Quiz #35

The 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street follows a fictional day in the life of which member of the band The Beatles?

Question 2

What night of the week has been the subject of songs by The Drifters, Elton John, Tom Waits, The Bay City Rollers, and Whigfield, amongst others?

Question 3

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, worth approximately $1.2 trillion, was established in the 1990s by which European country to invest the money stemming from its oil industry, which started in the 1960s?

Question 4

After what type of fish is a wide tie in bright colours, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s, named?

Question 5

Labelled a reverse of the computer game and TV series The Last of Us, American animation Common Side Effects sees two high school friends discover a rare example of what that can cure all human disease – only for human greed and vested interests to instead bring ruin?

Question 6

The rare congenital condition Diprosopus results in an organism being born with two what? Cats born with the condition are referred to as Janus cats.

Question 7

What are the two official national sports of Canada, one being for winter and one for summer?

Question 8

On the World Health Organisation’s list of Essential Medicines, the category ‘Non-opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines’ consists of what three common over-the-counter pain relief medications?

Question 9

In Hinduism, the Pancha Bhuta relates to what five classical elements – the same five classical elements that appear in ancient Greek philosophy?

Question 10

Make the longest word possible from the following letters: AEFKMORRW

Round 1 points
(Maximum: 25)

Round 2

Question 1

Opened in 2016, the 57km Gotthard Base Tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in the world. Through which mountain range does it run?

Question 2

Taken from Greek, and as used in the word hologram, what does the prefix ‘holo-’ mean?

Question 3

During oaths at the opening of 2023 New Zealand parliament, three Māori MP’s referred to which person as ‘Kīngi harehare’, a play on words that could be interpreted as either the person’s name or the word for scab?

Question 4

What was unusual about the BBC news broadcast on April 18, 1930?

Question 5

Last week the Buss family agreed to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball franchise to Mark Walter, who currently owns 27 per cent of what other Los Angeles-based sports franchise in America’s ‘Big Four’ leagues?

Question 6

Now owned by billionaire Elon Musk, the submarine car ‘Wet Nelly’ that featured in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me resembled a model of car built by which British auto manufacturer?

Question 7

Which two boroughs of New York are respectively the largest geographically and the largest by population?

Question 8

The victims of human sacrifice in around 1500, the three mummies known as the Children of Llullaillaco were found in 1999 at an elevation of nearly 7000m on Llullaillaco, a volcano on the border of which two South American countries?

Question 9

What are the three largest rainforests in the world?

Question 10

Although a pineapple jelly was once sold and is still advertised by some retailers, what are the seven flavours of jelly cubes currently sold by Hartley’s, the UK’s biggest selling jelly brand, per its official website?

Round 2 points
(Maximum: 20)

Total points
(Maximum: 45)

Round 3

Question 1

Which American industrialist wrote a 1922 essay called ‘Fear of Change’, in which he argued an aristocracy installed a fear of new ideas and asked ‘If our rich idlers are made to work for their bread and contribute something beside their ornamental presence to general good, will that be a disastrous change?’

Question 2

Film director Alfred Hitchcock is famous for cameos in his films. How did he appear in the film Lifeboat, which consists of nine characters – none played by Hitchcock – adrift in a boat?

Question 3

What 1973 song, since chosen for preservation by the US Library of Congress, is based on its singer’s time playing piano at the Executive Club bar in Los Angeles under the name Bill Martin?

Question 4

Pomace spirits, such as grappa and raki, are alcohols made with the pomace – of left overs – from what process?

Question 5

Long considered mute, scientific evidence has now shown that not only do many species of turtles make sound, but that unhatched baby turtles will make sounds heard by other unhatched turtles. The current scientific theory is that the unhatched turtles are communicating with each other about what?

Question 6

Homer’s The Iliad concludes with the burial of which Trojan prince, killed by Achilles?

Question 7

What are the physical causes of the two most common types of arthritis, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis?

Question 8

The latest film in the Predator franchise, Predator: Killer of Killers, sees the alien species capture human warriors who have defeated it across history and pit them in a battle royale. From what three periods of global history, all associated with conflict or great fighters, are these warriors taken?

Question 9

What are the three most used types of wood in IKEA products, comprising 53 per cent, 16 per cent, and 13 per cent of its wood use respectively?

Question 10

Although there are over 700 fables now associated with the Greek storyteller Aesop, the earliest extant version of the tales – based on lost earlier works – is by Phaedrus, whose work contained just over 100 fables. Excluding the undefined ‘ground-bird’, which 11 species of bird appear in titles of fables in the Phaedrus collection of Aesop’s Fables?

Round 3 points
(Maximum: 25)

Total points
(Maximum: 70)

Round 4

Question 1

What is a mangelwurzel?

Question 2

What titular character in a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat – herself based on a French tale – who dies of heartbreak for Sir Lancelot before floating dead in a boat down a river?

Question 3

By what name, starting with the same letter, does low cost clothing retailer Primark trade in its native Ireland, a name it could not use elsewhere due to a court case brought by a well-known US department store?

Question 4

What name was given to the walls built throughout Northern Ireland, primarily after 1969, intended to separate Protestant and Catholic communities?

Question 5

Which French author fought a duel against journalist Jean Lorrain in 1897 after the latter published a bad review and insinuated the author was having a homosexual affair? Nobody was hurt in the contest as both men – known Parisian dandies – missed their shots from 25 paces and then decided the matter concluded.

Question 6

The Cingino Dam in Italy has become known for what mammal that is able to climb on the footholds and small ledges of its near vertical surface, which it does in order to lick salt from the stones?

Question 7

Which two fruit trading companies became involved in a so-called banana war in the 1990s in Honduras, when a shortage of supply for export led to alleged seizure and destruction of each other’s produce?

Question 8

Which two US Presidents have a middle name that is also the surname of another US President?

Question 9

What are the six official working languages of the United Nations?

Question 10

Of the 16 sections of the Ipso Code of Practice guiding journalistic behaviour in the UK, nine of the sections have ‘public interest’ exceptions in which the journalist may forgo the guidance if it is deemed ‘in the public interest’. What seven examples of ‘public interest’ are given in the guidance?

Round 4 points
(Maximum: 23)

Total points
(Maximum: 93)

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.

Which musical artist or group has released all of the following albums?

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: 103)