Geographical Names       Set by Stewart Cross

1. Which European capital city was known as Pressburg?    Bratislava

2. By what name was the country of Benin previously known?  Dohmey

3. The French city of Aix-la-Chapelle, no longer in France, is now called what? Aachen

4. Luguvalium is the Roman name for which British city?   Carlisle

5. York was the previous name of which major North American city?   Toronto

6. What was the colonial name of Jakarta, capital of Indonesia?   Batavia

7. Basutoland has become which modern African country?   Lesotho

8. Cadman’s Cottage is reputed to be the oldest building in which antipodean city?  Sydney

9. Canton City is the alternative name for which major Chinese city with a population of nearly 13 million?    Guangzhou

10. The Russian city of Molotov was renamed what in 1957?   Perm

11. Lourenco Marques was the old name for which African capital city?  Maputo

12. The Indian holy city of Benares has been renamed what?    Varanasi

13. Astana, the capital of Kazakhtsan has been renamed as what?  Nur Sultan

14. Which 2 countries did the Gilbert and Ellice Islands become in 1976?     Kiribati (Gilberts) and Tuvalu (Ellices)

15. By what alternative and older name, is the Indonesian island of Sulawesi known?    Celebes

16. The Venetian town of Ragusa is the old name for which Adriatic city?  Dubrovnik

17. Which Balkan city was renamed Uskub by the Ottomans in 1392, a name that was recognised for some time across Europe?     Skopje

18. The old Italian port of Leghorn is now known as what?  Livorno

19. Copperopolis is the nickname of which British city?   Swansea

20. Aquae Sextiae is the Roman name for which French city?  Aix-en-Provence

                                                                       Foreign Language Films      Set by Mel Kinsey

                                                                       From the description can you name the film?

1/  Unforgettable  underwater and claustrophobic  epic from Wofgang Peterson: story of that of a U96 submarine whose mission is to  hunt down allied ships.     Das Boot

2/  One letter title of Costa-Gavras’s classic political thriller set in Greece.   Z

3/  The only Russian  film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, this 1957 film is the story of a wartime romance about two lovers who are seperated  by WWII .   The Cranes are Flying

4/ This sensuous 1993 Vietnamese film that follows the life of  a young girl named Mui.       The Scent of Green Papaya

5/   Robert Bresson’s 1959 French drama that tells the story of Michel who is obsesssed with a particular style of stealing    Pickpocket

6/  Czechoslovak masterpiece about the Ayranisation programme a  small town during WWII  and one of the greatest movies made about the holocaust.: the protagonist takes over a Jewish shop of an old woman.   The Shop on Main Stree

7/ This 1952 Italian story of the title character who desperately tries to keep his residence against all odds is likely to stay with you forever.  Umberto D

8/ Clue:1957 Hindi film that was India’s first entry to the Oscars; the titular character represents India as a nation in the aftermath of independence.    Mother India

9/ 1972 West German adventure film written and directed by Werner Herzog that stars Klaus Kinski stars in the title role of a Spanish soldier who leads a group of conquistadores down the Amazon River in search of El Dorado.                                          Aguirre, the Wrath of God

10/ 1987 work of Wim Wenders that is about angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of humans. One of them falls in love with a trapeze artist and chooses to become human.     Wings of Desire

11/ Audrey Tautao was probably born to play the title role in this 2001 whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre.    Amélie

12/ Kurosawa’s 1985 film that is a loose adaptation of King Lear.      Ran

13/ :Fellini’s 1957 work that stars his wife and muse Giulietta Masina as a prostitute.  Nights of Cabiria

14/ This 1920 horror classic from Germany tells the story of a titular doctor and his sidekick Cesare in the village of Holstenwall; said to have introduced the twist ending in world cinema.       The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

15/ Game of chess with death – enough said.   The Seventh Seal

16/ This raunchy 2001 Mexican coming-of-age teen flick is about two boys who take a road trip with an older woman.                     Y Tu Mamá También

17/ This 1934 work of Leni Riefenstahl is one of the best-known examples of propaganda in film history; shows mass parades and the return of Germany as a great power, with Hitler as the True German Leader.  Triumph of the Will

18/ Beautiful 1966 coming-of-age story about a boy working at a train station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during WWII, he holds a platonic love for a pretty young conductor.    Closely Watched Trains

19/ This 1928 work of Carl Dreyer is a historic epic about a much-loved French heroine.        The Passion of Joan of Arc

20/ This 1945 all-time great French movie depicts the art scene of the 19th century and was once voted the ‘Best French Film Ever’ in 1995; also known for its legendary making during the German occupation of the country during WWII.     Children of Paradise

                                                                            Jane Austen and Her Works    Set by Mel Kinsey

1/ What is Mr. Darcy’s annual income?   £10,000  per year

2/ Who is he oldest woman in a Jane Austen novel, to find a husband?  Miss Taylor in Emma

3/  What character owns the estate Combe Magna?   John Willoughby

4/  In the novel Emma, what is the name of  Mr. Woodhouse’s apothecary?   Mr.Perry

5/  How old is Catherne Morland at the begining of Noerthanger Abbey Seventeen

6/  In Pride and Predjudice which is the tallest Bennet daughter?   Lydia

7/  How many novels did Jane Austen publish during her lifetime?  Four

8/  In the novel Emma what is Mr.Woodhouse’s other daughters name?   Isabella

9/  Besides London what is the primary setting of  Sense and Sensibility?   Devon

10/ In Pride and Predjudice how many reasons does Mr.Collins have for wanting to marry, when he makes his first proposal? Three

11/ What family own the Abbey, that gives the novel  Northanger Abbey its title?  Tilney

12/ From which Jane Austen novel does this quotation come from:”A ladies imagination is very rapid, it jumps from admiration to love, in a moment”  Pride and Predjudice

13/ In the novel Emma what is Mrs.Elton’s maiden name?   Hawkins

14/  In the novel Persuasion, what are the names of the Musgove sisters?   Louisa and Henrietta

15/ In Pride and Predjudice what was the name of Georgina’s former governess, who conspired with Mr. Whickham?  Mrs.Younge

16/ In the novel Mansfield Park what Shakespeare play does Henry Crawford read out loud  to Fanny?  Henry VIII

17/ What pen name did Jane Austen use?    A Lady

18/  In the novel Sense and Sensibility  for how long are Lucy and Edward secretly engaged, before Elenor learns of their engagement?   Four Years

19/  Which Jane Austen character says the following quotation, “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more”?                 Mr. Knightley

20/ In the novel Pride and Predjudice where is the first Ball held?   Meryton Assembly

21/ In the novel Emma what is the age difference between Mr.Knightley and Emma?   Sixteen years

22/  In the novel Mansfield Park  how many siblings does Fanny have?   Ten

23/  How does Captain Wentworth sign his letter to Ann in the novel Persuasion?   F.W.

24/ Which two Jane Austin novels were published after her death?    Northanger Abbey and Persusion

                                                                             “Who am I?”  Set by Maya Davis

                                Identify the following famous people from the potted biographical clues. All are dead.

1. During my time in the convent I joined at the age of 15, I wrote about science and medical topics as well as religious ones,  discussing at length the importance of the use  of hops in brewing beer. But I’m better known for my musicianship and my spiritual life.           Hildegard of Bingen

2. A former teacher, examiner and official at an examination board, I set crosswordsunder the pseudonym Codex.  I’m most famous for my crime novels.    Colin Dexter

3. Until I inherited my better-known title from my father, I was plain old Pierre de Frédy, a Law graduate of ‘Sciences Po’ in Paris.  My interest in the role ofsport in education, enhanced by a visit to a famous English public school, led me torevive an ancient Greek sporting event.     Baron Pierre de Coubertin

4. Although I was born in Jamaica, my father was a Scotsman called James Grant. During the Crimean war I nursed injured soldiers at a facility I established near Balaclava. I’m better known under my married name. Mary Seacole

5. The sentence imposed on me by the Inquisition for publishing the result of my astronomical observations was revoked by Pope John Paul II in 1992     Galileo Galilei

6. Although an essential piece of safety equipment for seafarers is named after me,there’s no evidence that I was ever a passenger in a lifeboat. But I could come up with famous sexual innuendos both off and on screen. Why not pay me a visit?   Mae West

7. I famously escaped from my enemies by sea, disguised as a ladies’ maid called‘ Betty Burke’. Some would say that wasn’t the first time I’d pretended to be someone I wasn’t, but I could have changed the course of UK history . Charles Edward Stuart, the ‘Young Pretender’ or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’.

8. One of the casualties of the plague in London in 1543, I’m best known for the many portraits I painted –  especially of a ruthless overweight man with a bad legulcer (and some of the famous victims of his changes of mind).    Hans Holbein the Younger

9. Allegedly I was killed in Greece over 2000 years ago when an eagle dropped a tortoise on my bald head, – but by then I’d  written a lot of plays  only seven of which survive.    Aeschylus

10. I was really good at maths and worked with the Lucasian professor of maths at Cambridge on his revolutionary invention.  My poet dad probably wouldn’t have understood anything I’d written. I’ve even appeared as a character in Doctor Who. Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace.

11. I’m best known as one of the many Irishmen prominent in English theatre, with my best known satirical works still performed today known satirical works still performed today. I was also a prominent Whig MP for 32 years. I lost my original seat in 1806 after the voters thought I’d insulted the local shoe trade in what I thought was a really witty toast, but managed to get elected to two other constituencies.     Richard Brinsley Sheridan. (For those who are wondering about the toast– it was ‘May the trade of Stafford be trod underfoot by all the world.’ The locals didn’t get it.) 

12. My main claim to fame is a series of children’s books about an elephant, and I’m glad my son carried on writing about my hero after my death.  I wasn’t really well known in English speaking countries until A. A. Milne intervened and persuaded my publishers to bring the books out in English.    Jean de Brunhoff, creator of Babar the little elephant.

13. Two of my compositions, a light opera called Daisy and an oratorio called Dorothea, were favourably received but nobody remembers them now. But lots of people know what I looked like from the neck up – they can see my bust in August and September.   Sir Henry Wood, whose bust is displayed during the Proms.

14. My first husband was a French Duke who became King of France. My second husband was King of England, as were both my sons. I acted as regent for my older son during the Crusades. Having led a couple of armies myself, I’d probably have made a better commander than either of my sons. My second marriage was in part the subject of a successful film.     Eleanor of Aquitaine.

15. I qualified as a doctor, but my patients were probably relieved that they didn’t get to see me much. I seem to have spent most of my time wearing white and either throwing or walloping a ball.  That’s probably why I never had time to shave.  W. G. Grace 

16. I succeeded my father as Emperor in 1627.  I wasn’t actually much good at kkeping my empire intact, and i’m far better known     for a very personal project -probably the most photogenic building in the world.       Shah Jahan

17. Born in Kent, I had a colourful life and spent time both in what was then Surinam and, after my husbands death in the Netherlands. My time in Surinam is featuredi n my best-known novel but during my life I was more famous – or should that be notorious? – for my work as a spy and my very raunchy plays.    Aphra Behn 

18. A letter some people claim I wrote may have changed the course of British politics. Certainly it was one weapon used against a Labour government during an election campaign in the early 20th century.    Grigori Zinoviev

19. Unusually literate for a respectable young lady in 18th century Virginia, I was married twice and outlived both of my husbands as well as my four children by my first husband.  Nobody much remembers my first husband –he was very rich but not very important.  Thanks to my second husband, I was sometimes nicknamed‘ Lady Presidentess.’ The more official ‘Flotus’ didn’t come in till later.    Martha Washington
20. Given that Shakespeare, many Commedia dell’ Arte actors and Talbot Rothwell 
have all adapted my plays, I’m surprised nobody knows much about my life. Maybe, like most of my main characters, I was just a slave. And, like everyone else in the world at the time, I didn’t speak English.    Plautus   

                                                                          Art and Architecture   Set by Mel Kinsey

1/ The characteristic style of which artist  featuring elongated faces ? He died of tuberculous meningitis at the age of 35. Nearly a century later, one of his work would sell for US$170 million.     Amedeo Modigliani

2/ Coined by the British critic Reyner Banham in a 1966 book, what term is given to the architectural movement that flourished from the 1950s-70s, characterised by massive, fortress-like constructions with predominance of exposed concrete? Noted exponents include Erno Goldfinger and Paul Rudolph.   Brutalism

3/ Which term, deriving from the Spanish/ Portuguese for `an imperfect pearl’, is generally used to refer to the period in Western European art from around 1600 to 1750?   Baroque

4/ Designed by the architect Johan Sigfrid Siren and constructed between 1926-31, the Eduskuntatalo is the parliamentary building located in which capital city?      Helsinki

5/ The 1964 musical ‘Fiddler On The Roof’ takes its title from a 1912 painting by which artist, born 1887 in present-day Belarus?   Marc Chagall

6/ Designed by architect Adrian Smith (who also designed the Burj Khalifa), the record-breaking lkm-tall building, initially called the Kingdom Tower, is currently under construction in which city?    Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)

7/ Which Post-Impressionist artist painted a series of more than 80 paintings of Mt. Sainte-Victoire, which he could see from his house in Aix-en-Provence?   Paul Cezanne

8/  In church architecture, what term denotes the transverse section that lies across the main body (nave) of the building, thereby forming the shape of a cross with it?    Transept

9/  Influenced by John Constable, which 19th-century art movement took its name from a village in north-central France, near the Forest of Fontainebleau? The painters in this movement (e.g. Jean-Francois Millet, ‘The Gleaners’) aimed for realism, rather than the Romanticism which dominated that era.   The Barbizon School

10/ Coined by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, what term denotes the movement which was an offshoot of Cubism that focused more on lyrical abstraction and bright colours? Seen as a transition from Cubism to abstract art, its key exponents include Robert Delaunay and Frantisek Kupka    Orphism

11/ The Ninth Wave’ (1850) is the best-known work of which Russian artist specialising in marine themes? The title refers to the nautical belief that waves grow larger and larger in a series up to the largest (the Th wave), at which point the cycle starts again.  Ivan Aivazovsky

12/  Which 16th-century Venetian architect, author of ‘The Four Books of Architecture’, gives his name to an architectural style that strongly emphasizes the symmetry, values and perspectives of classical Roman & Greek temples? Examples of its influence include Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia.  Andrea Palladio

13/ The 1718 painting ‘The Embarkation for Cythera’ depicts a party of young people enthusiastically leaving for Cythera — an island off the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese which was the mythical birthplace and abode of Aphrodite. Who is the painter?         Jean-Antoine Watteau

14/ Which American sculptor of the Pop Art movement is noted for his public art installations featuring very large replicas of mundane everyday objects? Many of these works were made in collaboration with Coosje van Bruggen, his wife of 32 years who passed away in 2009.   Claes Oldenburg

15.  Born 1240, which Florentine painter and mosaic-creator is generally regarded as one of the first Italian painters to break away from the Byzantine style? According to Vasari, he was the teacher of Giotto, who went on to surpass his accomplishments. His works include ‘The Santa Trinita Maesta’, now in the Uffizi.    Cimabue

16/   One of the four canonical painting modes of Renaissance art, which word denotes the fine shading that produces soft & imperceptible transitions between colour and tones., i.e. without lines or borders from light to dark areas. Most commonly associated with Leonardo da Vinci, it derives from the Italian for ‘to evaporate like smoke’.   Sfumato

17/ Lord Byron called it his favorite painting because of the ambiguity of its subject matter and symbolism. In Neil Gaiman’s comic The Sandman : The Wake’, it hangs in the hall of the Dream King. Which Renaissance artist painted the piece entitled The Tempest’, between 1506 to 1508?  Giorgione

18/  In classical architecture, what term denotes the lowest part of an entablature, below the cornice and the frieze? It is the beam that rests on the capitals of the columns, and derives its name from a Greek and Latin word, which combined means `main beam’.   Architrave

19/  The rivalry between Delacroix and which other artist is said to embody the conflict between traditional neoclassicism and non-conformist Romanticism? Noted works of his include `Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne’, ‘Oedipus and the Sphinx’ and The Valpincon Bather’.      Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

20/  Which Russian painter and art theorist, born 1878 near Kiev, was the founder of the avant-garde Suprematist movement in modern art? It focused on basic geometric forms (e.g. circles, squares and lines) which are painted in a limited range of colours, as illustrated in his 1916 painting ‘Suprematism’.   Kazimir Malevich

21/  Painted in 1819/20, Two Men Contemplating the Moon’ by the German Romantic landscape artist Caspar David Friedrich was acknowledged (by its writer) as the main inspiration behind which major 20th-century work of literature?                                  Waiting For Godot’ by Samule Beckett

22/   A sequence of frescoes in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, ‘The History of the True Cross’ is a work by which painter of the Early Renaissance born in Sansepolcro in 1415? Another of his noted work is the Montefeltro/ Brera Altarpiece (1472-74).     Piero della Francesca

23/ Founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919, the Bauhaus art school moved to which city at the junction of the Elbe and Mulde in 1925?   Dessau

24/ In Christian art, what name is given to a depiction (often in sculpture) of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus?  Pieta

25/  Georges Seurat’s famous pointillistic painting ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte’ features 48 people, 8 boats, 3 dogs and one other animal of which species?   A Monkey

                                                                                  History    Set by Mel Kinsey

1/ Which king constructed a series of twelve stone monuments down the east of England, marking the nightly resting places of the body on its way back to London?   Edward I (Eleanor’s Crosses – after Eleanor of Castile)

2/Which President of the United States was nicknamed ‘Old Tippecanoe’, for leading military forces against the American
 Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811?   William Henry Harrison 
 
3.The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (or Chalons) in 451 AD saw a combined Roman and Visigothic force defeat the army of which 
military leader?   Attila the Hun
4/ The turbulent period in Chinese history known as the ‘Three Kingdoms’ followed the collapse of which dynasty in AD 220?
Han dynasty
5/ Which English king defeated the Great Heathen Army led by  Guthrum (King of the Danish Vikings) at the Battle of Edington 
in 878 AD?  Alfred the Great
6/ A political scandal that broke during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the Iran-ontra Affair saw the administration secretly selling arms to Iran in order to fund the Contra rebels in which Central American country?  Nicaragua
7/On 3rd February 1960, the British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan made his famous `Wind of Change’ speech in which city? It 
includes the quote, ‘The winds of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national 
consciousness is a political fact.’   Cape Town, South Africa 
 
8/  Described by Hitler as the ‘man with the iron heart’, which Nazi leader rose to the rank of SS Obergruppenfuhrer (just below Himmler) and was one of the chief architects of the Final Solution? He was assassinated in 1942 by British trained 
Czechoslovak soldiers. In revenge, the Czech village of Lidice wasrazed to the ground, with all males above the age of 15 shot by the
 Nazis.    Reinhard Heydrich
 

9/ Venerated as the ‘mother of modern China’, Mdm. Song Qingling, who died in 1981, was the wife of which historical figure (who was 26 years her senior)? He would die of liver cancer in 1925, only ten years after they married.   Sun Yat Sen

10. Which two word term, named after a castle in the Swedish province of Smaland, is given to the political arrangement which
 brought together the Scandinavian nations from 1397 to 1523? Primarily an attempt to pre-empt German expansion into the Baltics
 via the Hanseatic League, it was initially established under the rule of Queen Margaret I of Denmark.    Kalmar Union
 
11/ Taking place in 1127, the Humiliation of Jingkang refers to the incident when forces of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty sacked the
 capital Bianjing and captured the Emperor Qinzong (along with his father, Emperor Huizong) of which Chinese dynasty?       

Song Dynasty 

 12. Taken on February 23, 1945 by the Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph shows marines raising the US flag atop Mt. Surabichi during which major battle of the war in the Pacific?   Battle of Iwo Jima

13/ From 1924 to 1991, Yekaterinburg – Russia’s fourth largest city- was renamed after which Bolshevik party leader who allegedly 
ordered the massacre of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in July 1918? He died in 1919, probably of the influenza epidemic after a political visit to Oryol.    Yakov Sverdlov (Sverdlovsk)
 
14. Thought to be a variant of an autoimmune non-scarring hair loss that selectively affects pigmented hairs while sparing white  hairs and triggered by emotional stress such as extreme sorrow or fear, this sudden whitening of one’s hair is known as
 …….Syndrome, whose hair was witnessed to turn stark white after her ill-fated flight to Varennes?   Marie Antionette
 
15. Signed on 31st May, 1902, the Treaty of Vereeniging brought an end to which military conflict?    The (2nd) Boer War
 

16/ Born around 638 BC, which Athenian statesman is noted for his series of ultimately unsuccessful reform attempts, and whom apparently advised the mega-rich king Croesus of Lydia that, ‘Count no man happy until he be dead’?   Solon

17 /Dying of fever in the year 410 AD in Cosenza, which ruler’s followers  allegedly diverted the course of the Busento River temporarily so that he could be buried under the riverbed?     Alaric I of the Visigoths

18. Located on the Via Sacra in Rome, this monument was erected in AD 82 by Domitian to commemorate the military victories of which Emperor, his brother and predecessor? It is the inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.   Titus

19. Which American War of Independance figure is this? As the leading general during the Battle of Saratoga, he accepted the surrender of the British under John Burgoyne. Three years later (1780), he would be at the receiving end of a humiliating defeat atthe Battle of Camden. His perceived role in the Conway Cabal, which sought to discredit and replace Washington, further clouds his historical standing.   Horatio Gates

20/ Born 181 AD, which chancellor of the state Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period is considered the greatest military strategist of his era? Known by the nickname of Wolong (Crouching Dragon), he engineered the victory at the Battle of Chibi (Flaming Cliffs), but was ultimately unsuccessful in his quest to reunite China after failing to defeat the Wei state despite launching five massive Northern Expeditions.    Zhuge Liang/ Kong Ming

21/ Which city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until its collapse in 476? It then served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths until it was reconquered in 540 by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.  Ravenna
 
22. Which two word rhyming term, translating as ‘renovation’, refers to the economic reforms initiated in Vietnam in 1986 with the goal of creating a ‘socialist oriented market economy’? It was strongly advocated by Nguyen Van Linh, who became general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in that same year, and widely considered Vietnam’s version of Gorbachev.  Doi Moi
 

23/ Portrayed by Ivan Kaye in the 2013 film ‘Hammer of the Gods’, which Viking warrior led the Great Heathen Army that invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England from 865 onwards? His peculiar epithet is said to derive from the possibility of him suffering from the hereditary condition known as osteogenesis imperfecta.   Ivar/ Imar/ Hyngwar (the Boneless)

24/ Which ancient Athenian orator, likened by Longinus to a blazing thunder, devoted most of his productive life to opposing the expansion of Macedon under Philip II and later Alexander the Great? In 330 BC, he delivered his most brilliant speech ‘On The Crown’ attacking those who would have preferred peace with Macedon.   Demosthenes

25/ Delivered at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which senator from Nebraska made his famous ‘Cross of Gold’ 
speech in which he decried the adoption of the gold standard? The speech propelled him to become the candidate in the 1900

 presidential election, in which he was defeated by William McKinley.     William Jennings Bryan