's the first 100-question quiz I mentioned earlier. You don't have to submit your answers, but it's free (!) and makes it a bit more interesting to see where you are in relation to others (I hope). There'll be a mix of difficulties, varied questions, etc. I hope they're decent, interesting questions - let me know if they're not.

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, 30th August (a week from now, basically).

I'll let everyone know their score when I put everyone's up for the week.

Good luck!

The questions:
1 St. Thomas Church in Leipzig is best-known as the final resting place of which famous composer?
2 Andre Agassi's first Grand Slam victory came at Wimbledon in which year?
3 Which wading bird of the genus Numenius is recognisable due to its long, down-curving bill, and can frequently be seen probing for food in sediments?
4 Coming Up for Air is a lesser-known 1939 novel by which writer, born in 1903?
5

The photo to the left shows the Bahla Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which country?










6 The supercontinent Pangaea eventually rifted to form two separate landmasses. One was Laurasia; what was the other?
7 Which US drama of the 1990s, starring Kyle MacLachlan and Sheryl Lee, took its title from the fictional Washington town in which it was set?
8 Which Argentine urban guerrilla group of the 1970s claimed allegiance to Peronism, and staged terrorist actions against the military regime then in power, before being utterly defeated in 1979 by the same military dictatorship?
9 What was the capital of Kazakhstan prior to Astana replacing it in 1997?
10 Known as El Viejo (The Elder), which Spanish conquistador and rival of Pizarro is credited as the first European discoverer of Chile?
11 Which town in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area has seen civil unrest as a result of the shooting of Michael Brown two weeks ago?
12 Searching for Sugar Man is a 2012 Swedish-British documentary detailing the efforts of two South African music fans to find which American folk musician, said to have been as popular as Elvis Presley in South Africa but with very little acclaim in his native US?
13 The Louvre was built in 1546 - as its current purpose - for which French king?
14 Which term was supposedly invented by Ivan Turgenev to describe the character Bazarov in his novel Fathers and Sons?
15 The 1945 film Brief Encounter substantially features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by which composer?
16 In which English county is the so-called English Riviera, given this name due to its mild climate, sandy beaches, and many tourist attractions?
17 Originally published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly, who wrote the 1875 bildungsroman Roderick Hudson?
18 Located on the east coast of Streymoy, what is the capital and largest town of the Faroe Islands?
19 Considered one of the four great haiku masters, which Japanese author and poet wrote works including Meiji Nijūkunen no Haikukai and Utayomi ni Atauru Sho?
20 The first king of Persia's Achaemenid Empire, who supposedly met his death in a fierce battle with the Massagetaens, a tribe from the southern deserts of the Khwarezm and Kyzyl Kum?
21 Born in April 1947, which American singer-songwriter released the albums Blue Kentucky Girl (1979), Thirteen (1986), and Hard Bargain (2011)?
22 Heracles' sixth labour involved defeating the birds of which lake in Arcadia?
23 Which tree of the genus Salix is known for its strong and resistant roots that often cause problems when planted in residential areas?
24 The UK's oldest extant daily newspaper, in which city has The News Letter been published since 1737?
25 Early in Bobby Vee's career, a musician named Elston Gunnn toured with his band. How do we now know Elston Gunnn?
26 “The father of us all” was how Matisse and Picasso described which French Post-Impressionist painter, notable for works such as L'Estaque and Château Noir?
27 Literally meaning “spelled-out sounds”, what is the official system for transcribing the Mandarin letters into the Latin alphabet?
28 Who was the father of Cnut the Great?
29 ETA is a group campaigning for independence of which region?
30 Which Finnish architect and designer (1898-1976) was responsible for inventing bent plywood furniture, designed Finlandia Hall, the Essen opera house, and co-designed the KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg?
31 Atomic number 4, which element was discovered by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin in 1797?
32 Mademoiselle Rose, The Barque of Dante, and The Death of Desdemona are among the works of which French painter (1798-1863)?
33 With seven titles, which club is the most successful in the history of the Copa Libertadores?
34 The band Radiohead took their name from a song by which other band, formed in New York in 1975?
35 The name of which constellation comes from the Latin for 'air pump'?
36 Which British pub name comes from Edward IV's heraldic symbol?
37 Organised by UNESCO to celebrate “the virtues of jazz”, on which date does International Jazz Day fall?
38 Ramón Mercader became known in 1940 for assassinating whom?

39 Which revolutionary's dying words were supposedly 'take my baggage on board the frigate'?
40 Which long, hooded coat – often worn by voyageurs of New France - shares its name with a prominent American author of the twentieth century?
41 William Le Baron Jenney was behind the building of the world's first what in 1884?
42 Becoming golf's first number-one player in 1986, which German was one of the world's leading golfers during the 1980s and 1990s and won the Masters Tournament twice?
43 Which soft drink was created in the 1880s by Charles Alderton?
44 Which Central Asian capital was known as Poltoratsk between 1919 and 1927?
45 Who wrote the Arthurian fantasy novel, The Once and Future King?
46 Portrayed by Emily Deschanel in the Fox series Bones, who created the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan?
47 What was the original name of Operation Torch, the British-American invasion of French North Africa in 1942?
48 Widely credited with rebuilding Beirut after the fifteen-year civil war, who was Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998? He was assassinated in 2005 as his motorcade drove through Beirut.
49 Which abnormality in the tissue of an organism comes from the Latin word for 'injury'?
50 Nicknamed “The Marble Man”, who commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War?
51 In which country can you see the waterfalls below, supposedly the most powerful in Europe?

52 Luciano Michelini's Frolic is the theme tune to which US sitcom?
53 Acquired by Condé Nast, which website was founded by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in June 2005?
54 Under what name was illustrator Hablot Knight Browne better known?
55 Pemphigus is a rare autoimmune disease that affects which part of the body?
56 There are two doubly landlocked countries – one is Liechtenstein, what is the other?
57 Since 2007, rugby union's Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy is competed for annually between Italy and which other country?
58 Benjamin Braddock appears in which 1963 Charles Webb novel, and the subsequent Mike Nichols film?
59 Kalamazoo, mentioned in the title of a Glenn Miller song, is in which US state?
60 Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa is the king of which Middle Eastern country?
61 Who became the first black footballer to represent England in a full international match?
62 Michael Herr's 1977 account of the Vietnam War, Dispatches, was adapted for which 1987 film about the same conflict?
63 Released on the Polydor label, The Scream was which post-punk band's debut album?
64 Which company did Giovanni Agnelli found in 1899?
65 Fujie Eguchi, Deng Yaping, and Angelica Rozeanu are names associated with which sport?
66 Who played Mr. Roarke in the TV series Fantasy Island and Zachary Powers in The Colbys, a Dynasty spin-off? 
67 The songs “A Fine Romance”, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, and “The Way You Look Tonight” were all composed by which American writer of popular musical theatre?
68 The M69 motorway connects Leicester with which other Midlands city?
69 Winner of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which Anne Tyler novel follows Ira and Maggie Moran as they travel from Baltimore and back to attend a funeral?
70 What did the W stand for in the name of the poet W. H. Auden?
71 Who won the 2007 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, his only victory to date?
72 Who won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol Connelly in As Good as It Gets?
73 Fiordland National Park is the largest in which country?
74 The Likely Lads, Porridge, and Going Straight were all sitcoms written by which comedy-writing duo?
75 Known for his witty aphorisms, which US writer's third novel, The City and the Pillar, was slammed by critics due to being one of the first major American works to feature unambiguous homosexuality?
76 “Left a good job in the city / Working for the man every night and day” are the opening lyrics to which Creedence Clearwater Revival song?
77 What is the third-largest island in the world?
78 Which Norwegian won the 1994 Winter Olympic gold medal in the Alpine skiing combined event?
79 Who voiced many characters on The Simpsons, including Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, and Krusty the Clown?
80 Which fictional detective – created by author Michael Connelly - was named after an early Dutch painter?
81 Who composed the music for the film Zorba the Greek?
82 "Dinner by ... ...". Which famous chef's name fills the blanks to give the name of the London restaurant that was voted the fifth-best in the world in April 2014? Its signature dish is perhaps a chicken liver mousse created to look like a mandarin orange.
83 Best-known for her children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, who was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
84 In Norse mythology, which daughter of Loki was assigned by Odin to rule the underworld, with which she shares her name?
85 One of the rarest mammals on earth, to which island is the silky sifaka native?
86 Acquired by Twitter in 2012, which video-sharing app allows users to record seven-second-long video clips, which will then play in a loop?
87 On which river – the longest entirely within the state – does the Texan city of Fort Worth stand?
88 Which Austrian-born violinist and composer created the operetta Apple Blossoms, which became a Broadway success?
89 The Argentinian city of La Plata was, from 1952 to 1955, named after which major figure?
90 Currently under construction, Oyala is planned to replace Malabo as the capital of which African nation?
91 Francesco Gullino was named by The Times newspaper in June 2005 as the main suspect in which case, dating back to the 1970s?
92 With which club did Johan Cruyff begin his football career, staying there for nine years?
93 The Marrakech Agreement of 1995 founded which organisation?
94 Who starred as Ellen Brody in the 1975 film Jaws?
95 Lake Havasu City in Arizona features a replica of which British landmark?
96 The volcano Mount Karthala is the highest point of which island nation?
97 The oldest in Germany, which university's alumni includes prominent Nazi Joseph Goebbels, chemist Fritz Haber, and mathematician Otto Hesse?
98 Which French sculptor has a museum dedicated to him in his hometown Colmar, in which several of his smaller works can be found?
99 Which dishevelled detective made his first TV appearance in the 1992 episode “Care and Protection”?
100 Comprising over 27%, what is the second-most abundant element in the lithosphere?

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

Well...

I got into Liverpool University to do Law. I'm obviously really pleased. Was shitting myself waiting to check results, though. I'm not going away for another month, and I'll still update the blog as regularly as I can with new stuff while I'm there.

Meanwhile, some questions...

1 Which country held its first direct national presidential election last week? 

2 Who is the current chairman of Aston Villa FC?

3 First awarded in 1903, what is the most prestigious French literary prize?

4 Veisalgia is the medical term for what?

5 The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is the venue for which country's F1 Grand Prix, due to be held there next week?

More questions will follow, of course.

Answers:

1 Turkey

2 Randy Lerner

3 Prix Goncourt

4 Hangover

5 Belgium

Name the year #1

Generally I'm reasonably decent at remembering dates and years... it's the detail and important stuff that I struggle with. Anyway, here are ten questions - each has five events and you need to name the year that all those events in the question occurred in. There'll be a couple of harder ones and then a couple of easier ones to stop it from being too obscure. Answers, as usual, at the end of the post.

1 

- Adolf Hitler is born at Braunau am Inn, Austria

- Pennsylvania's South Fork Dam collapses, killing more than 2,200 people

- London's Savoy Hotel opens

- North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted to the US as the 39th and 40th states

- Spain's oldest football club - Recreativo de Huelva - is formed

2 

- The First Balkan War concludes

- Ambrose Bierce disappears without trace on Boxing Day

- Woodrow Wilson becomes US president

- The Woolworth Building opens in New York City

- The Second Balkan War begins

3 

- Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro

- Spanair Flight 5022 crashes immediately after take-off 

- Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the southern United States, killing at least 27

- Mountaineer Edmund Hillary dies at the age of 88

- Queen Elizabeth II makes her final voyage, from Southampton to Dubai

4 

- The Power of Sympathy, the first American novel, is published

- The Mutiny on the Bounty occurs

- German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth discovers uranium

- US writer James Fenimore Cooper is born

- The Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper dies

5 

- Revolt leader Jack Cade is slain

- Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch is born

- The Battle of Formigny takes place, with a decisive French victory over the English

- Caen surrenders to the French 

- The University of Barcelona is founded

6

- Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the US government

- The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican-American War

- Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco

- Jane Eyre is published

- German composer Felix Mendelssohn dies

7

- The Battle of Saraighat takes place in modern-day India

- The Ottoman Empire declares war on Poland

- Philippe de Champaigne's Still Life with a Skull is completed

- Frederick IV of Denmark is born

- Thomas Fairfax dies

8

- The band Queen release "Don't Stop Me Now"

- Whiddy Island Disaster occurs

- Brenda Spencer opens fire at a San Diego school, inspiring the song "I Don't Like Mondays"

- Sid Vicious is found dead of a heroin overdose

- Rubstic wins the Grand National

9

- Konrad Adenauer survives an assassination attempt

- Sun Records begins operation in Memphis, Tennessee

- Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opens in London

- CS Lewis publishes his theological work, Mere Christianity

- The barcode is patented in the US

10

- Ignacy Moscicki becomes Polish president

- Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel

- Dali's The Basket of Bread is completed

- Ernest Hemingway publishes The Sun Also Rises

- The Hercilio Luz Bridge opens in southern Brazil

Hope they're not too difficult; some of the events may be quite obscure.

Answers:

1 1889

2 1913

3 2008

4 1789

5 1450

6 1847

7 1671

8 1979

9 1952

10 1926

Music clip quiz

A new feature for the blog - not that revolutionary to be able to play music on the internet, I know, but all the same...

The following ten files are around thirty seconds long - the last is around fifteen seconds longer (not for any particular reason, but just because the bloody thing wouldn't save properly) and are clips from popular music songs (the definition of popular may have been stretched a little in some instances). Naming most of the artists should be fairly straightforward, but I'd be surprised if anyone got all ten of the song titles as well. The answers are below the final clip.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Answers:
1 Black - Wonderful Life
2 Blondie - A Shark in Jets Clothing
3 Bob Dylan  - Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)
4 Chuck Berry - Deep Feeling
5 Massive Attack - Angel
6 Sixto Rodriguez - Hate Street Dialogue
7 XTC - Senses Working Overtime
8 Talking Heads - And She Was

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