Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 8
Films
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answer
Wynton Marsalis
1/ On which 1953 film poster are Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr sharing a passionate kiss on a beach?
From Here to Eternity
2/ Before being made famous by Scorsese in The Aviator, Howard Hughes was also the idea behind the character of Willard Whyte in which James Bond movie?
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
3/ Referring to a character in which film did Malcolm X say “When Butterfly McQueen went into her act, I felt like crawling under the rug”?
Gone with the Wind
4/ The title of what 1966 film comes from a dialog which expresses that if one had enough time and money, it would be possible to follow a season around the world, making it everlasting?
The Endless Summer
5/ Which 1972 movie musical has the distinction of winning the most Oscars (eight) without winning the Best Picture award?
Cabaret
6/ What military doctrine is central to the plot of the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove?
MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction
7/ In 2003, the American Film Institute came out with a list of 100 Heroes and Villains and a lawyer and a doctor topped the list in each respective category. Can you name the characters and/or actors?
Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mocking Bird) and Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs)
8/ In the movie Rain Man, what airline does Raymond insist on flying as it has a perfect safety record?
Qantas
9/ Truman Capote, who sold the film rights of his novella to Paramount Studios, wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the role of Holly Golightly. But when ___ ___ was cast instead of Marilyn, Capote remarked: “Paramount double-crossed me in every way …” Who took the place of Marilyn Monroe and what is the novella/movie?
Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s
10/ What period film of Stanley Kubrick that recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer is loosely based on a novel of William Makepeace Thackeray
Barry Lyndon
11/ Spoiler alert. Skip this question if you haven’t seen The Shawshank Redemption.
In the climax of that movie, which bombshell’s poster does warden Norton rip to reveal the secret behind the escape of Andy Dufresne?
Raquel Welch
12/ Which 1985 film starring Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and John Candy has a cult following among many generations of Peace Corps personnel?
Volunteers
13/ When he won an Oscar for Philadelphia, Tom Hanks gave a speech thanking two people and inspired the 1997 comedy In and Out. What is the missing word in the following excerpt from the speech?
“… two of the finest ___ Americans, two wonderful men that I had the good fortune to be associated with …”
“gay”
14/ Burkittsville in Maryland, USA gained notoriety in 1999 after the release of which ‘fake real’ film that supposedly took place there?
The Blair Witch Project
15/ What chilling 1968 film is set almost entirely in Bramford apartment building in New York City?
Rosemary’s Baby
16/ Tataouine in Tunisia was the setting for many scenes in the movies of which blockbuster franchise?
Star Wars
17/Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue was the inspiration for the character of Miranda Priestly in which surprise hit of 2006 set in the world of fashion?
The Devil Wears Prada
18/ What 2000 film tells the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for the Rolling Stone magazine while covering the rock band Stillwater?
Almost Famous
19/ You may be one if you know this answer! What is the only Hitchcock film to be remade by himself?
The Man Who Knew Too Much
20/ Who are Kambei Shimada, Katsushiro Okamoto, Gorobei Katayama, Shichiroji, Kyuzo, Heihachi Hayashida, and Kikuchiyo?
The samurai in The Seven Samurai
21/ Which epic 1960s film is unique in the sense that the only female featured in the entire film is a camel named Gladys?
Lawrence of Arabia
22 /I n which award winning 1990 movie is much of the dialog in the Lakota language?
Dances With Wolves
23/ Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming, USA features prominently in which landmark 1977 science fiction film?
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
24/ The producer of what 1970s film wanted to call it The Sidewalk Vigilante as he felt the title (which stayed) was too morbid?
Death Wish
25/ The 1973 Japanese film Lady Snowblood that is about a woman seeking vengeance upon her parents’ killers was the inspiration behind what 2000s 2-part blockbuster?
Kill Bill
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 9
General Knowledge
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answer
1/ Which capital city translates as ‘Capital’ in its native tongue?
Seoul (South Korea)
2/ Which fictional detective appeared for the first time in the 1977 book, Quiet as a Nun?
Jemima Shore (in the books by Antonia Fraser)
3/ Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport is a national airport in which city?
Little Rock
4/ Meghan is the second name of the Duchess of Sussex – what is her actual first name?
Rachel
5/ The Fall of Constantinople marked the end of which Empire?
Byzantine Empire
6/ What is the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet?
Mu
7/ The đồng has been the currency of which country since 1978?
Vietnam
8/ Which artist painted Girl with a Pearl Earring?
Johannes Vermeer
9/ How many letter ‘e’ tiles are there in Scrabble?
12
10/ The Fitzwilliam Museum is an art and antiquities museum in which city?
Cambridge
11/ What was the name of the inn in Treasure Island?
Admiral Benbow
12/ Which Hollywood actress, who died in 1990, was born Ruby Catheine Stevens?
Barbara Stanwyck
13/ Which city is the largest French-speaking city in the world?
Kinshasa
14/ Which Italian university, founded in 1088, is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world?
Bologna University
15/ Which city’s underground, locally known as subte, is the oldest underground system in the Southern Hemisphere?
Buenos Aires
16/ Who stood down from their Henley constituency at the 2001 election to be succeeded by new Member of Parliament Boris Johnson?
Michael Heseltine
17/ Who got married on November 21, 1990, in Bali, Indonesia, to discover years later that they were never officially married?
Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall
18/ What’s the name of the group of English writers in the early 20th century that included Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster as members?
The Bloomsbury Group
19/ Which dynasty ruled Egypt from 305 to 30 BC and was the last dynasty of ancient Egypt?
Ptolemaic dynasty
20/ Which dance is also the often used collective known for a group of rattlesnakes?
Rhumba
21/ Who in 1966 wrote the song “This Is My Song”, which became a Number One hit for Petula Clarke?
Charlie Chaplin
22/ The siege of Sidney Street in 1911 was a gunfight in the East End of London between a combined army and police force and two revolutionaries from which country?
Latvia
23/ Which US President was assassinated in 1881?
James Garfield
24/ Behind Everest and K2, what is the world’s 3rd highest mountain?
25/ At the first Academy Awards in 1929, which film won the award for Best Picture?
Kanchenjunga
Wings
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 10
Food & Drink
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answer
1/ Turkish city Gaziantep is widely regarded as the native city of what popular layered dessert?
Baklava
2/ In 1970, which fast-food chain became the first to offer a drive-through window?
Wendy’s
3/ Unlike conventional ales and lagers which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer’s yeasts, what type of beer brewed in Belgium is produced by spontaneous fermentation?
Lambic Beer
4/ Though the word ‘mutton’ is sometimes used to describe goat’s meat (especially in the Indian sub-continent), what is the actual term for it?
Chevon
5/ Which traditional Mexican dish, a spicy soup made with tripe is often thought of as a cure for a hangover?
Menudo
6/ Which Chinese dish named after a late Qing Dynasty official consists of diced marinated chicken stir-fried with roasted peanuts?
Kung Pao Chicken
7/ Because it is lethally poisonous if not done right, which Japanese dish prepared from the meat of pufferfish is the only delicacy officially forbidden to the Emperor of Japan, for his own safety?
Fugu
8/ One night during a trip, Lucrezia Borgia checked into an inn in the small town. The host was captivated by her beauty and couldn’t resist the urge to peek into her room through the keyhole. The bedroom was only lit by a few candles, and so he could merely see her navel. This pure and innocent vision was enough to send him into an ecstasy that inspired him to create something that night. The origin of what type of pasta dish is surrounded by this legend?
Tortellini
9/ What restaurant style of stir frying meats and vegetables over a large iron griddle actually originated in Taiwan, despite its name?
Mongolian barbecue
10/ The name of which extremely sweet cordial comes from the Japanese for green?
Midori
11/ If you have a sensitive stomach, then you should be well-versed with the Scoville scale. What does it measure?
Spicy heat of a chilli pepper
12/What is the name given to the citrus-marinated seafood that originated in Latin American countries?
Ceviche
13/ In the 18th century, the British East India Company introduced tonic water into the diet of soldiers in India to prevent malaria as it contains quinine. Because the tonic water was extremely bitter, what else was added to it to make it more palatable?
Gin
14/ After rice, wheat and maize (corn), what is the fourth largest food crop in the world?
Potato
15/ Which civilization has the earliest documented usage of chocolate as food or drink?
Mayan
16/ Which fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs and spices is used for many cocktails including the Martini and the Manhattan?
Vermouth
17/ What popular condiment in which egg yolk is the chief emulsifier originates from it being called as the ‘sauce of Mahon’?
Mayonnaise
18/ In a winery, ‘chaptalization’ is the addition of what substance to the unfermented grape mush?
Sugar
19/ Before his days as a saloon proprietor, he was known as a pickpocket and thief who often preyed on drunken bar patrons. He was later the bartender of a Chicago establishment that operated from 1896 to 1903 but kept up with his old ways. Who?
Micky Finn
20/ What is the style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meats are dry-rubbed with a fiery spice mixture?
Jerk
21/ If you savor Dragon Well, Spring Snail, Iron Goddess and Fur Peak, what are you a connoisseur of?
Teas, or more specifically Chinese Famous Teas
22/ What condiment that comes in pods is referred to as ‘The Queen of Spices’ in India?
Cardamom
23/What drink was called as ‘scandal broth’ by Sir Walter Scott in his book Peveril of the Peak because it was thought to stimulate gossip?
Tea
24/ What salad made from mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and basil is also the name of the town in Tuscany where Michelangelo was born?
25/ In 1913 after being treated to sumptuous meals, to which legendary French chef did Kaiser Wilhelm II say “I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the Emperor of Chefs”?
Caprese
Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935)
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 11
General Knowledge
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answer
1/ Known as ‘The Three Hundred and Thirty-five Year War’, which country was officially at war with the Isles of Scilly (located off the southwest coast of England) between 1651 and 1986?
The Netherlands
2/ Joshua Slocum was the first man to accomplish what between the years 1895 and 1898?
Sail solo around the world
3/ In which river did the RMS Empress of Ireland sink with a loss of 1,012 souls?
The St Lawrence River (29 May, 1914)
4/ A Churchillian expression and the name of an American jazz-rock band that played at the legendary Woodstock Festival. Four words.
Blood, Sweat and Tears
5/ Which four US Presidents or former Presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize? .
Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama
6/ Which 1873 repeater is known as ‘The Gun that Won the West’?
Winchester rifle
7/ What was the name of the chess playing computer that defeated World Champion Gary Kasparov in 1997?
Deep Blue
8/ Gavrilo Princip assassinated which man?
The Archduke Franz Ferdinand
9/ The unsuccessful US invasion of Cuba in April 1961 is known as what?
The Bay of Pigs
10/ Which superlative does one associate with the Anglo-Zanzibar War?
The shortest war in history. (38 min)
11/ With the exception of a few years in World War II, Indonesia was from the 17th century until 1945 a colony of which European country?
The Netherlands
12/ Nicknamed ‘Connie’, what was the most popular commercial airliner in the 1950s?
The Lockheed ‘Constellation’ or ‘Super Constellation’
13/ The Dickin Medal, bearing the words ‘We also serve’ and ‘For Gallantry’, is awarded to which members of the armed forces in the UK?
Animals
14/ Which part of India was occupied by the Japanese in WW II?
The Andaman Islands
15/ Which country sent its navy around the world to fight the Japanese in 1904?
Russia
16/ The ‘Tonton Macoute’ were the dreaded paramilitary police in which country?
Haiti
17/ Between the years 1992 and 2010, in which country were most journalists killed?
Iraq
18/ The majority of immigrants to the USA between 1820 and 1900 came from which two countries?
Ireland and Germany
19/ Which maritime explorer gave the Pacific ocean its name?
Ferdinand Magellan (el mar Pacifico)
20/Which two British aviators were the first to be able to say ‘yesterday I was in the Americas, today I’m in Europe’?
Alcock and Brown
21/ Which country’s flag, the oldest existing flag in the world, apparently fell out of the heavens during a battle on 15th June, 1219?
Denmark (The Dannebrog)
22/ Which three letters replaced CQD?
S.O.S.
23/ Majestic tea clippers brought tea ‘all the way from China’. The first to arrive at the London docks commanded the best prices. One such race in 1866 between clippers with memorable names like Taeping, Ariel, Fiery Cross, Thermopylae, Sir Lancelot and Cutty Sark attracted considerable public attention. All these ships left Foochow at the end of May for the 16,000 mile journey to London. The Taeping was the first to arrive. How many days did it take ?
99 Days
24/ What is the collective noun for tarot cards?
25/ The name of which artistic style translated means “rough or imperfect pearl”?
Arcana
Baroque
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 12
Music
Set by Isabelle Heward
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For the answer
1 Which English composer acted as an unpaid amanuensis to Delius from 1928?
Eric Fenby
2 Which BBC radio programme, first broadcast in 1955, has the theme tune ‘At the Sign of the Swinging Cymbal’?
Top of the Pops
3 The Hoboken catalogue covers the body of work of which composer?
Joseph Haydn
4 Which 1980s group had members which included Peter Skellern, Julian Lloyd Webber and Mary Hopkin?
Oasis
5 Which conductor, the BBC’s director of music, established the BBC Symphony Orchestra?
Adrian Boult
6 Which singer-songwriter has, in 2021, released re-recorded versions of their own albums ‘Fearless’ and ‘Red’?
Taylor Swift
7 Who composed the 19th century piece ‘The Skaters’ Waltz’?
Emil Waldteufel
8 A nominee for Academy Award for Best Original Song, ‘Georgy Girl’ has lyrics written by which British actor?
Jim Dale
9 Which piece of music by Prokofiev has been used as the theme for the British series ‘ The Apprentice’?
Dance of the Knights
10 By what name is the Belgian musician Roger Francois Jouret better known? The 1977 song with which he is most closely associated actually had no input from him
Plastic Bertrand
11 After Borodin’s death, which of his operas did Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov complete ?
Prince Igor
12 Which BBC television programme had the opening theme ‘I Wish I Knew’ by Billy Taylor?
The Film Programme
13 What is the missing one-act opera Il tabarro, ???, Gianni Schicchi?
SuorAngelica
14 The operetta ‘The Chocolate Soldier’ was based upon what play?
Arms and the Man
15 Which Australian ballet dancer played the Child Catcher in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’?
Robert Helpmann
16 Which Sheffield band has released albums entitled ‘Hysteria’, ‘Crash’ and ‘Octopus’?
Human League
17 Which American composer wrote ‘Different Trains’ in 1988?
Steve Reich
18 What is the professional name of the singer born Alecia Beth Moore?
Pink
19 Which brass instrument was played by Bix Beiderbecke?
Cornet
20 Which song, an Academy Award winner for Best Original Song for the film ‘Selma’, was recorded by Common and John Legend?
Glory
21 The Americans call it a quarter note, how is it usually known in Britain?
Crotchet
22 When Shostakovich composed a full orchestral score for the 1931 Soviet film ‘Alone’, which instrument, patented in 1928, was used in the score?
Theremin
23 Which collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan was also known as ‘The Gods Grown Old’?
Thespis
24 Better known as one half of a television detective pairing, he co-wrote a number of songs with Tommy Steele and Lionel Bart including ‘Little White Bull’ and ‘A Handful of Songs’. Who was he?
Mike Pratt
25 In which city is Teatro di San Carlo the world’s oldest continuously active venue for opera?
Naples
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 13
Geography
Set by Mel Kinsey
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For the answer
1/ The mighty Himalayas take the cake as far as the list of highest mountains goes; so, what is the highest peak outside of this range?
Mount Aconcagua
2/What gorge in the Ngorongoro area of Tanzania is considered the seat of humanity after the discovery of the earliest known specimens of modern man?
Olduvai Gorge
3/Upon seeing which stunning South American geographical feature did Eleanor Roosevelt say “Poor Niagara”
Iguazu Falls
4/The Shatt al-Arab waterway constitutes a part of the border between which countries?
Iran and Iraq
5/ What is also known as Qomolangma or Sagarmatha or Chomolungma in the native tongues of the people around it?
Mount Everest
6/ Jarbah island in the Mediterranean Sea is a popular tourist place which is said to be so idyllic that one forgets all sense of time there. This is attested by Homer who called it as what in his Odyssey?
Land of the lotus-eaters
7/ Which beautiful geographic feature can be shaped as Crescentic, Linear, Star, Dome, Parabolic, Longitudinal, Transverse and Reversing?
Sand dune
8/ Which country became the first sovereign state of the 21st century when Indonesia relinquished control on it in May 2002?
East Timor
9/ Three of the ten largest islands in the world belong to which country?
Canada
10/ What is the largest country in the world without permanent rivers?
Saudi Arabia
1/ Which national capital is the only city entirely built in the 20th century to be considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO?
Brasilia
12/ Which Peruvian city was the historic capital of the sun-worshipping Inca empire?
Cusco
13/ What is the geographic and historical term for the Western Asian peninsula which comprises about two-thirds of Turkey?
Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor
14/ After Russia, what is the second largest country in area amongst the former Soviet republics?
Kazakhstan
15/ Which tiny landlocked European country, also the smallest German-speaking country in the world, has bordering countries that are also landlocked?
Liechtenstein
16/ The city of DeKalb, Illinois is credited as the first manufacturing site of what ‘restraining’ invention that revolutionized ranching in the US?
Barbed wire
17/ Flemish Cap, an area of shallow waters in the north Atlantic east of Newfoundland and Labrador is featured in which 2000 film as the final fishing grounds for Billy Tyne (George Clooney) and his crew?
The Perfect Storm
18/ Established in 1974 in a self-governing territory, which is the largest national park in the world with an area of 972,000 sq kms (375,000 square miles)?
Northeast Greenland National Park
19/ Among US states with the highest number of national parks, California and Alaska come in first with 8 each. Which state comes next with 5 of them?
Utha
20/ In which country is the Albert Canal?
Belgium
21/ South Ossetia, and Abkhazia are breakaway republics of which country?
Georgia
22/ Lake Eyre is the biggest lake in which country?
Australia
23/ Which islands are located in the middle of the Bering Strait between mainland Alaska and Siberia?
Diomede Islands
24/ In which country would you find Sihanoukville, Battambang and Siam Reap?
Cambodia
25/ Which mountain range stretches from the town of Seesen in northwest Germany to Eisleben in the east.
The Harz mountains
Mastermind Club
Quiz 2021
Number 14
General Knowledge
Set by Maya Davis
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For the answer
- Who are the occupants of 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan?
Wallace & Gromit
2. Where might you regularly see a Throbber
When starting up a computer – it’s the whirly revolving thing)
3. Whom did Arlene Foster succeed as DUP leader?
Peter Robinson
4. Which fictional character’s forenames are Jules Amédée François?
Inspector Maigret
5. The fossils Kairuku grebneffi and Kairuku Waitaki recently discovered in New Zealand are extinct species of which creature?
Penguin
6. TENS pens are used by some people for pain relief. For what does TENS stand?
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
7. The main title of the comic SF subtitled ‘or How we found the Bishop’s Bird Stump’ is the less-quoted end of the title of an earlier comic novel about friends going on holiday. What is the full title of the original comic novel?
Three Men in a Boat –
to say nothing of the dog’
8. Goyahkla was born in the USA on June 16, 1829 but is better known under another name. Under what circumstances did his namesake make news in 2021?
Goyahkla is better known as Geronimo – the name of the alpaca put down after allegedly testing positive for bovine TB)
9. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born on 10 June 1921 on the island of Corfu. His birth certificate shows his birth date as 28 May 1921. Why the discrepancy?
Difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars
10. What is particularly unusual about the Sauteur d’Alfort breed of domestic rabbit?
It can’t hop – it walks in a sort of ‘handstand’ on its front legs instead
11. In which serialised novel do we find two verses of Ode to an Expiring Frog by Mrs Leo Hunter?
Pickwick Papers
12. Give the title of the work by Sullivan, based on a poem by Longfellow, whose characters include Lucifer, Elsie and Prince Henry.
The Golden Legend
13. Which novelist once lived in a house (now a hotel) which shares its name with a species of ‘ox-headed’ duck?
(Ian Fleming – the house and duck are both called Goldeneye, of the genus Bucephala = ox-head, which also includes the duck species Bufflehead and Barrow’s Goldeneye
14. Where might Questions to the Heavens be answered in part by Perseverance and Hope?
Mars – the three missions to Mars in February 2021
15. Which pasta shape has a name derived from the Italian for ‘reed’?
Cannelloni – from ‘canna’
16. Which organisation, founded in the UK in 2015, has a name which can be translated into English as ‘Spirit of Creation’ or ‘wonderful’?
Chineke! foundation and orchestras
17. Where would you normally see Alexander’s Band?
Between the two bows of a double rainbow
18. Which magenta-coloured item returned to Britain for the first time in 143 years at a cost of $8.3 million?
British Guiana 1c magenta postage stamp, bought at auction by Stanley Gibbons – the world’s rarest stamp
19/ When is Star Wars Day?
May 4th
20. A beagle/pug cross is usually called a puggle – but in what actual species is this name given to the young?
Any of the species of Echidna – and sometimes, by extension, the Platypus
21. Give either the Latin or the Greek word for the ‘wand’ typically carried by Mercury/Hermes in Classical mythology.
Caduceus/ Kerykion
22. Z & W in birds are the equivalent to what in humans?
X &Y chromosomes
23. The titles of two of the original Carry On films are commands other than ‘Carry on’. Which are they?
Don’t Lose Your Head & Follow that Camel
24. Which fierce creature was rendered harmless by St Francis and then mourned by the people of Gubbio when it died?
A Wolf
25. Which fictional character ‘was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner. . . ‘.
Robinson Crusoe