Pyongyang is the capital of which country? North Korea

Spandau prison was located in which city?  Berlin

What is the largest man made lake in Egypt? Lake Nasser

Which city on the Danube was formed in 1873 when two separate cities on either bank merged to form a larger city? Budapest

Birmingham is the largest city in which American state? Alabama

Which country has a Mediterranean coastline and is directly north of Israel?  Lebanon

What was the Democratic Republic of Congo called between 1908 and 1960?  The Belgian Congo

What was Saigon renamed in 1976? Ho Chi Minh City

Which large tourist attraction was opened east of Paris, France in 1992?  Disneyland Paris

What is the capital of the American state of Arkansas?

Little Rock

Which US President had a middle name consisting of only one letter?  Harry S Truman

Who is the only person to be sentenced to death in the state of Israel?  Adolf Eichmann

What was the name of the pope between 1605 and 1621 who is known for the persecution of Gallileo?  Paul V

Which famous figure was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska in 1925?    Malcom X

Who was the first American woman in Space?  Sally Ride

Who was nicknamed the Subway Vigilante by the American press in 1984?   Bernie Goetz

What was the name of the drug given to pregnant women between 1958 and 1961 to cure morning sickness that caused malformation of the limbs of their children? Thalidomide

Who founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870?               John D Rockefeller

Who was succeeded by his wife Isabel as president of Argentina in 1974?   Juan Peron

What was the name of the 1954 battle in Vietnam that was a disastrous defeat for the French army? Dien Bien Phu

Which Norwegian football club won thirteen successive top flight titles between 1992 and 2004?  Rosenberb BK

Who fought Roberto Duran in the brawl in Montreal in 1980?    Sugar Ray Leonard

Where did the Los Angeles Dodgers play their home games until 1957?    Brooklyn

In which sport is the World Series consisting of the best of 7 games every year?   Baseball

What was the nickname of the footballer Stuart Pearce? Pyscho

Which famous figure was Cristiano Ronaldo named after? Ronald Regan

What is the surname of the Sri Lankan cricketer with the first name Napolean?   Einstien

What surname is given to a fifty mile walk such as the one between Louth and Skegness and back that took place in the 1950s?  Kennedy

What name is given to the toy which consists of a round tube that rotated around the body?   Hula Hoop

Who became Heavyweight world champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round?               Sonny Liston

Which musical features the songs ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ and ‘There’s Nothing Like A Dame’?   South Pacific

Which pianist is famous for having a candelabra on his piano?   Liberace

Who became the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1937?   Arturo Toscanini

Which country is the rapper Psy from, famous for the song Gangnam Style? South Korea

Who composed ‘Peter and the Wolf’ in 1936? Sergie Prokofiev

Don MacLean’s album American Pie was dedicated to which musician?    Buddy Holly

Which band consists of four members called Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr?    U2

Who has had more UK number one singles than anyone else with 21?     Elvis Presley

Which film is well known for POW’s whistling the Colonel Bogey march?   Bridge over the River Kwai

Which song by Bill Haley and the Comets reached number one in the UK in 1955?  ‘Rock Around the Clock’

Which is the UK brand name for Polyethylene terephthalate?  Dacron

What is the name of the American soap opera that aired on ABC between 1964 and 1969 that launched the career of Mia Farrow among others?   Peyton Place

What is the name of the yellow bird in the Peanuts cartoon strip?   Woodstock

What is the three letter airport code for the largest airport in New York?  JFK

Who wrote the book ‘On The Road’?   Jack Kerouac

What English word is the equivalent of Zegnaj in Polish, la revedere in Romanian and viszlat in Hungarian? Goodbye

Which American singer was born Ernest Evans in 1941? Chubby Checker

The British version of which game show was hosted by Nicky Campbell, Bradley Walsh and John Leslie? Wheel of Fortune

Edward Jenner is well known for pioneering the first what? Vaccine

John Hurt provided the voiceover for a 1986 public information film warning of the dangers of what?   AIDS

Which film won eleven Oscars in 1959?   Ben Hur

Great Ormond Street in London own the copyright to which JM Barrie play?    Peter Pan

Who led Free France from England in the second world war? Charles de Gaulle

What was the purpose of the clinic founded by Marie Stopes in London?   Birth Control

What was the name of the first satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union in October 1957?  Sputnik 1

Cosa Nostra meaning our thing is another name for which organisation?    Mafia

Who was the first president of South Korea? Syngman Rhee

Which 1962 film is famous for having no female speaking parts?   Lawrence of Arabia

Apart from Earth, Air and Water what is the fourth element according to the ancient Greeks?  Fire

What is the connection? All the answers feature in the lyrics of We didn’t start the fire  by Billy Joel 

 Who, according to legend, was the second King of Rome?

Numa Pompilius
Which land-battle in Greek history took place at roughly the same time as the sea-battle of Artemisium against the invading Persian fleet?  Thermopylae
What Roman building took its unofficial (but now better-known) name from a huge golden statue of Nero which had previously occupied that spot?  Flavian Amphitheatre = Colosseum
Whose actual last words, in Greek, were quoted at the time as ‘You too, my child?’ Julius Caesar’s – thus confirming in many people’s minds the earlier rumour of a long-standing  affair between Caesar and Sempronia, Brutus’ mother

Whom did Speusippus succeed as head of the Academy in Athens?   Plato
We usually know Roman aristocrats by their ‘third name’ or cognomen. ‘Enobarbus’ in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is a misspelling of this character’s real cognomen, which meant ‘bronze-beard.’ What was his real cognomen? Ahenobarbus
What was the original profession of the philosopher Socrates? Stone-mason
What relation was the Emperor Tiberius to the Emperor Augustus? Step-son; later ‘adopted’ to legitimise his position as heir
What was unusual about Incitatus, appointed Consul by the Emperor Gaius in about 39 AD? He was a race-horse; Gaius is the real name of Caligula.
The Ara Pacis (= Altar of Peace) is one of the most significant monuments of ancient Rome. Whose achievements does it commemorate? Emperor Augustus
Which of the Greek states routinely had two kings ruling simultaneously?    Sparta
The city of Naucratis was a major trading port for all Greek states. In which country was it?     Egypt
Who claimed to have founded 71 cities, all named after himself and 1 named after his horse?    Alexander the Great
 The Athenian orator Demosthenes’ speeches against Philip II of Macedon were the model for the speeches of Cicero called the Philippics, delivered after the death of Julius Caesar. Against whom were these speeches directed?   Marc Antony
Who produced the first official law-code at Athens, known for its harsh penalties?     Drakon/Draco.
Who was Emperor of Rome at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius?    Titus
Horatius Cocles (legendary defender of Rome against invading Etruscans), the Carthaginian general Hannibal and Philip II of Macedon had all suffered the same type of injury by the time of their deaths. What was it?     Loss of an eye
Which Greek city had an elite fighting force known as the Sacred Band?       Thebes
Which Roman poet was exiled to Tomi on the Black Sea by Augustus for possible involvement in the promiscuity of Augustus’ daughter Julia?    Ovid
Claudius was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy. In which city was he born? Lugdunum  in Gaul = Lyon, France

Sporting Firsts

Which sporting first did Lucian Laurent achieve in 1930?   

First goal in the World Cup finals (for France against Mexico)

 In 1967 who became the first winners of The Super Bowl?     Green Bay Packers (beat Kansas City Chiefs 35-10)

 In 1872 The Wanderers won the first FA Cup Final, who did they beat in the final?   Royal Engineers (by 1-0 the goal was scored by Morton Betts. Played at Kennington Oval in front of 2000)

What was Lester Piggott’s  first Derby winner in 1954?   

  Never Say Die

New Zealand won the first Rugby Union World Cup in 1987. Which nation did they beat 29-9 in the final?     France

In 1924 Charles Jewtraw of the USA became the first man to win what?    A Winter Olympics Gold medal (500m Speed skating)

In 1966 which British racing driver was the first man to win the Indy 500 at the first attempt?    Graham Hill

What was significant about the 1968 Olympic men’s 100 metres final?    The first all Olympic black final (Won by Jim Hynes, the first man to break the 10 second barrier for 100 metres)

Who was the first high jumper to clear 8 feet in the event?        Javier Sotomayor of Cuba

Who in 1964 became the first Manchester United player to be voted European Footballer of the year?    Denis Law

1In The 1996 Atlanta Games 400 metre hurdler Deon Hemmings became the first woman from which country to win an Olympic Gold Medal?      Jamaica

In 1965 Keith Peacock of Charlton Athletic became the first Football League player to do what?   The first substitute (replaced injured goalkeeper Mike Rose after 11 minutes)

In 1981 who became the first woman to participate in The Boat Race     Sue Brown (Cox of the winning  Oxford crew)

At which women’s event was Moroccan Nawal El Moutawakel the first Olympic champion in 1984?      400 metre hurdles

Who was the first man to Pole Vault over 19 feet? 

Sergy Bubka

In 1780 jockey Sam Arnull rode Diomed to victory in the first running of which race?  The Derby

In 1903 which team won the first Baseball World Series?  

 Boston Americans (later The Red Sox)

In 1977 who became the first woman to ride in the Grand National and on which horse?    Charlotte Brew on Barony Fort

Who was the first black World Heavyweight Champion?  

 Jack Johnson

In 1972 who was the first woman to be Sports Illustrated sportsperson of the year?     Billie Jean King

                                         Fictional creatures

Who owned a horse called Rosinante? Don Quixote

Why would Billy Casper be prosecuted if the book and film in which he appears had been set after 1981?

He took a young kestrel from a nest. Barry Hines A Kestrel for a Knave – later the film Kes. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to kill, injure or take a kestrel, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents

Who travelled round the Cevennes with Modestine?

Robert Louis Stevenson – Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes – Modestine is the donkey

To whom did Canga give a very unwelcome bath under the mistaken impression that she was bathing Roo?  Piglet

Which animals feature in William Horwood’s Duncton Chronicles series?   Moles

Which fictional animal was the son of Duchess and was friends with Merrylegs and Ginger?   Black Beauty

Milou in French; what is the usual name of this dog in the English translations of the books in which he appears?

Snowy – in the Tintin books

Which giant bird, capable of carrying off humans, features in the story of Sinbad the Sailor in the Arabian Nights tales? Roc

In the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch, what species is the parrot said to be?  Norwegian Blue

In which short novella are a series of gruesome murders in Paris carried out by an orang-utan?

The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Poe

 In the novel by Richard Adams, what type of creature was Shardik?  Bear

 In Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, what animal provides the head of the Mock Turtle, and why? 

Calf: mock turtle soup was made from veal stock

 Which fictional animal can be found at 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan?   Gromit

Who created Gus the Theatre Cat and the gangster cats Mungojerry and Griddlebone?    T. S. Eliot

Which creature warned its child to beware of the Big Bad Mouse in the deep dark wood?   The Gruffalo

In a series of children’s books which first appeared in the 1930’s, which ruler leads his subjects to victory over the hostile rhinoceroses?    Babar the elephant

What sort of creature was Salar, created by Henry Williamson?

A salmon

Whose animal friends included the pig Gub-Gub and the duck Dab-Dab? Dr Dolittle in the books by Hugh Lofting

 Who was the brother of Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail?

Peter Rabbit

 In Aristophanes’ play ‘The Birds’, which species, formerly a human king,  acts as leader of the birds?    Hoopoe

Olympic Games

How many times did Stephen Redgrave stand on the top step of the victory podium at the Olympic Games?

None ( Redgrave won 5 gold medals but never stood on a podium. Rowers don’t use a three step podium, they receive medals at the edge of the water. All medalists stand at the same level.)
 Which Manx cyclist won a gold medal in 2012?

Peter Kennaugh, not Mark Cavendish.

How many times has the USA been awarded hosting rights for the Winter Olympics?  Five times .  USA hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 (Lake Placid) 1960 (Squaw Valley) 1980 (Lake Placid) and 2002 (Salt Lake City). Denver was awarded hosting rights for 1976 but later withdrew from being hosts.

How many Test cricket grounds have hosted Olympic events? Two ..The Melbourne Cricket Ground was the main Olympic stadium in 1956 and also hosted football as part of Sydney 2000. Lord’s Cricket Ground hosted Archery as part of London 2012.

What connects Stockholm and Hong Kong in Olympic events?  Both hosted Equestrian events when the Olympics were held in another country.. In 1956 Stockholm hosted equestrian events when Melbourne, Australia hosted the Olympics. In 2008 Hong Kong hosted equestrian events when Beijing, China hosted the Olympics. 

What was unusual about the shot put events at the 2004 Athens Olympics? They were not held in the main Atletics stadium.They were held in Olympia, venue of the ancient Olympic Games.

Who has won the most individual Olympic medals for Great Britain? Ben Ainsley with five. Bradley Wiggins, Jason Kenny, Chris Hoy and Stephen Redgrave has won more but some or all of these were in team events.

Which athlete has won all 4 of the Olympic medals won by his country? Frankie Fredericks of Namibia

Which team lost all its matches at the 1932 Olympic Games and still won a medal? USA Hockey.They lost to India and Japan but only 3 teams competed in the 1932 Olympic Hockey tournament!

Sarah Hammer of the USA has won 4 Olympic silver medals in cycling, who beat her to gold every time?

Laura Trott (Now Kenny)

              Ancient myths and legends quiz

Which Egyptian god was regarded by the Greeks as equivalent to Hermes?  Thoth

Which Greek goddess was associated with the peacock? Hera

What was the name of the shepherd who brought up Romulus and Remus after they’d been saved from starvation by the she-wolf?  Faustulus

Which fossil creatures are named after the symbol of the Egyptian god whose shrine Alexander the Great visited in Egypt? Ammonites – he visited the oracle of Zeus-Ammon; Ammon was associated with the ram and often depicted – as was Alexander after the visit – with rams’ horns round his ears

In Norse mythology, Heimdall was the guardian of Bifrost. What was Bifrost? The rainbow bridge between the human world and the world of the gods.

In Greek mythology, how is the feeding of the infant Zeus by the goat Amaltheia commemorated in the night sky? By the Milky Way, which symbolises the non-stop flow of milk needed to feed Zeus

What was the name of the island ruled by Odysseus? Ithaca

In Slavonic mythology, who lives in a hut which travels around on fowl’s legs? The witch Baba Yaga

Which Egyptian deity was represented as a hippopotamus standing upright?  Ta-Uret/Taueret

Which Norse goddesses were the equivalent of the Greek and Roman Fates?  Norns

What name did the Romans add to the name of the goddess Sul when they built a temple at Bath?  Minerva

The god of the Underworld was called Dis in Latin, and one of his Greek names was Ploutos – usually Anglicised as Pluto.  What do both of these names mean? They both mean ‘wealth’ – referring to gold and silver which could be mined from the depths of the earth

Who was the Roman god of boundaries?  Terminus

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, which legendary figure, whom he also called ‘Ambrosius’, was believed to have been fathered on a mortal woman by a demon?  Merlin

Which novel by D. H. Lawrence takes its title from an ancient Mexican god? The Plumed Serpent – the normal appearance of the god Quetzalcoatl

When the Greek god Zeus was caught in flagrante by his wife Hera with the princess Io, how did he hide Io from Hera? They were near a herd of cows, so he turned her into a cow and hid her in the herd

And what went wrong? Hera sent a gadfly to drive the ‘cow’ away from the area and Zeus couldn’t find her to turn her back into a human

Who was the Roman goddess of the hearth?  Vesta

And what is the connection between that goddess, the planet Venus and a way of starting a fire? If Venus appeared in the morning sky, it was called Lucifer –‘light-bringer’. Both ‘Lucifer and ‘Vesta’ were early kinds of match

In Greek mythology, who was killed by the giant scorpion represented in the night sky by the constellation Scorpi ? Orion

Ogier the Dane, Archbishop Turpin of Reims and Baligant, Emir of Babylon, are all characters in which epic poem? The Song of Roland

Whose 1942 painting Nighthawks is unusual for the painter as it features four people, his works usually featuring fewer than that?

Edward Hopper

The Lost Stradivarius and The Nebuly Coat are two of John Falkner’s three published novels. Which work, published in 1898, is the third?

Moonfleet

What is the name of the human-lilke inhabitants of the land of the Houyhnhnms, discovered by Captain Lemuel Gulliver in 1711?  Yahoos

Of which short-lived painter did Turner observe that if this painter had lived, he would have starved?   Thomas Girtin

Which musician exerted an unwholesome influence over singer Trilby O’Ferral?   Svengali

Which poem was sparked by the premature death of Arthur Henry Hallam?   In Memorium A.H.H by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Spencer Gore, son of the first Wimbledon Men’s Singles champion, was the first president of which artistic group? The Camden Town Group

What part of Elfride Swancourt’s anatomy provided the title of an 1873 novel?  (A Pair of) Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy

Which Shakespeare play ends with Alcibiades reading the title character’s epitaph and promising to bring peace to that character’s home city?   Timon of Athens

Which Dominican-born writer published nothing between 1939 and 1966, when she wrote a prequel to Jane Eyre?

Jean Rhys (Wide Sargosso Sea)

Which artistic method was brought to England by Prince Rupert of the Rhine?   Mezzotint

Who is the father of Guinevere, who gave the Round Table to King Arthur as a wedding present?  King Leodegrance of Cammilard

In which land are Quadling Country, Winkie Country and Gillkin Country to be found?   The Land of Oz

The Goldfinch is a well-known work by which painter, who perished in a Delft gunpowder magazine explosion?  Carel Fabritius

 “Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep”. What was the name of the village in which these lines were written?  Stoke Poges (where Thomas Gray wrote Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, from which these lines come)

In which book is blind monastic librarian Jorge di Burgos a muderer?  The Name of the Rose (by Umberto Eco)

Elizabeth Siddal and Jane Morris were favourite models of which artist?  Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Who is the master thief turned master detective in a series of stories by Maurice LeBlanc, some of which include a character called Herlock Sholmes?    Arsen Lupin

Which famous painting includes a King and queen reflected in a mirror?  Les Meninas By Diego Velazquez

                    A quiz on events in the year 2013

Which film was the highest grossing in 2013, raking in over $1.2 billion worldwide?   Iron Man 3

Which American disclosed operations engaged by a US government mass surveillance program to news publications and fled the country, later being granted temporary asylum in Russia?   Edward Snowden

What was responsible for injuring 1,491 people and damaging over 4,300 buildings in Chelyabinsk back in February 2013?  A meteor (the most powerful meteor to strike Earth’s atmosphere in over a century)

Which country rejected a seat on the United Nations Security Council making them the first to reject a seat?  Saudi Arabia

Who’s resignation made the news headlines around the world on February 28th 2013?   Pope Benedict XVI

Which two countries were most affected by typhoon Haiyan “Yolanda”, one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record?

The Philippines and Vietnam

Which Irish/English Actor, Singer and Producer, known for his role in such classics as Lawrence of Arabia, Troy, The Last Emperor and Casino Royale, sadly passed away in December 2013?     Peter O’Toole

Which Peter was the British theoretical physicist who picked up the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2013?  Peter Higgs (for his prediction of the existence of a new particle, the Higgs Boson)

In July, amid mass protests across Egypt, which President was deposed in a military coup d’état, leading to widespread violence?   President Mohamed Morsi

On July 1st 2013, which country became the 28th member of the European Union?   Croatia

July 22 saw the birth of the son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, George is one of his three names, what are the other two? Alexander Louis

The year 2013 started on a Tuesday. What will be the next year that starts on a Tuesday?  2019. (2014 started on a Wednesday, 2015 a Thursday, 2016 a Friday, 2017 a Sunday, 2018 a Monday, 2019 a Tuesday as 2016 is a Leap year thus has one more day)

Tennis player Maria Sharapova changed her name for the US Open. To what did she change it?  Maria Sugapova
 In 2013, which American singer declared: “I was the Justin Bieber of the 70s. Really. Ask your mother.”? Barry Manilow

In terms of their downfall, what do Silvio Berlusconi and Alphonse Capone have in common? Both convicred of Tax Fraud

The 2013 debut of which aircraft turned out to be hot news and a rude awakening for it’s passengers? Boeing 787 Dreamliner (thanks to a series of fires)

At a children’s event, which world leader declared that his favourite food was broccoli?   Barack Obama

Andy Murray won Wimbledon in 2013 but who was the last British man to win it and when? Fred Perry in 1936

The proposed redevelopment of what was blamed for the rioting in Istanbul in 2013 that ultimately saw industrial quantities of tear gas used?   A park (Taksim Gezi Park to be exact)

Which sports event was delayed for a total of 34 minutes thanks to a lighting blackout? The Superbowl (Superbowl XLVI

In which Science Fiction novels do the following characters appear for the first time?

Louis Wu – Ringworld by Larry Niven
Hari Seldon – Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Frank Poole – :2001 A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
John Carter -A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Sax Russell – Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Valentine Michael Smith Stranger in a Strange Land

by Robert Heinlein
Kimball Kinnison – Galactic Patrol by E.E. “Doc” Smith
Paul Hoehler – The Peace War by Vernor Vinge
Natalie York – Voyage by Stephen Baxter
Eleanor Arroway – Contact by Carl Sagan
Mark Watney – The Martian by Andy Weir
Alan Grant – Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

The Native American god Kawasha became well-known in England in the 16^th century, with his statue outside some apothecaries’ shops. Why?  His image – often a statue – outside a shop showed that tobacco was sold there.

What type of stone includes the varieties called Parian and Travertine?  Marble

Which famous author lived in a house called Green Hedges in Beaconsfield? Enid Blyton

In which organ of the human body can a Posterior Vitreous Detachment occur?    The Eye

Queen’s Bench, White Cross Street, Horsemonger Lane and Fleet were four of the official five Debtors’ Prisons in Victorian London. What was the fifth and best-known? Marshalsea – as featured in novels by Charles Dickens.

The Hindu god Hanuman was represented by which type of animal?  A Monkey – Specifically a Langur monkey

In which fictional Sussex town are Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford books set?   Kingsmarkham

What tourist attraction is based round Les Augres Manor, Jersey? Durrell Wildlife Trust – i.e. Jersey Zoo, founded by Gerald Durrell as the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust

For which Midlands town was the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan once the MP?   Stafford

What type of bird can be (among others)  Humboldt, Snares or Jackass?   Penguins

Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, originally had what name?   New Hall

Which novel was written as a conscious debunking of the ‘desert island adventure’ genre, specifically parodying R.M. Ballantyne’s The Coral Island?   Lord of the Flies

What name is often given to the female version of the Oedipus Complex?  Electra Complex

Who was assassinated by Nathuram Vinayak Godse? Gandhi

Which musical is based on a novel by Gaston Leroux? Phantom of the Opera

What are Limburger, Bruzzo and Cantal?  Limburger is a very smelly  Dutch cheese, Bruzzo a soft cheese from a very small mountainous area in Italy and Cantal is a hard French cheese.

What London attraction can be found at 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields?  Sir John Soane’s museum

For what industry is Grasse in France particularly famous? Perfume

What was the name of the harmonica player who appeared as a running joke in the Morecambe and Wise show?

Arthur Tolcher

Which English surname means ‘arrow-maker’?  Fletcher