Quiz #104

According to Arab legend, for how many nights did Scheherazade tell King Shahriyâr stories with cliffhanger endings, thus piquing his curiosity enough to avoid execution?

Question 2

Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from international football on November 5 after 234 appearances and 146 goals across 23 years. In his announcement of the decision, what shirt number did he say it was time to ‘hand back’?

Question 3

In 2000, football governing body FIFA introduced the men’s Club World Cup to replace the previous European/South American Cup, thereby allowing clubs from around the world to compete. What is the only country from outside Europe that has had a team win the competition?

Question 4

How many moons are there in total across the four planets in the solar system closest to the sun?

Question 5

What are the Swedish Orange 3 skilling, Hawaiian Missionaries 2 cent blue, and the 81 para blue Romanian ‘cap de bour’, fictional versions of which are used as a plot device in the 1963 film Charade as a way to hide $250000 in plain sight?

Question 6

What two-word alliterative term is giving to the horror film subgenre in which discovered video tapes or other recordings of supposed real life events are used as a platform to tell a story, often involving supernatural beings or unexplained or horrific murders? Examples of films in the subgenre include Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and V/H/S.

Question 7

The men’s and women’s rugby league world cups will have their finals on November 15, with both featuring which same two nations?

Question 8

What three albums by US singer Madonna had a title single that reached number one in the US? One of the albums was released in 1984, another in 1989, and the third in 2000?

Question 9

In the children’s song ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’, what four other body parts appear in the lyrics? 

Question 10

Make the longest word possible from the following letters:  ABCEEKKNR

Round 1 points
(Maximum: 24)

Round 2

Question 1

What fruit is known in Japan as Unshū mikan (温州蜜柑) rather than the name of the Japanese district and town that gives it its English name?

Question 2

In mathematics, what name is given to a u- or n-shaped plane curve on a graph?

Question 3

What French-Canadian circus group was founded in Montreal in 1984 and has had its Mystère show in residency at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas since 1993 – one of many shows it now has in the city and on tour?

Question 4

Unlike the men’s professional golf tour, which has four majors played in either the US or UK, the women’s professional golf tour has five majors played in the US, UK, and which other European nation?

Question 5

Who was the last US President to directly succeed a two-term, 8 year presidency by a member of his own party?

Question 6

What type of alcoholic spirit is produced by the company Wray and Nephew?

Question 7

While the record for the longest regular direct bus journey in the world was the 50-day London to Calcutta bus that stopped operations in the 1970s, the current record is believed to be a five-day trip from South America’s Atlantic coast to its Pacific coast. Between which two major cities does it run?

Question 8

According to World Health Organisation data, what are the only three UN member states or permanent observers to have recorded zero official deaths from Covid-19 since the outbreak began at the end of 2019? One is a European microstate, and the other two Asian dictatorships known for their lack of transparency.

Question 9

According to the Yicai Global magazine’s tier system, which has been unofficially adopted by the country, what are China’s four ‘tier 1’ cities, defined as being major centres of population, commerce, and resources?

Question 10

Travelling from one bank of the Strait of Hormuz to the other, what eight countries have coastlines touching the Persian Gulf?

Round 2 points
(Maximum: 23)

Total points
(Maximum: 47)

Round 3

Question 1

What word completes the following clause in the opening line of a poem by the romantic poet Lord Byron: She walks in ___?

Question 2

Who was the leader of the Jacobite forces that fought – and lost – the Battle of Culloden near Inverness in 1746?

Question 3

More commonly associated with the plot of another folktale from the country, what identical act must a character do in the German stories Nägendümer, Dwarf Holzrührlein Bonneführlein, and Zirkzirk, as well as the Italian story Tarandandò, the Danish story Hottetejlil, and the English story Tom Tit Tot?

Question 4

Red brick terraced houses are a common architectural design in UK cities such as Manchester and Belfast. What chemical compound within the initial clay is responsible for the red hue in the bricks?

Question 5

Having been tracked down hiding in Argentina, what Nazi SS official who oversaw the creation of Jewish ghettos, the transport of Jews to concentration camps, and ultimately mass extermination during the Holocaust, was famously tried in Israel in 1961 and hanged in 1962, with his middle-aged besuited appearance at trial leading to the phrase ‘the banality of evil’? 

Question 6

What occurred on March 1, 1954 that led to the 23 crew members of the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru – Lucky Dragon 5 – becoming sick over the following days, with one dying after they reached port and the other 22 requiring 14 months in hospital?

Question 7

Which two empires were the main belligerents during the Siege of Plevna, which ran from July until December in 1877, with the city eventually falling but its resistance seen as important in securing European support that ensured the losing empire lasted another 45 years – longer than that of the winner?

Question 8

The 12 signs of the zodiac can be divided into water, fire, air, and earth signs. What are the three air signs?

Question 9

The Tony Awards reward excellence in theatre. What four ‘design’ categories are given to non-acting crew?

Question 10

In terms of fishing capture – that being non-aquaculture catch – the top ten fishing nations in the world by volume is dominated by Asian nations. Which five non-Asian nations, although one has territory in Asia, are also in the top ten?

Round 3 points
(Maximum: 20)

Total points
(Maximum: 67)

Round 4

Question 1

The US mid-term elections were held on November 3. As well as voting for candidates, Idaho had a non-binding vote to decide on a state gun. Which gun, which is said to ‘have won the west’, won the vote?

Question 2

Rejected by the ‘anti-Normanist’ theory, which argues that Slavic people had already established a nation in the area and were therefore the original Russians, the ‘Normanist’ theory about the origins of a Russian state argues that it began with the creation of Kievan Rus’, a nation ruled over by Prince Rurik and founded by Slavic people who had mixed with Varangian Rus’ tribes from which northern European nation?

Question 3

What was removed from confectionery company Cadbury and Aberdeenshire butcher HM Sheridan in 2024 with the arrival of a new British monarch; from chemists Boots and golf knitwear company Lyle and Scott in 2021 after the death of Prince Philip; and from luxury department store Harrods one month after owner Mohamed al Fayed accused the royal family of a secret plot that killed his son Dodi alongside Princess Diana?

Question 4

Dressed and given a wax head, the skeleton of which British utilitarian philosopher is displayed in a glass case in University College London’s student centre, having been donated by the philosopher as an ‘auto icon’ to be displayed as such in 1832?

Question 5

Labelled ‘the largest fugitive community’ in the nation’s history, with a population estimated to be between 11000 and 20000 people, the commune of Palmares, was established in 1605 by escaped slaves and marginalised indigenous or mixed race people in which country? It was destroyed by a Portuguese-led army in 1694 after 14 years of resistance.

Question 6

Of the three Olympic fencing formats, which is the only one in which the entire body is a valid target?

Question 7

Who are the only two people to have posthumously won an Academy Award in an acting category, one having won Best Actor in 1976, and the other Best Supporting Actor in 2008?

Question 8

In Christianity, a set of canonical hours exists across a day in which different prayers are held. What are the names of the three ‘major hours’ during which longer psalm readings are held, one at daybreak, one at sunset, and one that used to be pre-dawn but is now often held at any time of day?

Question 9

All native to the northern hemisphere, what are the four extant species of lynx – three of which are named for a geographic location?

Question 10

The Visit Britain tourism website includes itineraries and ideas for visiting shooting locations for six film franchises and what nine television series? Eight of the series are from the 21^st century, and one is from the 1990s – although a new version is due to start on December 3.

Round 4 points
(Maximum: 24)

Total points
(Maximum: 91)

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.

What actor has appeared in all of the following films?

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: 101)