Hello, and welcome to another mighty fine quiz. I could write some saccharine stuff here in a vain effort to get more internet credit, but everyone wants questions so let us jump to it.
As always, the version with the answers plus trinkets of trivia is on the website, which can be reached by pressing this button:
And so, to Round 1:
Round 1
Question 1
First released in 1974, what tabletop game allows players to create their own characters that then collaborate with other players on games and campaigns overseen by a Dungeon Master?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
Primary cells and secondary cells are two categories of battery. Which of the two is rechargeable?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
Blutwurst, weisswurst, leberwurst, and Thüringer Rostbratwurst are all types of what food?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
What animal’s name in Chinese literally translates as ‘big bear cat’?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
International versions of what UK comedy series are known as Os Aspones in Brazil, Stromberg in Germany, HaMisrad in Israel, Konttori in Finland, and La Job in Canada?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Excluding humans, what animal builds the tallest structures in the world? The official tallest example of such a structure was 8.7m, found in Somaliland, although there are unconfirmed reports of examples over 12m in the Republic of Congo.
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Of the nine European countries in which medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières currently has programmes, what are the only two utilising the equivalent of over 100 full-time staff, with 414 in one country helping victims of war, and 212 in another aiding migrants arriving across the Mediterranean?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
In English grammar, the simplest sentence structure is generally known as S.V.O. For what do the letters S, V, and O stand?
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
The geographic area known as the Levant includes territories in which three continents?
Answer:
3 points
Question 10
Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AAGIMNPRT
Answer:
Up to 9 points
(*length of word equates to points awarded)
Round 1 points
(Maximum: 23)
Round 2
Question 1
What alcoholic drink lost its Protected Geographical Indication in 2007 when it moved its brewery to nearby Gateshead?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
On what type of building would one find features called glacis, garderobe, bartizan, machicolation, and meurtrière?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
Butterfly, eccentric, catheter, and enteral are all forms of what type of medical equipment?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
Although others have claimed to be the inventor, what road safety invention is credited to Edward Hines, who said he got the idea after seeing a leaking milk truck?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
One of the world’s most famous prisons thanks to it being the location in which Edmond Dantès is held in the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Château d'If sits off the coast of which French city?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Feral pigeons are descendants of domesticated populations of what type of bird, which has the scientific name Columba livia and whose common name refers to the location it roosts and breeds?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Through which two oceans does the Oyashio current run?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
What are the only three cities in the Southern Hemisphere to have been awarded an Olympic games - either summer or winter?
Answer:
3 point
Question 9
Different from the original Arabian tale, what are Aladdin’s three wishes that the genie grants in the 1992 Disney animation Aladdin?
Answer:
3 points
Question 10
What are the four core ingredients of the French dish tartiflette?
Answer:
4 points
Round 2 points
(Maximum: 18)
Total points
(Maximum: 41)
Round 3
Question 1
What word, the Spanish equivalent for esplanade, is the name of both a famous pedestrian street in Barcelona and the 22km road and pedestrian path along the coast of Montevideo which was submitted for consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
The traditional Orkney and Shetland folk song ‘The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry’ sees a woman have a child with a selkie capable of turning into what marine mammal, before she marries a hunter who unknowingly kills her son and the boy’s father?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
In September 1825, the first public railway to use steam locomotives opened between Stockton and Darlington in England. Which engineer, nicknamed ‘The Father of Railways’, designed the line and, with his son, owned the company that built the Locomotive No. 1 train that travelled on it?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
What kingdom was overseen in the early 19th century by Shaka kaSenzangakhona?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
In which city is the Scala Sancta, a 28-step staircase believed to have been climbed by Jesus on his way to trial and now only permitted to be climbed on one’s knees?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
Since 2017, businessman Gérard López has bought the French football clubs Lille and Bordeaux, the Belgian football club Royal Excelsior Mouscron, and the Portuguese football club Boavista. What connects all four clubs since López took over?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
Portrayed by Tom Hanks in a 1995 film, NASA astronaut Jim Lovell passed away on August 7. As well as the Gemini 7 and 12 missions, on what two Apollo missions did Lovell fly?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
What are the names of the three companion television miniseries set during World War II for which Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have served as executive producers?
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
Three being in Asia and one in Africa, what four countries produce the most tea in the world?
Answer:
4 points
Question 10
According to Swedish tax agency Skatteverket, which has taken over maintaining the country’s statistics on names, what are the six most common surnames in Sweden (discounting spelling variations)?
Answer:
6 points
Round 3 points
(Maximum: 21)
Total points
(Maximum: 62)
Round 4
Question 1
What shape is the faeces of the common wombat - the only animal that is known to produce this shape?
Answer:
1 point
Question 2
A sushi dish developed in the US, the California roll uses what type of meat?
Answer:
1 point
Question 3
The Nightglow event, in which dozens of participants illuminate their entries in time to music, is part of an annual festival held in Bristol celebrating what type of transport, held this year August 8-10?
Answer:
1 point
Question 4
What nickname was given to the summer of 1858 in London due to the terrible smell caused by sewage and industrial waste being poured into the River Thames?
Answer:
1 point
Question 5
Nicknamed ‘The Big Four’, and seen as examples of robber barons, American tycoons Leland Stanford, Collis Potter Huntington, Mark Hopkins Jr., and Chares Crocker - who referred to themselves as ‘The Associates’ - enriched themselves during the building of the CPRR. What type of structure is the CPRR?
Answer:
1 point
Question 6
In 1997, Jason Pierce, the frontman and songwriter of English rock group Spiritualized, broke off his romantic relationship with the band’s keyboard player Kate Radley after finding out that for the previous two years she had been secretly married to the lead singer of which other 1990s English band?
Answer:
1 point
Question 7
For which two musicals has Lin-Manuel Miranda been nominated for - and won - a ‘Best Original Score’ Tony award?
Answer:
2 points
Question 8
What three nouns complete this quote by 19th century art critic John Ruskin: “Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of their ____, the book of their ____ and the book of their ____.”
Answer:
3 points
Question 9
In the play by William Shakespeare, what are the names of the three daughters of King Lear?
Answer:
3 points
Question 10
As well as a selection of fruit-flavoured pastries and cakes, the menu for high tea at the Savoy in London currently includes what seven types of sandwich?
Answer:
7 points
Round 4 points
(Maximum: 21)
Total points
(Maximum: 83)
Round 5
In Round 5, there is only one answer. The less clues you need to get it, the more points you receive. If you need only one clue, you receive 10 points; if you require two clues, you will receive 9 points, and so on.
However, you may only answer once. If you answer incorrectly, you receive zero points for the round.
With variations for spelling, what name is shared by all the following people, either as a first or last name?
Clue 1 (10 points)
James, astronomer who was part of team that discovered rings around Uranus
Clue 2 (9 points)
Handler, co-founder of toy company Mattel with wife Ruth, whose children inspired the names of the Barbie and Ken dolls
Clue 3 (8 points)
Peter, English runner who won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games
Clue 4 (7 points)
Barry and Paul, British comedic children’s entertainers known as The Chuckle Brothers
Clue 5 (6 points)
Page, transgender actor known for his role as a pregnant teenager in the 2007 film Juno
Clue 6 (5 points)
George, pseudonym used by writer Mary Ann Evans
Clue 7 (4 points)
Cass, singer with The Mamas and The Papas who was known as ‘Mama Cass’
Clue 8 (3 points)
Gould, American actor known for playing Cpt. McIntyre in the 1970 film M*A*S*H
Clue 9 (2 points)
Thomas Stearns, American poet who wrote The Wasteland
Clue 10 (1 point)
Billy, fictional character in a 2000 film about a boy who wants to learn ballet
Answer:
Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)
Total points
(Maximum: 93)
That’s it, five rounds complete. No doubt you aced it.
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And so, until the next edition, have a beautiful time. Bye!
