Hi again everyone, it's time for my latest weekend quiz. What with University Challenge back on the TV, I thought I'd use the opportunity to steal the format from there for a change. I'll still be using Eggheads categories for a bit of familiarity. So we'll begin with a Starter for Ten and follow that up with three bonus questions per category, though they won't perhaps be quite as tough as the ones on the box. I can only hope Jeremy Paxman would approve...Starters for Ten
As is customary you'll have to answer the Starter for Ten before you can progress to the Bonus Questions below. If you don't answer the Starter, you can't claim the bonus points. If you're playing this properly anyway...
History
Identify the decade from the following clues - The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, the Irish Free State gained independence from the United Kingdom, and the Wall Street Crash occurred in the United States?
Geography
Extending roughly 1500 miles, which mountain range runs from Nanga Parbat in the West to Namcha Barwa in the East?
Sport
Which Olympian, nicknamed the Baltimore Bullet, has earned a total of 22 medals at the Games, including 2 bronze, 2 silver and a record 18 golds?
Arts & Books
The village of Meryton in Hertfordshire is one of the central settings for which 19th Century novel? In 2003, it placed second on the BBC's Big Read survey designed to establish the nation's favourite book?
Science
Specifically, which prize was first awarded in 1901 to German scientist Wilhelm Rontgen, who would later have the radioactive element 111 of the periodic table named after him?
Music
Identify the famous 20th Century composer from this picture.
TV & Film
The unfinished silent film Number 13 was the directorial debut for which highly regarded director born in Leytonstone in Essex in 1889? He would later become famous for making cameo appearances in many of his films.
Food & Drink
In a text compiled for King Roger of Sicily in 1154, which Italian foodstuff was referred to as 'itriyya', about which it is reported that 'very many shiploads are sent...everywhere: to Calabria, to Muslim and Christian countries'.
Politics
By which name is the Representation of the People Act 1832 better known? It is significant for abolishing 57 'rotten borough' constituencies and widening the electoral franchise to roughly one in five men.
General Knowledge
In 1799, which General became the head of his country's Consulate government, from which position he ended the country's status as a republic after five years with his coronation as Emperor at Notre Dame Cathedral?
How about that lot then? Answers below.
Starter for Ten Answers
History
1920s
Geography
The Himalayas
Sport
Michael Phelps
Arts & Books
Pride and Prejudice
Science
The Nobel Prize in Physics
Music
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
TV & Film
Alfred Hitchcock
Food & Drink
Pasta
Politics
The Great Reform Act
General Knowledge
Napoleon Bonaparte
Bonus Questions
There are 5 points available for each of these bonus questions if you answered the Starter for Ten correctly. If you didn't manage to do that, you might as well have a go at them anyway...
History
The object of each of these bonus questions is to identify a specific year of the 20th Century from the events...
a) Nikita Khrushchev denounces Joseph Stalin's dictatorship at the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, Japan joins the United Nations and the first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Switzerland.
b) The US launches the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, South Africa leaves the Commonwealth of Nations and the Berlin Wall begins construction.
c) The Roe vs Wade court case permits a woman's right to abortion across the US, Salvador Allende's Communist administration is overthrown in Chile and the UK joins the European Economic Community.
Geography
These bonus are all on mountains in the Himalayas.
a) Part of the Karakoram sub-range of mountains, Mount Godwin Austen is best known by which name?
b) Located on the border with Nepal, which mountain, the tallest in India, is also the third highest in the world?
c) Who was the leader of the British expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1953 which saw Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the summit?
Sport
These bonuses are all on multiple Olympic gold medal winners.
a) Phelps set a record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in achieving 8 golds at a single Games. Which fellow swimmer's record did he surpass by one gold medal in doing so?
b) The most decorated female competitor at the Olympic Games with 9 gold medals, at which sport did Larisa Latynina compete for the Soviet Union?
c) Which 9 times gold medal winning athlete did the International Olympic Committee decorate with the title 'Sportsman of the Century' in 1999?
Arts & Books
These bonuses are all on estates featured in the novel Pride and Prejudice.
a) Serving as the home of Mr Darcy, in which English county is the Pemberley estate located?
b) The Rosings estate in Kent is the home of which wealthy widow, who is obsessed with social standing, much to the irritation of Elizabeth Bennett?
c) What is the name of the hall that is rented by Mr Bingley upon his move to Hertfordshire? A ball held there is the setting for the initial meeting between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth.
Science
These bonuses are all on Nobel Physics Prize winners in the interwar years.
a) In 1922, which Danish scientist received the prize 'for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them'?
b) In 1932, German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg won the prize for his instrumental role in devising which branch of physics?
c) Which Italian physicist, often hailed as one of the 'fathers of the atomic bomb' won the prize in 1938?
Music
These pictures bonuses are all of significant European composers.
a) Identify this Austrian composer, most prominent in the 18th Century.
TV & Film
These bonuses are all on Alfred Hitchcock films.
a) Which 1948 film is the first of Hitchcock's repertoire to be filmed in technicolour? It is also notable for being filmed in real time.
b) Based on a stage play by Frederick Knott and starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly, which 1954 Hitchcock film was his first to be made in widescreen?
c) Which Hitchcock film replaced Citizen Kane as the best film of all time according to the Sight & Sound poll by the British Film Institute in 2012?
Food & Drink
These bonuses are all on Italian cuisine.
a) What is meant if a foodstuff is referred to as 'al forno'?
b) Which meat based sauce is first recorded as being served at Imola and derives its name from a nearby city?
c) Which city in Emilia-Romagna is renowned for its prosciutto and its distinctive cheese?
Politics
These bonuses are all on pieces of British legislation known as the 'Reform Acts'.
a) Which Whig Prime Minister is responsible for seeing the Great Reform Act of 1832 through Parliament? He also gives his name to a blend of tea.
b) Which Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister convinced his colleagues to vote for the Second Reform Act 35 years later, on the premise that the electorate would be grateful and vote Conservative in return?
c) In which year did William Gladstone's government succeed in passing the Third Reform Act, which widened the franchise to over 5,500,000 voters? It would later be replaced by the Representation of the People Act 1918.
General Knowledge
a) On which island was Napoleon born in 1769? It ceased to be an independent republic that same year.
b) Which 1805 battle brought about the effective end of the Holy Roman Empire and is hailed as one of Napoleon's greatest victories?
c) Which notably bloody 1812 battle forced Napoleon into retreat and ended his goal of successfully invading Russia?
Bonus Answers
Here are the answers to this overwhelming amount of trivia. Be grateful as it took me forever to write out all of these...
a) 1956 b) 1961 c) 1973
Geography
a) K2 b) Kangchenjunga c) Colonel John Hunt
Sport
a) Mark Spitz b) Gymnastics c) Carl Lewis
Arts & Books
a) Derbyshire b) Lady Catherine de Bourgh c) Netherfield Hall
Science
a) Niels Bohr b) Quantum mechanics c) Enrico Fermi
Music
a) Joseph Haydn b) Antonin Dvorak c) Ludwig van Beethoven
TV & Film
a) Rope b) Dial M For Murder c) Vertigo
Food & Drink
a) It has been baked in an oven b) Bolognese sauce c) Parma
Politics
a) Earl Grey b) Benjamin Disraeli c) 1884
General Knowledge
a) Corsica b) The Battle of Austerlitz c) The Battle of Borodino
I hope you still feel like you know your stuff. There are a potential 250 points up for grabs here, so let me know how you do and be honest! You're only fooling yourself otherwise. I'm exhausted after this bonanza so until we meet again. Hope to see you again soon!
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