Mastermind Club
Quiz 2024- 11
General Knowledge
Set by Maya Davis
Answers
1/Which blue bird was crossed out in 2023?
Twitter renamed as X
2/Which date each year has been officially designated Pi Day?
14th March = 3.14 in American date notation)
3/What is the better-known name of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV?
Akhnaton
4/Two of Henry VIII’s wives had been married before he married them. Which two?
Katherine of Aragon and Catherine Parr
5/ Which saint besides St Patrick is celebrated on 17th March, and of what is this saint the patron?
St Gertrude of Nivelles, patron saint of cats & cat lovers.
6/According to Manet, which British beer is available in the bar at the Folies-Bergère?
Bass – in bottles – recognisable by the red triangle
7/A huge fossil discovered in Kimmeridge in Dorset was featured in a programme presented by Sir David Attenborough. To what group of creatures did it belong?
Pliosaur
8/Shyamala Gopalan is the parent of which prominent political figure?
Kamala Harris
9/Rore, Willaert, Lassus and Byrd have all written settings of which Latin text by Savonarola?
Infelix Ego
10/Born in Tanzania, Magawa retired in 2021 and died in 2022, after receiving which medal in recognition of his work in Cambodia?
The Dickin Medal/PDSA Medal – Magawa was a pouched rat trained to detect landmines.
11/In the Monty Python ‘Dead Parrot’ sketch, what (allegedly) is the breed of parrot sold to the complainant?
Norwegian Blue
12/Under what name is Isabella Bomfree (or Baumfree) better known?
Sojourner Truth
13/Which traditional pantomime character is the son of a widowed washerwoman?
Aladdin
14/What is the European equivalent of 999?
112
15/What origin do the Kurosawa film Ran and Jane Smiley’s novel A Thousand Acres have in common?
They are both reworkings of Shakespeare’s King Lear – itself a retelling of the biography of Leir in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain
16/Jon Arbuckle is the human companion of which fictional cat?
Garfield
17/What is the new name of the London overground line which runs between Liverpool Street and Enfield Town?
Weaver Line
18/Which Dad’s Army actor previously had a West End hit with his play The Ghost Train?
Arnold Ridley, who played Private Godfrey
19/Who was the original owner of the false teeth which fetched £18,000 at an auction in Cheltenham in February 2024?
Sir Winston Churchill
20/Where in the human body would you find otoliths?
In the ear
21/Which James Bond villain shares his surname with a North London architect?
Goldfinger
22/What do Darius 1 of Persia, Catherine Higham, Elvira Condomine and Sir Roderick Murgatroyd have in common?
They all appear as ghosts – Darius in Aeschylus’ Persians, Catherine Higham is Kitty in Ghosts, Elvira is the ghost in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit and Sir Roderick is one of the ghosts in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore.
23/Who is ‘The girl with the enamel eyes’?
The doll in Delibes’ ballet Coppélia – imitated by the character Swanilda
24/Which state of the USA has a name that suggests its full of flowers?
Florida
25/Which sea area is connected with the ship on which Darwin travelled to the Galapagos archipelago?
Fitzroy – he was the captain of Beagle