Quiz #23

“Hi Dad. I don’t really need your help. I just want to let you know I’m going to win the million dollars.” This call to his father, using his ‘phone-a-friend’ lifeline, was made by John Carpenter in 1999 moments before he became the first person to win the US version of what television quiz show?

Question 2

Which play by William Shakespeare begins with a chorus saying the lines:
‘Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.’

Question 3

Caerulean, also spelt cerulean, is a shade of what colour?

Question 4

On November 22, 1963, Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit was shot and killed. Which man had Tippit’s murderer assassinated around 45 minutes earlier?

Question 5

A gardening accident ‘best left unsolved’, exploding on stage, selling his dialysis machine for drugs, and choking on vomit not necessarily his own are some of the deaths experienced by drummers of which band?

Question 6

Which planet of the solar system has the hottest surface temperature, with NASA listing its mean temperature as 464°C?

Question 7

In which two months of the year do the clocks change in the UK?

Question 8

Described by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as his favourite video on the site, and viewed over 92 million times since it was first posted in 2004, a video entitled Battle at Kruger sees which three species of animals engaged in confrontation at Kruger National Park in South Africa? In the video a young animal is caught by several members of one species of predator, then briefly has its legs grabbed by two members of another species, starting a tug-of-war, before a herd of its own species returns to rescue it alive.

Question 9

Which three royal houses were directly connected to England’s War of the Roses – those being the two warring houses, plus a third house combining the two which took over the monarchy at its conclusion?

Question 10

Make the longest word possible from the following letters: CDEEEPRST

Round 1 points
(Maximum: 23)

Round 2

Question 1

In 2013, in preparation for his much hyped first World Chess Championship title match, who played chess against ten lawyers at Harvard University simultaneously whilst blindfolded and facing away from the board, winning every game and then writing down the moves for one opponent as a souvenir? A video of him correctly identifying chess matches from throughout history, plus one from a Harry Potter movie, based only on a single board position has been watched on YouTube over 4.5million times.

Question 2

Brilliant, Bubbles, Baby Bonny, Boofuls, Bigheart, and Bumper are the names of which confectionery creations?

Question 3

By what food-related name is the plant Monstera adansonii commonly known due to the numerous holes in its leaves?

Question 4

First run in 2001, when it was won by lawyers Rob Frisbee & Brennan Swain, what US reality TV show sees teams of two race around the world for the chance to win $1m?

Question 5

The television series The Mandalorian is a spin-off from which sci-fi film franchise?

Question 6

Sold under the brand names Pomalyst and Imnovid, myeloma treatment drug pomalidomide is structurally related to what infamous drug, leading to it coming with warnings not to be used by pregnant women or sexually active men not using a condom?

Question 7

Which two men founded computing company Microsoft in 1975, and now have a combined wealth of $120-150 billion?

Question 8

What are the four flavours of cake brand Mr Kipling’s French fancies – three of which are common flavours, and one being simply described by its colour?

Question 9

Which four companies comprise the ‘Japanese Big Four’ motorcycle manufacturers?

Question 10

What are the six names given to its cup sizes by Starbucks, three of which take their names from Italian, and one from French – the last being the measurement for espresso shots?

Round 2 points
(Maximum: 22)

Total points
(Maximum: 45)

Round 3

Question 1

Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and Pooh-Bah are all characters in which opera written by Gilbert and Sullivan?

Question 2

In a 2022 scientific paper entitled ‘Overcoming a ‘forbidden phenotype’’, researchers found that what family of birds, when climbing vertical surfaces, was the first proven example of tripedal locomotion – that being the exerting of positive force through three independent limbs in order to move? This is different from marsupials using their tail when jumping, which is only done simultaneously with other limbs, or simply using a beak or tail for balance.

Question 3

The French dessert clafoutis is an egg and milk based crustless tart generally containing what type of fruit?

Question 4

Which British businessman famously sent his company’s share price spiralling from £4.20 to 2p, knocking £500 million its value and ultimately forcing him to sell his house and withdraw his children from public school, when during an address to the annual Institute of Directors convention in 1991 he joked his company’s sherry decanter product was ‘a piece of crap’ and its gold earrings would last less time than a prawn sandwich?

Question 5

What audio engineer filed a patent in 1969 for a noise reduction system on cassettes, a move that led to his company, named after himself, becoming a leader in audio technology around the world?

Question 6

What is unusual about the prepaid debit card produced by the company Treecard?

Question 7

What two major international gatherings of 1904 happened in the US city of St Louis?

Question 8

In the 1670 English legal case R v. Penn and Mead, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on a charge of unlawful assembly. Over the following week what three actions did the judge take in response to the verdict – actions which in turn led to the groundbreaking Bushell’s Case?

Question 9

In Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Miserables, four of the five volumes are named after key characters. What are the four characters?

Question 10

What are the seven species within the camelid family?

Round 3 points
(Maximum: 22)

Total points
(Maximum: 67)

Round 4

Question 1

In a survey carried out by YouGov in Q4 of 2024, what chocolate product – usually sold in a package consisting of two bars – was found to be the most popular snack brand in the UK, with a brand recognition of 100% and popularity of 84%?

Question 2

Although not a legal move due to being a proper noun, which US President has the surname that would score the least amount of points in a game of Scrabble?

Question 3

Since 1979, what East Asian nation is the only country other than China to have had a player win the biennial Women’s World Table Tennis Championship, with a player from that nation winning the 1993 edition of the competition?

Question 4

‘Devant le garage’ and ‘Recit de Cassard’ – re-recorded in English as ‘I Will Wait for You’ and ‘Watch What Happens’ – are the two most well-known songs from which French musical film of 1964, cited by director Damien Chazelle as both his favourite film of all time and the inspiration for his film La La Land?

Question 5

In the 1984 film Ghostbusters, Rick Moranis’s character Louis is attacked by a demonic dog outside the window of the New York restaurant Tavern on the Green. On the other side of the window, playing a girl having a birthday party, is which future 1980s teen idol pop star, who would top the US chart four years later?

Question 6

Only known to exist in laboratory circumstances, an isotope of which chemical element has the shortest known half life of all radioactive nuclides, timed at 86(6) yoctoseconds (86(6) x 10^-24)?

Question 7

In Canada, what are the two administrative regions – one province, and one territory – that border Alaska?

Question 8

Which three albums by American musician Paul Simon have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year?

Question 9

Developed in the 16^th century and popularised in the 18^th century, the Norfolk Four-course System of crop rotation taught farmers to rotate what four crops in order to avoid the need for a fallow year as the field recovered?

Question 10

The songs We Didn’t Start the Fire, by Billy Joel, and Vogue, by Madonna, both include lists of famous people from the 20^th century. Which five people appear in both songs?

Round 4 points
(Maximum: 20)

Total points
(Maximum: 87)

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.

In what present-day country were the following people all born?

Clue 1

Clue 2

Clue 3

Clue 4

Clue 5

Clue 6

Clue 7

Clue 8

Clue 9

Clue 10

Round 5 points
(Maximum: 10)

Total points
(Maximum: 97)