Designed to be played in teams…Test your brain with some posing questions I wrote some time ago for the Sunderland Echo Quiz League!
Round 1
1. Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish sailor who spent 4 years as a castaway after being marooned on an island in the South Pacific, is said to have been the inspiration for which classic 18th century novel? |
Robinson Crusoe |
2. What, rather ironically, was the profession of Maurice Gatsonides, the inventor of the speed camera? |
Rally Driver (Accept Racing Driver or similar) |
3. From 1997 until 2010 only three Labour politicians were constant members of the Cabinet. Two were Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. Who was the third? |
Jack Straw |
4. Born in 1809, which composers major works include the “Reformation Symphony”, “Songs Without Words” and the Elijah Oratorio?
|
Felix Mendelssohn |
Round 2
1. What is the original capital and oldest city of Finland? |
Turku |
2. On Television he is perhaps best remembered as the presenter of 1960’s pop music show “Thank Your Lucky Stars”. Who is the current presenter of “Sounds of the Sixties” on BBC Radio 2?
|
Brian Matthew |
3. Which U.S. State has shores on four of the five Great Lakes? |
Michigan |
4. The Aberdare Mountains are situated just south the equator in which African country? |
Kenya |
Questions B
Round 3
1. What word meaning ‘angry’ in Italian is used as the name of a spicy pasta sauce usually made with garlic, tomatoes and red chilli peppers? |
Arrabbiata |
2. Football: Who is currently the youngest manager in the English Premier League? |
Gary Monk |
3. Which musical, first performed off Broadway in 1967, and in London starring Paul Nicholas and Elaine Page, is the story of hippies protesting against conscription and the Vietnam War? |
Hair |
4. The last major Battle in World History in which the competing Monarchs led their armies, what name is given to the Battle that occurred in 1859 in which Napoleon III defeated the Austrian Army led by Franz Joseph I?
|
Battle of Solferino |
Round 4
1. In response to constantly being cited as the “New Olivier” which actor, born in Belfast in 1960, stated that he would “rather be known as the new Daffy Duck”?
|
Kenneth Brannagh |
2. ‘Squalene’, used in medicine and cosmetics, is obtained from the oil of which organ of the shark? |
Liver |
3. Who decided not to travel to Stockholm to receive his 1983 Noble Peace Prize because of criticism by his country’s government and a fear he would not be allowed to return home? |
Lech Walesa |
4. Which legendary Us actress was jailed for “Corrupting the morals of youth after her notorious 1926 Broadway Debut? |
Mae West |
Round 5
1. Two countries share a land border with Panama. Colombia is one, which is the other? |
Costa Rica |
2. In which children’s comic did the character “Roy Of The Rovers” first appear in September 1954 ? |
The Tiger |
3. Which British singer has released the UK No 1 album Plus and Multiply, denoted by their mathematical symbols, and the 2014 No 1 single “Sing”? |
Ed Sheeran |
4. Declaring himself “King of Four Sides of the World” when he took Babylon in 539BC, which Persian King and founder of the Achamenid Empire, allowed the exiled Jews to return to Judah?
|
Cyrus |
Questions B
Round 6
1. Which British cheese can be made in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire but not in the village which bears its name? |
Stilton |
2. Team Europe plays Team America for the Mosconi Cup in which sport or game? |
Pool (Nine Ball Pool) |
3. Which Australian State capital was known was Palmerston until 1911? |
Darwin |
4. In 1999, a deployment of Gurkhas along with British Forces were sent into which country after their declaration of independence from Indonesia triggered violence? |
East Timor |