Quiz #102

Adapted from a book by Barry Hines, the 1969 film Kes tells the story of a teenage boy finding release from his monotonous upbringing in a Yorkshire mining town by training what sort of bird of prey?

Question 2

Dosa in India, injera in Ethiopia, laxoox in Somalia, and Sangak in Iran are all examples of what type of foodstuff?

Question 3

Which German-born model has become known for her extravagant Halloween parties and full-prosthetic Halloween costumes that have included being dressed as a human experiment with flayed skin, Medusa, a human-sized worm, Jessica Rabbit, and a corpse from the Bodyworks exhibition?

Question 4

What city served as the temporary capital of the US from 1790 until 1800 while Washington D.C. was constructed following the American Revolutionary War?

Question 5

Which word completes the name of the album by British singer Raye which won the Mercury Music Prize on October 22: This Music May Contain ____?

Question 6

What animal carries the world in the Dark Tower novels of Stephen King; swims through space as it carries four elephants, themselves holding up a universe, in Terry Pratchet’s Discworld series; and is stacked up by an egotistical king trying to become higher than the moon in a story by Dr Seuss?

Question 7

The nickname of the Indian film industry, Bollywood, is a portmanteau of what two words?

Question 8

October 24 marked the 30^th anniversary of the release of the first Tomb Raider computer game, featuring archaeologist and adventurer Lara Croft. What two colours were Lara’s famous tank top and shorts combination that she wore in all games until 2013?

Question 9

Human skin is broadly divided into ‘thick skin’ and ‘thin skin’, with the former being hairless areas that contain an additional structural layer of epidermis called stratum lucidum. Where on the human body is the thickest ‘thick skin’, the thickest ‘thin skin’, and the thinnest ‘thin skin’?

Question 10

Make the longest word possible from the following letters:  AIMMNORTY

Round 1 points
(Maximum: 22)

Round 2

Question 1

Which British newspaper was launched in Manchester in 1821, with the city appearing in the paper’s title until 1959?

Question 2

What disease claimed the lives of 14^th-century Queen of England Anne of Bohemia, 15^th-century English pirate Jack War, and 16^th-century Italian painter Titian, and has recently been in the news due to a suspected outbreak in Siberia?

Question 3

By what near-opposite name is the Parisian square once known as Place de la Revolution now known?

Question 4

Which American actress, who won an Academy Award for her role in On the Waterfront and starred in the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest, passed away on October 6 aged 102?

Question 5

Which European nation has had eight general elections since 2021, with the latest, in April 2026, seeing former President Rumen Radev become Prime Minister?

Question 6

In which modern day country did a five-day battle in July 751 see Islamic forces defeat a Chinese army at the Talas river, thus cementing Islam as the key religion in central Asia?

Question 7

What two islands sit on either side of the Denmark Strait?

Question 8

Composed in the 4^th century BC, Aristotle’s History of Animals attempts to classify animals by appearance and behaviour. What two often traded animals are described in the text as having a ‘disinclination’ to breed with their mothers, with one belonging to the King of Scythia supposedly throwing itself off a precipice after being tricked into doing so, and another biting its keeper to death after a similar plan?

Question 9

According to the Bakewell Tart Shop in the English town of Bakewell, which claims to use the original 19^th-century recipe for its Bakewell puddings and Bakewell tarts, what three elements comprised the original Bakewell pudding?

Question 10

Following his summertime move and the start of the new season, for what four different NBA teams has basketball player LeBron James played during his career?

Round 2 points
(Maximum: 17)

Total points
(Maximum: 39)

Round 3

Question 1

Previously known as Cape Comorin, Kanniyakumari – or Kanyakumari – is the southernmost tip of which country?

Question 2

In the list of standard electrical circuit symbols outlined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), what type of circuit component can be shown by either two small circles connected by a wavy line, or by placing a transparent rectangle over a portion of a circuit?

Question 3

What present day Belgian city, and one-time hub of European commerce, was the site of a 16^th-century massacre in which unpaid Spanish soldiers sacked the city, killing 8000 inhabitants and setting fire to the port in an action that became the most famous incident of ‘the Spanish fury’?

Question 4

What nursery rhyme did American inventor Thomas Edison recite in his pioneering use of a wax cylinder to record audio in 1877?

Question 5

On October 9 it was announced that British actor Martin Freeman will provide the voice of which previously silent screen character when he narrates the character’s audiobook ‘Grand’?

Question 6

Started in 1952 and initially dedicated to the works of William Shakespeare due to the host city sharing its name with the birthplace of English playwright, the Stratford Festival is a theatre festival held in which country?

Question 7

What two historical leaders appear in the title of a 1901 play by Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, which begins with one as a naive teenager meeting the other as he speaks to a sphinx?

Question 8

In August, new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced plans to save ‘hollowed out high streets’ by tackling rogue businesses and what two types of establishment that have become synonymous with urban decline in the UK?

Question 9

The gluteus maximus, latissimus dormi, and stapedius are believed to be the largest muscle in the human body by mass, largest muscle by surface area, and smallest muscle. In what three parts of the body can these muscles be found?

Question 10

All ending in the suffix ‘-ine’, what six chemical elements form group 17 of the periodic table, otherwise known as the halogens? Their respective atomic numbers are 9, 17, 35, 53, 85, and 117.

Round 3 points
(Maximum: 19)

Total points
(Maximum: 58)

Round 4

Question 1

Stressing sanctification, the undertaking of holy actions, and the possibility of salvation, what movement within Christianity is associated with 18^th-century English preacher John Wesley?

Question 2

In biology, what word is used for the reappearance of a previously lost genetic trait, such as a snake being born with partial legs or a human being born with a tail?  

Question 3

Seen as a key name in encouraging black women in the US to adopt non-product natural hairstyles – and with a name that alludes to dreadlocks for black women – what company was started by JoAnne Cornwell in 1993 to sell a trademarked tool for creating micro-dreadlocks, as well as training and certification in using it?

Question 4

Between the 1960s and 1980s, a dictator in which Eastern European nation oversaw the construction of over 170000 military bunkers across the nation as part of his ‘people’s war’ against perceived overseas enemies?

Question 5

Which US rock band, which enjoyed the height of its fame in the 1970s and 1980s, had to change its logo when performing, selling, or marketing in Germany due to the similarities between the lightning bolt double s in its name and the symbol used by the Nazi Schutzstaffel, or SS, which is banned under Section 86a of the country’s Strafgesetzbuch criminal code?

Question 6

In which African country did the Truth and Reconciliation Commission run from 1996 to 2000, allowing people who were victims of human rights abuses between 1960 and 1994 to have their cases heard and dignity restored, as well as granting amnesty to some of those who had committed crimes in exchange for full disclosure?

Question 7

Although it has never been observed, the Earth’s inner core is believed to be primarily comprised of an alloy of what two metallic chemical elements?

Question 8

The board game Risk, in which players fight to conquer territory, includes several special themed editions, including versions in which players can conquer what two lands from famous works of literary fiction?

Question 9

Also known as Lewis’s trilemma, after it was discussed by the writer C.S. Lewis, what three words beginning with the letter L are used to describe the problem of deciding whether people who claim to be prophets are making things up, mentally insane, or might actually be a representation of a god?

Question 10

Of China’s seven statutory holidays across a calendar year, three have set dates as defined by the Gregorian calendar, namely January 1, May 1, and October 1 – which celebrate New Year’s Day, Labour Day, and National Day respectively. What other four holidays does the country celebrate based on the lunar calendar?

Round 4 points
(Maximum: 17)

Total points
(Maximum: 75)

Round 5

In Round 5, there is only one answer. The fewer 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.

The following are all species of what type of animal?

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: 85)