May 14 2015
Sett Valley Quiz League
First half
Answers in red
1. Which mythical serpent could strike things dead by a single glance or breath?
Basilisk
2. Who is Yanis Varoufakis?
Greek Finance Minister
3. What was the name of the bulldog in Tom and Jerry cartoons?
Spike
4. What is the name of the Paranoid Android in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’?
Marvin
5. Theon Greyjoy, a character in ‘Game of Thrones’ is played by the younger brother of
which English pop star?
Lily Allen
6. In Bank of England terms, Giants and Titans are notes of the very highest value.
What is a giant worth? £1 million
7. How many stars appear on the flag of China?
5
8. What links Shelley’s address to the skylark, and a comedy by Noel Coward?
Blithe Spirit
9. Who is the only actor to have Emmy nominations for the same part in 3 different
shows?
Kelsey Grammer for ‘Cheers’, ‘Frasier’, ‘Wings’
10. When Britain was still linked by land to continental Europe, the Thames was a
tributary of which river?
The Rhine
11. ‘Go Set A Watchman’ is the sequel to which novel?
To Kill A Mockingbird
12. What term, adapted by a U.S. Marine Corps Major from a Chinese industrial slogan
that originally meant ‘work together’, has come to mean enthusiastic or over-zealous?
Gung Ho
13. In the Monty Python ‘Philosopher’s Song’, Heidegger was a boozy beggar, but who
was a beery swine?
Wittgenstein
14. What is the square cap worn by Roman catholic and some Anglican priests called?
Biretta
15. During the second World War, in which country were the 2 German defensive lines
Gustav and Gothic set up?
Italy
16. The scientific names Petroselinum crispum and Salvia officinalis give the first 2
words of which 1966 album?
Parsley, Sage ,Rosemary and Thyme
17. Which archaic term for an administrative division survives in the full names of Jersey
and Guernsey?
Bailiwick
18. Puccini’s ‘Madam Butterfly’ is set in which city?
Nagasaki
19. Malachite, often used as a gemstone, is a minor ore of which metal?
Copper
20. In postcode language, if SK is Stockport, where is IM?
Isle of Man
21. When a positron and an electron collide, what kind of particles are most likely to be
produced?
Photons
22. The structure of soil can be determined when the proportions of the three
constituents are plotted on a triangular graph. Name one of those constituents.
Clay or silt or sand
23. Earlier this year, which West Indian cricketer became the first to score a World Cup
double century?
Chris Gayle
24. Baby koalas are known by what name?
Joeys
25. Which country has the internet code .lk?
Sri Lanka
26. What is the name for the compartment of an airship?
Gondola
27. How many riders represent each country in Olympic showjumping?
4
28. To which photographer was the French actress Catherine Deneuve married from
1965 to 1972
David Bailey
29. The Channel Tunnel is under water for 23.5 miles but how far is it from terminal to
terminal ?
31 miles
30.What shape is a campanulate flower?
Bell-shaped
First half spares
1. What is the capital of Canada’s Yukon territory?
Whitehorse
2. How many sonnets did Shakespeare write? Leeway of 5...
154 (accept 149 to 159)
3. The holes in Swiss cheese are named after which part of the body?
Eyes
4. Which area of Central London is thought to have taken its name from an old hunting
cry?
Soho
5. What is the maiden name of the Countess of Wessex?
Rhys-Jones
14 May 2015
Sett Valley Quiz League
Second half
Answers in red
31. What is a fattened young pig between 40 and 67 kg commonly known as?
A porker
32. Which is Britain’s largest container port in terms of tonnage handled?
Felixstowe
33. Of which English county is St Piran the patron saint?
Cornwall
34. What part of the body is examined by an octoscope?
The ear
35. What name is given to the holiday on 25 April in Australia and New Zealand?
Anzac Day
36. What type of animal is classed as an ungulate?
One with hooves
37. What shape is aliform?
Wing-shaped
38. What is a swagger stick?
Name of short cane sometimes carried by army officers
39. What exactly was ‘The Narrow Road to The Deep North’ which was the title of
Richard Flanagan’s 2014 Booker Prize winning novel?
The Burma Railway (built by second World War POWs)
40. The name of which species of domestic bird is commonly called a stag or a tom?
Turkey
41. What is the name of the Indo-European language of modern Iran?
Farsi
42. Potato is one of the main ingredients of the Irish dish colcannon. What is the other?
Cabbage
43. What is the title of the painting by Picasso which has sold recently for more than
£160m, a title also used by Matisse and Delacroix?
Women of Algiers
44. In which Hindu festival do participants throw coloured powder over each other?
Holi
45. What nickname is given to the last car on a freight train in North America?
The caboose
46. What does a beam known as a putlog support?
Scaffolding
47. In which year did Arsene Wenger become manager of Arsenal football club?
1996 (one year leeway either way)
48. The Decalogue is another word for which set of instructions?
The Ten Commandments
49. A sennight is an old way of describing what?
A week
50. How many cubic centimetres are there in a cubic metre?
One million
51. Which disgraced politician published the book ‘Pride and Perjury’ in 2002?
Jonathan Aitken
52. What was the former name of New York’s John F Kennedy Airport?
Idlewild
53. What is the official name for the road system near Birmingham, known as Spaghetti
Junction?
The Gravelly Hill Interchange
54. What did Edward Lear’s nonsense poem character, the Pobble, lack?
Toes
55. What were known as hulks in the 18th and 19th centuries?
Ships used as prisons
56. Of what is histology the study?
The structure of tissues and cells
57. By what name was the Royal Mail Group known between 2001 and 2002
Consignia
58. What is the most numerous bird in the world?
Chicken
59. In which sporting event did actor Hugh Laurie compete in 1980?
Oxford/ Cambridge boat race
60. How many departments does France have, including overseas (Leeway of 5 either
way.)?
101 (accept 96 to 106)
Second half spares
1. Who was the first child of Queen Elizabeth II to obtain a divorce?
Princess Anne
2. What is a half-hunter?
A watch
3. What is the longest river in Ireland?
Shannon
4. Who voiced the part of Bruce the Shark in the animated film ‘Finding Nemo’?
Barry Humphries
5. What is the eye defect diplopia better known as?
Double vision