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?
